J U N E 2 02 3

T H E O R I G I NA L RAC I N G M AGA Z I N E

PLUS:
Le Mans
Our top 100 moments from the world’s greatest race

RACE
OF THE
CENTURY?
2023 LE MANS
PREVIEW

CO L L EC TO R S’ E D I T I O N C E L E B RAT I N G 1 0 0 Y E A R S O F L E M A N S
06
£6.49

9 770027 201988
1955 Ferrari 121 LM Spider by Scaglietti
Estimate: €5,500,000 – €6,500,000 EUR

The Ferrari 121 LM battles at Circuit de la Sarthe in the 1955 edition of the 24 Hours of Le
Mans, wearing the race number “5”. Courtesy of Rodolfo Mailander Photograph Collection/
Revs Institute

LE MANS | 9 JUNE 2023

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF THE
GREATEST RACE ON EARTH

UK +44 (0) 20 7851 7070

FRANCE +33 (0) 1 76 75 32 93
GERMANY +49 (0) 800 000 7203
1969 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competizione
Estimate: €4,800,000 – €5,200,000 EUR

Chassis 12467 thunders along the pit straight, V-12 howl delighting fans in a
packed main grandstand. Courtesy of Archives Maurice Louche

Offering the world’s finest

8 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
 CONTENTS

June
J U N E 2 02 3

T H E O R I G I NA L RAC I N G M AGA Z I N E

PLUS:
Le Mans
Our top 100 moments from the world’s greatest race

RACE
OF THE
CENTURY?
2023 LE MANS
PREVIEW

Issue No.1174 Volume 99, No.6

CO L L E C TO R S’ E D I T I O N C E L E B RAT I N G 1 0 0 Y E A R S O F L E M A N S
06
£6.49

9 770027 201988

Cover illustration:
Chris Rathbone 11 THE EDITOR
Joe Dunn on why our 100 year love
affair with Le Mans endures

14 MATTERS OF MOMENT
IndyCar’s Drive to Survive and a
review of Goodwood’s Members’ Meeting

27 F1 FRONTLINE: MARK HUGHES

Why rivals in the same car can’t
afford a DNF – and the figures to prove it F1 TRACKSIDE VIEW

28 MOTORCYCLES: MAT OXLEY

How tragedy at Monza 50 years 34 F1 RACE REPORT
Advantage Max in Australia
but should Sergio feel second-best?
ago led to a move for improved safety

31 THE ARCHIVES: DOUG NYE

A look back at some of the most
40 TACTICS
The strategists’ nightmare
after an early Albon departure
graceful trophies from racing history

32 ANDREW FRANKEL’S DIARY

Why BMW’s i3 and i8 were ahead
41 RETRO AND UPS & DOWNS
Why Graham Hill is Mr
Monaco and our F1 see-saw of news
of the game and memories of Susie Moss

46 ROAD TESTS
Lamborghini’s OTT SUV, Audi’s
43 JOHNNY HERBERT
Is Formula 1’s big-three
hegemony finally breaking up?
911-baiting R8 and a slippery Hyundai EV

50 PRECISION
Junghans’ links with the road and
timepieces inspired by the DB5 and 356
69 LETTERS
Praises for Susie Moss, Bernie’s
part in Avon tyres, and Ferraris go home

52 EVENTS
A preview of the Indy 500 and our
pick of the world’s upcoming races
78 LE MANS: 100th ANNIVERSARY
Our 100 seismic occurrences to
celebrate the world’s favourite race

54 BOOKS
The story behind Bugatti’s re-
birth and Guenther Steiner’s 2022 diary
130 LE MANS: 2023 PREVIEW
The waiting is over for the
battle of the giants. Here’s what to expect

57 INTERVIEW: HANS STUCK

The German great recalls his F1
years, Le Mans and working with Bernie
137 THE SHOWROOM
A chance-of-a-lifetime Quattro,
auction round-up and VSCC adventures

64 MY LIFE IN CARS
166 YOU WERE THERE
BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES

Richard Attwood’s memories of Jan Edick’s beguiling

76 Is your favourite
his Standard Ten and Triumph TR3A compositions from the 1972 US Grand Prix
Le Mans moment in our
100th anniversary list of
pivotal happenings?
Expect to see a Matra
MS670 along the way
67 FLASHBACK
Crooner Chris Rea is about to
spring a surprise at the 1993 Monaco GP
168 PARTING SHOT
The land speed record is
smashed at Bonneville Salt Flats, 1965

June 2023 Motor Sport 9

Entries invited
Chichester, Sussex | 14 July 2023
ENQUIRIES
+44 (0) 20 7468 5801
ukcars@bonhams.com
bonhams.com/motorcars
bonhams.com/fos
The ex-Audi Sport UK, Hannu Mikkola/
Arne Hertz, 1986 Welsh International &
National Breakdown Rally winning
1984 AUDI SPORT QUATTRO
GROUP B RALLY CAR
Estimate: Refer to department
 he first Le Mans 24 Hours took
T
place 100 years ago this month
on 26-27 May 1923. It had been
dreamt up by Emile Coquille, a
French importer of Rudge-
Whitworth bicycles and wheels,
George Durand of the ACO and Charles Faroux,
the editor of a weekly motoring magazine.
Initially it was envisaged to be an eight-hour
race – four in daylight, four at night, but Durand
suggested a full 24 hours. What could be a better
proof of reliability and endurance?
That first event drew 33 starters from 17
manufacturers, all hoping to make their mark
on history, yet now vanished – Delage, Montier,
Chenard et Walcker, Brasier, Georges Irat, La
Lorraine, Berliet… Only one name carried
through to us uninterrupted: Bentley.
All the cars were French apart from the
Bentley and two entrants from Excelsior, a
Belgian manufacturer, and each raced in their
national colours – blue for France, yellow for
Belgium and green for the British. The weather
was filthy and the track rutted but a jazz band
and fireworks kept the crowd in good spirits.
Thirty cars finished – despite the rain, road
surfaces and corners illuminated by makeshift
army searchlights – with the Bentley coming in
a commendable fourth and recording the
fastest lap at 9min 41sec (66mph average).
The race was ‘won’ by the Chenard et
Walcker of André Lagache and René Leonard
four laps ahead of its sister car. I say ‘won’
because as all pub quiz question compilers
know, there were no actual winners in 1923 or
for that matter in 1924 or 1925 either, because
the events were not individual races but rounds
of the Rudge-Whitworth Triennial Cup – an idea
cooked up to ensure teams kept coming back.
Since then Le Mans has become that rare
thing – a sporting event that has managed – like
Wimbledon, say, – to transcend even its own
sport. There is a magic and mystique to Le Mans
that can be hard to pin down, which is why this
month we have dedicated much of Motor Sport
to celebrating its history in as comprehensive
a way as possible, while hopefully still capturing
some of its essence by highlighting lesser-
known aspects that have helped define it.
Our coverage focuses on the racing but I
would also recommend readers search out a
new book by the journalist Richard Williams,
24 Hours, which traces the history of the race
over 500 compelling pages. Williams is a fine
writer and historian and the book is a treasure
trove of telling details. One such offers a glimpse
of how the race quickly took on a life of its own.
THE EDITOR
“There is a
magic and
mystique to
Le Mans that
can be hard to
pin down”
“The poster for the inaugural race had shown
a painting of a car racing through the night,
drops of rain glinting in the beam from its
headlights as it thundered on,” writes Williams.
“The second year’s poster offered a different
vision. The illustration showed flappers in
summer dresses and young sports in black tie
dancing under the moon, the stars and a
firework display; a powerful car racing past the
grandstands seemed almost like a sideshow.”
Despite all the historic efforts detailed in
this issue of Motor Sport, perhaps it is the fact
that Le Mans, even in its earliest incarnation,
harnessed those universal themes of adventure
and romance that have ensured our love affair
with it has stood the test of time.
Incidentally, it is not often that the Motor
Sport archive lets you down. But I am sorry to
report that the vast digital resource which
documents everything ever published by us
does not feature that first race for the simple
reason that it pre-dates even us (Motor Sport’s
origins came a year later). However, if you
would like a flavour of those early races you
could do a lot worse than search up our report
from 1925 written by JD Benjafield, who was
part of the Bentley team that year. “Sharp to
time the flag fell, and the loud speakers
bellowed “Partez” when the drivers made a
dash for their cars, feverishly erected the hood
(20 laps having to be driven with the hood up),
leapt in, pressed the starter, and away they went
in a cloud of dust. John Duff was first away in
his Bentley No9, and the agility he showed in
tucking his long limbs under the dash would
have done credit to an acrobat. He was closely
followed by Bertie Kensington-Moir in the other
Bentley, No10, and, needless to say, the cheers
from the Bentley pits were long and loud, the
omens being most favourable...”
As England cricket fans used to say ruefully, it’s
not the losing that gets you, it’s the hope. I feel
the same around Le Mans. After years of hoping
for drama and witnessing the underwhelming
races of the past few years my natural
excitement at this summer’s event is tinged with
trepidation: what if all the hype falls flat?
On paper, of course, the hype itself looks
fully justified. Not only do we have a full grid
of top-class manufacturer-backed entrants, but
they include some of the most storied names
– Porsche is back and Ferrari returns a full 50
years after it last competed for outright
honours. Cadillac is also back while former
winner Peugeot returns with a trend-bucking
design to add an air of unpredictability.
And yet…
There is an ominous feeling, in the shape
of a pair of Toyota GR010s. This year we may
see an easy victory for the Japanese marque for
the sixth year running. As our sports car
specialist Gary Watkins says after the first two
WEC rounds: “The two-lap victory over eight
hours at Sebring and one lap over six at
Portimão suggested that Toyota’s rivals, Ferrari,
Porsche, Peugeot and Cadillac, have a mountain
to climb to get on terms.”
Then again, at Le Mans mountains have
been climbed before...
Joe Dunn, editor
Follow Joe on Twitter @joedunn90
NEXT ISSUE: OUR JULY ISSUE IS
ON SALE FROM JUNE 7
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 11
 IN THE SPIRIT OF BOD AND JENKS

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Details matter.
While compiling our 100 moments that define
Le Mans, a distinction cropped up on the closest
official margin of victory. Yes, in terms of distance
covered – the ACO’s traditional measure – 1966
is tightest thanks to Ford’s formation fix. And
yes, Jacky Ickx vs Hans Herrmann in 1969 is the
closest racing finish. Third is Tazio Nuvolari vs Luigi
Chinetti in 1933 – and fourth is Audi’s defeat of
Peugeot in 2011. But that last one is the closest since
time became the defining measure: 13.854sec.
GETTY IMAGES, DPPI

Motor Sport (ISSN No: 0027-2019, USPS No: 021-661) is published monthly by Motor Sport Magazine GBR and distributed in the USA by Asendia USA, 17B S Middlesex Ave, Monroe NJ 08831. Periodicals postage
paid New Brunswick, NJ and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Motor Sport, 701C Ashland Ave, Folcroft PA 19032. UK and rest of the world address changes should be sent to
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Printing: Precision Colour Printing, Telford, Shropshire, UK. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the Publisher. Copyright © 2023 Motor Sport Magazine Limited,
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12 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

MAX SPEED 300kph
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MAX POWER 675 bhp at 9,200 rpm
MAX TORQUE 530 Nm at 7,600 rpm
MAX RPM 10,000 rpm normal running www.rodin-cars.com
 MATTERS of MOMENT

Goodwood’s
Members’ Meeting
drops the flag on ’23
There’s still a nip in the air, but the 80th MM gave some searingly
hot grids to start this year’s historic calendar – with the likes of
Gordon Murray, Tom Kristensen and Rob Huff in attendance

14 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023


A
s sure as daffodils mark
that spring has sprung,
Goodwood’s Members’
Meeting trumpets the start of
the historic motor racing
season. This year’s running
featured a plethora of celebrations, unveilings
and stars alongside the on-track action.
PETER SUMMERS, MATT ALEXANDER, JOCHEN VAN CAUWENBERGE
Enjoying its ninth consecutive
appearance since returning to the calendar
in 2014, the Members’ Meeting is always a
special event, twinning the nostalgia and
action of the Revival with the boutique feel
of a more private event. The crowds are
smaller due to the event being reserved,
as the name suggests, for members of
Goodwood’s Road Racing Club, but with live
coverage via both stream and free-to-air TV,
the excitement is far from diminished.
Kick-starting Goodwood’s 75th
anniversary year, the Members’ Meeting
featured packed grids and some classic slip-
streamer racing, perhaps best epitomised by
the return of the SF Edge Trophy for
Edwardian cars. Mark Walker and Julian
Majzub put on two epic duels, with Walker
winning both, but only by 0.3sec and 0.1sec
respectively after a thrilling dash to the line
in the finale aboard his 1905 Darracq 200hp.
The renamed Gordon Spice Trophy
[formerly the Gerry Marshall Trophy] lived
up to its billing with World Touring Car ace
Rob Huff emerging from a tight fight to win
aboard a Camaro Z28.
Shaun Lynn and IndyCar legend Dario
Franchitti trumped a wonderful star-studded
grid chock-full of Ford GT40s to win the
Gurney Cup, while James Cottingham
swapped the Mercedes-AMG GT3 he races in
British GT for a 1962 AC Cobra to win the
Moss Trophy. Scott Carson stood out from a
lively collection of 250cc and 350cc grand
prix motorcycles to take glory in the
Hailwood Trophy on a Yamaha TZ350G.
A sunset GT1 demo was a
scream. Above from left:
Robert Huff takes victory in
the Gordon Spice Trophy;
Riccardo Patrese caught
up with two Brabhams –
David and a BT52
Aside from the racing, there were also
demonstrations of fire-breathing GT1
machinery, plus Bentley ran its formidable
Speed 8 Le Mans racer. To mark 60 years of
the Porsche 911 a host of racing variants were
assembled, headlined by Le Mans legend
Tom Kristensen driving the RSR that won
the 1973 Targa Florio. The Brabham BT52 –
which unofficially holds the lap record,
whatever that actually is as the car wasn’t
formally timed due to Nelson Piquet driving
it for a test in 1983 – also conducted a demo,
with two cars running under the watchful
eyes of designer Gordon Murray and former
team boss Herbie Blash.
Add in the Bonhams auction featuring
the polar opposites of the ceremonial Land
Rover of The Queen and the Subaru Impreza
WRC99 driven by Richard Burns, and
Goodwood once again pulled off not just one
of the best season-starters anywhere, but
one of the best racing events anywhere.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 15
 MATTERS of MOMENT

Lancia to make Guerlain Chicherit and is based around

the new creation by his GCK Performance
“I’m from a generation that was brought
up seeing wins by Lancia Delta in rallying, so

World Rallycross concern, the Lancia Delta Evo-e RX. If you

hadn’t already guessed by the name, it’s an
naturally I have a weakness for the car,” said
Loeb. “I tried it last December and was won

debut… sort of all-electric machine capable of producing

680bhp and going from 0-60mph in 1.8sec,
over. I have great faith in this project.”
Chicherit added: “It’s a chance to make
but it’s also built within an original Delta shell, history, becoming the first to have a retrofitted

T
he headline alone is enough to get us
going. And no, it’s not one of those
dodgy rebadged Chryslers that tried
to pass off as Lancias. Instead this is a far more
formidable machine – a Delta, no less, just
not quite how you remember it. This new
programme is the brainchild of WRX veteran
which means it really looks the part.
Oh, and just to top it all off, Chicherit has
persuaded nine-time World Rally champion
Sébastien Loeb to drive it. The 49-year-old
will make his WRX return after a five-year
absence, having been part of Peugeot Sport’s
programme between 2016-2018.
car win a world championship race.”
GCK’s partner team, Special One Racing,
has committed to running at least two of the
Evo-e RX designs in the championship for the
next three years. The season begins in
Portugal on June 3-4 and UK fans can catch
the cars in action at Lydden Hill on July 22-23.

Sébastien Loeb will be

racing an all-electric
Lancia Delta in WRX
– another opportunity
to make history

Motorsport UK gets on-stream with TV hub

M
otorsport UK, the UK’s governing body
for all things four-wheeled, has broken
new ground by launching its own
concern) and both live race coverage and
highlights packages from club level
championships in racing, rallying and karting
Motorsport UK TV aims to be the one-stop
shop for racing know-how
INDYCAR/JOE SKIBINSKI, GETTY IMAGES

central TV hub, giving users access to a host of
informative videos, training guides and live
streams from the UK’s biggest championships.
MotorsportUK TV aims to bring a host of
content to the user in a central place, with
easy navigation between its libraries of how-to
videos, discipline explainers, driving tutorials
(many produced by Scott Mansell’s Driver 61
up to the BTCC and British GT.
Hugh Chambers, CEO of Motorsport UK,
said: “Motorsport UK TV is an exciting
new internet platform that will bring our
community even closer to every aspect of the
sport. We hope it can both inspire and educate
fans. We think this will be a game-changer for
the way fans find and enjoy their content.”

18 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023


IndyCar gets its own
Drive to Survive
hile this year’s Formula 1 season
W continues to underwhelm,
IndyCar is delivering drama in
spades, and has begun building up to
its showpiece event by launching a new
docuseries titled 100 Days to Indy.
The new, unscripted, six-part series aims
to tell the stories of several of IndyCar’s
star drivers as they prepare for the 107th
Indianapolis 500 on May 28, including those
of young stars Pato O’Ward and Josef
Newgarden, defending champion Marcus
Ericsson and even the returning Hélio
Castroneves, who will be making his final
500 start as he aims for a record fifth win
before hanging up his helmet.
The launch has, of course, drawn some
parallels with F1’s successful, Drive to Survive
series on Netflix, which has also been
accused of embellishing rivalries, something
several IndyCar drivers picked up on.
“The competition is so good that there’s
no need to fabricate anything – unlike some
motor sports products,” said Newgarden.
“The product, as is, is good enough that they
don’t have to go and try and search for things
or twist things around.”
O’Ward added: “I think they [the TV
series producers] did a phenomenal job.
I really do. I mean, they showed everything
as what it is. Nothing on there is fake. It’s
legit and raw. Like, yeah, IndyCar racing:
that’s what it is.”
Unfortunately, the show is exclusive
to the American CW Network and there’s
currently not a way to stream it in the UK,
so we’ll have to take their word for it.
However, as the countdown to the 500
has begun, the race for supremacy on track
has been kept tantalisingly close after Long
Beach produced a third different winner in
as many races this year.
Kyle Kirkwood’s victory at
Long Beach means IndyCar
has had three different
winners from three races.
Below: Hélio Castroneves
hopes to add to his four
wins at the Indy 500
Rising American star Kyle Kirkwood led
home an Andretti 1-2 ahead of Romain
Grosjean, while third place was enough
to land Chip Ganassi’s Ericsson the
championship lead, 15 points ahead of
O’Ward. Newgarden’s weekend on the
California coast was ruined by a failed
extreme fuel-saving strategy that left him
ninth at the flag, having led for 27 laps early
on. So far three different drivers have taken
pole positions (Grosjean, Felix Rosenqvist
and Kirkwood) with Ericsson, Newgarden
and Kirkwood sharing the wins.
On form like this, the bookies could have
a field day on picking the favourite for Indy.
June 2023 Motor Sport 19
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Ferrari’s
Hypercar
team goes
green
W
hatever happens to Ferrari at
Le Mans, no one will be able
to accuse it of lacking bottle:
the team has announced a tie-up with a
British company that provides team kit
and merchandise made from recycled
plastics and other sustainable materials.
It is hoped the deal will move the
debate around sustainability in motor
sport away from just fuel. The company
behind the initiative, 8six400, already
worked with the Jota LMP2 team, plus
Andretti Autosport and Lewis Hamilton’s
X44 in the Extreme E series. Under the
deal with Ferrari virtually all team kit and
fan merchandise will be sustainable with
caps made from ocean plastic and jackets
made from recycled oyster shell.
“Sustainability in team kit and
merchandise in motor sport has been
overlooked,” says company founder
Peter Hall. “One cap is equal to eight
recycled plastic bottles so 100,000 caps
means 13 tons of waste removed from the
sea. With the vast amounts of team kit
and merchandise made you can start to
see how the motor racing world could
have a huge positive impact.”
Team kit as
GETTY IMAGES, RED BULL CONTENT POOL
well as fan caps
will be fully
recycled
MATTERS of MOMENT
Craig Breen
1990-2023
T
he rallying world was rocked after the
death of Craig Breen during a World
Rally Championship test in Croatia.
Breen was driving his Hyundai i20 when
the car collided with a wooden pole at the
side of the road, fatally injuring Breen. His
co-driver, James Fulton, escaped injury. From
Waterford, Ireland, Breen had been sitting
sixth in this year’s WRC standings, having just
recorded the ninth podium finish of his
WRC career on Rally Sweden, inset.
He was a rally fan to his core,
and his rise to prominence on
the international stage was
as hard-fought as it was well
deserved. He had become the
chosen son of the Irish rallying
community, and had regularly
participated in events in his home
country using his own historic machinery.
Most recently he competed on the West Cork
Rally in his Ford Sierra Cosworth.
Breen’s career began in 2007 and by 2010
he was an event winner in the Junior WRC,
going on to win the JWRC title in 2011. His
The Irish rally driver
was just 33 years old
when he died while
testing in Croatia
career faced a crossroads in 2012 when his
long-time co-driver Gareth ‘Jaffa’ Roberts was
killed in an accident during the Targa Florio
Rally. But Breen pressed on, determined to
honour Roberts’ memory, going on to win the
S2000 World Championship that year. His
emotional stage-end interviews endeared him
to the entire sport. Victory on the Circuit of
Ireland in the European Rally Championship
in 2015 helped him get his big WRC
break, joining the Citroën team and
scoring his breakthrough podium
finish with third place in Finland.
Some fairly fractious years
followed, but Breen seemed to
have found his groove with
Hyundai, enjoying a run of four
podium finishes in nine rallies before
a short but difficult spell with M-Sport
last year. Back with Hyundai for this year,
Breen again looked to be on the up.
Breen was funny, determined, popular and
talented, and he will not be forgotten by
the rallying world. Motor Sport sends its
condolences to his family and many friends.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 21
 MATTERS of MOMENT
Kenneth McAlpine
K
enneth McAlpine, the oldest
surviving grand prix driver, who
first competed in Formula 1 in
1952, has died at the age of 102.
As well as making seven world
championship grand prix starts between
1952-55, McAlpine was a familiar entry into
non-championship races and was the man
who largely funded the Connaught grand
prix team, thanks to his extensive family
interests in civil engineering.
Born in Cobham, Surrey in 1920, Kenneth
– grandson of Robert McAlpine aka ‘Concrete
Bob’, founder of the major construction
business – soon had an interest in cars and
motor racing. He went to America in World
War II where he was trained by the US Navy
to be a pilot. He returned in 1944 and became
an RAF flight instructor.
Once the war was over he quickly
acquired a pair of Maserati 8CMs which he
hillclimbed, sprinted and raced in 1947-49
to good effect with victories at Prescott,
Luton Hoo and Goodwood. In 1951 he made
22 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
1920-2023
a move to 500cc Formula 3 with a JBS Norton
but also started to race a Connaught A1
Formula 2 car. His cars had been prepared
at Continental Cars by Mike Oliver and
Rodney Clarke in Surrey.
A plan to be the British agent for Bugatti
fell through so Oliver and Clarke decided
to become a manufacturer, using modified
Lea-Francis engines. They turned to their
customer McAlpine to provide the funding
McAlpine’s final F1 outing was at the at the 1955
British GP at Aintree – dominated by Mercedes
Kenneth McAlpine, of the
McAlpine building and civil
engineering family, was a
driver and financial backer of
the Connaught racing team
and he became their first works driver. They
chose the name Connaught as a shortened
version of Continental Cars.
McAlpine gave Connaught its first single-
seater victory and soon moved into grand
prix racing. He made his debut in the 1952
British Grand Prix at Silverstone before also
competing at Monza. For 1953 he took in four
grands prix, retiring from all but the German
race where he finished 13th despite damaged
rear suspension. His final grand prix came
at Aintree in 1955. Despite his chequered
grand prix record, he helped build
Connaught into a force of early F1. He also
raced at Le Mans in 1955 and then later
retired following the Goodwood 9 Hours.
Kenneth latterly lived in Lamberhurst,
HERITAGE IMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES
Kent, where he established a vineyard, and
he continued to be a director of Sir Robert
McAlpine Enterprises at the age of 102.
He was a quite remarkable man, an
industrialist, entrepreneur, F1 team owner
and pilot who quietly, almost under the
radar, made motor racing history.
 ®

®

Rainbow warrior
Judged too powerful for the road by TVR’s owner meant this
Cerbera Speed 12 is probably the ultimate a one-off.
I
f this TVR looks like one of the wildest
cars you’ve ever seen, imagine how
far-out it must have seemed when it
was first offered for sale through a
classified ad in Auto Trader way back
in August 2003.
At the time, no such thing as a Cerbera
Speed 12 actually existed. But TVR’s long-
term owner Peter Wheeler had determined
to create the one-off after pinning down a
wealthy buyer through the advertisement.
But it was going to take more than the
wherewithal to part with almost £190,000
to own the Speed 12 – because Wheeler, who
died in 2009, insisted on vetting any potential
owner to ensure he or she would be a suitable
custodian for what, at the time, was possibly
the most powerful road car in existence.  prototypes were cannibalised to provide
SILVERSTONE AUCTIONS
The concept for what was originally
referred to as Project 7/12 made its debut at
the Birmingham Motor Show in 1996 and
was intended to be produced as a hugely
powerful McLaren F1-killing street machine
MATTERS of MOMENT
that would also be adapted for GT1 racing,
with the ultimate goal being to compete
at Le Mans.
In reality the race cars took part in only
a few FIA GT championship events and in
the GT2 category of the British GT series –
while a single journey home in one of the
experimental road cars was sufficient to
convince Wheeler that the 7/12 would be just
too angry and powerful for normal driving.
“I knew within 300 yards that it was a
silly idea,” Wheeler was quoted as saying.
“Over 900bhp in a car weighing just over a
ton is plainly ridiculous on the road.”
As a result TVR returned the many
customer deposits it had received from
would-be road car owners and the remaining
parts for the racers.
At that point Project 7/12 (named after
the fact that it had a 7.7-litre engine based
on two of the straight-six units from the
Cerbera Speed Six) might have been
A hypercar before its time, this is
the only TVR Cerbera Speed 12
built for road use – and it was
capable of more than 200mph
consigned to the history books had Wheeler
not decided to create this one-off Speed 12
by combining a chassis left over from the
aborted road car programme with carbon
fibre bodywork from one of the GT racers.
Once the car had been completed and
sold, its enthusiast owner continued working
with TVR to both reduce its weight and to
improve its engine and now, in its current
state, it is said to tip the scales at less than
1000kg, to produce 840bhp and to be
capable of considerably more than 200mph.
Silverstone Auctions is listing it as
‘estimate on request’ but how much it will
make is anyone’s guess – after all, there are
still thousands of TVR fans out there. 
And some might be willing to pay
whatever it takes to own what must surely
be the ultimate example of the breed.
Road car it may be but its 7.7-litre 840bhp
V12 engine was bred for the track
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 25
SATURDAY 27TH MAY, ASCOT RACECOURSE

THE MAY
SALE

Fine entries include

1972 DE TOMASO PANTERA
£120,000-£150,000

AN ENTICING SALE OF HIGHLY

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VIEWING DAYS SALE TIME REGISTER TO BID The Summer Sale
Wednesday to Friday Saturday 27th May See the website
24th-26th May Commences 9.30am for full details
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9am-5pm Doors open 8.30am Saturday 22nd July
Call 01753 639170

01753 639170 auctions@historics.co.uk www.historics.co.uk


T
he numbers work in a very
different way when the
points battle for a world
championship is between two
drivers in the same very
dominant car. Take Ayrton
Senna and Alain Prost in their two seasons
together at McLaren, 1988 and ’89: they won
one championship apiece in that time, but
if we look at how many times each of them
beat the other, the score is heavily in Senna’s
favour. Taking out mechanical issues and
other circumstantial elements, in the 24
races where a straight comparison could be
made over those two seasons, Senna beat
Prost 17 times. Prost beat Senna seven times.
But with just an arbitrary points difference
between first and second, the points battle
made the contest way closer than their
respective performances merited. On
performance alone, Senna annihilated
Prost at McLaren.
Let’s look at Nico Rosberg’s 2016 victory
over Lewis Hamilton in the dominant
Mercedes. There were 15 races in which it
was possible to make a straight comparison.
Of those, Hamilton beat Rosberg 10 times.
Rosberg beat Hamilton five times.
In such circumstances, reliability has an
enormous swing power. When the difference
between first and second is, say, seven
points (as it is currently) but the penalty
for a non-finish is 25, finishing is more
powerful than beating your opponent. Way
more powerful. With a car so dominant that
your team-mate can be almost guaranteed
to win any race which you don’t finish and
who can be almost guaranteed to finish
second any time you beat him, that’s just
the way it is.
Reliability can have a massively skewing
effect on the outcome, regardless of
the performance hierarchy between the
two drivers. If Max Verstappen suffered two
DNFs in the next two races (and Sergio Pérez
MARK HUGHES
“On performance alone,
Senna annihilated Prost
at McLaren in ’88 and ’89”
won them), it would take seven straight
races of Verstappen-Pérez 1-2s for Max to
get back on points parity. Now, you may say
that no way is Pérez as close to Verstappen
as Prost was to Senna or Rosberg was to
Hamilton. It doesn’t matter. All the other
driver has to be is good enough to win in a
dominant car when his team-mate is
sidelined and to finish second when he’s
not. Pérez is comfortably good enough to
do that. The rest is just reliability.
Similarly, how Rosberg would compare
to Prost, or Verstappen to Senna, or
Hamilton to any of them is all irrelevant. It’s
just about how the numbers work between
the two guys in the dominant car regardless
of anyone’s level. That’s all history records.
As such, Pérez feels he is looking at the
biggest opportunity of his career, one
perhaps he never imagined would come
his way. Should he and
Verstappen enjoy comparable “Sergio Pérez
reliability, Verstappen wins
every time. But both Jeddah
feels he
and Melbourne illustrated just is looking at
how easily one driver or the the biggest
other can have their weekend
badly compromised by a single opportunity
mechanical issue. of his career”
When Pérez says – as he did
in Melbourne – that he expects
the same opportunities as Verstappen
to fight for the world title, what he’s
effectively saying is that in the event of him
gaining a points advantage through any
Verstappen unreliability, he wants the
chance to capitalise.
But regardless of what Pérez says about
how he trusts Red Bull to give those equal
opportunities, this team revolves around
the phenomenon that is Verstappen every
bit as surely as it used to around Sebastian
Vettel. Since day one the Verstappens have
effectively dictated their terms to Red Bull.
From the Verstappens’ perspective, they
FORMULA 1
have been loyal through five years of Red
Bull not delivering Max title-calibre cars.
Only in the last three seasons has that been
delivered and from their point of view it’s
only right that Max takes the full benefit. If
it was only about performance there’d be
nothing to discuss. But in the event that it’s
not, in the event that a bad roll of the
reliability dice should give the support
driver the advantage, how would Red Bull
deal with that? And how would Verstappen?
In that situation Pérez would have to
fight his own corner, even against the team
if necessary. Lewis Hamilton did so in
Hungary in 2007 for his third F1 victory,
compromising the team, going against plan
and tricking himself an advantage over
McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso in the
fuel burn-off phase of qualifying. Charles
Leclerc did it at Ferrari at Monza in 2019,
declining to give team-mate
Sebastian Vettel the payback
tow Vettel had given him in
the first runs. That was
foundational to him winning
that race, and to him becoming
unambiguously the team’s
leader. Vettel several times
repelled the threat of Red Bull
team-mate Mark Webber at the
expense of the team.
Pérez is never going to take Red Bull
team leadership status from Verstappen, but
he may find himself in a situation this season
where he has a choice of priorities – and
have no doubt whatsoever that he will
prioritise himself over the team. He’s a
battle-hardened tough cookie and isn’t going
to surrender the opportunity of a lifetime
if it opens up for him.
Since he began covering grand prix racing in
2000, Mark Hughes has forged a reputation as
the finest Formula 1 analyst of his generation
Follow Mark on Twitter @SportmphMark
June 2023 Motor Sport 27
 MOTORCYCLES
F
ifty years ago Jarno Saarinen was
on his way to winning the 500cc
(later MotoGP) world championship
for the first time and few people
in the know doubted he would go
on to become one of motorcycle
racing’s all-time greats. In fact, by then
the Finnish genius had already transformed the
sport, by teaching ‘King’ Kenny Roberts to hang
off his motorcycle to improve his lap times.
Roberts won a hat-trick of 500cc titles using
this technique, which soon became universal.
If Saarinen had lived longer, grand prix
racing might have been very different for the
rest of the 1970s. Yamaha most likely wouldn’t
have signed Giacomo Agostini, who made
history by becoming the first two-stroke
premier-class world champion, and Barry
Sheene would’ve had a much harder time
winning the 500 championship with Suzuki.
Saarinen lost his life on the afternoon of
May 20, 1973 in an horrific accident during the
250cc Italian GP.
The 27-year-old arrived at Monza as reigning
250 world champion and leading both the 250
and 500 title chases, after winning the opening
three 250 GPs and two of the first three 500
GPs aboard Yamaha’s first 500cc GP bike, the
0W19 (his chain broke while he was leading the
other). Ironically he was due to skip the
subsequent Isle of Man TT, because, like most
GP regulars, he considered it too dangerous.
Monza, constructed within a royal park
outside Milan in 1922, was mainland Europe’s
first purpose-built racetrack but was hardly
safe, even in a car. Between 1922 and 1970 the
circuit took the lives of 12 drivers and 41
spectators. Following the death of 1970 F1 world
champion Jochen Rindt in that year’s Italian F1
GP the circuit was modified, with two chicanes,
but these weren’t used by motorcycles.
GP organisers of those days were renowned
for their callousness. Before the start of the
Monza 250 GP several riders pleaded with the
organisers to clean the track after a motorcycle
28 Motor Sport June 2023
MAT OXLEY
“Had Jarno Saarinen lived
longer, grand prix racing
could have been different”
had dropped oil during the preceding 350 race.
The officials refused, then called the police to
eject the riders from their offices.
Shortly after 3pm the Italian tricolore was
waved to start the 250 race and the packed grid
of more than 30 riders heaved their two-stroke
twins into angry, smoky life. Former 125cc
champion Dieter Braun led the charge. His fast
start probably saved his life. Right behind came
local hero Renzo Pasolini on his Harley-
Davidson, Saarinen and the rest of the pack.
As they swarmed through the first corner,
the 140mph Curva Grande, Pasolini’s Harley
seized a piston, the machine slewed sideways
and threw him off. Saarinen was unable to take
avoiding action and also fell. From this point
the Curva Grande became a deadly, fiery hell,
the scene of arguably the worst accident in
motorcycle GP history. A total of 14 riders
crashed, while the trackside hay bales were
set alight by blazing fuel from
ruptured fuel tanks. “It was like a “Riders
bomb had exploded,” said
Australian privateer John Dodds.
pleaded for
Saarinen and Pasolini were the track to
run over by following machines,
both dying instantly.
be cleaned.
Incredibly, the organisers did The officials
not stop the race, so it continued refused”
with the survivors threading their
way through the carnage for a few
laps until they gave up and rode into the
pitlane, traumatised by what had happened.
“During the first lap no one signalled any
warning to me,” said Braun, who had no idea
of what had happened behind him. “I came to
the Curva Grande for the second time. One
rider came running towards me, warning me.
I found a way through the inferno. Again on
my second lap I never saw any warnings from
the marshals…”
Two months later Monza staged a round of
the Italian championship, so Dr Claudio Costa,
who later created MotoGP’s Clinica Mobile,
asked the organisers to place an ambulance at
Curva Grande, in case of another pile-up. They
refused. Once again a number of riders crashed
at the corner. By the time an ambulance arrived
three had perished.
“As long as tracks like Monza are used, the
rider’s life isn’t worth more than that of a mouse
in a mousetrap – nothing,” added Braun.
Twenty-nine riders had died at grand prix
events during the previous decade, but it took
the Saarinen/Pasolini tragedy to unite the
survivors in their push towards improved
safety. Most of all they wanted street circuits
struck from the calendar and guardrails
removed from short circuits. The Isle of Man
TT – responsible for more deaths than any other
venue – was axed from the championships
following 1976 and other street circuits, like
Brno and Opatija, followed soon after.
Guardrail – deadly in a crash for riders, who
nicknamed it ‘death rails’ – was a more complex
problem. Car racing usually makes
more money for circuits and
promoters, so car racers have
more influence and for some years
remained convinced that guardrail
was a good thing.
In 1982 a group of top GP
riders hired former racer Mike
Trimby to fight for their rights.
The Briton had many battles with
circuits, promoters and the
sport’s governing body (the Fédération
Internationale de Motocyclisme) but step by
step he improved safety, won better pay for
the riders and got the teams together, like
Bernie Ecclestone had done in F1.
Trimby was recently awarded the Torrens
Trophy by the Royal Automobile Club for his
work. Now 74, he still runs the MotoGP teams’
association, looking after the paddock and grid.
Mat Oxley has covered motorcycle racing
for many years – and also has the distinction
of being an Isle of Man TT winner
Follow Mat on Twitter @matoxley

M
otor racing trophies embody
an enormously wide range
of aesthetic, commercial
and cultural taste. How
often has one seen an
eye-popping podium
presentation of some garish oversized fridge
magnet to a momentarily dumbstruck driver?
Still occasionally a ‘proper’ classical gold cup,
like the British GP’s Mervyn O’Gorman Trophy,
introduces at least a belated note of well-
founded values. An adequate racing trophy
can still confirm this is an old-established sport
of genuine stature.
Of all the racing trophies I recall, for me
the most admirable in its concept and
appearance was the remarkable ‘Floatile’
presented by Johnson Wax for the original
Can-Am Championship series, launched in the
US and Canada in 1966.
John Surtees and his Lola-Chevrolet T70
emerged as the first winner, followed of course
– for five consecutive seasons – by Team
McLaren, 1967-71. Johnson’s donated ‘Floatile’
was itself a truly remarkable piece. It
comprised a lightweight magnesium and
aluminium ‘nacelle’ tethered to a hefty base,
above which it simply floated like a gas balloon,
thanks to magnetic repulsion. Its creator was
Venezuelan-born sculptor Alberto W. Collie,
who specialised in such surreal levitating
forms. As a trophy it was attractive, intriguing,
innovative and active. When picked up by the
base, that floating nacelle would drift and
judder – wonderfully well-suited for a high-
tech competitive activity.
In contrast was the OTT splendour of
trophies presented for success in the Angola
GP sports and GT race around Luanda. The
colonial Portuguese’s spectacular yet very
practical taste in trophies was matched by
their approach to racing problems. During one
practice session, drivers were confronted by
work gangs welding in the middle of the track.
This spark-showering hazard was to weld shut
DOUG NYE
“The most admirable
trophy was the ‘Floatile’
for the Can-Am series”
every manhole cover a competing car might
dislodge and throw into the path of another.
When a friend earned a minor Angola GP
placing he was astonished by the colossal
trophy, recalling: “It appeared to be a
chromium-plated Jeep crankshaft – sprouting
vertically from a solid granite base”. The
excess baggage charge to fly it home evidently
persuaded him to leave it there, as graciously
as he could…
But while recently studying a collection
before me of historic old racing cups, plaques
and bowls, I came across one presented for
the 1953 Coronation Trophy race at London’s
Crystal Palace circuit that Whit-Monday. That
meeting – 70 years ago – marked the postwar
revival of the pre-war circuit, where in 1938
another Coronation Trophy race had been run,
won then by Prince Bira’s ERA. The surviving
’53 trophy bears the attractive white and blue
emblem of the donating London County
Council, whose Chairman A.E. Middleton had
accompanied Earl Howe in
opening the shortened – now “Alan
1.39-mile – circuit in an Allard
Palm Beach. All this in glorious
Brown and
sunshine, before a gigantic ‘Pathfinder’
crowd, estimated at anything Bennett
from 60,000 to (an unlikely)
100,000, but such was the failed to leave
enthusiasm of people then just the line”
to enjoy any sporting spectacle.
The Coronation Trophy race
was run in two 10-lap Heats plus a 10-lap Final,
but it was sound, colour, excitement which
counted – not duration. Lance Macklin led Heat
1 initially in an HWM, from Tony Rolt’s Rob
Walker-entered Connaught A-Type and Ken
Wharton’s comparatively puny-looking
Cooper-Bristol Mark II. ‘The Major’ (Rolt) soon
disposed of Macklin, then “…very calmly and
efficiently led thereafter to the end of the 10
laps. In Heat 2 it was again an HWM – Peter
Collins’ – which led initially, while Alan Brown
(Cooper-Alfa) and ‘Pathfinder’ Bennett
THE ARCHIVES
(Cooper twin) failed to leave the line, the
former with fuel pump failure, the latter with
a broken chain”. Different times indeed.
Peter Whitehead in his Cooper-Alta
displaced Collins to win, and an hour later the
two pre-war old hands Rolt and Whitehead
lined-up with Macklin and Wharton on the
front row for the 10-lap Final. The latter led
into the first corner but Rolt caught him
quickly; “…pulling right up to his tail and
slipstreaming down the straights. Lap five
and he’d done it, the Connaught was leading.
Eight laps saw Rolt comfortably ahead… 10th
and last lap and Rolt won the race, his fine
victory acclaimed by much clapping, cheering
and waving of programmes… It was grand to
see those two highly-skilled drivers Rolt and
Whitehead taking ‘firsts’. Fastest lap of the day,
72.73mph, was achieved by Rolt both in his
heat and the Final – an increase of 12mph over
Raymond Mays’ pre-war circuit record”.
My late friend Cyril Posthumus’s race
report didn’t explain that the
shortened course deleted a slow
infield loop, but today – in this
Coronation year – it was nice to
handle that gleaming trophy…
and to sense what satisfaction it
must have given to entrant Rob
Walker – and to former Colditz
PoW, Major Tony Rolt, MC & Bar.
Mind you, three weeks later he
won Le Mans for Jaguar alongside
Duncan Hamilton, which surely trumped it.
Autosport magazine had run a feature on ‘The
Elizabethans’, the then broad generation of
British racing drivers. Will one appear today
acclaiming ‘The Caroleans’? I doubt it. But
handling such trophies certainly instils a
frisson within those who understand. Will, one
day, a modern ‘fridge magnet’ do the same?
Doug Nye is the UK’s leading motor racing
historian and has been writing authoritatively
about the sport since the 1960s
June 2023 Motor Sport 31
 DIARY
nless it is timed correctly, a
U
good idea is not merely no
better than no idea at all;
because of time, effort and
money that goes into making
it happen, it’s actually quite
a lot worse. I wonder if that’s how BMW now
feels about its visionary i3 and i8, one a
hatch, one a junior supercar, both now
celebrating their 10th birthdays, both so
unsuccessful they were not replaced?
Both made extensive use of carbon-fibre
reinforced plastic to make them light, both
were wildly, laughably ahead of their time
and the only problem with that is we’ve just
not realised it yet.
Look at the i8: a gullwing supercar
weighing less than the lightest 3 Series on
sale today (yes, really), capable of hitting
60mph from rest in a fraction over 4sec yet
capable of returning over 40mpg. Unlike,
say, the far more expensive Honda NSX, you
could plug it in and drive at up to 75mph on
electricity alone. And it did all this thanks
to its carbon chassis and great-sounding
1.5-litre, three-cylinder hybrid powertrain
keeping the mass to just over 1500kg
despite it also having small rear seats. It also
looked dreamy.
The i3 had an aluminium structure, CFRP
panels and, despite being a true EV was
the lightest BMW on sale, which is fairly
extraordinary when you consider how
corpulent almost all EVs have since become.
It was faster than some versions of the two-
seat Z4 roadster and better handling, too.
Best of all, you could spec one with a tiny
BMW scooter engine that would cut in when
your battery level got too low, so you knew
you could always get home or, at worst,
to the next filling station. Range anxiety
ceased to exist.
I think if these cars were being launched
today – suitably updated – we’d be greeting
them as absolute engineering miracles. But
32 Motor Sport June 2023
ANDREW FRANKEL
“If BMW launched the i3 and
i8 today, we’d greet them
as engineering miracles”
expensive to build and slow to sell as they
were, they exist today simply as tantalising
insights into what might have been.
I thought I would share one memory of Lady
Susie Moss, now that she has very sadly left
us. Much has been written about what an
extraordinary support she was as both wife,
friend and business partner to her illustrious
husband, and I was lucky to be able to call
her my friend for many years. It is also the
absolute truth that I never saw a happier
couple than Stirling and Susie. I have some
understanding also into just how very hard
life was for her during Stirling’s long final
illness and after his death in 2020.
But the memory I want to write about
takes us back about a dozen
years to a hospitality unit above “I was lucky
the pits at Spa. I mention it now,
because I think it provides
to be able to
insight into the real Susie Moss. call Lady
Whatever race we’d been doing Susie Moss
was long since run, the prizes
had been given, the champagne my friend
drunk and the canapés for years”
devoured. I was in my pit garage
packing my bag when I realised
I’d left something in the room. Happily it
was directly above where we were located,
so I just ran up the stairs and into the
hospitality unit. There was no one inside
save a cleaner, dragging a bin liner around
the room behind her as she picked up the
detritus left by the departing guests.
I walked straight past her to collect
whatever it was that I’d left, paying her no
further attention until she looked up and
said, “Leaving so soon Mr Frankel?” It was
Suze. Thought you’d like to know.
I’m not sure I can think of a car which I prefer
in open roadster configuration to how it is
as a coupé. But I may be about to make an
exception for Gordon Murray’s new T.33
Spider. Pre-existing working commitments
meant I was sadly unable to accept Gordon’s
invitation to come and see the car and talk
to him about it, but from what I have
seen from the photographs, it is at least as
attractive as its closed sister.
Cleverly – and you wouldn’t really expect
it any other way – Gordon actually designed
the Spider before the coupé despite the fact
it is being unveiled approximately a year
later. This meant that all targets for torsional
rigidity and stiffness applied directly to the
Spider from the start rather than engineering
an ideal coupé, and having to then
compromise that to make the open car.
I note too that despite the targa roof panels
and electrically lowering rear screen, the
entire weight of the T.33 Spider
has increased by just 18kg,
which, when you have 607bhp
under your engine cover, isn’t
going to make much of a dent
in performance.
Who is going to buy such
a car? Well, clearly, some of the
100 units will be sold to people
who really want to feel the wind
in what’s left of their hair, but
I suspect most will go to those who were
simply unable to get a T.33 coupé when it
was first announced.
Deliveries begin in 2025 with prices
starting at £1.89m, approximately half a
million more than charged for the T.33
coupé. It seems like an enormous additional
cost for a targa roof, but for those to whom
such numbers are unimportant, simply
the ability to own one of Gordon Murray’s
masterpieces will make it seem good value
all by itself.
A former editor of Motor Sport, Andrew splits
his time between testing the latest road cars
and racing (mostly) historic machinery
Follow Andrew on Twitter @Andrew_Frankel
 traditional values
modern thinking

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 FORMULA 1

Fernando Alonso is facing

the wrong way early in the
Australian GP but would
recover to finish third – for
the third time this season

34 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 TRACKSIDE
VIEW
There were colliding
fortunes for the Red Bull
team-mates in the
Australian Grand Prix
amid spins, shunts,
slides and a slew of red
flags and safety cars

36 Race report
Max wins in Melbourne but is he starting to
worry about his teammate?

40 Word on the beat

Rumours of Mattia Binotto’s next job,
Andretti’s F1 plans and moves at McLaren

42 Tactical analysis
Alex Albon’s early departure at Albert Park
gave the strategists a tyre conundrum

43 News in brief
McLaren and Yuki Tsunoda on the up, and
a farewell to Alpine’s aquatic livery

45 Johnny Herbert
Our columnist asks if Red Bull’s punishment
GETTY IMAGES

for its overspend went far enough

June 2023 Motor Sport 35

 FORMULA 1 RACE REPORT
Australian GP
Red Bull’s
mind games
Another race, another win for Max, but is
paranoia creeping into the team battle?
Mark Hughes reports from Albert Park
T
hree red flags, four safety cars
and a bizarre ending caused
by a hole in the sporting
regulations created lots of
distraction on a sunny race
day in Albert Park. But they
didn’t really alter much. The story of the
weekend as a component of this
championship was that Max Verstappen had
a near-perfect weekend and his team-mate
Sergio Pérez had something of a nightmare.
‘Checo’ came into the weekend only one
point behind and left it trailing by 15.
As outlined here last month, the
dynamics at Red Bull are different this year
– at least at this stage of the season – as it’s
clear that Pérez is Verstappen’s only feasible
challenger for a third consecutive world
Sergio Pérez endured
braking issues during
practice, and called on
‘the team’ to sort it out
36 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
title, such is the advantage of the RB19. Pérez
was setting out his stall early in the
Melbourne weekend, saying on Thursday:
“When I first came to the team things were
very different. Basically, they were just going
racing with two cars because they had to,
you know. I can say now that I really feel
part of the team, really feel I have my place
and am well respected. I think that’s
something good to have as a driver and
I really believe I have the full support of the
team as much as Max does and that I will
have every single opportunity to win the
championship as much as Max does.”
Reliability on each of their cars is
going to be disproportionately important
regardless of whether Verstappen’s habitual
performance advantage over Pérez is
maintained. Two DNFs from Verstappen,
and it would take seven races of him beating
Pérez into second to recover. Hence why
Verstappen had been so vocal in his
dissatisfaction in Jeddah, where a driveshaft
failure in qualifying had left him starting 14
places behind his team-mate and was
ultimately the reason he finished second to
him there. Pérez, under no illusions about
how Verstappen is the main focus of the
team but feeling this is the biggest
opportunity of his long career, clearly feels
that it’s incumbent upon Red Bull to give
him an equal shot this year. Putting it out
there that he had faith in the team to do that
put the spotlight on them.
So it was unfortunate that Pérez should
have suffered a braking problem through
Friday and Saturday, which gave him several
trips through various gravel traps and
ultimately saw him beached in one of them
before he’d put a lap on the board in
qualifying. Verstappen – who’d suffered
a similar issue on Friday – had a
straightforward Saturday and duly set
a comfortable pole position. Pérez would
start from the pitlane after a change of brake
material, even though the team was adamant
that no apparent technical issue could be
found to explain his qualifying incident.
The problems of Friday and (for Pérez)
into third practice on Saturday were caused
by a run-on issue with the power unit,
meaning the engine wasn’t completely shut
off as they turned into slow corners.
According to the team, this was fixed on
both cars by the time qualifying began and
was not the cause of Pérez’s off. Pérez
remained unconvinced.

“We had a bit of a technical issue from
FP3 and we thought we fixed it but we
obviously didn’t,” he said. “It’s something
that is moving the brake balance quite far
forward under braking. It was very difficult
to do anything out there. I became a
passenger as soon as I touched the brake.
“I just hope that we are able to fix it as
a team tomorrow and be able to race and
minimise the damage… I trust totally my
team that we will be able to overcome this
problem and be able to have a
strong race pace.” “George
His references to ‘the team’
sounded distinctly pointed.
Russell was
Those of the brake balance were able to
intriguing. Especially when he scorch down
FUTURE PUBLISHING/AFP/FORMULA 1 VIA GETTY IMAGES
said, “I don’t want to go into too
much detail,” about the nature Max’s inside
of that problem. into Turn 1”
Let’s get the distracting
matter of the incident-packed
race – which Verstappen won comfortably,
with Pérez coming through to fifth - out
of the way first before coming back to the
Red Bull situation.
The two Mercedes of George Russell and
Lewis Hamilton had qualified second
and third, taking advantage not only of
Pérez’s problems but also those of Ferrari
where Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc
suffered a scrappy Q3 in which they tripped
over themselves, as one tried to do his attack
lap immediately and the other with a
build lap first. This was a dilemma being
faced up and down the pitlane as the cool
track and smooth surface made it difficult
to generate front tyre temperature quickly
enough to be ready by the start of the first
flying lap. Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin
qualified in between the Mercs
and Ferraris, the three makes of
car on much the same pace but
no threat to Verstappen.
The smooth surface of
Albert Park had probably
played its part in the improved
competitiveness of the Mercedes
W14, the team finding that its
performance improved more
than proportionately when it
could be run so low to the ground. Not Red
Bull low, but lower than at the previous two
tracks. The team also solved the tyre
conundrum well, with an unambiguous
prep lap/attack lap and it could generate
the front temperature easier than the Red
Bull or Aston Martin.
Max Verstappen leads George
Russell’s Mercedes at the start, but
would cede the lead to the Mercedes
before battling back. Below:
business as usual for Verstappen
The car’s startline performance was also
terrific, so much so that Russell was able to
scorch down Verstappen’s inside into Turn
1. As Max’s line was compromised to
accommodate the Merc to his inside, it
placed him awkwardly on the run out of
Turn 1/2 and down to Turn 3, somewhat
bunching the cars immediately behind and
allowing Hamilton to then slice inside him
into 3. That bunching played its part in
Leclerc getting beached in the Turn 3 gravel
trap after contact with Lance Stroll’s Aston
Martin. Strike one Ferrari.
The way Verstappen had not chosen to
fight out the first two turns with the
June 2023 Motor Sport 37
 FORMULA 1 RACE REPORT
Red flag to a Bull
Max Verstappen wasn’t happy about the race stoppages,
and neither were many others. So what’s the solution?
The question of whether
the red flags for the
accidents of Alex Albon
(on lap seven) and Kevin
Magnussen (on lap 54)
were necessary was
raised by several drivers.
Max Verstappen was
understandably highly
aggrieved by the second
one, as it wiped out his
10sec lead with just two
scheduled laps left from
another standing start. As
it happened, his start was
good and the victory
secured. But both
incidents could have been
covered by a safety car
(or even a VSC). It led to
questions about whether
red flags are being used
excessively, possibly in
a drive to create some
drama in a season which
looks likely to be
dominated by one team.
“Restarts are a great
entertainment factor,” said
Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, “but
we need to understand
going forward when a red
flag is being put out and
38 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
when it is a safety car or a
VSC. For those incidents
we could have used either.
“F1 is so successful
because it is sport and
we follow the rule book
and that gives great
entertainment, as long as
it is clear how it is being
interpreted. Whether you
call a VSC or a safety car
or red flag, as long as we
understand in terms of us
being able to plan and in
having the same rules for
everyone, then that is OK.”
The second red flag
essentially made for
a two-lap sprint from a
standing start but that too
was red-flagged after
Carlos Sainz triggered
chaos by hitting Fernando
The Australian Grand Prix
was halted several times
for incidents that could
otherwise have been dealt
with by a safety car. Was it
in search of drama?
Alonso at Turn 1.
McLaren’s Lando Norris
had sympathy for Sainz
(who was penalised 5sec):
“Although we were on the
soft tyre for that last
restart, it’s only at about
65 degrees and the tyre
just doesn’t work at that
temperature on this
surface with this track
temp. I can’t describe how
the grip is. That’s why you
see everyone going
straight on at Turn 1 and
locking up. At 65 deg it
provides literally no grip,
so you have to brake so
early, which causes
chaos. But if the tyres felt
like they gave us some
grip, you’d be able to see
a good race without
chaos and clumsiness and
things like that. We need
a tyre that gives us more
grip and actually a tyre
that feels like it should
be on a Formula 1 car, at
the top of motor sport
and at the moment on a
day like today, it feels
pretty terrible.”
Mercedes pair was untypical of his usual
style. But this year he has a car with which
he can win without risk. Mercedes drivers
are not his competition. With Pérez starting
at the back, it was important to maximise
the points damage to his team-mate. “I could
have been a bit more aggressive,” he said.
“I knew I had a quick car and knew losing
a position at the start wasn’t the end of the
world.” It was particularly quick in the DRS
sections, of which there were four this year.
As soon as that was enabled, by which time
his tyres would be nicely warmed, it would
surely be a simple matter to find the front.
But before that could happen Alex Albon
– who’d qualified his Williams a great eighth
and was running sixth – crashed heavily at
Turn 6. This was lap seven. Out came the
safety car. Anyone pitting at this time could
do so with a 10sec saving to the pack
compared to a stop with the pack at racing
speed. But it was earlier than ideal for what
was poised to be a one-stop race with 51 laps
still to go. Mercedes brought race leader
Russell in, swapping his mediums for hards.
Ferrari did the same with Sainz, from fourth.
Hamilton, Verstappen and Alonso stayed

out, now filling the top three. Then the
safety car was replaced by a red flag, a
ruinous development for Russell and Sainz
(who’d rejoined seventh and 11th
respectively). It meant the others could
effectively change tyres for free and
would take the standing restart from their
unpitted race positions.
Hamilton comfortably retained the lead
from Verstappen upon the restart, everyone
now on hard tyres on which to go the
remaining distance. This would mean a
considerable degree of tyre management
for everyone and lots of DRS trains, as using
DPPI, GETTY IMAGES, GRAND PRIX PHOTO
Mercedes found some useful pace at Albert
Park, being able to run the W14 lower
Charles Leclerc was an early
visitor to the gravel following
contact with Lance Stroll’s Aston
Fernando Alonso is tipped round
at Turn 1 after the final standing
start, earning Carlos Sainz a
penalty. Right: Russell trudges
away from his failed Mercedes
the DRS from the car ahead is an effective
way of doing a lap time without unduly
straining the tyres. But Verstappen used the
feature more aggressively to put a pass on
Hamilton for the lead on the long run to
Turn 9 on lap 12. He pulled out 2sec in just
the remainder of the lap and steadily built
up a 10sec lead, leaving Hamilton to a tense
struggle in keeping Alonso out
of his DRS range, something “In the
in which he was ultimately
successful as they each
chaos, Gasly
alternately attacked and backed pincered
off, managing the tyres.
Russell’s power unit gave out
team-mate
in a fiery way not long after the Ocon into
restart. Sainz made good the wall”
progress through the mid-pack,
culminating with a great move
on Pierre Gasly’s Alpine to go fourth. But
Gasly and Stroll were able to hang onto the
Ferrari’s tail with the aid of DRS. Pérez,
having started at the back, took a little while
to reach them – but did so. He’d passed the
battling Lando Norris and Nico Hülkenberg
and was right with Stroll, looking to pounce,
with just four laps to go when the race went
under a safety car again. Kevin Magnussen
had clipped the Turn 2 wall and stripped
off his right-rear tyre, trailing tyre and wheel
rim debris behind. Again, the safety car was
replaced by a red flag and the cars would
line up on the grid for their third standing
start of the day.
Verstappen’s 10sec lead had been taken
away and with just two laps of
racing left, another iffy start
could potentially lose him the
race. Hamilton seemed more
concerned about the Alonso
threat than excited by the
possibilit y of stealing
Verstappen’s win. That’s how it
was poised as the lights went
out. Verstappen this time made
a good start and was untroubled
by Hamilton into Turn 1, but Sainz, on cold
tyres and brakes, vying with Gasly into Turn
1, clipped Alonso into a spin. In the chaos
this triggered, Gasly pincered team-mate
Esteban Ocon against the wall and both
Alpines were out, heavily damaged. Alonso
had got going again, but fell back while the
other Aston of Stroll went straight on into
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 39
 FORMULA 1 RACE REPORT
The pink flashpoint.
Pierre Gasly and
Esteban Ocon’s Alpines
collide after the late

Word on restart, leading to the

final red flag of the race

the beat
Binotto rumours and talk
of a 50% female F1 team

● McLaren’s technical department

has been restructured in the wake
of the departure of technical director
James Key. Former aero chief
Peter Prodromou, inset, becomes
technical director of aerodynamics.
Technical director of engineering and
design is Neil Houldey (formerly
director of car concept). Scheduled to
join in January 2024 after his
gardening leave from Ferrari
has been served is David
Sanchez as technical
director of car concept
and performance. The
team’s new wind tunnel is
on schedule to be running the Turn 3 gravel. The red flag came out downside of such extreme anti-dive in the
by the latter half of this year. once more. Now, there were insufficient laps suspension geometry (it’s around 45
left in which to have a race. But there was degrees) would typically be a tendency to
● Mattia Binotto is being talked still time to complete it behind the safety lock the fronts under braking. It might also
about as a potential new team boss car – which meant that the two Astons got make it a little slower to generate good front
at Alpine next year. If so, current to take up their race positions before the tyre temperatures. A cool, smooth track
Ferrari sporting director Laurent restart incidents. The three would amplify these difficulties
Mekies – a close ally of Binotto’s – world champions in the field – “Carlos – which is exactly what Albert
could go with him. Verstappen, Hamilton and Park was on Friday and
Alonso – shared the podium.
Sainz’s 5sec Saturday. Could this be what
● Craig Pollock – former manager of
Sainz was awarded a 5sec penalty caught Pérez out in qualifying,
Jacques Villeneuve and former BAR
team boss – is attempting to launch a
penalty for the Alonso incident, promoted unrelated to the engine run-on
dropping him from fourth issue which had blighted his
new F1 team for 2026, based in Saudi
across the line to an official 12th. Lance Stroll practices? Does the Red Bull
Arabia and with a target of a 50%
female staffing level.
This promoted Stroll to fourth to fourth” require an unconventional
from Pérez (who set fastest lap), brake bias setting because of
Norris, Hülkenberg, McLaren’s the anti-dive front-locking traits,
● Michael Andretti’s team is still
Oscar Piastri (his first championship points), and was this part of Checo’s problem?
making preparations for an F1 entry
in 2026, with a base now in Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa and Yuki Tsunoda’s Mix all these ingredients with a driver alert
Silverstone and CFD creation AlphaTauri. to the possibility of his team-mate
of 2024 and ’25 cars. Which brings us back to Red Bull and being favoured and you have the breeding
the would-be title fight between their ground for paranoia.
● Honda is set to make a drivers. The RB19 runs an extreme degree
final decision in June on of anti-dive front suspension and anti-squat
whether it will produce an rear. In this way – and with appropriate
F1 power unit for the 2026 underbody design – it suffers less than the
regulations. The F1 technical group is other cars with how the centre of aero
currently working all-out on such an pressure dives forward a long way under
engine, but is still trying to convince braking before then shooting back as the
the main board to green light the driver releases the brake and the car levels
project. If it goes ahead, Aston Martin out. This gives it a better through-corner
is believed to be a strong contender balance than the other cars and also the
GETTY IMAGES

for a supply, as Red Bull is committed ability to run the car lower (as there is less
to creating and running its own Red dive and pitch to account for), thereby Champions together: Alonso and Lewis
Bull Powertrains unit. increasing underbody downforce. The Hamilton shared the podium in Australia

40 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

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 FORMULA 1 TACTICS
TEAM TACTICS
Treading carefully
When Williams’ Alex Albon crashed out in Melbourne, it put
Formula 1 teams in a quandary. Mark Hughes explains how
the stoppage led to much head-scratching about tyre strategy
T
he strategic Y-point of this race
was Alex Albon’s lap seven
accident. It was always set to
be a one-stop race, ideally with
a medium-hard sequence. The
C4 soft didn’t have the range
to comfortably make a one-stop feasible and
wasn’t sufficiently faster to buy the extra
20-odd seconds needed for a two-stop.
But Albon’s safety car-inducing accident
was rather inconveniently early – with 51 laps
still to go – to make it obvious
whether you should pit or not. “‘Hasn’t that
There was no question that the
hard C2 tyre was fully capable
put me at a
of going to the end, even if fitted disadvantage
so early. But compared to a to George?’”
conventional stop at around lap
20 (roughly what most teams queried
were planning) would it mean Hamilton”
backing off so much that you’d
lose the 10sec saving of pitting
under the safety car?
The answer to that wasn’t obvious,
especially since the Friday practices had
been too heavily interrupted to conduct any
meaningful long runs. Mercedes – 1-2 at the
time – could afford to have a foot in each
camp. It brought in race-leading Russell
42 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
and left Hamilton out. “Hasn’t that just put
me at a massive disadvantage?” queried
Hamilton over the radio. “Not necessarily,”
replied his engineer Pete Bonnington. It all
depended upon how much faster Hamilton
would be able to go than Russell in his
second stint on tyres around 13 laps newer.
Ferrari brought in Sainz, while Red Bull
and Aston Martin left out Verstappen and
Alonso respectively.
But the comparison between the early
safety car stop and a later
conventional stop became
irrelevant as the safety car was
replaced by a red flag. Which
meant Russell and Sainz had
dropped positions on track for
no payback reward later. Now,
everyone could change tyres –
and everyone did so. Russell’s
engine let go only a few laps after
the restart.
But now everyone was needing to do 50
laps on their hard tyres, there was no
strategic variation to mix up the field or
create gaps in the pack for the leaders to
drop into if they wished to attack and do a
second stop. Everyone was therefore obliged
to tyre manage quite heavily for the
Alex Albon sprints from his
stranded car but, with 51 laps
of the race still to go, it was a
tough call for teams whether
they should pit. Below: Lewis
Hamilton remained out
remainder of the race, in order to avoid the
potentially costly second stop.
The relatively gentle pace from second
right down to the midfield was only one
reason the gaps didn’t open up. The other
was that with four DRS zones it became quite
easy to maintain the pace of the car at the
head of the DRS without having to take too
much from the tyres. Tight up behind second
place Hamilton (once Verstappen had taken
the lead and pulled away), Alonso, Gasly and
Stroll rarely had more than a couple of
seconds between them and were later joined
by the recovering Sainz and Pérez.
Aston Martin was constantly monitoring
whether it would be feasible to bring in
Alonso for a second stop in his struggle with
Hamilton for second place. But the tightness
of the pack meant he would have lost many
places and the low degradation rate of the
tyres meant he’d not necessarily have
enough of a pace advantage to be able to
overtake on track once he’d rejoined.
Strategic stale mate.

Good month, bad month
Charting the ups and downs of the F1 circus
RUSSELL-ING UP
0.25sec off VER in qualifying,
then leading before PU blowout. Is
Russell giving the title fight hope?
SASSY TED
No holding back from Sky’s Ted
Kravitz in Australia on various
matters, like a pleasant koala bear
turned ominously sincere.
GOOD
DRIVE THROUGH THE PARK
BAD
The recent changes to Albert
Park didn’t do much for the 2022 race,
but this year’s instalment saw action
right through the field.
MACCA ON THE RISE
Sixth and eighth at Albert Park
meant McLaren leapt spectacularly up
from last to fifth in the constructors’
championship.
ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES, GRAND PRIX PHOTO
POCKET ROCKET
After three 11ths in a row, Yuki
finally scored a point. Attaboy!
ALPINE BLOBFISH LIVERY
That absolute horror show of an
Oz finish from Alpine an appropriate
farewell for its ‘Sad BWT Blobfish’ livery.
OFFICIAL’S MESS
FIA makes a dingo’s dinner of
proceedings, throwing the red flag
apparently in an attempt to finish the
race under ‘exciting’ race conditions.
HEAVY HIT
A brilliant sixth early on, Albon
dumped his Williams into the barrier.
Will hurt in more way than one.
DISASTER DOWN UNDER
Leclerc in the gravel, Sainz out
of the points in 12th after a penalty
for daft driving.
BEHIND THE CURVE
Pérez ate run-off in Q1, letting
team-mate Verstappen steal a
championship march on Sunday.
More Barrichello than Pironi.
NEWS IN BRIEF FORMULA 1
F1 RETRO – MARCH 2002
Why Hill will
always be
Mr Monaco
Extraordinary tales from the
Motor Sport digital archive
T
his month marks 60 years since Graham
Hill took his and BRM’s first Formula 1
win at the circuit with which he would
become synonymous: Monaco.
Paul Fearnley’s March 2002 archive piece
examines the double world champion’s
relationship with the principality, beginning
at the end – Hill’s painful DNQ at Monaco in
’75. However, Ian Flux, then a junior mechanic
for Mr Monaco’s F1 team, explains to the writer
how disappointment was assuaged by
adulation for the 14-time GP winner.
“I only realised the next day what a big
deal it was,” he says. “When we walked
towards Sainte Devote, he was all smiles and
the crowd’s reaction was incredible. It was
then that it dawned on me what Monaco
meant to him, and what he meant to Monaco.”
Fearnley further demonstrates how
symbiotic the link was. “The connections are
freakish: first grand prix, last grand prix, five
wins, overhauling Fangio’s record points haul
(1970), his 150th GP start (’73) — all occurred
at Monaco. But the relationship was more than
simply statistics. He was the life and soul of
motor racing’s biggest party. That 1975
Monaco walk was made easier by the warmth
of the reception. Monaco and its favourite son
had bade farewell.”
To read the full story visit
motorsportmagazine.com/archive
June 2023 Motor Sport 43
 A
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3 JUNE 2023

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S
o we’re facing a season of Red Bull
domination. That’s the takeaway
from the first three Formula 1
grands prix. At a time when
entertainment and ‘the show’ are
in particular focus, should the
team be pegged back? And has it been
punished enough for the budget cap
overspend it was found guilty of ? Big
questions. Let’s take the second one first.
There was a chance to peg back Red Bull
months ago when the team was found to be
in breach of the budget cap. No, I don’t think
the punishment was harsh enough. As far
as I’m aware, CFD (computational fluid
dynamics) is probably more important than
wind tunnel time. The car is designed via
CFD, then checked in the wind tunnel – so
the CFD is the real deal. That means a wind
tunnel penalty only has so much
effect because the CFD is so “The top
damn powerful, and there was
no penalty given on that front.
three
If you are going to penalise, you we have
have to do so on the basis of all always had
the tools the teams use. So did
Red Bull get away with it? The is finally
proof is in the pudding: yes, it changing”
did. It said it was going to lose
out – but where exactly has Red
Bull lost out? Perhaps its dominance isn’t as
great as it expected!
On to the question of pegging the team
back. It’s hard to justify a change in the
JONATHAN BUSHELL
sporting regulations mid-season. Perhaps
we should be talking about changes for 2024.
At the same time, there’s a pressure to pull
in those casual viewers, whatever Stefano
JOHNNY
HERBERT
“Decisions should be
made by F1 and the FIA.
The teams shouldn’t
have a say. They have
too much power”
Domenicali might say about the new
generation of fans not being bothered about
domination. That’s a strange thing for him
to say. Sounds like an engineer talking rather
than a promoter.
On this – or any other subject for that
matter – decisions should be made by
Formula 1 and the FIA together. The teams
shouldn’t have a say. They have too much
power and tend to dilute whatever they can
because all they want is to find the advantage.
Their priority is to dominate and win, which
I understand. But that’s why they mustn’t
be allowed to dictate.
Take sustainable fuels. Why is F1 holding
back until the new engine formula in 2026?
Do it now and get on with it. The development
of such fuel technology will be so quick if
teams have to race with it. Do it for the good
of the sport now, in a world that
is expecting someone to find that
next technological breakthrough.
That’s what F1 is so damn good
at. It’s now that F1 can make a
statement: that we can make
combustion engines survive. The
technology is there already in
terms of carbon-capture fuel.
I digress. Back to the point
in question: improving the show
now by pegging back Red Bull. Since
I became involved with TV my attitude to F1
has changed. As a racing driver, I was in this
bubble of technology and just being fast.
‘Fast is good’ was the mantra. But actually
it isn’t always. It’s how you use what you’ve
got to make racing entertaining, and that
can be done. So would it be bad for Red Bull
OPINION FORMULA 1
to be pegged back? Perhaps a fuel flow or
boost reduction, or take away some DRS?
Actually, I don’t think it would be a bad thing.
As a driver I’d relish the challenge. But teams
don’t like it when F1 is unpredictable.
One argument you hear is to make all
the cars the same. Core F1 fans who love
technology say no, that’s not what F1 is
all about. But the technology causes the
problem of domination because when one
gets it absolutely right, as Adrian Newey and
his team have done, this is what you get. So
do you give them some sort of penalty for
being the best? If you do, I still think the
results would be the same.
Put all the Formula 2 cars on the grid,
for example, and paint them in the team
colours. Who would win? The best team
would still win. The guys at the front will still
be the guys at the front. Will it be closer?
Probably, but there will still be a gap. One
team will always be able to extract more from
those standardised cars. Is that scenario
better for the show? In some ways, yes. Is it
F1? Well, again, the purist would say no. But
you don’t necessarily need to lose cutting-
edge technology – just use it differently.
Anyway, it’s not all doom and gloom this
season. What is great is that Alpine is talking
about the possibility of beating Mercedes,
while Aston Martin is already beating
Mercedes and Ferrari. The top three we have
always had – Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari
– is finally changing.
Johnny Herbert was a Formula 1 driver from
1989-2000 and a Le Mans winner in 1991.
Follow Johnny on Twitter @johnnyherbertf1
June 2023 Motor Sport 45
 REVIEWS ROAD CAR TESTS

It’s a supercar that hasn’t

been on a diet. This
monster Lamborghini
SUV boasts some
mind-boggling numbers.

Lamborghini’s cars are genuinely popular, not merely with

the customers who buy them but particularly
with the manufacturers who make them,
because they sell in large numbers, and with

V8 novelty act
a healthy profit margin.
All the key statistics surrounding the
Urus Performante read like misprints. Its
twin turbo, V8 engine now develops 657bhp,

In an age when supercar makers seem it will reach 62mph from rest in 3.3 seconds,
it has a top speed of 190mph, it weighs

to believe bigger is always better, the Urus 2150kg and it costs £204,000. Truly, this is
excess all areas in automotive form.

Performante fits in, says Andrew Frankel Your eyes will tell this Urus from the
standard car by its vented bonnet and
carbon fibre wheel arch extensions. Your
ears will tell it thanks to the fully titanium

T
he time will come when we
look back at cars like
this Lamborghini Urus
Performante and simply
goggle that it even ever existed.
“What were they thinking of?”
our descendants will say. “How could they
possibly think that such a car ever constituted
a good idea for anyone?”
‘Such a car’ is an enormous SUV with
even more power than the car upon which
it is based, with even more performance
provided for even more money. And the fact
that it also weighs a little less is really neither
here nor there in the context of a car that
already weighs so much.
And yet not only does it exist, it exists in
a class with a competitor set, including cars
from Porsche, from Aston Martin, and
Bentley. Even Ferrari is getting in on the
game with its new Purosangue, albeit at a
rather different price point. Moreover, such
Akrapovic exhaust. But to appreciate the
most substantial changes, you’ll have to drive
it. Do this, and you will discover the effects
of a chassis which has been lowered by
10mm, its comfort-oriented triple chamber
air suspension replaced by stiffer, racier coil
units, its steering rack quickened and a more
rearward torque bias achieved through the
reprogramming of its Torsen centre
differential. The result is an automotive
novelty act, a car able do things common

46 Motor Sport June 2023


“It corners flat and unfeasibly fast
for a car of this mammoth mass”
sense suggests should be beyond the ability
of anything of this size and weight. It is, of
course, preposterously fast in a straight line,
but that in itself is perhaps the least
surprising aspect of this Lamborghini’s
performance. What is far more memorable
is the dogged determination with which it
clings to your chosen line through a curve,
almost irrespective of how hard you are
trying to push it.
It corners flat and unfeasibly fast for a
car of this mass and these proportions, and
while it never feels smaller or lighter than it
actually is, I must concede that it is far more
capable and impressive than I had imagined,
despite having driven the standard Urus
over long distances.
But is it actually fun? Fun in a way that
makes you not just want to seek out decent
roads, but set an alarm for the early hours
of the morning to ensure those roads are
traffic free? It would be one of the most
remarkable achievements were that the case,
for that is not something that I would choose
to do even in the aforementioned Ferrari.
Truth is you could buy a Mazda MX-5 for
£1500 and find yourself having far more fun
on such a road than you would ever have in
any of these overblown SUVs. But that does
not mean such cars cannot be impressive in
such an environment, and the Lamborghini
is nothing if not that. Nor is it merely
superficially capable; even when the weather
and the surface are far from ideal, the
Lamborghini’s composure remains rock
solid. Like these cars or not, it is hard to deny
that in this regard at least, Lamborghini’s
engineers have done a very impressive job.
But there are problems, and not just
those you expect, namely the appalling fuel
consumption, sky-high emissions, and that
nagging suspicion that every other road user
hates you. The only way that Lamborghini
has been able to persuade a car of such
height and weight also to handle so capably
is to tie it down in its springs to such an
extent that its body scarcely moves at all.
Which means that on the vast majority of
occasions when you’re not driving it like
your trousers are on fire, the ride quality is
mediocre at best and at times makes you
want to get out of the car and walk.
Which, I have to say, was never a feeling
I had when driving its closest real-world
rival, the Aston Martin DBX707.
The Aston provides a driving experience
just as rich, if that is even a word to use in
the context of such cars, but remains at
For all its impressive traits,
the Urus Performante still
has issues, ride being a
very noticeable one
all times a quiet, comfortable and civilised
car in which you and your family can go
about their business.
Of course Lamborghinis are all about
flamboyance, drama both visual and aural,
of making a statement by projecting a very
bold era. And by its own terms of reference,
the Urus still does that job better than any
other, which helps explain its phenomenal
success. But if you want something a bit
more rounded and user-friendly from your
full-size high performance SUV, the Aston is
unquestionably the better option.
LAMBORGHINI URUS PERFORMANTE
● Price £204,213 ● Engine 4 litres,
eight cylinders, petrol, twin turbo
● Power 657bhp at 6000rpm
● Torque 627lb ft at 2300rpm
● Weight 2150kg (DIN)
● Power to weight 305bhp per tonne
● Transmission Eight-speed double
clutch, four-wheel drive
● 0-62mph 3.3sec ● Top speed 190mph
● Economy 20.0mpg ● CO2 320g/km
● Verdict Impressive, but ludicrous.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 47
 REVIEWS ROAD CAR TESTS
R8 makes
its last stand
Audi’s ageing usable supercar
is pricey but it’s still a performer
ow in the swansong of its life,
N
the Audi R8 is still posing
questions for those who seek
to better its blend of everyday
usability and outrageous point
to point pace. And this ‘entry
level’ rear-drive model is a case in point.
True, some aspects raise an eyebrow – the
price, scruffy interior and anaemia-inducing
fuel consumption – but otherwise it has aged
well. The V10 remains one of the most viscerally
thrilling motors to be found in any car, and
anyone who says they’d want more performance
on the public road is not seeing straight. It steers
beautifully and has such a benign chassis
balance up to and beyond its limits, which
means at speeds you’ll almost certainly never
manage on said public road, I can see little
argument for spending extra on the more
powerful all-wheel-drive version unless you
want a heavier, less well-balanced car. I don’t.
It’s a shame that it’s destined for the chop
because to me and with the only possible
Parallel
streamlines
No, it isn’t a Porsche, yet there’s
Teutonic cool to the Ioniq 6 EV
48 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
For now, enjoy the roar of the R8’s
V10 while you can because its
successor will be near-silent
exception of the charming but far more rough
and ready Aston Martin Vantage, the R8 is
the only car that has convincingly answered
the question of what usable supercar to buy for
those who don’t want, or fancy a change from,
a Porsche 911. I expect its successor will be
all-electric, far faster, massively heavier and
technologically bang up to date. But if it
provides even half the fun of this car, I’ll be very
impressed and not a little surprised. AF
ere is an instructive fact. This
H
sleek new Hyundai Ioniq 6
saloon sits on the same platform
as the already launched Ioniq
5 crossover SUV. They use the
same electric motors, the same
battery packs. Beneath the skin they really are
the same car. And yet, the Ioniq 5 in the same
rear-drive ‘Ultimate’ specification has an
official range of 295 miles, the Ioniq 6 some
338 miles. Why? It’s simple: the Ioniq 5 has a
highly commendable drag co-efficient (CD) of
just 0.29, the Ioniq 6, a freakish 0.21.
But that slippery shape does something
else too: it gives the car real character. There
are some elements of its lines that remind me
of those extraordinary 1930s Silver Arrows
autobahn record breakers from Mercedes-Benz
and Auto Union, others that are so reminiscent
of the Porsche 911 I’d not be surprised to learn
they’d heard from lawyers in Stuttgart.
Both in its design and in its styling (for they
are not the same thing), the Ioniq 6 seems so
much more imaginative than the majority of
AUDI R8 RWD
● Price £131,725
● Engine 5.2 litres, 10 cylinders, petrol
● Power 562bhp
● Torque 406lb ft ● Weight 1590kg
● Power to weight 353bhp per tonne
● Transmission Eight-speed double
clutch, rear-wheel drive
● 0-60mph 3.7sec ● Top speed 204mph
● Economy 21.9mpg ● CO2 295g/km
● Verdict Credible 911 alternative.
Europe’s equivalent output. It also has an 800v
charging infrastructure like the Porsche Taycan
and not many others so that, in theory at least,
it can charge from 10-80% in 18 minutes.
No, it’s not great to drive, but what similar
car is? Instead Hyundai has been bold, made
the most of the advantages inherent within EV
architecture and created a genuinely desirable
electric car. And in so doing they have achieved
something very indeed. AF
HYUNDAI IONIQ 6 ULTIMATE RWD
● Price £50,540
● Engine Rear electric motor, 76kWh
battery ● Power 255bhp
● Torque 258lb ft ● Weight 1835kg
● Power to weight 139bhp per tonne
● Transmission Single speed,
rear-wheel drive
● 0-60mph 7.4sec ● Top speed 115mph
● Range 338 miles (WLTP) ● CO2 0g/km
● Verdict An EV that isn’t such a drag.
01582 967777 (VW
 5HJWUDQVIHUVFRXN
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3(5621$/180%(53/$7(6

• Established 1982 • Over 50 million numbers available

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AD 2 I CAG 97 FB HE 6 KY I 54 NR SC 7 VH 5
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AN I I CMS FJ I I HO 94 LF I PF SN II VS I
52 AO 85 CO FL I I HT LG I I PMB 70 SU VW I
AP I CS I FN I HW 6 LK I PN 2 99 SY I WB
53 AV 9I DE FP I IG 7 LL 2I PO I TE 2 WC I
93 AY DT 6 FR 3 JA 56 LO I PR 4 TG 2 WD 8
59 BC 60 DV GA I 3 JEP MAG I 55 PV TK 36 I WE
BM 26 EB I GB 6 JH 44 MB 9 99 PY TN I WL 4
I BN EE 3 GE I JMR I MEC I RD 59 TP I WM 6
85 BO I EF GF I JN I I MU RG 69 TR 7 WR I
BR 6 EG 3 GL 2I 40 JV MV 4 RJP I I TV WS I
BV I I EH GN 4 JY I 96 NF RK I I VA WT 2
BW 6 EK I 73 GR KE I I NJ RN I I VB 20 YM
I CA EP 2 GT 6 KP I I9 NL RP 2 I VD YS 34
I CAB ET 5 HD II 20 KR 65 NN 45 RV VE I I YW

All numbers illustrated are Regtransfers stock and available immediately.

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 REVIEWS PRECISION

The history of
Junghans is
intertwined with the
car, stretching back
more than 100 years

Reservoir was founded in 2017 by French

former banker François Moreau, whose
original models were inspired by the
speedometer found on the Mini.
Variations on the theme have followed,
with this latest watch, the Kanister 316,
being based on the look of a Porsche 356

Jung at heart rev counter. A conventional self-winding

movement is adapted with a 124-part
module made by specialist manufacture
Telos to create a retrograde minutes/
With its dashboard-esque subdials and easy-to-read features jumping hour display, while the watch
the Meister Chronoscope by Junghans has motoring in its fabric gets its designation as a result of the case
and bracelet being made from 316L steel.  
Reservoir Kanister 316, £4300.

G
ermany’s largest watchmaker? That was when local spring manufacturing reservoir-watch.com
That’ll be Junghans, which tycoon Dr Hans-Jochem Steim stepped in to
churns out 60,000 watches per save the business, and it’s once again in rude
year from its facility in the Black health, expanding around the world and
Forest. Junghans actually began making some delightful mechanical watches
as a wall-clock maker in 1861 – some of which take inspiration from the 1900s
and grew to become the biggest producer of when Junghans ran a lucrative sideline
timepieces in the entire world.  producing accessories for early cars.
After adopting industrialisation methods The firm took out a patent in 1905 for a car
pioneered in America, its 3000 employees were speedometer and also made dashboard clocks,
assembling a staggering three million clocks trafficators and even a gentleman’s car clock
and watches annually by 1903.  that could be set to automatically switch on the
World War II brought a shift to the headlamps when it got dark.
manufacture of bomb timers and, in 1956, Arthur Junghans, son of the firm’s founder,
Junghans was taken over by munitions firm bought one of the first Maybachs, for which he
Diehl, which made it into the third most made his own gearing system to convert it from
important chronometer producer in the world being tiller-steered to having a steering wheel. We brought you news last year of Atelier
behind Rolex and Omega – as well as a pioneer Steim and his son Hannes are equally Jalaper’s first project, a watch featuring
in the field of radio-controlled timepieces such enthusiastic petrolheads and have amassed a a dial cut from the discarded bonnet of
as the now-celebrated Mega 1 of 1990.  collection of more than 130 vehicles, ranging an Aston Martin DB5. Now the firm has
But while Switzerland set about saving its from a 1902 De Dion-Bouton to a 1965 Mercedes- created the AJ-P400 series with dials
mechanical watch industry during the 1980s, Benz 600 Pullman limousine. As a result, made from aluminium salvaged from the
Junghans stuck to making electronic pieces and Junghans is an especially good source of driver’s engine cover of a burned-out Lamborghini
missed the boat on the luxury watch revival, watches such as the new Meister Chronoscope, Miura – the oval bezel is based on the
leading to bankruptcy and its purchase in 2000 which combines a pleasingly retro look with shape of the Miura’s pop-up lights.
by Hong Kong holding company EganaGoldpfeil.  practicality thanks to its curved case and crystal There’s a hand-wound Sellita movement
By now split from the defence business, and large, dished subdials. and each watch is supplied on a leather
the Junghans’ watch division was placed in the The case back is ergonomically curved, too, strap reminiscent of a Miura’s upholstery.
charge of industry veteran Heinz Pfeifer, who and features a sapphire crystal glass that gives Atelier Jalaper AJ-P400, £1650.
led a move to re-establish it as a maker a good view of the self-winding movement. Go atelierjalaper.com
of mechanical watches – but the break-up of on – you’re only ‘Jung’ once. 
EganaGoldpfeil in 2007 resulted in a crisis that Junghans Meister Chronoscope, £2140. Available Precision is written by renowned luxury
threatened to destroy Junghans for good.  at Bucherer. bucherer.com goods specialist Simon de Burton

50 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 Less metal.
Same mettle.

When asked for feedback on the C60 Trident, our Forum said “…make one
that still gets noticed, without feeling its presence as much on your wrist.”
This new C60 Trident Pro 300 is the result. Same widths. Same lug-to-lugs.
Yet an average 1.75mm lower profile across the range. By using a sapphire case
back, it’s an average 14.67g lighter. too. This means its depth rating is now only
as good as a Submariner. To compensate: we’ve added extra lume, a new bezel
and an optional screwed-link bracelet. Plus actual compensation
of £94 average saving. Less. And more, then?
Do your research.

christopherward.com
 EVENTS MAY-JUNE 2023
Scott Dixon leads the field
away for the start of last
year’s 500, which gave us
an ultra-dramatic ending
Fired up for the 500
Warm up with the Monaco Grand Prix, and then catch the
107th running of IndyCar’s world-class seasonal showpiece
Indy 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, USA, May 26-28
T
he arrival of May always signals
the run up to one of motor
racing’s most hotly anticipated
events, the Indy 500. Across the
last 112 years, the race has
featured more than its fair share
of stories, and the 107th running is shaping
up to be just as dramatic.
Last year it was Swede Marcus Ericsson
who grabbed the glory, perhaps somewhat
surprisingly, after a late Jimmie Johnson crash
led to a dramatic two-lap sprint to the end,
where Ericsson crossed the line 1.8sec ahead
of Pato O’Ward. Given Ericsson’s disappointing
Formula 1 career, the result was perhaps
vindication of his talents.
But coming into this season’s showpiece,
it’s almost impossible to call the favourites
due to the topsy turvy nature of this year’s
contest so far. At the time of writing, only two
rounds of the IndyCar season had taken place,
and four different drivers had starred. Sure,
McLaren’s young Mexican O’Ward may lead
the points courtesy of two second places, but
Ericsson and Josef Newgarden have split the
wins so far, with Romain Grosjean and Felix
Rosenqvist sharing the pole positions.
Drivers like O’Ward, Callum Ilott and
Colton Herta are all waiting to make their mark
52 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
in the 500, while there are nine former
winners entered. Ericsson could become the
first driver to win it back-to-back since Hélio
Castroneves in 2002. Or, perhaps a fairytale
ending awaits the 2004 IndyCar champion
Tony Kanaan, who will retire from racing at
the chequered flag.
Team Penske, Chip Ganassi, McLaren and
Andretti Autosport are among the front-
runners but with this race, one can never rule
out an outside bet taking victory.
It’ll be a blockbuster weekend for the
sport, with the Monaco Grand Prix taking
place just a few hours beforehand. So once
the F1 is done, switch over to watch ‘The
Greatest Spectacle in Racing’.
After 97 fruitless Formula 1 starts, Sweden’s
Marcus Ericsson is starting to shine in IndyCar
EXTREME E – HYDRO X-PRIX
Scotland, May 13-14
The electric off-road series returns to
Britain, after visiting Dorset in 2021. This
time, the championship heads to
Scotland after an epic opening weekend
in Saudi Arabia. Veloce and Sainz XE
both won a race in the desert, while
Rosberg X Racing looks strong after
two third-place finishes.
FORMULA 1 –
MONACO GRAND PRIX
Monte Carlo, Monaco, May 26-28
Formula 1 returns to the principality for
its most prestigious race. Red Bull has
won through the streets of Monaco for
the past two years and after a victorious
start to 2023 will be favourite to do so
again. However, can Sergio Pérez find a
way to beat his world champion
team-mate Max Verstappen?
ISLE OF MAN TT
Isle of Man, May 29-June 10
Motorcycling’s oldest and most
dangerous race is once again set for two
weeks of unparalleled drama. Riders
face a daunting 37.7-mile public road
circuit, which has toured the small island
since 1907. A brave personality is
required for this race, with Peter
Hickman as its defending winner.
WRC – RALLY ITALIA
SARDEGNA
Sardinia, Italy, June 1-4
Round six takes the series to sunny
Sardinia, which will be marking its 20th
year on the calendar. A total of 208
miles of gruelling gravel stages await,
where Sébastien Ogier has the chance
to take a record-breaking eighth victory
in Italy, after a couple of wins early in
the season for Toyota.
FORMULA E – JAKARTA EPRIX
WORDS: ED HARDY. IMAGES: ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES
Jakarta, Indonesia, June 3-4
FE returns to Indonesia for a second
season. Drivers face a fast, 18-turn circuit
where a lap of just over a minute took
pole last year. It will be the 10th and 11th
rounds of the season with Porsche
leading the way in the championship.
MORE EVENTS
May 14 MotoGP – Le Mans, France
May 19-21 Formula 1 – Imola, Italy
May 27-28 British GT – Donington Park
June 3-4 BTCC – Thruxton
 REVIEWS BOOKS
Blue is the colour – and
the mood left behind
Prestige, cashflow, jobs – all seemed assured with Bugatti’s
rebirth. Gordon Cruickshank learns what stifled the dream
t was a bold adventure – resurrecting
I
a defunct marque with a huge story
behind it, and for a while it seemed
to have succeeded. Then everything
went wrong for the reborn Bugatti…
Today around Monte Carlo or
Kensington you can see plenty of evidence
that Bugatti continues, but only because in
1998 the Volkswagen Group bought out the
bankrupt firm. This book tells the story of
the 10 years before that, years of excitement,
squabbling, drama and high hopes that saw
the revered name reborn as an Italian firm
instead of a French one – only to be liquidated
as the result of recession, disastrous sales
and cashflow problems.
Guatam Sen has been associated with
many of the key players and gained access
to the company’s archives, making this a
very detailed account of a brave undertaking.
He also approached prime backer Romano
Artioli for an interview though only managed
54 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
an e-mail exchange as Artioli, right, was
publishing his own book. But, says Sen
pertinently, there were many players, many
viewpoints “and many truths”…
A surprise to me was finding that one of
those discussing the idea of a new supercar
was Ferruccio Lamborghini, though only as
a sounding board – “Running a factory is a
lot of trouble, too many sleepless nights,”
said the retired manufacturer. Not only that,
but they initially thought of calling the new
venture by a totally new name – Bugatti
wasn’t the first proposal but once they had
settled on the glamorous but defunct oval
badge there was a scramble to collect up all
rights to the Bugatti name.
Bugatti – The Italian Decade
Guatam Sen
Dalton Watson, £125
ISBN 9781854433091
Glittering dreams: in 1990
Bugatti’s shiny factory
heralded a new supercar
player – but is now a sad
symbol of failure
In between the tale of this troubled
decade Sen offers us background information
on the people – engineers Paolo Stanzani,
who inspired the project, and Nicola
Materazzi, previously father of the F40 – as
well as the companies involved such as
Bertone, one of several design houses vying
for the commission, and Tecnostile who
engineered much of the EB110. Drawing and
component photos give a good idea of the
complex mechanicals.
Many felt (as I do) that a Bugatti should
GAMMA-RAPHO VIA GETTY IMAGES
be a grand routier de luxe, but Artioli chose
to build a mid-engined supercar, so Sen runs
through contemporary rivals then creating
a new ‘money no object’ market sector, such
as 959 and F40, both sales successes, and
Cizeta V16T, a supercar with 16 transverse
pots which rose without trace.
 Artioli’s team flagged the scale of the new
operation with a glamorous new factory near
Modena, where something in the water
makes Italian pedigree bloodlines flourish.
Just not this one: the once-glittering building
now sits empty and decaying.
But putting the quad-turbo V12 in the
back of the new Bugatti made it hard to carry
any visual inheritance from the Molsheim
cars, especially that horseshoe grille. A large
section on shaping the new car tells a story
of what frankly looks like flailing about to
establish a look, including the sacking of
Stanzani and the defection of respected
designer Marcello Gandini who said “the
broth was getting messy” and refused to have
his name connected with the endlessly
tinkered and frankly lumpy final shape.
Indeed the whole affair seems to have
been messy, with people being drafted in
and leaving with little sense of a core team
or philosophy. Ferrari legend Mauro
Forghieri arrived, then baled out and even
main-man Artioli sold his stake and bought
into Lotus in 1994. By then as Sen details, a
recession and poor sales were strangling
cashflow with suppliers refusing to supply,
while the stillborn EB112 luxury four-seater
project had hoovered up vital funds. Despite
endless press attention for the outrageously
fast SS and a half-hearted race programme,
potential customers looked at offerings from
Ferrari and Porsche, Jaguar’s XJ220 and
McLaren’s handsome, well-developed and
practical F1, and made more sensible
choices. After 1995 when Italian courts
closed the factory doors, Bugatti was once
again history – until Wolfsburg stepped in.
Sen’s epilogue is even-handed about
causes – lack of captaincy, turnover of lead
figures, US luxury taxes, high warranty costs
– in this complex and messy story, and he
appears to give everyone their say. It
certainly is a tale of many truths.
Bugatti’s prototype luxury four-seat EB112
diverted crucial funds from the already ailing firm
FOR THE LATEST MOTORING BOOKS GO TO
Accidental hero:
Guenther Steiner stars
on screen and now gets
to shine in print
F1’s straight-talker
Already a pivot of the Netflix series, Haas F1 boss Guenther
Steiner now lets loose in his entertaining diary of 2022
t’s clear from the outset who this book
I
is aimed at: those fans of F1 who came
to the sport via the smash-hit Netflix
docuseries Drive to Survive. The clue is
in the name, but also in the author.
Guenther Steiner has been the
unlikely breakout star of the show and this
book aims to cement his celebrity via a diary-
style romp through the 2022 season.
To a large extent it succeeds. Steiner is
an engaging and at times hilarious guide
through his high-pressure world and his woe-
is-me honesty about running an at times
beleaguered Haas F1 team rings true. His
frustration with Mick Schumacher’s under-
performance is clear, McLaren’s Andreas
Seidl gets both barrels for questioning Haas’s
relationship with Ferrari while many a post-
race entry opens with the with words, “I’m
too angry/upset/frustrated to write anything.”
Even so, despite the author’s much
stressed straight-talking shtick, you sense he
isn’t as reckless as he puts across. He pulls
his punches when it comes to the diabolical
finale of the 2021 season, claiming that he
doesn’t know all the facts and skirts the issue
surrounding racing in Saudi after the missile
attack in 2022 saying lamely that he was
satisfied with the reassurances he received
from the authorities.
But Steiner was on the right side of
history and clearly grasped the issues
surrounding his Russian driver Nikita
Mazepin and his team’s title sponsor Uralkali
immediately after the Russian invasion of
Ukraine. Describing the decision to drop the
main sponsor he says: “There was no debate.
It had to happen for the good of Haas and the
good of the sport.” Later he adds wryly: “Only
Haas could have a Russian driver and a
Russian sponsor at the start of a Russian war.”
He can be genuinely funny, musing that
in place of dud GPs there should be a fight-off
between team principals. Christian Horner
could be “pretty tough”; “Otmar at Alpine
looks like he could be pretty useful…. Poor
old Fred [Vasseur] though. He couldn’t knock
the skin off a foking potato” (ghostwriter
James Hogg employs the phonetic spelling
of Steiner’s favourite word throughout).
Kevin Magnussen is “A funny guy, for a Dane.”
Fans of the series will love this canter
through an eventful season which brings
them closer to the characters they see on TV.
Even those who have never watched the show
(like Steiner himself, or so he claims) will
warm to the engaging boss of Haas. JD
Surviving to Drive
A Year Inside Formula 1
Guenther Steiner
Bantam Press, £20
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 55
20 YEARS OF CREATIONS
AND INNOVATIONS FOR
UNIQUE TIMEPIECES

brm-chronographes.com
 RACING LIVES

THE MOTOR SPORT INTERVIEW

Hans Stuck
An endurance racing specialist with two Le Mans victories
to his credit, plus 74 grand prix starts during a battling
Formula 1 career. His story is as endearing as he is.
GETTY IMAGES

INTERVIEW: ROB WIDDOWS

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 57

 RACING LIVES Hans Stuck
H
ans Joachim Stuck Junior had
a hard act to follow. His father
had famously raced for the
mighty Auto Union team in
the 1930s and been hailed in
his native Germany as the
king of the long mountain hillclimbs. Hans
Junior inherited the passion for racing as a
child, watching, learning from his father, and
having his first taste of a race track at the
Nürburgring where his father taught at the
racing school. He won his first 24-hour race
there when he was just 19 years old, quickly
forging a reputation as one of the sport’s best
long-distance drivers with BMW and Porsche,
winning Le Mans twice for Porsche in 1986
and ’87. He always preferred closed cars but
achieved his dream of F1, racing for March,
Brabham, Shadow and ATS in the 1970s. Hans
raced for almost 50 years before retiring to
take up his position with Volkswagen testing
and refining both competition and road cars,
a role that he continues to this day. He looks
back on a long and varied career.
Motor Sport: We know a lot about your
father’s success but what was he like as a
man? How did he influence your early years?
HS: He was an outstanding person. As a child
58 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
I went with him to races and hillclimbs and
saw the respect, the admiration of his talent.
Even today people say he was a real
gentleman, friendly to everyone, and he told
me ‘Little boy, if you are friendly then
everyone will be friendly to you too’. My
mum was the tough one, but on the race
track my dad knew what he had to do, a great
competitor. He was a great example to me,
I have tried to live up to him in my life.
Those guys were so brave; when I drive
the Auto Union I cannot imagine how they
did a race of 300 kilometres round the
Nürburgring at over 200mph. They were not
only brave, no seat belts, no proper helmet,
a bad seating position so close to the steering
Hans Stuck Jnr takes a phone call overseen
by his father at their family home
Hans Stuck Snr drove for
Auto Union prior to World
War II. Here he is in action
at AVUS in 1934
wheel, it was also physically demanding.
When you drive those cars you are sitting so
far up front it’s really difficult to feel what
the car is doing, especially with all that
power and skinny tyres. I can only raise my
hat to him and all those drivers.
What did you learn about driving, and
racing from such an illustrious father?
HS: Not so much, really, but at the start of my
career I was famous for going sideways and
he told me ‘don’t go so much sideways, be
more careful with the tyres’. I said ‘But Daddy,
I love it...’ so I don’t think it helped. People
say he must have been a hard act to follow
but it was never like that for me, I only had
positive energy, he was such a nice guy. There
were expectations, of course; my success was
not as much as he had, but it wasn’t bad, so
that’s ok with me. I tell you, I have one record:
he was married three times, I am four times,
so I win that one! My time in racing was when
sex was safe and racing was dangerous.
Let’s talk about two tracks where you’ve
had success, the Nürburgring and Spa-
Francorchamps, both great tests of a driver.
HS: Both are very special but the Nürburgring
is the most demanding, the track is always

changing; after the winter there are more
bumps, the surface never stays the same.
Also, there are no run-offs, nowhere to go if
you lose control. I first drove there when I
was nine years old. My dad was a teacher at
the racing school, and he told me ‘never,
ever lose respect for this track. If you do, it
will bite you.’ I thought of that every time I
raced on the Nordschleife which is the most
demanding of any circuit in the world. Spa
is maybe one level below, you know, but
there were plenty of things to hit – I mean,
MCKLEIN, ALAMY, ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGES
there was a house by the track at Stavelot.
In my dad’s day, and in mine, we didn’t know
any better, but that’s how it was, part of
being a racing driver. Even now things can
go wrong; you can be hurt, even on the
modern tracks. The perfect lap of Spa is
wonderful, it’s so fast, and it flows, but when
it’s wet it’s very demanding, it sorts the men
from the boys. There was a river across the
track at Eau Rouge when it rained and even
now that corner is demanding in a quick car.
We should talk about the BMW 3.0 CSL.
You raced it with great success, and it’s still
a great-looking racing car.
HS: Yes, I did a lot of the development at the
Nürburgring with Jochen Neerpasch. We put
this big wing on the back, a spoiler at the
front, some aero on the roof, and with these
there was so much downforce.
I went 21 seconds quicker – “I had some
can you believe that? It was
incredible. Then we added the great team-
ABS braking, and we went mates, like
faster, another few seconds.
This was the time when we Peterson,
realised the importance of the Amon, Ickx...“
aero, the downforce. At BMW
I had some great team-mates,
like Ronnie Peterson, Chris Amon, Jacky
Ickx; this was fantastic for me, gave me the
chance to learn from them, get closer to the
limit. As a young guy there was always
something to learn from them. My
partnership with Ronnie taught me a lot
The mighty BMW 3.0 CSL.
Stuck was key in honing what
was perhaps the ultimate
touring car of the 1970s
about my racing, the way I approached it,
the way I drove. He would go flat out from
the word go in practice, discover the limit,
feel what needed doing, and then he’d come
back and start moaning about the car.
Normally you’d go out, build up slowly,
check it out and then build the speed. I will
say, however, Ronnie and I
never finished a race when we
shared the BMW because we
were always trying to show that
one of us was faster than the
other. At Brands Hatch, with
the 2002 turbo, I crashed the
car 25 minutes into the race,
put the car over the guardrail.
It was destroyed, so I walked
back to the pits, Ronnie and I packed our
bags and headed for home. The next
morning, in Munich, I got a call from Jochen
Neerpasch’s secretary at BMW, she says ‘Mr
Stuck can you please come to the office, Mr
Neerpasch wants to see you asap.’
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 59
 A tale of two F1 teams: Stuck raced
for March in 1976 (above) scoring
a best of fourth in both Brazil and
Monaco. Better would come with
Brabham in 1977 (below) where he
would take his two podium finishes

00 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 RACING LIVES Hans Stuck
When I arrived Neerpasch is sitting
Stuck impressed in Formula 2,
behind his big desk in a bad mood. He looks
despite being rather lanky for
at me, says ‘OK, you had this crash but, when the cars. He took three wins on
you left, the race was stopped for another his way to second in the 1974
accident. We got your car back, there wasn’t season in the March-BMW
that much damage, but we didn’t have any
drivers any more.’ This was not good. He
said he couldn’t fire us but we’d have to
pay a 10,000 deutschmarks penalty and we
wouldn’t be reimbursed for our travelling
costs. I can laugh about this now.

You are 6ft 4in, so what was it like when

you went to Formula 2 single-seaters in the
1970s, which suited smaller drivers?
HS: Well, there wasn’t much I was able to
do about that... but through my career I
always preferred the closed cars, to race with
a roof over my head. My head was always
sticking up in the air, in the F2 cars, and my
team-mate Patrick Depailler was always
faster at the end of the straights because my
head was in the wind. The March, with the
BMW engine from Paul Rosche, was the best
car at that time so I was able to get some
good results. In F1 it was the same problem,
the buffeting on my head, so I was always
more comfortable with a roof.

Your performance in F2 took you to F1

in 1974 with March. Was this what you had
always been aiming for?
HS: Yes. It was fantastic for me despite being wanted to earn for the season. The year
so tall for those cars. Max Mosley came to before, with Max, I got $100,000 and I
see me and my dad at the end of ’73 and needed this to look after my elderly parents,
asked me to do F1 with the March 741. The so I told him that’s what I decided. Just at
first race was in Argentina; I’d never seen that moment his phone rang and he starts
the circuit before, never driven the car talking Italian to a guy called Arturo, tells
before, but Carlos Reutemann took me him he’ll call back. ‘That was Merzario,’ says
round in his road car, gave me a lot of good Bernie. ‘He says he’ll race for me for 30,000;
advice. The March was not so competitive that’s what I’ll offer you, so do you want the
but I scored some points in my first year and deal or not?’ Well, not what I wanted, but I
it was a dream to be suddenly part of this F1 told him I’d agree if there was extra money
club. I enjoyed every day, every race in these for every championship point. He said OK,
cars with the big, fat rear tyres, and we signed the contract. My
and limited aerodynamics; you “That was first race was at Long Beach. I
could slipstream, you could was quicker than John Watson
overtake. I think we had the best Merzario. He’ll in practice, and that evening we
of times in those days. race for me for went out for dinner. ‘Hans,’ he
said, ‘this is the start of a good
You drove for both Max
30,000... deal partnership and friendship but
Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone or no deal?“ I have to tell you that the call I
in the 1970s. What was Bernie received when you came to sign
MCKLEIN, CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
I just lost the car under braking. I had two
podiums and 12 points that year, which was
not so bad. Bernie and I are still good friends,
and if I ever have any kind of problem he is
there to help me. Immediately. People may
not know this but when you do a good job,
and you have him as a friend, he’s always
there for you. That’s really cool about Bernie.
In 1979 you finished your F1 career with
ATS. Do you regret going there after
working with bigger teams like Brabham
and Shadow?
HS: I had an offer from Frank Williams for
’79 but that was in his second car and meant
pre-qualifying in Europe, and the money
wasn’t good. So, when Günther Schmid
offered me good money in a single-car team
I decided to take it. Soon I realised this was
the wrong decision; the car wasn’t so good,
there was not the best atmosphere in the

like to work for at Brabham?
HS: First I must tell you how it started with
Bernie. I didn’t have a contract for 1977 but
Carlos Pace had been killed in a plane
accident. I got a call from Bernie, he says
‘Hey Hans, if you want to drive for me, come
and see me’. I flew to England, talked with
him in his office, and he asked me what I
the contract, that wasn’t Arturo
Merzario, it was my secretary next door...’
The race was wet, lots of spray, but I
started on the front row, alongside James
Hunt, and was into the lead on lap 14 when
I slid into the wall. The clutch cable had
broken and I was thinking about how I’d get
away from a pit stop without a clutch when
team, and Schmid was always interfering,
always angry about something. When we
got to Monaco all of a sudden we had ATS
wheels on the car – well, maybe he made
good wheels for road cars but had he had
these wheels tested on an F1 car? He dismissed
this, you know, telling me to shut up, saying
the wheels are good. In the race I was

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 61


running well, up into eighth place ahead
of the Brabhams when I turned into the
harbour chicane on lap 30 and the front left
wheel broke. It flew off the car, bounced off
a lamp post, and into the water next to the
boat where Schmid was watching the race
with all his guests. He freaked out, but this
was the kind of thing that happened. I don’t
regret joining the team, there were good
times and bad times, it just
wasn’t one of my best seasons. “In the 962
Your finest results came in I could take
endurance races, including one hand off
two wins at Le Mans. Which
did you prefer, La Sarthe or
the wheel on
Daytona, both good hunting the Mulsanne“
grounds for you?
HS: That’s easy. Le Mans. It’s
such a fantastic race, especially when there
were no chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight.
When you have a good car, a good team, like
with Porsche, then it’s the perfect race.
Daytona is definitely the more demanding
track, much harder on the cars, and the
drivers. I always had this dream to win at Le
Mans and the first time, in ’86 with Derek
Bell and Al Holbert in the Rothmans Porsche
62 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
962C, we won by eight laps. On the podium
it was amazing, surrounded by thousands
of people. It was a big step in my career. We
won again the year after, same three drivers
in the 962, and this time by 20 laps. It’s just
fantastic to win this race once, never mind
twice in two years. Our race director Peter
Falk told us ‘to finish first here, first you have
to finish’ and that is the key at Le Mans.
There are so many things to
consider – the weather, all the
other cars on the track, the
reliability, the engine, the
brakes, the gearbox. Now it’s
flat out all the way but in our
day we were maybe at 80 per
cent, taking care of the car,
keeping away from the kerbs,
and this is very demanding for
24 hours. Porsche was absolutely the best
team I ever raced for, and looking back over
50 years this was definitely the best time for
me and the family are friends to this day. I
learnt so much from working with them, the
attention to detail, the way they built the
cars, how to drive the best possible long-
distance race. For a driver, the car has to be
just right, relaxing to drive. I mean with the
The perfect race: when Stuck
joined Porsche and was paired
with Derek Bell and Al Holbert in
the 962C, they were unstoppable
at Le Mans in 1986 and ’87
962 it was so stable you could take one hand
off the wheel on the Mulsanne. I drove other
cars which would pull left or right, and so
you cannot relax.
What was it about the Porsche 962 that
made it such a successful racing car?
HS: It was a combination of downforce,
power and driveability. I did thousands of
kilometres testing at Weissach in the 956 and
the 962, driving from dawn to dusk day after
day, and that meant I really felt a part of
those cars. This was a lottery win for me
because no two cars were the same, they
were hand-built, but I was able to feel exactly
what each car was doing and to spend so
many days in the cars gave me an advantage.
Of course I was first and foremost a racer
but I enjoyed the development work which
I knew would pay dividends. Some days I
would be in the car for six or seven hours,
and that kind of endurance testing was part
of what made Porsche so successful.
Moving forward to the end of your career
you raced in DTM at a time when the cars
were very technical, a quantum leap from
what you’d driven before.

Stuck’s 962C wins at La Sarthe
ATS, which didn’t work out well
HS: Yes, and I’d never driven a four-wheel-
drive car when I joined Audi with the
Quattro. Dr Piech had told me they were
going to do DTM in 1990, up against the BMW
M3 and the Mercedes 190, I was amazed,
surprised, but he said ‘Mr Stuck, keep quiet,
you wait and see’ and of course the car was
fantastic with the power of the V8 and the
all-wheel drive. I had a lot of help from
Walter Röhrl, who’d developed and driven
these cars in the World Rally Championship
and he gave good advice about the torque
split, percentages, how much grip to the
front, how much to the rear, and using the
limited-slip differential.
In terms of touring cars in 1994 the Opel
Calibra was the maximum – Cosworth power,
automatic gearbox, weight distribution
movable to the front or back for braking and
accelerating. The automatic gearbox was
AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, AUDI AG, DPPI
something new for me – I mean when I was
at Brabham we had a seven-speed manual
gearbox and I worked out that, for the
Monaco Grand Prix, I would be changing
gear 1065 times.
This meant driving with one hand a lot
of the time. A totally different world to what
I found in the 1990s.
RACING LIVES Hans Stuck
in 1987. The car had a great
blend of power, aero and
drivability, according to him.
Right: with Günther Schmid of
We should remember the Procar series
that supported grands prix in 1979 and
’80 with the BMW M1 because you had
done a lot of development on that car.
HS: It was fantastic to have the F1 drivers in
these cars. I loved it, they were quick, the
prize money was good. It was more of a
challenge for the current F1 drivers who,
unlike the privateers, had never driven
these cars. I did a lot of the testing before
the M1 was homologated. To get the car road
legal we had to do 20,000 kilometres within
a couple of weeks so BMW called all the
drivers to Munich and gave us a 300
kilometre route around the area. We did
The BMW M1 Procar series that supported F1 for
two seasons. Chaos reigns at Brands in 1980
Crossing over from Porsche to Audi for
the 1991 DTM with the Quattro. Stuck
would win four times that year
this in shifts, starting at 7am, and going
through country villages where the farmers
would stand on the road waving their arms,
shouting that we should slow down. We went
fast to cover the mileage and because it was
more fun for us. Once these shifts were
done we took the car to the track to get it
prepared for racing.
Finally, what’s your view of F1 today? Do
you take an interest along with your job for
the Volkswagen Group?
HS: I think F1 could do more for our
environment. They could do things like use
synthetic fuels for example, and I’d like to
see more teams going into it with an actual
chance to win. F1 is still the best, the pinnacle
of the sport, but I really don’t like things like
the DRS and if we had less aerodynamics,
less downforce, there could be a big cost
saving and better competition for everybody.
I am excited that Audi is going to join the
grid in 2026, and partnering with Sauber is
the right way to do this. It won’t be easy for
Audi by any means, but they will bring
innovation, as they have many times before
in other areas of racing, and in time I’m sure
they will be successful.
June 2023 Motor Sport 63
 RACING LIVES
MY LIFE IN CARS
Richard
Attwood
My family car as a boy was...
Well, my favourites were always the Aston
Martins, the DB2 especially, and I’m still
restoring my own DB2/4 Mark I. My father
had a big car dealership so lots of different
cars would come and go. He let me steer
his car from an early age and I learnt to drive,
on a farm, when I was 10.
My first ever road car was...
A Standard Ten, inset. It was my pride and
joy. I loved that car and we souped it up a bit
with twin carburettors and a noisy exhaust.
I used to drive it like it was a racing car
on the road which was pretty stupid.
I was first hooked on
racing when...
It was my father’s influence. He
raced a supercharged MG before the
war and he wanted to see one of his
sons racing. My second car was a
Triumph TR3A. I raced that for a year, and
then my father said he’d get me a Formula
Junior to see if I was any good. So, in a way,
he pushed me towards being a racing driver.
My first ever race was...
Goodwood in my Standard Ten in 1959. I’d
done a proficiency test there which involved
driving lots of laps without any silly mistakes
to prove that you were able to come back as
a competent competitor. I did that test in the
Standard 10. I drove down to Goodwood
from Wolverhampton and back, all in a day.
Richard Attwood, right, on the grid of the
1963 F3 race at Monaco – a life-changer
64 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
My first ever win was...
In 1960 at Oulton Park in
the TR3A in the wet, up
against a TVR and other cars
faster than me. I had some
Dunlop rain tyres. They weren’t much
use, but somehow I managed to win.
The win I remember most was...
The Formula 3 race in Monaco, 1963.
It was a big win. This is the victory that put
me on the map and led to a test drive
with BRM in ’64, and a Ford
contract, and now I was a
professional racing driver.
If I could race in any era...
I’ll choose my era, the 1960s,
although it was terribly dangerous.
So many drivers were killed. It has to
be the ’60s – the cars were simpler but it
was good racing and I guess that’s why so
many drivers today like to do a historic event
like the Goodwood Revival.
The best piece of advice I’ve had...
I don’t remember anyone giving me any
advice that was of significant value to
my racing career. I was always a loner
Sprint race...
Lewis or Max?
Neither.
Senna or Prost?
Senna.
Oversteer or
understeer?
Oversteer.
Brands Hatch or
Silverstone?
Brands Hatch.
when I started racing. I didn’t have a
manager, so I was on my own.
My favourite racing car is...
The one that is faster than all the others
around me. As soon as you have that
advantage the whole game changes. I only
had three of those, four at most. Aside from
that I’ve always lusted after driving one of
the Silver Arrows cars like the Auto Union,
inset. That would be quite something. Those
cars looked almost unmanageable.
What I listen to while driving is...
I like music. I have some
cassettes but it’s mainly BBC
Radio 4 for the news and
Radio 2. Sadly, however, I think
the BBC has come off the boil
BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES, ALAMY, McKLEIN
in recent years.
If I could drive in one more grand prix...
It would have to be Montlhéry or Monaco.
Both are really wonderful circuits, but I’ll
choose Monaco because I always went
well there. I love the precision the circuit
demands, the proximity of everything. You
simply cannot make a mistake. You must be
precise so it’s a good challenge.
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 Motor Sport EVENT
L E M A N S ’ G R E AT E S T
An evening with
Tom Kristensen
Meet and speak to the Le Mans legend at a special event and dinner
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the
Le Mans 24 Hours we have teamed up
with Classic & Sports Finance to bring you
an evening with Tom Kristensen at IET
London, 2 Savoy Place, WC2 on May 17.
The nine-times winner will be
discussing the greatest moments in the
history of the endurance classic and also
signing copies of his book Mr Le Mans.
Afterwards there will be a dinner with
Kristensen at Smith & Wollensky in
Covent Garden for Supper Club members
only – with limited tickets remaining.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Join us from 6pm where Kristensen will be
signing copies of his award-winning book
Mr Le Mans. Guests can bring their own
copies or there will be the chance to
purchase on the night. The main talk will
begin at 7pm and will last around 90min.
66 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
D R I V E R
After the event, there will be a dinner for
Supper Club members with Kristensen at
Smith & Wollensky’s Covent Garden
restaurant. This is an intimate occasion
with the chance to interact with the
driver and ask any questions you might
have missed earlier. A three-course meal
is included with the price of your ticket.
ITINERARY
6pm: Welcome drink and book signing
7pm-8.30pm: Le Mans’ Greatest Driver:
An Evening with Tom Kristensen talk and
Q&A session
9pm-11.30pm: Supper Club at Smith &
Wollensky, Covent Garden
TICKETS START AT £59.99
AND ARE AVAILABLE NOW AT
MOTORSPORTMAGAZINE.COM/SHOP/
KRISTENSENEVENT
GRAND PRIX PHOTO
Here’s Tom Kristensen in 2008
on his way to winning an
eighth Le Mans 24 Hours; his
ninth came five years later
 RACING LIVES

Flashback...
This month we are at the 1993 Monaco Grand Prix with
Maurice Hamilton, who has spotted Road to Hell crooner and
motor racing devotee Chris Rea in town with the Jordan team as
part of a surprise birthday celebration for Rubens Barrichello

H
e may have been a prolific rock star, but Chris
Rea preferred quiet anonymity. Not for
him the outrageous clothes and outlandish
comportment exhibited by many of his ilk.
Paradoxically, there was nowhere better for
the gravel-voiced Englishman to keep a low
profile than at the Monaco Grand Prix, particularly when
dressed in Jordan team gear.
The alliance between Rea and Eddie Jordan had been a
natural one as they shared a love of motor sport and music.
While Monaco may have been the social climax of Jordan’s
season, it allowed Rea to escape the pressures of his business
as he merged easily within the team’s relaxed environment.
Or, at least, that was the plan in May 1993.
At the last minute, Jordan had leaned on Rea to perform
at a Marlboro dinner in return for Eddie securing a table for
his sponsors at this prestigious function. Rea may have
accepted the gig as collateral damage that came with receiving
a pit pass, but he was more than happy to make a musical
contribution to a special celebration on race day.
Rubens Barrichello’s first visit to Monaco as a Formula 1
driver would coincide with his 21st birthday. If the Brazilian
had hoped to keep the occasion reasonably quiet to allow
full focus on such an important race, the Jordan team had
other ideas. Rea had gone to the trouble of assembling his
band a few weeks before and making a special recording of
Happy Birthday, sung to a Latin rhythm.
As Barrichello emerged from the drivers’ briefing on race
morning, the song burst forth on the public address system,
accompanied by birthday greetings displayed on a huge
screen mounted on the rockface overlooking the harbour.
With his coming of age now public knowledge, a stunned
Barrichello was greeted by well-wishers as he made his way
along the pitlane.
Thinking he might find sanctuary in the team’s motor
home, Rubens was just as surprised to find that Louise
Goodman, Jordan’s press and PR officer, had been at work
there too. It seemed half the paddock – including rival team
boss, Gérard Larrousse, who shared the same birthday – had
turned up to offer congratulations.
The picture shows the arrival of Barrichello, followed (in
the white shirt) by his father (also called Rubens – with the
same birthday!). Having presented ‘Rubinho’ (little Rubens)
with a copy of the recording, Rea stands quietly to one side
and savours a moment that is clearly just as enjoyable to the
singer as it is to an F1 driver half as old and half as famous.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 67

 LETTERS

With the demise of F1 supply, Avon

ramped up production of its commercial
racing tyre production at the behest of IRTS,
achieving its first international podium finish
at the final F2 race of the 1981 season. The
first international “grand prix” win came
at the 1981 Australian GP, run for Formula
Pacific cars and including some F1 drivers.
1982 saw IRTS expand its commercial
Avon operation, but during 1983 the
commercial arrangement between Avon and
IRTS began to sour. In true Bernie Ecclestone
fashion the IRTS staff were called to a
meeting room in a Heathrow hotel where
Bernie breezed in and told us that if Avon
were to offer us jobs his recommendation
was to accept. Pretty much everyone in the
room did. Avon needed the know-how and
we all needed jobs!
Avon recovered all of its stock from
the IRTS warehouse and the Avon Tyres

I
write in praise of Lady Susie Moss, a very special friend. I was so saddened to learn of Racing Division was set up, everyone
her passing. Devoted to Sir Stirling, she always had time to talk and laugh. I met them eventually relocating to the Melksham base
both many years ago at Goodwood events and shared many precious times at Sir that has been the home to date.
Stirling’s book signings – I have all his books signed over the years – or after dinner at the JONATHAN BAYLEY, SHUTTLEWORTH, LANCS
Goodwood hotel or the prize giving at the Revival, when Sir Stirling and Lady Susie arrived

Y
at Goodwood House for the Gala Dinner. So often a hug from Susie before they went in, our article on Avon tyres implied that
to the very biggest cheer for them both. Wonderful memories. Goodyear can supply tyres from their
I recently enjoyed a lovely lunch with Lady Susie in London and we didn’t stop back catalogue. I asked the Goodyear
talking for hours. I was looking forward to seeing her again, but sadly not now. Such representative at Race Retro about GT40 road
lovely friends, so sadly missed. tyres for Europe: “We don’t have a legal tyre
RIP Lady Susie, you are now with the love of your life, Sir Stirling. for Europe,” was his reply. Sad day for many
GORDON WALLACE, ROYSTON, HERTFORDSHIRE European enthusiasts.
BOB BULL, PORTISHEAD, BRISTOL

S
o the antics at the Australian Grand Prix
have reignited the arguments from the

I
was sorry to read about the demise of
Avon Tyres’ motor sport division [Matters
of Moment, May]. I was there at the
beginning of its current incarnation, in 1981,
and spent a wonderful decade working
around the world with them across a number
of racing categories.
What many people may not know is
that the origin of this success was Bernie
Ecclestone’s International Race Tire Service.
GETTY IMAGES, GRAND PRIX PHOTO
design the tyres should the need arise for 2021 Abu Dhabi race about whether it is
their use during the 1981 season. sport or entertainment. Isn’t it obvious? It
The chaotic 1981 South African Grand is entertainment. That is what they get
Prix as the FISA/FOCA ‘war’ raged was run paid the big money for. The 130,000
on Goodyear tyres supplied and fitted not
by Goodyear staff but by the crew from IRTS.
And so it started, although Avon runners
garnered only a few top-six positions before
they quit the F1 scene after the 1982 Monaco
GP. The farcical 1982 San Marino GP credits

The whole brief F1 life cycle (1981 to mid-82)
was driven by IRTS – Avon simply facilitated
the building of the tyres. With an uncertain
F1 tyre supply for 1981 (as Goodyear had quit
the sport, only to return months later) Bernie
Ecclestone needed a guaranteed supply and
IRTS recruited ex-Goodyear designers to
Eliseo Salazar with fifth on Avons in the ATS
but if this is correct these must be have been
old worn tyres because I drove the tyre
transporter and all the new tyre stock out
of the paddock the night before practice
began and was back at home to watch the Kyalami 1981: Piquet leads the field away –
race on TV on the Sunday. thanks to Ecclestone’s racing tyre supply service

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 69


Like its sister, Ross Brawn’s Ferrari SWB also
enjoyed a smoky road trip home to Maranello
people packed into Albert Park were there
to be entertained.  FRANK FAETH, BRONXVILLE, NY, USA
If Formula 1 wants pure racing without
media interference for the sake of ‘the show’
they could race on closed circuits with no
television cameras. Or, if they want pure
racing without the media razzmatazz and
the need to entertain the Netflix generation,
they can get themselves a Formula Ford
and go racing at a local club meeting. There,
the results will not be orchestrated for
televisual drama.
They won’t get paid millions of pounds,
but they will be allowed to race without
the pesky television companies expecting the
drivers to entertain in return for their money.
But I can think of 55 million reasons why Max
Verstappen wouldn’t want to do that.  Carlo for lunch, then back home for dinner!
Getting back to the Australian Grand Prix,
what is wrong with a waved yellow flag in the
sector where there is a problem, and green
flags when next sector is clear? Oh, I think
I’ve worked it out: safety cars and restarts
lead to drama and excitement, which is what
television wants. And since television pays a
lot of money, that’s what television will get. 
There’s no business like show business.
IAN McRAE, NORTH LANARKSHIRE
A
s an avid fan of F1 since the Mexican
GP of 1964, I’ve watched the ups and
downs of the sport, the impact of
corporate-isation and the sport’s global
expansion. Going from a bunch of creative
engineers and team owners to engineers and
owners throttled by regulation and the need
for an audience, I now find myself more tired
after a race than the drivers.
I am tired from having to pay attention
to all the penalties, accusations, delayed
70 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
LETTERS
results from pending investigations, and
spending more than a second on picayune
regulations. Did it really matter that Alonso
was just slightly left of his grid position?
Sadly, the sport is dominated by media
personalities and rivalry rather than driving
expertise and engineering smarts.
The famous writer Russell Baker wrote,
when referencing real estate development
on the lovely New England island of
Nantucket, that: “The rich ruin everything.”  which Andrew had to repair, and an oil
Now that it is even more of a show, I’ve
reached that point in F1. I’d rather watch
WEC or IndyCar. More exciting than the F1
procession and them arguing about the regs.  to Modena for a complete engine rebuild and
I
n 1962 at Goodwood for the Tourist Trophy,
the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Andrew Frankel
wrote about in the May issue [Seventh
heaven] was crashed not by Chris Kerrison,
the then owner, but by co-driver Chris Benson.
JOHN STARKEY, PASADENA, FLORIDA, USA
M
any of your readers will know the
name of Stanley Sedgwick, former
president of the Bentley Drivers
Club and owner of OLGA, his pre-production
Bentley R-type Mulliner Continental. He was
renowned for high-speed trips across pre-
autoroute France such as driving to Monte
Since Melbourne, grid boxes are
wider to avoid sensor pick up
problems that previously
penalised Alonso and Ocon
Perhaps less well known is that he also
owned the other ex-Walker/Moss Ferrari 250
GT SWB, sister to your May feature car and
now owned by Ross Brawn, which he bought
for £15,000 in the mid-1960s.
In 1968 he drove with his nephew (and
my neighbour) Andrew Jackson to Modena.
The conditions were appalling with strong
winds, snow and debris-strewn roads. The
trip was made worse by regular blown fuses,
consumption of a gallon every 500 miles. It
was therefore of no surprise to learn that the
purpose of the journey was to deliver the car
at the same time sort out the electrics.
Your article on Clive Beecham’s 250 GT
mentioned that Stirling had trouble leaving
his Haileybury School contemporary, Mike
Parkes, behind initially. Stirling was a highly
experienced long-distance driver aware of
the need to drive smoothly, whereas Mike
was used to shorter events where the tyre
degradation from power slides was of less
significance. Great to watch though!
JOHN HINDLE, PENSHURST, KENT
CONTACT US
Write to Motor Sport, 18-20 Rosemont
Road, London, NW3 6NE or email,
editorial@motorsportmagazine.co.uk
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Our top 100 moments from the world’s greatest race

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 THE EX – MIKE ANTHONY, MIKE PENDLETON, GERRY MARSHALL,
GOODWOOD SUSSEX TROPHY WINNING, TUF 1
1959 LISTER COSTIN CHEVROLET AND JAGUAR

THE EX – STEVE O’ ROURKE, TIFF NEEDELL, NICK FAURE, LE MANS 24HR LEADING
1984 EMKA – ASTON MARTIN GROUP C

1963 SHELBY COBRA 289

T. +44 (0)1285 831 488 / E. cars@williamianson.com / www.williamianson.com

 Collectors’ Car Sales • Acquisition Consultancy • Collection Management

THE EX – HRH PRINCE BERTIL OF SWEDEN, PER LARSSON

1926 BUGATTI TYPE 35 GRAND PRIX

THE EX – DYSON RACING, JAMES WEAVER, BUTCH LEITZINGER, ALMS AND FOUR-TIME SEBRING 12 HOUR
2001 RILEY & SCOTT MK3C LMP900 / LMP1

THE EX – JOHN SURTEES, 3RD IN THE 1969 U. S. GRAND PRIX

1969 BRM P139 FORMULA 1

/williamiansonltd /williamiansonltd
 Le
Mans
76 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
Ahead of the centenary of
the world’s greatest race,
we catalogue 100 historic
moments that helped define
the legend of the Grand Prix
de Vitesse et d'Endurance
 Less than three months from
the start of World War II,
drivers run to their cars at the
GETTY IMAGES

start of the 1939 Le Mans 24

Hours. It would be 10 years
until the race would return

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 77

 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
How did we decide which
moments should make the
list? The brief was never
about statistics, we wanted
instead to focus on key
moments that came to
define Le Mans and helped
the race transcend the usual
motor racing histories.
As such we include seminal
moments and forgotten
footnotes; tragedies as
well as triumphs.
Our panel of experts
comprised of
Damien Smith,
Gary Watkins,
Paul Fearnley,
Andrew Frankel,
Robert Ladbrook,
Gordon Cruikshank,
James Elson,
Rob Widdows

100
1976
NASCAR
rumbles to
La Sarthe
Spurred by a new accord with Daytona
(sound familiar?), two of NASCAR’s lesser
teams were encouraged to race at Le Mans,
despite a clash with the stock car race at
Riverside. Hershel McGriff’s Dodge Charger,
above, from California and a Ford Torino
from ‘Junie’ Donleavy in Virginia headed
over for incongruous novelty value – and
little more. The Dodge’s 5.5-litre V8, used to
high-octane gasoline, burned pistons and
didn’t last a lap. But the Ford, shared by Dick
Brooks and Dick Hutcherson, raced into the
small hours before the gearbox failed.
1981
Porsche
917 rides
again
Lacking entries, the ACO opened the
door once again to larger-capacity
engines, which sparked a lightbulb for
KLEMANTASKI/BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES, DPPI
brothers Erwin and Manfred Kremer.
Why not recreate one of the greatest
and fastest Le Mans cars of them all?
Porsche was underwhelmed, yet the
Kremers borrowed a Gulf 917 on loan to
the Midlands Motor Museum (!) to build
a ground-up copy. But the car was slow
and was eliminated early when Xavier
Lapeyre was edged off by a backmarker,
fracturing an oil line.
LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
99
1955
The race’s
weirdest car
turns up
You could see the thought
process. Instead of
having the engine in front of the driver,
with the latter positioned to one side of
the former, why not use one to offset the
weight of the other, each travelling in their
98
own pontoons clothed within a super
aerodynamic shape? The result was the
Nardi Bisiluro, a car so slippery it was
reputed to be capable of over 135mph with 2010
a 750cc BMW motorcycle engine. A shame Mansell
then that it was so aerodynamically suspect
that it was blown clean off the track by a
crashes out
passing Jaguar D-type after the race was of debut
a mere six laps old.
Nigel Mansell’s first Le Mans lasted all of
17 minutes when a blown tyre pitched his
Beechdean-run Ginetta-Zytek into the
barriers on the run to Indianapolis.
The 1992 Formula 1 world champion,
sharing with sons Greg and Leo, took
the start in what proved to be his final
comeback to racing. During the accident
Mansell received a bump on the head from
the side-impact structure, but he appeared
to be fine immediately afterwards. Years
later he claimed it had led to amnesia,
which was cured by his new hobby: magic!
June 2023 Motor Sport 79
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
96
1975
A DFV
defies the
doubters
The Ford Cosworth Double-Four Valve V8
was already into its ninth season in Formula 1
when the engine claimed its first Le Mans win
(Rondeau scored a second five years later).
Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell dominated in a
Gulf-backed Mirage run by JW Automotive,
despite naysayers – including Keith
Duckworth himself – claiming the Cosworth
would never go the distance, largely because
of a problem with torsional vibration.
The victory marked the first of three for
the Ickx and Bell partnership, sports car
80 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
racing’s most renowned double act. Bell first Jacky Ickx, I’ve won this grand prix or that
met Ickx at Ferrari in 1968. “I got to see Jacky grand prix.’ He just said, ‘Tell me what to do,
and his insular attitude,” he says. “He Mr Wyer.’ It was decided he’d do the start and
wouldn’t say he was introverted – but he I’d finish, because I had a reputation for
probably was. He never said more than he finishing races, even though I’d only done
had to and never said anything to offend Le Mans four times by then. I guess we did
anyone. And he was effing quick. I was talk, but not to any great length. There was
nowhere near him, but then again he’d been such experience in that team with John Wyer,
in F1 for two years by then. That was the who was like a headmaster. What he said you
difference. I started to learn from Jacky and did, and we had this success together.”
the way he handled himself. I was lucky to be
in the same team, breathing the same air.”
Bell was surprised to find himself paired
with Ickx in 1975. “He wrote to John Wyer
and said he’d like to drive for him and with
me,” says the five-time Le Mans winner, who
had already been on the driving strength of
what was then known as Gulf Research
Racing since 1973. “Wyer told me. Bloody
hell. I had such a regard for Jacky. He came
into the team and he never tried to say, ‘I’m
The Gulf Mirage was a comfortable
winner in 1975, and stands as one of
only two independent constructors
to win Le Mans post-war, the other
being Rondeau in 1980

2003 Biela
95
runs out of gas
Same team, same make/
model, same drivers: Frank
Biela had scored a hat-trick
in Joest-run Audi R8s from
2000, alongside Tom
Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro. Only his
Arena-run car remained the same in 2003
– and he suffered a very different result.
Blocked by a backmarker from pitting for fuel,
he backed off, weaved to slosh the dregs and
churned the starter motor in a bid to coax the
car around. It stopped before Arnage. Back
with Joest, Pirro, and this time Marco Werner,
he would win twice with Audi from 2006: the
first and second wins for a diesel.
2002 Birth
94
of the Le Mans
Classic
Patrick Peter, previously a
co-founder of the BPR GT
series, launched this
monster of a historic race
meeting on the full 8.4-mile circuit to
DPPI, GAMMA-KEYSTONE VIA GETTY IMAGES
celebrate the heritage of the 24 Hours from
the 1920s to the ’80s. He asked his friend,
watchmaker Richard Mille, for advice on
sponsorship. Mille offered support from his
new eponymous brand – which had yet to
reveal its first watch… More than 20 years
later the biennial event is one of the most
popular classic events on the schedule, and
Mille is an entrant in the contemporary race.
1952
Levegh’s solo
disappointment
He looked older than he was, but
46-year-old Pierre ‘Levegh’ was fit thanks
to a background of ice hockey and
tennis. As a result, he felt sure that he
was up to it. He did not feel the same
way about his Talbot-Lago: a worrying
engine vibration had kicked in and its
rev-counter had packed up. His less
experienced co-driver would just have
to wait. And wait. And wait.
Levegh was holding first place by
halfway, several laps ahead of a pair of
Mercedes-Benz. The German firm was
returning after 22 years, its air of
efficiency undiminished despite an
undeniable weight of emotional luggage.
Quick in practice and along the straight,
its gull-wing coupés began their push too
late and Levegh continued to lead. Some
thought the Paris garage owner was
lapping unnecessarily quickly – 15sec
faster than the winning Jaguar at the
same stage the previous year – but he
was unwilling to break a long-held
rhythm selected to suit his and the car’s
unusual circumstances. The impossible
was looking possible – until the cause of
that vibration revealed itself with a little
over an hour remaining. A bolt in the
centre bearing broke French hearts.
Levegh so nearly completed a
feat now impossible when he
drove his Talbot-Lago for 23 hours
straight, until a central crankshaft
bearing bolt ended his run
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 81

1990
Pareja breaks down
Jesus Pareja collapsing into the arms of his
Brun Motorsport team down at the old
signalling pits after Mulsanne Corner in 1990
encapsulated the emotional rollercoaster
that is Le Mans. There were just 15 minutes
remaining and the Spaniard was on course
for an unlikely second place between a pair
1985 Joest beats the
Porsche factory
Winning in 1984? Great, but the Porsche
factory was absent. Now the Rothmans cars
were back – and Joest’s New Man 956 beat
them anyway. The customer had pulled a fast
one with 10% better fuel consumption,
collaborating for a while in slipstreams with
Richard Lloyd’s Canon car. As the works cars
ran into trouble, 956-117 became the second
car to win in consecutive years (after
GT40-1075 of 1968-69), travelling 117 miles
further than it had done 12 months earlier,
with more than 100 litres of gasoline still
unused. Sensational.
82 Motor Sport June 2023
of Silk Cut TWR Jaguars when his Porsche
962C ground to a smokey halt.
Brun wasn’t up there among the
favourites at the start of Le Mans ’90. Less so
after a few hours when the Swiss entrant’s
star driver in its lead car, Oscar Larrauri, fell ill
after a heavy accident in a Saturday morning
support race: the Argentinian would end up
driving fewer stints than planned. The
workaday Pareja and amateur Walter Brun,
the owner of the team, had to do much of the
New Man, same
result. Joest proved
that privateers
could still beat
factory cars in 1985
heavy lifting through the race. Their task was
helped by a special wing developed by Brun.
The factory Joest 962s ran in traditional
low-downforce spec, but Brun believed that
with two chicanes now interrupting the
Mulsanne Straight, more downforce was
required. It was spot on.
Brun’s canniness and the heroics of
its unfancied drivers came to nought.
The smokey retirement was the result of
a split oil union.
90
1950
Eddie Hall’s
successful
solo drive
It is well remembered that
in 1952 Pierre ‘Levegh’
nearly won Le Mans after driving solo for
over 22 hours (see #93). It is scarcely
remembered at all that, by that time, one
Eddie Hall had already successfully
GETTY IMAGES, GRAND PRIX PHOTO
completed the race solo two years earlier.
What’s more he did it in a Rolls-Royce-built
‘Derby’ Bentley that was 16 years old at the
time of the race. When asked by DSJ the
secret to spending 24 hours in the cockpit
without relieving himself, Hall is reputed to
have replied: “Green overalls, old boy!”
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1962 The generous rewarding of efficiency as well

as performance was the perfect showcase for

Chapman
Colin Chapman’s ‘added lightness’ approach.
His lithe Lotus 11 won the 1100cc classes of
1956 and 1957 by finishing seventh and ninth
blows his top respectively; and a 750cc version won the
Index of Performance as well as its class in
the latter year. His 1300cc Lotus Elite won its
GT class every year from 1959 to 1964 as well
as the Index of Thermal Efficiency in 1960 and
1962. This, however, brought him increasingly
into conflict with French manufacturers who
The debacle of had by now given up on overall victory and
the Lotus 23 had found solace in the smaller classes. For
of 1962 put several years Chapman’s father Stan had
Chapman at odds greased the wheels with a lunch here, a gift of
with the ACO pipe tobacco there, and Lotus had been fine.
That changed in 1962.
The astounding performance of the Lotus
23 in Jim Clark’s hands at the Nürburgring
1000Kms grabbed attention. The ACO had its
own ideas and rules – to which Chapman’s
new design did not comply: oversized fuel
tanks; too great a turning circle; insufficient
ground clearance; and – mon dieu! – six studs
on the rear wheels and just four on the fronts.
To be fair to the scrutineers, the car was
clearly unready. In Chapman’s defence, those
scrutineers were being pernickety. This time it
could not/would not be shrugged off: fix it by
midday tomorrow or you’re out!
Lotus bust a gut to comply, Chapman
working through the night on four-stud fixings
and flying the parts out. When the chief
scrutineer expressed a preference for six
studs, Chapman argued furiously but got a
steadfast “non”. The 23s were thrown out. An
immediate threat never to enter again caused
the organisers to call a meeting of supposedly
calmer heads in Paris. But the Lotus boss was
simmering. The figure Chapman jotted down
when asked to calculate losses incurred, with
a view to their being refunded, has not been
revealed. But it caused the ACO’s chairman to
bluster. The threat became a vow: Team Lotus
and Le Mans were done.

Remarkable though it seems, no all-female

crew has yet beaten the 1930 finish of
Odette Siko and Marguerite Mareuse, who
took the wealthy Mareuse’s Type 40 Bugatti
to seventh place overall. Two years on, with
1930 male co-driver ‘Sabipa’, Siko placed fourth
The best in her own 6C-1750 Alfa Romeo, which
remains the highest-ever Le Mans finish for
all-female a female driver. Siko went on to contest
finish rallies and to captain an all-female team
which set speed records at Montlhéry.
Not bettered in almost 100 years, but could
changing times give us a female winner?

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 83

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1995
Mario Andretti’s ‘win’
In 1966 26-year-old hotshot Italian-American
Mario Andretti, the reigning USAC champion
but almost unheard of in Europe, had his first
crack at Le Mans driving a Holman Moody
works 7-litre Ford GT40. His race ended with
a blown head gasket in the night.
Thirty seasons later, aged 55 and now a
legend, he was back at Le Mans with his best
chance of victory, and a chance to join
Graham Hill as the only other person to have
won the F1 title, Indy 500 and Le Mans.
He was in a Porsche-powered Courage,
one of a handful of prototypes against an
army of GT1 cars. Sharing with Le Mans
veteran Bob Wollek and 1993 winner Eric
Hélary, this was also one of the best driver
line-ups. But the rulemakers limited prototype
fuel tanks to just 80 litres, GT cars to 100.
It was all looking good despite the filthy
weather until Mario came across one of the
Kremer cars running slower than expected in
the Porsche Curves, sending him into the wall
in avoidance. It took six laps to repair. At the Shoulda, woulda, coulda:
finish the Courage was second, one lap down Mario Andretti likely would
have conquered Le Mans
on the leading McLaren and gaining. As
in 1995 had it not been for
Andretti told us: “We were first in class, so an unlucky accident
you’re a winner, right…?”

1925 First

85
run and
jump start
Intended as a test of
roadworthiness as well
as speed and endurance,
it was decided that the
first 20 laps should be tackled hoods
1932 Circuit

86
2010 Peugeot’s
titanium
conrod
weakness
Peugeot should have
made it two in a row after
its return to the winner’s
circle with its 908 HDi LMP1 turbodiesel
in 2009. The latest iteration of the V12-
84
unfurled, with any insufficient robustness
resulting in disqualification. To prevent
premature erections, ahem, drivers and cars becomes
were arranged on opposite sides of the strictly out
road. The subsequent charge into day-long
competition caught the public imagination
of town
and the process survived as a keynote until Over the years the circuit
1969 – even though hoods had been safely has had many changes, yet
stowed for 41 years. has always retained its
essence. One major shift came in 1932:
instead of spearing into the heart of
GETTY IMAGES, DPPI, BONHAMS

powered machine had a massive Le Mans as before, a new eastward link

advantage over Audi’s R15 TDI Plus, yet bypassed the town, cutting across from the
a technical glitch that hit three of the four end of the start straight to Tertre Rouge.
Peugeots handed victory to its arch-rival. What had been a gentle left kink became
New titanium conrods were pushed beyond today’s sharp right sweep onto the
their limit of endurance by a super-fast race Mulsanne straight. It lopped almost two
with no rain and few safety cars. miles off a lap, down to 8.3.

84 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 1993
Coulthard
loses GT win
on only LM
appearance
Forty years after Duncan Hamilton and
Tony Rolt’s alleged booze-fuelled charge
to a Jaguar victory at Le Mans 1953, a
pre-Formula 1 David Coulthard, David
Brabham and John Nielssen ‘won’ the
inaugural GT class in the TWR-run XJ220C
– and were then disqualified for Tom
Walkinshaw’s refusal to fit a catalytic
converter. A painful experience? It was for
Brabham. In qualifying, the fuel bag tank
had to be replaced, there were gearbox
issues and the car was dropped on
Brabham’s foot during a pitstop. Ouch.
2007 Aston Martin
wins (class)
It was a case of
third time lucky for
penalties for hitting cones – after all, they
are a dying species…” he says with an
Prodrive’s Aston eye-roll. “I was sat so low, I didn’t even
Martin DBR9s as know I’d hit them. And the following year
the British I clouted a kerb and took the oil pipe off,
manufacturer so that cost us 50 minutes. I’d had two
faced off against horrendous years at Le Mans and felt
the rival Pratt & really bad for it. Winning in 2007, and
Miller-run Corvettes for GT1 honours. then again in ’08, was a relief.
The winning car, helmed by Darren “That car was just amazing to drive,”
Turner, David Brabham and Rickard he says of the DBR9. “They detuned it
Rydell, also finished fifth overall in a year over the years with new regs, but the two
of torrential rain and bright sunshine. highlights of my career were winning the
The success was Aston’s first since 1959. GT class at Le Mans in that car. Standing
For Turner, it was the first of his three on that podium is a surreal experience.
Le Mans class wins, and gave him a huge It takes months to sink in. If I had a lottery
boost. “In ’05 I screwed up getting win, the DBR9 is what I’d buy.”

Joy after almost 50 years for the Aston

crew. From left: Rydell, team boss George
Howard-Chappell, Brabham and Turner

82
1936
The only race
cancellation
Apart from the inevitable
cessation during World
War II, which stifled the
race from 1940-48, the
24 Hours has been cancelled only once,
in 1936. Suffering a depression and
political unrest, France was paralysed
by a sweeping general strike in May.
Though settled days before the race
it was impossible to get things moving
in time, and no later dates were acceptable
internationally. Shame – the entry list was
one of the strongest yet.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 85

 1998
Brilliant Bob’s
final near-miss
Bob Wollek always said he could live without
winning the Le Mans 24 Hours, that what
would be would be. It didn’t look that way as
he stood on the podium in 1998 after finishing
second in a Porsche 1-2. Yet another
opportunity to claim the one major sports car
victory missing from his CV had gone, and
there he was bawling his eyes out.
It would be his last chance to win the ‘big
one’ overall. He couldn’t have known that as
he stood there, his emotions overflowing,
though time was obviously running out for
a driver who was now in his mid-fifties. That
was probably the most remarkable aspect
about a Le Mans career encompassing 30
starts and straddling six decades: Wollek’s
best results came after he’d hit the big five-0.
All but one of his six overall podiums at the
Circuit de la Sarthe came when he had passed
his half century. Wollek was a marvel, in that
A clear Porsche 1-2 in
1998, but Wollek would
miss out on ‘the big’ one
for a final time
he remained at or near the cutting edge of
competitiveness deep into middle age. He
probably should have won Le Mans in 1995
driving a Courage-Porsche C34 with Mario
Andretti among his team-mates and could
have won in 1996 and ’97 at the wheel of the
Porsche 911 GT1 and then the Evo version that
succeeded it. The chance of victory in the
carbon-chassis 911 GT1-98 that followed
disappeared when team-mate Jörg Müller
went off at the first Mulsanne chicane and
damaged the floor during the night.
“Bob was a quick and determined
driver,” recalls Allan McNish, who won that
year with Stéphane Ortelli and Laurent Aïello.
“I remember testing with him at Jerez, and
I couldn’t get anywhere near his pace in the
slow corners. He would float around them
effortlessly. I gave up trying to match him in
the slow stuff and just mullered it in the quick
corners to try and make up time.”
Porsche’s withdrawal, initially a one-year
hiatus announced at the end of ’98, and then
a more permanent retreat that would end up
lasting until 2014, meant there would be no
more chances for Wollek to right the wrongs
of his long Le Mans career.
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1972 Gordon

79 78 77
2016
Quadruple
amputee
makes the grid
Frédéric Sausset belied
his lack of experience as a
sophomore racer when he
made his Le Mans debut. That he
performed so creditably at the wheel of a
Morgan-Nissan LMP2 was all the more
remarkable because he was a quadruple
amputee. The Frenchman hatched a plan to
race in the 24 Hours as he lay in his hospital
bed recovering from a life-changing
condition. He knew he needed a purpose in
life and found it by doing the unthinkable.
1994 Norbert
Singer’s final
962 brainwave
The race car turned into a
road car turned into a race
car… It was Porsche’s great
racing architect who yet
again sparked a winning idea, provoked by
fears McLaren would take its new F1 supercar
to Le Mans. Jochen Dauer’s 962 road car had
been frowned upon by the factory, but now
came in handy. Outside the spirit of the new
GT rules? The ACO was piqued, but allowed
the LM-GT just this once. The McLaren didn’t
turn up (yet) and a seventh 956/962 Le Mans
win – 12 years after the first – was bagged.
Murray creates
after-hours
enduro special
Gordon Murray’s first
successful competition
car wasn’t an F1, but an
endurance prototype commissioned by
gentleman racer Alain de Cadenet (see also
#67). In typically adventurous fashion, the
charismatic ‘de Cad’ put faith in a young
South African practically running the
Brabham F1 design office on his own.
After penning the car in the evenings
following the day job, de Cadenet and Chris
Craft drove the Duckhams Special to 12th.

The Hulk impressed on

his Le Mans debut
alongside Nick Tandy
and Earl Bamber

2015 Hülkenberg
guests – and wins
Contemporary grand prix drivers regularly Force India driver who began the charge to
competing at Le Mans had long since become victory as the sun set on Saturday evening.
a thing of the past when Nico Hülkenberg He moved the car up to second ahead of
pitched up in a third Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 Webber during his second race stint at Le
in 2015. But the race rookie went on to Mans and then Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber
become the first driver to take time out from a continued the good work. Their Porsche had
DPPI, PAUL-HENRI CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES

Formula 1 campaign and win the 24 Hours
since Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot
were part of the winning Mazda crew in 1991.
It would be wrong to say that Hülkenberg
was somehow the defining factor in the extra
Porsche’s ultimately-successful battle with
the sister car shared by Mark Webber, Timo
Bernhard and Brendon Hartley. But it was the
the edge over the sister car in the cooler
conditions of the night, and by the time the
sun came up they were established out
front in their internecine battle.
When the challenge from the last of
the trio of Audis wilted around 7am, an
historic win was more or less in the bag
for Hülkenberg and Porsche.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 87

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1967 Ford’s
three car
wipe-out
Of the feuds within Ford’s
megabucks programme none
were more intense than that between AJ Foyt
and Mario Andretti. The former, leading,
became incensed by the latter’s aggressive
charge in the rain at night. Thus it was heated
even before Andretti’s more cautious co-driver
pitted twice to complain about the brakes.
Reinstalled, Andretti slammed into a bank the
first time he hit the middle pedal; a pad had
been installed backwards. Cresting the rise
before The Esses, Roger McCluskey hit the
sister car amidships. Jo Schlesser followed.
Three 7-litre Fords were out in one swoop; and
a fourth punctured on the debris. McCluskey
commandeered a marshal’s car to get Andretti,
who broke ribs, back to Ford’s medical unit.

An all-American victory for

the ages! AJ Foyt (left) and
Dan Gurney complimented
each other in Ford's GT40
1967 Gurney
vs Parkes
Though overpowered and
outnumbered, Ferrari had
hoped to outlast its arch rival.
Indeed, only one Ford stood in its way of a 10th
victory by early morning. Unfortunately, it was
several laps up. Triggering a dice would be the
Scuderia’s last roll: Mike Parkes was its agent
provocateur; and Dan Gurney his target. “He
was all over me, flicking his lights, trying to get
me to drive harder,” said Gurney. “I knew what
he was trying to do, so I stopped on the grass
at Arnage. He stopped behind me and we sat
there for 12-15sec. Finally he gave up and
pulled back onto the track. About four laps
later, I caught him and drove by.”

88 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 1967 Foyt wins on only visit
A predicted weakness of Ford’s $6 million
men was a lack of prior experience among its
drivers: Mario Andretti and Mark Donohue
had been to this 140mph track lined by trees
just the once – both retiring early in 1966
– and Lloyd Ruby, Roger McCluskey and AJ
Foyt not at all. Dan Gurney, in contrast, had
BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES, REVS LIBRARY
been trying to win here since 1958. To have
paired him with Foyt was reckoned unwise by
some: two bulls in the same field.
Yet this dynamic duo took the lead during
the second hour and held it to the finish to
score the first, and only, all-American win – at
a record 135.48mph average.
“AJ kept his end up real well and was a
good team-mate,” said Gurney. “He was an
excellent politician and was constantly
fighting our cause; we called him ‘Cassius’
because he always had a point to make.
There were some fierce rivalries within the
team: there was the Holman Moody side, the
East Coast boys; then there was us, the
Westerners, under the auspices of Carroll
Shelby; plus we were on Goodyears and the
others were on Firestones. That car certainly
surprised me. Not that it was quick but that it
was capable of winning the Index of Thermal
Efficiency as well as the race itself. That was
partly due to the fact that AJ and I didn’t have
to push it to its limit in order to win.
“It had a smooth ride and, once we had
sorted out its balance by adjusting the rear
spoiler, it gave you a relaxed run down the
Mulsanne Straight, which was very important.
73
It had a slippery shape and adequate power
and we were doing 213-215mph, taking the
Mulsanne Kink flat: no trouble. I remember
fitting my belts on about the second or third
lap after the start and having to drive using
my knees. It didn’t have power steering but it
was no big deal to pull that kind of stunt.
“The only real problem we had was the
brakes. They were in trouble: a large, heavy
car running at high speeds on a track that had
some big stops. But if you were sensible and
looked after them, they were OK. AJ and I
were well matched in that respect. There
were some small differences in brake wear
and mpg, but we liked the same set-up.”
Cut from the same cloth, neither man
would see a need to return. Job done.
June 2023 Motor Sport 89
 2011 McNish and
the great escape
The race was still young when Timo
Bernhard ran wide at Dunlop, allowing
Allan McNish’s sister Audi to slice in
front, and immediately up the inside
of a Ferrari GT car – except its driver
Anthony Beltoise hadn’t seen the R18
coming. The resulting contact sent the
Audi slamming backwards into the tyre
barrier and up into the air. Watch it
back now and it still defies belief how
the disintegrating missile didn’t tip over
the top and wipe out the scattering
photographers and marshals.
And what about that errant bouncing
wheel? Too close.

Terrifying scenes in 2011. The ducking

photographer is Peter ‘Pedro’ May,
who said: “I just threw myself to
the ground. But my first thought
afterwards was ‘I hope Allan’s OK’”

90 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

A literal ‘50p part’ saved

2001 Bentley’s Bentley’s bid for a Le

Mans podium in 2001

bottle-top
podium
It was a toe-dip, the
first of a three-year
campaign. Testing of
Bentley’s new EXP
Speed 8 had been
severely hobbled by a delay in signing off
the use of Audi’s engine and the car didn’t
run in full spec until three months before
the race. It had run instead with an old
Ford DFR. Nor had the team tested in wet
weather before Le Mans, meaning its
bespoke Dunlop tyres were unproven.
Then, at the Test Day, Martin Brundle
posted the third-fastest time despite it
being, by his own estimation “a crap lap”.
Eyebrows were raised at Bentley’s engine
supplier, whose works R8s had been
expected to conquer all. In qualifying for
the race itself Brundle couldn’t get within
two seconds of his former ‘crap lap’ time.
Much muttering and spinning of
conspiracy theories was heard down
Bentley way. Then Brundle looked at the
grim forecast and said, “if this is true, we
might as well go home now.”
Yet the team worked the weather well
and, briefly, Brundle led as all around him
lost their heads. It was not to last. Water
forcing its way into the gearshift actuator,
stranded the car in the night. But when it
happened to the second car, it got stuck in
second rather than fourth gear so was
able to struggle back to the pits where the
top of a bottle of mineral water was
positioned to stop the flow of water.
Driven by Andy Wallace, Eric van de Poele
and Butch Leitzinger, they stormed back
through the field to finish third, a podium
for Bentley after 71 years away. Many who
were there on both occasions said the
moment was more memorable than the
victory that came two years later.

70 69 68
2021 1987 1985
August date Percy survives Stuck’s
heralds Jaguar ‘plane qualifying lap
Hypercar era crash’ record sticks
The race had been He wasn’t supposed to Armed with a works
delayed until September race. But as reserve driver Porsche 962C, Hans
BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES, REVS LIBRARY

the year before, and this
time the long tail of a devastating pandemic
forced another break with early summer
traditions. But at least crowds were allowed
back – well, a relative skeleton crowd of
50,000. Better than the complete lack of
people that had made 2020 so surreal.
The returning limited audience witnessed
the dawn of the Hypercar era and, you
guessed it, an inevitable Toyota victory.
when John Watson fell ill,
Win Percy stepped up – and then took off on
the Mulsanne in the wee small hours when
the right-rear of his XJR-8 let go. He even had
time to think of Jo Gartner, killed on the
straight a year earlier, as he looped into the
night sky. “The car was twisting in the air like a
leaf in the wind,” he recalled. When it
stopped, his helmet had rubbed through to
the cloth lining – but he didn’t have a bruise.
Stuck was on a mission,
lapping the circuit in 3min 14.80sec at an
average speed of 156.47mph. It was over 10
seconds faster than the fastest lap recorded
in the race itself. Changes to the circuit
(starting the following year with a reprofiled
Mulsanne Corner) meant it would be 32
years before Kamui Kobayashi’s Toyota
broke Stuck’s record by nine one
thousands of a second (see #65).

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 91

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
1976 ‘De Cad’ makes the podium
The year 1976 will be remembered as a good
one for two very British drivers. In the
summer privateer Alain de Cadenet was on
the podium at Le Mans and by the end of the
year James Hunt was Formula 1 World
Champion. Both men had what might be
called the ‘bulldog spirit’.
On June 13 ‘de Cad’ and his co-driver
Chris Craft stood proudly on the podium at
92 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
La Sarthe, having finished third six laps
ahead of Rolf Stommelen’s works Porsche
935 and just a lap behind the Mirage of
Jean-Louis Lafosse and François Migault.
“We painted a Union Jack on the big rear
wing,” said de Cadenet, who died last year,
“I always wanted to wave the flag for Britain
and show the French that we still had the
fighting spirit.”
1995 Derek Bell’s
near-miss – at 53
So close to a fairy-tale. At 53, the five-time
winner shared one of the new McLaren F1 GTRs
with his son Justin and one of the fastest drivers
of the era, Andy Wallace. They led and took the
battle to the so-called ‘works’ entry. But gearbox
gremlins broke the spell. The David Price
Racing Harrods car finished third, but a Jacky
Ickx-equalling sixth had slipped away.
De Cadenet had persuaded his friend
Gordon Murray to design a car for Le Mans
based on a Lola T380, Murray working on the
project late into the night after his day job at
the Brabham Formula 1 team (see #77).
Sponsored by Duckhams oil the car would be
known as a Lola T380 LM76, powered by the
trusty Cosworth DFV and embellished by
Murray’s magic aerodynamics.
MCKLEIN, GETTY IMAGES, DPPI
Brand new and
immediately effective,
the McLaren F1 GTR
shone in 1995
 “It was Gordon who had the idea of
extending the bodywork by positioning a big
wing low down at the back of the car,” said de
Cadenet. “This gave us the top speed and
stability which we needed on the Mulsanne.
Before Le Mans we tested the car on the M4,
taking it out early one morning, and saw
nearly 200mph at 9500rpm. Based on Eric
Broadley’s Lola chassis, and using the
2017
Kobayashi’s
record
pole lap
reliable 3-litre Cosworth, this was the most
successful Le Mans car we ever produced,
and on a very tight budget. In 1977 we
improved the straight-line speed, seeing
220mph on the test track at MIRA. This was
reported in Motor magazine at the time and a
university student saw this and wrote in to
say that he had been inspired by what he’d
read. It was a young Adrian Newey.”
Kamui Kobayashi is the modern one-lap
king of Le Mans. The Toyota driver has been
on pole no fewer than four times and
produced the fastest-ever lap of the Circuit
de la Sarthe in any of its configurations
when he took the top spot in 2017. A tail
wind on the Mulsanne and a head wind
through the Porsche Curves, as well as lots
of grip-inducing Michelin rubber laid down
during support events, helped him propel
his TS050 Hybrid around in 3m14.791sec, at
a staggering 156.512mph.
Gordon Murray has since built a copy of
the car, called the Duckhams-Ford LM, in
which Dario Franchitti won a historic sports
car race at Laguna Seca last year.
“Alain said he’d let me have the car
after we did so well at Le Mans in 1976,
but that never happened,” says Murray.
“But Le Mans ’76 has always been a special
memory for me.”
De Cadenet and Chris Craft
shared the Cosworth-
powered, Gordon Murray-
designed T380 LM76 to
a fine third place
Kobayashi flanked by his Toyota team-mates
Stéphane Sarrazin (left) and Mike Conway
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 93
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1974
All-female crew
takes class win
Motor racing is one arena where women
compete on equal terms with men, and
Le Mans has featured plenty of female
contestants, despite their exclusion by the
ACO from 1957-71 following several
fatalities. 1974, though, produced a new
item for the record book – the first class win
for an all-woman crew. In their 1790cc
Cosworth-engined Chevron B23, Christine
Beckers, Yvette Fontaine and Marie Laurent
came home 17th, but more significantly top
of the so-called S-2000 class. That year a
total of six women entered the race, the
equal-highest female entry with 1938.
The following year Christine Dacremont,
Marianne Hoepfner and rally star Michèle
Mouton took the same category in their
2-litre Moynet-Simca.
Over the decades to 2022 Le Mans has
hosted 150 individual race starts by women,
France’s Anne-Charlotte Verney topping the
list with 10. Vanina Ickx, daughter of Jacky,
From left: Yvette Fontaine,
comes next on seven, including a best of Christine Beckers and
seventh overall in 2011, driving a V12 Marie Laurent
Lola-Aston Martin.

1963 A Lola

62
makes low-
key debut
The Lola GT was a
mid-engined monocoque
sports car with a big
American V8 engine and
doors cut deep into its roof. Remind you of
1990 Brundle

63
1978
Pironi’s final
double stint
This was the victory that
Renault Sport needed – and
its hopes were resting on a
thrown-together driver
combo of youngest and oldest: Didier Pironi
and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud. “I had a good
61
anything? Untested, unproven and with the
wrong ratios, it raced at Le Mans in 1963
with Richard Attwood and David Hobbs, the switches cars
latter crashing out when the gearshift and wins
jammed. Few noticed, but Ford did. With its
own efforts to crush Ferrari going nowhere It looked like another Le
fast, it bought the car, hired the designers, Mans win had evaded Martin
built the GT40 and the rest is history. Brundle when his Jaguar
XJR-12LM was delayed first
by high water temperatures and then on
Sunday morning by pump failure. But Tom
GETTY IMAGES, DPPI, BONHAMS

feeling: the car was fast and very stable,” said Walkinshaw had a plan. He’d deliberately
Jaussaud. “But I started hearing a crack noise kept Eliseo Salazar out of the sister car,
when I changed gear. I told the team my fears. letting John Nielsen and a dehydrated Price
Didier said he had no such problems. So they Cobb rotate until he parachuted Brundle in
kept him in for the final stint.” All concerned unannounced to help nurse failing brakes
admitted that was an error: Pironi, dehydrated and a defective fourth gear to land Jaguar
and cramping, collapsed after they’d won. its second Le Mans win of the Group C era.

94 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023


2018Alonso’s star
quintuple stint
Footage of the safety car restarts
proved how much Fernando Alonso
wanted a Le Mans victory on his CV.
He was nigh on four wheels off on the
high-speed run from Mulsanne Corner
to Indianapolis on at least one occasion.
The Spaniard, in what was
presumed to be the twilight of his
career, had set out to secure his legacy
by completing the unofficial Triple
Crown of motor sport with the addition
of Indy 500 and Le Mans victories to his
Monaco Grand Prix double in 2006-07.
He’d been in the mix to drive for
Porsche in 2015 in the berth that went
No one-trick pony:
Fernando Alonso
celebrates the first of his
two Le Mans wins in 2018
to Nico Hülkenberg, only for McLaren
engine supplier Honda to veto the plan.
But after making his Indy debut in 2017,
he got a chance to race at Le Mans for
the first time as part of Toyota’s assault
on the 2018-19 World Endurance
Championship super-season.
Alonso took the opportunity with
both hands. He was aboard the Toyota
TS050 Hybrid shared with Sébastien
Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima during the
defining period of the race in the small
hours on Sunday morning. A quadruple
stint turned into a quintuple and victory
was all but secured.
59
1999 Toyota
tyre blowout
confirms
BMW’s win
This year is remembered
for the hat-trick of
harrowing Mercedes flips
(see #12), but it was another German
manufacturer that sealed victory at only its
second top-class attempt. Utilising superior
fuel economy, BMW’s Williams F1 team-
developed V12 LMR inherited the win after
the sister car crashed out and the faster
Toyota GT-Ones hit trouble (including a
punted shunt for Thierry Boutsen that
ended his career). The result made Yannick
Dalmas a four-time winner. BMW hasn’t
challenged for the overall win since, but an
LMDh attack in 2024 might change that.
58
1972 Major
track change
enhances the
challenge
Plans for a permanent Mulsanne Straight
never reached fruition, but the shape of the
Circuit de la Sarthe still changed forever –
and we’d say for the better. A sweeping
section of permanent track replaced the
difficult and dangerous Maison Blanche,
with a second chicane added to Virage
Ford to accommodate a new pitlane entry.
The work was financed by Porsche – hence
the birth of the glorious Porsche Curves.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 95

1996 Joest
57
makes a
Porsche out
of a Jaguar
The Porsche WSC95 started
life as a 1991 Jaguar XJR-14,
converted in 1994 by TWR
on Porsche’s instruction into an IMSA-eligible,
Porsche-powered open racer. But when IMSA
tweaked the rules to slow the car before
Daytona, Porsche pulled the plug. Joest
rented the car for Le Mans in 1996 and
promptly won. Part of the deal was that
Reinhold Joest could keep the car if it did, so
he entered it again in 1997 – and won again,
to beat the factory twice in succession.
Mercedes’ master Caracciola
only got one go at Le Mans,
and it ended too soon.
Right: Barnato and Glen
Kidston’s winning Bentley
The relationship between W.O. Bentley,
Woolf Barnato and Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin was
complicated. W.O. detested Birkin’s bolting
of a Roots blower to his 4.4-litre ‘four’, while
money man Barnato partly funded the build
of the required 50 such cars.
The smallest field in the race’s history
packed a hefty punch. Rudi Caracciola’s
supercharged 7.1-litre Mercedes-Benz was
96 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
56
1984 Jaguar
returns to
Le Mans
About time. Jaguar returned
to its spiritual sporting home
27 years after its last victory,
but it would not be a happy
reunion. The US-based Group 44 team
brought its XJR-5s to La Sarthe, but the regular
IMSA race winner struggled to stretch its legs
at Le Mans – both entries failed to finish. It was
a sobering return. But amid XJ-S glory in the
European Touring Car Championship, a new
partnership with TWR was soon brewing that
would result in the potent XJR-6. Tom
Walkinshaw was nearly ready to pounce.
1930
Birkin and Caracciola face off
the first German car to take the start – and it
led by 18sec at the end of the first lap. Its
driver-operated blower needed to be
employed sparingly such was its effect on
mpg, and so Bentley was expected to use its
numerical superiority – three naturally
aspirated 6.6-litre Speed Six and a couple of
‘Blowers’ – to keep the pressure up. Birkin
fired its first and most memorable salvo. On
1965 Ferrari’s
55
phantom
third driver
Ferrari’s last overall win:
Masten Gregory, young
firebrand Jochen Rindt,
North American Racing Team
(NART) and its 250LM. But did American Ed
Hugus relieve the visually impaired Gregory for
a brief stint during the night because the
Kansas City Flash was spooked by the dark?
The claim from the reserve driver only
emerged in the late 1990s, long after the major
players had died – and the evidence is stacked
against it. But Ferrari’s phantom third driver
remains Le Mans’ most intriguing mystery.
lap four, with canvas breaker showing
through a rear tread and two wheels on the
grass, he passed Caracciola at an estimated
GETTY IMAGES, BENTLEY, AUDI AG
126mph – and broke the lap record. Though
regular tyre failures blighted his progress
thereafter, he had set the tone.
The lone Merc didn’t crumble – it lasted
until its battery died at mid-distance – but
the surviving Speed Six would finish 1-2.
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

53
2006 Bar talk. That’s all it was at first. Yet five years
Audi’s diesel later Audi brought a diesel engine to Le Mans
and broke every old perception about
revolution so-called oil-burners. But the whispering
5.5-litre V12 turbodiesel in the back of the R10
TDI that dominated on its Le Mans debut was
far from trouble-free. A complex injector
problem haunted the team into the race and
helped delay one car. Yet the other, driven by
Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Marco Werner,
finished four laps ahead of the Judd-engined
next-best from Pescarolo. Astonishing.

1979
Bill Whittington
saves Kremer’s day
In hindsight, Group C couldn’t come soon
enough amid fractured rules and
fuel injector pump. He lost 79 minutes
before his Heath Robinson fix using a spare
1979 Newman shines
manufacturer apathy. In the meantime, two alternator belt got him back to the pits. Steve McQueen made the movie, but Paul
sets of brothers made hay. The Kremers’ A further 15 minutes were lost to repairs Newman did it for real. Rolf Stommelen
heavily-modified K3 version of the 935 – but they got lucky as the rival Barbour 935 was the ace that delivered Dick Barbour
dominated once the Group 6 cars hit hit pit trouble with a stuck wheel. Ludwig and Newman second place. But Newman
trouble, US siblings Don and Bill Whittington won Le Mans twice more, again for a hated the frenzy of attention and never
– sharing with Klaus Ludwig – finding Porsche customer (Joest), while the came back. Meanwhile, some bloke from
themselves at dawn on Sunday with a 12-lap Whittingtons headed for… infamy via Pink Floyd took a Lola T297 to second in
lead. But at 11am Bill stopped on the criminal convictions for money laundering, class. “The press didn’t care about some
Mulsanne when a drivebelt jumped off the tax evasion and drug smuggling! old drummer,” says Nick Mason, happily.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 97

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
It’s hard to calculate exactly how much Bentley
did for Le Mans during its formative years. Had
the British team never arrived to test its mettle
(and metal) against a near-exclusively French
entry, the event might not have caught on.
Yet the British very nearly didn’t turn up,
and if W.O. Bentley had had his way, they
wouldn’t have. Forever cash-strapped but also
forever chasing a sales hook, W.O. took a
gamble in 1922 by shipping a car off to the Indy
500. Driver Douglas Hawkes qualified almost
20mph off the pace and finished 13th. W.O.
concluded that his cars “simply weren’t fast
enough”. This was hardly the return he’d
desired from an expensive transatlantic trip.
So he was less than enthused when war
veteran Captain John Duff approached him
49
1923 Frank Clement cycles against the flow
It had all been going so
well. With the sun up,
Bentley was gaining with
each passing hour. Frank
Clement and John Duff
were flying, having earned back one of the
laps they’d lost to the Chenard et Walcker
through the night. Then, disaster. Clement
ran dry of fuel at Arnage, and a quick peek
under the car revealed the cause, a stone
had punctured the fuel tank.
98 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
1923
W.O.
Bentley
sees the
light
with the idea of taking a car to Europe for the
first time to have a crack at this new day-long
endurance race. Duff was no stranger to W.O.
having already embarked on several record
exploits – including raising the speed record
for driving for 24 hours at Brooklands in 1922
(even if his effort was split into two 12-hour
stints so locals could get a night’s sleep).
W.O. wanted no part of this Grand Prix
d’Endurance, but agreed to sell Duff a 3-Litre
Sport and loan test driver Frank Clement. The
pair stuffed what meagre spares they could
into the chassis, along with two Bentley
mechanics, and headed off to La Sarthe.
Then at the last moment W.O. changed his
mind and set off to France to see how his
ramshackle team would get on. Upon arrival,
As quick thinking as he was driving,
Clement convinced a gendarme to loan him
his bicycle, and set off back to the pits. He
retrieved a cork, slung two jerry cans of fuel
over his shoulders and returned, cycling the
wrong way round the circuit, against the race
traffic. “It was absolutely terrifying,” Clement
would later recall. “I thought they would mow
me down every minute!” Clement completed
the trip, bunged and topped the tank and
rejoined, the car taking the finish in fourth.
Bentley in the pits in 1923,
despite the fact W.O. never
actually wanted it there.
Thank you, Captain Duff!
he found an entry of 35 cars and was treated
to a highly respectable display by his crew.
Forget the Indianapolis disappointment,
Bentley could have won the first Le Mans.
The 3-Litre Sport went toe-to-toe with the
Chenard et Walcker of André Lagache/René
Léonard, only losing time when a stone flicked
up from the pitted road and smashed a
headlight. Eventually Bentley’s challenge
ended when the car stopped at Arnage at
midday on Sunday, its fuel tank punctured by
another errant stone. It would take over two
hours for Clement to exact repairs and get
going again (see #49). But it had done enough
to convince W.O. that this race was one worth
winning: “By midnight, I was certain that this
was the greatest race I had ever seen,” he said.
Riding to the rescue:
Frank Clement
borrowed a police
pushbike to keep
Bentley on track
GETTY IMAGES, BENTLEY
48
1971 Oliver clocks
first 250km/h lap
The 5-litre engine’s swansong made 1971
was significant. Jackie Oliver set the first ever
250km/h (155mph) lap at the Test Day in
his Porsche 917, peaking at over 385km/h
(240mph) on the Mulsanne, and the race was
run at a pace that set a record distance –
which stood for nearly four decades. No
chicanes and good weather allowed a flying
run for Gijs van Lennep and future Red Bull
driver boss Helmut Marko to take Porsche’s
second consecutive win, clocking more than
5000 miles in the process.
Martini cocktail of Marko/
van Lennep and Porsche’s
917 left a hangover that
lasted nearly 40 years
1933 Nuvolari’s
special one-off
Tazio Nuvolari only raced at Le Mans once,
but it was all it took. Driving a factory
supplied 2.3-litre supercharged Alfa Romeo
8C partnered with the brilliant Raymond
Sommer who’d driven 22 hours to win the
race (almost) solo the year before, it was a
Le Mans dream team of Ickx/Bell
proportions. They took turns in breaking the
lap record and despite myriad problems
dogging their performance, still won.
Nuvolari’s Le Mans record of played one,
won one puts him with the likes of Woolf
Barnato, Nico Hülkenberg and Fernando
Alonso as one of just eight drivers with
unbeaten records at Le Mans.
46
2012
A hybrid wins
(or does it?)
Six years after the
turbodiesel revolution,
Audi introduced hybrid
technology to sports car
racing, via a flywheel accumulator system
developed by Williams Advanced
Engineering. But at Le Mans, fearing
unreliability, the manufacturer hedged its
bets, running two hybrid R18 e-tron quattros
and two without the system. Even the hybrid
cars were designed to run without the
electric power – which was just as well for
the winning car that apparently made more
landmark history for Audi. “Our hybrid went
one hour into the race and yet we still won,”
says engineer Leena Gade. “Some of the
other competitors knew. The system was
tough to work with and there were issues.”
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 99
 JOIN US FOR AN EVENING WITH
MARTIN BRUNDLE AND
FELLOW LEGENDS OF LE MANS
Derek Bell, Martin Brundle, David Brabham, David Richards, Mark Blundell, Guy Smith,
Richard Attwood, and Darren Turner.

Join us to celebrate the centenary of Le Mans, whilst raising essential funds for Hope for
Tomorrow, the dedicated charity that brings cancer care closer to patients in Yorkshire, via
mobile cancer care units.

Enjoy an evening with Martin Brundle and fellow Le Mans Legends at:
Bowcliffe Hall, Wetherby, LS23 6LP on Thursday 11 th May 2023, 7:00pm til’ late.

Tickets are £300 per person or £2,500 for a table of 10 and includes VIP drinks and canape
reception, 3-course dinner and intimate get together with the Legends of Le Mans.

Dress code: Black tie

RSVP to events@bowcliffehall.co.uk
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

Sloshed the night

before or not, the
story shouldn’t cloud
a superb Jaguar
performance

45
1980 Quirky
Rondeau
sends France
into rapture
Factory teams took a
breather – and frankly the
quality of entry slumped
as the decade turned. But let’s look on the
bright side. Local hero Jean Rondeau still
had to fend off legions of Porsche 935s
and Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest in the
908/80 when he claimed victory in his
eponymous M379B. Rondeau and
team-mate Jean-Pierre Jaussaud
negotiated race-long rain and fog in what
would turn out to be a classic race – the
only time a driver has won with a car
bearing their own name.

1953 Hamilton orders the

double brandies (allegedly)
1930 Barnato’s

44
It’s one of the great stories, and told first As a racing story of derring-do to
perfect hand, too. In Duncan Hamilton’s thrill the heart, it could only have been
hat-trick autobiography he describes how, having materially improved by being true,
been slung out of the race in practice, which, sadly, it was not. Yes, they’d been
KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION/BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES

This wealthy amateur with
a professional outlook was
coached by the best and
trained hard: for a wide
variety of sports. He arrived late to motor
racing, but did so fit, concentrated and
imbued with a team ethic. Fast and
consistent, one had to get up early – and
drive through the night – to beat him. Three
attempts, three different co-drivers and
three wins: an unrepeated feat. Oh, and he
was the chairman – and the money behind
– the Bentley company that he drove for.
he and his Jaguar team-mate Tony Rolt
indulged in “a night of steady imbibing”
during which “Tony and I never saw our
bedroom.” He said they were found in
something of a state at 10am on
Saturday morning by William Lyons who
told them they were back in the race. By
2pm, two hours before the flag fell and
after several black coffees and a Turkish
bath, both still felt dreadful. Double
brandies were ordered which did the
trick, off they toddled and won the race.
excluded but Jaguar had immediately
appealed the decision and the outcome
of that still hung in the balance while
Duncan and Tony were allegedly getting
quietly sozzled. We’re not saying they
didn’t have a drink, but an all-night binge
with still the possibility of doing a
24-hour race the next day? Really? Sadly
the story has continued to obscure what
did actually happen to this day – a fine
win and the first at Le Mans by a car
using disc brakes.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 101

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
42
1983 Holbert coaxes it home
“We had led for 21 hours,” says Vern
Schuppan, co-driver to Al Holbert and
Hurley Haywood in a works Porsche
956. “I was driving when the left-hand
door blew off: like an explosion – at max
speed just after the Mulsanne Kink. I
stayed out until I got black-flagged. That
allowed the team to ready a door. They
slapped it on and riveted aluminium
strips to it at the front and to the roof.
“I got black-flagged again: a driver
had to be able to open the door. They
punched a hole in the roof and fastened
it with a leather strap that I could
The moment everybody held
their breath, but Al Holbert
kept his cool and kept the
Porsche rolling to victory
102 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
unbuckle. But the door didn’t fit well and
some airflow was being diverted from
the intercooler.
“I handed over to Al with about half
an hour to go and warned about the
rising temperature. About 10 minutes
from the end I was standing with Hurley
watching a TV screen. S**t! Smoke.
Left-hand bank!
“It was good that Al was in there. He
had a lot of empathy for the car. On the
last lap, [exiting the Ford chicane] the
motor actually stopped – but he
dropped the clutch and it freed.”
1983
41
The best bit
of marketing
Win on Sunday, sell on
Monday? That old cliché is
still at the heart of why
manufacturers go motor
racing. But once the race is won, spreading
the word is an art in itself. Porsche’s ad
following its domination in 1983 showed the
way just as the 956 had so comprehensively
in the race. Nobody’s perfect? You can’t beat
a droll bit of humour to underline your point.
40
1949
Fresh start in
the wake of
world war
The airfield next to the circuit
had been used by the British
PORSCHE, GETTY IMAGES, ALAMY, AUDI AG
before the fall of France and, extensively, by
the Luftwaffe thereafter. What wasn’t pounded
by RAF bombing was torched by the Germans
when they left. One of the first British to visit the
circuit post-war was 1927 winner SCH ‘Sammy’
Davis. The decision to rebuild came in 1948,
government money helping fund new buildings
and resurfacing before the first 24-hour race in
a decade was flagged off on June 25th, 1949.
39
Not how it should have
gone: John Surtees and
Ferrari had been a dream
match, but it wasn’t to last
2011 Leena Gade breaks the mould
She was non-plussed by the attention. Leena
Gade was a race engineer, pure and simple,
employed by Audi to win a motor race – and
that was what she’d just done. But 12 years
on women race engineers remain a rarity in
motor sport and Gade is still the only one to
have run a winning car at Le Mans. Forging a
1966
Surtees
storms out
on Ferrari
Decades later, John Surtees could readily
admit he was “perhaps a bit quick on the boil”.
In the wake of victory in the Belgian Grand
Prix, Ferrari’s number one arrived at Le Mans
knowing he faced a battle royal against a Ford
team featuring fellow aces Dan Gurney, Mario
Andretti, Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren.
Typically he was up for the fight, telling
sporting director Eugenio Dragoni that he’d
go flat-out to break the opposition. “It was
Dragoni’s little world, and I found it difficult to
communicate with him,” Surtees told us in
2015. “I had to exert a bit of muscle to get
things right, and I put in the occasional critical
report about his decisions to the Old Man.”
But this time Dragoni stood firm – and put the
decent but not as quick Ludovico Scarfiotti in
the car for the start. The fire was lit.
“I jumped into my 330GT road car and
drove flat out, there and then, to Maranello,
and went straight to the Old Man. I told him I’d
joined Ferrari to win races, not to get involved
in politics. That was our divorce.”
Surtees had expected to see out his
career at Ferrari. Instead, one of the era’s best
driver-team match-ups was over.
strong bond with André Lotterer, Benoît
Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler, this crew won
twice more in 2012 and ’14. “If anything
comes from it, that young girls and boys see
engineering is a subject anyone can do,
that’s something to be slightly proud of –
even if I cringe,” she says.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 103

37
2020
Action behind
closed doors
For the first time in Le Mans
history, La Sarthe echoed to
the sound of a full grid of
entries – but with barely
anyone there to witness it. Moved to late
September due to the Covid pandemic, this
was only the fourth (and a half) time the classic
hadn’t been held in June (May in 1923, July in
1956, September in 1968, while the 1986 race
started on May 31). The Toyota TS050 Hybrid
of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and
Brendon Hartley scored the make’s third
consecutive win on an unreal day in France.
1982
Group C
is born
The start in 1982 shared much with that of
the 2021 race, in that there was one
dominant force leading the way into what
promised to be a magical new era. But few
imagined Group C would give us the highs
that it did when a trio of Porsche 956s
dominated the field, challenged only by a
ragtag field of Rondeaus, Fords, Saubers
and privateers such as the Nimrod curio.
Porsche whitewashed what turned out to
be a stale contest, but the fuel-efficiency
formula would catch on. More than four
decades later, we’re looking at the same
situation with Toyota leading the way in
Hypercar, but with the opposition swelling.
104 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
2014 Electric
36
ZEOD makes
its mark – for
a single lap
Evolved by Ben Bowlby
from his previous Deltawing
design – itself initially a
mooted IndyCar concept – the radical
1949 British
35
narrow-track Nissan ZEOD RC made history at
Le Mans in 2014 by running the first ever
all-electric lap. Granted the experimental aristo wins for
‘Garage 56’ entry for 2014, the ZEOD utilised a Ferrari…
hybrid electric drivetrain, and in the morning
warm-up circuited La Sarthe using purely Well, he drove all of 72
electrical power. It only lasted five laps in the minutes, around dawn.
race – but the record had already been set. Rumour has it Peter
Mitchell-Thomson (aka Lord
Selsdon) was hungover. Whatever the truth,
Ferrari’s first Le Mans win and the start of the
post-war era was all about Luigi Chinetti.
Already twice a winner with Alfa Romeo,
47-year-old Chinetti convinced the aristocrat to
buy and enter a 2-litre V12 166MM, then put in
one of the greatest feats of endurance to score
his personal hat-trick. Enzo Ferrari never liked
Le Mans. Too bad. A saga had begun.
Porsche’s 956 was the class of
the early Group C field in 1982.
But it didn’t stop brands from
queuing up to try and beat it

Ron Flockhart and Ninian
Sanderson on their way to
glory in 1956. Jaguar’s works
team may have departed after
that race, but Ecurie Ecosse
was just getting started
1956
Ecurie Ecosse keeps the
Jaguar flame burning
Australian engineer Ron Gaudion was 29
when he returned home having spent four
years in the UK, during which he had tended
to the victorious D-types of Jaguar’s hat-trick:
a works car in 1955 and a brace for Edinburgh
privateer, Ecurie Ecosse.
AFP/KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
“Jaguar had a family atmosphere and it
was the same at Ecosse,” he says. “Stan
Sproat, the other mechanic, and I hit it off. We
got on well with DM [team owner David
Murray], too. Stan had been there for three
years, but it was me who had to ask for our
share of the mechanics’ prize. Both years!
“DM was hanging onto every pound. I
don’t blame him. It’s an expensive sport and
LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
the team was on a shoestring. I wouldn’t be
surprised if only [winner] Ron Flockhart got
paid [in 1956]. The others drove because it
was a nice team with good cars.”
Englishman Ivor Bueb, a winner in 1955,
was drafted for 1957, replacing the “a bit wild”
Ninian Sanderson alongside Flockhart. “Scots
in those days didn’t take kindly to Sassenachs,”
says Gaudion. “They took to me because I’m
not a Pom. But Ivor fitted right in – perhaps
because he never went up to Edinburgh.
“There were no fewer than 10 works-
supported Ferraris that year, plus three works
Maseratis and a team of Aston Martins. Jaguars
finished 1-2-3-4-6. Ours were 1-2. Fantastic.”
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 105
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

“Porsche wins Le Mans!” heralds the plummy

circuit announcer. But after a barely
believable three-way last-lap scrap between
two Gulf 917s and a lone Ferrari 512S, it’s the
unfancied Larry Wilson who takes the flag.
Downcast old rivals Michael Delaney and
Erich Stahler lock eyes through the throng.
Stahler shrugs, Delaney responds… with a
universal gesture. There’s a glint of humour
and obvious mutual respect. If only it were
1970 Delaney

31
true, it would likely top this list. Still, the
flicks the vees impact of Steve McQueen’s wonderfully
at Stahler evocative Le Mans movie can never be
1959 Ferrari
underestimated on our real world.
opens the
door to Aston
Ferrari’s Testa Rossa was
clearly quicker and seemingly
no amount of clever strategy and calm,
co-ordinated pitstops by Aston Martin could
compensate: Moss had hared off as usual, but
was caught, outpaced and outlasted. Ferrari
self-destructed instead: Jean Behra, in a fury,
and young co-driver Dan Gurney, of heavy
foot and strong arm, led – but cooked their
engine; and more measured pairing Phil Hill/
Olivier Gendebien were four laps in front with
four hours remaining when they lost all
coolant. Aston’s 1-2 was a victory for patience.

30
1999 Audi
takes its bow
Flying Mercedes stole the
headlines, BMW scored its
one and only Le Mans
victory and Toyota’s
handsome GT-One once
again fell short. But the somewhat muted
presence in third and fourth had greater
significance for what came next over the
following decade and more. Audi hedged its
DPPI, GETTY IMAGES, ALAMY

bets with the open-cockpit R8R and British-

built R8C coupé that first time out, and it was
the former that stuck, to put in a stealth-like
run to the podium. The experience laid the
foundations for Audi’s incredible run of 13
wins from the next 15 races.

106 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 1970
Attwood’s safe
choices pay off
He’d lost the 1969 race from a six-lap lead
more than 20 hours in when the gearbox
broke. This time Richard Attwood was
taking no chances with Porsche’s potent
917: he chose the unfancied 4.5-litre flat 12,
a short tail and in Hans Herrmann, an
ageing co-driver who had first raced at Le
Mans in 1953. Around them six of the eight
917s retired, as did nine of the 11 Ferrari
512Ss – and Attwood/Herrmann led all the
way from 2am. Porsche had won Le Mans.
Just not the one everyone was expecting.

Few would have bet on

Attwood and Herrmann’s
Salzburg red Porsche 917
coming out on top of the
1970 field, but they pulled
off quite the historic coup

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 107

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108 Motor Sport June 2023

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1969 Sliding doors for Pescarolo

On a Wednesday morning
in April 1969, the Mulsanne
had been closed to road
traffic so Henri Pescarolo
could test a dramatically-
shaped MS640 coupé. He
was still warming up the
car when it took off. It exploded on landing.
“I was strapped into the burning wreck,
fully conscious,” Pescarolo told us. “The pain
when your body is on fire, I cannot describe.
I didn’t know how to get out.” But he did,
recovered and strapped in – to become
France’s greatest Le Mans hero.

28
1973 Ferrari
closes its
sports car
programme
Enzo was poorly. Long-time
designer Mauro Forghieri
was sidelined. And Ferrari’s F1 programme
was a shambles. Its sports cars were better,
but still Matra had beaten it at Le Mans and in
the world championship. Fiat’s money would
only go so far. So something had to give at
Pescarolo watches the 1969 Le
Maranello. It was a closely run thing, but F1
Mans 24 Hours from his hospital
– given new focus by the arrivals of Luca di bed. He’d return to rack up four
Montezemolo and Niki Lauda, plus Forghieri’s wins and a record 33 starts
return from the wilderness – got the nod.
GAMMA-KEYSTONE VIA GETTY IMAGES, BENTLEY

1927 Three works Bentleys were entered for

Le Mans in 1927. That night all of them got
steering ball joint and only one functioning
headlight. It was patched up as well as was

Wipe out at tangled up in the same accident at the

infamous White House Corner (aka Maison
Blanche, to the locals).
possible and returned to the fray. It retook
the lead in the final hour, the rival Aries then
retiring leaving the battered Bentley to
White House One was able to extricate itself, but was
badly damaged with a bent chassis, cracked
somehow win by a record 20-lap margin
(349.808km) that still stands to this day.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 109

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

25 1988
Dorchy’s WM
hits 400kph
When Roger Dorchy hit a new record speed in
excess of 250mph on the Mulsanne in 1988,
no one could have known it would effectively
be set in stone inside two years. By 1990, the
near four-mile drag of public road, correctly
called the Ligne droite des Hunaudières,
would be dissected by a pair of chicanes and
the monster speeds a thing of the past.
The chicanes weren’t a reaction to the big
numbers being achieved on the straight in the
late 1980s, mostly by the little WM team for
which Dorchy drove (see #23). Made up
mostly of Peugeot engineers pursuing their
passion out of hours, WM made it its business
to try be quickest through the speed traps
each year and then embarked on Project 400,
an attempt to push the record through the
400km/h barrier.
Dorchy’s record will no doubt stand
forever. It is listed in the history books at
405km/h (252mph), though he actually
achieved 407km/h. WM’s links with Peugeot
resulted in the former figure being declared in
the year of the launch of the French
manufacturer’s 405 saloon.
Mark Blundell had eyes on
Yet the highest speed ever achieved on
an F1 career. But his big lap
the Mulsanne might be higher still. Vincent in the Nissan remains a
Soulignac, technical director at WM, told calling card to this day
Motor Sport three years ago he was confident
that the previous iteration of the team’s Group
C car had been nudging 420km/h in 1987.
The radar system in place was subsequently

23
found to be incapable of measuring the kind
of speeds the P87 was hitting.
1990 Chicanes added
to the Mulsanne
A political football. That’s what the Mulsanne
became in the on-off feud between Le Mans
organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and
FISA, the sporting arm of the FIA.
What was then known as the World
Sports-Prototype Championship had been
relaunched at the end of 1988 by the FIA’s
new vice-president of promotional affairs, one
Bernie Ecclestone. He made an attempt –
half-heartedly so, said some – to expand its
exposure on TV, but the problem was that the
ACO had its own media contracts and wasn’t
about to relinquish them. That resulted in the

110 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 1990 Blundell’s banzai pole lap
How the straight-line speed record would
have evolved had the chicanes not gone in
can only be a matter of conjecture.
Dorchy’s WM-Peugeot P88 had around
900bhp and a super-slippery shape. Two
years later, Mark Blundell’s Nissan R90CK
had in excess of a 1100bhp and much more
downforce, yet according to the team’s
data, the car still hit 237mph on one section
of the straight on the lap that gave the
Briton pole in 1990 by a full six seconds.
The R90CK wasn’t intended to have
that much power. One of the wastegates on
the 3.5-litre twin-turbo V8 jammed shut as
the qualifying run commenced, sending the
boost sky high. The top brass at the
Japanese manufacturer wanted Blundell to
abort the lap, but Nissan Motorsports
Europe team manager Dave Price told his
driver to push on.
It was a wild ride, recalls Blundell: “The
thing was spinning the wheels in fourth
gear up to the Dunlop Curve. If you watch
the on-board lap, you can see how vicious
it was. And don’t forget those cars were the
purest of the pure — a manual gearbox and
no powersteering or traction control.”
The Nissan stopped the clocks at
3m27.020sec at the end of probably the
most famous single lap in Le Mans history.
Had Blundell been on qualifying tyres, then
still part of the game at the highest level of
sportscar racing, there could have been a
few seconds to lose, and perhaps a few
miles per hour to gain in top speed. It isn’t
fanciful to suggest that the big-boost Nissan
would have hit Dorchy’s speed record out of
the park had there been no chicanes.
It is doubtful that anyone has got close to
the kind of speeds Blundell achieved in 1990
in the 30-plus years that have elapsed. The
fastest time through the official speed trap at
Le Mans last year was a relatively modest
342kph (212mph) from one of the Toyota
GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercars.

French enduro being scratched from the Sacré bleu! The Mulsanne
world championship schedule in 1989. was cut into three by the
FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre had insertion of two chicanes
an ace up his sleeve in the game of poker
that followed. The Circuit de la Sarthe’s track
licence was due for renewal at the end of
1989 and the fiery Frenchman pushed
through a new rule limiting the maximum
length of straights on an international circuit
to two kilometres (1.2 miles). But, said
Balestre, the Hunaudières could remain
untouched if the ACO acquiesced over TV
rights. It wouldn’t, and after Le Mans had
GETTY IMAGES, DPPI

again been removed from the WSPC, the

ACO had no option but cut the Mulsanne
into thirds with the two chicanes we know
today in order for the race to go ahead.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 111

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

2006
Loeb’s
busman’s
holiday

Safe to say Sébastien Loeb had never

endured a recce quite like it. His Le Mans
debut in 2005 was far from easy. Fresh from
winning Rally Turkey in his Citroën, he jumped
on a helicopter to La Sarthe for his first run in
the Pescarolo C60 LMP1. Arriving at the track
for the evening of the test day, he jumped
straight into the prototype and headed out, in
the rain, for his first laps of Le Mans. That year
wouldn’t go Loeb’s way, with the car retiring
after a crash, but his second shot in 2006 with
France’s own Mr Le Mans, Henri Pescarolo,
was one place short of a far higher entry in
this list. Loeb, Éric Hélary and Franck
Montagny were second, splitting the Audis.

Americans tend not to forget this one. Two years before 1966 and all that, and
1964 in the wake of the mess that was Ford’s aborted effort to buy Ferrari, the Blue

Ford’s first Oval arrived at Le Mans in force in 1964 with its new GT40. It proved a disaster
as gearbox failures and a fire meant all three failed to finish. But Ford had also
Ferrari supplied engines elsewhere that year, primarily to Carroll Shelby’s Shelby
American Inc, which used a 4.7-litre V8 inside a Daytona Cobra Coupe. Dan
revenge Gurney and Bob Bondurant brought that car home fourth behind a trio of
Ferrari prototypes – but as first GT, crucially ahead of the iconic 250 GTO.

BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES, FRÉDÉRIC LE FLOC’H/DPPI

Carroll Shelby, left, with the

Daytona Cobra raced by
Jochen Neerpasch, right. Bob
Bondurant, centre, would
finish fourth in Daytona No5

112 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023


2011
Lotterer holds
breath as tyre
deflates
It was a sensational climax. Audi
prevailed over Peugeot by a scant
13.854sec in a fitting end to a battle
that raged right through the 24 Hours.
But just how dramatic it had been for
the Joest Audi team and André
Lotterer, the driver out on track in the
victorious R18 TDI, didn’t become clear
until after the race.
Audi had the quicker car in the
battle of the turbodiesels and could
stretch a set of Michelins out to a
quadruple stint. Peugeot, though, had
the better consumption figures: it could
go a lap longer between pitstops.
Lotterer, who shared his Audi with
Under pressure: Lotterer
kept his Audi on the road
despite a deflating rear
tyre in the closing stages
Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler,
would need to pit twice in the final hour
to just one stop for the chasing Simon
Pagenaud in the Peugeot 908 co-driven
by Sébastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy.
But the victorious Audi might have
needed an extra stop. The team
detected a slowly deflating left-rear
tyre following his penultimate pit call.
Miraculously, the pressure stabilised
and Lotterer was able to bring the car
into the window to complete the race
on just one more stop.
He pushed on to secure the win
in what is the closest timed finish in
Le Mans history.
2003 Bentley
19
parades on the
Champs-
Élysées
It had been prearranged
before the race – to Tom
Kristensen’s disgust. Just as
well Bentley’s Speed 8 came through. The
next day the winning crew – Kristensen,
Dindo Capello and Guy Smith – joined a
celebration parade up the Champs-Élysées
behind their winning car, now driven by
Derek Bell. “Just starting the Speed 8, the
inlet temperature goes up like a bazooka,”
says Kristensen. “Driving into traffic in the
heat of summer Derek had a big problem.
But the engine is still in one piece – and it
has never been started again.”
1977 Ickx’s
18
greatest drive
Jacky Ickx’s marathon stint
through the night in 1977
helped raise Porsche from the
dead and snatch a hugely
unlikely victory for the 936.
When his own car dropped out with a blown
engine, Ickx was transferred into the sister car
alongside Hurley Haywood and Jürgen Barth,
which had endured its own fuel pump
troubles. Ickx smashed lap records as he
clawed back the gap to the Alpine-Renaults.
The pace took its toll: the Alpines failed,
leaving the Porsche in the lead, only for it to
drop a cylinder in the final hour. Barth nursed
the car home as Ickx retreated to his
motorhome “with my fingers in my ears”.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 113
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1962 Just as some people are better off in

grands prix rather than sports car racing –
Olivier Juan Manuel Fangio for example – so too
is it true that other drivers, while more than
Gendebien deserving of their place at the top table of
single-seater racing, find their natural
becomes métier in sports car racing instead.
quadruple Belgian star Olivier Gendebien was just
such a driver.
winner His F1 career lasted five seasons, but
he only started 14 races in all that time split

114 Motor Sport June 2023


between Ferrari, Lancia, Cooper, Emeryson
and Lotus machinery, and only scored two
podium finishes from them – both for
Cooper in 1960, including a career-high
second place in the French GP at Reims.
But the canny Enzo Ferrari recognised that
what he poetically described as the
“elegant forcefulness” of this gentleman
GETTY IMAGES
driver would be perfectly suited for
longer-distance racing. Mechanically
sympathetic, always prepared to be a team
player and unafraid of the perils posed by a
wet night-time stint in France, Gendebien’s
finishing record at Le Mans speaks for
itself: he only competed there eight times,
yet he not only won half of them but he
only retired from two and came fifth and
third on the remaining two occasions.
He justly became the first quadruple
winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, with all
four wins coming with Ferrari machinery
between 1958-1962, sandwiching one
1991
Heroic
Herbert
misses the
podium
The leading Mercedes broke with two hours
to run and the chasing Jaguars had fuel
consumption worries. So Mazda’s
unfancied, shrill, Wankel-engined 787B
scored an unlikely win, the first for a
Japanese make. But an exhausted Johnny
Herbert didn’t get to join Bertrand Gachot
and Volker Weidler on the podium after
collapsing over the back of the car.
“I remember turning the engine off, opening
the door and jumping out – then realising
my body was still in the car!” he chuckles.
“As I walked to my father, I saw stars and
collapsed. I woke up in the medical centre.
I learnt two things: one was to sleep during
the race, and also to find something to fill
my stomach. No more Pot Noodles!”
A moment of history on the podium, but Herbert
missed it after passing out following the finish
retirement in 1959 due to an overheating
engine. While five other drivers have since
gone on to win more times at Le Mans,
(Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela, Derek Bell,
Jacky Ickx and Tom Kristensen) none has
bettered his 50% win-to-start ratio.
Gendebien retired from racing after
that final victory in 1962 having completed
a hat-trick of wins. Still at the height of his
powers, he stopped principally to stay alive
in a deadly era.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 115
 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1970
Brief
return
of the
standing
start
Steve McQueen captured it with added
beating heart in Le Mans, but Derek Bell
lived it when the traditional running start
was abolished. “I sat in the car with my belts
on,” says Bell. “You could see the clock and
we were watching for the flag. You had it in
first gear with a stone behind the wheel,
they dropped the flag, you turned the key,
VRRRROOOM – and off you’d go, taking off
with the wheels spinning almost before the
engine was running.” How no one crashed
was a miracle. The next year, the rolling start
we still have today was ushered in.

1967 Gurney sprays the Moët

A simple act of spontaneous joy, which has endured
to the point where it’s become a universal tradition.
Dan Gurney didn’t think about what he was doing.
He’d just won Le Mans in Shelby’s MkII alongside
AJ Foyt, spied Henry Ford II on the podium and let
fly. “We didn’t call him Henry II, we called him ‘Hank
the Deuce’,” Gurney recalled. “He was an imposing
figure. He was there with a new bride, on their
honeymoon I think, so I started spraying him. I’m
not sure if he liked it or not, but he was a good sport
and AJ and I had a wonderful time.”

1972 Hill surprises Pescarolo

Henri Pescarolo had to be talked back to Matra,
then was unimpressed to find himself paired with
Graham Hill. The five-time Monaco GP winner,
double F1 champion and Indy 500 winner was, um,
over the Hill, wasn’t he? “I was quite wrong about
Graham,” Pescarolo admits. “He was fantastic. We
won the race because in the night and in the rain he
was so fast. He really wanted to win.” The triple
crown isn’t an official thing, but it counts. Just ask
Fernando Alonso and Jacques Villeneuve.

116 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

1999
Mercedes flips out
Not once, not twice, but three times. Mark
Webber walked away from both of his flips in
the Mercedes CLR, one unseen in practice
and one under the glare of TV cameras in the
warm-up (pictured). The team chose to race
– and now this. Peter Dumbreck’s car flew
like a leaf in the wind, over the barrier, into
the woods – and landed right way up in an
area recently cleared of trees. “I saw the sky
and thought, ‘I know what’s happening
now,’” he recalls. “I have no memory until I
was lying on a stretcher going into the
ambulance.” He was unhurt – amazingly.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 117

 LE MANS 100 MOMENTS

1955 The darkest hour

11 Any opus must have shade as well

as light. We’ve chosen to focus on
moments of uplifting sporting
drama and great escapes. But the
casualties of Le Mans should
never be forgotten.
Just before 6.30pm, Mike
Hawthorn’s Jaguar D-type was in a battle with
Juan Manuel Fangio’s Mercedes 300 SLR.
Hawthorn braked heavily to pit forcing Lance
Macklin’s Austin-Healey to swerve into the
path of the Mercedes driven by Pierre
to withdraw (eventually from the sport),
Jaguar didn’t – and Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb
recorded the most hollow of victories.
“What I have always said is that Mike
Hawthorn caused the accident, but he did not
cause the tragedy,” said Levegh’s team-mate
John Fitch. “The tragedy was caused by the
outdated nature of the track – a start/finish
straight which was actually a curve, and
ridiculously narrow, so that if anything bad
happened in front of the pits it was bound to
project bits into the crowd.”
Levegh. The 300 SLR was launched into a The very future of motor sport was under
spectator enclosure, resulting in catastrophic question for a while. Yet most racing folk
loss of life: more than 80 spectators and the carried on regardless. We cannot – and
driver, plus scores of injured. Mercedes chose should not – judge.

Motor racing’s darkest

day: Pierre Levegh’s
Mercedes flew into
the crowd, leading to a
scene of utter carnage

Porsche is the most successful marque at

La Sarthe, but its debut was a battle. The
diminutive 356 SL did win its class on its first
outing in 1951, but nearly didn’t arrive at all
when all three racing test mules were
1951
BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES

crashed. That left just chassis 063, which

Porsche had started life as an abandoned aluminium

shell left behind in Austria by Ferry Porsche
opens its after he switched to Stuttgart. Fitted with
rear wheel covers and driven by Auguste
account Veuillet and Edmond Mouche, it finished
19th, winning its 1.1-litre category.
In the nick of time: after damage to its sister
cars, the sole remaining 356 (46) took a win

118 Motor Sport June 2023

 1988
Jaguar rides its luck
The factory Porsche team
is not an organisation for
which one tends to feel
too sorry, but there was
one moment at Le Mans
in 1988 when those
watching could be
forgiven for extending a
little sympathy. With the
race just four hours old,
the lead Porsche was
coming down the pitlane,
powered not by its
800bhp, water-cooled,
twin turbo, flat six engine, but by its starter
motor and half the Porsche pitcrew. There
was a huge cheer from the crowd.
Such a display of schadenfreude is
perhaps more understandable when you
consider Porsche was gunning for its eighth
victory in a row and, to that end, had built a
car full of trick bits and lightweight parts and
crewed by its best drivers – Hans Stuck,
Derek Bell and Klaus Ludwig – solely for that
purpose. Jaguar, aiming for its first win in
over three decades and which had walked
the previous year’s championship but still
managed to trip over its own shoelaces at
Le Mans, now looked on for one of its five
XJR-9LMs to prevail over the Porsches.
The source of the Porsche’s problem has
been debated ever since. In its original race
report, this magazine stated that “the reserve
fuel pump failed to work properly”, but team
boss Norbert Singer blamed the error on
“Ludwig’s mistake of running out of fuel”. Bell
is equally clear, not to mention rather more
pithy: “The reserve? Well it worked perfectly
well for the rest of the race…”
Porsche’s problem was not any lack of
raw pace with which to recover the deficit,
but a lack of fuel under the Group C
regulations. But then on Sunday afternoon it
started to rain and, left out on slicks when
everyone else dived for wets, Stuck put on a
masterclass of wet-weather driving those
who saw it would never forget. Soon he was
back on the lead lap and even hit the front Jan Lammers’ first and only
when the Jaguar driven by Jan Lammers Le Mans win – and it was a
stopped for a new windscreen. Had the rain corker. Above: Winning
stayed Stuck might even have won. In the Jaguar of Lammers, Andy
Wallace and Johnny
event, it dried up, and Lammers nursed a Jag
Dumfries fights the 962Cs
suffering severe gearbox trouble to take one
of the great Le Mans wins. Had the Porsche
not run out of fuel? Who knows – the history
of racing is written in ‘what if’ stories. But in
the end it was Jaguar that ran out a worthy
winner, breaking the distance record in the
process and Porsche, just for once, was left
wondering what might have been.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 119
 2008
Audi’s most
unlikely win
Audi knew it couldn’t hold a candle to
Peugeot in the dry, but it also knew that
rain was forecast for the race. Its ageing
R10 TDI had looked good against its
French rival’s 908 HDi at the Test Day
in wet conditions, so the task for Tom
Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo
Capello was stay in the hunt and wait
for the weather to change. They drove
the socks off the Audi and were sitting
pretty when the rain arrived.

DPPI, GETTY IMAGES

120 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023


Ickx and Oliver won in GT40 #1075,
which had also taken victory nine
months earlier… The 1968 edition
having been run in September.
Here, they head the Matra of
Nanni Galli and Robin Widdows
1995
Murray’s
magic
McLaren F1
GTR rains…
LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
1969
Ickx beats
Herrmann
in closest
(competitive)
finish
It was a brave decision. The race was
coming to a boil and yet JWA team manager
David Yorke coolly called for a ‘15,000-mile’
service for the lead car: front pads and tyres,
and hood-up fluids-and-belts check. Three
minutes well spent: Jacky Ickx’s GT40 was
now primed for its crucial final stint.
The rival Porsche 908/2, recovering
from a half-hour wheel-bearing replacement
and a collision with a sister car, could just
about outrun the outdated Ford down the
straight, but it was no match for it under
braking for Mulsanne. Ickx usually crossed
the start/finish line ahead. He did so with
a few seconds remaining and the two
swapped paint and positions on that final
lap. Hans Herrmann considered a banzai
move at Ford Chicane but decided not.
It is one of the great unanswered and, was a very different question indeed. But
indeed, unanswerable questions from this
first 100 years of Le Mans. Would McLaren
rain it did. And rain and rain and rain, by
some estimates for up to 17 hours, making
have joined Ferrari and (by default because
it won the first) Chenard et Walcker as the
it one of the wettest on record. And while
that made life even more difficult for the
only makes to have won Le Mans at the
first time of asking had it not rained? It is
drivers it took a huge strain off the
McLaren’s driveline – and gave former
impossible to say.
But we know this: the McLaren F1
Benetton F1 driver JJ Lehto a platform to
shine. “I just loved the car, especially in the
GTR was a competition development of
a road car that had never been designed
with racing in mind, and came with an
wet,” he said. “It had loads of traction, lots
of torque – no problem.” Facing gearbox
worries, terrible weather and far faster
essentially standard road-going prototypes, albeit with smaller fuel tanks,
transmission for which 24 hours of McLarens finished in four of the first five
non-stop racing shifts had never been places, including the one that matters
envisaged. That they’d be quick was not in most, proving the brilliant adaptability
doubt; whether they’d stay the distance of Gordon Murray’s original design.
Lanzante-entered
Kokusai Aihatsu
Racing McLaren won
in the hands of JJ
Lehto, Yannick Dalmas
and Masanori Sekiya
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 121
 It nearly bankrupted the
company, but Porsche’s
crazy plan to create a full
run of 917s in order to
make the most of a rules
loophole worked

122 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023


1969
Porsche
presents
25 917s for
homologation
Worried about thinning fields, the
homologation figure for Group 4 sports cars
was halved to 25 examples. Though Enzo
Ferrari continued to grumble about it, his
team was rumoured to be complying. This
sparked Porsche to take a huge gamble for a
small company whose racing and production
development departments were one and the
same. (Ferrari baulked at the cost and baled
– until he sold a 40% stake to Fiat three days
PORSCHE AG
after the race.)
Design began in July 1968 – the 917’s
4.5-litre flat-12 used the same cylinder
LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
dimensions as the 3-litre eight and its frame
owed a lot to the concurrent 908/2 – and
chassis No001 was unveiled at the Geneva
Motor Show on March 12, 1969 (yours for
140,000DM!). It caused a sensation.
But it was the line-up of the full
complement in the forecourt at
Zuffenhausen on April 21 that blew the mind.
Though Porsche would come swiftly to
realise that it needed outside help to sort
and run this initially flawed car, undoubtedly
this was the moment that altered its status
forever: from admired to revered.
June 2023 Motor Sport 123

The makings of a Le Mans
legend: Alboreto takes the
flag. For Kristensen, it was
the start of a healthy habit
124 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
1997
Tom Kristensen
receives a phone
call from Joest
Blame Ralf Jüttner. It was Joest’s technical
director who made a late decision to call on
who would become ‘Mr Le Mans’, but had yet
to step foot in the place. “That call was the
very foundation of my whole Le Mans career,”
says nine-time winner Tom Kristensen.
“I never expected to be anywhere near
Le Mans in 1997, then I got a call from Joest.
I was to share with Michele Alboreto and
Stefan Johansson. I signed just four days
before the race. I’d never seen the track, and
did just 17 laps in qualifying before the race.
I was full of butterflies, preparing to impress
the little team which was just 12 people then.
Michele put the car on pole, and I got a new
lap record. I remember Ralf coming on the
radio saying ‘lap record, lap record. Now
keep it steady, keep it steady.’ I realised, hey,
if a German starts speaking English to me,
then I’m doing a good job.”

2016
Toyota’s last-gasp heartbreak
Toyota had long since been the nearly man
of Le Mans when it had that elusive first
victory wrenched from its grasp once again
in 2016. It had come close in 1994, ’98 and
’99, and in 2014. But this time its loss couldn’t
have been more dramatic. A victory over
Porsche and Audi was lost when Kazuki
Nakajima suddenly slowed with an engine
problem with six minutes left on the clock.
The leading Toyota TS050 Hybrid
Nakajima co-drove with Sébastien Buemi
and Anthony Davidson had come out on top
in a battle with the best of the Porsche 919
AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
With minutes remaining,
disaster struck for race
leader Kazuki Nakajima
Hybrids. The car was a minute up when the
Japanese driver lost power in sector one on
its penultimate lap. Porsche believed the
Toyota was running out of fuel — the TS050s
had been going a lap longer than the 919s.
But the problem was, in fact, a fractured
airline between one of the turbos and its
intercooler. Toyota tried to cure the problem
when Nakajima, still just about in the lead,
stopped on track opposite the team’s pitbox.
It was to no avail. So slow was his final
lap – outside the six-minute maximum – that
the car was unclassified.
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 125

In no hurry: Ickx saunters
across the track to his car in
an image that wouldn’t be out
of place in Hollywood. The
traditional running start was
dropped a year later
1969
Jacky
Ickx
UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES
takes
a walk
There’s some irony that it should be Jacky
Ickx who should end a grand old Le Mans
tradition on the grounds of safety. Over in
F1, he and Jackie Stewart grated regularly
over the rising campaign that enough was
finally enough. Not that Ickx was against
improving his survival chances. He was
just, as he put it, “conservative” in his
approach. Yet here he was, at the start of
the world’s most famous endurance race,
posting a safety protest in the most
sensational (yet naturally stylish) manner.
Aggrieved at the practice of drivers
only doing up their belts on the Mulsanne
– or even not at all after the running start
LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
– Ickx chose to walk across the track
towards his Gulf Ford GT40 when the flag
dropped. “In fact I did have to run the last
few metres to my car, or I would have been
run over!” he smiles. “A lot of people were
upset with me, because that start was a
great Le Mans tradition.”
But his point was proven in the darkest
manner just minutes later when John
Woolfe, his belts still undone, lost control of
his Porsche 917 at the high-speed kink at
Maison Blanche and triggered a multi-car
accident. Woolfe died in the crash, and
with him went the signature running start.
Not before time.
June 2023 Motor Sport 127
 Six retirements from six. That hurt Ford when
1966 the dust settled on the 1965 Le Mans 24
Hours after yet another Ferrari triumph.
Ford’s Despite leading 1-2 early on, every one of
Ford’s entries had failed to stay the course,
botched a race meant to teach Ferrari a lesson for
rebuffing the US giant’s takeover cheque.
formation Impatient with progress at Ford Advanced
Vehicles in the UK where the mould-breaking
finish GT40 project took shape under John Wyer,
Ford shifted its thrust to Shelby American in
Los Angeles. There were plenty of problems
– wilting brakes, head gasket failures and
scary aerodynamics. Then came the switch of
the 4.7-litre V8 for a muscle-packed 7-litre.
The resulting new machine, simply titled
‘MkII’, was fast, brutally hefty – and unreliable.
Completed only in May 1965, mere weeks
before Le Mans, its NASCAR-derived pushrod
engine and four-speed gearbox, tough but
128 Motor Sport June 2023
unsophisticated compared with the Italian
quad-cams, were not ready for endurance
racing, despite a fastest lap around La Sarthe.
Worse, long corporate communication lines to
Dearborn and rivalries between the three
teams now trying to make the GT40/MkII a
winner added up to a fractious set-up.
It was time to seize the bull by the horns
and kick it up the rump. After all, winning this
race couldn’t be that hard – Ferrari had just
done it six times in a row. Allocating three
MkIIs each to Holman Moody and Shelby, plus
two lightweight specials prepared and run by
Alan Mann Racing from England, Ford’s prime
mover and fixer Leo Beebe threw everything
at the task. And as a comforting back up for
the eight, there would be six privateer GT40s.
GETTY IMAGES
When the team hit France, no one had
seen the like. Twenty tons of equipment and
spares, a complete mobile workshop and

over 100 people, plus a stellar driver squad.
Chris Amon, one of the Ford pilots, reckoned
he’d heard a whisper of a $20m spend –
simply staggering for the time. Ford was going
to win. It couldn’t be allowed to fail – Henry
Ford II himself had come to see his Italian
counterpart meet his nemesis. And win it did
in spectacular style – although the long-
awaited victory would be shrouded in
contention for years to come.
A kingpin in Shelby’s armoury was
Ken Miles. Athletic, ascetic and hyper-focused,
Miles was the perfect combination of
development and racing driver, improving
reliability to the point that in February ’66
MkIIs ran 1-2-3-5 at the Daytona 24 Hours.
So when Henry Ford flagged away the
French showdown and Graham Hill led off in
a Mann 7-litre, Ferrari was under pressure.
With only two works cars backed by a dozen
privateers Maranello was overshadowed, and
within hours the Fords had control. The Shelby
cars of Dan Gurney/Jerry Grant and Ken Miles/
Denny Hulme traded the lead with a P2/3
Ferrari, but when one of the red cars crashed
and the other broke, Fords ran 1-2-3-4.
After tyre troubles Bruce McLaren and
Chris Amon were surging back up the field,
and though the leading Grant/Gurney MkII
began to overheat, a Ford triumph looked
assured, McLaren/Amon now tailing Miles and
Denny Hulme, with Ronnie Bucknam/Dick
Hutcherson third in their Holman Moody
machine. Simple victory, though, was not
enough for FoMoCo. The order came down:
“Close up!” Line astern, if not three abreast,
made the million-dollar photo shot. At his last
pitstop Miles was annoyed to get the ‘slow
down’ message, putting him in range of a
hard-charging McLaren, but by the last lap
LE MANS 100 MOMENTS
PR ahead of sport? Miles/Hulme should
have won in the No1 GT40 MkII, but
victory was given to McLaren/Amon in
No2 after Ford staged a photo finish
that went dramatically wrong
he’d obeyed. As the Ford trio hit the line it was
suddenly McLaren and Amon ahead. For all
his months of effort, Miles was second.
Debate raged: had Miles eased off too
much? Did Ford steal Ken’s win for a PR coup?
Was it because the winning car had started 20
yards further back? Was there a conspiracy
within Ford to stop the straight-talking
Englishman winning? In 2006 Amon told
Motor Sport that when the ‘slow’ signal went
out “Ken kept going and Bruce was pissed off.
There was no way he was going to finish
second. He said Ken backed off; well, maybe,
or maybe Bruce put on a little spurt…”
Ford cared little; defeat was avenged,
Ferrari humbled, and it was the first of four
victories in a row. In the years that followed,
the GT40 and the tale of Ford’s victory moved
into the realm of legend; a defining moment
not just of Le Mans but of all motor sport.
June 2023 Motor Sport 129
 THE ROAD TO LE MANS

WHO WILL WIN THE

RACE OF TH
With the Le Mans 24 Hours just weeks away,
Gary Watkins studies the Hypercar form from
the early rounds of WEC and IMSA to see if any
teams are strong enough to challenge Toyota

130 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

E CENTURY?
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 131
 f Toyota wasn’t already favourite to
I
make it six Le Mans 24 Hours victories
in a row in June, it was after the first
two rounds of the 2023 World
Endurance Championship. The
Japanese manufacturer may be up
against a level of opposition far beyond what
it faced on the way to wins number one to
five, but on the evidence of Sebring and
Algarve it’s way out ahead. It trounced its
rivals both times.
The two-lap margin of victory over eight
hours at Sebring and the one lap over six at
Portimão suggested that its factory rivals,
Ferrari, Porsche, Peugeot and Cadillac, have
a mountain to climb to get on terms before
the centenary running of the double-points
Le Mans WEC round on June 10-11. While
there could be no surprise that Toyota’s
GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercar was in the
ascendancy, should it have come as a shock
that it is so far ahead?
Perhaps not if you look at how the
Balance of Performance – the means by
which the playing field is levelled in the WEC
– works now. A new-for-2023 system is based
the winning Toyota GR010
Hybrid at Portimão – where
From left: Ferrari drivers
Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas
Nielsen and Miguel Molina
on the Algarve podium
132 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
not on lap time but on simulation — more third season and has undergone two
than 500,000 have been run, say rule significant evolutions, so it stands to reason
makers the FIA and the Automobile Club de that the well-oiled Toyota Gazoo Racing
l’Ouest. The aim is to balance the potential squad will be closest to exploiting the full
of all the cars, the four-wheel-drive Toyota, potential of its Le Mans contender.
Ferrari and Peugeot LMHs with the rear- Ferrari, Porsche et al understand that
drive Cadillac and Porsche LMDhs as well they are on a steep learning curve with
as the non-hybrid machinery from garagistes complicated hybrid machinery and that it
Glickenhaus and Vanwall. should never have been expected of them
The system is based on the premise that to come in and beat the reigning king of
the FIA and the ACO now know what each WEC straight off the bat.
car is capable of rather than just the
performance it shows on the track. Central
to the reasoning for the change was a
desire to avoid a manufacturer sandbagging “Should it have
in the early season races to get a favourable
BoP for the big one in June. The scope for
revisions to the BoP from the beginning of
come as a shock
the season until after Le Mans is also limited
now. Only the balance between the LMHs that Toyota’s
and the LMDhs — the so-called platform
BoP – could be changed, with that move only
being possible ahead of the final pre-
Hypercar is so
Le Mans WEC round at Spa on 29 April.
Toyota has a proven product in the far ahead?”
GR010 introduced in 2021. It is now in its
Six hours of dirt on
Peugeot, right, pictured
in special Le Mans livery
found its feet
GETTY IMAGES, PEUGEOT, DPPI, JOTA

“We just need to improve ourselves,” said
Ferrari sports car race and testing manager
Giuliano Salvi after the Italian marque’s
499P proved best of the rest for a second
time this season at Algarve. “We know there
is quite a lot of potential in the car that we
haven’t unlocked yet. We also know Toyota
has been here for 10 years [in the WEC’s top
class]; we are not at their level.”
Ferrari admitted that it was
experimenting on set-up during the races.
At Sebring it had a car in the 499P that was
fast over one lap – witness Antonio Fuoco’s
shock pole — but didn’t look after its
Michelin tyres over a stint or a double in the
race. A change of tack for Algarve, where it
ended up nearly 1.5sec off the pace
in qualifying, was probably a step too far in
the other direction, conceded Salvi.
The first two races proved that the 499P
is reliable: both cars got to the finish without
technical issues at Sebring, while the AF
Corse-run team followed up on third place
there with second at Algarve. The sister car
ended up sixth after encountering problems
with its brake-by-wire system.
A Hypercar traffic jam at the start
of the Portimão 6 Hours with
Toyotas and Ferraris leading
Porsche had a disappointing return to
the top class of the WEC five years on from
the end of its programme with the all-
conquering 919 Hybrid LMP1. Its 963 LMDh
looked all at sea over the Sebring bumps
and both Penske-run cars were hit by
electronic glitches, albeit minor ones, on
the way to fifth and sixth positions, a
whopping four laps down.
Progress was made at Algarve: the car
claimed the final spot on the podium on the
same weekend as its new prototype claimed
a maiden victory in the IMSA SportsCar
Championship at Long Beach. Both results,
however, had a hint of good fortune to them.
The 963 wasn’t the fastest car on the US
street circuit and in Portugal it wouldn’t
have collected some silverware had Toyota
THE ROAD TO LE MANS
and Ferrari got two cars to the finish cleanly,
nor if a late safety car hadn’t undone
Cadillac’s strategy.
Still, it was, said LMDh project boss Urs
Kuratle, “a big step for us”. Porsche has also
been at pains to point out that the European
arm of Porsche Penske Motorsport is all-
new: it only came together in the weeks
leading up to Sebring and managed only
one test in that time.
Porsche will have numbers on its side
at Le Mans. It opted to field an extra entry,
one of its IMSA cars, alongside its two full-
season WEC contenders. That means there
will be four 963s on the grid with the
addition of the customer Jota car.
“The history of the race has shown that
the additional cars deployed are often
Jota’s 963 will join the three
factory Porsches on the
Le Mans grid
JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 133
 THE ROAD TO LE MANS
the factor that ultimately tips the scales,”
said Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas
Laudenbach. That’s a clear reference to the
third 919, driven by Nico Hülkenberg, Nick
Tandy and Earl Bamber, claiming Le Mans
victory in 2015.
Cadillac will also have three factory cars
on the grid at Le Mans when the Ganassi-run
Cadillac Racing and Action Express Racing
teams bring over their IMSA V-Series.R
LMDhs for the big one to join the former’s
solo full-season WEC entry. The General
Motors marque might only have had one
car pre-Spa, but it has been nipping at the
heels of Ferrari. It ran Ferrari close for third
in America and should have taken the final
podium spot in Portugal. The Ganassi-run
Cadillac Racing squad looked impressive at
a track that is a kind of home from home
for GM (Sebring) and one where the
V-Series.R had never tested (Algarve).
The strong suit of the Caddy is how it looks
after its Michelin tyres.
Peugeot was also on an upward curve
at Algarve, and a steep one at that, after an
134 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023
The Vanwall lasted for nearly
five hours in Portugal. Below,
from left: Porsche’s IMSA
drivers Mathieu Jaminet and
Nick Tandy at Long Beach.
Right: Cadillac at Portimão
“Peugeot was
on an upward
curve after an
abject Sebring
performance”
abject performance at Sebring. Both its cars
were hit by gearshift issues inside an hour
at the season-opening race, though
the problem with the selector mechanism
was a known one and a fix already in the
pipeline for Algarve.
Next time out, Peugeot had its best race
to date with the 9X8 LMH that came on
stream after Le Mans last year. Fifth place
wasn’t its best result — it garnered three
delayed fourths last year – but crucially it
got a car to the finish cleanly.
Reliability had been its focus since the
end of its three-race pilot programme in
the WEC last year, but post-Algarve it was
still expressing reservations about its
chances of getting one of its wingless 9X8s
to the finish at Le Mans without problems.
“We understand the time it will take to
make the car bulletproof for Le Mans,” said
Olivier Jansonnie, technical director on the
9X8 programme. “We are not there yet, but
we have improved from a few months ago.”
The same probably goes for the pace of
its avant-garde concept. It took a step
forward between Sebring and Algarve, but
was still a long way from Toyota.
Minnows Glickenhaus and Vanwall,
perhaps not surprisingly, were the slowest
of the cars in Hypercar at both Sebring and
Algarve. Neither circuit favoured the Pipo-
engined Glickenhaus 007, which was racing
for the first time since July last year at the
opening round. The ByKolles-run Vanwall
squad, meanwhile, is clearly still learning
 After a blistering start to the
2023 WEC season, Toyota is
on track for a sixth successive
Le Mans 24 Hours victory

about its Gibson-engined Vandervell 680, a

car that has covered only a fraction of the
test mileage of the factory competition.
Toyota is, perhaps not surprisingly,
playing down its dominance. Technical
director Pascal Vasselon has pointed out that
where its GR010 scores is consistency. That
goes for its pace over the life of a set of
Michelins and what it does in the pits. And,
of course, its stops and strategy have been
as flawless as expected.
Yet Algarve showed that nothing can be
take for granted. One of the two Toyotas
was hit by a failure of one of its FIA-
mandated driveshaft torque sensors that
measure power delivery — a key component
of the strictly-controlled Hypercar class. The
resulting 11min lost in the pits restricted
the car to ninth position.
Vasselon was calling for a change in FIA/
ACO procedures when such a failure occurs.
GETTY IMAGES, DPPI

The worrying development at Algarve, he

argued, turned the race into a lottery.
Toyota knows all about how cruel the
Le Mans 24 Hours can be.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 135

 Pre '63 GT, FIA HTP, Preparation by Pearsons Engineering
1962 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 3.8 FHC

The Ex - Works BMW Junior Team, Surer The First Pratt & Miller Developed Car
1978 March 782 BMW Formula 2 1989 Spice SE89P Chevrolet GTP
mitchellcurated.com
E: ben@mitchellcurated.com T: 0044 (0) 7535 148470
 THE

SHOWROOM BUYING, SELLING, AUCTIONS, MEMORABILIA

and r Hannu Mikkola drove
a version of this car to a
podium on the Monte Carlo
Rally in 1986, and has been
involved with the project

DEALER STAR CAR

Many parts make a whole

It may be a replica, but this exquisite Audi Quattro breaks the mould
by using only original components, says Simon de Burton

W
hen is a car more than devoted a dozen years of his life to building As a result, it features the bonnet and
the sum of its parts? this example for himself – and it’s so good complete dashboard from Quattros raced
Possibly in the case that former Audi works driver and rally by Röhrl; the co-driver’s seat used by Arnie
of this remarkable legend Walter Röhrl summed it up in one Hertz and the KKK turbo from Michèle
replica of the Audi word: ‘Perfect.’  Mouton’s Pikes Peak hillclimb car.
Quattro driven to Small travelled the world from the Czech Mikkola-related components also
third place by Hannu Mikkola on the 1986 Republic to South Africa and from Poland abound, including body panels, mirrors, the
Monte Carlo Rally. to America in his quest for genuine Audi rear screen and the magnesium rear
Owner and Sport Quattro guru Jamie Sport ex-factory parts, with the sole aim of differential and six-speed gearbox from his
JAMIE SMALL

Small, who creates scratch-built replicas making his Quattro the best and most 1000 Lakes car. And, to cap it all, the
of the legendary Group B cars for a living, accurate replica in existence. Quattro’s roof is signed by double British

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 137

 THE SHOWROOM Dealer
Along with perhaps the
largest collection of Audi
Sport Quattro spares in
existence, the car comes
with signed Mikkola items

rally champion and one-
time Quattro Sport driver
David Llewellin.
“Only 20 original factory
cars were built, and two of those
have been dismantled,” says Small.
“My S1 is an exact rebuild of one of the
two, car number 014, which was driven by
Mikkola in the Monte Carlo Rally. It has been
put together using the original, 250-page
Audi Sport build manual for reference and
I really think the fact that each part has its
own story to tell makes the car a piece of
motor sport history in its own right.”
Small says he was helped in the project
by former Audi factory engineers as well as
rallycross champions, who
took over some of the
ex-works cars after Group B
rallying was abolished at the
end of the 1986 season.
Important mechanical parts
include an original S1 aluminium engine
block and works cylinder head, an ultra-rare
steering servo, boot-mounted alternator and
drive pump and magnesium Alcon brakes
(to name but a few).
And if that wasn’t enough, Small is selling
the car complete with what he claims to be
the largest S1 spares package ever offered:
it comprises sufficient parts to build a whole
other car worth, potentially, £450,000.
On top of that, the buyer will also get a
Hannu Mikkola signed race suit and cap, the
aforementioned Audi Sport build manual
– and even a VW team van. 
“It would be absolutely impossible to
find so many original Audi Sport parts for
sale anywhere in the world again – and there
might not be another original S1 on the
market for at least 20 years,” says Small. 
This is surely the chance of a lifetime for
well-heeled Group B rally fans to own a
piece (or several) of history.
1986 AUDI S1 E2 SPORT QUATTRO
On sale with Jamie Small, Coalville,
Leicestershire. Asking: £1m plus. 07511 674186

DEALER NEWS

Nippy Cooper has the Fangio touch

● Think of PEUGEOT’s
rally heritage and the 205
T16 will power-slide into
your mind, but the slightly
older 504 was no slouch:
● On its debut in 1952, at
Goodwood, COOPER-
BRISTOL chassis CB/2/52,
inset right, was driven (as a
single-seater) by JUAN
at the F2 Swiss GP. In 1954
it was rebuilt as a sports
car – as it is today. It’s on
sale (£POA) with PENDINE
at Bicester Heritage, which
Far East with new retail
spaces in TOKYO,
FUKUOKA and TAIWAN.
Asia accounts for a third of
BAC’s export volume.
● Car manufacturers once
again proved inventive in
their APRIL FOOL pranks.
JAMIE SMALL, RALLY PREPARATION SERVICES, PENDINE

in the 1978 Safari Rally,
JEAN-PIERRE NICOLAS
came first in one, 40min
ahead of the next car. This
1977 COUPÉ, right, in
Group 4 spec, has been
raced by Nicolas in classic
events. Its on sale at RALLY
PREPARATION SERVICES
in Oxfordshire for £80,000.
FANGIO, and weeks later
the car gave Cooper its first
world championship points
reveals, “It’s one of the
most documented historic
cars we’ve come across.”
● Liverpool-based
BRIGGS AUTOMOTIVE
COMPANY, maker of the
street-legal single-seater
MONO supercar, is
extending its reach to the
● Lyndhurst’s McLAREN
NEW FOREST has been
named as the UK’s finalist
in the brand’s GLOBAL
RETAILER OF THE YEAR
awards. It’ll be up against
10 dealerships. McLaren
has a network of more than
100 retailers in 41 countries.
JEEP announced mud
finishes for its Compass;
VW revealed a nail varnish
range to match its car
colours which can also treat
bodywork scratches; and
HONDA launched HUSH
tech to cancel unwanted
sound, such as kids asking,
“Are we there yet?” LG

IF YOU HAVE ANY INDUSTRY NEWS OR TIPS CONTACT LEE.GALE@MOTORSPORTMAGAZINE.COM

138 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

Goodwood’s got you
covered, classic car owners
T
here’s a lot of work that goes into owning
a piece of motoring history. But then
that’s part of what makes it so rewarding:
a feeling of keeping something special alive,
safeguarding it for a future generation.
So, it’s a good thing that Goodwood has set
out to make life just that bit easier for owners
by launching its own bespoke insurance service,
Goodwood Classic Solutions.
Brand new for 2023, Goodwood Classic
Solutions aims to take care of the time-
consuming hunt for specialist insurance, giving
owners more time to simply enjoy their cars.
The new service provides 24/7 access to
tailored insurance policies, with customers able
to receive personalised cover quotations
quickly and easily. And driven by Goodwood’s
passion and knowledge of the classic car scene,
and a new partnership with Sterling Insurance,
this takes insurance offerings way beyond what
are achievable through run-of-the-mill
comparison sites.
During a typical quotation, owners can
input their specific car details and obtain an
agreed vehicle valuation – with each car treated
as an individual specialist case – which will then
be used as the basis for the quotation.
Goodwood Classic Solutions then does all the
heavy lifting, and customers will receive three
tailored policy options from leading insurers
to choose from. The process is quick and easy,
and is available online 24 hours a day.
A whole range of classics have been catered
Minis racing at the Goodwood Revival; the
company now offers insurance cover too
for, from the humble Mini Cooper where
policies start as low as £135, up to more exotic
classics like the Aston Martin DB5, starting from
£395. There are also options for modifications
and restorations, spare parts cover, breakdowns
and salvage retention.
Members of both the Goodwood Road
Racing Club and Fellowship will also be eligible
for a discount; further discounts are available
for owners who only do limited mileage.
Chairman of Goodwood, The Duke of
Richmond, said: “I’m thrilled we are launching
this unique classic car insurance service for the
motoring community. Exceptional customer
experiences are at the heart of what we do and
with the launch of Goodwood Classic Solutions
in 2023 – the year we celebrate 75 years of
motor sport at Goodwood – it couldn’t be a
better time to extend this passion and expertise
to fellow enthusiasts.”
Readers with classic cars can head to
goodwood.com for more information.
June 2023 Motor Sport 139
 THE SHOWROOM Auctions

AUCTION PICKS

A roaring 2016 PORSCHE 911 R

SOLD BY RM SOTHEBY’S, £380,000

investment
The old adage about losing money the moment you
drive out of the showroom doesn’t apply to limited-
edition Porsche 911s – as evinced by the sale of this
rare R that fetched almost double what it originally
cost in 2016. The 4-litre 500bhp six-speed manual
car was created for ‘purist’ drivers who demanded
a more involving gearbox than the lightning-quick
Simon de Burton’s sales round-up includes PDK paddle-operated transmission. With only 742
miles on the clock and finished in desirable Grand

a 911 R money-spinner and the 27-litre Beast Prix White with retro door logos, it was loaded with
sensible options including a long-range fuel tank,
reinforced clutch and front axle lift.

1932 ALFA ROMEO 6C 1987 KREMER PORSCHE 962 1959 LISTER-JAGUAR

SOLD BY BROAD ARROW, £975,000
This gorgeous 6C 1750 Series V with Figoni Gran
Sport bodywork had been restored by Blakeney
Motorsport, scooping a class award at the 2021
Pebble Beach Concours. The detail was exquisite.
SOLD BY GOODING & COMPANY, £735,000 SOLD BY BONHAMS, £630,000
Built by privateer racing team Kremer, this 962C This original Lister was among a hoard of Jaguars
was raced at Le Mans in 1987 and ’88, finishing collected by US enthusiast Thomas Hendricks.
fourth and eighth respectively. It was still in the It had been owned by Hendricks since 1976 and
Leyton House livery it wore at Le Mans.  stashed in a warehouse for more than 20 years.

140 Motor Sport June 2023

 2001 DUCATI MH900E 1991 JAGUAR XJS 1954 AUSTIN CHAMP
SOLD BY COLLECTING CARS, £27,500 SOLD BY THE MARKET, £1700 SOLD BY HAMPSON AUCTIONS, £10,833
When Ducati launched this homage to the 1978 F1 In a world where so many classic cars seem to have Britain’s answer to the light and reliable military
Isle of Man TT-winning machine that Mike Hailwood been restored to the point of being too precious to Jeep was the heavy and complex Austin Champ.
rode to victory, the 2000 available examples sold use, it was good to see this roadworthy but slightly It was in service with the regular Army between
out in 31 minutes. This one has covered five miles.    ratty 4-litre XJS cross the block at a sensible price. 1951-56 before being replaced by the Land Rover.  

FORTHCOMING SALE HIGHLIGHTS

● BONHAMS, CHAUSSÉE DE ● DVCA, STALBRIDGE, ● BROAD ARROW AUCTIONS, ● RM SOTHEBY’S,

CHARLEROI, BRUSSELS, MAY 13
This sale at Belgium’s national
car museum is worth attending
both for the lots and for the
museum itself. An exhibition
celebrating the Le Mans
centenary will include a line-up
of cars connected with the race
– among them a Ford GT40 test
car from 1966, an example of the
1992 race-winning Peugeot 905
and the obscure Le Mans-built
Inaltéra of 1976. Lots include a
1968 Lamborghini 400 GT 2+2,
expected to sell for £250,000.
KARISSA HOSEK/COURTESY OF RM SOTHEBY’S, BONHAMS, CAR & CLASSIC
BROAD ARROW, GOODING & COMPANY/BRIAN HENNIKER,
DORSET, JUNE 8
If you hanker after the old-
school atmosphere and friendly
banter associated with regional
country sales, you’ll enjoy a
day out in the rural venue
favoured by Dorset Vintage
and Classic Auctions. Founder
Brian Chant has been in the
business since 1969 and has
quietly built it into the West
Country’s leading specialist
house for historic cars,
motorcycles, commercial
vehicles and automobilia.
PORSCHE EXPERIENCE CENTER,
ATLANTA, US, JUNE 8-10
Still-fledgling auction house
Broad Arrow has lined up this
special sale to celebrate 75
years of Porsche and will offer
75 of the most collectable
models. Visitors to the event will
be able to tour the newly
expanded Porsche Classic sales
and restoration facility and see
the recently opened driver
development track which is
modelled on sections of some of
the world’s famous race circuits.  and a 1984 Lancia C2.
LE MANS, JUNE 9
Le Mans promises to be busier
than ever this year thanks to the
programme of celebrations
being staged to mark the
centenary of the 24-hour race.
And the captive audience
should be a boon to RM
Sotheby’s when it sends a host
of Le Mans-raced cars across
the block the day before the flag
drops on 2023’s event. Among
the offerings is a 1955 Ferrari 121
LM, a 1969 Ferrari 365 GTB/4

1972 THE BEAST

SOLD BY CAR & CLASSIC, £72,500
Despite its hideous appearance the 27-litre
Rolls-Royce Merlin-engined Beast found
considerable fame during the 1970s for being the
world’s most powerful car and for landing its
builder, automatic gearbox expert John Dodd,
with a lawsuit from Rolls-Royce for adorning it
with one of the marque’s recognisable grilles.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 141

 THE SHOWROOM

Motor Sport collection

ALL PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT MOTORSPORTMAGAZINE.COM/SHOP

Editor’s choice LE MANS 1966 POSTER

The story is the stuff of legend, and Hollywood, and we love this

Le Mans in frame
Celebrate a centenary of endurance racing’s finest with our
great selection of memorabilia. Visit the Motor Sport shop
at motorsportmagazine.com/shop to view the full range
classy reimagining from Automobilist. Ever the producer of
jaw-dropping wall-hangers, this officially licensed design features
the 7-litre no2 Ford GT40 MKII that won Le Mans in 1966... a result
that has caused controversy ever since. We all know Ken Miles and
Denny Hulme deserved to have won, but for a Ford team order to
slow up for a formation finish, only for the Bruce McLaren/Chris
Amon car running right behind to sprint ahead and be declared the
winner even though it had been four laps behind before the ‘close
up’ command. Pah, whatever. This shows the winning car speeding
through the dust, the way it should be remembered. £56

142 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 JACK BRABHAM
SIGNED MODEL
It’s arguable that, amongst the
THE
pantheon of F1 greats, not enough
gets said about Jack Brabham.
EXPERT
The pioneering Aussie was
already a two-time world
champion with Cooper when he
VIEW
decided to try to win a title driving
a car of his own creation. He
Modelling degrees
achieved it in 1966, with four wins
aboard his Brabham-Repco. This

W
set features a 1:18 scale model of e all love a good model, but we
the Brabham BT20 used in often love a bad one too. Some
1966-67, with the signature of brands are guilty of getting it
Brabham himself on the lid inlay.
£249.95
wrong in a big way, while others raise their
game to produce something extra special.
Let’s start with the ones that got it
really right. Hotwheels (wait, don’t turn
the page!) yes, it’s a toy brand, but it and
parent firm Mattel do occasionally
produce a gem. About 10 years ago it
released a 1:18-scale version of Stirling
Moss’ Ferrari 250GT SWB, and it was
incredible value. For £100 you got a
beautiful model in a lovely box that was
99% accurate. Now they’ve become very
“JOINED UP WRITING THIS
scarce, often changing hands for around
TIME PLEASE!” BOOK
You may know of Martin Tomlinson for his £300… even more if they’ve been signed.
fantastic racing artworks, but inspired by Then there’s the Minichamps’ ‘Taxi
his childhood autograph book he’s also for Senna’ featuring Nigel Mansell’s 1991
penned this book celebrating his own Williams FW14 from the British GP, with
heroes. His scribble collection covered
most of the stars of the 1930s-60s, the famed Brazilian perched on the side.
including nine world champions. Many These are hugely collectible, but
scans of the autographs make it into this weren’t perfect. They damage
74-page book, and are accompanied by his easily, Senna’s arms and legs
artworks, photographs and stories. £25
are delicate, it never came
with the Camel decals so if a
LE MANS PANORAMIC model has them they’ll be an
In the mood to just stare lovingly at some aftermarket kit and you need to make sure
fantastic Le Mans 24 Hours imagery? Grab this they’re the correct colour and design.
and delve into its wonderful 60cm-wide pages
– almost two feet! It focuses on the height of the
Plus, Senna’s red race suit tended to stain
Audi vs Peugeot diesel wars. Reinforce your the white sidepod. But regardless, it’s still
coffee table! £35 a lovely thing that will set you back
upwards of £500 if signed.
And some just get it wrong. There’s a
famous case of a high-end model maker
releasing a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR ‘722’
that won the 1955 Mille Miglia with Moss
STEVE McQUEEN and this title’s own Denis Jenkinson. When
LE MANS PRESS BOOK designing the model, the company visited
An original 1970s press book produced by the the Mercedes museum and snapped the
Heuer watch company and distributed in Japan
to coincide with the launch of Le Mans. Its 24 car as is, not realising that Moss always
pages are adorned with stills and artwork, plus drove with his own three-spoke steering
a superb centre fold-out. It’s all in Japanese, wheel, which he kept. So, when the model
but Google translate can work wonders. £95 came out it had an incorrect four-spoke
steering wheell! Regardless, the rest of the
ABOUT THE MOTOR SPORT SHOP model is lovely, and the fact it has that
With hundreds of special and unique racing-themed products, story behind it makes it quite endearing.
and many new items regularly added, the Motor Sport shop is
aimed at both serious and casual collectors with a wide range of Andrew Francis is director at The Signature
prices to suit your budget. Visit motorsportmagazine.com/shop Store, thesignaturestore.co.uk

June 2023 Motor Sport 143

 1972 Ford Capri RS2600
Built in 2016 by Ric Wood, this RS2600 finished in the iconic Bastos/Tuborg livery is an ideal car
for multiple historic touring car series in the UK and Europe. Eligible for Peter Auto HTC, HSCC, and
Motor Racing Legends Both engine and gearbox have less than 3 hours use since last rebuild. A great
fun car to drive and race in many events with 25hrs engine life, current HTP and spare wheels.
Price £145,000

SPEEDMASTER SPECIALIST IN HISTORIC AUTOMOBILES

Tel: +44 (0)1937 220 360 or +44 (0)7768 800 773
info@speedmastercars.com www.speedmastercars.com
DEALER GALLERY
To advertise, please call Paula Trainor on 020 7349 8479
or email paula.trainor@motorsportmagazine.com

The largest classic car showrooms in central London

A selection from 50 cars available

2016 Ferrari California T - 1966 Maserati Sebring - 2002 Ferrari 575M -

ONLY 7000 miles from new Freshly restored at immense cost ONLY 38,000 miles from new

1992 Range Rover CSK - 1972 Corvette C3 Stingray - 1993 Range Rover LSE -
Very rare manual example Fully restored with 6.3 engine upgrade Immaculately restored & upgraded

www.graemehunt.com
+44 (0)20 7937 8487 • mail@graemehunt.com

June 2023 Motor Sport 147

 1978 PORSCHE 935/77A
Factory-built ex-Joest car, raced at Le Mans in 1978 by the Whittington Brothers. Beautifully prepared and race-
ready, with a fully documented history.
Ferrari F40 | 20,951 KM £1,999,995

Rosso Corsa Exterior with Rosso Cloth Interior, 17’’ Speed Line Alloy Wheels,
Rosso Cloth Racing Seats, Air Conditioning and Stereo System. Ferrari
Classiche Approved. One of 1,315 Examples Built Supplied New in Italy and
Residing in the UK since 2007. A Cat Non Adjust Car That Has Covered 20,951
KMs (13,000 miles) From New.

All Original Leather Pouch, Hand Book and Original Service/Warranty

Booklet. Ferrari Classiche Red Book. All Matching Body Numbers and Factory
Stampings. Supplied with a Full Set of F40 Schedoni Leather Luggage.

Please call for further details.

77 High Street, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, SO43 7PB

Tel. 02380 283 404 lyndhurst.ferraridealers.com
 Ford GT40 by RML
Built by the famed RML (Ray Mallock Engineering) in the early 1990’s, this car is the first of only 5 cars built
by the Motorsport specialist engineering company. The RML built GT40’s are widely acclaimed to be the best
handling GT40s and also lay claim to being the rarest. Fitted with Ford 5.0L V8 engine with Weber Carburettors
and correct ZF Gearbox, as well as AP racing brakes and adjustable dampers and anti roll bars, this car was
originally built as a road car before being quickly converted to a race car with 5.4L engine - the car was raced
successfully by Ray Mallock and the then owner. Subsequently the car was converted back to 5.0L road/track
day specification by its second and most recent owner. The car has covered only 5000 miles since new.
Price £105,000

SPEEDMASTER SPECIALIST IN HISTORIC AUTOMOBILES

Tel: +44 (0)1937 220 360 or +44 (0)7768 800 773
info@speedmastercars.com www.speedmastercars.com
WE CHANGED

EVERYTHING

EVEN WHERE
THE STEERING IS

THE NEW CORVETTE STINGRAY

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 6.2L V8 - Fuel consumption combined (mpg): 23.3.
CO2 emissions combined (g/km): 277. Energy efficiency category: M.

www.chevrolet.uk

Sandhills Lane, Virginia Water GU25 4BT

01344 842801
www.ianallanmotors.co.uk

© 2021 GENERAL MOTORS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CHEVROLET®

 Our passion is classic competition cars

2011 Ferrari 458 Italia GTC Pro – P.O.A. 2008 ex-AF Corse Ferrari 430 GTC F131 Evo – P.O.A.

1972 BMW 3.5 CSL Group 2 “Batmobile” – P.O.A. 2010 Aston Martin Vantage GT2 – P.O.A.

1964 Porsche Carrera GTS – P.O.A.

We have a wider variety of great cars for sale. Please call or visit our web-site for more information.
www.rmd.be – salesinfo@rmd.be – +32 (0) 475 422 790 – Schoten, Belgium
 A SELECTION OF OUR CURRENT STOCK :

1965 Aston Martin DB5 Convertible One of just 81 RHD examples of the DB5
£POA Convertible built. Restored to perfection by
Aston Martin Works in 2011 with the original
engine factory upgraded to Vantage Specifica-
tions. Finished Pacific Blue over Tan Connolly
hides with a Navy Blue convertible hood.
Just 1,000 miles completed since restoration and
presented in exceptional condition throughout.
Available for viewing and demonstration now at
our Hertfordshire showrooms.

1961 Aston Martin DB4GT £POA 1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series II £475,000

T: 0208 741 8822 info@nicholasmee.co.uk nicholasmee.co.uk

 1976 Porsche 934 #0172
1976 Porsche 934 #0172
Eligible for the 2023 Classic LeMans Porsche race complete with a comprehensive
preparation / arrive and drive support package / One of only 31 934’s produced,
the 22nd car built with well documented and known race and ownership history
Eligible
from for the 2023
new including Classic LeMans
11 podiums and 18 Porsche race
race wins complete
/ Possibly thewith
mosta original
comprehensive
preparation
accident / arrive and
free remaining 934drive support package
/ Interesting / One of only 31 934’s produced,
trade considered
the 22nd car built with well documented and known race and ownership history
from new including 11 podiums and 18 race wins / Possibly the most original
accident free remaining 934 / Interesting trade considered

1989 Jaguar Sport XJR10 #589

TWR WORKS IMSA PROTOTYPE
1989 Jaguar Sport XJR10 #589
Now available with a 2023 Le Mans Classic 24 Hour Group C Race entry including a complete arrive
and drive
TWR package
WORKS IMSA this years event along with a substantial and useful spare package / Well
for PROTOTYPE
documented and undoubted provenance / 2 outright wins / 6 Podium finishes / Driven by Davy
NowMartin
Jones, available with aJan
Brundle, 2023 Le Mans
Lammers, Classic
Raul 24 &
Boesel Hour Group
Price CobbC/Race entry including
Interesting a complete arrive
trade considered
and drive package for this years event along with a substantial and useful spare package / Well
documented and undoubted provenance / 2 outright wins / 6 Podium finishes / Driven by Davy
Jones, Martin Brundle, Jan Lammers, Raul Boesel & Price Cobb / Interesting trade considered

Globe House, 15 Purdeys Way, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1ND, UK

T +44 (0) 1702 531758 or M +44 (0) 7774 953111
E kent.thirley@carsinternational.com W www.carsinternational.com
Fast Search.
Fast Sales.
Fuelled by Passion.

The online marketplace

for buying and selling
all things motorsport

BROWSE SELL

motorsportshowroom

PROUDLY PARTNERED WITH

CLASSIC RACING

2010/10 Mercedes Benz 500SL Convertible Auto
Nice Specification -
1969 Alfa Romeo A12
Transporter
Fully restored by an Alfa
Specialist over a four year period
Finished in White Paintwork, Vintage
Decals & Brown Vinyl Seats
Powered by a 1399cc Twin Cam
Engine & matching numbers
Sits on 16” Steel Rims with
Stainless Hubcaps w 1200kg Max Load
& complete with modern Electric Winch,
2022/72
Wheel Straps & Chocks Mercedes Benz AMG E53 4Matic+ Night Edn Premium+
Rubellite Red Metallic with Black
UK Registered £49,995 Nappa
Dolomite Silver w Light Grey -
1995 Porsche 993 Carrera Cab
Midnight Blue Metallic/Marble Grey Hide
& Dark Blue Soft Top/Tonneau Cover
One Owner from New with full
Service History inc MOT’s &
Wallet with Handbooks
Registered March 1995
Original Invoice listing:
Tiptronic Gearbox; Sports Seats;
Light Alloys; Top Tint Screen &
Remote Control Alarm
Supplied New by
Lancasters Cambridge
33k Miles Only £89,995
- ULEZ Compliant - ‘As New Condition’ ** 484 mls only **
1971 Mercedes 280SE 3.5 Cab LHD
Original European Vehicle
*Rare* original Black Paintwork
with Electric Windows
Automatic with Power Steering
*Matching Numbers*
Leather Interior with matching
Tonneau & fitted with a new Black Hood
Recent major service inc new Shock
Absorbers & Brakes
Part of a private collection for the last 8
years & kept in professional storage
Elec Slide/Tilt Sunroof -
UK Registered £299,995
www.racecarwarehouse.co.uk

Spice Group C1 SE90 3.5 Cosworth DFR

Fedco Team car raced Le Mans 91 First in Cat 1A class then in Japanese Group C. We acquired the car 2002 for our customer and raced with great success in Group C for
the next 10 years or so. 2016 Car extensive body off rebuild crack test certificates new fuel cell gearbox rebuild new CWP all ready to to race but health issue prevailed
leaving car unraced since. Offered for sale with current HTP valid until 2027 with option to purchase if required large spares portfolio plus 1 spare DFR engine, Gearbox,
all to price accordingly. Interesting trades considered, HFO Gp 6 2 or 3 litre cars, F2 BTCC or classic sportcar.

F1 ENGINES
FOR SALE
Hart 415T last of the
engines built
DFR F1 spec
Lamborghini 3.5
litre V12
Peugeot V103.5
F1 engine
Jaguar R1 2000 F1 March 792 Arrows A16 F1
Rolling chassis Raced in 7 GPs by Eddie Irvine and Luciano Burti. With BDG ideal Geoff Lees Trophy £59,950 spare suspension or 3rd place 1995 Australian GP with Morbidelli then sat in the
Cosworth V10 engine available to purchase. Rare opportunity to less engine £38,500 Arrows museum. Car is complete as last raced but with empty
acquire F1 Jaguar car Hart V10 engine. Spare wishbones some wheels gearbox pump
air starter kit.

Modus M7 1976 F2 car Hart 420R Chevron B16

319bhp @9300 188bft torque, rebuilt 3 races ago. Rebuilt FG400 Chassis stripped and all internal steel For sale as rolling chassis or with FVC or BMW M10 engine if required.Car has not been raced since it
stiffeners replaced. Many spares 3 set wheels £99950 was built. £129950 rolling chassis £165k with FVC or New build BMW M10

March 803 Rolling Delta T81 FF2000 1982 March 718 Formula Ford ex
Chassis Alfa fitting kit requires rebuild to go racing new to Jurg Cor Euser Benelux Championship winning car Bill Stone car
Leinhard. Currently in 813 body spec £22500. Extensive restoration car has never been run £29,950 Raced by March employee Bill Stone 70/71 seasons, undergone
also available Ralt RT3 84 ex Dave Scott needs rebuild fresh Mk9 extensive restoration new suspension body rebuilt gearbox. Ready to
gearbox VW engine install your engine £29,950

53 Bolney Grange, Stairbridge Lane, Bolney, Sussex UK • Tel/Fax: +44(0)1444 230309 • Mob:
+44(0)7711 660691
Carrera GT
GT Silver • Ascot Brown/Black GT
Bucket Seats • 19/20” Carrera GT
Centre Lock Wheels • Sports Exhaust
System • KW Hydraulic Lift Kit
No. 0063 of 1,250 Cars Built
12,018 miles • 2004 (04)
911 GT2 (996)
Polar Silver • Black Leather Sports
Seats • 18” GT2 Wheels • Porsche
Ceramic Composite Brakes
Carbon Interior Package
Previously Sold & Serviced by
Paragon • 21,836 miles • 2003 (03)
911 Carrera 2 S (992)
Guards Red • Black Leather Sports
Seats • PDK Gearbox • 20/21” Carrera
S Wheels • Touchscreen Satellite
Navigation • Switchable Sports
Exhaust • Sport Chrono • 7,605 miles
2019 (69)
911 Carrera 2 GTS (991)
Guards Red • Black Half-Leather
Bucket Seats • Manual Gearbox
20” Centre Lock Wheels • Sport
Design Exterior Package • Sport
Chrono • Previously Sold & Serviced
by Paragon • 6,939 miles • 2015 (65)

£1,199,995 £134,995 £95,995 £92,995

911 Carrera Sport Coupe
Guards Red • Black Leather Sports
Seats • G-50 Gearbox with Hydraulic
Clutch • 16” Fuchs Wheels • Electric
Sunroof • Electric Windows & Mirrors
Central Door Locking • Rear Wiper
59,060 miles • 1987 (D)
911 Carrera 2 GTS (991)
Carmine Red • Black Half-Leather
Sports Seats • PDK Gearbox
20” GTS Centre Lock Wheels
Touchscreen Satellite Navigation
Switchable Sports Exhaust • Sport
Chrono • 37,438 miles • 2015 (15)
911 Carrera 4 GTS (997)
Guards Red • Black Half-Leather
Sports Seats • 19” GTS Centre Lock
Wheels • PDK Gearbox • Switchable
Sports Exhaust • Sport Chrono
Previously Sold & Serviced by
Paragon • 49,132 miles • 2011 (61)
911 Turbo X50 (996)
Seal Grey • Black Leather Seats
Manual Gearbox • 18” Turbo II
Wheels • Satellite Navigation
Electric Sunroof • Extended Leather
Pack • Factory X50 Power Kit
59,872 miles • 2002 (52)

£84,995 £79,995 £68,995 £54,995

911 Carrera 4 S Targa (997) Macan S Boxster S (981) Boxster (981)

Atlas Grey • Black Leather Seats
Tiptronic S Gearbox • 19” Carrera S
Wheels • Satellite Navigation
Sport Chrono • Previously Sold &
Serviced by Paragon • 49,219 miles
2008 (08)
Volcano Grey • Black Leather Seats
PDK Gearbox • 19” Macan Design
Wheels • Touchscreen Satellite
Navigation • Front & Rear Parking
Sensors • Full Leather Interior
51,832 miles • 2016 (66)
Dark Blue Metallic • Sand Beige
Leather Sports Seats • PDK Gearbox
19” Boxster S III Wheels • Full Leather
Interior • Brushed Aluminium
Interior Pack • Heated Seats
48,930 miles • 2012 (12)
Agate Grey • Natural Red Leather
Sports Seats • PDK Gearbox
20” Sport Techno Wheels
Full Leather Interior • Roll Over Bar
in Aluminium Look • Heated Seats
58,634 miles • 2012 (62)

£39,995 £34,995 £33,995 £29,995

01825 830424 sales@paragongb.com www.paragongb.com

We have superb in-house workshop and preparation facilities. Each car is supplied fully serviced with a new MOT and our
12-month/unlimited mileage comprehensive parts and labour warranty. See more of our current stock at paragongb.com

PA R AG O N G B LT D FI VE AS HES EAST S US S EX TN20 6HY

 THE SHOWROOM Competitors
Bess on a mission after
braking troubles. Left:
the joy of a steep decline.
Bottom: trial debut for
Sophie Wiseman

HISTORIC RACING

Sticking with it… By the end of day one, we were bottom

of the class with a measly 56 points. But my
disappointment was Sophie Wiseman’s
Some braking drama may have hampered VSCC delight – on her first trial at the age of 16, her
competitor Rebecca Smith on the recent Herefordshire father, John, reported how she’d “driven like
Trial, but it didn’t dull the joy of competing. a legend”. After a debrief, it was back to
camp to assess the brakes more thoroughly.
Bribing some friends with beer, we

B
 
efore the Herefordshire Trial we That set the tone for our day, and it didn’t reassessed the rear left, and found the
had some maintenance to do on get much better with Pelham’s Penyard 1 & handbrake had been seized on after all. We
Bess, including fixing that 3 – we scored 0 on both, although we put on stripped it all and gave it a good clean and
broken window mentioned last a great show trying to gain traction with were back in the game.  
month, plus assessing the fuel bouncing off the line to cheers from a crowd! Day two was vastly improved. We scored
starvation issue. Luckily a It was at this point I had suspected my our first 25 on the wiggly hill of Pinford Rocks
fellow VSCC member had a Model A window brakes were sticking on, the rear left was and made a valiant effort bouncing (driver
in stock, then with carburettor filter cleared scorching hot. After a quick included) from marker 10 to 19 at
we were ready to go. I set off on Friday inspection we couldn’t see “On her first James’ Jolly up a very muddy
evening for the 85-mile trip, which is an anything too obvious, so we trial, at the section in the woods, and
adventure in itself as with the standard 6V cracked on… more on this later! conquered a very greasy right-
age of just
battery the Model A’s lights tend to have a We were lucky with the hander at Royal Bounty that
mind of their own, but she didn’t miss a beat. weather, with only a small 16, she’d I thought might stop us.
In the morning we completed shower catching us out before ‘driven like It was a fantastic weekend,
scrutineering and were off to our first hill, Marcle Hill, a long, very rough a legend’” and a big thanks to the organisers,
Pelham’s Penyard 2, where we didn’t make byway. We reached marker 20 marshals and pals who helped
the best of starts. It was a tricky one with a with a very steep decline to the with the brakes. It also marked
steep decline before a sharp left turn around finish. It was our first double-figure score of my final trial for this side of the year, with
a tree stump and up a slippery and the day. Then lunchtime gave us a work commitments meaning I miss the next
wiggly path adjacent to a forest. chance to crack open ‘the oven’, one in Scotland. Bess will be put to bed for
We gave it a good go, reaching which we keep above the a while and Mord, our Morris Minor Special,
JOHN HARDWICK, PHIL JONES

marker 23, however a bit too exhaust manifold and is will be getting attention ahead
much enthusiasm with the stocked with croissants for of Silverstone Spring Start.  
throttle caused us to skid and brekky and sausage rolls for
‘knock’ marker 6, ended with lunch. It’s always a comfort Next month: Springing into
a score of just five. Frustrating. on a wet day! circuit racing at Silverstone.

JUNE 2023 MOTOR SPORT 161

 WANTED
Classic Cars, Sports Cars, Supercars &
Competition Sports Cars 1950s - 1990s
Group A, Group B and Group C Cars
For immediate discreet purchase
All makes and models considered • Unlimited funds available
sales@limebrookclassiccars.com
Telephone: (00 44) 01621 502150

u
� GODIN SPORTING CARS &
MOTORCYCLES LTD

1970 TVR Tuscan V6

1 of just 101 built, Ford Essex 3.0 engine, 4 sp/ with OD. Comprehensively restored, great history, fabulous condition.............£42,995
Full detail and many pictures of this and other fine cars and motorcycles can be found at

www.anthonygodin.co.uk
Tel. 01622 814140 / 07769 970559. Viewing by Appointment only, Kent, ME185JG. UK

162 Motor Sport June 2023

 O F F E R E D E X C L U S I V E LY F O R S A L E B Y B O U T S E N C L A S S I C C A R S

1988 Spice C2

12 PODIUMS

• Vice-champion of the
C2 World Championship 1988
• Eligible for “Le Mans Classic”
• Excellent condition (Original configuration)
www.boutsenclassiccars.com
• Same owner since 2004 +377 93 30 80 02 classiccars@boutsen.com
• Maintained by Mecauto (Spa Francorchamps) 41, rue Grimaldi MC-98000 Monaco

1981 Osella FA1B Historic F1 - £349,950 1978 Ralt RT1 F2 - £124,950 1976 Chevron B35 F2 - £99,950
Fabulous Cosworth-engined F1, eligible to compete in This stunning example has been a race winner in Ex Opert F2 fitted with Richardson BDG.
Masters Historics and the Monaco Historique Historic F2. Low mileage engine and gearbox Professionally prepared and very competitive

1968 Brabham BT21 Historic F3 - £59,950 1977 Chevron B38 Classic F3 - £44,950 1975 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV - £39,950
Well known and professionally prepared F3. Very A very attractive and well-maintained contender for the The subject of a bare metal restoration in 2005, and
successful, including 4 Goodwood podiums Classic F3 series, complete with current HTP since upgraded to a fast road/race/hillclimb car

LD LD LD
SO SO SO
1964 Lotus 23B - £69,950 1971 Brabham BT35 - £49,950 1965 Marcos 1800GT - £29,950
An immaculate example with contemporary Goodwood Stunning Formula Atlantic in pristine condition with Freshly rebuilt to 1965 FIA specification with new
history, HTP and refreshed engine and gearbox comprehensive spares package HTP. An immaculate example

Forfurther
For furtherinformation,
information, please
please contact:
contact: e info@adamsykes.co.uk
Adam Sykes
Adam on 07429
Sykes on 07429600332 DamonMilnes
600332ororDamon Milneson
on07802
07802 779301
779301 info@adamsykes.co.uk
! www.adamsykes.co.uk

June 2023 Motor Sport 163

 Melvyn Rutter Limited
International Morgan Sales, Service, Parts and Restoration for Morgan Cars from 1936 to Present Day

AS Motorsport ltd

Book a test
drive today!
We are pleased to announce we now have the full Morgan range in our showrooms and
available for test drives - namely the all-new Plus range which benefits from a host of
enhancements and the Super 3 which is the most configurable Morgan ever produced! To test
drive and order your new Morgan for the summer, please speak to Adam and Melvyn today.

ASM hand build bespoke versions of the R1 roadster, inspired by the Aston Martin
Delivery mileage Morgan Plus Four LM62 race cars that won Le Mans and the world Sportscar championship in 1959.
Celebrating the company’s legendary 2-litre class win at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1962.
Finished in Jet Green with black leather, painted wire wheels, sports exhausts, Contact us for details of commission builds and stock.
speakers with bluetooth, photographic build record, delivery mileage. Please call for
full specification. On the road costs not included in price - £79,950 Poplar Farm, Bressingham, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 2AP
47 years
WE BUY MORGAN CARS, INCLUDING PROJECTS – WE COLLECT Tel: 01379688356 • Mob: 07909531816
The Morgan Garage, Little Hallingbury, Nr Bishops Stortford, Herts CM22 7RA England Web: www.asmotorsport.co.uk
Tel: 01279 725725 www.melvyn-rutter.co.uk Email: mr@melvyn-rutter.net Email: info@asmotorsport.co.uk

IVAN DUTT
IVAN DUTTON LTD

I-279764.indd 1 15/11/2018 13

Bugatti Type 35B

Assembled from all original major components and crucially
approved for historic status by DVLA. Built to the highest
Bugatti Type 35B highest sta
standard by us with the pleasing patina of a well loved
On the road for 16 years since we finished the project for an
elderly owner. original car. Just run in and ready to enjoy whether on on Internatio
International Bugatti rallies, Prescott hill climb or racing with
On the button and ready to enjoy.
the VSCC or HGPCA.
Fully registered with a UK V5 Log Book.
£POA
OIRO £410,000

Peacehaven Farm, Worminghall Road, Ickford, Bucks, HP189JE

Tel: 01844 339457 • Fax: 01844 338933 • Ten minutes from M40 Junction 8a • www.duttonbugatti.co.uk

164 Motor Sport June 2023

1974 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33-3/Flat 12: Rare,
fantastic race record, Ickx, Stommelen,
Reutemann, Monza, Nurburgring, Imola. WE WILL BUY AND CONSIGN ALL FERRARI AND ALL VINTAGE SPORTS RACING & GT CARS
All orig., fresh rebuild, race ready. PARTIAL TRADES CONSIDERED - FINANCING AVAILABLE

1951 Ferrari 212 Inter: Vignale / Drogo, 1999 Ferrari 360 Modena: 6-sp, 21k 1960 Mercedes Benz 190SL: Matching 1985 COBRA Autokraft MK IV:
Mille Miglia 1952, 1954. Ground up resto- miles, fully serviced, outstanding numbers, Concours quality restoration. 355cid/450hp, small block, 5-sp. Con-
ration. Race and Rally ready. throughout. Ready for show or rally circuit. tinuing Shelby’s legacy. 12k miles.

1958 AC Aceca: Matching #s. 2004 Porsche GT3: Arctic Silver, 36k 1965 Porsche 356SC Cabriolet: Match- 1958 MGA Twin Cam: Rare, frame-up,
Comprehensive frame-up restoration, miles, 2 owners, carefully maintained; ing #s, 1 of 533. 3-owner, full docs, COA. show quality restoration on an iconic
RHD, Rally proven. looks, runs & drives like new. 67k miles. One repaint. Euro version. sports car.
Outstanding original throughout.

WWW.MOTORCLASSICCORP.COM 1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta:

350 ADAMS STREET, BEDFORD HILLS NEW YORK 10507 Exhilarating 2-owner, 59k,
914-997-9133 • SALES@MOTORCLASSICCORP.COM matching #s, restored Spider.

June 2023 Motor Sport 165

 CARS FOR SALE

CARS FOR SALE

AH Classics
Lancashire’s BEST Classic and British sports car dealership.

Woodford 2 Wheel Trailer New Woodford 101 Trailer

• Punched Deck 5’ 7” Wide, 11” Foot Long, Lightweight, Wide Body, Tilt Bed With Slide Out
Ramps 6’ 3”. • It Will Fit Through A Standard Ramps • Locking Tow Hitch, Spare Wheel • Ideal
Garage Door • Fitted With Powrtouch Motor For Low Ground Clearance Cars • 14” Long 6’6”
Movers • Winch • pare Wheel • Rear Legs • Tows Wide • 2000kg Gross Weight • In Stock Now
Nicely • Good Condition £3,250 + VAT
£1,200

Aldon AL3 Sports Racing Car Tiger ERA 30 Race Car

• Alloy Monocoque Chassis, Fibreglass Bodywork • All Steel 1600cc Lotus
Twin Cam on 45’s • Hewland Mk8 Gearbox With LSD • Solid Spline Hardy
Driveshafts • Avon Classic Pattern Tyre • Stack Rev Counter • MSA Log Book
• HSCC Vehicle Identity Forms • Known History From New • Fantastic Car
£24,995
• This Tiger Racing Lotus 23B Inspired Car Looks Great In Dark Silver With
Blue Stripe • Ford Zetec 1800cc Engine On Twin Weber 45’s • Hewland
MK9 5 Speed Gearbox • Stainless Exhaust • Electrical Dash • Ideal For
Speed Events, Trackdays, 750 Motor Club etc • Great Car Sensibly Priced At
£13,995 Would Also Sell Less Engine & Gearbox – £7,500

Jeffrey MKIIIB Historic 750 Motorclub 1970 Sunbeam Alpine

• Chassis Rebuilt With MSA Roll Cage. New Rack, New Rad (Radtec), New • Thistle Grey,White Alloy Hard Top • 1725cc 160 BHP
Vertical Links, Brakes, Bearings • Back Axle 4.2 Diff, Mini Fin Drums • New Engine. • Ford Tran X Gearbox • Ford Axle With LSD •
Firow Balanced Prop • AVO Single Adjustable Dampers • Alloy Bodywork. • Safety Devices Roll Cage • Minilite Wheels With Toyo Tyres
850cc Engine Rebuilt by Peter Birch • 13” Mamba Wheels Fully Refurbished.
Great Little Car £7,500 £17,500
WANTED FF1600 ANYTHING CONSIDERED
Shaw, Oldham, Lancashire • 07761549454
andrewhenson@btinternet.com
www.ah-classic-cars.co.uk
A A A A C

1998 Aston Martin V8 Volante, long

1962 Aston Martin DB4 Srs IV,
completely dismantled, fully restored
and upgraded by us back in 1998 since
1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 Built by
when it has covered only 19,000 miles.
Pierre Lamy (Parisian Aston Specialist,
Fitted with 4.2 engine with triple SU’s,
now deceased), for his own use in
overdrive gearbox, SS exhaust. And
Historic rallies. In fabulous condition
much more. £375,000 Tel: 01753
and considerably modified. One for the
644599
serious enthusiast and needs to be seen.
£175,000 Tel: 01753 644599
Wheelbase providing roomy cabin
accommodation for 4 adults.
1985 COBRA AUTOKRAFT MK IV.
Beautifully finished in Deep Ocean Blue
355cid/450hp, small block, 5-sp.
with Cream hide, 32,000 miles only, and
Continuing Shelby’s legacy. 12k miles.
one of only 63 of this model produced,
www.motorclassiccorp.com
hence Extremely Rare. £157,500 Tel:
01753 644599
D

1998 Aston Martin V600 finished in

Chichester blue with Magnolia hide
interior, 46,800 miles with a huge
1965 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage. We history file and maintained regardless
have a choice of 3 fully restored of cost over the past 13 years by the 1927 DELAGE 15 S8 MODEL CAR.
19581958
ACACACECA.
Aceca: Matching #s. #s.
Matching examples, all of which are in superb current owner. Produced in very limited Now available at www.graemehunt.
C o m p r e h e n s i ve f ra me-up condition. Choice of manual or numbers and very collectable. com. Tel. 0207 937 8487
restoration,RHD, Rally proven. www. automatic transmission, all on chrome £299,950 Tel: 01753 644599
motorclassiccorp.com wires, Well worth viewing with prices
from £295,000 Tel: 01753 644599 F
B

Tel: +44 (0)20 8688 4443

1974 ALFA ROMEO TIPO 33-3/ 1972 Aston Martin DBS V8, Finished in 1999 FERRARI 360 MODENA.
To advertise, please call FLAT 12. Rare,fantastic race record, Signal red with cream hide interior and 6-sp, 21k miles, fully serviced,
Ickx, Stommelen,Reutemann, fully restored by the previous owner to 2013 BUGATTI VEYRON GRAND outstanding throughout.www.
Paula Trainor on
Monza, Nurburgring, Imola.All orig., an exceptionally high standard. Superb SPORT. Now available at www. motorclassiccorp.com
020 7349 8479
fresh rebuild, race ready. www. to drive and sensibly priced for today’s graemehunt.com. Tel. 0207 937
motorclassiccorp.com market at £139,950 Tel: 01753 644599 8487 Advertise here

166 Motor Sport June 2023


BCL 1
High power stop & tail
LED light upgrades -
even for early cars.
Fully dimmable dash lighting
in pos & neg and in a wide
range of colours to suit your
car.
www.bettercarlighting.co.uk
F L
1963 FERRARI 250GT NEMBO
SPYDER STYLE. Now available at
www.graemehunt.com. Tel. 0207
937 8487
1951 FERRARI 212 INTER. Vignale
/ Drogo, Mille Miglia 1952, 1954.
Ground up restoration. Race and
Rally ready. www.motorclassiccorp.
com
1977 FERRARI 312 T2 NIKKI LAUDA
MODEL CAR. Now available at www.
graemehunt.com. Tel. 0207 937
8487
To advertise, please call
Paula Trainor on
020 7349 8479
CARS FOR SALE / PARTS
CARS FOR SALE
Full kits to equip early cars High power LED headlight
with safe and invisible orange upgrades with a 5 year
indicators and brighter lights. guarantee.
High quality
reproduction
PL700 Tribar
headlights now
in stock. Designed
to work with halogen
or LED. From £199.99 per pair.
Brighter, safer and sharper
indicators, even for “problem”
cars. +44(0) 121 773 7000
enquiries@bettercarlighting.co.uk
L M P



 2004 PORSCHE GT3. Arctic Silver,

CLUB 

36k miles, 2 owners, carefully
maintained; looks, runs & drives like
new. www.motorclassiccorp.com
LOTUS 


MGB GT FACTORY V8. Damask
red with black trim. 1974. Requires
Full Restoration. £10,500. Tel:
07761 549454
R
Tel: 01362 691144/

01362 694459
Email:
annemarie@clublotus.co.uk
THE ORIGINAL 1998 RANGE ROVER VOGUE HSE.
Now available at www.graemehunt.
& BEST CLUB 1958 MGA TWIN CAM. Rare, com. Tel. 0207 937 8487
FOR ALL LOTUS frame-up,show quality restoration
OWNERS &
on an iconic sports car. www.
motorclassiccorp.com
T
ENTHUSIASTS
• Colour Magazine
1977 LAND ROVER SERIES 3
• Insurance & Parts RECOVERY VEHICLE. 2 1/4 Diesel
• Discounts engine. Overdrive. F/W Hubs.
• Free Technical Help Stainless steel exhaust. Well
maintained. May 2023 MOT. Period
Lotus Regalia & more Harvey Frost crane. Used in period by
for only £35 per year Royal Mail Workshops at Cardiff & MONTESA COTA 310 1990. From TRIUMPH TR6 CR 1974. Mimosa
Newport, then on show at London a private collection. Monoshock Yellow With Black Leather Trim.
www.clublotus.co.uk Royal Mail Museum. It would be great
for events like Goodwood Revival,
suspension. Disc brakes front and
rear. Alloy swinging arm. Running
Duck Hood and Moto Lita Wheel.
Overdrive. Stainless Exhaust. Some
58 MALTHOUSE COURT Paint Blemishes. Drives Well.
commercial vehicle show and runs. bike in good condition. £2,200. Tel:
DEREHAM £15,995. Tel: 07761 549454
NORFOLK NR20 4UA £10,500. Tel: 07761 549454 07761 549454
June 2023 Motor Sport 167
 ART & AUTOMOBILIA / BOOKS / GARAGE / PARTS

DIRECTORY
To advertise, please call Paula Trainor on 020 7349 8479
or email paula.trainor@motorsportmagazine.com
Tel: 07887 898331

Dapper Jack POOKS MOTOR BOOKSHOP

Ties • Bow ties • Cravats •
Cummerbunds • Flat Caps
Hand Crafted in the UK
www.dapperjack.co.uk
Unique to Dapper Jack Carbon Fibre Bow Ties
garagefindsuk@gmail.com
Motoring Brochures, Books, Manuals, Programmes, Magazines
and original posters BOUGHT AND SOLD
pooks.motorbooks@virgin.net • www.pooksmotorbookshop.co.uk
Shop open: Monday–Friday 9.00am – 5.00pm
Fowke Street, Rothley, Leicestershire LE7 7PJ – Tel. 0116 237 6222
or call John’s mobile on 07808 576 837

QUALITY
Mob: 07756 862188

AUTOGRAPHS
Robert Saunders Autographs are
international dealers in quality autographs and T H E NTI
U

C
documents for pleasure and investment portfolios.
AUTHENTIC

G
U

E
AR E
ANT

To view our full inventory, visit AUTOGRAPHMAN.CO.UK

JonWilliamStables.co.uk T +44(0)1263 768768

F +44(0)1263 768336
bmw@jaymic.com
2002 Thurgarton Road, Aldborough, Norfolk, NR11 7NY, UK

Garaging CLASSIC BMW PARTS

Garaging ~
~ Carriage
Carriage Houses
Houses ~
~ Workshops
Workshops
Call us today
Call
Call us
today on 01380
us today on
01380 850965
on 01380 850965
850965
See our NEW Online Shop at www.jaymic.com
168 Motor Sport June 2023
 GARAGE / PARTS / RESTORATION

PERFORMANCE CONRODS

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS (FEA)

BESPOKE CRANKSHAFTS
LOW-VOLUME SPECIALISTS

• CRANKSHAFTS
• CONRODS
• CRANKCASE LINE BORING
• FEA DESIGN
• MANUFACTURED IN THE UK

01923 220370 | SALES@PHOENIXCRANKSHAFTS.COM

PHOENIXCRANKSHAFTS.COM | PHOENIXCRANKSHAFTS.COM
| SALES@PHOENIXCRANKSHAFTS.COM | 01923 220370

I-331563.indd 1 06/05/2021 14:59

U.K. Concessionaires
FUEL PUMPS
FILTER KINGUsed professionally in:
Glencoe Ltd - Facet UK Concessionaire

• Off Roading Sports Test life cycle: 6,000 hrs

Test life cycle: 6,000 hrs
• Historic Racing
• Historic Rallying

BenEfits
• Fuel Filtering
• Fuel Pressure Control
• High Flow (optional)
• Cleanable Chamber
• Clear or Metal Bowl
• Robust Design
• Proven High Quality

ALWAYS BUY ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT

Historically original equipment with
ALFA ROMEO • BENTLEY • BRITISH LEYLAND • LOTUS
RETAIL & TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME
TEL: 01784 493 555 Tel: 01784 493 555
Email: sales@glencoeltd.co.uk
Email: sales@glencoeltd.co.uk
www.glencoeltd.co.uk www.glencoeltd.co.uk

June 2023 Motor Sport 169

 GARAGE / PARTS / RESTORATION

170 Motor Sport June 2023

 GARAGE / PARTS / RESTORATION / SPECIALISTS

WE MANUFACTURE ANY TYPE OF HANDMADE

PANELS AND CHASSIS TO ORDER.
a
4 0 th
nniversary
We are
Wenow
aremanufacturing FIA Cobra
now Manufacturing 289s,FIA
Original andCobra
Cobra427 chassis
289s, and and
Cobra
bodies
427with suspension
Chassis and running
and Body’s gear made
with original to original
Suspension specification
and running gear.

Porsche 550 Spyder FIA289

Bodycobra
and chassis.
cutbackNow door model
available ( FIA
as body and approved)
chassis package, or Roller based cars.

EST 1980
North Devon Metalcraft Ltd, Unit 6 Lauder Lane, Roundswell Business Park (West), Barnstaple North Devon, EX31 3TA

T (0044 01271 322526)

ndm@ndmetal.co.uk | www.ndmetal.co.uk

CAN’T FIND PISTONS LOCKHEED & GIRLING

FOR YOUR ENGINE? BRAKE & CLUTCH HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS
FOR BRITISH VEHICLES 1935-1980. MASTER CYLINDERS, WHEEL CYLINDERS,
CALIPERS, CLUTCH SLAVES, FLEXIBLE HOSES, PADS, KITS ETC.
WORLDWIDE MAIL ORDER
Tel/Fax: 01344 886522
POWERTRACK Ltd www.powertrackbrakes.co.uk

Elite Auto Storage

Specialists in cherished vehicle storage and transportation
Fast and reliable delivery on custom forged pistons.
4 stroke pistons made from your sample. • From priceless classics to family saloons • Maintenance and exercise programs
• UK wide covered transportation • Long and short term storage
Call us on: (0)1462 684300 • Descreet and secure
sales@cambridgemotorsport.com Unit 5 Lacre Way, Letchworth Phone: +44 (0)1279 850709
Email: info@autostorage.co.uk • www.autostorage.co.uk
www.cambridgemotorsport.com Hertfordshire, SG6 1NR
PO Box 85, Great Sampford, Saffron Walden, Essex, CB10 2FX, England

  
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Omicron
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Tel:
Tel: (01508)
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570351 •• Web:
Web: www.omicron.uk.com
www.omicron.uk.com

June 2023 Motor Sport 171

 STORAGE AND TRANSPORT

Superior Car Storage

& Car Transportation
Specialised Motor Sport Services

al +44 (0)1580 753939

s www.jarcarstorage.co.uk

01580 753939
www.jarcarstorage.co.uk

Specialists in high specification car storage & enclosed car transport (UK & Europe)
2 locations – Tunbridge Wells & recently opened Ashford – a stunning, purpose designed storage facility
JAR Ashford – 2 miles M20 Jct 9 & 10 / 38 mins London St Pancras / 15 mins Eurotunnel

Official distributors of PRG Trailers,

Debon, Cheval Liberte and MOTIV
amongst many other popular brands.
Sales – Hire – Parts – Service

01789 777159 Unit 3, Bird Industrial Park

www.thetrailermarket.co.uk Station Rd, Long Marston
sales@thetrailermarket.co.uk Stratford CV37 8RP

172 Motor Sport June 2023

 SPECIALISTS / STORAGE AND TRANSPORT

FOR ALL LEVELS OF PROFESSIONAL CAR STORAGE

SITUATED CLOSE TO GOODWOOD ON THE HAMPSHIRE/SUSSEX BORDER

info@classiccarstorage.co.uk tel: 01730 825 826
www.classiccarstorage.co.uk fax: 01730 825 077

T H E U LT I M AT E B E S P O K E
STORAGE FACILITY & HMRC APPROVED
CUSTOMS WAREHOUSE

An exceptional, high security building with

state of the art humidity and dust controlled
technology. Discreetly situated on the London
Hertfordshire border.

19-20 AUGUST 2020

T 020 3973 1520 E info@mossauto.co.uk

mossauto.co.uk

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June 2023 Motor Sport 173

 Head gasket problems in
qualifying didn’t bode well
for Derek Bell; sure enough
his Tecno boiled dry after
just eight race laps

Above: Clay Regazzoni’s Ferrari heads Fittipaldi

in his Brabham and Hailwood’s Surtees. Below:
some first-corner argy-bargy meant Reutemann
stopping for a new nose on his Brabham BT37

Right: Mike Hailwood

confers with team boss
Surtees, who gave
up his seat to Tim
Schenken. Below: Clay
Regazzoni ran well up
until the exhaust broke
up on his Ferrari 312B2

Skip Barber qualified well in

his private March 711, but
fading brakes dropped the
American driver to 16th

Peter Gethin has a hunted look as well he might – all four

cars in the BRM team expired for one reason or another

174 MOTOR SPORT JUNE 2023

 YOU WERE THERE

Left: Jackie Stewart was in

charge from flag to flag,
dominating the race, his
team-mate Cevert second.
Below: the effort of being
constructor and manager
and even qualifying one of
his four cars shows on
John Surtees’ face

“The biggest
and the best”
That’s what Denis Jenkinson called the United States Grand Prix,
and in October 1972 Jan Edick was at Watkins Glen in New York
state to capture the action in the final round of a thrilling season

Left: the scarlet hue of Jacky Ickx’s flat-12 Ferrari

stands out among DFVs and Hewland gearboxes
as the field powers away towards the first corner

SEND US YOUR IMAGES

If you have any images that might be suitable

for You Were There, send them to: Motor Sport,
18-20 Rosemont Road, London, NW3 6NE, or
email: editorial@motorsportmagazine.com.
Hi-res digital images preferred. Original images
sent at owner’s own risk. We can’t return.

June 2023 Motor Sport 175

 PARTING SHOT

176 Motor Sport June 2023

NOVEMBER 16, 1965
BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS, US
Craig Breedlove, who died last month,
walks away from his Spirit of America
Sonic 1 land speed record machine having
made history. Breedlove achieved
600.601mph across the measured mile,
beating his existing 555.485mph effort
set two weeks earlier. The new
benchmark stood for five years, before
Gary Gabelich’s 622mph run in 1970

GETTY IMAGES

June 2023 Motor Sport 177

 Telephone
01753 644599
ASTON MARTIN IN THE THAMES VALLEY
1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 Built by Pierre Lamy (Parisian Aston
Specialist, now deceased), for his own use in Historic rallies.
In fabulous condition and considerably modified. One for the
serious enthusiast and needs to be seen. £175,000
1965 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage. We have a choice of 3 fully
restored examples, all of which are in superb condition. Choice
of manual or automatic transmission, all on chrome wires, Well
worth viewing with prices from £295,000
1998 Aston Martin V8 Volante, long Wheelbase providing
roomy cabin accommodation for 4 adults. Beautifully finished
in Deep Ocean Blue with Cream hide, 32,000 miles only, and
one of only 63 of this model produced, hence Extremely Rare.
£157,500
“OVER 20 ASTONS CURRENTLY IN STOCK”
Email: martin@runnymedemotorcompany.com www.runnymedemotorcompany.com
Mobile
07836 222111
1962 Aston Martin DB4 Srs IV, completely dismantled,
fully restored and upgraded by us back in 1998 since when
it has covered only 19,000 miles. Fitted with 4.2 engine with
triple SU’s, overdrive gearbox, SS exhaust. And much more.
£375,000
1972 Aston Martin DBS V8, Finished in Signal red with cream
hide interior and fully restored by the previous owner to an
exceptionally high standard. Superb to drive and sensibly
priced for today’s market at £139,950
1998 Aston Martin V600 finished in Chichester blue with
Magnolia hide interior, 46,800 miles with a huge history file
and maintained regardless of cost over the past 13 years by
the current owner. Produced in very limited numbers and very
collectable. £299,950
 RM UP-01 FERRARI
Ultra-flat manual winding calibre
1.75 millimetres thin
45-hour power reserve (±10%)
Baseplate and bridges in grade 5 titanium
Patented ultra-flat escapement
Function selector
Limited edition of 150 pieces

A Racing Machine
On The Wrist