GP RACING JULY 2020 63
KEITH DUCKWORTH
Designerofground-breaking
CosworthDFVengineof four-wheeled racing, Honda needed to acquire knowledge fast.
Under Nakamura’s guidance, and with Ginther’s shrewd input, it
progressed so quickly that in thelast race of the 1965 season, in
Mexico City, Honda achieved what had seemed unthinkable and won
a world championship grand prix. Honda would be in and out of F1
over the next 55 years, but Nakamura-San had laid the foundation.
Ginther was one of aplatoon of American drivers whose presence
gave F1 a differentfl avour. Of them all,'an*urne\was the most
gifted, saidto be the only one of his contemporaries fearedby Ji m
Clark. The son of an opera singer, Gurney grew up as a California
hot-rodder, served in the Korean War as an artillery mechanic,
and arrived in Europe in 1958 with a ride in one of Luigi Chinetti’s
Ferraris at Le Mans. A year later came a place in the Scuderia’s grand
prix squad, followed by anunsa tisfactory year with BRM andtwo
seasons with Porsche, with whom Gurneytook his fi rst grand prix
win at Rouen in 1962. Three years with Brabham produced only two
wins before Gurney launched his own team, Anglo American Racers,
in 1966, with the beautiful Eagle chassis. The arrival of the bespoke
Weslake V12 engine in 1967 gave him an historic victory at Spa,the
fi rst for an American driver in a car of his own construction, but
unreliabilityled him toclose the F1 operation at the end of 1968.DAN GURNEY
FirstAmericantowinincar
ofhisownconstructionHe returned to America, where his cars wonthe In dy 500 three times.
A tall, handsome and hugely popularfi gure, Gurney became the
fi rst driver to spray champagnefrom the podium whilecelebrating
victory with AJ Foyt at Le Mans in 1967. Dan introduced the full-face
helmet to F1, and popularised the Gurneyfl ap, a metal strip attached
to the trailingedge of a wing to improve performance.
At a time whenfi nding a powerful and reliable three-litre engine
was the main problem facing British F1teams,.eiWh'uFNZorWh
and his partner, Mike Costin, cameup with the Cosworth DFV,
a V8 which won on its debut in 1967 and took the last of its 155grand
prix victories in 1983. It was Colin Chapman, their former employer,
who asked Duckworth to design an enginethat could be used asa
stressed part of the chassis – a revolutionary ideathat eventually
became universally adopted. Ford funded the project, in exchange for
branding, and after Jim Clark’s initial victory with the Lotus-Ford 49
at Zandvoort the engine became almost ubiquitous: light, compact,
reliable, producing something north of 400bhp, and a bargain at
£7,500 a pop. As the decade came to a close, it powered the winners
of all 11 rounds of the 1969 world championship, in four different
makes of chassis. Duckworth’s engineshad provided the soundtrack
to Formula 1 in one of its mostcompelling eras.Jim Clarkclaimedvictoryfor Duckworth’sFord-b ackedDFV on its debut at
Zandvoort in 1967, and theengine won 155 races untilthe end of 1983An F1 race winner,for Porsche, Brabham and in his
own team’s Eagle-Weslake, Dan Gurney was also
one of the championship’s leading innovatorsGP RACING JULY 2020 63
KEITH DUCKWORTH
Designerofground-breaking
CosworthDFVengineof four-wheeled racing, Honda needed to acquire knowledge fast.
Under Nakamura’s guidance, and with Ginther’s shrewd input, it
progressed so quickly that in thelast race of the 1965 season, in
Mexico City, Honda achieved what had seemed unthinkable and won
a world championship grand prix. Honda would be in and out of F1
over the next 55 years, but Nakamura-San had laid the foundation.
Ginther was one of aplatoon of American drivers whose presence
gave F1 a differentfl avour. Of them all,DanGurneywas the most
gifted, saidto be the only one of his contemporaries fearedby Ji m
Clark. The son of an opera singer, Gurney grew up as a California
hot-rodder, served in the Korean War as an artillery mechanic,
and arrived in Europe in 1958 with a ride in one of Luigi Chinetti’s
Ferraris at Le Mans. A year later came a place in the Scuderia’s grand
prix squad, followed by anunsa tisfactory year with BRM andtwo
seasons with Porsche, with whom Gurneytook his fi rst grand prix
win at Rouen in 1962. Three years with Brabham produced only two
wins before Gurney launched his own team, Anglo American Racers,
in 1966, with the beautiful Eagle chassis. The arrival of the bespoke
Weslake V12 engine in 1967 gave him an historic victory at Spa,the
fi rst for an American driver in a car of his own construction, but
unreliabilityled him toclose the F1 operation at the end of 1968.DAN GURNEY
FirstAmericantowinincar
ofhisownconstructionHe returned to America, where his cars wonthe In dy 500 three times.
A tall, handsome and hugely popularfi gure, Gurney became the
fi rst driver to spray champagnefrom the podium whilecelebrating
victory with AJ Foyt at Le Mans in 1967. Dan introduced the full-face
helmet to F1, and popularised the Gurneyfl ap, a metal strip attached
to the trailingedge of a wing to improve performance.
At a time whenfi nding a powerful and reliable three-litre engine
was the main problem facing British F1teams,KeithDuckworth
and his partner, Mike Costin, cameup with the Cosworth DFV,
a V8 which won on its debut in 1967 and took the last of its 155grand
prix victories in 1983. It was Colin Chapman, their former employer,
who asked Duckworth to design an enginethat could be used asa
stressed part of the chassis – a revolutionary ideathat eventually
became universally adopted. Ford funded the project, in exchange for
branding, and after Jim Clark’s initial victory with the Lotus-Ford 49
at Zandvoort the engine became almost ubiquitous: light, compact,
reliable, producing something north of 400bhp, and a bargain at
£7,500 a pop. As the decade came to a close, it powered the winners
of all 11 rounds of the 1969 world championship, in four different
makes of chassis. Duckworth’s engineshad provided the soundtrack
to Formula 1 in one of its mostcompelling eras.Jim Clarkclaimedvictoryfor Duckworth’sFord-b ackedDFV on its debut at
Zandvoort in 1967, and theengine won 155 races untilthe end of 1983An F1 race winner,for Porsche, Brabham and in his
own team’s Eagle-Weslake, Dan Gurney was also
one of the championship’s leading innovators