Mick Walsh From the cockpit
Atreat of lockdown has been packages from my Australian pal Kerry Horan. “More debris on its way,” he warned from California, where he keeps himself amused by searching the internet for gems. Kerry knows my diverse tastes, and the parcels revealed Hop Up magazines, a Scarab slot-car, Chevy Corvair books and old movies. Highlights of a recent box were several DVDS including Checkpoint, the 1956 film inspired by the Mille Miglia and featuring the unsuccessful Lagonda V12 sports-racers. The ridiculous plot written by novelist Robert Estridge is pure
Boy’s Own, based around the aborted theft of fuel-injection drawings from a factory by the sinister O’donovan, played by Stanley Baker.
A plan is hatched to smuggle O’donovan out of Italy to Switzerland as a co-driver during the Florence to Locarno road race. David Brown loved the story and loaned not only two of the DP115 prototypes, but also a DB3S and a fleet of Aston road cars and a transporter.
The team’s boss is played by James Robertson Justice, best known for the Doctor films and as Lord Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, his last film before a stroke curtailed his career. Justice had a packed life including working at Reuters with Ian Fleming in the ’20s, and fighting in the Spanish Civil War. During the ’30s Justice dabbled in motorsport, competing at Brooklands in a Wolseley Hornet and at speed events in specials. Among his many friends was racer Whitney Straight and, fluent in many languages, he volunteered to collect the Anglo-american’s new Maserati 8CM from the Bologna works.
Directed by Ralph Thomas (also of the
Doctor series), with cinematographer Ernest Stewart, Checkpoint had a generous budget and the crew was based in various locations in Italy including Florence. The movie also features sequences shot during the Mille Miglia, the wet race conditions clashing with the blissful sun of the rest of the film but providing some authentic action including the winning Ferrari 290MM of Eugenio Castellotti.
John Wyer and Roy Salvadori were advisers, and both were impressed by lead actor Anthony Steel’s driving of the Lagondas. Steel no doubt modelled his character on Peter Collins, but throughout it seems his overalls are zipped down exposing his bare chest. Checkpoint later became a hit in Japan, with distributor Rank regularly
‘Wyer and Salvadori were both impressed by lead Anthony Steel’s driving of the Lagondas – no doubt modelled on Peter Collins’
receiving requests for Steel’s autograph, and for where those blue overalls could be sourced!
Race footage aside, the cars and locations star. The opening factory night scenes were shot in England, where Fairthorpe Atom and Sunbeam Rapier bodies are visible, while the Le Mans-style start is staged at the Piazza San Carlo in Turin, which must have been as disruptive as The Italian Job. The final scenes were filmed near Lake Como, showing the famous Villa d’este hotel.
In the real world, the ambitious Lagonda DPS gave Wyer nightmares, and a breakdown after the ’54 Le Mans. Willie Watson’s 4.4-litre V12, mating two LB6 Lagonda engines, was disastrous: when hot, the aluminium castings and ‘cheese sandwich’ bearings resulted in lost oil pressure.
The early cars looked impressive with Frank Feeley bodywork, and two appeared in historic Griffiths Formula races when owned by Maurice Leo. Rumour has it they’re being restored.
Brown had ambitions of a roadgoing Lagonda V12 coupé, but the huge investment at Feltham meant that the DP166 chassis became the Aston Martin DBR2. In recent years the Mcwhirter family recreated a DP115 using original parts and a Tojeiro body. With the V12 finally fitted with conventional bearings, and the chassis sorted, it’s had spectacular results at Goodwood.
Had the racing Lagondas been successful, Brown’s dream of a ‘Ferrari beater’ could have resulted in the ultimate British V12 GT.