When we moved house back in 2018 I found myself with masses of Sprite parts which I could not take with us to our small cottage in Teesdale in County Durham. I had not yet had time to build a garage so the cars had to be stored elsewhere. Ding Boston of Oxford Universities Motorsport Foundation expressed an interest in taking the spares and came down to Kent with a big van and cleared the lot. Since that time OUMF have completed the build of their own Sebring Sprite,838 BWT, for their students to race. Ding says:
“The parts have been an absolute godsend and have saved the day on so many occasions as we have struggled to get the Sebring completed. I am delighted to say that it debuted with the HRDC ‘Allstars’ race on the Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone a couple of weeks ago, and (the car) actually finished its first race 5th in Class. A huge relief on its first time out and a great credit to the many students who have played their part in its race build over the past 6 years! They wereoverjoyed to see that it attracted a column in Autosport the following week – which I guess maybe indicates how many people have been following its progress over so long. They plan to race it again next season with the HRDC – but not before an enormous oil leak is staunched!
We didn’t make it to the NEC this year as the past two years have been awful for recruiting new members to the club without the Freshers Fairs here at Oxford and other forums for broadcasting what we do, plus all the other dismal effects and restrictions of Covid. I will try and put something together about the project shortly, and have attached a couple of Jeff Bloxham’s photos of it in action at Silverstone, and a team photo too”.
I am thinking it might be appropriate to award the SEBRING SPRITE MEMORIAL CUP to the OUMF team for 2021.
