1968 Howmet TX

Xavier Micheron driving the Howmet TX at Paul Ricard in the Dix Mille Tours meeting 2017

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Howmet / McKee, USA.  The Howmet TX was the brainchild of racing driver Ray Heppenstall.  TX stood for Turbine Experimental as the car was powered by a helicopter's gas turbine jet engine. Heppenstall convinced Howmet Corporation, who produced aluminium parts for gas turbines, that the car  could be a winner and a good marketing tool. The chassis was made by McKee Engineering who previously had made some Can-Am cars.  Thus the car was in effect a McKee Mk9.   The original engine was a Continental TS525-1 gas turbine that had been designed for a helicopter program but never used.  The engines were leased from Continental Aviation and Engineering and returned after the racing program ended.  Thus restored Howmet TX tend to use Allison helicopter engines although one still has a Continental engine.  The original Continental engine were classified by the FIA as equivalent to just under 3 litres and thus the Howmet ran in the Group 6 under 3 litre prototype class. The car raced in the major World Championship endurance races of 1968 including the Daytona 24 hours, 12 hours of Sebring, BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch, Watkins Glen 6 hours and finally the Le Mans 24 hours.   In many of these races it did not finish but it did finish third at Watkins Glen in the hands of Dick Thompson and Ray Heppenstall.  It also raced in shorter sprint races at Oulton Park and in the SCCA series in the USA.  In June 1968 Ray Heppenstall took the Howmet's first win at an SCCA race at Huntsville.  Thompson also took a SCCA win at Marlboro. The Howmet is the only Gas Turbine powered car to have won races.  Another driver in period was British airline pilot Hugh Dibley.   In 1970 the Howmet took a few FIA speed records and then the program ended. Two cars were built in period and a third car built in 2000 using a spare chassis.  In recent years the cars have appeared at the major Historic events in the US and Europe.

Leading a Chevron B16 at Paul Ricard.

The rear three-quarter view of the Howmet TX in the Paul Ricard paddock.