Obscure race and rally cars

Stilborn 4wd Cosworth F1


Porch 961

Citroen Visa with mid-mounted Lotus Esprit engine

skoda mb1000 rally car:



and a personal favourite, the tatra 603:

[quote=chevronb37]One of my favourite group of obscurities - the F1 six-wheelers.



March 2-4-0. Based around a 761 chassis, it tested but never raced. Roy Lane ran a later version in the British Hillclimb Championship.



Yes but when it tested for the first time the gearbox was not properly developed or it was broken and it ran in only 2wd form despite having all the 4 wheels at the back. Its in the book "Story of March". It was wet during the first test and the driver was told not to "gun it" so as not to provoke wheel spin & give the game away! Despite this one of the weeklies still referred to its impressive traction!!!!

Roy Lane won hill climb events in his version but only in the wet, I think, & rebuilt it to conventional 4 wheel configuration half way through the season.

It still amazes me that these sorts of cars were built and that people like Ken Tyrrell had the balls to build them. Its a shame that currenbt rules prevent this sort of innovation.

Nic Manns 'Mannic Beattie' fastest accelerating hiilcimb car in UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11687nVdzdk&fea...

Well I was at the BOAC 500 at Brands when the Howmet driven by Hugh Dibley and Dick Thompson qualified on Row 3 in quite a strong field, and again at the Oulton Park Spring Cup the following (Good) Friday. I think it may have qualified on the second row rather than in second place as I think the first 3 were Brian Redman (Lola) David Piper (Ferrari P3) and Paul Hawkins (GT40). I'm sure Hugh Dibley got the Howmet up to 3rd place before it failed to re-start after a pit-stop. Sadly, my programmes for these races were lost some years ago and memory is a dangerous thing!

From memory not a nice car to race, but stunning to look at!

Cheers for the BGT Westfield stunning car!
Simon

Great thread idea Lord Croker !

I mentioned Minardi Subaru earlier ...so here is the Coloni Subaru which was used in active competition.


& here is a very rare livery (only raced once , Estoril 86) Rosberg in the McLaren MP4 2C
in Marlboro Lights colours (see the standard Marlboro red on his helmet)

I remember seeing this car in the Paddock at Lemans that year, it failed to qualify (or maybe even failed to even try). It had a front mounted BMW 6 alongside the drivers legs (IIRC) with no firewall so the driver was exposed to all the heat, fumes etc, the exhaust was routed out of the passenger side door. Just looked frightening!

The oddest entry I can remember from the period though must have been the Sambo Turbo which was either a Saab engined Lambo or a Lambo engined Saab, Cannot think why anyone would want to enter anything other than a Lambo engined Lambo but what the heck. Despite searching for this car for 2 years I never found it and even now cannot find even a picture of it on the net.

The Chaparral 2E didn't have an air brake, that is a proper downforce generating wing mounted directly to the rear suspension uprights. The car was a 2 speed Auto, so you used the clutch foot to alter the angle of attack of the wing, flat for the straights, higher angle of attack for downforce through the corners. You can see it in action here http://www.canamfilm.com/