Hang in there!

If you've been checking for new content, we're sorry for the lack of updates.

As primary editor of RR as well as full-time college student, I've been forced to neglect this site a little as I finish up the current semester at Penn State. Fret not! The racing season is starting and I'll be sure to get busy with new stuff soon!

Thanks,
Ian R.

1912 Daimler "Mercedes" Grand Prix

In 1912, the automobile was still a relatively novel idea for many people. Even though most people could not afford a car, motor racing was becoming very popular. For those constructing vehicles in those days, the sport offered an opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of the machines they were offering to those who were fortunate enough to be able to purchase one.

At that time, the "Mercedes" brand, owned by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, was still a separate entity from Benz & Cie. (The two would not merge until 1926) and both companies were utilizing the marketing possibilities of racing to full extent - both would be quite successful as well.
The Mercedes shown here was built nearly 100 years ago, but it would not be unfair to say it was just as radical then as say, a Mercedes MGP W01 Formula One car today. It has been seen running at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (among other events) for the last several years now, and remains quite a machine to behold and admire.

Its history is a little hazy. As the placard accompanying the car owned by Hal Fillinger states, the chassis was discovered in Australia. At that time, the body fitted was that of a "sports racer" and in place of the original Daimler Flugmotor was a 1915 WWI four cylinder Hall-Scott aero engine. It seems unclear what the full extent of the car's racing career was, or, how it ended up in Australia. Regardless, these are rare beasts.
The body currently fitted to the chassis is a 1914 Mercedes GP body. To some, it may seem like such an historic car should be restored to the exacting specifications that Daimler intended, but we must remember, even the replacement engine in the car is a bit of history itself. These cars were often modified heavily and continuously throughout their careers. After all, the technology did not change so rapidly as today and such a vehicle was quite an investment. (According to a recent article in Autoweek about this very car, it would have cost roughly 40,000 Marks when new - that would work out to roughly $9,500 - a princely sum in 1912)

The current Hall-Scott powerhouse of the Mercedes produces about 100hp from 9.5 liters. A hefty amount of horsepower for the time. Having seen this car run, I can tell you that its massive engine isn't exactly a screamer. That being said, with a narrow rev range similar to a German U-boat engine, and a displacement larger than an average Manhattan apartment, it's got to have some serious torque. One can assume that the original Mercedes engine was either replaced due to mechanical malfunction, or, perhaps the Hall-Scott proved to be more powerful or offer a better power to weight ratio.
To hear the engine run is not unlike imagining an old WWI bi-plane idling on the tarmac. Under power, the noise from the car isn't overly deafening, but pretty damned attention getting.
One can only assume that with such power and mass, the two hand-lever operated drum brakes on the Mercedes are one of its weak points. Also bear in mind that with such narrow tires, there's probably less than 10 square inches of rubber holding it on the road.

To be behind the wheel of this massive car 100 years ago must have been as exciting as it was terrifying. Driving such a vehicle on sub-standard roads at 100 mph (and they could do it too) would not be for the faint of heart.
While parked in the paddock at Schenley Park, I was able to get a close look at the details of the car. The craftsmanship is really quite astounding. Little details everywhere, even down to the manufacturers plates and three-pointed stars on the pedals, are a delight to examine. To say one could spend several hours just looking at this Mercedes is not an exaggeration.

Finally, we must be thankful to people like Mr. Fillinger who bring these cars out to be driven and shown off. They are some of the finest pieces of automotive history out there, and to see, hear, and even smell a 1912 Mercedes race car nearly a century after it first wowed the public is an experience that a static roped-off display in a museum simply cannot offer.

Photos by Ian Rothwell @ the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, 2009 & 2010

Welcome to Racing Redux

This site is still getting off the ground, but if you came here via Ran When Parked, you may recognize some of the posts below. Consider Racing Redux a spin-off from RWP that focuses on auto racing through the ages. Here, we'll be covering the cars, stories, people, etc. from the birth of racing through modern times - Grand Prix, endurance, touring cars, and rallying.
There may be a few format changes and so on in the coming weeks and months, but we hope you'll be back and enjoy the site.

Race Oddity: Lotus 56 "turbine car"

Turbine powered automobiles have been tried and tested many times as a replacement to the conventional piston engine. Essentially a jet-engine mated to a mechanical drive shaft, turbines allow a vast power curve and relative simplicity. The idea became gained popularity in the late 1950's "Jet Age" and was experimented with heavily by Chrysler in particular. They proved rather impractical on street cars though for various reasons like extreme heat, noise, and high fuel consumption. Even Rover took the technology to LeMans in 1963 with Graham Hill and Richie Ginther, but that of course is another story.

Andy Granatelli's STP-Paxton turbine-powered special came close to winning the 1967 "500" at the hands of Parnelli Jones before dropping out 10 laps from the finish due to a bearing failure in it's unique 1-speed drivetrain. The turbine's wide operating speed range meant changing ratios was unnecessary, but power was sent to the ground with a bespoke Ferguson (as in Massy-Ferguson tractors) four-wheel-drive system. Though it didn't win, Granatelli was sold on the potential of the formula.

(The STP-Paxton chassis and engine)

The next year, Lotus joined STP's efforts with their vast racing expertise and built on Granatelli's idea. This project became known as the Lotus 56. As if the 500+ horsepower Pratt & Whitney turbine (designed for helicopters) wasn't radical or innovative enough, designer Maurice Philippe clothed the car in an unusual new aerodynamic "wedge" shape. Unlike the 56's predecessor, which placed the driver beside the engine, the Lotus had its turbine was mounted in the center behind the driver, which allowed for a completely symmetrical and balanced chassis. Perhaps even early in development, Lotus had plans for the four-wheel-drive car on tracks that were not just ovals. In any case, it seemed like a very promising package and STP's Granatelli was eager for his team to have a victory at Indy.

(Granatelli and his 1967 effort with Chapman, Clark, and the Lotus)

Initially, Chapman intended to have his best F1 drivers and Indy veterans drive the new machine - Jim Clark and turbine veteran Graham Hill. Tragically, Clark was killed early in 1968 in a Formula 2 crash before the Indianapolis event. Chapman then asked Mike Spence to step in, though he too died at the wheel. During practice for the "500" he struck the wall in one of the 56s and was hit in the head with the right front tire. Former motorcycle racer Joe Leonard replaced him and went on to capture the pole, his teammate Hill qualified in second, and relative newcomer Art Pollard took 11th in a third car.

(Spence's fatal crash in the Lotus 56)

When race day came, Hill's car was the first to bow out, losing a wheel at lap 110 and crashing into Turn 2. Leonard was passed after 31 laps of the race, however, he regained 1st after leader Bobby Unser had problems with his car's transmission. At a re-start after the final caution flag, both Lotus 56s suffered from snapped fuel pump shafts and were forced out of the running. Victory once again eluded the STP turbine-car effort in spite of so much promise. To make matters worse, USAC (Indy's governing organization at the time) banned turbine-power as well as four-wheel-drive.

(David Walker in 1971 at the wheel of a 56B - note addition of wings)

Back overseas, Chapman was still trying to get his money's worth. A modified version of the 56 (the 56B) was casually tried in Formula One during the 1971 season. The "B" would only compete in three F1 races where it proved heavy, unreliable, and overly complex. The car looked like a contender in the Dutch Grand Prix where wet-weather allowed the FWD system to come into its own, however driver Dave Walker went off-track and didn't finish. At Silverstone suspension failure put the car out, and finally Emerson Fittipaldi could only manage 8th at the Italian Grand Prix.

(Fittipaldi in Italy with later livery - front wings removed for this high-speed track)

The 56's career was finally over. Lotus had already carried-over the "wedge" design to the very successful 72 F1 car, but turbines whirred away into the history books.

Paperwork from the Past

Ah, the glory days of sports car racing were the early '70s when Porsche 910s and 917s battled with Ferrari 512s and 312s at Le Mans, the Nurburgring, and Watkins Glen. The cars can still be seen today at vintage racing events (or on a DVD "Le Mans" the film with Steve McQueen), but it's always interesting to have a peek behind the scenes of that era. Fortunately for us, some years ago, Watkins Glen International liquidated a great deal of their old records and now they're popping up in area antique stores at reasonable prices. Such an example are these entry papers my dad found in a shop downtown for the John Wyer Gulf-Porsche 917s and SEFAC Ferrari 312s in the 1971 6-Hours of Watkins Glen: (click to enlarge images)

Interestingly, the UK based Wyer team submitted their papers through the R.A.C. - Note various typos such as " (17k " on the visa slip and " MEXCIO " under Pedro Rodriguez's address.

And here, the Ferrari SEFAC (Scuderia Enzo Ferrari Auto Corse) papers. Amusing that even though the paperwork was being sent to the US, the letter is written in Italian. Ferrari also seems a lot more lax in general in terms of filling things out completely.

Roughly translated:
"To whom it may concern, we enclose your model registration for the 6 hours of Watkins Glen of July 24, 1971, drivers Jacky Ickx and Mario Andretti, and we confirm participation in the Can-Am race on July 25, 1971 with a car 312P and a Can-Am car."

Results:

1	30	Andrea de Adamich/Ronnie Peterson	Alfa Romeo T33/3	279	6:00:25,000
2	1	Jo Siffert/Gijs van Lennep	Porsche 917K	277	+ 2 laps
3	2	Derek Bell/Richard Attwood	Porsche 917K	259	+ 20 laps
4	63	Alain De Cadenet/Lothar Motschenbacher	Ferrari 512M	253	+ 26 laps
5	49	Robert R.Johnson/John Greenwood	Chevrolet Corvette	229	+ 50 laps
6	59	Peter Gregg/Hurley Haywood	Porsche 914/6 GT	228	+ 51 laps
7	57	Dave Heinz/Don Yenko	Chevrolet Corvette	221	+ 58 laps
8	41	Bill Schumacher/Bob McClure/Bob Kiefer	Chevrolet Corvette	210	+ 69 laps
9	31	Bert Everett/Bob Beasley	Porsche 911T	168	+ 111 laps
10	68	Pat Keating/Levon Pentecost/Anthony Torgersen	Porsche 911S	162	+ 117 laps
DNF	36	Nanni Galli/Vic Elford	Alfa Romeo T33/3	258	Collision
DNF	67	Pete Harrison/Tom Fraser/Bobby Rinzler/Skip Barber	Lola T212 Ford	226	Collision
DNF	43	Tony Adamowicz/Mario Cabral	Porsche 917K	191	Not classified
DNF	46	Mike Rahal/Hugh Wise/Horst Kroll	Porsche 906	180	Not classified
DNF	14	Sam Posey/Ronnie Bucknum	Ferrari 512M	126	Starter motor
DNF	61	Hugh Kleinpeter/Tony Belcher	Lola T212 Ford	104	Engine
DNF	33	Henri Pescarolo/Rolf Stommelen	Alfa Romeo T33/3	97	Accident
DNF	64	Bob Baechle/Michael Summers/Fred Kepler	Chevrolet Corvette	90	Radiator
DNF	40	Jacky Ickx/Mario Andretti	Ferrari 312PB	55	Starter motor
DNF	6	Mark Donohue/David Hobbs	Ferrari 512M	53	Steering
DNF	87	Tony Dean/Steve Matchett/Chuck Parsons	Porsche 908/02	47	Fuel pump
DNF	32	Jim Locke/Bob Bailey	Porsche 911S	25	Wheel
DNF	48	Herbert Müller/George Eaton	Ferrari 512M	17	Collision
DNF	16	Michael Keyser/Bruce Jennings	Porsche 911T	13	Collision
DNF	50	Richard Hoffman/Frank Cipelle/John Greenwood	Chevrolet Corvette	6	Suspension
DNF	60	Robin Ormes/Bobby Brown/Bob Bondurant	Lola T70 Mk.3	2	Throttle cable
DNS	21	Gregg Young/Jim Adams	Ferrari 512M	0	Fuel leak
DNS	35	Vic Elford/Nanni Galli	Alfa Romeo 33TT3	0	Accident practice
DNS	80	Milt Minter/Rudy Bartling/Fritz Hochreuter	Porsche 911	0

Race Oddity: Chaparral 2J "sucker car"

Texas racing driver, team owner, and oil man, Jim Hall had become rather succesful in the Can-Am series by the time the Chaparral 2J was put on the track. Hall and his Chaparral cars had become known for pioneering aerodynamic developments from the start and the 2J of 1970 was perhaps the most advanced - if not outlandish - of the time.
The Can-Am series was a perfect test-bed for new ideas as the rules were extremely open to design variances. As Hall already knew, aerodynamic downforce was extremely important to keep a 700+ horsepower race car sticking to the track. Chaparral's previous models had sprouted wings and air-dams already though the 2J sort of "went to hell with the joke".




To create downforce, the 2J used a 2-stroke snowmobile engine to power two large 17 inch fans which literally sucked the car to the track. The suction was comperable to adding 1000 lbs of force to the car's tires. The car was skirted with Lexan to create a seal between the underside of the chassis and the track. The fans ran at a continuous speed, and therefore the downforce of the car remained nearly constant at all times regardless of the speed of the car.



To actually drive the wheels, a Chevrolet ZL-1 Corvette V8 was mated to a three-speed semi-automatic gearbox which was essentially a manual with torque converter rather than a clutch. It was rather similar to Porsche's Sportomatic transmission. Between the massive power and the massive downforce the 2J was a remarkable force to be reckoned with. Though extremely fast, the Achilles heal of the car was reliablity. Despite this, the potential was there, particularly with Jackie Stewart behind the wheel and McLaren in particular was not pleased. Due to complaints from that team, and others, that the car's fans kicked up debris from the track and als violated the rule banning 'movable aerodynamic devices' the SCCA outlawed the car. 1970 was the only season the car competed.

Race Oddity: Tyrrell P34

As part of a new series of articles here on RWP, let us introduce “Race Oddity” – a look at some of the more unusual racing cars produced throughout history.

Of course one of the oddest and perhaps one of the more famous racecars ever made was the Tyrrell P34. Ken Tyrrell’s team started racing in Formula One during the 1968 season with French built Matras to a fair degree of success. The politics of Tyrrell’s French Elf sponsorship combined with Matra’s desire to use their own V12 engine as opposed to the superior Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 led the team to begin development of their own cars in the early 1970s. The first official Tyrrell-made car was released in 1970 and won both driver and constructor titles in 1971. Throughout the 1970s, the team was a significant contender in the F1 arena. For 1976, Tyrrell’s designer Derek Gardner – who previously worked for Matra – came up with the gasp-inducing P34 six-wheeled car.

The car used two sets of tiny 10-inch front wheels which both steered, and the Cosworth 3.0 litre DFV powered the rear through a Hewland gearbox. The reasoning for the layout was as follows: with smaller (and lower) front wheels, the frontal area of the car could be reduced and airflow over the top of the wheels could be improved. However, a reduction in wheel size also resulted in a reduction of front-end grip. The solution was therefore to simply add another set of wheels, which effectively doubled the contact area of the steering tires. Adding somewhat to the odd-ness of it, were small windows cut into the bodywork on some iterations of the chassis near the steering wheel to aid driver vision. The cars first ran in competition during the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix, where unfortunately both of the Tyrrells failed to finish, but were fairly competitive throughout the season nevertheless. Tyrrell P34s pulled off a 1-2 finish in the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix with drivers Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depallier. The drivers differed on their opinions of the car: Depallier was happy with it, but Scheckter was not impressed at all and was replaced by Ronnie Peterson the following season.

While interesting on paper, the additional two wheels at the front also meant more suspension parts and the front of the car, and therefore, more weight. This became problematic for handling. More problems arose for the car when the specially made Goodyear tired proved to be lacking against their normal sized counterparts from both Goodyear and other manufacturers. As Tyrrell was not the tire company’s main concern, development lacked and proved to be detrimental to the P34’s performance. The aerodynamics were improved a bit for 1977, but it was of little avail. The ’76 win in Sweden would be the Tyrrell’s only victory with the six-wheeler, and the P34 was retired for 1978.