Sir Henry's Sunbeam

The answer to the query as to the type of Sunbeam given to Sir Henry Segrave after his victory in the 1923 French GP at Tours has been provided by Robert Gates, owner of a 1904 10/12 and a fine 1921 24/60 sports Sunbeam, who says that many years ago Frank Bill of the Sunbeam Experimental Department told him it had one of the rare single-ohc 16-valve Type OV 3-litre engines which the company brought out in 1922 to ginger up the push-rod ohv 16/40hp 3-litre and 24/60hp 46-litre Sunbeam models. Mr Gates points out that the Segrave car had an engine undershield, suggesting an open flywheel; had the car been a sports 20/60 it would have had an enclosed flywheel with its unit gearbox. Frank Bill said that the OV engines, being an interim move to fill in before the splendid twin-cam 3-litre was available, were never fully developed. The OV power units tended to run hot and were noisy, with a distinct crankshaft vibration.

On the subject of the purple colour of the winning Sunbeam in the 1914 loM TT, which Tom Moore has now repainted black, Mr Gates was told that it was never the publicised colour, a deep plum like that used for Lord Rothschild’s railway coaches on his private line to Waddesdon manor. Apparently the Roman ‘Imperial Purple’ was in fact a deep crimson, as still worn by Catholic Cardinals today. But in the 17th to 19th centuries blue was added, to form what we term purple. This is how Coatalen painted the 1914 TT Sunbeam, perhaps because he knew it was popular for Edwardian carriages. Thus we learn from a wider horizon of knowledge than just about motor-racing…