1936 MG TA Midget

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

Pour plus de photos de la Course de Côte Etretat / Bénouville 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the pre-war VSCC cars at the 2017 Etretat Hill Climb, click here.

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.

Pour plus de photos du Mont Dore 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the historic competition cars competing at the Mont Dore Hillcimb in 2017, click here.

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.

Pour plus de photos de Saint Goueno Masters Hillclimb 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the 2017 Saint Goueno Masters Hillclimb, click here.

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.

Pour plus de photos du Tour Auto 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the 2017 Tour Auto, click on this link.

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

Pour plus photos du Tour Auto 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more pictures from the 2017 Tour Auto, click on this link.

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

Pour plus de photo du Tour Auto 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more photos from the 2017 Tour Auto Optic 2000, click on this link.

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.

2017 Cadillac DPi-V.R.

The winning Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. at the Twelve Hours of Sebring 2017.

Pour plus de photos de Sebring 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the Twelve Hours of Sebring 2017, click on this link.

Cadillac, USA.  This car marks Cadillac's return to endurance racing.  It is made to IMSA's Daytona Prototype international rules which are similar to LMP2 but more liberal in terms of the engine and body work.  The chassis is an LMP2 chassis by Dallara.  The body work is by Cadillac Design.  The engine is a 6.2 litre naturally aspirated Cadillac V8 engine producing 600hp. With Wayne Taylor Racing, the car has already won the 2017 Daytona 24 Hours and the Twelve Hours of Sebring.  Action Express have also entered two cars and achieved podium finishes.