2,650cc DOHC V8
829bhp at 14,500rpm
Cosworth Fuel Injection
Hewland 6-Speed Transmission
4-Wheel Coil-Over-Shock Suspension
4-Wheel Disc Brakes

*CART race winner, St. Louis, 1999
*Competed in all twenty races in 1999
*Five podium finishes
*Final iteration of Swift Indycar chassis

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

It seemed a match made for the 1997 winner's circle: A powerhouse team, Newman/Haas; a champion driver, Michael Andretti; a powerful engine from Ford-Cosworth; and a newly engineered chassis from California's Swift Engineering, a newcomer to CART but a frequent visitor to victory lane with its Formula Ford and Formula Atlantic chassis.

And the match was indeed ignited in brilliant fashion. Just six weeks after the Swift/Ford-Cosworth was first tested, the combination took driver Michael Andretti to the fastest lap and checkered flag in the initial race of the season at Homestead — though perhaps it would be more appropriate to say it was Andretti who pushed the Swift 007.i chassis to the win. Swift was a new name to the top of the Indycar podium, but Andretti had been a very racy driver since his CART debut in 1983, and it was no fluke that he'd been invited to drive for McLaren's F1 team in 1993. In the 1995 CART season he'd won five races while finishing runner-up to champion Jimmy Vasser, so there was every reason to think Andretti could repeat the kind of run that had led to his 1991 CART championship, when he won eight of 17 races while taking eight poles.

Newman/Haas's decision to switch from longtime chassis partner Lola to Swift was compelling. As team co-owner Carl Haas was no longer the Lola importer to the U.S., the team felt free to shop around and liked the idea it would be Swift's only client, hastening development and future refinement. Swift already boasted a stellar reputation in open-wheel racing's minor leagues from its early days as Swift Cars, founded in 1983. The firm's first effort, the DB-1 chassis for Formula Ford 1600, won the SCCA National Championship in its racing debut. Swift's rise to prominence, and dominance, included Formula Atlantic constructor's championships from 1989-92 and winning the British Formula Renault series in 1990. But the big step was its purchase by race driver and Panasonic executive Hiro Matsushita in 1991, which brought increased funding for chassis development, including the building of a moving-plane wind tunnel in 1993.

So, Swift it would be...unfortunately just for three seasons. Although Swift continued to evolve its chassis, Newman/Haas managed only three more victories, two by Andretti and one by Christian Fittipaldi. For 2000 the Newman/Haas team went back to Lola for its chassis, while Swift's CART effort soldiered on that year without much effect before disappearing from the series. Although Swift built chassis for the Newman/Haas, Patrick Racing, Gordon Racing, and Della Penna teams in 1999, success was elusive and Swift withdrew from the series. It was by no means through with racing, though; it had become the only supplier for the Toyota Atlantic Championship in 1998 and would do the same for Japan's Formula Nippon series in 2009.

The racecar on offer today was driven by Michael Andretti for all twenty races of the 1999 season and was never involved in a crash. It made a single contribution to Andretti's tally of CART victories, in the sixth round at St. Louis's Gateway Motorsports Park. (He is currently fourth, with 42 wins, on the all-time North American open-wheel record books behind A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Will Power.) The season's results were especially frustrating because the car was very quick when it wasn't plagued by minor ills. Overall it earned five podium finishes and for Andretti a fourth in the 1999 driver's championship.

Sitting within the Swift 010.c chassis was the latest development of the Ford-Cosworth V-8 turbo, an engine Newman/Haas knew intimately, as the team had been a primary development partner with the engine supplier since 1992. This XD iteration was introduced in 1996, powering Andretti to those five wins in the Lola and overall taking Newman/Haas cars to the podium in 16 of the 48 races it was used. Major updates to this 1999 engine included a revised valvetrain design to accommodate a higher 14,500rpm redline; enhanced fuel management for increased driveability and top-end power; and measures to reduce high-speed friction. At the time it boasted the highest output of any Ford-Cosworth, exceeding even the CR-1 V-10 Formula One engine, and could power the Indycar beyond 240 mph.

After its retirement from CART, this car was campaigned in Europe's 2004 BOSS SuperCup Series by American Mike Biangardi, twice reaching the podium before being put into protective storage by its current owner, a noted collector of significant automobiles. Spares are limited but include: rear driveshafts and a complete set of wheels (for details related to included spares, see a member of the Bonhams team).