Photos: The David Phipps Collection

[Steve Holmes]

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This is just a very small collection, only ten photos in total, unless more emerge. This collection was sent to me by Steve Elliott, and they were given to Steve by an enthusiast who saw him racing his '68 Camaro historic racing car, and figured he'd enjoy them! Amazing how these things happen.

Anyway, these pics are all British, all from saloon car racing events, and all from the 1960s through 1970s. Hope you enjoy them.

[Steve Holmes]

First up is Australian driver Brian Muir in the Malcolm Gartlan Racing 1968 Camaro. This car was actually one of the two Penske Racing Camaros built for the 1968 Trans-Am series. It was the first of the two cars built, and contested both the Daytona 24 Hour and Sebring 12 Hour races. It actually finished 3rd outright at Sebring, behind a pair of factory Porsche 908 sports prototype cars, which shocked a lot of people. When the second team car was built in time for Round 3 of the series, lead Penske driver Mark Donohue took that car over, and this one became the spare, which was then driven later in the year by Sam Posey for Roger Penske.

In 1969 it went to Europe, and was raced by Peter Reinhart during the later part of the year before going to Malcolm Gartlan Racing for 1970. Under FIA Group 2 rules being used at the time, greater freedoms were allowed than those of the Trans-Am, and it grew much wider wheels, flared guards, and the engine was eventually topped with quad-Webers.

It had a busy career in the UK/Europe for many years, but is now back in the US.

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[Steve Holmes]

This sorry looking mess is the Ford Galaxie that was once Brian Muir's steed. Run by the Willment Racing team, this was the last of a fleet of Holman-Moody built lightweight Galaxies that converged on the British Saloon Car Championship in 1963, and swept aside the previously dominant Jaguars.

The Galaxies continued their dominance in 1964, and throughout these two seasons were driven by some of the greats, including Jim Clark, Dan Gurney, Denny Hulme, Roy Salvadori, and others.

With the more nimble Mustangs coming on strong in 1965, the Galaxies began to disappear, but with the new Group 5 rules being introduced for 1966, allowing for wider wheels and other freedoms, this Willment Galaxie remained competitive against both the Mustangs, and the new army of incredibly quick Falcon Sprints, which were fitted with various fibreglass body panels to reach their impossibly light 960kg FIA homologated weight limit.

Impressively, Muir won at Goodwood earlier in 1966, and was invariably in the top group of cars throughout the year. But here at Oulton Park, the penultimate round of the series, Muir suffered brake failure following an intense battle for the lead with Jim Clark in his Lotus Cortina, and the big Galaxie slammed the wall, and wasn't seen again.

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[Steve Holmes]

Another Aussie! This is Frank Gardner, four wheel drifting his Alan Mann Racing Falcon Sprint at, I think, Snetterton, in 1967.

The Falcon Sprints started appearing in 1966, when the British Saloon Car Championship switched to FIA Group 5 rules. In 1964, the Ford Falcon Sprint model was homologated by the FIA for the Monte Carlo Rally, and granted a minimum weight limit of just 960kg. Several of these cars were campaigned in the rally, then just sort of sat around for a few years in the UK, until someone figured they'd make a great circuit race car. The Falcon is effectively a Ford Mustang under the skin (or vice-versa), but its much lighter homologation race weight meant it would obviously be faster than the Mustang.

To get the cars down somewhere near the 960kg goal, they were fitted with fibreglass bonnet, boot lid, front guards, and doors, while front and rear bumpers were also removed. Even after all these changes, they still got nowhere near 960kg, but they were significantly lighter than their Mustang cousins.

John Whitmore took the first BSCC victory for a Falcon Sprint in Round 3 of the 1966 championship, and only the incredible skills of Jim Clark in his factory Lotus Cortina stopped them clean-sweeping all the remaining 1966 races.

For 1967, Frank Gardner drove the Alan Mann Falcon Sprint to seven victories from ten events, with Jackie Oliver winning the other three in a Mustang. Although Alan Mann Racing switched to Escort twin-cams for 1968, the many other Falcon Sprints kept on winning, and so too throughout 1969, before the BSCC switched to FIA Group 2 rules.

For those looking to read a bit more on the Falcon Sprints, check this article I wrote here: http://www.theroaringseason.com/showthread.php?1113-Article-Ford-Falcon-Sprint

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(http://www.theroaringseason.com/showthread.php?1113-Article-Ford-Falcon-Sprint)

[Steve Holmes]

Heres another shot of the Muir Galaxie, as per post #3.

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