JONATHAN
WHITEHOUSE-BIRD
recently displayed these 3 photos on the ‘Austin Healey Historic Pictures’ Facebook page. Can anyone identify the guy leaning against
6205 AC?
Feedback please.
Stirling Moss in John Sprinzel’s PMO 200 during the 4 Hour race at Sebring in 1961.
The late Doug Wilson Spratt in one of the first Mk.I Sprites – VBM 7 – competing in an unknown autotest. (Tony Wilson-Spratt may know which event?).
Oulton Park 1960. A Warwick registered Mk.I Sprite, with its unknown owner/driver, sits on the grid waiting for the off! Any info’ on car or driver welcomed.
Murray Henderson had an outing in Ian Hulett’s recently completed Williams & Pritchard Sebring GT2 at the 
Crystal Palace Sprint on 29th May. It was Murray’s first drive in a competition car for six years and he got progressively quicker during the day as his confidence in the car increased, finishing mid-class. . The car was previously raced with standard shape bodywork but was damaged at Angouleme last year. Following a major chassis repair and update it has now been fitted with a full Sebring Sprite GT2 body kit and Ian will compete in selected rounds of the CSCC Swinging Sixties series. Next outing is Brands Hatch on Saturday 4th June.
AND coincidentally another W & P Sebring GT2 is being prepped for this year’s Angouleme by Nik Aveyard. The above are just 4 of a whole mass of photos on Nik’s Facebook page showing the very high spec of his car’s build. Link.
777 EBH ~ ALEXANDER GT
It always gives me a bit of a thrill when some new information or photos come to light about one of the historic cars. The Alexander GT lovingly restored for Paul Freeman by Paul Webb and Paul Woolmer was owned, back around 1970, by Charles (Chaz) Morgan who relates:
“That’s me in the pic with it in the condition I bought it, with the Frog Eye bonnet. The previous owner had smacked the ORIGINAL alloy one. [Presumably one of 
the half dozen alloy Monza bonnets which W & P made] It was similar to the one on it now. I took the car to Williams & Pritchard and bought from them the grey fi
breglass one. Nearest I could get to the original. They showed me pics of the original. Also pics of MGs re bodied by them for land speed runs. Ian Walker lived and also had a garage near me in Woodhouse Rd Friern Barnet, North London maybe N11. He called to see me a few times, and drove the car. So did a friend of mine Gerry Marshal, a saloon car champion, drove droop snoots for Vauxhall amongst others. He did his damdest to break it! Had to change my underwear!! I rebuilt the engine, using the same short skirt pistons as original. 10” Humber brake drums on front! Stopped well! It also had Mini, or A35 van roof vents fitted in the footwells and one on the ‘boot’. Central and below rear window. Ian said that when he raced them…and he still holds track records for the class, that there was so much petrol sloshing around … they fitted the vents for fresh air! I/we, timed it many times 0 to 60…6secs! Peed many an Elan owner off!! I have other pics, I will look them out”.
[I hadn’t realised that Williams & Pritchard built the bodywork for Alexander ~ I think the top is in mild steel ? I notice the windscreen shape has changed on the restored car – perhaps the original was not available.]
IVO VISSER has published (on Facebook) this photo (right) of the 1965 ‘works’ Sebring entry DAC 952C photographed at Sebring in 1977 for the SVRA historic display, AND (left) a ‘new’ photo of ENX 415C, the Paul Hawkins/John Rhodes entry at Le Mans 1965.
TOM COULTHARD ON FACEBOOK: “Why only three?? Not noticed this shot before from Autocar (09/03/62 – probably by Edward Eves) outside the experimental shop at the Cape. One of the two on the right could be Jon Whitehouse-Bird’s 9253 WD (soon to be seen at the Cultra hillclimb, near Belfast), the sole known survivor of these cars. Or was it not quite finished? The International Healey Museum has a reference to it as ‘Car No. 4’ …”
Andy Gibson
A good friend of many in the Historic Rallying world has sadly been lost to us. Andy was a brilliant navigator with an amazing mathematical mind as well as being a great character, and he successfully guided me and JJO on several events including the Lands End to John O’Groats. Our sincere condolences to his family who have circulated the following email:
“Our family is deeply saddened to inform you that Andy Gibson passed away in the morning of Monday 23rd May 2016. As many of you know, he has been quietly battling pancreatic cancer for some time now. We are relieved that his passing was peaceful and painless, and he was surrounded by his loving family. We will inform you of the funeral/memorial details as soon as they have been arranged. We have loved him in life, let us not forget him after death. Rally on! Best wishes,
Andy’s daughters (Claire and Caroline), Andy’s sister (Hilary) and all the family”.
MARTYN WILKS’ PROGRESS ON HIS LENHAM LE MANS
Martyn has “almost finished fitting the running gear – just the hubs, discs and calipers to fit. The overhead shot of the front end shows what looks to be a rusty steering column; in fact it is the inner column which is all I will be using. I have fitted it just to gauge some measurements for the fitment of a Lifeline Motolita quick release boss, which I will be using along with a 13” flat steering wheel. I modified the steering column support by machining the bore out to a nominal size and then making a captive bush in PTFE. When the two halves of the column support are bolted up the bush can neither move up or down or side to side thus doing away with the felt bushes etc. Once I have the column cut, machined and welded I will then paint the part on show in the engine bay”.
CHRIS KEEBLE TO OFFER RTL 304 FOR SALE
following a recent refresh of the engine bay and suspension. He can be contacted on : 07850 183 677.
AND STILL MORE ABOUT THE CULTRA HILL-CLIMB ~ FROM TREVOR MCILROY
“I can confirm James Thacker with the A.Poole Mk.I Sprite TZA238, Jonathan Whitehours-Bird with the MkII Austin Healey 9253WD are coming to Cultra. David Wylie will also be making the trip back home with 505 BZ Speedwell Sprite to compete at Cultra 2016. I will lead the local contingent with XXC818. We have 100 entries & 25 on a reserve list at this moment in time. At the end of the event we will have an Austin Healey, Speedwell, Sebring & Midget shoot-out of approximately ten cars , ranging from mildly tuned to full blown modsports, this IN MEMORY OF MIKE WYLIE. Ronnie White’s 52 LPH Sebring & Wil Corry’s 510 DWD Sprite Mk2 recently purchased from the USA will be displayed beside 9253WD at the Kennedy Manor House on the day. The Clerk of the Course for the event is Fel Mcilroy (young sister) – her mode of transport on the day will also be a standard bodied Sebring Sprite. I will send you a report with images following the event. Trevor”
JAMES THACKER CONFIRMS TZA WILL BE THERE
– at the Cultra Hill Climb, near Belfast on Saturday 11th June.
I imagine that Will Corry, Trevor McIlroy and David Wylie may also be there so could be quite a big Sprite showing. Mike (Wylie) would have loved it. Link to pre-publicity material
Photo: Derek Hibbert.
9253 WD TO GO TO THE CULTRA HILL-CLIMB
Jonathan Whitehouse-Bird: “Visitors to your website might like to hear that 9253 WD has been invited (along with, or so I believe, the ex-Alan Poole Mk.I Sprite – TZA 238) to attend the 2016 running of the Cultra Hillclimb on June 11. In preparation, I’ve (spent) most of today over at Aldon Automotive getting the car ‘tuned-up’ on their rolling
road and reminiscing about the “good old days” with the boss, and former owner of the ex-works Targa Florio Sprite (693 LAC) – Alan Goodwin. It was also great to catch up with Andrew Forster – formerly of Archer’s Garage – in his new role at Aldon. Alan remembered competing alongside 9253 WD (driven by fellow competitor/owner John Willetts) during the mid-60s, commenting that both cars had very similar 1098cc XSP engine units; he added, ‘Sometimes John would win one, and sometimes I would; we had some great scraps!’ “
Photos above show: WD sitting outside Aldon’s reception; WD on the rollers; WD emerges into the sunshine – now running like a Swiss watch, and finally, a shot with Aldon’s boss – Alan Goodwin.
I asked John (Sprinzel) if he was invited to the Cincy Conclave and had this reply: “No they haven’t. but I did get nice letter from John Colgate suggesting we do another Healey event together. And the folks doing the Goodwood ITV movie say they are coming to Molokai to do a piece on me for the A 35 races….cheers. J”
STAN BROWN SPRITE
Joe Armour has sent me the full article from Sports Car World showing this Australian conversion: He tells me: “More colourful and details on the Australian Sprite aftermarket modifications available in 1960 quite early after the Sprite’s release. The report links several major names in the Australian motor racing and sports car industry. Stan Brown plus Clive Adams was Prad. JWF was a very succesful and important anufacturer and supplier of fiberglass hardtops, complete bodies in open and GT format. ( see separate advert for a JWF -Nota. Nota fabricated chassis and complete racing cars for open wheel and sports car classes.) Sam Johnson was the man behind JWF and he was very successful with a whole range of cars, mainly bodies to be fitted by the owner of a chassis and hardtops for almost ever sports car on the market. There was/is a Milano GT with a six cylinder Holden engine racing in UK. Sam also made a perfect copy of a Ferrari front engine F.1 car and a 206 SP sports car. Even the rivets heads in fiberglass were the correct spacing as an original car and fitted with a Ferrari Dino engine. Read the article.
Safety Fast Article
on Paul Webb’s hand-crafted SPRITE (BRABHAM) -CLIMAX
SEE ABOVE
The car as driven by John Colgate and John Dalton at Le Mans in 1960
THE FALCON SPRITE MAKES PROGRESS ~ NEWS FROM ROGER SIELING
“The (damaged) Falcon (Sprite) was taken to Tsikires Classics in November 2015 and Paul completed the chassis tub repair and had an associate make a new bonnet and boot lid. There was still lots of fiberglass work and a good bit of prep work on existing aluminum panels (outstanding). I’ve pretty much given up on Allstate insurance. Since I had committed to the Cincy (Cincinnati) Conclave (June 12 to 17) to have the Falcon at their event, we loaded it up and brought it back to Ohio (on) May 1st. We are making progress, but we know it will not be running or painted. But, it will be rolling on its own wheels. John Colgate has already committed to the event too. I don’t know if they’ve invited Sprinzel”. **
JJO’s ENGINE WOES
… are hopefully at an end. I have now fitted a set of low compression pistons and a pretty standard 12G295 cylinder head (skimmed 5 thou) to give a much lower compression ratio more suited to a supercharged (1098cc) engine. It has only done 50 miles so far – to the MASC meet today, and back – but its temperature stayed steady at around 180 F, oil pressure was between 40 & 50 psi (purposely lowish to reduce oil going through the Shorrock, and there was no evidence of oil leaks. So very many thanks to all those who kindly gave help and advice and put JJO back on the road.
PAUL CLARK: “Regarding the “Healey Frogeye 2004” I recall a similar if not the same car being in the showroom at Frontline Developments old premises in Batheaston. Tim Fenna may or may not have been involved in the build or previously owned the car. I think it was subsequently sold, not necessarily by Tim, on e-bay for a surprisingly low price. I rather liked the car at Frontline and was particularly impressed with the cut down screen arrangement. Not one for the purist but probably quite a lot of fun though. Regards Paul
1098 ENGINE FOR SALE
David Smith, from whom I have bought engines and parts in the past has available for sale:
“A ‘big mains’ 10CC prefix 1098 engine.
Complete from sump to rocker cover, and from crank pulley to flywheel.
Dizzy is present and I can include a starter and dynamo if desired.
Not seized but best to assume it is for rebuild.
Price £350 collected from Wokingham.
Email mgsmithy@yahoo.co.uk or call 07903 899991″.
US RACER NEARS COMPLETION
I am gradually adding photos of Robert Kansa’s ‘Miss Saffron’ to the web page – 20 so far and many to come.
Model of the Falcon Sprite makes £80.60 on ebay
SPOTTED AT PRESCOTT – BY DAVID MORYS
Labelled as a “Healey Frogeye 2004”
and rumoured to have a Ford Twin-Cam engine.
“I have a couple of screens as in the attached picture. Mine are quite tatty and need to be refurbished. I am after someone that could make the same type of white plastic wrapping around the original frames once I have cleaned them….do you know of anyone that could do the work at a decent price…i.e cheap… I have finished restoring 257 UXU at long last and want to use the DHMC hardtop I bought a while ago ….apparently the new generation want to travel unadulterated by the elements. Pierre Lequeux”. Feedback please.
NEWS FROM PHIL ZAMLYNSKI – WILL HIS BE THE FIRST ROADWORTHY SEBRING REP IN USA?
” I do hope you and your are well and enjoying a new racing season. Our local vintage group, VSCDA, had their first event this last weekend. To my surprise there was a 1955 Cooper at the track!!!!! And, about 30/35 Minis, Sprites and MG Midgets. Its been a long winter with loads of unexpected issues. My body parts are at the painter again, a different painter, and I brought the roof and doors home yesterday. Next week the glass goes in. May is a busy month so I’m hoping that the Sebring will be on the road in June.
Best Regards, Phil Z
Sven with his Sebring en route home to Germany last weekend.
Early GT6 backplate to re- create 8″ rear brakes
SEBRING PARTS FROM SVEN ECKHARDT
Our good friend from Germany, when not busy with his 3 Sprite projects, is supplying various Sebring parts to others in need of them. He can supply a front disc brake set-up which emulates the original Sebring Sprite’s Girling system using calipers from the Vauxhall/Opel Carlton Estate which are accepted by the FIA as an alternative for historic racing. In addition he is now offering an 8″ rear drum brake set-up using early Triumph GT6 backplates. He has acquired 6 pairs which need the centre slightly enlarging and the mounting holes slightly filing to fit. Spitfire or GT6 handbrake levers can be used together with GT6 brake linings, springs, etc all available from Rimmer Brothers. Four different bores of wheel cylinders are available to suit all needs, and Morris Minor front drums are employed, as per Sebring. Sven is offering the backplates machined and powder coated at £155 per pair. He is also going into the manufacture of copies of the original DHMC hardtop having made a mould, and these will be available in a couple of months. Either laminated glass or acrylic window will be fitted and they will come with all fittings and rubbers (but without headlining or side-screens). Price is expected to be approximately £1,000 for the complete hardtop.
Email Sven if you are interested in any of the above.
Modified disc, ATE caliper and mounting bracket.
A DHMC hardtop, copies of which will be available soon.
THOSE STRANGE HEALEY INLET MANIFOLDS
Hi Maarten, I have seen your question about the Healey manifold with the four bolts pattern on your site. I can tell you I’m in possession of those. The story is that I first saw them on the Cooper cafe racers Facebook page, Lance showed a few photos of his Healey manifolds, he had bought them from a former staff member that works for MiniMania. I immediately contacted him and asked if he would be interested in selling them – and luckily he was! We agreed on a price and I bought all of them. There where two sets: one original Healey inlet manifold with homologation number 02344. This one is the same as found on the original. The other set had a strange 4 bolt pattern on the flange side, but with this same outer dimensions, homologation number and distinguishing Healey signature cast into them. I can now tell you that the inlet diameter is 32mm or 1 1/2 inches, and this size runs through the whole inlet manifold. So they do look exactly the same as the original ones we already know, but look to be for a smaller type carburettor. I think it is possible that they might have been used in the early cars that used H2 SU’s. They both seem to fit the flange pattern of both H2 & H1’s. Since the H1’s have a horizontal orientated flange [ Is that so? MEI ] and the H2 and HS2 have a vertical orientated flange. It looks like they were experimenting with different types of SU’s. I know it is an original one because their numbers and name is cast in perfectly. I have a replica inlet to compare so I do think they’re original. The thing is now that we have to determine what they were used on. But that is for somebody else to determine that has more knowledge of the experiment period. I am not going to use them myself so I will be putting them on eBay very soon. I will send you the link if it is in the air. I hope this information is useful. And glad to contribute to your site. Best regards, Ivo Cappon. [Anyone interested please let me know and I will forward]
NEWS FROM NEIL BLANEY IN N.S.W., AUSTRALIA.
Hi Martin, Hope all is well over your way.Your trip to the Isle of Wight brought back a few memories. We were there in 1993 and had a nice drive around. We were met at the dock by Keith Brading of the Frogeye Car Co and had a nice tour of the Simeon Motor works before doing some sightseeing. Bryan Wells has been down here and had a look at my Replica. Up to now he has been mainly working on collecting and working on the mechanicals but last week he was going to put the shell on a rotisserie and starting to work on the body. I will be going up in the future when he has made some progress and I will take some pics and send them to you. The guys over your way on a Bugeye what type of rubber do they use between the hardtop and the car body. I’ve used a block type of rubber which doesn’t seal the best. The original sealing rubber on it was shaped like a ”Z” but I am unable to obtain it over here. I’ve included some later pics of my replica. Cheers Neil. [Anyone help with hardtop rubber? Feedback]
RICHARD SANDS’ SEBRING FASTBACK FOR SALE
Professional built on a 1962 shell this Sebring has a 1340cc fast road engine mated to a Ford MT75 5-speed gearbox. For full details and lots more photos go to link.
Asking price is £29,500
MORE PHOTOS FROM THE GOODWOOD SPRINT ON 8TH MAY ~ THANKS TO JOHN BAGGOTT
MORE ON XSP ENGINES
We could do with some more help with our research into XSP engines. A quote here from an email received from John Poulter who has considerable knowledge on the subject:
“My interests have been with the early 60’s XSP engines and particularly the 948 diesel version. It seems that anything produced by Eddie Maher in Courthouse Green as a bit special was given an XSP number. The man had such a high profile with the engines I am surprised there seems to be no information written about him or the work of the department. I thought there would be build sheets, etc for every engine built but have come up with nothing – it may be everything was thrown away in years past. I put an enquiry on a Coventry website a few years ago asking if anyone worked with Eddie or in the department and could tell stories about working there but got no response. I have been speaking to a chap called Roger Whittle who told me Eddie used to call to his home as he was a friend of his Dad’s. Roger also had an old Mini van at one time which was running around with an early 1071 S engine from the experimental department. He wrote it off and the engine went for scrap!”
This was in response to an enquiry by Noel Hutchinson who has a 1275 XSP transverse engine in an as yet un-restored Austin Mini-Cooper, XSP 3139/2, built from what he believes is essentially an Austin 1300 GT unit.
Rob Maxtone-Graham has compiled a spreadsheet of information collected to date of which I can supply copies. Any other information would be gratefully received via Feedback
AND WHILE ON THE SUBJECT OF LENHAM LE MANS:
David Scothorn has just put his part-restored project for sale on ebay at a ‘Buy it now’ price of £4,950. NOW SOLD
WANTED: Identity documentation for a quarter elliptic Sprite or Midget c.1961/3.
If you can help please contact me via Feedback.
MARTYN WILKS’ NEW LENHAM LE MANS
“Around May last year I decided that I needed something to do (I have built 3 Westfield’s, 2 Caterhams and rebuilt 3 single seat racecars). My first thought was a Westfield XI so I went to the factory and discussed what was required and came away with the notion that I needed to find a rotten MG Midget 1275 with all the running gear. So after a few weeks of searching I came across OOH 762G which had basically been rotting away since 2001 but importantly for me at the time was complete and had a current V5, so I bought it for £600 and brought it home. Then started the not too easy job of gutting the car, as I wasn’t going to use the body. I just basically cut it away as necessary to remove all the components. I should add that the body was in a shocking state, if you look carefully you will see that the line between the bottom of the wing and the sill has been filled in – with a piece of galvanized sheet, pop rivets and filler. On checking the VIN plate against the logbook I noticed that the number was very slightly wrong so enquired with the DVLA as to the procedure to rectify the fault (it was on the V5 as EAN not GAN), they suggested obtaining a Heritage Certificate and then sending off the paperwork highlighting the correction needed. In the mean time I had cut the body into manageable pieces and disposed of it via my works skip. When the last piece was removed I received the Heritage Certificate which I noted had the delivery address of The Earls Court Motor Show. Anyway at around this time I looked closely at the Westfield XI and the IVA test and decided that maybe I should look at a Sebring Sprite replica. However despite many attempts at speaking with Archers Garage I gave up and looked at a Lenham LeMans. I should just point out that I knew of a brand new Midget shell (original not a Heritage one) that was in a friends garage untouched since he bought it in the early 80’s which I had managed to persuade him to sell me for £3K – I subsequently sold the unwanted body panels for nearly £1K so the shell stood me in at £2K. Then just before Christmas 2015 my plan was launched, the shell went to CCK for a Lenham conversion plus cage and I started to amass all the parts required for the build. The axle was the third one I found, this one had no rust at all and was duly powder coated along with all the other parts – the picture with the wishbones etc shows all the masks I made up so they would only be powder coated were needed. The engine is from Mamba Motorsport and is a 1398CC with 1:3to1 roller rockers, single 45DCOE etc, the gearbox is a straight cut 4 speed from Heathrow Transmissions along with a 4:2:1 diff, drive shafts are 3 piece from Magic Midget as are the KAD 4 pot calliper’s. The car was collected from CCK at the end of March and went straight to the body shop for painting in Speedwell Blue, and was brought home last weekend for me to start the task of rebuilding the car. Currently I have fitted the rear axle complete and will be fitting up the front suspension this weekend so I can get it onto its wheels. The eagle-eyed might notice that I have had the space for wind up windows filled in, I will be making up fixed single piece frames from 2 pairs of Frogeye frames and then instead of fully sliding windows will be using rally car style sliders. I have attached a few photos. Regards Martyn”.
MORE TO COME
Austin-Healey Club at Goodwood sprint
Pete Taylor shared his son Paul’s Frogeye at Goodwood on Sunday and on his first run Pete was quicker. Then they had a problem necessitating a trip into Chichester for a new battery. On their second runs Paul pipped his Dad by just 0.15 second! Also there were Pat Harris (Fastback), Steve Casson (Coupe) and Kevin Rowe (open).
NEWS FROM ANDREW FORSTER (FORMERLY OF ARCHERS GARAGE)
Sebring Pedal Boxes: With the exception of 2 of the 25 pedal boxes recently produced, all have now been allocated and despatched – the last 2 going out this week. Andrew is planning to arrange the manufacture of a further batch of 10 shortly.
Sebring Side-Screens: There has unfortunately been a lengthy delay in supplying side-screens and roughly 12 people are currently awaiting them. This has been due to the fire at Archers having damaged a machine used to swage the aluminium surrounds as well as due to closure of the garage. Andrew is finishing off a couple of pairs commenced earlier, and is overhauling the swaging machine. The aluminium is cut to length and the polycarbonate is all prepared. All that now remains is the fairly time-consuming job of polishing, assembly and detailed finishing. Andrew is continuing to work on these in his spare time.
Fibreglass A couple of seats have been order from a fibreglass firm local to Andrew. Cost is something like double that of Archers so that once trimmed a pair of seats would come to around £500. Andrew is looking into getting this price down somewhat, before considering producing other fibreglass items.
Inlet Manifolds Andrew does envisage producing more of the 3 piece manifolds. He has the moulds so needs to get more inlet tubes cast and the steel balance pipes bent up.
Girling Type 10 calipers: For some considerable time it has been hoped to reproduce the Girling calipers. A number of castings were made a while back but difficulties were experienced in machining them up, due mainly to the high cost involved. Sven Eckhardt is on the case so these may still be a possibility before too long.
1st may 2016 – Brands Hatch – MGCC Sprite-Midget Challenge & Steve Everitt Memorial race
Every year the Sprite-Midget Challenge round at Brands Hatch is dedicated to the memory of Steve Everitt who raced his Midget so successfully through the 70’s and 80’s before dying relatively young in a road accident in Greece. A group of his old mates always gather on the bank at Paddock Bend and cheer on today’s drivers in the series. Steve’s sister Ros (and her partner Dave Woodgate who was his mechanic) was also present on this occasion to present the highly-prized bronze trophy which depicts Steve’s Lenham-bonneted Midget.
With a pretty full grid of Sprites and Midgets running in 4 classes, the first couple of laps were pretty hectic and John Hilberry spun out at Paddock resulting in Ian Burgin taking avoiding action so they both ended up in the sand trap. This brought the safety car out and once the two beached cars had been repositioned the race developed into a three car scrap at the front between the Class A cars of Dunkley, Weston and Adams, with old master Reeve trailing a little behind. Dunkley led for a number of laps with Weston getting in front on occasions. Meanwhile Adams dropped out having lost his fan belt, and on his 3rd attempt to lead the race Weston spun out and rejoined in a distant 2nd place. Just half a lap from the chequered flag Dunkley’s car developed an electrical fault handing Weston the win of which he was unaware till a little later. Reeve followed home in second.
More from Tony Wood: “a couple of photos for you, unfortunately I don’t have any shot of the XSP engine only the Longman split weber setup, the B&W shot is at my local circuit Croft on March 16th 1975 which produced a 2nd Class , the XSP unit is fitted then and the colour shot is at Castle Howard Hill Climb in October 1977 on the way to a class win with the Longman engine . Incidentally when I sold the XSP to Mike Harrison I kept the gearbox in the Sprite, I presume you will know of the engines where-abouts now [NO] but what of the gearbox ? Sadly I can’t remember the name of the chap I sold the Sprite to but he was a freelance journalist from Grimsby way . Nice to see James Thacker as a contributor, I had a couple of tussles with him back in the day on my rare trips to Silverstone , regards , Tony”
LEMPERT STEERING WHEEL
for sale at £300
Contact Roger Friend if interested SOLD
XNB 712 in action (circuit unknown) during the 1980s.
XNB, as seen here, had been fitted with the Peel Coachworks alloy coupe body, that had originally graced Doug Wilson-Spratt’s 1962 Monte Carlo Rally Sebring Sprite – DWS 97.
XNB 712 was campaigned by Don Hands for a short time.
AN XSP ENGINE (from ANTHONY WOOD):
Just fell over your website and fascinated on the XSP engine material. In the mid 1970’s I owned and drove a mod-sports Frogeye Sprite fitted with an XSP engine and gearbox. Mine was dry sump 1100cc unit with the oil tank in the passengers footwell and if memory serves me correctly a ribbed gearbox. It was a phenomenal little engine, nothing under about 8000 rpm and then everything happened at once . Very reliable, I did two seasons with no problems and I know it did two before that as I bought it from a friend (the late Tony Palmer) who bought it from a man in Scotland. At the end of the 1976 season (again memory may be a year out) I replaced it with a 1300 Richard Longman unit as the 1100 unit put me in the same class as the Clans and Davrians and a steel Frogeye couldn’t keep up with them but I always finished so there were plenty of seconds and thirds (at least 50% of Imp engined cars would be DNF’s). I sold the XSP engine to Mike Harrison for his Formula Three Cooper and I believe he won the historic championship with it the following year.I think the price paid was £250 !
SEBRING SPRITE REPLICA KIT No.86 Registration 381 SYB
Hi Martin, We are pleased to confirm that we have at last completed the Sebring Sprite kit that we collected from Andrew in March 2012 and enclose a few pictures of the finished result. It took us much longer than anticipated due to illness and work commitments. Its first journey out was to a Healey event on the Island of Anglesey in North Wales over the May bank holiday weekend. It had been our initial intention to hill climb the sebring but over the years that we have had the kit we decided we would like to use it first as a road car initially and take it on classic car events in the UK and Europe before hillclimbing. Whilst on its first journey out we had a problem with a new bottom hose which sprang a leak after only being on the car for two days not great when its a bank holiday and your on an Island in Wales, but as luck would have it a guy came over to look at the car and after talking to him it turned out he had a 1965 scrap Morris Minor which was just around the corner from were we had broken down so now fitted with a 50 year old hose and working perfectly!!!!. Car has been built with adjustable rear shockers, supercharger, low compression pistons, fully balanced engine. It sits really well on the road and engine performs really well even though it has not as yet been put on the rolling road.
So looking forward to driving the car and meeting other Sebring Drivers in the coming months. We enclose some pictures.
Emrys and Pauline
ROAD TO MONTE CARLO 1964
Spot John Sprinzel at 7m 43s
On YouTube
MGs ON TRACK
Blyton Park 16th July 2016. Open for Booking on Friday 6th May. Further details on: www.mgs-on-track.com
HOW ABOUT ENTERING THE SPA 3 HOURS ?
2/3 driver teams welcome. Two pit stops mandatory. No HTP requirement. More info
The Williams & Pritchard Sebring GT of Dutchman Mark Dols negotiating the Hugenholtz Corner, Zandvoort.
For Sale – 1965 Austin Healey Sprite/Ashley GT, ex-Cameron, race ready spec. £27,500
Full details at Car & Classic
A GOOD DAY FOR ASHER ROBSON
at MG Car Club Brands Hatch on Saturday (Apr 30) and a nice break from his GCSE’s! He started at the back of the grid (in Dad’s Sebring Rep having been exempted from qualifying as he was at school. The car ran well and he finished 14th out of 20 starters and 3rd in class in the FISCAR Fliers. He had a great scrap with a Lotus Elite ….and really enjoyed himself. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it?.
REVIVING THE VALENCE HILL CLIMB (Westerham, Kent)
Sunday 16th May 2016
10 am to 4 pm
Not a full-blown hill-climb, more a demonstration and show. Further info from: events@valence.kent.sch.uk
Midget & Sprite Club ~ Isle of Wight tour, April 22 – 25, 2016
Unfortunately JJO was not ready for this weekend tour as I discovered only on the Thursday prior that my replacement (12G295) cylinder head was letting water into the bores. So it was in our daily Alfa that we joined the group of fellow Spridget enthusiasts at The Grasshopper near Westerham early on Friday morning. We trickled down towards Portsmouth via a MacDonalds for a coffee break, somehow missed the others at Weatherspoons for lunch but met up again at the ferry. Over the the busy shipping lanes we motored on to the very comfortable Brunswick Hotel selected by Dave Chalk and settled in after squeezing all the little cars in the car park. We had a free day on the Saturday so after breakfast on a cool but bright sunny morning we all headed out in varying directions. Susan and I visited the botanical gardens, an alpaca farm, and the home of an early photographer. The 30 of us congregated in the bar/lounge in the evenings before and after an excellent dinner, to talk over the days events.
Sunday was Drive-It Day when all classic car owners are supposed to be out in their special cars so we proceeded in convoy for a tour of the island. We visited the Needles, a famous beauty spot, where we were joined by a local Sprite owner who couldn’t believe his eyes when he met up with 13 others! An errant Porsche Boxster joined us. Then on to visit Queen Victoria’s former home, Osborne House for a look around before returning to the hotel. Another sunny but cold day, the varied colours of the cars looked great out on the rural roads.
It was back home on the Monday after a most enjoyable weekend. I can’t mention all involved but a special thank you to Mel and Barb Collins for organising the tour, and congrats to Ron Edwards who celebrated his 70th birthday while we were on the island . (We’ll be in JJO next time).
Coach trip to the British motor Museum, at Gaydon.
FOR ENTHUSIASTS FROM KENT, SUSSEX OR SURREY, UK
East Sussex MG Owners Club have a few spare seats on their coach trip to the newly enlarged collection of 250 vehicles at Gaydon ~ on Thursday 19th May. Cost is £25 incl admission. The Lynns Travel coach will pick-up from 3 points: 7am from Langney Centre footbridge (Eastbourne); 7.30am from Wellshurst car park (Hellingly); and 8am from Linden Park Road, Tunbridge Wells. Packed lunch desirable. Non-members welcome. Ring John Baggott on 01892 862656 to book your seat.
