Davide Nativo
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credits: https://imgur.com/gallery/5oUnw
The French Icon is sorely missing from the virtual racing scene. How come?
DISCLAIMER: The article is about licensed, official content only! Thus, mods and 3rd party unofficial add-ons, developed for any sim, are not the object of this piece and in no way should be considered as such. Please, be aware and keep this in mind in the comments.
During the last few years, all sorts of cars have been licensed and featured in simracing titles. We have a range of vehicles spacing from open-wheel prototypes to commercial sedans. Even SUVs have managed to break into the virtual motorsports. Among the more sportive and competitive cars, we have prestigious brands and manufacturers like Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Bugatti, Jaguar, and the list goes on and on. Even Porsche, which was locked into an exclusive partnership with the publisher EA, last year has literally flooded into the simracing market reaching all of the most notorious titles. Even names of the past like De Tomaso have made an appearance in certain sims. However, a notorious manufacturer is sorely missing to this very day in simracing. Why?
I am of course talking about the French Matra, the WSC title winner in ’73 and ’74 (winning the ’72, ’73 and ’74 Le Mans 24h races) and 1969 F1 championship winner thanks to Sir Jackie Stewart. Matra (Mechanique Aviation TRAction) was born in 1941 after the pre-existing CAPRA (Compagnie Anonyme de Production et de Réalisations Aéronautiques) had been closed. Originally involved mainly in military technology, it diversified its interests in the post War period in eleven different branches, ranging from “Branche Espace” to “Controle et Automatisme” and “Telecommunications”. At the beginning of the 60es, in 1962, Matra made a deal with French racer René Bonnet, supplying bodies and body components to his company. In 1965, the Société MATRA Sports was born out of the “Branche des Engins” and it incorporated the Automobiles René Bonnet, which was by then in economic difficulties. The first car that was the result of this union was the sleek Matra DJet, an innovative small vehicle powered by a Renault 8 engine, originally produced by Bonnet under license. The logo of the newly born company was an arrow pointing high, towards the sky. Ambitious, to say the least.
Matra was mainly invested into open wheel racing, namely F1, F2 and F3, and in Sports Cars racing. Given its acquaintances with aero spatial and aeronautical projects, and the owning of a wind tunnel, its racing cars were obviously very well design from that standpoint. Lightweight, compact, predictable handling, innovative, these were all characteristics of the French Matras, painted in a beautiful Bleu de France. Sir Jackie Stewart, who drove Can Am cars, Indy Cars, GT cars, Formula 1 and 2 cars, among many others, has had no difficulty in saying that the MS80 was by far the best car he ever drove. In his words: «the Matra was terrific. That’s the one I would say was maybe the nicest racing car I ever drove». (Interview with Ted Gushue from Petrolicious, September 8, 2016)
Now, how come that no developer in simracing has even bothered to license any of the French manufacturer models in its sim? Yes, one might argue that the “Eve” in rFactor 2 are based off Matra open wheelers in 1968. However, they are not branded to start with, and they have some pretty evident inconsistencies as far as some particulars of the cars are modelled and depicted. We can say that the original Matra cars from F1, F2 and F3 championships in ’68 have been an inspiration to ISI, but not really anything more than that, which is a real shame. If we think for example at the MS10, how small and sleek it looked, while proving also very competitive, it is a mystery why it did not get any attention compared to a similar model like the Lotus 49. The latter has the merit of having become a legend, but merely thanks to its engine rather than the characteristic of the car as a whole. Nevertheless, the MS10 too had a DFV engine!
The MS10 was also fitted with a beautiful V12 engine and labelled as MS11 in this configuration, which was produced by Matra itself under heavy pressure by SIMCA. The French were (and still are to this day) very patriotic, and so they kept asking to have not only an highly competitive car into the highest tiers of the motorsports, but that it would also be all French. Engine included. Matra kept relying on other manufacturers’ engines up to that point in time, but when Charles de Gaulle himself, President of the Fifth French Republic, intervened it was then clear what had to be done. Designer and engineer Georges Martin was appointed with the task of making a 3 litres unit capable of delivering 150 hp/l. The result has been a masterpiece of engineering capable of delivering symphonic notes.
This engine was also adapted to prototypes for Endurance and Sprint racing, and it was powering legendary cars like the MS650 and MS670, both of which were highly competitive. The latter model won as we said three Le Mans 24 Hours, from ’72 to ’74, establishing itself like a true racing icon. In particular, it gave Graham Hill the Le Mans win that made him able to achieve the Triple Crown of Motorsport (Monaco, Indy 500, Le Mans 24 Hours). The sound of the MS670 is something that no one who listened to it can forget, as stated by the author and former racing driver Ed McDonough. Who suffered permanent ear damage from it and yet drove the very car at the 2009 Goodwood Revival, refusing to wear earplugs, in order to be able to fully enjoy the sound of this engine. Every driver who drove Matra prototypes had nothing short of enthusiasm for these cars, praising them for the innovation powering them. Competitive, easy handling cars, fitting cutting edge technology from brake discs to suspensions.
Then again, why are these cars absent from simracing? It is absurd that none of the developers licensed any Matra vehicle to this very day for their sim, and I believe everyone agrees with me in hoping that this mistake will be remedied soon. Then, we will be bringing the scream of these howling engines around the corners of every track in the world, tearing the sky apart, honouring them as they deserve to be (and having a lot of fun in the process too!).
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(Nordschleife) with the bumps and green fences
