Cooper T38
The Cooper T38 was a sports car developed by the Cooper Car Company in 1955 .
Development history and technology
The development of the T38 marked the attempt by John Cooper to build a sports car with which an overall victory in an important international sports car race would be possible. Unlike the leading racing car manufacturers in the mid-1950s, such as Ferrari , Maserati , Aston Martin, and Jaguar , Cooper had far more limited resources. In addition to the monoposto construction, he built a sports car in 1955, the T39 . While this was largely based on monoposto technology, John Cooper broke new technological ground with the design of the T38.
The tubular space frame for the chassis and the body was made by Cooper, the entire drive technology including the engine came from Jaguar. The 3.4-liter 6-cylinder in- line engine was identical to the engine in the Jaguar D-Type . In contrast to similar vehicles, the T38 had a large cockpit with a comfortable passenger seat that was identical to the driver's seat. There were disc brakes on all four wheels and an additional tank between the driver and front passenger seats, which explained the large cockpit. Three chassis were produced. In some publications four built vehicles are mentioned, but there the T33 , which also had a Jaguar engine, is counted.
Racing history
The first chassis, CJ-1-55, was first driven by Peter Whitehead at Silverstone International in 1955 . Two laps behind the winner Reg Parnell in the Aston Martin DB3S , he finished 13th in the overall standings. The 24-hour race at Le Mans denied Whitehead together with his half-brother Graham . After 38 laps the engine ran out of oil and the car had to be parked.
Chassis CJ-2-55 was given to the British racing driver Michael Head in 1956 , who successfully competed in sports car races in Great Britain with his T38. The third chassis, the CJ-3-55, was built for David Shale in 1957 . Head celebrated its first race win with a T38 in April 1956 at a national sports car race in Goodwood . A total of 9 overall wins and 1 class victory were achieved with the three T38 chassis in 65 race starts.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cooper T38 with large cockpit ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ^ Silverstone International 1955
- ↑ Le Mans 24-hour race in 1955
- ^ The T38 1955 in Le Mans ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ 1956 Goodwood Sports Car Race
