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Purchased new by Cyril Simson, this
now famous Sprite was
originally
registered YLN 13, before being fitted
with his personal registration number S221.
It was
initially raced
as a standard bodied
Sebring Sprite and one of a team of 3
Sprites - S221,
H221 and X221 entered as Team 221. It made its race debut at Goodwood on Easter
Monday, 1960, but crashed. However, its mild damage was rapidly repaired,
and success followed with Paul Hawkins winning the GT race at the Aintree
200 meeting.
It also finished
seventh with Ian Walker driving, as part of the Sprinzel Sprite team, to
help win the
Team Prize at the demanding Nurburgring 500 kms race for under 1,000cc Touring
and GT cars in Germany. Cyril then
delivered it to John Sprinzel at his London-based tuning and race
preparation workshop for it to be further modified for the 1961 season.
In addition to the
usual Sebring 'mods' already fitted - wire wheels, front disc brakes, etc., S
221 received an aerodynamic lightweight body built by Williams & Pritchard
Ltd. At the start of the 1961
season, Cyril Simson made his car available to the two-car Castrol-backed
"works" team for the Sebring 4-Hours small-capacity GT race when it was driven
by Pat Moss and Paul Hawkins. The car was practiced by Pat's brother
Stirling (who was to partner Paul Hawkins with it ) although, due
to a slipping clutch, he transferred to John Sprinzel's sister car PMO 200 for the race,
sharing that car with John. Afterwards the car was serviced and returned to
Cyril Simson so that he and Paul Hawkins could contest the major Sebring race,
the 12 Hours, on the following day. Subsequently Peter Clark
purchased the car, re-registered it
JT51,
and drove it in the 1961
Nurburgring 500km
race where he had the misfortune to roll the car. When repaired the
car was fitted with extended fastback style top/rear by Peels.
By 1963 the car had moved on to
Graham Capel, nicknamed Ricky, so it gained the registration
8 RIK. (see adjacent picture of the car on its trailer, at the Brands
Hatch circuit on 19th May, 1963 when it was entered by Redstone Racing.
Photo courtesy of Ron Edwards).
In 1964 it was
raced, wearing the registration 184 FGJ in Marque
sports car events driven by Ed Braine and John Palmer, the latter owning
it from 1966 until 1989. It then passed into the hands of a Ginetta
builder,
Martin Phaff, for a short period before being acquired by well-known British competitor/car
collector Colin Pearcy. He later commissioned Len Pritchard to make a
new alloy rear end and coupé top to return the car to its original form.
During 1994/5 the car was restored by Archers Garage. When Pearcy sold the car,
to a private German buyer, Martin Burhenne, the fastback Peel body was included.
The car was sold
again in
June 1998 by Brooks auctioneers at the Goodwood Festival of Speed for $33,206,
(about £25,000 at that time).
Re-united with its early
registration number S221, the car is currently owned by Chris Clegg who has campaigned it for a number of years in
historic racing events. It
is the only one of
the original coupes to have survived structurally intact - but even this car has
now had two new sets of alloy panels.
Painted in its
original colour scheme of silver metallic with
the nose dipped in light blue,
its pre-race preparation continues to be carried out by Archers Garage, for
Chris to drive.
During 2007 Chris has raced the car
at Le Mans (16th June), in the Legend Race which accompanies the main 24
Hours event, where he started 60th on the grid and shared the drive with Martin McGlone. The race is for original Le Mans, or similar type cars built between
1st Jan 1956 and 31st Dec 1968. They finished 46th overall,
coming 3rd in the up to 1500cc class, and
he therefore
received an Automobile Club de l’Ouest trophy.
At Spa, he started 65th and finished 52nd overall. Two very good results
for a 46 year old car and its "young" driver! The cars latest outing
was in November at Paul Ricard where it ran in a 1½ hour
race.
Early
Competition History
|
Date |
Event |
Driver/Co-driver |
Class |
Overall |
| 18 April 1960 |
Goodwood BARC |
Cyril Simson |
|
Crashed |
| 22 May 1960 |
Nurburgring 1000 kms |
Cyril Simson |
6th (1300class) |
38th |
| 12 Jun 1960 |
Rouen GP |
|
|
DNF |
| 13 Aug 1960 |
Silverstone 6hr Relay |
|
|
PNR |
| 20 August 1960 |
Goodwood RAC Tourist Trophy |
(supercharged) |
7th (1300 class) |
20th |
| 4 Sept 1960 |
Nurburgring 500 kms |
|
1st |
|
|
Converted to full alloy
Williams & Pritchard coupé, painted
metallic silver "dipped" in light blue. LH sidescreen 2" higher than
driver's side. |
| --Mar 1961 |
Sebring 4 hr race |
Stirling Moss (practice), Pat
Moss/Paul Hawkins (race) |
|
7th |
| 25 Mar 1961 |
Sebring 12 hr race |
Paul Hawkins/Cyril Simson |
4th |
37th |
| 28 May 1961 |
Nurburgring 1000 kms |
Paul Hawkins/Cyril Simson |
|
DNF |
| 3 Jun 1961 |
Brands Hatch |
Paul Hawkins |
3rd |
|
| 6 Aug 1961 |
Snetterton |
Peter Clark |
1st |
|
|
1961 |
Holmpatrick Trophy,
Dunboyne |
Peter Clark |
1st |
7th |
| 3 Sept 1961 |
Nurburgring 500 kms |
Peter Clark |
rolled in practice |
|
|
12 May 1962 |
Silverstone BRDC
meeting |
Peter Clark |
|
|
|
11 Aug 1962 |
750MC 6 hour Relay,
Silverstone |
Peter Clark |
Team finished 14th |
|
|
2 Sept 1962 |
Snetterton |
Peter Clark |
2nd |
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