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.

Pour plus de photos des voitures du sport de cette époque, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of seventies endurance racers racing at Paul Ricard, click here.

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 Chevron B8-BMW

1968 Chevron-BMW B8, Le Mans Classic 2016

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For more photos of the 2016 Le Mans Classic plateau 5, follow this link.

Chevron, Bolton, England. Chevron was the name given to the cars produced by Derek Bennett, an amateur racing driver.   The B8 followed on from the B6 and was a 2 litre Group 4 sports/GT car. Although 50 examples were required to homologate it into Group 4, there were probably only 44 built between 1968 and 1970. Since 2006 more have been produced by Chevron as New Factory Continuation Cars and are eligible for historic racing.  Most B8s had a mid-mounted 4 cylinder 2 litre 195 bhp BMW engine powering the rear wheels.  Some cars were powered by Ford Cosworth engines such as the FVA. One car was delivered  with a 2.7 litre Climax engine.  Chassis was an aluminium semi-monocoque steel space frame and the body was glass fibre.  John Bridges debuted the car at Cadwell Park in March 1968 and John Lepp scored the first win at Mallory park the same month.  Other drivers to win with the car included Chris Skeaping, Barrie Smith, John Blades, John Burton, Nigel Morrison and David Purley.  Best International result was a class win and sixth overall in the 1969 Daytona 24 hours.  The B8 also finished first in class and seventh overall in the 1969 BOAC 500.  They were good looking, fast and reliable cars and it is good to see them still compete in historic racing today.

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1973 March-BMW 732 Formula Two

March-BMW 732 racing at Dijon in Historic F2 in 2016 driven by Nick Osborn.

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For more photos of Formula Two cars at Dijon, click on the link above.

March Engineering, Bicester.  For the 1973 season, BMW gave March exclusive use of their new 2 litre Formula Two engine.  March produced a straightforward aluminium monocoque chassis.  Both Harvey Postelthwaite and Robin Herd were involved in the design and development of the car.    The works team had STP sponsorship and the driving talents of Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Jean-Pierre Jarier and Hans-Joachim Stuck.  There were lots of private 732s as well as March had to buy a minimum of fifty entries from BMW and thus needed the sales.  At the first race of the season at Mallory Park, Beltoise took pole position but Jarier took the win.  Jarier went on to dominate the Championship with seven outright victories.   Privateers such as Vittorio Brambilla and Jacques Coulon also had success with the car and took a win each.  The car was very successful as it had good braking and good acceleration out of the corners due to the BMW engine.

1999 Crosslé 9S-Ford "late run series"

David Strange, 1999 Crosslé 9S, Course de Cote d'Etretat-Benouville 2016.

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For more pictures of the VHC hillclimb cars at Etretat, click on the link above.

Crosslé, Hollywood, Northern Ireland.  Crosslé was founded in 1957 by John Crosslé and still operates from its original factory.  They claim to be the longest established specialist constructor of racing cars in the World. Many famous drivers competed in Crosslé cars including Nigel Mansell.  The original Crosslé 9S was conceived in 1965 to compete in 2 litre Group 6 sports car racing.   In 1966 drivers such as Peter Gethin and John Watson drove them, achieving some success at circuits such as Dunboyne in Northern Ireland and Crystal Palace.  The cars also raced in the USA.  Since the late nineties Crosslé have been producing late run series 9S cars from the original factory.  There has been an Irish Championship for them and since 2005 the HTP version can also be raced in Historic racing.  The cars have a tubular steel spaceframe and fibre glass body.  Various engine options are available including 2 litre BMW, Ford Twin Cam or Ford Zetec.  

2016 BMW M4 DTM

Tom Blomqvist, BMW M4 DTM, Zandvoort 2016.

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For more photos of the DTM race at Zandvoort in July 2016, click on the link above.

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.

BMW 3.0 CSL

Jean-Claude Basso, BMW 3.0CSL, Tour Auto 2014

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For more photos of the 2014 Tour Auto, click on the link above.

BMW, Munich, Germany.  In 1972 BMW homologated the 3.0CSL for Group 2 racing.  In 1973 Toine Hezemans won the European Touring Car Championship in one and also took a class win in the Le Mans 24 hours co-driven with Dieter Quester.  Chris Amon, Jacky Ickx, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Niki Lauda, Brian Redman and Ronnie Petersen also drove them.  From 1975 to 1979 the BMW 3.0CSL repeated its European Touring Car Championship win.

1961 BMW 700S

1961 BMW 700S, Tour Auto 2014

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For more photos of the 2014 Tour Auto, click on the link above.

BMW, Munich, Germany.  The 700 was produced from 1959 to 1965 and had a rear engine of 700cc. Hans Stuck won the 1960 German Hillclimb Championship for Touring Cars  in a BMW 700.  Jacky Ickx also drove one after transferring from Motorcycles.  They competed in the Tour de France Automobile in 1961 and 1962.

1979 BMW M1 Procar

1979 BMW M1 Procar, 2016 GP de l'Age d'Or, Dijon-Prenois. 

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For more photos of the 2016 Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or, follow the link above.

BMW, Munich, Germany.  The BMW M1 Procar Championship was an International one-make series that ran in 1979 and 1980 as a support series for F1 GP and other major events.  Drivers such as Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Hans-Joachim Stuck and others competed and won.  The cars were built to Group 4 specs.  They had a BMW straight 6 engine tuned to produce over 450bhp.  These M1 procars had a top speed of 190mph and a 0-60mph time of close to 4 seconds.  From 1981 some of these cars entered endurance events in their Grp 4 guise. in 1988 the M1 Procars again supported the German GP.  Bruno Giacomelli's best result in a Procar round was eighth.

BMW M3

BMW M3, Emmanuel Hervieu / Pascal Viquesnel, Rallye National de la Cote Fleurie 2016.

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For more photos of the 2016 Rallye de la Cote Fleurie, follow the link above.

BMW, Munich, Germany. The M3 is the high performance model of the 3-series and has been very successful in motorsport for many years, winning Touring Car races and Championships all over the World.  It has also had success in rallies, particularly in tarmac rallies such as the Tour de Corse.. The M3 originated in 1985 and has been though a number of generations and is still produced today.  The car in the photo looks like it is the classic E30 model from the eighties and early nineties.  Top speed was around 150mph with a 0-60mph time of under 7 seconds.

BMW 318 Compact F2000 Rallye

Rallye du Medoc 2015, BMW 318 Compact F2000 - Yannick Lacouture.

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For more photos of the 2015 Medoc Rally, follow the link above.

Mon astuce pour faire des belles photos
Montrer l'arrière et le côté de la voiture, pour une belle photo.

Top photo tip
A low down three quarters view of a car is often successful.

BMW Isetta Bubblecar

La Traverée de Paris Août 2014.  Une BMW Isetta "Bubblecar" dans La Place de la Concorde.

Pas un vrai bolide, mais j'aime les "bubblecars".

BMW re-enginnered the Isetta bubblecar around one of its own one cylinder engines. manufactured 1955-1962.

Pour plus de photos de la Traversée de Paris Estivale Août 2014, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the August 2014 Traversée de Paris classic car event, follow the above link.

Mon astuce pour faire de belles photos.
Rechercher les voitures inhabituelles et fait une photo.

Top Photo tip.
Look out for the unusual and take a shot.

1975 BMW 2002 Ti

2015 Monte Carlo Rallye Historique.  Paul GARDERE et André CIZERON dans une 1975 BMW 2002Ti. Départ Reims.

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Bayerische Motoren Werke, Munich, Germany.
Top Speed / Vitesse Maximale 190 kph, 0-100 kph 9.9 secs.

Mon astuce pour faire de belles photos

Choisissez une vitesse ‘d’obturation très basse pour donner une impression de vitesse,  mais vous devez suivre le sujet pendant toute la phase d'ouverture. J’ai pris celle-ci dans le soir a Reims en 1/8 ème de seconde.

Top Photo Tip
Choose a very low shutter speed setting on your camera to create an impression of speed.   Then pan carefully to follow the subject throughout the shot.  This was taken under a street light in Reims quite close t the car and usig a shutter speed of 1/8th second.