New at Old Irish Racing

Thanks for reminding me that I need to rewatch a Frankenstein movie  .  This one's got me wondering if I could find an Alfa Romeo 156 that has been out out to pasture and graft the front end onto my 25 year old Mitsubishi Ute so the whole garage can be "Alfas"?

I too am enjoying recent Matrix releases, albeit those with a slightly more European twang.

Matrix have almost exhausted the back catalogue of one-off/concept Jags. Perhaps they could now spread their net a little further and make some models of car marques whose vehicles were Jag based. May I suggest the Owen Sedanca and the William Towns designed Railton cars from the 1990's and the Guyson E12....

Olde Salt - It seems almost quaint today, that automobile companies ran successful ad campaigns to promote and sell their cars based on success through racing wins and in the case of the Austin Healey 100, records achieved at the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Clearly, the focus on advertising back in the good olde days was based on performance, to heck with fuel economy and safety!  In America in 1953, Austin wasn't a household name and the new Austin Healey sports car needed to make a big splash in its most important market.  What better way to make a name at the mecca of speed, setting speed and endurance records?  I recently found this rare factory built (Brian Phipps) model of the 1953 100 modified endurance car on eBay for a fraction of its value, filling an important hole in my AH collection.  

1953 Austin Healey 100 - Bonneville - K&R Replicas



Austin decided that since it had worked well for MG, excellent publicity for the new Austin Healey 100 could be achieved by going after American and International speed and endurance records. So in late 1953, a small team from BMC and Healey set out across the Atlantic to Bonneville in pursuit of International Class D (2001-3000cc) records. The team would depend on two stock unmodified 100’s selected at random from dealer stock by the AAA governing body and a modified 100 prepared by Healey in Warwick. Together as a team, numerous records were set in both the stock and modified categories, which were used to great effect in advertising for the new sports cars, especially in the USA.



The modified car was one of four Special Test cars built in 1953 by Healey, of which three were used in long distance racing events like Le Mans. This car alloy bodied car (SPL 227/B) was used only for speed and endurance records. It was given a prototype engine which would become the basis for the 100S engine in 1955. Harry Westlake designed a new four-port alloy cylinder head based on the 2.4L 100 engine. The car set a new class record of a top speed of 142.64 MPH over the mile with Donald Healey at the wheel. The car was also used to set modified class 24-hour endurance records and set a new Class D record of 127.0 MPH over 1,000 Km.



The 1953 car joins my collection next to its 1954 record/endurance version.

While the stock 100s ran flawlessly over the 24-hour endurance tests conducted on a 10-mile circle in the Bonneville salt, the modified cars engine expired after 17-hours. A connecting rod failed, which led to a better design in future 100S type engines. The car was again run at Bonneville in 1954 as the Healey team set out to better the records set the year before. As in 1953, the Bonneville effort was coordinated by Capt. George Eyston who had previously set three land speed records and had good experience on the salt. He set the team strategy in 1953 to slightly underachieve the records set, so that they could come back in 1954 and best those records (over 143 MPH), which they did. The records set in 1953 & 1954 were ones which stood a long time and importantly, ones their main rival Triumph could not equal.


After 1954's record attempts, the car was rebodied and given a new six-cylinder engine for further record attempts in 1956. By 1957, salt had taken its toll on the endurance cars and like the others before it, it was scrapped with very little surviving. In 2007, an effort was undertaken by a small group of dedicated Dutch/Australian Healey enthusiasts to recreate the 1954 endurance and record cars. The main work was done by our friend Steve Pike (above left)  in Australia using some of the surviving bits of both cars in the rebuild. In 2009, the cars were again taken to Bonneville where they showed great promise before bad weather and mechanical gremlins  eliminated their ability to try and equal the records set in 1954.

Very interesting model

I was also thinking last weekend about the "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" adage that used to be at the forefront of racing.  In the annual grudge match at Bathurst for the V8 Supercars, a "Holden" won the race - not bad considering there have been no actual Holden cars built since 2019!

My initial thought when seeing this model was that it was another frankenstein car, with a D-Type rear end grafted onto an Austin Healey  .  Your words soon out that right, and I will say that even though British sports cars are not usually my "thing", I have always had a fondness for the Big Healey and this one is an absolute cracker.  I well remember taking Mrs Alfaholic to her first Historic race meeting many years ago, and the only cars she could instantly spot were the 105-series Alfa Romeo Giulias and the A-H 3000s  .

Yes, very happy to have found this model.  While perhaps not the most important 100 in my collection, it was the test bed for what would become the 100S engine.  The backdrop photos were taken during our visit to Bonneville a few years ago.  As you know, it is an incredible place for so much more than the racing!

Glad you like it!

As stated above, not a holy grail, but a car of keen interest.  Its one of the more obscure 'factory' Healeys and there is not a great deal about the 1953 car.  In fact, several Healey and enthusiast friends debate the color of the 1953 car.  Photos are in B&W and there is a color film of poor quality that looks like it might have been light blue, but then again most of the special test cars from that year (i.e. Le Mans) and 1954 were light green.  The factory built K&R models done by Brian Phipps were of a very high standard.  You can see his current work (mostly 30's Targa Florio cars) under his seller name on eBay, strippedpine.  

It is an iconic shape that has stood the test of time well.  The lines of the AH100 and this car were penned by a man named Gerry Coker.  He also penned the Frogeye Sprite, which was originally intended to have retractable headlights.  

Thanks Paul.  I like the early LSR and endurance attempts up to the mid-60's.  Today, we take reliability and performance pretty much for granted, but ads from earlier eras often rely on one or both to distinguish their products.  It was indeed an engineering and aerodynamic frontier that also makes it very interesting.  You need a Big Healey in your collection.  My bias says a 100!