NOTICE OF DEATH - STANLEY SPROAT (1924 - 2016)

The Club is very sad to have to report that Stan Sproat passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday 7 May at Strachan House Care Home, Edinburgh where he had been a resident for the last 12 months. He was 92 years of age.

Stan became an Associate (Mechanic) Member of the BRDC in 1956, the year in which the famous Scottish team Ecurie Ecosse achieved the first of its two successive successes in the Le Mans 24 Hours with the Jaguar D-type driven by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson.

Stan had joined David Murray’s Ecurie Ecosse in 1952, becoming Chief Mechanic under ‘Wilkie’ Wilkinson a year later. First with Jaguar XK120s and subsequently with C-types and D-types, the team was one of the most successful through the 1950s. By the end of the decade, the D-type was no longer competitive internationally and the team commissioned the mid-engined Tojeiro EE, for its time a ground-breaking concept initially to be powered by the Coventry-Climax FPF engine from the team’s Cooper Monaco. Stan was very much involved both in the construction of the original cars and in the subsequent installation of lightweight aluminium 3.5 litre Buick V8 and Ford V8 engines, all this a year or more before the Lola Mk 5 GT and Ford GT40 saw the light of day. The little Ecosse-Imp single seater was another of Stan’s creations.

Stan remained with Ecurie Ecosse through to the international Formula 2 days in 1969/1970, later becoming service manager at Merchiston Motors. One of the last links with the origins of the small Scottish team which took on and beat the world’s best in sports car racing, Stan retained a keen interest in the later iterations of Ecurie Ecosse in international GT racing. To his family and friends the BRDC offers its sincere condolences. Stan's funeral will take place on Wednesday 18 May at 10.30am in the Cloister Chapel, Warriston Crematoriam, 36 Warriston Rd, Edinburgh EH7 4HW then all welcome afterwards at The Marriot Hotel, 111 Glasgow Rd, Edinburgh EH12 8NF.