VIN: the works Alan Mann Racing Ford P68 chassis 02
/ Ben Tyer
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
Famously, Ford’s attempt to create a softer, more commercially appealing iteration of the GT40 proved a commercial flop; having hoped to shift a run of at least 20 units, just seven copies of…
Having created one of the 1980’s wildest homologation specials with the Sierra RS Cosworth, Ford took a similar approach when it came to a MkV Escort conceived for top flight rallying. Unveiled in…
Over the course of five weeks during April and May of 1970, members of the Royal Automobile Club and Motor Sports Association in the UK organised a high profile marathon that travelled a 16,000…
To replace the normally aspirated RS1600i which had failed to set the world alight in Group A competition, Ford created its first forced induction Escort for public consumption: the RS Turbo.
In September 1965, Ford signed an agreement with Hertz Rental to supply 1000 special copies of the Shelby Mustang GT350. The resultant GT350H would be available to Hertz Sports Club members for…
Launched in August 1965 for the 1966 model year, the Bronco was conceived as Ford’s offering for a Sport Utility Vehicle market that was rapidly beginning to gain popularity. Using a box-section body…
To pave the way for an attack on the SCCA B Production Championship, Ford commissioned Shelby to create the GT350 Mustang, at least 100 of which would have to be manufactured in order to…
Like most manufacturers that created Group B homologation specials, Ford found it very difficult to sell the RS200 when new. Therefore, to broaden its appeal, between 1987 and 1989 (after…
Relive one of the most dramatic chapters in Daytona endurance racing with this classic film from the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona. Porsche was widely expected to dominate again, but in a stunning turn of events the Sunoco-liveried Lola T70 Mk.3B GT Chevrolet took overall victory.
When BMW homologated its radical ‘Batmobile’ aero kit for the 3.0 CSL mid way through 1973, the balance of power in Group 2 Touring Car racing swung inexorably towards the Munich manufacturer.
Unlike some of its other iconic performance models such as the Mustang and RS line of European specials which were more or less ever present, Ford didn’t get serious about building a replacement…
Having thundered around Le Mans with a pair of experimental GT40s running enormous seven-litre engines in 1965, Ford became convinced big block motors were the route to success at ultra high…
In 1962, the North American Automobile Manufacturers Association lifted its ban on US car builders having any motor sport involvement. Imposed during 1957 as a response to the 1955 Le Mans…
During the last three decades of the 20th century, the closest Ford came to creating a successor to its four-time Le Mans-winning GT of the 1960s was the RS200: a purpose-built rally special…
Ford’s Total Performance programme of the 1960s spawned some legendary machinery of which the four-time Le Mans winning GT40 is particularly revered. The company’s engines were also…
Ford wasn’t able to create the all-wheel drive Sierra Cosworth that it wanted, something in the Audi Quattro mould, until the MT75 gearbox came on stream in late 1988. Having initially used the…
In October 1966, John Wyer was visiting New York on business when he took a call from Gulf Oil Executive Vice President, Grady Davis. The two men had met for the first time at the Sebring 12 Hours…
Although Ford dealers had expressed concern about their ability to sell the 5000 Sierra RS Cosworths required to get the car homologated into the FIA’s Group A category, customers couldn’t…
The newly formed BMW Motorsport operation with its big budget CSL arrived on the 1973 Touring Car scene with one simple aim: to de-throne the works Ford squad that had reined supreme with its…
When the World Rally Championship switched from Group A to WRC regulations for the 1997 season, one of the older generation cars to get a new lease of life was Ford’s Escort RS Cosworth. In…
If you didn’t get enough from our recent article on the Capri Mk3 Werks Turbo, here’s a bit more Zakspeed Ford goodness: Jorg van Ommen’s iconic Denim-backed Group 4 Mk2 Escort from the…
In light of the Mustang’s massive commercial success, Ford of Europe decided to create a scaled down version better suited to the Old World. The resultant Capri was launched at the Brussels…
Chassis P/1018 was one of two Mk1 GT40s built to race trim for promotional use. It was commissioned by Ford on behalf of Carroll Shelby whose firm had undertaken much development…
After a 34 year production run that had seen several million cars built across six different generations, Ford elected to kill off its eponymous Escort in favour of an all-new model: the Focus.
Having replaced the sixth generation Escort with the Focus in 1998, Ford made its customers wait until late 2002 until deliveries of an RS-badged version began. Very much inspired by Ford’s World…
Famously, in order to secure the fabled YBB motor for its Sierra RS Cosworth, Ford had to place an order for 15,000 engines which was three times the number needed to qualify for Group A…
Of the many collectable Fords heading to auction this spring, undoubtedly one of the most interesting is a Sierra RS Cosworth which will be going under the hammer during Iconic Auctioneers’…
During the GT40’s early life as a true Prototype-class racing car, Ford built a small batch of Roadsters for use in some of 1965’s biggest races. One such example was chassis GT/109 which is heading to…
Having long since ranked among the elite manufacturers in top flight rallying thanks primarily to high performance iterations of the Mk1 and Mk2 Escort, Ford’s European arm took a sabbatical after…
After the enormously successful GT programme that ultimately yielded four back-to-back Le Mans wins and a plethora of other significant victories, Ford was generally happy to offer its customers…