1971 FIA Surtees TS8

The TS8 was the second Surtees Formula 5000 design and was based on the team's Surtees TS7 Formula 1 car. It sold well to privateers and won races in Mike Hailwood's hands, but engine problems prevented him topping the table in the 1971 British series. Built on the same jigs as the TS7, it had the same suspension, wheels and brakes but used a Hewland DG300 gearbox and the wheelbase was some three inches longer due to the longer bell housing. Like the Cosworth DFV in their F1 car, the Chevy V8 was fully stressed, but the mountings for the rear radius rods were repositioned on the rear bulkhead.

This Surtees, "TS8/006", is one of two cars originally owned by Doug Champlin and Fred Carillo of Champ Carr (Capistrano, CA). These cars were run for Sam Posey in the US in 1971 and Rocky Moran in 1972. In 1971, Sam Posey steered this car to second place overall in the Formula 5000 championship finishing just behind David Hobbs' McLaren. Raced again in the US until 1975 "TS8/006" is then believed to have been owned by Chuck Haines (Can-Am Cars) who kept the car for a number of years but then advertised it for sale in the late '90s as a "project", with the car having been completely stripped whilst in his ownership. John Bladon was the lucky purchaser sometime around early 2001. John set about restoring the car, crack testing a number of components, and getting the car "race ready". However, just before the car was completely finished, John was persuaded to sell '006' to our vendor in early 2006. He immediately finished the project to a very high standard, applied and received FIA papers and put in an entry for the Grand Prix Masters at Spa, which was to be the car's first race in over 30 years. Since that race in 2006, the car has been securely stored and is started up on a regular basis. These Surtees F5000 cars were some of the best-looking single seaters of the decade and offered here with a sensible and competitive guide price of £30-£35k, this is a great opportunity to acquire a rare and very fast 70"s F5000 car eligible for a number of championships in the UK and all over the world.