26 replies to this topic

[TSR]

The second of the two 1972 Eagle-Offy 159 cid turbo cars we began restoring years ago has now been completed and is now in drivable condition. After lots of effort, the car was delivered for display to the RIAM (Riverside International Automobile Museum) in California. The museum owns several Eagles including the very first built, chassis 201, as driven by Dan Gurney at the 1966 Indy 500 (unfortunately not for long as he was one of the victims of the first lap demolition).

The work performed is quite nice as you can see in the following pictures. There is also a link to a small website page that tells a bit more about the two cars, please CLICK HERE.







Members of the Drake family of Drake-Offy fame joined our little celebration upon delivery:





You can see and hear the engine run on this short You Tube clip as well as this one. It is not that often that we can listen to an Offy turbo anymore...

This engine was rebuilt by Van Dyne Engineering, present owners of the Drake-Offy name, rights, tooling, and patterns. Stewart did a great job and the thing fired right up.

It is very unfortunate that my long-time friend Wayne Leary, who was the crew chief for Dan Gurney during all these years, passed away only a couple of weeks ago. He would have really enjoyed seeing the finished car. Wayne remained active and a witness of our efforts until the very end. Below is a picture of him in 1972 preparing the car for the "Shaefer 500" at Pocono Raceway:



Here, he is steering the car to the starting position:



We hope to run the car for the first time in March 2011 at California Speedway during the Victory Lane showcase.

[Bill from NH]

Philippe,

That's a nice website! I even "hot-listed" it so I can look at it again and again.

Any idea who will be driving it on the vintage circuit?

[Larry Mattingly]

VERY nice...

LM

[Old pink can guy]

Wow... words can not say enough!! Just beautiful work!

[68Caddy]

I think Wayne Leary is smiling at this and, Philippe, glad you did it.
Life is?

Nesta

[Joe Mig]

Magnificent!

[MrWeiler]

We hope to run the car for the first time in March 2011 at California Speedway during the Victory Lane showcase.

Way cool, Dokk. How bad is the turbo lag?

[chaparrAL]

Real race cars are not that pretty! Sort of over the top like Rob Waltons LeMans Ferrari P;, they did not come that nice from the factory. Polished tub and chrome suspension, I thought chrome was a no-no on suspension pieces. Very very nice, Dokk, will it be shown a the Monterey Historics?

[TSR]

Al,

I do not know. It all depends on the needs, as the RIAM will be told by the new organizers (it is called "Monterey Motorsports Reunion" now) on what they can bring.

Way cool, Dokk. How bad is the turbo lag?

Bad. Like three seconds before, three seconds after. If the car is well setup, you MAY floor it around if you have the cojones. I do not, at least not any more.

[Dr. Gamma]

Sir,

Thank you for restoring such a memorable piece of Indy Car history. Simply put, you did a magnificent job of bringing that car to condition it is in today. Those years of Gurney Eagles were in my mind some of the meanest-looking race cars ever built!! All business from end to end.

I never knew you were the person who designed those stunning graphics on all those cars. Gurney has been my hero since 1965 or so. I remember being at Indy in 1966 when I was looking for Dan in the pack at the start that year when the big crash happened. I watched his Eagle lose three of its wheels by the time it came to a stop on the straightaway. He just sat in the car for a few seconds before he climbed out. Old A.J. climbed the fence right in front of us after the crash, too!!

I have all of the Eagle diecast that were made by Apollo from that time period. I can't believe how big those 1972 wings really were compared to the 1975 wing!!

It was sad to hear that Mr. Wayne Leary passed away too. It's sad to see all the REAL mechanics are leaving us over the past few years. I almost forgot what the old Offy sounded like until I hear your YouTube videos. Thanks for bringing that long forgotten sound back, too!!!

It has been a lifetime dream of my to be able to see Mr. Gurney's race car collection that he has kept or collected over the years at AAR. Your pictures of your work that you did on the purple Eagle, or as I know it, the Mystery Eagle, and this Eagle have reignited my interest in trying to see that collection at AAR.

Thanks again for what you have done in preserving a very important part of American Indy Car history.

[Mad Mexican]

Amigo PdL,

Way cool, brings back a lot of good memories I hate to date myself I was only ten when I watched this particular Eagle do battle with the McLarens of Roger Penske and his ace driver Mark Donohue ! I love open wheel racing back then. I could not wait for the lastest Road & Track to get in-depth coverage of F1, Indy, and Formlua 5000! Heros of the day: the Unsers, Mark Donohue, Jackie Stewart, and many more. Again a way cool time machine!

Adios,

[TSR]

Thanks. Robert and Javier, that's very kind of you.

Today, I went to the RIAM to watch the Watkins Glen IRL race on the big screen, and Alice Hanks, the wife of the 1957 Indy 500 winner Sam Hanks, was present and brought us a 30-minute movie by Mobil Oil, showing the history of his win. That film with the "lay-down" Epperly-Salih Offy car was great and made my day.

Below are a picture of Alice next to our new car, and one of Mike Steube who joined me at the museum.

Robert, at the back of both pictures, there is a blue Eagle. This car is the very one you saw at Indy in this first-lap demolition. It is currently being restored by the museum crew and will be at Monterey in August for the Gurney celebration.

[68Caddy]

Philippe,

Don't tempt Mike he might want to race those ones instead of 1/24? Great photos for sure; enjoy it.

Nesta

[Mike Steube]

The pictures truly do NOT do this car justice. It's fantastic! Alice is a sweetheart. The movie about Sam's 1957 Indy win is a wonderful trip back in time.

Philippe and I both enjoyed it more that the race at the Glen on the big screen.

Thanks for an awesome day, Dokk...

[Russell Sheldon]

Absolutely magnificent, Philippe.

Here's the December 1972 Car Model magazine article:





With kind regards,

Russell

[TSR]

Yep, Lloyd Asbury made the mold for this R/C body... I wonder what happened to the painted car, if it is still hanging in someone's garage, maybe to surface some day at the Hershey's swap meet...

Those were fun days.

[One_Track_Mind]

Stunning!

Thank you for sharing a part of your dreams, PdL.

Good to see Mr.Stuebe out and about having fun!

[HarV Wallbanger III]

I wish I could have made it but this was our yearly Beach Week and I was down there. Fantastic work, Dokk!

[TSR]

Barn,

There could be some slot car activities at the RIAM before too long, so you might get an opportunity to visit before too long... who knows.

[68Caddy]

Philippe why am I on the bottom of the Totem pole? Don't tell me I got to cut my hair to get there?
I sure would like to rubbernecking with the elite of race circuit for a change.
Hope fully you are not ashamed to bring a mutt to a sophisticated event like that?
I think I can hold my own at party's like that if they have drinks and snacks?
So what do you think?


Nesta

[BackAgain]

That is a truly awesome restoration, Philippe... It is so wonderful to see history cherished and not discarded. Congratulations and thanks for the work of everyone involved in this project.

[Phil Hackett]

Compare the size of the turbo on that car with what CART was last using before they went into oblivion... WOW! Air flow!... What kind of manifold pressure was used? 40 psi?...

[TSR]

Phil,

In 1972, turbo manifold pressure was unlimited. Most teams used about 125" to qualify, and about 90" to 100" for racing. Incredibly enough, both the Drake-Offy turbo (1,200 HP on 125", about 900 HP on 90"), an engine that traces its ancestry back to the Indy-winning 1913 Peugeot, and the four-cam Ford born in 1964 as a 4.5-liter atmospheric, then modified to a 2.6-liter turbo first by Ford, then by A.J. Foyt, took it. However I was present at AAR when an Offy engine exploded in the dyno room with incredible noise, as it was showing 1,400 HP on 145" of pressure.

USAC of course slowed the cars considerably in 1976, resulting in a weird race at Ontario where the cars looked like they were on yellow when in fact actually racing. This and the money situation where USAC and the tracks were getting too much of the pie, made the team owners create an organization of defense called... CART.

Worked great until Bobby Rahal was named president of the organization, then a real clown that shot it in the foot a second time.

Our Eagle is apparently going to be the subject of a seven-page layout and cover in Vintage Motorsport magazine; they called me yesterday about it.

[Phil Hackett]

Just to be clear: when you use " (inches) of boost you are speaking of inches of Mercury, correct? 40 psi = 81" hg...
Just think IF Indy Cars become progressive again... We could have Diesel powered cars running 200+ pounds of boost. Wahooo!

[TSR]

Yes you could... you actually could have torque monsters, 4-cylinder 2-liter engines with huge turbo boost, running at only 2500 rpm and easily pushing over 1000 ft/lbs or torque!
Gear them tall!