More Than A Bleu Rebellion

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Identificaion Variable

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GALPOT Weekly #30

Welcome to GALPOT Weekley #30 a review of the daily posts on the 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' blog.



This week I started off with a visit to the Spring Performance Car Action day at Castle Combe, which despite unseasonal inclement weather was an all blingin', slamin, surfin' and driftin' affair as exemplified by the Nissan Skyline drifting the wrong way through Camp Corner above.



Tom Killeen took out patent's on the design features of the monocoque Killeen K1 designed in 1950 and built for the 1953 season. It was Colin Coopers privilege to own the Killeen from 1979 to 1985 and he can be seen at the wheel above at Donington Park in 1983.



MK III Ford Cortina's were the subject of Wednesday's blog. The base 1300 model above, seen in Malta, is one of the lightly face lifted TD models introduced in late 1973 I did not know it at the time of the original post but a Ford Cortina features in a car chase in the 2011 Robert De Niro action movie 'Killer Elite'.



Like Europe's Ford Cortina the contemporary US Ford mid size car has featured in a relatively recent action film in the later case the 'Easy Handler' car gave it's name 'Gran Torino' to the Clint Eastwood thriller.



Ferrari Fridays post was dedicated to the memory of the most entertaining open wheel driver it has been my privilege to ever see in action.



The famous twin wing Lotus 76, which I looked at in yesterday blog, featured an electrically operated clutch and caused quite a stir when it was first shown to the public in 1974 however it proved to be a huge disappointment and nowhere near as competitive as the venerable Lotus 72.



Today's post reviews the Auto Italia Day at Brooklands last weekend where the AC Zagato AC 378 GT was one of a number of vehicles I had not seen before.

Thanks for joining me on "GALPOT Weekly #30", I hope you will enjoy catching up through the links and that you will join me on "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" in the week ahead when I'll be covering last Bank Holiday Mondays action packed race meeting at Castle Combe, on Wednesday I'll be starting a new regular "Continental" feature looking at cars made built in Europe starting with a Panhard. Don't forget to come back now !

Nissans Fairlady - Datsun 240 Z

BRDC are the initials of the British Racing Drivers Club and signify that the owner of this vehicle, well known rally and racing driver Barrie 'Whizzo' Williams, is a member.



The Datsun 240 Z, featuring styling cue's taken from the E-Type Jaguar, was in production from 1970 - 1973.



Unknown to me until I wrote this, in Japan 2 litre / 122 cui in line 6 cylinder versions of the 240 Z, known locally as the Nissan Fairlady Z, were available with single and double overhead cam options.



For the rest of us the 150 hp 2.393 cc / 146 cui single overhead cam six cylinder is the more familiar motor. This vehicle is easily identified as a second series model by the Z in the circle on the C pillar.



Amazingly in 1971 and 1973 Datsun 240 Z's driven by Edgar Hermann and Shekhar Mehta respectively won the gruelling East African Safari Rally proving this was no flimsy boulevard cruiser.



In 1996 Nissan launched a programme to buy 240 Z's back and restore them to factory specifications and sold them for $24,000.

Hope you have enjoyed today's Fairlady edition of 'Getting a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Pole Sister - Nissan R90CK

Like the Lancia LC2 seen in Monday's post the Nissan R90CK seen here at Colin Bennett's CGA Engineering Workshop is scheduled to appear at the Silverstone Classic for the Group C race next weekend.



Three serious works teams gathered to contend the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1990, Jaguar with three cars were the eventual winners, Toyota with three cars did not really figure, but Nissan with 5 front line R90CK cars became the first Japanese manufacturer to sit on pole position at this endurance classic.



The Nissan R90CK's were built around Lola T90/10 chassis



and prepared for the World Endurance Championship by Nissan Motorsports Europe.



This particular vehicle has a rear facing camera connected to the screen seen here to aid reversing. Mark Blundell's pole winning 3m 27s Le Mans qualifying lap immortalised with cockpit cam can be seen on this mind boggling youtube clip.



It is said that Mark had over 1000 hp available during his qualification lap from his 3.5 litre / 213 cui Nissan VRH35 V8 motor,



thanks to a ceased turbo waste gate.



Mark recorded a top speed of 226.9 mph on the Mulsanne Straight speed strap between the two newly installed chicanes a record that apparently still stands.



Six months after the unlikely Mazda victory at Le Mans in 1991, a NISMO version of the Lola T90/10 the Nissan R91CP won the 1992 Daytona 24 hour race in the hands of Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki.



At the end of the 1990 season Nissan withdrew from the World Prototype Sportscar Championship but continued to develop the RC90CK cars for the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship which the manufacturer won in 1990,'91 and '92.



This particular car is now owned by Katsu Kubota.



While there is still a good supply of parts for these vehicles



the cost of running one is expensive.



In 1990 the car driven by Kenny Acheson, Olivier Grouillard and Martin Donnelly



qualified in 5th place at Le Mans but was eliminated on the opening lap with a gearbox problem.



I shall look forward to seeing this car in action, 21 years after I first saw one, at the Silverstone Classic next weekend.

That concludes a series of three Group C blogs, my thanks to Colin Bennett for his hospitality and Tony Gallagher for organising the trip to Colin's workshop.

Hope you have enjoyed today's ceased wastegate edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Added Warrington - CGA Engineering

Thanks to Tony 'Giraffe' Gallagher at The Nostalgia Forum I found myself going to Warrington with fellow TNFer and secretary of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club Tim Murray. The purpose of the journey was to visit Colin Bennett and his sons who run CGA Engineering.

Colin who worked with Emerson Fittipaldi on a Brazilian excursion with the Lotus Formula 2 team in 1970 has run a huge variety of cars including March, Fittipaldi, Surtees, Williams and Ligier in a variety of British and European Series.



After a welcome which included tea and donuts Colin let half a dozen TNFers loose in his workshops to nose and poke around a mouth watering selection of vehicles, amongst the many demonstrations was how easy it would be to fire up an ex Schumacher 3 .5 litre / 213.5 cui Benetton 191 chassis #6 powered by a Ford HB engine, we were one click of a switch away from having our ears blown off !



At the opposite scale of the age range Colin was rebuilding a Lola T70 carrying the chassis plate SL76/143, there is something appealingly Romanesque about those knockoff wheel hubs.



Sitting outside the workshops was a Formula 2 spec March 71B chassis #71BM -08 painted at the behest of current owner Katsu Kubota in the colours carried by one of my hero's Ronnie Peterson who won the 1971 European Formula 2 Championship for open wheel 2 litre / 122 cui vehicles.



Back in 1976 I was extremely privileged to see this March 761 in action on a wet day of practice at the Nurburgring. The sight of this car driven by Ronnie Peterson in a series of controlled slides through a series of off camber blind apex corners is something I shall never forget. Ronnie qualified 11th and unfortunately was involved in a first lap accident.



I was at Le Mans in 1990 when this Nissan R90CK qualified 5th for the 24 hour classic unfortunately the car retired on the opening lap, like the March 71B and 761/6 today this car belongs to Katsu Kubota and is scheduled to appear at the Silverstone Classic meeting I blogged about yesterday.



The design details of the Williams FW06 by Patrick Head won much praise in 1978, although the car did not win any Grand Prix it marked the emergence of Williams Grand Prix Engineering into what would become a dominant force in Formula One in the 1980's and 1990's.

I shall look forward to bringing you more detailed blogs of some of these cars after I have seen them running in the weeks and months ahead.

My thanks to Tony, Colin and his sons for a memorable day.

Thanks for joining me on this Warrington edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Variable Inlet Cam Phasing - Nissan Skyline GT R33

This 1996 Skyline GT R33 is a two wheel drive forth generation Skyline. The front bumper and spoiler on this one appears to be an after market item.



Power was delivered by an RB25DET 250 hp twin turbo 2490cc / 151 cui straight 6 engine which featured variable inlet cam phasing ( NVCS ). Many of these vehicles have been sent to engine specialists for radical tuning, racing versions of these engines have shown over 500 hp.



It is thought that 217,133 R33 Skylines were produced from 1993 - 1998 and sold in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and the UK, although officially imported many more are thought to have arrived in the UK as personal 'grey' imports.

Hope you have enjoyed today's NVCS edition of 'Getting a little Psycho on Tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Gundam vs Godzilla - Nissan GTR

In 2007 Nissan re launched the Nissan GTR, currently this model is marketed as the first true supercar for anyone, anytime, anywhere with the disclaimer that "Driving is a serious business and requires your full attention. At all times obey traffic laws. Not intended for unpaved off road use. Always wear your seatbelt, and please do not drink and drive."


My only experience with any kind of GTR was with the Gran Turismo GT2 and later GT 4 games in which super car performance for the 3 box Skyline GTR could be obtained with 1000 plus hp tunning kits. Polyphony Digital the makers of Gran Turismo were responsible for designing the multifunction display inside the real GTR.



This car is a must for anyone into hi tech abbreviations, for example the GTR is powered by a 485hp VR38DETT DOHC V6 engine fitted with two parallel IHI turbochargers that meets California Air Resources Board Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) standards.



Like the motor the rear mounted Borg Warner designed six speed gear mounted gearbox is built by hand and coupled to a dual clutch, with Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All-Terrain (ATTESA) and Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC-R) systems to aid stability come as standard.



The performance of this model, so long as it is not in Japanese limited to a 112 mph spec, on the track is right up their with the Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche GT3 and Ferrari 430 Scuderia, the GTR can cover 402 meters in 11.6 secs from rest and has been tested to 195 mph.



Nicknamed Godzilla, the GTR takes it's rear end styling cues from the giant robots featured in the popular Japanese Gundam animated TV series.

My thanks to the petrolhead who bought this Godzilla to the Sunday Service back in January.

I am sure you will all want to join me in wishing all those who are coming to terms with the devastation in Japan condolences and best wishes for the future.

On a happier note I'd like to wish one of GALPOT's earliest followers Cheryl a Happy Birthday !

Hope you have enjoyed today's ATTESA edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

200 mph Viscous Traction - Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0

When the Diablo was launched in 1990 it was the first Lamborghini capable of over 200 mph and in the process it relieved the Ferrari F40 of 'the worlds fastest production road car' title. The design brief set by then Lamborghini owners the Swiss Mimram brothers for the Lamborghini Countach replacement back in the late eighties was relatively straight forward - Minimum speed capability 315 kph / 196 mph.



Marchello Gandini was responsible for the styling but when Chrysler took over Lamborghini in 1987 they were unimpressed and after the Chrsler Styling Centre in Detroit smoothed out the design Gandini was so unimpressed he took his original drawings which later were realised in the form of the Cizeta-Moroder V16T.



By the time this one of 251 penultimate VT 6.0 variants was built in 2000 Audi had become owners of Lamborghini and the Diablo had; acquired 4 wheel drive (Viscous Traction), an upgraded 547 hp 6 litre / 370 cui V12 and been fitted with made under licence Nissan 300 ZX Z32 head light clusters. The title of worlds fastest production car was short lived and handed on to the 213 mph Bugatti EB110 in 1991.

Hope you have enjoyed the Viscous Traction edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday, don't forget to come back now !