1974 Alfa Romeo 33 TT 12

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

Pour plus photos du Castellet, Dix Mile Tours 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the classic endurance cars from this era, click on this link.

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.

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 Howmet TX

Xavier Micheron driving the Howmet TX at Paul Ricard in the Dix Mille Tours meeting 2017

Pour plus photos des Classic Endurance Racers au Castellet 2017, suivez ce lien.

For more pictures of the Classic Endurance Racers at Paul Ricard in 2017, click here.

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.

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

For more photos of the post war historic cars at the Etretat Hillclimb in 2017, click here.

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.

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

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

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.

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.