Just a nice period picture

[Oneball]

Interesting story but I am pretty sure it was built with a hard shoulder as standard.

Although in the photo posted by Oneball the 'hard' shoulder and central reservation look like just grass verges....

Update:-
"The M1 was Britain's first full-length motorway and opened in 1959. The early M1 had no speed limits, crash barriers, or lighting, and had soft shoulders rather than hard."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_motorway

Never thought about it until now, why it is called the “hard” shoulder.

[WMU 211G]

Spot the Mk1 / Mk2 Mini parked outside... John and Yoko's palatial pad, Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire, taken during the filming of the 'Imagine' video in 1971...

1971 IMAGINE VIDEO TITTY PARK.jpg

[woodypup59]

I believe the "soft", grass shoulders were tarmaced over at some point before the properly built hard shoulders were introduced.

[snoopy64]

Spot the Mk1 / Mk2 Mini parked outside... John and Yoko's palatial pad, Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire, taken during the filming of the 'Imagine' video in 1971...


1971 IMAGINE VIDEO TITTY PARK.jpg

That’s got to be the most tenuous one yet Nige!

[surfblue63]

That picture is of Jack Sears winning the GT support race for the 1964 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

The car was not a Daytona Coupe, but a one-off car known as the AC A98.
Here's the actual car that was tested on the M1





Out Rage in the Daily Mirror



And as seen at the 1964 Le Mans




Full story here

https://autoentusiastas.com.br/2020/11/ ... a-daytona/

SAME CONCEPT, TWO DIFFERENT PLACES
While Carroll Shelby and the young but genial, designer Peter Brock worked on the design of the Daytona body using the concepts studied in the 1930s by Wunibald Kamm, with the striking rear finished in an abrupt cut, the English had the same idea to put into practice at Ace in order to improve the car to compete le Mans on an equal footing with the other GTs.

At the time, AC supplied parts for Shelby to assemble the Cobra with Ford engines, but still produced the six-cylinder Ace, already at the end of life after ten years of production. Much of the English factory's productive efforts were dedicated to supplying cobra, but there was still a small team working on improvements for the English Aces.

One of the engineers who has worked with Ace since the deployment of John Tojeiro's project within AC was Alan Turner, who understood ace's aerodynamic problem in the same way as his American colleagues. The shape of the car was not good enough to reach speeds as high as those of the GTO Ferraris and Jaguar's compatriots with the E-Type coupe.

While Brock and Shelby were working on creating the Daytona, Alan Turner convinced AC directors to create a new body for what would be a true English representative at Le Mans with a possible chance of facing Ferrari, and even Shelby. English pride must have spoken louder, as entering the direct dispute against Shelby, who was now ac's customer with the first Cobras, could mean trouble.

Turner, like Brock, knew that the shape of the body had to be done in such a way as to better flow the air around the car with the smallest possible drag. The same kamm concept was used in both cars, with the rear short and truncated.

Made in a hidden corner at AC's Thames Ditton factory, the wooden body mold took shape and aluminum plates were conformed on it. Gradually, a new body was born, and little resembled brother Ace. It had some similarities to cousin Cobra Daytona, but it was even bolder. I even venture to say that the AC project was inspired by the 250 GTO and also in the famous 1961 Ferrari Breadvan.

Born The A98

After a long time working on the design of the new GT, Turner was able to complete the assembly of the car shortly before the first test at Le Mans for the 1964 race. The car was much lower than the Daytona, appeared to be more aerodynamic than the American version. The name A98 came from the internal CODE of the AC for the design of this car. The AC had 2,286 meters of wheelbase and 4,470 meters in total length. The Daytona had the same wheelbase but was shorter, at only 4,150 meters.

To push the new body, both the old Bristol engine and ruddspeed were outdated. Turner rode in the car a Ford V-8 289 pol³ (4.7 liters), already known for the Cobras and robust enough for a 24-hour race.

The first major test was at Le Mans in april 1964. It was the first time the A98 appeared in public, to everyone's surprise, especially Carroll Shelby. The new Daytona Coupe would have a close kinship rival.

English driver Peter Bolton was scheduled to test the A98, which appeared unpainted at all, with the body's aluminium exposed and engraved with numeral 4. But the expectations of the English soon turned to despair. The car was terrible.

First, compared to the Daytona, the AC was 17 kg heavier and had something around 50 hp less. The engine hit was aimed at ensuring durability during the race, so i couldn't deliver the same power as the Shelby, already used to working with the engines closer to the endurance limit.

Worse than the deficit comparison with Carroll Shelby's GT, the A98's body work. The front of the car generated a lot of vertical upward force, called the lift, which is the opposite of the downforce. This leaves the car almost driving-less at high speeds, a danger, and Bolton could not reach high speeds as expected. During testing, the A98 barely passed the maximum speed of conventional homeless Cobras, just over 250 km/h. Lap times were almost a minute worse than the Daytona and one minute and twenty seconds worse than the Ferrari with the best time of practice.


Turner would have a lot of work and little time to fix ac's problems if he wanted to return to Le Mans two months later for 24 Hours.



REDESIGN THE A98 AND THE MOTORWAY TEST
Interestingly, the Daytona had similar problems in its early days of life, and similar solutions were used in both cars. Turner added a spoiler to the rear of the car to change the car's pressure center and adjust the rear drag.

To improve the serious front lift problem and also improve engine cooling, which heated up too much in le mans practice, air vents were added to the hood. In this way, the air now entered through the front of the car and exit from above, through the openings of the hood, and no longer through the sides or below. Minor adjustments were made, improving the handling and control of the car.

In theory, the CA would be able to achieve high speeds without major problems, but it was necessary to perform some tests to certify the changes. One of the first location options to test aerodynamic improvements was the MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) test field, a former English air base. The team had two important answers from this test, one good and one bad. The good thing is that the car had improved a lot, easily passing the speed mark reached at Le Mans. The bad news is that the track was too short for the A98 to reach full speed, equivalent to what it could get on the Mulsanne.

The deadline was very tight, because in a matter of days the AC team would be in the official qualifying drills for the 1964 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. There was no circuit available that would allow the car to reach its full speed, as none had a straight as large as the Mulsanne. of six kilometers.


The solution to test the car was practical and objective, agreed between Alan Turner and Derek Hurlock, one of the brothers who own s. Test the car on the street, on a stretch of road straight and long enough. This was a common practice at the time, many teams did this, since in the '60s there were no speed cameras or the large volume of cars circulating like today.


For the test session, the team prepared a support group with mechanics and tools, just before the sun comes up they are ready for the test. The driver who would drive the A98 first was Jack Sears, known as the touring car races in England, then passing the wheel to Peter Bolton, who had already had experience with the car before the training modifications at Le Mans. The A98 was now painted with the traditional British Racing Green and received the BPH 48 nameplate.

The site chosen for the test was the English motorway called The M1, a North-South link that now runs from London to Leeds. To test the car, the stretch used was in the Northampton area where they concentrated at a service station on the side of the road. With minimal movement on the track and a good straight stretch, it was the ideal place for the speed test.

At the time, there were no instruments such as portable speed cameras, telemetry, anything of the sort, so to know the speed of the car on a road, or the team marked the time it took the car to cross a certain known space, or mathematical calculation was done. On the public road it was difficult to mark a certain stretch for the car to pass close to the maximum speed, so the calculation option was made. The only information the driver had was engine rotation, and with the gear ratio and tyre size information, they calculated the speeds.


Jack Sears made a few passes with the A98, feeling good behavior of the car, gradually increasing the speed. With the Ford V-8 screaming at the top of the lungs, close to 7,000 rpm at last gear, Sears knew the final number would be good. Upon returning to the service station and passing the rotation information to Turner, the calculation showed that the A98 had reached 298 km/h. It was a great result, as the car gained a lot of speed, improved the balance and had no more engine cooling problems.

A curious fact is that the test soon became news in the press. As the story tells, a relative of Derek Hurlock let loose in a bar conversation that AC had taken the test and reached almost 300 km/h on the M1. One made to brag, perhaps, but that came to the ears of journalists who soon turned the subject into newspaper headlines.

The case was treated as an offence to British citizens, where race cars were tested at high speeds on the country's public roads. A great exaggeration, obviously, because the test was done at a low movement time and in a quieter stretch of road. And to complement, at the time, the place where the A98 arrived at its maximum speed had no speed limit.


Sears says that on the day of the test they even visited two police officers at the service station where the team was focused, and soon thought they could create problems, but because there was no speed limit on the spot or any factor that condemned what they were doing, no law was broken, so they could not be repressed. The cops were just curious and wanted to see the car up close. It is worth remembering that the car even had license plate, the BPH 48.

Some say that after the news in the newspapers, in 1967 the government implemented the speed limit on the 70 mph (112 km/h) motorways and the much talked about AC test would have had a major influence on the decision.


Now that the car was much better hit, in a few days could already board for France, as the 24 Hours was approaching.



THE 1964 RACE, GREAT IN PRACTICE
In qualifying for the race, the A98 was sharp and fought toe-to-toe with the Shelby Daytonas. At the end of the time takes, the A98 would start in 13th place, but in the GT category it would be second, behind only The Daytona #5 of Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant and ahead of the other Daytona and all the Ferrari GTOs.

The improvement of the A98 was incredible, shook the starting grid among the GT cars, and certainly worried both Shelby and Ferrari. Perhaps it was his amazing performance that caused scoundrels in the pits.


The AC coupe prepared to face everyone at Le Mans (photo: Pinterest)
In the race, the start was successful and the A98 split by Jack Sears and Peter Bolton soon passed Dan Gurney's Daytona, leading the Group of GTs. Gradually, managed to overtake some prototypes that were ahead of him but which for one reason or another were slower. Even Ford's new GT40 couldn't resist and was overtaken.

In the early hours of the race, everything is under control with the AC, maintaining a good race pace, ahead of Carroll Shelby's cars and ferraris. Everything was going well until then before half the race, when the V-8 started to crash and forced the car back into the pits to investigate what the problem was.



ALLEGED SABOTAGE
After a while with the car parked, the mechanics finally found the problem. The fuel could not reach the four Weber 48 carburetors because the hoses and fuel filter were clogged. After draining the entire system, replacing the filter and cleaning the tank and hoses, the car returned almost two hours late to the track.

The mechanics investigated what they had removed from the tank and hoses, and a maçaroca with several sticky pieces appeared to be remnants of shredded newspaper. Someone had purposely thrown into the tank so that gradually the lines clogged and the car lost revenue.


Padlock on the refueling nozzle was not enough to avoid problems (photo: Pinterest)
It was possible that such an act was done by anyone dissatisfied with the good result of the CA. Maybe someone from Shelby's team, overshadowed by the success of his British cousin made on the sly, or maybe someone from Ferrari, with another rival to compromise the results of the beautiful 250 GTO. We'll never know what actually happened.



SAD END TO The A98
Back on track, with no newspaper in the fuel tank, the A98 with Peter Bolton behind the wheel tries to take the delay of so much time lost in the pits. The car was riding well, the engine working in the expected conditions and with time still to try to recover. The victory was already lost, but to tire the Daytonas and Ferrari was still in the plans.


The A98 did well in the race while the engine received fuel properly; the other car is an Alpine Renault M63 of 1,001 cm³, prototype, arrived in 20º (photo: Pinterest)
Still with a set of tyres already well used, Bolton had been playing the A98 firmly but cautiously, but it was not enough. In the darkness, one of the tires burst with the car at high speed. The AC went off the track, flipped a few times and crashed back into the asphalt, where a Ferrari 275P was and hit the AC in full.

Neither pilot suffered major injuries, but the race was finished for the A98. Unfortunately some spectators were hit by what was left of Giancarlo Baghetti's 275P and died at the scene.



BACK TO LIFE
The damage to the AC after the accident at Le Mans was too great for a repair and use again in 1964. Shelby's pressure for the British to abandon the racing program that rivaled the Americans also laid a stone on the remains of the A98, which was abandoned in the way it returned from the factory accident for nearly ten years.


Today the car is restored. It was bought by Barrie Bird, a contemporary of the racing ACs and who was very interested in the car. Gradually and with the help of the people who built the original A98, using the same body mold, he managed to complete the reconstruction of the car in 1984. And it is used to this day.

The AC A98 could have been one of the biggest names in cars made in England in the 1960s. Even without the same features as Shelby or even Ferrari, the car was competitive and able to fight toe-to-toe with all the GTs of its time, and even some prototypes.


The AC A98 currently, after the restoration of Barrie Bird (photo: pixabay)
In the dispute between relatives, who ended up leading the fame and had a longer life were the Daytonas. They won several races, including Le Mans in the GT category in 1964, after the A98's problems. Who knows what the story would have been like if the A98 had been brought back to life in '64...

[WMU 211G]

Spot the Mk1 / Mk2 Mini parked outside... John and Yoko's palatial pad, Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire, taken during the filming of the 'Imagine' video in 1971...


1971 IMAGINE VIDEO TITTY PARK.jpg

That’s got to be the most tenuous one yet Nige!

I know!

Here's a more legit one - James Hunt's appearance on the Morecambe & Wise Christmas special in 1977 driving a customised Mk2 S...

JH C04IPhyl.jpg

JH J2ehOfxl.jpg

JH V66KnzWl.jpg

[snoopy64]

You be redeemed yourself with double points there!

[surfblue63]

Lennon was a shite driver!




Must have cut his hair that summer.

[hanlminiman]

Sergeant ....

[mab01uk]

James Hunt the then-current world Formula 1 champion in a brief cameo as a 'Mini' chauffeur.
Morecambe & Wise Show 1977 - Video here:
https://twitter.com/FreemanLowell01/sta ... 2564747264

Famous Mini owners:-
https://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?p=275980#p275980

[mab01uk]

Lennon was a shite driver!




Must have cut his hair that summer.

Some more info and photos of John Lennon's Maxi crash in Scotland here:-
viewtopic.php?p=178430#p178430

John Lennon’s British Leyland Austin Maxi car, which he crashed in Scotland in July 1969 with Julian, Kyoko, and Yoko riding with him. This caused injury to Yoko’s back and required stiches for Yoko, Kyoko, and John (Julian escaped unharmed). The wrecked car was later brought to John and Yoko’s Tittenhurst Park estate where it was sat in the gardens.
“I didn’t know what to do, so I just let go of the steering wheel.” - John Lennon in The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz.
https://thebeatleaesthetic.tumblr.com/p ... n-maxi-car

[mab01uk]

That picture is of Jack Sears winning the GT support race for the 1964 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

The car was not a Daytona Coupe, but a one-off car known as the AC A98.
Here's the actual car that was tested on the M1

Some great research Stuart, many thanks for posting all the extra info!

[WMU 211G]

Lennon was a shite driver!




Must have cut his hair that summer.

Everyone who ever rode in any of John's cars with him said the same thing, he had no mechanical sympathy / empathy whatsoever, he was well known for changing gears in his Cooper S without using the clutch! Luckily he could afford to employ full time chauffeurs

[surfblue63]

Down Under.jpg

[surfblue63]

Australia 1980's

aus club.jpg

[WMU 211G]

Mini, single seater or Bizzarrini 5300GT Strada... take your pick!

ISO BIZZZA SScAjt7LW8.jpg

[surfblue63]

I'll take the Opel Rekord, it's a bit more comfy for those European tours.

[surfblue63]

[Fanfaniracing]

Mini, single seater or Bizzarrini 5300GT Strada... take your pick!


ISO BIZZZA SScAjt7LW8.jpg

Is this Monaco?

[WMU 211G]

Mini, single seater or Bizzarrini 5300GT Strada... take your pick!


ISO BIZZZA SScAjt7LW8.jpg

Is this Monaco?

Possibly, although the Innocenti Mini has Milan plates.