The American super sports car that couldn't quite conquer Le Mans.
“But, sir, they can’t be bigger!” the other man replied, panicked. “The wheels are 16 inches, and those are the biggest wheels we have. You can’t fit 17-inch brakes inside 16-inch wheels, sir.”This story originally appeared in Volume 16 of Road & Track.
For the 1953 running of Le Mans, Cunningham prepared a single C-5R roadster. I’m watching it roll off a transporter at the Concours Club, a private racetrack and high-end hangout in Opa-locka, north of Miami and 65 miles from where the C-5R was hand-built 70 years ago.
Then there are the C-5R’s unmistakable brakes, the largest drums ever mounted to a sports car. Ultimately, it didn’t matter how big they were. The Cunningham’s drums couldn’t match the Jag’s discs. Still, no Cunningham-branded car ever finished better at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and now, 70 years later, I get to have a go.Jake Caminero
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