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Race Retro 2015

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Cooper Bristol T23

2014 Highlights

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Cooper 500 Prototype

GALPOT Weekly #29

Welcome to GALPOT Weekley #29, the 2012 season is now well underway and this is reflected in the increased numbers of events I and the GALPOT team have been attending of late. The week started with a trip to a soaking Prescott where the 2012 Avon Tyres MSA British Hillclimb Championship got underway, Scott Rayson driving the mighty Chevrolet Special sand racer above did not come close to making the top 12 run off but was the fastest of the four sand racers present. Colin Cooper took no shortcuts when he hand cut the tubing for his Kayne Special III seen above at Oulton Park, the car was designed for towing his Kayne Special II to events but it turned out to be a handy competitor on the hills and in speed events. On Wednesday I looked at the Ford Corsair 2000E, one thing I forgot to mention was that in 1967 Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers took part in an epic race racing their Ford Corsair from Cape Town to Southampton against the RMS Windsor Castle. There are many myths about the events surrounding this competition for the full accurate story I highly recommend reading the Damn Long Way posts and disregarding almost everything else that has been posted on the internet regarding this http://damnlongway.com/blog/records/racing-the-windsor-castle/. Following up this story it has transpired that the story of the Corsair setting records at Monza is a myth that appears to have started in the Ford publicity department. I have amended the original Corcair post in the light of these findings. Thanks to Kerry Williams Thursdays GALPOT blog paid a trip to last weekends Classic Motorsports Mitty presented by Mazda at Road Atlanta, which taught me about the BRE TR 250K which I had never seen or even heard of before. For Ferrari Fridays blog I visited the set of Ron Howard's movie 'Rush' a film about the rivalry between James Hunt (#11 McLaren) and Niki Lauda #1 Ferrari, the scene above is a reenactment of the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix from which John Watson in the #28 Penske has just retired with a blown engine. The Lotus Europa Special, featured on Saturdays GALPOT blog, was originally conceived as a limited edition with for a production run of just 200 but the demand for the model led to a total production number of 3130 big valve Lotus Type 74's. Today's post review's last Saturday's Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival where one of the stars of the show was this Lancia Volumex powered FIAT X1/9. Over the Bank holiday weekend I have already visited the Auto Italian Car Day at Brooklands and will be visiting Castle Combe tomorrow and will be posting blogs on these events along with features on the Patent Monocoque Killeen K1 once owned by Colin Cooper in the days ahead. Thanks for joining me on GALPOT Weekly #29, I hope you will enjoy the links and that you will join me again at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' blog during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #27

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #27, a review of the week at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' which started on Monday with an interview with Special Builder and Restorer Colin Cooper.



Colin's first project was to restore an Austin 7 with a friend when both were still at school, his affinity with MG's began when his mum bought him an MG VA, seen above, for his 20th birthday. Colin subsequently went on to compete, build and restore a number of interesting vehicles and upon retiring from his professional career started a Frogeye restoration business called Central England Sports Cars.




Colin's first, of three, specials, seen above at it's first meeting in 1973, was based on a MG J2 chassis and powered by an MG PB motor which was eventually supercharged. As you can see in Tuesday's post the Kayne Special is still to be found in competition driven by Mike Painter.



Wednesday's Ford blog looked at the first three generations of the Fiesta XR2, Fords entry into the hatchback market, above the 2nd generation #23 of Norman Grimshaw is seen at Brands Hatch.



Chrome was king on US models revived after World War Two, as demonstrated by this 1948 Buick Roadmaster seen by Geoffrey Horton at the Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance earlier this year. Thursdays post revealed that the '48 Roadmaster was the first model to offer a 'Dyna Flow' automatic transmission, developed from a military tank application, with a torque converter.



Ferrari Friday looked at Ross Brawn's company 2000 Ferrari 360 Spider, seen above at the Haynes International Motor Museum, Ross was technical was part of a 'Dream Team' at Ferrari they ruled supreme in Grand Prix racing with Micheal Schumacher at the wheel.



Yesterday's Lotus blog looked at the all wheel drive Lotus 63 Grand Prix Challenger, seen above at Donington Park Museum, which achieved a best 2nd place finish in a non Championship Race at Oulton Park before it was abandoned on both safety and lack of performance grounds.



Today's post celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Maserati Merak, seen above at last years Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival. The Merak was born when Citroen owned Maserati and shares a motor derived from the Citroen SM. Note details can be found on today's blog about next weeks Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival where I'll hope to meet a few UK based GALPOT members.

Thanks for joining me on GALPOT Weekly #27, I hope you will enjoy the links and that you will join me again during the week ahead. I'm now off to defend my Cross Trophy Production Car Trial title. Don't forget to come back now !

Feeding the Need - Goodwood Festival of Speed

On Thursday I managed to pop in to the Goodwood Festival in the early morning and afternoon.



It was one of those mornings when even a the Renault Magnum transporter held a good deal of visual allure.



The truck certainly held more allure to my eyes than this 28 m 175 tonne steel macaroni E-Type Jaguar by Gerry Judah but I am no judge of 'art'. (08 12 11 Update turns out this sculture was illuminated at night, whih I have say in the photo's I have seen did give it a far more interesting appeal.)



Jaguar was very much the manufacturer under the spotlight of this years Festival, with not only the 50th Anniversary of the E- Type but also the 60th anniversary of Jaguars first victory at Le Mans being celebrated. Above the private XK 140 entered at Le Mans in 1956 for Roger Walshaw and Peter Bolton did not finish despite recording 1 lap less than 14th and last classified finisher.



Jaguars senior ambassador and former test driver Norman Dewis, extreme right facing camera above, was in evidence amongst the Jaguar exhibits, Norman competed in numerous races for Jaguar and most amazingly IMHO in 1953 he was bolted into an XK 120 and then proceeded to set a production car speed record of 176 mph in it !



There appeared to be a lot of emphasis on manufacturers efforts to go electric, among the more feasibly stylish concepts was the SEAT IBE, while I am all in favour of zero emissions travel I seriously believe we would be doing our great great grand children a great favour if we talked about these vehicles being 'DISPLACED EMISSION VEHICLES' since the power to recharge batteries has to come from somewhere.



I wonder if it was a coincidence that in the week when Porsche announced that they were planning to return to Le Mans with a hybrid car in 2014 what must rank as one of the original hybrid vehicles a, Porsche AG built, replica of a 1900 Lohner - Porsche Semprus Vivus powered by two de Dion petrol motors which charge the batteries that drive the front electric hub motors, one of which can be seen above, should appear at the Goodwood Festival of Speed ?



Former Jaguar apprentice Richard Attwood, left with green bottle above, who won the Le Mans 24 hours in 1970 with Hans Hermman driving a Porsche 917 was down to drive the 1965 #9 BRM P261 this weekend, seen also on the left, similar apart from it's engine size to the BRM he drove to a win at Levin in the 1966 Tasman Series.



The action on the hillclimb track at Goodwood on Thursday was restricted to a huge range of road cars being tested by prospective clients in an event known as the moving Moving Motor Show. Returning after a lunchtime meeting the tempo of the day was picked up by the Red Arrows who's display of airpersonship is nothing short of staggering.



While the Red Arrow's Hawk trainer aircraft usually fly around 350 mph during displays and have a top speed of 630 mph they will be left standing by the Bloodhound SSC if all goes to plan when it is completed. Project founder Richard Noble hopes to have the 14,000 lb 42 foot long car powered by a Eurofighter Jet engine to 350 mph and a rocket, fed oxidiser by a pump connected to Cosworth Formula One motor ready to attempt to take the LAND SPEED RECORD up to 1,000 mph in 2013.



The Centenary of the first running of the Indianapolis 500 was celebrated by a large selection of vehicles from the past 100 years including the Grant King Piston Ring Special Ferrari 375 from the Louwman Museum seen being given the once over by two latter day Ferrari technicians with over 23 years experience working at Marranello between them.



I was advised to look out for the Dayton Steel Foundry Special a Kurtis Kraft - Offenhausser by GALPOT regular and soon to be contributor Dave Wolin, this car was unsuccessful in the hands of Juan Fangio at Indy who withdrew from qualification after trying this car in 1958. Indy Winner Scott Dixon was down to drive the car during the Festival of Speed.



Some of you may remember my blog on The Kimberely Cooper Special a Cooper T54 driven by Jack Brabham at Indy in 1961. Today the car is owned by Philippe de Lespinay, it was a treat to see this car in the flesh and to meet Philippe and his wife Kathryn.



There were a handful of vehicles representing manufacturers that have or at least attempted to have been revived including this 1996 Audi V8 Turbo powered Spyker Silvestris V8 Prototype, which looks like it has been kept in a barn for 15 years while still retaining many of the hall marks although with a tad less testosterone of the current Spyler models.



Seeing the Jankowitz Special was a wonderful surprise, though it was very disappointing to see the owner Georg Gebhard embarrass himself by still repeating the myth that discredits the ingenious Jankowits brothers by incorrectly claiming this special was an Alfa Romeo project.



I soon lightened up when I saw this Rolls Royce Phantom Convertible in the car park on the way out. My need for speed satiated by a near perfect day at Goodwood I enjoyed a slow amble home taking the back roads into the sunset through West Sussex, Hampshire and Wiltshire.

Thanks for joining me on this Festival Speed edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I'll be looking at a European bodied one off special owned and driven by a life long competitor. Don't forget to come back now !

Sign of things to come - Kimberly Cooper Special

Today's blog, on the 50th anniversary running of the ' Indy 500' in 1961, comes courtesy of photographs by Ed Arnaudin and Phillippe de Lespinay.



Photo by Ed Arnaudin for lager version click here.

AJ Foyt recorded his first of four victories at Indy in 1961 driving the Bowes Seal Fast Special, a Trevis Roadster, outrunning Ed Sachs and Roger Ward both driving Watson Roadsters.



Also on the grid of the 1961 Indy 500 was a small car built in England driven by an Australian who started 13th and came in 9th, perhaps not a stunning performance but none the less a significant marker for the future designs that would appear at Indianapolis.

The #17 Kimberly Cooper Special, was the smallest car in the field powered by the smallest engine a 270 HP 2750 cc / 167 cui 4 cylinder Coventry Climax which gave away around 150 HP to it's Offenhauser powered opposition. Uniquely that day in May the Cooper had it's Coventry Climax engine mounted behind the driver.

Despite it's power disadvantage which showed in straight line speed the Coopers lighter weight and rear engine configuration gave two time, reigning, World Champion,Jack Brabham a superior handling car going round the corners.

Had the team not made an unscheduled third stop, spending over 8 minutes stationary over three stops 'Black Jack' wound have been in a competitive position at the end of the race.

Cooper never returned to Indianapolis. The marker they had put down with the rear engine layout was taken up by others and by 1969 all Indy 500 qualifiers had engines mounted in the back, a development that was met with some resistance by both organizers and fellow competitors, who were less than thrilled by all manner of new comers turning up and eventually sweeping up the victory spoils.

In 1963 owner Kjell Kvale, believing some hopelessly optimistic performance figures for a 6 cylinder Aston Martin engine had Joe Huffaker install it in 'Black Jacks' 1961 Cooper T54 for Pedro Rodriguez to drive. Due to poor straight line speed Pedro Rodriguez was bumped in qualifying for the 1963 Indy 500.

The unique T54 then passed through 3 hands and by 1977 it had morphed into a Chevrolet powered sprint car. Fortunately many of the original parts that had been replaced in the morphing process had been kept.



Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay

In 1990 Philippe de Lespinay and Robert G Arnold managed to purchase over 70% of the parts belonging to the T54, along with it's original equally storied engine, giving Thomas Beauchamp, Gene Crowe and Quincy Epperly the task of restoring the Cooper back to it's 1961 specification using as all of the recovered original parts, including all of the surviving body panels.



Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay

During the restoration Jack Brabham found time to visit the shop in California and inspect the work in progress.



Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay Monterey 2006

Thirty years after first driving the T54 at Indianapolis Jack Brabham took a belated fairy tale victory to win the 1991 Monterey Cup.



Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay

Since then the T54 has appeared at the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Marconi Automotive Museum, Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and in 2006 was selected as the star of the 2006 Rolex display at Monterey.

In July Philippe will be bring the Kimberly Cooper Special also known as the Cooper Coventry Climax T54 to Goodwood Festival of Speed, where I look forward to seeing the car for the first time in the flesh and meeting Philippe.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for scanning and sending his Dad's photos, to Phillipe de Lespinay for permission to use his photos more of which along with the complete story on the restoration of the T54 may be seen here.

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

Correction in an earlier edit of this blog I incorrectly stated Pedro Rodrigueuz had crashed the Cooper Aston Martin, this was definitely not the case and a case of labelling error by a third party, apologies for any confusion caused.

AAA Champion - Stutz White Squadron Racer

Moving forward a year from yesterdays post today we are looking at this well known 1915 Stutz White Squadron Racer thanks to another photograph by Ed Arnaudin.



The Ideal Motor Company was founded in 1911 by Harry Stutz who entered a vehicle called a Stutz powered with a Wisconsin Motor in the very first Indianapolis 500 in 1911.

Despite having under gone no testing of any sort in preparation for the race Norwegian Gil Anderson started in tenth, qualifying was decided by the order in which the entries were received (!), and completed the full 200 laps in a creditable 11th, the first finisher not to receive any prize money. The entrepreneurial Stutz claimed the result a victory with the strap line 'the car that made good in a day'.

In 1912 Charlie Merz brought his Wisconsin powered Stutz home in 4th and in 1913 went one better with a 3rd place finish. For 1914 Barney Oldfield brought his Stutz home 5th in the '500' again using a Wisconsin engine.

Harry Stutz developed an engine based on the classic 115hp 1914 Mecedes Grand Prix car complete with single overhead cam and 4 valves per cylinder in 1915 and it is this type of vehicle we see in Ed's photograph taken in 1964.

This car was driven and later owned by White Squadron driver Earl Cooper who's story is no less fascinating than his cars. Nebrasken Earl got into racing by borrowing a customers Maxwell in 1904 after the proprietor of the Maxwell dealership Earl was working for refused to sponsor him.

Cooper won first time out beating his boss in the same race which earned him a victory garland and unemployment in the process. Earl decided to pursue racing and by 1912 formed a successful partnership with Stutz securing his first of three eventual AAA National Championships winning 5 out of 8 road races in 1913.

Sidelined for most of the 1914 season and a good part of the early 1915 season for some, as yet unknown to me, medical condition Earl came back strongly with a forth place at Indianapolis going on to win one of two events held at Elgin, IL and a 500 mile speedway race at Snelling MN to take his second championship aboard this particular Stutz.

After winning the war interrupted 1917 Championship Earl retired from full time racing in 1919 only to return in 1922 taking five wins in 1923. Cooper led much of the 1924 Indy 500 only for two separate punctures to force him to settle for a second place finish.

In May 1925 Cooper became the first man to lap Indianapolis at over 110 mph he started that race 4th but finished 17th after leading 4 laps and eventually crashing. Despite starting on pole for his final race at Indianapolis in 1926 Earl's car suffered transmission failure and by 1928 he had retired for good aged 42.

Earl became a team manager building Cooper front wheel drive racing cars, one of which competed at Indianapolis into the the 1940's. He also reacquired the car seen in this photograph in 1938, restored it and then donated it to the Collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles who appear to have loaned the car to the Petersen Museum in LA where it is mostly to be found on display.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for sending me the scan of his Dad's slide and to E.B. of The Nostalgia Forum for identifying this vehicle.

Hope you have enjoyed this AAA Champions edition of 'Getting a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow for a look at the first of two very different Studebakers. Don't forget to come back now !

The Real McCoy - Mini Cooper S

The 1964 Monte Carlo Rally boasted a superb entry including factory backed vehicles from Citroen, Ford, Mercedes, Saab, Volvo, Volkswagen and a fleet of 6 works Mini Coopers.

Starting from Athens, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Lisbon, Minsk, Monte Carlo, Oslo, Paris and Warsaw, the field converged on Rheims in France and from there on to 5 competitive stages and a couple of laps of the Monaco Grand Prix track.

The Ford Falcon Sprint of Bo Ljungfeldt won every stage of the rally including the laps around Monaco but in those days the overall results were determined by a handicapping system which translated stage times and engine size into points which meant Ljungfelds 305 hp 4.7 litre 289 cui Falcon did not have a sufficient time margin over the 70hp 1071cc / 65 cui Mini Cooper S seen here crewed by Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon which was declared the winner of the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally.

33 EJB is thought to have been built in 1963 and crewed by Hopkirk and Liddon to 3rd overall and 3rd in class in the 1963 Tour de France prior to winning the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally.

The car belongs to the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon and is seen here at the Prodrive workshops because the engine was not running properly.

Like the Revenge Mini Replica I blogged about some months ago 33 EJB also has it's Replica's like this one built in the USA.

Finally I'd like to correct an oft repeated error reference the registrations of the works Mini's on the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally seen in the 5th paragraph of this link.

What ever BMW or anyone else may say the registrations of the works Minis on the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964 were as follows :-

33 EJB #37, Hopkirk/Liddon, Cooper S, 1st overall/1st in class.
570 FMO #182 Makinen/Vanson, Cooper S 4th overall/2nd in class
569 FMO #105 Aaltonen/Ambrose, Cooper S 7th overall/3rd in class
477 BBL #39 Baxter/McMillan, Cooper 43rd overall/2nd in class.
18 CRX #187 Thompson/Heys, Cooper S crashed
277 EBL#189 Mayman/Domleo, Cooper S crashed

My thanks to Alan, Tim, Stephen, Darren, Fred at The Nostalgia Forum who helped me out with the registration numbers.

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

Top Class Mini Racer - MINI Cooper S R56

When I first started spectating at motor races Mini's were a feature at many meetings including the very first meeting I went to where my Mum's boss George Barkhuizen won the days feature handicap race in a beige Mini with a white roof and a fuel barrel hanging out of the boot thanks to a recalcitrant boot lock out in Zambia. Mini's were also raced in Britain in spec championships including the 850's seen here at Silverstone usually producing tight racing and close finishes.



1977 World Grand Prix Drivers Champion James Hunt prepared and raced his own Mini when he first got the bug using extreme weight saving measures such as not fitting windscreen wipers. Today spec racing Mini's like David Kirkpatrick's seen at a track day here are very much alive and kicking despite having been out of production since 2000 as indeed are many non spec Mini's with all sort of non standard Mini power units.



On Sunday at the PistonHeads meeting in Cowley I had the opportunity to familiarise myself with the latest in retro MINI spec racing with this MINI Cooper S R56 prepared by OX4 Racing for Chris Oakham who races in the top tier JCW Class of the MINI Challenge.



This spec racer is of course light years ahead of an original spec racing Mini, the JCW division calls for turbocharged 215 hp motors up from the standard R56 192 hp thanks to upgraded induction, exhaust, Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and race spec intercooler.



To help keep the wheels on the road and all that power in check these vehicles are fitted with KW suspension, limited slip differential and 6 (six) piston front brake callipers.



17" control racing tyres, slicks or wets, are mounted on Dynamic rims.



Too make sure every one plays fair the Mini Challenge has dedicated championship scales, enforced 'parc ferme' rules control fuel, limits on the number of tyres used and to keep the driving standards up each vehicle has an on board camera allowing officials to a valuable source of evidence should things appear to get out of hand !



To complete the purpose bred racer look the JCW Class vehicles have an aero package to play around with too !



On the Lo 'E' Nuf Vee Dub Club site Chris Oakham the driver of the #51 Mini Cooper S R56 is known for lashing up Mini's and ripping up cats' eyes with his Passat in between his racing activities. Chris took the #51 to victory lane at Snetterton and finished 6th in the JCW Class rankings last year, it is still unclear what his plans are for this year but I'm sure you will all join me in wishing him every success.



Any one wishing to join in the fun here is a link to the Mini Challenge prospectus. There was a MINI Challenge try out day at Brands Hatch on Saturday 29th January which included trials for novices, those keen to continue could gain medical certification and attend Approved Racing Drivers School courses the same day in order to qualify for racing licences.

If you missed the boat and are interested in taking part you could try sending an e-mail to the address on the Mini Challenge home page, they seem particularly encouraging to fresh recruits. Wishing all competitors a fun and safe championship.

Hope you have enjoyed today's recruiting office edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will all join me again tomorrow for a look at one of my favourite BMW's. Don't forget to come back now !