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Ford F3L Car

The car was designed by GT40 designer, Len Bailey and built by Alan Mann Racing
In West Byfleet in Surrey, with support from Ford in Detroit. It was a radical departure from the GT40 and was powered by a Ford DFV F1 engine. Even though the shape was stunning for its day, there were aerodynamic problems and the cockpit was cramped. Two cars were built for the 1968 season and one was written off in an horrific accident in the Nurburgring 1000 km. Driver was Chris Irwin who was seriously injured and cause of the accident was a hare that ran across the road. The car did a massive backward flip and came down on its roof. I was told that it was so bad that the marshals ran away. Other drivers pulled up to assist Irwin.

One theory was that the hare got jammed into the left front brake thereby reducing braking by a critical 25% as Irwin was heading up a rise. More likely was that the hare broke the underbody mountings which caused the nose to lift and which created a wing effect with upward lift.

In 1969 one more coupe and a spyder version were built. As the car required more development money and never won a race Ford canned the project.

My brief involvement with the car, which is the rebuilt Irwin car and now owned by David Piper, is described below.

In February, 1987 I interviewed David Piper for my book on the history of the Kyalami circuit at his house in Windlesham, Surrey. David and co-drivers competed in the Kyalami Nine Hour and the Springbok Series from 1961 to 1969 and won the Nine Hour six times, five times in Ferraris and the last time in a Porsche 917. Imagine writing a book on Wimbledon and not including John McEnroe!

At the end of the interview David told me about the International Sports Prototype series that he and friends started in 1981 and that he would love to bring the series to South Africa. 'Done', I said. His body language said, 'Oh, yeah'.

The ISP series is for racing sports cars from the 1960s and early 1970s era, ie AC Cobras, Ferraris, Porsches, GT40s, F3L, Lolas, McLarens, Matras, Chevrons, etc. Even though the cars were worth fortunes at the time and much more today Piper and friends decided to race them instead of putting them in glass boxes. They were after all racing cars and as such Piper and company would enjoy driving them and would give pleasure to spectators, many of whom just love that era of racing. I don't think the current sports car series comes near. The atmosphere has gone particularly at the new clinical Le Mans with the old Esses no longer there. If the Bentleys were painted blue they could be mistaken for Donald Campbell's Blue Bird speedboat. Agree? Disagree?

David told me about his accident at Le Mans in 1970 when doing film sequences for Steve McQueen's film 'Le Mans'. Coming through White House corner a rear tyre deflated and the Porsche was totalled. The car broke in half and all that kept the two halves together was his right foot trapped under the throttle. He remembers lying in a ditch with brake fluid dripping on the open wound and two nuns bending over him to assist him.

Back in England the foot was amputated above the ankle. One day in hospital with his racing career apparently over old Piper was feeling a bit sorry for himself. In walked Ferrari engineer and works driver, Mike Parkes, with legless Battle of Britian ace, Douglas Bader. Bader glared at Piper, undid his belt and dropped his trousers. He said, 'Look at me, old chap, you have nothing to worry about!' David said with a grin that he suddenly came right BIG TIME! Some years later he discovered that he could drive a racing car again which lead to the ISP series. He stomps his plastic foot on the throttle and then brakes with the left foot. At Le Mans last June in the classic race before the 24 Hour he got his 917 to over 200 mph down the Mulsanne straight. In December he turned 73 and I really can't figure out how he does it. Bader and Piper – Bulldog breed as they say!

Anyway, when I returned home after my February, 1987 trip I set about organising David's ISP South African series. For about nine months I liaised with Liz Piper with regard to air tickets, shipping costs, etc. As sponsorship was required I handed my file to a committee member of the Western Province Car Club which controls our local Killarney Circuit. This guy can sell ice to Eskimos and persuaded the boss of Yellow Pages to sponsor the series. It was on and three races were planned, one at Killarney in Cape Town, one at the East London Grand Prix circuit (where Jody grew up - the city not the circuit!) and a Monaco type round the houses at Durban.

I was at Killarney when the containers arrived and to our horror we discovered that the red and gold Ford F3L had broken loose and for 10 days on the high seas it was thumped backwards and forwards against the container walls.. It was not a pretty sight. With little time at hand we rushed the car to my factory for repairs. My English partner and fibreglass expert, John Bishop, did the job and in double quick time the F3L as ready for practice. Would have been an ideal opportunity to pull a set of moulds – quickly! HeHe! In fact earlier someone on the forum asked about an F3L replica.