Of course, with the story of Gregory’s famous incident looming large over it and driver’s experiences with the car since, quite the reputation has precipitated around this diminutive sports prototype. Cottingham firmly believes this is a car that never quite got its chance to shine, both in contemporary competition and with subsequent historic racer owners, at least until now.
“There’s a really famous poster at the start of Le Mans in 1959, with this right up the sharp end. It had a lot of potential that was never quite realised because it was a B project, a one-off. The ex-works D-Types had so much put into them by comparison. Fast forward to the TT in ‘59 and it just probably didn’t have the development it needed, and obviously, Masten had the accident.
“Since then, in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s it was always a car that had potential, but that would cost more than it was worth. As historic racing kicked off in the ‘80s, with ‘50s racers being the kick-off of that, it got to a point where it was worthwhile doing it. It’s always been unclear to the direction they went but we think for the first go at restoring it the chassis was never really sorted properly. With 3D scanning, we worked out that the DeDion rear end had been set up unsuccessfully to negate the effects of the chassis being 20mm shorter still on one side.
“Everyone over the years has always known about its fierce reputation – Gregor Fisken told me it’s the scariest car he’s ever raced – but we’ve finally gotten it sorted and to a position where it’s competitive. We won the Sussex Trophy at the Revival in 2021, which was just magic. It’s always been a combination of preparation and driver approach. For a long time, I was overdriving it but I’ve learned to treat it with a bit more respect. It’s very narrow and very low. It’s very fast in a straight line but the narrow rear end means it’s easy to lose traction and turn it into a slidey, wheely showboat. The braking is very touchy – it’s easy to lock the rears. The one time you brake late, you lock it. So it’s about carrying the speed and respecting the car and making the most of its attributes.”