'Works' Sprite Register 1959 to 1964
27 Prototypes and/or Competition cars created by the Donald Healey Motor Co:
| Identification | Races rallies entered/drivers/results/ownership, etc | Photo |
|---|---|---|
| YAC 740 | Donald Healey and Tommy Wisdom drove this pale yellow Sprite around the Mille Miglia circuit in early 1958. Tommy Wisdom and Jack Hay then took it on the Alpine Rally on 7th July, 1958 finishing 19th, and 2nd in class to John Sprinzel in PMO 200. |
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| #53 (4 wheel Dunlop disc brakes) |
1959 ~ Sebring 12 Hours Entered by Hambro Auto Corp of New York Drivers: Ed Leavens/Dr. Harold Kunz/ (?)John Colgate Finished 2nd in class, 36th overall. Car believed later destroyed while being towed to race in Wisconsin. |
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| #54 (4 wheel Dunlop disc brakes) |
1959 ~ Sebring 12 Hours Entered by Hambro Auto Corp of New York Drivers: Hugh Sutherland/Phil Stiles Finished 1st in class, 31st overall Now owned by Butch Gilbert |
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| #55 UK reg: 173 AC (4 wheel Dunlop disc brakes) |
1959 ~ Sebring 12 Hours Entered by Hambro Auto Corp of New York Drivers: Fred Hayes/John Christy/John Colegate Finished 3rd in class, 38th overall Now owned Herschel Silverstone but original Sebring equipment missing. |
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| #78 (4 wheel Dunlop disc brakes) |
1959 ~ Sebring 12 Hours Entered by Bahamas Auto Club of Nassau but DID NOT RACE Drivers: Sir Sydney Oakes/Lady Greta Oakes/Hon P.Bethel Reserve car. Bought by Ed Bussey it later raced at Daytona (Phil Stiles). |
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| XOH 276 (numbers some- times swapped with XOH 277) |
Built 25 Nov 1958, prepared for 1959 Monte Carlo Rally #185 ~ Tommy Wisdom/Douglas Johns finished 63rd overall, 5th in class. 1959 Sestrieres Rally: Tommy Wisdom/Tony Lucas ~ 39th, 1st in class 1960 Alpine Rally Tommy Wisdom/Jack Hay ~ 2nd in class |
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| XOH 277 | Built 25 Nov 1958, prepared for: 1959 Monte Carlo Rally ~ Baxter/Reece ~ retired |
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| 364 EAC Project XQHS |
Otherwise known as the Super Sprite. It had a largely hand-crafted body developed as a road production car with a Coventry Climax engine and 4 wheel disc brakes. BMC killed off the project in 1961, not wanting to use a rival company's engine. |  |
| 7080 AC (1) (TFR 1) |
1959 Targa Florio - #70 - Wisdom/Cahier - 17th o/a, 3rd in class 1960 Alpine Rally – Wisdom/Hay ~ 995cc & Shorrock s/c ~ damaged ~ and, in mid-1960, sold to Jack Wheeler |
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| 7080 AC (2) |
[Said by Geoff Healey to be the Targa Florio car (above) but now thought to have been built by local distributors in the USA !!] |
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| Ex 219 Record Breaker |
11 Sept, 1959 ~ Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah ~ took record for average speed over 12 hours, at 138.75 m.p.h ~ drivers were Tommy Widom, Ed Leavens and GusEnrman |  |
No 'works' Sprites on Targa Florio 1960/61/62/63 |
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| 5983 AC (Falcon) |
1960 Sebring 12 Hours - John Sprinzel/ John Lumkin. 41st, last classified. 1960 Le Mans 24 Hours - John Colegate/John Dalton. Classified 16th overall, 11th in the Index of Performance, and 12th in the sports car class. Now owned by Roger Sieling and undergoing restoration. |
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| 8423 UE (licence plate returned after race) |
1961 Sebring 4 Hours - #6 - Ed Leavens ~ 6th (Fibreglass bodywork) |
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| 8424 UE (licence plate returned after race) |
1961 Sebring 4 Hours, #4 Driver: Briggs Cunningham/Dick Thompson - 8th (Fibreglass bodywork) Believed this was the car owned for a time by Jeff Brenner. |
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| 8425 UE (licence plate returned after race) |
1961 Sebring 4 Hours - #5 - Bruce McLaren - 4th (Fibreglass bodywork) [Car may have been re-registered 5435 WD and loaned to Clive Baker, eventually owned and sprinted by Frank Tiedeman - not confirmed.] |
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| 8426 UE Spec: ST 450 Known as "The Roadster" |
1961 Sebring 12 Hours Drivers: Ed Leavens/John Colegate 25th overall, 3rd in class |
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| 8427 UE re-worked as 1413 WD |
1961 Sebring 4 Hours - #3 - Walt Hansgen ~ 3rd 1961 Sebring 12 Hours #66 Joe Buzetta/Glenn Carlson ~ 15th o/a, 2nd cl. Became the Ecurie Ecosse Sprite with new front end for: 1961 Le Mans 24 hrs #46 Sanderson/McKay (crashed at White House) |
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| 1411WD Spec: ST 461 |
1961 Le Mans 24 hrs - #42 - John Colegate/Paul Hawkins - retired. 1962 Sebring 12 hours - #72 - McQueen/Colegate retired engine failure. |
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| The "Mars" Sprite, 252 GNX | A development project by DHMC to give the Mark 2 Sprite more power by fitting the MGA 1622cc engine into an extended chassis frame. Just one example was produced. The car survives with Paul Woolmer. [Photo courtesy of Bill Emerson's "Healey Book"] |  |
| 9251 WD (998cc, Girling disc front brakes, 8" rear drums) |
1962 Sebring 3 hrs ~ #16 ~ Steve McQueen~ 9th Car sold in the USA, bought by San Francisco main agent - destroyed by an out of control drag car, at the Cotati circuit in 1964. |
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| 9252 WD | 1962 Sebring 3 hrs ~ #17 ~ Innis Ireland ~ 7th 1963 Sebring 3 hrs ~ #3 ~ (As MG MIdget) ~ Graham Hill ~ DNF (gearbox) Car returned to UK, sold to S.R.Richards, eventually broken up (1991). |
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| 9253 WD | 1962 Sebring 3 hrs ~ #22 ~ Pedro Rodriguez ~ 6th 1963 Sebring 3 hrs ~ used as practice car Car returned to UK. Owned by 'works' driver John Harris for one year (1964) then by John Willetts from 1965-2012, before going to Jonathan Whitehouse-Bird. |
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| 9254 WD (Alloy hardtop) |
1962 Sebring 3 hrs ~ #15 ~ Stirling Moss ~ 3rd
1963 Sebring 3 hrs ~ #1 ~ Pedro Rodriguez ~ DNF (diff) Car returned to UK. Destroyed in racing accident, when driven by Christabel Carlisle, at Silverstone later in 1963. |
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DHMC did not enter the 1962 Le Mans 24 hrs |
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| 58 FAC | 1963 Sebring 12 Hours ~ #69 ~ Colegate/Baker ~ 32nd ~ engine trouble 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours ~ #42 ~John Whitmore/Bob Olthoff ~ DNF Olthoff crashed at White House at 1 a.m. - driver recovered in hospital, the car presumed written off. |
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| 693 LAC (TFR 2) |
1964 Targa Florio - #192 - Hopkirk/Wisdom - DNF - diff failure - 3 laps 1964 Nurburgring 1000 kms - #122 - Baker/Bradley, 29th & 3rd in class 1964 Nassau Trophy - 15th, 1st in class, & Governors Trophy DNF. Lightweight with semi-elliptic r/springs. Later the car had a Targa style short roof, this extended to the tail when owned by Richard Groves. |
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| UK reg: 770 KNX Chassis No: ? ? ? 1,098 cc XSP (1292cc for 1965) |
1964 Sebring 12 Hours - #61 - up to 3.0 class - Baker/Colegate - 24th o/a 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours - #53 - Clive Baker/Bill Bradley - 24th overall 1965 Sebring 12 Hours - #62 - Paddy Hopkirk/Timo Makinen 18th, 3rd in cl. Fate unknown. |
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| UK reg: 776 KNX Chassis No: HAN8-64-R-2 1,098 cc engine, XSP 2173-2 |
1964 Sebring 12 Hours -#67 - up to 1.3 GT class - Al Pease/Donna Mae Mims - DNF (rear axle failed) Had almost a road car finish internally. After repair in UK shipped out to Stephen Pitcairn in the USA - still in private hands today. |
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See also the text on the Works Cars 1959 to 64 page, and then take a look at Works Cars 1965 to 69 and Works Register 1965 to 69 for the 10 "wind-tunnel" cars, and others of that period.