Motor Racing history of Daimler, Jaguar, Triumph, etc.

OK folks, you appear to like quizzes, so here's one for you! What has this ticket to do with Coventry? It was a 'once only' event, and the date is significant.

Was it printed by Stadium Press (part of Charles Ochiltree's empire at Brandon)?

So no-one remembers! Well, I shall enlighten you! This is one of two tickets that I had for the one and only outing of Jaguar's return to saloon car racing, courtesy of Broadspeed. I went to Silverstone with some of our team a few days before the event, when we did a load of performance measurements, and it was my one and only drive on the Silverstone circuit. The race day was an unmitigated disaster, with both racing XJ12 Coupes suffering catastrophic mechanical failures. The lead driver was Derek Bell. One car suffered a fracture of the power steering pump driveshaft when someone turned the steering wheel with the car stationary; the pressure limiting valve had been disabled so as to cope with the much oversize tyres. As well as Jaguars, Broadspeed prepared two Dolomite Sprints, which did better than the Jaguars, but also failed miserably. After the expenditure of several million pounds, the experiment was hastily canned. There was some talk of suing Broadspeed afterwards, but it fizzled out. I should have some photographs of the event somewhere, if I can find them, and will post them if I do. I bet very few people remember the fiasco now! How's that for a bit of Coventry history?

Oh, the question was about the event ! I thought you were asking about the ticket Silly me ! I take it the Jaguars and the Dolomites were Coventry-built?

Well, if you consider Browns Lane and Tile Hill to be Coventry , that's where they originated; they were modified at Broadspeed at Southam.

Thanks

As a fan of the original Triumph 1300, I never liked the Dolomite and even less the so-called "Sprint" version. They were trying to turn an upmarket commuter's car into a performance vehicle which it was never designed to be. By that time Triumph's idea of producing a "new car" was to tinker with the engine specification and stick a badge with a dfferent name onto an existing bodyshell which ultimately led to the total demise of the marque.

I had a Dolomite, and did like it, but the quality had gone. Quality control at Triumph seemed almost non-existent. Not only that, but the dealer line-up was awful. After a number of problems trying to get spares for the Dolomite, and witnessing a blazing row when someone was told that a top hose for his nearly new Jaguar Series II was no available as a spare, I decided to complain to JRT service about the service dept in Job's Lane. The person who answered said "You've come through on the internal phone - do you work for BL?" So I said yes, I was at Browns Lane. He then proceeded to tell me that they had so many complaints about Henlys Service that they had stopped logging them. So I asked why they were still BL main dealers. "They'd sell foreign competitors' cars." "Fine, let them mess up the competition then." To which he told me I shouldn't think like that. That was in 1977. And what happened to firstly the Job's Lane service centre, and later BL, eh? Triumph, like Alvis, Wolseley, Riley, later Daimler, didn't fit with BL internal politics and all the petty jealousies and rivalries in the organisation. And, of course, while all these people were busy with in-fighting, they couldn't see that the whole pack of cards was collapsing. On a slightly different slant, my wife and I spent an hour looking at all the info and photos on the GEC Telephone Works website this afternoon. We both worked there in the 1960s. A set of words came into both our minds. "Plot" "lost" "the" "someone" but not in that order. Demolition contractors must have made a mint out of it all.

For your edification and delight, I have managed to find a photograph of the racing Jaguar driven by Derek Bell! It's not very sharp (partly because I had to photograph the slide) but here it is anyway. Note the enormous tyres. Enjoy!

Here is a link to Triumph racing in the USA. This link is entirely devoted to racing Triumph Spitfires. This link has some great photos of racing Triumphs for sale and sold.

It is a crying shame that these cars are not given the same reverence in the UK.

Here's a lovely advert featuring a Rootes Commer TS3 of Canley Car Deliveries loaded with Triumph TR3's ready to race at Le Mans. I would guess 1959 or 1960?

When I left school at 16 in 1976 I initially started an apprenticeship at Park Sheet Metal in Bayton Rd. I only stayed there a few weeks as I hated the place and they didn't like me! The firm were mainly making panels for converting artic tractor unit cabs into sleeper cabs but they also made certain panels for the Daimler Sovereign (the ones that were different to the equivalent Jaguar XJ model). Some of the workers there were highly skilled panel beaters and one young chap was making a complete replacement body for his Triumph TR6 in his spare time.

I seem to remember Coventry Climax making racing engines in the '50s. No idea what cars they were fitted to.

Unashamedly copied from Wikipedia! Some notable Coventry Climax-powered cars: 1911 GWK, 2 cyl. Coventry Simplex 1913 Bamford & Martin, 4 cyl. Coventry Simplex, The first Aston Martin 1922 Lea Francis C-Type, 1074cc OC 1929 AJS Nine, 1018cc OC 1930 Crossley 10, 1122cc OC 1933 Vale Special, 1098cc OC, 1476cc JM 1935 Triumph Gloria, 1087/1232cc OC, 1476/1991cc JM 1935 Crossley Regis, 1122cc OC, 1476 cc and 1640cc JM 1936 Morgan 4-4, 1122cc OC 1954 Kieft-Climax 1100 LeMans, 1098cc FWA 1954 Kieft-Climax V8, 2492cc FPE, not raced 1955 Cooper T39 Climax 'Bobtail', 1098cc FWA 1955-64 Cooper Monaco Mk.I(T49),Mk.II(T57/59),Mk.III(T61/62/64), 1475/1964/2203/2467/2751cc FPF 1956/7 Lotus Eleven, 1098cc FWA, 1460cc FWB, 744cc FWC 1957 Cooper T43 Climax, 1964cc FPF, The first mid-engine car to win a Grand Prix 1957-58 Lotus 12 Climax, 1475/1964/2203cc FPF 1957-63 Lotus Elite, 1216cc FWE, 742cc FWMC (UDT Laystall, 1961 Le Mans) 1958 TVR Grantura, 1216cc FWE 1958-60 Lotus 16 Climax, 1475/1964/2467/2495cc FPF 1959 Lotus 17, 1098cc FWA, 1460cc FWB, 742cc FWMA 1959 Cooper T51, 2467cc FPF, World Champion 1959-65 Turner Sports, 1098cc FWA, 1216cc FWE 1960-61 Lotus 18, 2495cc FPF, 1475cc FPF 1960 Cooper T53, 2495cc FPF, World Champion 1960-63 Lotus 19, 2467/2495/2751cc FPF 1961 Cooper T54, 2751cc FPF, The first mid-engine Indy car 1962-64 Lotus 23, 742cc FWMC, 748cc FWMB 1962-65 Lotus 25, 1496/1497cc FWMV, World Champion 1963-76 Hillman Imp, 875 - 998cc derivative of the FWMA, adapted by Rootes 1964-65 Brabham BT11, 1497cc FWMV 1965 Lotus 33, 1497cc FWMV, World Champion 1965-75 Bond 875 and Bond Ranger, low compression version of Imp engine 1967-74 Ginetta G15, 875cc Imp and 998cc Rally Imp engines 1971-74 Clan Crusader, 875cc Imp engine

Wow. That is an impressive list. I didn't know they went back to 1911. I don't know but have been told that Climax made water pump engines and the racing engines were developed from there...