GT40 Mirage

Sunday, November 2, 2014

The 1967 season Part 3

The LE MANS Trials, MONZA, SPA, NURBURGRING.

For the April trials at Le Mans Ford sent J3 prepared by Shelby and finished as a lookalike for the Sebring winner while H&M brought 1016 now upgraded to Mk2B specifications. 2 GT40 Mk1 were also present: 1020 for Ford France and 1040 for the Scuderia Filipinetti which had been crashed by a journalist who drove it for an article for his newspaper.
It was the first appearance of the new Mirage M1 (in Gulf livery) It was in fact a lightweight Mk1with a narrower roof structure. The front hood remained the same as the GT40. JWA purchased the plans of the lightweight AMGT from Alan Mann. Len Bailey, the designer, constructed the M1 project around it. No Chaparral at the trials but this time Ferrari sent 2 P4s . Also a new comer in this category: the Lola T70 Aston Martin.The main goal for Ford was to win again the 24 hours of Le Mans, so they left the privateers and the Mirages the task to represent Ford during the races at Monza, Spa, Targa Florio and Nurburgring.
Shelby and H&M went back to the United States and went to work in preparing the cars: J5 and J6 for SAI as well as a Mk2B (1047) and J7 and J8 for H&M with 2 Mk2B (1031 and 1015 for Ford France)

The Le Mans trials line up:

#1 - Mk4 - Chassis J3 - Entered by FoMoCo / SAI
  #2 - Mk2B - Chassis 1016 - Entered by FoMoCo / H&M
  #12 - M1 - Chassis M1 0001 - Entered by JWA
    #14 - M1 - Chassis M1 0002 - Entered by JWA
    #18 - Mk1 - Chassis 1040 - Entered by Filipinetti
    #15 - Mk1 - Chassis 1020 - Entered by Ford France

The Monza line up:

  #33 - Mk1 - Chassis 1007 - 6th - Entered by Ford France
  #5 - M1 - Chassis M1 0002 - 9th - Entered by JWA
    #36 - Mk1 - Chassis 1009 - 11th - Entered by E.S.Nelson
  #6 - M1 - Chassis M1 0001 - DNF - Entered by JWA
  #34 - Mk1 - Chassis 1003 - DNF - Entered by Ford France
  #35 - Mk1 - Chassis 1005 - DNF- Entered by J.J. Drury
  #32 - Mk1 - Chassis 1040 - DNF - Entered by Scuderia Filipinetti

The SPA line up:

  #6 - M1 - Chassis M1 0003 - Winner - Entered by JWA
  #4 - Mk1 - Chassis GT 112 - 6th - Entered by P. Sutcliffe
  #41 - Mk1 - Chassis 1026 - 8th - Entered by Danway Racing
   #40 - Mk1 - Chassis 1020 - DNF - Entered by Ford France
  #45 - Mk1 - Chassis 1009 - DNF - Entered by E.S.Nelson
    #7 - M1 - Chassis M1 0001 - DNF - Entered by JWA

As usual only Ford France sent cars to the Targa Florio although the open road track was not suited to the GT40.

The Targa Florio line up:

    #130 - Mk1 - Chassis 1003 - 5th - Entered by Ford France
    #126 - Mk1 - Chassis 1007 - DNF - Entered by Ford France

The Nurburgring line up:

  #61 - Mk1 - Chassis 1003 - 7th - Entered by Ford France
  #67 - Mk1 - Chassis 1021 - 8th - Entered C.Crabbe
    #60 - Mk1 - Chassis 1007 - 10th - Entered by Ford France
    #62 - Mk1 - Chassis 1009 - DNF - Entered by E.S.Nelson
  #6 - M1 - Chassis M1 0001 - DNF - Entered by JWA
  #5 - M1 - Chassis M1 0002 - DNF - Entered by JWA

The models :

Mirage M1 - Chassis M1 0001 - Le Mans April 1967 test days
(Kit RECORD modified)

The same

Mirage M1 - Chassis # M0001 - Practice Spa 1967
(Kit RECORD modified)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1020 - 1000 Km de Spa 1967 -
(Kit TENARIV modified)

Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1020 - Le Mans Trials 1967 -
(BOX Models modified)

The same

Ford Mk4 - Chassis J3 - FoMoCo / SAI -
(SOLIDO modified)

The same

Mirage M1- Chassis M1 0002- JWA- Le Mans Trials -
(Kit RECORD modified)

The same

Mirage M1- Chassis M1 0003 - JWA - Winner Spa 1967 (BIZARRE)

The same


Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1026 -8th Spa 1967 - (BOX Models modified)

The same

Mirage M1 - Chassis M10001 - DNF Monza 1967
(Kit RECORD modified)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1003 - 8th Targa Florio 1967 - (BOX Models modified)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1007 - DNF Targa Florio 1967 - (BOX Models modified)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1003 - 7th Nurburgring 1967 - (Kit GRAND PRIX MODELS)

The same

Mirage M1- Chassis M1 0001 - JWA - DNF Nurburgring 1967 (Kit RECORD)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis # 1023 - 8th Autosport Trophy Silverstone 1967
(Kit TENARV - decals GP)

The same

Mirage M1 - Chassis M1 001 - Winner 9 Hours of Kyalami 1967
(Kit MARSH MODELS)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk2B - Chassis 1031/1047 - 4th Mugello 1967 (BANG Models)

The same

Mirage M1 - Chassis M10003 - Ret. BOAC 500 Brands Hatch 1967
(Kit RECORD Modified)

The same

Mirage M1- Chassis M1 0002- JWA- Le Mans Trials

(Kit RECORD Modified)

The same

The 1967 season Part 2

12 HOURS OF SEBRING 1967

For the 12 hours of Sebring in April Ford sent J4, the first race for a Mk4, with 1031 prepared by H&M with all the modifications seen at Daytona. The car was now designed as Mk2B.
The opposition was composed of 2 Chaparrals but no works Ferrari. The pole position and the victory for the first race of the Mk4 decided Ford to send 4 similar cars for Le Mans (J5 and 3 new chassis). Meanwhile J3, now rebuilt to Mk4 specifications was sent to the Le Mans trials the following week.
The Mk2B 1031 got the 2nd place. The privateers too, with the Mk1, had good results : a 5th and 8th place with the win in the group 4 category. Gulf JWA entered 1049 in almost the same Daytona livery (and with the same racing number) but this time the car didn't finished.

The start of the 12 hours of Sebring 1967

The 1967 Sebring line up:

#1 - Mk4 - Chassis J4 - Winner - Entered by FoMoCo
   #2 - Mk2B - Chassis 1031 - 2nd - Entered by FoMoCo
   #19 - Mk1 - Chassis 1042 - 5th - Entered by Brescia Corse
   #17 - Mk1 - Chassis 1038 - 8th - Entered by Autosport Int.
   #11 - Mk1 - Chassis 1049 - DNF - Entered by JWA (Gulf)
     #14 - Mk1 - Chassis GT 103 - DNF - Entered by W.Wonder

The models :

Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1038 - 8th Sebring 1967
(BOX Models modified)

The same

Ford GT40 - Chassis 1049 - DNF Sebring 1967
(BANG Models modified)

The same

Ford GT40 Mk1 - Chassis 1042 - Brescia Corse - 5th Sebring 1967
(BANG Models modified)

The same

Ford Mk4 - Chassis J4 - Winner Sebring 1967 (IXO)

The same

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 :