[Healeys] John Gott
Joe and Lenore Armour
sebring at hotkey.net.au
Thu Oct 11 07:29:22 MDT 2012
In the period of time between Ralph Nader helping to remove Healeys from
the market place aided by Triumph and Jag. biased and unwise BMC
management ( an oxymoron ) the only two people keeping the name Healey
in the public domain werer Constable John Gott and Sir John Chatham.
As well as being the captain of the BMC rally team John Gott was a very
successfull circuit racer. He was well known for racing SMO an ex-works
rally car and several purpose built lightweight race cars fitted with
works parts. ABL.6 was the more radical car and this was owned for some
years by Bill Bolton when he purchased it from Syd Segal. This car is
now in Australia being restored by that old 100.S expert and Bonnerville
racer Steve Pike.
The early Healey Highlight magazines featured several great covers with
photos of these English Mod Sports racing Healeys with 10 inch wide mag
or steel wheels. Have a close look at the varied life of John Chatham's
DD.300. It almost seems that the car had 5 or 6 different lives
depending on the class that John was competing in. AT the same time
John Gott was holding the fort in a similar manner. See John Baggot's
book, Big Healeys in Competition.
There was another bloke who raced a big wheel Healey, parked it and
maintained it in the street outside his flat and towed it to meeting
with another Healey. ( is that a real Trailer Queen? ) To make it a bit
harder Bill xxxxxxx had an ex-works straight cut gearbox that had to be
held in gear with one hand and steered with the free hand. Try that on
a winding road some day.
Joe
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