Page 16 - The Origin of the Species

THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES
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and George Huntoon gave rise to the moniker that would forever mark the most
valuable examples of the Austin-Healey range. Competing against a stacked
field that included works teams from Aston Martin, Cunningham, Maserati and
Lancia, with famous drivers such as Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Phil
Hill, Stirling Moss, Carroll Shelby and Piero Taruffi, Macklin and Huntoon ran as
high as second overall behind Stirling Moss in his prototype OSCA before falling
back to third behind Moss and the works Lancia D24 due to a broken rocker arm
that forced the Austin-Healey to slacken its pace over the last hour.
The podium finish and class win earned Warwick four points in the world
championship standings, good for a seventh place tie with Aston Martin and
Cunningham in the final rankings. The remarkable showing inspired Donald
Healey to adopt the Sebring name for the limited production run of modified
100s that would allow privateer racers to benefit from the same modifications
that were introduced on the various special test cars.9
(ABOVE) One of Warwick’s
finest competition
achievements occurred at the
1954 Sebring 12-Hour race
where Lance Macklin and
George Huntoon finished
third overall, having run as
high as second behind Juan
Manuel Fangio’s Ferrari 860
Monza. The result inspired
Donald Healey to name the
homologation versions of the
Special Test Cars after the
Florida endurance race. (The
Donald Healey Collection)
(BOTTOM) The works
team at scrutineering prior
to the 1954 Mille Miglia. It
is unclear without further
investigation whether SPL
224B (NOJ 391) competed at
this race, although the table
that Geoffrey Healey prepared
does not indicate that it
participated at the event. (The
Donald Healey Collection)