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Unipower GT
The Unipower GT is a British specialist sports car that debuted at the January 1966 Racing Car Show. It uses the powertrain from the BMC Mini mounted amidships. Production lasted until the end of 1969. History Early development Ernie Unger worked at Lotus in 1954 and 1955 as a mechanic and racing car preparer, then entered the student-apprenticeship program with the Rootes Group, eventually becoming a development engineer on the Hillman Imp. His racing involvement included a stint as team manager for Elva. Inspired by the sophisticated engineering and body development of the Italian Abarths, Unger produced sketches for a car meant to combine these qualities with the excellent vehicle dynamics of the best contemporary British sportscars. During the car's gestation, Unger moved from Rootes to Ford, where he was involved in development of the Ford Cortina. At Goodwood in 1963 Unger and Valerian Dare-Bryan talked about their shared views on car design. Dare-Bryan was a free-l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Power Drives
Universal Power Drives was a British truck manufacturer which branded its trucks with the ''Unipower'' marque. History ''Universal Power Drives'' was founded in 1934 with a factory in Perivale and its head office in Aldwych, London. During the 1930s, 40s and 50s it specialised in producing 4x4 forestry logging trucks. In 1972 it launched the 4x4 Unipower Invader suited to fire-fighting and construction use. Todd Motors in New Zealand produced the TS3 Commer Truck, in the early 1970s, with a Unipower tandem drive assembly as a factory option. In January 1966 they exhibited a sports car, the Unipower GT at the Racing Car Show. Another car they produced was the Quasar-Unipower which was built in 1967 and 1968. In 1977 the company was acquired by Caterpillar Inc and production was moved to Thames Ditton, Surrey. In 1988 the company started a new enterprise in Watford to provide continuity of support for Scammell trucks following the closure of the Leyland DAF (formerly Bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Cortina
The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s. The Cortina was produced in five generations (Mark I through to Mark V, although officially the last one was only the Cortina 80 facelift of the Mk IV) from 1962 until 1982. From 1970 onward, it was almost identical to the German-market Ford Taunus (being built on the same platform), which was originally a different car model. This was part of Ford's attempt to unify its European operations. By 1976, when the revised Taunus was launched, the Cortina was identical. The new Taunus/Cortina used the doors and some panels from the 1970 Taunus. It was replaced in 1982 by the Ford Sierra. In Asia and Australasia, it was replaced by the Mazda 626-based Ford Telstar, though Ford New Zealand did import British-made complete knock-down kits of the Sierra estate for local assembly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiat 850
The Fiat 850 (''Tipo 100G'') is a small rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive car manufactured and marketed by Italian car manufacturer Fiat from 1964 to 1973. History Overview Its technical design was an evolution of the successful Fiat 600. The internal name for the Fiat 600 development project was "Project 100" and consequently, the internal Fiat codename for the 850 project was 100G (G was a follow on of model designations for the 600 which ran from A to F). The engine of the 850 was based on that of the Fiat 600, but had its capacity increased to 843 cc. The 850 came in two versions: "normale" (standard) with and engine code 100G.000 and "super" with and engine code 100G.002. The maximum speed was approximately . While it was not a large step forward in technical development, it possessed a certain charm with its large rolling eyes and its short tail, in which the engine sat. Variants The 850 family included several body styles sharing core technical components: * ''Fiat 850 Speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AC 3000ME
The AC 3000ME is a mid-engined sports car originally sold by AC Cars. The two-door coupé debuted at the 1973 London Motor Show. Sales did not begin until 1979 and lasted until 1984. Rights to the 3000ME and tooling were transferred to a second company who managed to produce a small number of additional cars before going into receivership themselves in mid-1985. A third company acquired the rights to the car with plans to begin selling a revised version under a different name, but only a single prototype was ever produced. History Origin The AC 3000ME was based on a prototype called the Diablo built by the ''Bohanna Stables'' company and shown at the London Racing Car Show in 1972. Peter Bohanna was an automotive body structures engineer. His experience included working with fibreglass structures as a boat engineer and a stint with Ford's Advanced Vehicle Operations in the UK doing bodywork for the Ford GT40. In late 1967 Bohanna was at Lola cars working on the T70, where he me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of competition and has been described as "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship". In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961 Moss finished as championship runner-up four times and in third place another three times. Early life Moss was born in London, son of Alfred Moss, a dentist of Bray, Berkshire, and Aileen (née Craufurd). His grandfather was Jewish, from a family that changed their surname from Moses to Moss. He was brought up at ''Long White Cloud'' house on the south bank of the River Thames. His father was an amateur racing driver who had come 16th in the 1924 Indianapolis 500. Aileen Moss had also been involved in motorsport, entering prewar hillclimbs at the wheel of a Singer Nine. Stirling was a gifted horse rider ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José Rosinski
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacular form of Joseph, which is also in current usage as a given name. José is also commonly used as part of masculine name composites, such as José Manuel, José Maria or Antonio José, and also in female name composites like Maria José or Marie-José. The feminine written form is ''Josée'' as in French. In Netherlandic Dutch, however, ''José'' is a feminine given name and is pronounced ; it may occur as part of name composites like Marie-José or as a feminine first name in its own right; it can also be short for the name ''Josina'' and even a Dutch hypocorism of the name ''Johanna''. In England, Jose is originally a Romano-Celtic surname, and people with this family name can usually be found in, or traced to, the English county of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sport Auto (France)
''Sport-Auto'' is a leading French automobile magazine. The magazine specializes in sport and luxury cars. History and profile The magazine appeared first in 1962. It is part of and published by Editions Mondadori Axel Springer (EMAS), a joint company of the Mondadori France publishing group and Axel Springer France on a monthly basis. EMAS acquired the magazine in 2009. The headquarters of the monthly is in Paris. Jean Lucas and Gérard "Jabby" Crombac were its chief editors from 1962 to 1989. One of its directors was Jose Rosinski who co-founded the magazine. In 1973, Gérard Crombac, Thierry Lalande, Luc Melua and Jean-Louis Moncet Jean-Louis Moncet (born 30 July 1945, in Rabat, Morocco) is a French motorsports journalist. He is mostly known for his work on Grand Prix racing for French television and magazines. Newspapers and magazines career In 1969, he joined the French ..., journalists to the magazine, set up a kit "fun sport car" in a week-end for a low cost and got ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Powell
Tim Powell (born 14 April 1968) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond and Carlton in the Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ... (AFL). Powell, originally from Berrigan, was used up forward and on the half back flanks while at Richmond. He kicked 17 goals in 1989 and early the following season had two 'Best on ground' performances which were later awarded acknowledged in the Brownlow Medal count. Before the 1993 season he was traded to Carlton for pick 28 in the draft and in his first year at his new club lined on the half forward flank in their 1993 Grand Final loss to Essendon. References * *Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alec Issigonis
Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis (18 November 1906 – 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, and voted the second Car of the Century, most influential car of the 20th century in 1999. Early life and education Issigonis was born on 18 November 1906 in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman port city of Smyrna, the only child of Constantine Issigonis and Hulda Prokopp. His paternal grandfather, Demosthenis, had migrated to Smyrna from the Greek island of Paros in the 1830s and Constantine was a successful and wealthy shipbuilding engineer. His maternal ancestors originated in the Kingdom of Württemberg. It was through his mother's kinships that Issigonis was a first cousin once removed to BMW and Volkswagen director Bernd Pischetsrieder. As British subjects - his father having naturalised whilst studying engineering in London in 1897 - Issigonis and his parents were evacuated t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car commissioned by the Ford Motor Company. It grew out of the "Ford GT" (for Grand Touring) project, an effort to compete in European long-distance sports car races, against Ferrari, which won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race from 1960 to 1965. Ford succeeded with the GT40, winning the 1966 through 1969 races. The effort began in the early 1960s when Ford Advanced Vehicles began to build the GT40 Mk I, based upon the Lola Mk6, at their base in Slough, UK. After disappointing race results, the engineering team was moved in 1964 to Dearborn, Michigan (Kar Kraft). The range was powered by a series of American-built Ford V8 engines modified for racing. In 1966, the GT40 Mk II broke Ferrari's streak at Le Mans, notching the first win for an American manufacturer in a major European race since Jimmy Murphy's triumph with Duesenberg at the 1921 French Grand Prix. In 1967, the Mk IV became the only car designed and built ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Pierpoint
Roy Pierpoint (15 May 1929 – 12 January 2023) was a British racing driver who drove in saloons and sports cars. Racing career His first race was in 1949, at a BARC meeting driving a Fiat 1100 special, which he built himself: "very neat was Pierpont's (sic) F.I.A.T. 1,100 with aerodynamic but not all-enveloping bodywork, two Amal carburetters, a neat silencer in its straight exhaust pipe and an oil-cooler ahead of the main radiator." He finished seventh in a 3-lap handicap. Pierpoint raced very little after that until 1961. In 1962 he drove in several events including the BRDC Trophy at Silverstone, the Guards Trophy and the Brands Six Hour Race where he finished third in his class alongside Bruce Halford. Also that year, he achieved some success at Hill Climb events. He continued in sports car racing in 1963 and 1964, again in the Guards Trophy. In 1968 he was in the Nürburgring 1000 km race in a Ford GT40, but did not finish. He competed in 1968 and 1969 at Denmark's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sports Car Racing
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing, alongside open-wheel single-seater racing (such as Formula One), touring car racing (such as the British Touring Car Championship, which is based on 'saloon cars' as opposed to the 'exotics' seen in sports cars) and stock car racing (such as NASCAR). Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over relatively large distances, and there is usually a larger emphasis placed on the reliability and efficiency of the car as opposed to outright speed of the driver. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of a sports car racing series. A type of hybrid between the purism of open-wheelers and the familiarity of touring car racing, this style is often associate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
