Monthly Archives: March 2011

Rust Free Find – Jaguar E-Type Series 1

Continuing GALPOT’s Golden anniversary of the E-Type, today’s car was found rust free in a lockup by Justin Rockett and rebuilt as a club racer in 1997.

In 2005 it was upgraded to full ‘FIA’ specifications, which includes a Safety Devices roll cage, the original iron block 3.8 litre / 231 cui motor raced prepared by Sigma Engineering , straight cut close ratio gearbox, limited slip differential,

Jaguar MK IX braking system, polyurethane suspension bushes, uprated torsion bars, springs and shock absorbers. The peg drive Dunlop ‘style’ wheels are fitted with period ‘L’ section tyres.

This vehicle which has been seen carrying a registration plate 5187 KV, was purchased by Nothern Irish Jaguar enthusiast and racer Mark Russell in 2009 and has been developed and prepared by Classic Spares.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s rust free lock up find edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Mini Rust Beater – Domino HT

1 Reply

Today’s blog comes from the BMW Plant near Cowley where the current range of retro Mini’s are made and where I saw this splendid little Domino HT at the recent PistonHeads Sunday Service.

The Domino’s in 4 styles were Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) kit cars designed around Mini running gear and manufactured by Fibretech GRP Ltd which was taken over by Domino Composite itself renamed Composite Designs from at least 1978 to 2007 when liquidation forced the cessation of production. It would appear an wholly autonomous group DominoCars – Organisation is attempting to keep the Domino brand alive.

The HT (hard top) model seen here was the follow on from the original T top Pimlico model and is loosely based around a standard Mini though it is bereft of the standard Mini seams and gutters. It is also significantly different below the waist line with built in flared wheel arches and a flared body around the top of the road wheel line. The doors are 2/ 1/2 inches shorter than Mini doors to accommodate the higher sills needed to aid the structural integrity of the GRP body.

If your original style Mini is falling to bits with dreaded tin worm you could do worse than find a smart Domino GRP body, take of all bits of your Mini and transfer them straight on to the GRP shell including subframes, interior, windows, up to 13″ wheels and off you go in your new car with parts recycled from your old one.

Hope you have enjoyed to days Glass Reinforced Plastic edition of ‘Gettin a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Replica Rallysprint – Triumph TR7

1 Reply

The Triumph TR7 was manufactured from 1974 to 1981.

Works competition versions of the TR7 run by British Leyland from 1976 to 1978 were initially powered by the Dolomite Sprint 16 valve engine and later switched to the ubiquitous (in the UK) aluminium Buick derived Rover V8.

This is vehicle has replica paintwork of a Triumph works rally car registered OOM512M which was used in the 1978 Texaco Rally Sprint a staged for TV event run at at Esgair Dafydd, in Wales, won by Per Eklund in a later Triumph TR7 with Tony Pond coming second in the #6.

If the registration plates on this particular are original then this TR7 was first registered in Birmingham in 1976 and it is fitted with the later Rover V8 engine according to the records made available to me.

My thanks to Tim Murray and RS2000 at The Nostalgia Forum for their help identifying the event in which OOM512M ran.

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

Sub 7 Second Family ? – Chevrolet Corvette C1

3 Replies

After a thrilling Aarrons 499 in April ’09, my friends Throttleneckracing and Checkeredflagstilettos kindly took me back to Atlanta and put me up in a hotel using TNR’s loyalty points and we had a great meal at a local Cracker Barrel.

That night my head still buzzing from a combination of jet lag, 3 days of Alabama sunshine and hundreds of laps of 200 mph racing action I found my self watching drag racing for the first time on the Speed Channel.

Despite the fact I was physically exhausted, I was enthralled and fully engaged mentally by the sight of earth shaking top fuel drag cars spitting flames a good 10 to 20 feet into the air.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I met Drag Racer Chris ‘Backdraft’ Hartnell on a Bristol Pegasus Motor Club trip to Race Retro at Stoneleigh and such was his enthusiasm for the sport I am determined to go and see a drag race at Shakespeare County Raceway this year.

If I am lucky I hope to catch site of this outrageous pro modified Corvette C1 run by Ian Hanson and his family team comprising his wife Pauline son Richard, brother Colin, sister in law Karen and nephew Tom.

Chris tells me that Ian’s car has this outsize magneto to deliver charge to the spark plugs in place of a battery which would be run flat by the electrical requirements of this humongous motor.

The blurb on Ian’s motor read something like “8860cc / 540 cui all alloy New Century Chevrolet Big Block, with forged Arias pistons, Brooks alloy rods, Howards billet crank, and Aviade dry sump oil system that is hiding behind an Enderie ‘Big & Ugly’ injector hat and fuel system with an 8/71 Teflon Stage 4 Littlefield Supercharger”.

Last year Ian set a new Supercharged Outlaws UK et record of 7.29 seconds over a distance of 402 meters.

The record was set with the engine in a ‘mild state of tune’ producing around 1,700 (Seventeen Hundred) hp !

This year Ian will be turning up the boost a little further…

and attempt to cover the 402 meters in under 7 seconds.

I am sure you will join me in wishing Ian all the best, with a little luck I’ll be there to see it, with a bit more luck I might just have time to take a photograph.

Thanks for joining me on today’s ‘mild state of tune’ edition of ‘Gettin a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

West Coast Detailing – Lotus XI

1 Reply

A couple of weeks ago I looked at Ed Arnaudin’s photo of Floyd Aaskov’s Lotus XI at Thompson CT taken in 1958, where you will find details about the Lotus XI model.

Photo Carlyle Blackwell, Publised Courtesy Blackwell Archive, for sales enquiry’s please e-mail infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk and your contact details will be forwarded to the Blackwell Archive.

Today we are looking Carlyle Blackwell’s photograph of Jack Nethercutt’s Lotus XI at Paramount Ranch in 1956/57.

It would appear that Jacks Lotus XI ran a similar 4 cylinder 1098 cc /67 cui Coventry Climax engine to Floyd Aaskov. One thing that stands out about Jacks car is how amazingly clean it looks, it looks as well detailed in many other photographs I have seen of this vehicle.

Records indicate that Jack Nethercutt started racing in 1956 with a Mercedes Benz 300 SL, oddly records indicate Floyd Aaskov started racing in a similar model 12 months later on the east coast. In 1957 Jack started notching up regular GM class wins on the West Coast and in 1958 he acquired a Ferrari 500 TRC with which he started winning in the 2 litre / 122 cui EM class.

In 1959 Jack upgraded his 500 TR by fitting a 2.5 litre motor in and running in the 152 cui DM class in which he continued his record of accumulating class wins.

For 1960 Jack took delivery of a Ferrari 250 TR 59 with which he again took class wins in the 187 cui S1 division including a third overall in the Sebring 12 Hours. Half way through 1961 Jack swapped his Ferrari for a Lotus 19 and again running in the DM class continued his winning ways until 1964, taking a class win at the ’62 Riverside 6 hours with a one off drive in a Morgan plus 4 along the way.

Records show that Jacks career ended in 1965 driving a Mirage Oldsmobile in the over 5 litre / 305 cui class still carrying the #102 but without much in the way of success.

Jack appears to have settled for running a Mirage Chevrolet for Scooter Patrick in the first Can Am championship in 1967.

A similar photograph by Carlyle Blackwell to photograph above appeared on the cover of Road & Track in March 1957.

The caption read “It was dry and hot at Paramount Ranch, near Los Angeles, the day Carlyle Blackwell shot our March cover – but no hotter than the Lotus Eleven, driven here by its owner, Jack Nethercutt.”

My thanks to Ed Arnaudin who purchased the photograph in the 1950’s and to his son Steve for sending me the scan, thanks also to Jean L and JB Miltonian at the TNF Forum for their help in identifying the track and coming up with the R&T; details.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s West Coast detailed edition of “Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres” and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

28 07 12 PS My thanks to Pamela Blackwell who has kindly retrospectively given me permission to post the photo’s her father took.

Austin Healey Sebring Sprite

6 Replies

The Austin Healey ‘Sebring’ Sprite name refers to any Austin Healey Sprite with front disc brakes and more recently to any Sprite with Coupé or Fastback bodywork.

Following a change in the sports car regulations in 1960 which allowed special bodies, rally and racing driver John Sprinzel commissioned Williams & Pritchard to build 6 aluminium bodied Sprites with coupé bodywork between Dec 1960 and May 1961.

This 1960 vehicle purchased new by Cyril Simson started life as a standard Austin Healey Sprite registered YLN13, Cyril changed the registration to S221 and raced it as part of Team 221 with two other sprites H221 and X221.

Paul Hawkins drove it to victory at Aintree and S221 was part of the Sprinzel Sprite Team that took team honours at the Nurburgring.

Originally powered by a 43 hp 948 cc / 57 cui motor this particular unit, prepared by Janspeed, was shown to be delivering over 85 hp at the recent Race Retro exhibition.

For 1961 the car was prepared by John Sprizel and it was one of the six Sprinzel cars sent to Williams & Pritchard to be fitted with a aluminium coupé body.

The car was then driven in practice by Stirling Moss for the Sebring 4 hours who promptly stripped the clutch and transferred to another team car after repairs were made Pat Moss & Paul Hawkins drove S221 in the four hour race. S221 was then prepared again overnight for Cyril and Paul Hawkins to drive in the Sebring 12 Hours where they came in 37th.

In August 1961 S221 was sold to Peter Clark and it was reregistered and rolled at the Karrussel on the Nurburgring. The car was repaired and an extended fast back body was fitted by Peel Coach works.

The longest term owner of this vehicle Colin Pearcy had Len Pritchard make a new alloy rear end and coupé top and most recent owner Chris Clegg reunited the car with its S221 registration and has driven it competitively for several years with Archers Motors taking care of the race preparation.

My thanks to Janspeed who facilitated the photo’s of the engine and interior.

Hope you have enjoyed to days Sebring edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Leading From The Front – Ferrari 550 Maranello

3 Replies

In 1996 the Ferrari 550 Maranello saw the return of a model with a motor in the front to the top of the Ferrari range for the first time, since the much loved Ferrari Daytona 365 GTB4, in 20 years.

This top end vehicle was powered by a 485 hp twin cam 48 valve V12.

Featuring a tubular steel chassis the 550 Maranello was clothed with an aluminium body.

Capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in just 4.2 seconds the F550 could cover 402 meters in 12.5 seconds and had a top speed of 199 mph.

The 550 Maranello was also used in sports car racing by several private entrants including Prodrive who built 10 vehicles for themselves and BMS Scuderia Italia. Victories included a Class win at Le Mans for Prodrive in 2003 and the FIA GT Championship for BMS Scuderia Italia in 2004.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s front engine Ferrari Friday edition of ‘Gettin a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now🙂

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Monthly Archives: March 2011

Rust Free Find – Jaguar E-Type Series 1

Mini Rust Beater – Domino HT

Replica Rallysprint – Triumph TR7

Sub 7 Second Family ? – Chevrolet Corvette C1

West Coast Detailing – Lotus XI

Austin Healey Sebring Sprite

Leading From The Front – Ferrari 550 Maranello