All American Racers - Formula 1

Formula 1

In order to run the Formula 1 operations, Gurney established Anglo American Racers. The Eagle T1G, powered by an obsolete Coventry Climax engine, debuted at the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix and scored its first points with a fifth place three weeks later at the French Grand Prix. In 1967 Richie Ginther was signed as a second driver. The Climax engine was replaced by a new 3-liter Weslake V12 designed by Aubrey Woods and built in Great Britain by Harry Weslake. At Spa-Francorchamps in June of that same year Gurney got a victory, the first "all-American" victory in a Grand Prix since Jimmy Murphy in 1921. Excluding the Indianapolis 500, this is the only win for a USA-built car in Formula One.

The Eagle-Weslake was a beautiful and efficient car, one example of which was constructed in titanium and exotic alloys. More than this, the Eagle was designed to make the tall Gurney fit comfortably at the wheel. Their efforts produced a V12 that was smooth and powerful. At Monza, an insight into the future of engine design was seen for the first time. The engine had four valves per cylinder at a narrow included angle (thirty degrees) that allowed a single cover to enclose both the close-spaced camshafts on each bank. The sixty-degree-vee layout. had a larger bore than stroke (72.8 X 60mm). Gurney's program ran out of money in 1968 and by the end of the year he returned to the United States to concentrate his efforts on the more successful Indycar program, in which Bobby Unser had won the Indianapolis 500 and the 1968 Indycar Championship.

The 1967 Eagle-Weslake is still being 'used' virtually: a detailed, drivable replica is one of the most popular cars in the racing simulation Grand Prix Legends. The less-powerful 1966 Eagle-Climax version is part of the 1966 'Mod' for this x86 pc-based software.