As Pete Lyon wrote in his marvelous book, CAN-AM, the 9 year series was the
"Grand Adventure,…
a noble experiment in virtually unrestricted technology……" One of many unique experiments was the
George Bignotti Ford DOHC powered Lola T-70 Mk 3B, chassis SL73/127, #21 driven by Parnelli Jones
at Riverside, 10/29/67, and by Mario Andretti at Elkhart Lake 9/1/68, and Bridgehampton, 9/15/68.
While the car was qualified well up in the starting grids, and Parnelli drove it to 5th at the '67 L.A. Times
Grand Prix, Riverside, Mario's 1968 adventures with it were less auspicious- early race DNF's from
blown engine and oil pressure loss. I suppose the Ford 355 CID DOHC was not the ideal road racing engine.
In the world of model cars kits generally and with 1960's era RTR slot cars
particularly, mass market prerogatives
ruled so unusual scale race cars are rarely produced. However Motor Sports Collector offered in 2001 a
limited production 1/18 scale static model of the Bignotti #21 DOHC Ford/Lola.
To Acknowledge George Bignotti's "Grand
Can-Am adventure," I've put togethor from various pieces and
parts a very unique 1/24th accurate and authentic appearing scale slot car that as far as I know has not been
duplicated. I used a Resilient Resin body and an old MPC 1/25th
Gurney 1968 Indy racer.
While I don't possess any good photos of the actual car other than one taken at Bridgehampton published on the
Racing Sports Car web site, I'm assuming the Motor Sports Collector model photos depict a fairly accurate
model
rendition other than the rear fender wells. It appears the 1:1 real car sported wide rear fender flares similar to
other '68 running T-70's to cover the wider 1968 rear tires. The driver figure is from Electric
Dreams and while
the sponsor decals are quite accurate; the MPC kit numbers' font match the 1:1 car's-couldn't find a suitable # 21 decal.
(At Bridgehampton)
(Motor Sports Collector 1/18th model and photo of Andretti driving)
