Tag Archives: Bath

Two Beat Half Note – Bath MINIM

Until 2013 16 year olds were permitted to drive three wheel vehicles with learner plates and a provisional driving licence, when Gerry Bath in `north Somerset reached that age in 1946 short of the funds to buy a Morgan he decided to build a three wheeler using a Raleigh chassis, with a single steering wheel at the front, and engine to which he fitted an open 3 seat abreast body with enclosed wheels and fold down windscreen.

MINIM, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

A Mr. Walker of Walker and Ward of Cheltenham was keen to put the body into production but a shortage of preferred proprietary Reliant chassis scuppered the plan, before selling the Raleigh Special in 1952 Gerry fitted the Raleigh Special with a Ford 8 engine and gearbox which improved the performance but adversely effected the life span of the front fork spindles.

MINIM, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

By this time Gerry started building and running his first competition special, the Pegasus, which was built while he was working for a Ford agent in Bath from the discarded parts of two Triumph Super 7’s and an ex Ministry of Defence Ford 10 engine.

Gerry drove the Pegasus competitively from 1951 in races, driving tests, sprints and hillclimbs winning his class at Naish Hillclimb outside Bristol after three run off’s against a Morris Special driven by Ashley Cleave in June 1953 by which time Gerry was an employee at the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

MINIM, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

The Pegasus was sold to a competitor in Cheshire who competed with it at Oulton Park and Gerry’s next project transforming his 1939 Ford Thames van into a special, was facilitated by the acquisition of a brand new van in late 1954 which Gerry chose in favour of a couple of Bugatti’s he had been offered around the same time.

The open two seater Ford Special carried Gerry to a class victory in a sprint at Long Marston before he decided to sell it and continue his competitive driving with his by now much modified 1954 Ford Thames van in club rallies.

MINIM, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Gerry built one more open special for the 750 to run in the 750 Formula however after first designing the car around a 1931 Austin chassis in 1957 it took until 1964 to complete and so was considerably out of date thought Gerry did win his class in sprint at Castle Combe in August 1964.

Further modifications were carried out to the 750 Formula Special for the 1965 season and after competing with it a couple of times Gerry retired from racing open cars for good saying “I am convinced that the time and money spent on a car for racing is out of all proportion to the amount of enjoyment derived from it “.

MINIM, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Instead Gerry continued competing with a Mini van and later his last special today’s featured MINIM which started out powered by a MG 1100 engine and gearbox transversely fitted to a chassis which was fashioned with a pair of Mini front subframes… at both ends !

Gerry also an accomplished jazz pianist no doubt had much fun fashioning the name plate as the rest of the car with it’s perspex sunroof and cut down Mini doors and Mk1 Mini exterior hinges.

MINIM, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

The Bath MINIM was registered for the road on the 11th of September 1972 and used in competition for “many years”.

After retiring from the British Aircraft Corporation into which the Bristol Aircraft Company had been absorbed in 1960 Gerry continued his interest in motoring helping others prepare and run competition vehicles in French hillclimbs and making 45 improvements to his Lotus Elite which was featured on Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres many moons ago.

MINIM, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Gerry died in 2014 aged 83, more details on his specials can be found on Pete Stowe’s linked page here, and an appreciation of his life on James Page’s linked page here.

The man responsible for giving the Bath MINIM, seen at Castle Combe Autumn Classic in these photograph’s, it’s most recent MOT, roadworthiness certificate in September 2015 confessed to the current owner that he was surprised the car passed at the first time of asking without so much as an advisory, a testament to Gerry’s thoroughness if ever there was one.

MINIM, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Thanks for joining me on this “Two Beat Half Note” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Dakar Defender. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Classics @ Autumn Classic – Castle Combe

Today’s post looks at some of the non combatants seen at Castle Combe’s Autumn Classic meeting a couple of weeks ago.

Wolseley Hornet, Crayford, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

The story behind the 57 1966 Wolseley Hornet Crayford convertibles has all the makings of a great movie seeing as it involves a global baked bean brand, an exclusive deal with a company operating out of two private garages in London and a nudist colony, the rest of the details will have to wait for a future blog.

FIAT 850 Coupé, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

At my very first race meeting out in Zambia one of the more unlikely competitors drove a FIAT 850 Coupé like the 1969 example above on the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club stand.

Aston Martin DB Mk III FHC, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

The 1959 Aston Martin Fixed Head Coupé with a Tickford notch body is an extremely rare vehicle, only five were ever built.

Daimler Dart SP 250, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

If I had any spare cash I’d be seriously tempted to buy this 1963 Daimler SP250 which has just 38,000 miles on the clock, if you would like to become it’s fifth owner I have the contact details of the vendor.

Humber Sceptre Estate, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Slightly out of period was this 1976 Humber Sceptre based on a design first seen in 1967. The Sceptre Estate first seen in 1974 was one of the earliest UK station wagons to feature a light in the loading area and a rear screen wiper, the Humber name disappeared under Chrysler UK’s post 1976 branding strategy.

Bristol 450, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

One car I have been waiting see first hand for some time is the sole remaining Bristol 450 belonging to Simon Draper, I believe this car finished 7th over all and first in the 2 litre class at the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours. The prize money from the teams success was donated to victims of the 1955 Le Mans disaster after the team withdrew from the sport having scored two consecutive Le Mans class victories.

Triumph Dolomite, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

A nice quiz question what is the connection between all of the vehicles in this photograph ? Answer Donald Healey who was responsible for the Austin Healey’s in the back ground and the Hudson Terraplane inspired 1937 Triumph Dolomite Saloon in the foreground.

Lotus IX, Mike Marsden, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Former Concorde wind tunnel engineer and Historic Lotus Register Lotus Mk IX registrar Mike Marsden is seen above in his 1955 Lotus Mk IX which he has owned since 1967.

Morris Mini Cooper S, Dave Foster, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Dave Foster is seen coming into the pits above in his immaculate 1965 Morris Mini Cooper S which he has driven in competition for the last decade clocking up 10,000 competition miles.

Horstman 4 Seater, Trevor Turpin, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Until the Autumn Classic I’d never heard of a Horstman, it turns out they made nearly 3,000 vehicles just down the road in Bath between 1915 and 1929. These days Horstman, which patented a torsion bar suspension system for tracked military vehicles in 1922, continues to specialise in suspensions for military vehicles. The 1923 Horstman above is believed to have belonged to the companies founder Sidney Horstmann OBE.

FIAT Isotta Fraschini, Mike Vardy, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

In 1905 FIAT drew up plans for a world land speed record car which was to have two in line four cylinder motors producing upto 200 hp. The car never got built but nearly 20 years ago Graham Rankin undertook to build the car anyway. 13 years later he sold the unfinished project complete with a WW1 surplus 250hp Isotta Fraschini 16.5 litre / 1014 cui 6 cylinder aero motor to Mike Vardy who spent another seven years completing the FIAT Isotta Fraschini. Mike appeared to have great fun hanging the tail out on some parts of the circuit during his demonstration.

White Whistling Billy, Robert Dyke, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Finally last year I saw this recreation White Sprint Car at Race Retro, this year I finally got to see Dr Robert R. Dyke driving it at speed, only 60% of the boilers potential pressure was used but it still moved at an impressive speed given that it only has 2 x twelve inch brake drums on the rear axle.

Thanks for joining me on this “Classics @ Autumn Classic” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a limited edition Hemi Challenger. Don’t forget to come back now !

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