Sebring Sprite Latest News
News ~ February 2023 |
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Rod Graham’s Sebring Sprite, displaying the “Sebring Sprite Memorial – Brian Archer Trophy” shield for 2022, on its roof. Having received the award from Ding Boston, of OUMF – the previous year’s winner. |
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Ding Boston (right) handing over the trophy to Rod Graham (left). |
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Ding Boston (second from left) and a group of OUMF students, posing with the trophy on the roof of their Sebring Sprite race car, celebrating their award of the “Sebring Sprite Memorial – Brian Archer Trophy” shield for the 2021 year. |
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News ~ January 2023 |
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SEBRING SPRITE PARTS FOR SALE“Andrew Burroughs is disposing of a number of items which include those listed below:
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In very good condition apart from missing one piece of trim and requiring a small repair in one ares where it sits on the top of the windscreen. Otherwise it is unusually complete, including the fittings.
£900 |
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This is the correct gearbox for the 948cc cars. Checked and looks to be in good working order although I have no experience of running it in a car. £100 (buyer collects). |
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Correct late gearbox with 12G229 input shaft.
In very good condition having been stripped and rebuilt.
£285. (buyer collects) |
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Rear AxleComplete with 4.2:1 differential, later double acting rear backplates and new brakes. |
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1275 Engine
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Approximately 80% complete engine with standard bore block and standard journal crank, rods, 12g940 head with valves. It requires new pistons, rings, bearings, seals and gaskets, etc, plus some other items all freely available.
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Approximately 70% complete and includes standard bore block, standard journal crank, rods, backplate, flywheel, front plate and timing case cover. It requires pistons, rings, bearings, seals and gaskets plus other parts mostly available, and a cylinder head.
£525. Collection |
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The seat frames (correct left and right hand) are good and so are both the steel backs. The seat bases are brand new. These seats will need re trimming to suit the year of choice. The type C seat backs as shown are not worth saving. £450 the pair. Collection |
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Andrew also still has a good 3.7:1 diff and a good 3.9:1 diff, both at £290 collected. |
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Greetings and wishing you all a Happy New Year. I am hoping that by the time you read this I may have sorted the Feedback system so I can hear from you once again. In the meantime I have added some 'new' stuff which dates back to October/November last. Happy Spriting when the sun comes out. |
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"The Sebring Sprite Memorial Cup" or "Brian Archer Trophy" |
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For 2022 the trophy has been awarded to Rod Graham who now owns the ex-Ian Ashfield Sebring Fastback 5116 HN |
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Rod told me "I am very proud of the car which not only “goes” but looks beautiful. I am attaching a copy of the article (left) I wrote about 5116HN, for “Headlines from Healey” magazine that it appeared in. [Rod is going to collect the trophy from last year's winners OUMF] By complete coincidence I, along with two other Witney friends, met with Ding and six of his Oxford University Motorsports Foundation (OUMF) students yesterday. We have donated some Sprite parts, including an engine of mine (for rebuild) and a gearbox - which I was given by Lyn Garton (Mike Garton’s widow). A friend and I had helped her to get started on sorting Mike’s garage after he died and she wanted us to have some of the parts – either for us to use or for us to make sure were used by someone else – so we were able to complete the circle - and OUMF have a current project in need of both of these. Attached is a photograph, which I took yesterday |
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You may like to view this Thanks to Dave Matthews for the link. |
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Peter Richings retires from racing after 51 continuous yearsJames Thacker reports: "Pete's wife Joy took this photo and called it 'TheThree Wise Men' - Robert Nettleton, James Thacker and Andrew Bailey, who managed to make it to Donington Park on 29th October for Pete's final race. An alternative title might be 'Last of the Summer wine'. All were originally drivers of Mk 1 Sprites, by coincidence." |
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Peter Richings had, in 1971, just left Loughborough University where he studied engineering and he started racing an ex- Peter Felix green Midget with his Dad helping him in the early days. He raced this for about four years on his own and then shared it with Mike Donovan for three years. Peter somehow managed to be a race reporter for Autosport as well as taking part in the meetings he was writing about. They changed the car into the white Heatherbourne Midget [named after their sponsors, a plastics company] which in its day was a state of the Robert Nettlton needs no introduction having initially raced a Mk 1 Sprite in Modsports from the late 60's to 1975 and after a break of four years, then drove his well known multi -coloured Midgets and Sprites in Class C from 1979 and later Class B of the Midget championship winning both and also in the Donington GT and a Prodsports championship and also in the A/H circuit series before it merged with the MGCC series. Martin, I hope this is of some interest even it it is nothing to do with Sebring Sprites but it may be of interest to you and or John Baggott". |
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News ~ December 2022 |
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IMPORTANT INFORMATIONUnfortunately at the present time I am unable to receive incoming messages through the feedback page due to the firm who relay the messages to me via email having a major outage which occurred on 2nd December and still remains unresolved. You can contact me through my private email if you have it or can post a message on the Sebring Sprite group page in Facebook which I will pick up. My apologies for the inconvenience. Martin |
News ~ November 2022 |
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The late JOHN BILTONJAMES THACKER writes: "I noticed an obituary in the Daily Telegraph last Saturday 29th October for John Bilton. I apologise for repeating this to those of you who already know about John's sad passing but I anticipate a few may not be aware of this.. John Bilton was the navigator for Alec Poole in his Mk 1 Sprite TZA 238 for about three years on club rallies, Motoring News championship events and two International rallies, the Circuit of Ireland and the International Welsh Rally in 1964. I sadly never met John but spoke to him on the phone many times and corresponded by email. over a period of about 20 to 25 years. John's sheer enthusiasm for TZA 238 and its part in motorsport, together with fascinating anecdotes , was one of the timely catalysts to my deciding to make a start rebuilding TZA with Kim Johnson in 2012.. John had an amazing power of recalling all the details of TZA 238 both in rally and race specification [engines, bodywork, front ends, wheels etc] as if it was just yesterday. Alec of course moved on to compete successfully in many other cars in his professional career and naturally only remembered things from a broader perspective. One very much senses that this era in John's life was clearly very enjoyable and truly memorable for him . In the December 2016 Sebring Sprite latest news website there is a copy of part of an email sent to me from John Bilton with, among other things, an anecdote saying how Tom Walkinshaw became interested in starting his racing career in a Sprite having seen TZA 238 being driven by Alec Poole at Ingliston in 1965 or 1966. I wrote to John's daughters, Kirsty and Hannah, and they were very pleased to hear from me and volunteered that there were photos of TZA around the house. I think John was particularly proud of their 9th overall place on the Welsh Rally as it was very rare for a Sprite to do that well against Mini Cooper S's and Cortina's etc in that era. He sent me a copy of the official results sheet and this is shown on the TZA 238 Sebring Sprite website He pointed out that Autosport somehow got the result wrong in their publications, demoting Alec and him several places ! A lovely man who enjoyed his motorsport; my sympathies are very much with his family and close friends. James" |
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Andrew Quinehas joined the Sebring Sprite Family. He is the proud owner of Archers Coupe Replica No.74 formerly owned by Barry McCann. The car is now fitted with a 1330 engine built by Gordon Elwell, and has recently been inspected and MOT’d by Halls Garage Bourne. |
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News ~ October 2022 |
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Trevor McIlroy gets 2nd in Class at 50th anniversary Knockalla Hillclimb County Donegal |
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photo: D.Harrigan |
Out of four sprints & two hill climbs since July, Trevor has been on the podium at every event. |
photo: Leslie McMullan
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News ~ September 2022 |
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A GOOD PAIR OF MARCHAL SPOTLAMPS FOR SALESee [FOR SALE] page. |
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MORE ON THAT LENHAM (see below)Dave Matthews was the first to respond with a photo of Garry Wilson driving his Lenham' as depicted on his Worldwide Austin-Healeys calendar of 1981. Close examination of the photo reveals that that car had been extended forwards by abour 6 inches to accommodate a more aerodynamic perspex windscreen and 12 October 2022: I have now spoken to Garry Wilson on the phone and learned that he was supplied with standard Lenham Le Mans panels by the Lenham Motor Co who were going to sponsor his racing. He redesigned both the rear end and the bonnet to look more like a Porsche 956 and made the necessary moulds. He produced and sold a number of kits of these parts one of which went to Trevor McCullough in Ireland (probably around 1961) so it is now clear his and Trevor's were 2 different cars. In fact Garry's car still exists, owned by a guy called Martin, but has been converted back to Midget styling. The body moulds were subsequently sold to Dominic Moody of Midland Classic Restorations. Dominic also now owns the ex-John Helm car with the same style bodywork. Very many thanks to Dave Matthews, Will Corry and John Baggott for their valuable input. |
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A New Book entitled "Austin-Healey Sprite" by Malcolm Thorne is published by Crowood Press:
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BRUNO VERSTRAETE: "Please find attached some pictures of my Sebring Sprite DAC952C at the Motorsport Rendezvous in Sankt Moritz. The car was standing next to some other exotic material from all different eras. It is remarkable how few car people know the background and story of the cars. Looking at which cars were beaten by this little gem, it surely deserves more… only by bringing it out it can be done. Unfortunately work didn’t allow me to drive the car through the mountains and on the hill climb. Will be something for another day". |
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3758 UEI see from the auction results that the original Ashley Sprite sold for £15,000 |
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Paul Hawkins
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ROB CLUBBE REPORTS: |
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CAN ANYONE HELP IDENTIFY JOHN TANDY'S LENHAM & TELL US ITS HISTORY? |
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JOHN TANDY wrote: "I recently bought this Lenham Le Mans modsports car for restoration and was wondering if you could shed any light on the car . I have no history for it and am trying to find out anything I can , the only thing I know is that at some point in its life it ended up in Ireland as a Hillclimber , where it was crashed and then left to deteriorate outside. I enclose some pictures of the car including what I believe is a picture of it on track from years ago". Any information please via Feedback |
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2 FILM CLIPS FROM DAVID WYLIE, OWNER OF SPEEDWELL GT, 505 BZ:"I’ve been pretty inactive in the Speedwell of late, but might drag it out of the garage for a small charity event at the end of the month (August). Maybe I’m still smarting from having to pull out of the Members’ Meeting?! Anyhow, perhaps of interest… quite a long film of the 1962 Circuit of Ireland featuring 505 BZ masquerading as a Sebring for homologation purposes (around 25m and 40m). Having won in 1960 in an ordinary Sprite, Adrian was leading overall with 505 BZ until a secret time check demoted them and ultimately, he finished second in class to Peter Johnston who was driving the ex-Chris Williams Sebring (52 LPH – now Ronnie White’s car) which can be seen briefly too. Also, Paddy Hopkirk demonstrating 2222 AZ, which surely would have been running Girling discs? A friend in Belfast is currently restoring the car. Interestingly (although perhaps that’s subjective), 505 BZ currently has the same gear knob which presumably was a ‘tuning’ part available from Paddy Hopkirk’s shop in Belfast". MANY THANKS DAVID. |
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Alloy doors
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