The ACO scrutineers were their usual demanding selves, in the Sprite's case insisting that its engine number should be punched into the cylinder block rather than merely into the identity plate attached thereupon. They only received it actually at Le Mans immediately before practice began for the 24-Hour race. Its delivery to the team was delayed by the last-minute nature of the entry and of modifications to the car. Looking back upon Le Mans 1961 he would confide that "The Sprite wasn't a bad car at all, and was very easy to drive, but nobody had a good word to say about it because Ecurie Ecosse was known for big cars.". He showed such promise that he was then given the opportunity to drive an Aston Martin DB3S followed by one of the Ecosse Jaguar D-Types. He was employed at a garage and began his motor racing career by sprinting an Austin-Healey 100S that the business provided. The 23-year-old newcomer, son of an eminent surgeon living in Glasgow's fashionable Kelvinside, was a very promising racing yachtsman who had begun driving cars in competition only a few weeks after passing his public driving test. Both features were intended to improve maximum speed along the Sarthe circuit's three-mile Mulsanne Straight.The car was to be run in Ecurie Ecosse's Flag Metallic Blue livery, co-driven by Sanderson/Mackay. Healey agreed to adapt the car further to meet Le Mans conditions, modifying it with a streamlined nose featuring fared-in headlights and a lengthy aluminium hardtop. Murray had reputedly already entered his team's Cooper Monaco for the Le Mans 24-Hours and now the notion of bidding for the lucrative Indice with that little Sebring Sprite really appealed to him. The third-placed Sprite was then shipped back to the Healey Motor Company's factory at The Cape, Warwick, where it was noticed by David Murray upon a visit there to his old friend Donald Healey. His little 'Sebring' Sprite finished most honourably in third place behind a pair of Abarths, and leading home no fewer than five sister Sprites whose drivers included none other than Stirling Moss, his sister Pat, Bruce McLaren, Paul Hawkins, Briggs Cunningham and Dr Dick Thompson. The car had emerged with a standard 'frog-eye' bonnet and was entrusted in the Floridan race to multiple SCCA Champion Driver, Walt Hansgen of Cunningham team Jaguar and Lister-Jaguar fame. The car had been prepared originally by the Donald Healey Motor Company to contest the Sebring 4 Hours race in March 1961, a supporting event for the traditional World Championship-qualifying Sebring 12 Hours. So for Le Mans in 1961 former D-Type winner Ninian Sanderson and a young new Glaswegian driver named Bill Mackay were entered by Ecurie Ecosse to share little 998cc Austin-Healey Sprite, UK road-registered '1413 WD'. Their halcyon Jaguar era had passed, and the brief flowering of the Tojeiro and Lister-Jaguars had not quite brought the success for which David Murray and his backers had hoped. By 1961 Ecurie Ecosse's fortunes were in relative decline. The monetary prize was most attractive and for many years this Indice Energetique at least guaranteed that the French had a home victory to celebrate. This Indice was decided by a complex formula, comparing fuel efficiency over distance covered during the 24-hours against the fuel used and the weight of the vehicle in question. Their Index of Thermal Efficiency competition, gave the predominantly French entrants and drivers of small engined cars a great chance to enjoy their moments on the finish podium. As the indigenous industry declined, so the ACO offered ever more attractive inducements for French blue success. Apart from a brief triumph in 1950, homegrown French manufacturers were starved of success there. 1961 Austin-Healey Sprite Two-Seat Grand Touring Coupeĭuring its postwar-revival years from 1949, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's majestic Le Mans 24-Hour race became the international motor industry's biggest single prize.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |