The Cooper T73 is a 1.5-litre Formula One car, designed, developed and produced by Cooper Cars for the 1964 Formula One season.

Cooper T73
CategoryFormula One
ConstructorCooper Car Company
Designer(s)Owen Maddock
PredecessorCooper T66
SuccessorCooper T77
Technical specifications
ChassisSteel spaceframe with partial stressed panels
Suspension (front)Double wishbone, inboard coil spring and damper
Suspension (rear)Lower wishbone, upper trailing arm and transverse link, coil spring and damper
EngineCoventry Climax FWMV 1.5-litre V8, naturally aspirated, rear mid, longitudinally mounted.
TransmissionCooper 6-speed manual gearbox.
TyresDunlop
Competition history
Notable entrantsCooper Car Company
Notable driversNew Zealand Bruce McLaren
United States Phil Hill
Austria Jochen Rindt
Debut1964 Monaco Grand Prix
RacesWinsPodiumsF/Laps
21020

Development

edit

Bruce McLaren had persuaded Cooper to build a car, the T70, for the 1964 Tasman Series. It was based on the 1963 T66, and the T73 in turn was based on the T70. Consequently it still had a tubular steel chassis, but with additional stressed steel panels welded to the floor and sides. Front suspension was by double wishbones and inboard spring/dampers connected by rocker arms. At the rear there was a lower wishbone and a trailing arm connected to an upper link. The Tasman car had a small fuel tank for the shorter Tasman races, so the T73 had additional pannier tanks. As before, the Climax FWMV V8 supplied the power through a Cooper six-speed gearbox.

Racing history

edit

The T73 was driven by Bruce McLaren and Phil Hill in 1964, debuting at the Monaco Grand Prix. McLaren's car broke a wishbone in practice and he drove the previous year's T66 in the race, while Phil Hill retired with suspension failure. Thereafter, it was another season of disappointment, with McLaren's best results being second place in Belgium and Italy. He finished seventh in the World Championship. Hill had an even worse season, scoring a solitary one point and managing to crash both his T73 and the spare T66 in Austria, resulting in his temporary sacking by John Cooper, which resulted in him sitting out the Italian Grand Prix, replaced by John Love. The season ended with Cooper fifth in the Constructors' Championship.

McLaren and new teammate Jochen Rindt raced the T73 at the 1965 South African Grand Prix, after which it was replaced by the T77, although Rindt resorted to the spare T73 at the Italian Grand Prix when he bent a valve in his main car. One of the works cars was later sold to J.A. Pearce Engineering who fitted it with a Ferrari GTO 3-litre V12 and entered it in several races in 1966 and 1967 for Chris Lawrence. It was not particularly successful although it

A derivative hybrid version, called the T71/73, was a mix between the T73 and the Formula 2 T71 chassis, powered by a 1.5 litre Ford Twin-Cam engine and built by Bob Gerard Racing and entered in the British Grand Prix in 1964 and 1965.[1][2][3][4][5]

Formula One World Championship results

edit
Year Entrant Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 WCC Points
1964 Cooper Car Company T73 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 D MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA MEX 5th 16
  Phil Hill 9 8 Ret 7 6 Ret Ret 9
  Bruce McLaren 7 2 6 Ret Ret Ret 2 Ret 7
  John Love DNQ
Bob Gerard Racing T71/73 Ford 109E 1.5 L4   John Taylor 14 NC 0
1965 Cooper Car Company T73 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 D RSA MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 5th 14
  Bruce McLaren 5
  Jochen Rindt Ret 8
Bob Gerard Racing T71/73 Ford 109E 1.5 L4   Alan Rollinson DNS NC 0
1966 J.A. Pearce Engineering T73 Ferrari Tipo 168 3.0 V12 D MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX NC 0
  Chris Lawrence 11 Ret

Formula One Non-Championship results

edit
Year Entrant Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1964 Cooper Car Company T73 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 D DMT NWT SYR AIN INT SOL MED RAN
  Bruce McLaren Ret 15
Bob Gerard Racing T71/73 Ford 109E 1.5 L4   John Taylor 7 5 10
1965 Bob Gerard Racing T71/73 Ford 109E 1.5 L4 D ROC SYR SMT INT MED RAN
  John Rhodes 11 8 Ret
  Piers Courage DNQ
1966 J.A. Pearce Engineering T73 Ferrari Tipo 168 3.0 V12 D RSA SYR INT OUL
  Chris Lawrence 5
1967 J.A. Pearce Engineering T73 Ferrari Tipo 168 3.0 V12 D ROC SPC INT SYR OUL ESP
  Chris Lawrence 8
  Robin Darlington WD

References

edit
  1. ^ "Cooper T71/73 history".
  2. ^ Whitelock, Mark (10 August 2006). 1 1/2-litre Grand Prix Racing: Low Power, High Tech. ISBN 9781845840167.
  3. ^ "Cooper T73 car-by-car histories".
  4. ^ "1964 Cooper T73 - Images, Specifications and Information".
  5. ^ "1964 Cooper T73 Specifications".