Saturday, November 1, 2014

The 1967 Season Part 1

THE 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA

In England on January 1st 1967 the FAV (Ford advanced Vehicles) plant became JWA engineering. JW are the initials of John Wyer and John Willment who with John Horsman bought the company from Ford. They were still in charge of the manufacturing of the GT40 road cars and competition and free from Ford they also created their own racing program.
In America the "J" project continued. The reason of the K.Miles fatal accident, with J2, during testing could not be solved. They dissected J3 already in construction when it happened but without finding any problems. J4 was built with a reinforced chassis just in case. They put the J program on hold to prepare the Mk2 for the 24 hours of Daytona. 3 cars each for Shelby and H&M. Each team developed their own cars and they differed in a few details. The most visible was the absence of brake air scoops on the rear hood on  Shelby's cars.
SAI had 1015 (The 1966 Daytona winner) 1047 and 1012 while H&M had 1046 (The 1966 Le Mans winner) with 1016 and 1031. 6 GT40 Mk1 came to help. One of them was entered by JWA who borrowed the personnal car of Grady Davis the vice president of the Gulf oil company (The Mirage M1 project was not yet ready). Originally a road car but with a competition engine and transmission. JWA converted it to race specification. It was painted dark blue with an orange stripe the color of Gulf Oil now the sponsor of the team. The more famous light blue and orange livery came later. It was in fact the color of the Wilshire Oil Company recently acquired by Gulf.
The 24 hours were a disaster for Ford seeing Ferrari with a 1st/2nd/3rd place with their new P4. The 2 new Chaparral 2F also didn't finished. The Gulf GT40 Mk1 had the best result with a 6th place. The only Mk2 to finish was only 7th.

The Daytona 1967 line up:

                                   #11 - Mk1 - Chassis #1049 - 6th - Entered by JWA (Gulf)
                                   #1   - Mk2 - Chassis #1012 - 7th - Entered by SAI
                                   #20 - Mk1 - Chassis # GT 103 - 8th - Entered by W.Wonder
                                   #3   - Mk2 - Chassis #1047 - DNF - Entered by SAI
                                   #5   - Mk2 - Chassis #1031 - DNF - Entered by H&M
                                   #6   - Mk2 - Chassis #1046 - DNF - Entered by H&M
                                   #4   - Mk2 - Chassis #1016 - DNF - Entered by H&M
                                   #2   - Mk2 - Chassis #1015 - DNF - Entered by SAI
                                   #9   - Mk1 - Chassis #1042 - DNF - Entered by Brescia Corse

The models :

Ford (Mercury) GT40 Mk2 - Chassis 1016 - DNF Daytona 1967
(BANG Models modified - decals INDYCALS)

The same


Ford GT40 Mk2 (SAI) - Chassis # 1012 - 7th Daytona 1967 -
(Kit TESTOR modified)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk2 (SAI) - Chassis # 1015 - DNF  Daytona 1967 -
(Kit TESTOR modified)

The same
Ford (Mercury) GT40 Mk2 (SAI) - Chassis # 1047 - DNF  Daytona 1967 -
(Kit TESTOR modified - Decals INDYCALS)

The same
Ford GT40 Mk1 (JWA) - Chassis # 1049 - 6th  Daytona 1967 -
(UNIVERSAL HOBBY)

The same


Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1049 - 6th Daytona 1967
(Kit MARSH MODELS)

The same



Ford GT40 Mk2 (H & M) - Chassis # 1046 - DNF  Daytona 1967 -
(BANG Models modified)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk2 (H & M) - Chassis # 1031 - DNF  Daytona 1967 -
(BANG Models modified)

The same

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