Greeting the Armco
My predecessor in the LFGT scribbling role got mixed up in with some
dodgy fellows from the southwest after a few drinks in an Oxford pub about
this time last year. The hapless Press and PR officer was to write a book!
So he set off in possibly the oldest car in the world and attempted to
compete in every type of motorsport. He was foolishly relying on German
technology, so no one was surprised when the car was left half way up a
hill near Dorking smouldering gently. What was the aim of this predicament?
The idiot wrote a book about it!
I couldn’t wait to see what it was called or what it was about, “How
to Kill a Golf” or maybe “How to Make a Total Fool of Oneself and Burn
Some Fuel Whilst Doing It”. No it’s even better; it’s called “How To Get
Started In Motorsport”. To make it even better he’s filled it with pictures
of members of this club playing with their cars.
Apparently the book covers Autotesting, Autocross, Speed, Karting,
Rallying, Racing, Marshalling and some other random stuff. Daft really.
In addition to all this he’s even tried to cover the history of the
different disciplines from the first autotest to the first ever rally.
The book is out in a fortnight and is published by Veloce, it can be
bought from the lair of the Cyber men and old blokes with flat caps on
www.veloce.co.uk and also on www.amazon.co.uk.
Or even the old fashioned way, the book will be stock with many bookshops,
but I’d recommend those foolish enough to buy a copy to give Chaters a
call on 020 8569 9750
Spreading the Aggregate
How many individual cars have won Le Mans twice and the World Sports
Car Championship?
Easy Answer: One – the famous John Wyer Gulf GT40, winning the manufacturer’s
title in 1968 and had the first ever back to back victories at La Sarthe.
However that is not the correct answer.
The correct answer is three
The GT40
Jaguar XJR-14
Porsche WSC95
Well actually that’s not right either, as I’m sure some of you are
pointing out – there was no WSC by 1995 and the Porsche didn’t break cover
until then.
Also the Jaguar XJR-14 didn’t win Le Mans twice. So the correct answer
is just GT40 then? Well no it is still all three. You see the Porsche WSC95
that won Le Mans in 1996 and 1997 was the exact same car that Teo Fabi
won the 1991 driver’s honours in the World Sports Prototype championship.
Not the same type of car, I mean the exact same car. The Jaguar XJR-14.
The Le Mans double winning Porsche was in fact a Jaguar.
How the British super cat became one of Germany’s finest is frankly
bizarre. Jaguar XJR-14 chassis 691 was sitting gathering dust in the corners
of Valparasio’s workshop. The company needed a project to stay in business
so they mocked up something that looked like a sports prototype and sent
the (blurry) pictures to Porsche’s competitions boss in the US asking for
an engine. They sent a dummy engine. So Valprasio had a fake car with a
dummy engine, and the boss of Porsche Motorsport (world) Max Welti was
coming to see them. Panic ensued and they rushed around trying to make
the XJR look like a new car, they rubbed down the paintwork and painted
it in grey primer, stripping the car to a bare chassis. A problem was that
the XJR was a coupe and the new car had to be open. The roof went.
Welti saw the car and within weeks XJR-14 chassis 691 had become Porsche
WSC95 chassis 001. Two Porsche WSC95’s entered the Daytona 24hrs one new
Porsche built car and the disguised Jag XJR.
Engine rule controversy caused Porsche to withdraw their entry from
both Daytona and Le Mans.
In step Joest who sorted out a deal to run the cars as a semi works
entry at Le Mans, the 002 car set pole but in the race it was 001 (XJR)
that took the day. It did it again the following year. Tried a final time
in 1998 and looked strong until it retired in the night.
Then finally it found its resting place, in a museum – a car with a
hidden history is now hidden away in Germany. Disowned by both Porsche
and Jaguar the car will no doubt be forgotten until one day it comes up
for sale, perhaps.
Why do VW have such long pencils, its 300mm long at least – why I ask you?
Stig of the Dump