{"id":6118,"date":"2019-06-30T11:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-143.com\/?page_id=6118"},"modified":"2023-02-25T15:09:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T18:09:40","slug":"cunningham-c4-r-1-spark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/cunningham-c4-r-1-spark\/","title":{"rendered":"Cunningham C4-R #1 &#8211; Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/a-h\/cunningham_c4r_1_01.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><strong>1954 Cunningham C4-R<\/strong>\nPilots: B. Cunningham, J. Gordon-Bennett\nTeam: <em>B. S. Cunningham<\/em>\nRace: 5th overall (2nd in S 8.0 class) at Le Mans in <strong>1954<\/strong>\nSpark - S2728 (resin) <\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-medium-gray-color has-text-color has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Published 06\/30\/19<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net\/user_files\/arcaracing\/site_assets\/000\/020\/152\/large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Briggs Swift Cunningham<\/a> started building race cars in 1940, for himself and other privateers. His team first raced at La Sarthe in 1950, with a pair of modified Cadillacs. In 1951 he publicly announced that he would build a car aiming at an outright victory at Le Mans. So for the 1951 race, with support from Chrysler, he built <a href=\"https:\/\/www.undiscoveredclassics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/thumb-copy47.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">three C-2R<\/a>. Of these, one finished in 18th and the other two abandoned due to mechanical failures. He went back to the drawing board and his next car was the <strong>C4-R<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/a-h\/cunningham_c4r_1_02.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> All in all Cunningham built 36 cars and the C4-R pioneered the concept   of an American engine successfully powering a lightweight chassis.  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new C4-R was not only more powerful than the C2-R, it was also lighter. With a new Chrysler 5487 cm\u00b3 V8 hemi, the C4-R counted on 325 hp. The chassis was also shorter, therefor the car was faster and more nimble. However, the C2-R\u2019s Achilles heel passed on to the new car: the drum breaks. The breaks just could not keep up with the weight and speed, so overall performance suffered. At the 1954 <em>24 Heures du Mans<\/em> Cunningham had two C4-Rs in the race, and a lone Ferrari 375 MM. Car #2 finished in third place overall, and first in the S8.0 class, while <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/lemans-history.com\/imagens\/1954\/gm8.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">car #1<\/a> came in fifth. The Ferrari wasn\u2019t so lucky, when a faulty transmission took it out on lap 120. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/a-h\/cunningham_c4r_1_03.jpg\" alt=\"C4-R\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">  In general awesome detail, but poor exhaust pipes.  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though I already have a <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/jaguar-e-type-lightweight-15-spark\/\" target=\"_blank\">car he drove<\/a>, I was after a car he <em>built <\/em>for a long while. Statistically speaking, Cunninghams were one of the most (if not THE most) successful American race cars. So for the general vintage race fan, it\u2019s a must. And since the man sure left his mark at La Sarthe, I also had to have one of his machines. But in scale I don\u2019t think this is one of the great models of my collection. The stripe on the hood is a (not-greatly-applied) decal, and the exhaust is not a hollow pipe. If I didn\u2019t know better, I would say it\u2019s an older mold from Bizarre. It just doesn&#8217;t shine like a Spark model. Still, in the end, a nice model nonetheless. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1954 Cunningham C4-R Pilots: B. Cunningham, J. Gordon-Bennett Team: B. S. Cunningham Race: 5th overall (2nd in S 8.0 class) at Le Mans in 1954 Spark &#8211; S2728 (resin) Published 06\/30\/19 Briggs Swift Cunningham started building race cars in 1940, for himself and other privateers. His team first raced at La Sarthe in 1950, with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/cunningham-c4-r-1-spark\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Cunningham C4-R #1 &#8211; Spark&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6118","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6118"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15407,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6118\/revisions\/15407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}