Piper GTR Le Mans Practice 1969 #48 Burton/Labonde

Piper GTR Le Mans Practice 1969 #48 Burton/Labonde by MEA Kit 43

This is one of those little known cars that was born out of enthusiasm and failed at Le Mans due to a combination of lack of experience, bad luck and, the more cynical might also suggest, national pride. The very lightweight car was built around a balsawood and fibreglass laminate monocoque onto which were mounted steel subframes to take the Ford derived Lotus Twin-cam engine and Hewland gearbox. First error was not having the RAC seal and mark the engine as a 1300cc unit, so it had to be stripped and measured by the ACO officials, suspicions not helped by it being nearly a minute a lap faster than the Alpines in the same class. Then the rear bodywork fell off, but the ultimate reason given for not letting the car race was that only one of the drivers had recorded a time in it, something the team disputed. The car did eventually race at Le Mans, in the classic in 2006. The kit parts capture the shape of the car very well and there is a basic engine visible through the rear window. The castings will need a bit of cleaning up in terms of flash and the panel engraving is very shallow, but it should build well with care. The hand built is generally well finished though the colour used looks a little vibrant to us when compared to the photos of the restored car at Le Mans and the original car in the new Le Mans Bible (LMBIBLE) which both show it to be a paler colour, more like Aston Martin’s metallic racing green. A brave effort though from Bruno Mea and an interesting piece of Le Mans history.