TOMMY SOPWITH’S EQUIPE ENDEAVOUR  SPHINX
an article by Leigh Trevail

In the early 1960s one of the top racing teams was Equipe Endeavour. This was headed by Tommy Sopwith who fielded both Jaguar E Types and MK 2 Saloons as well as an Aston Martin. In fact it was this team that gave the E type its maiden race which it won with Graham Hill at the wheel, that was at Oulton Park in April 1961. Whilst this is well documented what is less known is that the first car to race under this banner was called the Sphinx and Armstrong Siddeley powered.

In 1953 Tommy Sopwith (whose father aviation pioneer Sir Thomas was on the Armstrong Siddeley Board of Directors) built himself a Siddeley powered racing sports car. Although there was no official factory backing the 21 year old Post Graduate Apprentice knew what he wanted and was not deterred by their apathy. Some parts had to be  specially made on the quiet at the Parkside works whilst others (to quote Tommy) fell of the back of a lorry. The special was based on an Allard chassis for no other reason than it was cheap, back axle and  brakes were also standard JR Allard. The cast iron engine block was from the then current Armstrong Siddeley 346 Sapphire which as the title suggests was a 3.4 litre straight six. A strengthened crank and high lift cam were machined and a special aluminium head was cast which accepted three twin choked Weber carburettors . It is said that the engine developed 227bhp on 100 octane fuel running a 9.5:1 compression ratio, six large pipes carried the exhaust from the engine. Like the Connaughts and earlier E types the Sphinx used a Wilson  Pre-Select gearbox, although this carried a weight penalty over a standard box it gave quick smooth changes. The car ran on 16 in. knock off wires with Dunlop racing tyres. The body which was built in Coventry by Abbey panels had a hint of Ferrari Testa Rossa and Aston Martin DB3S about it, whilst it was not the most handsome of cars it certainly was not the ugliest and was always well presented in it’s dark blue livery. 

The Sphinx made its racing debut at Goodwood on March  27, 1954, Tommy did not keep accurate records of his races but surprisingly two of the best documented were at one of the country’s least known  circuits. Between 1952 and 1955 racing took place at a redundant WW2 airfield at Davidstow in Cornwall. In wartime the airbase was bedevilled by bad weather and in later years the circuit suffered the same fate. Whit Monday in June 1954 witnessed Tommy win his heat in the Unlimited Sports Car Class, unfortunately  the final had to be cancelled. This was not due to the weather but because racer Horace Gould  decided to leave early, his transporter which was a converted bus took a wrong turn and demolished the footbridge over the track. Thankfully nobody was hurt. The Sphinx had it’s second outing in Cornwall on the August Bank Holiday Monday, yet again the weather played its part, this time it was foggy. Entered in the same class Tommy won his heat and came second to George Abbecassis (HWM Jaguar) in the final and was followed home by another HWM and a brace of C Type Jaguars. Incidentally the car was entered as a Sapphire Sphinx at this event and a Sapphire Allard previously.

During the 1954 season neither Tommy nor the car disgraced themselves, true it was only raced at club and national level but it was up against some tough competition. It faired well against the C Types, only the factory backed Ecurie Ecosse cars really got the better of them. Their last race together was at the end of the season at Snetterton, during this time the Board of Directors at Armstrong Siddeley still showed no interest in racing, in Tommy’s own words  “I don’t think they had a view about the car, certainly not one that came my way”. Because so much of the car had unofficial special parts it would have been impossible for anyone else to maintain it, so at the end of the season the engineless Sphinx was sold on.

The last time Tommy saw the car was about 15 years ago. By this time a Jaguar engine and gearbox had been fitted. Whilst this seems a sensible replacement it does make it ineligible for inclusion in historic motor racing. About ten years ago the Sphinx was offered at auction what happened after is a mystery.

Many thanks to:-  Tommy Sopwith
                               Peter Tuthill
                               The National Motor Museum

The Book of Davidstow Circuit by Peter Tuthill is available direct from the author
                                          Telephone (0) 1208 812351.