Of the 463 Ace Bristol’s produced at the Thames Ditton Works, only 100 came in right hand driveconfiguration. The Motorcar offered is BE 294, it is one of sixteen right hand drive Ace Bristols that were exported. BE294 left the Thames Ditton works on the 18th of April 1957 and had been shipped to Far East Motors, Hong Kong.

The first custodian of this motorcar Ron Hardwick, a Cathay Pacific pilot, said he fell into racing almost by accident. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hardwick, the son of a British Army captain, said he had raced motorcycles around the then undeveloped new territories.

After buying a Triumph TR2 to drive around Europe on holiday, the service manager for Far East Motors Eddie Carvalho, winner of the initial 1954 Grand Prix, entered his car in the race without telling him.

'Eddie was a crazy guy and it was just like him to do that and at the time they were scraping to get as many people down to Macau as possible. I had been racing in a few hill climbs with the Hong Kong Motor Sport Club and done alright so I thought why not’. After finishing out of the running in the '55 race with a blown engine and missing the 1956 GP due to work commitments.

Hardwick returned to the Guia Circuit in 1957 , in his recently acquired AC Ace Bristol (BE294), he achieved his best lap time of 3m and 45.7s, the third fastest lap on the grid 11 seconds behind the leading Mercedes 300SL of Pateman. He completed the 77 laps of Guia in a swift 4 hours 58 minutes and 15 seconds, under four minutes behind the winning Mercedes 300SL. Hardwick also achieved a 1st in the ACP trophy the day before the GP.

Hardwick returned the following year for the fifth Macau grand prix, battling it out for second place with the XK140 of Tom Reynolds. Hardwick managed to lap Barnes in the Porsche 1600 on the 48th lap, Barnes would go on to place 3rd, Hardwick comfortably claimed 2nd and Chan Lye-Choon placed 1st.

- NOW SOLD-

To find out more about this vehicle please contact charlie@brooklandscarsltd.com in our sales team for further details, viewing by prior appointment.

Telephone: +44 (0)1932828545

Mobile: +44 (0)7557 878123

Also advertised through our AC HERITAGE brand.