First racing car of British Touring car champion Bernard Unett

Built by the Rootes factory in Coventry, England, Alpine registration number XRW 302 was the fourth of only nine fully functioning prototypes built for pre production testing after the design was finalised in 1957. It also has a well documented racing history, having raced at Goodwood and all the well known British racing circuits. it is now the earliest surviving 'series' Sunbeam Alpine and the only surviving prototype.

XRW 302 avoided the worst rigors of development testing programme by being selected as a 'model' car on which the design department did development work. In 1961 the factory sold the car to Bernard Unett, a Rootes factory development engineer who worked on the Alpine development programme. He was a subsequent three times British Touring car champion of the 1970s, then engineer and test driver for the World Rally Championship winning Talbot and Peugeot teams.

Unett developed the car for racing by uprating the suspension, and the engine with a special cam which was especially made in Sweden. Unett first raced the car in 1961 and by 1964 Unett and XRW 302 became one of the most successful drivers / cars of the year on the British club circuit, winning the Freddie Dixon Challenge Trophy, which was a big prize in British Club racing at the time. He is even on record as having beaten future F1 world champion Jackie Stewart in one particular race.

When XRW 302 finished its racing career it passed through various owners until it was bought by Simon Goldby in 1972, who used it for every day motoring for four years, and was unaware of its previous history until the mid 1970s. The car was garaged, fell into disrepair and remained unused until 1995 when a full restoration project was begun by Simon. In April 2000 the car was back on the road restored to its FORMER GLORY. Simon sold the car in september 2005, when I became the proud owner.

XRW 302 made the front cover of 'pratical classics' magazine in sept 2000, which included a five page article on the car and its history. It is also featured in Chris McGovern's book 'Alpine the classic Sunbeam' which includes a detailed account of the prototype testing programme. Recently it has appeared at the Silverstone Classic meeting, the Goodwood Revival and was runner up in 'Classic car of the year'.