Michelotto Automobili is a automotive design, development, and race car constructor based in Padua, Italy. Founded in 1969 by Giuliano Michelotto as a Ferrari dealership, the company entered Italian auto racing series in 1971 before they became an outright constructor of racing cars when they co-developed with Ferrari the 308 Group 4rally cars in 1978. Since then Michelotto has developed or built nearly all of Ferraris racing cars in the sports car and rally disciplines, as well as assited Ferrari in the development of production supercars such as the Ferrari F40. Michelotto has also developed sports prototypes for Osella.
Since their initial development of the 308 Group 4 in 1971, Michelotto has been involved in the development or construction of the following road and racing cars.
The Mirage GR8, also known as a Gulf GR8, was a pair of sports prototyperacing cars developed and built by Gulf Racing Research Company, a joint venture between financial backer Gulf Oil and John Wyer's auto racing team. The two GR8s were designed specifically to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which Wyer and Gulf had previously won as partners in 1968 and 1969. The cars were designed around Cosworth-developed FordV8 engines. Planning and construction of the first GR8 began in 1974 as Gulf Racing were phasing out their previous GR7 designs, with testing continuing until the two cars made their competition debut at Le Mans in 1975. Despite issues with vibrations from the Ford Cosworths damaging the cars, Briton Derek Bell and Belgian Jacky Ickx won the race in their GR8, a lap ahead of a Ligier and followed in third by the second GR8. Gulf withdrew funding for the project following the Le Mans victory, and the cars were sold to American Harley Cluxton III for his Grand Touring Cars team. The Cluxton's GR8s returned to Le Mans in 1976 where Frenchmen Jean-Louis Lafosse and François Migault finished in second place to Porsche's new 936.
A change to RenaultturbochargedV6 engines for Le Mans 1977 continued the GR8's success as Australian Vern Schuppan and Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jarier finished in second place, once again behind Porsche. The GR8 bodywork was redesigned for 1978, leading to the cars being renamed Mirage M9. Renault's own entries dominated the event alongside Porsche, and the M9 could only manage a tenth place result. A second revision was carried out for 1979, as well as a reversion back to Ford Cosworth motors, but the Mirage M10 design failed to earn a result at Le Mans. The cars were retired from use shortly thereafter.
John Wyer and John Willment founded JW Automotive Engineering in 1967 to campaign Ford GT40s before switching to Porsche 917s in 1970. JW Automotive had success in the International Championship for Makes, assisting Ford's championship title in 1968 and Porsche's 1970 and 1971 championships. The team also was victorious at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning with Ford in 1968 and 1969. Outside of running the racing team, JW Automotive also developed their own racing cars under the Mirage name, starting with modified GT40s before creating their own designs from scratch. Rule changes for the International Championship made the 917 no longer legal for the 1972 season, so a new prototype was developed by the company, the Mirage M6. Involvement from Gulf Oil, who had financially supported all of JW Automotive's efforts since 1967, also increased as the team was renamed Gulf Racing Research Company. The M6 proved competitive against Matra, Ferrari, and Alfa Romeo, winning the Spa 1000km in 1973. Mirage improved on the M6's design with the Gulf GR7 in 1974, finishing second in the International Championship behind Matra despite not achieving a victory that season. By the end of 1974, Gulf was looking to withdraw their motorsports funding but Wyer was able to convince the company to have a final attempt at Le Mans for 1975.
Group C sports cars was a category of racing car defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as two-seat competition automobiles for use on closed circuits. In 1982 the FIA reorganized their categorization structure for racing cars as defined in the Appendix J, with Group C introduced as a replacement for the former Group 5 and Group 6 sports cars. In contrast to the former sports car regulations which limited engine dimensions and output, Group C allowed automotive manufacturers freedom to develop any motor they chose but limited the amount of fuel that each car could use over a race distance, requiring a balance between overall pace and fuel economy and giving rise to the development of engine control units. The closed bodywork cars were given a defined minimum weight and maximum dimensions, but the rules encouraged the use of underbody ground effects to achieve high levels of downforce.
Fuel economy regulations shifted over the years, initially limiting the number of pit stops for refueling for a car over a given race distance before the 1984 regulations simply defined the total volume of fuel that could be consumed over a distance. A second Group C category, known as Group C Junior or Group C2, was created in 1983; these cars were given smaller fuel tanks and lower limits on fuel usage, requiring far more economy over pace. In 1989 the FIA announced a shift in the Group C categories with the introduction of new regulations that set a limit of 3,500 cubic centimetres (210cuin) of engine displacement for all motors while forgoing limitations on fuel, identical to the engine regulations for Formula One. These new regulations would coexist with the fuel economy formula regulations until the end of 1991 when the new engine formula became the sole set of regulations. The new regulations received early manufacturer support but quickly waned by the end of 1992, leading the FIA to eliminate the category in 1993. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, continued to regulate former Group C cars into their own categories until the end of 1994.
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Gulf Racing Research Company
Grand Touring Cars
Jacky Ickx
Jean-Pierre Jarier
Vern Schuppan
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