The Roaring Season

Another car that brought back a memory was this beautiful 1970 Chevron B16 that had the name Graham Birrell on the side.
In 1973 Graham's brother, Gerry, had visited Trojan Works and sat down with us in the lunch cafeteria on the Tuesday and at a F2 race at Rouen in France the following weekend he had died when his Chevron B25 crashed during practice. It was a shock to all of us at the time.
https://sidepodcast.com/post/gerry-birrell-what-might-have-been




1970 Chevron B16. # 46

(Ken H photos )

duncan fox wrote:No Steve no connection, this GTX1 project has been around a while now. Howden Ganley mentioned it to me some time back. I understand its a very good replica attached to the reactivated GB rego . The McLaren Trust was asked for assistance early in the project , but our policy is not to involve ourselves in provenance issues.

Thanks for that info Duncan.

To be fair Steve, the G7A was based on a roadster chassis design , I don't think it was any particular existing car though.

Oh the dangers of posting off the cuff. the G7A race car was Mk IV J Car chassis J10 the car was developed by Ford on chassis J9. J10 is now a coupe and Kerry Agapiou retained j9

Group 7A continued.
Lotus 23 time.

1962 Lotus 23 # 74


1963 Lotus 23 # 29


1963 Lotus 23 # 114

Plus some Elva

1964 Elva Mk 7S # 256


1964 Elva Mk 7S # 7


1965 Elva Mk 8


(KH photos )

duncan fox wrote:To be fair Steve, the G7A was based on a roadster chassis design , I don't think it was any particular existing car though.

I'm sure you're right Duncan. I was working off memory and got my cars mixed up. Here are some files Randy Hernandez sent me some time back from a folder his late father Fran had kept relating to Fords early foray into Can-Am, starting with their plans for 1967, while the later paperwork mentions big block FE power which I assume was for 1968/69. I think the car pictured became the G7A? But did it have a life before this?

Steve,
Was the 1967 Ford CanAm car designed by Len Bailey ?
His 1968 Ford 3 L seemed to have a similar nose.



1968 Ford 3L # 68

khyndart in CA wrote:Steve,
Was the 1967 Ford CanAm car designed by Len Bailey ?
His 1968 Ford 3 L seemed to have a similar nose.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]45909[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]45910[/ATTACH]
1968 Ford 3L # 68

I think it was Ken. He also designed the 1967 Ford Honker II Can-Am and (I think) the Shelby King Cobra Can-Am car, both of which were part of Fords ambitious Can-Am program that actually came to little.

I see on post #85 the Group 7 spec's, that it was a 427 "385 series" engine so this was the later big block and not the FE engine.
Awesome machines!

More Group 7 A cars.

1972 Ferrari "Sparling" Special. # 11
This was a 312P Ferrari named for the lightweight body built for the car by fabricator Wayne Sparling for the Luigi Chinetti team of
NART (North American Racing Team)


Another Bobsy in the field, this time a 1967 Bobsy SR4 # 334


The MacAllister 1966 Ford GT 40. 5 litre engine. # 9 followed by a 1965 Merlyn Mk6 # 52


1964 Troutman & Barnes Scorpion. # 151

(Ken H photos )

Some of the Group 7 A Porsches;

1967 Porsche 910. # 28


1967 Porsche 910. # 37


1966 Porsche 906. # 8


1970 Porsche 908/3. # 20

(Ken H with the last of the Group 7 A photos )

One for Steve.





(Ken H photos )

Some of the cars around the paddock area of Laguna Seca and some on display.



1932 Studebaker Indianapolis Special # 18.


(It has been in the Studebaker National Museum in Indiana. )


( Ken H photos )

Ken, the pool of oil in the last photo does not look healthy

928
I hope that was just an artificial display. It does look a lot better today !

On display.

I always enjoyed these IMSA GTP cars back in the eighties, I don't keep up with it as much now. Al Holbert's cars were always immaculate. (When the race began !)


BMW and Williams F1 combined to put this machine together. The BMW V12 LMR is estimated to put out about 580 hp, which in the 1999 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans allowed the German prototype to hit 342 km/h (214 mph) on the Mulsanne Straight.

(Ken H photos )

More from the paddock area.


1933 Maserati 4CM. # 0


1987 Chevrolet Camaro. # 28


1988 Chevrolet Corvette. # 89

(Ken H photos )

The last qualifying on Saturday was for a favorite class of mine the 1981 to 1991 IMSA GTP Class.
Group 7A
You may not have seen much of these in NZ but please allow my inputs.









1986 Porsche 962. # 16 driven by Zak Brown.

(Ken H photos )

Group 7A continued;



1989 AAR Eagle Toyota Mk 3 GTP # 99


1990 AAR Eagle Toyota GTP. # 99k




1989 Mazda 767-B. # 202



(Ken H photos )