BACK ON TRACK

I HAVE ALWAYS MAINTAINED that you can work out whether a particular car is a good or bad one in just two laps of the track at Bicester. The time-worn surface will soon elicit any knocks or rattles from the suspension, while if a vehicle is a bit ‘loose’ you’ll find out in the corners – because unless it’s well set up, the changes and undulations in surfaces will move the car around a lot.

What an honour, then, to be able to try out one of the greatest British sports machines of the 1950s on this hallowed Oxfordshire ground. Considered the most attractive of the post-war Frazer Nash models, the Fast Tourer – or the Mille Miglia, as it became known after the marque’s success in the 1950 Italian 1000-mile race – tended to be equipped for road touring, although most Frazer Nash owners viewed them at the time as a dual-purpose road and track car. Only 11 were built between 1949 and 1953.

Chassis no. 421/11/166 was one of two so-called ‘wide-bodied’ Mille

Miglias, with the spare wheel moved from the front wing to inside the boot. This gave much more space in the cockpit, and made the car a far more comfortable tourer.

Completed in July 1952 and registered YMC 81, the Frazer Nash was painted in Bristol Maroon, with brown leather upholstery and silver bolt-on wheels. It was also finished with the short-style air scoop on the bonnet. The first owner was a Mr Orr of Manchester, who bought it directly from maker AFN in July 1952 and sold it back to the company in May 1953.

AFN then sold it the following month to Jack Broadhead of Macclesfield. Broadhead entered a number of events, often with the car piloted by Peter Reece. These included the Goodwood Nine Hours in August that year, followed by the London Rally in September, the RAC Rally in March 1954, the British Empire Trophy in April, and finally the over-1500cc race at Silverstone in July. Centre-lock wire wheels were fitted before the Silverstone event, and the air scoop was lengthened.

The Frazer Nash Car Club has detailed records of 421/11/166’s ownership. AW Wells jointly kept it with John Swift from 1958-1961, G Lowe of Wolverhampton had it in 1965, and Tony Mitchell advertised it in 1966. CW Thompson of York was the owner by 1980, John Lamb in 1984, before Frank Sytner bought the Mille Miglia in 1985. He sold it (now painted green) to Cedric Brierley in December 1987, before it left the UK – probably for the first time – to live in Germany with Hartmut Gagel in 1993.

In turn, Gagel sold it to fellow countryman Ernst Zahnweh in 1995, who passed it to another German enthusiast in April 2003 via the Techno-Classica Essen auction. The Mille Miglia remained in Germany being actively campaigned until the summer of last year, and it is now repatriated in the UK, and back on its original registration number.

The original engine is recorded as having been fitted to a Bristol by the early 1960s, with the Mille Miglia currently powered by a period Bristol 100D six-cylinder motor, built by TT Workshops. Interestingly, the current engine number of 100D 716 correlates to an AC Ace Bristol, chassis no. BE 369, that reportedly competed in the 1958 RAC Rally. So both car and engine did the event, albeit four years apart.

OPPOSITE Having given up its original engine by the early 1960s, the Mille Miglia now runs a period Bristol 100D six-cylinder built by TT Workshops. Nods to the Frazer Nash’s competition past and present are apparent throughout.

Every Frazer Nash model has its own unique characteristics, but the one thing that binds them together is that they’re all drivers’ cars. The difference between the Mille Miglia and – say – a Le Mans Rep is that the Mille Miglia is far more civilised on the road. The Le Mans Rep is a Grand Prix car for the road, a race machine you can drive to events in. Whereas the Mille Miglia is a superb road car, in which you can compete if you wish. A subtle, but important, difference.

Stepping inside, you slip deep into the cockpit. The seats are ‘half’ buckets, not out-and-out racing seats, but they are still designed to hold the driver firm. The pedal layout is clearly competition derived, because they’re perfectly positioned for heeltoeing. Press the starter button, and the six-cylinder Bristol engine rasps into life; a slight adjustment on the short-throw gearlever and you’re in first, and then off.

The Mille Miglia is a very easy 1950s sports car to drive – it’s direct, it’s light on the steering and it talks to you all the time. Up through the gears, and it doesn’t feel especially exciting if you are simply going through the motions. Unlike a Jaguar XK engine, you really have to rev a Bristol motor to get the best out of it. But when you do – it sings.

This is such a fabulous-handling car – I would say it’s the perfect sweet spot between an XK120 and a later, lighter Lotus Elite in terms of road handling. It inspires confidence, and it’s an easy machine to whistle along in at a fair lick of speed.

My favourite route around the track at Bicester is anticlockwise, because there’s more speed through the corners. So starting at the paddock, it’s straight into the long bottom curve, and then left onto the main straight. The Frazer Nash will easily rev through to the top of second and into third.

The left at the end is very tight, coming back on itself, so heel-and-toe down to second again, and then back on the power. Aim straight for the hangar, and although there’s a kink in the track, this little sports car just drifts beautifully straight past it. Then the tight left, right flick, a little blast on the short straight down towards the bottom curve, keeping to the right to get as much track as possible for going into the horseshoe at the end.

Still in second, the Frazer Nash is very forgiving – which means you can be a hooligan... Set the nose in early, bring the rear round on the throttle in one big slide – the car makes this terrible racer look heroic.

The Frazer Nash marque is often forgotten by all but those who have a deep understanding of British automotive history. It was hugely successful in period considering the low production numbers, and those who own them are fanatical about the name – and rightly so. Running even the mighty Jaguar C-type close, the Mille Miglia is up there with the great British sports cars of the 1950s.

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