1970 sports-prototypes head to 75MM

An array of international sportscars from the 1970s will take to the Goodwood Motor Circuit for a high-speed demonstration at the 75th Members’ Meeting on March 18 and 19.

Exotic cars from Alfa Romeo, Chevron, Ferrari, Lola, Matra and Mirage will evoke memories of the factory battles that raged in the World Championship of Makes from 1972 when regulations mandated the use of three-litre engines.

These sports-prototypes, essentially Grand Prix cars with low-drag bodywork, will provide a visual feast for spectators in a series of high-speed demonstrations during the fourth of the now-annual British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) retrospectives.

Already confirmed are several of the flat-12 Ferrari 312PBs that were driven to numerous 1000 km victories in 1972-’73 by aces Mario Andretti, Jacky Ickx, Arturo Merzario, Sandro Munari, Ronnie Peterson, Brian Redman, Clay Regazzoni and Tim Schenken.

Joining the Scuderia’s screamers will be a gaggle of French-blue Matra MS670s – the wailing V12-powered machines that took a hat-trick of Le Mans 24 Hour wins and dominated the 1974 season, winning all bar one of the 10 races courtesy of Gallic heroes Jean-Pierre Beltoise, JeanPierre Jarier, Gérard Larrousse and Henri Pescarolo.

A V8-engined Alfa Romeo T33s that occasionally gave Ferrari and Matra a fright during those halcyon days thanks to a quality roster of drivers including Andrea de Adamich and Vic Elford will be amongst the pack, as well as the British-built, Gulf-liveried, Ford Cosworth DFV-motivated Mirages once pedalled by heroes Derek Bell and Howden Ganley and lucky Chevron B26s and Lola T290s.