Tag Archives: Fletcher

Test 7 Gordano – Le Jog

On Saturday afternoon I gathered with a couple of friends from the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club and a few more from the Bristol Motor Club to marshal Test 7 of the 20th Le Jog classic car rally from Lands End to John O’Groats.

Ford Escort TC, Gordano Services, Le Jog

First competitor to arrive at the start area were David Bryan and Ian Humperson in this Escort Twin Cam built up as a replica of a car in which Roger Clark competed in the 1968 RAC Rally. Unfortunately David and Ian declined to take Test 7 as they had a problem with the rear suspension. However they completed the event and won blue ribands in the Touring Trial.

Hennipman/Hennipman, Peugeot 403, Test 7, Gordano, Le Jog

Yellow head lights were from 1939 to 1993 as much a part of French motoring life as Disque Bleu were to the French Café life, so when we saw the car coming above we could be pretty sure it was French and it turned out to be 1960 Peugeot 403 being crewed by Dutchman Pieter and Thijs Hennipman.

Botterill/Marshall, Rover P5B Coupé, Test 7, Gordano, Le Jog

Competitors chose some unlikely if comfortable steeds for this four day event, run in the spirit of pre special stage rallying with plenty of regularity runs, navigation exercises and auto tests as run in the car park at Gordano Services. Above Nigel Botterill and Julian Marshall had one of the more comfortable vehicles in the event in the form of a 1967 Rover P5B Coupé.

Helmbold/Helmbold, Mercedes Benz 280 TE, Test 7, Gordano, Le Jog

The Botterill / Marshall may have been equaled for comfort by the Mercedes Benz 280 T, but Helga and Selina Helmbold had far more space in the boot / trunk than the pair in the Rover. Seeing this vehicle compete complete with roof rails made me wonder if I might be able to use my own car in this event at some point in the not too distant future. Helga and Selina beat a Porsche 944 to finish fourth in class G2 for vehicles built post January 1975.

Baker/Baker, Porsche 911 SC, Test 7, Gordano, Le Jog

The 1978 Martini striped Porsche 911 SC crewed by Micheal and Simon Baker was probably the outright fastest vehicle in the event so it was no surprise to find them winning class G2.

Harris/Joseph, VW Golf GTi, Test 7, Gordano, Le Jog

Simon Harris and Russel Joseph won the G1 class for under 2 litre cars built post January 1975 in their 1983 Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk 1 seen above.

Buzzard/Lyne, ALFA Romeo GTV, Test 7, Gordano, Le Jog

Overall winners of the event were Andrew Buzzard and Rob Lyne seen above in their 1967 ALFA Romeo Giulia Sprint GTV.

Schulze/Krey, Talbot Tagora GLS, Gordano Services, Le Jog

Peter Schulze and Micheal Krey probably had the least likely car on the event, it turns out Talbot Togara’s were used in the French Super Tourisieme series back in the early 1980’s. Peter and Krey won an absolute beginners award for their efforts, if you speak German you can read about their adventure on their Alte Franzosen blog.

Botterill/Marshall, Gordano Services, Le Jog

Not only did Nigel Botterill, left and Julian Marshall, right drive an extremely comfortable car but they cut a fine dash by competing in the finest top and tails as if on their way to a wedding. Nigel and Julian kindly left me their unused meal vouchers which went along way to helping Tim and I thaw out from out marshaling duties.

Sandra Wukovich, Gordano Services, Le Jog

Above Sandra Wukovich catches up with some map reading for the camera’s,

Edelhoff/Wukovich, VW Iltis, Gordano Services, Le Jog

Sandra and Stefanie Edelhoff were competing in this 1979 Volkswagen Iltis a factory classic collection replica of a vehicle used in the Paris Dakar Rally the drive train of which formed the basis of for Audi’s adventure into four wheel drive competition in the early 1980’s.

12 Jaguar XK 120 IMG_5349sc

Once the crew’s had completed their navigation, for the next leg of the event in Wales, they headed off into the rain from whence they came. Above Philip Haslam and Peter Fletcher depart for Wales in their Jaguar XK 120.

Thanks for joining me on this “Test 7 Gordano” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a road going Ford GT40. Don’t forget to come back now !

Designed By An Accountant #2 – Lotus Elite

3 Replies

After he had finished with his Lotus VI PGP182 complete with a body of his own design Peter Kirwan Taylor purchased one of the last Doretti sports cars and ‘took the back off’ and turned it into a Coupé too meet his needs.

A couple of years later he was talking to Peter Lumsden and Paul Fletcher who planned on compete at Le Mans in 1956 with a Lotus XI and he suggested that they might fair better with a Coupé body. Peter K-T put the idea to Colin Chapman who responded that they would be better starting with a fresh design from scratch with the idea of designing of designing a car that would be competitive on the race track and be a viable proposition for ‘driving to the office’.

As on his special bodied Lotus VI Peter again opted for designing a car with a high waist line but now with an integral roof influenced by the design of his Doretti Coupé, the design was finalised in collaboration with Frank Costin, who not only had developed a special bodied Lotus Mark VIII but was also an aerodynamicist at the aircraft manufacturer de Havilland where Peter coincidentally was also working in his day time capacity as an accountant.

The uncluttered design has a drag coefficient of just 0.29 that compares favourably with vehicles being designed and manufactured today. The Elite, as the new Mark 14 became known, features a glass fibre monocoque with a steel sub frame to carry the engine and front suspension. Power came from a 75 hp Coventry Climax four cylinder engine which was inclined to lower the bonnet / hood line.

On the track the Elite was a huge success with six class wins scored at Le Mans, two of them including winning the Index of Thermal Efficiency, former ESPN commentator David Hobbs fitted his with a special 4 speed automatic gearbox took 15 wins from 18 starts during 1961 and ’62 and in the Antipodes Leo Geoghegan won the 1960 Australian GT championship also driving an Elite.

This particular well known example, seen here at Castle Combe, was first registered in 1962 and now belongs to a fellow member of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club who restored it after it had been lying in bits for 20 years.

Thanks for joining me on this second accountants edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an award winning orange movie star. Don’t forget to come back now !

Rare Mini Variation – Ogle SX1000

2 Replies

After serving as a decorated and honoured Supermarine Seafire pilot in the Second World War David Ogle DSC MBE attended the Central School of Art to study Industrial Design.

On completion of his studies he worked for Murphy Radio and later Bush Radio where he was credited with the design of the TR82 transistor radio.

In 1954 David founded his own industrial design studio which has been credited with the design of all manor of wheeled transport from Chopper Bicycles (1970), through the Reliant Scimitar, to award wining truck cabs for Leyland Road Train vehicles.

In 1959 Ogle design started building the first of three series of glass fibre bodied cars the 1.5 built on a Riley Chassis with a BMC (British Motor Corporation) motor of which eight were built.

In 1962 Ogle launched the SX1000, as seen here at Goodwood, initially a conversion built around a customer supplied Mini and later built around Ogle acquired Mini’s.

It is thought 66 of these vehicles were built with the last one leaving the factory in 1964. The slippery Coupé was capable of 110 mph when fitted with a top of the range Mini Cooper S engine.

After David Ogle died driving an SX1000 on the way to Brands Hatch and car production at Ogle had been wound up the SX1000 body moulds were sold to a boat builder in the Midlands who exhibited his self named Fletcher GT at the Racing Car Show in 1967.

Today with only 26 of the original SX1000’s thought to have survived Nostalgia Cars in Taunton Somerset produce identical replica SX1275 models as kits for Mini enthusiasts.

Thanks for joining me on todays SX1000 edition of ‘Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will 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

Tag Archives: Fletcher

Test 7 Gordano – Le Jog

Designed By An Accountant #2 – Lotus Elite

Rare Mini Variation – Ogle SX1000