Description
The Sussex Trophy: Goodwood, March 30th 1963
Two weeks after its lightweight debut at Snetterton, Graham Hill brought John Coombs' 4 WPD to Goodwood for the Easter meeting.
He led all fifteen laps. Mike Parkes, in Maranello Concessionaires' Ferrari 250 GTO, never gave up the chase, finishing just 1. 4 seconds behind at the flag.
That margin tells the real story.
The Torque Advantage
On tight, twisting British circuits, the E-type's 3. 8-litre straight-six could pull harder out of corners than Ferrari's 3-litre V12. Hill averaged 96. 62 mph and set fastest lap at 97. 74 mph. It was enough. On the long straights of Spa or the Nürburgring, that same margin would disappear entirely.
Here, at Goodwood, it was everything.
What Made the Difference
4 WPD wasn't the E-type Hill had won with at Oulton Park two years earlier. Over the winter of 1962-63, it had been rebuilt: aluminium body panels replacing steel, an aluminium-block engine, dry-sumped, fuel-injected.
The prototype for every one of the 12 Lightweight E-type that followed.
Weight had come out of the car. Everything else followed from that.
The Evolution of Truth
At Gregson Polska, we build to the same principle Coombs and Jaguar arrived at in the winter of '62: aluminium doesn't just save weight, it changes what a car can do.
Hand-formed, English-wheel-shaped, aircraft-grade aluminium. TIG-welded and riveted stressed skin. 100kg lighter than standard steel specification.
We're not chasing a look. We're chasing the same 1. 4 seconds Hill found at Goodwood.
Ready to find your own margin?
£100, 000 including 1963 - E Type Donor ExWorks
Handcrafted Aluminium Bodyshells, Gregson Polska bodyshells available worldwide through Lanes Cars - DM - LIGHTWEIGHT for private conversations and commissions.
