Ernie's Alfa: a pre-war star of post-war New Zealand

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It may seem remarkable that of the Alfa Romeo P3s built (all 14 of them), two original Scuderia Ferrari cars ended up in Australia and another two in New Zealand, all in the 1950s.

The one seen here is chassis number 50006, in the hands of New Zealander Ernie Sprague at the Mairehau circuit in the early 1950s. At around the same time, sister car 50005 could be seen in action not far away from it in the hands of local racer Ron Roycroft. His car also made it to Mairehau. Could they perhaps have raced together? One report mentions that 50005 was at one stage used as a pattern to make an exact copy of the original wide cockpit used during the Scuderia Ferrari era for 50006. Crankcases of the cars are also said to have been interchanged.

Still, the last time this car was sold it was described as an "Extremely authentic example with well-documented ownership history and driven by racing luminaries including Tazio Nuvolari and Rene Dreyfus." Yes, it made a couple of million dollars, so it's not a car that can be raced on a budget anymore. We'd think the situation was a bit different 70 years ago.

In the other photograph, we see another car on which Ernie Sprague managed to lay his hands, a 10-year-old Maserati 4CLT. He fitted dual rear wheels and raced it against a young Bruce McLaren…

Words: Jeroen Booij; pictures: Classic Auto News/Allan Dick
 

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