For many years years Roger Penske's team successfully campaigned Indycar racers of their own design while almost the entire field used customer chassis. It very often gave Team Penske an edge but in the second half of the 1990s, the package of the Penske chassis, Mercedes-Benz engine and Goodyear tyres gradually lost its edge. There was a brief return to form in 1997 when Canadian Paul Tracy scored three consecutive victories in the Penske PC26. His third win was Team Penske's 99th but it would take several seasons and a switch to a Reynard chassis for Penske to score his 100th win in Indycar racing. In recent years the chassis used by Tracy to score that 99th win, at St. Louis, was fully restored by Paul Morgan's Dawn Treader Performance. Last year Tracy was reunited with 'his' PC26 during the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This gave us the opportunity to take a closer look at the last victorious Penske.
At this year's Festival of Speed our attention was grabbed by this Beatrice-Lola THL1 Hart. Funded by the Beatrice food company and headed by Carl Haas, the project combined an all-star team of designers and drivers but yielded little results. Various former McLaren employees were involved and also a young Ross Brawn, while 1980 World Champion Alan Jones was signed to drive the red, white and blue cars. The THL1 debuted in 1985 and used a Hart engine in anticipation of an all new Ford V6. Before the project could flourish, Beatrice ended its support and the cars were not raced after 1986. The Beatrice-Lola we saw has been fully restored and has since been raced several times in historic events.
Early next month, the SEMA show will spice up Las Vegas once again. One of the stars on the Chrysler booth will no doubt be this Mopar Challenger. Powered by the legendary 426 HEMI engine, it is dubbed the '1320' in reference to the number of feet that make up the quarter-mile.
Enjoy the links:
1985 Beatrice-Lola THL1 Hart - Images, Specifications and Information
2009 Dodge Mopar Challenger 1320 - Images, Specifications and Information
1997 Penske PC26 Mercedes - Images, Specifications and Information
2009 Honda Civic Type R Mugen - Images, Specifications and Information
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