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.

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.

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..  

1976 Inaltera-DFV LM76 001 GTP

Henri Pescarolo, Inaltera-DFV, Le Mans Classic 2016

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Rondeau, Le Mans, France.   Jean Rondeau was a racing driver and constructor who eventually won the Le Mans 24 hours in a car he constructed, the first to do this.  His first Le Mans car was this one sponsored by the French wallpaper manufacturer, Inaltera.  It was powered by the Cosworth DFV 3 litre engine that had powered the winner in the 1975 24 hour race.  Running in the GTP class and starting 12th on the grid, it finished eighth and won its class driven by Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo.  The other Inaltera was third in class and 21st overall.  The car pictured, chassis 001, also entered the Daytona 24 hours in 1977, qualified third but did not finish. The cars was a fully enclosed mid-engined sports car designed specifically for the Le Mans 24 hours and thus had aerodynamics that made it very quick on the Mulsanne straight.  In 1977 the team returned to Le Mans and again won the GTP class and finished fourth overall driven by Jean Rondeau himself and Jean Ragnotti. After 1977, Inaltera withdrew their support following changes in their management, but Rondeau continued to enter Le Mans but under his own name.  The Inaltera team was managed by famous racing driver Vic Elford.

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1986 Spice-Ford Cosworth 86C Group C2

The Chamberlain Engineering Spice-Ford Cosworth 86C, Brands Hatch 1000kms 1987.

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Spice Engineering, Brackley, England.  Gordon Spice had been a successful racing driver and entrant when he produced his first car with his brother Martin Spice and Ray Belm in 1986 for Group C2.  It was the Spice 86C and was powered by a 3.3 litre Ford Cosworth DFL engine. Similar cars were built for the IMSA Lights class with Pontiac engines. The team won victories at Silverstone and Jerez in their first season but only finished second in the championship.  The next year using both the 1986 car and the newer 87C they won the championship.

1963 Wainer Formula Junior

Richard Smeeton in the Wainer during the Formula Junior race at the 2016 Dijon Motors Cup meeting.

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Wainer, Milan, Italy.  Wainer is the Italian racing car manufacturer founded by Gionfranco Mantovani.   Their first cars were produced for Formula Junior in 1958.  There were a number of rear engined designs they produced for Formula Junior from then until 1963.   Drivers included Corrado Manfredini, Colin Davis and Ernesto Brambilla. The cars scored some wins as they tended to be relatively up to date designs and have the better Cosworth tuned 1,100cc Ford engines. The cars all had space frame chassis.  The body and nose of the 1963 car look very 1961 F1 Ferrari 156 inspired.   The gearbox was from a Fiat 600.  After the Formula Junior era, Wainer went on to produce F3 cars.

1982 Rondeau M382-Cosworth Group C

Mr John of B, Rondeau M382, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Rondeau, Le Mans, France.  After winning at Le Mans in 1980, Rondeau produced a new design for the new Group C formula.  However the M482 was not ready in the first year so they used the existing chassis with a modified body and new suspension in 1982.  This was the M382.  Rondeau even sold some customer cars and thus some were raced at Daytona that year where they were classified 31st and 34th but later in the year came 3rd at Sears Point.  The works cars were more successful in Europe.  In round 1 of the World Endurance championship at Monza, Henri Pescarolo and Giorgio Francia won in the new Rondeau. They also finished second in the Nurburgring 1000km but were the first Group C car home and fifth at Silverstone where they were the third group C car home. This gave them the championship lead going into Le Mans. Unfortunately, the reliability of the Cosworth engine proved not to be sufficient for the 24 hours and the two OTIS works cars retired, and a private entry could only finish 15th.  A fifth place at Spa meant that they only finish second to Porsche in the Championship.  But what a great effort for this small manufacturer.  Otis were disappointed that they lost only because Porsche could score with a non-Group C car at the Nurburgring.

1989/1991 Cheetah G606 / SGR001 / ROC 002

Eric Richenbacher, 1989 Cheetah G606, le Mans Classic Group C Racing 2016.

ROC / Chuck Graemiger, Switzerland.  This rare Group C rare was produced by Chuck Graemiger and Racing Organisation Course and went through a number of name changes.  It only appeared at Le Mans and Magny Cours in 1991 where it started but failed to finish.  The drivers were Pascal Fabre and Bernard Thuner.  It had a Cosworth DFR engine and a carbon fibre monocoque.  The car was designed to sell to privateers but Group C was declining and it never happened.   It now appears as a welcome participant in historic racing.  First known as a Cheetah like Chuck's first Aston Martin engined car, it quickly became an ROC and an SGR.

1978 Rondeau M378-DFV

Marc Devis & Martin O'Connell, 1978 Rondeau M378 - Cosworth,  Le Mans Classic 2016.

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Rondeau, Le Mans, France.  This was the first of the cars to bear Jean Rondeau's name, although previously he had built the Inaltera cars that had borne the name of the wallpaper manufacturer.  This car was built just to race at Le Mans and was powered by an endurance version of the Cosworth DFV engine.   It was similar to the Inaltera but it had a longer tail and partly cover rear wheels. The aerodynamic body was designed by Bureau de Design Ovale.  As with the Inalteras it was entered in the GTP class rather than Group 6 that Porsche dominated.  With Jean Rondeau, Bernard Darniche and Jacky Haran driving it finished ninth in the 1978 Le Mans 24 hours and won its class.   In 1980 Jean Rondeau would go on to win Le Mans in a car bearing his name, the only man to have done so.  Sadly, he was killed near Le Mans on a level crossing when his car was hit by a train.

1973 CESCA 740 Cosworth BDG

Franck Metzger, CESCA 740-Cosworth BDG, Charade, Historic Tour 2016, Sports Proto Cup.

CESCA, France.  I believe this car was based on a Grac MT14S, but modified by Claude Swietlick in 1973 who also added the body of a March 73S.  It has a 2 litre Cosworth BDG engine.   This car is now very competitive in French historic sports protos cup  racing.  In the seventies it was raced by Michel Pignard amongst others.

Envoy-Cosworth Mk1 Formula Junior

Envoy-Cosworth Mk1 Formula junior, Coupe des Printemps, Autodrome Linas-Montlhery 2015.

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Envoy, Chelmsford, England.  The Envoy Mk1 was designed/constructed  by Ken Cooper in cooperation with Ian Raby and raced by Ian Raby and others.  It had a 1 litre Cosworth modified Ford Anglia 105E engine.  About nine of these cars were built in 1959 and 1960.  Ian Raby finished eighth at Goodwood in 1960 in a race won by Jim Clark.  He also drove one in FJ race at Monaco.  Brian Spicer came fourth in an Envoy at a Silverstone FJ race in 1960. At least two Envoys were sold and raced in the USA.

1971 Ligier JS3-DFV

Mr John of B, Ligier JS3-DFV, Dijon-Prenois, GP de l'Age d'Or 2015.

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Ligier Automobile, Abrest, France.  This F1 Cosworth engined car was designed to be competitive with the best 3 litre sports cars of its day.  At the 1971 Le Mans test weekend it finished second in the 3 hour race driven by Guy Ligier after a drive up the field from the back of rthe grid.  The following week it won the 15 lap Coupe de Printemp at the Autodrome Linas-Montlhery.  in the 24 hours of Le Mans it was not classified after completing just 270 laps and after some other minor races at Magny Cours and Montlhery it was put away to pasture until revived for historic racing by its current owner.  It always looks beautiful in its original yellow and green BP colours.  In 1971 as well as Guy Ligier, Patrick Depailler was one of its drivers.

1971 Lola T212 FVC

Mauro Poponcini, Lola T212 FVC, Dijon-Prenois, 2015 GP de l'Age d'Or.

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Lola, Huntingdon, England.  The Lola T212 was a popular 2 litre sports car driven by the likes of Guy Edwards, Jo Bonnier, Tony Birchenough and Vic Elford, It was a big rival to the Chevron B19 and Abarth-Osellas of the time.  Helmut Marko won the European Championship 2 litre drivers championship and Lola won the manufacturers championship in 1971 with the T212.  Vic Elford won at the Nurburgring and Jo Bonnier won at Jarame for Scuderia Filipinetti in cars similar to that pictured.

1975 Ligier-Cosworth JS2

Ligier-Cosworth JS2, Mr John of B - 2015 Tour Auto, Egleny Special Stage

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Ligier Automobiles, Abrest, France.  The Ligier JS2 was their first car.  The JS was in honour of founder Guy Ligier's friend Jo Schlesser who was killed at Rouen in 1968 in the French GP.    Guy Ligier himself was also a Formula One driver in 1966 and 1967.  The JS2 started with a Ford V6 then had a Maserati V6 engine and finally a V8 Cosworth DFV for racing.  The Cosworth engined car achieved distinction by finishing second in the Le Mans 24 hour race of 1975.   A Maserati engined car won the Tour Auto in 1974 and also won the Le Mans 4 hour race the same year.