Tuesday 10th August 2004

AC at Le Mans

Bloody well done I say

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AC Racing, the new venture formed to give official AC works support to racing teams, made its debut at the Le Mans Classic event and the legendary trackside slogan ‘AC – Bloody Well Done’  made a return. 

Two historic AC Ace racers entered in the event by Brooklands Motor Company set out from AC’s factory in Frimley, Surrey, to drive down through France with the intention of completing the race and then driving back – all under their own power.

Unfortunately a broken camshaft kept the famous ex-Rudd car away from its place on the grid and, despite another Ace owner sportingly offering his camshaft, could not be raced.  

The other Ace completed the full trip without incident and in its races did well. In the night race (start time: 2 am) it picked up eight places and finished 25th out of a field of 65, highly credible given a maximum speed on the Mulsanne straight of only 110 mph, 105 bhp and period 4.5/16 inch tyres.

The car came third in the class for cars driven to the event under their own steam.   A total of 62 drivers were at the wheel of AC cars during the race and earned themselves a special ‘Spirit of Le Mans’ award in the process, beating off challenges from such illustrious marques as Ferrari, Maserati and so on.   

[Thom]

PetrolTed said:

A total of 62 drivers were at the wheel of AC cars during the race and earned themselves a special ‘Spirit of Le Mans’ award in the process, beating off challenges from such illustrious marques as Ferrari, Maserati and so on