Constructor, racer, drag king Sydney Allard

Successful constructor, reluctant manufacturer, unsung race hero and godfather of British drag racing

Stirling Moss Must have been decidedly nonplussed. There he was, ripping along the Mulsanne Straight after one of his trademark Olympic-sprinter-style Le Mans starts, the young superstar in a sexy, techno-wonder C-type, class of the 1953 field and leading the first lap handily. Then along comes this 40-something amateur in a parts bin tin box, hammered together in his tiny London workshop, and blasts right past. The old guy crosses the line to complete Lap One ahead of Moss, the Jag, the Ferraris, the Alfas, the entire lot, and the French crowd cheer him like a conquering hero, too. Allard! they chant. Allard! Allard! Allard!

Then again, it’s doubtful that Moss was terribly surprised; in 1953, Sydney Allard was respected as a racer of some accomplishment, and a constructor of international following. In the following years, his automobiles enjoyed influence beyond their numbers, his driving achievements as an independent underdog remain admirable still, and he had the distinction of introducing, virtually single-handed, a brand-new form of popular motor sport to his country. That he is now perhaps better appreciated in countries not his own is another matter altogether.

Fame wasn’t among Allard’s priorities, however, nor was fortune, really. From earliest days, Sydney Herbert Allard, born in London in 1910 to a property magnate father, only wanted to race. Finding resistance futile, his father eventually bought him a garage business. From there, Sydney (and his brothers, at first) raced cars and motorbikes, expanding into trials and hillclimbs and Allard Specials, slowly learning the magic of going faster. His vehicles and his racing drew plaudits, and by the late ’30s he was making a few cars for friends. That Sydney and his associates were called the ‘Tailwaggers’ speaks volumes about both his design and driving philosophies

Sydney ran an Army transport depot during World War Two, and returned to the first post-war UK events in 1946. His cars, though increasingly circuit-oriented, were available in road trim, and shared a common theme: simple, lightweight, powerful. Like every good hot-rodder, Allard favoured massmarket components, usually Ford (he’d become a Ford dealer, one suspects, just for its flathead V8), and shunned frippery. Even paint was considered a necessary evil.

Nor were his convictions easily swayed: his trials car front suspension, a swing-axle affair comprising two halves of a Ford I-beam axle, went into everything, along with the associated handling surprises. But Allards went like hell and won races, particularly in the States, where Sydney wisely sent them without powerplant, ready for any monster V8 at hand. People like Carroll Shelby cut their racing teeth therein, and Corvette guru Zora Arkus-Duntov was a works driver, each making good use of the lessons learned. Many Americans get dewy-eyed even yet at the sight of Allards cornering tippy-toed on wild variations of front camber.

And Sydney didn’t do badly in Allards himself during his career autumn, winning the 1949 British Hillclimb Championship, placing third at Le Mans in 1950 (despite having only top gear for the last ten hours!) and taking the ’52 Monte Carlo Rally outright (Moss was second, incidentally), a first for any combined driver/constructor – as was leading at Le Mans, possibly explaining that irrelevant but savoured 1953 opening lap. Yet Sydney surely knew the shadows were looming. In ’57, with the US economy in downturn, he ended car production after only 1900 units. He’d never wanted to be a manufacturer; merely to build some race cars.

In fact, this is where accounts often taper off, with a vague, almost postscript mention of drag racing in his final years. Maybe that’s because the full-on blown Hemi rail he built wasn’t truly successful; maybe because it was drag racing, and somehow that old Not Real Racing stigma lingers on. Regardless, Allard’s greatest contribution gets little celebration in the land that most benefited: he was pivotal in the early 1960s British Drag Festivals, barnstorming events that gave thousands of Brits their initial, and sometimes lifechanging, exposure to the sport.

Exercising his US contacts and reputation, Allard brought over giants such as Don Garlits and Mickey Thompson, largely and detrimentally from his own pocket; he also founded the British Drag Racing Association and organised Britain’s first permanent facility, Santa Pod, which held its premier races on 11 April 1966, becoming the catalyst for all European drag racing. It was the day before Sydney Allard, aged 56, died of stomach cancer.

‘THE FRENCH LE MANS CROWD CHEER HIM LIKE A CONQUERING HERO. ALLARD! THEY CHANT. ALLARD! ALLARD! ALLARD! ’