CAN AM SERIES REVIVED !!!

[marcus]

well at least for this weekend anyway..one of the support classes at the Melbourne grand prix is for the International supersports class..this is old Can am and le man cars to come out of the garage and have a burst on a modern Gp track..Im really looking forward to this race on GP morning (hopefully the beggars will show it)

but heres the entry list

Nigel Barrett McLaren M8D
Geoff Hobbs Lola T222
Richard Eyre McLaren M8C/D
Chris Chiles March 717
Fred Cziska Shadow MK111
Brian Blain Lola T163
Tom Malloy Ford GT40
Aaron Lewis Elfin MS7
Ian Ross Elfin 360
Richard Bertschinger Borel Ford
Ollie Ross Elfin 400
Keith Berryman Matich SR3
Steve Webb Elfin 360
Nick Snoek Toj SC204
Harm Lagaay Elfin ME5
Todd Smathers Lola T70 MK11 Spyder
Andy Wolfe Lola T212
Andre Wanty Chevron B19
Paul Ingram Chevron B19
Howard Matloff Martin BM8
Mike Wilds Chevron B19
Jonas Qvarnstrom Chevron B19
Bruce Van Der Merwe Chevron B19
Terry Davison Nomad MK3
George Douglas Ginateea G12
Max Bunninghausen Chevron B8
Ian Barrowman Toj SS02 (see picture below)
Jon Shipman GRD S74
Claus Peter Beckhauser Chevron B21
Andrew Jackson Chevron B26
John Burton Chevron B26
Jan Van Straaten Lola T292
Alan Cruikshank Chevron B23




Ian Barrowman in the beatifull Toj
(pic splendidly stolen from the OZGP Program guide)

Iwill report on how the race went tomooroow some time after the GP itself..but wow I wish I went just for these things.

[marcus]

well the sunday morning race turned into a complete nightmare and was cancelled due to a huge crash on the start line.

but the other 2 races on friday and saturday were completed safely and here is the finishing order for them

RACE 1
1.C Chiles .march 717
2.R Eyre .mclaren m8c/d
3.N Barret .mclaren m8d
4.M Wilds .chevron b19
5.A Wolfe .Lola t212

RACE 2
1.N Barrett .mclaren m8d
2.R Eyre .mclaren m8c/d
3.C Chiles .march 717
4.A Wolfe .Lola t212
5.I Barrowman .toj ss02

i didnt see any of these races and got the results from the Oz GP site.

RACE 3

well I was all reved up to see this race as it was being televised but sadly as the lights went green (rolling start) the field took off only for something to go wrong with Nigel Barretts McLaren either he missed a gear or the engine let go or even the brakes locked on for some strange reason he was collected by the march of chris chiles and launched high into the air..along came Ian Barrowman in the toj and slammed into chiles and then off into the outside wall (car pictured above) this blocked the track and following competitors had no where to go and a few got tangled up in the carnage the lovely little Ginetta of George douglas also got involved with another car who im not sure was...but amazingly only 5 cars were involved in the crash but they blocked the track and the race was red flagged and eventually cancelled due to time commitments.

I was very dissapointed that this happened as I was really looking forward to watching these cars in action but sadly it was not meant to be

[elephino]

They were extremely loud, though still quiet compared to F1.

To hopefully clear a little confusion (I think). Barrett's McLaren blew something (could see smoke) and slowed, it was then hit by Chiles (who continued to turn 2 but no further). Barrowman did an excellent job of not hitting Barrett, but unfortunately Barrett was spinning and hit Barrowman. This mess basically meant that it was a lottery for the rest of the field. Surprisingly only about 5 or 6 cars were damaged, at least obviously damaged.

[marcus]

yeh im not really sure what happened to Barretts car and even he didnt know what happened when he was interviewed..but something drastically went wrong..and I was amazed only a few cars came to grief really when it first started I got a flash in my mind that this was going to be huge with at least 20 cars involved but thankfully it was just my mind playing nasty tricks on me and only panels and not drivers were damaged

[torana]

I was at the GP on Friday. (Being self employed has some advantages) and saw the Sports car race. The Ford GT40 in the gulf racing colours was driven by Kevin Bartlet, an aussie racer who seems to have driven everything except a nail. The GT40 was at Phillip Island the wek before for the Historic races sounded and went really well. It was a shame that the Veskanda sports car that was also at P.I was not in the race. This is a car built by Kand A engineering in South Austfor Van Elsen Photographics hence Ves K and A. The car was a real flyer in its day whic was only about 5 yeras ago. It comfortably did 1.29's at P.I on old tyres and no real development when the lap record is 1.20's. John Bowe said at the island that with some new tyres, more development on chassis and engine and a young gung ho driver he believes that the car could easily do low 23's at the island. i would say that the car would have easily given the canam typre sports cars at the AGP a hell of a fright.
Still it was good to see these monsters out on the track. was the race shown internationally?

[Crash Test]

"The car was a real flyer in its day which was only about 5 yeras ago. "

I thought it was more of a mid-eighties thing? I know i still have problems comprehending the '00 some times

I wish they brought it up here to Queensland Country.... Its really impressive for something that has been sitting in a shed for so long, i would dearly love to see what sort of time it could do around Bathurst (if it were to be refined with modern technology).

[torana]

Maybe I was wrong about it being only5 years ago. But it doesn't seem that long ago thet the Veskanda was racing at Sandown in the round of the World Sports car chamionship that was held there. I can remember that race well as we even had a Sports sedan chev reclassified as a sports car to fill the grid and Group N touring cars wee a suppport event for the main race. If i remember right the Veskanda was driven by Dick johnson and john bowe and ran quite well all day but suffered from a too small fuel tank so had to keep pitting for fuel. Have the race results , my tickets and the programme somewhere in the filing system.

[Jeff OTMG]

CanAm was always my favorite, Jim Hall #66 in the winged Chaperal (sp?) was my favorite. The entire series died in the early 1970's because you could not be competitive without driving a Porsche. Where were the Porsche entries in the race? Any ideas?

[aiwa]

Where were the Porsche entries in the race? Any ideas?[/B][/QUOTE]A Works run Porsche 917/30 (in Sunoco livery )appeared at the Oldtimer G.P. at the Nürburgring. I think it was 1997 and again I think driven by Hubert Hahne. The Mclaren M8s were on this occassion able to beat the Porsche.

[Michael M]

Jeff's statement concerning the Porsches is only partly correct. What was the success of CanAm? No restrictions at all! V8's up to 9 litres, rear wings like king size beds - great stuff! And then Porsche came up with this small little mechanical gimmick called "turbo". In 1972 nobody on the other side of the pond knew what it is, but, what the hell, it allows tiny 5 litres to beat our big bangers! Luckily at the same time the Arabs locked down the oil stream, so this was good possibility to introduce a fuel consumption formula, resulting not only in Porsche's retiring, but also in the slow death of CanAm racing.

McLaren M8s to beat Porsche 917-30? Yes of course, it's a quite simple financial calculation. Most of the M8 running in super sports series are no genuine McLaren, but Trojans. For those don't know, every year Trojan built a series of last years McLaren to be sold to privateers, whereas the real McLaren had always been works cars. Blowing up a Chevy big block in today's historic racing may be painful, but a substitute is found rather easily. Blowing up a 917 engine would be a desaster, not only in terms of money, but also as the originality of the car is away. So racing with museum rarities against "stock cars" will never show the real relations. Any idea why in today's historic racing most E-Types are beating the 250 GT SWBs and even the GTOs?

[aiwa]

[QUOTE]Porsche contributed to the demise of the Can-am series by providing limited numbers of cars/entries financed by an endless pot of money to run them. So it is some form of retribution that the Mclarens (built by Trojan) have the upper hand in todays motorsport.

[marcus]

OK Im gonna move this topic over to the historic section.