Thursday, March 30, 2017

DAWB 6


Today we have another one off car. This one was built in Ireland by a couple of engineers who obviously knew how to build a car. It has no history of racing or has achieved much in the marketplace for obvious reasons: it’s the only one! However, we think it is a great car. Why, you ask? As well as good looks and a luxurious finish, it has quite some power and although we have not driven the car, it likely handles this power well too.
The styling of the car makes it look fast just sitting still.
The DAWB 6 touring car was built by Northern Ireland engineer Davy Woods and motorcycle racer Artie Bell. The name of the car comes from their combined initials.
It is just another great car from these shores, where names such as DeLorean and Crossle come from.
The car is a one off special of exceptionally high quality and incorporating a number of unique features, such as a 6 cylinder engine and flush door handles.
It took 5 years to plan and 8 years to make. 1954 – 1962, using the very best bespoke parts.
It was built for no other reason than to prove it can be done, and workers at Davy Woods Belfast tool and gauge company reffered to it as Davys folly.
once built the car was rarely used as Davy Woods lost interest in it after achieveing his goal. He was pleased simply to finish it and realise his ambition.
The one and only example is on display at the Ulster Transport Museum amongst many other rare motor cars and motor bikes.

A closer look video here.

Motorsport is our passion

More Greatest Cars on; www.in2motorsports.com






Sunday, March 26, 2017

Alpine Renault concept


As you may recall, we covered the Alpine Renault in quite some detail earlier this year (original feature here). However, as you may have also seen from the news in the past few days, Veloce Publications have just released a very comprehensive and in depth look in to these great cars by Roy P Smith. (see the post here) We didn’t really needed an excuse to revisit one of our old favourites, but at least we do have one now, don’t we.
OK, today we are only going to talk about the latest concept as if you want to read about the stuff we have written before, surely, you can just search for it on our site or click the link provided above.
The Alpine Berlinette turns 50 this year and, to mark the event, Renault has created a concept car named Renault Alpine A110-50, dedicated to performance and driving enjoyment. Designer Yann Jarsalle and Concept and Show Car Director Axel Breun reinterpreted the original design cues to include the new Renault design language introduced by Laurens van den Acker with the DeZir concept car, and which will soon be rolled out in the company’s future models.
The new front-end look, with the upright, confident diamond, has been adapted for this very low and wide car. The Renault Alpine A110- 50 is a car of today; a bold embodiment of Renault’s passion for motorsport.
So what’s in a name? In some cases, the heritage of a name is like a national treasure – and that’s certainly true for Alpine. Its DNA blends Renault’s sporting passion and technical expertise.
The Renault Alpine A 110-50 concept car translates the most characteristic design features of the original A110 in a modern and spectacular way.
The carbon-fibre bodywork features a new shade of blue which refreshes and reinterprets the famous original ‘Alpine Blue’.
Produced with the renowned expertise of Renault Sport Technologies, the Renault Alpine A110-50 concept car is imbued with the world of motorsport. It benefits from the experience gained from the Mégane Trophy race car by using the same technical platform.
The wheelbase of the Renault Alpine A110-50 is identical to that of Mégane Trophy (2,625mm), while the track is slightly wider at 1,680mm front and 1,690mm rear.
The 21-inch wheels, with a single central nut, are specific to this car and fitted with road-homologated Michelin tyres.
The Sachs dampers can be adjusted in compression and extension, and are mounted directly onto the lower wishbones.
There are numerous different set-up options: castor, camber and alignment, ride height, anti-roll.
In order to improve driver feedback and provide the purest driving experience possible, driving aids like ABS, traction control, etc. are not fitted.
“Developing this concept car was a great adventure. It was a catalyst for creativity. We wanted to make a Berlinette that was of our time, and which boldly embodies Renault’s passion for motorsport. We were guided by our hearts and emotions.” Axel Breun, Concept and Show Car Director.

Video of the car being unveiled, checked and driven here.

Renault Alpine Owners Club UK

Club Alpine Renault

Renault Classic Club Site

Motorsport is our passion

More Greatest Cars on; www.in2motorsports.com







Tuesday, March 21, 2017

ATS 2500 GT


ATS, or Automobili Turismo e Sport SpA, was an Italian car maker and racing team that operated all too briefly between February 1962 and 1965. The nucleus of the new company was comprised of Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, who were both prominently involved in the development of the Ferrari GTO and, as refugees from the infamous Ferrari “Palace Revolt” of 1961, intended to mount a direct challenge to their former employer. Development of the basic concept of the car that eventually became the ATS GT actually began while Chiti was still at Ferrari, with the project aimed at producing the first mid-engine Ferrari. However, after the departure of Chiti and Bizzarrini, the concept was carried on under the auspices of the new ATS organisation. At Ferrari, the mid-engine 250LM developed concurrently, with V12 power rather than a V8, on the direction of Enzo Ferrari.
With the sponsorship of a trio of wealthy industrialists including Count Giovanni Volpi, who founded the well-known Scuderia Serenissima, ATS developed both a road going sports car and a Grand Prix racing car. Personalities involved with ATS included 1962 World Driving Champion Phil Hill driving for the racing team, while a number of other famous drivers were engaged in the development of the road car. Sefarino Allemano, the famed Turin-based coachbuilder, constructed the road car, with its sleek bodywork designed by former Bertone stylist Franco Scaglione.
The resulting ATS 2500 GT Coupé was initially powered by a mid-mounted 2.5-litre V8 engine designed by Chiti, with a light-alloy block and cylinder heads, a single overhead camshaft per cylinder bank, as well as a quartet of Weber twin-choke carburettors, producing 220 to 250 bhp. Based on a competition-specification braced chrome-molybdenum tubular chassis with a fully independent suspension and four-wheel disc brakes, the resulting car was essentially a thinly veiled racing car, capable of exceeding 160 mph.
The car made its début at the Geneva Motor Show in 1963, where it created a sensation with its advanced mid-engine layout, bold, shark-like body design and race-inspired technical specifications.
Ultimately, only 12 chassis were built, including just eight complete cars, with the company constantly struggling with inadequate working capital. Volpi left with 1 complete and four remaining incomplete chassis, which he intended to develop into his own version dubbed the Serenissima using the Chiti-designed power plant, enlarged to 3.0-litres.
With its 220 bhp (164 kW) and 255 n.m. (188 ft·lbf) of torque it was claimed to be capable of top speed 240 kilometres per hour (150 mph). A competition version (ATS 2500 GTS) produced 245 bhp (183 kW) but never amounted to much. The coachbuilt was by Allemano, and the 5-speed transmission by Colotti.
The ATS according to many, was the first Italian and one of the first GT or sports car in the world to have a mid-engine layout.
And on to the numbers and specifications;
300 bhp, 3,000 cc mid-mounted light alloy V8 engine with single overhead camshaft per cylinder bank and four twin-choke 38 IDM Weber carburettors, five-speed manual gearbox in rear transaxle, independent front suspension with double wishbones, coil springs and tubular shock absorbers, independent rear suspension with double wishbones, leading radius arms, coil springs and tubular shock absorbers, and four-wheel Dunlop hydraulic disc brakes, mounted in-board at the rear. Wheelbase: 98.5″
Source; RM Auctions

Closer look video of the car here.

Motorsport is our passion






Thursday, March 16, 2017

Ferrari 250GT lwb Berlinetta tour de France


The tragic accident at the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans that claimed the lives of one driver and 79 spectators had a profound effect on the shape of racing, one that ultimately led to the creation of one of Ferrari’s most celebrated models. Racing enthusiasts and competitors alike agreed that the crash was ultimately the result of the increasingly potent powertrains of the Le Mans sports cars, and in order to prevent further disaster, new regulations would be required to veer from the path of these thinly veiled race cars, which were essentially Grand Prix cars packaged with two-seater bodies.
The following year, the FIA responded by creating new gran turismo classes that not only prioritized safety, but also re-established the concept of competitively racing a road-based production car.
Ferrari, of course, was well prepared for the challenge, having just debuted its new series-production 250 GT at the Geneva Motor Show of 1956. While the coupé on display featured an elegant body that would go on to be produced in quantity by Boano, thus providing necessary homologation, the underlying chassis proved to be the basis for the competition car, or berlinetta, that Ferrari sought to enter into the FIA’s new racing classifications.
Pininfarina designed a new lightweight body that was built by Scaglietti, using thin-gauge aluminium and Perspex windows and a minimally upholstered cabin. The finished car, then known officially as the 250 GT Berlinetta, was ultimately made in a sparing quantity of 77 examples that are further sub-divided by subtle differences in coachwork over the model’s four-year production run.
Ferrari’s hopes for competitive success were quickly realized when Olivier Gendebien and Jacques Washer co-drove the very first car, chassis number 0503 GT, to a First in Class and Fourth Overall at the Giro di Sicilia in April 1956, with a Fifth Overall (First in Class) at the Mille Miglia later that month. But the model’s defining success didn’t occur until September, during the 1956 Tour de France Automobile, a gruelling 3,600 mile, week-long contest that combined six circuit races, two hill climbs, and a drag race. The Marquis Alfonso de Portago, a Spanish aristocrat and privateer racer, drove chassis number 0557 GT to a dominating victory that sealed the dynamic model’s reputation.
Enzo Ferrari was so pleased with the outcome that the 250 GT Berlinetta was subsequently and internally, though never officially, referred to as the Tour de France. The moniker proved to be quite fitting, as Gendebien took First Overall at the 1957, 1958, and 1959 instalments of the French race, as well as a Third Overall at the 1957 Mille Miglia, a triumph that witnessed the defeat of many more purpose-built sports racers.
With the introduction of a short-wheelbase 250 GT in late-1959, the outgoing platform became retrospectively labelled as the long-wheelbase version, though the original car’s designation of 250 GT LWB Berlinetta is now largely simplified with the name ‘Tour de France.’ Through its brief production run, the TdF underwent several external body modifications, ultimately resulting in four different series-produced body styles (not including a handful of Zagato-bodied cars). The alterations in appearance are most easily recognizable in the so-called sail panels, the rear ¾-panels of the c-pillar that adjoin the roof. Initially produced with no louvres at all, these panels featured 14 louvres in the second-series cars, followed by a series with just three louvres, and ending with a series that featured just one sail-panel louvre. Of all of these series, the 14-louver cars are the rarest, with only nine examples produced, and are judged by many enthusiasts to be the handsomest of the group.
And on to the numbers,
240 bhp, 2,953 cc single overhead camshaft V-12 engine with three Weber carburettors, four-speed all-synchromesh manual gearbox, independent front suspension with unequal-length A-arms and coil springs, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs and parallel trailing arms, and four-wheel drum brakes. Wheelbase: 2,600 mm.
Source; RM Auctions.

Video of one going through RM Auctions here.

Ferrari owners club.

Ferrari Life.

Motorsport is our passion

More images here.





Saturday, March 11, 2017

Facel Vega


Today we feature another French producer of quite different type of Luxury sports cars. Facel produced these vehicles between 1954 to 1964.
The company was named after the original metal stamping company FACEL, and the company’s first model, the Vega, named after the star, was introduced at the 1954 Paris Auto Show. The cars were advertised with the slogan For the Few Who Own the Finest.
The marque Facel Vega was created in 1954 by Jean Daninos, although the Facel company had been established by the Bonzavia Company in 1939 as a subcontracting company for the aviations industry. FACEL (Forges et Ateliers de Construction d’Eure-et-Loir, in English: forge and construction workshop of the department of Eure-et-Loir) was initially a metal-stamping company but decided to expand into car manufacturing in the early 1950s. Facel entered the automobile business as a supplier of special bodies for Panhard, Delahaye and Simca.
Small numbers of other special bodied cars such as a Bentley were also made, and Facel made the pillarless coupé bodywork for the Simca/Ford Comète. Around 45,000 Comètes were built, this lucrative contract enabling Facel to market a car of their own.
The Vega production cars (Facel FV, later and more famously the HK500) appeared in 1954 using Chrysler V8 engines, at first a 4.5-litre (275 cu in) DeSoto Hemi engine; the overall engineering was straightforward, with a tubular chassis, double wishbone suspension at the front and a solid driven axle at the back, as in standard American practice. They were also as heavy as American cars, at about 1,800 kg (3,968 lb). Performance was brisk, with an approx 190 km/h (118 mph) top speed and 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just under ten seconds.
Most cars were 2-door hardtops with no centre pillar, but a few convertibles were built.
The 1956 model was improved with a bigger 5.4-litre (330 cu in) Chrysler engine and updated transmission and other mechanicals. In the same year production began of a four-door model, the Excellence, with rear-hinged doors (suicide doors) at the back and no centre pillar. The pillarless design unfortunately made it less rigid and the handling was thus poorer than that of the two-door cars, and surviving examples are rare.
1959 models had even bigger engines, a 5.8-litre (354 cu in) and later a 6.28-litre (383 cu in) Chrysler V8, and were quite a bit faster despite their extra weight. The final evolution of the V8 models came in 1962 with the Facel II, which was lighter, with sleeker, more modern lines, substantially faster still, and famously elegant.
In 1960, Facel entered the sports car market with the Facellia, a small car similar in size to the then popular Mercedes 190SL. Facellias were advertised in three body styles: cabriolet, 2+2 coupé and 4-seat coupé, all with the same mechanicals and a 2,450 mm (96.5 in) wheelbase. Styling was similar to the Facel HK500, but with rather elegant (though fingernail-breaking) flush door handles.
Following Facel Vega’s demise several of M Daninos’s styling cues were “borrowed” by Mercedes-Benz. Prices were roughly US$4,000 for the Facellia, US$5,500 for the Facel III and US$6,000 for the Facel 6.
With the idea of creating a mass-produced all-French sports car competing with the Alfa Romeos, Facel moved away from American engines. The Facellia had a 4-cylinder 1.6 L DOHC engine built in France by Paul Cavallier of the Pont-à-Mousson company. The engine had only two bearings supporting each camshaft, using special steels, as opposed to the usual four or five. Despite the metallurgical experience of Pont-à-Mousson, this resulted in excessive flex, timing problems and frequent failures. The engine was pronounced a disaster and the Facellia with it. Company president, Jean Daninos having been obliged to resign in August 1961 in response to the company’s financial problems, the new boss, a former oil company executive called André Belin, gave strict instructions to the after-sales department to respond to customer complaints about broken Facellia engines by replacing the units free of charge without creating “difficulties”. The strategy was intended to restore confidence among the company’s customer base. It would certainly have created a large hole in the income statement under the “warranty costs” heading, but it may have been too late for customer confidence.
The troublesome engine was replaced with a Volvo P1800 powerplant in the Facel III, but the damage was done. Production was stopped in 1963 and despite the vision of it being a “volume” car only 1100 were produced, which is Facel’s highest production number.
Facel lost money on every car they built, the luxury car side of the company being supported entirely by the other work done by Facel Metallon, Jean Daninos’s obsession being very similar to that of David Brown of Aston Martin.
The small Facellia met with little success and the losses from this, due to strong competition at the luxury end of the market, killed off the company. Facel left the car market completely in 1964. What was, according to some, the best small Facel, the Facel 6, which used an Austin Healey 2.8-litre engine, came too late to save the company, fewer than 30 having been produced when the French government scuttled the endeavour.
Prominent owners of Facel Vegas included Pablo Picasso, Ava Gardner, Christian Dior, Joan Collins, Ringo Starr, Max Factor Jr, Joan Fontaine, Stirling Moss, Tony Curtis, several Saudi princes, Dean Martin, Fred Astaire, Danny Kaye, Louis Malle, The President of Mexico, François Truffaut, Robert Wagner, Anthony Quinn, Hassan ll King of Morocco, Debbie Reynolds, The Shah of Persia, Frank Sinatra, Maurice Trintignant, Brian Rix and French Embassies around the world. Race-car driver Stirling Moss would drive his HK500 from event to event rather than fly.
In the 1989 film “Dealers”, Paul McGann, as Daniel Pascoe, drove a Facel ll.
A Facel Vega HK500 appears in computer-animated form in the film Ratatouille (Pixar, 2007), driven by one of the main characters.
The range consisted of; Vega FV, Facel Vega FVS, Facel Vega HK500, Facel Vega II, Facel Vega Excellence, Facellia, Facel III and Facel 6
Initially successful, the company failed after the début of its mechanically troubled Facellia model.

Top Gear video here.

Facel owners club.

Motorsport is our passion





Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Marussia


Marussia is a Russian sports car manufacturer founded in 2007. Its cars are notable for being the first Russian manufacturer of premium-class vehicles and sports cars.
It has designed, developed and produces the B1 and the B2 sport cars in Russia. The Marussia B1 was launched on the 16 December 2008 in the new Manege hall in Moscow, with the company’s first showroom following in the city on the 10 September 2010.
Marussia is led by Nikolai Fomenko. In 2010, it acquired a “significant stake” in the Virgin Racing Formula One team, which was renamed Marussia F1 Team from 2012.
B1 was the first Russian sports car and first car made by Marussia Motors. It has a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout. Marussia has announced they will build only a limited run of 2999 units. The car is being produced at the Marussia Motors production facility in Moscow.
The B2 features a more aggressive and “brutal” design and is available with the same engines as the B1. The list price of this model is the same as the B1. They are prices at about 250,000 Euro.
The Marussia F2 is an SUV model. According to Marussia it can be used as a mobile command center, as a military vehicle or as an emergency vehicle. The prototype was shown on May 2, 2010. They have announced that 300 SUV models will be produced in 2012 by Valmet Automotive.
The B1 and B2 are made as a semi-monocoque chassis with a steel spaceframe covered by carbon fiber panels. The only real difference between the two models were the body shape.
Both Marussia sports models are mid-engined, with the engine mounted transversally on the back axle. The English company Cosworth supplies Marussia with two different V6 engines. One is a naturally aspirated 3.5 liter producing about 300 horsepower and the other is a 2.8 liter turbo-charged engine offered in 360 or 420 horsepower variants.
The 420 horsepower engine allows Marussia cars to reach a claimed top speed of 250 km/h and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds.
The B1 and B2 use a six-speed automatic gearbox. A six-speed manual gearbox is in development.
The energy-absorbing cockpit is a three part space frame of steel tubes of different sections. The front and rear subframes are attached to a central cell. In an impact, the subframes are designed to absorb energy by deforming. The B1 and В2 vehicles have passed Russian safety tests and obtained their certification.
Marussia Motors currently own their own works team after buying a large stake of the Virgin Racing Formula One team. Starting from the 2012 season the team competed under the Marussia banner as the Marussia F1 Team. Marussia F1 Team placed 11th in the Constructors title of the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship and was placed 10th after seven races of the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Marussia Motors has stated its intention to open at least two new showrooms in 2011, with London and Monaco named as probable locations. The company wishes to market its cars to large European countries and some in Asia and Australia within several years, with the United States to follow. Planned steps to support this are the desire to manufacture vehicles in Western Europe and increase the product range.
Marussia Motors anticipates presenting 7 models at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show to include a new sports coupé, a luxury SUV, a luxury sedan, and a small city car.

More information and images can be found on Marussia’s website here.

A closer look at the cars here.

Video of the grand opening of the Monaco showroom here.

Motorsport is our passion 

More images here.






Thursday, March 02, 2017

Sunbeam Grandprix


Sunbeam Talbot Darracq’s chief engineer Louis Coatalen figured the easiest route to Grand Prix racing glory was to employ the most successful designer of the time. This was Swiss engineer Ernest Henry, who had previously been responsible for the engines in the fantastic Peugeot and Ballot racing cars. He was hired in time to develop a Sunbeam Grand Prix car from scratch for the 1922 season. The reason for the clean sheet was a regulation change that saw the maximum engine displacement drop from three to just two litre for the next three seasons.
Henry drew up a long stroke four-cylinder engine with a fixed block and head. Just like on his earlier designs, the head featured two camshafts and four valves per cylinder. Each cylinder was also equipped with twin spark plugs to optimize combustion. Breathing through two Solex carburetors, Henry’s new four cylinder engine produced a commendable 88 bhp. Mated to a three speed gearbox, it was mounted in a relatively straightforward ladder frame with underslung solid axles on both ends. The drum brakes used Hispano Suiza patented servo assistance that was driven from the gearbox.
While Henry did most of the design work at the old Darracq works in Suresnes, France, the actual assembly of the new Grand Prix cars was done in the Wolverhampton, England based Sunbeam factory. A total of four cars were completed, draped in very narrow but elegant Grand Prix bodies. One of the more striking features was the spare wheel that was mounted longitudinally in the long tail. Ahead of the all important French Grand Prix in Strasbourg, the first completed example was tested at Brooklands and in the Tourist Trophy race on the Isle of Man.
Assigned to drive the first car on the Isle of Man was Kenelm Lee Guinness. He proved to be as fast as the earlier three-litre, eight cylinder Sunbeams that were actually entered in the race. One of those ‘TT Sunbeams’ won the race in the hands of Jean Chassagne and Robert Laly. Impressed by the pace displayed against larger engined machinery, Coatalen decided to send all four of the new Sunbeam Grand Prix cars to Strasbourg for the French Grand Prix. Guinness and Chassagne were joined for the occasion by Henry de Hane Segrave.
Practice went far from easy for the Sunbeam team; the cars struggled to keep up with the new six-cylinder Fiats and the example driven by Segrave suffered a cracked crankcase. That was the result of an excessive amount of hot water was poured over the hot engine block, which was called in after a carburettor fire. Fortunately the team had brought all four cars, so Segrave could start the race in the spare. To bridge the gap with the Fiats, slightly shorter gears were fitted. This in turn caused the engines to over-rev during the race, resulting in cracked inlet-valves on all three engines. In a real race of attrition the sole surviving Fiat of Felice Navarro finished a whole hour ahead of the second placed Bugatti.
The four Grand Prix cars were repaired back in Wolverhampton and subsequently sold to privateers. Coatalen had acquired the services of former Fiat engineers Vincenzo Bertarione and Walter Becchia, who built a green version of the six-cylinder Fiat for the 1923 season. This time round Sunbeam was successful and won the French Grand Prix. Amazingly all four of the 1922 Sunbeam Grand Prix cars survive to this day, although there is ongoing discussion about exactly which car was driven by whom in period. Although not particularly successful, the 1922 version is considered the best looking of the Sunbeam Grand Prix cars.
Source; Ultimate Car Pages.

More images here.

Sunbeam Register.

Motorsport is our passion