The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu has started the year with news that it has reached the £50,000 mark with its Sunbeam 1000hp restoration campaign.
The Museum is now appealing for more support to get the restoration to the next step in the goal of hearing its engines roar again, and raising £300k to restore World Land Speed record car and taking it to Daytona in the USA for the centenary of its record-breaking 200 mph attempt in 2027.
Visitors to Beaulieu can currently see the exposed chassis on show in the National Motor Museum, and on the 27th January a special talk at Beaulieu will see the Museum’s Manager and Chief Engineer Doug Hill and Senior Engineer Ian Stanfield talk about the efforts to restore the impressive car. The evening will have a special guest appearance from land speed record holder Richard Noble. Proceeds from the Transport Torque evening will go to the Sunbeam 1000hp restoration campaign.
The Sunbeam 1000hp Restoration Campaign was launched with Hampshire-based Brookspeed Automotive in March. To help raise the profile of the vehicle’s centenary celebrations and fundraising campaign – through individual donations and corporate sponsorship – there are plans to take it to Europe and on tour to motoring museums across America. Opportunities will also be offered for schools, colleges, and universities to get involved with STEM workshops and activities.
The Sunbeam’s two 22.5 litre engines, which each produced 435bhp, have not run since before World War II more than 80 years ago – after corrosion attacked internal workings. With painstaking rebuilding, using specialist knowledge and bespoke parts, National Motor Museum engineers will recapture the sounds, sights and smells of this ground-breaking machine and help to preserve it for future generations.
Designed and built solely to break the 200mph barrier, this immensely powerful machine was driven by Major Henry Segrave to become the fastest car in the world.
The Museum’s Michelle Kirwan says, “Funds are now needed to gear up a level tocomplete the second engine build and ultimately thefull restoration. Donations for the Sunbeam 1000hp Restoration Campaign can be made online. Sponsors and corporate donors who would like to be associated with the campaign are urged to get in touch with the Museum’s Development team.”
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