Howling Yowling Gnashing

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JULY 1963 • 50 CENTS
Lola-Ford GT- VW Road Test
LeMans Rover-BRM Turbine
Frazer-Nash LeMans Replica
#52&
(Isu.
\ A / h e n H. J. Aldington renamed his
• " two-seater sports model the
Frazer-Nash Le Mans Replica, he
meant exactly that. The established
policy of the company was that no
factory car would ever compete with
an owner, or if it did, the power output would be the same. And the cars
that were sold as Le Mans Replicas
were indeed precise duplicates of
the particular car that scored one
of the marque's greatest successes
and established it as the yardstick
against which other postwar sports
racing cars had to be compared.
The place was Le Mans, 1949, the
first running of the 24 hours since
before the war. The car, a cyclefendered roadster with a body that
resembled a short stubby cigar, had
been purchased at the Earls Court
Motor Show in the fall of 1948 by
Norman Culpan. It was Culpan and
his co-driver, H. J. Aldington,
Chairman and Managing Director of
AFN Ltd., the builder of the car,
who finished an astonishing third
overall and third on the Index of
Performance, the first British car to
finish. From that day forward, the
cars were re-named in honor of the
event, and they continued to make
a brilliant name for themselves,
with world-wide race victories.
Initials have a lot to do with the
Frazer-Nash story, beginning with
Captain Archibald G. Frazer-Nash
(the N in the G-N 1100 cycle car
that was manufactured after World
War I), who designed and produced
the very successful chain-drive
'Nashes in the late '20s and '30s. His
company, AFN Ltd., was later taken
over by the Aldington brothers, H. J.
and W. H., with an assist from
brother D. A.
It was at the Austrian Alpine
Trials of 1933 that the Le Mans
Replica story really started. Aldington was there with a chain-drive
'Nash and was astonished with the
performance of the 1500 cc BMWs
designed by Dr. Fritz Fiedler. After
years as king of the mountain, the
chain-drive was at the end of the
line, and when H. J. returned to the
AFN works at Isleworth, he was determined to get the British rights
to the BMW. That firm had started
in the car business by obtaining the
German rights to the Austin 7, and
Aldington wanted to reverse the positions. The Germans, who were becoming aware of the importance of
outwardly friendly Anglo-German
relations, were persuaded to give
the British rights for BMW cars
(conversion from left- to right-hand
drive) and motorcycles to AFN.
The first Frazer-Nash/BMW appeared at the Motor Show in the
CAR and DRIVER/JULY 1963
The Aldi-ngton Brothers'
Anglo-Germanic efforts
produced one of
the most successful English
sports cars of the
post-war era
BY BOB GREENBERG
JULY, 1963
CONTINUED
25
old Olympia (forerunner to Earls
Court) in 1935 alongside the latest
chain-drive 'Nash. These were clearly two different approaches to the
same problem, namely the quickest
way up a hill. Even though AFN
introduced a newer "Ulster 100"
model in the fall of 1936, the days
of the chain-drive Frazer-Nash
were numbered (as a competition
car—no more loyal group of car
owners exists than the F-N car club).
In 1936, BMW announced their
Type 328 sports Car. It was powered by a 2-liter straight-six cylinder engine using the basic block
from the previous Type 55 sports
car which had done so well in Alpine trials. The 328 featured a new
and different higher compression
aluminum head, using crossed-over
pushrods, which permitted inclined
valves and hemispherical combustion chambers. The lower end was
stronger, with a heftier crankshaft,
more and bigger main bearings, and
three downdraft Solex carburetors.
It is this engine refined, that is
known today as the Bristol 2-liter,
that powered the Bristols and later
the AC-Bristols for so long. The
Type 328 originally used a Z-F gearbox and rear-end, but the so-called
"ultimate" 328 shown in 1937 used
a Hirth rear-end unit and weighed
just 1550 Ibs. It did 36 mph in first
gear, 55 in second, 80 in third, and
103 in top, all using 5000 rpm as a
rev limit. The 328 would go from
0 to 60 mph in 9.7 seconds—S. C. H.
Davis covered 103 miles in an hour
in a 328 at Brooklands, and reported
to his readers that it was the fastest
accelerating production car that had
been tested by the Autocar up to
that time. Three special racing versions of the 328 with 5-speed gearboxes and envelope bodies were entered in the 1940 Coppa Brescia (a
replacement for the Mille Miglia)
and finished 1-2-3. The winning
driver was Huschke von Hanstein,
now racing director for Porsche.
Then came the war, and the Aldington brothers joined the war effort. H. J. became a Director of the
Bristol Aeroplane Co., and D. A.
worked with the Ministry of Supply.
Within days after the war's end,
D. A. and H. J. flew to Munich and
were given all of the plans for the
various BMW cars, including an advanced Type 328, plus full manufacturing rights, several engines,
and a few complete cars. Shortly
thereafter, Bristol began production
of their Type 400 touring car, using
their new association with AFN to
advantage. The Type 400 utilized
the BMW Type 326-based chassis
and gearbox, and a mild version of
26
Knobs, struts, louvers, belts,
rivets, snaps, catches, ventshow much more mechanical than, say,
a Porsche coupe! This car is
one of three Frazer-Nash Le Mans
Replica Mark Ms built, and is
presently owned by George
Waltman, of Great Neck, Long Island.
It is bright red, perfectly
maintained, pristinely stark,
and wistfully desirable.
CAR and DKIVEK
in keeping with AFN tradition, the
car was privately entered and run.
H. J. Aldington just couldn't resist
the drive and went along. Though
the Culpan/Aldington team lost the
clutch (a typical F-N failing on this
model), it still finished third overall,
averaging 78.4 mph for the 24 hours
while getting better than 15 miles
per gallon of gasoline. It started and
finished on the same set of tires.
Several weeks later, Culpan took
the car to Silverstone for the Daily
Express production car race and
won the 2.5-liter class, finishing
third overall behind two factoryentered 3.4-liter Jaguar XK-120s.
At the end of the hour, Culpan was
just 19 seconds behind the overall
winner, and had posted the fastest
lap regardless of class at 85.31 mph.
Frazer-Nash cars, now officially
called Le Mans Replicas, finished
first, third, -fifth, and seventh in
class. As further proof of the car's
reliability and ease of driving, the
class winner was then handed over
to Mrs. Culpan, who thereafter used
it to go shopping.
The Le Mans Replica was wellnamed. Every car built was sold
with a guarantee that it was in all
ways identical with Culpan's car,
and orders came pouring in—at least
pouring in, AFN style. The 60 Le
Mans Replicas built from 1948 to
1954 were hardly a flood, but they
represented reasonably good production for AFN.
To back up the Le Mans and Silverstone showings, Franco Cortese
won the 1951 Targa Florio outright
with a Le Mans Replica. A 2.6-liter
Ferrari driven by Bracco was second, and third was a 2-liter Maserati. Obviously it was Fiedler's
chassis that made the difference,
overcoming the power deficit given
away to the Italian cars. That same
year, Cortese won the 2-liter class
at new record speed with the 'Nash
in the 675 mile Circuit of Sicily,
over 12 Ferraris! He was 4th overall among 194 starters. In the 1951
Mille Miglia, Cortese and his FrazerNash were eighth overall and second in the 2-liter sports class, the
first non-Italian car to finish. He
rounded out the year with an outright win of the Enna Cup, making
him Italian Sports Car Champion.
Americans who weren't readers of
foreign automotive publications first
started hearing about the FrazerNash in the summer of 1950, when
Larry Kulok won three straight
sprint races at the Linden Airport
circuit with his 'Nash. But the big
news came when Kulok and Harry
Grey drove Duke Donaldson's Le
Mans Replica to first overall at Se28
bring in 1952. They also won their
class, of course, and were third on
Index. The only car in the race that
led them at any time was Bill
Spear's 4.1 Ferrari, which dropped
out at about the 6-hour mark, with
Briggs Cunningham at the wheel.
At Earls Court in 1949, a new envelope-bodied roadster, using the
Le Mans Replica chassis and running gear, was shown for the first
time. This was the Mille Miglia
model, and its body represented
such a design advancement that it
was copied, in scaled-down form,
for the mass-produced MGA some
five years later. The original Mille
Miglia finished second in the 2-liter
class at Le Mans in 1950 with Flight
Lieutenant S. R. Stoop driving.
Shortly after the 1951 Targa
Florio win, AFN introduced the
Targa Florio model, basically the Le
Mans Replica chassis and running
gear with a less-stylish but cheaperto-manufacture touring body than
the Mille Miglia. There was also a
Gran Sport version which was prepared for competition use on fast
circuits where the aerodynamic envelope bodywork would reduce
drag. AFN also built, in the spring
of 1952, a Le Mans Replica Mark
II prototype, which featured a morestreamlined cigar-type body and a
more powerful engine (up to 150
bhp at 5750 rpm from a 10:1 compression ratio). The car was also
considerably lighter than the original Culpan car, which was powered
by an engine of only 118 bhp. Only
three Mark Us were built; one was
driven by Stirling Moss in the sports
car race that replaced the monoposto Grand Prix at Monte Carlo in
1953. This prototype Mark II was
leading when the right rear wheel
parted from the hub, because of
faulty attachment studs. When the
car reached the "production" stage,
it was exhibited at the Earls Court
Show in 1952. This car was purchased for Sebring 1953 by Duke
Donaldson in a bid for a two-FrazerNash "parlay." Both Donaldson's
original Le Mans Replica (the '52
race winner) and the newer Mark
II fell victim to the old F-N clutch
problem on the same lap, and were
retired. This same Mark II was exhibited at this year's CAR AND
DRIVER Concours at the New York
International Automobile Show. A
second Mark II was delivered to a
customer in Kenya.
Another project that started as a
direct result of the existing chassis,
running gear, and engine, was the
Frazer-Nash Formula II car. Three
were built, all for private owners.
Several 'Nash owners had removed
CAR and DEIVEK
the cycle fenders from their cars
for "free formula" events and had
done well, so Peter Bell of Scuderia
Franera (FRAzer-Nash and ERA—
they had one of each) ordered a
single-seater built for Ken Wharton.
This car used a lighter, narrower
version of the Le Mans Replica body
and chassis and ran on methanol (as
permitted under the existing 2-liter
Formula II). The car weighed 1064
Ibs. as compared to about 1300 for
the Mark II and 1430 for the Le
Mans Replica. The car was distinguished by a huge air scoop that ran
from the top of the grill to the end
of the hood. Dubbed "Wharton's
Whale" by the motoring press, it
nevertheless finished fourth in the
Formula II Swiss GP of 1952, and
third at Nurburgring, beaten only
by out-and-out racing cars—quite a
performance with a car built from
stock parts and powered by an engine designed 15 years before.
AFN, ever-tied to BMW, designed
one last model. Two cars were built.
This was the Continental, a coupe
powered by the BMW 507 V-8 of
2.6 liters (later 3.2 liters) that developed 140 bhp (later 200 bhp) in
a body that was standard Porsche
coupe in the center section with
extra body work on the fenders and
in the hood area. The car appeared
in 1958 and featured a de Dion rear
end with a conventionally-sprung
front, and torsion bar rear, suspension. Disc brakes were used for the
first time on a Frazer-Nash. The car
could stop, but it didn't go too well.
AFN, however, continued to live
on, and in a bigger way than ever. In
1955 they had started another AngloGermanic relationship, and secured
the distributorship for Porsche in
Great Britain. They now sell about
300 Porsches a year, far more than
the 100 F-Ns made and sold since
the war. They still rebuild and service Le Mans Replicas.
A most exhilarating car to drive,
even today, the Le Mans Replica is
well-remembered and highly respected by enthusiasts. Many well- |
known drivers made the transition
to high-performance sports cars in
Le Mans Replicas, and they were,
from the outset, the first British
sports cars after the war to show the
On practice day at Watkins Glen
beginnings of modern chassis design.
in 1954, Ted Boynton awaits
In the doldrums of British motor
the opening of the course in the
racing after the war, Frazer-Nash
Le Mans Replica alongside Bill Spear
was a bright spot.
in a 4.1 Ferrari. At Bridgehampton
There are no plans to build
in
1952, Harry Grey flashes down
Frazer-Nashes again, but it might
the straight and then, a little
happen some day. If they do, they'll
further'down the course, gets somebuild a fast, reliable, good-handling
what out of shape. Grey was
machine that will cost a bit, but will
codriver in the winning Frazer-Nash
surely be worth it. That's the
Frazer-Nash tradition.
C/D
at the 1952 Sebring 12-Hour,
JULY, 1963
CONTINUED
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