The Showroom: 1957 Austin A35 ‘Speedwell’

It was back in 2014 that Historic Racing Drivers Club founder Julius Thurgood conceived the HRDC Academy, a controlled race series for Austin A30 and A35 cars built to identical specifications and with sealed 1275cc engines.

The formula proved a huge hit, especially at the Goodwood Revival where, in 2016, the entire St Mary’s Trophy Race field comprised the diminutive Austins which, despite their small size and low engine capacity, provided neck-and-neck, crowd-pleasing competition. But the idea of making Austin A35s go quickly wasn’t exactly new…

Way back in 1957, just a year after the A35 arrived as the replacement for the less-powerful A30, race enthusiasts John Sprinzel, Len Adams and George Hulbert collaborated on a modified cylinder head that improved the car’s performance.

The three began entering races under the Team Speedwell banner (Speedwell being the name of the printing business where Sprinzel worked), with an impressive victory at Goodwood leading to enquiries from other racers who wanted to know how to get their own A35s to go as well as the Speedwell car.

And so it was that the Speedwell tuning house was born – complete with one Graham Hill as its workshop foreman and ‘works driver’ whose skill behind the wheel of A35s and Austin-Healey Sprites brought the fledgling firm plenty of useful publicity.

An A35 with the full Speedwell treatment received the modified, high-compression head, a balanced crankshaft and lightened flywheel, while a wider track, beefed-up suspension and bespoke anti-roll bars made it possible to use the extra power to the full.

The car pictured here was not converted to Speedwell spec in period, but it was built true to the spirit of the tuning house under the instruction of modern-day A Series engine doyen, Rae Davis. As a result, the car features a 1923cc block with twin SU carburettors, a tubular exhaust manifold, competition alternator and competition oil filter and cooler.

After the shell was acid-dipped, lightened and strengthened, it was ‘dressed’ with steel front wings, doors, bonnet and boot lid to meet FIA regulations and fitted with a six-point rollcage and bulkhead cross-brace as well as door and harness bars for added safety and rigidity.

The flared rear wings accommodate the Speedwell-style wider track, with the wheels being driven through a limited-slip differential linked to a straight-cut competition gearbox.

The car’s suspension has been upgraded to full race spec, while other nice features include a heated front screen, Perspex windows, a floor-mounted adjustable pedal box with remote reservoirs, a lightweight race battery and a 40-litre alloy fuel tank.

The cockpit, meanwhile, benefits from Stack gauges and a Cobra race seat, with electrical reliability being assured by a full, custom-made wiring loom.

Unraced since completion, the car is now fully shaken down and it will be sold with an additional set of wheels, a few useful spares and a history file relating to its build. It’s also road registered and will be supplied with a passenger seat – in case a new owner fancies something fun in which to pop to the shops.

1957 Austin A35 ‘Speedwell’
On offer with Klasiko, Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Asking: £15,995. klasiko.co.uk

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