Triumph Spitfire ADU 1B
A works Le Mans Spitfire that crashed in all three of its works races, in 1964 and 1965, then became the base of Bill Bradley's 1966 racer. Its parts survive in Warwickshire; a replica carries its registration.
About the pictureThe replica built under ADU 1B's registration and documented as a replica, not the works car.
ADU 1B started three works races and crashed in all three: at Le Mans in June 1964, at Sebring in March 1965 and at Le Mans again that June. In 1966 it became the base of a new car for Bill Bradley, who, by his own race records, won his class with it first time out. What is left of it is in a Warwickshire barn.source 1source 2source 3source 4
Built for Le Mans
Sources for ADU 1B
Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 1B Le Mans"source 1; Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU ~B Le Mans"source 5; Canley Classics, "GT6R Proposed 1966 Le Mans Project"source 6
It was one of the four Le Mans cars built in Triumph's experimental department at Canley in 1964: an aluminium bulkhead, floors and sills (rocker panels), with glass-fibre panels riveted to them, on a lightweight chassis. It was registered on 1 June 1964 with the commission number X730 and the engine number X936E, and Canley Classics records it as "Le Mans No3".
racingsportscars' chassis entry for No. 49, the entry it ran as at Le Mans in 1964, is X985. That matches neither of Canley's numbers, and no source read explains it.source 1source 5source 2
Three crashes
At Le Mans on 20–21 June 1964 it ran as No. 49 for two Americans, Mike Rothschild and Bob Tullius, in the class for prototypes up to 3 litres. Denis Jenkinson's report for Motor Sport has Rothschild crashing one of the Spitfires early in the race, and racingsportscars records that No. 49 retired after an accident, with 23 laps completed.
On 27 March 1965 it was one of three ex-Le Mans cars that Standard Triumph Inc., the American company, ran in the Sebring 12 Hours under Kas Kastner. As No. 65, with Peter Bolton and Rothschild, it crashed after 5 laps.
At Le Mans that June it ran as No. 52 for David Hobbs and Rob Slotemaker in the 1.15-litre GT class, and crashed after 71 laps. Motor Sport reported that Slotemaker crashed one of the Triumphs, and Hobbs later recalled the same. Canley's history of the car puts it in this entry; racingsportscars' numbers for the 1965 cars appear to be engine numbers (two of the four carry the HE engine suffix), which do not identify the bodies.source 2source 7source 3source 8source 4source 9source 10source 1source 5
Bradley's new Spitfire
After Le Mans in 1965 the car was stored at the works. In 1966, after ADU 2B was damaged at the Nürburgring, Ray Henderson, the head of Triumph's experimental department, and his team built Bradley a replacement for the second half of the season: by Bradley's account mainly on what had been ADU 1B, with parts from ERW 412C, his 1965 car. Canley says parts of ADU 2B went into it too.
Bradley raced it first at a BRSCC National meeting at Crystal Palace on 6 August 1966 and won his class, as, he said, he did every time he raced it. He raced it into 1967. Canley Classics calls the Bradley cars of 1966–67 an amalgam: by then parts and identities were moving between ADU 1B, ADU 2B and ERW 412C.
What is left
Substantial parts of ADU 1B survive in a barn in Warwickshire, with the rest of Bradley's works parts. Canley Classics describes what time has done to them:
Despite having been stored in a bone dry barn for over 40 years the few steel parts incorporated in the predominantly aluminium bulkhead have slowly started to eat each other.
Work has been done to stop that corrosion. Bradley told Canley that a restoration was possible but unlikely soon, and Canley says there are enough parts of ADU 1B, ADU 2B and ERW 412C for one complete, authentic car.
A replica now carries the registration. It was built by Mark Field of Jigsaw Racing over 14 years, given ADU 1B's identity and documented as a replica, and it first raced at the 2004 Le Mans Classic, according to Triumph World as reported by gt6mk2.com.
The car that crashed three times is in pieces in a barn; the car that has raced at Le Mans under its number since 2004 was never a works car.source 1source 13source 14
Where it has been
- 1964
Registered ADU 1B
1 June 1964. One of the four 1964 Le Mans cars built in Triumph's experimental department at Canley, described in the department's notes as "Le Mans No3": aluminium bulkhead, floors and sills and glass-fibre panels riveted together, on a lightweight chassis. Canley prints the registration date as "01.06.04", a typo
Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 1B Le Mans"source 1; Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU ~B Le Mans"source 5
- 1966
Rebuilt for Bill Bradley
By Bill Bradley's account, Ray Henderson's team at "Fletch North" built a "new" Spitfire mainly on ADU 1B, with parts from ERW 412C, and by his race records it won its class first time out at Crystal Palace on 6 August 1966; it raced into 1967. Canley warns that the 1966–67 Bradley cars were an amalgam
Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 1B Le Mans"source 1; Canley Classics, "ERW 412C"source 11
- 2004
A replica carrying the registration first ran at the Le Mans Classic
According to Triumph World, as reported by gt6mk2.com, Mark Field (Jigsaw Racing) built a Le Mans Spitfire replica registered ADU 1B over 14 years and documented it as a replica. Canley Classics says substantial parts of the real car survive in a Warwickshire barn; no complete car exists
gt6mk2.com, "Some notable GT6s (and Spitfires)"source 14; Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 1B Le Mans"source 1
Results
A yellow year marks a win.
- 1964
- 1965
- 1965
- 1966
BRSCC National, Crystal Palace 1966
6 August 1966, Crystal Palace, England. Bill Bradley: 1st in its classsource 1
Sources
Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.
- Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
- Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
- Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
- Uncheckedencyclopaedias and enthusiast sites: cited beside a good source, named in the sentence, or marked Unchecked
- Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 1B Le Mans", para. 1; Bradley's account; para. 3. Reference
- racingsportscars.com, Le Mans 24 Hours 1964, results, DNF table, No. 49; DNF table. Database
- racingsportscars.com, Sebring 12 Hours 1965, results, DNF table, No. 65; DNF table. Database
- racingsportscars.com, Le Mans 24 Hours 1965, results, DNF table, No. 52; DNF table. Database
- Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU ~B Le Mans". Reference
- Canley Classics, "GT6R Proposed 1966 Le Mans Project". Reference
- Denis Jenkinson, "The 24 Hours of Le Mans", Motor Sport, Jul 1964, p. 22. Primary
- Moss Motoring, "Kas Kastner – The legend and the legacy", 30 Nov 2011. Reference
- Denis Jenkinson, "Le Mans 24-hour race", Motor Sport, Jul 1965, p. 11. Primary
- Simon Taylor, "Lunch with… David Hobbs", Motor Sport, Jan 2011. Reference
- Canley Classics, "ERW 412C". Reference
- Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 2B Le Mans". Reference
- Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 4B Le Mans", "Our Museum". Reference
- gt6mk2.com, "Some notable GT6s (and Spitfires)", citing Triumph World. Unchecked