Concours d'Cancelation - Race Cars (1973-1989) Presented by Sunoco

This thread contains accepted Concours d'Cancelation entries in the Race Cars (1973-1989) Class - Presented by Sunoco 

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Car: 1986 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS (replica)

Owner: Richard Doughty

Location: Beaver, Pennsylvania

Proposed Class: Cars of the 80's & 90's

Info:

I found this car for sale in Vancouver in late 2012. I had always wanted a Sierra Cosworth with the YB engine and, though not a real Sierra Cosworth, this was as close as I could get without spending a fair sum. The car was painted black at the time of purchase and was not in the best shape. The story as I understood it was that an older gentleman had moved to Western Canada from the UK some time in the early 2000’s and brought his beloved but tired Sierra Cosworth with him. He drove it for some time and ended up in an accident which totaled the car. We managed to source a clean ’86 Merkur XR4Ti and had as much of the original Cosworth RS parts swapped over, this included most of the aero bits and the drivetrain. Being a rather tired doner, the engine needed a rebuild and rather than continue dealing with the project the gentleman sold the car to a young man who didn’t really know what he was getting into, and that’s how I end up the new owner.

Being a pathologic tinkerer, and having dealt with the issues of modifying a “classic” during my Porsche owning days, I decided to have some fun with the freedom this project provided. With the help of Hahn Restorations in Harmony PA, I started the work of transforming the car into my 80’s/90’s dream Cossie. Hahn handled all of the body and paint work including modifying the rear quarter metal to accommodate real Sierra glass. I rebuilt and upgraded everything else myself including the YB engine to about 380-400hp spec. Though not a full Sierra Cosworth, it’s at least 95% there without any of the preservation hang-ups (the UK Cossie fans HATE the colour!) and I still have the freedom to tinker. It’s honestly been the most fun and rewarding project in my 30+ years of building cars.

Car: 1987 Lotus 99T/5 driven by Ayrton Senna

Owner(s): William Halkiw

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada 

Proposed Class(es): Race Cars (1973-1989)

Representing the Cobble Beach Concours d’ Elegance

Details: 

On May 1st, 1994, at 12:17 PM, while leading the Formula 1 Grand Prix in San Marino against the likes of Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill, the life of Ayrton Senna, arguably the greatest F1 driver in history, ended suddenly after his 1994 Williams FW16 crashed into a concrete wall. His tragic death shocked not only the racing world, but the world at large, and especially his native Brazil, where he was hailed as a national hero. Senna’s climb to F1 legendary status commenced in 1984, when he was recruited as a rookie driver with Tolman-Hart, and the following year, on April 21th, 1985, he won his first F1 race in Portugal, under his new sponsor Lotus-Renault. He subsequently went on to capture three F1 Championship titles in 1988, 1990, and 1991. 1987 was a pivotal year for both Senna and the Lotus F1 team. Lotus had joined forces with Honda, and working with designer Gerard Ducarouge created the 99T, regarded as amongst the best-handling F1 cars in existence – given its revolutionary Lotus Active Suspension – as well as one of the fastest cars on the F1 circuit, especially in the hands of Senna. The car was capable of achieving speeds of 340 km/h with its Honda Twin-Turbo V-6 engine, which put out a maximum 800 brake horsepower. The Camel sponsorship livery was also new in 1987, featuring the legendary race car in bright Lotus yellow with rich blue lettering. Only six examples of the 99T were created for the 1987 F1 season, which marked the last time that a Lotus achieved an F1 podium finish. In fact, the 99T won at both Monaco and Detroit, and achieved another six podium finishes that year, a feat never to be repeated thereafter in F1 by a Lotus.

Senna and Lotus achieved a third-place finish in the World Drivers’ Championship and the Constructors’ Championship for 1987, which represented the best performance for Senna in his racing career to that point, and paved the way to his 1988 F1 World 117 Championship title with McLaren.

This 1987 Lotus 99T/5 was driven exactly 2,929.9 miles by Senna as a test car, a qualifying car, and a competing race car throughout the 1987 F1 season in 10 separate campaigns, commencing in Nogaro, France on May 7, 1987, and ending in Zeltweg, Austria on October 2, 1987. 99T/5 was the car that qualified Senna for his Detroit victory on June 20, 1987 and the car that he drove to a third-place finish in Hockenheim, Germany on July 26, 1987. After being driven its final mile by Senna in Zeltweg on October 2, 1987, 99T/5 was retired—never to be driven again since that day, and thereby preserved as

a virtual time capsule for the past 29 years. Following the 1987 season, Classic Team Lotus sold the car to Dragon Packaging out of the UK, then bought the car back in 1995, then in 1999 sold the car to Peter Ratcliffe, a highly regarded British race car driver and founder of the renowned F1 collectors company “Legends In Time.” Ratcliffe amassed a comprehensive history file on the car, which included rare photographs, engineering notes, and other original historic documentation on a race-by-race basis.

A few years later, Ratcliffe sold the car to an F1 enthusiast who has requested that his identity remain anonymous. He is domiciled in both Japan and the US, and discretely kept the car in his garage in his US home just outside of Chicago during the entire course of his ownership.

In the spring of 2016, the car was purchased by its present owner, Toronto collector William Halkiw, who remains both honoured yet humbled to be the custodian of such an extraordinary piece of automotive/F1 history.

Car: 1980 Ford Fiesta

Owners: Karl Hacken

Location: Prescott, Wi

Proposed Class: Cars of the 80's and 90's

Details:

Built in West Germany, the car was originally delivered to California and was brought over to the frozen north in the back of a U-Haul truck by a discharged military man quite some time ago. I purchased the rust-free baby blue rolling chassis for $500. From there it received a complete, bare metal restoration. It has been built up to include a blend of old and new, the exterior appearance is generated by using many period correct, NOS Ford Rallye Sport (RS) items that could have been bought in period from the RS catalog to build your own race vehicle. I searched the world to collect these parts, even hand carrying the rear spoiler home from Germany because the seller wouldn't ship it. The wheels and fender flares were removed from a rally car in Germany and were under many coats of paint. The roof spoiler was found in it's original box in the trunk of a Pontiac in a junkyard.  The drivetrain is a departure from the period correctness of the rest of the build. It uses a modern 2.0L Duratec engine that has been fortified with a host of Cosworth upgrades from their YD line of products. The interior is the host of more RS items including the 3 spoke steering wheel and RS branded, Scheel produced seats covered in Ford Beta cloth material.