# At least three cars changed hands in 2005.
Tom Thinesen's car 1961 Sebring car, BR-22, came back to the UK for the first time since it went to the States in 1961. Hall and Hall did a restoration and changed the paintwork from yellow to the original red and then sold it back to the US for Richard Emerson to run along with Kurt DelBene's BR-11/33 on the West Coast. We have been trying to figure out what colour the stripes were originally. They look white in the period photographs but I have a letter from Graham Broadley to Allan Ross in 1961 which says they are green. I've suggested Richard goes for light green.
Very sadly, Bill Hirst, who had the unique Ford engined BR-101 died of a heart attack in late 2004. The car has now passed from Canada to the US where it is owned by Lowell Blossom. As I write, I believe BR-1 and BR-31 are for sale in the UK or, if they have been sold, I haven't yet tracked the new owners down. Patrick Barthelemy bought BR-24 from Norbert Michel who had had it since 1976. Patrick is doing a major restoration and has been sending me lots of e mail pictures of the car and I been helping with the odd point where I can. One thing that has us both baffled is how the hand brake ever worked. Patrick's car, like my original road car, has a hand brake; if anybody knows, let me know!
# I had a long letter (6 pages!) from Mike Fraser who had owned or worked on various cars between 1961 and 1969 and put me straight on bits history of the Prototype,
BY-3, BR-7, BR-11, BR-27/B, and BR-33. This has added all sorts of interesting detail to the early history of these cars. Mike writes of his successful time in the 1967 Guards Championship that in 21 races that season he only finished outside the top three four times. One highlight was coming second overall to a GT40 at Snetterton!
# I've heard from Cap Chenoweth and Herb Wetanson. Cap only ran BR-4 twice this year. First time out number 4 plug stripped it threads in dramatic fashion when Cap started up in the paddock. It blew out hit the underside of the bonnet and ended up 50 feet away! He fixed it in time for the Rolex Lime Rock Fall Festival where he was fastest in practice but held up by a quicker starting Lister-Chev until the engine soured near the end when Brian Redman's Scarab got past. Cap finished third but was delighted with the Charlie Gibson memorial award for performance and spirit. Herb also had BR-6 out at Lime Rock and also at Monterey where he finished second to Don Orosco's 2.5litre Lotus 15.
# In Europe, Richard Wills ran the Hall and Hall prepped Prototype in the HGPCA drum brake series with some success. Otherwise I only saw John Clark with L-1/BY-1 out in the BRDC championship which he might well have had a class win if he could have concentrated upon it. He did have one splendid outing at Oulton coming second overall if I recall. Unfortunately Juerg Tobler got caught up in the first lap carnage at Porto with BR-26 and the car was fairly badly damaged (but you should have seen the 250 LM!) Although I was not there, I believe Patrick Behar had BR-8 out at Dijon.
# Of the 'resto' cars I know about, only Robin Longdon's BR-29 actually made it out onto the track, but ran into oil problems at Oulton. Hopefully somewhere in the workshops are David Leslie's BR-32 and Alastair Caldwell's BR-28 that we might see someday..........
# On a personal note, I expect to move home before Easter. My new address should be
The Barns
Shiplake Rise
Binfield Heath
Henley-on-Thames
Oxfordshire, RG9 4DP
e mail will be the same, dpratley@aol.com. Don't know about telephone or fax yet.
Yes, there is a large barn for the cars!
Have a safe and successful 2006 season
David Pratley
