1989 Spice SE89C Group C - Screaming 3.5L, 9500 RPM Ford-Cosworth V8!

The first and most succesful SE89C built. A lot of Spices of the previous years were equipped with the 3.3L DFL F1-derived Ford-Cosworth engines from factory, totalling their weight to the minimum required 750kg (1650lbs) for C2. This meant the lightweight package was quite competitive in the C2 class and the engine, plagued by reliability issues, faired better not having to perform to its maximum potential. This particular car, SE89C-001, won a very impressive 8 races in the british C2-championship during its first year.
However, from 1989 onwards, Group C regulations had changed to allow the the 3.5L naturally aspirated cars to run at a lower minimum weight, making C1 a viable option for Spice. Therefore, the works SE89C(-003) came with the more powerful 3.5L DFZ (~550HP) but due to a lack of funding compared to the heavy hitters, things didn't go too well. In 1990 the car in this video, SE89C-001, was also upgraded to C1-spec with the DFZ and started competing in the World Sportscar Championship. Like the works team, this meant no noteworthy results were achieved for some time. The car took part in the 1991 24h Le Mans race, where it first sported the livery that it races with today. Reliability issues meant the car had to retire.
After two slow years, in 1992, Group C regulations changed again, forcing C1 to downsize and changing C2 to the new FIA Cup. This Cup allowed the 750kg limit to be reduced to 700kg (1540lbs). Engine RPM was reduced and carbon disc brakes were prohibited. Spice managed to get the 3.5L DFZ-powered SE89C down to just 710kg (1560lbs) and under the new regulations, car 001 was finally competitive again. It managed to win the 1992 FIA Cup, the last year of the World Sportscar Championship. The following year, another 24h Le Mans finish was attempted but unfortunately an engine failure brought an end to the long (for a Group C car) racing history.
Thank you for reading my history lesson and thank you for watching!
#spice #groupc #c1 #c2 #cosworth #ford #v8 #spafrancorchamps #racing
Sadly my thumbnail shot got messed up and I decided to resort to a publicly available image of the exact car in the video. I would normally refrain from doing this but I liked the video too much not to share it. The thumbnail image was originally posted to Flickr by Dave Hamster at flickr.com/photos/14265068@N0... and subsequently taken from Wikimedia Commons at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi.... I do not own this image and do not claim any credit. The image has been edited for a suitable thumbnail and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
creativecommons.org/licenses/...

[@RedRideRVT1R]

Financial Times livery is amusing given how fast the rate of expenses occur on the track. quality clip, by the way 🍻 💎🏁🌬️🦅🏎️💨🌴

[@AlwinSV]

Thank you! And haha yeah, never mind the fact Spice were struggling to compete with the bigger manufacturers that had much higher funding 😅

[@thethirdman225]

@@AlwinSV Spice were one of the most successful constructors of the era. They built great cars.

[@AlwinSV]

I know they were succesful but at some points during certain rulesets they did struggle financially. This particular SE89C for example was a victim of that until regulations changed and it became highly competitive again in the new FIA Cup :)