Gould Charge - Penske PC10

For 1982 Roger Penske had his manufacturing team in Poole, Dorset, England, where all his open wheelers were made, build 6 Penske PC10's designed by Geoff Ferris. The cars were ready in October 1981, drivers Rick Mears and Kevin Cogan completed 3000 miles of testing during the off season. AJ Foyt said of the legendary Penske preparation "The rest of us are trying to do as much in six days as Penske took six months to do."

Photo by Ed Arnaudin. Rick Mears, took pole at with a record 207 mph average speed in the #1 Gould Charge seen here on the warm up lap for the race, and Kevin Coogan started 2nd with a 204 mph 4 lap average. The first two spots on the grid were sown up just 9 minuets after qualification had started on Pole Day. AJ Foyt filled out the front row. The 1982 is best remembered for an accident at the start that took out Kevin Coogan, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Dale Whittington and Roger Mears. Blame for the incident was placed on the inexperienced Penske new boy Kevin Cogan, though the cause of the accident has ever been satisfactorily explained, it came to light many years later that Rick Mears had a similar incident in another PC10 during private testing that was kept out of the media at the time. AJ Foyt managed to get out for the second attempt to start the 1982 Indy 500 but neither the repairs to Foyt's #14 March nor the months of preparation at Penske were enough to keep Gordon Johncock, driving a Wildcat, from taking a photo finish victory in which Johncock held off Mears by just 0.16 secs. During a 15 year Champ Car Career Rick Mears won 3 CART Championships, a record equalling, with Foyt and Al Unser, 4 Indy 500 victories and an unequalled six Indy 500 poles. Rick also took the most CART Championship race wins during the 1980's. While Mears and Penske lost the battle at Indy in 1982, they took a second consecutive championship in 1982. The following season Al Unser Snr won the championship driving a Penske PC10B after the intended replacement PC11 proved unequal to the performance of the older car after the 1983 Indy 500. Those interested in what lies beneath the super streamlined body of the PC10 might be interested to see a series of photos, taken by the extraordinary cutaway artist Tony Matthews, posted on The Nostalgia Forum, see post three and down of this PC10 thread. My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for the scan of his Dad's photo. Thanks for joining me for this Gould Charge edition of 'Getting a little psycho on tyres' I hope that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Masking Tape Special - Ferrari LWB 250 GT California Spyder #0919

For Ferrari Friday today we have Steve Arnaudin to thank for sending his Dad Ed Arnaudins pictures for me to share, the vehicle we are looking at today is a Ferrari LWB 250 GT California Spyder at Lime Rock, Terry O'Neil's book 'Northeast American Sports Car Races 1950 - 1959' * suggests these photographs might have been taken on the 9th May 1959 from a meeting held over form the 24th April 1959.

Allegedly when it started raining during the second race on the original date Connecticut Law Enforcement officers moved in to cancel the rest of the days activities !



This 250 GT California Spyder LWB was powered by a 240 hp 2,953 cc /180 cui Colombo designed V12 similar to that in the 250 GT Ellena featured last week. The car is capable of in excess of 140 mph.



The California was the brain child of US importers Jon von Neuman and Luigi Chinetti who wanted a competition car for their biggest market from which the car derives it's name, the interior is deliberately sparton with a 'small' heater the only concession to occupants comfort. Notice there is no seat harness.



The bodywork by Scarglietti on this car was made from steel there were two body types available one with closed in headlights seen here the other with regular headlights lights on the front of the wings, this is particularly important because Bob Grossman the driver seen here drove both sorts of body style and both were painted silver. Seven competition versions of the California Spyder were built with aluminium alloy bodies again in both body styles.

Note despite the absence of a seat harness the car is fitted with a roll bar behind the drivers head. It is not clear why Bob added several rolls of masking tape to the front of his car, it may have been a cheap way to protect his paintwork from chips, scratches nicks and bugs.



Originally finished in dark red this chassis #0919, one of just 45 examples, was built in 1958 and sold to Julio Batista Falla in Cuba before Bob Grossman turned up with it in silver and raced it within the USA, clocking up several wins and class victories in SCCA sanctioned events.

Bob more famously raced another silver 250 GT California in 1959, chassis #1451 one of the seven original competition spec vehicles featuring all aluminium bodies, but curiously without the headlight fairings.

#1451 was part of a three car attack on the 1959 Le Mans 24 hour race by the North American Racing Team, Bob and Fernand Tavano came in 5th overall and 3rd in class (not 1st in class as erroneously stated by an auction house recently). Bob also won the Nassau Memorial Trophy Race in #1451.

(Paragraph on subsequent history of #1451 removed 03/04/11)

My thanks again to Steve & Ed Arnaudin, hope you have enjoyed Ferrari Friday at Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres, looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings, don't forget to come back now !

* Please note :- I do not in anyway endorse, or have any commercial interest in the products or distributors highlighted in today's feature, I am merely passing information on as an enthusiast of all things motoring, I have no experience of handling these products nor have I used these vendors. I recommend anyone interested in these items or distributors do their own thorough investigation into suitability, reliability and particularly prices of both products and vendors before making any purchasing decisions.

26 11 10 Erratum Julio Batista's son has informed me that today's featured car was white when his father owned it in 1958, his Dad had never raced it, if he had he would have painted it yellow as he did with his TR # 0698. Apologies for any confusion.