from what i understand the bill brown car was destroyed years ago,whilst be driven for an article in road and track magazine ?
from what i understand the bill brown car was destroyed years ago,whilst be driven for an article in road and track magazine ?
Thats a bummer. Was it the same car that became a Sports Sedan during the '70s?
This is the Lola T192 run by Penske Racing and driven by Mark Donohue in selected F5000 races in 1970 and 1971. Donohue was struggling with the geometry at first, and found the car was darting quite badly in a straight line. But he won with it first time out at Mosport, in the rain, and finished third at Ohio after starting off the rear of the grid following a shunt in practice. Eventually Eric Broadley figured out there were too much flex in the front A-arms, and resolved the problem, and Donohue won at Sebring.
The last race the car ran under Penske ownership was at the Questor race at Ontario Motor Speedway, with the F5000 cars matching up against F1 cars. Donohue had everything rebuilt, and sent all the suspension off to be chrome plated so it looked a million bucks. But the SCCA changed their rules on rollbars midway through the rebuild, and so Donohue asked that Broadley send him one of the new ones to fit the rules. It arrived late, and Donohue didn't like the way it looked, so had it sent over to be chromed. Unfortunately the chroming wasn't done properly. Donohue was running third in the first heat when the motor began spluttering on the last lap and he dropped to ninth. After fine-tuning the suspension, he was again running third in the second heat, and chasing Jackie Stewart and Mario Andretti in their F1 cars, and actually challenging them, when the Lola began spluttering again.
Turns out the fuel-vent which vents into the rollbar had gotten clogged because scale had broken off the chroming!
I hope you folk are enjoying seeing these as much as I'm enjoying posting them!
Thank you for that. I do recall reading somewhere JB was to drive the car at another event. How did he enjoy it? It must be over 25 years since he raced an open wheeler.
How can you tell the difference between a 741 and 751?
Tub wise there is very little difference mostly only the bodywork changed between the 74 -77 series Marches. The cockpit and nose in the photo are 751. At some stage, (1976?) they mounted the radiators parrallel rather than angled as on that car.Originally Posted by Steve Holmes
Thanks Howard.
This is the Lola T163 with which Penske entered just one round of the 1969 Can-Am. The team received the chassis well after the season had already started. They were in the middle of a huge battle in the Trans-Am series with their Camaro's, and had a full-on USAC program on the go, so didn't have the time required to dedicate to the Lola. Donohue had Karl Kainhofer fit a 430ci Traco Chevy in the back, and they spent a couple of days with it at their skidpad, before taking it to Mid Ohio, which was the 5th round of the championship.
The Lola broke a couple of rear axle half-shafts in practice and qualifying, and was both understeering and oversteering, but someone Donohue qualified 3rd behind the factory McLaren M8Bs. But in the race another rear axle half-shaft broke which put the car into the wall, and Roger Penske made the decision on the spot to pull out of the Can-Am for good, until they could dedicate themselves properly with a full program. This, of course, they eventually did in 1972 with the Porsche 917/10K.
Genie Mk10. Its always rare to see a Group 7 sports car thats left hand drive.
More big-bore Sports Car action, just prior to, and immediately following the rolling start.
Larry Perkins again in the ex-Kevin Bartlett De Tomaso
This Lola T160 was originally raced by Sam Posey in the 1968 Can-Am, as part of a 2-car team run by Ray Caldwell (Autodynamics). The other car was one designed by Caldwell himself, named the Caldwell DB7, and driven by Brett Lunger. The Caldwell/Posey combination also teamed together in 1970 to run the factory backed Autodynamic Dodge Challengers.
In the Group C/A group, was this RS500 of George Nittis, which I believe to be the car raced in the 1989 British Touring Car Championship by Sean Walker. At the longer distance BTCC Round 4 at Donington, Walker was joined in the Sierra by future World Champion Damon Hill.
The fact this 635CSi is wearing #62 on the door makes me think its Jim Richards' 1985 ATCC winning car. But I don't know the various JPS team car chassis' from this era too well, so someone else could correct me on this.
Terry Finnigan raced this Group C Commodore in 1982, and shared with John Gates at Bathurst. Actually I think he might have raced the same car throughout 1983 and 1984, but its now presented back in its 1982 colours.
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