Chris,
Yes, Sunbeam Alpines were raced at Sebring in 1963 and did pretty darn
good. The first car was the Hollywood Sports Car, built by Doanne Spencer
for the Sports Car Graphic projects. This car was primarily a SCCA sprint
car modified for FIA rules. They put the windsheild back on and added a
hardtop, aluminum doors, hood, and trunk. They had a very good race and were
very fast, but they lost over an hour total (3 seperate trips) in the pits
replacing an axle (It was 1/8" too long so they cut it with a hacksaw!), and
they also wrecked it twice because they lost the brakes!
The car was driven by Jerry Titus, Dave Jordan, and Jim Adams (Of the
famous Spencer/Adams Tiger project) as a backup. They managed to get 3rd in
class behind the Porches. Their car was faster than the Rootes prepared cars
used in the previous Sebring races. Had they not lost an hour, they may have
had a higher overall placing, but still would have been behind the porches
for third in class since the porches were covering the same lap 21 seconds
faster than the Alpine!
The second, and only other Alpine in the race was driven by Theolodi
and Kneeland. IT was a Harrinton Lemans, but as Jerry Titus discribed it,
may have been lighter, better streamlined, and had Weber carbs, but it was
no where near the speed of the Doanne Spencer built Alpine.
Since the Alpines were incapable of beating most of the cars in their
class, the strategy was simple: Hold a conservative red line of 6000 (6800
was the Maximum conservative in sprint racing), then determine class
standing at the 9th hour when most of the cars are out of the race, then
seek out and pass as many cars as possible with a red line of 6500. This
strategy worked for both Alpines, especially the Theolodi/Kneeland car which
nailed 4th place within a few minutes of the races end. And thats all I got
to say about that.
I really would like to know whatever happened to that car (HSC #50
Alpine) Anyone know?
Anyone copy tis to Video?
----- Original Message -----
. There may have been a Sunbeam or 2 in the
> Daytona race, but I missed the beginning where they
> pan all the cars.
>
> Chris
>
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