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What started as idle speculation over a cup of coffee in Tom Falconer's garage (Claremont Corvette) last year became reality. Many did not believe it would ever get off the ground but due to the infectious enthusiasm of Bernie Chodosh, it could never fail.
The British contingent arrived in Florida along with 24 of their racing cars - some of the American Historic Sportscar Racers (HSR) were taken aback by this invasion. It was probably merely a matter of communication, with a few of them maintaining that the Brits "spoke funny". The British contingent brought five Sunbeam Tigers, which is probably four more than are currently competing in vintage racing in the States. The Historic Sportscar Racing Ltd. Operation (HSR) was there to support the main Sebring 12-hour race with a variety of different races, involving historic sportscars of differing vintages. Some of the races were ten lap sprint races and others were rather longer of 1-hour duration, involving a change of driver. It is important to put the event in perspective - the Sebring 12-hour race is the American equivalent of Le Mans and is certainly as popular with 105,000 tickets pre-sold before the race.
The logistics of getting 24 racing cars and one 1962 Cadillac from Britain to The Swamp (as Sebring is known by the locals), certainly were complicated, involving the cars being shipped in a roll-on roll-off ship from Southampton to Brunswick Georgia. Intercity Lines then delivered the racing cars to the track in four of the largest enclosed car transporters we had ever seen. The weekend was spent watching Drag Racing at Moroso Park and some of the team visited a 50's Hotrod show and cruise in Downtown Kissimmee. A number of the Aston Martin Owners Club officials accompanied the racers. Roger Bailey, the AMOC Chairman, got completely carried away by the enthusiasm of the participants of the cruise, but managed to refrain from returning with a hot-rodded 1957 Chevrolet.
The event itself was to begin with untimed practice on the Wednesday, but we had all booked an additional practice session on the Monday to familiarise ourselves with this 3.7 mile 17 cornered racetrack. The session was unfortunately marred by the near demise of Chris Randall's lovely Union Jack liveried E-type Jag. It caught fire at the end of the main straight and came to rest billowing smoke on the hard standing. Bernie Chodosh was the first on the scene and tried to assist with his hand held fire extinguisher until the fire tender arrived. A considerable amount of damage was done to the car and it did not look as though we were going to be able to see this E-type in action again. This was doubly sad as it was the most patriotically liveried car and thus important to the British team and the American spectators. We hadn't counted on the sheer determination of Chris Randall and his team. They completely rebuilt the front of the car and were out racing four days later!
The Sebring Track is notoriously hard on racing cars and a great many of the racers experienced a number of problems with their cars. Nick Randall's yellow E-type jaguar had its rear suspension collapse in the Enduro race. David Edwards' 1970 Chevrolet Camaro had a gearbox oil leak, until a larger transmission cooler was fitted, and the car ran faultlessly thereafter. Rupert West's Mustang required a rebuilt rear differential. He also experienced gear selection problems and, following a session in practice had to drive the whole way from the pits to the Paddock area ( a distance of about a mile) in reverse! He also had his master cylinder changed. Roddy Feilden's fearsome ZL1 Camaro dropped a valve in one of the sprint races. Roger Arveschough's big block Corvette needed a new transmission which was replaced together with a new trailing arm and tyre. Roger's Aston Martin was not ready for the event and so in desperation he borrowed the Corvette from one of his team-mates. Ralph Avis' Shelby Mustang needed a rose joint in the gearbox. Tim Boles' Camaro needed new gearbox front bearings and rear wheel bearings after they had all disintegrated. On the final day a broken rocker stud was discovered. All was completed in time and Tim's Camaro nicknamed "Butch" managed to finish the enduro, although he will be glad to return to number 3 - he had to run as car number 13 throughout these events! Tommy Entwhistle and John Harrison both lost their clutches. Many of the Sunbeam Tigers ran without incident, although Chris Beighton's Tiger had an altercation with Aveschough's Corvette in practice. Tim Boles' Camaro had a hard charging Porsche clout his door in the S's. However, the most spectacular incident involved Alec Hammond's Camaro which blew a type on one of the fastest parts of the circuit and ploughed on into the tyre barrier scattering marshals, tyres and bits of his Camaro a good distance from the track. These incidents meant that the 1-hour endurance race was affected by long periods behind the Safety car. |
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