The Sunbeam Tiger is a racing car, built by Sunbeam of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

during the 1920s. It was the last car to be competitive both as a land speed record holder, and as a circuit-racing car.

Design and engine

The chassis and bodywork of the Sunbeam were conventional for racing cars of their time. The car's novelty lay with its engine. Sunbeam's 1925 Grand Prix engine had been a successful 2-litre straight-6 twin-overhead-cam. This car was to use a pair of the same block and head arrangements, mated to a single 75° vee crankcase to produce a 3,976 cc V12. Supercharging brought the power up to .

Land Speed Records

Henry Segrave Sir Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave (22 September 1896 – 13 June 1930) was an early British pioneer in land speed and water speed records. Segrave, who set three land and one water record, was the first person to hold both titles simultaneous ...

was so keen to test the new car and engine that he took it to

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

in September 1925, still unpainted. A half-mile speed of was recorded. Minor works, including the bright red paint still notable today, were done over the winter. Spring 1926 saw Segrave on the wide, flat beach at

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

. On 16 March 1926, with little fuss and few spectators, he and the bright-red car now named Ladybird set a new land speed record at . The Sunbeam was the smallest capacity internal combustion-engined car ever to hold the

Land Speed Record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

Racing

After the land speed record, the car returned to Grand Prix racing at Brooklands, Boulogne and San Sebastian. At the time of the land speed record attempt, the car was fitted with a narrow inlet cowling over the radiator, similar to that of the Sunbeam 350HP. For racing, a flat open radiator grille was used. The narrow cowling has re-appeared in preservation.

''Tigress''

One sister car to Tiger was built and named ''Tigress''. It survives today, fitted with a Napier Lion engine and racing in British Vintage events as the " Sunbeam-Napier".

Today

The Sunbeam Tiger is preserved today in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, restored to the streamlined radiator cowling fitted for record-breaking. As of 2006, the engine is reportedly being rebuilt after suffering

foreign object damage In aviation and aerospace, foreign object debris (FOD), is any particle or substance, alien to an aircraft or system, which could potentially cause damage. External FOD hazards include bird strikes, hail, ice, sandstorms, ash-clouds or obje ...

whilst vintage racing, hence the static display in LSR trim. In 1990, the now 65-year-old Tiger re-created its record attempt, this time at

RAF Elvington Royal Air Force Elvington or more simply RAF Elvington is a former Royal Air Force station which operated from the beginning of the Second World War until 1992 located at Elvington, Yorkshire, England. History Royal Air Force use The station ...

, and succeeded in beating it at .

The 'Tiger' name

In 1964 and 1972 the "Tiger" name was revived within the marque, first for a V8 version of the

Sunbeam Alpine The Sunbeam Alpine is a two-seater sports roadster/drophead coupé that was produced by the Rootes Group from 1953 to 1955, and then 1959 to 1968. The name was then used on a two-door fastback coupé from 1969 to 1975. The original Alpine was ...

, the

Sunbeam Tiger The Sunbeam Tiger is a high-performance V8 version of the British Rootes Group's Sunbeam Alpine roadster, designed in part by American car designer and racing driver Carroll Shelby and produced from 1964 until 1967. Shelby had carried out a ...

. Later it appeared on the more mundane Hillman Avenger Tiger, which resembled a tiger by being orange with black stripes, if little else.

Photographs

References

{{reflist Tiger (1925) Wheel-driven land speed record cars