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3391960 Austin-Healey 3000 MkI Competition RoadsterRegistration no. AOV 319Chassis no. HBT7-7432Engine no. 10837‘A classic competition car among the all-time greats in motoringhistory,’ was how The Autocar magazine summed up the worksAustin-Healey 3000 in 1963. Yet at the time of its arrival in 1959,few would have guessed that the low-slung ‘Big Healey’ wouldtriumph over its apparent shortcomings so effectively that it nowrates as one of the most successful rally cars of the 1960s. However,the Big Healey’s first major competition successes did not comeon the ‘rough stuff’ but were gained on Tarmac in one of the mostdemanding forms of motor sport: endurance racing.Following the Austin-Healey 100’s sensational debut at the 1952Motor Show, the works had entered two mildly modified cars inthe 1953 Le Mans 24-Hour Race, which finishing in 12th and14th places, a highly praiseworthy achievement for what wererecognisably production sports cars. From then onwards the factorywould continue to prepare and enter cars for the long-distanceclassics. When the ‘3000’ model came along its first ‘baptism of fire’would be the 1960 Sebring 12 Hours where a pair entered by BMCNorth America finished 2nd and 3rd in their class behind a Ferrari. Atnational and club level the Big Healey was – and still is – a popularchoice among privateers, forming one of the mainstays of themodern historic and Modsports racing scenes.198 | Goodwood festival of speed