VIN: the works Alan Mann Racing Ford P68 chassis 02
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History of chassis 02
Chassis 02 was the second of three Ford P68s built by Alan Mann Racing. Construction started after the initial shakedown tests of chassis 01 had revealed it had a very cramped cockpit and was difficult to handle. It was hoped that extending the wheelbase would alleviate both problems.
The new car was finished just in time for the P68’s debut race on April 7th - the Brands Hatch 6 Hours.
Alan Mann’s team arrived late on Friday and 02 was missing its rear body section for most of the practice session. Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme were in 02 with Mike Spence and Jochen Rindt in 01.
However, Hulme was not happy in the car. When 01 developed engine problems, Mann decided to withdraw it from the race and partner Spence with McLaren in 02. Hulme and Rindt went home.
McLaren had qualified 02 second and, despite a poor start, he soon recovered to take the lead. A slow pit stop for tyres and a driver change dropped the newly installed Spence well down the field.
Unfortunately, just before the two hour mark, 02 was forced out with driveshaft failure.
Fast but fragile would become a recurring theme for the P68.
When chassis 01 was written off in Chris Irwin’s horrific Nurburgring practice crash, 02 became the sole P68 representative for the rest of the season.
Frank Gardner and Richard Attwood drove it at the Nordschleife. Attwood started fifth, but had to pit at the end of the first lap as his front brake pads had fallen out. He was in again on lap four with a puncture plus a door that had blown open and badly buckled. Shortly afterwards, Attwood finally stopped for good with a broken ignition transistor.
Another 1000km race at Spa one week later saw Gardner partnered with Hubert Hahne. The Belgian circuit perfectly suited the P68’s slippery profile and Gardner was able to take pole.
However, race day saw the circuit drenched and heavy rain was still falling at the start. Another promising weekend came to a premature end when Gardner was forced to retire the car with a badly misfiring DFV at the end of lap one; water had poured in and saturated the engine.
No more World Championship events were contested in 1968, but 02 did race twice more, first at the Oulton Park Tourist Trophy and then the Silverstone Martini Trophy.
Attwood took pole at Oulton Park and was leading when a broken differential forced him out on lap eleven.
After several hundred test miles, 02 was then taken to Silverstone where Gardner was pipped to pole by Denny Hulme’s Lola T70 Mk3 GT. The two had an epic dice in the race and Gardner was in the lead when the oil pressure zeroed on lap 42 forcing yet another retirement. The only consolation was a new lap record for the P68.
This proved to be the final outing for 02.
A new chassis (03) was built for 1969, but after just two races, Ford pulled the plug; they did not want to fund the development of a car that had still not finished a race.
Ford retained 02 until the 1970s when it was sold to Tom Wheatcroft for the Donington Collection (along with 03).
Wheatcroft later part-exchanged the car against the Peter Aitken-modified Alfa Romeo Bimotore with Gavin Bain from New Zealand.
Notable History
Alan Mann Racing
07/04/1968 WSC Brands Hatch 6 Hours (B. McLaren / M. Spence) DNF (#34)
19/05/1968 WSC Nurburgring 1000km (F. Gardner / R. Attwood) DNF (#7)
26/05/1968 WSC Spa 1000km (F. Gardner / H. Hahne) DNF (#9)
03/06/1968 BSC Oulton Park Tourist Trophy (R. Attwood) DNF (#31)
27/07/1968 BSC Silverstone Martini Trophy (F. Gardner) DNF (#15)
Retained by Ford UK
Sold to Tom Wheatcroft (Donington Collection)
Sold to Gavin Bain, New Zealand
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ford - https://www.ford.com
