Formula One engine constructors – the C292 sought to address that car’s problems.
Sauber engineers developed the old M291 flat-12 to deliver 690bhp at 12,600rpm and increased downforce with an extended nose and doubledecker rear wing with huge end-plates.
The C292’s advanced engine management system, created at TAG Electronics by Dr Udo Zucker, the ‘father of Bosch Motronic’, was capable of delivering five million data bits per second, a record at the time.
Although Sauber built 50 engines in preparation for the 1992 season, Mercedes took the decision to pull out of the championship and concentrate on Formula One instead. The result was that the C292 was never even fitted with its new flat-12, let alone tested.
Vollstedt-ford
‘This Indycar brought wings to Formula One,’ declared Lisa Mckinney, co-owner of the ex-jim Clark Vollstedt-ford. ‘It was wrecked in 1972. We found it in a Washington machine shop in 2006 and we’ve restored it over the last six years. Al Unser had its engine and we tracked down its suspension components all over the US – that’s because following the 1972 crash its undamaged parts were traded to pay off debts. ‘Vollstedt was a small team based in Portland, Oregon, and had entered its car in the 1967 Rex Mays 300 at Riverside but its normal driver couldn’t make the race. Firestone, Vollstedt’s tyre supplier, knew Clark was on vacation in the Caribbean at the time, so flew him up to California.
‘He qualified second to Dan Gurney’s Eagle and battled with him, even briefly leading the race before retiring with a dropped valve on lap 25.
‘Colin Chapman took an interest in the car. He was developing the Lotus 49 at the time and the cars are very similar – Chapman adapted its aerodynamic wings for the 49, which was of course the first car with the Cosworth DFV, a Ford-based engine like the Vollstedt’s. It was the only nonlotus single-seater Clark ever raced.’
Ford C100
‘This was a very promising Group C car before the Porsche 956 arrived,’ said Calum Lockie of the Ford C100 he was driving on its historic debut. ‘Only five were made, all in 1982, with Cosworth DFLS, and this one – a Zakspeed-run car – was inadvertently responsible for getting the project cancelled.
‘It was very quick – it even qualified fourth at Le Mans – but had several electrical reliability issues. Tony Southgate was brought in to fix it and made them two and a half seconds faster round the Le Mans circuit in the process.
‘After the debut of the 956 Stuart Turner asked Zakspeed boss Erich Zakowski “Can we win?” Zakowski jokingly said no, but Turner didn’t get the joke and cancelled the whole project £680,000-worth - there and then.
‘Zakspeed bought this car in 1983 and installed a 1.8-litre turbo engine from its Capri, winning some German Interserie races but nothing significant. So many promising Group C cars had their careers blown away by the Porsche 956.’
MG Metro 8R4
Over on the rally stage, the Metro 8R4 – MG’S answer to the Peugeot 405 T16 and Audi’s Pikes Peak Sport quattro – was making its Goodwood debut. Unseen for 20 years after being consigned to Spanish rally driver Patxi Arbelaiz’s private collection, it was returned to the UK by Mark Donaldson in 2014 and restored to rally-ready specification for Tim Bendle.
In 1988 TVR engine builder John Eales fitted 4.2-litre Rover V8s to a team of 6R4s for Toleman to campaign in the Paris-dakar Rally. This car was a further evolution, with a 350bhp 4.8-litre engine built for Arbelaiz to campaign in the Spanish Gravel Rally Championship. It finished 10th in 1988, then sixth from 1989 to 1991.
After a serious accident in 1992 it was reshelled with a new cooling scoop in the roof. It only took part in selective rallies after that, finishing third on the 1994 Rally de Zaragoza.