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All American Racers is an American auto racing team and constructor based in Santa Ana, California.[1] Founded by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in 1964, All American Racers initially participated in American sports car and Champ Car races as well as international Formula One events with cars named Eagle. The Formula One team, based in Great Britain and using British-built Weslake engines was named Anglo American Racers. Under team manager Bill Dunne they set up shop in Rye, East Sussex.[2] The team were adjacent to Harry Weslake's engine development plant and half a mile from Elva cars.[3] They participated in 25 Grands Prix, entering a total of 34 cars.

The first Eagles were created after AAR entered a Goodyear-backed Lotus 38 in the 1965 Indianapolis 500 and Gurney hired former Lotus designer Len Terry to develop their own car for 1966. The resulting Ford-powered Eagle T2G was codeveloped with the Eagle T1G for Formula 1. After exiting Formula One in 1968 and concentrating on Champ Car, Eagle turned to sports car racing in the 1980s, partnering with Toyota to develop the Celica and later sports prototypes for the Camel GT Championship.

The company built the Ben Bowlby-designed DeltaWing that was run by Highcroft Racing at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Formula 1[]

File:Eagle T2G.jpg

An Eagle T2G USAC car, essentially identical to the Formula One T1G except for suspension and engine specifications.

In order to run the Formula 1 operations, Gurney established Anglo American Racers. The Eagle T1G, powered by an obsolete Coventry Climax engine, debuted at the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix and scored its first points with a fifth place three weeks later at the French Grand Prix. In 1967 Richie Ginther was signed as a second driver. The Climax engine was replaced by a new 3-liter Weslake V12 designed by Aubrey Woods and built in Great Britain by Harry Weslake. At Spa-Francorchamps in June of that same year Gurney got a victory, the first "all-American" victory in a Grand Prix since Jimmy Murphy in 1921. Excluding the Indianapolis 500, this is the only win for a USA-built car in Formula One.[1]

The Eagle-Weslake was a beautiful and efficient car, one example of which was constructed in titanium and exotic alloys. More than this, the Eagle was designed to make the tall Gurney fit comfortably at the wheel. Their efforts produced a V12 that was smooth and powerful. At Monza, an insight into the future of engine design was seen for the first time. The engine had four valves per cylinder at a narrow included angle (thirty degrees) that allowed a single cover to enclose both the close-spaced camshafts on each bank. The sixty-degree-vee layout. had a larger bore than stroke (72.8 X 60mm). Gurney's program ran out of money in 1968 and by the end of the year he returned to the United States to concentrate his efforts on the more successful Indycar program, in which Bobby Unser had won the Indianapolis 500 and the 1968 Indycar Championship.

The 1967 Eagle-Weslake is still being 'used' virtually: a detailed, drivable replica is one of the most popular cars in the racing simulation Grand Prix Legends. The less-powerful 1966 Eagle-Climax version is part of the 1966 'Mod' for this x86 pc-based software.

USAC & CART Champ Car[]

File:JoeLeonardEagle.jpg

The Eagle driven to 6th place in the 1969 Indianapolis 500 by Joe Leonard

During the USAC years, the Eagle chassis was very successful in the late 1960s and 1970s, especially with driver Bobby Unser. Eagles won 51 Champ Car races, including the 1968 and 1975 Indy 500's won by Unser and the 1973 race won by Gordon Johncock. The All American Racers team was inactive in single seaters from 1987 to 1995 and returned in 1996 again building their own chassis and using new Toyota engines. However, this new effort, a combination of new and untested equipment, did not prove to be successful, never winning a race and collecting only occasional top-tens. The team ceased active racing after the 1999 CART season.

CART drivers[]

  • Alex Barron (1998–1999)
  • Raul Boesel (1999)
  • Geoff Brabham (1981)
  • Mike Chandler (1982, 1984)
  • Kevin Cogan (1984–1985)
  • Juan Manuel Fangio II (1996–1997)
  • Pete Halsmer (1984)
  • P. J. Jones (1996–1998)
  • Jan Lammers (1986)
  • Andrea Montermini (1999)
  • Rocky Moran (1981)
  • Mike Mosley (1979–1981)
  • Ed Pimm (1984–1985)
  • Gualter Salles (1999)
  • Vincenzo Sospiri (1998)

Complete Formula One World Championship results[]

Anglo American Racers[]

(key) (Results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year Chassis Engine(s) Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points WCC
1966 Eagle T1G Climax S4
Weslake V12
G MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 4 7th
25px USA Dan Gurney Ret 5 Ret Ret 7 Ret Ret 5
25px USA Phil Hill DNQ
25px USA Bob Bondurant DSQ Ret
1967 Eagle T1G Weslake V12 G RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX 13 7th
25px USA Dan Gurney Ret Ret Ret 1 Ret Ret Ret 3 Ret Ret Ret
25px USA Richie Ginther DNQ
25px Template:Country alias NZ Bruce McLaren Ret Ret Ret
25px Italy Ludovico Scarfiotti Ret
1968 Eagle T1G
McLaren M7A
Weslake V12
Ford V8
G RSA ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA CAN USA MEX 0* 12th
25px USA Dan Gurney Ret Ret Ret Ret 9 Ret Ret 4 Ret

* 4th place in the 1968 United States Grand Prix was scored in a McLaren-Ford, therefore the points did not count towards Eagle-Weslake's points total.

Non-works entries[]

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1967 Castrol Oils Ltd. Eagle T1G Climax S4 ? RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX
25px USA Al Pease NC
1968 Castrol Oils Ltd. Eagle T1G Climax S4 ? RSA ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA CAN USA MEX
25px USA Al Pease DNS
1969 John Maryon Eagle T1G Climax S4 ? RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR GER ITA CAN USA MEX
25px USA Al Pease DSQ

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 http://allamericanracers.com/gurney_grand-prix/eagle_f1-story.html
  2. Competition Press & Autoweek, March 26, 1966, Page 3.
  3. Competition Press & Autoweek, April 23, 1966, Page 6.

External links[]

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