Gordon England

Life has been a bit hard this year, so a phone call from John Dandy suggesting a trip to Le Mans was a very welcome invitation, especially as I had never been before. A bonus was mention of a historic race, the first 'Legends' event to be run there. Roll on going in a Tiger with a load of other serious Petrol heads and who could refuse? Well apart from the ladies, that is as this was a boy's trip. No, not my rules, before I get lynched.

The news that No.8 was going was a real bonus. OK non-anoraks, No8. was one of the two Lister built Tigers entered in the 1964 race as part of the promotional effort to launch the Tiger on the unsuspecting public. When I was a lot younger, we used to be entertained at my local motor club's hillclimb meetings by one Alan Brodie driving one of the racers, which one seems to have been lost in the mists of time (actually I suspect alcohol had more to do with it). So I had seen one at work before (sort of) but the chance to see it on its home ground was irresistible.

We were invited to tag along with a group, including Tiger racers, who have been going to LeMans for years, which helped with knowing what was what. Core to the group were No.8 with owner, Tony Eckford, driver Chris Beighton and fettlers John and Mark. Also going for the Legends race were Keith Hampson and team with a 1963 LeMans Alpine, originally entered to be driven by Rosemary Smith however, she was refused an entry on the grounds of being female - brave organisers! The Tiger 'tag along' group included Mr Chairman Vickery, Brian Postle, Chris Marshall and John Dandy. Keith Hampson's support group included Tristan Bradfield and Andy Todd not to mention loyal mechanic Dave. We would have been a ready-made party without 'Les gar¸ons mauvaises', to really set the pace.

I arrived in Surbiton on the Thursday morning before the race to find a pristine Tiger sitting ready to go. We took a small detour on the way to Portsmouth via Graham Vickery to see which one he and Chris Marshall were taking, (the blue Mk 1), and on to the port via a pleasant lunch in a pub in Chalton. For JD, this trip was very special as his last visit to Le Mans was in 1964 to see the Tiger run for the first time!

The atmosphere at Portsmouth docks was amazing. There were interesting cars all over the place, crowds of people and a real sense of anticipation everywhere. We met up with Graham and Chris plus Brian Postle in his Mk 2 (TGR 747) and the 'Naughty Boys on Tour' including organiser, Simon James who was driving a TR6, not what I expected. A good crossing and a very pleasant meal was then spoilt by breaking the first rule of co-drivers, which is to plan your own route and not follow the car in front. It took an hour and about 20 miles to reach the hotel 4 miles away. The aggravation was enlivened by Stevie 'G' driving a Cosworth BDR engined Caterham HPC. This had a paddle clutch which made it very difficult to get rolling, where after 220bhp of John Wilcox built engine made it impossible to keep up with. Then we got the bad news - No.8 had run some big end bearings and no chance to replace them. Chris's cousin Stevie 'B' Beighton was in the group in a recently rebuilt Tiger with a fairly warm engine so he was persuaded to set off early in order that the engines could be swapped. The rest of the party partook of some liquid stress relief, which ensured the first of several late nights.

The run from Honfleur to Le Mans started in bright sunlight so tops down. We poodled off gently in order to find petrol having agreed the location of the lunch stop. The weather deteriorated so that we had to put the hood up just before lunch, planned for Beaumont sur Sarthe. The centre of the small town was full of bikes, cars and very friendly people who wanted to anorak as soon as we stopped. The ritual steak and chips, with Red wine followed and very good it was too John and I got separated form the others after lunch due in part to the overheating bug and a diversion.

Drove onto the circuit at Arnage and upset the first of many gendarmes, not a good trick but the Tiger was so noisy I just could not hear what he said and I have never seem gestures like that before honestly!

We drove up and down the main street in Arnage in an attempt to find the Peugeot garage where No.8 was being worked on. The atmosphere, not to mention the spectacle was amazing: Ferraris, Lotus's Caterhams, TVR's and Bentleys (proper ones that is - from before Rolls Royce invented badge engineering) and hoards of people spilling out of the bars into the street. Stopping the Tiger to cool it down, we were surrounded by very interested people who wanted to look under the bonnet and be very sociable. Anyway we eventually found the garage, and the car which was still in bits albeit with the engine back in but lots of other problems matching the bits up. Discretion seemed a good idea so we found a bar that was not quite jammed to overflowing and discussed the prospects.

I counted 7 Ferrari's in a single row and a group of 8 Caterhams parked on the pavement (the advantage of being small) before we headed to the hotel, which was about 20 miles south of the circuit. Had a very pleasant dinner after hearing the good news that No.8 was running, and the even more amazing news that Keith Hampson's crew had found and fitted another cylinder head having blown a hole through No 4 cylinder into the inlet port, not a pretty sight. They phoned all the Alpine owners living in North West France and belonging to the OC, and eventually located a very kind man within about 60 miles who took his car to bits for them.

Preparations for the big day seemed to involve staying up and drinking some more wine but the thought of 5.30 am alarms and 6.00 leaving, did eventually send the entire party to it's respective pits. Saturday 16th June 2001 was grey as we set off, three Tigers in convoy being led by the Keith's crew in the Vectra. I drove the Tiger and was told off for lead-footed-ness, something that has happened a few times before. Drove straight into the circuit and parked all together on the front row of the car park 20 yards from the main entrance, which was just fine. There was even breakfast laid on in the form of an English food bar serving bacon butties etc.

The line up of cars for the Legends race was very impressive - over 60 cars mostly actual Le Mans runners including winners, such as the DBR1 Aston Martin, Class winners, including the Alpine, two Frazer Nashes, A Panhard DB and a Jowett Jupiter to name the ones I recognised. Most of the Jaguar winners were demonstrated rather than raced which was a bit of a pity but did not really affect the entry. Also in were MGA's and B's, Healeys, Lotus 11 Elite and 23, and so on, far too many to list.

When the cars were formed up on the dummy grid in the paddock, the excitement was contagious. Even hardened classic racers had silly grins, of course some like Barrie Williams (driving the Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro - Jag) always have silly grins but so did most of the normally more taciturn others. Pictures were taken of owners with cars, and drivers and the atmosphere got more and more special. The cars eventually moved out onto the track and lined up for the dummy 'Le Mans' start in front of the pits which was a splendid sight. The 'start' was chaotic but they had a lap behind the pace car before the real start to get sorted and the group seemed pretty organised when they came round for real.

The leading bunch included Gary Pearson in the Lister Jag, Frank Sytner in the beautiful JCB Lightweight E-type and Justin Law in the recently re-built Costin bodied Lister Jag Coupe. However, they all dropped out during the race leaving the front battle to David Piper driving the 250 LM Ferrari he raced in the 64 event, Peter Hardman in the DBR1 Aston and Tony Dron in a 330LM Ferrari to battle it out. Much more important, at least to one group of spectators was that both Tiger and Alpine were still running, the Tiger in mid field and the Alpine further back having a great dice with the 1950 Frazer Nash Le Mans Rep (not unfortunately the car that came 3rd in 1949 which coined the 'Replica' tag) which divided my loyalties a little. (I grew up in a Frazer Nash family).

Chris said afterwards that the replacement engine was down on power but not wanting to break it he just enjoyed the race. He thought that the car was very quick in the twisty bits and could have been a lot further up the results had he been able to run it a bit harder but finishing was the name of the game. And he did about 50 minutes later, 24th out of 61 entries. Keith Hampson had a close shave as the Alpine blew all its water out, although he was classified a finisher, in spite of stopping on his last lap.

While not a riveting race in terms of pushing and shoving, it was very special to see these wonderful cars being driven around the famous track. Much more exciting than the parades even if they contained two of my most favourite cars ever - the 917 Porsche, and the Ford GT40 both multiple winners here. There were a lot of very happy people wondering around the Legend paddock when we got back there via a small celebration in the bar of course.

I was quite ready to go home at that point having done the important bits but apparently there was a minor supporting event on later which was supposed to have some serious cars in it. So we decided to try and catch up on some sleep. Failed miserably. Sitting in the Tiger, we were constantly woken up by the passers by asking questions and commenting on the cars as they walked round them.

We did watch the first three laps of the other race, and it must be said the spectacle of 40 odd cars arriving in the chicane before the start on the first lap was very stirring, as was the rate at which the lead Audi got away. The frightening bit was seeing how spread out the cars were after only three laps - over a minute on a circuit where the front runners were lapping in 3 m 30 or so. Anyway the emotions of the morning caught up so we had a quiet beer in a travel group's nicely organised area then headed back to the hotel to clean up a bit.

Lots of people stood up at dinner and said good things about Tony, Chris and No.8. Our regalia officer had the foresight to take some lovely glass goblets along to present to all the key players including Steve Beighton who had supplied the engine, and in the general level of enthusiasm (= everybody had had a few to drink) nobody really minded that the goblets mentioned Blenheim TIGERS 2000. Amazing really that most people had retired by about 1.00 am but not totally surprising as we were all knackered.

I was woken by my phone with some 'real' enthusiast friends trying to arrange a meet at the circuit, (we never made it), and gradually the party staggered into life. The tradition was to line the cars up in front of the station (over the road) for pictures. This was nearly spoilt by the driver of a 38 tonne truck who tried to stop Stevie 'G' doing donuts in the Caterham by the simple expedient of driving over him, however he failed. Just.

A lot of people sat in No.8 for pictures and most wanted to drive off with it. Chris being a quite big chap they all settled for fantasy. Anyway JD managed a ride in the car to a petrol station, which certainly made his weekend. We then headed off, some to the circuit, others to a hotel for lunch and the 3 Tigers to head gently towards Cherbourg.

This is a reasonably long drive even had we not been so tired, and the weather was horrid again, rain then sun then rain on a 20 minute cycle. Stopped somewhere for coffee and a sandwich and drove into Cherbourg as the weather cleared for the evening. We stayed in a hotel on the edge of the inner harbour and enjoyed the view of lots of cars rushing about while we have a leisurely drink and a very enjoyable dinner. Most of the party met up again on the boat, there were 9 V8 engined cars lined up to board at one point! Smooth crossing in glorious sunshine allowed some sleep to be caught up. Of course it was cloudy when we landed but the top did come down again, for only the second time on this trip, and we pottered up the road to Surbiton.

It was a truly memorable trip. Thanks to all concerned, especially JD for letting me join in, and drive. I guess I might be starting to think that if one has to have a modern, something like a Tiger would be tolerable. Well, actually when it was sorted, quick 302, 5 speed, LSD, 14"wheels… Oops I will upset the eligibility committee here as well as the Nashes if I am not careful. Anyway thanks boys, and see you soon!

PS September 2002 there is rumoured to be a Classic 24 hours at Le Mans for cars from 1923 - 1975 running in four groups and including some night racing - Please John, can I book the seat now?

Gordon England
(Apprentice Tiger enthusiast)

Tigers at LeMans

ADU 179B Tony Eckford
CAE 765D Chris Beighton
CNN 547C Dave Walters
DHS 350C Mike Griffiths
EDU 296C John Amery
EKL 219C Graham Vickery
ERB 545C John Dandy
HAA 237D Mike Todd
KBY 196C Steve Beighton
NYL 558E Martin Pester
TGR 747 Brian Postle
? Nick Clarke