> Little bit of trivia for y'all, I was checking out an F1 stats book on the
> weekend. I was surprised to see the reliability of the Eagle in 1967... or
> should I say unrealiability!
> In the first 3 races (Kyalami, Monaco, Zandvoort) it failed to finish... 4th
> Race (Spa) it won w/Gurney at the wheel. On the rest of the tracks there
> were no finishes, except a third somewhere which I can't recall (think it
> was Mosport).
Right, Gurney had a third at Mosport.
This was at Monza, but Scarfiotti was the number two driver for that
race, McLaren having gone back to his own car.
Yep, this car had severe reliability problems. In the 11 races, Gurney
and the occasional teammates started 16 cars. As you mentioned, Gurney
finished two races, a win at Spa and a third at Mosport. None of his
teammates finished a race (McLaren three DNF's, Scarfiotti one, and
Pease one). Actually, Pease was still running at the end of his one
race for Eagle (at Canada), but he was 43 laps down so I assume he had
some mechanical problem! And there seemed to be a different type of
failure at every race - suspension (twice), fuel pump, fuel injection,
fuel leak, ignition, clutch, halfshaft, oil leak, engine (three times -
twice at Monza - Scarfiotti after 5 laps and Gurney after 4!), radiator.
I'd be wary to use this car in a series that uses full race lengths.
It was definitely one of the quicker cars, though. Gurney qualified
second twice, third three times, fourth once, and fifth three times.
Dave Ewing
