Triumph’s brilliant Sprint was caught between a rock and hard place. It was a world-beating sports saloon, but being cash strapped Triumph could do little to build on its fabulous potential. Tim takes a drive.
Coventry has had a somewhat rocky relationship with Germany, so it is interesting that one of Coventry’s largest employers in the ’60s and ’70s was in fact started by a German who also became Coventry City’s Mayor.
Triumph was founded by the Bettmann family to manufacture bicycles in Germany and England. The German concern did not go on to great things, but Siegfried Bettmann ran the flourishing Triumph bicycle concern in Coventry and became a real local identity. Triumph UK produced its first car in 1923, but Bettmann sold out at the beginning of WWII, during which some other Germans did their best to obliterate the great manufacturing city with the blitz.
Not many model ranges can claim to have been both front and rear wheel drive, or to have had both in the range at the same time
The Standard Company subsequently bought Triumph, and then Leyland Motors bought both concerns in 1961, although as Standard-Triumph it remained fairly autonomous until the British Leyland fiasco ruined things for every company that it smothered in bureaucracy. That the rights to the once great British Triumph name should now be held deep in a vault at arch-rival BMW’s German headquarters is somewhat ironic.
During the genesis of this particular Triumph model, BMW was a struggling concern doing its level best to emulate the Triumph factory’s product. That BMW succeeded, and then took on the mantle of executive express while Triumph was suppressed, says more about the prevailing work and management ethic in the two countries at the time than it does about the fine engineers, who could only use what resources they were given to produce motor cars.
Name Game
In retrospect, Dolomite was probably not the most dynamic name that could have been given to a GT saloon, but it did have some good heritage in the Triumph genealogy, and shared its origins with Ford’s leading range at the time.
The ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezo, from which the iconic Ford range took its name, is in fact part of the Dolomite range of mountains north of Venice, Italy. I know which place name sounds better to me. Identified and named by Frenchman Deodat Tancrè de Gratet de Dolomieu (1750-1801), Dolomia is a particular a particular type of rock — stratified calcium magnesium carbonate — found in the region which reflects pink against the sun (not something the Leyland marketing team dwelt upon). We all know where they were coming from when choosing the name of a rock or a mountain range, but it has got to sound good, too. Dolomite never quite cut it.
As far as Triumphs go, many consider the greatest of all time was the original 1934-5 Dolomite Straight Eight ‘designed’ by Donald Healey, and owing rather more to the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 than Alfa’s lawyers were happy with. Only three of the supercharged cars were made, one of which was destroyed by a train during the 1935 Monte Carlo rally. The Dolomite name was tried again with a totally different car in 1937, using 1500cc fours and 2.0-litre sixes. The last time the Dolomite name was used was half way through the bewildering life cycle of Triumph’s mid-size saloon in the ’60s and ’70s. Not many model ranges can claim to have been both front and rear wheel drive, or to have had both in the range at the same time.
Triumph may have had a profusion and confusion of underpinnings during this period, but all of its body styling (originated by Michelotti) was inescapably Triumph family, originally a blessing but latterly a curse. The glasshouse (roof, screen and doors) did not change between 1965 and 1980. Whilst there is no doubting that the Dolomite Sprint today is an attractive classic, in the later part of its life cycle the styling was considered antique, owing much of its structure to the dumpy 1965 Triumph 1300.
Baby Barb
Michelotti’s styling brief for the Triumph 1300, or ‘Ajax’ as it was known within the factory, was to make it look like a baby Barb, Barb being the works code for the 2000.
Triumph had a good range of cars in place in the early ’60s, with the Herald, Vitesse and Spitfire built on the same chassis, and the 2000 large car. In 1962 the Herald wasn’t selling as well as hoped, and the Ajax 1300 project was instigated as a replacement for the Herald, but it only became so by a long and circuitous route.
Harry Webster, the chief engineer, had obviously spent some time looking at how BMC had made great space efficiencies with its front-wheel-drive Mini and Morris 1100. For the Ajax project he decided to go the same route, but elected to have the old Standard-Triumph engine running north-south in the chassis instead of east-west as Issigonis had done, because he wanted the Triumph virtue of a tight turning circle. He had also witnessed the problems BMC was having with its integrated engine and gearbox, so he designed a separate gearbox and reversed the engine, putting the flywheel at the front.
As the development of Ajax went on, two things became apparent. One was that the Herald was now selling far better than expected, and two, that the Ajax was going to be expensive to make. Rather than ditch the Ajax, Triumph decided to forget the two-door Ajax and four-door Herald, and make the Ajax very highly specified, so its high retail could cover the costs.
The Ajax was introduced as the Triumph 1300 in 1965, and up-market again as the 1300TC in 1967. They were well received and reasonably successful, but the Herald had boomed, and so it was felt necessary to push the Ajax further up market by lengthening it front and rear in a similar style to the MkII Triumph 2000. Now with a 1500 engine, the car continued, but the front wheel drive system was proving costly in service.
Inevitably Herald/Vitesse sales eventually flagged as that design began to show its age. Triumph was not receiving big handouts from Leyland Motors, as it had been in the early ’60s, so a replacement was going to be a problem.
New Slant
The saviour was Saab, which commissioned Triumph to design and manufacture a slant four engine for its new 99 model. This gave Triumph both income and eventually a new engine to use. The Ajax could not be made cheap enough to replace the Herald so, necessity being the mother of invention, the short tail two-door Ajax shell was dusted off and converted to rear drive, with a live axle, under the code-name ‘Manx’. Interestingly this gave Triumph the ability to build a four wheel drive, which it did for a competition 1300 Rallycross special which was very successful until it rolled.
The stripped-out two-door Manx was called ‘Toledo’ when went on sale alongside the front drive 1500 in 1970. Soon after Saab’s exclusivity agreement ran out on the slant four engine Triumph introduced its own version, but this time chose not to use front drive but the straightforward rear drive Toledo arrangement in a four-door shell. This hybrid was called the Dolomite, and was completed in 1970 but not allowed into production and release until 1971 because of crippling strikes.
The engine won several design awards, as it was cheap to manufacture and very efficient in use
It was an 1850cc, 100mph sporting saloon, which despite its Meccano development was substantially more than the sum of its parts. Now Triumph had a Toledo (stripped-out short-tail rear wheel drive), a Triumph 1500 (luxurious long tail, front wheel drive) and a Dolomite (sporting long tail, rear wheel drive) all using the same shell, but made in different parts of the country — clearly some rationalising was required and the public saw this in 1973, when the front-dri ve car got the chop. The public could be forgiven for missing the trick, however, because at the same time a mighty 94.7kW (127bhp) version of the Dolomite, the Sprint, was released to rapturous applause from the press.
Rockers and Rollers
Len Dawtrey came up with the idea of operating the 16 valves off one camshaft. For the eight inlet valves the cams bear directly on the bucket tappets, while the exhaust valves are operated by long rockers operating off the same eight cam lobes. This enabled the plugs to be sited in the ideal position, centrally in the cylinder head. Harry Mundy at Coventry Climax, who had done the Lotus Twin Cam and Jaguar V12, helped Spen King at Triumph design the ingenious 16-valve head to sit on top of the slant four engine. The engine won several design awards, as it was cheap to manufacture and very efficient in use.
Among many firsts the Dolomite Sprint was the first mass-produced 16-valve four-cylinder car, and the first British car to have alloy wheels as standard, which made the seven-year-old body look very distinguished on its 5.5-inch rims, shod with 175/70HR13 Dunlop SP Sport radials. With its two HS6 SU carburettors and a minimum peak of 165Nm torque, the Sprint was given the beefy TR6 differential, and a gearbox with optional overdrive joined by a two-piece prop shaft with Rzeppa constant velocity joints replacing the usual UJs. A larger servo and high performance pads were specified for the front discs, while larger drums were fitted at the rear with a load-sensitive relief valve in the rear brake circuit.
The Dolomite had superb instrumentation and steering column-mounted switchgear, with the high level of wooden trim and the 81 driving positions inherited from the old 1300. The sweet, sporty-handling Sprint was an instant hit, a real driver’s car. Over time the range underneath the spectacular Sprint got rationalised to all become rear-drive Dolomites with a four-door shell. The ageing Standard engine was still in use in the Dolomite 1300 and 1500, whilst the 1850 and Sprint used the engine originally designed for Saab, albeit much modified.
That engine was doubled up to become the Stag V8, and was meant to be the future of Triumph. It would be nice to think that they all lived happily ever after once the rationalisation took place, and the classy Sprint led the way in sales and on the race track, but unfortunately the rot had set within the British car industry. Even simple cars had disgraceful quality issues, and the Dolomite Sprint was sophisticated. The Dolomite and Stag got a bad name for reliability, which killed sales.
Crushed
To replace the well worn Dolomite Spen King had the SD2 up his sleeve: it used an injected Sprint engine, but never got beyond prototype stage, BL choosing to put its meagre funds into LC10, the Maestro. King never gave up and had Michelotti facelift the Dolomite, but that pretty car never saw daylight either. The Triumph tooling was so worn out that production beyond 1980 could not be considered. After eight years and a respectable 22,941 Sprints Triumph Canley manufacturing was closed down, and Triumph’s spirit, effectively, died. The TR7 wandered on for a few more years at Rover’s plant, and a Honda Civic was given the Triumph name.
That was a kick in the face for Triumph die-hards, but in marketing terms exactly what old Triumph 1300 owners wanted — a reliable, highly-specified small saloon, it sold quite well on the home market. Though it looked decidedly antique for a sports saloon, Dolomite and Sprint owners were not feeling deprived by this stage; it was not fashionable to buy British any more, and they were already salivating over the new BMW 3 Series range.
The Power and the Glory
The Sprint was a masterpiece and scored many notable successes, however, for every plus there was a minus. As designed, the engine was extremely efficient and developed 112kW (150bhp) without any major work. It was cheaper to manufacture than any other 16-valve engine; in the simple Dolomite chassis proved well able to beat the opposition in 2.0-litre sedan racing; and had the potential for a good rally car, too. Leyland Special Tuning homologated Weber carburettors and some other bolt-ons that made the car a very effective competition car. The problem was that Leyland management was simply not interested in putting major effort into the car and engine, though the result would have done its image no end of good.
After eight years and a respectable 22,941 Sprints Triumph Canley manufacturing was closed down, and Triumph’s spirit, effectively, died
As it was, while the engine was good for an easy 112kW, due to its design it would be difficult to get it beyond that stage within the regulations imposed at the time.
New Zealander Brett Riley (son of Johnny Riley) thought his career was made when he got a Dave Price-run works Unipart-March 793 with the Sprint engine to compete in the British F3 championship alongside one Nigel Mansell. But the lack of tune-ability within the Sprint engine meant the car was mostly a mid fielder, and Brett’s career stalled while the other fella miraculously caught the attention of Colin Chapman while practicing the March Dolomite in the British GP meeting.
In saloon racing Andy Rouse won the British Touring Car championship for manufacturers in 1974 and overall in 1975, and the Sprint continued to coin up championships throughout its production in both Group 1 and Group 2 form. Notable drivers over this side of the world were Robbie Francevic in New Zealand, and Ron Hodgeson in Australia, whose ex-Rouse car is still racing today. In rallying the irrepressible Tony Pond notched up a production car class in the British Rally Championship.
The negative side of this was that while the Sprint was good, it could have been so much better had the Leyland management signalled the go-ahead for the lighter, stiffer, two-door Toledo body shell and Sprint engine combination that Special Tuning and Canley Experimental wanted to dish up. This would have given the car considerably more potential in homologation for rallying and racing, as well as giving it the sporting cachet in the market place. The Sprint was rarely compared with Ford’s RS2000 or Twin Cam Escorts and the other outright sporting saloons that were out there, despite having the performance to match them.
Sprinters
As it was when new, the Sprint filled a gap for a refined, distinguished, oh-so-British high-performance compact, footing it easily with the BMW 2002 Tii and Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV. It was similar in cost and performance to the highly-strung Ford RS1600 or muscular Capri 3000GT — and none could match the Sprint’s level of appointment and four-door practicality. As a practical classic, the Dolomite Sprint is a real sportsman’s dream, as demonstrated by our two New Zealand owners.
Perhaps predictably, both owners are of British origin and have motoring in the blood. Richard Jaques’ father drove a Hillman Husky in the RAC rally, and subsequently owned a string of Triumphs, firing Richard’s enthusiasm for the marque. Geoff Sparkes raced karts in the UK, but then turned to classics when he moved to
New Zealand in 1984, starting with a Lotus Seven then an XK150 Jaguar.
Between them they have three Sprints, each at a different level of originality. Geoff has two, one an immaculate and totally original car, the Tahiti Blue car in our pictures, and a Russet Brown car, somewhat less tidy but used to win the Leisuretime Tracer Classic racing series this year. While his brown car looks relatively standard, it scampers around Pukekohe in one minute, 15 seconds.
Geoff’s 1979 Tahiti Blue two-owner car was originally owned by a Canley Engine development engineer, Richard Tibbetts, and brought over with him when he left Triumph to come to New Zealand. Fitted with optional overdrive and driving lamps, it is otherwise absolutely as it came out of the factory but with 156,102km (97,000 miles) now on the clock.
The 1975 Mimosa Yellow car of Richard Jaques regularly competes in classic trials, sprints and on the Narva Targa Tour. It had its first event at the 2001 Domain Hillclimb a week after he had bought it. First registered in Feilding, the car had four previous owners, and has now clocked up 140,000km. Somewhere between the specs of Geoff’s two Sprints, Richard’s has twin Weber 40DCOE9 carburettors, a modified cam and lowered, stiffened suspension. He has seen an indicated 120mph from the car, and does one minute, 29-seconds at Pukekohe. Once again, though, it is immaculate, with an absolutely superb paint finish.
The two feature cars look classic and sporty and have survived the ravages of time extremely well. This does not apply to Dolomites in general; they rust over the headlights and round the doors, as do the front chassis mountings on examples that have spent time on salty British roads.
Headache
Apart from Richard breaking a bearing cap at Taupo race circuit, neither of the engines have caused problems, but that is because they have been properly maintained by knowledgeable people throughout their life. Like the Stag, these engines do not suffer misuse, and cooling system issues lead to warping cylinder heads, which any Dolomite owner will tell you is a job you wish you never started. Dolomite head studs go in at an angle, so torquing them down is an art, and getting the head off the block often means scrapping one or the other as they like to bond. An engine oil cooler is the best way of keeping that headache at bay. Otherwise the Dolomite is simple and sturdy, and to be honest doesn’t suffer as many of the ’70s British quality issues as people will have you believe.
Andy Rouse won the British Touring Car championship for manufacturers in 1974 and overall in 1975 in a Dolomite Sprint
Driving the two Dolomites was an absolute blast, they are very, very good cars. With 81 possible driving positions (all of them fairly upright) it is easy to get comfortable, as the leather-rimmed alloy-spoked steering wheel moves telescopically and up and down. The instrument display is one of the neatest comprehensive displays you will see. Pre-dating BMW’s benchmark dash, the Dolomite’s, mounted on a large wooden plinth, is a model of clarity. Before you even fire up you are comfortable and cosseted. The two cars differ once the key is turned. Richard’s car has a throaty gargle as the Weber chokes suck in the air, Geoff’s car has a harder, cammier noise, though both are distinctly free of reciprocating rattles.
Surprisingly, Geoff’s standard steering is heavier than Richard’s, but the ride is better. Dolomites are not the state-of-the-art ride-wise, but for a tall live-axle car they are remarkably well sorted, both cars feeling firm and well tied down without being the slightest bit uncomfortable. The handling is tight, direct and slightly nervous compared to most cars. The Dolomite is a car which demands attention when driven smartly, being really well tied down within its limits but a little skittish once you reach them, which is all part of the fun.
The engine is one big bundle of torque, and acceleration feels very strong from quite low down. Paradoxically it is a great relaxing tourer, with the overdrive on third and fourth giving long-legged cruising without the need to use the clutch and gear lever. The Dolomite Sprint genuinely is a very versatile car, being a great cruiser, a good family car and a rip-snorting fun car if the mood takes you. Steering and noise levels apart, the two cars I drove don’t feel that different, both would be very acceptable company.
Words: Tim Nevinson | Photos: Jared Clark
Triumph Dolomite Sprint
Engine: 45-degree slant four
Capacity: 1998cc
Valves: sohc, 16-valve
Fuel system: Twin HS6 SU
Max power: 94.7kW at 5700rpm
Max torque: 168Nm at 4500rpm
Transmission: Four-speed manual/overdrive (TR6)
Suspension: Front coil and wishbone with anti-roll bar; Rear four-linked live axle, coil and anti-roll bar
Steering: Rack and pinion
DIMENSIONS
Length: 4115mm
Width: 1568mm
Height: 1372mm
Wheelbase: 2454mm
Weight: 970kg
PERFORMANCE
0-100kph: 8.8 secs
Top speed: 190kph
Production: (1973-80): 22,941
