The Cunningham C-5R was a

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

developed in 1953 for the

Briggs Cunningham Briggs Swift Cunningham II (January 19, 1907 – July 2, 2003) was an American entrepreneur and sportsman. He is best known for skippering the yacht ''Columbia'' to victory in the 1958 America's Cup race, and for his efforts as a driver, team o ...

racing team.

Design

The C-5R was the successor to the C-4R and was built for use in the

1953 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 21st Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 13 and 14 June 1953, at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans (France). It was also the third round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. British drivers ...

. The open sports car had a Chrysler V8 engine, that developed at 5200 rpm. The C-5R had a live axle at the front, which was carried over from the Kurtis Kraft - Indianapolis - Monoposto racing cars at the suggestion of Briggs Cunningham. There was torsion bar suspension front and rear. The vehicle had a tubular spaceframe chassis and an

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

body.

Racing history

As planned, the C-5R made its racing debut at the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans. Cunningham had been coming to the Sarthe with his racing cars regularly since 1950 for long-distance races and had already been able to gain some experience. The team presented long-time works driver Phil Walters and John Fitch as drivers another American as his partner. Speed measurements were carried out at Le Mans for the first time and the C-5R was the fastest sports car on the Les Hunaudieres straight with a top speed of 249 km/h. The vehicle was also significantly faster than the two factory C-4R. In the race, only the factory C-Type Jaguar prevented a Cunningham triumph. Behind Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton, as well as Stirling Moss and Peter Walters and Fitch finished third overall. After the race, Briggs Cunningham complained about the lack of disc brakes on his race car. From his point of view, this was the reason for the defeat, since the C-Type already had this new braking system. The drum brakes of the C-5R kept getting too hot, a circumstance that forced the drivers to slow down as much as possible. In its next race, at the 1953

12 Hours of Reims The 12 Hours of Reims (official name: 12 Heures internationales de Reims) were a sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing series held from 1953 to 1967 at the Reims-Gueux, Reims (Gueux) circuit in the Marne district of the Champa ...

, the car was badly damaged after an accident by John Fitch. The accident car was brought back to the USA and rebuilt there. Trying to get

disc brake A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hol ...

s failed. Cunningham therefore concentrated on building the C-6R and in the meantime used racing cars from OSCA and Ferrari. The C-5R was still used in a few US sports car races and was sold to racing driver Charles Moran at the end of the year.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite magazine , last1=Parker , first1=Curt , last2=Dearborn , first2=Bob , date=October 1953 , title=American Cars at Le Mans , url=https://wildaboutcarsonline.com/members/AardvarkPublisherAttachments/9990689887929/1953-10_ML_1953_-_American_Cars_at_Le_Mans_1-5.pdf , magazine=Hop Up , pages=28, 29, 46, 47, 57 , location= , publisher= , access-date= 1950s cars Sports cars Cars of the United States 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars