Donald Healey had great experience of competition work and was able to recommend various safety precautions. This included a complete Graviner fire extinguisher system, which is mounted for both the engine compartment and the fuel compartment in the tail that holds the 25 gallon tank. The system was fitted with an impact switch which brought it into operation automatically should the car sustain an impact above a set figure. The system could also be operated by the driver, with a red button that replaced the normal horn button in the centre of the steering wheel. Instead of the normal steering wheel the Austin Healey works produced a special rectangular shape for Donald Healey as a normal wheel interfered considerably with his vision from the cockpit.
Other safety devices included a crash arch behind the driver, two levers, one on each side of the cockpit, to enable the driver to jettison the blister cockpit cover, and a special switch in the engine lubrication system which at once would switch off the fuel supply if the oil pressure dropped below a certain figure, to prevent a fire following an engine blow-up.
It was now time to do some testing by Geoffrey Healey in the UK at a local airfield, where speeds of 130 mph were attained. After some small modifications to the engine and suspension, the car was ready to be shipped to the Salt Flats.
Nancy the Austin Healey 