Bristol 450S Le Mans Race Car 1955

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Bristol 450S Poster 1.jpg


Bristol quickly became the dominant 2 litre class car at Le Mans, initially with their bizarrely styled coupes and later with the open roadster. They came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in class in 1954 and 1955 and also scooped the team prize. As most people know, motorsports greatest ever tragedy occurred at Le Mans in 1955 when 83 spectators were killed. The race was continued, because if it had been stopped the exiting crowds would have hampered the work of the emergency services.

At the end of the race Bristol donated their prize money to a charity in aid of the victims of the disaster and withdrew from racing. The three Le Mans cars were dismantled and the Bristol apprentices used the best parts from each to build one car which was kept as a reminder of Bristols racing success. This car is road registered with the number plate PVS 258 and is still occasionally run in public at historic events.

Bristol cars were highly aerodynamic and were developed in their own wind tunnel at a time when this was a rarity. The team introduced innovations which minimised the time lost in the pits such as a wheel wrench which removed all five wheel nuts at once, retained them and then retorqued the nuts to the correct settings. The wheels were in two pieces - a rim and a hub - the hubs remained on the car and just the rims were changed.

Below straight six cylinder engine featuring large inlet trumpets fitted with inverted cones to increase air velocity - known as "Kemish Cones" and named after Bristol Engineer Mr Kemish. The engine was able to produce 155bhp completely reliably - impressive for 1955. The cars were able to lap La Sarthe at in excess of 100mph when required and were timed at more than 150mph down the straight.

Bristol 450S Poster 2.jpg


Below paintings of the car.

bristol450 Drawings.png


Above triple exhaust pipes - the exhausts were paired from cylinder 1 & 6, 2 & 5, 3 & 4 for optimum effectiveness.

It would be nice to be able to hold multi-class Le Mans races using cars from the 1950's. My racing buddies and I have done this with the 1960's cars, but we are sadly lacking in 1950's racing cars.
 
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...........When I saw this, it instantly reminded me of this: The so-ugly-it's-kinda-cool Frogeye Mark I, circa 1961.

I indicated in the first post that the earlier 450S Coupes were bizarrely styled - well here goes!

Bristol 450S Poster 3.jpg


Number 38 = 1953 Le Mans car. Middle picture before painting showing twin rear fins. Number 35 for the 1954 Le Mans race the area between the rear fins was filled in so the car looked like a sort of greenhouse on wheels. The 1953 cars also featured deeply recessed and faired in lights. In 1954 there had been much rain during the race which caused misting of the windows so for 1955 Bristol switched to a roadster body with a higher drag coefficient, but less total drag due to a reduced frontal area - the roadster layout obviously preventing misting through use of an open cockpit. The second seat required by the regulations was hidden under a hard tonneau cover Jaguar D Type style.

The innovative two piece wheels can be seen even on the 1953 cars.

NB The Frog eye Sprite was originally designed with pop up headlights, but these were deleted by the Accountants for cost reasons, hence the bug eyed look with lights placed onto the bonnet as an after thought.
 
I indicated in the first post that the earlier 450S Coupes were bizarrely styled - well here goes!

View attachment 313703

Number 38 = 1953 Le Mans car. Middle picture before painting showing twin rear fins. Number 35 for the 1954 Le Mans race the area between the rear fins was filled in so the car looked like a sort of greenhouse on wheels. The 1953 cars also featured deeply recessed and faired in lights. In 1954 there had been much rain during the race which caused misting of the windows so for 1955 Bristol switched to a roadster body with a higher drag coefficient, but less total drag due to a reduced frontal area - the roadster layout obviously preventing misting through use of an open cockpit. The second seat required by the regulations was hidden under a hard tonneau cover Jaguar D Type style.

The innovative two piece wheels can be seen even on the 1953 cars.

NB The Frog eye Sprite was originally designed with pop up headlights, but these were deleted by the Accountants for cost reasons, hence the bug eyed look with lights placed onto the bonnet as an after thought.

I actually like those even more :D
 
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