1974 Gulf Mirage GR7-Ford Cosworth DFV

Stuart Hall, 1974 Gulf Mirage GR7, Dix Mille Tours, Paul Ricard 2017

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JW Automotive Engineering, Slough, England. Mirage was the name of the occasionally successful line of sports racing cars that JWAE produced from 1967 to 1982. The GR7 was an update of the M6 that had been quite successful during the 1973 season including a win the Spa 1000kms.   Four out of five M6s were rebuilt as the GR7 - the GR standing for Gulf Racing who provided the sponsorship.  The updates included reducing the weight by using titanium for some parts and improving the aerodynamics by moving the wing further back and lengthening the nose.  The chassis was a strengthened aluminium monocoque, the body was fibreglass reinforced polyester and the engine was a 3 litre V8 Cosworth Ford DFV.  First time out was at the 1974 Le Mans test where they proved slower than the main competition which was Matra-Simca and Alfa Romeo.   First race was the Monza 1000kms where Derek Bell and Mike Hailwood finished fourth.  They improved on this at the Spa 1000kms where they finished second with the same drivers. At Le Mans the car lasted the 24 hours and finished fourth with Bell and Hailwood again.  A series of other third and fourth places meant that Gulf Mirage finished second in the World Championship for Makes to Matra but berating Porsche and Alfa Romeo. In 1975 The GR7 was campaigned by the Gelo Racing Team of Georg Loos.  Best result was second in the Nurburgring 1000kms driven by Howden Ganley and Tim Schenken.

1970 Ferrari 512M

1970 Ferrari 512M, Dix Mille Tours du Castellet, Paul Ricard 1970.

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Ferrari, Maranello, Italy.   With the initial 512S proving to have rather disappointing reliabilty and results against the Porsche 917, a modified version was produced in late 1970.  This was the Ferrari 512M, the M standing for Modificata.  The 512M featured a less rounded shape with improved aerodynamics and all had a closed coupé body style.  The 512Ms were converted from the 512Ss.  These modification first appeared at the 1970 Zeltweg 1000kms on a works car driven by Jacky Ickx and Ignazio Giunti, but it did not finish.  In the next race at Kyalami in the 9 hour race, the same car and drivers won but it was not part of the World Championship.  For 1971 the Ferrari works team concentrated on the 3 litre prototype 312PB and dd not enter the 512M except in an Interserie race at Imola that it won..  However, the privateers who owned many of the 512Ms continued the fight.  Importantly one of these privateers was none other than Roger Penske.   He rebuilt the car from bottom up and produced the best 512M that anyone had.  However, even that car did not prove a winner and it only achieved a third at Daytona and sixth place at Sebring.    The yellow car, pictured, is in the colours of Escuderia Montjuich.  That car's greatest achievement was coming an amazing second in the Tour de France.  Other privateers did achieve 3rd and 4th places at the Le Mans 24 hours and a few wins in minor non-championship races.  Thus, a lovely car but not a 917 beater.

For more about the Ferrari 512S, click here.

1970 Ferrari 512S

1970 Ferrari 512S, Dix Mille Tours, Paul Ricard 2017.

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Ferrari, Maranello, Italy.  Ferrari built twenty five 512S sports cars to compete with the Porsche 917 in the 5 litre Group 5 class of the 1970 World Championship of Makes.  Ferrari had had to wait for Fiat funds and was behind Porsche in development at the start of the 1970 season. The car was powered by a 5 litre Ferrari V12 engine but was heavier than Porsche's 917.  On its debut at the 1970 Daytona 24 hrs, the lead car driven by Andretti, Merzario and Ickx finished third.  Then at the next race at Sebring the car scored a famous win when Andretti took over the Giunti / Vaccarella car and beat the Steve McQueen Porsche 908.  Unfortunately that was as good as it got.  A second place at Monza and Spa and third places at Monza, Targa Florio, Nurburgring and Watkins Glen rounded the season off.  By the end of the season many had been converted to 512M spec but it wasn't much more successful.  In 1971 a NART 512S took runner-up spot in the Daytona 24 hours.   The Ferrari 512 will go down in history as the car that made the Porsche 917 look so great.   917 drivers such as Rodriguez, Oliver and Bell also drover the 512S on occasion.   John Surtees, making a return to Ferrari for the first time since 1966 also drove them with success and Amon who had left Ferrari for the March GP team also drove them.

For more about the Ferrari 512M, click here.

1974 Alfa Romeo 33 TT 12

Derek Bell, Alfa Romeo 33 TT12, Paul Ricard 2017, Dix Mille Tours.

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Alfa Romeo / Autodelta, Milan, Italy.  This car was the fifth evolution of the Alfa Romeo 33 that Autodelta produced for the the World Championship for Sports Cars.   It first appeared in 1973.  The TT stood for Telaio Tubolare or Tubular Chassis that was made of a lightweight alloy.  The 12 stood for the new 12 cylinder 3 litre flat 12 engine that produced 500bhp. The body was fibreglass.  In 1973 the car was unreliable and the best result was a second position for Rolf Stommelen in the 500km of Imola.  In 1974 the team took a 1-2 victory at the Monza 1000kms with Merzario and Andretti in the lead car and achieved second place in the championship.  In 1975 the car was dominant and Alfa Romeo won the World Championship for Makes with the Willy Kauhsen Racing Team.  The drivers that helped them win included Merzario, Laffite, Pescarolo, Bell, Mass, Vaccarella and Brambilla.  They did not take part in the  Le Mans 24 hours as it was not part of the championship as it had special fuel consumption rules.   However, its dominant seven consecutive endurance victories in 1975 makes it perhaps the most successful Alfa Romeo sports cars ever.  Victories for Derek Bell, seen above in the car, included the 1000kms of Spa, 1000kms of Zeltweg, Watkins Glen 6 hours and an interseries race at Kassel-Calden, all in 1975.

1975/6 Cheetah G601 - 2 litre sports car

Beat Eggimann racing a Cheetah G601 in the Dix Mille tours du Castellet 2017.  It came sixth.

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Cheetah Automobiles, Lausanne, Switzerland.  Chuck Graemiger, a Swiss-American racing driver, founded Cheetah, an occasional manufacturer of sports racing cars from the early seventies to the early nineties. He also designed the cars.  The G601 followed on from the G501 and was a 2 litre sports car powered by Cosworth or BMW engines.  It raced in the Le Mans 24 hours from 1976 to 1979 but was never classified as a finisher.   The colours of the car pictured correspond to the Walter Wolf Racing car that entered but did not qualify at the 1980 Le mans.  They also competed in other sports car races but without great success.  Later the same company produced Group C cars, click here for details.

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.

1954 Dick Jacobs MG YB Special Coupé

1954 Jacobs MG Special, Stuart Dean, Etretat Hill Climb 2017.

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Dick Jacobs, South Woodford, Essex, England.  Dick Jacobs was a well known driver post-WW2 who drove for the works MG team and built a number of MG specials.  He took over the Mill Garage from his father in December 1945 and the next year it became an MG dealership. He then took up racing MGs with his first race being at Goodwood in 1948 in a supercharged MG TC where he finished fourth.  in 1949 he took his first win, had his first drive for the MG works team and built the fist of his MG specials on a TA chassis using a supercharged TC engine.  In the early fifties he raced an MG YB in production races with some success.  In 1954 he built two specials based on the MG YB, one of them being built on the last ever YB chassis 1551. The one built on chassis 1551 is the one owned by Stuart Dean and seen above at Etretat.   They had special glass fibre bodies built by RGS Automobile Components Ltd and 1.5 litre MG engines.  They were raced throughout 1954 but were however no match for the Lotus-MG of Colin Chapman.   Dick Jacobs drove a prototype MGA for the works team at the ill-fated 1955 Le Mans 24 hours but had a very bad crash that ended his racing career.  He did however recover to continue his MG business.  Stuart Dean regularly races and hill climbs this car including at the famous Goodwood Revival meeting.

1934 Fazer-Nash TT Replica

A nice opposite lock slide from Paul Weston at the Etretat Hill Climb in 2017 in his 1934 Frazer-Nash TT Replica.

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Frazer-Nash, Isleworth, England.  Founded by Archibald Frazer-Nash in Kingston in the twenties, this car company went into financial difficulties and was acquired by the Aldington brothers and moved to Isleworth.  The Aldington brothers were good marketeers and named the new models after the major iconic events  in which their cars competed.  Thus the TT Replica was named after the Tourist Trophy in which Frazer-Nash competed from 1928 to 1931, although with little success.  The TT Replica was thus based on the 1931 car but the replica did better than the original as it finish ninth overall and second in class driven by Harold Aldington averaging just under 69mph.  This was when the TT was run on the Ards Circuit in Northern Ireland. The TT Replica was sold between 1932 and 1938 and over 80 were produced.   It was sold with a variety of engines; 1.5 litre 4 cylinder Gough, 1.66 litre 6 cylinder Blackburne and 1.5 litre 4 cylinder Meadows.  There were also various wheelbase chassis options.  Like other pre-war Frazer Nash cars the transmission was chain-drive.  Handling was definitely in the oversteer department as demonstrated above.   The TT Replicas achieved their most notable success in the Alpine Trials between 1932 and 1934. In these three years they gained the distinction of becoming the only English car and only non-supercharged car to not suffer the loss of a mark three years in succession.  A great achievement.   The 6 cylinder cars could achieve a top speed of 90mph and achieve a 0-60mph time of around 15 seconds.  In 1934 models were available from about £500.

1936 MG TA Midget

Peter Edney, 1.35 litre 1936 MG TA Midget, Etretat Hill Climb 2017.

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MG, Abingdon, England.  The TA Midget was introduced in mid-1936 and continued to be produced until early 1939.  It was powered by an in-line four cylinder 1.3 litre 52 hp pushrod engine through a four speed gearbox that drove the rear wheels.  The body of the 1936 car shown here is a 2 seater roadster.  Other bodies were available later.  Top speed was just under 80mph but it took over 20 seconds to get from 0-60mph.  In the UK it originally went on sale for £222.  It was a bit bigger than the previous Midget but had a more powerful engine.  Not popular with the MG purists at first, it was become a very popular small sports car and over 3,000 were sold.  Initially it was called the T type until the TB was introduced.

1969 Techno F3

1969 Techno F3, Emanuele Guglielminetti, Course de Cote du Mont Dore 2017.

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Techno, Bologna, Italy.  Techno was founded by the Pederzani brothers and progressed from being an engineering company to producing Karts which were very successful and won the World Karting Championship in the mid-sixties.  Their first racing car was a F4 and the first F3 car was produced in 1966. This was the era of the 1 litre screamer F3 cars.  By 1968 the Techno was the top F3 car and it continued this success in 1969 with a very similar design.  In 1969 Techno took thirty major F3 wins with half of these being won by Ronnie Peterson. Ronnie Peterson's successes included the prestigious Monaco F3 race.  Other famous drivers who drove the 1969 Techno F3 car included Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Jurg Dubler, Freddy Link and Peter Gaydon.  The car was successful because of its aerodynamic efficiency and ultimate speed if driven well.  Techno went on to be successful in F2 with Clay Regazzoni winning the 1970 European Championship.   In 1972 and 1973 Techno tried its hand at F1 but a sixth place in the Belgian GP in the hands of Chris Amon proved its best result.  This lack of F1 success resulted in the end of Techno.

Clan Crusader

Chris Littler, Clan Crusader, Saint Goueno Masters Hillclimb, 2017.

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Clan Motor Company, Washington, County Durham, England.  The Clan Motor Company was formed by some ex-Lotus employees, Paul Haussauer and John Luff, in the early seventies.  The aim was to produce a GRP monocoque sports car for the road using the Sunbeam/Hillman Imp engine, transmission and gearbox. The Imp engine was of course based on a Coventry Climax unit.  John Frayling came up with the design and the Clan Crusader was born.  It was made in the North East due to regional funding.  The car was produced from 1971 until 1973 before the company went bust. This was a shame as it was a nice lightweight sports car with a top speed of nearly 100mph and a 0-60mph time of under 13 seconds.  It was also economical and racing driver Gerry Marshall drove from Glasgow to London averaging 68mpg.   Over 300 Crusaders were sold including just under 20 competition versions.  The competition versions were successfully rallied including wins by Alan Conley on the 1972 Tour of Mull and 1973 Derwent Star Rally.  On the circuits they were also raced with success in GT and Modsports events by Johnny Blades, Kenny Allen and Terry Carthy.    In 1982 a new version of the clan was produced under different ownership in Northern Ireland but this project also went bust in 1987.

1952 Jaguar XK120 Roadster

1952 Jaguar XK120, Peter Terrell/Michael Holland, 2017 Tour Auto.

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Jaguar Cars, Coventry, England.   The XK120 was introduced in 1948 and produced until 1954.  It was the first car to be powered by the famous 3.4 litre XK straight six engine and was called the 120 because it was capable of over 120mph which made it the fasted production sports car at that time.  The 0-60mph time was around 10 seconds.  There were three versions including the open roadster seen here, a drop head convertible and a closed coupé version.  Early cars were aluminium bodied but later cars were steel.   The XK120 was extensively raced and rallied and achieved much success.  Victories included the 1950 Tourist trophy, the 1950 & 1951 Alpine rally, In the Tour de France Automobile one finished fifth in 1951.

1960 DB HBR5

1960 DB HBR5, Antoine Laureau and Antoine Moreau, 2017 Tour Auto Optic 2000

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DB, Champigny sur Marne, France.  Founded by Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet, this small French manufacturer produced small racing cars and sports cars from 1947 to 1961.  One of their most successful model in terms of sales was the HBR5 which was sold between 1955 and 1961. As with many of their cars it featured a two cylinder Panhard engine.  The one pictured above has a 851cc engine but others had 748cc engines or 954cc engines and some were supercharged.  It had a fibre glass coupé body, was front engined and front wheel drive.  They were entered in many long distance events such as Le Mans 24 hours and the Tour de France Automobile having sucess in the Index of Performance competition.  The car was sometimes called the DB Coach and smaller engined versions were designated HBR4.

1949 Hotchkiss 864 Artois S49

1949 Hotchkiss 864 Artois S49, Tour Auto 2017

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Hotchkiss et cie, Saint Denis, Paris, France.  Hotchkiss was  originally an arms and munitions manufacturer founded by an American ordnance engineer called Benjamin Hotchkiss. After he died, the company produced car parts, car engines and then eventually whole cars.  The 864 Artois was based on a pre-war model and was sold in the late forties and early fifties.  It was a 4 door sedan with  a 2.3 litres 4 cylinder front mounted engine and rear wheel drive.  Top speed was around 75 mph.  As a sporting marque Hotchkiss won the Monte Carlo Rally a number of times in the early thirties. They also raced at Brooklands and Montlhery.  After the war they again competed in the Monte Carlo (winning in 1949 and 1950) and the Tour de France Automobile.  Eventually the marque was swallowed up by Delahaye.   In 2017 Maxime Lepissier and Bruno de la Villesbrunne drove this car in the regularity section of the Tour Auto Optic 2000.

Matra Murena

Eric Bailly, Matra Murena on the 2017 Rallye du Pays Avallonnais.

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Matra, Romorantin, France.  Sometimes called the Talbot-Matra Murena, this was an early eighties mid-engined sports car that was relatively unusual in that it had three seats next to each other with the middle one folding when not in use to become an arm rest.  It had a steel chassis and glass fibre coupé body.  Just under 11,000 were built between 1980 and 1983.  The car had good handling but the engines were not that impressive.  The basic model had a 1.6 litre Simca engine and the more powerful version a 2.2 litre Talbot engine.  The 1.6 litre had a top speed of around 113mph and a 0-60mph time of just over 11 seconds.  The 2.2 litre had a top speed of 122mph and a 0-60moh time of just under 9 seconds. They were rallied in 1981 and 1982 in major rallies such as the RAC and Monte Carlo but without great success.  Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Max Mamers drove 4WD versions of them them in the 1982 French rallycross championship, both achieving wins and Max taking the Championship. Jean-Pierre Jaussaud drove one in a European rallycross championship round the same year scoring a class win.  These cars continued their successful rallycross careers for some years.

1919 Blériot 2 Cyl 500cc Motor Cycle

1919 Blériot 2 Cyl 500cc, Retromobile 2017.

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Blériot Aeronautique, Suresnes, Paris, France.  Louis Blériot was the first man to fly across the Channel in an aeroplane rather than a balloon in 1909.  He had a successful company producing aircraft but after WW1 the demand dropped off and he was looking for other products to manufacture.  This motorbike was produced from 1919 to 1923.  It had a 500cc twin cylinder 4 stroke engine producing 5hp powering the bike through a 3 speed gearbox.  An attractive feature were the unusual disc wheels.  There was a kick starter and the top speed was around 65 to 75 kph.  It was advertised with the slogan "She doesn't ride, she flies!" A motorcycle for touring and very good looking for the time, it was also used as one of the first police motorbikes. Only about a dozen survive.

1969 Lotus-Coswoth 63 4WD F1

Lotus-Cosworth 63, RetroMobile 2017

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Lotus, Hethel, England.  Lotus was one of four manufacturers who along with Mclaren, Tyrrell and Cosworth built four wheel drive cars for the 1969 Formula One season.  They were trying to solve the problem of how to get 400 to 450bhp of power onto the road.  A 4WD BRM had had a little success in hillclimbing in the mid-sixties and the 4WD Ferguson F1 had won at the wet Oulton Park in 1961.  The Lotus 63 was perhaps the most serious effort of the others in 1969, being designed by the team who had success with the Lotus 49.  However, the Lotus 63 saw little success and was hated by the drivers just like the other 4WD cars.  The problem of the power transfer had in effect been largely solved by the new wing aerodynamics and better wider tyres.  In addition the 4WD cars suffered from being over-weight and with poor balance of that weight and were also fairly unreliable.  Thus although at times driven by great drivers such as Mario Andretti, Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill as well as John Miles and Jo Bonnier, no World Championship points were scored by the 63.  The best result was a distant second place in the non-championship Oulton Park Gold Cup ahead of some F5000 cars. After 1969 the two cars built were not raced again in contemporary F1.  An interesting experiment that added variety to the field and perhaps the best looking on the 4WD cars in its Gold Leaf livery..  

1981 Kremer-Porsche 917K/81

Kremer built Porsche 917/81, Retromobile 2017.

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Kremer Racing, Cologne, Germany.  The years 1970 and 1971 were the heyday of the Porsche 917 before these Group 4 sports cars were banned.  Ten years after the 917 had won its second Le Mans 24 hours, it returned as a Group 6 sports car built by the Kremer brothers using a loophole in the transitional regulations between Group 6 and Group C.  The Kremer brothers had become the top specialists in racing, modifying and tuning Porsches during the 935 era and obtained Porsche’s help in this project.  Using the original blueprints, a car was built from scratch in the Kremer workshops and incorporated a number of modifications to the suspension and a strengthened chassis to cope with the newer tyre technology.  However, the strengthening added weight.  The body was also altered to improve downforce with a large rear wing and lower and straightened sides to the car.  Unchanged was the 4.9 litre flat 12 engine that Porsche provided.  Sponsorship was obtained from Malardeau and BP and the drivers included Bob Wollek.  First event was the 1981 Le Mans 24 hours.  Practice did not go well and the car proved much slower than the original 917s down the straight.  However, in the race it ran in the top ten before retiring after seven hours following an off course excursion.   The second and final race was the 1,000kms at Brands Hatch later that year.  For this the original sponsors were gone and the car had big Kremer wording along the sides and on the rear wing with some support from Shell and Dunlop.  This time the car qualified third and early on in the race ran second to the new Ford C100.  Later in the race it took the lead and proved fast around the curves of Brands Hatch with Bob Wollek driving.  Unfortunately the suspension eventually collapsed and led to another retirement.  This was the last major race for a 917.  This unique car is now owned by a private collector and is back in its beautiful Malardeau colours.

Volvo P1800

Volvo P1800, Traversée de Paris 2017.

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Volvo Cars, Gothenburg, Sweden.  The P1800 that was produced between 1961 to 1973 was made famous by being driven by Simon Templar (played by Roger Moore) in the TV series, The Saint.  It was a 2 door front engined rear wheel drive steel bodied ports coupé. Styling was by Frua. Mechanicals were based on those of the Amazon and the engine was a 1.8 litre straight 4. The production was initially sub-contracted to Jensen in the UK but in 1963 after the first 6,000 had been produced moved to Volvo's plant's in Sweden.  After production moved to Sweden the P1800 became the P1800 S, the S standing for Sweden.  In 1969 electronic fuel injection was introduced and the car became the P1800E.   The fastest P1800s had a top speed of a little under 120mph.  0-60mph could be done in just under 10 seconds.  They were reliable Grand Touring cars and one holds the record for travelling over 3 million miles from 1966 to 2013.   They were also raced on occasion, the most famous driver of one being Jochen Neerpasch who won a minor race in Germany as well as competing in the Nurburgring 1000kms of 1962. There was also some success in USA production sports car races and they took part in the Daytona 24 hours and Sebring 12 hours.

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DeLorean DMC-12

Two DeLorean DMC-12s, Thoiry 2017

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The gull wing doors

DeLorean Motor Company, Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.  Founded by ex-General Motor's executive John DeLorean, DMC made just one car but it became famous through the film "Back to the Future" in which it starred. The factory was in Northern Ireland due to government funding.  Renault was employed to build the factory and supply the PRV engine, whilst Lotus designed the chassis and body which had styling by the Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro. The car was a 2 seater quirky steel bodied sports coupé. Engine was a 2.85 litre 130hp V6 that was mounted at the far rear of the car.  It

Rear qtr view

didn't receive good reviews but still sold over 8,500 examples, perhaps helped by its signature gull-wing doors.. Performance wasn't outstanding as it had a 0-60mph time of around 10 seconds and a top speed of about 110mph.  The cars were made between 1981and 1982 and were sold with unpainted stainless steel bodies. The company went bankrupt when it did not meet its sales targets and John DeLorean was arrested on drugs charges of which he was eventually cleared. Financial scandals also followed involving the government funding and Lotus chief Colin Chapman became embroiled but died of a heart attack.  A messy end to the dream.  Nowadays, a company in Texas has the rights and continues to build late model editions of the DMC-12.

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