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Re: Spitfires at LeMans

To: "Terry L. Thompson" <tlt@digex.net>
Subject: Re: Spitfires at LeMans
From: Joe Curry <spitlist@gte.net>
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 09:44:50 -0700
Terry,
The cars were in fact Works Spitfires built of aluminum and running a
modified 1147 engine with 8 port cylinder heads.  The GT top was
fabricated of fiberglass and the transmissions were TR4.  But the cars
were indeed Spitfires.  This was BEFORE the introduction of the GT6 and
therefore had no bearing on the naming of that product.

Some say that the GT6 was inspired by the Spitfire GT Works cars; others
claim the GT6 early drawings inspired the Spitfire GT fastback. 
Regardless of which is true, the Spitfire works cars were incredibly
successful in the series of races they entered.

You should get a copy of "The Works Triumphs, 50 years in Motorsport" by
Graham Robson.  It is available le from the VTR bookstore!

Regards,
Joe

"Terry L. Thompson" wrote:
> 
> Spitfirers,
> Speedvision had a show with the above mentioned title, on their "History of
> Autocross" of what I seem to remember was a
> 1964 race at LeMans in which Standard Triumph unveiled the Spitfire coupe.
> 3 of them raced and only one finished (one I believe was taken out/wrecked
> by an american driven vehicle).
> 
> They kept refering to the car as a Spitfire, but it had a GT6 hard-top
> body. My question is, were they curtailing the name of the car (dropping
> the GT6) or were they actually 4 cylinder engines in the GT6 body? I also
> recollect that they stated the "Spitfire" that finished averaged around 90+
> km per hour during the 24 hour race.
> 
> Just curious,
> Terry L. Thompson
> '76 Spit 1500
> Maryland

-- 
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
 -- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer

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