In 1966, Dan Gurney scored Ford's only Can-Am victory with his All American Racers prepared Lola T70 Mk2 Spyder. For the 1967 he replaced the race winning machine with one of the four T70 Mk3B Spyders. These lightweight specials were reserved for Lola's top teams; the other three were sold to John Surtees and Roger Penske. Gurney equipped his example with a modified '351' Ford V8, complete with the aluminium Gurney-Weslake heads. Producing as much as 550 bhp, it helped Gurney to rival the dominant McLarens in qualifying but unfortunately it also proved very fragile in all six Can-Am rounds of 1967. The unique Ford-powered Mk3B Spyder was subsequently sold on and in the following years received a big-block Chevrolet V8 and a Coupe body. Well over forty years later, the car was restored to its original configuration. In this guise, we were able to shoot the Lola T70 Mk3B Spyder Ford at the 2011 Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
The seasoned American V8s are still widely used in racing and the latest addition to this stable is the Chevrolet Camaro GT. The GT3 racer is developed by SaReNi United, a subsidiary of Reiter Engineering, which is best known for building the various Gallardo and Murcielago racing cars. Based on the production car, the competition Camaro is powered by an enormous Katech-built V8 that produces 650 bhp and 800 Nm of torque. The first car is readied for the ADAC Masters season opener at Oschersleben in April. Priced at 179,000 EUR ex VAT, the Camaro GT is certainly one of the most affordable packages of the ever expanding GT3 field.
At next week's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Dodge is expected to reveal the all-new Viper but it will be not the only high performance model on display. One of the others is the Mopar-equipped Charger Redline. In the most extreme, Stage III form the potent Charger features an all-alloy 426 HEMI V8, good for 590 bhp. Unfortunately this very powerful lump is only available in non-road legal versions of the Charger.
Enjoy the links:
2012 Chevrolet Camaro GT - Images, Specifications and Information
2012 Dodge Charger Redline - Images, Specifications and Information
1967 Lola T70 Mk3B Spyder Ford - Images, Specifications and Information