Falcon sports racer on BaT

This thing gives me the willies-what is the opinion of this group?

https://bringatraile...ks-sportsracer/

This is from the book Racing Car Design and Development by Len Terry with Alan Baker:
 

By 1957 technical illustration was paling rapidly as a livelihood, so Len moved into commerce by joining Falcon Shells as sales manager. At that time Falcon were one of the leading suppliers of glass-fibre-reinforced plastic bodies for 'special' builders, and the Terry task comprised nearly as much advisory work as selling. After about three months, though, he found himself increasingly at variance with the man at the top, and since this discovery coincided with a vacancy at the Lotus establishment, then still at Hornsey in North London, Terry took the next big step forward.

This is corroborated by Mike Lawrence in this earlier thread on Terry:
 

Len Terry's last job was as designer for a company called Fleur de Lys based in Newark. Fleur de Lys made retro-style vans on a Ford Transit base. Len designed a sports car for the company which did not see production. All in all it was not a happy partnership.

Len said od his relationship with Colin Chapman, "We didn't like each other, but we respected each other and we made a great team." There were times, as Doug Nye has pointed out, when Chapman over-ruled Len, hence the Lotus 17 and 30.

Len says that they worked well together because, he had his feet firmly on the ground while Colin sometimes had his head in the clouds.

Len did some of the early cutaway drawings for 'Autosport' and got to know Chapman through the meeting of the 750 MC. He had raced his own Terrier Mk 1, until he wrote it off in a big accident in 1958. At the time he was working for Falcon Shells advising customers on how to build their Ford specials. His significance is that he became the first full-time Lotus designer under Chapman who sacked him when Brian Hart in the Terrier Mk2 kept beating Lotus in the 1172 Championship. Len thus became one of the first British freelance designers which explains why Sid Greene was able to hire him to design the Gilby 1100cc sports racer and the two Gilby F1 cars.

There's an earlier thread on Falcon:

Falcon 1500

where it's stated that at one time Falcon were offering three different chassis to go with their bodyshells, including one based on one of Len's Terriers, so the claims made by the seller in the BaT ad may not be entirely without foundation.

Thanks Tim,  I learned something yet again on this forum...

SUNBAC Silverstone, 3 September 1960

First car race was a six-lap scratch race

for sports cars up to 1,200 c.c., which

was dominated throughout by Mayne's

pretty Falcon-Ford, the twin head-fairing

car which went so well in the Six Hours

relay race not long ago. The car shared

the front row of the grid with Sim's

Yimkin-B.M.C., Michael Henderson's

Seven "A" and H. Davies's similar car,

and shot into the lead right from the

word go, to hold first place throughout

the race from Sim's Yimkin. A fight for

third spot took place between Hender-

son and Wiggins, but Henderson stayed

in front for the whole distance. The

leading pair pulled out a tremendous

lead, however, and Mayne finally crossed

the line with a margin of five seconds

over Sim, while the latter led Henderson

home by nearly 20 seconds.

Photo caption:

TYPICAL of Club Silverstone—start of

the scratch race for sports cars under

1,200 c.c. (23) M. D. Mayne (Falcon-

Ford), the eventual winner, and next to

him Mike Henderson (Lotus) who took

third spot.

 

Registration: 807 IVX

 

Six-lap scratch race, sports cars under 1,200 c.c.:

1. M. D. O. Mayne (#23 Falcon-Ford), 71.97 m.p.h.;

2. A. J. D. Sim (Yimkin IV-B.M.C.);

3. Mike Henderson (#18 Lotus 7A).

 

Autosport, 16 September 1960, Page 410

 

The Falcon, driven by Mayne, also appeared at Silverstone club circuit, Saturday 24 September 1960, North Staffs Motor Club.

Motor Sport, November 1960, Page 898.

 

See also for some Falcon history: Motor Sport, April 1961, Pages 285, 289.

 

Harry Buckley, #157 at the Cumberland races, 14 May 1961, was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Cumberland News (Cumberland, Maryland) Saturday 13 May 1961, Page 12.

 

More Falcon:

 

Mallory Park, short circuit, 18 October 1964, B.R.S.C.C.

Results:— Grand Touring Cars (ten laps)—up to 2,500c.c.: 1. C. Meek (Ginetta Ford), 7 min 23.8sec (81.41 m.p.h.) 2. I. Thacker (TVR Ford) 3. M. Hawkeswood  (Falcon M.G.). Fastest lap: Meek (82.95). Over 2500c.c. Viscount Fielding (Ferrari GTO) 7:36.4 (78.98 m.p.h.) 2. W. Pearce (Jaguar E.); 3. B Classick (Daimler). Fastest lap: Fielding (82.57).

 

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 01 May 2021 - 04:55.

Silverstone Six-Hour Relay Race, 13 August 1960, 750 M.C.

"Running now for the London 1172

was the interesting 105E-engined Falcon

of C. Bond-Smith-an attractive-looking

machine with its Mille Miglia-style twin

head-fairings. This car in fact made

over half the running for its team and,

but for running short of petrol, would

undoubtedly have seen the team well-

placed at the end of the race.

This petrol point, incidentally, is worth

a digression at this point, for it is by

no means uncommon to find supplies

running short at Silverstone. In this par-

ticular case the organizers did what they

could to relieve the situation, but here

was at least one team which was

seriously handicapped by the lack of

fuel."

Autosport, 19 August, 1960

(There is a picture of the car on Page 264.)

 

RGDS RLT

Photo caption from the Racing Car Show 1962:

This is the Falcon Competition Mark III which has a fully triangulated space frame by Terrier and 1,100 c.c. Coventry Climax engine. 

Autocar, 5 January 1962, Page 5

 

So Falcon were still stressing the Terrier connection up into 1962.

 

RGDS RLT