All American Racers

AAR Eagle racing car called the 1960s and 1990s, which were built by the team of the Californian Dan Gurney. The acronym stood for first All American Racers, as Carroll Shelby from 1965 to 1970 participated in the U.S.. Under the leadership of Gurney, who was a successful Grand Prix driver before, ( Sussex ) has established a parallel company under the name Anglo American Racers to be also present in the European racing series in the English Rye. The car should go under the name of Eagle ( Eagle, the emblem of the United States ) at the start.

The tire manufacturer Goodyear acted as donors, with the intention to break the long-standing dominance of Firestone as a tire supplier for the 500 miles of Indianapolis.

In the U.S.

End of the 1960s the team in the United States began to celebrate first great successes. In 1968 Bobby Unser 500 miles of Indianapolis, and the series, and Goodyear opened so that the door to the American motor racing. Until 1986 Eagle delivered two more Indy500 wins, and vehicles for the U.S. single-seater series. Then Gurney turned first on the single seaters and became a partner of Toyota to recycle their appearance in the sports car scene and accompany. After the CART season 1999 we gave the construction of single-seaters on final.

Eagle in Formula 1

The first design for an Eagle Formula 1 car was from Len Terry. The vehicle is aligned so that it is both in the formula 1 and - could be used in the USAC series - with adapters. Terry followed in the lines of the Lotus 38 The car that ran under the name Eagle T1G, had a light alloy monocoque and a suspension with wishbones and damper struts. Gurney was the engine builder Weslake V- 12 engine in order and bridged the completion with Climax engines. This 2.75 -liter units Been Discontinued models, the vehicle was therefore underpowered to begin with. Nevertheless, it was enough to first championship points at the Grand Prix of France in 1966 when Gurney fifth import.

The Weslake engine brought more success. The 3-liter twin - OHC was first time in 1966 in Monza during the Italian Grand Prix for use. The gear problems that occurred the first time in Monza, could later not be completely solved. But the engine had plenty of power, but the production was never focused on series and all engines were unique. The team had been struggling to keep up with the different engine power of the engines and the parts could hardly exchange from engine to engine. Only when Gurney and engine maintenance took over in the own factory, the problems were solved.

The big day for the team was the Grand Prix of Belgium 1967, just a week after Gurney's victory at Le Mans. Gurney won with the Eagle - Weslake the first and only world championship race for the team.

When shifted the activities more and more in the U.S., took the commitment to Formula 1 from visibly. The 1968 season is played without greater success with a slightly improved version of the T1G. Meanwhile, the freely available Ford -Cosworth V8 was the standard engine in F1, and many teams build their own cars. 1969 Tony Southgate was working on a new vehicle, but was never finished. The last Grand Prix for an Eagle was the Grand Prix of Canada in 1969, the next two races in North America was left out, Eagle withdrew completely from Formula 1 back and focused on the United States.

Eagle in North American series

Gurney's Eagles won by Bobby Unser Indy 500 in 1968 and 1975, with Gordon Johncock 1973. Dan Gurney in 1971 Gurney Flap developed during test drives his Indycar team, a spoiler on the rear wing that increases downforce. A total of 51 ChampCar races were won until one finally retired after the 1999 CART season of single seaters. 1968 and 1969 the team won the Eagle Mk5 the U.S. Formula 5000 Championship.

Between 1987 and 1995, Gurney sat in cooperation with Toyota sports car in the IMSA series one.

Literature and sources

  • David Hodges: race car from A to Z 1945 engine book publishing house, Stuttgart 1994, p 81, ISBN 3-613-01477-7.
  • Formula 1 team
  • Motorsport Team
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