group racing developments
cameraderie
lotus components ltd .
reorganized as
lotus racing
in 1971, but the company soon failed anyway. group racing developments rose from the ashes of lotus racing and took a phoenix as their symbol .
the car is currently under restoration to group lb specifications in its early 1960’s configuration since 2014 .
group racing developments ltd. was publicly announced in september as a racing - car manufacturer in their own right. the parent company was grd, run mainly by jo marquart and former lotus racing development engineer derek wild, and is the manufacturing division. grs, run by huckle, was to continue but as a service facility for grd while there was also a sales concessionaire by the name of reystan racing which was managed by speedshop owner john stanton and his partner john reynolds .
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thus, when one studies the badge of grd (group racing developments), one notices it features a phoenix rising out of the ashes. the ashes are those of lotus racing and the great majority of grd' s employees previously worked at hethel. soon after the closure of lotus racing there were murmurs of a new firm being formed and these gathered strength when one of warner' s lieutenants, gordon huckle, announced the formation of a firm called group racing services to service and maintain racing cars. every few weeks came another announcement that an - ex - lotus man had joined the firm and something was definitely brewing when former mclaren designer. jo marquart moved in, followed smartly by lotus racing designer dave baldwin. in fact baldwin has since returned to hethel and now works for team lotus .
bmw group ceo norbert reithofer pictured at a press conference convened on short notice in munich, germany, 29 july 2009. bavarian automaker bmw will withdraw from the formula one at the end of the ongoing season. the decision is not based on the current developments and lack of success of the bmw sauber team but on the company? s strategic realignment. photo: andreas gebert
g. r. d. cast magnesium wheels with avon 13
racing slicks (9x20 front, 13x23 rear) .
i don’t want to make money out of racing. i’d sooner have a winning car and a good car at that
comment on the racing and club scene world motor sport tour last month we gave readers brief details of the around the world tour being offered exclusively to motor sport readers by worldmark ...
recently completed dual point conversion and re - curve of bosch distributor for use on group lb historic mg - based special. distributor has advance curve tailored to engine, circa 50 degrees dwell and consistent dwell behaviour beyond 7000 crank rpm. some details of the car and pictures of completed distributor below. vehicle is based in south australia .
last summer saw a surprise turn at lotus when colin chapman announced the departure from the main board, and from his position as managing director of lotus racing ltd, of mike warner. exactly two years ago motor sport published an article about warner and the subsidiary, then known as lotus components ltd, which told of a happy future for lotus as a manufacturer of customer racing cars. things must have turned sour for, soon after the departure of warner, colin chapman made a policy decision which took the firm completely out of this market. lotus racing ltd, as opposed to the entirely separate team lotus ltd, ceased trading and quite a few employees were left without the job they knew best .
because of the various deal - a - car arrangements already in operation it is rather difficult to tell quite which are the works cars. at the moment andy sutcliffe is the works formula three driver while the scotsman, tom walkinshaw, is retained as the works development test driver. he is racing a grd in formula two as is the japanese tetsu ikuzawa. amongst the better known customers is the frenchman pierre - francois rousselot who did well in a brabham last year and is now racing a griston - based f3 grd with backing from gaulois cigarettes .
jo was a very lovable and helpful person. he helped wherever he could and he knew the racing scene very well. but he talked straight to his drivers: “i prepared the cars for top performance, but what are you doing here? ”. he was always correct and he built cars which were simply good.'
f3 racing was in the doldrums in the uk in 1974 with very small grids so the first major changes to the grd design didn' t really help matters. the chassis / suspension remained basically as before with the changes to the radiator positioning and the new nose being the main modifications. alex ribeiro and pedro passadore had some reasonable runs but the writing was on the wall for grd .
a lightweight frame projects forward from the chassis to support the nose cone. at the front of the tub, a steel subframe provides mounting points for the coilover shock absorbers, for the forward arms of the upper and lower wishbones, and for the steering rack. dual girling master cylinders with adjustable bias bar. easily adjustable
dead pedal
for the driver' s clutch foot. steering rack and brake light switch. amb tranx260 direct wire transponder. ap lockheed four - piston brake caliper. g. r. d. proprietary magnesium front upright. notice that the uprights are interchangeable, left - to - right. g. r. d. proprietary magnesium rear upright. g. r. d.' s own distinctive lightweight cast magnesium wheels. avon 13
racing slicks (9x20 front). avon 13
racing slicks (13x23 rear) .
grd have big plans for the future and are already talking of challenging the big names of racing car production like march, brabham, and lola within the next couple of years. there is no secret in the fact that marquart would like to design another formula one car having played a part in the lotus 49, when he was with team lotus, and later designed the mclaren m14 and the same firm' s 4 - w - d car. grd undoubtedly have the facilities to build such a car .
michael snowdon' s 272 has a lot of canadian history. it was owned by jacques couture (1960' s racer and husband of jim russell' s daughter), and it was also driven by montreal racer dave mcconnell in both the tasman series and in european events after being temporarily reconfigured to formula three requirements. michael bought the car in 2005 and sent it back to england for restoration. peter denty, who worked at g. r. d. throughout the company' s entire run, restored it over the winter and it was ready for north american vintage racing starting in 2006 .
what' s the story with this color scheme? these colors were chosen by jim russell and used both on jim russell racing drivers school' s training cars (from about 1969) and also on racecars they sponsored. both jacques couture and dave mcconnell had jrrds sponsorship. emerson fittipaldi, dave walker, carlos pace and mo harness all drove lotus racecars in this color scheme. when g. r. d. rose from lotus ashes, the color scheme carried over. terry body hold down springs. one of two side pods for the radiators. transco plastic - high performance packaging films - urltoken
the manufacture of racing cars is a fickle business and lately a couple of smaller firms have been in financial difficulties. no details of how grd was floated have been available but there is no doubt that a considerable suns of money was involved. grd are obviously well placed in norfolk for reasonable overheads but with a regular workforce of over thirty to keep fully occupied, the firm needs to have a hefty turn - over and a growing production. several people have predicted that grd will not see the year out but there are always dismal jimmies happy to foresee such failures. at griston confidence seems extremely high and the current expansion would not point to anything but prosperity. it will be interesting to see if grp succeed for if they do they will be a household name before very long. —a. r. m .
the bd series of cosworth / ford b elt - d riven dual overhead cam engines date from 1969. this
bde
engine is the fifth generation of the design. dual weber dcoe carburetors. prepared for competition by david wood, engine number 0032 ignition: 16 o 1500rpm - tappets: inlet. 008 exhaust. 011 - plugs: ag 501. 018 david wood engineering ltd. , 22 queensgate place mews, london, s. w. 7. air intake. the drive gear for the dry sump oil pump and the distributor are on a jackshaft on this side of the engine. the mechanical tachometer is driven from the back end of the righthand camshaft. oil cooler, and the reservoir for the dry sump lubrication system. 50 led rain light. ap lockheed two - piston brake calipers. hewland fg400 5 - speed. custom four into one exhaust headers. ark racing starter motor. stainless steel swirl pot helps deaerate the coolant .
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michael snowdon' s g. r. d. 272 formula 2 racecar, number 86
michael snowdon' s g. r. d. 272 formula two racecar, number 86
g. r. d. griston. norfolk. england. unit no. 272 019 f2 - engine no. (blank) - gearbox no. (blank )
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ford bde (belt drive e - type) 1. 8l dohc 16 - valve inline four cylinder engine. lucas ignition system. dual weber dcoe carburetors. dry sump lubrication system .
double wishbone suspension with outboard coilovers and brakes, and conventional adjustable antisway bar. g. r. d. proprietary magnesium uprights .
dual lower links, single top links, and twin adjustable trailing links. outboard coilover shock absorbers and inboard brakes. adjustable antisway bar. g. r. d. proprietary magnesium uprights .
( master) dual girling master cylinders with bias bar, (front) ap lockheed four piston calipers with vented rotors, (rear) inboard mounted ap lockheed calipers with solid rotors .
( left to right) smiths dual oil pressure (0 - 160psi) and coolant temperature (30 - 120c) gauge, smiths mechanical tachometer (0 - 12000rpm), and smiths oil temperature gauge (90 - 230f) .
willans six point cam - lock safety harness. s. p. a. firefighter aqueous film forming foam (afff) centralized fire suppression system. quick release steering wheel hub. 50 led rain light .
s. p. a .
firefighter
aqueous film forming foam (afff) centralized fire suppression system. (left to right) smiths dual oil pressure (0 - 160psi) and coolant temperature (30 - 120c) gauge, smiths mechanical tachometer (0 - 12000rpm), and smiths oil temperature gauge (90 - 230f) .
all photos shown here are from september 2009 when we viewed the car at the us vintage grand prix at watkins glen. all photos by curtis jacobson and don moyer for britishracecar. com, copyright 2009. all rights reserved .
notice: all the articles and almost all the photos on urltoken are by curtis jacobson. (photos that aren' t by curtis are explicitly credited .) reproduction without prior written permission is prohibited. contact us to purchase images or reproduction permission. higher resolution images are optionally available .
© 2010 www. britishracecar. com™ all rights reserved. website & graphic design by: curtis jacobson
mike warner, himself, was still under contract to lotus and while this barred him from taking an active part in the formation of the new company there seemed little doubt that he was keeping a fatherly eye on his former colleagues. this is still the case and one presumes that it is no coincidence that the premises of grd abut those of a general engineering firm by the name of griston engineering which is owned by warner .
marquart was in the process of designing a rnonocoque single - seater which would have side radiators but otherwise would be basically straightforward and would be available in formula three, formula two and formula b / atlantic trim. also on the drawing board was a 2 - litre sports car, although subsequently this has not been put into the manufacturing stage .
this ambitious firm had premises at the tiny village of griston in norfolk, about equidistant between snetterton circuit and lotus. since the original announcement grd have shown some early promise. over the winter they received something like 25 orders, their prototype formula three car made its debut at the october brands hatch meeting and, with andy sutcliffe at the wheel, the firm started well by winning the first formula three race of 1972 and coming second in the next. the time seemed right to pay a call on the growing concern and investigate their progress .
we were immediately impressed by the modern and spacious workshops and the expansion which is already going on. designer marquart conducted us round the premises but, by necessity, the visit had to be fairly brief as grd were engaged in a test programme at snetterton the same day. the production shop was impressively full of cars in various stages of completion. most will be finished by the time you read this article and by the end of april there should be almost thirty grds on the tracks. the majority will be in the. formula three category and sales have been attracted from not only britain but also japan, brazil, switzerland and italy. there are several formula b cars, one has already raced in the tasman series, while there is just a single formula atlantic but three formula two cars .
it was interesting to note that grd are manufacturing a large portion of the cars themselves. the outer skins of the monocoque chassis are rolled to shape by arch motors but the rest of the tub is completely manufactured at griston. griston engineering itself is a very well equipped machine shop and here all the castings, uprights, racks and so on are machined. all the fabrications, like suspension components and the rear tubular engine frame, are made on the premises and marquart feels that the fewer outside suppliers they deal with, the better final delivery of the cars will be .
on the can - am trail while in north america last month for the canadian and us grands prix i was lucky enough to have a week in between the two world championship races to spend my time as ...
•there is a rather large smell in formula ford at present regarding the tyre situation which all leads back to the comment ln
around and about
back in january. since then every major formula ford ...
travel down kingston - on - thames high street and you will see possibly the oldest established tuning and accessory business in the country—v. w. derrington. look across the road and there is a large ...
if you haven' t got your own lathe by the time you are twelve, and are not a fully competent driver at the age of 16. , you are at a distinct disadvantage
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jo vonlanthen in his grd 273 with ford bda engines. the extended wings were soon to be disallowed .
at the time of huron' s demise jo was approached by andy granatelli and offered a lucrative contract in the us. jo was tempted but, with his desire for freedom in design in a smaller set - up, preferred to stay in the uk and took up the offer from mike warner to join the fledgling company of grd. large salaries were never a motivation for jo .
jörg obermoser, who produced cars himself with the toj make, imported grd into germany. (later to do the same with modus cars). reine wisell pulled off the first victory in nürburgring with the formula 2 grd. not long after marquart developed the 2 litre sportscar s - 272 for export to japan and usa. through his swiss connections jo gained customers with jo vonlanthen and roland salomon .
tony brise drove a grd 372 for the works, replacing roger williamson who moved to formula 1 .
the grd switzerland team with drivers salomon, hahn, vonlanthen, davelaar, basler, stierli, bueb .
however after only a few years there were problems within the company and the cars were losing out to march. due to disputes between jo and mike warner, jo left grd a year or so before its demise .
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i' ve asked a question in the chassis history section about this, but no response so far, so thought maybe i' d do better in here .
don' t know if this is the place to ask, but if one of you chaps with' the force' thinks it should be somewhere else, then feel free to move it .
right, here goes: i' m trying to find out about grd and specifically the 374 model which, as some of you will already know, is a formula 3 car from 1974 .
i' ve got the chance to buy one that needs some work, and i must admit to being tempted - but the thing is, having only raced production based cars up to now, i know little about the single - seater scene .
so, where could a car like this be raced and are these seventies f3 cars popular amongst the single - seater brigade? i' d be interested to know what (uk based) events it would be eligible for .
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
light travels faster than sound - that' s why, at first, some people appear bright... until you hear them speak !
the hscc historic f3 championship is pretty popular. if the grd is a 2 litre car it may be a bit outclassed. the 1600cc class is pre 1974. urltoken
thanks for the info alan! after a bit of research, i' m thinking the car may be a 373 with later bodywork, and not actually a 374. it has a 1600 engine, whereas a 374 would originally have been a 2 litre as far as i can establish. can anyone else throw more light on that assumption ?
i think the basic chassis and suspension was the same on both cars. the radiator was moved to the front on the 374. a bit of info in manufacturers section on urltoken
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andy sutcliffe on the debut of the 372 at brands hatch in october 1971 .
the 372 consisted of an aluminium bathtub monocoque with tubular sub frames front and rear and conventional suspension. the bodywork had a pronounced wedge shape with large side mounted radiators. the car gained a reputation for being easy to set up and forgiving to drive and during the season it produced a lot of wins especially as other drivers switched over to it. the prototype chassis was debuted in some end of season races in the uk in 1971
most of the changes to the 373 were to make production of the chassis easier but it seemed that the factory preoccupation with f2 meant that the f3 car lacked some development and although successful it began to receive a less than flattering press from some of its drivers. a chassis flexing problem was solved mid season but it wasn' t until the end of the year that the real hard testing was carried out that eventually cured the problems. alan jones, brian henton and richard robarts chalked up 9 wins between them so the season wasn' t a total disaster by any means .
the grd 374 was notable for a switch to a front radiator and full - width nose come configuration .
the first grd 375 was in fact an updated 374 which shows that once again this was an evolutionary update. ian taylor ran in a works version and some support was given to some of the european competitors. the car retained its full width nose but the radiators were moved rearwards again. highlight of the year was undoubtedly renzo zorzi' s fortunate victory at monaco in a 374. at the end of the year grd closed down and the f3 operation was taken over by van diemen .
372 tim brise, tony brise, cesare doneda, patrick duchamp, adelmo fossati, johnny gerber, bengt gilhorn, neil ginn, mo harness, hans - peter hoffman, alan jones, masami kuwashima, barrie maskell, kurt m ü ller, jorge pinhol, pierre - francois rousselot, robin smythe, fernando spreafico, andy sutcliffe, keiichi tahara, ian taylor, bernard vermilio, jo vonlanthen, roger williamson .
373 thomas betzler, bernhard brack, tony brise, wolfgang bülow, ingvar carlsson, rudolf dötsch, harald ertl, jeremy gambs, alexander güttes, sigi hofmann, alan jones, dieter kern, gernot lamby, heinz lange, john macdonald, jac nelleman, gunnar nordström, pedro passadore, richard robarts, tony rouff .
372 tony brise, jacques coulon, roger craven, neil ginn, hans - peter hoffman, alan jones, richard knight, norman moffett, jac nelleman, masami kuwashima, pedro passadore, larry perkins, rod smith, fernando spreafico .
374 hakan alriksson, alberto colombo, gaudenzio mantova, gian - massimo martoni, luis moraes, marcos moraes, jac nelleman, pedro passadore, alessandro pessenti - rossi, alex ribeiro, renzo zorzi .
373 bernhard brack, günter hölker, roger hurst, john - erik johansson, gernot lamby, jac nelleman, gunnar nordström, tony rouff, len smith .
375 ingvar carlsson, werner fischer, den greer, shaw hayami, donald macleod, jac nellemann, ian taylor .
374 doug bassett, derek cook, jac nellemann, porky thyling, mike tyrrell, renzo zorzi .
373 hakan alriksson, ulf alriksson, bernhard brack, hans deffland, dan greer, günter hölker, roger hurst, john - erik johansson, john lain, anders olofsson, john rust, clas sigurdsson, len smith, marc surer, henrik spellerberg, fernando spreafico .
375 tommy
slim
borgudd, ingvar carlsson, sören hansen, stefan johannsson, john nielsen, jan ridell .
fitted with a modified holden grey engine in the 1950’s with triple su’s and other engine and mechanical modifications (unknown if any competition history) .
fitted with both 16” and 15” x 5” wheels in the period up to 1965 .
cut down morris minor rack operating as a steering box across to the original position lhs steering arm (common modification in the era) .
larger twin leading shoe 10” x 2 ¼” front brakes in one off cast iron finned brake drums .
used as a road car from 1959 to 1963 by vern barlow in victoria as a grey holden engined mg tc special (triple su’s, modifications, etc) .
sold to peter mahony in 1963 in victoria (entered under bp heidelberg) .
sold on then to rod cooper, victoria (entered under saas) at some point in late 1964 .
the subsequent ownership history is unknown until 2013. no history of competition has been confirmed before and beyond the dates above, and its competition history appears to have ended in 1965, due to the car quickly becoming uncompetitive .
vauxhall e model crank (stroked to 3 1 / 8”). – mgb main bearings / modified rear seal arrangement .
lightweight billet flywheel (8kg), holden heavy duty 8. 5” single plate clutch assembly .
modified camshaft grind – approximately 235 degrees @ 0. 050” and 0. 3” cam lift .
modified head with 1. 48” and 1. 25”’ valve sizes and relieved chambers – ls1 beehive springs .
triple 30 degree su 1 ½” (internally modified) on 1960’s sonic short inlet manifold and common cold air plenum chamber with rolled edge short ram tubes .
one off exhaust manifold – 1 3 / 8” primaries, 1 5 / 8” secondaries into a 2 ¼” system .
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group racing developments , known more simply as grd , was a short-lived british constructor of racing cars . it was formed in 1971 with a large percentage of staff coming from those made redundant from the closure of lotus cars customer car manufacturing arm . they built cars for formula 2 , formula 3 , formula atlantic and sports 2000 racing classes until a decline in british racing vehicle manufacturing bit into the industry in 1975 that paralleled the oil crisis . 
group racing developments, known more simply as grd, was a short-lived british constructor of racing cars. it was formed in 1971 with a large percentage of staff coming from those made redundant from the closure of lotus cars customer car manufacturing arm. they built cars for formula 2, formula 3, formula atlantic and sports 2000 racing classes until a decline in british racing vehicle manufacturing bit into the industry in 1975 that paralleled the oil crisis.
group racing developments, known more simply as grd, was a short-lived british constructor of racing cars. it was formed in 1971 with a large percentage of staff coming from those made redundant from the closure of lotus cars customer car manufacturing arm. they built cars for formula 2, formula 3, formula atlantic and sports 2000 racing classes until a decline in british racing vehicle manufacturing bit into the industry in 1975 that paralleled the oil crisis.