15 replies to this topic

[rdrcr]

Hi all,

Could any of you be of help to me in researching the wins and any championships of Tiga Racing, and perhaps, any history that you know of?

I have found some Sports Racing and Sports 2000 wins from the SCCA Valvoline Runoffs, but I'm looking for more indepth history and results.

Thanks in advance.

[Ray Bell]

Don't forget the enormous success that Alfredo Costanzo had with Tiga in Australian FAtlantic (sorry, FPacific) racing, even leading Roberto Moreno for much of the Australian GP of 1983. Till the gearbox broke...

[WGD706]

TIGA racing was started in 1977 by New Zealander Howden Ganley (Formula 1 with BRM in 1971, gaining a strong fifth in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, followed by a fourth at Watkins Glen and a similar placing in the following year's German Grand Prix at Nurburgring. He drove for Frank Williams in 1973, leading the Canadian Grand Prix for some distance before fading to sixth. In 1974 he drove briefly for March and the unsuccessful Japanese Maki team, retiring after crashing badly in practice at Nurburgring.) and Australian Tim Schenken (first drove in F1 for Williams in 1970 before getting his big break by joining the works Brabham team in 1971, scoring a strong third place in the Austrian Grand Prix. He switched to Surtees the following year because he had doubts that the Brabham team's new owner - Bernie Ecclestone - might not do a good enough job. In 1973, he did a one-off for Williams in Canada, and the following year he joined the Trojan team, run by fellow Australian and ex-Brabham boss Ron Tauranac. Budget problems forced the team to close down after the Italian Grand Prix and Schenken even got disqualified when he unofficially started in a works Lotus in the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Thereafter he embarked on a program of sports and GT racing with the Gelo Racing team and drove the works Jaguar XJ12C coupes in the 1977 European Touring Car Championship. He now represents the Australian motorsport federation and is Clerk of the Course at the Australian Grand Prix.)
Ganley sold out his stake in 1987 before getting involved in various other business projects outside racing. He served a spell as secretary of the British Racing Drivers' Club but now lives in the USA with his wife Judy, herself a former racer.
Mike Coughlan,OrangeArrows Technical Director,first job, in 1979, was with racing car manufacturers, Tiga, at Caversham near Reading, working under Ganley. He stayed with Tiga until late 1984 when he left to join Lotus, working on the Lotus 95 with Gerard Ducarouge and then on all the Lotus' through to the 102.
Tiga Race Cars built several hundred Formula Fords, Sports 2000, Thundersports and Group C, C2 cars. It got into financial difficulty in 1990 and was rescued by Chevron Cars. Tiga Race Cars now operates as a division of Chevron and provides a spares and restoration service to owners of the cars.

[rdrcr]

Thanks for that tid-bit Ray, and thanks for the info on the principals Warren. Some of that stuff I had already, but the background info was most helpful.

I'm still looking for that list of wins and any championships Tiga has won...

[Ray Bell]

1982 and 1983 Australian Drivers' Championships (Australian Gold Star)...

Alfredo Costanzo in the car entered by Porsche Distributors.

As to what the car was... the AGP book is unclear.

6th place, Australian GP 1982, shown as an FA81
non-finisher in 1983, shown in the entry list as an FA83, fourth on the grid as an FA81!
4th place, Australian GP 1983, shown as an FA81/83

[Doug Nye]

There's an excellently detailed resume of the Group C Tigas in the Endurance Racing book which I have repeatedly plugged here in TNF - a copy of which I can neither currently find nor recall the proper title and author of... Ah what the hell, post this anyway...

Found it - 'Endurance Racing' by Ian Briggs, Osprey Motor Sport publication, lists Group C Tigas like this:

GC83.250 - Chevrolet - V8 - Neil Crang

GC284.277 - Ford BDT - Roy Baker
GT284.278 - Mazda 1.3B - Gaston Andrey
un-numbered car - Lamborghini V12 - Crang/Spice Engineering/Portman Garages - car when comnpleted from kit took serial 'SL8 501' - rather Lola-like?
GC85.279 - Cosworth DFL - Crang/Spice - built up by RAM Racing for C2 1985 and WON C2 Championship that season.

GT285.282 - Mazda 1.3B - Howard Siegel
GT285.286 - Mazda 1.3B - Gaston Andrey
GT285.287 - Mazda 1.3B - Essex Racing
GC285.318 - Ford BDT - Roy Baker - later nicknamed 'The Clockwork Orange'

GT286.321 - Buick V6 - Charles Morgan - later rebuilt on fresh monocoque
GT286.322 - Chevrolet V6 - Howard Katz/Steve Phillips - later to Essex Racing and converted to Buick V6.
GT286.325 - Porsche flat-6 - Howard Siegel
GT286.330 - Mazda 1.3B - Don Marsh
GT286.331 - Porsche flat-6 - Deborah Gregg
GT286.332 - Porsche flat-6 - Bobby Rinzler - to Charles Ivey, conv. to C2 as GC287.332
GC286.335 - Ford BDT - Roy Baker - to CeeSports for 1987 with Volvo 4-cyl Turbo for Le Mans only, then back to BDT
GC286.336 - Ford BDT - Roy Baker - conv. to GC287/DFL spec 1987 - known as 'The Pink Panther' in 1988 - updated to GC289 spec for 1989 - see GC289.368.
GT286.341 - Ferrari V8 - Gaston Andrey
GT286.342 - Mazda 1.3B - Tm Hessert

GC287.349 - Cosworth DFL - Tiga Race Cars
GC287.350 - Rover V64V Duncan Bain Dune Motorsports
GC287.351 - Polimotor - Matty Holzberg order (not delivered) converted to Rover V64V engine and sold to Tim Harvey
GC287.352 - Ford BDT-E - Thorkild Thyrring - burned out testing and rebuilt on fresh tub for Le Mans
GC287.359 - Porsche flat-6 - Ivey Le Mans entry, possibly 332 rebuilt
SAME SERIAL - Cosworth turbo - Tim LeeDavey - replated 1989 as 'GC88.359', destroyed Brno.
GC287.360 - Cosworth DFL - Costas Los/GP Motorsport - C2 winner Nurburgring 1987

GC288.365 - Cosworth DFL - Kelmar Racing - C2 winner Nurburgring 1988
GC288.366 - Cosworth DFL - Kelmar Racing - converted to GC289 spec for 1989
GT288.367 - Buick V6 - Essex Racing

GC289.368 - Cosworth DFL - Roy Baker - GC286.336 modified to 1989 spec and renumbered
GC289.370 - Cosworth DFL - Noel del Bello/Vetir Racing
GC289.372 - Cosworth DFL - Tiga Race Cars - C2 winner Donington 1989
GC289??? - Cosworth DFL - Tiga Race Cars - final incomplete tub.

There are some caveats on this list compiled retrospectively by Roger Andreason, Howden Ganley and Ian Briggs but as I keep on saying - this is a Great Book!

DCN

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
'Endurance Racing 1982-1991' by Ian Briggs, published as part of the Osprey Motor Sport series - ISBN 1-85532-228-5.

That do, Doug?

[Frank de Jong]

There was also the single Tiga F2-BMW in which Hans-Georg Bürger was killed in Zandvoort (1980 IIRC). Not a bad car, but what an unfornunate career.

[rdrcr]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
There's an excellently detailed resume of the Group C Tigas in the Endurance Racing book which I have repeatedly plugged here in TNF - a copy of which I can neither currently find nor recall the proper title and author of... Ah what the hell, post this anyway...

Found it - 'Endurance Racing' by Ian Briggs, Osprey Motor Sport publication..."

...DCN

Thanks Doug!

I'm sort of suprised Roger didn't mention it when we were looking for this info. I'll try to find a copy to dig up the additional results.

Thanks again Ray for those results of finishes and the championships in '82 /'83... all I have to do now, is find out what type of car it was :

[merlyn6]

I had a Tiga FF in 1977, ran it for a year, got a third in the inaugural Pacific Coast Runoffs. I broke the car in half at turn 10 at Sears Point the next race. In retrospect I think that car had the disposition of a rattlesnake, but it could have been my lack of understanding how to properly set it up. I had it too low, and too hard.
Howden was there at Sears once and we were talking, this was after a night of drinking, and he told me how to get from turn seven to eleven. He said, “ You know the pedal on the far left” “You mean the dead pedal,” I said. “Yes” he said. “And the one on the far right” The throttle?’ I said. “That’s the one,” He said. “Well, you push on both of them as hard as you can and steer. Don’t worry, the car will do it.”
I never worked up the nerve to do it, always lifted a bit, which proves there is a big difference between amateur and graded drivers.

[Ray Bell]

Well, I suppose I could add a bit more...

1982 Australian Drivers' Championship

Rd 1, Oran Park long circuit, April 25 - 6th* & fastest lap in Heat 1; 3rd Ht 2, 3rd overall.

Rd 2, Adelaide Int Raceway, July 4 - 4th & lap record in Heat 1; 5th Ht 2, 4th overall.

Rd 3, Wanneroo Park, July 11 - 1st Heat 1; 3rd Heat 2, 2nd overall.

Rd 4, Lakeside, July 25 - 6th & fastest lap Heat 1; 4th Heat 2, 5th overall.

Rd 5, Calder, August 1 - 1st both heats and overall, plus lap record in both heats.

Rd 6, Sandown Park, Sept 12 - DNF (crashed while holding fourth place)

Rd 7, Winton, Oct 24 - 1st both heats and overall.

Rd 8, Aust GP, Calder, November 7 - 5th.

* inc 1 min penalty for jumped start.

Series result: Costanzo (FA81) 42 pts; John Bowe (RT4) 38 pts; Andrew Miedecke (RT4) 25 pts; John Smith (RT4) 19 pts; Charlie O'Brien (RT4) 17 pts; Richard Davison (RT4) 12 pts; Robert Handford (RT4) 7 pts; Graham Watson (RT4) 6 pts; Bruce Allison (RT4) 6 pts; Alan Jones (RT4) 6 pts.
Other cars in series: Toleman TA860 (Peter Williamson), March 81/2P (Graham Brown), Cheetah Mk 8 (Chris Hocking, Brian Sampson), Brabham BT36 (Domenic Mannello).

[Ray Bell]

1983 Australian Drivers' Championship

Rd 1, Adelaide, July 10 - 1st and fastest lap.

Rd 2, Lakeside, July 23 - 2nd and fastest lap.

err... but he did do this to John Smith on the way...



...he locked up going into the first corner, and no, he didn't turn into him... the front wheels have been turned that way by the impact.

Rd 3, Oran Park, August 21 - 1st.

Rd 4, Sandown Park, September 11 - 1st and fastest lap.

Rd 5, Winton, October 16 - 1st and fastest lap.

Rd 6, Calder AGP, November 13 - DNF, gearbox.

Series result: Costanzo 42 pts, Smith (RT4) 25 pts, Andrew Miedecke (RT4) 22 pts, Paul Radisich (RT4) 17 pts, Peter Macrow (Cheetah Mk8) 11 pts, John Bowe & Alan Jones (RT4s) 6, Peter Williamson (Toleman TA860 Toyota) 5 pts, Charlie O'Brien (RT4) 4 pts, Lucio Cesario & Doug Macarthur (RT4s) 3 pts. Other cars competing: Elfin 722 (Derek Pingel), Elfin 700 (David Partridge, Mark Potter), Elfin 623 (Mark Poole), Kaditcha (Terry Hook), other Cheetahs (Blee, Crabtree, Beehag, Hocking). Most races included ANF 2 cars - list of other cars incomplete.

[rdrcr]

Thanks for the additional info Ray and the great "action" shot. check your email.

Cool on track story Merlyn... I trust you emerged unscathed!

[Ray Bell]

Just in case you'd like the 1984 results...

Australian Drivers' Championship.

Rd 1, Adelaide - 1st (Costanzo) and 6th Lucio Cesario in FA83*
Rd 2, Lakeside - DNF broke driveshaft at start, Cesario DNF crash
Rd 3, Calder - 1st, Costanzo crashed FA83 in practice.
Rd 4, Winton - 3rd driven by John Smith in Costanzo's absence
Rd 5, Oran Park - 2nd
Rd 6, Wanneroo Park - 2nd
Rd 7, Sandown Park - 4th

* This car was taken along for Costanzo to try and to choose between it and the FA81, with Cesario to drive the offcast. It seems that Costanzo preferred to drive the FA81, even though the FA83 was sometimes a little faster.

Final pointscore: John Bowe (RT4) 52, Costanzo (FA81) 33, Peter Hopwood (RT4) 23, Bruce Connolly (RT4) 19, Lucio Cesario (FA83 & RT4) 15, Graham Watson (RT4) 13, Peter Macrow (Cheetah Mk8) 6, John Smith (FA81) 4, Ian Bland (Kaditcha) 4, Peter Phillips (RT4) 3, Peter Bull (Elfin 622) 2, Bob Creasy (RT4) 1. Other cars in series: Elfin 700, Elfin 792, Birrana 274, Ralt RT3, Wren, Talbot, March 80A, Avanti, Argo JM9, Brabham.

It's worth noting a couple of things... the FA81 and the FA83 had a troubled life during this year, with both FA81 chassis being used at Wanneroo. The FA83 ran with locally made bodywork which had to be modified when it was found it upset the airflow over the rear wing at Adelaide. Alf had crashed the FA81 at Calder too, and the running gear was transferred to the reskinned spare tub. "The car was never any good any more," he is quoted as saying. One assumes he reverted to a repaired version of the other tub at Wanneroo then.

Now we get to unravel the FA81/83 bit. Jim Hardman, who had previously built the very nice Hardman F2 car for Richard Davison to race (late seventies) was spannering for Hamilton and after the car had been so dreadful at Sandown (set up too hard as well) they set about building a totally new car for the Grand Prix, which this year hadn't been a part of the series. They had about two months, so I would think a lot of bits were taken from existing cars.

It's said to have used the FA81 front suspension and the FA83 rear and almost everything else was new. It first appeared on the Wednesday before the race and "despite a lack of chassis tuning, Costanzo managed to put the Hardman/Tiga hybrid on grid position three for the AGP with a 40.68 lapfor the altered Calder circuit. Aheadh of him was the 1984 Gold Star champion (John Bowe), only two hundredths of a second faster, and twice previous AGP winner Roberto Moreno with a 40.45 lap."

In the race he ran fourth, a lap down after a spin. Best lap was 41.73 to Lauda's 41.27 in a Ralt.

[rdrcr]

Yes Ray - thanks a lot for any and all information you may impart upon my behalf. And thanks also for the additional insights too. I'm attempting to compile all of the wins and championships worldwide. This, for a most worthwhile (I hope) endeavor.

So, if I understand correctly, the Tiga finished 2nd that year in the championship race.

Kind Regards,

[Ray Bell]

Yes, second and also helped gain points for the driver in fifth.

The revised car was fourth in the Australian GP, not a part of the series.