VIN: the Jean Blaton Ford GT40 chassis P/1079
History of chassis P/1079
Chassis P/1079 came from a small batch of uprated works-spec. MK1 GT40 competition cars built for the 1968 season.
Most were destined for the Gulf Racing operation managed by John Wyer Automotive Engineering.
P/1079 was purchased by Belgian privateer, Jean Blaton. Painted yellow, it would variously appear as an Ecurie Francorchamps and Claude Dubois entry.
Blaton (who generally raced under the pseudonym ‘Beurlys’) ordered the GT40 to replace his Ferrari 365 P2. The P2 had been made obsolete by a new three-litre engine limit for Group 6 Prototypes in 1968.
Blaton had raced Ferraris since 1957, starting with an old 166 Mille Miglia. Various iterations of the 250 GT followed, including both a GTO and LM. Ferrari P cars were also campaigned, however, when Enzo Ferrari pulled his firm out of sportscar racing in protest at the new 1968 regulations, Blaton purchased the Ford.
He also acquired the ex-Ecurie Francorchamps Ferrari 412 P and Dino 206 S for a Belgian Hillclimb Championship campaign that year, but the GT40 would be his mount for the international racing season.
P/1079 was delivered to Ostend on April 20th and then immediately dispatched to Monza for the 1000km World Sportscar Championship race which took place five days later. Blaton was joined by Willy Mairesse who put the big Ford sixth on the grid.
Mairesse dropped to seventh on the opening lap and was soon in the pits with the rear spoiler coming adrift. Despite Blaton later crashing the GT40 in the closing stages, sufficient distance had been covered to warrant a seventh place classification and second in the five-litre Sport class.
Four weeks later, P/1079 appeared at the Spa 1000km where Mairesse, a circuit expert, qualified third.
The race began in very wet conditions and Mairesse had a bad start.
After dropping to 14th on the opening lap, he had made it back into the top six when he handed the car over to Blaton.
Unfortunately, a sterling recovery by Mairesse came to nought as Blaton went off in a big way at Blanchimont on lap 45. He clouted an abandoned NSU, flattening the little saloon, and did a lot of damage to one side of the GT40.
Blaton broke his arm in the accident and was flown to hospital.
Fortuitously, Blaton did not miss the all-important Le Mans 24 Hours. Although normally held in June, the 1968 event had to be delayed until late September as a result of civil unrest across France.
Mairesse qualified the freshly repaired Ford in tenth.
However, in the rush to get away, he failed to shut his door properly. At the end of the Mulsanne Straight, the door flew open at 150mph. Trying to close it, Mairesse lost control. P/1079 careered off the track and into the trees.
Mairesse suffered broken bones and head injuries which left him in a coma for two weeks and ended his racing career.
In 1969, the damaged remains of P/1079 were sold to the Swiss ex-Scuderia Filipinetti engineer, Franco Sbarro.
Sbarro kept the car for a short time and sold it partially restored to his countryman, Yvan Caillet.
Caillet finished the car and retained P/1079 until 1985.
Notable History
Sold to Jean Blaton, Brussels, Belgium
25/04/1968 WSC Monza 1000km (W. Mairesse / J. Blaton) 7th oa, 2nd S5.0 class (#49)
26/05/1968 WSC Spa 1000km (W. Mairesse / J. Blaton) DNF (#32)
29/09/1968 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (W. Mairesse / J. Blaton) DNF (#8)
1969 sold to Franco Sbarro, Switzerland
Early 1970s to Yvan Caillet, Switzerland
1985 sold to Societe Galaxie investment group, France
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
