SPIRIT OF AMERICA

Bicester has an indelible link with the US, to which we pay tribute with our collection of cars that have made their mark on the other side of the Atlantic

OPPOSITE Bentley Continental GT set a new production record at Pikes Peak. Classic Performance Engineering’s Corvette honours Roger Penske.

Words Jack Phillips

Photography Richard Pardon, Jack Phillips

RAF BICESTER BRIEFLY TOOK on a renewed active life in the 1980s, when the United States Air Force used the site for storage, and later as a back-up military hospital during the first Gulf War.

Its use was limited, but the Spirit of America category of demonstration cars is a nod to that relatively recent chapter. Not all of the vehicles are American, such as the Turner 950S being driven by Mark Elder of The Motor Shed, based in The Special Repair Shop on the Technical Site.

The Turner was one of many little British sports cars that were sucked into the controversial Export or Die period, when car manufacturers had to forgo their stronghold market of the UK and focus on selling abroad – not least in America, whose drivers fell in love with British sports cars.

Exact numbers have been lost to history, but the little Wolverhamptonbased Turner made around 170 examples of the 950S, and fewer than half remain today. It was based on the Austin A30 and later the A35 – the latter’s increase to 950cc giving the Turner its name. Many went to America, including this example. It’s raced all of its life, and has continued to do so since returning to the UK.

The Bentley Continental GT is world famous for its exploits in the States, in Colorado in particular. Each year the Pikes Peak Hill Climb attracts hundreds of brave drivers, and in 2019 Bentley celebrated its 100th birthday by setting a new production record of ten minutes 18 seconds in this very car. That’s an average of 70mph up the 5000ft, 12-mile course.

Other cars are full-on American heroes, such as the Corvette C2 prepared by Classic Performance Engineering. It honours The Captain, Roger Penske, whose all-conquering team is one of the biggest in not only US racing but all over the world.

Then there is the Model T, a car that transcends automotive history let alone the Atlantic. This particular Ford is a sister to that in the Pioneers category and it, too, spent its early days on the US’s oval dirt tracks. Good for 60mph today, it hillclimbs and sprints – a marked change from its time in American ‘pig racing’ and car polo… The former would require the driver to catch the pig after a few laps, pick it up and continue racing.

The Cobra (running on Saturday) has an interesting history, too. CSX 2038 was used in the Elvis film Viva Las Vegas and Lee Marvin’s The Killers in 1964, before being packed off to the Carroll Shelby School of Performance Driving at California’s Riverside circuit, where Peter Brock taught people how to win races. Harvey Blake-Jones, an apprentice at the Heritage Skills Academy, will be racing the car all season.

This category’s name is a nod to Land Speed Record pioneer and first man to exceed 500mph and 600mph, Craig Breedlove, who died this year.

1954 HWM Cadillac N/A Chevrolet Corvette C2

2018 Bentley Continental GT Pikes Peak

1917 Ford T Racer

1962 Shelby American AC Cobra 260

1958 Turner 950S

1968 KAMM 912c

1958 Allard Farellac