The Matra MS9 was a Formula One car used by the

Matra International The Tyrrell Racing Organisation was an auto racing team and Formula One constructor founded by Ken Tyrrell (1924–2001) which started racing in 1958 and started building its own cars in 1970. The team experienced its greatest success in the e ...

team during the

1968 Formula One season The 1968 Formula One season was the 22nd season of the FIA's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 19th FIA World Championship, which commenced on 1 January, and ended on 3 November after twelve races, and numerous non-championship races. Gra ...

. It only raced once in a world championship race, driven by

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 ...

at the 1968 South African Grand Prix, before being replaced by the

Matra MS10 The Matra MS10 is a Formula One car entered by the Matra International team during the 1968 Formula One season. It, along with its V12-powered sibling MS11, was Matra's first purpose-built F1 car and won three races in 1968, taking Jackie Stewa ...

. At its only outing, it qualified third, but Stewart had to retire due to a connecting rod failure.

Concept

After success with their

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name re ...

programme, Matra had plans to compete in Formula 1 with a car powered by their own

Matra Sports V12 engine The Matra Sports V12 engine is an automotive internal combustion engine for sports car endurance racing and Formula One. It won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times. Characteristics The Matra Sports V12 is a four-stroke, water-cooled all-alumi ...

. However,

Ken Tyrrell Robert Kenneth Tyrrell (3 May 1924 – 25 August 2001) was a British Formula Two racing driver and the founder of the Tyrrell Formula One constructor.Setright, L. J. K. "Tyrrell: A Shrewd Talent-spotter", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Autom ...

, who had run Matras in his own Formula 2 team, persuaded Matra to construct a car powered by the

Cosworth DFV The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. The name is an abbreviation of ''Double Four Valve'', the engine being a V8 development of the earlier four-cylinder FVA, which had fo ...

engine. To develop the concept, a

Matra MS7 The Matra MS7 was a Formula Two racing car built by Matra, which occasionally raced in Formula One as well between and . While only modestly successful in Formula One, the car dominated Formula Two from late 1967 through 1969. Jacky Ickx, Jean-P ...

F2 car was modified to take a DFV, with suspension components taken from the Matra

Group 6 Group 6 may refer to: *Group 6 element, chemical element classification *Group 6 (racing) Group 6 was the official designation applied by the FIA to two motor racing classifications, the Prototype-Sports Car category from 1966 to 1971 and the Two ...

sports car.

Racing history

Despite its role as a development car, the MS9 was entered into the 1968 South African Grand Prix, as the MS10 was deemed to be not ready. Still in its pale green primer coat,

was immediately comfortable with the car and eventually qualified third on the grid behind the

Lotus 49 The Lotus 49 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1967 F1 season. It was designed around the Cosworth DFV engine that would power most of the Formula One grid through the 1970s. It was one of the fi ...

s of Jim Clark and Graham Hill. The intense heat at

Kyalami Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit (from ''Khaya lami'', ''My home'' in Zulu) is a motor racing circuit located in Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa, just north of Johannesburg. The circuit has been used for Grand Prix and Formula One races and has ho ...

led to cooling problems, and the nose-cone off the car was widened to improve airflow. An additional radiator was also fitted at the rear of the car. In the race itself, Stewart beat the Lotuses at the start but was soon overtaken by Clark and then some time later by Hill. Just after half-distance a broken connecting-rod punched through the side of the engine and the new car's race, and its racing career, was over.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ¹ All points scored using the MS7 and MS10 models.

References

{{F1 cars 1968 Matra MS009