Obscure race and rally cars

[Lord Croker]

A picture of the Dome, which I'd never heard of, got me thinking about obscure or unique competition cars.

I'd be interested to see what else you can come up with!


Dome RL


Ford Torino at Le Mans


Ford GT70


Bmw M1 rally car

[FourWheelDrift]

1983 Mazda 717c Le Mans car.

[Rude-boy]

One race only for this baby.

[Rude-boy]

I was looking for a suitable Rondeau to post up but found this instead, which is much more in keeping i feel


Apparently it is an Ardex S80 - BMW M88 L6 3497 cc N/A

Edited by Rude-boy on Monday 9th February 14:14

[freedman]

http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p3072573.html

Vogue SP2, I always loved this car in the late 70s early eighties long distance races

[ajprice]

Honda RA109 ?

[Lord Croker]

Rude-boy said:

I was looking for a suitable Rondeau to post up but found this instead, which is much more in keeping i feel


Apparently it is an Ardex S80 - BMW M88 L6 3497 cc N/A

Edited by Rude-boy on Monday 9th February 14:14

That looks like a giant fighter plane cockpit!

[shirt]

as a kid i wanted a schlesser original, as used to devestating effect on the paris-dakar.


i thought the twingo ice racers were cool too

[Save Ferris]

START CA 871 Interserie car.



Big pic here:

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1990/Brands_...

[GravelBen]

Toyota MR2 Group B concept - never used in competition before the class was scrapped unfortunately.

http://www.mr2supercharger.com/GroupBRacing.html

[homicide]

ajprice said:

Honda RA109 ?

[Nic Jones]

Andy Burton's Peugeot Cosworth


David Kynaston's Audi Quattro


Both absolute monsters, homebuilt and easily capable of beating World Rally Car's on their day.

Such a travesty the MSA are banning people from building these special bits of kit

[interloper]

Ford RS1700T, built to replace the MKII Escort RS/RS1800. A handful were built, a couple survive but they canned the project fearing it would be uncompetitive against the likes of the Quattro and Lancia 037.



Another rally car, this time, the project went ahead, they built the required 200 (for Group B homologation) I somehow think Citreon wish they hadn't bothered!

The BX 4TC

[chevronb37]

A few of my favourites -

Stillborn Ferrari Indycar project from 1987 when Enzo threatened (again) to leave GP racing. I hoped to see it at the Galleria at Maranello, but Ferrari rotate the vehicles on display, unfortunately.



Stillborn mid-engined Audi Group B rally car -



1.5L Mercedes W165 built for 1939 regs. but virtually unraced. Promised to Rudi Carraciola after the war, who planned to race the remaining workable car at Indianapolis, but prevented from leaving Europe.



One-off Allard J2X GTP car built to the 3.5L atmo Group C and GTP regs. Phenomenal downforce and way ahead of its time, but no straighline speed. Now owned by Peter Kitchak who brought it over to Goodwood in 2007 - much to my delight. He spent over an hour talking to me about the car and described driving a GT2 Porsche at Le Mans, owning the last Targa Florio winner (911RSR) and tackling the Daytona banking in a 962 - legend.



Alfa Romeo 164 Procar. Bernie's silhouette series running to 3.5L atmo regs. like Group C. Developed to showcase the idea by Brabham (and some say ruined the team in the process!) and apparently on F1 car pace during testing. No idea where it is now!



Lancia Delta Group S concept car. The mooted replacement for Group B. Looked promising...



BRM P351. Developed at the end of Group C. It failed to qualify for Le Mans in Wayne Taylor's hands, was powered by a development of the Weslake V12 which Dan Gurney used in 1966 and 1967! And did almost as little for the name BRM as the Rover 200 of the same name. Later emerged in open-topped form for the ISRS. I saw it in the paddock at Donington in 1997, but never again. It then belonged to John Mangoletsi, who started the ISRS.



Ligier JS3. One-off open-topped sports prototype powered by the ubiquitous DFV. Only ran four races before retiring. Made an amazing comeback at le Mans Classic in the hands of Willie Green and Nicholas Minassian in 2004. No idea who owns it now, but Paul Knapfield runs JS2, its sister car - now with DFV instead of original Maserati V6.



I love all these obscurities which make motor racing history so much fun. I will try to come up with some more for tomorrow. This thread should be a real learning experience!

Edited by chevronb37 on Monday 9th February 22:09

[zac510]

chevronb37 said:

One-off Allard J2X GTP car built to the 3.5L atmo Group C and GTP regs. Phenomenal downforce and way ahead of its time, but no straighline speed. Now owned by Peter Kitchak who brought it over to Goodwood in 2007 - much to my delight. He spent over an hour talking to me about the car and described driving a GT2 Porsche at Le Mans, owning the last Targa Florio winner (911RSR) and tackling the Daytona banking in a 962 - legend.

Great one. Wasn't it red when it was at Goodwood?

[dougc]

chevronb37 said:

Lancia Delta Group S concept car. The mooted replacement for Group B. Looked promising...

The ECV2 was even more odd and elusive



And some super turbo charged S4 goodness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTIKUYMlhoo

[chevronb37]

zac510 said:

chevronb37 said:

One-off Allard J2X GTP car built to the 3.5L atmo Group C and GTP regs. Phenomenal downforce and way ahead of its time, but no straighline speed. Now owned by Peter Kitchak who brought it over to Goodwood in 2007 - much to my delight. He spent over an hour talking to me about the car and described driving a GT2 Porsche at Le Mans, owning the last Targa Florio winner (911RSR) and tackling the Daytona banking in a 962 - legend.

Great one. Wasn't it red when it was at Goodwood?

Yes, I believe this photo is during development. I think in Europe, it could've been mega-successful around the circuits without long straights. The kind of downforce they were getting was spectacular. The Intrepid GTP was similar in being very high downforce with marginal top speed. Brian De Vries owns both the Intrepids (which again Wayne Taylor was involved in) and still brings them to Europe to race. Mulsannecorner.com tells the full story of the Allard - it's long but very interesting.

[zac510]

Makes sense. I couldn't believe the underbody tunnels when I saw it at Goodwood, the practically started at the back of the front wheels!

Edited by zac510 on Monday 9th February 22:32

[nc107]

A couple of japanese obscurities



Kojima KE007 Was 4th fastest in first practice for the 1976 Japanese GP and set fastest lap in the race (maybe !)

and the Maki

Edited by nc107 on Monday 9th February 22:36

Edited by nc107 on Monday 9th February 22:38

[chevronb37]

zac510 said:

Makes sense. I couldn't believe the underbody tunnels when I saw it at Goodwood, the practically started at the back of the front wheels!

Edited by zac510 on Monday 9th February 22:32

I know - it's ridiculous! To think it is 18 years old now! Aerodynamically it's as nicely detailed as a Peugeot 908. I took same photos of it there so I will dig them out. to put up on here.