Spice Engineering - Team History

Team History

When founded by Gordon Spice and Derek Spice, Spice Engineering initially used Tiga sports cars in the World Sportscar Championship, running in the smaller C2 category. Debuting in the 1984 season, the team managed to score five class wins in the championship, aiding Tiga in finishing third in the constructor's standings. For 1985, the engineering arm of Spice began to develop, as the team assisted in the development of the new Tiga GC85 chassis. Gordon Spice and Ray Bellm managed to take another five class victories that year, including at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and winning the teams championship.

Now constructing their own cars for 1986, Spice also expanded to the IMSA GT Championship, where they assisted in the running of Pontiac's Camel Lights competitor. Meanwhile, in the WSC, Spice would score another two victories, yet miss out on a repeat of the team's championship to Ecurie Ecosse. Spice would return to form in 1987, with seven victories and retaking the championship. Spice would expand on this even more in 1988, when in an eleven race season, they failed to win their class only once, thus earning them a third championship title.

In 1989, Spice would attempt to move into the larger C1 class, where major manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Jaguar, Nissan, Toyota, and Aston Martin competed. Spice would finish a disappointing ninth in the teams championship, with a race result of fourth that season. Fortunes would improve in 1990 when a large number of the major manufacturers exited the series, leaving Spice to be able to take fourth place in the championship, ahead of the various private Porsche outfits and the factory Toyota squad.

In 1991, Spice chose to concentrate on the IMSA GT Championship, opting not to run the World Sportscar Championship due to rule changes that made their current chassis illegal, and constructing new ones costly. However Euro Racing achieved a string of good results in the 1991 WSC with a Spice SE90C, including four fourth places, helping the team to fourth in the teams championship whilst drivers Cor Euser and Charles Zwolsman finished fifth and sixth in the drivers standings. In addition another Spice had the distinction of being the only C1 class car to be a classified finisher in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. The following year saw Chamberlain Engineering successfully campaigning a Spice SE89C in the declining WSC - the team consistently scored points, including a third place at the 1992 500km of Silverstone and finished fourth in the championship, whilst their lead driver Ferdinand de Lesseps finished seventh in the drivers championship. Chamberlain also dominated the FIA Cup, with de Lesseps winning all six rounds. Following the collapse of the GTP class in IMSA at the end of 1993, Spice would drop out of sportscar development.