TriumphSpitfire

Harry Webster and the Triumph Spitfire

Standard-Triumph's engineering chief from 1957 to 1968, whose idea the Spitfire was: he wanted a Herald sports car, saw it into production, and took it to Le Mans.

About the pictureA privately owned Spitfire under restoration, not Webster.

A four-cylinder engine hanging on blue ropes over a wooden pallet, with a bare chassis and a wheel behind it in a cluttered garage.
Stand-in A Spitfire's engine hanging from a hoist in front of its bare separate chassis, in a home garage during a restoration: the layout the car was built on, not a picture of the man.BiTurbo228, CC BY 2.0

Before the Le Mans 24 Hours of June 1965, Harry Webster was photographed beside ADU 4B, the works Spitfire that went on to win its class in the race. The Spitfire had been his idea five years before, and taking it to Le Mans was his decision.

He ran Standard-Triumph's engineering as director of engineering from 1957 until 1968; Graham Robson dates his time in charge from 1956.⁠1​2​3​4

An engineer from Coventry

Sources for Harry Webster

Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007⁠4; The Daily Telegraph, "Harry Webster" (obituary), 9 Feb 2007⁠5; Graham Robson, "Harry Webster – My Technical Mentor", Moss Motoring (Moss Motors), 12 Jun 2019⁠3; racingsportscars.com, Le Mans 24 Hours 1965, results⁠2; TR Register, "Triumph TR2 Buyers Guide" (the TR2 data sheet)⁠6

Henry George Webster was born in Coventry in 1917 and joined the Standard Motor Company in 1932 as an apprentice, aged 15. During the Second World War he worked in Standard's aero-engine department. He became chief chassis engineer in 1949, under Ted Grinham, and was responsible for the chassis of the TR2; he was chief engineer from 1955, and director of engineering when Grinham retired in May 1957.

"Our rivals were always enormously bigger than we were," he said, as Giles Chapman's obituary in The Independent quotes him.

  1. 1957

    Director of engineering

    Standard-Triumph's engineering chief, and his first year of work with Michelotti.

  2. 1960

    Bomb

    Michelotti builds Webster's "Herald sports car" as a single prototype.

  3. 1962

    On sale

    The Spitfire 4 reaches the showrooms late in the year.

  4. 1964

    Le Mans

    Three works fastbacks start; one finishes.

  5. 1965

    The class win

    ADU 4B wins the 1.15-litre GT class at Le Mans.

  6. 1968

    Longbridge

    He leaves Triumph for Austin-Morris after British Leyland is formed.⁠4​5​3​7​8​9​2

Contents

Michelotti and Bomb

In 1957 Webster brought Giovanni Michelotti into Standard-Triumph's work. The Daily Telegraph's obituary says he "discovered" the Turin stylist; Graham Robson says Michelotti came through the entrepreneur Raymond Flower and was taken on at Webster's recommendation. The two became close friends, and Webster would drive to Turin and back in a weekend to see him. Michelotti styled the Herald, whose chassis, shortened, would carry the Spitfire.

The Spitfire was Webster's wish for a "Herald sports car" to take on the Austin-Healey Sprite, and Michelotti built it as a single prototype, code-named Bomb, in 1960. Then Standard-Triumph's money ran out, and the car was stored under a dust sheet. Robson credits Webster's "persuasive powers" with winning Leyland's approval for it, the first of the new owner's many new projects; others tell the story of its rescue differently, as the Spitfire's history shows. His deputy put the next stage in one sentence:

We took 'Bomb' from prototype to production car in 15 months.

John Lloyd, Webster's deputy, as recalled to Graham Robson, Moss Motoring, June 2019

A month after the launch, Lloyd added, he and Webster took two Spitfires to the Turin show and were stuck in snow on the Mont Cenis pass.⁠5​7​4​3​10

A rally-plated Triumph Herald saloon, number 329, its crew aboard, as officials lean in at the window at night.
Plate I A Michelotti-styled Triumph Herald saloon, No. 329, at the start of the Monte Carlo Rally in The Hague on 19 January 1960, the year Bomb was built.Joop van Bilsen (Anefo), CC0

Contents

Back to Le Mans, 1964–65

Webster wanted Triumph back at Le Mans, with the programme under his own control. One of his colleagues told Robson how it was done:

Harry squeezed money out of Stanley Markland, decided that we should use Spitfires, and his staff did the rest.

A colleague of Webster's, unnamed, to Graham Robson, Moss Motoring, June 2019

When others doubted that the engine could give 100 reliable horsepower, Robson writes, Webster told his own engineer, Ray Bates, to make it do so, and Bates did it with a prototype eight-port cylinder head. The experimental department built four aluminium and glass-fibre fastbacks, and Webster signed the Finn Simo Lampinen for the rally team. The best results of his racing programme, in the order they came:

  • 1964

    Le Mans 24 Hours

    No. 50, ADU 2B, driven by David Hobbs and Rob Slotemaker: 21st overall, and the only Spitfire to finish.

  • 1964

    Tour de France Automobile

    Slotemaker and Terry Hunter win the GT class up to 1,300 cc, 15th overall.

  • 1964

    Paris 1000 km

    Jean-François Piot and Jean-Louis Marnat win the 1.15-litre GT class at Montlhéry, 22nd overall.

  • 1964

    Geneva Rally

    Terry Hunter, 2nd overall in a works Spitfire.

  • 1965

    Le Mans 24 Hours

    ADU 4B, driven by Jean-Jacques Thuner and Lampinen, wins the 1.15-litre GT class, 13th overall; No. 54 is 2nd in class.

  • 1965

    Coupe des Alpes

    Lampinen and Jorma Ahava 1st, and Thuner and J. Gretener 2nd, in the Prototype category.

The works programme ended after 1965.⁠3​11​9​12​13​14​15​2​1​16

A green Le Mans Spitfire fastback replica with a red nose and race number 50 on a museum floor.
A replica in ADU 2B's 1964 Le Mans livery, No. 50, with no works parts, at the Coventry Transport Museum in February 2011: the shape of the works fastbacks, not a works car.kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0

Contents

Longbridge

In 1968 Leyland became British Leyland, and Webster was moved to Longbridge, where from 1969 to 1974 he was technical director of the Austin-Morris division; Spen King took his place at Triumph. He was made CBE in 1974 and was group technical director of Automotive Products until he retired in 1982.

He died at Kenilworth on 6 February 2007, aged 89. Canley Classics still keeps ADU 4B, the car he was photographed with at Le Mans: the one works Le Mans Spitfire to survive complete.⁠3​4​5​1​17

Contents

Roles

  1. 1932

    Apprentice

    Standard Motor Company, aged 15

    Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007⁠4; The Daily Telegraph, "Harry Webster" (obituary), 9 Feb 2007⁠5

  2. 1949

    Chief chassis engineer

    1949–1955. Standard Motor Company, under Ted Grinham

    Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007⁠4; Graham Robson, "Harry Webster – My Technical Mentor", Moss Motoring (Moss Motors), 12 Jun 2019⁠3

  3. 1955

    Chief engineer

    1955–1957. Standard Motor Company

    Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007⁠4

  4. 1957

    Director of engineering

    1957–1968. Standard-Triumph; took over when Ted Grinham retired in May 1957 (Graham Robson dates his time as technical chief from 1956)

    Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007⁠4; Graham Robson, "Harry Webster – My Technical Mentor", Moss Motoring (Moss Motors), 12 Jun 2019⁠3

  5. 1969

    Technical director

    1969–1974. Austin-Morris division, British Leyland, at Longbridge; he moved there after British Leyland was formed in 1968

    Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007⁠4; Graham Robson, "Harry Webster – My Technical Mentor", Moss Motoring (Moss Motors), 12 Jun 2019⁠3; The Daily Telegraph, "Harry Webster" (obituary), 9 Feb 2007⁠5

  6. 1974

    Group technical director

    1974–1982. Automotive Products

    Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007⁠4

Contents

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
  1. Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 4B Le Mans", photo captions; "Our Museum". Reference
  2. racingsportscars.com, Le Mans 24 Hours 1965, results, results, 13th; results, 13th and 14th. Database
  3. Graham Robson, "Harry Webster – My Technical Mentor", Moss Motoring (Moss Motors), 12 Jun 2019, the TR2; the Herald sports car; the dust sheet; John Lloyd; Le Mans; the Lampinen photograph; British Leyland. Reference
  4. Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007, header. Reference
  5. The Daily Telegraph, "Harry Webster" (obituary), 9 Feb 2007. Reference
  6. TR Register, "Triumph TR2 Buyers Guide" (the TR2 data sheet). Reference
  7. Graham Robson, "One Design, Many Derivatives", Moss Motoring, 26 Oct 2022. Reference
  8. Malcolm McKay, "Triumph Spitfire buyer's guide: what to pay and what to look for", Classic & Sports Car, 10 May 2019, Michelotti passage. Reference
  9. racingsportscars.com, Le Mans 24 Hours 1964, results, results, 21st. Database
  10. Lancaster Insurance, "The Triumph Spitfire: a celebration", 29 Dec 2021. Reference
  11. Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU ~B Le Mans". Reference
  12. Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 2B Le Mans". Reference
  13. racingsportscars.com, Tour de France Automobile 1964, results, No. 131. Database
  14. racingsportscars.com, Paris 1000 km 1964 (Montlhéry), results, No. 57. Database
  15. John Davenport, "Geneva Rally", Motor Sport, Dec 1964, p. 45. Primary
  16. John Davenport, "Coupe des Alpes", Motor Sport, Sep 1965, p. 30. Primary
  17. Classic Car Weekly, "Le Mans Spitfire comes home after extended holiday", 2004. Reference

Contents