Since the early days of Grand Prix racing many attempts were made to enter the Formula One and pre-war Grand Prix era. The period 1885 – 2021 contains over 650 Unraced projects. Every now and then new projects appear on the surface. To share with you all the stories i decided to summarize the stories per year. Don’t you worry, all the stories will be researched and eventually published. This is the summarized overview of the 1960 season.
Jocko – Climax
The Formula One was in 1960 in a period of massive change. Most of the F1 cars had their engine in the back instead of the front. As well, there would come a massive change in the type of engines to be used. Most of them indeed. In 1959 midget and stock car racer Jocko Maggiacomo penned an Italian-Style front engines Formula Junior car. While the suspension was a modified Morris Minor. The car was fitted with a Fiat engine. The transmission was to fit a future Climax powered F1 car. However, this car never materialised.
Laystall – Climax
The Laystall was an lookalike of the Vanwall, the car was penned to for the new 1,5L engines rules that were to be implemented. It was like the Jocko, a front-engined car. The car was a couple of times tested by Henry Taylor before he team decided to put the car aside. This was in favour of the rear-engined Cooper cars the team would acquire. The car did made his racing debut during the German Grand Prix for Formula 2 in 1960. Finishing 13th.
Vanwall VWL12 / Lotus – Vanwall 18
What the correct name of this car is, is unsure. It is branded as the Vanwall – VWL12 and the Lotus – Vanwall 18. What is sure is that In the back of the Lotus 18 an Vanwall engine was fitted. This happened during the Lombank Trophy at Snetterton in 1960. Tony Brooks was the driver behind the wheel. Due to a malfunction of the engine, the car would retire already during the free practice. Chassis 901 of the Lotus 18 was used for the car. What the exact purpose was of the car? I’m unable to answer this question, I simply haven’t done my research on the car yet.
Walker-Climax
The Walker – Climax was the creation of Alf Francis and Valerio Colotti who had their own company TecMec Studios. They designed their own F1 car in 1960 to have it debut in 1961. In the end, Rob Walker stayed with the Lotus 18. It didn’t mean the car never appeared. The car was seen on a lot of historical races.
