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25-580: From 1989 through 1991, AAR campaigned the Eagle HF89 (also known as the MkII), the team's first in-house, race-ready IMSA GTP design. While some success was had with the HF89 and its HF90 evolution, the chassis had a very small margin for setup error — in the words of driver Juan Manuel Fangio II , "When we were in the window, the car was good in every way, but out of the window, the car was not right at all." It

50-457: A final design. In an effort to conceal the innovative nose air extractors, the bodywork immediately behind the front wheels was painted black. Racing car designer and aerodynamics expert Michael Fuller wrote that "the most striking feature of the MkIII was the single nose air inlet that channeled air through massive ducting to midmounted water, water-to-oil and turbo intercooler radiators." By using

75-426: A single aperture to feed several cooling systems, surface turbulence and drag created by air inlets was minimized. This contributed to a clean, uncluttered design that provided for smooth airflow to the rear wing, enhancing its efficiency. The front cross-section of the monocoque was also minimized as much as possible within the rules, in order to reduce drag. The turbocharged Toyota engine was largely carried over from

100-574: Is a sports car race held annually at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The event began in 1950 as a race on the roads of Pebble Beach, California . In 1951, it was added to the new SCCA National Sports Car Championship . When Laguna Seca Raceway was built in 1957, the races moved there. The event fell dormant after the National Championship

125-622: The GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) division. The design was also sometimes called the Eagle MkII . From 1983 until 1988, Dan Gurney's team entered cars in the IMSA GTO and GTU divisions, with Toyota Celicas as the basis for their cars. After claiming the driver's and constructors' championships in the GTO division in 1987 with driver Chris Cord , and a third place in the division the following year,

150-413: The "HF" comes from the initials of the designers' surnames, H opkins and F ujimori, and 89 from the two-digit year of its initial competition. Four chassis were constructed, and two were modified in 1990 and reclassified as HF90. The car made its debut at the 1989 IMSA Miami GTP race (car #99), but retired from the event with an engine timing belt malfunction. The team concentrated its efforts on

175-709: The #98 car; AAR would not enter the HF89 until the Lime Rock GTP race. The car then completed its first race with a 5th-place finish at the following event at the Mid-Ohio GTP race. The HF89 did not finish any other races that season. By 1990, the Eagle HF89 replaced the 88C, and chalked up its first win at the 1990 IMSA Topeka GTP event, with Juan Manuel Fangio II driving. The team followed up with three more wins: Sears Point , as well as temporary street course races at San Antonio and Del Mar . While

200-546: The AAR team switched to the IMSA GTP division for 1989. The team used two types of cars; the other chassis was a TOM'S Toyota 88C car (an FIA Group C -based car). Both were powered by a turbocharged , 2.1-liter inline-4 engine producing approximately 600 horsepower , which was similar to the engines AAR used in their IMSA GTO and GTU cars. The "Eagle" marque was used by Dan Gurney's AAR team to denote their racing cars,

225-566: The HF90, with the addition of a new electronic engine management system. By applying a high level of boost to the 2.1-litre stock-block engine, Toyota Racing Development 's shop in Torrance, California was able to wring more than 800 horsepower out of what was the smallest-displacement powerplant used in the GTP series at that point. "I was told that (TRD) blew up four dynamometers... (they) didn't spare

250-717: The IMSA Camel Continental VIII at Watkins Glen . At the following GTP race at Laguna Seca , the Eagle MkIII made its race debut with AAR, which would eventually replace the Eagle HF89. The final race for the Eagle HF89 was at the IMSA GT race at Portland , where it finished in third place. Note: All specifications from "JOHN STARKEY CARS :: GRYFON INC" . Archived from the original on 2008-10-13 . Retrieved 2009-02-27 . 1991 Grand Auto Supply Camel GT The Course de Monterey

275-445: The MkIII clearly outclassed the field. The two drivers combined to win 10 out of the season's 11 races. The only race the MkIII did not win that season, it was not even entered — for reasons never explained to Gurney, Toyota withheld funding for the season's 8th round, at Road America . This broke the team's IMSA GTP winning streak at 14 consecutive races — however, the MkIII went on to win the season's final three rounds, so AAR refers to

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300-628: The car as winning 17 consecutive races entered. At the end of the year, the GTP category was discontinued and Toyota withdrew support. The MkIII had run its last race in earnest. Eagle HF89 The Eagle HF89 and its evolution, the Eagle HF90 , is a racing car built and entered by Dan Gurney's All American Racers team, for the IMSA GT Championship . It was raced from 1989 until 1991 in IMSA's premier sports-car racing category,

325-499: The car proved to be so dominant that Nissan and Jaguar withdrew their factory teams from the series at the end of the season. Without Nissan and Jaguar, there was little competition for the AAR/Toyota team and the writing was on the wall for the GTP formula — the 1993 IMSA Camel GT season was to be the last for the budget-busting prototypes. Only a handful of GTPs contested the full season, but it did not matter — Fangio, Jones and

350-422: The car was internally codenamed WFO 91 for W ard, F ujimori and O thers, 1991. Team members nicknamed the project "Wide F'n Open". The design parameters given to the team were not groundbreaking and the designers looked to avoid risky, cutting-edge solutions wherever possible; rather, for reliability's sake, the mantra was to make the chassis simple while taking full advantage of proven technologies. However, there

375-403: The car, the nose diffuser would balance front and rear grip while minimizing drag. To test and refine the design, a 20%-scale wind tunnel model was built, accurately replicating not just the car's external features but internal components as well — detailed down to the car's wiring, air ducting and engine bay plumbing. Several different nose concepts were modeled and discarded before settling on

400-418: The final seven in a row. At the 24 Hours of Daytona, the still-developing MkIII had mixed results. The #98 of P. J. Jones, Rocky Moran and Mark Dismore finished a solid fourth, while the #99 of Juan Manuel Fangio II, Andy Wallace and Kenny Acheson suffered mechanical maladies that left it more than 100 laps down at the race's conclusion. The Eagle MkIII and AAR would prove to be a victim of their own success —

425-510: The four-time defending champion Nissan factory NPT-91 and the new-to-GTP Jaguar XJR-14 , powered by a detuned-for-WSC Formula 1 engine. But as it transpired, neither the Nissan nor the Jaguar would prove to be anything close to a match for Gurney's Toyota-powered Eagle. Of the season's 13 races, Jaguar would manage three wins, Nissan one — and the remaining 9 were all Toyota victories, including

450-504: The hands of Juan Manuel Fangio II at the 1991 Grand Auto Supply Camel GT on July 21 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California . As the MkIII was a yet-unproven design, the team also entered an HF90 chassis for teammate P. J. Jones . Though a pit stop penalty dropped Fangio to seventh when the checkered flag fell, he and the MkIII led most of the race by almost a minute, showing dominating speed throughout — an early portent of what

475-512: The horses," Gurney later said. For its first on-track test in the summer of 1991, AAR took the MkIII to Willow Springs Raceway , a frequent testing ground for the team. It was immediately apparent that the new MkIII was vastly superior to the HF90/MkII. "Why, it just blew off the MkII. It was obvious," Gurney said. The Eagle MkIII made its racing debut late in the 1991 IMSA Camel GT season , in

500-405: The inclusion of an integral front diffuser in the nose to stabilize underbody airflow and create a low-pressure zone directly under the front wheels. This was a break from the tradition of GTP and Group C cars, which had almost exclusively adhered to a single underbody with one set of tunnels running from front to rear. Working in tandem with the standard ground effect tunnels under the rear of

525-458: The primary flaws with the HF89/90 had been a persistent lack of front grip; combined with overwhelming amounts of rear downforce, this created an intractably imbalanced car with a significant tendency to understeer . On slow, twisty circuits typical of American racing, this was a major competitive disadvantage. Thus, on the MkIII, the team first focused on creating more front downforce. This led to

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550-450: The team experienced some success in 1989 and 1990 with the HF89 and HF90 evolution, the chassis had a very small margin for setup error - in the words of driver Juan Manuel Fangio II , "When were in the window, the car was good in every way, but out of the window, the car was not right at all." This led the team to prepare a clean-sheet design for 1991 - the Eagle MkIII . In 1991, the HF89 won its final IMSA GTP race with Fangio driving, at

575-410: Was clear to the team that a clean-sheet design was needed to significantly advance the chassis and provide the best platform for competing against the Nissan and Jaguar factory entries. Two veteran AAR designers were tasked with leading the design of the MkIII chassis. John Ward focused on the tub and mechanical aspects of the car, while Hiro Fujimori was responsible for aerodynamics and styling — hence,

600-400: Was one significant technological advance planned: the MkIII would be the first carbon-fiber monocoque manufactured in-house by AAR. "What we did with the MkIII was to address just about every weakness of the MkII," Gurney said. "It was not a styling exercise; everything was driven by functional considerations, and it was really a clean sheet of paper from virtually every standpoint." One of

625-558: Was to come. At the next race at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon , Fangio captured the MkIII's maiden victory. The 1992 IMSA Camel GT season opened with one of the most competitive fields ever assembled in the series, and it promised to be a pitched championship battle. AAR's two-car effort with the Toyota Eagle MkIII would be pitted against similar two-car entries from a pair of major factory contenders:

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