Deep Sanderson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deep Sanderson was a British racing and sports car manufacturer that produced small series sports coupés based on BMC in the early 1960s .

Beginnings

With success in motorsport as a works driver for the Morgan Motor Company , the designer and racing driver Chris Lawrence turned to his own projects in the early 1960s. On the basis of the Mini , he developed a small coupé in which the subframe of the BMC small car including the engine-gearbox unit was installed in the rear, which resulted in a mid-engine sports car with little effort.

The front wheels received a suspension that Lawrence had patented as "Lawrence Link Suspension". When his small business got into financial difficulties after 1963, Lawrence sold the patent to Rover .

vehicles

The first vehicles Deep Sanderson built were the Deep Sanderson 101 and 202, both Formula Junior racing cars.

Deep Sanderson 301

Deep Sanderson 301 Coupe

The Deep Sanderson 301 had a central tube chassis and a very thin laminated GRP body. The entire rear , almost half of the vehicle, could be folded up for better access to the engine. An engine of the Mini with increased power drove the car. All vehicles had the "Lawrence Link Suspension" at the front, the adjustment of which was very laborious and, above all, time-consuming.

A total of 29 vehicles were manufactured by JA Pearce Engineering from 1963 or sold as a kit.

Deep Sanderson 302

This version remained a one-off. By cutting a 301 Coupé in the middle and lengthening it by a few centimeters, Lawrence could install engines lengthways, initially a Ford Cortina 119E engine (Le Mans 1968), or a 3-liter engine developed by Ted Martin for Formula 1 Eight-cylinder engine (Spa 1000 km 1968, Nürburgring 1000 km 1968), the transmission was the proven Hewland FT 200 from formula racing.

Deep Sanderson "Twinny"

In 1963 Lawrence built a formula car, the "Twinny" with four-wheel drive, but even more unusual were two 1071 cc Downton engines, each driving one axle. Problems with the synchronization were a constant symptom of competitions.

Le Mans

Lawrence Tune Engineering built two coupes for use in the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans (only one eventually took part), powered by 997 cc engines that Downton prepared. In the lead in the 1-liter class, Lawrence / Spedding were disqualified by the AOC before the end of the race because the average speed was too low on the night when technical problems arose.

In 1964 , Lawrence tried again with two 301 coupes, now with 1300 cc Downton engines. One of the Deep Sandersons was destroyed in an accident during training, the second with Lawrence / Spice at the wheel gave up the race in the third hour with a defect in the cylinder head gasket.

The Type 302 was last used in Le Mans in 1968 , but this time too the team was unsuccessful due to a disqualification, as the driver, looking for a broken off drive belt of the fuel injection pump, was more than 100 meters away from the vehicle would have.

swell

Web links