Doc Merfield's V8 Coventry Climax-powered Cortina Mk2

I'm looking for photos of Doc Merfield's Coventry Climax engined Mk2 Cortina,   Jon Doubleday restored the rolling shell and fitted an American V8 a few years ago and there's photos about of the car but I've never seen anything on the original car.

There's a glimpse of the car 1.05 in on this Crystal Palace race

As an assiduous reader of Motoring News and Autosport back in the day, I have to say I don't ever remember seeing a photo of the car in period. I don't recall the car being very successful and as such probably didn't garner a great deal of publicity.

Was the V8 Coventry Climax engine a Godiva?

Was the V8 Coventry Climax engine a Godiva?

Yes, AFAIK. RGDS RLT

Was the V8 Coventry Climax engine a Godiva?

Yes, according to a piece about the Kieft GP car in Motor Sport in March 2003. Said to have been enlarged to 3 litre, but not to have lasted long, which presumably is why I and others have no recollection of the car.

Edited by Allan Lupton, 05 September 2019 - 16:33.

Yes it is the same engine.
Paul Emery convinced Andrew Getly (Getley?) to buy the engines (whole project) and they enlarged one to 3 litres (by fitting Jaguar pistons) and fitted it in the Shannon which went very well in its first test at the GP test day on carburettors, then fitted fuel injection (giving 312 BHp) and extra fuel tanks for the 1966 British GP, developed a fuel leak and retired.
The FPE was removed and the Shannon returned to being a race winning F3 car.
The FPE was then loaned to John Wilment who fitted it in one of the BRP F1 cars (BRP-2-64) and entered in the 1966 Gold Cup for John Campbell Jones.
After that Getly sold everything (engines & injection) in 1967 to Doc/Derek Merfield who ran the 3 litre engine conservatively with 325 BHp on carburettors in his Cortina about a dozen times gaining several lap records
When Merfield retired in 1970 he sold the engines to Gordon Chapman and they subsequently went to Bill Morris.
The only real fault with the engines was the oil scavenging which Greg Snape & Bill Morris resolved when they built the Kieft engine.

Incidentally Motor Racing magazine had a track test of the BRP with the FPE engine in it and The Grand Prix Gift book has a feature on the Shannon FPE when it was at the GP test day.

Dare I say the car will be far better with any American engine. A 3 litre F1 style engine with around 300hp will be surpassed by an engine twice as large with twice the torque. And a LOT cheaper to maintain.

For interest sake what sort of engine are they currently using?