Audi TT Cup Car

Niclaus Nielsen, Audi Sport TT, Zandvoort 2016.

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For moe pictures of the DTM support races including the Audi Sport TT Cup at Zandvoort in 2016, click on the link above.\

Audi, Ingolstadt, Germany.   The first generation of the Audi TT was introduced in 1998 and the third generation made its first appearance in 2014. The Audi TT Cup Car uses the 310 hp 2 litre 4 cylinder TFSI engine from the Audi TTS.  The bodyshell of the TT Cup car is lightweight and made of aluminium and carbon fibre.  A specific one-make racing series is held for these cars with races on circuits such as Hockenheim, Zandvoort, Budapest, Norisring and Nurburgring,

1925 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model Works Le Mans car.

1925 Bentley 3 litre Speed model, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Bentley, Cricklewood, England.  The 3 litre Bentley was one of the original models and this particular car was one of the first works cars to compete in the Le Mans 24 hours in 1925.  A non-works 3 litre car had won in 1924 but in 1925 the works cars failed to finish.In 1927 a works 3 litre won the race.  The Bentley 3 litre engine had 4 in line cylinders.

At the 2016 Le Mans Classic the driver put the top up during the Le Mans start and raced as it would have raced in period.

1965 Bizzarrini 5300 GT

Malte Fromm, 1965 Bizzarrini 5300 GT, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Bizzarrini, Livorno, Italy.  Giotto Bizzarrini worked for a number of the prestigious Italian sports car companies but after being fired by Ferrari in 1963 set off on his own but also worked in collaboration with Rivolta's Iso company.    This collaboration produced the 5300 GT which was powered by a 5.3 litre Chevolet V8 engine.  It was front engined but had an engine very close to the cockpit.  Both racing and road version were built.  The Bizzarrini 5300 GT and the Iso Grifo AC3/C  are basically the same with Bizzarrini name being used after Rivolta's death.  They raced and in 1964 one racing under the Iso name finished 14th and won its class at Le Mans.

1968 Alpine Renault A220

Besson & Dougnac, 1968 Alpine Renaault A220, Le Mans Classic 2016.

Alpine Renault, Dieppe, France.  The A220 was the biggest capacity car that Alpine had produced to date.  It was built for the new 3 litre prototype regulations that came into place in 1968.  Alpine got Gordini to join two of their 1.5 litre 4 cylinder engines together to produce a 3 litre V8.  However, it proved less powerful than the competition at only 310bhp.  The A220 chassis was a modified A210 chassis but it didn't handle as well with the bigger engine.  It was, however, reliable and it finished 8th at Le Mans in 1968.

1969 Aston Martin DBS V8 RHAM/1

Paul Chase-Gardener & David Allen, ex-Robin Hamilton Aston Martin V8, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Aston Martin, Newport Pagnell, England.  Robin Hamilton, an Aston Martin dealer, was the privateer who took Aston Martin back to Le Mans in 1977 and a number of years thereafter.  In 1977 the car was a modified 1969 DBS 5.3L V8 with a turbocharger and aerodynamic mods.  Driven by Robin Hamilton, Dave Preece and Mike Salmon they finished 17th and third in the GTP class.  The car was nicknamed "the Muncher" as it ate brake pads due to its weight, or in France as "Le Petit Camion" because of its size. The car also raced at Silverstone that year in the 6 hours where it ran in the top ten.  The car produced 520bhp and achieved 188mph at Le Mans on the Mulsanne straight.

1978 Renault Alpine A443

Jean Ragnotti & Alain Serpaggi, Renault Alpine A443, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Alpine, Dieppe, France.  This Group 6 sports racing car was built by Alpine with a 2.1 litre turbo-charged Renault engine.  The chassis was similar to the previous A442 but had an enlarged Renault V6 engine in a slightly lengthened chassis.  At the Le Mans 24 hours in 1978 it was the fastest car in the field driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Patrick Depailler but retired after 18 hours.  It's pace, however, had also broken the Porsches and thus an earlier A442B was able to take the win.  The cars had over 500bhp and could easily exceed 20 mph on the Mulsanne straight.  This was the car's only major race and thereafter Ranault concentrated on F1.

2016 Audi RS5 DTM

Marcus Elkstrom, Audi RS5 DTM, Zandvoort 2016.

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Audi, Germany.  The Audi RS5 won the DTM championship in Mike Rockenfeller's hands in 2013 and won the manufacturers title in the same championship in 2014.  It is powered by a 4 litre normally aspirated Audi V8 of about 460hp.  Like all DTM cars it has a carbon Fibre monocoque chassis, front engne and rear wheeldrive, steel rollcage and Drag Reduction System rear wing.   The car is now in its fourth season and the wins continue to come.  Marcus Elkstrom pictured has managed a number of second places this season.

2016 BMW M4 DTM

Tom Blomqvist, BMW M4 DTM, Zandvoort 2016.

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BMW, Munich, Germany.  The BMW M4 DTM first appeared in 2014.  The engine is a BMW P66 V8 that develops about 480bhp. Power goes through a six speed sequential box.  As with other DTM cars there is a Carbon Fibre monocoque and special aerodynamic body silhouetting parts of the road car.  The car won the constructers title in 2015 and 2015 and the drivers title in 2014 for Marcus Wittmann.

1955 Jaguar D Type 3.8L

Andy Wallace, Jaguar D Type, Le Mans Jaguar Classic Challenge 2016.

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Jaguar, Coventry, England.  The D Type is perhaps the most iconic sports racing car of all time.  It had a trio of Le Mans 24 hours victories in 1955, 1956 and 1957.  The car above is restored from part of the winning 1955 car that was driven by Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb in that very tragic race that cost 84 people their lives.  The D type was the first monocoque construction Jaguar and had a very aerodynamic shape conceived by Malcolm Sayer.   The first cars raced with 3.4 litre Jaguar XK V6 engines.  At other times they raced with 2.5 litre, 3.8 litre or 3.0 litre Jaguar XK V6 engines.  The first race for the D Type was the 1954 Le Mans 24 hours where it finished a close second.  The first victory was at Rheims in the 12 hour race a month afterwards driven by Whitehead and Wharton.   These early cars were achieved in the short nose cars.  For 1955 the long nose car appeared on the factory cars with production versions retaining the short nose.  Over sixty D types were made in all.   The works cars disappeared from the racing scene after 1956 but private teams like Ecurie Ecosse continued.  The ex works Ecurie Ecosses cars won Le Mans in 1956 and 1957.

1929 Bentley Blower 4.5L

J.Ernst, Blower Bentley, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Bentley, Cricklewood, England.  Tim Birkin, the famous Bentley driver, came up with the idea of supercharging the 4.5 litre Bentley as a way of beating the supercharged Alfa Romeos of the time.   The idea did not meet with the approval of W.O.Bentley who favoured building a bigger engine to keep the reliability that had proved one of Bentley's strong points.  Nevertheless, Tim Brikin persuaded the Bentley chairman Woolf Barnato to build over fifty super-charged examples so that they could enter the 1930 Le Mans.  The supercharged or blower Bentleys had a top speed advantage of about 12mph over the non-blown versions. The blower bentley's did as, W.O. had predicted, prove unreliable.  Neither of the two blown cars finished the 1930 Le Mans 24 hours.  However, Tim Birkin did finish second in that year's French GP in the blown Bentley behind a Bugatti Type 35.

1990 Nissan R90CK Group C

Katsu Kubota, Nissan R90CK, Le Mans Classic Group C Racing 2016.

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Nissan, Yokohama, Japan.  The Nissan R90CK was an evolution of the R90C that ran in the 1990 World Sportscar Championship. It was a collaboration between Nissan and Ray Mallock Limited.  In 1990 the car finished third in the Spa 480km, and the Dijon 480km, and second in the Montreal 480km and Mexico 480km.  in 1991 it finished second in the Daytona 24 hours.  Drivers included Mark Blundell, Kenny Acheson, Julian Bailey, Bob Earl, Derek Daly, Chip Robinson and Geoff Brabham. The car was powered by a Nissan 3.5 litre twin turbo V8.

1990 Spice SE90C Group C

Eric De Doncker,  Spice SE90C, Le Mans Classic Group C Racing 2016.

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Spice Engineering, Brackley, England.  Spice Engineering was founded by long time driver and team owner Gordon Spice and his brother Derek with funding from Ray Belm.  This, the SE90C, was one of the final cars produced by Spice Engineering.  It was for the 3.5 litre Group C when Spice found itself competing in the main category rather than C2 which it had dominated.  It had a Ford Cosworth DFR V8 engine.  Best results were 3rd at the Silverstone and Donington 480km events in 1990.  Drivers included Bruno Giacomelli and Tim Harvey.

1992 Lola T92/10 Group C

Peter Garrod, Lola T92/10, Le Mans Classic Group C racing 2016.

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Lola Cars, Slough, England.  This was a car built by Lola as a Lola customer car, after years of building the cars for the Chevrolet and Nissan sports car teams.  It was designed by Wiet Huidekoper, but only three were made as Group C quickly came to an end in the early nineties.   The chassis and body were carbon fibre and was powered by a 3.5 litre Judd V10, derived from the F1 engine, through a 6 speed Lola gearbox.  Best result was a fourth place at Donington in the 500kms driven by Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Phil Andrews who were in the Euro Racing team.  The same car finished thirteenth at Le Mans.

1990 Mercedes-Benz C11 Group C

Shaun Lynn, Mercedes-Benz C11, Le Mans Classic Group C racing 2016

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Mercedes-Benz/Sauber, Germany/Switzerland.   This was the first of the Sauber built Group C cars to carry the Mercedes-Benz name.  It superceded the Sauber C9 and used the same Mercedes-Benz M119 5.0 litre V8 engine as its predecessor.  Top speed was over 250 mph.  It did not compete at Le Mans in 1990, concentrating on winning the World Sports-Prototype Championship.  It scored one-two finishes at Monza, Dijon, Nurburgring, Donington plus wins at Spa, Montreal and Mexico.  It continued to have podium finishes at Susuka and Monza in 1991.  It competed at Le Mans in the 24 hours in 1991 and finished fifth.   Drivers included Michael Schumacher, Jochen Mass, Karl Wendlinger and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.  Mario Baldi and Jean-Louis Schlesser won the World Sports-Prototype championship for drivers in the car and Team Sauber Mercedes the constructors title in 1990.

1991 Nissan RC91 CK Group C

Richard Evans, Nissan RC91CK, le Mans Classic 2016.

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Nissan/Lola  Japan/England.  This car was originally one of the cars Lola built for Nissan in 1990. Nova Engineering then brought it from Lola and made their own modifications including updating it to 1991 spec and named it the RC91CK.  It was entered as a RC93 at the 2016 Le Mans Classic.  It has a 3.5 litre  Nissan twin-turbo V8 engine.  It finished in fourth place in the 1992 Susuka 1000kms.

1991/1992 Gebhardt C91

Michael Lyons, Gebhardt C91, Le Mans Classic Group C racing 2016

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Gebhardt, Germany.  The brother Günther and Fritz Gebhardt first built a racing car in 1984 for Group C2.  The C91 was built for the IMSA GTP class and had a turbocharged Audi V5 engine which was later replaced in 1992 by the current 3.5 litre Cosworth V8 engine. It had a carbon fibre chassis.  In 1991 it finished sixth and eighth in Interserie races at Zeltweg. At the Watkins Glen 500km it finished 20th where one of the drivers was Derek Bell.  In 1992 its best result was 10th place in the Nurburgring Interserie race.  It didn't finish the 500km races at Monza and Silverstone.

EMKA-Aston Martin C83/1

Richard Hope, EMKA-Aston Martin C83/1, Le Mans Classic 2016 Group C racing.

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EMKA, Godalming, UK.  EMKA was the initials of Pink Floyd manager Steve O'Rourke's daughters. He invested in this Group C racer in partnership with Michael Cane who managed the program and assembled the car.  The body was a very aerodynamic design by Len Bailey.  The chassis was an aluminium monocoque but the innovative part that Len Bailey did was redesigning all of the engine accessories so that the bulky Tickford tuned Aston Martin V8 could fit into this small package.  In May 1983 it made its debut at Silverstone and qualified 17th but failed to finish.  At Le Mans it finished 17th driven by Tiff Needell, Steve O'Rourke and Nick Faure but was hampered by lack of top speed and many reliability issues.    The EMKA did not run in 1984 due to lack of funds but reappeared in 1985 as the C84/1 at Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Spa and Le Mans.  It retired in all of these except Le Mans. There with the same driving team as before but with aerodynamic changes it went much better, achieving 216mph on the straight and finishing 11th ahead of the Group 44 Jaguar and the Tom's-Toyota.  With more funding this could have been a good car.

1934 Talbot 105

Bronson and Burnett's 1934 Talbot 105, Le Mans Classic 2016

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Talbot, London, England.  The 105 was produced from 1931 to 1935 and was a very fast 4 seater for the time.  It had a straight six engine of 3.0 litres.   The model was immediately successful in three litre sports car racing.  That year it took the first three places in class at the Brookland Double Twelve and came third overall at Le Mans.  in 1932 they won the team prize at the Brooklands 1,000 miles, the Coupe des Alpes and again came third again at Le Mans.  Top speed of the production version was 95mph.  Over 300 were made.

Talbot 105s in the paddock at Le Mans.

1958 Lister Jaguar Knobbly

Chris Lunn, Lister-Jaguar Knobbly, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Lister, Cambridge, England.  Brian Lister founded Lister Cars in 1954 and quickly made a reputation for building fast sports racing cars powered by MG and Bristol engines.   In 1957 he designed a very curvaceous body around the Jaguar engine used in the D type and this became known as the knobbly. Some were also sold to fit a Chevrolet V8.   It was a front engine rear wheel driver classic fifties sports racing car.  The car was fast and won national races but could be unstable at high speeds.   Archie-Scott Brown was a famous driver of the Knobbly but was eventually killed in one at Spa in 1958.   A Lister with 3 litre Jaguar engine finished fifteenth in the 1958 Le Mans 24 hours.

1964 Ferrari 250 LM Berlinetta

The Clive Joy and Patrick Simon 1964 Ferrari 250 LM, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Ferrari,  Maranello, Italy. The 250LM was developed out of the works 250P and retained the name even though most of them should have been called 275LM due to the cylinder capacity (the engine was originally developed for the 3 litre 250 GTO).  It was intended for private racers and Ferrari had intended it to be homologated as a GT car but only produced 30 rather the necessary 100.  Thus in 1964 and 1965 it raced as a prototype.  Under new rules it was homologated as a Group 4 Sports car in 1966.  Many continued racing internationally for many years.  The most famous victory fell to the NART who won Le Mans in 1965 with Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory driving. Amazingly this was the last Ferrari overall victory at Le Mans! The cars had a Ferrari 3.3 litre V12 engine mounted behind the driver and driving the rear wheels.  The chassis was steel and the body was a 2 seater berlinetta style. The one pictured above is Chassis 5907.  I believe this was originally the Maranello Concessionaires UK car with which Graham Hill and Jo Bonnier won the 1964 Reims 12 hours and with which David Piper and Tony Maggs won the Rand 9 hours at Kyalami the same year.  A great endurance racer and won of my favourite Ferraris of all time.  A joy for us all to see Mr Joy!

1965 Ford GT40 Roadster

The Macedo Silva/Jorge Ford GT40 Roadster, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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For more photos of the amazing 1962-1965 plateau at the 2016 le Mans Classic, click on the link above.

Ford Advanced Vehicles, Slough, UK.  This is one of just five Ford GT40 Roadsters ever built and which were unusual because of their open top.  In addition a Ford GT MkII Roadster was built and called the X1 - this car with its 7 litre engine won the Sebring 12 hours in 1966 with Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby driving.  Cars like the one above had the smaller 4.7 litre engine.  They raced at Targa Florio, Le Mans and the Nurburgring in 1965 but did not finish any major races.  In 1966 and 1967 Peter Sutcliffe had some top three finishes in South African sports car races.  

1966 Alpine Renault A210

The Von Oppenheim and Middendorf Alpine Renault A210, Le Mans Classic 2016

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Alpine, Dieppe, France.   The A210, originally designated the M66, was designed for the Le Mans 24 hours of 1966.  Originally they had 1.3 litre Renault Gordini 4 cylinder engines.  Some of these were upgraded to 1.5 litre engines for the 1967 Le Mans.   They won their class in both years and continued to do so in 1968 and 1969.  Thus a successful car for the marque.  The car was designed for fast circuits and thus had a long tail which also acted as fins.  It was small and aerodynamic and had a maximum speed just over 160mph.

Mygale SJ103-Zetec 1800 Formula Ford

Eric Heudicourt, Mygale SJ103 Zetec Formula Ford, Charade Historic tour 2016.  He was third overall and won the Zetec class.

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Mygale,  Magny Cours, France.  Mygale have been designing and manufacturing cars since 1989. Founded by Bertrand Decoster after he left college, he decided to build the first French Formula Ford car.  He then went onto build Formula Renault cars, F3 cars and cars for one make series. In Formula Ford they have had a lot of success and Jensen Button won the British Formula Ford series and Formula Ford Festival in 1998 using one.  The SJ103 pictured is the Formula Ford car from 2003 for Formula Ford Zetec which used 1800cc engines.

1990 Lucchini SP390- Alfa Romeo V6

Jean Laffargue, Lucchini SP390, Charade Historic Tour 2016.

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Lucchini, Porto Mantovano, Italy.  This Italian company has been producing open cockpit sports cars for many years, often for use in hillclimbs but also endurance racing and often with Alfa Romeo engine..  This model dates back to 1990. Again some used 3 litre Alfa Romeo 24 valve engines and some raced the circuits and some did the hillclimbs, mostly in Italy but also France..I believe the one in the photo has an Alfa Romeo V6 engine.

1981 March 81S-Ford

"Nelson", March81S-Ford, Charade Historic Tour Sports Proto Cup 2016.

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March Engineering, Bicester, England. March built about 5 of these cars.  They were used in Sports 2000 racing and had 2 litre Ford Pinto engines.  Racing was both in Europe and the USA.  One of the March 81S Sports 2000 cars took part in the 1981 Brands Hatch 1000kms and finished 16th and third in the Sports 2000 class.

Grégoire

Gregoire, Paris-Rambouillet 2016.

Automobiles Grégoire, Poissy, France.   Founded by Pierre Gregoire this company produced automobiles from 1904 to 1924 being quite successful just before WW1.  They did compete in motor sport and one finished second in class in the 1905 Circuit des Ardennes whilst another started the 1906 French GP.  They also tried to compete at Indianapolis.