1956 EJS-Climax Sports Special

Lot details
Registration No: PRK 750
Chassis No: EJS1
Mot Expiry: N/A

Here is a story about one man’s triumph of ingenuity against the growing band of professionalism witnessed in the evolution of the sports racing scene in post-war Britain. Edwin Joseph Snusher was a production engineer by profession and an embryonic race car designer by desire. His social circle included one Colin Chapman in particular and Snusher was not then convinced that the mercurial creator of Lotus Cars held all the answers.
Snusher was familiar with Chapman’s design ethos but thought he could do better, setting to work on his kitchen table with a set of cardboard slide rules and some draughtsman’s paper. In the incredible history file that accompanies this unique car, one can easily plot Snusher’s progress as he hand built his vision during the early 1950s at his home in Thorton Heath, Surrey.
His Coventry Climax powered special took two full years of hard work to realise from the drawing board. Not content with proprietary components, as often utilised by Special builders on minimal budgets, Snusher fabricated the entire compliment of major and detail components from scratch with a standard of execution and workmanship of a very high order. The design of the EJS space-type frame took Chapman’s ethos of paring down unsprung weight to a new dimension. Built of brazed or welded 1" diameter 18 gauge, 1 1/8-20 gauge and 1-24 gauge mild steel tubes, Snusher’s chassis weighed in at just 49lbs. Such was the innovation of design devised in the construction of this able race car that ‘The Autocar’ magazine were moved to devote a full page examination of its specification, especially eluding to the novel approach to the front suspension, which had the steering housing pivoted to the frame and the steering rack jointed to one of the track rod ends. The in-depth feature (an original example contained in the car’s history file) went on to illustrate the interesting use of twin de Dion tubes to locate the rear axle with self-built rollers attached to the final drive casing to achieve lateral location. That the magazine went to the trouble of photographing the construction of the EJS in explicit detail and also draughted line drawings of the major components stands testament to Snusher’s far-reaching innovation. That all the Autocar photographs survive in the extensive history file which accompanies this fabulous time warp insures that here stands the most original sports racing car of the 1950’s to return to historic motor racing.
Snusher took his prodigy to the tracks and put it through its paces. Uniquely, this car was filmed in period and both the original 8mm black and white film survives together with a copy of this rare footage transposed onto videotape. The film clip sees Snusher showing his attractive Microplas Mistrale bodied EJS Climax Special at a Concours d’Elegance for fibreglass cars and continues with some dramatic footage of car and constructor racing at Brands Hatch in 1956. Judging by the film’s record of the EJS’ poise and progress, this combination dynamically illustrates a confirmation that Snusher’s theories on race car design and construction worked as well as he preached.
It seems that Snusher was to campaign the car for one brief season, taking in races at Crystal Palace, the Brighton Speed Trials, Silverstone, Brands Hatch and an appearance at Goodwood, detailed in the BARC Yearbook of 1956 and recorded in Volume 1 of ‘A Record of Motor Racing at Goodwood’ by Robert Barker. Whilst it appears that Snusher suffered some form of malady in practise and consequently DNS in his race, the very fact that this car appeared at Goodwood will prove a deciding factor when applying for future invitations to the coveted Goodwood Motor Circuit Revival Meeting. Snusher suffered a minor accident at Brands Hatch (thoroughly documented in the history file) and decided to call a halt to his project. The EJS was carefully dismantled and the engine and gearbox were sold off. Snusher continued his competition career as a rally driver, taking in several forays on the Monte Carlo and never gave his creation another look. When the car was ‘discovered’ by Snusher’s stepson and re-assembled, the car had laid dormant for close on forty-five years. Incredibly, the original Dunlop race tyres inflated as if new, with the chassis probably having run less than 500 miles in total. The rare Microplas Mistrale body was sympathetically restored in 2001 and refitted to the chassis. Apart from this gentle renovation the EJS-Climax Special remains totally original.
At the time of writing, Mr Alan Putt will be inspecting the EJS-Climax Special with a view to writing a preliminary report which will go towards getting the car FIA Historic race papers as a ‘Period Special’ once the car has been completed by re-fitting it with a 1098cc FWA Coventry Climax engine and gearbox. This will allow the car to partake in such prestige historic race series as the HGPCA series for 1950s drum-brake sports cars, the BRDC historic sports car series and, who knows, the 2003 Goodwood Revival?