This Austin-Healey 3000 may have made its name on the international rallying stage, having won the Alpine Rally in 1961, but it does also have some historical circuit racing in its DNA. It’s one of only four Austin-Healeys to have won an internation rally, although the rest of its season wasn’t quite so glorious with two retirements and a 14th place.
At the end of the 1961 season, the BMC Competitions Department sold the car off to Donald Morley. He commissioned them to update it to the 1962 Works specification. Like many Healey rally cars, its was used in its later years for Modsports circuit racing, although thankfully XJB 876 wasn’t extensively modified. Incidentally, only two XJB cars survive, the other having recently returned to the UK having been in Finland since 1962.
The car has been in the same ownership since 1980 and used almost continuously in historic rallying since, including an appearance on the Forest Rally Stage at the 2005 Festival of Speed. The new-for-2016 Kinrara Trophy race has given the car a chance to take to the Goodwood Motor Circuit.
Revival
Revival 2016
Austin-Healey
2016