Thanks to movies, the 24 Hours of Le Mans races from the ’60s are gaining popularity among younger generations. The race to compete and ultimately succeed at Le Mans captured the motorsports world in 1969 while the Ford GT raced to victory.
Fast forward to today, and many may have forgotten another great name in Le Mans racing history, Ecurie Ecosse. This Scottish racing team enjoyed a string of success from 1951 to 1972. After a ten year hiatus, the band got back together again in 1982 and remains active to this day.
Ecurie Ecosse realizes they should have been a participant in what they consider to be the golden era of Le Mans racing. They set out to build the car they should have entered in the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans event. The end result is the Ecurie Ecosse LM69, a true modern classic. If there is such a thing.
In fact, one of the drivers of the ‘69 Le Mans winning Ford GT, Jackie Oliver, was very impressed with the design concept of this car when he saw it. He even guided Ecurie Ecosse on aerodynamics.
As is often the case with race cars, the main attraction is the engine. In this case, it is a quad-cam V12 engine, mounted behind the driver to give that classic 12 cylinder racing rumble. This is exactly the kind of engine any spectator of the ‘69 Le Mans event would have heard ripping down the straights.
Here is where it gets interesting though. Ecurie Ecosse is making two engines available. One is a period correct version, estimated to be between 5.0L to 5.3L. The other? Only a 7.3L V12 engine producing 700 horsepower. That is their goal, and if they pull it off, they will have plenty of buyers lining up saying, “take my money.”
That is what winning at Le Mans does for a car manufacturer, it puts them on the map. Even though this racing team has been around for a while, the Ecurie Ecosse LM69 is definitely the kind of car that could have had success at the ‘69 Le Mans race.
If you want one, they will still build it for you. All you have to do is ask.
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