The fast family car
Bill Rawles and his faithful Austin-Healey 3000
‘THIS WAS THE car that got me into ’Healeys,’ says Bill Rawles. ‘I bought it as a project, when I was doing general car repairs 25 years ago. But I was spending so much time around racetracks helping customers that I decided to build it into a racer instead.’
His first race, 22 years ago, was at Thruxton. ‘It was a ’Healey Championship race and it was scary: we finished second from last. The car was almost standard – no roof, just an aeroscreen, on Webers but standard gearbox, no LSD. I couldn’t believe how fast Bruce Montgomery hustled past into Church. Two years later, we were all going that fast.’
Two decades of development have made the 1962 BJ7 a front-runner, though Bill admits the car is faster in son Jack’s hands. ‘Now it’s a full-house FIA-spec 290bhp on 45DCOE Webers. The crank and rods are Arrow, via Denis Welch Racing. We all use 85mm pistons so it’s 3025cc. The motor cost £18,500 to build and we top and tail it with fresh rings and bearings every season, but they’re mega-reliable and can rev to 8000.’
Under FIA rules the standard-type leverarm dampers remain all-round, adjustable at the back, but there’s a massive front anti-roll bar. ’Healey racers have to run solid discs, also allowed on the back as a period mod, using Jaguar parts. Neat touches include the overdrive switch on the side of the gearknob, rather than on the front like the works rally cars, ‘so you can operate it with your thumb’.
Jack, who works with his father at Bill Rawles Classic Cars, began racing in Ginettas but wanted a go in this. Says Bill: ‘Compared with a Ginetta it’s an evil beast, but first time out, at Castle Combe in 2015, he was two seconds a lap faster than me and put it on pole. Now he’s got lap records at Portimao and Zandvoort. I’ve never won a race in it, but I’ve put it on pole twice in the wet.
‘In Intermarque races it’s up there with lightweight DB4s, but what surprises me is the speed of the MGBs. This’ll leave them on the straights but they’re all over you in the corners. A well-driven B will eventually wear a ’Healey down until it runs out of brakes.’
The warhorse has had a few knocks over the years. ‘It was always a case of bend it on Sunday, straighten it out during the week and race it again the next weekend. My biggest off was at Thruxton: I was third, going for second, when someone put me on the grass and I hit the marshal’s post backwards.’ Which is why the rear wings are now steel, as that’s what Bill had knocking about at the time, while the rest of the body is aluminium. Another son, Charlie, also races the ’Healey (and an MX-5) and runs the bodyshop.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever restore it,’ Bill muses, having finished third at the first Equipe GTS pre-’63 race of the season. ‘I think I’d rather build another, and put it away as it is.’