The Theodoli Harrington is now owned by Bob Avery. It's restoration is
near complete. Anyone interested in reading about it can visit the
feature back issues on www.sunbeamalpine.org.
Louis & Laila wrote:
>
> 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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> >
--
Ian Spencer <www.sunbeamalpine.org>
'61 Series II Alpine B9104704 LRX
'61 Harrington Alpine B9104782 OD HRO
'62 Harrington Le Mans BH9115930 OD LRX
'62 Harrington Le Mans BH9117497 OD LRX
'63 Series 3 Alpine B9204386 GT LRX
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