Leda LT20, LT22, LT25
The
first Leda to appear in F5000 was the LT17, a design commissioned from Len
Terry by John Surtees. It was initially known as the TS5 and later as the
Surtees TS5. As this car was one of the most successful designs of 1969,
Terry decided to build his own cars for 1970. The first of these, the Leda
LT20, was supposed to be a development of the TS5 but was an unmitigated
disaster. It was followed by a more conventional LT22 late in 1970 and then
the LT25 in 1971 but none achieved any significant success. For 1972, Graham
McRae joined forces with Leda and laid out the design of the LT27, which
was then completed by Terry. These cars were later renamed McRae
GM1.
These histories are derived largely from from an article in Autosport ("Four years of Leda progress" by Mike Kettlewell 16 Dec 1971 pp28-30). Race reports were taken from Autosport and confirmed by Motoring News. "The Formula 1 Register Fact Book: Formula 5000 1972-1981" (Paul Sheldon, 1994) was, as usual, nearby throughout. All and any further help would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can add anything.
Leda LT20
The LT20 was a lower, lighter, version of the Surtees TS5, comprising a full monocoque but with totally interchangeable front and rear suspension, an idea dropped quickly for the LT22. Toward the end of 1969, Leda Cars Ltd had been taken over by Malcolm Bridgeland's Malaya Cars Group. As well as their car, driven by Mac Daghorn and later Roy Pike, a second car was bought by Broadspeed for the Ford Boss engine and at least one car went to Dan Gurney's AAR, which was due to market them for Formula A as Leda-Eagles. The LT20 had appalling handling and all four UK-based LT20s were written off. The only known US car was also badly damaged in a crash.
Its designer would later say "On paper it looked absolutely right ... but the moment of truth comes on the race track, and it certainly wasn't right then".
| Car | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Leda LT20 01 |
Built for 1970 season. Works with Bartz Chevy for Mac Daghorn. Written off in practice for R1 | Destroyed |
| Leda LT20 02 |
Built for 1970 season. Broadspeed with Ford engine for Chris Craft. Written off in testing by Craft. But see note below. | Destroyed? |
| Leda LT20 03 |
Built for 1970 season. Works for Mac Daghorn. Probably the car ("not yet painted" - Autosport) raced by Roy Pike at Mondello Park and crashed. Written off. | Destroyed |
| Leda LT20 04 |
Built for 1970 season. Broadspeed for Chris Craft. Abandoned and returned to factory. Later used as works car for Pike after crash at Mondello Park. Wrecked in practice at R14 Thruxton. Written off. | Destroyed |
Although
the British weekly magazines Autosport and Motoring News
both give the distinct impression that all four LT20s were used in the UK
and wrecked, at least one escaped. On 26 Feb 1971, Phil Henny (Van Nuys,
CA), bought Leda LT20 chassis 102 from All American Racers Inc. Phil recalls
that AAR had bought the car for Swede Savage to run in US Formula A but
it had remained unused.
Towards the end of 1971, Henny crashed the LT20 at Laguna Seca and sought Len Terry's advice on how to get it back in one piece. Terry was full of helpful information but ultimately suggested buying a LT22 instead. The car was fully rebuilt and raced again, as evidenced by the picture to the right. Phil later sold the car to Bob Braverman but then it disappears.
Some time before 1990, Peter Boyd of PVB MotorSports (Los Angeles, CA) bought a Leda LT20 from Iverson Movie Ranch where it had been used as a movie prop. In late 1990 or early 1991, he sold it to Chuck Haines. Haines later advertised the car as Leda LT20 102.
In 2004, the car was owned by Dean A. Beaupre (Occidental, CA). True to form, the car had had a corner knocked off again but brave Mr Beaupre is restoring it for vintage racing.
Leda LT22
In August 1970, with all four of the UK LT20s wrecked, Leda produced a modified LT22 design. This replaced the LT20's rear suspension with more normal lower wishbones, top links and radius rods. But it still didn't work.
| Car | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Leda LT22 |
Revised car built for Snetterton
31 Aug. Crashed by Pike at R19 Oulton Park. Rebuilt but not ready for final
race of season. Subsequently sold to David Lazenby and renamed "Hawke
DL7" as a planned F5000 project for 1971. The project was abandoned
and the Leda sold to a sprinter ...
 Allan Mountain 1972 and fitted with
289 Ford engine from Mountain's old Cooper-Cobra T66. Raced by John Lambert
(York, UK): first raced in Croft libre 19 Mar 1972 (retired), took
fourth in a Top 10 run-off at the Wharfedale Trophy hill climb
at Castle Howard in late March 1972; retired with "death rattle from
the old Ford engine" at Croft
on Easter Monday 3 Apr 1972; Ford engine rebuilt with ex-Bob Miller bits
and took third in class at Harewood
May 1972; later with Smith/Bartz/Chev engine in sprints
and libre racing in late
1972; and in
1973, also winning BTD
at the new Norfolk Park (Sheffield) hill climb that season; in "LT27"
at Scammonden
15 Sep 1974; second in class at Cadwell Park hill climb
Aug 1975 and then later running a Leda "LT27" in hillclimbs in
1976.
Subsequent history unknown. |
Unknown |
In a letter to Phil Henny dated 29 Dec 1971, Len Terry said that Malaya Garage still had the original LT22 ('that was going to be the Hawke') plus two complete LT22 tubs. The existence of these two extra tubs do confuse matters as Allan Montain's car, when it first appeared, was thought to be a car only previously used for testing. Maybe the car rebuilt after Oulton Park was regarded as a new car, in which case it would fit this description. The fate of the two tubs is unknown.
In January 1984, Jonathon Bradburn had a LT25 (see below) and a 'kit' of a LT22. He sold this to Lawrence Sufryn (date unknown) who kept the LT25 but sold the LT22 via Alan Baillie to dealer Roger Hurst in 1987. Then Hurst - Graham Williams (Stratford-on-Avon, UK) (date unknown) 1989 - Barry and Richard Line - Graham Galliers (Shrewsbury, UK) Sep 1999: retained March 2000.
Leda LT25
| Car | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Leda LT25 001 |
 Malaya
Garages for Trevor Taylor UK 1971: raced up to R7 and then again from
R13 to end of season. Raced by Steve Matchett in 1972 but crashed in
practice at his debut race, R6 Silverstone 22 Apr 1972, and not seen
again ... Chris Shaw appeared at R6 Oulton in 1973 with 001 but DNS.
To
Bob Ellice who appeared at R13 Brands but DNQ. The car is not seen in
1974, 1975 or 1976. Godfrey Crompton ran a LT25 in hill climbs and sprints
in
1977: British Sprint Championship 1977 (5th at Brighton 10 Sep; 1st
at Weston 1 Oct); crashed at the 1978 Loton test day.
It passed to Keith Cox who hillclimbed it later in
1978; British Sprint Championship 1980 (9th at Oulton Park 12 Apr; 7th
at Curborough 27 Apr; 10th at Curborough 1 Jun); British Sprint Championship
1981 (6th at Blackpool 28 Jun; 10th at Lydden Hill 16 Aug) ... advertised
by Jon Bradburn (Wolverhampton, UK) in Jan 1984 and later sold to Lawrence
Sufryn (then Switzerland, now Tagsdorf, France) [date unknown but by 1995]. Sufryn
had the car restored by Alan Baillie [before 2001].
Sold to Ian Jacobs (Hornchurch), Feb 2006. |
Ian Jacobs (UK) 2006 |
| Leda LT25 002 |
Malaya Garages for Trevor Taylor UK 1971. Raced from R8 Monza until crashed at R12 Oulton. Written off | Destroyed |
On Whit Sunday, 28 May 1972, the Cuff brothers drove a Leda F5000 at the Tregrehan hill climb, Stephen winning with Chris just 0.3s behind him. The report implies Stephen had driven the car before. Two 1971 Ledas were then advertised by Stephen Cuff (Nunney, UK) in October 1972. Note that Lambert's LT22 was already racing before the Cuff's car appeared and the surviving LT25 was still running in F5000.
A Leda was "cannibalised (corners, drivetrain, etc) to make John Turner's fabulous Skoda-Chevrolet Supersaloon, which debuted at in '74-5" (source: Marcus Pye). This car first won in "Superloon" racing at Castle Combe in July 1974.
Sources include Autosport's 1970 F5000 Seasonal Survey (28 Jan 1971 pp22-26).
These histories last updated on 21 April, 2007 .