Description
Chassis H3/ 300/ S is a car with a remarkable history. Built as a ‘Le Mans’ 2/ 4-seater, first registered BPA 889 in November 1933 and finished in green throughout. It was supplied through Winter Garden Garages and Coombs of Guildford to its first owner, AH Boyd, who had previously enlisted in the Royal Navy and was advancing through his officer training. He left the navy in 1934 to become an RAF fighter pilot and rose to the rank of Wing Commander during WWII. Boyd sold the car before this, in 1937, and new owner JR Carmichael supercharged it soon after and began its competition history, entering it in rallies and hill climbs.
In 1939, it was bought by Bob Fowler who continued its competition history over the next three decades. Fowler and his Le Mans enjoyed countless class wins, lap records and podium finishes at Silverstone, Snetterton, Oulton Park, Curborough and Mallory Park. Bob was a perennial runner-up for the Presidents’ Trophy throughout the 1950s and a winner of St John Horsfall Trophies. He took it to Europe with real success: 2nd at the historic races at Le Mans in 1973, 4th overall at the Coupe de l’Age d’Or at Le Mans in 1976, and - most memorably - won the Coupe Historiques at Le Mans outright in 1977. A large range of the trophies from this era are with the car.
In the late 1970s, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, took ownership and ran the car through his own concern, Morntane Engineering (which ultimately became Ecurie Bertelli). The Masons campaigned it with distinction, with Mrs Lindy Mason taking a 1st on handicap at the 1978 VSCC Silverstone meeting with further outings at Curborough and beyond. The Brash family became the next careful custodians for nearly a decade and continued its active competition in VSCC events.
In 1985, it was bought by the current family who have taken the car to the next level, racing it harder & faster than ever before! Through the late 1980s & 1990s it rewrote records wherever it went, taking outright Aston Martin & pre-war lap records at Curborough, winning the St John Horsfall Trophy for 1½-litre cars at Silverstone in 1990 & 1995, also breaking Aston Martin lap records in Germany and at the Manx Classic. Determined to extract the very most from the car, the owner developed it into what is arguably the ultimate racing pre-war Aston Martin, fitting a supercharged Aston Martin 2-litre engine running on methanol and producing around 250 bhp and 300 lb-ft of torque. To handle the additional performance the brakes, wheels and tyres were uprated and further control arms added to the front and rear axles.
If the 1990s were remarkable, what followed was extraordinary. In 2001, the car swept the Pre-War Aston Martin board outright, winning at Brands Hatch, Goodwood, Silverstone, Snetterton, Loton Park and Oulton Park, gathering numerous trophies along the way. In 2002, it set a new lap record in the VSCC British Empire Race at Donington and, at the Long Marston sprint, took the Pre-War Aston Martin standing-quarter-mile record at 13. 88 seconds and 103 mph — third-fastest time of the day behind two works ERAs, and level with the mighty 24-litre Napier-Bentley. New hydraulically-operated brakes were designed with wins and records continuing: a clean sweep of the 2007 Pre-War Team Challenge at Silverstone, 2nd fastest pre-war time at the Brighton Speed Trials the same year and a first in the 2013 VSCC Aston Martin Centenary Race. Fast & distinctive, the car had by now earned an affectionate nickname — the ‘Green Monster’. Then, in a fitting close, for now, to a competition career spanning nearly eighty years, it returned in 2014 to the Bo’ness Hill Climb Revival — the very venue where it had first competed in 1937. Here, as the fastest pre-war car present, it took the Jimmy Gibbon Trophy for the fastest of all the cars which had originally competed at Bo’ness.
As it stands, chassis H3/ 300/ S is ready to be campaigned after re-commissioning, regulations permitting or, with a programme of work, returned to full road use. Genuinely quick, superbly engineered and carrying a competition history matched by very few pre-war cars of any marque. The Le Mans model is welcome at the very finest historic events including 1000 Miglia, Le Mans Classic and Goodwood. This represents a rare opportunity to acquire a car that has been continuously and successfully raced for the better part of a century, with its original parts preserved for the future — and remains ready to be enjoyed for many years to come.
