Austin A35 (historic racer)

History

Austin's A35 (1956–59, evolving the A30's shell) raced in period as the small-saloon class staple — 948cc A-Series buzzing to class results in the BRSCC's saloon wars while future stars learned racecraft in the era's cheapest competitive tin-top. Its period record is footnote stuff; its second life is the phenomenon.

Modern historic racing crowned the A35 improbably: Goodwood Revival's St Mary's Trophy runs the type as beloved centrepiece — professional stars wrestling the tall boxes door-to-door in the meeting's best-watched race — while the HRDC's Academy created a one-model A35 grid explicitly as historic racing's entry formula, with build costs a fraction of anything else on the Revival's bill.

The recipe is fixed and open: A-Series tuned within appendix-period spec (Speedwell/period-tuner lore applies), close-ratio boxes, careful lightening within regs — a build the club engine trade knows completely. As a first historic racer with genuine blue-riband event access, nothing rivals it: the same car does club HRDC rounds and, with the invitation, the world's most glamorous paddock.

Palmarès

Period BRSCC small-saloon class results 1956–62; the modern record is the crown — St Mary's Trophy star turns at every Goodwood Revival (pro drivers' shared-car heroics), HRDC Academy grids built around the model, and class wins across UK historic saloon racing for two decades.