Showing posts with label Cunningham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cunningham. Show all posts
Thursday, 5 June 2014
Monday, 19 September 2011
Goodwood Revival #1 - Track Action
After four all to brief hours sleep I woke up at 4:30 am on Friday and got togged up in swinging sixtyish accessorized fancy dress which included button collard shirt, period scarf, flat hat and a pair of round blue shades.
By 5.30 am I was headed back towards Lord Marches renowned Goodwood estate, this time to visit his private race track which I had not seen since in 1987. Back then I was visiting to take part in a track day, the circuit had not been used for racing since 1966 and the facilities were in a sad state of disrepair.
Five years after the runaway success of the inaugural 1993 Goodwood Festival of Speed, held on a special hill climb track round the main buildings of his estate, Lord March decided to revive events on his racing circuit with an event dedicated to vehicles that raced in the Circuits halcyon days from 1948 to 1966.
The Revival has become a huge fancy dress party covering possibly the most optimistic two decades the Western World has ever known. More on the fancy dress side of the Revival will follow with a special blog on Saturday. Like the Festival of Speed the Goodwood Revival has also become a runaway success both racing days this year were completely sold out. Seen here a Standard 6CWT Pickup, XK140 and a Mk2 Jaguar.
I got to the track in plenty of time to catch all the practice sesions which were held on the Friday, but I had not counted on spending well over an hour dribbling around the car park reserved for those spectators arriving in classic cars ! The first action I caught on track came courtesy of the touring cars, here Brian Redman in his Mercedes Benz 300SE leads another former Grand Prix driver and, in my humble opinion, one of the better former Top Gear presenters, Tiff Needell driving a Ford Anglia through Woodcote.
Organisers hoped to gather 15 Supermarine Spitfires at last weekends event here a Mk5, short wing 5 blade screw Mk 15 and two seater Mk9 fly past these awesome machines are powered by 24 litre / 1465 cui Rolls Royce Merlin motors.
Ford of Britain celebrated it's centenary with a stupendous collection of passenger, military and commercial vehicles, none quite as breathtaking as the Ford 3 litre / 183 cui formula 1 DFV powered Ford P68 /F3L designed by Len Bailey and built by Alan Mann Racing. Jim Clark was to have driven this car on it's debut at Brands Hatch but because of conflicting tyre contracts Jim ended up racing a Formula 2 car at Hockenheim with fatal consequences.
Surprise car of the meeting that I had never heard of before is the #23 Marina Special powered by Rolls Royce V8 driven by Mark Ashworth, turns out this car was built by Alan MacDonald at the Beagle Aircraft Hanger in Shoreham for Alan Mann who would later be responsible for the Ford P68. Rolls Royce were not in the least impressed with the Marina RR and the car appears to have been exiled in Belgium for fear that it might be impounded.
Ueber Formula One aerodynamicist Adrian Newey has an important day job at with reigning Formula One Champions Red Bull Racing, during this rare weekend off he teamed up to drive the #25 E-type Jagaur with 10 time Grand Prix winner Gerhard Berger. Some interesting tweaks to the boot lid helped the pair stick this car on pole over 2 seconds clear of the rest of the field for Saturdays Fordwater Trophy Race.
I had never seen or heard a screaming formula Junior car before Friday and their 1100 cc / 67 cui 4 cylinder scream enough to make your eyes water. The #9 Elfin Ford above of Bill Hemming was one of two Antipodean designed and built Formula Junior cars entered in the Chichester Cup.
Among the many features was a display of cars driven by the first five time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio. The #1 Maserati 250 F seen above was driven by Fangio to his last and perhaps the most masterful Grand Prix victory of all time at the Nurburging in 1957, after a botched pit stop Fangio made up over 50 seconds on two Ferrari's over taking them on the penultimate lap and holding on to win by three seconds. Seen at the wheel of a 250F for the first time in his trade mark hat is Sir Jackie Stewart, who by his own admission also drove his finest race at the Nurburgring winning a wet and foggy 1968 German Grand Prix by four minutes despite driving round the torturous 14 mile track with a broken wrist !
Among many evocative vehicles of US origin at Goodwood was this 1953 Chrsyler Hemi powered Cunningham C4R replica roadster, initially designed to compete at Le Mans, driven by Ben Shuckburgh during practice for the in the Freddie March Memorial Race.
The Madgwick Cup for under 3 litre / 183 cui sports cars built between 1960 and 1966 featured this rare Elva Porsche Mk 7P driven by Helmut Ries. Most Elva's entered for the Madgwick Cup were BMW powered.
The Richmond Trophy of the last front engined Grand Prix Cars had a fittingly international entry of vehicles, Hubert Fabri is seen here at the wheel of his Aston Martin DBR4.
The one and only Stig Blomquvist, 1984 World Rally Champion, mercifully no relation to the poor imitation on Top Gear, shared the 2 stroke #28 1963 Saab 96 Sport with Anders Jensen seen here at the wheel during the second touring car practice for the St Mary's Trophy.
I made time to take a break from the on track action to catch fellow blogger artist Paul Chenard who came all the way from Nova Scotia to promote his latest publication the illustrated story of the 1934 Grand Prix season "Silver Clouds". Apparently the Daimler Benz Museum were so impressed with this hand bound limited edition they have acquired two copies. Going fast, act now ! To avoid forthcoming seasonal disappointment you can contact Paul to order your copy on his blog here.
A number of incidents during the days qualifying sessions for the races held on Saturday and Sunday conspired to delay the proceedings by up to an hour. Gerhard Berger, sharing Grahame Bryant's #1 AC Cobra entered in the Glover RAC TT Celebration race, left the course going into Woodcote,
the resultant damage precluded the vehicles participation in the rest of the weekends proceedings.
Fortunately Gerhard was not seriously injured and finished second sharing Adrian Newey's E-type Jaguar in the Fordwater Trophy Race on the Saturday.
The 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui era of Formula One goes back to the heyday of British driver participation in Grand Prix racing when Graham Hill, Jim Clark and John Surtees took three consecutive World titles from 1962 to 1964 and Jim Clark won his second title in 1965. Above Kurt DelBene in the 1964 #29 BRP-BRM, Roy Walzer the 1964 #1 Brabham Climax BT11 and Paul Drayson in the 1962 #18 Lotus BRM during qualifying for the Glover Trophy. This era of cars were immortalised in the film Grand Prix, though many of the chassis used in the film are actually cheaper Formula Juniors.
For romantic dreamers like myself there is a sad tale to relate to the prototype E2A 'VKV 752' seen here being driven by Tony Dron. This was the second of two E type Jaguar prototypes featuring components including the independent rear suspension that would be carried over into the production 'E-Type' model.
E2A was driven at Le Mans by Hangsen & Gurney without success in 1960 and used by the Cunningham team in the USA with Sir Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren amongst others at the wheel scoring a single minor victory against weak opposition. In 1961 Jaguar used E2A as a test mule back in England.
Roger Woodley Jaguar's customer competition manager at the time was allowed to save E2A from the scrap heap on condition that the car would not be raced again. Sadly the first thing new owner Stefan Ziegler did after acquiring E2A for US$4,957,000 was turn E2A into a weapons grade racer and disregard Jaguars request that the car not be raced again.
Seems rather pointless when any number of weapons grade 'D-types' can be acquired for a fraction of the cost of E2A. More on the 'to race or not to race E2A' argument can be seen on this Nostalgia Forum thread.
After the qualifying sessions were over it was time to head back through the spectators Classic Car Park, I could have stayed longer but it was getting to the dark end of an already long day.
Thanks for joining me on this Goodwood Revival edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I will continue to bring you more stories from Goodwood all week, I hope you will join me again for the first anniversary edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres' tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
By 5.30 am I was headed back towards Lord Marches renowned Goodwood estate, this time to visit his private race track which I had not seen since in 1987. Back then I was visiting to take part in a track day, the circuit had not been used for racing since 1966 and the facilities were in a sad state of disrepair.
Five years after the runaway success of the inaugural 1993 Goodwood Festival of Speed, held on a special hill climb track round the main buildings of his estate, Lord March decided to revive events on his racing circuit with an event dedicated to vehicles that raced in the Circuits halcyon days from 1948 to 1966.
The Revival has become a huge fancy dress party covering possibly the most optimistic two decades the Western World has ever known. More on the fancy dress side of the Revival will follow with a special blog on Saturday. Like the Festival of Speed the Goodwood Revival has also become a runaway success both racing days this year were completely sold out. Seen here a Standard 6CWT Pickup, XK140 and a Mk2 Jaguar.
I got to the track in plenty of time to catch all the practice sesions which were held on the Friday, but I had not counted on spending well over an hour dribbling around the car park reserved for those spectators arriving in classic cars ! The first action I caught on track came courtesy of the touring cars, here Brian Redman in his Mercedes Benz 300SE leads another former Grand Prix driver and, in my humble opinion, one of the better former Top Gear presenters, Tiff Needell driving a Ford Anglia through Woodcote.
Organisers hoped to gather 15 Supermarine Spitfires at last weekends event here a Mk5, short wing 5 blade screw Mk 15 and two seater Mk9 fly past these awesome machines are powered by 24 litre / 1465 cui Rolls Royce Merlin motors.
Ford of Britain celebrated it's centenary with a stupendous collection of passenger, military and commercial vehicles, none quite as breathtaking as the Ford 3 litre / 183 cui formula 1 DFV powered Ford P68 /F3L designed by Len Bailey and built by Alan Mann Racing. Jim Clark was to have driven this car on it's debut at Brands Hatch but because of conflicting tyre contracts Jim ended up racing a Formula 2 car at Hockenheim with fatal consequences.
Surprise car of the meeting that I had never heard of before is the #23 Marina Special powered by Rolls Royce V8 driven by Mark Ashworth, turns out this car was built by Alan MacDonald at the Beagle Aircraft Hanger in Shoreham for Alan Mann who would later be responsible for the Ford P68. Rolls Royce were not in the least impressed with the Marina RR and the car appears to have been exiled in Belgium for fear that it might be impounded.
Ueber Formula One aerodynamicist Adrian Newey has an important day job at with reigning Formula One Champions Red Bull Racing, during this rare weekend off he teamed up to drive the #25 E-type Jagaur with 10 time Grand Prix winner Gerhard Berger. Some interesting tweaks to the boot lid helped the pair stick this car on pole over 2 seconds clear of the rest of the field for Saturdays Fordwater Trophy Race.
I had never seen or heard a screaming formula Junior car before Friday and their 1100 cc / 67 cui 4 cylinder scream enough to make your eyes water. The #9 Elfin Ford above of Bill Hemming was one of two Antipodean designed and built Formula Junior cars entered in the Chichester Cup.
Among the many features was a display of cars driven by the first five time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio. The #1 Maserati 250 F seen above was driven by Fangio to his last and perhaps the most masterful Grand Prix victory of all time at the Nurburging in 1957, after a botched pit stop Fangio made up over 50 seconds on two Ferrari's over taking them on the penultimate lap and holding on to win by three seconds. Seen at the wheel of a 250F for the first time in his trade mark hat is Sir Jackie Stewart, who by his own admission also drove his finest race at the Nurburgring winning a wet and foggy 1968 German Grand Prix by four minutes despite driving round the torturous 14 mile track with a broken wrist !
Among many evocative vehicles of US origin at Goodwood was this 1953 Chrsyler Hemi powered Cunningham C4R replica roadster, initially designed to compete at Le Mans, driven by Ben Shuckburgh during practice for the in the Freddie March Memorial Race.
The Madgwick Cup for under 3 litre / 183 cui sports cars built between 1960 and 1966 featured this rare Elva Porsche Mk 7P driven by Helmut Ries. Most Elva's entered for the Madgwick Cup were BMW powered.
The Richmond Trophy of the last front engined Grand Prix Cars had a fittingly international entry of vehicles, Hubert Fabri is seen here at the wheel of his Aston Martin DBR4.
The one and only Stig Blomquvist, 1984 World Rally Champion, mercifully no relation to the poor imitation on Top Gear, shared the 2 stroke #28 1963 Saab 96 Sport with Anders Jensen seen here at the wheel during the second touring car practice for the St Mary's Trophy.
I made time to take a break from the on track action to catch fellow blogger artist Paul Chenard who came all the way from Nova Scotia to promote his latest publication the illustrated story of the 1934 Grand Prix season "Silver Clouds". Apparently the Daimler Benz Museum were so impressed with this hand bound limited edition they have acquired two copies. Going fast, act now ! To avoid forthcoming seasonal disappointment you can contact Paul to order your copy on his blog here.
A number of incidents during the days qualifying sessions for the races held on Saturday and Sunday conspired to delay the proceedings by up to an hour. Gerhard Berger, sharing Grahame Bryant's #1 AC Cobra entered in the Glover RAC TT Celebration race, left the course going into Woodcote,
the resultant damage precluded the vehicles participation in the rest of the weekends proceedings.
Fortunately Gerhard was not seriously injured and finished second sharing Adrian Newey's E-type Jaguar in the Fordwater Trophy Race on the Saturday.
The 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui era of Formula One goes back to the heyday of British driver participation in Grand Prix racing when Graham Hill, Jim Clark and John Surtees took three consecutive World titles from 1962 to 1964 and Jim Clark won his second title in 1965. Above Kurt DelBene in the 1964 #29 BRP-BRM, Roy Walzer the 1964 #1 Brabham Climax BT11 and Paul Drayson in the 1962 #18 Lotus BRM during qualifying for the Glover Trophy. This era of cars were immortalised in the film Grand Prix, though many of the chassis used in the film are actually cheaper Formula Juniors.
For romantic dreamers like myself there is a sad tale to relate to the prototype E2A 'VKV 752' seen here being driven by Tony Dron. This was the second of two E type Jaguar prototypes featuring components including the independent rear suspension that would be carried over into the production 'E-Type' model.
E2A was driven at Le Mans by Hangsen & Gurney without success in 1960 and used by the Cunningham team in the USA with Sir Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren amongst others at the wheel scoring a single minor victory against weak opposition. In 1961 Jaguar used E2A as a test mule back in England.
Roger Woodley Jaguar's customer competition manager at the time was allowed to save E2A from the scrap heap on condition that the car would not be raced again. Sadly the first thing new owner Stefan Ziegler did after acquiring E2A for US$4,957,000 was turn E2A into a weapons grade racer and disregard Jaguars request that the car not be raced again.
Seems rather pointless when any number of weapons grade 'D-types' can be acquired for a fraction of the cost of E2A. More on the 'to race or not to race E2A' argument can be seen on this Nostalgia Forum thread.
After the qualifying sessions were over it was time to head back through the spectators Classic Car Park, I could have stayed longer but it was getting to the dark end of an already long day.
Thanks for joining me on this Goodwood Revival edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I will continue to bring you more stories from Goodwood all week, I hope you will join me again for the first anniversary edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres' tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Sister doing it for her self - OSCA Tipo S-187
Today we return to Lime Rock in 1959 courtesy of Ed Arnaudin for a look at this OSCA Tipo S-187 belonging to Briggs Cunningham.
Officine Specializzate Costruzioni Automobili - Fratelli Maserati SpA was set up by the three racing mad Maserati brothers Ernesto, Ettore and Bindo after their involvement with the company bearing their own name had concluded with it's sale to Adolfo Orsi in 1937 and the expiry of their subsequent 10 year consulting contracts in 1947.
The brothers focused on building extremely successful sports cars primarily with engines of 750 cc / 45 cui to 1500 cc / 91.5 cui. Cunningham's car seen here appears to be one of 17 Tipo S-187's built from 1956 - 1960 with a 70 hp 749 cc / 45 cui twin cam engine with a, for the time, high 9:1 compression ratio.
The real story behind the #23 OSCA on this day in 1959 however is the driver who took the car to victory lane, one D McCluggage from Kansas, who is well known for breaking down discriminating and prejudicial barriers in journalism and at the race track, simply D stands for Denise.
As well as regularly whooping all the boys on the race track she is a seasoned motor sports journalist who was famously sent to Indianapolis by The Herald Tribune only to find she was barred from the press box, pit lane AND garage area, unperturbed she got her story from elsewhere round the track and published anyway.
Phil Hill later described the prevailing attitude at the time "It's a bit embarrassing to me, given today's enlightened attitudes, to admit that in the late 50s I was a bit disturbed by the idea of this woman driver. It wasn't a matter of feeling threatened, but like many men in that period, I had trouble understanding what kind of statement Denise might be making with her driving efforts. The fact is, gender stereotypes aside, she was holding her own on the track."
All Denise wanted to do was win and she did often, after her career as a professional driver was over she became a founding light at AutoWeek where her accomplishments are still scene as an example for others to follow.
Denise recently became the only Journalist to ever be inducted into the Automotive Hall of fame and at over 70 she still writes her 'Drive, She Said' column syndicated in over 90 newspapers across the US and Canada.
Hat's off to Denise gentleman, for waking us up to our equals !
Thanks to Steve and Ed Arnaudin for the photograph, and to Terry O'Neil for the race day information.
Hope you have enjoyed today's prejudice free edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me tomorrow for a look at a splendid vintage Triumph Dolomite. Don't forget to come back now !
Officine Specializzate Costruzioni Automobili - Fratelli Maserati SpA was set up by the three racing mad Maserati brothers Ernesto, Ettore and Bindo after their involvement with the company bearing their own name had concluded with it's sale to Adolfo Orsi in 1937 and the expiry of their subsequent 10 year consulting contracts in 1947.
The brothers focused on building extremely successful sports cars primarily with engines of 750 cc / 45 cui to 1500 cc / 91.5 cui. Cunningham's car seen here appears to be one of 17 Tipo S-187's built from 1956 - 1960 with a 70 hp 749 cc / 45 cui twin cam engine with a, for the time, high 9:1 compression ratio.
The real story behind the #23 OSCA on this day in 1959 however is the driver who took the car to victory lane, one D McCluggage from Kansas, who is well known for breaking down discriminating and prejudicial barriers in journalism and at the race track, simply D stands for Denise.
As well as regularly whooping all the boys on the race track she is a seasoned motor sports journalist who was famously sent to Indianapolis by The Herald Tribune only to find she was barred from the press box, pit lane AND garage area, unperturbed she got her story from elsewhere round the track and published anyway.
Phil Hill later described the prevailing attitude at the time "It's a bit embarrassing to me, given today's enlightened attitudes, to admit that in the late 50s I was a bit disturbed by the idea of this woman driver. It wasn't a matter of feeling threatened, but like many men in that period, I had trouble understanding what kind of statement Denise might be making with her driving efforts. The fact is, gender stereotypes aside, she was holding her own on the track."
All Denise wanted to do was win and she did often, after her career as a professional driver was over she became a founding light at AutoWeek where her accomplishments are still scene as an example for others to follow.
Denise recently became the only Journalist to ever be inducted into the Automotive Hall of fame and at over 70 she still writes her 'Drive, She Said' column syndicated in over 90 newspapers across the US and Canada.
Hat's off to Denise gentleman, for waking us up to our equals !
Thanks to Steve and Ed Arnaudin for the photograph, and to Terry O'Neil for the race day information.
Hope you have enjoyed today's prejudice free edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me tomorrow for a look at a splendid vintage Triumph Dolomite. Don't forget to come back now !
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Knobbly Cat - #61 Lister Jaguar
Thanks again to Steve and Ed Arnaudin for today's photos from Lime Rock in April / May 1959.
The story of the Jaguar powered Lister is that it only came about despite the initial reticence of builder Brian Lister and that it was only after a) the failure of the difficult to maintain Maserati engines which powered Listers in 1956 to improve on the the Lister Bristol of 1955, b) a diamond merchant Norman Hillwood had dropped a 300 hp Jaguar D type engine into his own second hand chassis after Brian had refused to do it for him and c) Jaguar supremo Sir William Lyons had shown his enthusiasm for supplying Lister with the D-type power train in order to back up the private D-types of Ecurie Ecosse to double the odds against the increasingly competitive Aston Martins that Brian Lister eventually saw sense and built 17 series 1 'Knobbly' Jaguar powered Listers and between six and eight more with small block Chevrolet motors from 1957 - 1958.
The #61 Lister Jaguar seen here is one of the Cunningham team cars, Ed Arnaudin's photo throws up a mystery since neither the Cunningham Website or Terry O'Neils Northeast American Sports car races 1950 - 1959 list the car as being present at Lime Rock for the April 24th meeting that got held over to May 9th after rain stopped play and the cops shut the show down on the original date.
The best fit theory thrown up on The Nostalgia Forum is the possibility that this car had different gearing to the #62 Lister Jaguar that was raced by Briggs Cunningham that day and may have been used for comparison by Briggs Cunningham.
With thanks to all those on The Nostalgia Forum Lister Register thread who contributed including David McKinney , raceanouncer 2003 Vince H, RA Historian Tom and Terry O'Neil.
Hope you have enjoyed today's Knobby Cat edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me for the concluding edition of this Jaguar week featuring a vehicle that out qualified Stirling Moss driving a Maserati 250 F in a historic race. Don't forget to come back now !
The story of the Jaguar powered Lister is that it only came about despite the initial reticence of builder Brian Lister and that it was only after a) the failure of the difficult to maintain Maserati engines which powered Listers in 1956 to improve on the the Lister Bristol of 1955, b) a diamond merchant Norman Hillwood had dropped a 300 hp Jaguar D type engine into his own second hand chassis after Brian had refused to do it for him and c) Jaguar supremo Sir William Lyons had shown his enthusiasm for supplying Lister with the D-type power train in order to back up the private D-types of Ecurie Ecosse to double the odds against the increasingly competitive Aston Martins that Brian Lister eventually saw sense and built 17 series 1 'Knobbly' Jaguar powered Listers and between six and eight more with small block Chevrolet motors from 1957 - 1958.
The #61 Lister Jaguar seen here is one of the Cunningham team cars, Ed Arnaudin's photo throws up a mystery since neither the Cunningham Website or Terry O'Neils Northeast American Sports car races 1950 - 1959 list the car as being present at Lime Rock for the April 24th meeting that got held over to May 9th after rain stopped play and the cops shut the show down on the original date.
The best fit theory thrown up on The Nostalgia Forum is the possibility that this car had different gearing to the #62 Lister Jaguar that was raced by Briggs Cunningham that day and may have been used for comparison by Briggs Cunningham.
With thanks to all those on The Nostalgia Forum Lister Register thread who contributed including David McKinney , raceanouncer 2003 Vince H, RA Historian Tom and Terry O'Neil.
Hope you have enjoyed today's Knobby Cat edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me for the concluding edition of this Jaguar week featuring a vehicle that out qualified Stirling Moss driving a Maserati 250 F in a historic race. Don't forget to come back now !
Sunday, 7 November 2010
The conspicuous underdog - 'Petit Pataud' Replica 2/2
Today I'll be sharing some details about John Aibels fabulous 'Petit Pataud' Replica 1950 Series 61 Cadillac Coupe, if you missed the story about the original here is a link to yesterdays post.
John found his bottom of the range Series 61 Cadillac with the correct Petit Pataud 121" wheel base in Iowa, it did not have the optional power windows, amazing I had no idea they had even been thought of in 1950, but Johns car was originally fitted with a Hydra - Matic automatic transmission and he went to considerable trouble to locate a correct manual one as used at Le Mans, an item difficult to find because it is also the transmission of choice amongst hot rodders.
Being a volunteer at CAM (The Collier Collection) John was given access to the original and correctly identified the Marchal driving lights, GI two way radio among many other parts, and noted how and where they were correctly installed. It took around a year to meticulously hunt down these items on E-Bay and to collect all the bits and pieces prior to the car being sent to a restoration shop for a three year restoration.
The car is fitted with a roll bar and five point harness though John is a little sceptical about the capability of the drum brakes to handle serious competition, I am not sure he has the Alfin drums and additional brake ducting
Cunningham had fitted to the original.
Apparently the Cunnigham 'Petit Pataud' was used as both a tow car and shop vehicle after its sturdy service at Le Mans, evidence of this can be seen in this link to a photo of the restored original where a chrome tow hitch cover is plain to see under the bumper, also the original no longer has the 35 gallon long range fuel tank and filler as can be clearly seen on the passenger side of Johns car just behind the C pillar.
He says of his car "You are right everytime we drive the car we get the thumbs up and smiles from a lot of people. It also drives great, it is very comfortable, it just soaks up the bumbs on the roads. She rolls like a ship in the turns, but holds very well."
I'd like to thank John for sharing his photo's and thoughts on his marvellous motor car, a reminder of a golden age of optimism, a time when with a few good connections a showroom car fitted with a double barrel carburettor, some French springs, a long range fuel tank and GI two way radio you could compete in one of, if not the most romantic race in the world.
Thanks also again to Chief 187 who so thoughtfully set these last two blogs up for me.
Hope you have enjoyed this weekends extraordinary vehicle, new followers and comments are always appreciated and a useful tool to help me source more for you in future, thanks for dropping by don't forget to come back now !
Slightly off topic, today is a big day for all three contenders in the post season NASCAR Chase for the Cup, covered by less than 40 points the only strategy to win the cup now has to be to win the next three races, looking forward to seeing if Kevin Harvick can step up to the plate and pull it off. Go Harvick ! Go #29 ! Go Happy !
10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.
John found his bottom of the range Series 61 Cadillac with the correct Petit Pataud 121" wheel base in Iowa, it did not have the optional power windows, amazing I had no idea they had even been thought of in 1950, but Johns car was originally fitted with a Hydra - Matic automatic transmission and he went to considerable trouble to locate a correct manual one as used at Le Mans, an item difficult to find because it is also the transmission of choice amongst hot rodders.
Being a volunteer at CAM (The Collier Collection) John was given access to the original and correctly identified the Marchal driving lights, GI two way radio among many other parts, and noted how and where they were correctly installed. It took around a year to meticulously hunt down these items on E-Bay and to collect all the bits and pieces prior to the car being sent to a restoration shop for a three year restoration.
The car is fitted with a roll bar and five point harness though John is a little sceptical about the capability of the drum brakes to handle serious competition, I am not sure he has the Alfin drums and additional brake ducting
Cunningham had fitted to the original.
Apparently the Cunnigham 'Petit Pataud' was used as both a tow car and shop vehicle after its sturdy service at Le Mans, evidence of this can be seen in this link to a photo of the restored original where a chrome tow hitch cover is plain to see under the bumper, also the original no longer has the 35 gallon long range fuel tank and filler as can be clearly seen on the passenger side of Johns car just behind the C pillar.
He says of his car "You are right everytime we drive the car we get the thumbs up and smiles from a lot of people. It also drives great, it is very comfortable, it just soaks up the bumbs on the roads. She rolls like a ship in the turns, but holds very well."
I'd like to thank John for sharing his photo's and thoughts on his marvellous motor car, a reminder of a golden age of optimism, a time when with a few good connections a showroom car fitted with a double barrel carburettor, some French springs, a long range fuel tank and GI two way radio you could compete in one of, if not the most romantic race in the world.
Thanks also again to Chief 187 who so thoughtfully set these last two blogs up for me.
Hope you have enjoyed this weekends extraordinary vehicle, new followers and comments are always appreciated and a useful tool to help me source more for you in future, thanks for dropping by don't forget to come back now !
Slightly off topic, today is a big day for all three contenders in the post season NASCAR Chase for the Cup, covered by less than 40 points the only strategy to win the cup now has to be to win the next three races, looking forward to seeing if Kevin Harvick can step up to the plate and pull it off. Go Harvick ! Go #29 ! Go Happy !
10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
The conspicuous underdog - 'Petit Pataud' Replica 1/2
It's a great honour to feature on 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' a 'Petit Pataud' replica belonging to John Aibel. This will be another two part blog starting today with the history of the real 'Petit Pataud' finishing tomorrow with some of the fascinating details about this faithful replica.
The 'Petit Pataud' legend starts with an invitation from 1949 Le Mans winner Luigi Chinnetti to facilitate an entry in the 1950 Le Mans entry for Briggs Cunningham.
Seeking advice from a well respected mechanic Bill Frick, Cunningham made a false start building a hot rod like device by dropping a Cadillac V8 into a Ford body and dubbed a Fordillac. If any one knows of any pics of this 'device' please leave a message below.
The Le Mans organisers deemed the Fordillac ineligible so Briggs bought two showroom 1950 Series 61 Cadillac Coupes one was given an open aluminium body devised by employees of the Grumman aircraft manufacturer and dubbed 'Le Monstre' by the French press, the other was more modestly prepared for endurance racing by Frick - Tappett Motors and dubbed with typical French irony 'Petit Pataud' 'little clumsy' a name I believe usually referring to new born pups.
The Cunningham team were surprised to find 'Petit Pataud' the more or less stock underdog of the stable driven by Miles and Sam Collier proved quicker than the heavily modified 'Le Monstre' straight out of the box. Though this was rectified during the course of practice for the race.
The 24 hours of Le Mans had an unusual start procedure, drivers stood on the opposite side of the track from the car and at the drop of the flag sprinted across the track and jumped in to their cars fired them up and drove off, in a piece of comedy reminiscent of a 'Herbie' film 'Petit Pataud's' doors were found to be locked after it's driver sprinted across the track at the start, fortunately the window was open so he reached inside to unlock the door from the inside !
Miles Collier who raced in the 1939 Le Mans race advised Briggs to equip his cars with fold away shovels in case either car found itself buried in the famously unforgiving artificial sand banks installed to prevent the more wayward vehicles from venturing too far from the notoriously fast and dangerous circuit.
Briggs rejected the advice and paid the price on lap 2 of the race when he found himself trapped in the sand bank at the end of the 4 mile long Mulsanne straight, Briggs probably wasted several minuets borrowing a shovel from a spectator and wasting half an hour successfully digging his car out and resuming the race.
'Petit Pataud' meanwhile as to be expected from a land yacht was sailing along at a nice and steady pace reaching 120 mph on the Mulsanne and running 1,956 miles to average 81.5 mph for 24 hours and finish in a commendable 10th place overall, 2nd in class behind a Cadillac powered Allard.
Briggs and Phil Walters brought 'Le Monstre' in one lap down, about the time it would have taken to borrow a shovel, on 'Petit Pataud', a small victory for the clumsy team underdog perhaps but just the stuff of legends that makes Le Mans such a fascinating race.
Tomorrow I'll continue with details about Johns fabulous replica and some surprising differences with the restored original which make Johns car today arguably closer to the original Le Mans spec as raced in 1950.
Thanks to Chief 187 who set up my connection with John Aibel, and thanks to John, unfortunately I was not able to visit Florida to take these magnificent pics which he kindly sent to me.
Thanks for stopping by wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, don't forget to come back now !
10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.
The 'Petit Pataud' legend starts with an invitation from 1949 Le Mans winner Luigi Chinnetti to facilitate an entry in the 1950 Le Mans entry for Briggs Cunningham.
Seeking advice from a well respected mechanic Bill Frick, Cunningham made a false start building a hot rod like device by dropping a Cadillac V8 into a Ford body and dubbed a Fordillac. If any one knows of any pics of this 'device' please leave a message below.
The Le Mans organisers deemed the Fordillac ineligible so Briggs bought two showroom 1950 Series 61 Cadillac Coupes one was given an open aluminium body devised by employees of the Grumman aircraft manufacturer and dubbed 'Le Monstre' by the French press, the other was more modestly prepared for endurance racing by Frick - Tappett Motors and dubbed with typical French irony 'Petit Pataud' 'little clumsy' a name I believe usually referring to new born pups.
The Cunningham team were surprised to find 'Petit Pataud' the more or less stock underdog of the stable driven by Miles and Sam Collier proved quicker than the heavily modified 'Le Monstre' straight out of the box. Though this was rectified during the course of practice for the race.
The 24 hours of Le Mans had an unusual start procedure, drivers stood on the opposite side of the track from the car and at the drop of the flag sprinted across the track and jumped in to their cars fired them up and drove off, in a piece of comedy reminiscent of a 'Herbie' film 'Petit Pataud's' doors were found to be locked after it's driver sprinted across the track at the start, fortunately the window was open so he reached inside to unlock the door from the inside !
Miles Collier who raced in the 1939 Le Mans race advised Briggs to equip his cars with fold away shovels in case either car found itself buried in the famously unforgiving artificial sand banks installed to prevent the more wayward vehicles from venturing too far from the notoriously fast and dangerous circuit.
Briggs rejected the advice and paid the price on lap 2 of the race when he found himself trapped in the sand bank at the end of the 4 mile long Mulsanne straight, Briggs probably wasted several minuets borrowing a shovel from a spectator and wasting half an hour successfully digging his car out and resuming the race.
'Petit Pataud' meanwhile as to be expected from a land yacht was sailing along at a nice and steady pace reaching 120 mph on the Mulsanne and running 1,956 miles to average 81.5 mph for 24 hours and finish in a commendable 10th place overall, 2nd in class behind a Cadillac powered Allard.
Briggs and Phil Walters brought 'Le Monstre' in one lap down, about the time it would have taken to borrow a shovel, on 'Petit Pataud', a small victory for the clumsy team underdog perhaps but just the stuff of legends that makes Le Mans such a fascinating race.
Tomorrow I'll continue with details about Johns fabulous replica and some surprising differences with the restored original which make Johns car today arguably closer to the original Le Mans spec as raced in 1950.
Thanks to Chief 187 who set up my connection with John Aibel, and thanks to John, unfortunately I was not able to visit Florida to take these magnificent pics which he kindly sent to me.
Thanks for stopping by wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, don't forget to come back now !
10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)