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Auction archive: Lot number 112

The Le Mans 24 Hours, Ards TT 1932 Alta 1,100cc Two-Seater Sports Registration no. GX 2281 Chassis no. 14 Engine no. 14

Estimate
€240,000 - €340,000
ca. US$373,368 - US$528,938
Price realised:
n. a.
Auction archive: Lot number 112

The Le Mans 24 Hours, Ards TT 1932 Alta 1,100cc Two-Seater Sports Registration no. GX 2281 Chassis no. 14 Engine no. 14

Estimate
€240,000 - €340,000
ca. US$373,368 - US$528,938
Price realised:
n. a.
Beschreibung:

‘The name of Alta may not have the aura of ERA, Maserati, Bugatti or Alfa Romeo, but nonetheless it holds an important niche in the history of British motor racing and was the result of the endeavours of one man.’ - Denis Jenkinson, Motor Sport. The late Geoffrey Taylor was a small specialist manufacturer with a difference. Where others concocted hybrids from proprietary bits and pieces, he not only designed but also made every part of the Alta sports and competition models, even down to superchargers. The little Alta factory near the Kingston by-pass (only demolished in the early 1960s) was largely put up with his own hands. Alta design features included cast-iron wet liners, twin overhead camshafts with vertical shaft/skew gear drive, hemispherical combustion chambers and Nitralloy steel crankshafts. Light weight and low build were two of Taylor’s objectives, so the frame was under-slung and even the little 1100s wore 13” brake drums. Though blown and un-blown 1,100s, 1500s and 2-litres were catalogued up to the outbreak of WW2, only very few cars were made: a fair estimate is four single-seater racers, six offset single-seater racers and 19 sports types. Post-WW2, engines were supplied to HWM and to Connaught, whose B-Type famously driven to victory by Tony Brooks in the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix was Alta-powered. Taylor’s prototype, registered ‘PK 4053’, was kept by him and used for publicity, development and competitions. ‘PK 4053’ still exists and was sold by Bonhams at Goodwood on 24th June 2005 (Lot 656). The first production Alta - car number ‘11’ - was sold to a Mr Last from Littlehampton in 1931 and was later recorded as ‘completely smashed and written off’. Alta number ‘12’ was delivered to Viscount Curzon, later to become The Rt Hon The Earl Howe CBE, DL, JP, who was patron of the Alta register. Number ‘13’ was an engine supplied to Ron Horton for his Horton Special. Fitted with an Amherst Villiers supercharger, this engine brought Alta its first major competition success when the Horton Special set a class record at Shelsey Walsh in 1932. Three more cars were completed and sold that year including number ‘14’, which we offer here. The third production Alta car, ‘14’ was purchased by a Mr J Ludovic Ford and is the actual car that raced at Le Mans and in the Ards TT in 1932. It is the only complete and original Alta 1,100cc two-seater sports-racer still in existence. There were only another dozen-or-so cars built, but Taylor also completed another four engines. The first eight 1,100cc engines had camshaft drive by skew gears; number ‘14’ is believed to be the only car to still have it, later versions having changed first to spur gears and then to chain drive. This car was specifically commissioned to race at the 1932 Le Mans 24 Hours by Ludovic Ford, who was entered with one N H Baumer as co-driver. Unfortunately, the team’s mechanics put oil instead of grease in the clutch thrust race and the car was forced to retire in the first hour suffering from incurable clutch slip. Crewed by Messrs Ford and Baumer, the Alta competed in the Ards TT in Ulster later in the year, where it crashed and was forced to retire. The engine still bears the RAC stamp given to it at this race. In 1933 the car was sold to a Mr R F Fowell who used it regularly for 25 years, and his correspondence on file confirms this. The Alta next passed to a Mr T C Jackson (in 1958) and thence to a Mr N Harley before being acquired by Keith Eames in 1970. Mr Eames kept the car for the next 27 years. In a letter published in Motor Sport (June 1972 edition) Keith Eames recorded details of it specification, which included an engine block, crankcase and sump in magnesium; aluminium cylinder head; bronze valve seats; KE965 valves; and skew gear camshaft drive. In September 1997, Alta number ‘14’ was purchased by Mr Ian Baxter, and there are invoices on file from Slark Race Engineering indicating that Mr Baxter commenced restoration of the engine. The car was

Auction archive: Lot number 112
Auction:
Datum:
10 May 2008
Auction house:
Bonhams London
Monte Carlo
Beschreibung:

‘The name of Alta may not have the aura of ERA, Maserati, Bugatti or Alfa Romeo, but nonetheless it holds an important niche in the history of British motor racing and was the result of the endeavours of one man.’ - Denis Jenkinson, Motor Sport. The late Geoffrey Taylor was a small specialist manufacturer with a difference. Where others concocted hybrids from proprietary bits and pieces, he not only designed but also made every part of the Alta sports and competition models, even down to superchargers. The little Alta factory near the Kingston by-pass (only demolished in the early 1960s) was largely put up with his own hands. Alta design features included cast-iron wet liners, twin overhead camshafts with vertical shaft/skew gear drive, hemispherical combustion chambers and Nitralloy steel crankshafts. Light weight and low build were two of Taylor’s objectives, so the frame was under-slung and even the little 1100s wore 13” brake drums. Though blown and un-blown 1,100s, 1500s and 2-litres were catalogued up to the outbreak of WW2, only very few cars were made: a fair estimate is four single-seater racers, six offset single-seater racers and 19 sports types. Post-WW2, engines were supplied to HWM and to Connaught, whose B-Type famously driven to victory by Tony Brooks in the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix was Alta-powered. Taylor’s prototype, registered ‘PK 4053’, was kept by him and used for publicity, development and competitions. ‘PK 4053’ still exists and was sold by Bonhams at Goodwood on 24th June 2005 (Lot 656). The first production Alta - car number ‘11’ - was sold to a Mr Last from Littlehampton in 1931 and was later recorded as ‘completely smashed and written off’. Alta number ‘12’ was delivered to Viscount Curzon, later to become The Rt Hon The Earl Howe CBE, DL, JP, who was patron of the Alta register. Number ‘13’ was an engine supplied to Ron Horton for his Horton Special. Fitted with an Amherst Villiers supercharger, this engine brought Alta its first major competition success when the Horton Special set a class record at Shelsey Walsh in 1932. Three more cars were completed and sold that year including number ‘14’, which we offer here. The third production Alta car, ‘14’ was purchased by a Mr J Ludovic Ford and is the actual car that raced at Le Mans and in the Ards TT in 1932. It is the only complete and original Alta 1,100cc two-seater sports-racer still in existence. There were only another dozen-or-so cars built, but Taylor also completed another four engines. The first eight 1,100cc engines had camshaft drive by skew gears; number ‘14’ is believed to be the only car to still have it, later versions having changed first to spur gears and then to chain drive. This car was specifically commissioned to race at the 1932 Le Mans 24 Hours by Ludovic Ford, who was entered with one N H Baumer as co-driver. Unfortunately, the team’s mechanics put oil instead of grease in the clutch thrust race and the car was forced to retire in the first hour suffering from incurable clutch slip. Crewed by Messrs Ford and Baumer, the Alta competed in the Ards TT in Ulster later in the year, where it crashed and was forced to retire. The engine still bears the RAC stamp given to it at this race. In 1933 the car was sold to a Mr R F Fowell who used it regularly for 25 years, and his correspondence on file confirms this. The Alta next passed to a Mr T C Jackson (in 1958) and thence to a Mr N Harley before being acquired by Keith Eames in 1970. Mr Eames kept the car for the next 27 years. In a letter published in Motor Sport (June 1972 edition) Keith Eames recorded details of it specification, which included an engine block, crankcase and sump in magnesium; aluminium cylinder head; bronze valve seats; KE965 valves; and skew gear camshaft drive. In September 1997, Alta number ‘14’ was purchased by Mr Ian Baxter, and there are invoices on file from Slark Race Engineering indicating that Mr Baxter commenced restoration of the engine. The car was

Auction archive: Lot number 112
Auction:
Datum:
10 May 2008
Auction house:
Bonhams London
Monte Carlo
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