Daniel & Heather Bristow - PEA541
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 4:53 pm
I met Daniel & Heather Bristow at the NEC a few weeks ago. I was taken back by their fantastic car and of its history. I asked them if they would like to submit a short piece as 'car of the month' for our forum. To our benefit they said yes and so below is is what they've shared.
London to Paris Record Holder PEA541
PEA541 started life in 1957 as a 541 Deluxe, but returned to the Jensen factory after being crashed by a Peer of the Realm. This may have been the Earl of Richmond as I have a copy of a letter describing how he crashed his 541 into a tractor prior to Feb 1959. The car went back to the Jensen factory and was referred to as chassis 101, after which the Jensen Brothers decided to use it as the prototype for the 541R to race at LeMans (possibly why the "R"suffix was used). With Jensen experimenting on several cars with disc brakes, rack and pinion steering and Austin developing the newly uprated DS7 engine, along with suspension and body improvements, it was all put together in PEA and entered into LeMans in 1959. Lesley Johnson came out of retirement to compete, aged 46 and thanks to correspondence with Mike Byrne in the late 70's we have evidence that Lesley Johnson had frequent visits to see Richard Jensen and spent many two hour stints racing around Montlhery racetrack at 100mph (two hours being the maximum time for each driver at Le Mans in 1959). A race entry exists for PEA at LeMans but unfortunately Johnson suffered a fatal heart attack the night before the race and PEA was withdrawn out of respect to his family.
Jensen then entered it into the Daily Mail Bleriot Anniversary race between London and Paris with John Webb driving (I believe he owned Brands Hatch and was instrumental in starting Castle Combe race track). This was a race between Marble Arch and the Arc de Triumph by any means possible (there are some entertaining Pathe News clips on you tube). Although PEA couldn't compete with fast motorcycles and jet fighters it won the prize for the fastest four wheeled vehicle beating Stirling Moss by 28 minutes. PEA won in 2 hrs. 27 mins. and 17 secs., a record it still holds to this day. There were also rumours at the time of it going to America for distance and endurance trials, but these are unsubstantiated.
Points of interest on the car;
The only 541 to have a hole through the radiator for a starting handle
extra strengthening to the chassis legs
all nuts, bolts and core plugs are drilled and wired to race at Le Mans
Unique front chassis to accommodate quick lift jacks
Having owned 541s for 25 years the opportunity came up to own PEA so I sold my existing 541R to buy PEA 6 years ago. Over the years parts have been rechromed and resprayed but generally the car is very original and never had a full restoration. Under the bonnet it looks as if it should be in a museum and it is my intention to only replace items as and when needed to keep it safe and roadworthy. Since buying the car it has been my intention to replace the modern tyres with something more appropriate and the discussions with Shaun, our chairman, over the past year gave me the opportunity to spray some new wheels shod with Pirelli Cinturatos for the NEC show. The interest and discussion at the NEC show were fascinating with most agreeing to keep her as original as possible. As you know with all our cars, there are always things to do and the next job is to sort out two or three fibreglass cracks in the roof.
Press Photo
At the Factory
At the Factory
London to Paris Record Holder PEA541
PEA541 started life in 1957 as a 541 Deluxe, but returned to the Jensen factory after being crashed by a Peer of the Realm. This may have been the Earl of Richmond as I have a copy of a letter describing how he crashed his 541 into a tractor prior to Feb 1959. The car went back to the Jensen factory and was referred to as chassis 101, after which the Jensen Brothers decided to use it as the prototype for the 541R to race at LeMans (possibly why the "R"suffix was used). With Jensen experimenting on several cars with disc brakes, rack and pinion steering and Austin developing the newly uprated DS7 engine, along with suspension and body improvements, it was all put together in PEA and entered into LeMans in 1959. Lesley Johnson came out of retirement to compete, aged 46 and thanks to correspondence with Mike Byrne in the late 70's we have evidence that Lesley Johnson had frequent visits to see Richard Jensen and spent many two hour stints racing around Montlhery racetrack at 100mph (two hours being the maximum time for each driver at Le Mans in 1959). A race entry exists for PEA at LeMans but unfortunately Johnson suffered a fatal heart attack the night before the race and PEA was withdrawn out of respect to his family.
Jensen then entered it into the Daily Mail Bleriot Anniversary race between London and Paris with John Webb driving (I believe he owned Brands Hatch and was instrumental in starting Castle Combe race track). This was a race between Marble Arch and the Arc de Triumph by any means possible (there are some entertaining Pathe News clips on you tube). Although PEA couldn't compete with fast motorcycles and jet fighters it won the prize for the fastest four wheeled vehicle beating Stirling Moss by 28 minutes. PEA won in 2 hrs. 27 mins. and 17 secs., a record it still holds to this day. There were also rumours at the time of it going to America for distance and endurance trials, but these are unsubstantiated.
Points of interest on the car;
The only 541 to have a hole through the radiator for a starting handle
extra strengthening to the chassis legs
all nuts, bolts and core plugs are drilled and wired to race at Le Mans
Unique front chassis to accommodate quick lift jacks
Having owned 541s for 25 years the opportunity came up to own PEA so I sold my existing 541R to buy PEA 6 years ago. Over the years parts have been rechromed and resprayed but generally the car is very original and never had a full restoration. Under the bonnet it looks as if it should be in a museum and it is my intention to only replace items as and when needed to keep it safe and roadworthy. Since buying the car it has been my intention to replace the modern tyres with something more appropriate and the discussions with Shaun, our chairman, over the past year gave me the opportunity to spray some new wheels shod with Pirelli Cinturatos for the NEC show. The interest and discussion at the NEC show were fascinating with most agreeing to keep her as original as possible. As you know with all our cars, there are always things to do and the next job is to sort out two or three fibreglass cracks in the roof.
Press Photo
At the Factory
At the Factory