Tag Archives: Caterham

Seven 4 The 70’s – Lotus 60 Seven Series IV #S4/2668

For 1970 Lotus introduced the Series IV version of it’s popular kit car the Lotus Seven with straight edge styled fiber glass body panels replacing the aluminium body work of the first three incarnations of the model which had evolved since 1957.

Three engine options were offered with the kits Ford 1300 GT, 1600 GT and Lotus big valve twin cam as used in the Lotus Europa Twin Cam, today’s featured car has the 1600cc / 97.6 cui motor which produces 85 hp more than double that of the 1957 Lotus Seven.

The Wolferace alloy wheels are not standard but were available in 1970 when this car was built.

Amazingly this 42 year old car has only 68,000 miles on the clock from new.

Around 1,000 Series IV Sevens were built the last kits being supplied to Caterham’s in Kent,UK and Steel Brothers in Christchurch, New Zealand where the last kit was built. After Caterham ran out of Series IV kit’s, with the agreement of Lotus, they started developing versions of the older Lotus Seven Series III design, something which they still do to this day manufacturing vehicles for both road and track.

Thanks for joining me on this “Seven 4 The 70’s” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting Silverstone for a six hour endurance race. Don’t forget to come back now !

Dick Mayo Sprint – Castle Combe

Two Timing – Shakespeare County Raceway

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The day before Memorial day I attended the Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway for an afternoons two timing entertainment.

Situated just outside the Shakespeare central known in the tourists guides as Stratford-upon-Avon Shakespeare County Raceway is built on the site of Long Marston Airfield which served as a Wellington Bomber base during the 1939/45 war.

Looking like it had just come off the set of “Two Lane Blacktop” was this 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. The crew running it told me the 7.4 litre / 451 cui V8 was “misfiring all over the place”, a possible victim of cavitation in the fuel system thanks to the phenomenal weather we were experiencing.

A strong contingent of European based vehicles were present at the “Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic event including this first generation 103E Ford Popular Coupé rig powered by a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. The Popular was a post ’39/’45 war austerity vehicle that was only ever offered as a saloon / sedan.

There were not many cars present at Shakespeare County Raceway that could boast Farina styling, but this 1098 cc / 67 cui Austin A40 Countryman van was one of them.

Another novelty vehicle was the NC Engineering Ford V8 powered Trabant that was being given it’s first run after it’s former Cadillac motor had been replaced. interestingly everybody who was involved in the preparation of this vehicle has been invited to to drive it in competition.

Among the fabulous US vehicles running at the event was this 1932 High Boy “Roadster” which like the Popular Coupé is powered by a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. This car reminded me of Leonard Williams High Boy Roadster before it became the worlds first privately owned Gas Turbine Car.

From the plethora of vehicles bearing original patina was this 1948 Plymouth Special De Luxe Coupé complete with a 5.2 litre / 317 cui V8.

My undoubted “Star of the Car Park” was this 1958 Buick Special Convertible which looked, as did several other cars present, like it had just come off the golf course at a Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Sporting a top of the Le Mans range 5.7 litre / 350 cui motor was this Pontiac, like many competitors present the driver was wielding his own spanners to keep this fine looking car in a top state of tune.

I did not know it when I took this photo but going on the engine size of 7457 cc / 455 cui this is a rare, though I am not at all sure exactly how rare Hurst Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. In 1972 following a fatal accident with the Indy 500 no manufacturer was keen on providing a pace car so transmission specialists Hurst stepped in with a couple of hot 455 cui Cutlass Supremes in both Coupé and Convertible forms. The 1972 pace car became well remembered after Linda Vaughan was hired to appear on the back of one of the convertibles with an outsize Hurst Shifter on the boot / trunk.

One reason I was keen to attend this meeting was to get a photo of fellow Bristol Pegasus Motor Club member Crazy Chris Hartnell pulling a wheely in his slingshot Backdraft, his weather helmet was present, dry, casting a shadow, and not shaking but just like the last time he tried this the cameraman was too slow and will have to try again next time. Chris managed two 145+ mph practice runs on the day.

Since this was a practice day many interesting combinations of vehicles were being run, like the Caterham above which got well and truly dusted by the 425 cui Buick Nailhead powered slingshot ‘Soul Town Shaker’ driven by Keith Crampton.

After doing a lovely burn out while being watched by the driver of the, probably Rover V8 powered, Fiero Euro 427, the seen was set for a slightly more competitive run off than the previous Caterham Slingshot combination.

However all present were to be reminded of Shakespeare’s quote from King Lear “As Flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods, they kill us for their sport” as soon after leaving the Fiero Euro 427 standing on the line the Camaro made a dramatic exit stage left,

punched straight in to the guard railing …

and eventually came to rest at the quarter mile mark. Fortunately “th’ gods’ who would kill us for their sport’ were in benevolent mood and after he had been released from the Camaro the driver was seen walking unaided to the ambulance for a precautionary medical.

The camera gods were also smiling, after the accident I foolishly took my camera strap off to stretch out on my perch in the grandstands, waiting for confirmation that there would be no further activity on track before the curfew. When the announcement finally came I forgot that I’d taken my camera strap off got up and heard the sickening thud of my camera bouncing off the grandstand decking and into the 20 foot void beneath the grandstand and eventually hit the surface below.

I went to survey the damage and amazingly although the battery had dropped out the camera was fine as demonstrated by the fine shot of the 1938 Ford V8 Pickup above.

After all the excitement it was time to head home, but there was one final surprise as I left the gate …

… a Dodge Challenger STR8 bedecked in wedding bands, a perfect car for a wedding.

Thanks for joining me on this “Two Timing” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

RIP Peter O’Shea – Castle Combe August Cup

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Thanks to the generosity of Simon Lewis I was able to see five, of the ten, races at Castle Combe this weekend in between looking after two otherwise empty houses and a dog called Zed, who naturally was not permitted to come with me to the race track.

You could have heard a pin drop as I arrived at the Circuit around mid day on Saturday, as I got out of the car and looked across Dean Straight and saw a large accumulation of circuit vehicles 2 ambulances and a police car the reason soon became clear, there had been an incident.

It transpired that a Formula Ford car had left the circuit at Bobbies Chicane and come to a rest in the infield during the 2nd lap of the Formula Ford qualification race. Seeing the driver motionless the race was immediately red flagged and marshals arrived at the scene seconds later to find the driver had suffered a heart attack, neither the the marshals, the circuit medics or the crew of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance were able to do anything to revive Peter ‘Pete’ O’Shea’ who was pronounced dead on the scene.

An hour or so later the time table for the weekends activities was hastily rescheduled with the planned Formula Ford races postponed for a day and racing resumed with Chaterham 7 Super Graduates reminding us why we were all at Castle Combe with a thrilling race.

Pole sitter Chris Rome was immediately swallowed up by a pack including Toby Briant, Luke Tzoufrou, Reece Somerfield and Neil Shinner who entertained us with a thrilling battle in which at least three of the Caterhams lost rear wings in an otherwise fair and good natured 4 way dice.

Neil Shinner seen here in 5th place eventually took a well earned win, with the top six finishers being covered by just 2 seconds.

The Sports & GT Championship proved a bit of a disappointment for Ian Hall who got bogged down at the start and was eliminated when he was clipped by Jeremy Irwin. Both Halls fearsome Darrian Wildcat T98 – GTR and Irwin’s Jertona 85/09 were eliminated on the spot. Pole sitter Simon Tilling did not get away cleanly either which allowed Andrew Shanley, in his #86 Radical Prosport, a few short laps of glory before Simon in his orange #23 Radical SR3 got up to speed and back into the lead and a comfortable race win.

The final race I saw on Saturday was for the Caterham Sigma and Classic Graduates the two classes started on separate grids 10 seconds apart with the Ford Sigma powered cars going first, each of the six starters led the class with victory going to John Gil this time the top 4 finished within 1 second of each other. The Caterham Classic Graduates race also had an interesting battle with the odd wing being lost in combat, John Parker won the class from James Carvey by over 3 seconds which did not reflect the close fought competition during the opening 10 laps of the 15 lap race.

On Sunday I arrived at the Circuit just in time to catch the main event of the weekend a one hour race for Sports 2000 cars. These vehicles first seen in the late 1970’s were an extension of the thinking behind Formula Ford and Formula Ford 2000 open wheel series but with closed bodies and like FF2000 used crate Pinto motors. I believe all three categories got started thanks to former Brands Hatch promoter John Webb.

Nowadays SRCC runs a championship for these cars in original Pinto form and for later Duratec powered cars which run with more sophisticated aerodynamic packages. This round of the series took the place of the cancelled round at Donington Park, due to problems with the local authorities regarding number of days permitted for racing. Sports 2000 teams can run either one or two drivers and must make a scheduled 4 minute pit stop during which refuelling is permitted.

After long time leaders Sherrington and Jenvey experienced suspension failure, Craig Mitchell driving the Duratec powered #22 Lola T88/90 won the event overall,

with Peter Williams and David Pittard coming second in the #88 MCR despite this early indiscretion at Bobbies chicane.

Mike Barnby won the single driver Pinto powered class in the #7 Tiga SC80 despite ignoring repeated black flags towards the end of the race which earned a formal reprimand from the stewards and 2 points on his racing license.

Peter and Harriet Needham won the two driver Pinto powered class in this Tiga SC82 ahead of

the Royal RP42 of William Howe and Formula Ford 1600 star of the 1970’s Wil Arif.

My own retro paint job of the day award went to Mike Johns Duratec Royale RP42 which looked good, but was not classified being 22 laps down at the finish.

Twenty Formula Ford 1600’s came out on Sunday and put on a splendid show in memory of Peter O’Shea, Petes Swift Cooper team mates all carried decals remembering their recently departed team mate and all FF 1600 drivers wore black armbands.

Rob Hall, seen leading above from Felix Fisher and eventual winner Ben Norton, were joined by Steven Jensen in an entertaining four way shoot out that was reflected all the way through the field, from the green flag all the way to the checkers

as evidenced by Adam Cooper, Edward Moore, Roger Orgee and Luke Cooper seen here entering Bobbies Chicane as one in an ultimately vane pursuit of David Vivian in 5th place.

Towards the back of the FF1600 race Pete O’Shea’s friend Darren Hamlen driving the oldest car in the race, the 1980 #74 Royale RP36 managed to pass the #21 Vector of Mike Madge for 12th.

Peter O’Shea was born in Ireland in 1958 and drove in Formula Ford races for three years most recently with the Swift Cooper Team, I hope you will join me in sending condolences to Peter O’Shea’s team, friends and above all his family.

A thread has been started in memory of Peter on this Castle Combe Forum.

My thanks to TSL Sports Timing for the results of all of the weekends races which can be found on this link.

Thanks for joining me on the Peter O’Shea memorial edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at last weeks action during a test day at Mallory Park. Don’t forget to come back now !

Adding Lightness 50 years on – Caterham 7 Superlight

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The Caterham 7 Superlight comes in two sizes regular S3 as the original Lotus 7 and the SV which is 4.3″ wider to accomodate those of us who were not born with jockey size hips.

Colin Chapman’s guiding principle when conceiving his vehicles including the Lotus 7 of which the Caterham 7 is the direct descendent was to add lightness, which in his day meant extensive use of aluminium and on the Superlight shown here means extensive use of carbon fibre including the mudguards and dashboard.

Engine options for the Superlight are 150 hp Ford Sigma, 210 hp or 263 hp Ford Cosworth Duratec. The latter option should be able to propel you from 0 – 60 in 2.88 seconds and if your head is still attached to the rest of your body on to 150 mph.

I’d like to finish by wishing my fellow ‘The Prisoner‘ fan and ‘Rowdy‘ buddy from Brevard, North Carolina, Steve Arnaudin a very Happy Birthday.

Thanks for dropping by, don’t forget to come back now ! BSY !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring