Race or rally a Rapier  Words by Retro-Gnome. Images by Peter Baker

The Sunbeam Rapier, a two-door pillar-less saloon car, produced by the Rootes Group and introduced at the London Motor Show in October 1955, was a very successful competition car until its demise in 1967.

Within months of its launch, two Rapiers were entered on the 1956 Mille Miglia, the one driven by Peter Harper and Sheila van Damm winning its class. Five cars were then entered on the Alpine Rally, but after Raymond Baxter crashed near Megeve and Jim Ryan followed suit on the infamous Vivione Pass the team were happy when two cars went on to finish, albeit in a best 23rd place.

The competition department, under Norman Garrad, not only employed the best drivers but were also strongly supported by the Rootes brothers, who firmly believed that ‘winning on Sunday, sold cars on Monday’. Hardly surprising then, that after only a year the Rapier was fitted with a new engine, developing 67.5bhp, and ready for 1958, a completely re-modelled Series II was introduced. With rallying firmly in mind, it was further developed, with floor gear-change and overdrive, even more power, plus a ten percent improvement in torque. And, perhaps more importantly, uprated suspension, a front anti-roll bar and more direct steering. The only things missing were disc brakes.

Victory came in 1958 when Peter Harper and Dr. Bill Deane beat the severe weather to win the RAC Rally outright. This, the original ‘Rally of the Tests’, that included long road sections plus visits to venues that included Prescott, Charterhall, Mallory Park, Silverstone and Brands Hatch, also produced a fine 3rd place for veteran Willy Cave, co-driving a Standard Pennant. A Rapier also won the London Rally, its class on the Circuit of Ireland and team prize on the Tulip Rally. And best result so far, a 1-2-3-4-5 class finish, a Coupe des Alpes, plus the Coupe des Dames on the 1958 Alpine Rally.

Paddy Hopkirk joined Rootes in 1959 meaning the team now had Peter Harper, Peter Jopp and Hopkirk as front line drivers. All Rapiers entered on the ‘Monte’ finished, they enjoyed a class win on the ‘Liege’ where a mighty 84 cars out of the near hundred retired and, as to be expected, the cars again did well on the Alpine Rally.

Now came the new Series III cars, sporting alloy cylinder heads and finally, disc brakes. Five cars also bore the famous ‘YKP’ numbers. In 1961 twenty-one Rapiers were entered on the Monte-Carlo Rally and Harper went on to win his class. On the race track the Rapier had by now also become a familiar sight, with the likes of Les Leston and even the Rodriguez brothers taking on the opposition and returning home with many top places and class wins.

Arguably 1961 was the high point in the Rapier’s career. In Series IIIA form the engine sported five main bearings, a stronger clutch, plus a thicker anti-roll bar. And with overdrive operating on three gears it represented almost the perfect long distance rally car that continued its winning ways until Ford countered with the Cortina GT. By then, of course, the Mini had also evolved into the Cooper and after a reasonably stable few years things changed rapidly in the world of international rallying.

With the advent of ‘historic’ rallying the Sunbeam Rapier was a popular choice with amateur drivers, perhaps the most successful to date being the late Malcolm Pickering who along with Iain Tullie seemed to win everything entered. The author of this feature has spent many a happy hour behind the wheel of a Rapier and can vouch for its all-round sixties GTi appeal. It was then, and remains, along with the Ford Escort and Lancia Fulvia, one of the most iconic ‘classic’ rally cars.