Bob, interesting account of the racing history of the Tiger, and the players
participation.
How did Doane Spencer achieve 349 hp from that 260 ci. Do I remember that he
had a very high compression engine, with selves? Also, was this a estimate or
was it dyno tuned.
Larry
Bob Palmer wrote:
> Steve, Ray,
>
> For those interested in this part of the Tiger's history, here's a brief
> (well, maybe not so brief) summary of Friedman's book, Chapter 2, "The
> Sunbeam Tiger". Friedman was the official Shelby American photographer from
> 1962 to 1967. He was also our banquet speaker at the 1998 Tigers United in
> Big Bear (my plaque says TU XIII, but it was really TU XXIII). During Dave's
> talk he raised more than a few eyebrows with his adamant assertion that
> Shelby American was only involved with one Tiger, the #45 race car, and not
> any "prototype".
>
> In Chapter 2 Friedman writes: "Garrad wanted Shelby to build two prototypes,
> one for the street and one for the track, but the time frame was too narrow
> for Shelby to handle the construction of both cars. Although Ken Miles
> worked for Shelby American at the time, he had a small workshop of his own
> where he did some outside work. Miles was given the task of building the
> first Sunbeam Tiger street car and Shelby built the first race car. After
> much modification, the first race car made its debut at the SCCA divisional
> race run at Tucson in early April 1964. The driver was the very capable Lew
> Spencer, who had years of experience racing production sports cars. His
> performance at Tucson proved that the Tiger had possibilities but that a lot
> of work was needed to make the car a winner. The biggest problem with the
> Tiger was that it tended to swap ends without warning at the most
> inopportune times. This, of course, did little for the driver's confidence
> in the car. The problem - never cured by the Shelby crew - was likely caused
> by too much horsepower installed in a too-short chassis."
>
> Mike Taylor in his book writes: "In March 1963 a Mk II Alpine was delivered
> to the Miles workshop and work began." At the same time, Ian Garrad had
> independently commissioned Shelby American to build a prototype for $10,000,
> which he said would be ready in "about eight weeks' time". It was the eight
> week schedule that prompted Ian to have Ken build a second prototype.
> Apparently, during these same eight weeks, Mr. Friedman was out of the
> Shelby American shop. Also, it's a long time from May 1963 to April 1964,
> which coincides with both the Tucson SCCA race and the start of production
> of the Jensen Tigers. Thus, Friedman must be presumed wrong on this point
> and the #45 race car was really the second Tiger developed by Shelby
> American. According to Mike Taylor, "In March, 1964, the prototype vehicle
> AF3 was flown over from Coventry to Shelby's workshop in California where a
> tuned 260 cu in (4.2 litre) engine was installed." And, "Later, in the
> Pacific Coast Divisional Championships at Willow Springs, Lew Spencer made
> history by being the first man to win a race in a Sunbeam Tiger, finishing
> 12 seconds in front of his nearest rival who was driving an E-type Jaguar.
> In September of the same year, Lew drove the Tiger in the 200 mile National
> Sports Car Race at Elkhart Lake, where he finished second overall and first
> in class. Lew Spencer recalls, 'Apart from the cooling problems, the Tiger
> was always a little frightening to drive on a race track because of its
> short wheelbase.'" (Hey, Lew! Driven any Porches lately?)
>
> According to Friedman, at the SCCA B Production race at Laguna Seca in May
> 1964, Lew Spencer lost control of #45 on the high speed approach to turn 2
> and came to rest on the dirt hill below the spectator area. Friedman says
> this was just one in a series of off-track shunts that convinced Lew to give
> up on the Tiger. The #45 car was later sold to Sports Car Forum's Don
> Sesslar in Ohio and rebodied as #74. It is interesting that the picture of
> Lew and the shunted #45 car shows no serious damage to the right front
> wheel and sheet metal, whereas the picture in Norm's book shows extensive
> damage in this area, so this obviously wasn't the last race for #45. If Lew
> last raced #45 at Elkhart in September 1964, that doesn't leave much time
> for the wreck that Norm's picture documents (at Kent, Washington race?) or
> the sale and rebodied by SCF and its first race, according to Friedman, in
> September. Again, it appears that Friedman must have his facts wrong.
>
> Friedman says that Ken Miles first drove the #74 nee #45 Tiger at the Badger
> 300 at Road America in September of 1964, where he won the B Production
> class and finished second overall to Dan Gerber's Cobra (not bad for "too
> much horsepower installed in a too-short chassis").
>
> In any case, after the generally disappointing showing for the 1964 season,
> Ian decided to turn the Tiger race effort over to Doane Spencer at Hollywood
> Sports Cars and the rest, as they say, is history. BTW, Doane's 260 with a
> two-barrel carburetor put out 349 bhp!
>
> Bob
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