The resurrection of a famous Le Mans shape

Distinctive. That's probably the best word to describe the Bristol Type 450, a shape that had been lost to motorsport but has now been 'rediscovered'.

The series of Bristol endurance racers scored successes in the mid-1950s, but arguably the most famous of the line could only be seen in photographs until French Bristol Owners' Club member Olivier Bore commissioned Mitchell Motors to build a remarkable recreation in 2017.

The project was completed this year, and the coupe design hit the race track in the Fifties Sports Car Racing Club encounter at Silverstone in August. Given that the originals never competed outside of France, it was the design's first race on home soil.

"It was wonderful," says project leader and driver Andrew Mitchell. "It could not have been better. It was lovely to have it in a pack of cars and everyone loved it. I've never had so much praise! Wherever I go someone wants to talk about it. It's been so welcomed."

That's perhaps unsurprising given the Bristol almost has a cult status with Le Mans aficionados. The original 450 coupes first appeared in 1953, but both cars retired early from the 24 Hours following nasty incidents. A class-winning fifth overall at the Reims 12 Hours and some speed records demonstrated the design's promise and preceded an expanded three-car effort the following season.

The 1954 Le Mans is probably best remembered for the impressive debut of the Jaguar D-type - or Jose Froilan Gonzalez's heroic wet-weather efforts in the monstrous Ferrari 375 Plus he shared with Maurice Trintignant to defeat the Big Cats - but the Bristols made quite an impression too.

Revised bodywork, introduced during 1953, made the cars less offensive to the eye and they dominated the two-litre category, finishing 1-2-3 in seventh, eighth and ninth overall. They were also recorded at 150mph down the Mulsanne Straight. That was at a time when the fastest open cars, with much bigger engines, were managing around 170mph, underlining the aerodynamic efficiency of the coupe, created by the design team led by David Summers.

"The Bristol team was the only one to finish intact and their speed and reliability, as well as their pit control, was applauded by everyone," reported Motor Sport magazine.

The three 450s then headed to Reims again, where they finished 2-3-4 in class, narrowly beaten by a Ferrari 500 Mondial.

"In 1953 they made a car that looked as though it was from a Mad Max movie but in 1954 the cars were better looking - though not perfect!" says Mitchell. "It's a faithful recreation of the body and it's got a shape people relate to and love to see. It's a smiley sort of car."

Although the engine can be made to produce 180bhp - "if you really go for it," according to Mitchell - the 450's powerplant gives around 130-135bhp, a little less than the figures quoted for the factory cars in period

That didn't stop Bristol slicing the roofs off for 1955. The team again took a class 1-2-3 at Le Mans, amazingly in the same overall spots as the year before. Bristol withdrew from motorsport following the Le Mans disaster and all but one of the cars, in open form, were scrapped.

That meant the coupe design seemed destined never to be seen again, until Mitchell's team set to work. The original cars were based on reworked ERA G-type single-seater chassis, but "that would have made it expensive and virtually impossible", reckons Mitchell, so a suitable Bristol chassis was found.

The donor chassis originally had a 2.2-litre version of the famous Bristol straight-six engine, but the 450 recreation has a period-correct two-litre unit.

Although the engine can be made to produce 180bhp - "if you really go for it," according to Mitchell - the 450's powerplant gives around 130-135bhp, a little less than the figures quoted for the factory cars in period. "We're not out to win, we're out to go and have some fun, and to bring it home," he adds.

A handful of original parts - including a cylinder head, steering wheel and rev counter - have been used, while Mitchell Motors created the bodywork from photographs. Despite the fact that it was the #35 Peter Wilson/Jim Mayers car that took Le Mans class honours in 1954, the recreation is based on the #33 Tommy Wisdom/Jack Fairman car that finished three laps further back in second - and with damage to the front end.

"Olivier likes Jack Fairman - he has some of his overalls and things - and just decided to go for that," explains Mitchell. "It's our responsibility to make sure that, if we have an accident, it's the front-left-hand corner that gets damage!"

Unfortunately, Mitchell did have an incident at Silverstone, but happily the Bristol escaped serious damage. After qualifying 22nd in the 25-car field, Mitchell had just made his mandatory pitstop in the race when a wheel failure (below) put him out.

"The wheels were reproduced from pictures and we had a problem," explains Mitchell. "There was a fracture so we ended up in the gravel and retiring.

"It's all part of the learning curve. We don't know what problems they had or what was done in period so we're going through all this now. The wheels have now been modified and redone to be a lot stronger, but we've kept the original look."

Mitchell, who has extensive historic racing experience in cars with similar engines - including AC Aces and a number of Bristol-powered specials - had been pleased with the Bristol's performance before the off. The cars were renowned for their fine handling in the 1950s and the recreation has followed that.

"We were pretty quick in the corners, but lost out on the straights," adds Mitchell. "And there's a lot of straight at Silverstone National! She was quicker than I thought we were going to be."

"It's the only Bristol racing - there are loads of Bristol-engined cars out there, but this is the only one that has competed for years" Andrew Mitchell

As well as the swiftly found remedy to the wheel problem, Mitchell has also done more work on the powerplant since Silverstone. "The engine has been back on the dyno to try to find a bit more power and torque from the exhaust system," he says. "It's an unusual system - pipes one and six join, two and five, and three and four, then there are three secondaries. It sounds like a Merlin Spitfire engine on the rolling road!"

Mitchell had planned to race his Lotus Elite in FISCAR this season, but that is having its engine rebuilt. The Bristol is nothing like as fast, but offers something different - to Mitchell and enthusiasts.

"It's the only Bristol racing - there are loads of Bristol-engined cars out there, but this is the only one that has competed for years," says Mitchell. "It's nice for the Bristol Owners' Club to have a car they can cheer on. I'm having a lot of fun."

Happily, the car is already up and running again, with Mitchell hoping for some outings in 2021, including a display at the Le Mans Classic. That means there should be more opportunities to see that unusual - sorry, distinctive - shape in action.