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The John Lacko Collection.
I had seen photos taken at Santa Barbara Airport during the Sixties by Michigan based, professional photographer, John Lacko, so I contacted him and I asked if he would mind sharing some of his photos on The Roaring Season site. He has kindly agreed and we will present them as I reduce them to the format to fit.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do and a special big thanks to John.
(Ken H)
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Peter Arundel in his Team Lotus 33 Climax V-8 # 2 started 19th and finished 6th.
Along the way he had this incident during the race.
"John Surtees tried to get around Arundell on the pit straight, and again in The Esses, but as he pulled alongside, the cars touched and both slid across the grass, then headed for the pits. Surtees actually pulled in to the Lotus pit to confront Arundell and had to be restrained by Lotus mechanics. Having wasted several minutes there, he rejoined in thirteenth position, two and a half laps behind."
Imagine that happening today where a driver stops and wants to fight in the pits and then carries on in the race !
John Surtees was a determined man as was seen when Jody Scheckter wiped out his team at the 1973 British Grand Prix and John went after Jody and fortunately they did not meet up on that occasion !
(John Lacko photo )
Ken H..
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World Champion
Good stuff Ken H,
55 years ago, I had just started my working life aged 18 [ late starter - kept failing at school and going back to eat my lunch !! ]
Good Kiwi connections in those days in F1, and that Aussie Jack B wasn't half bad either.
Your reply will be post # 3000 !! Go Ken.
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1966 USGP.
Jochen Rindt in his Cooper-Maserati T 81 # 8. Started 9th and came in second as the car coasted over the finish line out of fuel !
(John Lacko photo )
Lorenzo Bandini in his Ferrari 312-66 3.0 V-12. # 9. Started from 3rd and was leading the race until his V-12 engine blew on lap 34 of the 108 lap race.
( John Lacko photo. )
(Ken H)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 08-06-2021 at 06:32 AM.
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And later in the hands of Peter Hughes with a Daimler V8 and then a Ford twin cam fitted.
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Originally posted by Allan
And later in the hands of Peter Hughes with a Daimler V8 and then a Ford twin cam fitted.
Later still acquired by John Dawson-Damer and restored to original condition, with the exception of the gearbox because he couldn't find the right ZF unit. I think (I'm not at home so can't check Marc's book) it went back to Classic Team Lotus, but I'm not sure.
Whoever owns it now, however, has seen it win at Monaco Historic, the only Lotus 25 or 33 ever to win at Monaco as at the time of Marc's book - 2012.
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Another team that did not have much success in 1966, was the Honda Team with their new RA 273 F1 car.
They now had a 3 liter V-12 engine that was loud, heavy and unreliable, but did do better at the higher altitude at Mexico City
The two F1 team drivers were Americans, Richie Ginther and Ronnie Bucknum.
Things improved for the team after John Surtees joined the team in 1967 and arranged to link a Honda engine to a Lola chassis.(RA 301)
After a disastrous 1968 F1 season Honda retired from Formula One competition until they began supplying F1 engines beginning in 1983.
1966 USGP. Watkins Glen. October 2nd 1966
Ronnie Bucknum in Honda RA 273 # 14
Richie Ginther in his Honda RA 273 # 12
(John Lacko photos..)
(Comment; That Honda exhaust system design department must have been busy back in 1966 !
The Honda engine department must have developed the right stuff, as the first 8 cars in the 2021
Indy car race at Nashville Tn. yesterday, were all powered by Honda engines. )
(Ken H)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 08-09-2021 at 04:18 PM.
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Two more John Lacko photos from the 1966 USGP at Watkins Glen.
Taken at Turn 8 as the cars head back toward the start / finish line.
There was not much / no protection for the "flaggies" or photographers.
Note how some spectators used the poles !
Jackie Stewart in his Owen Racing Organization BRM P83 H16 3.0 Liter # 4
Dan Gurney in his Eagle Weslake V-12 3.0 liter # 15.
(Many consider this Eagle was one of the best looking F1 cars ever built but it had few results to show after two years in F1.)
That goes to show Roger, that good looks don't always get the best results !
(Ken H..)
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Administrator
Wow, beautiful Ken! These are just stunning.
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April 1967.
George Follmer in a Lola T71 # 16 going through Turn 5 at the old Riverside course.
Five years later in 1972 George would be the Can Am champion driving a Roger Penske Team 917/10 TC.
Masten Gregory in a McLaren Elva Mk 3 built by Trojan Works # 26.
Masten was an American driver replaced at the Cooper Car Company by a young Bruce McLaren in 1960.
(Ken H...)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 09-20-2021 at 06:22 AM.
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Administrator
Superb images Ken. Early Group 7 cars are just so pretty, particularly the Lola T70s.
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A John Lacko photo of a rare sports car at Riverside
An English built Piper powered by a Buick 215 V-8 prepared by Traco and taken out to 4500 cc. (A common race engine in the 1960s)
This car did not have much success even when driven here by Jerry Titus. # 5 ran out of fuel on the last lap.
(John Lacko photo.)
An artist rendition from the cover of July 1967 Sports Car Graphic magazine of the # 5 Piper Buick.
Some sites on the Piper sports cars.
https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4134/Piper-GTR.html
https://sites.google.com/site/thepip...er-car-history
http://www.piperracingcars.co.uk/1.html
From the Speedway Museum some Buick engine info.
" The 215 cubic-inch aluminum V8 was originally announced in 1960 as a lightweight economy engine for General Motors new line of compact cars; Buick Skylark, Olds Cutlass and Pontiac Tempest. The “215” first in the appeared in the 1961, with production ending in 1963 after ¾ million engines produced. There were two (2) versions available: Buick’s model and the Olds, which featured different heads, valve train and valve covers. Pontiac used the Olds version.
The reason that production ended so soon was a high rejection rate during the casting process, as GM used a pressure casting of the Reynolds 356 aluminum alloy around steel sleeves. A 2nd method was then tried by heat treating to T-6 condition, but the heat treating caused the steel sleeves to shift and rejection of the blocks continued.
GM cured the casting, but the advent of new thin wall iron casting soon rendered the aluminum motor too expensive and led to the cancellation of the “215” after the 1963 model year.
Rights to these engines were purchased by the British Rover Company and used in the 1967 Rover P5B that replaced the 3L straight six. Throughout the years, the Rover Co., which became part of British Leyland in 1968, continued improvement on the engine making it much stronger and reliable. The Rover V8 engine remained in production use for more than another 39 years. GM tried to buy it back later on, but Rover declined.
The 215 was also used in the Italian-American Gran Turismo Apollo in 1962-1963 as well as in the Asardo 3500 GM-S show car."
(Ken H..)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 09-22-2021 at 02:27 AM.
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World Champion
" Italian-American Gran Turismo Apollo "
" The 215 was also used in the Italian-American Gran Turismo Apollo in 1962-1963 ".
Remember reading about the car back in 1963 in the November issue of " Road and Track ", which I still have.
They give the engine size in metric 3524 cc and real measurement for the Americans cu in 215.5.
Have seen a recent photo of them in the USA would be quite collectible. There were a pair of them
[ Didn't note the photographer or the place posted ]
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Lola T70 Mk.1 #SL70/7 # 3 driven by Pierre Phillips.
John Lacko photo.
Pierre was a popular driver who came to NZ and competed at the first Formula A / 5000 meet at Baypark Dec. 1968 in a 1968 Lola T 140.
Later he helped many drivers begin their careers and deal with race car purchasing at Portland, Oregon.
"Phillips Motorsports, Inc. was a year-round professional motorsports organization based in Portland, Oregon. The team's rich history in North American racing includes fielding cars for such notable drivers as Bobby Rahal, Patrick Carpentier, Anthony Lazzaro, Geoff Brabham and Felipe Giaffone, to name just a few."
Pierre passed away at age 87 in 2018
( Ken H )
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 09-22-2021 at 10:18 PM.
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Both Jerry Entin and Pierre Phillips made me feel most welcome when I visited the US in 2012...
Pierre's career covered a wide range of cars, I recall talking to him about his Lola T140 and he had a Begg FM2, while smaller cars like a Brabham BT21 (run in Formula B) and a Lotus 27 (Formula Junior) were in his past. I'm pretty sure there was a picture of a smaller Surtees on the wall as well.
Jerry became a good friend, he and Carmen insisting that we spend at least one night with them at their Spring Lake, Michigan, home. He also introduced me to that intrepid collector of all things interesting, Bill Wiswedel. For many years Jerry posted some interesting stuff on The Nostalgia Forum as supplied by Willem Oosthoek, who had upset the management somehow and wasn't allowed to post any more.
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