The LeMans Spitfires were on Speedvision a few nights ago...I caught the
end of the show.
Sam Posey anchored; I think the film was produced by Triumph. It showed
how well the Spits did, even exceeding the straight line top speed of the 2
liter Triumphs (due to the improved aerodynamics of the fastback roofs).
I don't get a detailed program schedule for Speedvision, but if anyone on
the list does, would you please post a notice if this episode is repeated?
I'd like to catch, and tape it in its entirety.
TIA
Ray
At 10:52 AM 12/9/98 -0500, Andrew Mace wrote:
>On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Chip Mautz wrote:
>
>> Hey all,
>>
>> There's a cool Spitfire in the latest issue of British Car magazine,
>> on page 47 (I believe). It's just a small article, about an
>> unrestored lightweight racing Spit - Le Mans or Sebring, I can't recall.
>
>I'm assuming (haven't seen the mag. yet) that this is ADU4B, one of the Le
>Mans cars (1964-65), also run at Sebring (1965?).
>
>> It's got the bonnet we've been talking about - the fibreglass one we
>> want to have fabricated.
>>
>> It talks about how it was the inspiration for the body of the GT6.
>
>Well, no. That's a common misconception. Actually, molds for the "works"
>cars fastback roofs were taken from the existing Michelotti prototype
>Spitfire GT, which itself later gained a six-cylinder engine and
>essentially became the prototype GT6. Further confusing the issue is the
>fact that Triumph themselves "rewrote history" a bit, in describing the
>GT6 at its debut as inspired by the LeMans cars (or something to that
>effect).
>
>> It had a fibreglass roof on it, and looked way cool. It is unrestored,
>> and owned by a gent in New York. I don't know if it's still
>> campaigned or not.
>
>I'm assuming it's not so much "still campaigned" as "will (might?) be
>campaigned again"! It has been "out of circulation" for many years, and it
>is likely the only surviving Le Mans Spitfire in anything approaching its
>original mid-1960s form. Pictures of the car can be seen at the Amicale
>Spitfire web site <http://amicale.com/spitfire/indexe.htm>.
>
>Guess I'd better pick up a copy of the magazine!
>
>--Andy
>
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>* Andrew Mace, President and *
>* 10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant *
>* Vintage Triumph Register <www.vtr.org> *
>* amace@unix2.nysed.gov *
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>
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