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| Full name | Écurie Écosse |
|---|---|
| Base | Merchiston,Edinburgh |
| Founder(s) | David Murray,Wilkie Wilkinson, Hugh McCaig (revivals) |
| Noted staff | David Murray,Wilkie Wilkinson |
| Noted drivers | David Murray Ian Stewart Jimmy Stewart Leslie Thorne Hugh McCaig (revivals) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1952 British Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 3 |
| Constructors | Cooper Connaught |
| Final entry | 1954 British Grand Prix |
Écurie Écosse (French for "Scotland Stable") was amotor racing team fromEdinburgh,Scotland. The team was founded in November 1951 by Edinburgh businessman and racing driverDavid Murray and mechanicWilkie Wilkinson. Its most notable achievement was winning the1956 and the1957 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team also raced in threeFormula One races. Ecurie Ecosse's cars were always distinctive in their flag blue metallic paint.
The name was revived by driver Hugh McCaig for multiple spells of competitive racing 1984-1993,[1] in 2011 withBarwell Motorsport, and 2017[2]-2018 withNielsen Racing, and with Blackthorn (2025/26) across multiple sportscar series.
Écurie Écosse had fourFormula One Grand Prix entries, over three seasons. The first was by David Murray himself, driving aCooper T20 in the1952 British Grand Prix. However, he retired with engine trouble early in the race.
For the1953 event, the team entered two cars: a Cooper T20 forJimmy Stewart and a newConnaughtA Type forIan Stewart. Neither of the drivers finished the race; Jimmy spun off track on lap 79, and Ian retired with engine problems.
The team's last F1 outing was at the1954 British Grand Prix where the Connaught was again entered, this time driven byLeslie Thorne. Although the car did take the finish, it came in twelve laps down on the leaders. From this point onward, the team concentrated on sports car events.
(key)
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | CooperT20 | Bristol BS1 2.0L6 | D | SUI | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | NED | ITA | ||
 David Murray | Ret | ||||||||||||
| 1953 | ConnaughtType A CooperT20 | Lea-Francis 2.0L4 Bristol BS1 2.0L6 | D | ARG | 500 | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | SUI | ITA | |
| Ian Stewart | Ret | ||||||||||||
| Jimmy Stewart | Ret | ||||||||||||
| 1954 | ConnaughtType A | Lea Francis 2.0L4 | D | ARG | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | SUI | ITA | ESP | |
| Leslie Thorne | 14† | ||||||||||||
Source:[3] | |||||||||||||
† Not classified; 12 laps behind
Écurie Écosse also raced in theEuropean Formula Two Championship, from 1969 until 1971.Their first race was in1969 atThruxton where driver Graham Birrell finished 11th in aBrabhamBT23C. AtEnna, Birrell couldn't start the race because he had crashed the car in practice and the team couldn't repair the car before the race. In1970 Écurie Écosse entered the same car for Birrell. AtCrystal Palace, Birrell finished in 11th position. In the next race, held at theHockenheimring, Birrell finished in 12th position. InImola,Richard Attwood took over from Birrell; after finishing sixth in the first heat, he was unable to start the second heat and was therefore not classified. In1971 Écurie Écosse had a new driver,Tom Walkinshaw, and a new car, aMarch712M. AtThruxton, Walkinshaw retired on lap three due to a puncture. At theNürburgring,Gerry Birrell finished in ninth position. In their last two races, atJarama andCrystal Palace, Walkinshaw failed to qualify for the race.
(key) (Results inbold indicate pole position; results initalics indicate fastest lap; † indicates shared drive.)
| Year | Chassis | Engine(s) | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | BrabhamBT23C | Cosworth FVA | THR | HOC | NÜR | JAR | TUL | PER | VAL | |||||
| Graham Birrell | 11 | DNS | ||||||||||||
| 1970 | BrabhamBT30 | Cosworth FVA | THR | HOC | BAR | PAL | HOC | PER | TUL | IMO | HOC | |||
| Graham Birrell | 11 | 12 | ||||||||||||
| Richard Attwood | Ret | |||||||||||||
| 1971 | March712M | Cosworth FVA | HOC | THR | NÜR | JAR | PAL | ROU | MAN | TUL | ALB | VAL | VAL | |
| Tom Walkinshaw | Ret | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||
| Gerry Birrell | 9 |
In the1956 24 Hours of Le Mans,Ron Flockhart andNinian Sanderson were the winning drivers in aJaguar D-Type.[4]
Ron Flockhart won again with a D-Type inthe 1957 event, partnered this time byIvor Bueb.[5] The team's second D-Type – driven by Sanderson and his new partnerJohn Lawrence – finished second, a rareprivateer 1–2 finish.
The1958 Le Mans race was less successful; both of the Ecurie Ecosse D-Types, this time withMasten Gregory andJack Fairman added to the driver line-up, suffered engine failure within a few laps of the start.[6]
The team would again field a D-Type atLe Mans in 1959, alongside a newly acquiredTojeiro-Jaguar. Once again, neither car made it to the final flag, the D-Type suffering engine failure after 70 laps, and the Tojeiro a fire after 137.[7]
Things went from bad to worse for the team in the1960 running. The, by now much modified, D-Type was again entered, and lasted until the 168th lap before being forced out with a brokencrankshaft. Écurie Écosse's second car for this year, aCooper T49 Monaco, did not even make it to the start line.[8]
The entrants for the1961 24 Hours of Le Mans – aCooper T57 Monaco and anAustin-HealeySebringSprite – retired after accidents in their 32nd and 40th laps respectively.[9]
1962 saw Écurie Écosse moving on to aTojeiro EE, but this too failed to finish aftergearbox problems. This would be the last time that the original Ecurie Ecosse team would enter a car for the greatest endurance race in the world. Financial troubles and the self-imposedtax exile of founder David Murray had effectively ended the team's competitive era by the mid-1960s.
The drivers included David Murray himself;Jimmy Stewart; his younger brother, three-timeF1 World ChampionJackie Stewart;[10] fellow F1 driversJim Clark andInnes Ireland;Masten Gregory;Ian Stewart;Leslie Thorne;Ron Flockhart;Ninian Sanderson;Roy Salvadori;Ivor Bueb;John Lawrence;Jack Fairman;Bill Stein;Edward Labinjoh;[11]Willie Forbes;[12]Tom Walkinshaw.[13]
The original team ceased operating in 1971, but the team name was revived in the 1980s by enthusiast and driver Hugh McCaig. In 1986 the team won the C2 class of theWorld Sportscar Championship; they had been runners-up the previous year. They also enteredVauxhall Cavaliers in theBritish Touring Car Championship with some success in 1992 and 1993, including a win at Thruxton in 1993 forDavid Leslie, who also won the non-championshipTOCA Shootout that year atDonington Park.
In 2011, team bossHugh McCaig announced that four young drivers,Alasdair McCaig, Andrew Smith,Joe Twyman andOliver Bryant, would revive the team once more and drive a return to sports car racing for the team, 25 years after winning theWorld Sportscar Championship in1986 in the C2 class. The team entered anAston Martin DBRS9, along with the help ofAston Martin Racing partner teamBarwell Motorsport, into the2011 24 Hours of Spa in the GT3 class.[14]
To celebrate the team's 70th anniversary of their overall1956 24 Hours of Le Mans win, it was announced they would debut in the2025-26 Asian Le Mans Series with Blackthorn.[15] The Écurie Écosse BlackthornAston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo will be piloted by Jonny Adam, Giacomo Petrobelli and Kobe Pauwels,[16] and could pave the way for qualification to the2026 24 Hours of Le Mans and a request to enter the2026 European Le Mans Series.[15]
The team was accompanied by a 2-axle double-deckcar transporter capable of carrying three cars (one inside and two on top) together with a support crew, and with mobile workshop facilities.
The transporter was designed by Selby Howgate[17] and built by coachbuildersAlexander, ofFalkirk, Scotland. Based on aCommer chassis, it is powered by aCommer TS3 three-cylinder horizontally opposed two-stroke diesel engine.
From the early 1990s, enthusiast collector Dick Skipworth built up his remarkable Ecurie Ecosse Collection. Into 2013 it comprisedJaguar XK120, C-Type and D-Type, Tojeiro-Jaguar, Cooper-Climax Monaco, Le Mans Austin-Healey Sprite, Tojeiro EE-Buick Coupe and the Commer Transporter. On 5 December 2013, this entire collection was sold at auction by Bonhams at New Bond Street, London. The collection sold for a total £8.8-million Sterling – the Transporter alone for a world record £1.8-million.
The Le Mans wins captured the public's imagination, and British die-cast model manufacturerCorgi brought out a 1/48 scale model of the transporter in its Corgi Major series, which proved very popular. A number of sets were produced with differing vehicles; for example, Gift Set No 16 issued in 1965 included three racing cars in individual boxes; a #151A Lotus X1, a #152S BRM and a #154Ferrari. Although out of production, the Corgi sets have remained popular among collectors.
