Sydney Allard - Trials, Hillclimbs, Rallies, and Road Racing

Trials, Hillclimbs, Rallies, and Road Racing

Born in London, England, he was educated at Ardingly College in Sussex. "Allard commenced racing in 1929 with a Morgan three-wheeler, later converted to four wheels," which he ran at Brooklands and elsewhere. On 31 August 1929 the new Cyclecar Club held a meeting at Brooklands where: "the first race was won by Sidney (sic) Allard's Morgan, at 73.37 m.p.h. from a couple of Austins." By 1933 he was competing in trials, retiring from the London-Exeter Trial that year in his Allard special, the Morgan converted by Allard to four wheels. He also retired in the London to Land's End trial.

In 1935 he won his class, for unlimited unsupercharged sports cars, at the Brighton Speed Trials in a Ford V-8. In April 1936 he won a 50-mile handicap race on the sand at Southport in his Allard V8. The Allard Special was put into limited production with Ford V8 and Lincoln V12 motors. A Ford-based special was supplied to a Mr. Gilson in 1937, while a four-seater was offered the following year. In 1937 Allard attempted to climb Ben Nevis, a mountain in Scotland, in his Allard car. The car crashed and rolled but Allard emerged with only bruising. Sydney Allard set the sports car record at the inaugural Prescott Hill Climb on 15 May 1938, driving Hutchison's V12 Lincoln-engined Allard Special in a time of 54.35 seconds. That year Allard, with Ken Hutchison and Guy Warburton in the "Tailwaggers" Allard-Special team, competed successfully in trials, sprints, rallies and races. On 15 July 1939, Allard took a class win at the Lewes Speed Trials in a time of 22.12 secs. Allard won the last speed event to be held in England prior to World War Two. Having set the fastest time at the Horndean Speed Trials, his car overturned past the finish line. Both he and his passenger, Bill Boddy, were thrown clear and uninjured.

During World War Two Sydney Allard operated a large repair shop fixing army vehicles, including Ford trucks and Jeeps. During the bombing in 1941: "Sydney and his family had a very narrow escape recently during a raid." In 1943 he had 225 employees and was renovating more than 30 vehicles a week.

At the end of the war Allard soon returned to competition, taking part in the Filton Speed Trials on 28 October 1945. He restarted his car company, coping with petrol rationing, material shortages and export quotas. A 1947 Allard-dealer advertisement stated: "Vacancies still exist on the 1947 quota-list for early delivery of Open Two-Seater and Tourer models."

Allard won the 1949 British Hill Climb Championship at the wheel of the self-built Steyr-Allard, fitted with a war surplus air-cooled V8 engine. He was third in the Championship in 1947 and 1948, winning in 1949, second in 1950, and third again in 1951, when the Steyr-Allard was converted to four-wheel-drive.

In 1949 Allard cars won the team prize in the Monte Carlo Rally (L. Potter 4th overall, A.A.C. Godsall 8th, A.G. Imhof 11th) with Sydney Allard finishing in 24th place. In 1950 Allard finished eighth in the Monte Carlo Rally, then raced in the Targa Florio in Sicily where his Allard car crashed and burned. He bounced back with a third place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year, partnered with Tom Cole Jr. A gearbox failure left Allard and Cole driving for hours with top gear only. "Allard's determination and fearless driving captured the imagination of the huge crowd. The high-pitched whine of his engine earned him the nickname of 'The hissing madman.'"

An advertisement from 1950 for the Allard J2 stated: "Some overseas purchasers have preferred to fit the more powerful engines suitable for this chassis such as American Ford, Mercury, Cadillac, Ardun, Grancor etc." Sydney Allard raced an Allard J2 Chrysler in the Tourist Trophy at Dundrod Circuit in 1951. Allards were exported to the United States as rolling chassis to be fitted with a motor on arrival. In the austerity period after the Second World War Allard struggled to source the raw materials for car construction, where the emphasis was on 'export or die.' It made no sense to import American engines and gearboxes only to turn round and export them again to the United States. Allard preparations for Le Mans in 1951 were delayed as Cadillac engines were in short supply, due to GM concentrating on production for the Korean War.

Sydney Allard achieved international recognition by winning the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally in an Allard P1, with co-driver Guy Warburton and navigator Tom Lush. Starting from Glasgow he narrowly defeated Stirling Moss, in a Sunbeam-Talbot 90, who finished second overall while competing in his first rally. The P1 was powered by a 4,375 c.c. Ford V8 side-valve motor. Mrs. Eleanor Allard, Sydney's wife, also competed in this event, accompanied by her sisters Edna and Hilda, but retired.

Allard competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1951, 1952 and 1953 but did not finish. In 1952 he and Jack Fairman drove the works J2X, chassis number 3055, fitted with a Chrysler hemi engine, where the car retired at 6.30 a.m. having thrown a rod. In 1953 he shared a Cadillac-engined Allard J2R with Philip Fotheringham-Parker, leading the race at the end of the first lap, but on lap four he was the first to retire with collapsed rear suspension and a severed brake pipe. In 1952 and 1953 a sister car was driven at Le Mans by Zora Arkus-Duntov, a one-time Allard employee. Carroll Shelby also raced an Allard-Cadillac J2 in the United States early in his driving career. Thus the successful Allard formula of an American V8 engine in a light chassis inspired the development of the Chevrolet Corvette and the A.C. Shelby Cobra.

An article on page 140 of the book Eagle Special Investigator by Macdonald Hastings, features Sydney Allard in "Special Investigator Drives a Racing Car", published by Michael Joseph in 1953.

In 1958 Allard built a Steyr-engined sports car for sprints and hillclimbs, the motor purchased from Dennis Poore: "This Allard Special can certainly step off. It covered the top section of the Brighton kilometre at 125 m.p.h. and won its class at Shelsley Walsh and Prescott, and two classes at Stapleford." He finished third in the unlimited sports car class at the Brighton Speed Trials that year, covering the standing kilometre in 25.99 sec. "Allard's air-cooled Steyr-Allard with Lotus front wheels and very compact body was third - although a sports car, it was started by means of an external battery." The car appeared at the Prescott Hill Climb on 13 September 1959, but is believed to have been broken up.

Allard then turned his attention to a twin-engined Steyr four-wheel-drive prototype, of great complexity. "All this leads to 9 litres of motor car and a very brave Sydney Allard surrounded by chains, shafts and engines." The car featured a solidly-mounted rear axle to which he planned to mount American-type dragster slick tyres. This was an early indication of the influence of American drag racing on his designs. The car was never successfully run and soon abandoned.