GPL - The Eagle

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). On one particular track (damn can't remember the name either... sorry) two Eagle - Weslakes failed to finish... One in the 4th lap and one in the 5th. (McLaren & Gurney). Thought I'd share, If anyone can fill in the blanks feel free :) Kane

Yup, it was Mosport - Canada. Italian GP at Monza. Gurney, 4 laps, engine. Scarfiotti, 5 laps, engine. :-)

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> 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

It's kinda lookin' like it's pretty unreliable in the game too. Doesn't seem like it's as bad as it apparently was in reality, but it might be pretty close. I've melted my fair share of engines in the offline World Championship. Frustrating, but I'm gonna stick with the Eagle no matter what. S.C. "Gritz" Petty Spectre Racing http://members.xoom.com/Gritz/Spectre/spectreracing.htm