Bristol 450S

This car was alongside several other Bristol and Bristol-engined cars at the Bristol Owners' Club's area at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's a 1955 Bristol 450S, the last remaining example of the Bristol cars that competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1953, 1954 and 1955. The original Bristol 450S was constructed around the chassis of the 1952 ERA G-Type and was powered by a straight-6 Bristol 1,971cc engine. Three body styles were used, two different coupe versions in the first two years and the open version as seen above in 1955. Two cars were entered in the 1953 race but neither finished, but in each of the following two years a three-car team finished in 7th, 8th and 9th places overall and in the first three places in the 2-litre class. After the dreadful accident in the 1955 race Bristol withdrew from racing and dismantled all but one of the cars, the one seen above, that was kept by Tony Crook for 30 years before passing to Simon Draper who owned the car when it appeared at this Silverstone meeting.

On 2 October 2013 I showed photographs I took of the car when it competed at the Coys meeting at Silverstone in 1993 where it was driven by Stephen Archer.