1964 Attila Mk 3
Chassis # 02

One of just seven Attila racing cars built and the only one currently competing anywhere in the world.

The car was designed in 1964 by Val Dare-Bryan - who also worked as a freelance race car designer alongside Colin Chapman on some of the early Lotus Grand Prix cars - and built in Weybridge, Surrey by Attila Engineering, set up by Val Dare-Bryan and British Saloon Car champion, Roy Pierpoint.

Several aspects of the Attila's design were groundbreaking in its time. The front suspension has inboard-mounted shock absorbers operated by rocker arms - it was intended also to have inboard-mounted front brakes, but they were never installed. The relatively blunt shape of the nose was set after wind tunnel tests - one of the first designs to be tunnel tested. The rear spoiler was also one of the first to be fitted to a race car.

Originally powered by a 5.4 litre mid-mounted Chevrolet engine, it is currently fitted with a Tim Adams- built 5.0 engine developing approx 440 bhp - nearly twice the power output of these engines in the mid-sixties - and driven via a four-speed Hewland gearbox, the car weighs approx 850 kilos with fuel and driver.

Chassis #02 was debuted at the BRSCC Brands Hatch 1964 Boxing Day meeting driven by Attila works driver, Tony Lanfranchi and afterwards driven for the remainder of the 1965-66 seasons by Pat Hovenden as part of the Redstone Racing Equipe. Chassis #02 continued to race regularly thorough the 1970s, competing amongst other events, in the 1975 Speed Merchants Classic Car Championship.

In its early years, the short wheelbase and relatively complex suspension caught out some owners who failed to understand how to get the best out of the design. However, since 2004 chassis # 02 has been expertly prepared by Ian Jones of Racing Fabrications, with extensive set-up input from historic racer Mark Hales to help make the car safe, predictable and reliable to drive.

The car has only now begun to realise its full potential and during the last few seasons has become a front-running entry at Goodwood Revival meetings, HSCC and Masters Sports Racing Series, in which it won at Donington in 2007.

Already quicker than most GT40's and even the slower T70 spiders, there is still more to come - the engine can be legally re-configured into a 5.4 litre, adding circa 15% to its currently flexibly-delivered 440 bhp, yet still remaining probably the most cost-effective race proven V-8 currently competing in the most prestigious of the pre-66 series.

Chassis #02 is now offered for sale in superb order and comes with a fully documented and continuous history file from new. Having recently undergone a winter re-fresh at Racing Fabrications, #02 also comes complete with FIA HTP, spare body moulds, jigs for the uprights, alternative top gear ratios and running spares for the season ahead. An opportunity to acquire a highly competitive and unique sports racing car at a relatively modest cost.

Price £ POA