PRESS RELEASE 20th FEBRUARY 2023
Introducing the 1951 RA4 Vanguard Grand Prix Race Car
During the latter half of the 1930s Grand Prix racing was completely dominated by two Racing Teams; one from Mercedes Benz and the other Auto Union. Collectively referred to as “The Silver Arrows”.
Whilst both Teams set new standards for technological developments, only one of them – Auto Union – chose to adopt a radical new approach to Grand Prix car design: positioning the Engine behind the driver.
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After WW2 Grand Prix racing continued, however the concept of the Auto Union was largely forgotten and the norm for GP cars was to remain Front engine / Rear drive until the Coopers arrived in the late 1950s…after which the Auto Union layout became standard.
However, during this early Post WW2 era there were two exceptions to this norm, both of which took their inspiration from Auto Union.
1. In Italy Cisitalia commissioned Dr Porsche (the original Auto Union designer) to design a 1.5L supercharged Grand prix car. Which fundamentally followed the Auto Union concept. 2. In New Zealand 2 ex WW2 Aircraft mechanics (Hec Green / Jack Brewer) developed the RA Vanguard. The design being based on the Auto Union, details of which they found in a declassified British Intelligence Paper that studied the German Racing programmes of the 1930s The difference in Budgets between these 2 Projects may have led to significant difference in their relative execution. However, the basic design concepts do have much in common. i.e.
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RA4 Vanguard
The RA4 Vanguard was the fourth of five innovative single-seaters built by Hec Green and Jack Brewer in Christchurch, New Zealand. RA4 was conceived and constructed between 1949 and 1951.
Due to the lack of raw materials post WW2 the pair came up with an expedient plan to utilise as many ex-WW2 aircraft parts as possible – providing some novel technical solutions for the vehicle dynamics.
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Car History
The RA4 first appeared at the 1951 Lady Wigram International meeting at Christchurch New Zealand.
The car performed well (despite lack of development) at many International and local meetings in NZ from 1951 until 1960 when it was out-classed by the “new” rear-engine Coopers. The RA4 performed well during the 1950s entering the Lady Wigram trophy numerous times, winning the 1952 NZ beach racing championship and the 1951 Class D speed record. Hec Green went on to race an RA Vanguard in the 1961 NZ Lady Wigram grand prix finishing in 7th place racing against the greats of Stirling Moss, John Surtees and Jack Brabham. After laying abandoned for many years the car was eventually rebuilt with support from Jack Brewer in the 1990s changing hands number of times until it was purchased by Ian Jones in 2021. |
Ian, being a PPL pilot, purchased the car due to its aviation heritage and having appreciated its ground breaking design and rarity decided to embark on a complete ground up restoration. Ian engaged Pace Historics owned by Gareth Burnett to carry out the restoration which involved restoring every aspect of the car from the chassis, engine rebuild to panel re fabrications (carried out by Ingham Customs). After many hundreds of hours of work the result is a truly remarkable restoration which the team believe Hec and Jack would be proud of.
Alongside the Auto Union and the Cisitalia the RA4 is without doubt one of the most revolutionary post-war Grand Prix cars still in existence and Ian’s ambition is now for the car to compete in historic classic races which is where it belongs! |
More information can be found on the Vanguard website https://www.vintageinnovation.co.uk/
Contact Emma Keeys via [email protected] for press enquiries