Tag Archives: Oulton

No Added Lightness – Chevron B2

After building his first two Chevron cars, retrospectively called B1’s, for clubmans racing in 1965, Derek Bennett and his small team built four more clubmans cars, at his Chorley Old Road premises in Bolton, in 1966 which became known as B2’s.

Chevron B2, Oulton Park,

Three of the B2’s like the two B1’s were originally fitted with 1500 cc / 91.5 cui four cylinder Ford motors while a fourth was fitted with a 1 litre / 61 cui British Motor Corporation (BMC) engine.

B2 drivers included Howard Heerey, John Love in Barnsley, Geoff Temple, Barry Joel, John Carden and his brother Edward Carden who owns one of the B2’s which is now resident in the United States.

In an interview with Tony ‘Giraffe’ Gallagher former B2 owner John Love recalled that the more powerful 120hp B2 was not as quick as his lighter Lotus 7, but that it handled “beautifully”.

Today’s featured car belongs to Vin Malkie owner of Chevron Cars who completed a restoration of the car in 2013.

Thanks for joining me on today’s “No Added Lightness” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again when I’ll be looking at another unloved Lola T400. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gold Cup Stars – Oulton Park

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For today’s post I thought it would be fun to revisit the Gold Cup meeting and see some of the stars who were not first to the checkered flag but nonetheless contributed significantly to the weekends entertainment.

AEC Reliance, Oulton Park, Gold Cup,

As Tim and I arrived at the circuit two AEC buses were being driven around the circuit with gusto, one even had Autosport club editor Marcus Pye entertaining passengers with a commentary, above a Devon General liveried 1963 AEC Reliance exits the Britten’s Chicane.

AC Greyhound, Oulton Park, Gold Cup,

Car of the day in the car park was this 1963 Ford Zephyr straight six powered AC Greyhound one of just 83 built.

Jaguar XJR9, Andy Wallace, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

The day after our visit 1988 Le Mans winner Andy Wallace, on the right in the photo, gave a demonstration of the 1988 Le Mans winning #2 Jaguar XJR9 in front of him, this time completing his lap of honour unlike a previous visit in 2010.

de Tomaso Mangusta, Michael Eagles, Gold Cup, Oulton, Park

One of the cars that tempted me to visit on the Sunday rather than the usual Monday was Michael Eagles de Tomaso Mangusta, Michael started the Oni Plc Historic Road Sports race from 8th on the grid and got as high as 7th in the race before dropping back to finish 16th.

Sunbeam Alpine, Mike Foley, Gold Cup, Oulton Park

In the same race back marker Mike Foley produced the save of the day, after going into Old Lodge too fast and running wide his Sunbeam Alpine went into a nasty tank slapper upon regaining the track, just after this photo was taken, but some how Mike kept the car from spinning or hitting the barriers and continued to finish the race.

Mallock Mk 20/21, Mark Charteris, Gold Cup, Oulton Park

The Giant Killer of the weekend award goes to Mark Charteris who qualified his Mallock U2 Mk20/21 Clubmans car for the first Derek Bell Trophy race fourth ahead an impressive collection of four more powerful Formula 5000 cars and was in third when the race was red flagged after Ian Ashley’s accident, the following day in damp conditions Mark beat both Neil Glover and Mark Dwyer aboard a Formula 5000 Chevron and Formula 2 March respectively that had finished ahead of him the day before.

Jaguar C-type, Ben Cussons, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

Just finishing the Jaguar Challenge race proved a challenge too far for five of the 20 starters, smoke was seen issuing from beneath several cars including the #18 C-type driven by Ben Cussons who was classified 9th a lap down and the #15 E-type in the back ground driven by Paul Castaldini who managed to hang on to finish 2nd over 90 seconds down on the winning E-Type driven by Michael Wilkinson and John Bussel.

Ginetta G12, Chris Blewett, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

Wheel lifter of the day went to back marker Chris Blewett driving the #44 Ginetta G12 in the Guards Trophy supported by Dunlop Tyres race whose car struggled to keep four wheels on the ground in the corners.

MG Arkley, Chris Fisher, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

By 1970 there were loads of Austin Sprites and MG Midgets knocking about with seriously rusted bodies when John Britten in Barnet North London came up with the idea of recycling them with the aid of a retro look fibre glass front and rear ends that could easily be fitted to donor cars, thus the Arkley S with standard wheels and Arkley SS with wide wheels were born. Lawn Mower of the day award went to #27 Arkley SS driver Chris Fisher who during the 70’s Road Sports Bob Trotter Celebration race came out of the appropriately named Britten’s Chicane a tad wide and opted for the shortest route, with the least grip, before rejoining the track on the ascent to Hill Top.

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

Ian’s Great Escape – Oulton Park Gold Cup

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At the weekend I took a break from attending the Gold Cup on Monday as in recent years and went on the Sunday, my decision was influenced by slightly larger grids for the races and slightly better weather, I was rewarded with a short lie in and a great day’s racing which kicked off when Tim Murray and I visited the press office where we were greeted with a warm welcome and great cup of coffee by friends made over several years on The Nostalgia Forum.

Morgan, Kivlochan, Ginetta, Ward Booth, Lotus, Barter, Ginetta Boland, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

After a quick visit of the pit area we made our way to Deer Leap for the 10 lap Oni Plc Historic Road Sports race which was led on the opening lap by front row starter Kevin Kivlochan in the #98 Morgan Plus 8 seen above already in second place on lap two. Pole starter Julian Barter driving the #51 Lotus Elan S4 completed the opening lap in 4th but recovered to relieve the races second leader Roger Waite in another Lotus Elan on lap 5, the red #32 Ginetta G4 driven by Patrick Ward Booth finished 3rd ahead of Kevin’s Morgan and the blue #27 Ginetta G4 driven by Dave Boland.

Lightening Envoyette, Peter Moreton, Lotus 22 Andy Hibberd, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

We moved to the inside of Lodge for the next couple of races. Above Peter Moreton had an electric opening lap in the first of the two Silverline Historic Formula Junior races leading the field from 4th on the grid in his #75 Lightening Envoyette, front row starter Andrew Hibberd in the #179 Lotus 22 completed the opening lap in third and is seen above lining up to relieve Peter of the lead for good at the end of lap 3, John Fyda driving a Brabham BT6 finished second ahead of Peter with less than 6 seconds covering the top three after 20 mins of close racing.

TVR Griffith, Gardner/Cox, Mike Whitaker, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

Mike Gardiner and Dave Cox qualified their #77 TVR Griffith on pole for the HSCC Guards Trophy supported by Dunlop Tyres GT Race but there was no stopping Mike Whitaker in the similar #46 TVR seen above about to take the lead at the end of the 2nd lap which he would hold onto until pitting on lap 11 handing over the lead to the similarly Ford 289 powered AC Cobra driven by Robert Bremner. After the pit stops had cycled through Mike Whitaker led until the end of the race ahead of the Gardiner / Cox TVR and Robert in the over steering (loose) AC.

Brabham BT21, March 703 Simon Armer, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

By the end of the 40 min GT race Tim and I had made our way over to the inside of Old Hall from whence we watched the start of the first of two The Cubicle Centre Historic Formula 3 races. Fourth place starter Steve Seaman in his #26 Brabham BT21 nipped through to lead the opening 4 laps of this race from pole man Simon Armer driving the #22 March 703 who is seen above about to pass Steve to claim the lead which he held onto to take the flag a gnats over 17 seconds ahead of Micheal Scott’s Brabham BT28. Steve came home forth behind clear championship leader Leif Bosson driving another Brabham BT28.

Chevron B37, Neil Glover, March 742, Mark Dwyer, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing Neil Glover driving the one off 5 litre / 302 cui 1976 Chevron, celebrating it’s fiftieth anniversary this year, B37 F5000 car which he qualified second for the first of the weekends Derek Bell Trophy races behind the 2 litre / 122 cui 1974 March 742 Formula 2 car driven by Mark Dwyer. Neil snatched the lead for the opening 3 laps of the race with Mark snapping at his heals in the nimble March who finally grabbed the lead on the third lap and pulled out a nearly six second advantage when a major incident between Denton’s and Cascades required the red flag to be shown on the 8th lap.

Ian Ashley, Derek Bell Trophy, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

5th place starter 67 year old former Grand Prix driver Ian Ashley driving the #188 Lola T300 Formula 5000 car came down the chute between Denton’s and Cascades for the 8th time in 4th place behind the Clubmans Mallock driven by Mike Charteris when he came across a hapless lapped Brian Cullen driving a 1970 1600 cc Formula 2 spec #18 Crosslé 19F. Just after the Denton’s right hand kink Ian clipped the left rear wheel of the Crosslé with his right front and went flying down the track until his rear end hit the retaining barriers which sent the car into a barrel roll before landing on it’s right side and then came to rest miraculously the right way up. Fortunately Ian was able to release himself from the remains of his Lola unaided and gave spectators a thumbs up to a good dose of applause, neither driver suffered any injury that I know of.

Jaguar E-type, Micheal Wilkinson, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

After the dramatic low’s and high’s of the incident the 40 min Jaguar Heritage race passed by in relative tranquility. The third place starting #50 E-type of Michael Wilkinson and John Bussel took over a commanding lead with 6 laps to go, when Martin O’Connel’s pole winning E-type retired 1 lap after his compulsory pit stop, to finish over a minuet and a half clear of Paul Castaldini who was just third placed pairing of Dave Coyne and Robert Gate who made it an all E-type podium as several of the cars struggled to the end with smoking brakes, exhausts and or transmissions.

Lenham P69 Waggitt/Needham, Gold Cup, Oulton Park

Normal service returned with the Guards Trophy supported by Dunlop Tyres Sports Racing cars race. On the opening lap 5th place starter Jon Waggitt was the man on the move with the #33 Lenham P69 seen here followed by the pole sitting and eventual winning #18 Elva Mk 7, driven by Maxim Bartel and Callum Grant, ready to pounce by the front row starting #6 Chevron B6 driven by Nick Thompson and Sean McClurg. Jon kept the lead for all of two laps before the #18 reasserted qualifying form and went on to win the 40 min race by over 8 seconds from the #33 Lenham that Jon shared with Peter Needham that finished a further 5 seconds ahead of the Chevron B8 driven by Charles Allison. In the back ground seventh place starter Marcus Mussa spins his #88 McLaren Elva M1B going into the Hislops chicane.

70's Road Sports, Gold Cup, Oulton Park

The 20 min 70’s Road Sports Bob Trotter Celebration Race may have been shorter than some, but provided the most closely contested victory as second place starter Jim Dean made the running over the first five laps in his little green #72 Lotus Europa, eventual winner, by just .089 of a second, was Charles Barter whose powerful blue #24 Datsun 240Z started 3rd but had to take to the escape road going into Hislops on the opening lap in order to avoid the spinning 5th place starting Lotus Elan driven by Iain Daniels. Jim finished 2nd just under 5 seconds ahead of the light green #1 TVR Tuscan driven by Peter Shaw.

March 703, Simon Armer, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

The starting grid for the second Cubicle Centre Historic Formula 3 race was exactly the same as the first, unusually the finishing order of the first race played no part in the starting order for the second, once again it was third place starter Steve Seaman in the Brabham BT21 who went into the lead on the opening lap, but this time he held onto it until lap 6 before a determined Simon Armer found away past for the final two laps of the race which he finished just over half a second ahead of Steve and nearly 8 seconds ahead of Michael Scott.

Historic Formula Junior, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

The grid for the final race of the day, second Silverline Historic Formula Junior race was determined by the finishing order of Junior race one, but pole sitter Andrew Hibberd finished the opening lap in third as the electric Peter Moreton again led with John Fyda between them. Andrew is seen above having just taken the lead from Peter who was demoted to third as John followed Andrew to take second on lap 3. The order remained the same until the end of the race with the top three again finishing less than six seconds apart with plenty of entertaining battles through the field to keep the results uncertain until the very end of a great day’s racing.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ian’s Great Escape” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Don’t forget to come back now !

$20m Winner – Aston Martin DBR 1/2

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This month sees the 90th Anniversary of the first running of the 24 Heures du Mans or Le Mans 24 Hour race which is organised by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and run on the Circuit de la Sarthe much of which today follows the same course as in 1923.

In order to celebrate one of my favourate events in the international motorsports calender I will be posting 26 blogs that cover just a fraction of the Le Mans story, starting with the Aston Martin DBR 1 that coincidentally won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1959, the year I was born.

Verdon-Roe, Aston Martin DBR1/2, Goodwood Revival

Today’s featured Aston Martin was the second of a run of five racing cars that were built to more or less the same design between between 1956 and 1959. DBR1/2 was the first to be fitted with a 3 litre / 183 cui 6 cylinder motor from new in 1957. DBR 1/1 built in 1956 was orginally fitted with a 2.5 litre / 152 cui motor which was replaced in 1957.

Tony Brooks and Noël Cunningham-Reid drove DBR1/2 to victory at the World Sports Car Championship round held at the Nurburgring in 1957 two weeks after Tony Brooks had led an Aston Martin 1-2 result driving the same car in the non championship race at Spa. Brooks and Cunningham-Reid shared DBR1/2 again at the 1957 Le Mans 24 hours which they did not finish after being involved in an accident. The same pairing shared DBR 1/2 at a second non championship race at Spa which they won.

Verdon-Roe, Aston Martin DBR1/2, Goodwood Revival

In 1958 Stirling Moss shared this car with Brooks at Sebring where they retired from the 12 hour race with an axle problem. Two more retirements followed at the Nurburgring and Le Mans but at the end of the ’58 season Brooks and Moss won the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood, where the car is seen above with Bobby Verdon-Roe at the wheel.

Verdon-Roe, Aston Martin DBR1/2, Gold Cup, Oulton Park

In 1959 Stirling Moss won a minor race at Silverstone with the Aston before Roy Salvadori and Carrol Shelby took over the driving duties for the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours to score the Marques only out right Le Mans victory having covered 323 laps one more than the second placed sister car, DBR 1/4 driven by Maurice Trintignant and Paul Frère. At the end of the year DBR1/2 was driven to victory by Salvadori and Shelby in the TT at Goodwood again which secured the World Sports Car Championship for Aston Martin.

In 1960 Major I. B. Bailie acquired the car entering it for the 1000 km race at the Nurburgring where he came 22nd with Edward Greenhall and for the Le Mans 24 Hours with Jack Fairman sharing the driving the car finished it’s forth consecutive Le Mans 24 hour race in 9th place. Bailie scored further podium finishes with the car up to 1961. In 1963 David Ham acquired DBR1/2 and raced it on at least 2 occasions which netted podium results in class but no overall wins.

Last year DBR1/2 which played a leading role in Aston Martin’s 1959 World Sportscar Championship success was offered for sale with an asking price of US$20 million. If DBR1/2 ever does change hands at that price it will become the most expensive Aston Martin ever.

Thanks for joining me on this “$20m Winner” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

ESSO Celebrity Challenge Car – MG Metro Turbo

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In 1980 Austin launched a car that was designed to replace the much loved Mini that had been in production in various guises since 1959. The new Austin miniMetro would remain in production for 18 years also in many guises but somehow the Mini remained in production through out the Metro’s life span and a couple of years on top of that until 2000.

An MG version of the Metro was first seen in 1982 with an improved cylinder head, larger valves and a new cam shaft which gave it a top speed of 105 mph and an acceleration time from rest to 60 mph in just over 10 seconds. Shortly afterwards the 115 mph 93 hp MG Metro Turbo was introduced with a rest to 60 mph time of just 8.7 seconds.

MG Metro Turbo, Oulton Park,

In 1987 the ESSO Metro Challenge was born out of the previous years Metro International Challenge, the only internationally sanctioned one make series at the time. The ESSO Challenge cars ran MG Metro Turbo’s which had been race prepared with kits supplied by Roger Dowson Engineering who also ran the series.

For 1989 and presumably in previous years, but my memory does not recall, ESSO sponsored the #89 celebrities car for a guest to drive in each of the races. Above Jerry Mahoney a driver from the British Saloon Car Championship is seen at Oulton Park being chased by the #28 of Malcolm Bell.

MG Metro Turbo, Oulton Park,

In his pellucid contemporary account of the race published in Motoring News, Phil Rainford recalls “Jerry Mahoney, out in the celebrity car, was right on the pace but retired on lap four after a collision with Martin Bell …”. Events which I confess I do not recall seeing at the time. TNF correspondent JockinSA tells me that the reason the rear wheels lifted is because the standard hydralastic suspension had been removed and replaced with shock absorbers which did not allow the rear wheels to drop very far when the body rolled.

Slightly off topic but the Metro Challenge race at Oulton Park was won by Peter Baldwin whom 23 years later I saw winning a Mini race at Castle Combe last year, Peter can be seen streaking to a win having taken the lead on the last lap, in the orange Mini in the distance in this linked photo.

MG Metro Turbo, Silverstone

The final photo show’s the late Will Hoy in action at Silverstone a couple of weeks later. Robin Bradford, Austin Rover Press Relations manager at the time, has kindly informed me that this race took place on his 38th Birthday, May 1st and that another British Saloon Car Championship driver Hoy qualified 5th but did not finish.

Though Robin does not remember why Will retired, my own memory is that British Rally ace Tony Pond was at the wheel and that his car caught fire causing the #89’s retirement. I also thought I had a photo of the fire but I do not so I will defer to Robin’s superior memory which is after all linked to his birthday.

My thanks to Gatmo, Tim Murray, Phil Rainford, Alan Cox, Simon Arron, Stuart “Twin Window” Dent, BRG, Jockin SA and Blogsworth who contributed to the content of today’s blog on the #89 Celebrity Metro Turbo drivers ?, Oulton and Silverstone 1989 thread at The Nostalgia Forum.

For now this is the end of my Tuesday MG blogs, I’d like to thank all the many friendly MG enthusiasts who have contributed to this feature over the last year or so and made the MG Marque such a pleasure to blog about.

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

Towing and Competing – Kayne Special III

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A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to meet MG Special Builder and Frogeye restorer Colin Cooper. Today I am looking at his third, and final, Kayne Special III.

Colin originally conceived the Kayne Special III as a towing car for his Kayne Special II as seen above at Oulton Park in 1983 and his Killeen K1 which I’ll be looking at next Tuesday.

However since he was taking part in events which allowed a driver multiple entries he decided to see what the Kayne Special III could do. Colin is seen above at Baitings Dam in 1984.

Kayne Special III was designed from scratch to Colin’s own design between 1981 and 1983.The green radiator cowl seen on the Kayne Special III above at Castle Combe like the more substantial safety cage was fitted after Colin sold the car.

Colin cut all of the square section tube chassis members with a hacksaw, no short cuts were taken with angle grinders, tacked all the members together and then had the chassis frame mig welded by a friend.

The 3.5 litre / 215 cui V8 motor came from a Rover SD1 complete with an automatic transmission which was attached to a rear axle sourced from an MG B. Note the steering column needs two universal joints to avoid fouling on the right hand bank of cylinders, this feature resulted in the Kayne Special III being unsuitable for anybody to drive with shoes size 7 1/2 or larger.

Running on 14″ MG B wire wheels at the front and 15″ MG C rear wheels at the rear and with a 0-100 mph capability in the region of 15 secs Colin could tease motorcyclists with his beautifully finished Kayne Special III.

With the automatic transmission Colin could drive the car to within 1 second of the times he achieved with the Kayne Special II. By 1984 Colin had fitted a manual transmission.

Colin sold the Kayne Special III when he retired from competition in 1985 for £2,700. The present owners and drivers of the car are John and Jonathon Biggs.

My thanks to Colin Cooper for sharing his memories and providing his photographs and to Chris Winstanley for allowing me to use Frank Halls photograph.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Towing and Competing’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

MGCC Speed Champion – Kayne Special II

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After selling the original MG J2 with a PB motor Kayne Special, which I looked at last week Colin Cooper started work on Kayne Special II.

Colin began with a scrap 1965 MG B found in Cheshire from which he cut out the engine sub frame and added a pair of chassis rails around which he built up the rest of the car with an under slung rear axle featuring a limited slip differential. Kayne Special II ran on specially made bespoke wire wheels.

The motor was a 4 cylinder MG B unit which was eventually fitted with an HRG Cross Flow cylinder heads and twin 45 Weber Carbs. Colin notes this car, his favorite, was always totally reliable.

Among many successes were winning the 1981 MG Car Club (MGCC) Speed Championship, 1981 Ellison Trophy at Oulton Park, see Frank Halls top photo, the 1979 Kimber Trophy, 2nd 1983 Kimber Trophy at Baitings Dam, see Frank Halls second photo, named after MG founder Cecil Kimber, and several awards for fastest MG in Sprint and Hill Climb events.

Colin said of Kayne Special II it was “a bit of a shed but it didn’t half go, (it was) timed at 115 mph at Blackpool Sprint.”

The car was eventually sold to a sprinting novice and is thought to have been eventually broken up with many of it’s parts going into a road going MG B.

Colin’s third special, Kayne Special III, seen towing Kayne Special II in the photo above will be the subject of next Tuesdays blog.

My thanks to Colin for sharing his memories and photographs and to Tony Gallagher for putting me in touch with Chris Winstanley who kindly gave me permission to use Frank Hall’s photographs of Colin in action at Oulton Park and Baitings Dam.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘MGCC Speed Champion’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

24 04 12 Added Frank Halls photo’s from Oulton Park and Baitings Dam.

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Oulton

No Added Lightness – Chevron B2

Gold Cup Stars – Oulton Park

Ian’s Great Escape – Oulton Park Gold Cup

$20m Winner – Aston Martin DBR 1/2

ESSO Celebrity Challenge Car – MG Metro Turbo

Towing and Competing – Kayne Special III

MGCC Speed Champion – Kayne Special II