Cunningham C4-R
The Cunningham C4-R was a sports car developed for the Briggs Cunningham racing team in 1952 .
Development history
The C4-R was the successor model to the C2-R , with which Briggs Cunningham started in Le Mans in 1951 . Three chassis were built from the C4-R, two Spyder and a Coupé. The vehicles were powered by a 5.5-liter Chrysler - V8 engine .
Racing history
Of all the racing cars built at Cunningham, the C4-R was the most successful. 12 victories were achieved in 51 race starts; Races ended 26 times with a place on the podium. There were also eight class wins. The racing car type was driven for the first time in 1952 at the SCCA championship run in Bridgehampton. Phil Walters was canceled due to a defective exhaust. The 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans ended Briggs Cunningham and Bill Spear in the fourth position overall and celebrated the victory in the class for racing cars over 5-liter displacement.
John Fitch won the first race in September 1952 at the 200-mile race at Elkhart Lake . Fitch was the driver with the most wins with the C4-R. He celebrated a total of seven successes with this model.
The most important and most significant overall victory was the success of Fitch and Walters in the Sebring 12-hour race in 1953 , the first sports car world championship run in motorsport history. It is also worth mentioning the third final places in the 1953 12-hour race in Reims and the 24-hour race in Le Mans the following year .