Tag Archives: Lee

Triple London Championship Night – Wimbledon Stadium

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Thanks to a recent fb friendship struck up by Ray Miles in Florida and Rob Hughes in Liverpool I was alerted to the Triple London Championship Night which ran at Wimbledon Stadium couple of weeks ago.

Ford Escort Mk2, Andy Steward, Classic Hot Rods, London Championship, Wimbledon,

Thanks to a soccer match in Chelsea I got snarled up in traffic and missed the first heats for the Junior Micra Stock Cars, Superstox and 2.0 Hot Rods, but made it just in time to catch the first heat for the beautifully turned out Pinto powered Classic Hot Rods which featured a great battle for the lead between the #198 Mk2 Ford Escort driven by Andy Steward and the #45 Austin A40 Countryman driven by Craig Boyd which went Andy’s way.

Superstox, London Championship, Wimbledon,

The Superstox action featured a bit more bumping and boring for which the cars are better equipped, unfortunately I arrived too late to get a programme and the only thing I can tell you is that the race was won by John Saunders, who also won the first heat and that the green #454 seen above finished 5th in heat to having finished 4th in Heat 1, if you know who the driver of the #454 is please do not hesitate to chip in below.

Nissan Micra, Samuel Dobbs, Junior Micra Stock Cars, Wimbledon

Samuel Dobbs is seen above on his way to a win in the 2nd heat of the Junior Micra Stock Cars which with all their additional safety equipment and what appeared to be standard suspension have some interesting handling characteristics.

Vauxhall Tigra, Robert Gamble, 2.0 Hot Rod, London Championship, Wimbledon

Robert Gamble seen in his #133 Vauxhall Tigra above held on to win the 2nd Heat for the 2.0 Hot Rod’s from the #71 Citroën Saxo driven by Gordan Alexander.

Barry Lee, Kenny Ireland, Wimbledon Stadium

Four time Hot Road World Champion Barry “#351 Leapy” Lee, and Scottish Saloon Stocks, Superstox & Hot Rods champion Kenny Ireland are seen on a lap of honour above they were joined as guests of honour by 1976 World Champion George Polley and 1980 World Champion Mick ‘Duffy’ Collard.

Ford Anglia, John Bowring, Classic Hot Rods, London Championship, Wimbledon,

Craig Boyd retired his Austin early in the 2nd Classic Hot Rods heat, leaving Andy Steward to an easy win once he had battled his way into the lead, the race featured a fantastic race long scrap between the Ford Anglia’s driven by #101 John Bowring, #924 Stuart Wright and #911, seen on the outside, driven by Harry Steward who crossed the finish in 6th, 7th and 8th places respectively.

Nissan Micra, Robbie Bruce, Junior Micra Stock Cars, Wimbledon

Repeating his heat one Junior Micra Stock Cars win in the final was Robbie Bruce seen above three wheeling his way around turn 2 aided by second place finisher #340 Will Blazer.

Citroén Saxo, Gordan Alexander, 2.0 Hot Rod, London Championship, Wimbledon

Gordan Alexander fought his way to the front to claim the 2.0 Hot Rod Final in his #71 Citroën Saxo the #565 driven by Dan Smith and the #39 driven by Rick Parnell who were both also pedaling Citroën Saxo’s.

Ford Escort RS2000 Mk2, Lee Wood, Wimbledon Stadium,

Lee Wood is seen above leading Mick ‘Duffy’ Collard during a demonstration run for the fans in their immaculate replica World Championship winning cars.

Ford Escort Mk2, Andy Steward, Classic Hot Rods, London Championship, Wimbledon,

Andy Steward retained his Classic Hot Rods London Championship title despite the best efforts of Craig Boyd in his repaired #45 Austin seen lifting an inside wheel above.

Jason Cooper, Superstox, London Championship, Wimbledon,

Jason Cooper is seen above taking the flag in the Superstox final at the end of an entertaining evening at Wimbledon Stadium which I hope to visit again before it is scheduled to be swallowed up by dreaded property developers.

My thanks to Ray Miles and Rob Hughes for giving me the heads up also to Rob for event programme details, to keep up with news on Classic Hot Rods follow Rob Hughes dedicated fb page linked here, news on Spedeworth events at Wimbledon and their other venues can be found on this link.

Thanks for joining me on this “Triple London Championship Night” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Americana Thursday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Mix’n’Match Electric Blue – Plymouth Belvedere

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There are few legends in all of motor racing that are quite so enduring as that of the Petty Family, it’s not quite exclusive use of Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler products with an electric blue paint scheme.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

Tea total brothers Lee and Julien Petty used to take time out from their haulage business and enjoy giving the local North Carolina moonshine runners a good whupping in illegal races for large bets with a 1937 Plymouth they built that was possibly powered by an in line 8 cylinder Chrysler motor.

Plymouth Belvedere, Richard Petty, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

After the ’39-’45 war Lee embraced and supported Bill Frances efforts to established a stock car series that was more formally organised and ended up winning NASCAR 3 Championships driving his own Petty Enterprises Chrysler, Dodge, Oldsmobile and Plymouth cars, which usually carried the #42, but occasionally carried the #43.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

Late in Lee Petty’s third and final 1959 championship winning season Lee’s sons Maurice and Richard Petty found they had neither enough traditional Petty white nor dark blue paint to completely cover a Plymouth that was in need of paint, not wishing to waste either pot they mixed the two together which combined to make the ‘electric’ blue that has since been patented as the same ‘Petty Blue’ seen on today’s featured ’67 Belvedere.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

In 1961 an accident at Daytona effectively ended Lee Petty’s career, but by then his youngest son Richard had just completed his first full season behind the wheel finishing an impressive second to 1960 champion Rex White with the first 3 of an eventual unbeaten career total of 200 race wins.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

In 1964 Richard by now running almost exclusively in the #43 won his first of an unbeaten career total of seven Championships starting 61 races, winning 9 of them and scoring 28 further top 5 finishes driving 426 cui Hemi powered Plymouths.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

1967 was perhaps Richards career defining season, the Hemi had been restricted to 405 cui for the 1966 season after being banned completely in 1965 as were overhead cam NASCAR projects intended for 1966 from Ford and Chrysler.

Plymouth Belvedere, Richard Petty, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

The 1967 Belvedere had not proved quite as fast as the ’66 model which Richard had used to win seven races and claim third in the 1966 championship so Maurice reskinned the 1966 winning car with a ’67 body that allowed Richard to win the 1967 championship with a career high 27 wins in a single season backed up with 11 further top fives that included an unbroken record of 10 straight wins.

Richard is seen driving his ’67 Belvedere wearing the same period correct cowboy boots as he would have worn back in the day on account of ‘they didn’t have anything else back then’.

Thanks for joining me on this “Mix’n’Match Electric Blue” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Twice Mille Miglia Class Winner – Maserati 4CS #1126

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In 1931 Maserati built a prototype supercharged 4 cylinder 2 seat racer to compete in the Mille Miglia 1,100 cc / 67.1 cui class called the 4CTR (cilindi testa riportata) with twin overhead camshafts and a detachable cylinder head.

01 Maserati 4CS_2364sc

The supercharged motor produced nearly 100 hp / per litre and was fitted to a modified Maserati 26M single seater chassis and a two seat body. Giuseppe Tuffanelli and Guerino Bertocchi drove the car on the Mille Miglia to victory in the 1100cc class finishing 22nd overall.

Based on this success Maserati built a series of 5 4CS models and they won the 1100cc class at the Mille Miglia in 1932, ’34, ’35 and ’36.

02 Maserati 4CS_2365sc

So far as I know chassis #1126 seen here was the square nosed #15 car driven by Ettore Bianco and Guerino Bertocchi to class victory and 7th overall on the 1935 Mille Miglia.

Owner Ettore Bianco then drove #1126 to victory at the Circuito Varese in July 1935 and a second in class in the 1935 Coppa Ciano.

03 Maserati 4CS_2366sc

For 1936 Ettore teamed up with M. Boccali for the Mille Miglia in which they finished 6th overall and 1st in class one spot behind the 4CS, fitted with a 1500cc 91.5 cui version of the 4 cylinder motor, driven by Omobono Tenni and Ettore’s 1935 team mate Guerino Bertocchi which took 1500 cc honours.

Later in 1936 #1126 was sold to Ignazio Radice Fosatti who recorded a second in class run on the Coppa Mercanti run on the Stelvio hillclimb before going to Monza for an attempt at the 1100cc 12 hour distance record. Unfortunately Ignazio was killed in the 9th hour of the attempt after hitting a dog that strayed onto the track.

04 Maserati 4CS_2367sc

Scuderia Ambrosiana bought the wrecked car and had it repaired for Giovanni Lurani & Luigi Villoresi to drive in the 1937 Mille Miglia from it retired. Later in the year Luigi recorded a 7th overall and class win on the Colle del Moncenisio in France before the car headed East to new owners in Singapore.

Joshua Lee was the unfortunate owner of #1126 in 1942 when it was confiscated by the Japanese Army and he was murdered.

05 Maserati 4CS_2368sc

The last in period race for #1126 is recorded as the 1950 Johore Grand Prix with the car now registered in the entry list as an LA Special, with 3.5 Litre Jaguar SS 100 motor, by Lim Peng Han who did not finish the race after an accident.

The car then made it’s way to the UK via the United States where it was briefly fitted with a Do Soto V8 motor as part of an uncompleted project. Ken Painter bought #1126 in 1969 and by 1985 had completed it’s restoration.

Adam Painter is seen driving #1126 in these photo’s taken at Prescott where the car was listed as having a supercharged 1500cc motor.

Thanks for joining me on this “Twice Mille Miglia Class Winner” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a slippery bodied Bugatti. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Up Prescott 2000 Times – Bugatti Type 57S Corsica Roadster #57375

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Charles Henry Stammers, Joseph and Robert Lee, and Albert Wood founded the Corsica Coachworks in Corsica St, Kings Cross London soon after the 1914/18 war. They made bespoke coachwork to clients needs without the aid of a designer meaning that each body they made was unique.

Corsica were responsible for building bodies for eight Bugatti Type 57S chassis, two coupes, two 4-seater tourers and four open 2-seaters of which all but one of the Coupe’s have survived.

Bugatti Type 57S, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Chassis #57375 was built in 1936 and delivered to Nicholas Embericos on September 1st. Mr Embericos drove the car in the 1936 Tourist Trophy at Ards and retired from the race and the sport after a collision with the Delahaye driven by Marcel Mongin.

The #57375 was sold to a Mr Ramponi and then Ronnie Symondson who kept the car for 40 years and is said to have taken the #57375 up Prescott hill climb nearly 2000 times.

Bugatti Type 57S, Goodwood Festival of Speed

When Mr Symmondson’s health began to fail he sold the car to one of Britain’s most respected restorers and racers Neil Corner.

The first of the two Type 57S Corsica Roadsters is seen here at Goodwood Festival of Speed several years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Up Prescott 2000 Times” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a rare Japanese car used for sprinting. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Racing on Ice – Allard J2 #J2123

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Seasons greetings.

Allard J2, Lake Orion

Today’s photograph comes courtesy of Eric Davison an acquaintance of Del Lee, the owner of the Allard J2 seen above.

Del Lee “was a car salesman and at one point he owned a used sports car dealership on Detroit’s Livernois Avenue”.

His Allard is seen, probably in 1952, being readied for an event which Eric describes as being run as a time trial with a Le Mans start and no spiked tyres allowed.

My efforts to find a result for the event have been unsuccessful but Bob Martin of the event organising club Detroit SCCA did send me a copy Open Exhaust April 1969, the club magazine, in which Dels car is mentioned by author Les Rutlidge inconnection with an event at Bridgehampton in May ’52.

Les also tells us that in June ’52 Del “blew two pistons while practicing for the Camp Dearborn Road Race” and that replacements of the correct size “could only be found in a Wisconsin built lawn mower !” Lee is reported to have purchased two such units removed their pistons and fitted them to the Cadillac motor which #J2123 was running at the time.

J2 #J2123 currently belongs to GALPOT contributor and todays GALPOT Birthday Boy John Aibel, I hope you will join me in wishing John a Happy Birthday.

My thanks to Eric Davison for his recollections and today’s photograph and to Bob Martin for the copy of the April 1969 Open Exhaust.

Thanks for joining me on this ice racing edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me tomorrow when the eight day Automobiliart / GALPOT Seasonal Quiz get’s under way.

Don’t forget to come back now !


Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

Automobiliart, Paul Chenard

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Sports-GT cars set, Paul Chenard

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Phil Hill, Sharknose Ferrari Set, Paul Chenard

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

1934 GP Season Card set, Paul Chenard

Set 3 1934 Season

1950s Grand Prix Engines

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

or

Mike Hawtorns racecars Card set, Paul Chenard

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

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My Word Is My Bond – Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible

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Today’s uniquely bodied Ferrari images come straight from the Carmel By The Sea Concours on the Avenue which was held on Tuesday courtesy of GALPOTS regular contributor Geoffrey Horton.

Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible

In 1955 a New Yorker Robert Lee set off on a Safari stopping over in Rome for a week on the outward journey. While in Italy Mr Lee went to Modena and visited Enzo Ferrari who suggested that if Mr Lee should ever want to buy a Ferrari he should buy one direct from the factory in Italy.

Mr Lee responded that he did not think a Ferrari would be up to running on the streets of New York, to which Enzo replied “If you buy a Ferrari, I guarantee it will run in New York City”.

Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible, Carmel By The Sea

In 1956 Mr Lee saw this 250 GT Convertible on the Ferrari stand at the New York Auto Show, when Mr Lee enquired about the possibility of purchasing it he was informed by Luigi Chinetti, Ferrari’s New York representative, that the car was not for sale and would be returned to Modena after the show.

Mr Lee then sent Enzo a Telegram reminding him of their meeting and offering $ 9,500 dollars, all he had, for the Convertible.

Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible, Carmel By The Sea

Soon after on the instructions of Mr Ferrari, Mr Chinetti asked Mr Lee to bring him a cashiers cheque for $9,500 and the worlds only 250 GT Boano Convertible, which is alleged to have cost $20,000 to build, would be his.

55 years and two restorations later this unique car still belongs to Mr Lee, possibly making it the worlds oldest Ferrari in continuous original ownership.

Jaguar XK150, Carmel By The Sea

My thanks again to Geoffrey Horton, seen above with his sister Vanessa and XK140, for today’s photographs, I hope you will join me in congratulating Geoffrey on winning second place at the Carmel By The Sea Councours on The Avenue.

Hope you have enjoyed this Boano Convertible edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a large Bristol. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Changes Of Heart – Allard J2 #J2123

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Thanks to John Aibel today we are looking at a storied Allard J2 of which John says :-

Allard J2

“The car was ordered on 7th. June, 1951 for Wood Motors, Detroit, MI. Park Hill Ref. No. 248: Head Office Order No. 173. It was assigned production number J-2123.

Allard J2

Many Memorandum notes followed detailing the options needed, like Cadillac Engine Modified, 32 mm wire wheels Left Hand Drive, Large Lucas Headlamps MPBL with stone guards Red Leather interior, Blue paint as per chip supplied.

Allard J2

The car was delivered to Wood Mtrs. on August 31, 1951. It was built and imported for Mr. Delvan Lee a personal friend of Don Wood’s brother. Mr. Woods told John they only imported one Allard, and this was done as a special favor to Mr. Lee. They were interested in more popular imports and they are today Mercedes-Benz dealers.

Allard J2

Mr. Lee worked for Connell Cadillac of Detroit who supplied high performance engines to the marine industry. They did the instillation of the Cadillac engine into the Allard.”

Allard J2

He entered in some local and regional sporting events including ice racing. In 1953 and 1954 Mr Lee entered events at Watkins Glen, as well as Bridgehamton Long Island.

Allard J2

Mr Lee won the Giant Despair Hillclimb and set fastest time of the day in 1953.
By 1954 Mr. Lee sold the Allard to Fred Lavell. Delvan raced the car for Lavell at the 1954 Watkins Glen event.

Allard J2

Photo Motor Life December 1957 will be properly credited or removed upon request.

In 1954 Lavell took the Allard to Bonneville, Ut. speed events. He drove the car to a speed of 127 mph. The next two years the stock body was removed and a Sorrell [streamliner] fiberglass body with a DeSoto engine was installed. It ran this was in 1955 and 1956 and attained a speed of 150 mph.” Another J2 owned by Denny Larsen held the Class D modified Bonneville sports car record at an average 178.068 mph at the time.

Allard J2

“When I bought the car, the aluminum Allard body was not installed on the frame, and a Chevrolet small block was in the engine compartment coupled to a Moss 4 speed transmission. The instillation was not operational.”

Allard J2

John had the car restored to its original specification by Mr. Tivvey Sheldon with a 6390 cc / 390 cui Caddy engine, three Stromberg 97 carbs, GM transmission. “We kept the quick change rear that was put in I believe before the Bonneville runs.”

Allard J2

John has driven this car at Pocono, Pa., Philadelphia Vintage Grand Prix, and Watkins Glen Allard reunion. The highest recorded speed by radar in John’s hands was 115 mph during the Phily event.

My thanks to John for sharing the photos of his magnificent car and to Colin Warnes of the Allard Register for additional information and photographs.

Thanks for joining me today on this Giants Despair edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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