Question
Ecurie Ecosse has been an important part of my Motor Sport life since the heady days of Le Mans in 1956/1957; schoolboy memories and a significant influence in my interest in long distance racing, particularly at Le Mans and Spa Francorchamps, arguably the best circuits in the world.
750 Scotland gave me experience in Motor Sport at the most basic level in the late 60's/early 70's; lots of fun and learning just what a car can do to you if you push it too far!!
However my lasting memory is of the very pretty, blue, single seater, Ecosse Imp racing at Ingliston. I dont know who drove the car.
I was very surprised to see a similar, or the same car taking part in a sprint meeting at Alford about 2 ago,
and subsequently to see another Ecosse Imp in Moray Motor Museum in Elgin, this time in a bronze colour, about a year ago.
I believe that these are the only two examples of this lovely car, but I would appreciate if you could let me have more information.
Christopher Gillan
Answer:
Dear Christopher
Thank you for your question about the Ecosse Imps and I can assure you both cars are genuine and are the only two Ecosse-Imps that were built.The car you saw at Alford was probably the car owned by Vernon Williamson in Edinburgh.
The project started over the winter of 1965/66 when the decision had been made to sell the Ecosse-Buick and Ecosse-Ford cars. David Murray had already seen the success of the Ecosse Climax hybrid at Ingliston and decided to build two cars that would conform to the 1 litre Formula 3 class that existed at the time.At the time there was great enthusiasm in Scotland for the Hillman Imp as it was built at the Linwood factory near Paisley and he also liked the lightweight Imp engine. He asked Stan Sproat to design two cars. The financial backing for this came from Major Thomson. An invoice for around £1300 was sent to Major Thomson to cover the cost of the first car that was given the chassis number EC-1-66.
The plan was that Bill Stein would drive the car for the first time at the July race meeting at Ingliston but fate intervened. First of all there was a delay in finishing the gearbox which meant they missed the July date and secondly Bill Stein was involved in a horrendous accident at Brands Hatch with the Tojeiro-Ford spyder which saw him retire from motor racing.
With the first Ecosse-Imp now completed David Murray asked Graham Birrell to test the car at Ingliston and as a result was asked to give the car its debut race at Ingliston in August 1966 as Graham Birrell found the cockpit a tight squeeze. He did, however, share the same Ecosse-Imp with Stein at the October Ingliston where Birrell managed to lap the circuit quicker than the 2.5 litre Ecosse-Climax had done.
The second Ecosse-Climax was completed later that month with a wider cockpit and the pedal box eight inches further forward which made it more comfortable for Graham Birrell. he car had also been fitted with fuel injection. However, when both cars ran for the first time at the April Ingliston it was Bill Dryden who drove the new one and Graham Birrell squeezed himself into the first one. However both cars had rear suspension trouble.
During the 1967 season David Murray took the opportunity to try out one or two young Scottish drivers in one of the Ecosse-Imps including Edward Labinjoh and Gerry Birrell.
In 1968 Ecurie Ecosse was in turmoul, David Murray had departed for the Canary Islands leaving the team in the hands of the Ecurie Ecosse Association. Major Thomson generously gave the two Ecosse-Imps to the team and they ran in various events during the year even venturing to Cadwell Park to run in a proper Formula 3 race but that was the end of their role with Ecurie Ecosse.
The cars were sold privately and Robert Thompson in Edinburgh raced one successfully. By now they looked slightly different from what had originally been and through the years various owners have changed this and that but the cars could never truly compete with regular Formula 3 Lotus' or Brabhams and usually ended up on the hill climb circuit.
However, today both cars are still around, one in Tom McWhirter's motor museum and the other occasionally appearing in the hands of Vernon Williamson.
Graham Gauld
27/04/2009
