PBR Proto

Alain Bonnet, PBR Proto, Course de Cote d'Etretat-Bénouville 2016.

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PBR, France.  I have seen this pretty little car at a number of hillclimbs and slaloms.  It has its own facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/sportprotopbr/posts - but otherwise I can't find out much about it on the web.   Currently, I am assuming this is a homemade racer with an engine less than 1,600cc.  Perhaps it was originally made before 2004 as it is accepted into Class CNF1. 

1976 Matra-Simca Bagheera S

Liz Owler, Matra Simca Bagheera S, Course de Cote d'Etretat-Benouville 2016.

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Matra-Simca, Romorantin, France.  The Bagheera was a seventies mid-engined rear wheel drive 3 seater sports car produced mainly from Simca components.  The body was polyester mounted on a steel chassis.  Engines were either 1.3 litre or 1.5 litre Simca 4 cylinders made in Poissy.  It had a top speed of around 116mph and took about 12 seconds for 0-60mph.  The car drove well but the steel chassis rusted badly.  

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.

Brussels Beer Bike

Feestfiets - Brussels Beer Bike / Bar on Wheels / Party Bike / mobile Bar

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Something a little unusual for a summer Sunday!   The beer bike is made for 20 people and ten of them have pedals.  Rather slower than the usual vehicles I feature as apparently the average speed of this one is just 4.5mph.  They can be seen in a number of Belgium locations - we saw ours going around Brussels.  So this is a way of drinking on the move and sight-seeing at the same time.  Nice idea.  Feestfiets.be if you are interested.

Alfa Romeo 4C Type 960

Alfa Romeo 4C at Mont Dore with Lac Chambon in the background.

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Alfa Romeo, Modena, Italy.  This Alfa Romeo has been made at the Maserati plant since 2013.  It is a mid-engined rear wheel drive 2 seater sports car.  It has a top speed of 160 mph and a 0-60mph time of 4.5 seconds.  It has a turbocharged 4 cylinder in line engine of 1.75 litres mounted transversely.  One had been driven around the Nurburgring Nordschliefe circuit in 8 minutes 4 seconds which is the fastest for any production car with an engine of under 250bhp.  This is the first Alfa Romeo for some time to be available in the USA.

1988 GKW-Porsche 862 Group C2

Massimo Guerra, GKW 862, Le Mans Classic 2016.

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GKW, Monza, Italy.  This vehicle was conceived by Italian Gabriele Gottifredi in 1985 in his Olgiate Molgora workshops and built over the next few years.  Only one example exists.  It was designed to be a very light, relatively low cost Group C2 car which could accept various Porsche flat 6 engines. It has a simple aluminium alloy monocoque.  During the late eighties it appeared and tested at various circuits but never actually raced during the Group C époque, probably as it failed to get adequate financing.  We are now lucky to see it race in historic Group C racing and it finished eleventh at the Group C race supporting the 2016 Le Mans Classic.  It races with a 3.3 litre Porsche flat 6 engine from a 956.  Other 956 parts were also utilised.

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.