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.

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..  

1965 Ford Falcon Sprint

Frits Campagne, Ford Falcon Sprint, Dijon Motors Cup 2016, NKHGT race.

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Ford, Edison, USA.   This was the second version of the Ford Falcon and predates the Mustang by a few months. The Mustang was a sexier package for not much more and thus the Sprint version of the Falcon was not the success it might have been.   Compared to the base model of the Falcon, the Sprint had a 4.3 litre and then in 1965 a 4.7 litre V8, stiffer suspension and a louder exhaust.   Slightly larger and roomier than a Mustang, it is still a compact 2 door four seater with some power.   They were raced in era both in the US and Europe but without any conspicuous success.  They are still raced today in series such as the Dutch Historic GT and Touring car championship.

1965 Ford Mustang 289

Christian Odin, 1965 Ford Mustang 289, Tour Auto, 1st  Special Stage 2016.

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Ford, Dearborn, USA.  The first Mustangs appeared in 1964, even if they were referred to as 1965 models and were either 2 door hardtops or convertibles.  Driver train components were from the Ford Galaxy but the car was designed to have universal appeal, including to women, with bucket seats, room for 4 people and a $2,500 price tag.  The basic model had a low power 2.8 litre 6 cylinder engine but the 289 had a 4.7 litre V8 with better performance.  Top speed for the 289 was a little under120 mph and it had a 0-60mph time of a little over 8 seconds.   It was immediately a successful car with huge sales for Ford and the term "Pony Car" was created for it and its imitators.  The Mustang made its public debut as the pace car at the Indy 500 in 1964 and a convertible appeared in the film Goldfinger.  They were immediately raced and rallied worldwide.  In 1964 the Alan Mann entered Mustang 289 won its class and finished eighth overall in the Tour de France Auto driven by Peter Procter and Andrew Cowan.  The Mustang emblem on the front of the car has become a true automotive icon.

Shelby Mustang GT350 Fastback

Shelby Mustang 350GT Fastback, Rallye du Médoc 2015

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Shelby, Los Angeles, USA. Shelby made high-performance versions of the sixties icon, the Ford Mustang from 1965 until the very early seventies.  The car pictured is the fastback version of the Shelby Mustang GT350 and is the version produced from 1967 to 1968.  The engine was a high performance 300hp 4.7 litre V8 Ford.    They had a top speed of just under 130mph and a 0-60mph time of just over 7 seconds.  In the USA in 1967 one would have set you back about $4,000.  The Shelby version had more aggressive styling than the standard Mustangs and from 1967 onwards were known just as Shelby GTs rather than Mustangs.  Ford produced the basic car and then deliveredcit to Shelby for upgrading.

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.

1999 Crosslé 9S-Ford "late run series"

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

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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.  

1929 Frazer Nash Super Sports Special

Mark Roper, 1929 Frazer Nash Super Sports, Course de Cote d'Etretat-Benouville.

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AFN Ltd, Iseleworth, England.  The Frazer-Nash  Super Sports was produced from 1928 to 1930. They normally had 1.5 litre 4 cylinder engines but the one pictured has a Ford 3.3 litre engine.

1938 Morgan F4 Three Wheeler

Nancy Thomas, Morgan F4 Three Wheeler, Course de Cote d'Etretat-Benouville VHC 2016.

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Morgan, Malvern, England.   The F4 was a 3 wheeler produced by Morgan from 1933 to 1952.  It was called the F4 as it had a four seater body.  A 933cc Ford 4 cylinder motor was used at the front to power the rear wheel.  They were taxed as motor cycles and thus attractive to those on tight budgets until mass produced cheap 4 wheelers began to take their market..  This was the Morgan that moved away from the exposed motor cycle engines seen on previous models.  The chassis was steel.  Lovely to see one take part in a Hill Climb even though this was a Morgan known for its reliability rather than performance.

1960 Cooper T56 Formula Junior

Alan Harrison, Cooper T56 Formula Junior, Course de Cote d'Etretat-Bénouville 2016.

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Cooper, Surbiton, England.  The was the second Cooper Formula Junior car, replacing the T52,  and raced in 1960 and 1961. It looked very much like the contemporary Cooper F1 car.  There were both works cars and those sold to privateers.  Steve McQueen raced one in the USA.  In Europe Tony Maggs won eight races and tied Jo Siffert in the  European Formula Junior Championship driving one.  Many other famous drivers drove them including Denny Hulme, Richard Attwood, John Love, John Rhodes, Ricardo Rodriguez, and Walt Hangsen. They normally had 1.1 litre Ford Cosworth or BMC engines.

1965 Ford GT40 Roadster

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

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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.  

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.

Van Diemen RF90 Formula Ford

Maxime Lebreton, Van Diemen RF90 Formula Ford, Charade, Historic Tour 2016.

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Van Diemen, Snetterton, England.  Founded by Ralph Firman and Ross Ambrose in 1973, Van Diemen were best known for their Formula Ford cars.  The marque was named after Van Diemen's land or Tasmania where Ambrose was born.  The RF stood for Ralph Firman.  They produced cars in volume for many of the lower formula, over 5,000 chassis being produced.    Van Diemens won the British Formula Ford Championship every year from 1980 to 1988 and again in 1990 and 1991.  The RF90 was the Formula Ford car for the 1990 season when Frenchman Michael Vergers won the British Championship in one of these cars.  In 1990 FF cars had the Ford Kent 1600cc engine.

Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, Magny Couras Classic Days 2014

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Shelby American, Venice, California, USA.  The Daytona Coupe was built as a specific project based on the AC Cobra to defeat the Ferrari 250 GTO in GT racing.  Only six were built in period but were very successful winning their class in ten major races during 1964 and 1965 and becoming World Manufacturers Champions for GT cars in 1965. Famous drivers included Phil Hill, Chris Amon, Jo Schlesser, Innes Ireland, Jochen Neerpasch, Bob Bondurant, Maurice Trintignant, Jack Sears, Dick Thompson, John Whitmore and Peter Sutcliffe.  Since the sixties many replicas have been made.  The original cars were powered by big 4.7 litre and 7.0 litre Ford V8 engines.  It was named the Daytona as the 1964 2000km Endurance race at Daytona was its first event.

1966 Ford GT40

Richard Meins, Ford GT 40, Tour Auto 2015, Egleny Special Stage.

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Ford GT40, Slough, England.   The GT40 was an anglo-american cooperation to defeat Ferrari at Le Mans and other major endurance races.  It was called the GT40 because it was exactly 40 inches high. Designed in 1963 it was first raced in 1964 and had its first win in 1965.at Daytona.  It became more successful with the MkII which had the larger 7 litre engine.  In 1966 the Ford GT40 won the Le Mans 24 hours for the first time and also won the same year at Daytona and Sebring.  Ford won four consecutive victories at Le Mans.  The MkIV won in 1967 and then after change of regulations the MkI returned to win in 1968 and 1969.

Ford Escort RS1600 Mk1

Two Ford Ecort Mk1s battle it out at Dijon-Prenois, 2015 GP del'Age d'Or. An RS 1600 chases an RS2000.

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Ford, Aveley Essex, England. The Ford Escort Mk1 was introduced in 1968.  In 1970 Ford introduced the Escort RS1600 with a Cosworth tuned 1,600cc 16 valve twin cam BDA engine.  This gave the Escort a power to weight ratio that enabled it to compete successfully in touring car racing and rallying with its already good handling. The top speed was over 110 mph and the 0-60mph time was under 9 seconds for the road version. Over the years the size of the engine progressed up to 2 litres and thus some cars became known as the RS1800 and RS2000.  Wins on tarmac included Jochen Mass and John Fitzpatrick's win in 1971 in the European Touring Car Championship event at Jarama but many other podiums and class victories were scored.  In rallying they were even more successful.  Roger Clark won the 1972 RAC rally in an RS1600.  Timo Makinen won the RAC Rally in 1973 and 1974 and the 1,000 Lakes in 1973 driving an RS 1600.

Ginetta G50 GT4

Bernard Lebaron, 3.7L Ginetta G50, Coupe de France des Circuits, Dijon Prenois, 2016

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Ginetta, Garforth near Leeds, England.  The Ginetta G50 was designed to celebrate the 50th birthday of Ginetta which had been founded in 1958.  It was one of the first cars produced  after Ginetta had been acquired by Lawrence Tomlinson and moved to Leeds.  The car is a GT4 spec car and is eligible for many racing series around Europe including a one make series in the UK. All G50s have Ford V6 engines. The G50 Cup has a 3.5 litres engine that produces 300bhp whilst the G50 GT4 has a 3.7 litre engine that develops 370 bhp. A relatively affordable GT4 car, it has also been very successful and Joe Osborne won the 2009 European GT4 Cup.   Various G50 road cars have been proposed but not got beyond the prototype phase.  However, the racing version has been one of the best selling Ginettas ever.

To see the much earlier Ginetta G4, click here.

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.