All, I have been helping Tim Isles in trying to fnd history on the Ace Bristol campaigned in Southern California by Rene Pelladini. After its racing career it seems to have vanished and so Tim (with some input from myself) has penned the information below in hopes that someone may know something about the car which was named Beware1.
There is an Ace-Bristol that has defied attempts to identify it so far. Not a Sebring car or one with other international history, but nonetheless during its short time in the limelight on the West Coast (1959 and 1960) it pretty much cleaned up the 2 litre production class and became very much the car to beat. In addition, in its second season of racing, it was driven by arguably the most capable driver ever to race an Ace. This was Ron Bucknum, who went on to race Formula 1 cars for Honda.
The car was owned by Rene Pellandini, a successful entrepreneur who included a Morgan dealership in his portfolio. Using the driving talents of Lew Spencer and the mechanical expertise of the Brun brothers (Claude and Pierre), Team Pellandini Morgans (called ‘Baby Doll’ I, II and III) always gave a very good account of themselves on the race track.
In 1958 Rene Pellandini decided to add the AC marque to his British car dealership ‘World Wide Imports’ (I assume in doing so he took over West Coast AC distribution from Michell and Pauli?). The story goes that he ordered a race prepared Ace from the factory, but ran out of patience waiting for it to arrive and so bought a well used 1957 example (one contemporary report has it down as having covered 56,000 miles) from a serviceman returning from Europe.
This car was then meticulously race prepared by the Pellandini workshop (a third mechanic, Stu Haggard, had joined the team by this stage) and it emerged in time to contest the 1959 California Sports Car Club (CSCC) series, and would run under SCCA rules. This meant the Ace would have been in the ‘E’ production class. The car was placed in the capable hands of Lew Spencer and Barbara Windhorst. A glance at the Racing Sports Car website here:
http://www.racingsportscars.com/chassis/Ace-Pellandini%23.html documents 24 races and only one DNF during the 1959 and 1960 racing seasons - a very good pointer to the high standard of the car’s preparation. In addition it should be noted that not only did the car usually win its class, it often placed 1st overall, beating much larger capacity cars.
In early 1960 Ronnie Bucknum took over the driving duties from Lew Spencer; Lew had decided to try his hand as a professional racing driver having attracted some sponsorship. Incidentally for this year the AC Ace-Bristol was elevated to
the ‘D’ production class nationally as it had proved unbeatable during 1957 – 1959 National SCCA seasons.
A quick aside here regarding the racing situation in Southern California at this time. In Southern California the CSCC was king, but as the national SCCA series grew in popularity it moved in on the CSCC and they became direct competitors, with drivers contesting both series. This resulted in something of a feud breaking out between them during the years of 1959 and 1960 with drivers being blackballed from either the SCCA or CSCC races if they competed in the other organizations races. This could be the reason why the successes of both Spencer and Bucknum in the Ace are not reflected in the national SCCA results, but there were also other issues at work. In addition to the CSCC and SCCA feud that had developed, there were internal conflicts within the SCCA. The So Cal Chapter and the National SCCA were in conflict due to the SoCal Chapter reportedly not following the SCCA defined classes and point structures. This led to the national SCCA not accepting some of the race results posted by the SoCal SCCA, and the winning drivers not receiving national points. The internal conflicts within the SCCA and the feud between the national SCCA and CSCC continued until late '61 when the national SCCA organization revoked the charter of the SoCal SCCA chapter. In place of the SoCal SCCA Chapter, the national SCCA appointed the CSCC as the SoCal SCCA chapter and called it the California Sports Car Club of the SCCA. From this point all was well.
It appears that the car was probably a victim of its own success, and whether the car was protested by another driver or just a random check was made to inspect the engine is not known. It is a fact that ‘Beware 1’ was superbly prepared and driven, and it was certainly the fastest Ace-Bristol in California - perhaps not surprisingly this rankled with drivers of larger machinery, who found themselves beaten to the flag on a regular basis.
The rules for 1960 SCCA season remained strict, and very few modifications were allowed. Choices could be made over the type of tyre and shock absorber, but otherwise cars had to be ‘showroom stock’. This meant that cars could be meticulously prepared – ‘blue printed’- within the original factory specifications, but no further.
It is understood that when the car’s cylinder head was lifted 9.5:1 pistons were found to be fitted, plus the cylinder head had been lightly skimmed. The pistons were deemed ineligible, and the bans mentioned earlier were imposed.
This ‘ineligibility’ was protested, and a letter from AC cars was obtained stating that a 9.5:1 compression ratio was a factory option, but this was to no avail.
The reason for the ban merits closer examination. My understanding of Bristol 100D engines in either D (engines made from # 500 – 799), D2 (engines made from #800 – end of production) and D2 Stage 2 is that they are all identical save for the compression ratio. In the case of the 100D this was 8.5:1, and as better fuel became available the CR on the 100D2 was standardised at 9:1. My understanding of the ‘Stage 2’ engine is that it retained the original 9.1 pistons but the head was given a light skim to increase the CR. So just what rule the car fell foul of is not fully clear to me, but it appears the 9.5:1 CR Bristol engine was not sanctioned by the So Cal Club, and hence the ban.
The car appeared once more in 1960, at Pomona in November, and so it is assumed that the bans were announced soon after this event. The car was apparently sold on soon afterwards (early 1961) when it became clear that further protest was pointless. Others before me have spoken with Lew Spencer who confirms this sale in early 1961. Lew thinks (but cannot be sure) that the car may have been sold to Bob Cole, for it was Bob Cole who took delivery of the race-prepared Ace that Rene Pellandini originally ordered in 1958 but could not wait for. Incidentally the number of this car is not known either, and rather interestingly a search for Bob Cole on the RSC website reveals him to have been an active driver over a period of 10 years in California but there is no mention of him ever having driven an Ace. Can anyone add anything here?
But back to ‘Beware 1’; the trail certainly goes cold from the moment the car was sold in 1961.
Interestingly, and despite the ban it is recorded that Rene Pellandini prepared another Morgan (Baby Doll IV) for the 1961 season, to be driven by a returning Lew Spencer. But in this same year Rene was to sell the Morgan side of his business, and he moved to Europe for a time.
So is ‘Beware 1’ still around and if so is it possible to identify it?
There are a number of clues. The car is believed to be a 1957 model – certainly from pictures it can be seen that it is a ‘short boot’. The car was red with a black interior when bought, and remained with this colour combination when being campaigned in 1959 and 1960. It was fitted with a distinctive roll over hoop that was rather ‘shallow’ in its protrusion out of the car but was made of thick diameter tube. The car used AC’s small ‘wrap round’ single screen for the driver. The driver’s mirror in the centre of the scuttle was hooded. The car used a Nardi style woodrim steering wheel. The filler cap was of the ‘Monza’ type.
The optional oil pressure gauge was fitted, as was the factory oil cooler. The optional electric fuel pump was fitted in the boot. And as befits its time in Europe, it was fitted with both the optional heater, together with the windscreen de-misters.
In closing it’s worth noting that this car was the subject of several contemporary articles during its racing seasons, including – ‘The Leading Ace’, Sports Car Graphic (March-April 1960); ‘Competition Tuning; AC Bristol’, Car and Driver (April 1961 - I can only assume this article was written the year before, for it make no mention of the ban); ‘You Get A Lot To Like In An AC Bristol’, California Sports Car Club Notes (May 1960).
Ironically all the articles mention the 9.5:1 CR. Equally ironically, for the 1961 season the Ace was once more raised a class in the SCCA series (to ‘C’ production) due to its all conquering ways, but for this year the rules on tuning were much more open. Pierre Mion still managed to win the class in his Ace-Bristol, but it would be the last time an Ace was seriously campaigned in the series.
This is my understanding of events, but I appreciate it leaves a number of unanswered questions. Can anyone add anything?
