Variety is the Spice of life

A larger-than-life character and one of the finest drivers of his generation, Gordon Spice will forever be woven into the history of British motorsport.

Behind the wheel, he clinched the British Touring Car Championship a staggering six times in a row, won the Spa 24 Hours and finished first in class at Le Mans on three occasions. And under the banner of Spice Engineering, an outfit he founded together with fellow English racer Ray Bellm, Gordon enjoyed great success in Europe’s World Sportscar Championship and America’s IMSA GT Championship in the 1980s and ’90s.

Fielding prototype chassis’ built from the ground up and powered by a plethora of different engines, Spice forged its name in the C2, GTP and Camel Lights categories. Group C and its variations around the world formed the spine of what was a truly golden era of motorsport – one in which the performance envelope was permitted to be pushed further than it had ever been before and plucky privateers could genuinely upset the factory teams.

A 1990 model delivered new to David Tennyson Racing in the United States, the car we’re thrilled to have recently sourced for one of our clients – chassis number SE90 012 – is one of the few Spice prototypes to be fitted from new with a soul-stirring naturally-aspirated Ferrari V8.

Racing under the Denon America Inc. banner, this Spice contested the 1990 and 1991 IMSA Camel Lights series as part of the overarching IMSA GT Championship, predominantly in the hands of David Tennyson. Lime Rock. Road Atlanta. Watkins Glen. Sears Point. Laguna Seca. As the premier endurance racing championship in North America, IMSA GT visited the continent’s most history-steeped circuits.

What’s more, the Camel Lights competitors shared the aforementioned racetracks’ hallowed asphalt with the top-flight GTP prototypes, including the Works cars from the likes of Jaguar, Porsche, Nissan and Toyota. Suffice to say, the Spice-Ferrari of Denon America Inc., a well-known hi-fi company, featured prominently in the fiercely popular series. David Tennyson, a 23-year-old from Toronto, gelled with the Anglo-Italian prototype immediately.

Over the course of the 1990 and ’91 seasons, SE90 012 entered 24 events. In 1990, a class victory in the Tampa Camel Grand Prix was complemented by podiums in Atlanta, Palm Beach, Mid-Ohio and San Diego. As a result of his strong and consistent performance with this very Spice, the IMSA organisation awarded Tennyson the ‘Most Improved Driver’ accolade.

It turned out the award was only a prelude to what was to come. Tennyson won even more silverware in 1991 – in addition to four class podiums (Ohio, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca and San Diego), the Canadian clinched two stunning class wins, in the Lime Rock Grand Prix and the Grand Prix of New Orleans. It was enough for second overall in the Camel Lights drivers’ championship and 40,000 US dollars of prize money.

Following its retirement from active service, this Spice-Ferrari was sold in 1993 to a prominent collector from Florida boasting one of the world’s greatest Ferrari collectors, with whom it remarkably remained until November of this year – that’s an incredibly 28 years in its sole private ownership.

We were privileged to be able to source this fascinating slice of IMSA history for one of our clients. Benefitting from a recent service, this Spice-Ferrari’s maiden competitive outing under its new ownership came at the inaugural Gulf Historic in Dubai, where it was driven by none other than our very own Max Girardo. We know it was the beginning of what promises to be a very exciting next chapter for this fantastic Anglo-Italian prototype.

SOLD