New light on Sunbeam

I am currently heading the project to get the engines running on the 1927 1000hp Sunbeam, featured in your news story in Octane 167, and I was very interested to read the letter from Mr Morrey in the following issue regarding this car. I hope that we can get to see Mr Morrey’s archive material.

Apart from marvelling at the technology that was employed in the creation of this amazing machine, one of the most fascinating aspects of the project has been the new discoveries made during research.

For example, pictures of the car prior to it leaving the UK for the record attempt show that it had wheel spats, and four louvres on the air intakes for the rear engine radiators. Then, when on the beach at Daytona [below], it has no wheel spats – indeed, most of the word ‘England’ is missing from the nearside of the car because they’ve been removed, and there’s either one massive air scoop or no scoop at all for the record attempts.

Then there is the film! Delve into the archive and you will see the car hurtling along the beach and… wait a moment! What’s that? A mechanic holding on for dear life, with his foot against one of the rear engine exhaust stubs and his head and arm inside the cockpit, coat flapping in the wind, as the car speeds away below the aircraft it’s being filmed from.

A visit to the National Motor Museum of Turin and, lo and behold, a small TV screen is showing about ten seconds of the car, taken at ground level, as it drives away along the beach with the aforementioned mechanic. Clearly, both mechanic and driver are distracted, as the car has to swerve left to avoid the rear of a passenger car driving along the same piece of Daytona beach.

Earlier reading had revealed that the car was beset with gear selector problems and was stuck in second gear for days. I’m sure the mechanic’s act of heroism was a failed attempt to assist Segrave achieve neutral and, ultimately, third gear.

The National Motor Museum’s project will take a while yet but watch this space. Meanwhile, keep the archive material coming! Doug Hill, museum manager, National Motor Museum, Beaulieu