1980 Tiga SC80

Tiga SC80 at the Saint Goueno Hill Climb in Brittany in 2017 driven by Fernand Santerelli.

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Tiga Race Cars, Reading, England.  Tiga was named after its founders, former Formula One drivers, Tim Schenken and Howden Ganley.  Tim Schenken was a very succcesful F3 driver but only got on a F1 podium once for Brabham.  Howden Ganley has success in F5000 before his F1 career that yielded two fourth places for BRM.    Apparently, the proper pronunciation is like the big cat - Tiger.  They formed the company in 1974/5 and started off making Formula Ford cars.  In 1977 they began making Sports 2000 cars and at this they were very successful.  Between 1979 and 1985 their Sports 2000 car won either the British or European championships.  The SC80 won the British Championship in the hands of Ian Taylor.   It had a simple monocoque chassis and tubular fame bolted on to a 2 litre Ford Cortina engine.   The body is glass fibre.  The engine was tuned to develop about 130bhp and this pushed the car along at up to 135mph.   Occasionally these cars ran in bigger races.  In 1980 Divina Galicia and Mark Thatcher finished eleventh in the Brands Hatch 6 Hours, an event that was part of the World Championship of Makes.

1929 Amilcar CGSS

1929 Amilcar CGSS at Retromobile 2018 in the Artcurial auction.

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Amilcar, Saint-Denis, France.  Amilcar started producing cyclecars (small, lightweight and inexpensive cars) in 1920 and made a name for itself in the twenties for its sporty vehicles.  The name car from its financiers Emil Akar and Joseph Lamy but the driving technical force behind the marque were two engineers Edmond Moyet and André Morel.  Unusually, for a cyclecar producer, they made there own engines.  The cars were often entered in motor sport events and Morel won the 1922 Bol d'Or, a 24 hour race with a single driver, in 1922.    In 1927 a 1.1 litre turbocharged Amilcar touring model G won the Monte Carlo Rally.  The CGSS model pictured here was produced from 1926 to 1929 and stood for Cyclecar Grand Sport Surbaissé.  It thus was a CGS with a lowered chassis.  It had a 4 cylinder  1.1 litre engine with 3 speed gearbox and the body was a two seater.  Just under 1,000 CGSS models were made and then in 1929 the great depression killed the marque.  Like other Amilcars the CGSS was raced including in major events such as the Mille Miglia.   It should also be mentioned that the famous American dancer, Isadora Duncan, was killed in 1927 as a passenger in  an Amilcar CGSS when her scarf caught in  the real wheels of the car in Nice.   This late model and original CGSS was sold for Euro 83,000 at the Artcurial Auction.

Jensen C-V8

A Jensen C-V8 climbing up to Montmartre during the 2018 Traversée de Paris.

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Jensen Motors, West Bromwich, England.   Alan and Richard Jensen were the brothers who set up Jensen Motors that originally built vehicle bodies and then went on to build complete cars.  The Jensen C-V8 was the last Jensen with which the brothers were actively involved in the conception.  It was launched in 1962 and produced until 1966.  It was a two door, four seater, front engine, rear wheel drive, luxury fast sports car.  It had a steel chassis, glass fibre body and was powered by big American Chrysler six litre V8 engine.  Performance was exceptional for the time both in terms of straight line speed and handling..  The MkI had a top speed of 132mph and a 0-60 time of 8 seconds.  The MlIII had a top speed of 139mph and a 0-60 time of under 7 seconds.   With the big V8 the fuel consumption was quite high at around 13 to 14 mpg.  Depending on your point of view, the Jensen is either rather beautiful or an ugly duckling.  Personally, I think it is rather desirable.   Only 500 were built so quite rare but quite good value as a classic car.  Not often raced, it did win the 24 hour Commander's Cup at Snetterton in 1965 with a team that included Roy Salvadori.   It featured in the sixties TV series The Baron and later London Spy.  

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.

1931 Sentinel Steam Bus DG6P "Elizabeth"

Sentinel Steam Bus "Elizabeth" in service in Whitby in June 2010.

Sentinel Waggon Works, Shrewsbury, England.  Sentinel was a producer of steam vehicles from 1906 until the fifties.  Elizabeth was built in 1931 in the Shrewsbury factory of Sentinel as a Super-Sentinel flatbed lorry No.8590.  She is powered by a 2 cylinder double acting steam engine driving the rear wheels through a 2 speed gearbox and chain drive.   There is a coal powered vertical boiler in the cab.  It is rather exciting to see the flames rising in the cab as the bus goes along the road.  After nearly been scrapped in the sixties, she was converted into a steam bus and eventually authorised to carry fare paying passengers.  From 2006 to 2014 Elizabeth operated a steam service in Whitby, Yorkshire.   She has been moved to Weston-super-Mare in Southern England in 2015 where she has been rebuilt and refurbished.  She was recently introduced to the public again.  Long may she continue giving rides as the only steam powered bus in Europe to transport fare paying passengers.  She carries up to 30 passengers.  If you want a ride visit the web site of Crosville Motor Services the operator.

1970 Ferrari 512M

1970 Ferrari 512M, Dix Mille Tours du Castellet, Paul Ricard 1970.

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Ferrari, Maranello, Italy.   With the initial 512S proving to have rather disappointing reliabilty and results against the Porsche 917, a modified version was produced in late 1970.  This was the Ferrari 512M, the M standing for Modificata.  The 512M featured a less rounded shape with improved aerodynamics and all had a closed coupé body style.  The 512Ms were converted from the 512Ss.  These modification first appeared at the 1970 Zeltweg 1000kms on a works car driven by Jacky Ickx and Ignazio Giunti, but it did not finish.  In the next race at Kyalami in the 9 hour race, the same car and drivers won but it was not part of the World Championship.  For 1971 the Ferrari works team concentrated on the 3 litre prototype 312PB and dd not enter the 512M except in an Interserie race at Imola that it won..  However, the privateers who owned many of the 512Ms continued the fight.  Importantly one of these privateers was none other than Roger Penske.   He rebuilt the car from bottom up and produced the best 512M that anyone had.  However, even that car did not prove a winner and it only achieved a third at Daytona and sixth place at Sebring.    The yellow car, pictured, is in the colours of Escuderia Montjuich.  That car's greatest achievement was coming an amazing second in the Tour de France.  Other privateers did achieve 3rd and 4th places at the Le Mans 24 hours and a few wins in minor non-championship races.  Thus, a lovely car but not a 917 beater.

For more about the Ferrari 512S, click here.

1970 Ferrari 512S

1970 Ferrari 512S, Dix Mille Tours, Paul Ricard 2017.

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Ferrari, Maranello, Italy.  Ferrari built twenty five 512S sports cars to compete with the Porsche 917 in the 5 litre Group 5 class of the 1970 World Championship of Makes.  Ferrari had had to wait for Fiat funds and was behind Porsche in development at the start of the 1970 season. The car was powered by a 5 litre Ferrari V12 engine but was heavier than Porsche's 917.  On its debut at the 1970 Daytona 24 hrs, the lead car driven by Andretti, Merzario and Ickx finished third.  Then at the next race at Sebring the car scored a famous win when Andretti took over the Giunti / Vaccarella car and beat the Steve McQueen Porsche 908.  Unfortunately that was as good as it got.  A second place at Monza and Spa and third places at Monza, Targa Florio, Nurburgring and Watkins Glen rounded the season off.  By the end of the season many had been converted to 512M spec but it wasn't much more successful.  In 1971 a NART 512S took runner-up spot in the Daytona 24 hours.   The Ferrari 512 will go down in history as the car that made the Porsche 917 look so great.   917 drivers such as Rodriguez, Oliver and Bell also drover the 512S on occasion.   John Surtees, making a return to Ferrari for the first time since 1966 also drove them with success and Amon who had left Ferrari for the March GP team also drove them.

For more about the Ferrari 512M, click here.