The Deep Sanderson 301 prototype (3)

But the international race to put the Deep Sanderson on the map was to become the ADAC 1000 kilometers of the Nürburgring in May 1962. Chris Spender now teamed up with Len Bridge as drivers and a third driver was also mentioned: Robin Carnegie, but he supposedly never drove. The 997cc car was classified in sports cars up to one-litre with competition now coming from Sprites and Midgets, Lotus 23s and Fiat-Abarths. One car that was also entered to the race was the elusive and also Mini powered Gitane GT but that did not arrive. 

From Chris Lawrence's biography: "We had the Deep Sanderson on a trailer behind Christopher Spender's Ford Zephyr. We were allowed to set up the caravan in the centre of the Fahrenlager, right outside the three garages allocated to us, and we either ate up at the Nürburgring hotel outside the pits, or the girls fed us in the caravan. Richard and Penny had what we christened, or rather Carrie Spender christened, a turnip lantern and they lived in that. A turnip lantern is a VW Camper van with a lifting roof for head room. Why a turnip lantern? Well, have a look at one in use at night."

The LawrenceTune team had some troubles getting the car ready for the race. Lawrence: "The truth was, it was a flimsy ultra-light and the German inspectors did not like the look of it one little bit. They were really right about that, but we persevered and after much additional strengthening of seat mountings and fuel tank location, we obtained a one-day practice pass.That was when I learnt my only German to this day: Guten Morgen Herr Doktor, Bitte würden Sie meine Wagen stampen?, meaning Good morning doctor, can you please stamp my car so that it can go out on the circuit for some practice?"

The small team finally did manage to make it to the race. Lawrence: "Christopher started and put in some unexpectedly quick laps, before handing over to Len for his first stint, which also went well, if a little slower. Christopher's second turn at the wheel was even better and the little car was beginning to wipe the condescending and amused smiles off a few faces. There were also one or two astonished looking inspectors wandering about, but as is often the case with these things, it was all too good to last and Len, trying a little too hard, I suspect, to get on terms with Spender's efforts, lost control after the Flugplatz, once again putting a LawrenceTune car in the top of a tree. The pit was informed that Len was allright, but had been taken to a hospital in Adenau for observation. (...) The recovery of the Deep Sanderson was quite an evolution, and many hands were required to manhandle it back onto the track from its perch up a tree. (...) Le had said that he thought the steering might have broken, but that turned out not to be the case."

When you read those passages in the book it seems as if the car spent quite some time on the track during the 1000 kms race, but according to Manfred Rommelsheim, who saw it race and took one of the pictures included below it fell out in its 13th lap already. Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien won the race in a Ferrari Dino, Graham Hill became third in a Porsche 718 behind the Ferrari 330 LM/GTO of Scuderia Venezia.