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Sunbeam Alpine Road Race Drivers 1966-1968

spmdr

Diamond Level Sponsor
Sunbeam Alpine Road Race drivers

West Coast 1966-1968

In an effort to keep Alpine Road Racing History alive I add this.

Anyone with more info is encouraged to add to this info.

Second drivers are seen at Endurance events/ shared cars


Culled from Corb Flick's Racing Scrap book.


Car Number, color, Driver(s), Town , Notes

8 , Silver , Jim Dittemore , Redondo Beach

10 , N/A , Skip Adrian , Fresno

17 , N/A , Alan Throrpe , Salt Lake city

19, N/A , Elmo Grimsgaard , Laguna Beach

44 , Orange , Jim Bragno , Los Angles , RHD

48, Red , John Coddington, Costa Mesa

54 , N/A , Willard Clever/ George Cheyne , N. Hollywood

67 , Maroon, Pete Fiala/ Chuck Willis , Santa Ana

69 , Maroon, Corb Flick/ Bob Young , Redlands/ LB

75 , White , William/ Gene Rushton , Pasadena

DW (after considerable effort to space everything in columns, the System has REMOVED the spaces!!!)
 
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alpine_64

Donation Time
Dan, im sure steve silverstein will cjime in... But if not contact him direct he has a very extensive body of research and records
 

sunbeam74

Silver Level Sponsor
I do have a east coast and west coast Excel Spreadsheet file with many of the drivers names/event/result I could find racing from 1960-mid 70's. It isn't anywhere near complete but does have a lot. (I've added notes below).

8 , Silver , Jim Dittemore , Redondo Beach (I am pretty sure this is the ex-Brabham Alpine which was silver and raced at the Riverside Times GP. It then was bought by Randy Hilton (I believe of Hilton hotel relation) and Chuck Parson's raced this for Randy)

10 , N/A , Skip Adrian , Fresno (Of course, this is my Red #66 raced by both Skip and Tommy Elliot)

17 , N/A , Alan Throrpe , Salt Lake city (Always wondered about this one... could it have been the Ex-1961 Sebring Alpine previously owned by Ralph Bowyer ? I have looked for Alan... no luck)

19, N/A , Elmo Grimsgaard , Laguna Beach

44 , Orange , Jim Bragno , Los Angles , RHD (over course the 1962 Sebring Alpine of Proctor/Harper

48, Red , John Coddington, Costa Mesa

54 , N/A , Willard Clever/ George Cheyne , N. Hollywood (Ken Miles Series 3 provided by Rootes, most likely prepared by Brabham/or Rootes Factory)

67 , Maroon, Pete Fiala/ Chuck Willis , Santa Ana

69 , Maroon, Corb Flick/ Bob Young , Redlands/ LB

75 , White , William/ Gene Rushton , Pasadena

(these last three are interesting but very convoluted since it seems these cars past from one driver to another.... I have pictures of Ruston in a Chianti colored Alpine, too)
 
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sunbeam74

Silver Level Sponsor
I can't share the picture but Elmo Grimsgarrd crashed at Santa Barbara. Scary picture since it shows the car on the roll bar, which should have been 6" taller and Elmo's crushed down underneath to roll bar height. Amazing he walked away:

1966 Automobile RACING WRECK photograph of an accident at the Corona Del Mar race in Santa Barbara, California that occurred on September 5th. It shows driver Elmo Grimsgaard turning over his Sunbeam Alpine on Turn number 7 of the race (the 26th Annual of the race). This terrific action wire photograph is from the San Francisco Examiner photo archive and has the original stamps on the back. Grimsgaard walked away from the crash with minor injuries. The photo appears to have been published around September 13, 1966.


BTW< It appears to be White, or very light colored, #19, later series short fin car.
 

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
I can't share the picture but Elmo Grimsgarrd crashed at Santa Barbara. Scary picture since it shows the car on the roll bar, which should have been 6" taller and Elmo's crushed down underneath to roll bar height. Amazing he walked away:

1966 Automobile RACING WRECK photograph of an accident at the Corona Del Mar race in Santa Barbara, California that occurred on September 5th. It shows driver Elmo Grimsgaard turning over his Sunbeam Alpine on Turn number 7 of the race (the 26th Annual of the race). This terrific action wire photograph is from the San Francisco Examiner photo archive and has the original stamps on the back. Grimsgaard walked away from the crash with minor injuries. The photo appears to have been published around September 13, 1966.


BTW< It appears to be White, or very light colored, #19, later series short fin car.
'

I believe this is the photo you're referring to.

Elmo-Grimsgaard.jpg
 

spmdr

Diamond Level Sponsor
Corb's scrap book covers all of 1967 with a little 1966 and 1968.

I thought I counted 6 Alpines in the Weekend Racer (1967) Movie/video, but only see 5 in the entry list and results.

However, I see a Silver Alpine in the background of pictures with Corb in the foreground.

The pictures are clearly Santa Barbara but not sure the year, maybe 1966.

Also, the results only list car numbers of the cars that DNFed.

So there MAY be another Alpine in the DNF list of the 1967 SB Race.

As seen in the 1967 SB results and Movie, Alpines #67 (Love Bug), #69 and #75 are different cars, at least for THAT race.

The #67 Alpine of Fiala was sold to Leslie D Hudelson who raced it 1972-74.

Leslie changed the single hoop rollbar to a full wide bar to comply with SCCA Regs.

Leslie thinks he sold the Alpine to Chuck Willis' son who had it (unraced) until sold about 1979.

The #69 Alpine was raced by Corb from 1966 to 1969 and scrapped after a crash at Riverside.


Corb said parts were quite easy to get from Dealers in the early days and it sounds like Rootes was

encouraging Racers, back in the day.

However, when parts were harder to get, Alpines fell out of favor in the racing grids.
 

spmdr

Diamond Level Sponsor
After attempting to revive the crashed #69 Alpine, and failing, Corb scrapped old # 69 and built a new car, #13, a number he used a few times on the old car as well.

Here is a picture of the fresh #13 c. 1974 (?)
P1070403.JPG

P1070404.JPG
Corb thinks he sold the car to a guy in Hemit, CA.
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
Dan,

Thanks for sharing the great period phots.
Its interesting in the first pic with the fresh stars and stripes livrey the car appears to have centreline wheels... In the race shot appears to have perhaps some 4 spokes. I would wonder what brake cooling was like with centrelines.

Also note the car has a somewhat art firms tiger inspired livery the way the red wraps the sills ans wheel arches with the gold numbers. The added flashes from headlights to fins is also nice. ( star spangled bonnet a bit much for me!)

Car appears to be a SII with SIV grill. I know a few early cars had later series aesthetics added in later years... And some went to 5 main motors when released ( and reverted back to 3 after they windowed their blocks )

Anyway... Great pics and thanks for sharing... Some inspiration to get back on my new motor... Still kickind around modern aftermarket piston rod combos ... Debating stroke ratio for rod ...

You were talking gt6 parts.. Ive been looking into aftermarket stuff for the 4cyl toyotas.. Lots of small capacity 1600 setups with great lightweight forged and billet H beam rods and pistons available... Very light and very high HP rated... Journal width seems to be the key to finding some that will do the job
 

spmdr

Diamond Level Sponsor
Michael, I think Corb said the New #13 was a Series 1, because it is lighter than the Sll.

As far a Rods, a std GT6 rod is, as you mentioned, not wide enough on the big end.

The engine from England had GT6 spec rods with a wider Big end, I used a slightly modified MGA rod bearing with it.

I have not beat the bushes for the possibility of an aftermarket MGA rod, they have smaller IDs and wide Big end bearings.
 
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