One One Five Twelve: Would that be Pounds or Kilograms? The Flat 12 Brabhams.

 

Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT45 #001

It’s well known that Bernie Ecclestone showed a flair for deal making while still a teenager, initially trading in motorcycle parts and accessories.  Thus, when he started racing cars in 1950, his focus was as much on how this hobby could reward him financially as it was on competitiveness on-track.  The scale of his ‘wheeling and dealing’ had snowballed sufficiently by the time he was in his thirties that he was entering cars in Grands Prix and managing a driver as prominent as the future (posthumous) ’70 World Champion, Jochen Rindt.  His activities in and around the F1 scene allowed him knowledge and understanding of everything that was going on in terms of the sport’s financial and organisational aspects.  Of the great many friends/acquaintances he cultivated, one of the most significant proved to be Andrea de Adamich, a well respected, intelligent Italian, good enough to drive in F1 (and World Championship sportscars) if not quite with the talent to be a title contender.  He did, however, possess a good understanding of the engineering and team management elements of motorsport which he later put to good use in a second career as a journalist.  Enjoying a reputation for credibility, de Adamich was able to discuss matters with a wide range of the involved personalities, including the sport’s governance executives, team owners and managers, becoming at times privy to information not circulating in the public domain. 

De Adamich was racing Alfa Romeo saloon cars in the early Sixties when he was in his early twenties.  He did well enough to graduate to single seaters, and, in ’65, take the Italian F3 championship.  That was an achievement which impressed Carlo Chiti, in charge at Autodelta, Alfa Romeo’s sporting arm, to the extent that de Adamich was inducted into Alfa’s touring car team.  So he became a high profile driver who could and did score victories at major international events.  In ’66 and ’67 he was European Touring Car Champion and before the end of the decade he had seen success at World Sportscar Championship races, run very competitively in F5000 and played a significant role in the development of the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33, culminating in the ’75 flat 12 version’s World Championship for Makes triumph.  Meanwhile, from ’68 to ’73, he raced in 34 Grands Prix, with a best result, 4^th in ’72 and ‘73 in Spain and Belgium, respectively.  That ’73 season was his last in F1, with five outings in Brabhams.

Andrea de Adamich talks to Bernie Ecclestone, Balocco, 1976  Courtesy Ettore Colombo

While de Adamich was circulating on-track in F1, Ecclestone was also getting around the Grand Prix scene, keen to find new opportunities.  Coming to his attention was the situation at Motor Racing Developments (Brabham), where things were unsettled after Jack Brabham’s retirement in ’70 and sale of his 50% of the business to co-owner, Ron Tauranac.  Bernie had been acquainted with Tauranac in his time as Rindt’s manager when he was a Brabham driver in ’68, and would have been aware that  although Ron had worked well with Jack, his heart had not been in the purchase of Jack’s shares since he saw himself as an engineer, not a corporate proprietor.  Whatever was said in public to preserve a good perception of MRD’s prospects and commercial viability, de Adamich was quietly able to clue Ecclestone in further to what was actually going on.  De Adamich himself liked the idea of Ecclestone getting involved at MRD and encouraged Bernie to make an offer to buy Tauranac out.  In fact, there already was momentum towards that - perhaps initially at the Monaco Grand Prix, Tauranac had sounded Bernie out on the notion.  It has been reported that Ecclestone offered £130,000 and this was acceptable to Tauranac.  However, in October ’71, with Ron settled in his mind to move on, Ecclestone played a ‘gozunder’ on the point of signing the contract, reducing the ’price’ to £100,000.  Bernie, being Bernie, deployed his ‘charm,’ with the result that Ron apparently took it on the chin and considered their friendship would be ongoing.

’72 was a difficult year for the ‘new’ MRD.  The Ford Cosworth V8 DFV-engined BT33, BT34 and BT37 cars scored a mere 7 points in the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, good enough only for a season finish in joint 9^th, (last) place.  Ecclestone formed the view that his team would not be able to achieve a rapid improvement in competitiveness as long as it continued to use the near-ubiquitous Cosworth DFV engine.  The Ford-badged V8 at that point was typically delivering 450 bhp.  He believed that the team needed a 500-plus bhp engine in a V12 configuration.  The two 12 cylinders already disputing the championship were Ferrari’s Tipo 001 flat 12, giving 480 bhp and BRM’s P142 V12, rated at 440 bhp.  But just beyond the realm of Formula One, another 3 litre V12 racing engine was under development – down in a quiet seaside location in Sussex.  This was Harry Weslake’s Weslake Engineering works, within which a new power unit was being made for Ford/John Wyer Automotive/Gulf Racing for endurance sportscar applications.  Pursuing his desire for a 500 bhp engine, when Ecclestone heard about the Weslake, he was keen to give it a try.  So Brabham’s designer, Gordon Murray, was pressed into a project to modify a F2 BT38 to accommodate the engine, creating a ‘BT39,’ and Graham Hill was cajoled into driving it in a test at Silverstone.  While this did not have an immediately positive outcome, the very fact that he’d seen something other than a DFV in a Brabham encouraged Ecclestone to step up his quest to find an engine that would fill the bill.

Brabham BT39-Ford Weslake V12  Courtesy OldRacingCars.com

Next stop on the search was at Weissach where Porsche could show Ecclestone a race calibre V12 yet to be assigned to a specific application.  Gordon Murray recalls, ‘ . . . Porsche said, “Right, this is how much we are going to charge you for the engines,” and Bernie said, “No, no, no, no.  You give us the engines and we will make them win.”  Porsche said no.  So that was the end of that.’

 

Ecclestone had presided over a season in which there was little success on the track but still cost him £80,000.  So his focus much of the time had to be on finding sponsorship.  There were talks with Aleardo Buzzi and John Hogan representing, Philip Morris.  Ecclestone had become aware that the cigarette manufacturer was keen to switch its Marlboro brand sponsorship from BRM after the ’73 season.  Talks seemed to be going well and the acquisition of a substantial budget was anticipated.  But however good had been Ecclestone’s portrayal of the benefits Philip Morris would enjoy from the Brabham cars being seen in Marlboro livery, those same cars had received only modest levels of public attention given their absence from the head of the F1 field – the team had finished 4^th in the Manufacturer’s Standings, with just two 3^rd place finishes as best individual race results.  With over double the number of Championship points and 3 Grands Prix victories, McLaren was able to present a good case to Buzzi and Hogan.  Thus, to Bernie’s dismay, he learned that the Marlboro logo would be seen on the M23s, not his BT42s/43s in ’74.

Mostly, Carlos Reutemann and Carlos Pace were the drivers who carried Ecclestone’s hopes through the '74 season, though John Watson, Richard Robarts, Rikky von Opel, Wilson Fittipaldi, Gérard Larrousse, Teddy Pilette and Lella Lombardi all also had outings in F1 Brabhams.  The MRD-entered cars ran in white, with little in the way of sponsorship decals, but the prospects for that shortcoming being rectified the following season were greatly boosted by Reutemann’s three Grand Prix victories, in South Africa, Austria and the U.S. – and the Watkins Glen outcome was further illustrious as Carlos Pace delivered on the promise he had been showing by making it a Brabham 1-2.  Ecclestone’s morale was much boosted by that result, and his confidence was buoyed as he sought to capitalise on it by pitching for sponsorship from the Italian drinks manufacturer, Martini & Rossi.  The company had based much of its marketing activity on brand exposure in motorsport since the early 60s when it began by establishing a ’Martini & Rossi Racing Team’ and helping fund the running of Alfa Romeos in sportscar racing.  A higher profile development came in ’68 with a change of name to ‘Martini Racing’ and intended participation in both the sportscar and Formula 1 World Championships.  It was soon closely associated with Porsche, leading to a Le Mans victory in ’71, while the team made a start in F1 with the Tecno cars of the Pederzani brothers.  This venture had stemmed from the activities of Martini Racing’s advisor, David Yorke.  Yorke had made his name and good reputation by his roles at Aston Martin and subsequently at JW Automotive Racing, with high achievements as team manager, including victory at Le Mans in ’68 and ’69 and with the Gulf 917s in ‘70/’71.  Amongst his friends in the motorsport sphere was one Bernie Ecclestone.  Unsurprisingly, in ‘71, aware of Bernie’s interest in getting involved at MRD, Yorke had lobbied Martini to put its name on the Brabham cars.  But, unexpectedly, the sponsorship deal was awarded to Tecno.  Given that it was soon obvious that Formula 1 was something of a stretch for the Tecno cars and organisation, it is not surprising that Yorke was quick to recommend that the arrangement was terminated and funding transferred to MRD.  It took time, though and it was not until the latter part of ’74 that Martini committed to a Brabham budget for the following season.

 

All this had, with full justification, been commanding Bernie’s attention, as incremental income was vital if there was to be any ongoing improvement in on-track competitiveness.  But that objective was also affected of course by what the other teams were up to.  And foremost amongst these, Ferrari’s situation would have regularly been figuring in Ecclestone’s thoughts.  SpA Società Esercizio Fabbriche Automobili e Corse (SEFAC) had experienced a saga of difficulties with its flat 12 engine since its introduction for the ’70 season.  However, ’74 had seen a significant improvement in the unit’s fulfilment of its power potential and reliability.  Between them, drivers Nikki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni took three Grands Prix wins and eight podiums (2^nd/3^rd), earning the team second place in the Constructors’ Championship.  There was a good deal of speculation that ’75 would see SEFAC go one place better.  So, Ecclestone’s thoughts turned once again to the desirability of a 12 cylinder engine for his Brabham chassis.

If Ferrari was on the brink of a resurgence in Formula 1, its spiritual parent, Alfa Romeo, was continuing to see its glory years of ’50 and ’51 fade further into history.  Within the company’s management, a division was growing between those who longed to repeat the two consecutive World Championships with the Alfettas, and others– typically younger, less time-served – who were uncomfortable with any ideas of renewed Grand Prix contention.  The latter view stemmed from politically-based sentiment that as a ‘state-owned,’ (via the IRI holding company), enterprise, it should not be seen by the public as a lavish spender on a non-essential sporting activity.  Surely, some reasoned, it was bad enough that large sums had been used through the subsidiary Autodelta business to develop and race the Tipo 33 prototypes – all without much success since its launch in ’67.  But Autodelta boss, Carlo Chiti, was protected to some extent from the political manoeuvres as the premises were a few miles ‘off-site’ at Settimo Milanese.  There, in the specialised milieu he had created, Chiti was able to operate with considerable freedom allowing him the scope to contemplate and plan for an Alfa Romeo F1 future.  As he did so, he shared his aspirations with team members and associates, one of whom was Andrea de Adamich.  In turn, de Adamich was keen to keep Bernie informed about developments and so, when Chiti began to talk about the possibility of modifying the 33’s Tipo 115-12 3.0 litre flat 12 engine for Formula 1 utilisation, Bernie was soon aware.  The unit had been introduced in ’73 and powered the 33 to the World Championship two years later, albeit in a field of meagre competitors.  For endurance racing, the engine was set up to produce 470-500 bhp.  As would be proven for the ’77 sportscar season, a further 20 bhp was feasible and with such an output, a Formula 1 competitive advantage could be achieved, except . . . these levels of horsepower were generated at the cost of a relatively a heavy (178 Kg) engine and one that consumed fuel at a furious rate.  However, that didn’t stop de Adamich extolling its virtues and reiterating Chiti’s confidence that with a range of modifications, such characteristics could be addressed and a Grand Prix-winning motor created.

Alfa Romeo Tipo 115-12 engine at the Nurburgring 1000 Kms, 73  Courtesy Rainer Schlegelmilch

So, early in ’75, Ecclestone was in talks with Chiti, and, buoyed by what de Adamich had told him regarding the technical considerations, was more concerned about costs rather than technicalities.  The last thing Bernie wanted to contemplate at that time was how much he would have to pay on an ongoing basis for supply of the engines.  And yet there was an answer he would like, stemming from a shift in the relative strengths of the pro/anti positions within the top management team at Arese disputing the future form of Alfa Romeo’s motorsport involvement.  Appointed to the role in the early Sixties, Giuseppe Luraghi proved to be a great strategic thinking President of the company.  One of his strongest traits was to be in favour of sporting activity both to preserve Alfa Romeo’s reputation for innovation and engineering excellence and to support the marketing of its road car production models.  But, by the early Seventies, his outlook was vigorously contested by some of his management colleagues – notably, his eventual successor, Ettore Massacesi - and the IRI, their aim being to see a significant cutting of costs.  As his period of being in charge drew towards its conclusion, he was perhaps keen to reinforce a future corporate pro-motorsport outlook.  Thus, an ambition to see Alfa Romeos once again battling for F1 World Championship points figured in the forward planning activities conducted in the Arese offices.  In broad terms, the aspiration was for there to be an Alfa Romeo Grand Prix car by the end of the decade.  In order to contain costs and streamline the development process, it was decided that an initial step should be the supply of engines to an existing competitor so that the optimisation of specification, installation issues and establishment of reliability could be achieved other than at Alfa Romeo’s expense.  Thus, it would be worthwhile for the engines to be supplied on a free of charge basis.

 

Consequently, to his (well concealed) surprise, when Ecclestone put it to Chiti that he’d be prepared to give the flat 12 a go in his race-winning Brabhams, but only if they didn’t cost him anything, Carlo, with a show of reluctance and of being indignant, agreed.  The negotiations had been taxing, but there was then no scope for Chiti to relax – he needed to implement a number of changes to the engine, whilst at the same time managing the further development process for the Tipo 33 application, which included the small matter of a twin turbo variant for the ’77 season.  For the Formula 1 version, there was the need for generalised weight saving, a reduction – from seven to four - in the number of main bearings, bigger valves and a raised compression ratio.  Meanwhile, back in England, Gordon Murray began designing the first Alfa-powered Brabham.  And on the commercial front, there was development too – perhaps partially stemming from the added Italian element in terms of the Brabhams’ new engine maker, Martini & Rossi, which had committed to another year as the main MRD sponsor and with it, an increased budget at that.

The Tipo 115-12 engine in F1 form.  Courtesy Ian Gordon Murray/Philip Porter

Murray’s BT 45 went from drawing board to track with considerable rapidity.  The prototype was shipped to Italy in early October ’75 and was run at Balocco at a press launch.  It was then returned to England and subjected to testing at Silverstone.  It was to some extent an evolution of the BT 44B mechanically – suspension and radiator location, for instance – but the chassis was markedly different since it had to accommodate the sheer size – especially the width – of the engine, the much larger necessary fuel capacity and the fact that the flat 12 could not be used as an integral part of the chassis, as was the case with the DFV.  This latter point, required the rearward extension from the tub of two outriggers for support, either side, of the engine crankcase, and was just one of several chassis features which added to its weight.  Indeed, the car weighed in at 620-630 Kg, whereas the 44 was said to be in the range 550-610 Kg.  And Murray expressed his particular dismay at having to incorporate no less than 4 dispersed fuel tanks to cope with the 215 litres likely to be burnt over the course of a Grand Prix!  This requirement precluded Murray from drawing a ‘triangular’ section body/chassis, which had become his signature style since the BT 42.  Adding to his concern about the engine, Murray has recalled that, ‘It had Italian fuel injection, too, which was quite crude and broke down a lot.’  But the BT 45 still looked good in its white paint finish and Martini Racing livery.

Complex fuel system required for four tanks.  Courtesy Ian Gordon Murray/Philip Porter

Brabham, along with the other eleven crack teams running the DFV, had enjoyed not only its performance characteristics, but also the quality and consistency of its engineering.  Murray did not find quite the same qualities in the freight he was now receiving from Settimo Milanese: ‘One of the massive problems I had with the 45 series of cars is that when Alfa first gave us the drawings for the engine, I obviously designed the car for that.  With the DFV you had a tight tolerance on the engine mountings.  Every engine arrived and just slotted on the back.  Rip one out, put another on.  We were testing down at Balocco with the 45 and the engine blew up, which happened quite a lot.  We got the next engine out and the difference on the mountings was millimetres so it just wouldn’t fit.   So for the 45s generally, I had to design cams and eccentrics, and packers and spacers on all the engine mountings so that every time we changed the engine, you could adjust the car to fit the engine, which I never had to do before.  So during this time there were all these sort of ‘Italian problems,’ if you like.’  Frustrating as these sort of issues were, the even more fundamental issue of the engine’s weight was beyond any one type of countermeasure.  It was equipped with a titanium exhaust system, which was marginally helpful, but at the same time introduced a further negative factor in reliability terms as the material proved repeatedly liable to cracking.  But the biggest concern at the outset was the inadequate specification of the lubrication system.  There had not been a particular difficulty in this respect with the engine as deployed in the Tipo 33s, but with much less room in and around the body of the Formula 1 car, accommodating a generous quantity of oil – and such that its weight did not cause balance problems – was a yet another challenge for Murray.  Against the 30 litres of oil which could be comfortably carried in a Tipo 33, the BT 45’s capability was a mere 8 litres.  Even at the very first on-track test of the BT 45 at Silverstone, there was concern for a potential engine failure stemming from intermittent oil starvation because of surging, with related loss of pressure.  There was evidently a scavenging weakness despite Chiti’s apparent care in designing the lubrication system, incorporating two cylinder head scavenge pumps and three front mounted, gear principle main oil pumps, drawing from six mesh protected drain points.

Brabham BT45  Courtesy Centro Documentazione Alfa Romeo

The problems were especially disappointing, as it might have been expected that with the original engine specification being biased towards the endurance form of racing, reliability would be assured even if there was work to do to extract the level of power that was essential for the short form event that constitutes a Grand Prix.  But, this too provoked further diffidence as Reutemann’s feedback during the initial Silverstone test was to the effect that drivability was poor with power not delivered in a manageable, linear manner – urge was lacking at lower/medium engine speeds until as the rev limit was approached, the full surge of grunt was abruptly transmitted to the wheels.  Possibly, Reutemann had a prejudice against the engine.  I say this because, with the compression ratio further upped to 11:1 the output peak was in the order of 520 bhp@12000 rpm, with at least 400 bhp available from 9000 rpm.

BT45 First Test at Silverstone, October ’75  Courtesy David Phipps

The BT45-Alfa’s best result in the ’76 season was Pace’s 3^rd at the French Grand Prix in July at Paul Ricard.  He also managed a 4^th place finish, at the Nurburgring in August, Reutemann achieving the same placing in Spain in May.  Pace finished 14^th in the Championship, Reutemann, 16^th.  Brabham was placed 9^th in the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers.  There were seven engine/engine-related DNF failures over the sixteen Grands Prix.

’76 BT45 engine installation in Carlos Pace’s car

For ’77 Murray designed a B specification version of the BT 45.  However, this would not be ready until March for the 3^rd race of the season at Kyalami.  In the meantime, Pace qualified and raced to 2^nd place at the opening event in Buenos Aires.  Further optimism broke out at Brabham when John Watson took the new ‘B’ to 3^rd place at the non-Championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.  He went one better at July’s French Grand Prix, finishing a close second to Mario Andretti in his season-dominating Lotus 78 after leading all but the race’s final lap.  Otherwise, the only other really notable results were a pair of 3^rd places in Germany and Austria with Hans Stuck at the wheel.  Much more had been expected, especially because the engine’s weight (175 Kg) had been reduced while the power output was increased – to 525 bhp – as a result of winter development work, at Autodelta, including the adoption of Lucas fuel injection.

Carlo Chiti beside a BT45B.  Gordon Murray is just visible in the top right.  Courtesy Ian Gordon Murray/Philip Porter

The performance of the Lotus, with four victories in ’77, was salutary and signalled the death knell of the Tipo 115-12.  Chapman’s latest machine pioneered the ground effects concept which was to revolutionise F1 design and soon become an essential characteristic if a car was to be at all competitive.  In simple terms, the high downforce feature was created by careful management/acceleration of airflow around, over/under and through the chassis/body, largely through enclosed longitudinal tunnels.  To provide for these within the relatively narrow chassis of a single seater racing car, it was necessary for the engine in turn to be as narrow as possible.  While the dimensions of the Cosworth V8 (680 mm) fitted the bill, the markedly substantial width of the Tipo 115-12 (1000 mm) certainly did not.  The engine’s width was considerably conditioned by its relatively long stroke of 53.6 mm, compounded by the use of cam followers which stood proud above the valve springs.  Furthermore, since the widest part of a flat engine, (measured laterally from cam cover to cam cover), is lower than as found on V configuration unit, accommodation compromises are inevitable with any chassis elements low in the structure and located along its outer edges – exactly where the ground effects-vital venturi tunnels need to run. 

Murray, however, was not yet ready in ’77 to revise his design ‘philosophy’ to embrace Lotus-style ground effects principles.  He was nevertheless continuing to feel hamstrung by the Alfa engine’s dimensions, weight and fuel consumption.  These factors were denying the team the competitiveness they might have expected given 525 bhp on tap.  There wasn’t really anything he could do about the engine’s size, but he could chase Chiti vigorously for modifications which would improve fuel efficiency and there had to be scope for weight saving.  And now Murray’s creativity and lateral thinking came to the fore.  He determined  to circumvent the problems that had prevented him from drawing a ‘triangular,’ inherently weight-reducing, chassis, partly by eschewing the use of (bulky) conventional heat-exchanging units – radiators – and using the exposed body surfaces to fulfil this function.  This was achieved primarily by integrating four heat exchanging panels – two for coolant, two for oil – into the chassis, such that their outer surfaces, which were partially finned - ran in the ambient air flow.  This system – along with several innovations around the car’s instrumentation and on-board self-height adjustment mechanism – made the BT46 intriguingly distinctive in comparison with the other new-for-’78 cars.

Brabham BT46

But . . . even in the ambient temperatures encountered in winter testing at Silverstone, the BT46’s coolant got far too hot, albeit the oil cooling was adequate.  There was no immediate fundamental solution and so the start of the ’78 season saw Brabham fielding a further revised BT45 – with ‘C’ designation – at the Argentine Grand Prix in mid-January.  This was Nikki Lauda’s debut with the team and he marked it very well by finishing 2^nd to Mario Andretti’s Lotus.

 

The BT46 had been considerably reworked while the 45C was filling in at the South American races.  It appeared for its first race at Kyalami in March, equipped with conventional front coolant radiators.  They were working well enough during practice and Lauda beat Andretti to the pole.  He ran strongly in the race and looked assured of at least a podium finish, but the engine blew up after 52 laps.  While both Lauda and Watson were able to run very competitively at the early season’s venues, rumour had it that the new Lotus 79 would have a huge effect on the comparative performance status of the entire field.  If other teams/designers were overwhelmed by the quantum leap that the Lotus seemed likely to represent, Murray reacted by once again getting daring and innovative.  His response was not to try and replicate the chassis/body concepts Lotus was known to be finalising, but to revive/refine the means by which the Can-Am Chaparral 2J had glued itself to the track . . . a gearbox-driven fan was mounted vertically to the rear of the BT46B, its purpose being to create a low pressure area underneath the chassis.  The coolant radiator was relocated to a mounting above the engine – this was of particular importance as its positioning would enable Murray to assert that the fan’s main purpose was not for aerodynamic effect, but to boost the heat exchanging properties of the radiator.  Whatever the realities of this contention, ‘tuning’ the system to optimise the degree of ‘vacuum’ generated beneath car’s floor was problematic and precluded a presentation of the BT46B at the Monaco race in early May.  At the following Grand Prix in Belgium, the 79, employing optimal ground effects capability, won its first race with ease and seemed a shoe-in to be nominated as the season’s class of the field machine.  But the Brabham was race-ready the following month and care was taken by Murray in talking about it to emphasise that for the most part the fan was a cooling device.  However one wants to evaluate that notion, the simple fact is that the BT46B’s cornering performance was such that at the Swedish Grand Prix on 17^th June, Lauda was able to defeat Andretti.  With the other teams miffed that they had not thought of an effective answer to the Lotus 79, there was much controversy and Ecclestone dodged a protracted political wrangle by deciding not to enter the car for any more of the season’s Grands Prix.

Brabham BT46B – the ‘Fan Car’

The ’78 season concluded with Lauda fourth in the Championship thanks to the win in Sweden and another in Italy, and five other podium finishes.  Watson was sixth, having stood on the podium three times.  The team ranked third in the International Cup for F1 Constrictors.  So, a strong showing, much improved on the previous season.  The BT46 had been fast and dependable, with and without the fan.  The Tipo 115-12, too, had proven very competitive and relatively reliable, just seven DNFs being caused by engine failure.  Nonetheless, in looking ahead to ’79, Murray was convinced that ‘proper’ ground effects would be absolutely essential for any car seeking to compete with the Lotus.  And, by then, he was equally sure that this would not be feasible if his next design was powered by the cumbersome Alfa flat 12.  He said as much to Chiti, whose unexpected immediate response of ‘Hai ragione,’ would have been based on his own conclusion as soon as he saw Chapman’s Type 79.  That Chiti’s view coincided with Murray’s was confirmed by the speed at which he then set to work, resulting in a new F1 engine, this time in 60° V12 format, being presented before the end of the year.  Designated Tipo 1260, though not more powerful than the Tipo 115-12, it was able to be used as a stressed chassis component, simplifying Murray’s task in creating a new car.  Thus, the result – BT 48 – was complete and ready to run by mid-December ’78.  And at that point, a flat 12-engined Brabham decidedly became a thing of the past!

Tiny but Mighty: the Abarth 500-595-695

Younger people today, familiar only with the specifications of contemporary/recent cars, may well wonder if someone is joking if they take a glance at this set of numbers which define a newly launched compact saloon: Engine capacity: 479 cc; Engine power output: 13 bhp; Kerb weight: 470 Kg; Length: 2970 mm; Width: 1320 mm; 0-60 mph: 1 minute or thereabouts; Top speed: 53 mph.  Now that launch was way back in 1957, so that explains a lot, but even that long ago the majority of potential buyers did not find themselves attracted by those performance numbers.  The situation did however provide Carlo Abarth with an exciting opportunity and he seized it speedily and with enthusiasm.  As a result, the Abarth version of the Fiat 500 Nuova was ready for presentation within a few short months.  With the two cylinder engine’s compression ratio raised, a Weber 26 IMB carburettor fitted and a sports exhaust, the Fiat Abarth 500 had 21.5 bhp to play with.  But both Fiat and Abarth’s initial vision of a 500 cc car struggled to achieve the sales volumes that had been anticipated.  Fiat tried two countermeasures – 1) Cutting the price of the basic model and introducing an improved specification, ‘Normale,’ and, 2) Introducing a ‘Sport’ model in mid-’58 which featured a 499 cc engine with similar performance to the Abarth’s, and some cosmetic enhancements including a metal roof.  Abarth went a touch more radical, introducing a new cylinder head with hemispherical combustion chambers and further upping the compression ratio.  Together with attention to gas flow optimisation, 26 bhp was extracted from the little two cylinder.  All good stuff, but the really clever move was to run such upgraded 500s at Monza in February ’58.  They achieved noteworthy speed/distance records which attracted a good deal of press attention.  But, even more significantly, note was taken by Fiat’s top management, leading to a new level of talks with Abarth.  And those talks culminated in the ‘win bonus’ agreement which became so important to Abarth throughout the Sixties – see here. 

Left: Presentation of Fiat 500 Nuova, Turin, July ’57  Courtesy FCA Heritage; Centre: ’57 Fiat 500 Nuova  Courtesy Cymon Taylor/RM Auctions; Right: Fiat Abarth 500, Monza record, February ’58  Courtesy Stellantis

With the Fiat version able do more than just permit its driver to chug around in discomfort, its commerciality was established and customer approval progressively improved.  Through the Sixties it was regularly improved and established itself as a respected model in the Fiat range, even if the 600 was seen as more successful.  It remained in production until ’75, by when 3.7 million had been manufactured.  In the early years of the Sixties, with a model designation, ‘D,’ the car’s doors remained rear hinged.

 

For Abarth, the ‘difficult’ years extended to ’63, when the 595 1st Series was launched that January.  This bigger engine capacity version, along with the 695 which emerged the following year, found much more sales success, largely founded on how well both variants performed in motorsport.  The Fiat 500 engine had been based on a separate cylinders format, but, along with the increase of capacity to 594 cc, Abarth decided to reconfigure it, with the two cast iron barrels conjoined.  Thus there was provision for further enlargement and with potential additional power outputs for better accommodation of higher operating temperatures.  A reprofiled camshaft and upgraded valve springs figured, along with domed pistons, (facilitating a 9.5:1 compression ratio), while internal polishing for enhanced gas flow and a change of carburettor – to the Solex C28 PBJ – all contributed towards a 27 bhp output.  With weight still around 470 Kg, the 595 could do 0-60mph in 28.3 seconds – though not exactly electrifying, that’s half the time it took the original Fiat 500 to do that.  For the period, the 75 mph top speed was considered more than acceptable for such a diminutive car.  As can be seen in the photograph below, being based on the Fiat 500 D, this 595 still featured the ‘suicide’ door rear hinges.

’63 595 #575584  Courtesy Bonhams Cars

One year on, Abarth’s ongoing quest for incremental performance resulted in the announcement of the 695.  This time the capacity increase was to 689 cc, enabling the delivery of 30 bhp.  At the same time, just in case any prospective buyers might think a mere 3 bhp not much of an increase over the 1^st Series 595, further variants, the 595 SS and 695 SS, were presented.  With a higher compression ratio and a bigger Solex carburettor, the 695 SS deployed 38 bhp.  Able to turn 87 mph flat out, it was worthy of its Super Sport designation – confirmed by an ‘esse-esse’ script badge on the engine deck lid.  A ‘64-made 695 SS is seen below, left, with points to note: Lesmo aluminium wheels; engine deck lid badge is ‘SS’ version; Campione del Mondo badge on the rear quarter panel; rear hinged doors.  Below, right, is a ’64 595 SS, which runs on CMR/Borrani steel wheels.  When auctioned in 2023, the lot description stated that the car has been ‘upgraded’ to 695 SS specification.

Left: ’64 695 SS #0866463  Courtesy Peter Bovyn Fotografie; Right ’64/65 595 SS #785002  Courtesy Iconic Auctioneers

During ’65, Fiat introduced a revised 500, known as the ‘F’ model which was equipped with front hinged doors.  Accordingly, from June of that year, there were 2^nd Series versions of the 595, 695 and 695 SS.  The engine power output of all three models was increased by 2 bhp.  The 595 SS 2^nd Series was rated at 32 bhp.

’66 595 2^nd Series

’65 595 2^nd Series, #0862866  Courtesy RM Sotheby’s

Below is a ’67 595 SS, #1399557, with the engine bay and front trunk interiors shown.

’67 595 SS #1399557  Courtesy RM Sotheby’s

In the mid-sixties, Abarth felt a particular challenge to its 4 cylinder 850/1000 Berlina models’ competitiveness in Touring Car racing.  Consideration was given to converting the 200 series engine’s cylinder head to a twin cam format to facilitate further increased power outputs.  Eventually, however, it was decided to meet the objective by redesigning the single cam head’s combustion chambers and valve gear layout.  The result was the ‘Radiale’ head which enabled improved gas flow and combustion thanks to the combustion chamber form and the orientation of the valves.  Each combustion chamber comprised two overlapping hemispheres, the slightly larger encapsulating the inlet valve, the smaller housing the exhaust valve.  As additional measures of unconventionality, each pair of valves was inclined towards one another and were aligned transversely in relation to the cylinder head.  A similar project was approved for the two cylinder unit.  According to Sotheby’s, five 695s were built with Radiale-headed engines.  One of these was offered for sale in 2024 and is shown below.  The auction catalogue refers to this car as ’65-built, something I have not been able to verify and may be a doubtful attribution given that other sources do not date the two cylinder Radiale project prior to ’68, though Alfred Cosentino’s Abarth Guide includes a picture of a Radiale-head engine with a ’67 date attribution!

695 with Radiale head engine  Courtesy RM Sotheby’s

 

The two cylinder version of the Radiale head was a successful project for Abarth’s engines designer Luciano Fochi in terms of meeting the company’s power increase objective.  Its completion was not, however, as swift as Carlo would have desired.  Some of this no doubt stemmed from the difficulty in balancing the new basic elements – valve gear, manifold, twin choke 45 mm Weber carburettor and uprated cooling system – and this demanded prolonged and intensive testing/experimentation.  In consequence, it was not FIA homologated until mid-’71, meaning that the benefits of its availability to the racing programme could not be gained until after Abarth had ceased to exist as a marque in its own right. 

In September ’66 the production version of the 695 SS Berlina Corsa 1st Series made its debut.  The model is often tagged as 695 SS Assetto Corsa, (race trim), but the factory itself did not use the term, though there is sometimes reference to it being a ‘Competizione’ version.  It certainly was a car worthy of track use, with 42 bhp being delivered by the 689 cc engine.  A slightly more powerful 2^nd Series appeared in January ’68. 

Culmination of the development programme came in January ‘70 with the 695 SS Berlina Corsa 3^rd Series, a 45 bhp, 90 mph rocket.  Performance had this time been improved by incorporating a separate cylinder head intake channel for each cylinder   The car was priced at Lit 900,000 at launch.  The example seen below was sold by Bonhams in 2023 for €42,550.  The auction lot description states that 100 of these were made and that around half that number have survived.  It also notes that the car has a modified-in-period engine rated at 48 bhp.

’70 695 SS Berlina Corsa 3^rd Series #2497485  Courtesy Bonhams Cars

On the car in the factory PR image below, the wheelarches (polyester) and lower side areas were finished, distinctively, in red:

Courtesy Registro Fiat Italiano

The 695 SS Berlina Corsa 3^rd Series Tipo 206-A/D engine was fed by a Solex 34 PBIC carburettor and had a 10.5:1 compression ratio.  The car’s weight, at 480 Kg, was only very slightly heavier than the first version of the 695.

The 500, 595 and 695 scored many victories, attracting win bonus payments from Fiat in the years ’60-’71 – a total of 528.  Things began to really pick up in ’64 after the advent of the 595 and 695 models.  An early landmark was Franco Patria’s taking of the Jolly Club Trophy (600 cc class) at Monza in March ’64.  An important win came at the end of that season when a 595 headed the 600 cc class at the Monza Coppa F.I.S.A.  ’65 saw Leo Durst become Italian Touring Car Champion in the 600 cc class driving a 695.  The same feat was achieved in ’66, this time with Raffaele Pinto at the wheel, while Maurizio Zanetti took the 700 cc class in a 695.  Pinto was also victorious at Monza in the Touring class of the F.I.S.A. cup at Monza.  The ’67 Italian Touring Car Champions were again Abarth drivers, Marco Magri (595) in the 600 cc class, and Giovanni Brancadori (695) in the 700 cc class.

The 600 cc class of the Italian Touring Car Championship of ’68 was once again won by an Abarth 595 driver, this time Piergiorgio Poggi.  Expectations for the season were boosted by internal talk about the possibility of a Radiale head for the two cylinder engine, but, as mentioned above, this enhancement would not be homologated until ’71.  In March ’69, Abarth apparently demonstrated ongoing superiority at Vallelunga where 695s were 1-2-3 in the 700 cc class and Raimondo De Sanctis was the 600 cc class winner.  At the end of the season Abarth saw victory in the Touring Trophy once more – Piergiogio Poggi in the 600 cc class and Liberatore Cestra in the 700 cc class. 

The ’70 season opened with Abarth 595 and 695 class wins in the European Touring Car Championship round at Monza, so ‘business as usual.’  That was further confirmed by good performances on the hillclimb courses, where both 595s and 695s remained capable of class victory.  Renato Mazzeschi and Santo Famaso finished the season as Italian Touring Car Champions in their 595 and 695, respectively.  However, as an indication of what was to happen the following year, Abarth set up a new race department away from Corso Marche and under the care of Vincenzo Osella. 

’71, Abarth’s swansong year saw customary hillclimbing success with both 595s and 695s recording wins.  But as the season progressed past the midpoint, the in-house Abarth race operation was wound down and cars/parts/equipment was progressively relocated to the Osella workshop.  In its final guise as the Abarth factory team and as reconstituted at Osella, concentration was on the SE-designation sports racing cars, with a drop-off of focus on the 595/695/850 TC/1000 TC Touring cars.

A few years back I found myself attracted to the current ‘Abarth’ 595 and 695 models.  By today’s standards they are not unnecessarily big, have distinctive styling/a funky interior and a choice of engines offering good performance.  But a test drive soon deterred me, despite the aesthetically pleasing interior, some not over-suppressed exhaust noises and good nimbleness at slower speeds.  The original 595/695 models were designed on a customer centric basis and with a sports enthusiast/race driver in mind.  For such a person now the contemporary versions do not fit the bill.  My biggest concern was about how the seating position/ride height feels – I can best describe my unease in these cars as I sense that I’m sitting on the car rather than within it as you do in those cars where the machine feels as though it’s a seamless extension of your own body.  I have tried another this year, this time with the Sabelt optional seats, and the non-integrated sensation remains.  Performance of the Competizione is good – 0-60 mph in 6.5 seconds, but how much better could it be if the car’s kerb weight was less than its 1170 Kg – the sixties versions weighed in at less than half that!  And the engine that generates the 180 bhp involved is a three cylinder 1.4 turbocharged unit driving through a 5 speed (surely 6 ratios would be expected in a car of this type) gearbox  - a configuration that you know will not be delivering much in the way of really sweet drivability, linear power flow and pleasing noises, (though the Monza exhaust option would be worth having).  So I say that here’s another example of ‘progress’ that takes us backward and that less is more!

Short and Sweet - The TVR Grantura

 

Trevor Wilkinson built the first Morris-based, Ford side valve engined TVR in 1949.  Second and third development vehicles were completed early in the new, following decade, driven in motorsport events by Wilkinson himself.  By ’54 a further development, named as ‘TVR Sports Saloon,’ was marketed in kit form.  The TVR-designed/built chassis which underpinned these early cars was a significantly upgraded partial spaceframe affair.  This attracted the attention of an American racer, Ray Saidel, who enquired if TVR could supply a chassis with a Coventry Climax FWA engine.  The answer was ‘yes,’ and the rolling chassis was duly delivered the following year.  Saidel organised the fabrication of a lightweight (alloy) body and named the resulting car, ‘Jomar II.’  As Saidel swiftly ordered two more examples, Wilkinson became sanguine about the potential of his business and relocated it to premises more suited to vehicle production and took on additional employees to support an increase in volume.  At this point, ’57-‘58, some interim cars emerged, clothed for the first time with TVR-designed bodies mounted on ‘Jomar’ chassis.  Initially a spider, there was soon a coupe in addition.  Saidel further developed advocacy for Wilkinson’s products and began to order more cars, adopting the role of importer for the U.S.  Responding to Saidel’s activities and ideas about what would sell best in the U.S., Wilkinson came up with an evolution of the Jomar Coupe which was marketed by Saidel as the Jomar GT Coupe, but named Grantura as available in the U.K.  This car was fundamental to TVR’s establishment as a manufacturer of substance and one with appropriate focus on meeting the desires of its customers by offering bodies in either aluminium or glass-fibre and a choice of six differing engine options.

Despite Saidel’s enthusiasm and efforts, sales failed to really take off in the U.S. and ’58 for a while looked likely to see the business’s collapse into bankruptcy.  However, a reorganisation and renaming – to Layton Sports Cars Ltd -  was implemented and a delicate viability was in place as ’59 dawned.  Nevertheless, inadequate distribution arrangements, poor production capacity and lax general management led to another crisis later in the year.  Fortunately, the problems were well-addressed by the arrival from Rolls Royce of John Thurner, who quickly effected a major change in culture and working practices.  The personality that enabled Thurner to do this made him someone Wilkinson could not get along with and their awkward relationship was the beginning of Wilkinson’s alienation, leading two years later to his departure.  Thus, in the early stages of the Grantura's production run, it often seemed likely that it would not be a very long-lived one.  The Mk.1 had problems, notably ride quality, but it was light, (711 Kg quoted by the factory, though other sources often suggest 660 Kg), and quick, so there were plenty of orders – too many in fact, given the factory’s productivity.  Over the course of ’58 and ’59, only 100 Granturas were built, the first bearing chassis #101.  The earliest survivor of which I have a photograph is #7/FS/112, seen below.

#7/FS/112  Courtesy Classic.Com

This is a ’58 car.  It was offered in the Historics 1^st September 2012 Brooklands Museum sale with an estimate of £14-18,000 but was not bid to the reserve value.  It was originally equipped with the 1172 cc Ford side valve engine, capable of 36 bhp, (or 56 bhp supercharged).  The good handling of the Grantura was from the outset largely due to the incorporation of independent suspension on both the front and rear axles.  Specification – with the MGA engine option – was summarised:

Such a car – though with the slightly larger 1622 cc MGA engine - was the next Grantura produced, #7/B/113. 59.  This was entered in the H & H auction, Duxford, October ’24 with an estimate of £18-22,000 but did not sell.  H & H’s lot details include: ‘Thought to have begun life as a race car, the two-seater sports an early front disc upgrade and was seemingly not registered for road use until 1975.’

#7/B/113  Courtesy H & H

Just five chassis numbers on, #7/C/118 was a Coventry Climax-engined car, sold in recent times for £29, 950.  The Climax FW (‘Featherweight’) engine had originated as an alloy fire-pump unit in ’51 and was subsequently developed for automotive applications.  First seen in ’53, with a 1098 cc capacity, the FWA’s 75 bhp was highly attractive to racing and sports car constructors.  Colin Chapman was very keen on the Climax engine and in ‘58 specified it in 72 bhp, 1216 cc form, designated FWE, for his Lotus Elite project.  Coventry Climax agreed to make a small number of units available to TVR for original equipment use in the Grantura.  The FWE engine installation (in #7/C/238) is seen below:

FWE (#7/C/238) Courtesy Pendine

#7/C/118  Courtesy Race Cars Direct

Detail bonnet differences are noticeable across these three early cars – whilst all three feature a wide horizontal intake aperture below the bumper line, #112 and #113 have a similar, though less wide opening between the bumper line and the lower edge of the headlamp fairing.  The indicator lamps are mounted above and at either end of this aperture, whereas they are just below the headlamp units on #113 and #118.  Only #113 has bumpers – of the quarter type.  Also of note is the TVR Grantura script badge (see below) on the lower right hand side of the rear panel, and the fuel filler cap on the right hand rear wing on #113.  The filler on #118 is central and just below the lower rear window aperture edge.

Courtesy Simon GP Geoghegan

Some Mk.1s wear a ‘TVR’ badge mounted centrally in line with the top of the headlamp units.  It is as seen below, chassis # unknown:

Courtesy Car & Classic

Views of the same car seen below show, left, the position of the front badge, above the number plate, and, right, the low hinge location for the bonnet.

Courtesy Car & Classic

The last Mk.1 survivor of which I have a recent image is said to have been originally Climax-engined, but subsequently fitted with an 1850 cc B Series unit as used in the MGB and Triumph Dolomite.  In recent times no chassis number could be found on the vehicle – UK licencing authority has issued a VIN: DVLASWA3972003803   The car was offered at a price of £22,695.

Courtesy AmoreAutos

The most noticeable revised external feature of the Mk.2 Grantura was the car’s rear end, incorporating relocated lamp units, mounted on the rear face of vestigial fins, as can be seen in the photographs below, the Mk1 on the left, the Mk.2 right:

Courtesy H & H; Iconicauctioneers

At the front of the car, the indicators were relocated from the headlamps level to the outer ends of the intake aperture:

Courtesy AmoreAutos; Car&Classic

Engine options for the Mk.2 included: Coventry Climax 1216 cc FWE, B Series 1850 cc (MGB), B Series 1489 cc/1588 cc (MGA) and Ford 100E (supercharged) – soon superseded by the 105E 997 cc unit.  The Climax engine enabled a 0-60 mph time of 10.8 secs, whereas 12 secs was the comparison time for an MGA-engined Grantura. 

Having been initially preoccupied with the required organisational changes when he had first arrived at TVR, John Thurner found time to design/specify some detail chassis improvements for the MK.2’s chassis in early ‘61, including a Triumph steering rack, (although some sources suggest that the Ford-sourced worm/peg box was also sometimes installed until the advent of the Grantura Mk.3), and the introduction of Girling front brake discs – cars thus equipped being designated Mk.2A.  An example of a Mk.2A is seen below – it was, in October 2024, offered for sale on Racecarsdirect.com for £55,000.  It is a competition car now MGA engine-powered and with FIA Historics papers:

Courtesy Racecarsdirect.com

The kit to assemble a Mk.2A Grantura was priced at £1,045, whereas a factory-built car was £1,544.  Production of this model continued through to late summer ’62, (by when sales of Mk.2/2As amounted to around 400), and included some competition versions, including four lightweights. 

The Mk.3 Grantura was introduced in September ’62.  Significantly, TVR’s founder, Trevor Wilkinson, left the business at this juncture, whilst the new car further reflected the influence of Thurner since he had designed a fully revised, slightly longer wheelbase chassis.  This was an improvement over the Mk.2/2A in many respects, especially in terms of structural integrity and suspension characteristics.  However, whilst Thurner’s technical focus had resulted in this major product enhancement, organisational performance had suffered, resulting in poor productivity and limping cashflow.  Thus, while on product attractiveness grounds the Mk.3 should have sold even better than the Mk.2/2A, output was less than 100 units, (some say only 60).

#8/564 is a ’63 example of a Mk.3, seen below:

#8/564 Courtesy 63grantura (BaT)

This car had the fairly common option of the 1622 cc MGA engine.  Its chassis number plate is branded with ‘Grantura Plastics Ltd’  Blackpool.  This reflects the vulnerability of the company’s finances at the time, leading to sub-businesses being created to insulate the company accounts.  Aside from accounting documentation, ‘Grantura Plastics’ and ‘Grantura Engineering’ were one and the same thing  The car was in Ohio, U.S. in ’19 when it was offered on Bring a Trailer, failing to sell with a highest bid of $17,000. 

In November ’65 the company was bought by Arthur Lilley.  He and his son, Martin, sought to run the business more profitably – with mixed success – renaming it ‘TVR Engineering’ and implementing a progressive programme of new model introductions and design/quality developments.  However, their initial focus was on the Mk.3 Grantura, which remained in production until ’67.  It was successively redesignated, Mk.3-1800, Mk.3-1800S, with about 128 made in total, (though an alternative count suggests 150).  The 1800 appeared in ’64, powered by the 95 bhp B Series engine used in the MGB.  The 1800S was most obviously differentiated externally by a new truncated tail which featured Ford Cortina rear lamp units and a bigger rear window. 

The 1800S’s interior and trim – including a wood-face dashboard - was further revised in ’66 to become a Mk.4 Grantura.  This final version, made also in ’67, is said to have had a ‘slightly longer’ wheelbase, but I have been unable to find mention of a specific metric for this.  This may be accounted for as a simple misunderstanding – the Mk.3 had featured a wheelbase of 2172 mm, whereas the original model’s was 2121 mm.  Where the Mk.4 differed in longitudinal dimension terms was in its overall length – 3594 mm against the Mk.3’s 3505 mm.

Mk.4 #18/001 Courtesy Motoriginals

Mk.4 #18/050 Courtesy Criley (BaT)

As with most car manufacturers, especially in regard to operations prior to the introduction of Enterprise Management Systems, errors/uncertainties/variations are evident in the figures cited by TVR as production volumes of the various Grantura model variants.  Given its access to close-to-source data, the TVR Car Club’s summary provides a very good guideline: Mk.I - approx 100; Mk.2 - approx 400; Mk.3 - approx 60; 1800 – 30; 1800S – 128; Mk4 – 78; Total: 796.

 

The Grantura story comes full circle in the sense that it was American, Ray Saidel, who provided the initial impetus for the model’s establishment and development.  It was his compatriot, Jack Griffith, who created its spiritual successor, the Griffth Series 200 – followed by the Griffith 400, and, finally, the Griffith 600.  Meanwhile, back in North West England, TVR launched the Grantura’s replacement later in ’67, naming it the Vixen.

Left to right, Series 200, Courtesy Bonhams; Series 400, Courtesy Historics Auctioneers; Series 600, Courtesy Bonhams

TVR Vixen Series 1 Courtesy Robert Knight (Flikr)