vintage raceca ournal the international source for the ...€¦ · painter john ketchell paints a...
TRANSCRIPT
tHe PeNsKe PANZerthe story of the 917 can-am program
INterVIewle Mans champion derek Bell on the 956/962
FAbulous FIFtIesporsche legend Vasek polak
the international source for the history, collection and competition of Vintage and historic Racecars october 2007
Volume 10, Issue 10
usA $6.95, uK £5.00
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alpha & OMEGA
We test drive the prototype 956and compare it with the last works 962
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5VINTAGE RACECAR
ColUmNS 24 Fast lines: slaying giants—again
Pete Lyons discovers how similar Porsche’s current RSSpyder ALMS program is to Porsche’s original RS Spy-der program in the 1950s.
30 Heroes: Jo siffertRobert Newman examines the incrediblecontributions of Swiss racer Jo Siffert toPorsche’s racing legacy.
32 legends speak: Racing for porsche1977 Le Mans winner Jürgen Barth looks back on hisPorsche racing career which included everything fromLe Mans to rallying.
34 Art History: “daytona sunrise”Painter John Ketchell paints a striking image ofPorsche’s 1970 win at Daytona, with the 917.
46 Hot laps: Willow springs turn 5Skip Barber instructor Randy Buck shows us the fastway through Willow Springs Raceway’s Turn 5.
58 Fabulous Fifties: Vasek polak, porsche MagicianArt Evans looks back on the unbelievable life story ofPorsche dealer and team-owner Vasek Polak.
82 Greatest racecars: porsche 917/30 Rennsport Reunion-organizer and racing-champion Brian Redman casts his vote for one of the greatest racecars of all time.
98 last lap: german carsMike Lawrence overcomes his prejudices to honor Ger-many’s diverse postwar racing heritage.
DEPARTmENTS
6 First turn: tools of the trade
8 Fast exposure
10 News brief
18 Hidden treasure: 1965 townsend MkV
20 mail box
22 time capsule: october in Racing history
56 market Guide: prewar, part 1
60 Photo Gallery: goodwood Festival, Blackhawk,
Winton, Watkins glen, Mosport, targa Florio
78 Product review
80 Hard Drive: Web sites of interest
88 market Place
oN tHe coVer tHIs moNtH:
The 1982 Porsche 956 Prototype (956-001) and 1988Porsche 962 (962-010) Photo: Peter Collins
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Peter Collins
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A l l - P o r s c h e R e n n s p o r t R e u n i o n I s s u e
4 VINTAGE RACECAR
V I N T A G E VolUmE 10, iSSUE 10
october 2007www.vintageracecar.com
FEATURES 26 Interview: derek Bell
Ed McDonough speaks with the 4-time Le Manschampion about what it was like racing for Porsche during the heady days of the 956/962 campaign.
36 Profile: alpha & omegaWith the help of Derek Bell, Ed McDonough testdrives both the prototype Porsche 956 and the lastworks 962.
48 Feature: the penske panzerGary Horstkorta examines the genesis and history ofone of modern motorsport’s most dominant racingcars—the Porsche 917 Can-Am program.
the international source for the history, collection, and competition of Vintage and historic Racecars
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Peter Collins
Treichler/VR Archive
by casey annis, editor
We were veryhonored tobe given the
opportunity to workwith Porsche CarsNorth America toproduce this special all-
Porsche issue that, in addition to ournormal distribution, will also be going toall the competitors and guests at this year’sRennsport Reunion III at Daytona.
The all-Porsche Rennsport Reunionwas first launched in 2001, with the samesimple concept that other great events likethe Monterey Historics and the AmeliaIsland Concours started with—gathertogether a bunch of like-mindedenthusiasts to play with their toys. Andlike those other events, the Rennsport hassteadily grown, with more cars, morepersonalities and more international buzzeach time. This year’s event will featurefour days of racing, a concours, a Porschememorabilia sale as well as a remarkableturn-out of Porsche racers includingRichard Attwood, Vic Elford, GeorgeFollmer, Hurley Haywood, Willy Kauhsen,Charlie Kemp, Gerald Larrousse, RudiLins, David Piper, Brian Redman, DerekBell, Gijs van Lennep, John Andretti,David Hobbs, Bruce Leven, Jochen Mass,John Morton, Bobby Rahal and ChipRobinson, just to name a few.
While the Rennsport Reunionincludes racing Porsches from all eras, thisyear’s meeting will highlight two veryspecial types of Rennwagens fromZuffenhausen. One of this year’s honoredcars is the 956/962. As part of our specialtribute to Porsche, in this issue, weorganized the ultimate 956/962 “RacecarProfile”—a head-to-head test of the first956 (chassis 956-001) and the last works962 (chassis 962-010). And what betterperson to help us with this test but four-time Le Mans champion Derek Bell, whoraced both of these very cars, in period.Not only did Bell help our European EditorEd McDonough test drive these twoimportant Porsches, but afterwards he satdown with him for the interview you’ll findon page 26, where he looks back at what itwas like to race for Porsche during theheady 956/962 era.
The other Porsche racing car beinghonored at this year’s Rennsport is themighty 917 Can-Am car. In this month’sfeature article, “Penske’s Panzer,” GaryHorstkorta explores how Porsche modifiedthe long-distance 917 for the Can-Amseries, but quickly came to the conclusionthat it was going to need a lot morehorsepower to dethrone the then-dominant McLaren juggernaut. The storygoes on to trace how Roger Penske andMark Donohue came into the program in1972 and re-engineered the 917 into a carthat was almost unbeatable in the 1972and 1973 Can-Am seasons. With insightsfrom 1972 Can-Am champion GeorgeFollmer, this is a fascinating look into oneof the most dominant racing programs ofthe last 40 years.
As a counterbalance to these two well-known Porsche racing classics, we thoughtwe’d round out this issue with a look intothe lives of some the lesser documented,but highly important, people in Porscheracing history. In this month’s “LegendsSpeak,” we hear from Le Mans-winnerJürgen Barth not only about his come-from-behind victory at Le Sarthe, but alsohis experiences rallying a 924 acrossAustralia and his surprising choice for hisfavorite Porsche racing car. Elsewhere, ArtEvans looks back at the remarkable lifeand career of Porsche mechanic-turned-dealer Vasek Polak and how thiscommunist refugee became an influentialracing team owner and dealer in theUnited States. In his “Heroes” column thismonth, Robert Newman looks at JoSiffert’s contribution to Porsche racinghistory, while Pete Lyons, in his column,explores how this year’s RS Spyder ALMSprogram is surprisingly similar to Porsche’sRS Spyder program in the ’50s. Finally,Rennsport Reunion organizer and Porschelegend Brian Redman tells us why, in hiseyes, the 917/30 was the “GreatestRacecar.”
With so much fascinating Porschehistory is it any wonder that the RennsportReunion has become one of the historicracing world’s “must do’s”? Sadly, if youdon’t make it to Daytona, the firstweekend of November, you’ll have to waituntil 2010 for the next edition, as thisspecial event comes but once every threeyears.
Rennsport Redux
6 VINTAGE RACECAR
FiRST tuRn
PublIsHer ⁄ eD I torCasey M. Annis
euroPeAN eDItorEd McDonough
soutH PAcIFIc eDItorPatrick Quinn
GrAPHIc DesIGNer
Kevin [email protected]
GrAPHIc DesIGNerJason Gehrman
eDItorIAl AssIstANtLynne Gehrman
coPY eDItorPenny Sippel
coNtrIbutING wrIters
Sir Stirling Moss, Harold Pace, Pete Lyons, Michael Oliver, Robert Newman, Rich Nisley
Norman Sippel, Mike Lawrence, Michael Stucker, Peter Collins, Gary Horstkorta, John Murn,
John Wright, Keith Booker, Art Evans,Carl Goodwin, Mike Jiggle
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u.s. ADVertIsINGNorman Sippel
1569 Canopy Oaks Blvd., Suite BPalm Harbor, FL 34683
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u.K./euroPe ADVertIsINGMike Jiggle
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VINTAGE RACECAR 9
the nürburgring 1000 km Race; May 31, 1970. airborne! a dechent- team porsche 908/2
driven by Rudi lins and Willy kauhsen takes off at Flugplatz. they finished 6th overall behind
two factory porsche 908/3s, two Ferrari 512s spyders and the other 908/2 from the dechent
team. photo by Yves debraine.
Photo courtesy of: the kleMantaski collection
PmB 219 – 65 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06905-3814 USA., Tel: (203) 461-9804 • Fax: (203) 968-2970
E-mail: [email protected] • Web site: www.klemcoll.com
FAST eXposuRe
8 VINTAGE RACECAR
Aston Martin DBR2. Riccardo Patreseenjoyed both the Lancia Beta Monte Carloand LC1, together with outings in a re-created1960 Ferrari 246 Dino. Emerson Fittipaldiarrived on the Saturday afternoon to run theClassic Team Lotus Gold Leaf 49, in which hemade his debut at the British Grand Prix in1970. However, not every driver listed toappear showed up on all three days, and somespectators were disappointed that theirfavorite was not present on the day they were.
The busiest drivers of the weekend wereDerek Bell and Jochen Mass who seemed tobe forever jumping out of one car and intothe next. Mass could be found in aMercedes-Benz W125 and W196 and aSauber-Mercedes C11 and, by way ofcontrast, a 2005 Dodge Charger. Bellpiloted a Porsche 917/30, Henry Pearman’sPorsche 956 and Marc Devis’s Mirage-FordGR7. Proving that the tricky conditionscan “catch out” even the most experienced,Bell had a brief moment in the Mirage fromwhich he emerged covered in mud, much tothe amusement of Sir Stirling Moss and SirJackie Stewart, who ribbed him mercilessly!
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason wasthe lucky man in the Audi Tradition, AutoUnion D type re-creation, while his wifeAnnette was at the wheel of the family’s1979 Ferrari 512BB/LM, claiming the“Fastest Lady Driver” award. Among theother notable Ferraris were the 1950 125owned by Egon Zweimuller, 1955 121LM ofPeter Sachs, Jean Sage’s 375MMBerlinetta, and Paul Knapfield’s 712 Can-Am. About 10 percent of entrants opt to betimed and, of those, the Tyrrells of MarcoPayne (P34 6-wheeler) and John Delane
(006) made some spirited runs. Thequickest over the weekend were RodMillen’s Toyota Tacoma “Pikes Peak” andAnthony Reid’s Nissan 350Z GT500.Making a welcome first appearance was theSerenissima M1AF owned by NicholasSchonieber. This was the brainchild ofVenetian, Count Volpi, who had suppliedhis Serenissima engine to Bruce McLarenfor one race only, the 1966 British GrandPrix in which McLaren scored his marque’svery first point. During 1967, Count Volpiengaged Alf Francis to design and buildSerenissima’s own car, but it never raced.Now the car was here running atGoodwood and it drew much attention asdid the radical, and almost undrivable,twin-supercharged, aero-engined Monaco-Trossi built in 1935 and the 1948 Tarf-Gilera, twin boom record breaker—thesetwo on static display only.
Contemporary Formula One has been aFestival attraction for many years and thistime the star was super-rookie LewisHamilton, the current WorldChampionship leader with the McLaren-Mercedes MP4/21. His last visit to theGoodwood Festival of Speed was as aspectator aged 12, and it is hoped that hemay be tempted to drive a vintage racer ona future visit, just like a number of his fellowF1 drivers. The Festival continues to providesomething for everyone interested in thehistory of motorsport. The unrestrictedpaddock access and garden party atmospherecontinue to make it a photographer’s andautograph hunter’s dream.
by Keith Booker
VINTAGE RACECAR 11
October5–6 VsccA
Lime Rock FinaleLime Rock, CT
973-383-1570
www.vscca.org
5–7 cVArThunder on the Cimarron VHallet Motor Racing Circuit, Hallet, OK
903-892-9870
www.corinthianvintagerace.com
6–7 Hsr-west8th Annual Fall Formula FestivalWillow Springs, CA
310-530-9731
www.hsr-westracing.com
6–7 AAmmThe Double 500Sausalito - Ft. Bragg, CA
415-479-9950
www.californiamille.com
6–7 GrlCoronado Classic Speed FestivalNAS North Island, Coronado, CA
805-686-9292
www.generalracing.com
12–14 csrGCharity ChallengeInfineon Raceway, Sears Point, CA
925-736-2823
www.csrgracing.org
12–14 Intercontinental events, Inc.Targa Sixty-SixSavannah, GA
561-791-9755
www.gorace.com
13–14 VArAJeff Saltman Memorial RaceLas Vegas International Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV
800-280-8272
www.vararacing.com
18–21 sVrARoad Atlanta Season FinaleRoad Atlanta, Braselton, GA
404-298-3323
www.svra.com
27–Nov. 1 la carrera Panamericana20th La Carrera Panamericana-TheMexican Road RaceTuxtla Gutierrez - Chiapas, Mexico
www.panamrace.com
Full 2007 calender Available at:
www.vintageracecar.com
the 1968 howmet turbine, driven by chuck haines, was one of many unique racecars that il-
lustrated this year’s theme honoring engineering visionaries.
Peter Collins
10 VINTAGE RACECAR
NEWS BRieF
The Goodwood Festival of Speedcelebrated its 15th anniversary, betweenJune 22–24, with another spectacular event,attended by an estimated 150,000 people.Even frequent, heavy rain showers failed todampen the enthusiasm of both the crowdand the competitors.
This year’s theme was “Spark ofGenius—Breaking Records, PushingBoundaries—celebrating the glory of theindividual racers and engineering visionarieswho took risks and made sacrifices in theirquest for victory.” This brought together asampling of Brooklands and Indianapolisracers, Land Speed Record–holders, PikesPeak legends and revolutionary vehiclesincluding Jim Hall with the Chaparral-Chevrolet 2J “Sucker Car” for Vic Elford, andChuck Haines with the Howmet TX, gas-turbine sports prototype. Sixty years of Ferrariwas marked with both a static display anddemonstrations on the 1.16-mile hill, whichat other times of the year serves as Lord
March’s front drive.It is 50 years since Eric Broadley founded
Lola and current Executive Chairman,Martin Birrane was on hand with his 1967Lola-Ford T90 “Bowes Seal Fast Special” forhim and Sir Jackie Stewart to run. JohnDarlington entered his Offenhauser-powered T90 for Al Unser Sr. Stewartrecalled that he drove for the John Mecomteam at Indy in 1966 before teaming up withAl Unser, and he was leading by two lapswhen something broke, with eight laps togo. “I guess you just got tired,” quiped Unser.“Trust me, Al, a Scotsman that close to somuch prize money isn’t going to get tired!”replied Sir Jackie. The Lola themecontinued with the ex-Dan GurneyBridgehampton-winning 1966 Lola-FordT70 Spyder of Johan Woerheide, driven onthe first day of the Festival by VR’s EdMcDonough and later by the owner. Lolastalwart and first Can-Am champion, JohnSurtees, was also present, this time at the
wheel of the 1968 Honda RA301.Toyota took the central display in front
of Goodwood House with a spectacularconstruction inspired by a Shrine in Kyoto.Strung by tension rods from the six gates,the highest of which was 147 feet above theground, were five Toyota competition carsfrom recent years. On the hill, HiroshiFushida drove the mighty twin-turbo Toyota7 Can-Am car which took victory in a one-off Can-Am race at Fuji in 1969. Successfulrally cars from Toyota’s heritage could alsobe found in action on the increasinglypopular Rally Stage at the top of the hill.
Goodwood patron and avid supporter, SirStirling Moss, was as popular as ever in theFerguson-Climax Project 99 and a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Sir Stirling opined thatMercedes is preparing its cars even better nowthan it did in 1955 and better than 10 yearsago, demonstrating how much the companyvalues its history. Brian Redman had a run inCarol Flack’s 1957 BRM Type-25 and an
2007 GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED
Keith Boo
ker
toyota's central display could be seen from miles around.
VINTAGE RACECAR 1312 VINTAGE RACECAR
Sports car racing driver, teammanager and safety engineer John Fitchhas been inducted into the MotorsportsHall of Fame, along with seven others.
Fitch was the first SCCA nationalchampion, in 1951, and won theArgentine Grand Prix in the same year.In the 1952 Mexican Road Race, hedrove the prototype 300SL roadster forMercedes. As a former P-51 fighter pilotin WWII, Fitch quipped: “In 1945 I wasshooting at the Germans and sevenyears later I was driving their racingcars.” In 1953, he won the 12 Hours ofSebring with co-driver Phil Walters.They beat the Aston Martin factoryteam with a single Cunningham C4-R.Fitch was one of the few Americans tocompete in Europe and the onlyAmerican to drive for the Mercedes-Benz team, which won worldchampionships in Formula One, sports
racing and GT classes in 1955.Among his many racing
achievements, Fitch was a driver forBriggs Cunningham from 1951 to1966, piloting many of the greatcars that team fielded, including theCunningham C-4R, the D-Jaguars,the Lister Jaguars and Porsche 904s.Additionally, as a team manager atSebring, he took the early Corvettesthat initially could not complete alap around the course, and refinedthem into true racing sports cars.
Other 2007 Motorsports Hall ofFame inductees were Goodyearracing manager Leo Mehl, Indy-carmechanic Jim McGee, 1960 Indywinner Jim Rathman, dirt-trackmotorcycle hero Bubba Shobert,NASCAR champion Bill Elliottand the Pro-Stock drag racing teamof Sox and Martin.
FITCH INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME
In early August, Indy 500 and LeMans champion A. J. Foyt narrowlyescaped a grim death, when the bulldozerhe was using tipped over into a lake.
Foyt was quoted in various media afterthe near miss as saying, “I came awfulclose this time. It scared me. The cage[around the driver] probably saved mylife, because without it, the dozer wouldhave crushed me.
“But the cage also made it hard toescape. I had to crawl through the front ofit and it was hard to do under water. I’ll be
honest, I was panicked a little bit.”Unable to free himself, Foyt spent
another 15 minutes trapped in the lakebefore rescuers came to his aid.
“I knew I’d get too tired trying to haulmy big butt out of there,” Foytcommented. “But as I was calling for help,I saw a water moccasin swim by. I startedsplashing like hell then. After about 15minutes, someone heard me and stoppedto help. If I hadn’t made it to the top of thedozer, they would never have found mebecause it was completely under water.”
FOYT SUFFERS CRASH…IN A BULLDOZER
Three-time Formula One championNelson Piquet may be one of the greatestracing drivers to ever emerge fromBrazil…however, the Braziliangovernment may not think so.
The 54-year-old Piquet had hisdriver’s license revoked in June afterreceiving a brace of speeding and parkingtickets. In an ironic twist of matrimonialsolidarity, Piquet’s wife, Viviane, also hadher license taken away for bad drivingand was forced to join her famoushusband in a mandatory, remedial driver-
awareness training course.Piquet was quoted by Reuters as
saying, “I think we have to pay for ourmistakes. It’s not even just a speedingproblem. I got tickets for all kinds ofreasons, for things like parking where Ishouldn’t.”
Piquet and his wife, whose 21-year-old son is an up-and-coming test cardriver for the Renault Formula One team,will have to attend 30 hours of classesover eight days and pass an exam beforeregaining their licenses.
PIQUET LOSES DRIVING LICENSEJim Hatfie
lld
VINTAGE RACECAR 1514 VINTAGE RACECAR
Sadly those two iconic road races, theTarga Florio and Giro Di Sicilia, bothinstigated by Vincenzo Florio at thebeginning of the last century, areconsigned to the history books. No morethe breathtaking sight of works Ferraris,Alfa Romeos or Porsches blasting alongSicily’s torturous mountain roads, nolonger is it possible to stand in thebeautiful Madonie Hills and listen for theapproach of local hero Nino Vaccarella’sP3/4 Ferrari winding its way through one44-mile lap of the 10-lap Targa Florio.Fortunately, all is not lost, thanks to thePalermo-based Veteran Car Club,Panormus, who for the past 19 years hasstaged an event that keeps the spirit ofthese two races alive.
As out and out races over public roadsare a thing of the past, the V.C.C.P. hascombined the routes of both events andturned them into a 7-day, 780-mile,regularity run for classic cars. Starting inthe center of Palermo at 9:00 p.m. onJune 3, the contestants headed westwardto make an anticlockwise circuit of theisland, finishing back on Sicily’s northern
coast 6 days later, with the final dayreserved for laps of the Piccolo (small)and Medio (medium) Targa Florio circuit.Just for good measure, as if contestantsneeded more exertions after days spentwrestling with full lock hair-pins, therewere two hill-climbs included: the first upMontepellegrino (this year in pouringrain), the second a climb to the top ofMount Erice (this year through thickcloud) and, one of the highlights of theweek, a day spent at the Syracuse racecircuit giving both cars and drivers achance to blow the soot off their plugs.Add to this a morning where the routetook cars to just below the snowline ofMount Etna, one of Europe’s most activevolcanoes, and you can see that the weekwas a real “work out” for a classic car.Some vehicles always fall by the waysidebut most are patched up, often withcompetitors helping each other, andmanage to complete the week.
Now all “work out” and no play makesJack a dull boy, so the Giro is designed notonly as a test of man and machine, but asEdoardo Vetri, president of the V.C.C.P.,
puts it, “A week that binds together afascination for veteran cars, the beautifulSicilian landscape and our hospitality.”Consequently, the course takescontestants over some torturous roadsthreading through magnificent scenery,but they find each lunch and overnightstop is usually held at some exoticlocation with a gastronomic delightawaiting them. Most years the entry is ofabout 50 to 60 cars so it doesn’t take longbefore strangers have become friends andare admiring each others’ vehicles,peering under each others’ hoods andexchanging stories.
This year the entry category wasextended to allow the inclusion ofmodern Ferraris in order to mark thatgreat manufacturers 60th year with one ofthese upstarts snatching victory: ArchilleOrlando in his 360 Modena. Next year’sentry will revert to its usual format with acutoff point of 1971 giving the owners ofclassic cars a chance to follow in thefootsteps of the greats and drive thesehistoric roads.
By Roger Dixon
GIRO DI SICILIA/TARGA FLORIO 2007
Rog
er Dixon
VINTAGE RACECAR 1716 VINTAGE RACECAR
St. Michael’s Church, at Silverstone,was full and overflowing with family,friends, and members of the motor racingfraternity wishing to pay tribute to FredGoddard, who was tragically killed in aroad accident, while in the United Statesfor a historic race meeting.
Goddard was born and raised inZimbabwe where he became part of theSouth African motor racing scene,preparing and driving his own cars. Hiscontemporaries included Dave Charlton,Sam Tingle, and John Love. Fred built hisown Formula One car, the FMG-Ford 1,in which he competed in thenonchampionship races in South Africa,his best result being a 6th place at theNatal Winter Trophy, in June 1969.
In 1989, he made the move to the UKwhere he established Fred GoddardRacing, preparing cars of various formulaeto give rising youngsters a chance to geton the ladder of success. His son, Earl,won the Euroboss series title in 1999 andwas runner-up in 2000 and 2001. PekkaHerva, Gary Paffett, and Robbie Kerrwon British F3 class-B titles with FGR,while Goddard also played a part in thecareer of current Champ Car driverRobert Dornbos.
His company looked after the past,
too, by restoring, maintaining, and sellinghistoric racing cars. Goddard was awardedthe BRDC Nigel Moores Trophy forservices to motorsport in 2002. Hisbusiness is not a multimillion-dollarenterprise, but many people in the pitsand paddocks of the world were in many
ways touched by him and his jovialpersonality. He was a man who kept thefun in motor racing and will be sorelymissed. The final piece of music played atthe church service, Don’t Worry, BeHappy, summed up his spirit.
By Mike Jiggle
FRED GODDARD KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT
Having previously establishedrecords for the Lotus 25 and 49, onJuly 25, H&H set a new sales recordfor the Lotus 72. Widely regarded asone of the prettiest Grand Prix carsof all time, the 72 was the model thatcarried Austrian Jochen Rindt to hisposthumous victory in the 1970World Drivers’ Championship. Theexample on offer was the sister workscar of John Miles that was later racedby Graham Hill before passingthrough the hands of such otherGrand Prix greats as Jo Siffert andEmerson Fittipaldi. Now, ripe forrestoration, the single-seater was soldfor £286,000 to a European collectorwho fully intends to return it to thetrack.
LOTUS 72 SELLS FOR £286,000
VINTAGE RACECAR 1918 VINTAGE RACECAR
By Mark R. Brinker
This month we bring you the first of a newmonthly column devoted to the many racing barnfinds and “Hidden Treasures” unearthed aroundthe world each year. Each month our intrepid rac-ing sleuth, Mark Brinker, will select an intererst-ing rediscovered treasure submitted by you, thereader. So send your photos and stories to Markat [email protected]
Owen Gibson of Arivaca, Arizona istwice blessed. Not only did he findthe 1957 Townsend Mark I in 2000,
a car he reintroduced to the world at the2006 Monterey Historics, he recentlyuncovered the wildest of all Towsendcreations, the midengined Mk V. This makesGibson the caretaker of Frank Townsend’sfirst and last American road racing specials, adistinction he relishes.
The Townsend Mk V was born in 1965from the remains of a wrecked Genie Mk 4.Townsend designed a 1.5” tubular chassiswith conventional coil-over-suspension at allfour corners. Front brakes were Girling discsfrom the Genie; the rear discs were prototype’65 Corvette. The body was constructed bymodifying what remained of the Geniecarcass and was painted silver. Motivationcame from an Algon-injected aluminumPontiac 389, acquired from Smokie Yunick,backed by a Huffaker BMC transaxle. WhenTownsend tired of the Pontiac’s oiling issues,a Chevy 427 L-88 was installed. A Hewlandwas swapped in when it became apparentthat the 427 monster was more than the
BMC could handle. The car was a ground-pounder and finished 4th in class at the 1966American Road Racing Championship withVoedodsky at the wheel.
Once the Mk I restoration was underway,Gibson began to receive leads regarding thewhereabouts of the missing midengined car.After four years of dead ends about a cowboynamed Yotes who had the car “up north,”Gibson hit on a clever idea. “I called theColorado Cattlemen’s Association and askedabout ranches run by the Yotes family. Therewere no Yotes but there was a Yost family justover the state line in Wyoming.” A littlesearching turned up a ranch outsideWheatland, Wyoming. “I got an address andphone number. After many calls and a letter,
I was able to contact Don Yost. He wasfriendly but was only interested in selling thecar to the original driver (Pete Voedodsky).”That’s when Gibson had another great idea.“Pete, Frank and I formed a partnership tobuy and restore the car.”
After a wild trip to the backcountry ofWyoming, the team eventually convincedYost to sell the car, so they loaded the caronto the trailer and joyously headed back toArizona. There the car was reintroduced toits older brother, the Mark I, and is becomingreacquainted with the men who built andraced it more than forty years ago.
If you have any information on this BarnFind, please contact Owen Gibson [email protected].
HiDDEN tReasuRes
1965 TOWNSEND MK V
NOW
THEN
VINTAGE RACECAR 21
possibly the most original Russell-Alexisin existence. It is a bona fide brand newbarn-find chassis. The car came toAmerica in early ’68 via Fred Opert, whoshowed the new car at a New York raceshow as a Russell-Alexis FF. But apparentlyFred couldn’t sell it as a Formula Ford (FFwas a bit slow to take root on this side ofthe pond). So, he advertised and sold it asan FB “roller” by fitting the chassis with FBwheels and tires and supplying a 5-speedMk 4 Hewland. In 1968, Gene Bashorbought it from Opert as an FB roller, butnever finished the car. In 2004, I purchasedthe car from Gene. He’d lovingly stored itfor 37 years in his barn (no kidding!), butnever fitted it with the intended LotusTwin Cam. I prepared the car as an FB asGene had intended.
The nice ending to this great story isthat, in early 2005, Gene was able to takelaps in the FB car, which he purchased 38years previously. A very cool day indeed!For interested readers, the complete storyof this amazing barn-find is on my Website, www.TeamTerrificRacing.com.
Best Regards,Bob AlderDenver, CO
James Diffey
Dear Editor,Thanks for the nice words from Ed
McDonough about the loss of James Diffey(August 2007 issue). I met James Diffeyonly once. We were on the same team ofcars at the 2006 Le Mans Classic. Ourteam happened to win the Overall andIndex of Performance Team Prizes, andwhile everyone on the team made animportant contribution, I think James’sspirit added an extra dimension andinspiration (see attached photo of thePodium, JD in blue shirt) for all of us.
I had a number of enjoyableconversations with him over that weekendand, as Ed pointed out, he was very openabout his illnesses and their effects. Thiswas not done in a way to illicit pity orsympathy, but just to acknowledge thereality of his situation and how he was
determined not to let it get in the way ofwhat he loved to do. He said that once hewas in the seat of a racing car, none of hismaladies affected him and he couldfunction in a normal way—I would saymore than normal, when you looked at thelap times he was doing when co-drivingStanley Gold’s Porsche 904 GTS. Andthe way Mags supported him was terrific—in fact the way she supported the wholeteam. She and Annie Ruston maderegular visits to our pits during the race tobe cheerleaders for the team andencourage us on. Imagine what she had tocope with so bravely.
As Morrie Schwartz said (in Tuesdayswith Morrie), “Once you learn how to die,you learn how to live.” James Diffey’sbravery in coping with his illnesses tomake the most of his life helped us all tolearn more about how to live, and weshould make the most of it in his memory.I will probably think of him every time I sitin my racecar.
Yours sincerely,Dennis ThalmannHusseren Le Chateau, France
Roadster Raves
Dear Editor,You’ve now set the standard again with
the August 2007 issue—by far the bestIndy Roadster and Roadster Era coverageto date. A fabulous issue. My thanks toyou from all of us who so enjoy these greatold racecars.
Best regards,Larry PfitzenmaierRoadster RegisterSonoita, AZ
Dear Editor,Loved the August Indy Roadster
Special Issue, and especially enjoyedreading Parnelli Jones’s take on theRoadster Era in “Legends Speak.” When Iwas 15, I hated Parnelli Jones for the wayhe “stole” the 1963 Indy 500, but as an
adult—having to make a living in a verycompetitive world—I have come torespect and even appreciate his victory.
Yes, Jones extended his lead duringyellow lights, and yes, officials chose toignore this fact, but the fact remains Jonesdrove absolutely flat-out all 500 miles towin, while Jimmy Clark, knowing his rivalhad to pit three times to his once, more orless cruised the entire way and finished in2nd. What Clark didn’t realize was thatJones was racing as if his very life dependedon it, which in a way it did (back thenwinning Indy was tantamount to winningtoday’s lottery), while for Clark Indy wasjust another race.
Today, I see Jones as one of the trulygifted drivers of his day and find hiscomments on the sport past and presentalways interesting and insightful. In a wayI feel sorry for him because he drove one ofthe truly inspired races that day, on a parwith Moss’s 1961 Monaco win andFangio’s 1957 Nürburgring win, and yet itis the yellow light controversy thateveryone seems to remember.
Cheers,Rich NisleyWestfield, NJ
Roadster Rant
Dear Editor,Complete waste of time, I recycled it
immediately. No interest in Indy car.I also refuse to attend the Monterey
Races this year, same reason.Hope this isn’t a trend.Paul ShavorConcord, CA
Review Correction
Last month, in our review of Coterie’snew Jim Clark—Life at Team Lotus, weincorrectly quoted the price to beUS$40.00, when in fact, the correct priceshould have been US$120.00 (£75.00).This book can be ordererd atwww.coteriepress.com
mAilBoX
20 VINTAGE RACECAR
write to: Vintage Racecar Journal, 5212 Katella Ave, Suite 206, los Alamitos, CA 90720
email: [email protected] (please include mailing address) The editor reserves the right to edit all letters.
F1: Soon to Be FormulaTeenager?
Dear Editor,Lewis Hamilton’s astounding success
in his debut season is a sure sign of anincredible talent, a future multiple worldchampion if he plays the team cardproperly. At the same time, this is astunning reminder of the increasinglylower average age of Formula One drivers.At one time, it was seat-of-your-pantsexperience and prior race results which gotyou promoted into Grand Prix racing and,almost invariably, the first F1 team was aback-marker or a mid-grid team at best.Will tomorrow’s success story readsomething like: “Willi drove go-karts atage 9, Formula Three at 12, then learnedon the F1 team simulator and took atesting role at 15 before earning a place onthe grid at the ripe old age of 16?” Thatwas the age (minimum driver’s license age)when aspiring race drivers were lucky toset foot in any kind of racecar period.Graham Hill got his first chance inFormula One at an age, which today couldmake him Lewis Hamilton’s father! It willbe interesting to study the criteria for anFIA super-license to race in F1, whetherthis is applied consistently and what it willresemble if the average age and years ofexperience continue to drop. Not thatlong ago, Kimi Raikkonen was suspected ofbeing too young and inexperienced toqualify for an FIA super-license, but afterhe took a race seat at Sauber, he proved hisdoubters wrong in his rookie season.Why has Formula One all of a suddenbecome so accessible to younger drivers?Probably, in my humble opinion, it haseverything to do with the modernelectronic age and electronic driver aids,the “steroids” problem of modernmotorsport. This has maybe supplantedthe number of years you once needed injunior formulae to learn how to control acar’s drift through a corner or how to
master braking distances and throttleresponse. Perhaps growing up practicingon a Playstation console is now a morevaluable training ground for F1 thanactually going out and getting a driver’slicense. Today’s wannabe F1 drivers starton go-karts at a young age, jump formulasquickly, and adapt to the push-button,electronic aids controls of modern F1 carsmuch faster than their older peers. Lookat Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, and thelatest hotshot, young Sebastien Vettel.The future implications that thisphenomenon holds for much of thecurrent Formula One grid is quitestaggering. We are on the verge of seeinghalf the grid made redundant within thenext five years. Let’s face it, Coulthard,Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Fisichella,Button, Trulli, Webber…none of thesereally has a hope of ever becoming a worldchampion. They will all go the way ofJacques Villeneuve, the first casualty (toRobert Kubica) last year. Raikkonen andMassa should probably be equallyconcerned that time could pass them byquickly at this rate. Some unknown kidcurrently experimenting with his X-box ina suburb of Prague could supplant them allin three or four years. The “window” forcoming into the sport, pairing up with theright team at their competitive prime, andscoring big will now narrow considerablyfor a driver. Jacques Villeneuve was luckyto come into Williams in 1996 but he stillgot to race in F1 for nine years afterwinning the title in 1997 before beingshown the door. It now looks, as driversget younger, they will also be expected towin sooner, otherwise they will be out ofthe sport before they know it. Thenumber of mega-buck salaried drivers à laMichael Schumacher will probably declinequickly. (Both McLaren and Ferrari areprobably wondering about the huge gap inthe respective salaries of their number oneand two drivers at this stage of the season.)The money saved should instead slowlyseep into the pockets of the real deciders ofmodern F1 results; the designers,aerodynamicists, software tech gurus, tireguys, and other specialists who from yearto year, either get it right (BMW) or get ithorribly wrong (Honda, Renault), or whosimply don’t seem to get it any more, nomatter how much time they spend at it(Toyota). Their drivers seem like
impotent passengers along for the ridewhen something about the car was“tweaked” in the off season….But not inthe right manner! Michael Schumacherunderstood that in this “black box” era, hisfate could be doomed by such men and hewas the first driver to truly form a teamaround him with whom he couldcommunicate and who (correctly) devotedhimself entirely to winning before the carever hit the track. Half the battle wasalready won. Raikkonen still seems tobelieve he should be able to jump into acar like Moss or Fangio did in the 1950s,and driving skill alone will carry the day.Alas, those days of pure racing are longgone.
Clyde P. BerrymanWilliamsburg, VA
Russell Correction
Dear Editor,As the owner of a Russell-Alexis FF
chassis, I’d like to add a couple of minorcorrections to the nice sidebar article onAlexis Formula Fords (July 2007, MarketGuide). The correct spelling for theRussell-Alexis Formula Fords is with two“l”s, not one as printed. Not a big deal, butI’m sure the legacy of the Jim RussellSchool would appreciate the correction.Also, as a minor item, the article’s caption,“1968 Russel Alexis 15,” is a bit off. Mk 15cars didn’t carry the Russell-Alexis badge.Quite correctly the article noted that theJim Russell Racing Driving School(JRRDS) did commission Alan Taylor tobuild a batch of cars to the newly mintedformula. But all those cars were badged as“Russell-Alexis” cars (i.e., MK 14s). Afterthat, Alexis built their own follow-onseries, the Alexis MK 15s. But, it is notbelieved that any of those were known as“Russell-Alexis 15” cars, but rather justAlexis Mk15s. As a matter of possibleinterest to your readers, my Alexis is quite
VINTAGE RACECAR 23
TimE capsule
22 VINTAGE RACECAR
October in Racing History
bernd rosemeyer Dan Gurney
mario Andretti Antonio brivio
Compiled by Michael stuckeR
nelson piquet clinches the F1 World driving
championship at suzaka, Japan (1987).
Juan Manuel Fangio drives a Mercedes-Benz
W196 to victory in the spanish grand prix at
pedralbes (1954).
1 A.J. Foyt wins the USAC Championship race on the dirt track at Sacramento,California (1967).
5 Graeme Bailey and Allan Grice drive a Holden Commodore to victory in the JamesHardie 1000 at Mount Panarama in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia (1986).
6 Antonio Brivio wins the Coppa della Silla in Cosenza, Italy. Last win for the AlfaRomeo Tipo B (1935).
8 American George Heath, driving a French Panhard, wins the first Vanderbuilt CupRace, on Long Island in New York (1904).
9 Mario Andretti drives in his final CART Champ Car race. He DNFs while lying 7th.Paul Tracy wins the race at Laguna Seca, California (1994).
12 Bruce McLaren wins and Denny Hulme is 2nd, both driving McLaren M8B-Chevrolets, in the Laguna Seca, California, Can-Am race. It is the seventh 1-2finish by Team McLaren during the season (1969).
14 Bernd Rosemeyer, Grand Prix driver between the wars, is born at Lingen an der Ems,Germany (1909).
15 Jacky Ickx and Paul Hawkins drive a Gulf Mirage-Ford M1 to victory in the Paris1000 km sports car race in France (1967).
16 Phil Hill and Jim Hall, driving Chaparral 2Es, finish 1-2 in the Laguna Seca Can-Am race. Only Can-Am victory for Chaparral (1966).
17 James Hunt clinches the F1 Driving Championship when he finishes 3rd in theJapanese Grand Prix at Mt. Fuji (1976).
20 Ayrton Senna wins the F3 Macau Grand Prix in a Ralt-Toyota (1983).
21 Alain Prost wins the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril in a McLaren MP4/2-TAG (1984).
22 Brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez drive a Ferrari 250GT SWB to victory in theParis 1000 km race at Montlhéry, France (1961).
23 Dick Atkins wins the USAC Championship race on the dirt track in Sacramento,California, in a Watson-Offy. Mario Andretti finishes 10th but clinches his secondstraight USAC Championship title (1966).
24 Juan Manuel Fangio drives a Mercedes-Benz W196 to victory in the Spanish GrandPrix at Pedralbes (1954).
25 Dan Gurney wins the Mexican Grand Prix in a Brabham-Climax. Last Grand Prixfor Phil Hill. John Surtees clinches the F1 Driving Championship (1964).
26 Barney Oldfield, driving a Knox, sweeps all three heats run of a best-of-five match raceagainst heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, driving a Thomas Flyer. Theevent is held on a 1-mile dirt track at Sheepshead Bay (Brooklyn), New York (1910).
28 Craig Breedlove drives the Shell Spirit of America LSR vehicle to a speed of 675 mphin the Blackrock Desert before a gust of wind causes him to lose control and crash.Breedlove is not hurt but the car sustains half a million dollars in damages (1996).
29 Team McLaren participates in their last Can-Am race. Peter Revson finishes 2nd andDenny Hulme DNFs at Riverside, California. The race is won by George Follmer ina Penske Porsche 917/10K (1972).
30 Nelson Piquet clinches the F1 World Driving Championship when his only title rival,Nigel Mansell, is injured in a crash during practice for the Japanese Grand Prix atSuzuka. Mansell will miss the final two races of the season because of his injuries (1987).
Jacky ickx and paul hawkins drive a gulf Mirage-
Ford M1 to victory in the paris 1000 km sports
car race in France (1967).
Through that same decade andfollowing ones, Porsche itself grew out of itsgiant-killer role; indeed, such models as the917 in both coupe and turbochargedroadster form, the 956/962 enduranceracers and the GT1, the Le Mans winner in1998, were towering giants of their times.
Early in this century, Porsche engineerswere breeding yet another Le Mans musclecar, when demands on the production side(chiefly the Cayenne SUV) forced them toturn their latest racer into the 5.5-liter, V-10 Carrera GT street car. Once authorizedto start racing again, they started afresh—and they stepped back.
The RS Spyder, introduced into ALMScompetition late in 2005, was not meant todirectly challenge that series’ top car, theLMP1 Audi. Rather, Porsche tackled thenext class down, the Le Mans Prototype 2.The two classes have many similar rules,but P2s are smaller, lighter and designed forprivateers. Sound familiar?
But unlike the old original 550, thenew Spyder is far from simple to own,maintain or run. Package price is $1.5million. The 3.4-liter, non-turbocharged,V-8 engines aren’t supposed to be touchedby other than factory hands—in fact, thefactory tries not to let them bephotographed. As for driving the things,even a team with the deep experience andtalent of Rob Dyson, who mastered themighty Porsche 962 in IMSA GTP days,are finding their 2007 Spydersextraordinarily complex and tricky to setup. As of this writing, the race wins havebeen falling to Penske Racing’s factory-backed operation. Falling, mind you, at theexpense—the enormous expense!—ofAudi’s turbo diesel. Yes, this 5.5-liter, V-12megacar has twice won both the Sebringand Le Mans enduros, firmly establishingdiesel power in our minds; but the massiveR10 is finding shorter, tighter, NorthAmerican tracks hard going. And evenwhen its truck-like torque spears it aheadof the 3.4-liter P2 cars, too oftensomething goes wrong in either the drivingor pit crew department.
Sure, the Ingolstadt company has norealistic opposition in P1, and canalways claim class victory. But thoseclaims tend to be drowned out by thegleeful cackling from down the Autobahnin Zuffenhausen—where they aremaking giant-killers again!
VINTAGE RACECAR 25
Pete Ly
ons www.petelyo
ns.com
porsche's first pure-bred racing sports car was the 550-series, which won the company fans all over the
world. this is racer-writer denise Mccluggage at the Montgomery, nY, airport circuit in 1957.
Pete Ly
ons www.petelyo
ns.com
Vintage racers, 2027? the 2007 porsche Rs spyder eVo is a pretty sophisticated and complex machine,
but no doubt today's computer-whiz kids will be able to cope 20 or 30 years up the road. here, a dyson
car leads a penske at sebring.
Ozzie Lyo
ns w
ww.petelyo
ns.com
Roger penske, left, and Bob holbert raced their porsche Rsks side by side across the scca landscape.
holbert, no. 140, won this 1960 round at Virginia international Raceway. that's the famously lavender-
suited tex hopkins waving the checkers.
by pete lyons
David’s repeateddefeats of Goliaththis summer—
American Le MansSeries victories byPorsche’s RS Spyderover Audi’s much
bigger and stronger R10—takes us rightback to the early days of Porsche, when itmade its name as an upstart giant-killer.
It’s a natural human trait to root forunderdogs anyway (presumably, becausemost of us identify with them) and in racingwe learn to admire small, light, tidy cars(and drivers) that cleverly employ efficiencyto vanquish the muscle-pumped brutes.
So in 1956, when a tiny team fromZuffenhausen took a tiny, 1.5-liter, 550ASpyder to the twisty Targa Florio and beatFerrari and Maserati cars twice its enginesize, Porsche’s first significant internationalvictory stamped the brand into our minds
as little cars that did big things. Thatepochal Targa victory climaxed years ofclass wins at Le Mans and other majorevents. In fact, Porsche’s experience withsmall, tightly drawn racers went back to1950, when the factory began helping itsFrankfurt distributor, Walter Glocker, witha series of light, amazingly fast specialscarrying Porsche’s VW-based engines rightbehind the cockpits.
Porsche’s own take on the concept,called just a type 550, without the “A,”appeared in 1953 as a roadster and won itsvery first race that year at the Nürburgring.Two weeks later at Le Mans, two carsbodied as coupes finished 1-2 in the 1,500-cc class, at a new record speed.
The winning went on all that year andthe next and the next, in classic contestslike the Mille Miglia and CarreraPanamericana, as well as in local events atevery level, everywhere. Professionaldrivers and amateur enthusiasts alike lovedthe 550, and the more powerful, better-
handling, still lighter 550A of Targa famewas another hit. So was its successor, the1957 completely revamped type 718, akaRSK. With a further refinement for 1960called the RS-60, Porsche scored anotheroverall win at Sebring that year.
Curiously, though, the core ofPorsche’s concept did not sweep throughthe industry. In 1953, the 550 was mostdistinctive for carrying its engine behindthe cockpit, yet mid-engined layoutsweren’t widely adopted in racing untilyears later, and by way of another path,England’s Cooper.
Similarly, a Swiss privateer namedMichael May erected a downforce-generating wing on his 550 in 1956. Itproved astonishingly effective for all thereasons we know about today, butbefuddled officials of the time ordered himto take it off, and Porsche itself turned ablind eye to the obvious possibilities. Ittook another 10 years and a Texan namedHall to change the face of racing.
Slaying Giants—Again
24 VINTAGE RACECAR
FAST linesOzzie Lyo
ns w
ww.petelyo
ns.com
Roger penske and his porsche Rsk, shown here at Virginia international Raceway in 1960, were a major force in scca racing.
VINTAGE RACECAR 27
anapolis. It was the car that they built to go Indy car racing andrun on methanol. Then Porsche shelved it and it was left in theback of the museum and was never going to run again. Then PeterFalk came along and asked, “How are we going to win Le Mans?”and they said, “We have nothing to win Le Mans with.” So heasked, “What have we got?” The Porsche people said, “Well, wehave this engine and that engine, and of course we have the enginethat was built for the Indy 500.” Peter Falk asked them why theycouldn’t put that engine into a sports car and they said, “Well, wecan, so let’s do it,” and that was the engine that was selected forthis program.
The first car was chassis 956-001 which you used a lot but itdidn’t race very often, did it?
Bell: That was the development car, and all of us drove it, and ontop of that, we came here [Silverstone] and Jacky Ickx and I wonthe Group C class, which didn’t mean very much, but we just could-n’t beat the Lancias because they had no fuel restrictions in theirclass. And it won at Norisring and I think Jochen Mass won with itsomewhere else. It only did a few races and it was our reserve car atLe Mans. I did a lot of testing with it, including the comparison wedid with the 917-30 from the museum. We ran the 917 to compareit with the new 956 and that is when I saw the difference in thedownforce between the two cars. It was a really interesting devel-opment program with that car, and the car didn’t have any badcharacteristics. It seemed that the stiffer we made it, the more stable
it became because of the way the air flowed underneath it. As I said,it was an understeering car, and because the way the rear wheelsworked with a solid diff, we needed a stiffer roll bar on the front. Ithink Jochen tried a limited-slip at Ricard but he wasn’t too happywith it. I think we could have tried the limited-slip at some othercircuits, but they decided to stick with the solid diff for Le Mansand that turned out to be the right thing to do.
I think you tried the low downforce body seriously for the firsttime at Le Mans?
Bell: I think we had tested it, but it was different actually runningit at Le Mans. I have said this before, but with the low downforcebody, it felt something like having a trailer or a caravan on theback. You would come up to a corner and the back end would stepout and you would have to work at keeping the balance rightthrough the corners. There was no understeer with that body so itwas very different. It had very little downforce and you had to keepthe tail from coming all the way around, and that took some gettingused to.
“I think we were doing 224 mph on theMulsanne.”
continued on page 74
Ferret F
otog
raph
ics
derek Bell and Vern schuppan codrove their 956 (chassis 956-004) to 3rd in
the 1982 spa 1000 kms.
26 VINTAGE RACECAR
iNTERVieW
Derek Bell initially made a name for himself, racing in open-wheeledcars including Formula 2 and Formula 1. However, it is long-distancesports car racing, particularly in Porsches, where Bell forged his legacyas a champion with five overall victories at Le Mans, three victories inthe 24 Hours of Daytona and back-to-back World Sports Carchampionships in 1986 and 1987. Recently, Ed McDonough spent theday at Silverstone with Bell, testing a Porsche 956 and 962, andlearned more about the vast new ground forged with the 956/962program.
What was your first experience with the Porsche 956 like?
Bell: Remember, when I drove the 956, it was the first time I haddriven a ground effect car in my life. In fact, there weren’t many ofthat type of car around at all. I remember when Professor Bott saidto me, “Would you like to sign this contract with us?” because Ihad driven the 936 for them the previous year. He said, “We willbe running this new car and it is going to have a flat-six engine,obviously horizontally opposed; it’s going to be a ground effect car,
and we have never done that before; and it’s going to be a mono-coque car, and we have never done that before. Would you signthe contract?” I said, “Uh, well...” and he said, “And we’ve neverbeen wrong before.”
That’s an interesting proposal!
Bell: Oh yes, there were those three things building a monocoque,never done that before, building a horizontally opposed engine intoa ground effect car which nobody else has done before, and they’venever been wrong before. It was brilliant, just the way he said it.But to drive it...the first time was at Paul Ricard...and the grip wasquite outstanding. I remember thinking “Wow, what is that?”There was no pitching and bucking with the car; it just wentwhoosh around the corner. It was nothing like they are today; butthe early one was fantastic. Of course, it had good power, 630 to650 horsepower. It was just perfect to drive. It did everything ab-solutely perfectly.
Did you find the ground effect a new world?
Bell: It was a new world, but of course the fact was we were alwayssearching for that new world. We were always looking for some-thing that would grip more than before, because the one thing thatstruck you was that you always wanted more grip...more grip, andthen you ended up with this amazing amount of grip. And then, ofcourse, you wanted more front grip because both ends were grip-ping, but the front wasn’t gripping quite as much. In this case withthe 956, we had the locked diff and that meant you did get under-steer, and that meant that in the fast corners, it was more stable.Sudden changes of direction were much better and stable with thesolid diff. That was the main difference we found with that muchgrip and the solid diff.
What was it like in the beginning going into corners—not goingdown the gearbox and braking in advance—in the conventionalfashion?
Bell: It was phenomenal. It was a matter of getting used to those g-forces. You just weren’t used to so little braking and so much turn-in speed, which has increased over the years. You have toremember that we all arrived for the first tests and none of us hadexperienced a car like this before, so new things were coming atus. It was a question of getting used to so much grip, and not havingany idea when you might lose grip. The turn-in speed was amazing.What was really good about the very first car [chassis 956-001] wasthat it was easy to drive so you could get used to these new thingsvery quickly. I think we all found that.
What were your “highlights” of the 956 period?
Bell: Well, I think the highlight was naturally winning LeMans...going there with the cars and finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in cars1, 2 and 3. That was certainly the highlight really because the carwas so amazing to drive and was so reliable. The engine was proven,but you have to realize that was the engine that was built for Indi-
Derek Bell
VINTAGE RACECAR 2928 VINTAGE RACECAR
worked as a coachbuilder during the day andlabored on his racing car at night. In 1962,Siffert’s dream came true: he had amassedenough money to buy a Lotus 24 Climaxand made his F1 debut during practice forthe 1962 Grand Prix of Monaco, but wasunable to qualify. He drove a Lotus 24-BRMfor Switzerland’s Ecurie Filipinetti for awhile in 1963, when he racked up his firstmajor victory in the non-championshipSyracuse Grand Prix in Sicily. Soon afterthat, he went out on his own, and scored hisfirst F1 point with a dramatic drive into 6th
place in the Grand Prix of France at Reims.Dramatic, because Jo’s driving style
was, shall we say, hard-nosed andunconventional. He would slash hisbraking distances to the bare minimum,hurl his car into each corner on the raggededge (again no pun intended) and obscurethe racing line.
Siffert acquired a Brabham BT11chassis into which he lowered a BRM V8power unit for 1964 and won the non-titleMediterranean Grand Prix with it at Enna-Pergusa. Jo’s big break came in 1965 whenhe was invited to join Jo Bonnier in RobWalker’s private team and drive the Scot’ssecond Brabham-BRM. The arrangementworked out well for both of them, becauseSiffert won at Enna again with that car andgave Walker his first victory since thehalcyon days of Stirling Moss. Among thedrivers Jo beat at Enna was Jim Clark, whosaid the Swiss was so sideways the Scotnever knew whether to try to take him onthe right or the left!
Rob Walker bought a Cooper-MaseratiT81 for the first 3-liter season in 1966 andchopped his driving staff in half, releasing JoBonnier and retaining Siffert. The car wasnot really up to it, though, and the best Siffertcould do was a couple of 4ths at the 1966 and1967 U.S. Grands Prix at Watkins Glen.
Meanwhile, Siffert was playing himselfinto sports car racing and finished 4th in the1967 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ford GT40with Bruce McLaren and Mark Donohue.After that, Jo became a Porsche man andstarted his career with the Stuttgart firm bywinning the 1968 Daytona 24 Hours in a907 with Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch,Rolf Stommelen and Hans Herrmann. Hisnext sports car win came a month later atthe 12 Hours of Sebring in a 907 againwith Hans Herrmann, followed by wins ina Porsche 908 in the Nürburgring 1,000Kms with Elford and a solo victory atZeltweg.
Walker dug deeper into his pocket andbought an updated Lotus 49 for 1968, butthe car was almost throttled at birth whenJo crashed it badly in the wet, practicing atBrands Hatch for the non-title Race ofChampions. Worse still, Rob’s UK basewas burnt to the ground soon afterwardsand with difficulty he eventually bought aLotus 49B, with which Jo promptly wonthe ’68 British GP, at Brands Hatch. Siffertstayed with Walker and the 49B for anundistinguished 1969, while his Porsche-financed 1970 season in the March 701was much the same. Compensation came
from his victories in the Targa Florio, Spaand in Austria, which helped give Porschethe championship again. Jo won theArgentinean 1,000 Kms with Derek Belldriving a Porsche 917K in 1971, the yearhe moved to BRM, with whose P160 hewon the Grand Prix of Austria. The Swisswas entered for the end-of-season 1971Victory Race at Brands but after a comingtogether with Ronnie Peterson’s March,the P160’s suspension broke and the carcareened wildly off the track at HawthornHill and burst into flame. Siffert, who wastrapped in the car, died of asphyxia.
VINTAGE RACECAR 31
Jo “seppi” siffert.
Hal Crocker
by Robert newman
At the end of1969, duringthe height of
the Ferrari-PorscheWorld Sports CarChampionship “wars,”Jo Siffert was wined anddined at Maranello by
Enzo Ferrari, who offered him a deal for1970. But it was not only the bravura of theSwiss in a racing car that interested the wilyold Commendatore. After 17 years oftrying, the German manufacturer had takenthe championship away from Ferrari, whichhad hogged it for 12 of those 17 seasons.
The Swiss driver was thrilled that hehad been asked to join the most prestigiousteam in motor racing, especially because ofhis modest origins and his hard slog to thetop. But if he signed for the PrancingHorse he would be put to work
immediately in an effort to win back theworld sports car title for the Italians. AndPorsche would lose the man who had wonthem six WSCC races in ’69 alone! Anastute move by Ferrari—but it didn’t work.
The German manufacturer was doingwell selling its expensive road cars in parton the back of its championship exploits—it had been runner-up seven times beforewinning the 1969 title—and the slightestdanger of losing their top driver to the“enemy” was the stuff of board room heartattacks. So Porsche paid for Siffert tocompete in F1 at the wheel of an STPMarch. That is how good the little Swisswas in sports cars.
Siffert had previously done pretty wellin F1 and had even beat Jim Clark in twoconsecutive years of the non-championshipMediterranean GP. But his talent was onlyrewarded with two world title Grand Prixwins, while he scored 14 memorablevictories in Porsche’s big bangers.
The Siffert story is literally one of ragsto riches. His parents, in Fribourg, barelyearned enough to keep the family going,let alone pay for money-gobbling pastimeslike motor racing. So Jo was on his own.He left school at 15 and became a ragmerchant (no pun intended), but soondiscovered that repairing and sellingcrashed cars was more to his taste, andlater qualified as a coachbuilder beforedoing his military service.
Siffert painstakingly saved up for a125-cc Gilera bike he wanted to race in1957, salting away money from additionaljobs like picking flowers and selling themto passers-by and collecting Swiss Armyshells from shooting ranges and sellingthem back to the lean budgeted military. Acouple of years later, he won the Swissnational 350-cc championship.
Always with an eye on the cost of it all,Jo scraped together SFr 13,000 to buy aStanguellini Formula Junior in 1960. He
Jo Siffert
30 VINTAGE RACECAR
HERoES
Jo siffert codrove a porsche 917k with Brian Redman to 2nd overall in the 1970 24 hours of daytona. here, the siffert/Redman 917 is chased by that
of eventual winners Rodriguez and kinnunen.
by Jürgen Barth
There is noquestion thatthe greatest race
for me was winning the24 Hours of Le Mans in1977 with Jacky Ickxand Hurley Haywood.
There was the story of running from theback of the field, of all the problems wehad, switching Ickx from his other car,going through the night without a revcounter and then having the engine startto break so we just managed to finish thelast two laps after we had got pasteverybody. I really thought that we werenot going to finish—never mind to win.There was smoke pouring out of the car fora long time.
That year Porsche had a low profile atLe Mans, especially compared to Renault,which had many cars with great drivers.We just had the two 936s and the 935, andtwo of those were out in only a few hours.I started with Haywood and we had a fuelinjection problem that cost us 20 minutes,so naturally we lost a lot of ground. AfterPescarolo retired the other 936, it was allAlpine-Renaults at the front. Then, wehad another disaster and lost the head
gasket. That took 30 minutes to change, soreally we were 15 laps—over an hour—behind! That was when they put Jacky inthe car and told him to drive as fast as hecould. He was taking 10 seconds a lap fromthe leaders, but really we had no hope tocatch them. He got the car back up to 6th
in his three hours at the wheel, but theAlpines were still in front 1-2-3. Iremember that Hurley and I saw howquickly the car could go, so we were muchfaster after Jacky had driven.
The Alpines were having someproblems and, at 2:00 in the morning, wewere up to 3rd but still four laps behind 2nd
place. Then Lafitte/Depaillier needed torebuild the gearbox, so we were in 2nd…that was 39 places we had made up in sixhours! But we were still six laps behind theleading car. About 9:00 a.m., Jabouille hada piston break and they tried to fix it, andsuddenly we were in the lead; and Hurleyand I drove through the morning. Lessthan an hour from the finish, Hurley waslate and we saw white smoke in thedistance, and he came in with a brokenpiston, just like all the Alpines. We knewSchuppan and Jarier were a long way back,but we had to finish. I got back into the carwith a few minutes left and did a lap in 8minutes with smoke everywhere, but it wasa great achievement.
That was a great race, but Le Manswasn’t the greatest circuit. It wasimportant to me to have won the 1,000kilometers at Nürburgring in 1980 withRolf Stommelen, and to receive thatNürburgring gold medal which meant alot. Although Rolf had got our JoestPorsche 908/4 into the lead after an hour,we had a big fight with the 935, and weslowed down with full tanks. Then I had aflat tire when I went past the pits and hadto do a full lap before I could come in, butwe still won.
Of course, I did a lot of rallying withPorsche, too, and I had a big adventure inAustralia with a 924 in a rally. It was agreat adventure when we did 20,000kilometers in 14 days with a car from AllenHamilton. That was important because itwas the first victory, a class win, for the 924in a big rally. There was a period when Iwas doing a lot of long-distance races andlong rallies at the same time. I was notknown so much for rallying as for racing,though I did the Monte Carlo rally 10 or12 times. I had some good results in theGT class in that event, which was a hardevent to do. I also did the Safari and RACrallies in the championship.
The Australian event was the 1979Repco Round Australia rally. I did thiswith Roland Kussmaul who was my co-
driver on many events, I think on all theMonte Carlo rallies. This 924 had beensent to Australia in 1977, so it wasn’t new.We were the only team on the rally withonly two guys in the car, except for onePorsche 911. Everyone else had three, soone was always sleeping and the other twowere driving and navigating. Porsche hadbeen interested in doing something incompetition with the 924, and this was thefirst international win for that car. It wasalmost a superhuman effort to stay awakewith just two people and to survive thisrally. Roland Kussmaul was one of thePorsche engineers. We had started todevelop the 924 for the Monte Carlo rally,and we did that rally in a 924 and finished13th. We went to the Safari rally after thatwith the 924 and were in a good position,but 300 kilometers from the finishsomething in the gearbox broke. Then wecame to do the Australian rally. We cameover here and had one week to put all thenecessary things into the car, which wasnot prepared for competition. It was afterthese rallies that we were able to convincethe factory to build the Carrera GT andthen the GTR. I drove the GTR in theGerman championship and then again inthe Monte Carlo, so I was really involvedin the rally projects.
So, I drove a very wide range ofPorsches. For me, at the time, my favoritecar was always the one we were running.There were some fantastic ones and I wasalways enthusiastic about whatever car Iwas driving or working on. Whether it wasa 935 or a 956, it would be a state of the artPorsche development. Looking back anddriving now is very interesting. In 2004, Idrove my 936 in the Le Mans Classic andthat was a fantastic car, but the car thatimpresses me even more is the 908/3. The908/3 is like a little go-kart, and it is quitea difficult car to drive because you sitcompletely on the front axle. It is anextreme car and, for me, it is the bestcompromise as a racecar, the bestcombination of characteristics. It looksdangerous, but it didn’t have manyaccidents, and was incredible to drive,especially at places like the Targa Florio. Infact, I was in Palermo in Sicily recentlyand was talking to Nino Vaccarella aboutthe best cars for the Targa, and I think Iconvinced him about the 908/3!
As told to Ed McDonough at the 2006Phillip Island Historic races in Australia.
VINTAGE RACECAR 33
Jürgen Barth and Roland kussmaul in the 1979 Monte carlo Rally in a porsche 924 Rally.
Porsche
of all the porsches Barth has raced, he considers the 908 one of the best. here he races a
modified version in 1980.
active on the historic scene, Barth deftly handles a 935 during the 2006 phillip island historic Races,
near Melbourne, australia.
Racing for Porsche
32 VINTAGE RACECAR
lEGENDS speak
Jacky ickx at the wheel of the badly smoking porsche 936 that he and Jürgen Barth drove to a hard-fought le Mans victory in 1977.
Ed McD
onou
gh
VINTAGE RACECAR 3534 VINTAGE RACECAR
ART histoRY
The 24 Hours of Daytona was won in both 1970 and 1971 by the Porsche 917. Therace was for many years the season’s opener for the Manufacturers Championshipbut in 1971 it was the second race following the 1000 km of Buenos Aires. With
a lead of 43 laps at the 18th hour, the Porsche 917 of Rodriguez and Oliver slowed andcame into the pits with the car firmly locked in top gear. An hour and 32 minutes, anda completely rebuilt gearbox later, the car rejoined the race and retook the lead in thefinal hour to win.
This painting by John Ketchell shows the winning 917 driven by Rodriguez andOliver followed by the 3rd-placed Sunoco Ferrari 512 driven by Donohue and Hobbs.
“Daytona Sunrise”to order, contact:
historic car art
phone: +44 (0) 1332 694538
Website: www.historiccarart.net
VINTAGE RACECAR 37
ALPHA & OMEGA 1982 Porsche 9561988 Porsche 962
by ed mcDonough
36 VINTAGE RACECAR
RACECAR pRoFile
VINTAGE RACECAR 39
races of 1982 were canceled to help manufacturers complete theirprojects. Porsche had not used aluminum monocoques before andthis was a new area, as was underbody aerodynamics. Singeradmitted that although the rules allowed the use of ground effects,he had no idea what that meant! New safety rules also meant aspace-frame just wouldn’t work. The need for greater and greaterstiffness in the chassis forced a great deal of work, as these werenew areas for Porsche. Much help came from Dornier aircraftexperience. Carbon fiber and honeycomb construction wererejected after first tests with the new chassis indicated that it wastwice as stiff as the tube-frame cars. With the full backing ofengineering chief Professor Helmuth Bott and full Porschefinance, the monocoque for what would be known as Group Cwent ahead.
A vast amount of testing went on with a prototype chassis,concentrating on airflow over and under the car with differentbody configurations for faster and slower tracks. In 1981, Porsche’s2.65-liter turbocharged Indy engine was resurrected for the 936 atLe Mans. With considerable testing of the Kugelfischer injectionand Bosch ignition, this unit gave good fuel consumption, so this
(opposite & Above) the author puts the prototype porsche 956
(chassis 956-001) through its paces at england’s silverstone—where the
car made its racing debut in 1982. (right)the cockpit of the 956 is sur-
prisingly basic for a car so technologically sophisticated. note the brass
boost control knob to the left of the steering wheel. (right, below)
the 2,649-cc, turbocharged, flat-6 engine (originally sourced from the
porsche indy-car program and then the 936) produces 600 bhp, at 1.2 bar
of boost.
Peter Collins
Pete Aus
tinPeter Collins
38 VINTAGE RACECAR
It is now 25 years since the Porsche 956 first appeared andstarted another of Porsche’s amazing periods of domination,this time in long-distance racing in the Group C and IMSAcategories. Having decided that they wanted to win racesoutright rather than just the classes, as they had done
through the ’50s and early to mid-’60s, the Porsche 908 led thefirst wave of overall winners followed by the ferocious 917. Trendsand regulations changed by the early 1980s where something verydifferent was needed. The 956 was that something.
Vintage Racecar recently had the privilege of testing the veryfirst 956, chassis 956-001, and the chance to compare it with itssuccessor, the 962. As it turned out, 956-001 was Derek Bell’s firstworks Porsche and 962-010 his last. As this is a story as muchabout the people involved as the cars, it is fitting that Derek wasinvolved in the test. At Silverstone, car owner Henry Pearmanassigned Derek Bell as my “assistant” for the comparison driving!Further firsthand assistance in pulling the tale together also camefrom Norbert Singer, whose “baby” was the 956, Jochen Mass whomade the connection between Porsche and Rothmans, SeanRoberts who was the key person at Rothmans at the time, andVern Schuppan, another of the drivers involved with the projectfor many years.
the beginning of the 956
The 956–962 family of Porsches would turn out to be afundamental part of sports car racing for a full 13 seasons, but thephenomenon almost never came about, had the might ofStuttgart and Weissach gone in a slightly different direction. Theoil crisis and resulting embargoes that followed, in 1974, had far-reaching consequences in many areas of life, not the least ofwhich was racing. Manufacturers left racing to recoup their losses,
and motor racing itself was insufficiently organized to respondimmediately to a change of direction.
The then-ruling CSI brought Appendix J into effect for sportsand saloon car racing, and created Groups 1–6 as the differingcategories. The organizers of the Le Mans 24 Hours didn’t like thenew rules, left the championship, and created a set of rules thatrestricted the amount of fuel to be used. By 1978, Porsche had leftlong-distance racing because there was no competition and, by1980, sports car and endurance racing was a mess. There was noseries for Group 5 or 6 sports cars. Some factions at Porschewanted a more production-based car such as the 924 Carrera GTto race. A new prototype formula was needed. FISA soon replacedthe CSI and an equivalency formula was started but was short-lived. Porsches’ Norbert Singer entered into discussions withFISA about a fuel consumption formula and eventually the rulessaid that teams would be allowed a certain amount of fuel for arace of a particular length.
In 1981, Peter Schutz was Porsche’s chief executive, and hewanted to win outright. Although the fuel consumption formulawas not popular with spectators, as drivers watched the fuel gauge,it was getting better and refined rules would soon come into placein 1982. At Porsche, a dedicated race department was set up andmoved from Zuffenhausen to the Weissach proving grounds. Theold 936 prototype was brought out of the museum and raced aspreparation for 1982. The 956 project got underway in August1981 with Norbert Singer heading design and development of thenew chassis.
The design of the new 956 chassis was undertaken even beforethe final regulations were published, something which caused bigproblems for BMW and Lola as those companies were alsodesigning cars before they had seen the new regs. The first two
Peter Collins
VINTAGE RACECAR 41
Three new chassis were being built, while 001 was returned toPaul Ricard with Ickx, Mass and Bell, who particularly liked thelocked differential set-up on the car.
Prior to 1982, Porsche racing was part of the developmentdepartment. By 1982, under Schutz’s managerial umbrella, withBott overseeing development, Peter Falk became race director,with 15 people on chassis and a similar number on engines. Singerwas responsible for design and development of the chassis, whileengineers such as Klaus Bischof were race engineers—Bischof stillbeing with Porsche. He was one of the people to drive 001 indurability tests before its race debut. This dedicated team allowedrapid development to earmark Porsche’s “new” effort in racing.
The decision was made to run 001 at the Silverstone SixHours on May 16. The Porsche 956 would run to the new GroupC rules with the fuel restriction, but as this was a “transitional”year, Lancia could still run their Group 6 LC1. Opposition wouldcome from the Ford C100, Rondeau and Lola. Chassis 001,already well used as a test vehicle by now, thus did its first racewith the high downforce body configuration. With the boost setat 1.1-bar, the engine was producing some 600 bhp. The car stuckto the ground incredibly well and looked highly unspectacular.The crowd—I was one of them—and the opposition were not all
that impressed. Having had a ride with De Cesaris on a press day,I thought the Lancia would be impossible to beat. However, in thefinal qualifying session, Ickx turned up the boost, and suddenly001 was on pole by over a second and a half over the Lancia.
Oddly enough, the race was a six-hour rather than a 1,000-kilometer event and the Porsches would do more than 1,000 kms inthat period, but they only had an allocation of 600 liters of fuel asthe rules stated for 1,000-kilometer races. Thus, Porsche had tohold back in order to make the distance on the fuel available. As itwas dry and there were no unscheduled stops, the team knew theywould have to back off to last. Bell and Ickx were not happy tocruise around in fifth gear, while the Lancias won. The Porschewent on to finish 2nd, winning Group C, but the best outcome waswhat the team learned in preparation for Le Mans. Joest’s 936C was3rd and also saving fuel, so Porsche could see that the 956 was goingto be something special when the rules went totally to Group Cformat. After Silverstone, the six-hour format was dropped and allsubsequent races were run to 1,000 kilometers in 1983.
Chassis 001 had some serious work on the test bench beforeLe Mans, as the whole car could be run for 30 hours with driversin situ. Full throttle on the test bed was hard work, and then therewas more driving for 001 at Weissach, resulting in some changes
Bell and ickx, in 956-001, during the car’s inaugural race, the 1982 silverstone six hours.
Ferret F
otog
raph
ics
40 VINTAGE RACECAR
was the engine chosen for the 956. As the usable rev range for the“new” 956 engine was about 3,000 rpm, it was decided that a 5-speed gearbox was needed, as well as something stronger than thatused on the 936. An all-synchro gear cluster had been designedfor the 944GTP-race program so that was incorporated into a newcasing.
956-001
The 956-001 was the first prototype built as a complete car,and at the end of March 1982, it surprised Norbert Singer at theWolfsburg wind tunnel when test results were very close to thepredictions they had made. In comparison with the earlier 917,the 917 Can-Am car, the 936 and 935, the 956 had twice as muchdownforce as the Can-Am car. When they ran 956-001 atWeissach against the Can-Am car, the 956, with 200 lesshorsepower and smaller tires but more downforce, was a fullsecond quicker. Derek Bell carried out these early tests. However,Jürgen Barth was chosen to give the new 956 its first laps aroundWeissach. He recalled that though this was the first ground effectcar, it could go quickly after a few laps, even though it was set upto understeer so there would be some feel to the front end. Barththought it was the best new Porsche he had ever seen.
As it came time for the first races of 1982, it was decided thatsponsorship would be necessary for the race season, as a vastamount had been spent on development. Martini backing haddisappeared when Porsche quit in 1979 and interim sponsors at LeMans were one-off deals. Jochen Mass was driving a March GrandPrix car at the time and Rothmans tobacco was backing it but
were unhappy as the car was not very good. Jochen broughtPorsche’s Manfred Jantke together with Rothmans, and afterinitial agreement, the relationship continued through Rothman’spublic relations man Sean Roberts...who is still with the carswhich Henry Pearman runs and is a large and active part ofhistoric Group C racing. It was the beginning of a dreamrelationship, which also brought Mass into the team.
Porsche and Rothmans worked very closely through theiryears together, choosing drivers very carefully, as Porsche alwaysdid, and making the most of publicity opportunities. Theybrought in Jacky Ickx who had already been very successful withPorsche, while Derek Bell was to be his partner for 1982. Theywere a special pairing: Ickx having excellent sorting skills andbeing very fast, Bell the superb team driver and a publicity asset,and he was so consistent. Porsche loved them. Jochen Mass joinedthem, giving the team strength in depth.
Jacky Ickx was the first of the drivers to try the completed 001after Barth and Bell’s Weissach tests, when the car went to PaulRicard. Mass partnered Ickx during the tests and, at first, the carwas not that quick. Ickx felt the Esses could be taken flat ataround 175 mph but didn’t want to be the first to do it. So Jochendid it, and the times started to tumble...they were learning todrive a ground effects car...learning to go much faster than youthink it should!
The 956-001 was then tested at Weissach for durability overthe famed Bump Test, or Destruction Test as it was known. Thisroad car test course was modified for race cars, but not much, and956-001 took a real hammering throughout April and May 1982.
Ferret F
otog
raph
ics
due to disadvantageous fuel regulations on the group c cars, derek Bell and Jacky ickx had to drive the prototype 956 far below its potential,
during the car’s debut race at silverstone in 1982. despite this handicap, the duo finished 2nd overall and won the group c category.
VINTAGE RACECAR 43
all went to the Joest team, while the customer cars were builtbetween 1984 and 1991.
By 1988, Porsche had seriously reduced its direct involvement inrunning works cars...except for Le Mans. The Jaguars, Nissans andSaubers were now very real threats to Porsche, with Jaguar provingthe point by winning that year’s race at Silverstone. Porsche enteredfour cars at Le Mans for Bell/Stuck/Ludwig (962 010), Mario,Michael and John Andretti (962-008), Wollek/Schuppan/van derMerwe (962-007) and 962-006 as the T-car.
Our test car, chassis 010, started from pole, with Hans Stuckleading from the start. Although Lammers managed to get aJaguar into the lead occasionally, the first five hours saw the 962sin 1-2-3 formation. Ludwig then ran one lap too many and waslucky to get back to the pits with no fuel and lost two laps and, asit turned out, lost the race. Schuppan put 007 into the lead duringthe night stint ahead of the Lammers’ Jaguar and the Andrettis.However, chassis 007 retired at 3:00 a.m. but 010 had now closedto within 25 seconds of the Jaguar by dawn. Places were changingregularly and the Porsche was in front when the Jag’s windscreenhad to be replaced. Then the Porsche had fuel pump problemstwice and ended up finishing 2nd, less than a minute behind. Whata race!
Driving the 956 and 962
I’m sitting in the 956, which many consider to be the ultimate“modern” sports car, a breakthrough in design and performancewith an amazing reliability and win record. Certain things arestriking about this car. It is very comfortable as you might expectfor endurance work, it is pretty simple for a machine that broughtso much new technology to the fore in the opening years of the1980s, and there is no rear window! Now that dates me, of course,as this period was marked by a number of departures in cockpitlayout. The mirrors were fine, but at 200 mph I want to know
what is back there. I guess the notion was you don’t need to lookback when you are the fastest!
The gearshift is to hand on the right, there is a leather three-spoke steering wheel with a rev counter behind the wheel,reading up to 10,000 rpm, and next to it is the boost gauge. Thereare numerous stories among the 956 drivers about being orderedto run no more than “X” boost only to find that they would takeover and find the knob in the center of the dash wound up to X.2or X.4! There are the usual temperature and level gauges and a setof light switches, but not too many, and, of course, that lovelybrass turbo boost knob! While the space is compact, there isbreathing room and it looks perfect for 24 hours. Pedals are wellspaced, and it seems a tribute to the design that, once I was off andrunning, I was totally unaware of the cockpit—aside from thegauges—at all.
With Derek Bell’s words about warming up the tires stillringing in my ears, I did just that, and though running at lowishspeeds, began to experience that mightily impressive gripproduced by all the work on this most famous of 956s. The carnow runs on Avon slicks, 11.0/25.0-16 on the front and 14.0/27.0-16 on the rear on BBS Porsche wheels, and these do warm upquickly, and provide more “feel” than I expected. As we werehaving our test at Silverstone, I was immediately transported backto when this car was making its race debut in this very place. Irecall the gasps as the Porsches rolled out of the transporter forpeople to see the new Rothmans livery for the very first time,unaware of just how familiar that would eventually become.
The trip into the past became even more surreal when I wasjoined on the circuit by my “assistant” for the day—one DerekBell—who drove this car here 25 years ago, and was nowalongside in his 1988 Le Mans 962. We had arranged a series ofpassing maneuvers, brake tests and a few side-by-side dashes torecreate the heady days of 1980s Group C, and I was aware of the
hans stuck and derek Bell started from the pole for the 1988 24 hours of le Mans in 962-010, but late-race fuel pump problems relegated the duo
to 2nd place overall, behind the winning Jaguar XJR-9lM of lammers/dumfries/Wallace.
Lauren
t Cha
veau
to the bodywork. Cars 002, 003 and 004 were built up and readiedfor Le Mans where 001 would be a test car...what else? In the race,Ickx and Bell walked away in 002 and won from Mass andSchuppan in 003 by 3 laps, with Holbert/Haywood/Barth in 3rd afurther 16 laps back. The 956 “panzer” had arrived.
Ickx and Mass won at Spa and Fuji in 003, and Bell joinedIckx in the same car to win at Brands Hatch in October, withPorsche winning the Endurance Championship over Rondeauand Ickx taking the driver’s title. The Le Mans win wasconsidered by many to be Porsche’s finest victory.
Though 001 continued to serve as a test car all season, it hada further moment of glory when Jochen Mass took it to anonchampionship race at the Norisring on June 27, 1982, justafter Le Mans and scored the car’s sole outright victory. It wasalready a real piece of history as Porsche’s first tub-based chassis,its first ground-effects car and the winner of the first Group Cevent. The car continued in service until 1985, when it wasrestored at the factory and then presented to Jacky Ickx in 1986.Chassis 001 was a slightly heavier car than those that followed,and it was the only one to keep Bosch mechanical injection. Thisand several other features differentiated 001 from later chassis.
962-010
There were 10 works 956 cars built between the end of 1982and 1984, chassis numbers 956 001 through 956 010. At the endof 1982, Porsche started building replicas of the works machinesfor customers, and these started with chassis 956 101 and totaledsome 17 cars, one being a test bed for the F1 TAG engine. Thenext generation car—the 962—appeared in 1984, with 144 carsbeing built in various forms, nearly half of these using non factoryhoneycomb and even carbon chassis through 1994, and itappeared in a range of race series.
In 1983, the works Rothmans team won six World EnduranceChampionship races, while the Joest Racing team claimed twoand John Fitzpatrick one. The 1984 season was very similar with
seven works victories in the 956, including Le Mans, Joestwinning two and Richard Lloyd and Brun one each.
Porsche had concentrated on the World EnduranceChampionship in 1982 and 1983, and particularly on Le Mans.They had not tackled the American scene, where IMSA rules didnot admit the 956. However, privateer John Fitzpatrick took his956 to an SCCA-sanctioned Can-Am race at Road America in Julyand won, thus notching up Porsche’s first Can-Am win in 10 years.This opened the door to a big demand for the cars, but John Bishopof IMSA didn’t want a 956 takeover and argued against it on thegrounds that the car didn’t meet safety rules. After much closed-door discussion at Porsche, Norbert Singer set to work to design acar for the Americans and IMSA. He included a steel roll cage, newbodywork and put the driver’s feet behind the front axle line. Thiswas done by extending the wheelbase by 4.72 inches and movingthe wheels forward. The IMSA engine would be a 2,860-cc, air-cooled, single turbo unit. This required changes to air inlets andSinger created bodywork for both IMSA and Group C formats.
The first 962, chassis 001, was completed in time for the 1984Daytona 24 Hours, but less than sufficient testing saw it retireafter 127 laps in the hands of Mario and Michael Andretti. Oncethe new Motronic 1.2 injection was sorted, both works andprivate cars dominated long-distance and IMSA racing as the 956had done before. In the United States, Derek Bell teamed up withAl Holbert who was responsible for much of the racedevelopment. The 962 had significant victories in 1985, 1986 and1987, including Le Mans and winning the World SportsPrototype title each year. IMSA saw countless 962 wins from1984 through 1988, including five Daytona 24 hour wins, and thiswas repeated in the Japanese Championship from 1985 through1989. The cars were not as immediately successful and easy to runas the 956 but they were developed into very regular race winners.
The factory 962 team cars were built between 1984 and 1988.Chassis 962-010 was the 10th and last works car built in 1988;Chassis 011 through 016 were built between 1989 and 1993 and
42 VINTAGE RACECAR
VINTAGE RACECAR 4544 VINTAGE RACECAR
SPECIFICATIONSEngine Type 956 935/76 flat 6-cylinder 962 962/70 flat 6-cylinder
Capacity 956 2649 cc 962 2869 cc
Bore/stroke 956 92.3mm. x 66 mm. 962 93.0 mm. x 70.4 mm.
Power 956 620 bhp @ 8200 rpm at 1.2 bar boost 962 680 bhp @ 8200 rpm
Compression ratio 956 7.2:1 962 7.5: 1
Transmission 956 5 forward speeds with synchromesh and reverse 962 5 forward speeds with synchromesh and reverse
Clutch 956 Single-plate Sachs clutch 962 Single-plate Sachs clutch
Chassis 956 Aluminum monocoque tub with alloy tube roll-over cage, aluminum sheet monocoque and rear steel sub-frames for engine, gearbox, rear suspension 962 As 956 except lengthened by 120 mm.
Body 956 Seven-piece Kevlar body reinforced with carbon fiber
962 As 956 with revised tail
Suspension 956 Rack-and-pinion steering, Front unequal-length wish-bones, rising rate coil springs. Rear lower wishbone and parallel upper links with inboard coil springs 962 As 956
Wheels and tires 956 In period-12” wide front, 15” rear center-lock alloy 16” diameter Speedline wheels, tires: front-16/600/280; rear- 16/650/350
962 In period-13” wide front14.5” wide rear
RESOURCESMany thanks to Henry Pearman, Derek Bell and Henry’s team, includ-ing Roger Heavens at Silverstone, and to Norbert Singer, JochenMass, Sean Roberts and Vern Schuppan at Goodwood for their contri-butions.
To follow these cars racing again in Europe—including the supportrace at the 2008 Le Mans 24 hours, visit www.groupcracing.com
Morgan, P. Porsche 956/962: The Enduring Champions. Haynes Pub-lishing, UK, 2003
Pete Aus
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962’s slightly sharper bark on the downshift into corners. Therewas the touch of understeer as predicted, but also that massivegrip built into the design of these cars. Acceleration was smoothand the revs rose very quickly indeed but not in so much of a rushthat you couldn’t manage them. I was just getting used to therhythm and pace of this very refined machine with the 6-cylinderengine drumming its music out of the exhausts on both sides ofthe car when it was time to pull in and slide over into thebeautiful yellow-and-red Shell/Dunlop liveried 962, restored to its1988 Le Mans condition, and still with the names of Bell, Stuckand Ludwig emblazoned on the sides.
The 962, with low downforce body, has a more slippery shapethan the 956 and is longer, but the differences are pretty minimal.This car is on Dunlop racing tires, 200/305/650R18 on the frontand 350/710/18 on the rear. Inside, the car feels slightly moremodern, with a Momo wheel, newer-style mirrors, a digitalreadout on the instrument panel, and rather more ancillaryswitches and buttons than the 956. You are immediately aware ofthe difference in feel around the pedals and your feet are muchmore protected in this car in accordance with American IMSArules. The feel is equally comfortable, and it punches into life withno trouble. The driving experience is similar to the other car atthe speeds we were doing, though the exhaust note is deeper,giving away the larger engine size and several more horsepower.Both cars have wonderful, flexible gearboxes that takes away youranxiety……believe me! There was a great moment coming out ofa corner when I looked over to see a smiling Derek Bell spinningthe smoking rear wheels in second gear. The technology is by nomeans overpowering, though it was pretty hard to keep my mindoff the fact that this docile-seeming piece of German efficiencywas capable of whistling down the Le Mans straight at 241 mph!I was left to whistle down the corridors of time past...goodenough, good enough indeed.
Pete Aus
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the author (left) and his “assistant” 4-time le Mans champion derek Bell.
VINTAGE RACECAR 47
When we think of SouthernCalifornia’s Willow SpringsRaceway, what often first comes
to mind is a fast corner such as Turn Nine,thanks to its speed and “hang on” factor.But more important for a good lap time atWillow is Turn Five, a classic exit-speedcorner. Five, with its downhill approachand long following straightaway, isdefinitely a corner to get correct whenracing here.
Coming at the bottom of the majorelevation changes in Turns Three andFour, it’s very tempting to approach TurnFive and think mostly of entry speed.There’s very little time for braking even inthe best of circumstances and many driversend up with that “Wow, I really nailed thatlate braking point!” feeling beforesuddenly realizing that they are gettingpassed down the straight on the way toTurns Eight and Nine. It is also common toend up spinning at the exit of this cornerdue to excessive entry speed and improperline. The feeling you actually want, as youleave Five, is, “Wow, I’m flying down thestraight,” whether that means leaving yourcompetition behind—or setting them upfor a pass.
In order to properly focus on exitspeed, you first need to establish a goodbrake point on the right-hand side of thetrack after moving over from the exit ofTurn Four. Running downhill, this brakepoint will arrive very quickly, so beprepared to start braking as soon as you canstabilize the car on the right-hand side ofthe track on the approach to the turn-in.Be careful with your pedal pressure; it’seasy to lock a front tire if you don’t havethe car balanced as you get to your hardbraking. Oh, yeah, and of course for mostcars there will be a downshift to throw inthere somewhere as well!
You also need to focus on where youturn in. Do not turn in early! If you haveproperly slowed the car down, there willalways be the temptation to start turningtoo soon. And that means you end up witha poor line and reduced exit speed (orworse—a spin). Keep your eyes lookingthrough the corner to the track-out andmake sure that while you don’t turn early,you also don’t miss that apex. Be precise, asoften the edge of the track at the apex isnot very smooth, so dropping a wheel canvery easily upset the car.
The track-out of Turn Five is a littleconfusing as you must also consider thenext “corner,” Turn Six and its uphill apex.
But many drivers think too much about acompromise exit for Five and do not takeadvantage of all the road available forstarting that critical run down thestraightaway. I have seen many drivers spintheir cars because they were “afraid” to useall the road at the exit and bind the car upby not unwinding the steering wheel soonenough. Go ahead and use almost all thetrack at the exit of Turn Five and then justmove the car over slightly to set up for theapex of Turn Six. You should be able to dothis without having to slow down (or scrubspeed with abrupt steering), if you havebeen planning ahead for the weighttransfer “rebound” at the exit to help setyou up.
If you cannot stay flat over the crest ofTurn Six with a nice tight apex, seriouslylook at whether you are turning in tooearly for Turn Five. When you understandthat Turn Five at Willow Springs is a Type1 corner—slow in, fast out—you willproduce some very good passingopportunities.
Randy Buck found himself in a racecar forthe first time at age 29, thanks to his wifebuying him a gift certificate to a racing school.He went, he was fast, and the next thing heknew, Buck bought a Formula Vee. By 1991,he won the notoriously competitive SCCASan Francisco Region F-Vee title. Buck,who’s raced and won on many of the WestCoast’s circuits, has been a Skip Barberregional chief instructor for a number of years.He recently led the test and developmentdriving of Barber’s new MX-5 Cup cars.
46 VINTAGE RACECAR
PreseNteD bY
Kev
in Rus
h
Willow Springs Turn Five
HoT laps
VINTAGE RACECAR 49
the beginning of a legend
The legend of the 917 started a decade earlier in Europewith the introduction of the first of the 900 Series cars, the 904in 1963. The lineage continued over the next five years withthe 906, 907, 908, 909 and 910 models, all meeting with goodsuccess in endurance racing, hillclimbs and sprint races. Whilethe 908 was being prepared for competition in the prototypeclass, work had begun in 1968 on a new model, the 917, tocompete against cars in the Group 4 class. Motivation to buildthe 917 was provided by two factors—one of which stemmingfrom an unexpected source. First, a loophole in the new FIAregulations allowed 5-liter engine cars to compete with 3-litermodels in the Production Sports Car category. Second, theGerman government, for whom Porsche did work, was lookingfor a new military tank engine, a large displacement, air-cooled, 12-cylinder version. With this extra source of moneyavailable, Porsche expanded the 908 engine into a 4,494-cc,560 horsepower, air-cooled, flat-12. They also took the basic908 chassis and strengthened it to accept this larger, higheroutput engine. One unique feature of the new tube frame,carried over from the 908, was that its tubes were sealed andpressurized. Any loss of pressure would indicate to themechanics that there was a potential crack.
First raced at Spa in 1969, it took Porsche a full season tocome to grips with the car’s power and to sort it out, but itfinally attained victory in the last race of the year. Winning LeMans had been the ultimate goal and Porsche had comeclose—leading for 20 hours before retiring with gearboxproblems—but the 917 was on the threshold of greater success.
In the United States, the SCCA had created the Can-AmSeries in 1966 with few regulations other than weightlimitations, minimum engine capacities and restrictions onuse of aerodynamic devices. The first year was dominated bythe Lola T-70, with John Surtees taking the title. The 1967
and 1968 seasons were known as the “Bruce and DennyShow” as Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme swept toconsecutive championships in their McLarens. In 1969,Porsche made its debut in the series at Watkins Glen with JoSiffert, Tony Dean and Brian Redman racing 908/2 models,finishing 6th, 9th and 16th respectively. Porsche was notrepresented at the next round in Edmonton, but at Mid-Ohio,the first 917PA made its debut, driven by Siffert. The car wasa cut-down version of the endurance car with a normallyaspirated engine. Although heavy, twitchy and complex, itwas quite reliable and suffered only two DNFs in eight races.The “Porsche + Audi” sponsored entry (thus the 917PAdesignation) finished 4th in the final point standings, despitemissing the first two rounds of the series and giving up 120horsepower to the McLarens.
in July of 1969, porsche built two 917 pa racecars, one for testing and one for Jo siffert to run in the ’69 can-am season.
prior to the arrival of the 917 pa, tony dean held up porsche’s honor
racing a 908/2 to several top-10 finishes in 1969.
Hal Crocker
Porsc
he
48 VINTAGE RACECAR
The Can-Am Race Series, held from 1966 to 1974,helped propel professional sports car racing to newheights of popularity in the United States. The series
was governed by an open and simple set of rules, which createdan environment that brought the most powerful and fastestsports cars to race tracks around the United States andCanada. These liberal rules fostered technical innovations inengines, suspension, chassis design, aerodynamics and tires. Toattract the best drivers, organizers offered substantial prizemoney so it was no surprise that many of the world’s bestentered the series. Names like Surtees, Hall, Gurney, Follmer,Oliver, Siffert, Hulme, McLaren, Donohue, Stewart, andRevson drove entries from Lola, Alfa Romeo, McLaren,
Shadow, Ferrari, Chaparral, March and Porsche. Can-Am washighly popular with race fans who trekked to road courses towatch these “ground-pounding” racecars in what proved to bea very competitive series.
One of the most memorable racecars of this era was thePorsche 917/30, the “Penske Panzer” as it was known.Although a relative latecomer to the series, Porsche focused itsefforts on developing a winning car, and what a car theyproduced. In partnership with the Penske Racing Team, thePorsche 917-10/30, the last and most successful cars in the 900Series, totally dominated Can-Am in 1972 and 1973,demoralizing the competition and causing the rule makers toeffectively ban the car for 1974.
Hal CrockerMid-ohio, august 12, 1973. george Follmer, in the Rinzler-entered porsche 917/10k, fights off a hard-charging Mark donohue, in the penske-
run porsche 917/30. donohue would go on to win, with Follmer finishing 2nd—a result to be duplicated most of that season.
VINTAGE RACECAR 51
Revson and Hulme. From this point forward, Siffert and the917/10 consistently raced to a series of top-five finishes,supported by the Polak and Dean cars. Siffert finished 4th inpoints, once again behind the McLarens of champion Revson,2nd-place Hulme and the Lola of 3rd-place Stewart. However,events were already underway that would put a serious dentinto the fortunes of the McLaren cars and would move the 917to the top of the podium.
enter team Penske
While Roger Penske was at the 1971 running of the LeMans 24 Hour with his team’s Ferrari 512, he was asked tomeet with the Piech family that controlled Porsche. Aluncheon was arranged and during the conversation, the Piechfamily expressed a desire to get more heavily involved in Can-Am racing and their desire for the Penske team to spearheadthe effort. The FIA was making noises about reducing enginelimits to 3-liters for 1972, which affected Porsche, so the timewas right for them to support Can-Am directly.
Several months of contract negotiations ensued but by fall,the details had been hammered out and the contract signed.Penske, Donohue and engineer Don Cox flew to the Porscheheadquarters for a meeting, tour of the facilities and a photoopportunity of the new team with the car. Donohue was askedto drive the 917/10 for a few laps on the test track foradditional photos. His first impressions of the car were not toofavorable. In his book, The Unfair Advantage, Donohue states,“I didn’t want to go too fast but even at that speed the car wasterrible. It was hunting back and forth on the straightaway…Ihad to jam my legs against the steering wheel to keep it in astraight line at 150 mph…I was ready to take the car to theskidpad and start from scratch.” Even so, Donohue wasinformed that he had come within 1.5 seconds of the track
record. The car certainly had potential.What started out as a three-day trip to Germany, turned
into three weeks of analyzing every aspect of the car withtesting on the Porsche track. Also during this same period, adirty, old, well-used 917 showed up one day with a very specialengine—a naturally aspirated, flat-16 cylinder(!) version.Donohue drove it and was impressed with its straight-linespeed. He estimated that with turbocharging, the car probablycould develop 2,000 horsepower! However, after the test, thecar was put away somewhere and Donohue never saw it again.
However, one major advantage Team Penske did have forthe upcoming season, besides a head start developing the 917,was that Roger Penske had insisted on an “exclusive use”clause in the contract with Porsche. Penske felt that if his teamwas going to invest so much time developing the present car,
Watkins glen, July 23, 1972. Milt Minter qualified 7th and finished 6th in Vasek polak’s non-turbo 917/10. note the difference in nose treatment on
Minter’s 917/10 compared to Follmer’s (opposite page).
Watkins glen, July 23, 1972. Roger penske (left) listens to george
Follmer’s impressions of the 917/10k’s performance.
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the First signs of success in can-Am
At the beginning of 1970 and just prior to the start of theCan-Am season, McLaren had suffered a huge blow with thedeath of founder Bruce McLaren in a testing accident inEngland. Denny Hulme became the team leader and wassupported by Dan Gurney and Peter Gethin in the second car.As in the previous two years, McLarens finished 1-2 in the finalpoint standings with Hulme taking the drivers title in arunaway. With their attention focused on winning at Le Mans,Sebring, the Targa Florio and Nürburgring, Porsche did not putforth a major effort in Can-Am. Only Tony Dean, in his 908/2,contested the full series and with one victory at Road Atlantaand several top-10 finishes, he wound up 6th in points.However, in the third round at Watkins Glen, Porsche hadarrived with eight cars, seven 917K models for Siffert,
Attwood, Elford, Lennep, Redman, Larrousse and Rodriquez,along with Dean in his 908/2. Siffert finished 2nd and theremaining cars 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, 16th and 25th. This wouldprove a precursor of the success that would follow in the nextfew seasons.
The 1971 season would bring a few significant changes tothe series. Can-Am was officially recognized by the FIA,making it an international championship. Denny Hulmecontinued to lead the McLaren team, joined by a newteammate, Peter Revson. But the big news was that reigningWorld F1 Champion, Jackie Stewart, would contest the seriesin the new Lola T260. With Siffert skipping the first threeraces due to other racing commitments, Porsche wasrepresented by Milt Minter in a Vasek Polak-entered 917PAand Steve Matchett in the Dean 908/2. Back at Porsche inGermany, development was underway on a new, lightweight,space frame chassis to replace the older 917 design. The rumorsof turbocharging proved to be premature so the flat-12, 5-liter,630 horsepower engine remained normally aspirated, and stilldown on power to the McLarens. Unfortunately, this new car,designated the 917/10, would not be ready until the fourth raceof the year.
Siffert did not compete in the first three races at Mosport,St. Jovite and Road Atlanta, but Porsche was represented byprivateer Dean along with Milt Minter and Dick Barbour intwo cars, a 917PA and a 908/2, sponsored by SouthernCalifornia Porsche Dealer, Vasek Polak. Against the McLarenonslaught, the going was pretty tough, but Minter salvagedsome pride for Porsche with a 5th-place finish in round three atRoad Atlanta. Hulme, Revson and Stewart each took a win inthese first races in what was shaping up to be a verycompetitive season.
For Road America, Porsche entered the new 917/10 forSiffert, which he drove to a solid 3rd-place, finishing behind
Watkins glen, July 23, 1972. Follmer, in the turbocharged 917/10k fought handling issues and a loss of power at Watkins glen, resulting in his
5th place finish. Fortunately for him and the penske team, this would be their lowest placed finish all year.
Watkins glen, July 23, 1972. the Vasek polak-entered 917/10 of Milt
Minter sits in the pits, in front of Follmer’s penske-entered 917/10k.
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VINTAGE RACECAR 53
presentation of the team and car to the press at Road Atlanta. While the press took their pictures, the team struggled with
the new engine, which exhibited the same characteristics asthe one during the first test…and failed in the same way.Finally, it was decided that, in the interest of time, Donohuewould fly to Germany to try and solve the problem. After hoursof analyzing the problems and the engine setup, it wasdetermined that the fuel delivery system was faulty. Fuel systemsupplier Bosch, redesigned the fuel-injection metering,richened the fuel mixture, and the result was a smooth-runningengine at all rpms during dyno runs. A track test bore this outas Donohue broke the Porsche test track record by over twoseconds. With turbocharging, horsepower was around 900 and,along with further suspension changes, this 917/10 (dubbed917/10K) was now ready for the Can-Am Series.
The first round of the 1972 season was held at Mosport,and Donohue showed just how fast the 917/10K was by beatingthe McLarens, Lolas and Shadows by almost a half a second inqualifying. During the race and once out in front, it looked likeDonohue’s race had a storybook beginning for the 917/10K.Unfortunately, a stuck throttle valve forced Donohue into thepits for several laps before it was fixed and he was able to returnto the track. Despite this, he would amazingly go on to finish
2nd behind Hulme’s McLaren. All in all, a good first outing butdisaster was looming in the Penske camp.
The next round was at Road Atlanta where Donohuedecided to take the 917 out for a test on the Monday before therace. While accelerating along the fast, back straightaway, theleading edge of the bodywork came unfastened at about 150mph. With the bodywork popping up like an airbrake, and theresulting loss of downforce, the car spun, then flipped end-over-end, shedding parts with each rotation. The car—or whatwas left of it—with Donohue still strapped in his seat, finallycame to rest right side up. Miraculously, Donohue’s only majorinjury was to his left leg, which required surgery and a full-length cast, obviously removing him from the driver’s seat forperhaps the whole season.
George Follmer to the rescue
With the car destroyed and the team’s only driver out ofaction for several weeks, the 917 test car was prepared and thesearch for a replacement driver began immediately. The firstname on Penske’s list was one of his former drivers, GeorgeFollmer. Follmer recalls how events transpired, “I was en routehome from Minnesota, having just won the Trans-Am race at
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laguna seca, october 15, 1972. though he sat out much of the ’72 season with an injured leg, donohue made an amazingly quick return to the
cockpit, winning at edmonton on october 1 and then finishing 2nd to Follmer at laguna seca.
continued on page 84
52 VINTAGE RACECAR
followed by the turbo-engine version, they should have a headstart on other teams before they were offered the turbocharged917/10. This did not make them any friends with loyal Porschecustomers like Peter Gregg and Vasek Polak who would haveto be temporarily content with racing non-turbo 917/10s.
A Need for more speed
As the team departed for the U.S., their first 917-10 (non-turbo) was shipped to the Penske race shop. Once the cararrived, the team embarked on weeks of testing a variety ofnew rear wing designs, different suspension geometry andcomponents to cure the handling ills Donohue experienced inGermany. At their second test at Road Atlanta, Donohuebroke the track record but it was decided they should test atRiverside, which was a much faster track. The tests atRiverside showed that while the car was fast and finally stableat speed, it was five seconds a lap slower than the McLarens.Beating the competition without the promised turbochargedengine was not a pleasant prospect to consider.
In early 1972, Team Penske finally received their firstturbocharged, flat-12 engine and, after installing it into the car,they went to Road Atlanta for testing. The test proved to bequite troubling with the engine reluctant to start (solved bytowing the car), then it wouldn’t run at part-throttle, andfinally, after mastering the all-off/all-on nature of the engine,Donohue attempted a 200-mile test. Unfortunately before thetest could be completed, the turbo failed, destroying theengine. A new engine, along with several Porsche factorypeople arrived shortly thereafter for another test and
laguna seca, october 15, 1972. Follmer passes the war-torn 917/10 of Milt Minter. Follmer went on to win, while Minter finished 4th.
laguna seca, october 15, 1972. george Follmer basks in glory after
winning the laguna seca round. Follmer also took the championship
that year.
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VINTAGE RACECAR 5554 VINTAGE RACECAR
1929 beNtleY 4.5-lIter blowerW.O. Bentley formed Bentley Motors Ltd in 1919 and set out to build a high-quality sports tourer. The company had tremendous success with the 3-liter, the SpeedSix and other models. W.O. loved racing and had a car compete in the Indianapolis500 in 1922, which finished 13th. During the 1920s Bentleys won the 24 Hours of LeMans five times. This period was not without some financial trouble, however, as Bent-ley needed to be bailed out during the 1920s by diamond-mine heir, Wolf Barnato.One of the most unique of Bentley’s cars, with the right amount of power and handlingfor the day, was the 4.5-liter, 2-valve per cylinder, supercharged Blower Bentley. It hadmore power than the 3-liter but did not burn off the tires like the 6.5-liter. These werebuilt on a steel chassis with an aluminum body, four-wheel drum brakes, and a leafspring suspension. It was the idea of racing driver, Sir Henry “Tim” Birken, supportedby Barnato, but built against the wishes of W.O. Bentley. Fifty-four cars were equippedwith the supercharged engine. With a Bentley weighing in at over 3,600 pounds, EttoreBugatti once said, “W.O. makes the most well-built trucks in the world.” Ironically,today the 4.5-liter Blower Bentley is highly sought after by collectors but it was theother models which had the racing success.
AstoN mArtIN le mANsFounded by Lionel Martin in 1914, Aston Martin is one of the oldest automotive com-panies still active today. Purchased in 1926 by Augustus Bertelli, an engineer, Astonquickly became known for its well-built sports and racing cars and had internationalracing success in 1931, finishing 5th overall and winning the 1,500-cc class at the 24Hours of Le Mans. This same finish was accomplished again in 1932 and 1933, thisagainst the might of Alfa Romeo. A series of just over 100 examples of the 2 and 2/4seater Le Mans was built to celebrate Aston’s Le Mans success. The coachwork was byE. Bertelli Ltd. The cars were fitted with cycle wings, which turned with the wheels.This was a low chassis design and evolved into the second and third series, as well asthe Ulster Mark II—all were powered by a Bertelli-designed, 1,495-cc SOHC engine.These are sleek, well-built and exciting cars.
VINTAGE RACECAR 57
From the very beginning of theautomobile, man built cars tocompete with a passion for speed
and technology. These earlyinnovators are in an elite club withtheir place in automotive historyguaranteed as the creators of trueclassic sports cars, genuinethoroughbreds.
The development of the racingsports car can be traced to specificmanufacturers who at one time inhistory dominated motor racing, inparticular the world’s most challengingroad races, such as the Mille Miglia,Targa Florio and endurance contestssuch as the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The creation of an automobilewhich could win in internationalcompetition was usually theinspiration of one passionate man, anengineer, a genius who put all of hisdesign and engineering skills towardhis goals.
Part one of this prewar marketguide will feature some of theseexciting cars, their founders anddesigners. Alfa Romeo—NicoloRomeo and Vittorio Jano, andBugatti—Ettore Bugatti and sons.
Today, these prewar masterpiecesare highly sought after by thesophisticated collector. They and theircurrent owners are often invited topartake in the most prestigious historicracing venues world wide—the LeMans 24 Hour Classic, Mille MigliaStorica, Monaco Historique GrandPrix and the Targa Florio to name buta few.
Due to the age of these cars andtheir racing heritage, their value isdetermined by their originality andprovenance. Old cars built up fromparts are not the same as true completesurvivors. In many cases, this attritioncan bring the remaining total down toless than ten good surviving examplesof a particular model.
Jim W
illiams
mARKET guide
56 VINTAGE RACECAR
Prewar, Part 1
mAKe moDel leVel III leVel II leVel I
AC 12/24 $90,000 $100,000 $115,000
12/40 $90,000 $100,000 $115,000
Ace 16/56 $110,000 $125,000 $140,000
Ace 16/66 $120,000 $135,000 $150,000
Ace 16/90-90 $175,000 $200,000 $225,000
Alfa Romeo RL Targa Florio $500,000 $650,000 $800,000
6C 1500 SS/SC $425,000 $550,000 $700,000
6C 1750 GS/SC Zagato $700,000 $800,000 $900,000
Tipo B Monoposto P3 $3,300,000 $3,700,000 $4,100,000
Tipo C Monoposto 8C35 $2,900,000 $3,300,000 $3,800,000
Tipo 8C 2300 $2,700,000 $3,000,000 $3,500,000
Tipo 8C 2300 Lungo (Le Mans) $3,100,000 $3,600,000 $4,000,000
Tipo 8C 2300 Corto (Mille Miglia) $3,500,000 $4,000,000 $4,500,000
Tipo 8C 2300 Spider Corsa (Monza) $4,000,000 $4,500,000 $5,000,000
Tipo 8C 2900B Corto $5,000,000 $5,500,000 $6,000,000
Tipo 8C 2900B Lungo $4,500,000 $5,000,000 $5,500,000
Alvis 4-Cyl., FWD $225,000 $250,000 $275,000
Amilar 6C $150,000 $200,000 $225,000
Aston Martin Ulster Mk II $325,000 $375,000 $400,000
Lemans $400,000 $450,000 $475,000
2-Liter Speed Model $175,000 $225,000 $250,000
Bentley 3-Liter Speed Model $500,000 $550,000 $600,000
Big Six $850,000 $1,100,000 $1,200,000
4.5-Liter $700,000 $800,000 $900,000
Speed Six $2,000,000 $2,500,000 $2,800,000
4.5-Liter Blower $2,000,000 $2,500,000 $3,000,000
8-Liter $900,000 $1,200,000 $1,500,000
BMW 328 $400,000 $425,000 $450,000
Bugatti Type 35 $1,600,000 $1,800,000 $2,000,000
Type 37A Supercharged $1,500,000 $1,700,000 $1,800,000
Type 51 $2,000,000 $2,200,000 $2,500,000
Type 56SC Atalante $3,000,000 $3,200,000 $3,600,000
Criteria used when assessing valuationsfor this guide include:
Degree of originality
Is it a true original car, which has survived its long life withoutserious accidents; is it complete and well-maintained, perhapseven with original paint (a collector’s dream); or is it theother extreme—a car built up from the remains of one ormore cars, with more reproduction parts than original.
overall condition, restoration
Was the car restored to its original condition with proper me-chanical drivetrain, period look, etc., by a true marque spe-cialist with excellent receipts, photos, etc., resulting in itbeing a multiple race winner or concours winner; or is it anexample of a restoration gone wrong with improper mechan-ical components, modern changes by an unqualified shopwith little receipts for work supposedly performed, resultingin it not having racing success or show potential?
technology, Design, coachbuilder
Was this car an example of an innovative new technology?Was it a unique design or feature a beautiful coach-builtbody?
Production Numbers/rarity
Were thousands made, or is it a one-off design which everycar lover lusts after?
competition History
Did Jim and Bill race this example around some hay bales inKansas once, or did it get raced by famous drivers as a factory team car to win international races? Is this historywell documented in a variety of periodicals or manufacturer’sarchives?
ownership History, Documentation
Does it sound like a tall tale, or is the complete ownershipfrom factory-build sheet through each sale from owner toowner well-documented? This is important in getting FIAhistory identity papers.
modern event eligibility
Has this automotive masterpiece been declined entry toeverybody’s party, or does it meet the criteria for event eligi-bility to all of the great racing events?
regional Variances
The prices stated in this guide are based on U.S. values. Thevalues of historic racing cars can vary as much as 25%–35%in other countries, depending on local market appeal, cur-rency rates, import duties, and VAT.
Most of the time, we are able to document known sales orclosed escrows, as they say in real estate. When this is notpossible, a logical estimate of the car’s value is given, basedon its sales history and relationship to cars of its type.
The valuations tabulated here are suggestedguidelines; they are in no way absolute. Thevaluation of an individual example may be significantly higher or lower depending on anumber of the factors listed above.
classification categories
Level I = The best combination of all criteria
Level II = Satisfies mid-range of criteria
mArKet GuIDe eDItor:
mark leonardGrand Prix Classics
7456 la Jolla Blvd.,
la Jolla, CA 92037,
(858) 459-3500
www.grandprixclassics.com
Polak taking care of them, I found I couldextend the rpms to much higher limitswithout having to worry.”
Stan Sugarman entered Polak in thenovice race at Riverside on June 28-29,1958. Even though the event included allclasses, Vasek finished 2nd overall behindRichard Corband in the Morgenson Special.Too valuable as a mechanic, this concludedhis U.S. racing career.
Vasek and McAfee became close friends.Jack obtained a visa to travel toCzechoslovakia in order to visit the Polaks.Vasek, of course, couldn’t go, as he wouldhave been arrested. Jack took the family somemoney and took some photographs so Vasekcould see what his children looked like.
Western Porsche/VW distributor JohnVon Neumann (see my September 2007column), was racing Porsche Spyders againstJack McAfee and others at the time. Johnwas so impressed with Vasek’s ability that hehad Polak take care of his 4-cams. John andVasek also became close friends and all threeof us eventually ended up neighbors in PalmSprings on the same short street.
Wanting to expand his business, Vasek—through the influence of Von Neumann andMcAfee—was able to obtain a Porschedealership in 1959. In addition, his shop wasdesignated a special outlet for Porsche racingparts. In 1966, Polak took a 911 off hisshowroom floor and prepared it for racing.With Vasek as the entrant, Jerry Titus tookthe car to the SCCA D-Production NationalChampionship. This was the start of Polak’scareer as a car owner and entrant.
Working his magic with Porsches, Polakcampaigned a 917 from 1971 through 1974and entered 934 and 935 models in theTrans-Am. He was a major force in both theCam-Am and Trans-Am with GeorgeFollmer, Davey Jordan, Milt Minter, JohnMorton, Danny Ongais, Sam Posey, BrianRedman and Jody Scheckter driving for him.
After 16 years of constant and untiringeffort, Vasek was finally able to bring his familyto the U.S. Von Neumann helped with thearrangements, even making trips to Prague.After they were reunited, Vasek and Jindriskabecame estranged and eventually divorced.
In 1985, Polak married Anna MariaLittlejohn, a Czech immigrant, the widow ofan American pilot. Our two families oftensocialized together. I know Vasek wasdevoted to Anna. In 1993, she died frombreast cancer. Vasek contributed $2 millionin honor of Anna to Torrance MemorialHospital to establish a breast cancer
treatment center. Some time later, my wifetried to have Vasek date a single Czech ladyshe knew, but Vasek refused. I don’t think heever got over Anna’s death.
In 1994, we celebrated Vasek’s 80th
birthday at my home in Palm Springs. Hewas always my backup whenever we had aparty there. If we ran out of booze, his housewas right across the street.
By 1995, Vasek Polak dealerships inHermosa and Manhattan Beaches includedAudi, BMW, Saab, Subaru, Volvo and VW,grossing over $50 million in sales. Hisbusiness was the largest taxpayer in the Cityof Hermosa Beach.
After Russia freed Czechoslovakia, Vasekwould often visit there where he still had familymembers. On March 11, 1997, while driving anew 911 Turbo S on the autobahn on his wayback from Prague, he lost control and had anaccident that resulted in severe injuries. He wastreated in a hospital in Regensburg, but after amonth, he insisted on being taken to Torrance
Memorial. He suffered cardiac arrest aboard aLear Jet whose cabin had been converted intoan intensive-care ward. In spite of heroic effortsby on-board Torrance Memorial doctors, hecouldn’t be revived.
On April 23, there was a private funeralin Redondo Beach and then, on May 3, amemorial service. The more than 200 inattendance included members of the Porschefamily and Porsche executives plus MaxBalchowsky, Steve Earle, Davey Jordan, MiltMinter, John Morton, Scooter Patrick, JackMcAfee, John Von Neumann and BrianRedman.
Besides his many dealerships and realestate, Vasek left a large and very valuablecar collection. The majority of his fortunewent to the Vasek and Anna Maria PolakCharitable Foundation. In the summer ofthis year, the Foundation established theVasek Polak Health Clinic to meet the needsof under and uninsured workers in the SouthBay area of Southern California.
VINTAGE RACECAR 59
Vasek polak (left) with Jack Mcafee (standing in car). the gentleman between them is a representative
of porsche from germany.
The
Fab
ulou
s Fifties Archive
58 VINTAGE RACECAR
by art evans
When Porscheintroduced the4-cam racing
engine, it was a sensation.Porsche Spyders with thisengine soon dominatedtheir class. The problem
was that this power plant was complex anddifficult to work on. In the U.S., one manemerged who was acknowledged as a geniuswith the 4-cam. He was Vasek Polak.
But Polak was a lot more than a mechanic.He built a life that a boy who grew up inCzechoslovakia, ravaged by WWI and thenworldwide depression couldn’t have imagined.It turned out to be the American dream.
Vasek Polak was my friend and neighbor.One evening over a glass of wine, he told myfamily and me about his time in Prague,where he was born in 1914.
During WWII, he was a member of theunderground. Towards the end of the war,there was an uprising in Prague against theNazi occupiers. While trying to save a friend,Vasek was shot by a German tank. The bulletpierced both his lungs. Gravely wounded, helay in a street gutter for two days until hissister found him and brought him home.
After the war, Polak opened a smallbicycle shop. Soon thereafter, he restored amotorcycle he had hidden away from the
Germans. He started to race it andeventually went on to win the Czechoslovak250-cc National Championship.
Meanwhile, he continued hisunderground struggle, now against theCommunists. One day, in 1948, the secretpolice came to arrest him. His first wife,Jindriska, called on the phone to warn himusing a pre-arranged signal. She asked himwhen he was going to come home for lunch.That was the signal, as Vasek never wenthome for lunch. While the police approachedthe front door of his shop, he ran out the rear.
Disguising himself as a farmer, Polakwalked through the woods to the border withGermany. Needless to say, it was a harrowingjourney and he was always in danger of beingdiscovered and shot. He managed to crawlunder the wire and arrived with nothing buta torn shirt on his back. Sadly, he had toleave his wife and children behind.
He was placed in a refugee camp nearMunich. Soon he got a job as a mechanicheading up the motor pool for the Red Crossand the American Consulate. He wanted tocome to America with the idea that therecould be opportunities that would enablehim to make enough money to try to get hisfamily out of Czechoslovakia.
With everything he had managed tosave, he booked a passage to New York in1956. With no money, he slept in avolleyball court in the Czech CommunityCenter. Soon he landed a job with Max
Hoffman repairing Porsches. He was so goodat it that Hoffman sent him with teams toEastern sports car races.
Jack McAfee remembered that he met Vasekat a race at Beverly, Massachusetts. He spoke verylittle English then. According to Jack, “Wediscussed the possibility of him moving to theWest Coast. I explained that we needed someonewith his knowledge and skills on Porsches,particularly the 4-cam racing engine.”
In 1957, Polak decided to make themove. Towing his Porsche Spyder behind hisVW van, he somehow ended up atParamount Ranch on December 7. Eventhough he was not entered, he was allowed apost entry under his Czech first name,“Jaelav.” The flags were explained during theSaturday morning drivers’ meeting. With hislimited English, Vasek didn’t understand andretired after, according to the official results,“(the driver) failed to understand flags, pulledinto pits.” On Sunday, however, he was ableto finish 7th overall and 5th in class, three lapsbehind the winner, Ken Miles. I know thisbecause I was there racing my XK120.
With $3,000 he had saved, Vasek openeda Porsche repair shop in Hermosa Beach,California. According to McAfee, who wasthen driving for John Edgar and later StanSugarman, “As soon as Vasek arrived, I madearrangements for him to take care of thePorsches our teams were racing. BeforeVasek, I never extended the 4-cam enginesfor fear of having to overhaul one. With
FABUloUS FiFties
Vasek Polak, Porsche Magician
Jack Mcafee (#88) in John edgar’s 550 Rs spyder passes J. p. kunstle’s 550 on the inside at palm springs on november 11, 1956.
Art Eva
ns
VINTAGE RACECAR 61
GOODWOOD FESTIVALChichester, EnglandJune 22–24, 2007Photos: Peter Collins, Keith Booker, Mike Jiggle
1 nick Mason in audi's auto union type d
recreation with a 420 bhp V-12 3-liter en-
gine.
2 al unser sr., sir Jackie stewart and Martin
Birrane swap stories.
3 twin-boom tarf-galera record breaker of
1948.
4 Jochen Mass also drove this successful
Mercedes c11 from 1990.
5 Riccardo patrese was pleased to be back
at the Festival.
6 Vic elford was back in Jim hall's unique
chaparral 2J “sucker car.”
7 this toyota was one of dozens of rally
cars on the goodwood special Rally
stage.
8 european editor ed Mcdonough attempts
to broadcast over goodwood radio, while
riding up the hill in a Wolseley.
9 it was hard to miss the toyota display!
10 the serenissima grand prix car attracted
much attention.
11 californian Bill evans in the 1906 21.5-
liter Mercedes “Blitzen Benz.”
8
10
11
9
Mike Jigg
lePeter Collins
Peter Collins
Keith Boo
ker
60 VINTAGE RACECAR
PHoTo galleRY1
4
6
2
3
Peter Collins
Peter Collins
Peter Collins
Keith Boo
ker
Keith Boo
ker
7
5
Keith Boo
ker
Peter Collins
VINTAGE RACECAR 63VINTAGE RACECAR 6362 VINTAGE RACECAR62 VINTAGE RACECAR
VSCDABlackhawk Farms, South Beloit, ILJune 15–17, 2007Photos: Jeff R Schabowski
1 Michael Farley in his 1971 datsun 510.
2 William goulette and his 1933 Mg at
speed.
3 the 1958 lotus 7 of craig Bielat.
4 Barbara nevoral’s alfa gtV leads kelvin
palmer’s 1974 MgB.
4
1
32
VINTAGE RACECAR 6564 VINTAGE RACECAR
1
2
43
AUSTIN 7 CLUBHISTORIC WINTONWinton, AustraliaMay 26–27, 2007Photos: Neil Hammond and Damian Petrie
1 the hard charging holden Monaro V8 of
gary Jackson.
2 nigel tait exercising the Matich sR4.
3 peter Matthews, with his 1960 nota
Major, leading american dean Butler’s
1959 Bocar.
4 the gorgeous 1926/29 t37a Bugatti of
kent patrick.
Dam
ian Petrie
Neil H
ammon
dNeil H
ammon
d
Dam
ian Petrie
VINTAGE RACECAR 6766 VINTAGE RACECAR
HSRWATKINS GLEN HIS-TORIC RACESWatkins Glen, NYJune 14–17, 2007Photos: Michael Casey-DiPleco
1 laura & tim Vargo shared driving duty in
their 1992 porsche 911.
2 Richard howe’s 1989 Mustang ta-gto
is chased by the 1990 corvette of Jeffrey
Bernatovich.
3 larry ligas, in his1961 Jaquar Xke, goes
three-wheelin’ in the esses.
4 Randy cook in his 1972 saab sonnet.
5 the 1986 porsche 962 of adam haut is
followed by the 962 of Bill hawe.
6 tVR griffith of Farrell preston.
1
2
5
4
3
6
VINTAGE RACECAR 6968 VINTAGE RACECAR
1
2
4
3
VARACMOSPORT VINTAGEFESTIVALMosport, CanadaJune 22–24, 2007Photos: Robert Harrington
1 the 1972 Ferrari 246 gt dino
of Richard kieley.
2 hamish somerville at the wheel of his
1967 lola t70 Mk iiiB spyder.
3 phil Roettjer’s '53 lotus 6.
4 terry Milnes lifts a wheel in his 1966
austin Mini cooper s,
5 hamish somerville also drove his 1979
Williams FWo7B in the featured F1 re-
union race.
6 Marcus glarner, in a BMW M1, leads a
similar car.
6
5
VINTAGE RACECAR 7170 VINTAGE RACECAR
1
2
4
3
TARGA FLORIOGIRO DI SICILIASicily, ItalyJune 3–11, 2007Photos: Roger Dixon
1 a passenger’s view of the targa Florio.
2 the 1959 austin healey 3000 Mk1 of
carlo Repossi and giovanna tackles the
targa Florio circuit.
3 a lunch stop, this time at the Villa Fe-
gotto.
4 american couple Mike and cristina
grant climb a fog bound Mount erice in
their 1952 ermini sport.
5 Wayne Fairlie gets the 1951 Frazer nash
targa Florio Roadster wound up on the
syracuse circuit.
5
VINTAGE RACECAR 7372 VINTAGE RACECAR
1
2
6
5
4
VSCC“ROUND THE HOUSES”Albany, Western AustraliaJune 3, 2007Photos: Terry McGrath and Shane Cassidy
1 the dodge special of John Bugden leads
ken stewart-Richards’ clem dwyer ply-
mouth special.
2 the very historic clem dyer plymouth
special of ken stewart-Richards.
3 looking hard at work. allen shephard in
his replica Jaguar d-type.
4 allan herring’s Mg J2 leads the similar
car of ed Farrer with the d-type replica
of allen shephard closing fast.
5 ed Farrer corners his Mg J2 in style
around the houses in albany, Western
australia.
6 kim stewart in his Ford Mustang gt350
leads from the Ford escort of Michael Van
3
Terry McG
rath
Terry McG
rath
Terry McG
rath
Sha
ne Cas
sidy
Sha
ne Cas
sidy
VINTAGE RACECAR 75
After some problems early in the race, we got back onto the samelap as the lead car until the engine cut on the straight and I had tostop. I had to get the back bodywork up and used the radio to getsome help from the pits. We had a broken electrical connectionand I got it restarted but, by then, we had lost six laps. But we justkept driving as hard as we could and got back four laps on the lead-ers...Holbert, Haywood and Schuppan. Then, Schuppan had thedoor blow off and they made some stops and the car was runningvery hot because the airflow had been interfered with. I rememberdriving as fast as I could and getting onto the same lap but, whenI took over for the last stint, the brakes were not good. Their carwas about to seize and my fuel light was flickering, and I just failedto catch them. Neither one of us would have made it around an-other lap.
In spite of your wanting to drive with Jacky Ickx, you had a lotof success with the 956 in 1983 and 1984 with Stefan Bellof.Then, in that period, the 962 came along. What was the tran-sition to the 962 like?
Bell: Well, it wasn’t really dramatic at all. The 962 was very littledifferent. All it was that, for America, the Americans said we hadto have the driver’s feet behind the central line of the front wheelsof the car. Porsche said “ok” and they adjusted the length of thewheelbase, and we suddenly had a car a fraction longer, a few mil-limeters longer, which allowed us to meet the rules for America.But other than that there was very little difference. It was called962 as if it was a great, great change but it wasn’t. It was very un-dramatic when you drove it and you would hardly know the differ-ence.
The car we are testing with the 956 was your last works Porschedrive?
Bell: Yes, car number 17 [chassis 962-010] was the last Le Mans Idid as a factory driver. However, I drove for Joest Racing in ’92 and’93 in the 962, which was very similar to that earlier car, eventhough it was a customer car. They improved the cars all the timebut they didn’t actually do that much to the chassis. That was alsotrue of the 956 from the beginning, with development going on allthe time, and that carried on with the 962, as well. We went to aPDK double-clutch transmission and from 2.6-liters to 3.2-liter en-gines, which meant we went to nearly 800 horsepower when weneeded it. But, of course, we were always restricted by the fuel reg-ulations.
You were quite involved with the 962 and Al Holbert’s team,which must have been a good experience?
Bell: It was very interesting. Al Holbert was the best developmentdriver I was ever involved with, and he was very knowledgeable.He was able to drive a car and come in and tell the crew chief ex-actly what was happening, and the mechanics would make somechanges and the car would improve. Remember the first 962s werenot very competitive in IMSA with the March-Chevy, and Holberttook the car and helped to transform it. I sometimes felt in the waybecause they had a very tight way of doing things, but I was ableto come in and tell them what the car was doing. It was similar toworking with Norbert Singer in many ways. Al Holbert and I hadfive wins in 1984 in that one car [chassis 962-103] and once Hol-bert was doing development, the car started to beat the March. Idrove with Al into 1987, and I think he and I had six wins togetherin ’85 and five in ’86, most of them in the same chassis. It was thatgood.
You also had good seasons in the 962 in the World Sports Proto-type Championship in ’85, ’86 and ’87 and you won the driver’schampionship in those years.
Bell and stefan Bellof drove chassis 956-004 to victory in the 1983 kyalami 1000 kms, clinching porsche’s manufacturer’s championship and placing
Bell 2nd in the driver’s championship, just 3 points behind teammate Jacky ickx.
Porsche
74 VINTAGE RACECAR
Even though you had managed to win the Silverstone race, whichwas the first Group C race, you weren’t really impressed withthat race, were you?
Bell: No! But it wasn’t the car, which was the development car,001. Peter Falk had spoken to me after practice where we had putthe car on pole pretty easily. He said that we weren’t going to winthe race and I just didn’t understand what he was talking about. Iwas very outspoken and unhappy about it because we were goingto be doing laps in the race that were five seconds slower than whatwe had done in practice and qualifying. I remember thinking thatit wasn’t right for the public, who had seen the cars going quicklyin practice and looked like they would make a very good race withthe Lancias. Then we were ordered to drive a slower pace, and theLancias ran away while we went around in fifth gear. I was very un-happy about it. When you look back now you can see that Porschewasn’t happy about it because they were stuck with the fuel regu-lations, and the Silverstone race was a particular problem becauseit was actually longer than 1,000 kilometers.
Le Mans was a better race from that point of view, wasn’t it?
Bell: It was better because we won, but we still had to run withinthe fuel restrictions. Jacky did some fast laps in the beginning butthen I had to go longer between stops and keep the revs down. Itwas a lot harder to save the fuel than to use it. Once you have usedtoo much it is hard work to save the rest. But Jacky and I were avery good pair. We didn’t overstress the car at all, and I think wewere both able to treat the car right and bring it home. I think laterJacky found the cars more demanding to drive. As the ground effectgot better, the long races were more tiring and took a lot out ofyou. But Jacky and I remained a good pairing for a long time, and
I really preferred to be in a car with him. I got upset later whenthey changed the pairings around. I knew that Jacky would alwaysmake sure he was in the best car and that he had the car with allthe latest bits. When they put me in another car with Vern Schup-pan, they wanted to test the Motronic injection system, and I gotdifficult about that. I thought if Jacky didn’t want that car, then Ididn’t want it either. As it turned out, the car with Motronic didn’trun well at Spa and we didn’t finish as well as we should have.
In fact, you had more trouble later in the year with that system?
Bell (with a smile): Yes, I really let loose at Kyalami. Jacky was withJochen and the Motronic just wouldn’t work right, and Peter Falkknew I was very unhappy about it. The engine just wouldn’t pull,so you had to be on the throttle before you had finished braking.At night you couldn’t see the corner, yet, you were on the throttleand braking at the same time and we were still two seconds tooslow. There are very fast corners at Kyalami, and I came in to com-plain that you couldn’t drive a car like that if you couldn’t see thecorners. I thought it was just crazy. After night practice, I told PeterFalk it just wasn’t possible. He said he would think about switchingthe system to Jacky’s car and then the Motronic system caught fire,so he drove the ordinary spare and still won with Jochen, whileVern and I were 2nd. I know I did whine about those things, butthey did listen. It took about a year to get the Motronic systemworking.
Being with Ickx wasn’t always a guarantee of winning though?
Bell: No, when we went to Le Mans in 1983 we thought we mightget three in a row. We had a special engine with bigger turbos andput it on pole. I think we were doing 224 mph on the Mulsanne.
continued from page 27
Rothmans porsche team for le Mans, 1986. (left to right) hans stuck,al holbert, derek Bell, Jochen Mass, Bob Wollek and Vern schuppan. Bell, holbert
and stuck went on to win driving chassis 962-003.
Porsche
VINTAGE RACECAR 7776 VINTAGE RACECAR
Bell: Yes, I shared it with Hans [Stuck] in ’86 and ’87.
And that was also using the same chassis much of the time?
Bell: Yes, that’s right; not always, but we did use one car much ofthe time [chassis 962-006].
Your last “works” Le Mans drive in 962-010 was part of whatmany people think of as one of the best Le Mans races.
Bell: That is true. The Jaguars were very competitive by then, and1988 was a thin season because the works were only interested inLe Mans, although they were supporting customer teams, especiallyJoest. I drove for the factory with Stuck and Klaus Ludwig and itwas a very exciting race. It was the first time in years that we werenot in Rothman colors and the cars were prepared as Shell andDunlop cars, three of them. There were so many Jaguars we knewhow much they wanted to win. We had the 3-liter engine with theMotronic management system. We were on pole and were reaching241 mph on the straight. Stuck had led for awhile and then Ludwigran out of fuel and had to crawl back to the pit. We had a lot ofproblems with the fuel tanks and the filters, and lost a lot of time.We dropped way back, but the other cars stopped and we were backon the lead lap by early morning. We still had trouble with chang-ing the fuel filters and finished on the same lap as the Jaguar. Wereally should have won that one.
Do you reckon that the 956 and the 962 were among the easiestcars to drive?
Bell: Yes, because they didn’t have any vices; they were very easyto drive, and to learn to drive. The only thing you had to get used
to was the fact that you had race tires on and you had to get therace tires up to temperature to get them to grip, and that meantyou had to remember to slide them around a bit first. Otherwise,you wouldn’t have any grip and the car wouldn’t do what it wassupposed to. If you drive a ground effects car, especially for the firsttime, you tend to go a bit easy and don’t get the temperatures upin the tires right away and then it doesn’t work.
Yes, I did that in a Lancia LC2 and it just went straight on atthe first corner.
Bell: That was one of the issues with a ground effects car. You al-most had to know how to drive it before you did drive it. Whenwe first had the 956 we were learning because no one had reallydone that before.
So what advice do you give someone who is going to drive a 956or 962 for the first time?
Bell: Oh, warm up the tires before you do anything. I would be sureto warm the tires because that is essential and is the key to the grip.I’d say you would, of course, start in first gear but then shift prettyquickly into second...you wouldn’t take it all the way up throughthe revs, and then get it out of second into third, and from thenon you just use the power and drive it as fast as you want. As far asthe handling is concerned, it handles very nicely and it stops.Everybody always says “Oh, it’s slowed down.” Everything it does,it does with such generosity that you never actually overdrive it.You actually don’t drive it hard enough, and that’s the good thingabout it. People never get into it and go over the top.
Monterey historics, 1998. derek Bell prepares to drive the 956 that he, al holbert and al unser Jr. drove to a come-from-behind victory in the 1986
24 hours of daytona. Bell remains a regular fixture on the historic racing scene.
Cas
ey Ann
is
VINTAGE RACECAR 79
Porsche 917—The Heroes,TheVictories, The MythBy Jörg thomas Födisch, Jost neßhöver, Rainer
Roßbach and harold schwarz
Without doubt one of the mostevocative, iconic…sexy,racecars of the postwar era, the
Porsche 917, marked not only a quantumleap in racingspeed andtechnology, butalso the truearrival of Porscheas an overallendurance-racingwinner.
While muchhas been writtenabout this amazingseries of cars, thisbook, produced bya group of German Porsche authorities,examines the technical and racingevolution of the 917, as seen through theeyes of the drivers, team managers andtechnicians that helped make it thepowerhouse of the ’70s.
Written in both German and English,chapters are devoted both to periods of917 racing, such as the 1971 InternationalChampionship of Makes, or the Can-Am,as well as first-person recollections bypersonalities such as Norbert Singer, BrianRedman, Willi Kauhsen, Gijs van Lennep,Hans Hermann and Herbet Linge, to namejust a few.
Printed in a large 12” x 12” format withover 240, rare, color and b/w photos, thiswork is visually af a s c i n a t i n gexploration ofthe 917. Whilethe Englishtranslation is, insome places, alittle awkward,the content ofthis bookprovides ad e t a i l e daccount of the car’s development, as wellas many new insights from the men whoknew it best.
Available for US$79.95 at (800) 831-1758 or online at www.bullpublishing.com
Reviewed by Casey Annis
Penske Racing Team—40Years of ExcellenceBy alan hummel
In 1964, racer Roger Penske wasextended a fantastic businessopportunity to have his own Chevrolet
dealership in the Philadelphia area. Theone catch was that he had to give uphis successful career as a racecardriver. Penske took up the offer, butbarely a year later resumed his racinglife, only now as an owner. Thusstarted the creation of one of thepostwar eras most successful racingorganizations, which hascompeted and won in the Can-Am, Tran-Am, F5000, sports cars,Indy cars, NASCAR and evenFormula One—and is stillwinning today, 40 years later.
“Penske Racing Team—40 Years ofExcellence” is a 268-page book devoted tothe history of this storied team. Each of the14 chapters is devotedto a different era orsegment of racing, suchas the Porsche Can-Amyears (1972–1973) orthe CART/Rick Mearsera (1979–1992).While the textcomprises a thoroughaccount of the eventsof each era or season,more insight into theteam and itsoperations would have been made ifinterviews and first-person accounts with
the drivers and team members wouldhave been used. On the productionside, the layout of the book and thereproduction of many of the photos isnot always what one would hope,making this a valuable reference onPenske history, but not the definitivework that this topic richly deserves.
Available for US$44.95 from (715)381-9755 orwww.enthusiastbooks.com
Reviewed by Casey Annis
Vic Elford—Reflections ona Golden Era in Motor-sportsBy Vic elford
Vic Elford started his racing careerin rally cars, where he forged aname for himself driving for the
factory BMC and Ford teams. However, in1968 Elford’s life would venture down afascinating new path when he convincedPorsche competition director Huschkevon Hanstein that Porsche’s new 911would make an excellent rally car.
Victory in the Monte Carlo Rallywould lead to an opportunity to race the907 LH at Daytona, where he co-drove tovictory in his first 24 Hours of Daytona.From there, Elford’s career blossomed toinclude victories in the Targa Florio,Sebring 12 Hours, Nürburgring 1,000 kmsand many others.
In “Vic Elford—Reflections on aGolden Era in Motorsports,” Elford tells
the story of his racing life—inhis own words— and leads uson a fascinating journeythrough both ’60s and ’70smotorsport, as well as theascension of Porsche as aninternational racingpowerhouse. One of the facetsof this book, that makes itsuch a great read is that Elfordreally paints a behind-the-scenes picture of what sportscar and Formula One racing
was like during this very memorableperiod—not just the on-track action, butalso all the off-track dramas andhappenings involving everything fromtravel nightmares to personality conflicts.The only way this book could have beenbetter would be if it had been printed oncoated stock, enabling the majority ofphotographs to reproduce more crisply.Regardless, this is an insightful read.
Available for US$39.95 (£19.95)direct from David Bull Publishing at (800)831-1758 or online atwww.bullpublishing.com
Reviewed by Casey Annis
PRoDUCT ReVieW
78 VINTAGE RACECAR
Not Rec om mend ed moderately Use ful Recommended Excellent
VINTAGE RACECAR 81VINTAGE RACECAR 8180 VINTAGE RACECAR
HARD dRiVe
SUlmAN’S SoNGSouth Pacific Editor Patrick Quinn test drives one of the mainstays of Australia’s historicracing scene—The Sulman Singer. Built by Tom Sulman, in England before WWII, theSulman Singer first saw action on pre-war British speedway tracks before starting its longracing history in Australia.
FEATURE
PROFILE
We investigate some of the more interestingsites for vintage racing enthusiasts.
In-car with bell and the 956
By now, you’ve likely heard of thevideo-sharing Web site “YouTube.”As an interesting companion to this
month’s interview with Derek Bell and ourexclusive test drive with him of theprototype Porsche 956, we encourage youto follow this link to YouTube, for aremarkable video taking you on a lap of LeMans, in 1983, as a passenger with Bell inhis 956. This stunning video will give youan amazing sense of what it is like to drivea 956. If the trip down the Mulsannedoesn’t make the hairs on the back of yourneck stand on end, you need to see adoctor…or buy a 956!
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=yni-w7s3Hp4
FoRzA VillENEUVE! Twenty-five years after the tragic death of Ferrari pilota Gilles Villeneuve,
Peter Collins takes a personal look back at the many achievements and antics that made the electrifying Canadian so special.
NEXT MONTH ONSALEoctober
18th
VINTAGE RACECAR 83VINTAGE RACECAR 8382 VINTAGE RACECAR
GREATEST RacecaRs
by Brian Redman
There have been many racing cars thathave given me pleasure as a driver. Race-winning cars always spring to mind, too.Others that I have not driven, I just look atin awe. Some that are always at theforefront of my mind are the Porsche 917,which was a fantastic car in its day;winning at Le Mans in 1970 and 1971, andthe Porsche 908/3, a car built to race onlyat the Targa Florio and theNüürburgring—both amazing cars. But, astime passes on, faster cars replace thoseonce thought of as great cars. New ideasand technology take over and give us newmodels to drive, race and spectate. TheChevron B19 was tremendous; the Lola332 was a fantastically fast F5000 car. Lolakept that car in production for over 8years. They had tried to bring in two othercars to supersede it, but they weren’t asgood. Ferrari had the 312PB, which was
the last sports car to be run by the factory,a super car that won every race in 1972—with the exception of Le Mans, becausethey didn’t go there! In 1973, they(Ferrari) were narrowly beaten by Matra,who had also won in 1972. Matra hadbetter aerodynamics that gave a greaterstraight-line speed.
But overall, a car that gave me a greatdeal of pleasure and satisfaction to drivewas the ex-Mark Donohue, PenskePorsche “Panzer,” the 917/30. Incidentally,I believe, I was the only other person thatraced the car. It had 1,100 horsepower andhad been very well developed by Mark onhis way to winning the 1973 Can-Amchampionship. The handling was trulyamazing, the brakes were fantastic, and theturbo engine had very little throttle lag.
My opportunity of racing the car cameat the penultimate Can-Am race in 1974.I had a test at Mid-Ohio with Markshowing me the “ins and outs” of the car.In practice for the Can-Am race,
I managed to put it on pole, in front of theShadows of George Follmer and JackieOliver. They had “locked out” the top twogrid spots between them in the precedingraces of the season. This was a differentstory; they really battled hard to try andbeat me. I think my time was just under asecond faster than Follmer. Jackie had afew problems with his car and had to relyon his time from the first session. The racesaw a three-way battle between the twoShadows and me, each of us jostling forposition. I made a bit of a mistake puttingdown the power too early in a corner, andFollmer got by only to “run out of road”when coming up to a back marker. Theenormous amount of power of the car hadcaused me to have a problem with tiredegradation. Jackie Oliver went on to winthe race, but I think I had the greatesttime. So, for its era, it was an incrediblecar, and some would say the greatestracecar ever.
As told to Mike Jiggle
Penske Porsche 917/30
Jay Te
xter
VINTAGE RACECAR 85
Watkins glen, July 22, 1973. donohue, in the 917/30, leads the Rinzler-entered 917/10k of Follmer at the start.
Hal Crocker
winning form in the next three rounds at Edmonton, LagunaSeca and Riverside. These races could have been called “TheGeorge and Mark Show” as the two drivers won all threerounds, with Follmer winning the series championship havingtwice as many points as 2nd-place Hulme, and Donohue in 4th.Porsche had broken the McLaren winning streak of fiveconsecutive championships…McLaren would not claimanother title.
For 1973, the 917/10K was extensively revamped with alonger wheelbase, revised suspension geometry, stiffer chassis,and a better aerodynamic package. Oh yes, the engine had alsobeen enlarged to 5.4-liters and, with twin turbos, the poweroutput was now up to 1,200 horsepower, with 1,500 availableif necessary. The new 917/30, or “Penske’s Panzer,” as itbecame known, was ready to take on all comers. In the face ofthis improved 917 and the 1972 results, both McLaren andLola dropped out of the series, leaving only one factory team,Shadow, to battle Team Penske.
At the end of the 1972 season, Penske had announced theteam would enter only one car for the following season, thedriver of course being Mark Donohue. Follmer recalls, “I hadtested the 917/30 in Germany as it was being developed duringthe season so I knew what was ahead for the following year. Ialso knew Penske would be entering only one car for the 1973season so I would be looking for a ride.” Knowing the 917-30was on its way, Penske sold the two 917/10Ks to Bobby Rinzler
of Atlanta and his business partner/driver, Charlie Kemp.Rinzler recalled the process, “I had contacted Roger early in theseason so he knew we were interested and as the season wascoming to a close, we got serious about it. Then after the lastrace at Laguna Seca, Roger and I sat down in a motorhome tostrike a deal. Leon Mandel had a typewriter with him so hewhipped out a quick, one-page agreement that we signed. Webought the cars, all the spares, everything.” To drive the secondcar, Rinzler originally signed Formula One and Can-Am driver,François Cevert. This was quite a coup as Cevert had finished5th in the Can-Am points that year and was a rising star in theCan-Am and Formula One. Unfortunately, as Rinzler explains,“Cevert received an offer from Matra to drive sports cars that hecouldn’t refuse. We needed another driver and George Follmerwas the logical choice.”
Besides gaining the reigning Can-Am champion and anexperienced 917 driver, Rinzler now had someone onboardwho was well-known at Porsche in Germany. Takingadvantage of the situation, the team traveled to Germany toestablish a relationship with Porsche. Rinzler was able to havetwo mechanics trained at Porsche and negotiated a dealwhereby his team would get all the same, newly developedparts for the 917, as Penske. The only exception was that thenewly developed chassis would be available exclusively to thePenske team.
Proving the 917/10K was still a formidable racecar with the
84 VINTAGE RACECAR
Donnybrooke. Somehow The Captain [Roger Penske] foundme and wanted me in Atlanta as soon as possible to replaceDonohue. I changed my travel plans and was in Atlanta thatafternoon.” Having never raced at Road Atlanta, Follmer’s firsttask was to drive a rental car around the track to becomefamiliar with the layout. After a discussion with MarkDonohue about driving the 917, Follmer went out for theofficial practice sessions. Follmer picks up the story from there.“I had driven turbo-engined cars at Indianapolis but never onewith almost 900 horsepower. I cruised around for several laps,getting a feel for the car and trying to stay out of everyone’sway. The car was a somewhat difficult car to drive. It had ashort wheelbase and, with the suddenness of the power, youhad to have the car pointed in the right direction. It wouldaccelerate so quick and it would twitch just as quickly. Becauseof the turbo lag, you had to apply the throttle before you wereused to. It took me four races to finally get reasonablycomfortable with the car.”
Follmer was obviously a quick study as he qualified 2nd, just acouple of hundredths behind Hulme and in front of Revson. Inthe race, Follmer used the power and speed of the 917 to goodadvantage by taking an immediate lead, which he never
relinquished. Revson suffered a DNF and Hulme flipped hisMcLaren but survived relatively uninjured. The 917/10K had wonits first race and the other competitors were worried…andrightfully so. Carl Thompson, a 29-year Polak employee whoworked on the 917s recalls, “We had a factory mechanic full-timewith us and, of course, Vasek was a great engine man so we builtour own engines. Milt Minter was our driver who did quite wellconsidering we probably spent too much time on the engines andnot enough time on the rest of the car which isn’t a good thingwhen racing against a team like Penske.”
First championship, then Domin ation
Follmer handily won the races at Mid-Ohio, Road Americaand was 5th at Watkins Glen where he suffered a loss of powerand a front-end vibration. Still, the team had won four of thefirst five races, not a bad start for a new car. At Donnybrooke,Mark Donohue confounded the medical experts and returnedto the driver’s seat, only ten weeks after his horrific accident.Penske brought two 917/10Ks for Donohue and Follmer, butthis would be an uncharacteristic race for the team. Afterleading most of the race, Donohue suffered a blown tire thatresulted in another big crash (but no injuries) and Follmer ranout of gas on the last lap, finishing 4th. The team returned to
Hal Crocker
Road atlanta, July 7, 1973. in the second race of the year, Mark donohue in the new 917/30, leads the 917/10ks of Follmer, haywood, and scheck-
ter. donohue would go on to win this race, and every remaining race in the 1973 season.
continued from page 53
VINTAGE RACECAR 8786 VINTAGE RACECAR
Riverside, october 28. 1973. having already won the championship, donohue had such a commanding lead at Riverside that he claimed to have
spent much of the race “experimenting” with alternative lines!
Treich
ler/VR Archive
Riverside, october 28, 1973. afte winning Riverside and the 1973 can-
am championship, donohue announced his short-lived retirement.updated bits, Follmer and teammate Charles Kemp won thefirst two races followed by top-five finishes in five of theremaining six events. Including Team Penske, up to eight917/10-30s contested various rounds of the series racingagainst mostly older McLarens, Lolas and the UOP Shadow.Donohue and Team Penske finished 1st in six of the eight racesand won the series championship by the widest margin ever,beating Follmer/Rinzler Racing, 139 points to 62. Feeling hehad reached the zenith of his career as a driver, Donohueannounced his retirement to become manager of PenskeRacing. However, Donohue did have one last hurrah with the917/30 in August of 1975, when he set a closed-course speedrecord at Talladega Speedway of 221.12 mph.
The 1974 season saw the rapid decline of the Can-AmSeries. Porsche withdrew when they felt new, restrictive fuelregulations were aimed squarely at the 917/30, thoughorganizers claimed it was brought on by a worldwide energycrisis. Attendance, sponsorship and the number of teams wereon a downward trend. Rinzler, feeling that too much had beentaken away from the series disbanded his team at the end of the1973 season and sold his two cars, one to Vasek Polak and theother went back to the Porsche museum in Germany. Penskeraced the 917/30 only once at Mid-Ohio with Brian Redmandriving to 2nd place behind Jackie Oliver’s Shadow. Notsurprisingly, after the fifth round at Elkhart Lake, theremainder of the season was cancelled. So ended one of thebest racing series the U.S. had ever seen and sealed the legendof one of the most incredible racecars ever developed. Tr
eich
ler/VR Archive
F2, Atlantic, Super Vee
1971 Brabham BT-35 Formula 2 withgood history, S/N 44. Flawless restoration in2006. Cosworth 1600-ccfuel-injected FVA rebuiltby Dave Vegher at Veloce motors. 225HP@10,000RPm. $30,000 spent on enginealone. Car restored by J&lFabricating, Washing-ton. 5 hours on engine per one race weekendfor testing, tuning and set-up. Virtualy a new carfrom every nut and bolt. Extra new non-wingnose for CSRG. $105,000
don Roose206-842-1609 206-842-0136 FaX [email protected] (07/07)
1950 VERITAS FORMULA 2iD# RS0011 - ENGiNE# 5001 This Veritas wasone of the remaining chassis from original factoryat the Nurburgring. 2nd in class at Pebble Beach.
the auto collections@ the imperial palace hotel & casinophone: 702-794-3174 • Fax: 702-369-7430www.theautocollections.com (05/07)
1968 Winkelmann Formula B First orsecond racecar built by Winkelmann. WDB1frame Am2. monoposto correct. 195 HP lotustwin cam rebuilt by Dave Handy in 2004, fiveraces since. Fast, very reliable, attractive. mono-posto log book. See at ViR. $50,000.
972/473-6222. (tX). Richard (12/06)
March 75B Formula Atlantic: Gilles Vil-leneuve's 1975 factory supported car. Car up-dated to 1977 specs. when damaged in Nz in1977. Chassis 75B-8. C of D plus log Book.Complete race package includes wets, 2 xmoulds, bits to widen rear track, plus numerousother bits. Recent engine and clutch rebuild, andcar maintained to high standard. Reliable andquick group Q car. Price AUS$68,000 obo.
howard Blight61 0419 69 1054 or 61 2 9605 7333.email: [email protected] (07/07)
F. Ford, F. Vee, F. Jr., F3
1977 LOLA 440 Formula Ford for sale. Avery perfect lolA 440. Just recently strippedand ground up restoration. Chassis, sand blastedand powder coated, new hardware through out.Fresh iVY engine. New stack tach, Nevercrashed, you won’t find a better example of alolA FF anywhere, two sets of wheels, somespares, $24,000.
714-608-1820 ask for Vince,or [email protected] (06/07)
1972 Titan 6c Formula Ford Excellentvintage car professionally maintained and readyto race. low hours on pro-built engine. Dynosheets available. Extra body. Eleven gearsets. Ex-cellent seat and guages. New fire system. manynew spares. SVRA, HSR, VARAC history. Deliverypossible. $18,500.
david spiwak(570) 389-1222 (12/06)
VINTAGE RACECAR 89
mARKET place
88 VINTAGE RACECAR
F1, Indycar, F5000
1971 Surtees TS9b Chassis Number TS9-05. This car is the most successful of all the Sur-tees Formula 1 cars. Driven by John Surtees atthe end of 1971 and mike Hailwood for the en-tire 1972 season who was in the points in everyrace he finished that year. At the end of 1972John Surtees stored this car at his home in Kentuntil he sold it to the current owner in 1999. Thecar was completely rebuilt in 2000 by Terry VanDer zee with engine by Sindon racing Enginesand gearbox by mark Bailey. on it’s return toracing in 2000 it won first time out at the his-toric zolder GP, won the Austrian Historic GPand most importantly went on to win outrightthe most prestigious FiA TGP Fomula 1 Cham-pionship of 2001. All of this with a 6’3’’ driverweighing 200 lbs and of average driving ability!The car is in FiA period G which makes it prob-ably the most competitive car in this categoryand is eligible for all historic F1 series. it has goodmonaco history and has been invited to racethere at the last 2 historic meetings. You will notfind a more authentic original F1 car with un-questionable provenance. offers in the region of£135,000 will be considered.
contact: John07977 490959 or 01733 [email protected] (06/07)
1947 Hillegas Model B Sprint, Car inexcellent condition with good history. This car isready for show. Previously owned and raced byKenneth Gallup and Ed Goff. As well as “JoJo”Niedhammer. Asking $25,900.
call dave at:tel: (207) 461-2363 oremail: [email protected] (09/07)
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mARKET place
1958 Lotus Eleven Le Mans #514Team lotus Works entry for le mans 1958 andonly lotus to finish that event (Alan Stacey/TomDickson - Car No. 55). originally 750-cc Coven-try Climax but fitted with 1,100-cc Coventry Cli-max engine after le mans and prior to being soldby the factory to Don leClous of Rhodesia. longhistory in Rhodesia/South Africa - imported toAustralia mid 1980's. Fully restored with FiA pa-pers and history file. on the cover of and com-prehensive featured by Patrick Quinn in VintageRacecar Journal october 2004 edition. oppor-tunity to acquire genuine le mans sports racingcar with excellent provenance. Reluctant sale andprice negotiable based on recent comparableoverseas sales.
Rick Mark – australia [email protected] 61418 686 340 or 61 2 9451 9221 (08/07)
Big Bore GT, Stock Car
1958 Arnolt-Bristol Deluxe RoadsterChassis# 404/X/3102, Engine# BS1/mKii/303,Body# 58103 1 of less than 75 that survivetoday! Has been prepared for endurance racing.Recent competition career. Earlier restoration.Team USA racing livery.
the auto collections@ the imperial palace hotel & casinophone: 702-794-3174 • Fax: 702-369-7430www.theautocollections.com (07/07)
1979 Porshe 911, 2.8L Vintage RaceCar! Approved for HSR West/East, SCCA,NASA, VARA. Fresh engine/2.5 hours, 12 plugoversized. Fresh brakes. over $142,000 investedto compete and win at Road America, WatkinsGlen, Daytona, Road Atlanta, mt. Tremblant,Canada with the Wayne Baker Racing Team. im-peccably prepared for 2007 season by Personal-ized Autohaus/Wayne Baker. Asking $68,000obo. Call Wayne Baker for details.
Wayne Baker858-586-7771 (06/07)
1964 Corvette Ex-Ed Lowther RaceCar. Rare, fully restored & developed racecarwith long documented history - SCCA, USRRC& SVRA. See pg 57, Vintage Racecar may '07 fordetails, $149,000 Trades considered (see mayad)
call Jerry golnick 303-579-7973For many more photos & details, see:http://picasaweb.google.com/vintageracermeister (06/07)
1980 Porsche - Vintage IMSA GTX,SVRA/HSR legal. Beautiful. Brilliant handling, mas-sive brakes, enormous power. initial build, re-build, & all parts documented w/ receipts, andphotojournal of rebuild. $80,000
Foreign coachworks, inc.114 Bragg street, greensboro, nc 27406phone 336 273 9336email [email protected]://www.foreigncoachworks.com (02/07)
mARKET place
VINTAGE RACECAR 91
mARKET place
1963 The Penny FordRaced by David Coode in 1964 Formula 3 Sea-son Europe then in Australian Formula libre1966/7. Cams historic log book and CoFD forgroups m&o also Formula Junior. Ready to race.spares include trailer, wheels and tires. AskingAUS$33,000
doug Bradhurst6 north east crescent, lilli pillisydney, nsW 2229 australia (03/07)
1986 SAUBER MERCEDESPRiCE: $750,000
the auto collections@ the imperial palace hotel & casinophone: 702-794-3174 • Fax: 702-369-7430www.theautocollections.com (05/07)
1964 Cooper Formula 3 1000cc Cos-worth engine. 4 speed Hewland trans, alloywheels. Race Ready. $38,500
Foreign coachworks, inc.114 Bragg street, greensboro, nc 27406phone 336 273 9336email [email protected]://www.foreigncoachworks.com (07/07)
Sports Racer, Can-Am
Lola T 86-90 S2000 Race Car, #9317 -Black and Red with Red interior. Equipped withmost SR71 Updates, Fresh Elite Engine, RecentBrakes and Tires, Rebuilt Transmission, and comeswith 2 sets of spare wheels, 1 extra nose (Al-ready painted black), and miscellaneous spareracing parts. This has been a very successful carin SVRA and has won SCCA on the west coast.one of the most fun, reliable cars i've ownedand one of the fastest S2's in the country. At theRoad America Anniversary Race, this was thefastest out of almost 100 cars, winning both Sat-urday and Sunday's events. This is a turn key,ready to race, proven winner time and timeagain! $36,900
please call dan at 937-605-1505 for details. (09/07)
1956 Cooper T-39 Bobtail, s/n CSii/6/56,engine # FWA400-6/69/75. important and at-tractive sports racer. The “wide body” version ofCooper’s innovative mid-engine F-ii car fromwhich sprung the past fifty years of race cars.Ready to race with some spares. $175,000.
Fantasy Junction(510) 653-7555, (510) 653-9754 Fax.www.fantasyjunction.com (09/07)
McLaren M6B Ex-Bruce mclaren and oskarKowalewski Car, better than new, new originalTRACo engine, big value of spares, trade-in 288GTo,
phone: +49 170 45 12 999 (09/07)
1991 Jaguar XJR-15, #020. derek Warwickmonaco winner with original graphics. mechani-cally outstanding with very good race cosmetics.Carbon tub. interesting alternative to 956 or 962.Great private track days car. $295,000
Fantasy Junction(510) 653-7555, (510) 653-9754 Fax.www.fantasyjunction.com (10/07)
1957 Devin Roadster built on mGA chas-sis with 283 Chevy with triple carbs, 4-speed, fulldisc brakes, rollbar, Ferrari Borrani wheels,strengthened rearend. Very light, quick. Great forvintage events and street registered. $98,500.
Fantasy Junction(510) 653-7555, (510) 653-9754 Fax.www.fantasyjunction.com (01/07)
1969 Lola T-162, s/n T162/14. one of two of1969 big block CanAm lolas. immaculaterestoration on low time Drinkwater tub. Suspen-sion and gearbox by Phil Denny. Fresh 478 cialloy injected motor. Spare 427 engine included.immaculate. $235,000.
Fantasy Junction(510) 653-7555, (510) 653-9754 Fax.www.fantasyjunction.com (03/07)
90 VINTAGE RACECAR
1959 Austin-Healey Sprite. Built toSCCA H Production spec. Beautiful conditionthroughout. Professionally prepped and main-tained. Byron Sandborn 948 engine. Great littlecar and the perfect place to start. $22,000.
Fantasy Junction(510) 653-7555, (510) 653-9754 Fax.www.fantasyjunction.com (08/07)
1959 Morgan 4/4 with Ford crossflow engineand Cortina tramsmission. New seats, excellentsoft top and side curtains. $23,000.
sports and specialist cars, inc.49 east Broad streethopewell, nJ 08525tel: 609-466-5305email: [email protected]: www.princetonlotus.com (09/07)
1952 Dellow it has an Alva oHV head. Alsohas a supercharger. it was restored in England afew years ago. it has a VSCCA log Book. Ran itonce at lime Rock. it really needs a driver. itsGreen.
Fred l. aibel33 lenderwood Rd.Montville, nJ 07045(973) 334-7332 (973) 263-1427 Fax (07/07)
1981 PORSCHE 924 GTR RACECAR iD# WPozzz93zBS720022 A total of17 GTR Porsches were built! This ultimate 924Porsche Produces 375 Horsepower.
the auto collections@ the imperial palace hotel & casinophone: 702-794-3174 • Fax: 702-369-7430www.theautocollections.com (10/07)
Real Estate
Goodwood Luxury Car Condos:15 Exclusive units in a Estate Carriage House de-sign. Approx. 2400-5000 sq ft. plus lofts. Unitsinclude climate control, bathroom, entertainmentarea, patio, security, center courtyard, gated 24/7.Goodwood motoring is inspired by a desire forluxurious quarters for storing your car collection,parking for your passion! locatedScottsdale/Phoenix, Az
call: denise ham 480-213-1613 sonoran lifestyle Rewww.homesForcars.com (06/07)
Olde Naples, FL, Home on Canal, Walkto Beach. Racer’s home, 3 BDR, 3 BA, pool, hottub, chiminea, bikes. Walk to shopping and restau-rants. Available Jan-April, Jul-Aug.
(239) [email protected] (01/07)
mARKET place
VINTAGE RACECAR 93
1960 Austin-Healey BN7 Mk I. Preparedfor race and rally events. Alloy head, roller rock-ers, dry-sump, Webers, 5-speed, ventilated discs.Aluminum fenders, doors, hood and trunk. Freshwith dyno time only. $60,000.
Fantasy Junction(510) 653-7555, (510) 653-9754 Fax.www.fantasyjunction.com (03/07)
1988 CHEVROLET CORVETTECHALLENGE CAR ex-mike Yeager, 1 ofonly 50 Race Prep'd Cars made in 1988. 350ci 245 hp. Full documentation. original, authentic,historic Corvette Challenge Car preserved in as-raced condition. " $35,000
the auto collections@ the imperial palace hotel & casinophone: 702-794-3174 • Fax: 702-369-7430www.theautocollections.com (06/07)
1962 Kellison. Ready for anything!
contact for more information. [email protected] or 407-928-9224 (02/07)
1956 Jaguar XK 140 Fixed Head Coupeoriginal RHD stunning professional restorationto the very highest standard. matching No’s fin-ished in old English White with Red leather andchrome wire wheels one of the best you will seeworldwide. AUS$75,000 may take trade.
Mike gosbell(aus) 02 66518141email: [email protected] (07/07)
1990-96 Chevy BGN Lumina. Re-stored by Gene Felton, prepped/raced by me2006/2007. Concours Winner/Fast Qualifier2006 Brian Redman KiC. 18 degree Chevy,Jerico, Hopkins RR front clip, Alcons, fast, fun &reliable.
call Mike Mulcahy @ 630-393-0731. or see more atwww.mikemulcahy.com. (02/07)
1953 Jaguar XK120, red with tan leatherinterior, soft top and side curtains, and chromewire wheels. Please call or write for details.
sports and specialist cars, inc.49 east Broad streethopewell, nJ 08525tel: 609-466-5305email: [email protected]: www.princetonlotus.com (09/07)
1986 Porsche 944GTR 2.5 liter 600HPPorsche 4-cylinder turbo. 2 hrs on new Andialengine. Transmission and suspension rebuilt bymetroracing Systems. motronic fuel injection, 5speed, Howland Brembos. Numerous spares.Body off frame restoration. Complete history,records and photo documentation. $125,000
tom green540 pelican Bay drivedaytona Beach, Fl 32119(386) 788-6328 (386) 788-6113 Fax (09/07)
1964 AC Cobra 289 Competition iD#CSX2433, 289 c.i., 4-Spd, Shelby American Reg-istry write up, SCCA history.
the auto collections@ the imperial palace hotel & casinophone: 702-794-3174 • Fax: 702-369-7430www.theautocollections.com (09/07)
Small Bore GT
1963 Porsche 356B Disc Brakes, full baremetal restoration in 2003, including: all newchrome-rebuilt instruments, rebuilt engine–bigbore SC specs with Solexes, all brake compo-nents all lines-new clutch, new wiring harness,new upholstery and headliner, much more.
Foreign coachworks, inc.114 Bragg street, greensboro, nc 27406phone 336 273 9336email [email protected]://www.foreigncoachworks.com (08/07)
1967 Triumph TR4A, green with black in-terior, white piping on seats, 38,000 miles, verynice paint, wood dash, black vinyl soft top. Newtires on Panasport wheels. Chrome luggage rack.Great oil pressure, everything works. $20,000.
sports and specialist cars, inc.49 east Broad streethopewell, nJ 08525tel: 609-466-5305email: [email protected]: www.princetonlotus.com (09/07)
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Do you need Custom Vinyl Graphicsfor your Vintage Racecar?
For details:
call: (562) 493-0737 Fax: (562) 493-0715
or email: [email protected]
Perfect Home For The Car EnthusiastNoRTH EAST TAComA - BRoWNS PoiNTmarine, mt, & city views from this custom built6,523 sqft home. marble stairs, sky bridge over-looking foyer/living rm. open concept w/greatrm, gourmet kit w/stainless appl, Viking range,subzero fridge, 2 d/w, granite island w/bar, winecellar. luxury master w/fp, exercise rm, glassblock shower & granite vanity. Enclosed porch,detached cabana/showroom w/700sqft guestqrts above. Handicap accessible w/elevator.2,400sqft shop fits 8-13 cars. Call Grace Hudt-loff 253-581-1100 mlS #26138318 $2,725,000
call grace hudtloff 253-581-1100Mls #26138318www.gracehudtloff.com (06/07)
Car Collector's Paradise HomeRoom for 11 cars in garage of 10,000 s.f. luxuryGated Waterfront Estate built 2003 on approx.1.5 acres, in heart of the charming Gulf coast, car-friendly community of ozona, in Palm Harbor, Fl!P.o.A.
sand key Realty 727-510-7232 (linda) (03/07)
Wanted
Halibrand Magnesium Kidney BeanWheels Stuart Harper in the UK needs Halibrandmagnesium kidney bean wheels for his 1957 Kurtis indycar 500G; one piece with 6-peg drive to suit 7.00-16and 7.00-18 tires.
please phone stuart harper in england: 44-160-880269 daytime, or 44-1604-686685 evening, oremail ed Mcdonough: [email protected] (02/07)
Mitter - DKW Formula Jr. Info especially pho-tos of the 1960 Vanderbilt Cup race at Roosevelt Race-way, long island, N.Y on June 19th. Driven by CarrollShelby.
Brad hindall7550 Ricahrdson Rd.sarasota, Fl 34240 usa941-377-7756 (05/07)
Miscelaneous
GOODWOOD? Accommodation close toGoodwood in a tranquil, idyllic English setting. Aguest cottage for up to six people, we are nearto historic Winchester, The National motor mu-seum Beaulieu and a wealth of National Trustproperties. Why just stay for the Goodwoodweekend - bring the family and make a properholiday of it!
email : [email protected] or visit ourwebsite www.stablecottagewestmeon.com formore information. (09/07)
For Sale 1 New Lucas 12 CylinderMetering Unit never fitted or tested on anyengine 1 continuous owner since 1970’s. Twelvecylinder metering units were fitted to: Ferrari P3,P4 sports prototypes and F1 engines of the sameera, matra-Simca, maserati-cooper’s, Jaguar XJ 13,including many more V12 applications from the60’s to 70’s. Excellent condition, continuallysealed, oiled and periodically checked. Replace-ment cost of $8,000 to $9,000 US asking $3,000US.
contact Vaughan Ryan [email protected] (10/07)
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PETE LYONS’PHOTO ARCHIVES
offers this and thousands of other historic images spanning over a half-century of sports car, Can-Am, F1, FIA, IMSA,Indy, SCCA and other kinds of racing. Printssuitable for display, restoration reference or pub-lication available in a variety of sizes. Digital im-ages available. See selections of Pete Lyons’photos at www.petelyons.com or at www.au-thorsandartists.com.For specific photo requests, e-mail Pete at [email protected] or write to:
PO Box 2889 Big Bear City CA 92314 USA
by Mike lawrence
It took time for me tobecome enthusiasticabout anything
German. I have been hitby the blast of a V1 flyingbomb. My mother hadjust risen from a chair
with my baby brother and a dagger of glasspierced the back of the chair. Hollywoodexplosions are all pretty, billowing orange.There is no shrapnel, nobody has the breathknocked out of them and nobody is deafened.
My in-laws were German-Jewish, justtwo escaped. My wife and son could havebeen candidates for a cattle truck. I take thissort of thing personally.
When I became a historian, I softened alittle because I found stories of Germanmotor racing outfits in the immediatepostwar era to be inspirational. There aretimes when I have to listen to the motorracing in me.
Elsewhere in this edition there will bethe story of how members of the Porschestudio created something wonderful from asawmill in Austria. Porsche is one story, butthere are others.
Wolfgang Denzel’s story was similar. Hebegan by building VW specials and progressedto a small range of attractive sporting cars,which, for a time, were viable alternatives toPorsche. Few were seen outside of Austria,however, though some appeared ininternational rallies in the 1950s.
We had a Denzel in our village, servicemenposted to Germany brought home someinteresting cars. When Rudolf Caracciola retiredfrom racing, Mercedes-Benz employed him todemonstrate cars to GIs.
Denzel simply could not compete withPorsche’s reputation gained throughcompetition, however, and Porsche washelped by the royalties it received from theVW Beetle, by licensing the synchromeshsystem developed for the Cisitalia GP car.
The Russians had control of the BMWcar factory at Eisenach and planned to sendall the machine tools to the Motherland.The workers assembled some prewar BMWmodels and persuaded the Ruskies that theycould make BMWs. It was only after theRussian Zone became the DDR that theywere called EMWs.
From Eisenach came BMW-based
competition cars variously named DAMW,EMW, AWE, IFA—whatever took thecommissar’s fancy—and these were terrific,but they were seen only twice outside ofGermany. They were scheduled to race inBritain, but the French wouldn’t let them out.It was France, the only nation which signedan armistice with Hitler, which insisted thatGerman cars and drivers be barred frominternational racing until 1950.
Even after the formation of the DDR,there was flexibility within Germany andthere was a national 2-liter Formula TwoChampionship, 1950-’54. Naturally, most ofthe cars were based on the BMW 328.
Many were one-off, but BMW engineer,Alex von Falkenhausen founded a marque,AFM. When things began to look bleak forGermany, he took the precaution of buryinghis BMW 328 in his garden. When thingsbegan to stabilize, he dug it up and opened a
small racing and tuning shop in Munich. A group of former BMW engineers made
the Veritas cars. Like von Falkenhausen,they began by updating BMWs but alsodesigned their own engines. In the AmericanZone, no new car of more than 1,000-cc waspermitted to be built, so Veritas moved to theFrench Zone.
Each Zone had different rules. In 1957, Iwent on a school trip to Germany. At firstthe locals gave us the cold shoulder, then thepfennig dropped; we were not French. Wewere embarrassed by their friendliness.
The BMW-based Veritas “Meteor” waspopular in France. You were not allowed toimport a car from Germany into France so, inthe motor racing way, they arrived in severalcrates marked as “spares.”
Veritas offered a range, including roadcars. It was an uphill struggle and perhaps 76cars were made, then the principals returnedto BMW.
The 2-liter Bristol engine was the 328 withminor changes, like the screw threads were changedfrom metric to imperial measurements. When youtake into account all the Bristol-engined cars, youbegin to appreciate the influence BMW had onpostwar racing.
Unfortunately, many German specialbuilders did not name their cars so, in theskimpy reports of the day, they appear as“Eigenbau,” or “special.” We takeinformation for granted, but there weresevere restrictions on paper and too fewadvertisers. There were races whose nameswe know, and that’s it.
Germans responded to the 500-ccFormula Three and made a wide range ofcars. Most were powered by DKW or BMWunits but, in the whole history of theformula, only one important race was won byother than a single-pot JAP or Norton. Likethe Italians and French, Germans soon gaveup on F3, save as a club formula.
German racing in the immediate postwarperiod tended to involve sections ofautobahnen. Dual-purpose cars were all therage; the British and French would put on, ortake off, headlights and mudguards, the
Germans went for the enclosed, slippery,body. BMW had been the first company toemploy aerodynamics, as opposed tostreamlining, and German special builderstook note.
Frazer Nash, which had an ex-BMWdesigner, Fritz Feidler, tried to sell anaerodynamic car and had to convert it tomudguards to sell it as a dual-purpose car.
VW made the Kubelwagen for the militaryso there was a supply of parts—military re-enactment not then being a hobby. There weremany VW Specials, but little is known aboutmost of them, save when writing descriptionsfor auction catalogs.
At the most recent Goodwood Festival ofSpeed there was a lovely VW special made byPetermax Måller, which does have a properhistory. You look at the aerodynamics anddetail work and you should be amazed. Theseguys worked under terrible conditions, yetmade some wonderful cars.
We send out for pizza, or Chinese, butnobody orders German. There will be a layerof distrust for at least a couple of generations.It is not true that Germans have no sense ofhumor; they have committees working onjokes.
German Cars
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“It is not true that Germans have no sense of humor;they have committees working on jokes.”