E-TYPE 60TH CELEBRATED IN STYLE
The 60th anniversary of the Jaguar E-type was celebrated in fine style in June as around 400 of them gathered at the historic and spectacular Shelsley Walsh for E-type 60. On the Friday preceding the event, E-type Club co-founder Philip Porter, Chairman of Worcester Civic Society Phil Douce and Motor Sport magazine editor Joe Dunn unveiled a blue plaque in commemoration of the great Stirling Moss first competing at Shelsley Walsh in 1948.
Apart from a glut of competition Es including celebrated Lightweights, LowDrags, the E2A Le Mans prototype and the first two E-types ever raced, the event also played host to an incredible reunion of the 1961 Geneva Motor Show trio (pictured below) – the first time these three cars have been seen together for 60 years! The first in a series of videos from E-type 60 filming partner, Berlinetta Films, showing E2A driving up the hillclimb course can be seen at
Burlen, the world’s sole manufacturer of genuine SU, Amal, and Zenith carburettor brands, has been celebrating 90 years since an SU carburettor was fitted to the new sidevalve Morris Minor, and its subsequent stunt PR vehicle. This was in 1931, and to aid sales it was decided the new model would be offered at a lower price of £100, a price drop that inspired Sir Miles Thomas to come up with an idea to further improve showroom appeal. Morris had often advertised their Cowley as a car that would do 50mph and 50mpg, and Sir Thomas bullishly announced that he would double that with the Minor
– the 100mph, 100mpg, £100 (Triple Ton) Minor concept was born.
Such an idea would not be allowed in modern times, as the stunt Minor was vastly different to the road car. Not only did it have brand new, streamlined bodywork it was also fitted with a specially built, highly tuned 847cc sidevalve engine fitted with a supercharger and large SU carburetter to achieve 100mph. The supercharged engine would be removed after the high-speed runs to be replaced with a standard sidevalve engine, with smaller, leaner SU carburetter, for the economy runs.
Driven by Bill Von der Becke at Brooklands on Wednesday 12th August 1931, the record was set achieving 100.39mph over two flying mile runs. On a carefully selected road between Birmingham and Coventry, the same car and driver then recorded 107.4 miles on a single gallon of pump fuel at an average of 15.3mph.
Morris never claimed the 100mph and 100mpg was achieved using a standard production car, but they did advertise the showroom models with the headline £100/100mph/100mpg and ran a series of magazine and cinema adverts as well as extensive dealer promotions. The Triple Ton Minor also received significant coverage in the motoring press.
Mark Burnett, Burlen’s Managing Director, said: 'The Skinners Union brand is steeped in history, with many accolades, records and accomplishments to its name. The Triple Ton Minor is a great example of how an engine responds to different types of carburetter, and we are delighted to continue manufacturing SU products to this day for distribution around the world.'
Incidentally, if you are wondering about the alternative spelling of 'carburetter,' Mark Burnett notes that this is the spelling used by the Skinner family in the early 1900s, though carburettor is a more popular method of spelling the word today. For more on the company, see