Écurie Écosse (French for "Scotland Stable") was a motor racing team from Edinburgh, Scotland. The team was founded in November 1951 by Edinburgh businessman and racing driver David Murray and mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson. Its most notable achievement was winning the 1956 and the 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team also raced in three Formula One races. Ecurie Ecosse's cars were always distinctive in their flag blue metallic paint.
The name was revived by driver Hugh McCaig for multiple spells of competitive racing 1984-1993,[1] in 2011 with Barwell Motorsport, and 2017[2]-2018 with Nielsen Racing across multiple sportscar series.
Formula One
Écurie Écosse had four Formula One Grand Prix entries, over three seasons. The first was by David Murray himself, driving a Cooper T20 in the 1952 British Grand Prix. However, he retired with engine trouble early in the race.
For the 1953 event, the team entered two cars: a Cooper T20 for Jimmy Stewart and a new ConnaughtA Type for Ian Stewart. Neither of the drivers finished the race; Jimmy spun off track on lap 79, and Ian retired with engine problems.
The team's last F1 outing was at the 1954 British Grand Prix where the Connaught was again entered, this time driven by Leslie Thorne. Although the car did take the finish, it came in twelve laps down on the leaders. From this point onward, the team concentrated on sports car events.
Écurie Écosse also raced in the European Formula Two Championship, from 1969 until 1971.
Their first race was in 1969 at Thruxton where driver Graham Birrell finished 11th in a BrabhamBT23C. At Enna, Birrell couldn't start the race because he had crashed the car in practice and the team couldn't repair the car before the race. In 1970 Écurie Écosse entered the same car for Birrell. At Crystal Palace, Birrell finished in 11th position. In the next race, held at the Hockenheimring, Birrell finished in 12th position. In Imola, Richard Attwood took over from Birrell; after finishing sixth in the first heat, he was unable to start the second heat and was therefore not classified. In 1971 Écurie Écosse had a new driver, Tom Walkinshaw, and a new car, a March712M. At Thruxton, Walkinshaw retired on lap three due to a puncture. At the Nürburgring, Gerry Birrell finished in ninth position. In their last two races, at Jarama and Crystal Palace, Walkinshaw failed to qualify for the race.
Complete European Formula Two results
(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap; † indicates shared drive.)
Ron Flockhart won again with a D-Type in the 1957 event, partnered this time by Ivor Bueb.[5] The team's second D-Type – driven by Sanderson and his new partner John Lawrence – finished second, a rare privateer 1–2 finish.
The 1958 Le Mans race was less successful; both of the Ecurie Ecosse D-Types, this time with Masten Gregory and Jack Fairman added to the driver line-up, suffered engine failure within a few laps of the start.[6]
The team would again field a D-Type at Le Mans in 1959, alongside a newly acquired Tojeiro-Jaguar. Once again, neither car made it to the final flag, the D-Type suffering engine failure after 70 laps, and the Tojeiro a fire after 137.[7]
Things went from bad to worse for the team in the 1960 running. The, by now much modified, D-Type was again entered, and lasted until the 168th lap before being forced out with a broken crankshaft. Écurie Écosse's second car for this year, a Cooper T49 Monaco, did not even make it to the start line.[8]
1962 saw Écurie Écosse moving on to a Tojeiro EE, but this too failed to finish after gearbox problems. This would be the last time that the original Ecurie Ecosse team would enter a car for the greatest endurance race in the world. Financial troubles and the self-imposed tax exile of founder David Murray had effectively ended the team's competitive era by the mid-1960s.
The original team ceased operating in 1971, but the team name was revived in the 1980s by enthusiast and driver Hugh McCaig. In 1986 the team won the C2 class of the World Sportscar Championship; they had been runners-up the previous year. They also entered Vauxhall Cavaliers in the British Touring Car Championship with some success in 1992 and 1993, including a win at Thruxton in 1993 for David Leslie, who also won the non-championship TOCA Shootout that year at Donington Park.
The team was accompanied by a 2-axle double-deck car transporter capable of carrying three cars (one inside and two on top) together with a support crew, and with mobile workshop facilities.
The transporter was designed by Selby Howgate[15] and built by coachbuilders Alexander, of Falkirk, Scotland. Based on a Commer chassis, it is powered by a Commer TS3 three-cylinder horizontally-opposed two-stroke diesel engine.
From the early 1990s, enthusiast collector Dick Skipworth built up his remarkable Ecurie Ecosse Collection. Into 2013 it comprised Jaguar XK120, C-Type and D-Type, Tojeiro-Jaguar, Cooper-Climax Monaco, Le Mans Austin-Healey Sprite, Tojeiro EE-Buick Coupe and the Commer Transporter. On 5 December 2013, this entire collection was sold at auction by Bonhams at New Bond Street, London. The collection sold for a total £8.8-million Sterling – the Transporter alone for a world record £1.8-million.
Models
The Le Mans wins captured the public's imagination, and British die-cast model manufacturer Corgi brought out a 1/48 scale model of the transporter in its Corgi Major series, which proved very popular. A number of sets were produced with differing vehicles; for example, Gift Set No 16 issued in 1965 included three racing cars in individual boxes; a #151A Lotus X1, a #152S BRM and a #154 Ferrari. Although out of production, the Corgi sets have remained popular among collectors.
Bibliography
Dymock, Eric: Ecurie Ecosse: David Murray and the Legendary Scottish Motor Racing Team (PJ Publishing, 2007, ISBN978-0-9550102-2-4)
Gauld, Graham: Ecurie Ecosse: A Social History of Motor Racing from the Fifties to the Nineties (Graham Gauld Public Relations, Edinburgh, 1992, ISBN0-9519488-0-6)
Murray, David: Ecurie Ecosse: The Story of Scotland's International Racing Team (Stanley Paul, London, 1962)
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