September 2019 Classic & Sports Car 151It is thought that the kit fitted to DNH 828
consisted of a long-branch inlet manifold (which
remains with the car), bigger SU carburettors
and a hotter cam. “There’s a cross-brace at the
front of the car, and if you look closely it has a
kink in it,” explains the owner. “When they took
out the camshaft, rather than remove the engine
they lifted the motor slightly and bent the brace.
Every time you see Healeys restored people
straighten that – it’s happened to me twice!”
Meanwhile, the engine, usually painted green,
was finished in red – just like its sister car, 10
chassis earlier, which he also owns: “That’s too
much of a coincidence, so I suspect when they
were building the early cars, they were getting
stocks of engines from Austin that were coming
to the factory in red.” Without hard evidence
to back up the theory, Rawles’ team decided to
paint the block green: “And that is how it will
stay until new information comes to light.”
The history of the 100M is complicated, with
cars being built both at the factory and modified
later using kits supplied to owners. “We suspect
some of the parts were tested on ‘semi-works’
cars,” says Bill Rawles. As the son of an official
dealer, with such strong links to the factory, it’s
likely that Shale would have had access to these
components – particularly because it had been
his intention to compete from the off.
The cabin is relatively Spartan but finished to
a high standard, the dials sitting in the two-piece
dash (later cars used a pressed one-piece item)
untouched and showing their years. “We wanted
to be as sympathetic as possible with the rebuild
- I love the thought that these are the same dials
Shale saw while flying down Lavant Straight,”
says Rawles, though neither he nor the owner is
willing to sacrifice everything at the altar of orig-
inality. “The wheels are wrong,” he explains.
“They’re 60-spoke wires, because the 48-spokes
are weak, though the spare is the original.”
The attention to detail is remarkable: the
guide pins for the ’screen are aluminium rather
than chromed steel, while the dashboard wears
an enamel badge bearing the name of Shale’s
family dealership, S&W Motors. “The same
badge was fitted to Shale’s 100S,” the owner
explains, “but that came from the Healey
Museum and seems to be the only one. When
the car was at Pendine, I phoned up and said:
‘You’ve got a 100S for sale with a nice badge on
the dashboard... how big is it?’ And the chap
measured it over the phone. I then had two
badges made specially by a firm in Birmingham.
You can still feel the fixing point for the original
badge behind the dashboard.”
The freshly restored engine fires at the first
press of the starter, filling the Goodwood
paddock with the distinctive rumble of a four-
pot Big Healey. Sitting behind the huge banjo
steering wheel for the Healey’s first return to
Goodwood in 65 years, the sense of history is
palpable. Taxiing through the paddock offers an
opportunity to get accustomed to the sensitive
clutch and slightly recalcitrant first gear, and as
we pull onto the start/finish straight the lumpy
high-compression engine smooths out as the
Healey quickens its step. Like all early cars, it has
the Austin Atlantic’s three-speed ’box – a four-
speed with first blanked off, rendered redundant
by the torque from the 2660cc ‘four’ – with over-
drive allowing a 100mph-plus top speed.
The Healey feels immediately at home on the
track, with light, sharp steering and surprisingly
soft suspension that really leans into corners,
giving plenty of notice of when the rear end may
step out. The package inspires confidence, and
it’s easy to see why Healeys were such a success in
races and endurance rallies. We’re not racing
today but, having been given the freedom of the
track, it’s difficult to stop the imagination
running wild as we tick off the famous corners –
Madgwick, Fordwater, St Mary’s – that Shale so
deftly navigated all those years ago.
We barrel on down Lavant Straight, through
Woodcote and approach the famous red-and-
white chicane – brick in Shale’s day, now
Styrofoam to protect the Revival’s valuable
entrants. In an instant, today’s photoshoot is
forgotten, hands grip the thin-rimmed sprung
wheel tighter, and the urge to cut a tidy line
through the quick right/left proves completely
irresistible. The Healey is back where it belongs,
doing what it knows best. And, for a moment
at least, the old magic that so beguiled David
Shalerevealsitselfonceagain.Thanks to Goodwood Motor Circuit (www.
goodwood.com). DNH 828 will feature with Bill
Rawles Classic Cars at the Goodwood Revival
from 13-15 September, on Over the Road stand
305-306 (www.rawlesclassiccars.co.uk)Back in its element,
the first privateer
Austin-Healey to race
at Goodwood returns
to the circuit – here
entering the double-
apex Lavant corner