Rallying With Sydney Allard

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By Hugh Braithwaite

Passing outside his office Ifirst saw the car that I had agreed to navigate in for Sydney Allard and my attention was immediately drawn to two unusual features. Firstly there was a long piece of angle iron sticking up out pf the floor beside the driving seat, topped off with a rubber bicycle handlebar grip. It was fitted so that the top was close to the gear change lever on the steering column. Secondly there was an enormous thick magnifying glass fitted on the steering column between the dash board and the centre of the steering wheel. I was used to all the usual fittings of flexi light for map reading, horn button on the navigators’ side to save the driver having to take a hand off the wheel and also for helping to steady the navigator's nerves, though I never admitted to this.

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Allard Saloon/Touring Car?

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Perhaps one of the more interesting Allard specials was the Dolphin, which was based on an Allard L-type. What made the Dolphin-Allard unique was its retractable hardtop, allowing the car to be either a closed saloon or open touring car. The retractable hardtop was designed and commissioned by Mr. John R.V. Dolphin of Dolphin Industrial Development.

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Frank Burrell and the Allards

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Click here or the photo above to view a Gallery of photos from Barry Burrell 

-Barry Burrell

My earliest memory of an Allard was sitting in the cockpit of Fred Warner’s J2X (chassis #2192, now owned by David Mundy) as we loaded it onto the trailer to go to some race in 1954. The sound and vibrations of the open exhaust left a lasting impression in me. My father, Frank Burrell, often spoke about the incredible acceleration of the Allards with the Hydramatic transmissions. Zero to sixty in 4 ½ seconds in the early 50’s was quite impressive.

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The Steyr Revisited

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Click here or the photo above to view the Steyr Gallery

We have welcomed the opportunity to share several excellent articles about Sydney Allard’s Steyr-powered racer over the years. The first was Kerry Horan’s 2002 article (AR 33 The STEYR-ALLARD Runs Again! – Shelsley Walsh 2001) where he detailed how he painstakingly restored the car to its 1949 hillclimb configuration. This was in preparation for some demonstration runs at Shelsley Walsh, where Sydney Allard drove the car at Shelsley Walsh’s 50th Anniversary in 1951.

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