From England comes news that the Austin-Healey endurance car that averaged 148.13 miles per hour over 1,000 kilometers last year is officially in the record books. After 12 months’ deliberation, the Federation Internationale l’Automobile (FIA) and Britain’s Motor Sports Association (MSA) have certified that the car set 17 records, 11 national and 6 international.
The records were set in November 2009 at the at Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire, U.K. The car, put together by Healey racing experts Denis Welch Motorsport, was a replica of a Healey 100S, the same model that Donald Healey and his team used to set records at Bonneville in 1954. “The ambition was to beat the non-supercharged four-cylinder records set by the Healey works team in 1954 at 132.81 MPH. So, mission accomplished,” the organizers said.
From the official Healey Endurance Car website:
The car had a trouble-free run with three scheduled pit stops and was driven by owner Martyn Corfield and Engineer Jeremy Welch in four stints of one hour each.
A further pit stop was made after Martyn spun across the track at 150 MPH by the damp surface from the previous days torrential rain and howling gales.
After such a mind-numbing moment, he was still able to gather the car, losing no speed, and after a safety check, carry on unabated to the next scheduled stop.
Points and condenser were used and a lot of old technology in keeping with its traditional heritage, a lot of hard work and effort was put into building this car by the Denis Welch Motorsport team and as no one had done this for 55 years, painstaking research and commitment to detail were a high priority.