The Purple People-Eater
The Purple People-Eater |
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An American car supplier from Tottenham.
He bought the Imp in which Bill McGovern won the 1972 British Saloon Car Championship and used it in the 1973 season.
From: Spencer Nash
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 16:58:40 +0100
Hi Frank
I have noticed that in the competition section of your site you have made reference to Les Nash and have a picture of him, in the 'Purple People Eater', but no information whatsoever. Les Nash is my father and I am sure, if you are interested, he would be happy to help you with photos and info for your site. He was a very successful driver especially in the Imp and has a lot of interesting stories about this period of his racing career.
Kind regards
Spencer Nash
The RAC British Touring Car Championship Race - Group 2 touring cars
Brands Hatch (20 laps; 53 miles - 1 lap=2.65 miles)
Sunday, March 18: First qualifying round of the 1973 RAC BTCC
Weather conditions: Overcast, track dry
Class D - Up to 1000cc
They all started and all finished.
| No. | Entrant and driver | Car | cc. | Nat. | Overall Finishing position | Time Min. : Sec. | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Camaro | 1st | 34 : 04.5 | 93.52 mph / 150.19 kph | ||||
| 1 | George Bevan (Drv. Bill McGovern) | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | ? | ||
| 71 | Les Nash (1st Reserve) | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | 11th | 34 : 41.2 | 82.51 mph / 132.79 kph (18 laps) |
| 72 | Stapleton Motors Ltd. Racing Promotions (Drv. Adrian Webb) | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | 14th | ||
| 73 | Melvyn Adams | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | 15th | ||
| 74 | John Godfrey (Drv. Ivor Godwin) | Sunbeam Imp Sport | 998 | GB | 13th | ||
| 75 | G.J. Booth | BLMC Mini | 998 | GB | ? | ||
| 76 | Jeremy Beam | BLMC Mini | 998 | GB | 18th | ||
| 77 | Jim Burrows | BLMC Mini | 998 | GB | 16th |
Silverstone is a long (almost three mile) circuit and has plenty of wide open spaces to enable the faster, and higher capacity cars to really blow off their small capacity competitiors.
Practice
Ingliston is a circuit which you really have to drive, it being short and relatively twisty.
The Appleyard Trophy Race
Organised by the Scottish Motor Racing Club
18th - 19th August 1973: Event 5
| No. | Entrant and driver | Car | cc. | Nat. | Overall Finishing position | Time Min. : Sec. | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 71 | Les Nash / Commercial Credit Co. | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | mph / kph (18 laps) | ||
| 72 | Adrian Webb / F.J. van der Breggen / Stapleton Motors | Chrysler Imp | 998 | GB | |||
| 77 | Jim Burrows / Swiftune Engineering Ltd. | BLMC Mini | 998 | GB |
The RAC British Touring Car Championship Race - Group 2 touring cars, Appendix J
Event 4: Brands Hatch (25 laps)
Sunday, August 27: Fourth qualifying round of the 1973 RAC BTCC
Weather conditions:
Class D - Up to 1000cc
| No. | Entrant and driver | Car | cc. | Nat. | Overall Finishing position | Time Min. : Sec. | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Bevan (Drv. Bill McGovern) | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | |||
| 71 | Commercial Credit & Discoutn Co. (Drv. Les Nash) | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | mph / kph (.. laps) | ||
| 72 | Stapleton Motors Ltd. Racing Promotions (Drv. Adrian Webb) | Chrysler Imp | 998 | GB | |||
| 73 | Melvyn Adams | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | |||
| 74 | John Godfrey (Drv. Ivor Godwin) | Sunbeam Imp | 998 | GB | |||
| 75 | G.J. Booth | BLMC Mini | 998 | GB | |||
| 76 | Jeremy Beam | BLMC Mini | 998 | GB | |||
| 77 | Swiftune Engineering Ltd. (Drv. Jim Burrows) | BLMC Mini | 998 | GB |
British Automobile Racing Club; Surrey Centre
Dee-Jay and Radio Monthly Car Races
information sheet No. 7
Practice times for production saloon cars - race 'B'
Weather conditions: sunny and dry
| No. | Driver | Car | cc. | Nat. | Time Min. : Sec. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 166 | Tim Dodwell | 1 : 09.2 | (2nd) | |||
| 167 | Jonathan Cook | not seen | ||||
| 168 | Les Nash | 1 : 07.0 | (1st) | |||
| 169 | Mike Bundy | not seen | ||||
| 170 | Alan Foster | 1 : 07.0 | (2nd) | |||
| 171 | Tony Lanfranchi | 1 : 09.0 | (2nd) | |||
| 172 | Peter Jobb | 1 : 09.2 | (1st) | |||
| 173 | Tony Stubbs | 1 : 09.0 | (1st) | |||
| 174 | Eric Horsfield | 1 : 09.0 | (3rd) | |||
| 175 | to have been nominated | not seen | ||||
| 176 | Jo Bailey | 1 : 14.4 |
Silverstone, Northampton, Great-Britain
23/9/1973
Les Nash (both entrant and driver), Hillman Imp, #6, 998 engine, Group Div. 1 - he did finish, but not in the top-six.
Bill McGovern was entered in this race by George Bevan
| The Imp Site Competitive Imps Racing Imps |
| © Franka |
Purple People Eater - lyrics
Saturday 1st August 1998
There were mixed fortunes for Green Belt Motor Club drivers Les Nash and Robin Donovan recently.
Nash notched up his fourth win in only six starts in the historic touring car class. In his latest race at Lydden Hill, Kent, his Ford Lotus Cortina, named the Purple People Eater, started the 12-lap race in fourth place and quickly overtook the second and third placed cars.
It then took him until the last lap to get on terms with leader Roger Cope's Jaguar. Unfortunately he failed by the tiny margin of 0.23 seconds to secure the victory.
Where are they now?
Les Nash - Still racing the "Purple People Eater" in Historic Touring Cars "pre 66".
Mr. Nash was the outright winner (Ford Anglia 997cc) of the 1971 Hepolite Glacier Saloon Car championship.
Photo by Gerald Swan on the web:
Brands Hatch 1974, 17 March - Race of the Champions support, Leslie Nash in the 5.7-litre Chevrolet Camaro - another Purple People-Eater. (JPEG Image, 1000x630 pixels)