SpecRacer.com

Wow, not sure how we missed this for so long. The designer of the Spec Racer, Roy Lunn, passed away early last month. The original Sports Renault was his last racecar design. We owe a lot to his genius:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/automobiles/roy-lunn-innovative-engineer-of-celebrated-cars-dies-at-92.html?mcubz=0

thanks for posting that Bob - maybe Roy should be nominated for the SCCA Hall of Fame?

LeeHill wrote:thanks for posting that Bob - maybe Roy should be nominated for the SCCA Hall of Fame?

No doubt. And a remembrance in SportsCar.

Only a mind capable of creating the Ford GT 40 Mark IV and the Humvee could dream up a racecar like ours.

I had no idea he had passed. We do, indeed, owe him a huge debt of gratitude...I may be mistaken, but I think he was at the NESCCA banquet in 1996. Someone there was telling us the story of how they got the Sports Renaults from the outskirts of Detroit to the downtown area by saddling up and driving them with a state police escort down the highway into Detroit where they were to be used by a bunch of pro drivers in a support race for the 1983 Detroit Grand Prix (Formula One).

Dave the Sport Renaults raced in the 84 Detroit F1 event. My Chassis 22 was in the race. The car was originally owned by Jim Averett the first CSR IN THE SW Division - I think the driver in the event was Jims good friend and FV driver Clayton Cox. The race was in my log book. I got the car in early 85 and raced it for many years.

Here is another link which includes information about his specracer involvement.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/08/1 ... ered-life/

Neat that he had a connection to UCSB at the end, my alma mater.

Again, if I'm not mistaken, PatC Henry (Spelling) was at that 1996 banquet and she had been the comptroller? for Sports Renault. I think she introduced me to whoever was the big cheese at the time of the birth of Spec Racers...on a side note, it's my understanding that Humpy Wheeler got the idea for his Legends Cars while watching one of the Sports Renault races at Charlotte Motor Speedway (1983 or 1984) with Nick Craw. And Clay, I remember you from when I got involved with this back in 1989...it doesn't surprise me that you had chassis 22, you gotta be, what 91, 92 years old? Just kidding...I know a few of the elder statesmen and you're the earliest...

Hah - Clay and I are exactly the same age though he's much older than me in Spec Racer years since I only started in 1994. Wonder what Ray would have thought if he'd seen 151 spec racers at Indy at the RunOffs!!!!