11 replies to this topic

[stuartbrs]

I remember in 1980 ( I think,it may have been 81 ) that Alan Jones persuaded Williams to bring a car out for the Australian GP of 1980. I think this was for F2 cars but Williams bought out an FW07 and of course Alan duly won the race.
Does any one know anything of this car? What was it exactly? Was it just the F1 chasis with a de-tuned motor ( ala Tasman cars ) or was it the full F1 deal pitched against the F2 cars? I seem to remember Alan winning by a country mile ( I was about 10 at the time ). And just how much of the Williams team came? Im sure they only bought one car but did Patrick and Frank show up as well?

Cheers

[Ray Bell]

The whole deal was concocted to capitalise on the fact that AJ had won the title, thus there was a huge interest in seeing him race.

At the time our National Formula 1 was F5000. No Formula 2 at all... Bruno Giacomelli was also imported to give the Champ a contestant closer to his speed.

Didier Pironi was brought in to drive one of the Elfin MR8s, the very best of the F5000s here, while Garrie Cooper himself (the Elfin builder) drove the brand new MR9, the only scratchbuilt ground effect F5000 car ever, to my knowledge, built.

No detuning, it was the real thing... the rules were rewritten just for this race.

Shame it had to be at Calder.

[racer69]

Weren't full-on F1 cars allowed in ANF1 at that particular time? Didn't Theodore Racing Shadow's and Wolf's compete in the Rothmans series and so on?

Were Jones' Williams and Giacomelli's Alfa Romeo looked after by the actual f1 teams or a group of locals for the weekend?

[Felix Muelas]

Some info, 8W branded, together with pictures available here

[ghinzani]

Can anyone shed some light on the Leyland engine used in a Mclaren M23 thats mentioned? Is it a Jag V12, The Buick derived Rover 3.5 or something out of an AEC bus/ Scammell Constructor?

[Doug Nye]

Leyland P76 V8 - Oz job superior to Chevrolet, Ray?

DCN

[ghinzani]

So my Dad wouldnt have been able to get one fitted in the Morris Marina... darn!

Thanks

[Mark Beckman]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Leyland P76 V8 - Oz job superior to Chevrolet, Ray?

DCN

The fully aluminium Leyland P76 V8's best attribute was the phenominal weight advantage it had over the cast iron blocked Chev.

It was based loosely on the Leyland 3.5 and looked the same but was physicaly bigger in size and was 4.4 litres.

From the top of my head the one used in the F5000 wasnt quite 5000cc more around 4900cc but went and handled well because of the weight saving.

I'm sure Ray will have the full details to hand, my Dad was spannering on F5000's at the time but he's not around for me to ask at the moment.

The engine was also very popular for racing, rallying and hot street cars because of its light weight.

[Allen Brown]

Mark

I have it down as a full 5-litre while running in F5000 but they took it down to 4-litres when running in Can-Am in the US in 1979. The 4-litre class gave a weight break.

Allen

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by ghinzani
So my Dad wouldnt have been able to get one fitted in the Morris Marina... darn!

Thanks

Why not? Noel Delforce did...

Noel raced a Marina Sports Sedan (mentioned, coincidentally, in the ALLAN MOFFAT thread) with a P76 V8... Noel worked at Leyland Australia at the time...

Doug... superior to the Chevy? Not likely... it had (has?) deficiencies in the exhaust port area, and the block is notoriously weak. Being derived from the Olds/Buick unit, it's relevant to note that Repco created a huge brace across the bottom of the crankcase to help them stay in one piece when they used that block.

Frank Ure used one in a Sports Sedan too, bracing the two banks to each other with a very rigid inlet manifold.

But weight was its strong point, McCormack reckoned that by bringing the weight down he could run F1 tyres and thus overcome his power shortage compared to the Chevys. You might know this, having spent the best part of a recent day with John...

Yes, it was the full five litres.

I just wish they had persisted with the IMC heads... I think it held a lot of promise.

[Ian McKean]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


Doug... superior to the Chevy? Not likely... it had (has?) deficiencies in the exhaust port area, and the block is notoriously weak. Being derived from the Olds/Buick unit, it's relevant to note that Repco created a huge brace across the bottom of the crankcase to help them stay in one piece when they used that block.

Frank Ure used one in a Sports Sedan too, bracing the two banks to each other with a very rigid inlet manifold.

IIRC the rally TR7V8's had special blocks, probably not homologated so perhaps this should be in the thread about cheating.

[Ray Bell]

The P76 block's deck height was something like an inch higher than the Rover 3.5 V8's... allowing a longer stroke.

The standard capacity of the P76 was 4.4litres in the engine, 2 x 44 gallon (55 US gallons) drums in the boot.

Of course the P76 also came with a more modest 6-cyl SOHC engine derived from the Marina's four... and which was first used in the Austin Tasman and Kimberley range, later migrating to England for use in the Princess FWD model.

The TR7s may have been cheating, but McCormack wasn't.