<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Assigned to drive the first car on the Isle of Man was Kenelm Lee Guinness. He proved to be as fast as the earlier three-litre, eight cylinder Sunbeams that were actually entered in the race. One of those 'TT Sunbeams' won the race in the hands of Jean Chassagne and Robert Laly. Impressed by the pace displayed against larger engined machinery, Coatalen decided to send all four of the new Sunbeam Grand Prix cars to Strasbourg for the French Grand Prix. Guinness and Chassagne were joined for the occasion by Henry de Hane Segrave.
Practice went far from easy for the Sunbeam team; the cars struggled to keep up with the new six-cylinder Fiats and the example driven by Segrave suffered a cracked crankcase. That was the result of an excessive amount of hot water was poured over the hot engine block, which was called in after a carburetor fire. Fortunately the team had brought all four cars, so Segrave could start the race in the spare. To bridge the gap with the Fiats, slightly shorter gears were fitted. This in turn caused the engines to over-rev during the race, resulting in cracked inlet-valves on all three engines. In a real race of attrition the sole surviving Fiat of Felice Navarro finished a whole hour ahead of the second placed Bugatti.
The four Grand Prix cars were repaired back in Wolverhampton and subsequently sold to privateers. Coatalen had acquired the services of former Fiat engineers Vincenzo Bertarione and Walter Becchia, who built a green version of the six-cylinder Fiat for the 1923 season. This time round Sunbeam was successful and won the French Grand Prix. Amazingly all four of the 1922 Sunbeam Grand Prix cars survive to this day, although there is ongoing discussion about exactly which car was driven by whom in period. Although not particularly successful, the 1922 version is considered the best looking of the Sunbeam Grand Prix cars. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Assigned to drive the first car on the Isle of Man was Kenelm Lee Guinness. He proved to be as fast as the earlier three-litre, eight cylinder Sunbeams that were actually entered in the race. One of those 'TT Sunbeams' won the race in the hands of Jean Chassagne and Robert Laly. Impressed by the pace displayed against larger engined machinery, Coatalen decided to send all four of the new Sunbeam Grand Prix cars to Strasbourg for the French Grand Prix. Guinness and Chassagne were joined for the occasion by Henry de Hane Segrave.