Historic race and rally news

1952 Nash-healey to race in packed Tom Cole Trophy at Silverstone

The Nash-healey that finished third at the 1952 Le Mans 24 Hours will return to racing in a capacity field for the Tom Cole Trophy this weekend.

Chassis X6 was originally built as a coupe but was crashed in the 1952 Mille Miglia, just six weeks prior to Le Mans. It was rebuilt with its current open bodywork and Leslie Johnson/tommy Wisdom took the four-litre machine to third at La Sarthe, behind a Mercedes 1-2.

Historic racer Sam Stretton will drive the car in the Tom Cole Trophy for sports-racing, production sports and GT cars of the 1946-1959 era at Silverstone on Saturday. It is believed it will be the car’s first UK race since 1951.

Stretton, who has driven the car on the road, said: “It seems a typical, stable 1950s car. I’m looking forward to racing it, it’s got a lot of torque. I’ve no idea where we’ll be, but the nice thing is to get the car out.”

The Nash-healey is owned by Jose Fernandez and Stretton hopes to appear at other races later in the year if the car runs well at Silverstone.

The race commemorating the career of Anglo-american driver Tom Cole, which replaces the George Abecassis Trophy run at the event for the last three years, has attracted a full 34-car field. Other leading entries include Darren Mcwhirter’s Lagonda V12, Christopher Keen’s Kurtis 500S, Steve Boultbee Brooks’ Aston Martin DB3S and the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replicas of Martin Hunt and John Ure.