Steve Forines and Bob Hagin in front of Bud Rose's dealership

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Bud Rose 

In the early 60's a couple of the dealers on the West Coast would provide Alpines to driving greats like Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, and Bruce Mclaren. Bud Rose was one of those dealers. Bud had been sponsoring an Alpine which was often driven by Steve Froines. In fact, in the April, 1962 issue there is a feature article which describes the best way to modify the Alpine for competition. The car shown in the article is, "Rosebud" which Brabham and Moss shared at Riverside's enduro in 1961. The article goes on to mention that Steve took 4 first place finishes with that same car.

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THE WAY WE WERE STORY FOR THE WHEEL - SF REGION SCCA DEC. 99 BY BOB HAGIN
WHAT WE DROVE - SUNBEAM ALPINE '59 TO '67
This isn't so much a story of what "we" drove as what "I" drove - at least what was driven by Steve Froines and wrenched on by me.


In 1959, the Sunbeam Alpine was introduce as the British equivalent of our own two-placed Ford Thunderbird of '55 to '57. Sunbeam had developed a reputation in the '20's for building real sports cars and racers (Sterling Moss' father drove one at the Indianapolis 500 in '22), but it fell on hard times during The Depression. The name was taken over by the British entrepreneur Harry Rootes through his Rootes Group in the '30's and from there on Rootes Motors limited itself to relatively innocuous Hillman and Sunbeam family sedans. But in the days following World War II, Norman Garrad, a company engineer, convinced his boss that open competition was a viable selling tool and organized a competition department within the corporation. Although the company had no sports cars suitable for racing, Garrad developed a successful pro rally program. By the late '50's Garrad's Sunbeam rally cars were actually hopped-up Hillmans, cars that were built around very modern (for those days) 1.5 liter short-stroke engines and equally updated chassis.


In those heady mid-'50's days of American public acceptance of British sports cars, the MGA with its 1.5-liter Austin and sporting
chassis, was king of the low-priced field but it had its shortcomings. The door openings were narrow (hard to enter while wearing those long, narrow skirts that were popular then, I'm told) and the seating position was snug. Sports car were "in," but their popularity was limited by their creature-comfort limitations.


With an eye on this potential market and the help of a savvy design crew that was aware of the contemporary American tastes, Rootes entered the field with the Alpine. It was sleek, easy to drive and had long doors that opened wide. It's initial appeal was helped by the car's semi-starring role as the personal conveyance (and ultimate instrument of destruction) of Oscar-winner Elizabeth Taylor in her 1960 hit movie "Butterfield 8.'With its low hood line that was nestled between the front fenders and its tall finned rear fenders, the wedge-shaped two-seaterimmediately acquired the nickname "British Thunderbird" in sports car circles. In view of the low regard we aficionados had for Ford's two-seater "personal" car in those days, this was not a compliment.


In those days (as it is now) Southern California was the center of things automotive and it was there that the Rootes Group had its
American headquarters in Los Angeles. Head man of the operation was Norman Garrad's son, Ian, who was steeped in the motorsports tradition passed on to him by his father. The younger Garrad was piqued by the dilettante reputation that the Alpine was developing and undertook to alter its image. He hired Hollywood Sports Cars and its hop-up guru Doane Spencer to build a competitive racer for the then-current Class F Production category. Jerry Titus, editor of Sports Car Graphic magazine, campaigned the initial car very successfully in Cal Club races while Don Sessler did the same in the East. Garrad also offered factory support the local dealers who wanted in on the action and this is how Froines and i got into the act. Bud Rose, then a Rootes and Volvo dealer in Walnut Creek, bought a race-prepared Alpine to be driven by his service manager, a man whose personality quickly came into conflict with that of his boss. An hour after the inevitable cataclysmic confrontation between the two (which involved the
local police), Rose drove the five blocks that separated his dealership from British Motors of Walnut Creek where I was employed as a mechanic, made me a monetary offer I couldn't refuse and the next day I was ensconced as service manager and chief race car mechanic AT Bud Rose Motors. The Alpine race car engine and gearbox were in pieces and since I'd never even seen one, I reassembled it with my tool box on one side and the service manual on the other.


Since I wasn't a driver (by choice as well as by a lack of talent),Rose did what was to him the obvious method of hiring employees: he
called our SF-SCCA headquarter in San Francisco and asked for the name of a driver who was available. I don't remember who answered the phone - possibly Don Wixel- but Froine's name was immediately suggested. His Alfa 1300 was getting expensive for him to operate as I recall, so he took the "job" with some reservations. He wasn't too crazy about that British Thunderbird label and didn't particularly like British cars, but a ride was a ride.


We had our share of wins in that white Alpine (class win first time out despite a gearbox that wouldn't stay in gear) and it turned out to be faster that the factory Sebring racer that Rose bought as its replacement. After Rose went broke a year later, Froines took the job as service manager at Cal Auto in San Francisco and hired me to pull wrenches during the day as well as to help put the Cal Auto Alpine in the winner's circle, which we did. Froines was as serious about racing as I was nonchalant so we made a pretty good team. His class win at Candlestick Park in '65 after putting the Cal Auto car backwards into the fence at speed the previous day, had the crowd on its feet. In those days, our SCCA was what its name implied - a club for sports car owners. I'd like to think that Bud Rose, Steve Froines and I helped to take the Sunbeam Alpine out of the Thunderbird category and put it into the ranks of true sports cars.

 

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Background on Steve Forines

 

Steve Forines drove for Bud Rose Imports in Walnut Creek, CA. I know that Steve drove at least three different Alpines early 60's:

1) The original, "Rosebud" which was the first Alpine which Steve raced.

2) The Ex-Ken Miles/Spencer (#43) Sebring Factory car.

3) The Bob Richman's Alpine which was prepared by Doane Spencer.

Each car has a bit of history which is interesting in itself. The original "Rosebud" car was the very one which Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss drove to 3rd place at the Riverside GP enduro in 1961. It did very well up against much more powerful cars. In fact there was a protest at the end of the race because initially the car had placed further down according to race officials. But according to the lap records kept by Garrard the Brabham/Moss car had finished 3rd. Once that dispute was settled then other protest from competitors were placed regarding the car's larger fuel tank. Garrard proved that tank was available as a factory option so the 3rd place finish stood.

Steve Forines' first introduction to the Sunbeam was at Bud Rose's dealership. Rose had been looking for a driver and Steve was recommended. During Steve's first test drive in a brand new Alpine he managed to bend the throttle linkage. This was a poor introduction but Steve would agree to drive the Alpine for Bud Rose. In the future Bob Hagen would make a bracket system for "Rosebud" to reinforce the linkage and a car would be fully prepared for racing.

The second Alpine Steve drove, the Ex-Ken Miles/Spencer Factory Alpine, was acquired after Sebring. Steve and another person (Bob Hagen, possibly) drove down to Florida from Oakland, CA to pick the car up. As Steve remembers the car it wasn't too fast compared to the sprint car race prepared Alpines but it did feature Aluminum Doors, Right hand drive and dual electrical components. This car was light green. This car also caused a bit of controversy over the Aluminum components.

The third car was the Bob Richman car. This was the same car which Davey Jordan and Jim Adams would have success in. Doane Spencer prepared this car and as Doane said, "it was built from the floor sweeps of the factory cars". This was a very fast Alpine.

Steve started to drive this car after he had crank problems with the Porsche RSK that sidelined that car for the next month or so. Bob Richman, who worked for the importer "Cal Auto Imports", offered to let Steve drive the car in the up coming Cotati race.

Steve called the SCCA on Thursday to see if he could get the car entered and was successful. It was the first time Steve drove the Alpine and he quickly realized that the car was very fast and handled well. He managed to win the F-Production race and almost won the race over all but was narrowly beaten by a Porsche Super 90 in E-Production, a half cars length made the difference. Immediately Steve's Alpine was impounded and checked for rules infractions. From that moment on Steve raced both the Alpine and the RSK for the rest of the season. Steve also won at Candlestick Park in 1964. In practice Steve broke and axle and spun backwards into a fence pole. This creased the center of the trunk and slightly pulled the rear fins in. Unfortunately, they didn't have spares so they "scavenged" the parts off a spectator's car.

He also competed in the US Road Race of Champions but blew a head gasket before the race and jumped in a lap late. During the race the back of the camshaft snapped leaving him with only 3 cylinders.

This car was originally, a maroon with silver stripes as seen in the pictures with Davey Jordan driving but when Steve started driving it for Cal Auto the color was changed to Metal Flake Blue. After the Candlestick park incident the car ended up with the later "fin" details of the Series IV cars. This car was also the same Alpine that Jim Adams would take to first place at Willow Springs.

Steve still competes in vintage events driving a '59 F1 Cooper.

Please click images for enlargements - Click for here for Additional images from Bud Rose's Racing
	Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Norman Garrad and still trying to Identify the other person to Stirling's right.
	In the pits....
	The support Vehicle... can anybody identify the two people in the picture?
	Jack Brabham and Moss shared Bud Rose's car according to Sports Car Graphic, image from April's SCG, 1962
	Jack Brabham at Riverside GP
	Jack Brabham at Riverside GP

*Color Images from David Manning-Press

 

 

Riverside GP Enduro, 1961