My 1:43 Le Mans Collection

My thanks for posting re the Lotus 23, Jager.  Just about the very first issue of Road & Track magazine that I ever came across and purchase was the 1962 issue featuring coverage of LeMans.  As my memory best serves, there was a mention in the text of the hub revisions and a photo showing a 6-stud item modded to a 4-stud pattern.  It did look a might dodgy but I'm sure it was adequate to the job.  The issue didn't post any photos of the cars proper so I'm very pleased to finally see what the cars looked like c/w tall windscreens.

Thanks Manfred, there seems to be a general lack of pictures of the cars because they never ran in the race.

Here's a picture I found of the original 4 stud hubs:

http://lemans-histor...962lotuszq2.jpg

Next up is the first Renaissance model to join my collection. Workmanship is excellent, but they should be for the price. Thankfully this one was found locally for a bargain price.

AC Cars started life as Auto Carriers Ltd, a specialist British automobile manufacturer. After the second World War, the company returned to the market with a 2 litre range of cars in 1947, but it was with the Ace sports car of 1953 that the company really made its reputation in the post war years.

Early cars used AC's elderly two-litre overhead cam straight-six engine but It was hardly a sporting engine. It was felt that something more powerful was required to put the modern chassis to good use, and so from 1956 AC Cars collaborated with Bristol Cars to offer the Bristol two-litre straight-six which saw the top speed leapt to 187kmh (116 mph).

With the new Bristol engine, AC set their sights on a strong competition programme to promote their cars. They became regular competitors at Le Mans from 1957 onward and for a small outfit they achieved some notable results against much larger works teams, finishing 10th in 1957, 8th and 9th in 1958 and 7th in 1959.

This car, the 1962 Le Mans entry, appears to have been built sometime in 1961. The car’s design was undoubtedly influence by the style of the Jaguar E-Type convertible, with a long bonnet and small grill opening for improved aerodynamics. It had appeared at the 1961 "Tour de France Automobile", where owner and driver Jean-Claude Magne had a bad accident. The car had to be sent back to AC Cars Thames Ditton workshops to be repaired, so Magne asked the factory to specially prepare the car for the forthcoming Le Mans by re-bodying the car in thinner sheets of aluminium.

Jean-Claude Magne took his new AC Ace convertible to the 1962 Le Mans test days. By all reports is rained all day, which is perhaps why the convertible received a hardtop roof by the time the race rolled around in June. The #60 AC Ace lined up for the start in 42nd position.

As the race got underway, progress was steady rather than spectacular. The #60 AC Ace gained one position in the first hour, and had made up 7 places by the end of the 3rd hour to be running 35th overall. That’s about as far as it got, because the clutch failed in the 4th hour and its race was over.

Car : 1962 #60 A.C. Ace
Team : Andres Chardonnet
Drivers : Jean-Claude Magne (F)/ Maurice Martin (F)
Qualifying : 30th
Result : 45th (DNF – Clutch)
Model : Renaissance (REN4361M)

Reference :

https://www.racingsp...e/BEX 1192.html

http://lemans-histor...60&equipa_seq=0

Nice model and as usual a great write up Ian.

John

Thanks John. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

On to another unusual addition, a Sunbeam Alpine from Pinko. To date the Pinko model is the only example of this unusual coupe and while the wheels seem a little oversized, that is probably easily rectified with a wheels swap.

In 1961, Sunbeam displayed a special coupe built by Sussex-based coachbuilder Thomas Harrington & Sons Ltd at the London Motor Show. Subsequently, Sunbeam commissioned this purpose-built coupe based on the Harrington special specifically for competition at the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Originally registered 3000 RW, the car received an aerodynamic frontal treatment with covered headlamps in addition to the special Harrington coupe bodywork as Sunbeam’s “works” entry at the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Sunbeam was entered at Le Mans for Peter Harper and Peter Procter. It started from 32nd position, and ran faultlessly for 24 hours. After 6 hours it was up to 31st position and by the midpoint of the race it was running in 24th position. At the 18 hour mark the #34 Sunbeam was up to 21st position and it eventually finished in 16th place after covering 2,194 miles at an average speed of over 91 mph. It finished second in class behind a Porsche, winning the Index of Thermal Efficiency.

After Le Mans, Sunbeam arranged a limited-production run off 250 Sunbeam Harrington Le Mans road cars. 3000 RW was also converted for road use, then disappeared for 15 years.

It was finally tracked down some 15 years later by Clive Harrington, the son of Clifford Harrington, its original creator. It was found in remarkably complete condition, and eventually restored to period specification.

Car : 1961 #34 Sunbeam Alpine 'Harrington' Coupe
Team : Sunbeam Talbot
Drivers : Peter Harper (GB)/ Peter Procter (GB)
Qualifying : 32nd
Result : 16th (2nd in Class)
Model : Pinko (PIN224)

References :

https://www.racingsp...e/3000 RW#.html

http://lemans-histor...34&equipa_seq=0

https://rmsothebys.c...arrington-coupé

A rather nice Harrington dressed as a NART Ferrari at Goodwood in 2015...

Continuing with the theme of quirky Le Mans cars, here's another from niche producer CCC.

Deutsch and Bonnet had a long history at Le Mans which started when they competed at the first post-war race in 1949. The D.B. HBR series first appeared in 1953, designed specifically for small displacement, long distance competition like Le Mans. Cars equipped with the 745 cc Panhard engines were designated the "HBR4", to reflect that they were in the 4CV (horsepower) category of the French taxation system, while the bigger engined 900cc cars were in the 5CV tax category and hence became the “HBR5”. One of the HBR's best outings was at the 1954 Le Mans, where René Bonnet himself together with Élie Bayol finished tenth overall.

At Le Mans in 1959, Deutsch and Bonnet arrived with a record entry of seven cars which were all entered under the banner of "Team DB Panhard". Three of those were attractive HBR4 spyders, including the car featured here, three were HBR5 Coupes and one was a HBR5 spyder. The D.B.Panhards were the only French cars entered at Le Mans that year.

With the starting positions being determined by engine capacity, the 745cc HBR4’s started from 43rd, 44th and 45th position. René Cotton and Louis Cornet in the #46 car started 44th, but within the first 3 hours had the D.B. HB4 spyder up to 36th position. By the halfway mark of the race they were up to 17th position, and with a steady run in the second half of the race finished 9th. The little 745cc car covered 3,485 km at an average speed of 145 kmh, and in doing so won the 501 to 750cc class, won the Index of Performance and the 25th Biennial Cup to give Deutsch and Bonnet their best ever result at Le Mans.

The same chassis was also entered at Le Mans in 1960 and 1961, but failed to finish both times.

Car : 1959 #46 D.B. HBR4
Team : Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet
Drivers : René Cotton (F)/ Louis Cornet (F)
Qualifying : 44th
Result : 9th
Model : CCC (CCC 187)

Reference :

https://www.racingsp...chive/1093.html

http://lemans-histor...46&equipa_seq=0

http://panhard-racin...r/?page_id=1727

Georg Loos was a German entrepreneur who gained fame through his Gelo Racing Team during the 1970’s. Loos had begun racing as a driver in sports car races in 1968, taking his first win the same year at Zolder in a Porsche 910. He then went on to establish his own team in 1970, the same year he competed at Le Mans for the first time with a Ferrari 512. He returned to Le Mans with the Ferrari in 1971, but retired on both occasions.

After several seasons spent running a McLaren M8 in the Interseries and a Porsche 911 S in the European GT Championship, Loos returned to Le Mans in 1973 with Jürgen Barth driving this Porsche 911 RSR. The 911 had been delivered new to Gelo Racing at the beginning of the 1973 season.

The #63 Loos and Barth 911 was one of nine similar Porsche 911’s entered at Le Mans, excluding the two experimental higher pec works cars. The Gelo car qualified in 32nd position, the quickest of the nine 911’s. It showed its speed strongly in the opening stages of the race, rising to 19th position overall in the first 6 hours. By the 9th hour it was running in 11th place, but in the 10th hour it a problem cost it 5 places and it fell back to 16th.

Over the next 6 hours the position of the #63 Gelo Porsche stabilized around 16th – 17th position, but after that it came alive again, gaining 7 place.

Eventually it finished an impressive 10th overall. However, it was beaten to the class win by the similar #45 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR of the Kremer Brothers. Without its mid-race problems, how high could the Gelo Porsche have finished ?

Car : 1973 #63 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR
Team : Gelo Racing Team
Drivers : Georg Loos (D)/ Jürgen Barth (D)
Qualifying : 32nd
Result : 10th
Model : Spark (S3398)

Reference :

https://www.racingsp...1 360 0847.html

Love that little DB.  Nearly 100mph for 24 hours with less than a litre is some going.  Shame Renault don't revive the Panhard name for modern cars.  If they made a big posh one.

A while back I showed the 1967 Marcos Mini from Spark, a newcomer that became the smallest car in my collection. Following on from that acquisition, I was keen to obtain the similar car from 1966 that started the project. Fortunately, the source where I found the 1967 car also had this one and was happy to oblige.

Production of the Marcos Mini began in limited numbers in 1965 as a kit car utilizing a fibreglass monocoque developed by Marcos fitted with the running gear & subframes from a BMC Mini. To promote the car, Jem Marsh of Marcos cars wanted to get an entry to Le Mans, but feared the chances of a UK team obtaining an entry for the Mini Marcos were all but non-existent. Marsh considered that a French team, with French drivers using a car assembled in France would have more chance of being accepted by the ACO. He therefore agreed to grant the distribution rights of the Mini Marcos to for Europe to Jean-Lois Marnat if a Le Mans entry was forthcoming. Marnat partnered with his suppliers Billy Dulles to market the Mini Marcos on the Continent and in doing so secured an entry for Le Mans in 1966. They were able to procure a rally tuned 1,300cc engine in Monte Carlo Specification from BMC Abingdon’s Special Tuning Department, and set about modifying the car to make it suitable for endurance racing including modified bodywork, a second radiator and an enlarged fuel tank.

Jem Marsh recalls: "I arrived at the Le Mans circuit and saw what a mess they'd made of it. I helped them over some of the obvious mistakes in the little time we had but they didn't want to know. The drivers were Jean Louis Marnat and JC Ballot-Léna, who scrapped in by qualifying in 56th position to take the last place on the grid.

Once the race started, the Marcos Mini ran faultlessly. It wasn’t as quick as other cars, but continued to circulate as other cars around it failed. The French crowd which had shunned the car initially, nicknaming it "The Flea", began to take it to their hearts. By the 6th hour it was running in 40th position, albeit in 3rd last place. By the halfway mark it was up to 26th position, but still running 3rd last, and with 6 hours to go it was in 18th position, by which time it was 2nd last. Three retirements in final six hours finally saw the Marcos Mini finishing in an unlikely 15th position overall, albeit the last car still running.

After Le Mans the car passed through several hands, before being stolen from the then owner Michel Tasset, in the Autumn of 1975. There was no sign of the car for the next 40 years.

In 2014, Roger Young started “Project 50” to build an accurate replica of the 1966 Marcos Mini using an abandoned bare shell with the assistance of Marcos Cars. The aim was to enter the car at the 2016 Le Mans Classic to mark the 50th anniversary of its Le Mans appearance. However, the rebuild proved extremely problematic and in October 2016 the project sponsor noted “In hindsight it would have probably been quicker to build a new shell !”

Then in December 2016 came the news that the original 1966 Marcos Mini had been found in Portugal, albeit not more than a bare shell with doors and modified bonnet. It seems at that point the ”Project 50” replica was shelved, but restoration of the original car has begun.

Car : 1966 #50 Mini Marcos
Team : Jean-Louis Marnat & Cie
Drivers : Jean-Louis Marnat (F)/ Claude Ballot-Léna (F)
Qualifying : 55th
Result : 15th
Model : Spark (S0791)

References:

http://lemans-histor...50&equipa_seq=0

http://www.marcos-oc...50/gallery.html

http://maximummini.b...ini-marcos.html

Nice to see that Pinko model of the Sunbeam Alpine, they did some interesting stuff; Project Astons, Maseratis etc. Back in the day when I had Model Garage, a model dealer, I put in a big order with them. That was about 8 years ago, I'm still waiting.....

Ah, one of the 54 cars I have in my 1966 collection.

Jager knows very well which one is missing.........

We live in hope Barry !

Nice to see that Pinko model of the Sunbeam Alpine, they did some interesting stuff; Project Astons, Maseratis etc. Back in the day when I had Model Garage, a model dealer, I put in a big order with them. That was about 8 years ago, I'm still waiting.....

I like that Pinko have done models no-one else has, but your right, they are very hard to find outside of Italy.

In 1951 Aston Martin had secured 3rd, 5th & 7th at Le Mans with their DB2. They returned to Le Mans in 1952 with three three new DB3’s, two in spyder form and one as a coupe. Two of the older DB2 coupes were also entered by privateers. However things didn’t get off to a good start when "new boy" Pat Griffiths severely damaged the #26 spyder in practice. Reportedly the spyder could not be fixed and so team manager John Wyer swapped it for the spare car, which went unnoticed by the officials.

As all five Aston Martin’s were fitted with the same 2.6 litres straight six engines, they lined up in 24th to 28th place on the grid. The two DB3 spyders were first, followed by the DB3 spyder and then the two privateers with their DB2 coupes.

From the start, the #25 Aston Martin spyder driven by Lance Macklin and Peter Collins showed its superiority over the rest of the team. By the end of the first hour it had taken eight places to be running in 16th position. It moved up to 14th in the 2nd hour, during which time the DB3 Coupe failed with a differential problem.

An hour later, the #25 spyder gained another place, but its sister car retired with water pump problems. Thereafter, it continued to gain places and after six hour of racing it was up to sixth position. By the halfway mark it was up to 5th, moving into 4th place the following hour when the #34 Gordini T15S retired.

The #25 Aston Martin continued running 4th place for the next 7 hours until it was caught and passed by the #10 Nash – Healey. It remained in 5th place until with two and a half hours to run, the Aston-Martin “broke up” after an accident shortly after Macklin handed over to Collins.

Car : 1952 #25 Aston Martin DB 3S
Team : Aston Martin Ltd
Drivers : Lance Macklin (GB)/ Peter Collins (GB)
Qualifying : 24th
Result : 19th (DNF - Accident)
Model : Spark (S2423)

Reference:

https://www.racingsp...ive/DB3__5.html

http://lemans-histor...25&equipa_seq=0

https://www.motorspo...e-mans-24-hours

Heh, running on trade plates. 

Just as the number of cars in my 1952 collection took a bit of a jump last year, so did the 1954 collection with two OSCAs and two Cunninghams. This is the second of those Cunningham's, which I’d had on pre-order for 4 years.

As I noted when I posted details of the the sister #2 car, 1954 was Briggs Cunningham’s 5th attempt at Le Mans. When plans for a new car and new engine fell through, Cunningham reverted to his older Chrysler V8 powered C4-R’s. This particular chassis had first appeared in 1952 at the Sebring 12 Hours where it was withdrawn before the race started. However, it went on to finish 4th outright at Le Mans that year, then won Sebring in 1953 and finished 7th at Le Mans in 1953.

The #1 and #2 C4-Rs started from 14th and 12th on the grid respectively. The #1 car was driven by Briggs Cunningham himself who was joined by John Gordon Bennett. Bennett had driven for Cunningham since 1952, though never in partnership with his boss.

From the start the #1 Cunningham made steady but unspectacular progress. It gained 4 place in the first four hours to break into the top 10, only to lose two of those place by the sixth hour. After that though, it again made steady progress to rise to 7th position at the halfway mark of the race. Two more positioned were gained in the next three hours, and from then on Cunningham and Bennett held 5th position to the end of the race, two places behind the sister #2 in 3rd position.

After Le Mans, the Cunningham was shipped back to the USA, where it went on to win the 1954 Watkins Glen Grand Prix in the hands of Phil Walters. Cunningham eventually sold the car on in 1955.

Car : 1954 #1 Cunningham C-4R
Team : Briggs Cunningham
Drivers : Briggs Cunningham (USA)/ John Gordon Bennet (USA)
Qualifying : 1st
Result : 5th
Model : Spark (S2728)

References :

https://www.racingsp...hive/R5216.html

http://lemans-histor... 1&equipa_seq=0

http://www.briggscun.../lemans54-html/

Great collection. regarding the Sauber C6 Le Mans 1987 (S4082).  The colour seems only a tad off.  the one to see for a big difference is (S2059) Porsche 935 K3 #61 Le Mans 1981.  It appears different shades green stripes on the model when if you look at photos it appears blue.

How many do you have now in total.  Are you going for the full Le Mans history if budgets allow?

Thanks LA. I agree that along the way there are always some models with issues.....wrong colours, drivers names spelt incorrectly, logo's in the wrong place etc. Recently Spark released the 1984 Team Australia Porsche 956, but labelled it as a 1983 car and put 1983 on the scrutineering decals. Fortunately these sort of problems only affect a handful of models as there is so much more information available these days.

Currently I have about 1,500 models accumulated over 20 years of collecting. That covers all the outright winners from 1923 to 2018, just about all the outright podiums, most of the top 10 finishers each year, a pretty good cross section of class podiums and some nice diversity from the DNF's. I think trying to collect all the cars would be over the top, though I know some people who have tried albeit for specific periods rather than the whole history.

Even though I've applied a cut-off at 1993 for the cars I show here, I collect right up to the current era and can show some of the newer cars (1994 - 2000 ???) if there is enough interest.

While might have added this Austin Healey Sebring Sprite for its British connections, my motivation was because it was driven by Australian Paul Hawkins. This is the 3rd of 5 cars Hawkins drove at Le Mans between 1961 and 1968 to join my collection.

Hawkins began racing in Australia with an Austin-Healey in 1958. He left Australia and arrived in England in early 1960, finding employment almost immediately as a mechanic with the Donald Healey Motor Company Ltd. BMC had chosen the Healey Motor Co to prepare the works team of Austin Healey Sprites for competition and Hawkins experience with Austin Healeys was obviously of value.

With his racing experience, it didn’t long before Hawkins was behind the wheel of an Austin-Healey Sprite. On the 30th April 1960 he was entered in the Aintree 200 meeting, finishing 7th overall and winning his class in the GT race. His impressive performance lead to a drive in the 1960 Nürburgring 1000 km race with and Austin Healey Sebring Sprite.

By 1961, Hawkins had established himself as a regular driver with the Austin Healey Sebring Sprite program with drivers at major international endurance events like the Sebring 12 Hours, the Nurburgring 1000kms and Le Mans.

The Austin Healey Sebring Sprite shown here was entered in the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Donald Healey Motor Company for Hawkins and American John Colgate Jr. Compared to the regular Sebring Sprites, the body was heavily modified with a sloping fastback roof and streamlined nose with enclosed headlamps. Beyond that, little is known about this car…....Quentin Spurring’s otherwise excellent “Le Mans 1960 – 1969” doesn’t even mention this car.

In the race, the 994cc engined Sprite started from 45th position. It rose as high as 38th position in the second hour, before dropping back to 41st position for the next three hours. However, their race ended with engine failure in the seventh hour when it dropped a valve.

After the 1961 Le Mans, the Donald Healey Motor Company didn’t return to Le Mans until 1965, where once again, Hawkins was one of the works drivers. This lead to Le Mans drives with the Ford GT40 program in 1966 and 1967 and some works drives with Porsche in other European events before he joined John Wyer’s Mirage team in 1968. Hawkins enjoyed considerable success during this period. In 1967 he won the Targa Florio in a works Porsche 910, won the Zeltweg 500 km race in a Ford GT40 and won the Paris 1000 km race in a J.W. Automotive Mirage. He also won the 1968 Monza 1000 km race in a GT40 and the Cape Town Three Hours in a Ferrari P4.

Sadly Hawkins luck ran out and he was killed when he crashed his Lola T70 MkIIIB GT during the 1969 RAC Tourist Trophy at Oulton Park.

Car : 1961 #42 Austin Healey Sebring Sprite
Team : Donald Healey Motor Company
Drivers : John K. Colgate Jr (USA)/ Paul Hawkins (AUS)
Qualifying : 40th
Result : 45th (DNF - Engine)
Model : Spark (S4126)

References :

https://www.racingsp...AN 547 399.html

http://lemans-histor...42&equipa_seq=0

https://en.wikipedia...(racing_driver)

I love the way the 2 on the front is the French style, but those on the sides are not.  Did they not know the number when they arrived and got the local chap to do the bonnet pro tem and finished the sides themselves?

More info here:

http://www.sebringsp...com/1411WD.html

Vince H.

This is another of my recent classic 50’s and 60’s Le Mans cars from Spark. While largely unsuccessful, I love the mini-GT shape and traditional British Racing Green paintwork.

The 1964 Sunbeam Tiger was the Rootes Group’s answer to the success of Carroll Shelby’s A.C. Cobra’s. Looking to spice up the company’s 4 cylinder Sunbeam Alpine, Rootes asked Shelby to re-engineer the Alpine to take a Ford 4.2 litre V8. Shelby was happy to oblige and built a prototype that he raced himself in SCCA events in the USA.

To promote the new car, the Rootes Group decided to enter two cars in the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car’s fastback coupe styling was penned by Rootes stylist Ron Wisdom, and the task of assembling and preparing the cars was entrusted to Brian Lister of Lister Cars who had come to prominence for his Lister-Jaguars. He in turn subcontracted out the construction of the aluminium bodies to coachbuilder Williams & Pritchard, who insisted that the bodies should be made from steel for added strength and flex resistance.

A test mule was completed just before the Le Mans test day. Once the car hit the track, it was soon realised that opting for the heavier steel body was a massive mistake. The Tiger proved to be incapable of exceeding 230kph and was much slower than the AC Cobra’s or lightweight E-Types. The short wheelbase also resulted in unpredictable handing, and other shortcoming such as overheating brakes and an oil starvation in low speed corners was soon apparent. The car was soon nicknamed the "Toothless Tiger" and at that point Rootes almost decided to cancel the whole project.

Nevertheless, Rootes decided to pushed on and with the information gathered from the test day set about completing the two race cars. They arrived at Le Mans, where the #9 car started from 31st on the grid, while this car driven by Keith Ballisat and Claude Dubois started from 34th position.

Once the race began, engine problems limited the progress of the #8 Tiger. While it initially gained 3 places in the first hour, it gave those places back over the next two hours.

By the end of the 3rd hour it was back in 34th position again, but not long afterwards it retired due to a broken piston. Six hours later, the #9 Tiger also retired with engine problems.

This was only appearance of the Tiger coupes at Le Mans, and marked the last appearance of the Sunbeam brand at the Le Sarthe circuit.

Car : 1964# 8 Sunbeam Tiger
Team : Rootes Group
Drivers : Keith Ballisat (GB)/ Claude Dubois (B)
Qualifying : 34th
Result : 51st (DNF – Engine)
Model : Spark (S5230)

References :

https://www.racingsp.../ADU 179B#.html

http://lemans-histor... 8&equipa_seq=0

http://justacarguy.b...re-prepped.html

Just over 12 months ago, Irish businessman and accomplished sportscar racer Martin Birrane passed away suddenly at the age of 82. The Irishman had a 50-year involvement in motorsport that spanned driving, team ownership, constructor ownership and racing circuit ownership. This the 4th car in my collection driven by Martin Birrane.

In recent years, Birrane was best known for buying Lola Cars and bringing them out of administration. SInce Birrane acquired Lola in 1997, they have produced a line of successful LMP prototypes that have taken five class wins at Le Mans and five other podium finishes. Unfortunately Birrane had to close Lola in 2012 when it became evident the business was no long viable.

Before that, Birrare had rescued Irelands Modello Park circuit from bankruptcy in 1986. Under Birrane’s ownership and management, the circuit underwent considerable development in 1999/2000 and was awarded FIA International status in 2001. Birrane then attracted the BTCC and the FIA Sportscar Championship to the venue.

Birrane had started racing in 1967 at the wheel of a Ford Anglia and went onto compete in the British Touring Car Championship. He had his first taste of Le Mans in 1972 in a Datsun 240Z, but the car failed to qualify. However he was back the following year in a Lola T294 that would have finished 2nd in class if it had completed enough laps to be officially classified. However, he did win his class at the wheel of a BMW M1 in 1985.

1988 marked Birrane’s 10th and final appearance at Le Mans in this Spice SE86C. Completed in 1986 for the Chamberlain Engineering Team, SE86C 002 was the second Group C car built by the Spice Engineering team. While most of the Spice SE86C’s were fitted with the Ford Cosworth DFV 3.3 litre V6, this car was unique because it was powered by a Hart 1.8 litre, four-cylinder turbocharged engine. With the benefit of turbo boost, the car qualified on pole in the C2 class in 16th position overall, ahead of several works C1 cars.

Unfortunately, early problems saw it drop 16 places and it was down in 32nd position at the end of the first hour. From there its race was always going to be difficult, though it did manage to climb back up to 23rd position after six hours. Thereafter it spent the next 12 hours running in 25th – 30th position, until gearbox problems forced its retirement after 223 laps with six hour to go.

Car : 1988 #127 Spice SE86C
Team : Chamberlain Engineering
Drivers : Richard Jones (GB)/ Martin Birrane (IRL)/ Nick Adams (GB)
Qualifying : 16th
Result : 33rd (DNF – Gearbox)
Model : Spark (S3586)

Reference :

https://www.racingsp.../SE86C-002.html

http://lemans-histor...27&equipa_seq=0

https://en.wikipedia.../Martin_Birrane

While my motivation to add this car was another Australian driver, I was also pleased to have my first "B" spec of the Mk. II GT40.

This car started life as a GT40 Mk. II in 1966, making its debut at the Daytona 24 Hours where it finished 3rd. It then went on to the 1966 Sebring 12 Hours and 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, but failed to finish at both. After an unsuccessful 1967 Daytona 27 Hours, the car was upgraded to MK. II “B” specifications in early 1967 with re-designed bodywork and twin carburettors giving a slight increase in power.

The car was one of two "B" spec MK. II GT40's entered alongside the four newer Mk. IV's. This one was entered for Australian Frank Gardner and American Roger McCluskey, who started from 6th on the grid.

From the start of the race it the the #5 GT40 that lead the field at the end of the first lap. However, it was an early visitor to the pits for a new front tyre that dropped it back to 11th place. down the order. However, by the 3rd hour it was back up to 6th position again. Unfortunately there were a few more setbacks, and as the race approached the halfway mark it was running in 13th position.

At 3.35am, Lucien Bianchi in the #3 Ford Mk. IV came into the pits complaining of bad brakes. Mario Andretti had jumped in and stormed off, but at the first big braking point the car slewed sideways and smashed into both sides of the armco barriers (It later transpired that Bianchi was right and the brakes had been put in back to front), coming to rest in the middle of the track. Andretti, with three broken ribs, leapt out of the car and to safety behind the barriers. The first car to arrive at speed was McCluskey in the #5 GT40 Mk. IIB, who fearing the wrecked #3 car might still have the driver trapped inside, swerved to avoid the stricken Ford and also hit the barriers hard. Then Jo Schlesser in the other GT40 Mk. IIB arrived on the scene at high speed, colliding with both of the two other Fords as he tried to find a way between them. In a matter of minutes, Ford had lost three cars.

Car : 1967 #5 Ford GT40 Mk. IIB
Team : Holman-Moody
Drivers : Frank Gardner (AUS)/ Roger McCluskey (USA)
Qualifying : 6th
Result : 26th (DNF – Accident)
Model : Spark (S5185)

References :

https://www.racingsp...40 P__1031.html

http://lemans-histor... 5&equipa_seq=0

https://en.wikipedia...ours_of_Le_Mans