Alan Mann Racing was a British

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

team organised by Alan Mann (22 August 1936 – 21 March 2012), who was a part-time racing driver and team manager. The team ran a substantial part of the

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

works racing effort in Europe from 1964 to 1969, when it ceased operations. It was based in

Byfleet Byfleet is a village in Surrey, England. It is located in the far east of the borough of Woking, around east of West Byfleet, from which it is separated by the M25 motorway and the Wey Navigation. The village is of medieval origin. Its winding ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, near the

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

race circuit.

History

Ford Escort Twin Cam - Flickr - exfordy (2)

Alan Mann ran

Ford Zephyr The Ford Zephyr is an executive car manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1950 until 1972. The Zephyr and its luxury variants, the Ford Zodiac and Ford Executive, were the largest passenger cars in the British Ford range from 1950 until their r ...

s and Anglias in 1962 under the entrant of Andrews Garage in British

saloon car A sedan or saloon (British English) is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of the word "sedan" in reference to an automobile body occurred in 19 ...

races. In 1963 he prepared a

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 fi ...

GT under Alan Andrews Racing for Henry Taylor in racing and rallying in a quasi-Ford Team. His team was included to run a Ford Cortina GT in the 3rd running of the Marlboro 12-hour, at

Marlboro Motor Raceway Marlboro Motor Raceway (MMR) is a now-defunct motorsports park located in Prince George's County, just outside Upper Marlboro, Maryland. MMR closed after the 1969 season and local Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) racing moved to the more advanced ...

, US, in August 1963 with the express purpose of winning its class, as

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

was reaping publicity from a string of victories. His Cortina, driven by Henry Taylor and

Jimmy Blumer Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

, came second to another Cortina of John Willment Automobiles driven by

Jack Sears Jack Sears (16 February 1930 – 6 August 2016) was a British race and rally driver, and was one of the principal organisers of the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon. Biography Sears was popularly known as "Gentleman Jack". His son David is a ...

and Bob Olthoff, which won the race overall. This made an impression on John Holman of Holman & Moody, Ford's top racing team in the US, who had already sold Willment a

Ford Galaxie The Ford Galaxie is a full-sized car that was built in the United States by Ford for model years 1959 through to 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford's full-size range from 1958 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the e ...

and this subsequently attracted more of Ford's attention. For 1964 Alan Mann Racing became a Ford factory team. The team ran cars in events as diverse as the

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeast ...

and the Tour de France Automobile to the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

. Shelby won the Over 2000cc Division of the

1965 International Championship for GT Manufacturers The 1965 World Sportscar Championship season was the 13th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from ...

with Cobra Daytona and Cobra roadster models entered by various teams, including Alan Mann Racing. For the big Ford effort to win Le Mans in 1966, Alan Mann Racing developed a lightweight version of the GT40 with a light alloy body and other modifications. Five cars were ordered, but only two were built as the project was abandoned by Ford in favour of the MKII GT40. Alan Mann Racing entered two 7-litre MKII cars for Le Mans in 1966, but despite one of them leading early on in the race, both cars retired. The team's red and gold livery graced various Ford models including GT40, Cortina,

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

, and Escort. The Ford F3L prototype was built and raced by Alan Mann Racing. Some of the best drivers of the period from

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

and Sir

Jackie Stewart Sir John Young Stewart (born 11 June 1939), known as Jackie Stewart, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Cha ...

to Sir John Whitmore and Frank Gardner raced for the team, which achieved substantial successes in many different forms of the sport.

Film work

AMR also was involved in film and TV work. The company built the original

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 musical-fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes with a screenplay co-written by Roald Dahl and Hughes, loosely based on Ian Fleming's novel '' Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car'' (1964). The film stars ...

s for the film of the same name, the most famous example being the one registered as Gen 11. Work was also done for the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film Goldfinger, work for the aborted

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

F1 film ' Day of the Champion', as well as pre-production work for McQueen's film

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

. They also built three cars with 'futuristic' appearance, based on

running gear and aluminium

gullwing door In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, first as a race car in 1952 ( W194), and then a ...

bodyshells, for

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

and the 1969 film '

Doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

'. These were re-painted and re-used for the much better known

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

TV series of 1970. The cars were infamously unfinished, underpowered and unreliable. Ed Straker's car was later owned by DJ

Dave Lee Travis David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter. Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...

, who hated it. Little survives of these cars, except for enough remains to build a modern replica.

Major victories

* 1964 Tour de France Automobile, Touring Division – won by

Peter Procter Peter Roderick Procter (born 16 January 1930 in Bradford, West Yorkshire) is a British former cycling champion, rally driver and racing driver. Shortly after his birth he moved to Harrogate, and then to Alne Hall in the village of Alne, near York ...

and

Andrew Cowan Andrew Cowan (13 December 1936 – 15 October 2019) was a Scottish rally driver, and the founder and senior director of Mitsubishi Ralliart until his retirement on 30 November 2005. Early years Cowan was raised in Duns, a small town in the S ...

in a

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

entered by AMR *

, Over 2000cc Division – won by Shelby, with cars entered by various teams including AMR * 1965 European Touring Car Challenge – won by Sir John Whitmore in a

Ford Cortina Lotus Lotus Cortina is the commonly used term for the Ford Cortina Lotus, a high-performance sports saloon, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, which was based on th ...

entered by AMR * 1967 British Saloon Car Championship – won by Frank Gardner in a

Ford Falcon Sprint The Ford Falcon is a model line of cars that was produced by Ford from the 1960 to 1970 model years. The first compact car marketed by the American Big Three automobile manufacturers (though antedated by the Rambler American), the Falcon was t ...

entered by AMR * 1968 British Saloon Car Championship – won by Frank Gardner in a

and a Ford Escort Twin Cam entered by AMR The team was resurrected in 2004 by Alan Mann, and is active in historic racing - featuring in such events as the

Silverstone Classic The Silverstone Classic is an annual three-day car and race event at the Silverstone Circuit, home of the British Grand Prix. The event features hundreds of historic race cars in circa 20 races over the weekend, displays from over 100 car clubs w ...

, the

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in l ...

, the

Goodwood Revival The Goodwood Revival is a three-day festival held each September at Goodwood Circuit since 1998 for the types of racing cars and motorcycles that would have competed during the circuit's original period—1948–1966. History The first Revival t ...

and regular appearances on the Masters Historic Pre-1966 Touring Cars competition.

References

*''Gentleman Jack: The Official Biography of Jack Sears'', Graham Gauld, {{ISBN, 978-1-84584-151-5 *

Denis Jenkinson Denis Sargent Jenkinson (11 December 1920 – 29 November 1996), "Jenks" or "DSJ" as he was known in the pages of ''Motor Sport'', was a British journalist deeply involved in motorsports. As Continental Correspondent of the UK-based ''Motor Spo ...

, ''

Motor Sport ''Motor Sport'' is a monthly motor racing magazine, founded in the United Kingdom in 1924 as the ''Brooklands Gazette''. The name was changed to ''Motor Sport'' for the August 1925 issue. The magazine covers motor sport in general, although from ...

'', March 1968, p. 170.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20100204204940/http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jong/Races/1963%20Marlboro.html *http://www.pixelmatic.com.au/cortina/articles/whitmore.htm British auto racing teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams

History

Film work

Major victories

See also

References

External links