In 1961, celebrated American racer Dan Gurney shipped his own Chevrolet Impala SS to the UK to beat the Jaguars in the British Saloon Car Championship (CBS). His dominance in the Silver stone race led to ruffled feathers and a rumored ban. The car returns to the UK for the first time since 1961 at this year’s Good wood Revival.
“I will, in time,” the late Gurney wrote in Auto sport, “get over the fact that I spent a lot of time and money in bringing the Impala to Great Britain, but I will not readily forget the suspicion that there may have been some behind-the-scenes sabotage to prevent the Chevrolet from running at Silver stone.”
The great American racer Gurney didn’t pull any punches, aimed at the British Jaguar teams, after he mysteriously couldn’t enter his Chevrolet Impala SS for a second time in the 1961 British Saloon Car Championship. Asked many years later why he didn’t protest more, he replied simply, “Why fight City Hall?”
At the start of that year, Gurney thought he could beat the Jaguars in the BSCC with a standard Impala SS. Yes, it was a 1.6-tonne brute, but it had 360 bhp and would handle well with a little fettering. He duly took delivery of one of the very first cars off the production line in February, and started making preparations.
He added cooling to the front brakes, a Corvette anti-roll bar and had the engine checked over. Everything else remained the same: bench seats, carpets and working radio.
Having arrived at Silver stone for the 13th International Trophy Meeting on May 6 he went seventh fastest in opening practice against the likes of Graham Hill, Roy Salvador, Mike Parker and Bruce Clarence. Come the second practice, he was nearly two seconds a lap faster than everyone. Quiet chats between the Jaguar drivers about this suspicious American import had no doubt started…
He went on to lead every lap of the race, bar the last one, after his left-rear wheel broke. Lofty England – the Jaguar team manager – breathed a sigh of relief, but Gurney immediately ordered larger NASCAR wheels for the next round at Silver stone, the Empire Trophy.
Fast-forward a couple of months and his papers had mysteriously “gone missing”. His thinking was that the Jaguar teams had clubbed together and complained about his car. Furious, he immediately sold it to a friend of his, who shipped it to Australia where it remained until only recently.
Alex Gurney, Dan’s son, says: “My dad beamed every time he mentioned the Impala. That whole adventure of going to Silverstone was one of his favourite stories and he told it over and over again.
“It meant so much to him to go and challenge the Jags and when he spoke of the wheel problem on the last lap, even 50 years later, it bothered him as if it was yesterday. He was still so proud to have given it a go.”
The car was bought earlier this year by Ed Foster, the deputy head of motorsport content at Goodwood, who sent it to Jordan Racing Team (JRT) to return it to the exact specification Dan Gurney raced it in.
Foster says: “It’s such an amazing thing to own because of its unique, and quite bizarre, history. Dan is a hero to so many people in motorsport and it’s a real honour to own something that meant so much to him.
“I may try and race it one day, but the last thing I want to do is lose its originality – there’s something pretty special about sitting in it, not being able to reach anything such is its size, and think that Dan sat in that exact same seat.
“JRT has been amazing throughout, dealing with irritating questions from me: Do you really think we shouldn’t upgrade the wheel nuts?! To be fair, they are tiny. Motel has also been really supportive and it’ll be something special when it’s first fired up.”
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