Beschreibung
Originally owned by the French gentleman driver Jean-Louis RICCI, the car took part to the whole 1988 and 1989 Group C2 World Sport Championship. Prepared by CHAMBERLAIN ENGINEERING, the team of Hugh Chamberlain, the car was driven by Jean-Louis RICCI and Claude BALLOT-LENA who were joined by Jean-Claude ANDRUET for the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans. The best class results of the season were 2nd at Jarama and 3rd at Jerez and Monza, with Ricci and Ballot-Lena finishing 6th of the C2 Drivers World Championship and the Chamberlain Team taking 2nd place of the Teams World Championship in the C2 category (behind the works team of Gordon Spice himself).
For the 1989 season, the Spice SE 88 C 002 took again part to the whole Group C2 World Sport Championship under the banner of FRANCE PROTOTEAM, the team owned by Jean-Louis Ricci. Jean-Louis Ricci himself having moved to the Joest Team (sharing a Porsche 962 with his friends Pescarolo and Ballot-Lena at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing 6th overall), the Spice SE 88 C 002 was mainly driven by THUNER and BALLOT-LENA, plus COPPELI, ROUSSELOT, and TOUROUL on certain occasions, and DE THOISY (C2 winner in 1988) for Le Mans 24H in 1989. The best class results of the year were 1st at the Supercup at the Nürburgring, 2nd at the 480 km of Dijon and Jarama, and 3rd at the 480 km of the Nürburgring, with France Prototeam finishing 4th of the Teams World Championship in the C2 category.
Later on, at the end of the Group C era in Europe, Bob Wollek, another very close friend of Jean-Louis Ricci, convinced him that the Spice was still good enough to race in the GTP/ IMSA Championship in the US. To do so, the car was equiped with an Audi 3. 5 liters engine and prepared by the Audi specialist Fred Stadler of Roc Competition in Annecy. The project did not come to complete fruition and the car remained in Jean-Louis Ricci’s private collection for a few years.
In 1995, it was sold to the PILOT CLUB a driving/ racing school, based at the circuit of Folembray (France), created in association with Henri PESCAROLO as instructor driver. The car, fitted for the occasion with a Audi engine, was indeed suitable and more manageable than a Cosworth engine for demos, incentives meetings and baptemes for amateurs drivers.
In 2002, the car was sold by the Pilot Club to the former Belgian driver Bernard DE DRYVER who resold it to Jean-Charles FAULX. The latter, a Belgian individual, tried to sell the car in the US, and the Spice went to Matrix that run Nissans in the GTP/ IMSA Championship. The car was not sold in the US and Bernard De Dryver bought it back from J-C Faulx and brought it back from the US in late 2003. The car was then sold to its current owner in February 2004. Since then, the car has been located in Belgium and maintained by MEC Auto HISTORIC RACING based near Spa Francorchamps. Between 2004 and 2009, the car took part to several Test Days, mainly at Spa. In 2006 and 2009, material works were completed by MEC Auto on the car to put it back to its original configuration of the 1988 Group C World Sport Championship. In that context, the car was fitted in 2009 with a Cosworth engine DFL/ S 3. 3 liters V8 prepared by Geoff Richardson Engineering Ltd, the well-known Cosworth specialist in the UK. All the works undertaken on the car since 2004 to put it back to its original configuration, are fully documented. See, among others, the comments and Certificate issued by John DELLER, Managing Director of Spice Racing Cars Ltd, dated 13. 07. 2010, confirming that the whole restoration of the car has been completed to the highest standards in strict compliance with its original specification, with many parts supplied by Spice Racing Cars itself and therefore covered by user certificates, and confirming the genuineness of the Spice SE 88C 002.
Since 2010 the car is a regular entrant in the Group C Historic Championship, with frequent podiums in C2 category (13 Podiums). The engine and gearbox have only two hours running since full rebuilt in 2017. The car comes with FIA HTP and Group C Technical Passport. Delivered with an important stock of spare parts it is absolutely "on the button" and ready to race again. It is of course a perfect entrant for Le Mans Classic 2018.
