I was privileged to join fellow members of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club and Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams on a factory tour of the Prodrive Factory over the weekend.

David Richards a qualified chartered accountant and 1981 World Championship Winning Rally co-driver who started his business as a motor sport consultant in the middle east, says of his company that it’s purpose is to ‘inject excitement’.

That injection of excitement is backed with 25 years of Championship winning motor sports success that includes rallying

and racing …

to the very highest levels including two spells in which David Richards ran teams in Formula One.

In 2006 Prodrive built a fully working concept car, but declined to put it into production,

After numerous successes running Aston Martin racing teams …

David Richards led a consortium of investors in a $925 million take over of Aston Martin in 2007,

a company of which he is now the Chairman.

It was uplifting to see British engineering is alive and well in Banbury, Oxfordshire with a fascinating range of activity including the assembly of a range of competition vehicles, computer operated machining of a huge variety of items from solid blocks of material, and truly mind boggling assembly of competition spec wiring looms, if your into engineering and or motor sport the Prodrive tour run by the effervescent Jackie Irwin, who has petrol running through her veins, is an absolute must.

My thanks to everyone at the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club who organised the tour including Andy who kindly did the driving honours.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s excitement injected edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !