Austin-Healey 100/6.
This photo of an Austin-Healey appears to have been taken prior to a drivers' parade at the British Grand Prix. The presence of white fencing, visible behind the Maserati pit area, suggest to me a horse-racing venue. The Aintree racing circuit is my guess, a track that hosted the British Grand Prix on five occasions between 1955 and 1962. Although visually very similar to the Mk1 Austin-Healey 3000, I think that the car shown below is in fact the 100/6 model (the 3000 came with wire wheels as standard, whereas this car is on steel rims).
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Stirling Moss.
Sir Stirling Moss, as he would become, needs little introduction. On the 16th July 1955 he competed in the British GP at Aintree for the works Mercedes-Benz team, alongside Fangio, Kling and Taruffi in the W196. He achieved his first ever Grand Prix victory at this meeting, the first victory for a British driver at their home race. Moss' return to the circuit in July 1957 saw him and team-mate Tony Brookes behind the wheel of the British Vanwall, again taking the chequered flag, the first time a British driver, in a British car, had won the British round of the F1 Championship. In 1959 he'd compete in another British car, the BRM P25, finishing second in that race. In 1961, driving a Lotus, he'd drive a Grand Prix at Aintree for the final time.
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The Austin-Healey 100/6.
Driver parades prior to a Grand Prix are nothing new, as this photo demonstrates. A line-up of brand new, as yet un-registered, Austin-Healeys must have been provided for this race, and Moss can be seen perched on the back of one. I've a vague recollection of seeing a video containing a fleet of white Healeys used for a pre-race parade at Aintree, but I can't put my hands on it. The Healey has "18" on the door. Was this Moss' car number in the race, or his start position on the grid? or neither!!?
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The four cylinder Austin-Healey 100 was introduced in 1953, as a collaboration between BMC (Austin) and Donald Healey. The six cylinder 100/6 was introduced in 1956, and had a slightly longer wheelbase, a revised grille featuring horizontal wavy bars, and a bonnet scoop on the bonnet. In 1959 the Austin-Healey 3000 would be introduced, the Mk1 looking very similar to the 100/6. The Mk2 and Mk3 3000 can easily be distinguised from the earlier cars by the use of a grille with vertical, rather than horizontal, bars. A red A-H 3000 MkIII can be seen on the cover of AUSTIN magazine from 1964.
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Return to Page 11 of the vintage motoring gallery.
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Elsewhere within the gallery of original photographs there is a great shot of Jack Brabham and his Cooper Bristol Redex Special racing car.
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