The Ecosse Austin-Healey Sprite crashed at Le Mans by Bill Mckay.
Jaguar could scarcely rewrite a history of two Le Mans wins. Yet by 1957 Sir William Lyons and Lofty England carefully distanced themselves while Murray and Wilkie strenuously covered up the truth. They proclaimed disappointment that Jaguar was withholding discounts and withdrawing the support two Le Mans wins deserved.
David Murray was prescient. He knew there was money in motor racing. What he announced to an astonished NB Hotel was that he was taking a Cooper Monaco to Laguna Seca and Riverside, American tracks of which we had scarcely heard. He was making his way into the Canadian-American Challenge Cup. Can-Am was scaling heights in wealth and prestige of which European sports car teams could scarcely imagine. Roger Penske saw the sense in it too, replacing his Cooper Monaco’s fusty 4-cyinder with a V8 and selling it to Bruce McLaren as the Zerex. They were laying the foundation of a dynasty of racing cars and had Murray only followed his ambition through, Can-Am cars might have been constructed in the cold grey cobbled mews at Merchiston instead of by McLaren in suburban Surbiton.
Ecosse did build one-offs. Its Monza single seater was greeted by an NB Banqueting Hall booming: “I examined my bank book and the Lister Jaguar’s record and specification, while Wilkie Wilkinson began covering scraps of paper with drawings. The recipe was Design by Wilkie. Chassis by Lister. Engine by Jaguar. Money by Murray. I gave my usual growls of despair, expressed the hope that my creditors would understand.” Autosport thought it exciting, the chassis was based on a Lister by Wilkinson, but better engineers were not reassured. It was more Brooklands workshop than creative design. Only the body was ever made in Scotland.
As an insider editor of News from the Mews I could see the rift with Jaguar and puzzled over Lofty England’s encouragement of subsidised E-types, from which Murray was carefully excluded. Encouraged by Graham Gauld, who probably knew more than I did about Murray’s falling star, I took an E-type to the Mews. Everybody wanted to goad Murray into an E-type but, of course, it was already too late. George Williamson, Glasgow camera-shop owner had bought one of the first E-types in Scotland. I promised him lunch with David Murray and drove it into Merchiston Mews,
Murray claimed he had only ever seen one E-type, 77RW works demonstrator that came at the behest presumably of Rossleigh, the Edinburgh distributor that even handled Murray’s C-types. At the sight of E1500, work in the Mews stopped. The Association offices emptied, Murray beamed for photographs, affecting indifference.
News from the Mews was not the place to lament a departure from Jaguar. I had to be positive and hope that racier E-types might be prepared in Merchiston. I wrote optimistically that: “Once the importance of GT racing is recognised and when eventually Ecurie Ecosse adopts it, we may see its first closed car. The most successful GTs, 250 GT Ferrari, DB4GT Aston Martin and the best Porsches all have roofs because although bodywork is not demanded, regulations encourage gains in streamlining. It seems a pity the team is prevented from getting into GT. My drive in an E-Type convinced me this is all the pundits say it is. Handling is superb, steering faultless. The E-Type is as easy to drive and even in the wet completely controllable”. I did, express surprise at the gearbox. Even then, I thought, “unworthy”.