Laurent Derancourt has a new blog:
http://spritemidget.over-blog.com but you will need to brush up on your French if you want to read all about his restoration of his Ashley Spridget.
Greg Paris kindly sent me these photos of Terry Cowan‘s Sebring, taken at the Monterey Historics weekend
Many of you will have spotted the apparently original fuel-injected Sebring/LeMans engine (above) and 5 speed gearbox on ebay which reached just over $12,000 US and was withdrawn. The guy is believed to be looking for $30,000 US!!
Butch Gilbert tells me he still has his ex-Sebring “works” car despite several tries at selling it.
Kim Dear has bought a stripped Frogeye shell with items including H4 SUs with period rampipes, f/g bonnet, works-style hardtop, 5.5″ (?) JAPearce wheels, Avon cross-plies, Smiths 10000 tacho, 120 mph speedo, and built-up plinths for the rear lights. Anyone recognise it?
John Sprinzel is approaching his 80th birthday and is still enjoying his Bugeye PMO 200 (left)
Michael Meerlo‘s fastback replica (left) only needs electrics and he hopes to drive it to Goodwood next month.
Speedwell to miss Goodwood
Some very disappointing news is that David Wylie and his father, Mike’s, historic Speedwell GT have failed to obtain a position on the grid of the Fordwater Trophy at Goodwood. Having gone to great pains to get the car to the track day which usually guarantees a spot in the race, his entry has apparently been cast aside in favour of others with more commercial interests and less deserving cars. [I will admit I do not have the whole story but this is how it sounds from those who I have heard from]
Mike Wylie‘s Speedwell GT, 505BZ which his son David is now racing.
Bill McDonough tells me that the Speedwell GT he jointly owns with Neil Hardy will also be out racing at Goodwood with Neil at the wheel. It will be good to see the restored former Peter Preston car competing again.
Broken Link: My link to Jonathan Whitehouse-Bird‘s archive website on the Williams & Pritchard page was incorrect – the new one is:
From-the-Archives-The-1960-and-1961-Seasons
Tom Coulthard still has a few copies of “Spritely Years”at a sensible price ~ so Alan Whitt in New Zealand will soon have his copy. All enquiries, please, to Tom by email.
A bit of news from Ian Grainger is that Rae Davis, who was out at the Silverstone Classic weekend is now re-manufacturing Ashley Bonnets and a fastback hardtop, though Ian points out that one of bonnets is actually a W & P Sebring II. See www.ashleygt.co.uk
Another Correction: Sorry I had it right the first time! Fordwater Trophy at the Goodwood Revival is on Sunday 19th Sept. Tony Wilson-Spratt tells me that “Chris Clegg will be there with S221, Paul Woolmer with BXNJack Wheeler with 7080 AC, Gordon Elwell in MEG, Dave Stubbings with his Lenham, David Wylie with the Speedwell, Tommasi’s Sprite and maybe the Ashley again”. Tony himself will be in the WSM MGB.
A message from John Hill reads
” I was a crew member at Sebring. Paul Hawkins and I changed the clutch discs on the three cars at my home in Avon Park, Florida. I have pictures of the cars at my house – one of Moss’s car with the engine hanging in the air. I could tell you a lot of tales from those times. I also crewed at the ’60 Le Mans”.
Needless to say I am following this up and hope to obtain some material from John in the near future.
Neil Anderson was kind enough to give me the web location of the sale of DAC 952C on ebay. It reached US $88,988 (reserve not met) but see below:
Ian Grainger completed the story by telling me that the car has been purchased by Bruno Verstraete in Switzerland so hopefully we might see it racing in Europe again soon.
Ian Burford has been out with his ex-Gordon Howie Lenham at the recent Silverstone Classic. He started 36th out of 49 but was delighted to finish 26th and had a lot of fun with his new acquisition.
The Falcon Sprite: It seems I have an error on the Falcon Sprite page:
John Sprinzel has written to Gary Lazyrus, editor of Mascot, the magazine of the UK’s Midget & Sprite Club, after he published an article based on my web entry: JS writes:
“Thanks for the Mascot. Sorry to have to point out that the Sebring Falcon did not have a full windscreen, it actually didn’t have one at all. In practice, I did over-rev on one lap, as Stirling told me to stay in third around the long bend under the MG bridge, as going into top put you under the power curve, and one guy in a Sprite had killed himself on that very corner for this reason. Stirling actually got his very fast lap by ignoring the corner after Websters, at the back of the circuit, and going flat out, outside the straw bales on the runway, meaning he didn’t have to lift off at all, and was a good bit quicker on the straight, which you wouldn’t be able to do in the race. He was obviously quicker than me, but four seconds on a four minute lap isn’t quite as bad as it sounds. I was supposed to drive again at Le Mans, but the French wouldn’t let you race with an arm in plaster, and I had a broken wrist from Bob Domey crashing my Sprite on the Acropolis, so John Dalton took my place. Aloha, John”.
