Autosport 75: How the largest engine of F1 became an unexpected le mans winner

Keith Duckworth was not a fan of Ford DFV racing in 24 hours Le Mans. When John Wire, the boss of the great sportscar team, told him about his plan to place the Formula 1 engine in a new prototype that impresses Mirage for 1972, the Kosworth Man, who spoke straightforward, asked him not to bother him.

The story is narrated by the five -time Le Mans winner Derek Bell, which Gulf, sponsor of the team, stepped into the plate after the team sponsor Gulf stepped into the plate in view of the implemented return of Porsche from the top flight of World Championship Sportscar racing in late 1971.

“John said, ‘I say that Keith, I am thinking about taking Kosworth to take Mains”, “Remember the bell.” Duckworth’s answer was,’ I will not go, Lad ‘. “

John Horseman, since 1960, did not miss the disadvantage of his own engine of Duckworth, who has now become the managing director of Vaer’s competent subaltern and now newly created Gulf Research Racing Operation. But he recalls his doubts about the endurance possibilities of an engine that is known as ‘Ford Vibrator’.

“He must have suggested more than once,” Horsman says that we should not waste our time. ” “He certainly knew the shortcomings of the engine. I would not say that he was being used in a sportscar against DFV, but he was not very keen on it.”

But wire and horsepower said that they did not have much options. The Gulf’s name changed the JW Automotive over the door on their slot workshop and the oil company was funding a new group 5 prototype known as M6.

“Gradi Davis, Vice President of Gulf Oil, wanted it, and what he wanted!” Horseman says. “Gulf was actually a few years of cheap couples with Porsche, but was ready to pay whatever he took.”

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Lane Bailey was commissioned to design a new chassis, but which engine to keep it in cheese? Using Cosworth, Horseman says, “Need – there was no other option”. Wyer and horsepyman knew everyone about DFV. He ran one in the Mirage M3 at the back of 1969. The JWA was the second team to handle a cassi in the sportcar competition after Alan Mann Racing, which used the engine behind the Ford F3L in 1968 and 1969. But JWA was the first to win with it in Sportscar.

Jackie ICKX won a non-Bindu 500 km race in Emola in September 1969. It was also to win the championship race in Oosteriching last month with Belgian star and Jackie Oliver. A part of a unsuccessful steering-colum bracket-bracket-borrowed from GT40 with which JWA won twice in Le Mans-was deprived of a new car of clear shot in winter.

“We should have won in Austria, but for the problem of steering-column-when we broke, we were well,” remember the horseman. “It was actually a GT40 part that did tens of thousand miles, but certainly the Cosworth vibrations did it. If you run it for a long time, the engine will break everything.”

The issue of vibration with Kosi was still clear when the engine moved to M6 for 1972. There is a story of the car that shakes the spindle with its gauges at its shakedown at Silverstone earlier that year. Bell remembers the foam being shaken by his seat in 1972 in the Oosariching World Championship round. He had to tie himself against Monokok’s side and eventually thrown away.

Gulf and Horseman had a type of plan for an engine to go behind the M6. Nevertheless, there was even greater doubt about it than DFV. Ford launched a new V12 sportscar engine from British builder Veslake in summer of 1970 and Gulf would have called it for the first time for 1973

Till then, Gulf had left Le Mans already that year, deciding that Miraj-Ford DFV was not ready for the challenge. “The car was very new for 24 hours,” says Horsmanman. “It would be a waste of time and money.”

That year Le Mans had Cosworth on the grid, such as one in the previous season. In 24 hours, the ‘honor’ constitution of bleeding DFV fell to the construction of the Gai Ligrier and the JS3 prototype in their haste.

Gulf and Horseman had a type of plan for an engine to go behind the M6. Nevertheless, there was even greater doubt about it than DFV. Ford launched a new V12 sportscar engine from the British builder Veslake in the summer of 1970 and Gulf first called for 1973. Still the engine will never run behind Mirage or anything else. At least, after about 20 years, the rebirth of rebirth BRM market does not even affect the 3.5-liter group C powerplant.

Recalling the horsepon, he said, “Dan Garn, of course, won the 1967 Grand Prix of 1967 with the first Veslake engine in his eagle, but he told me that he could not manufacture two engines.” “We gave Vestek a fair shot and tested a lot with it.”

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This included taking a car in a world championship round at 24 hours at the beginning of the season. It did not race and when the Veslake-Interested Car, now with a coup bodywork, failed to run cleanly in the larynth test in April, what decision to drive a car in the race became easier.

“Coming back to the plane, I was sitting next to Walter (Hayes, Ford man, who signed both DFV and Veslak V12) and asked what I am going to do for Le Mans,” Horsman’s missments. “My reply was, ‘Two open cars with DFV engine’. I did not have much option.” It looked good, winning spa 1000 km in May 1973 after Bell and Mike Helwood, the first World Championship Sportscar win for DFV. It came out a false morning. Before the transmission fails, Bell and Hoven Gainley got 29 laps in just 24 hours, although they will return to the track after four hours of repair. The second entry, shared by Helwood, John Watson and Vern Shupan, was out of the race.

The Bay had swapped with a Hevelland transmission for ZF for ZF for Le Mans in the name of reliability, but it turned out to be another victim of Vibrating Cosworth. “We had any problem with the Zf ‘box before,” says Horseman, but it was placed behind Cosworth and it broke the input shaft. ” “John and I went to ZF to talk to him. They asked to give a moment, went into a handle and then came back and said they would shorten the shaft. They told us that it would allow it to bend and flex it, and they were absolutely right.”

A modified version of the M6, which was now dubbed Gulf GR7, finished it in Le Mans and fourth in 1974. But there were 20 lapses behind the car Matra operated by Bell and Helwood.

One more French manufacturer went away. Alpha Romeo, who dominated the World Championship with its T33TT/12, opted to stay away, was also afraid of a new rule, stating that each car would have to complete 20 laps between fuel stops.

“There was definitely a window of opportunity for us,” said the horset. “Alpha could easily win, but he said that he could not go down for fuel ban.”

The Gulf team’s response to the rules was the ‘new’ GR 8 created around the current chassis, but with the new bodywork that dropped the drag coefficient from 0.53 to 0.35. Power from Cassi was also reduced, in which the engine was well pushed out under 400bhp with a rave cut in an area of ​​2000rpm.

The British team dominated Le Mans in 1975. Bell and Ichkx, who wrote the boss wire of the old team, asked to drive with a person with whom his name is associated with forever, took a lead, which he never sacrificed after the first round of fuel. Half a distance, they were six laps.

The ‘Ford Vibrator’ still had a part to play. A late broken exhaust in the race meant that it was led by DFV-Sagan Ligrier JS2, chasing it. After the race, Bell was also told that an engine Mount had failed.

Kosworth ran into the GR8 as a stressed member, but Belly also designed in a rear subframe around the engine. “It does not lift any stress until the chassis is broken,” says Horseman, but it finished holding the car together. ,

Gulf rinse its sportscar program at the end of 1975. The cars were sold to the US entruster Harley Cloakson and returned to the Mains in 1976 and will take the runner-up spots to the Porsche. A year later, the cars had Renault V6 Twin-Turbo Power, but the Cosworth Sportscar remained a major place of racing.

Another private person fighting against factories will give another win to Cosworth in 1980, and the engine will run 3.3 and 3.9 and later in the 3.5-liter form in the 1990s. It is not bad for an engine that its manufacturer said that there was no business competition in long distance racing.

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