Tag Archives: Clarke

Five Cylinder Tim – MANBAT Pegasus Sprint Castle Combe

Last month saw the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club organise it’s final sprint of the year the MANBAT Pegasus Sprint at Castle Combe, as ever with an event involving over 100 competitors many members of the BPMC the Bristol Motor Club and a few others besides along with the team at Castle Combe all mucked in to make it happen.

GTM K3, Graham Matthews, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Here are a few random snaps of the day taken from my vantage point on the start line that I hope give a flavour of the day that was probably better suited to ducks than Motor Sport, above Graham Matthews only made one successful practice run in his GTM K3 before withdrawing from the event.

Marcos Mantis, Philip Jones, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Before the weather was forecast Philip Jones must have fancied his chances of Marcos Mantis competing for the fastest time of the day in his 4.6 litre V8 powered machine but he had to settle for 1st in the Road going Specialist Production Cars class and consul himself that the conditions kept him 14 secs off the fastest time of the day.

MG PA, Howard Harman, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

If there had been a prize for being quickest of the two pre war MG’s present it would have gone to Howard Harman seen above in his 1 litre MG PA who was one and a half seconds quicker than Martin Price in his 1 1/4 litre MG TA.

TVR Vixen, Ian Stallard, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Given the power of some of the more recent TVR’s present it is perhaps surprising that the fast TVR time was set by Iain Stallard, above, in his four cylinder Ford powered TVR Vixen which had less than half the cubic inch capacity of all the other TVR’s present.

Triumph TR3A, Tom Purves, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Tom Purves Triumph TR3A was the oldest and slowest representative of the marque present of those who set a time.

JCB LOADALL, Les Rawlins, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Les Rawlins, Castle Combes Mr Fixit, might have struggled to set a competitive time in his JCB LOADALL, fortunately his skills fixing the barriers were only called on the once.

Mitsubishi EVO6 GSR, Mike McBraida,MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Mike McBraida set fastest time at the wheel of his turbocharged Mitsubishi EVO6 GSR in the Road going Series Production Cars over 2600cc class.

Reliant Scimitar GT, Nick Hall, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

The Reliant Scimitar GT driven by Nick Hall was third in the Road going Specialist Production Cars, Car engines over 1800cc and Motor Cycle engines class.

Audi Quattro, Tim Clarke, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Winner of the MANBAT Pegasus Sprint was Tim Clarke who set the fastest time of the day in his five cylinder turbocharged Audi Quattro, a car last seen on these pages indulging in a spot of lawn mowing at Hullavigton.

My thanks to all those who contributed to such a splendid day in the rain, and thanks for joining me on this “Five Cylinder Tim” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a cool one off contender for the Carrera Panamericana. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Securing The Boondocks – Hullavington Wessex Sprint

On Bank Holiday Monday the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club ran it’s Wessex Sprint at the Hullavington airfield, normally a site open to the public, today’s random selection of photographs were taken in between keeping the perimeter road free of dangerous mowing tractors, cyclists, joggers and dog walkers.

Van Diemen DC 93 M, Hullavington Wessex Sprint

It was a thrill to finally catch sight of Dave Cutcliffe’s much modified Formula Ford Van Diemen DC 93 M which is powered by a turbocharged motor cycle engine, Dave was disappointed to be a second off fastest time of the day, but given he had an ECU fault in the morning had to settle for fastest in the top racing car class.

Peugeot 309 GTi, Ray Sissins, Hullavington Wessex Sprint

Ray Sissins from nearby Devizes is seen above negotiating the second chicane in his 1987 #21 Peugeot 309 GTi.

Audi Quattro, Andy Trayner, Hullavington Wessex Sprint

Andy Traynor celebrated what would turn out to be the fastest time in his class with 11 seconds of lawn mowing before the second chicane on his final run of the day in the Audi Quattro he shares with Tim Clarke.

Andrew James, Nissan GTR, Hullavington Wessex Sprint

Andrew and Robert James brought their Nissan GTR all the way over from Bridgend and secured the top two spots in the top Road Going Production Class with Robert pipping Andrew seen above running the #35.

Radical SR4, Stewart Lillington, Hullavington Wessex Sprint

2nd in the Sports Libre Class was Stewart Lillington seen above driving the #77 Radical SR4.

Hawke DL16, Jeremy Hawke, Hullavington Wessex Sprint

Regular readers might remember blogs about Jeremy Hawkes MG J2 and MG K3, he also runs this #91 Hawke DL16 thanks to his Dad who helped him out with the costs towards the engine and gearbox.

Jeremy is particularly keen to hear from any one who has a photo or photo’s of Jan Lammers driving a #36 Hawke to a 19th place finish in the B.R.D.C. Vandervell British F3 Championship at Donington Park on the 27th of August 1977, chime in below if you can help.

Thanks for joining me on this “Securing The Boondocks” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be returning to this month’s Le Mans series. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Clarke Brothers Upgrades – Iota P1-5 CB2

Today’s featured car was one of the 5th of six Iota P1‘s to have been built by by Iota Racing Cars of Alma Vale, Clifton, Bristol.

Iota CB2, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

It was bought by garage owner Tom Clarke for the 1950 season during which he achieved some success up until the end of 1951.

Iota CB2, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

For 1951 the driving position was moved forward and the fuel tank removed from over the drivers legs to a position twixt driver and the JAP motor, in this form the car was known as the CB1, for Clarke Brothers the name of Tom’s garage.

Iota CB2, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

After finishing in podium positions through the 1952 season the car’s chassis was upgraded again to CB2 specification for the 1953 season with an emphasis on weight reduction.

Iota CB2, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

Tom continued to race the CB2 with similar success until the end of 1954 when he and the car retired from racing, although he continued to compete in the occasional hill climb with the car.

Iota CB2, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

The CB2 remained on the family business premises for three decades and through several changes of ownership before being brought out of retirement in 2011 by Mike Wood.

Thanks for joining me on this “Clarke Brothers Upgrades” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Kurtiss Indy Car, don’t forget to come back now !

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Plan B – Connaught Type-B #B9

While Raymond May’s was busy pumping the British motor industry for patriotic cash to lubricate the wheels of the newly formed British Racing Motor’s, to ex RAF pilots Rodney Clarke and Mike Oliver, backed by Kenneth McAlpine went about there motor racing in a far more pragmatic understated way.

Setting up behind the Continental Autos Garage in Send, Guildford, Surrey, Connaught, notice the pun, Engineering was founded by Rodney and Mike to build a 2 litre / 122 cui sports car around proprietary Lea Francis chassis and motors for Kenneth and Rodney to race in 1949.

The immediate success of the L2 in Rodney and Kenneth’s hands led the team to try their hand at building an open wheel Type A for Formula 2 using their own development of the Lea Francis motor for the 1950 season.

By 1952 a series of Formula 2 races counted towards the world championship and Dennis Poore finished 4th in the British Grand Prix the teams highest finish in the 1952 season limited to 3 outings in Britain, the Netherlands and Italy.

More sporadic World Championship appearances in 1953 which included private Connaught entries from Ecurie Ecosse, and Ecurie Belge did not bring any further success nor did the final appearance of five 2 litre formula two Type-A’s in the 1954 British Grand Prix run to the new Formula One 2 1/2 litre formula.

Rodney and Mike had hoped to use the Coventry Climax Godiva V8 for their Type-B formula one car in 1954 but when that got cancelled they came up with a plan B to develop a 2.5 litre / 152 cui version of the 2 litre / 122 cui Alta Forumla 2 engine against which they had been competing since 1950.

The Type-B made it’s only 1955 World Championionship appearance at the British Grand Prix where four works cars appeared alongside the private entry for Leslie Marr, they all retired except Jack Fairman’s entry which did not start.

Connaught B-Type, Tony Brooks, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

At the end of the 1955 season there was a non championship event run at Syracuse in Sicily, with the withdrawal of the works Mercedes team in the aftermath of the 1955 Le Mans crash the organisers called up Mike Oliver at Connaught to see if he could be tempted with an offer of £1,000 per car start money to bring two cars to race against the five works Maserati’s on the entry list.

Short of funds this was an offer not to be missed and after briefly testing a stream lined car which was to be entered for Les Leston and open wheeler chassis #B1 entered for debutant Tony Brooks the cars were packed into the back of a pair of converted 1939 AEC 10T10 Regal Greenline buses and sent on their 2,000 mile journey to Sicily.

On the Monday before the race Mike flew his car to Le Toquet in France to find a message informing him that the two transporter had been impounded because their documents were not in order.

Having sorted out the paper work the Connaught convoy set off for Sciliy with the buses being driven non stop in 12 hour shifts by the two pairs of mechanics. By the time they got to the Calabrian mountains the fun really started, the buses needed to reverse back and forth to make it round the hairpins which slowed progress down to 11 mph and one of the buses needed to have it’s brakes relined.

Meantime Tony Brooks, who’s 42 race CV was topped by just three non championship starts in a Formula 2 Connaught Type-A and one start for Aston Martin at Le Mans, took timeout from his dental studies in Manchester and flew down to Syracuse.

With no team in sight he and team mate Les Leston hired a pair of Vespa motor scooters and set about learning the track, in so doing Tony acquired a sore between his throttle hand thumb and index finger.

Both transporters eventually arrived in time for practice on the Saturday before the race and with out any sleep the mechanics set about preparing the cars.

Tony Brooks WB Tribute, Brooklands,

Tony had not so much as sat in his open wheel Type-B before the event and the teams priority in order to at least recoup their travel expenses was to start the race so practice laps were limited.

It came as a great surprise to find that Tony easily qualified a competitive third and would start alongside the leading Maserati’s of Luigi Musso and Luigi Villoresi with Les Leston not far behind.

The 243 mile race was run over 70 laps where Tony observed that “there was none of this business of using a foot of grass, as on an English airfield circuit, then bobbing back’, and reliability would be a major issue, in their favour the tight track suited Connaught’s handling which was at a premium over the outright power advantage of the Maserati’s.

The Maserati’s of Musso and Villoresi and Harry Schell led the three opening laps but on Lap 4 Tony passed Harry and then passed Villoressi with 10 laps completed.

Tony then went into a terrific dice with Luigi Musso who was working hard in his drum braked Maserati to keep the disc braked Connaught of Brooks at bay after swapping the lead several times and raising the average lap record speed from 99 mph to 102 mph Tony was able to ease away to a 50 second lead without putting any unnecessary stress on his car.

The Grand Prix win was the first for an English driver in an English built car since 1924 when Sir Henry Seagrave won the San Sebastian Grand Prix driving a Sunbeam.

After the race while tightening a handkerchief around his hand, injured by the Vespa, with his teeth Tony lost an expensive dental bridge piece from his mouth in the crowd as he prepared to go back to the hotel upon the motor scooter.

He fitted a spare he carried that night for the celebrations but since it was not very secure he restricted his conversation which the Scilians interpreted as another example of the famous British stiff upper lip.

Tony went on to contend for the 1959 World Title with Ferrari, but ended up finishing second to Jack Brabham driving a Cooper, and retired from Formula One in after finishing third in the 1961 US Grand Prix driving for BRM with 6 career championship victories.

Connaught went into steady decline after Ron Flockhart scored the manufactuers best championship finish of 3rd in the 1956 Italian Grand Prix, by the end of 1957 Connaught was auctioned off piece meal and Rodney and Mike returned to running Continental Autos.

Bernie Ecclestone bought two cars which he ran for in 1958 at Monaco and the British GP without success, until the death of his lead driver Stuart Lewis – Evans died from burns received after crashing his Vanwall in the 1958 Morrocan Grand Prix.

The last person to race a Connaught in a World Championship event was Bob “father of Boris” Said who started 13th but pushed his car into the pits after an accident on the opening lap of the 1959 US Grand Prix.

Tony is seen in today’s photographs wearing the blue shirt being interviewed during the the William Boddy Tribute at Brooklands and at the wheel of chassis #B9 at Goodwood Festival of Speed.

#B9 was built up from an unnumbered spare with original Connaught parts by by long-time Connaught specialist Spencer Longland, the original #B1 which Tony drove in Syracuse belongs to Bernie Ecclestone having been damaged in a fire at Syracuse in 1957 and been repaired many years later.

My thanks to Tim Murray, Alan Cox and Peter Morley at The Nostalgia Forum for answering my questions.

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

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Cobra Caravan Itinerant – Ford GT40 Mk 1 #GT40 P/1084

So far as I have been able to discern the chassis numbers for the production Ford GT40 Mk1 ran from P/1000 to P/1086, suggesting at least 87 production GT40 Mk1’s were built at Ford Advanced Vehicle facility in Slough, though as we shall see things are not always quite so simple.

Colvill, Ford GT40, Brands Hatch

Today’s featured car is a case in point, known as #P/1084 it has the highest chassis number of those known to have raced in period, though chassis P/1071 did not make it’s race debut until 14 month’s after #P/1084 appeared at Spa in May 1968 with Paul Hawkins and David Hobbs at the wheel.

However it turns out that #P/1084 started life as #P/1004 in 1965, a car that was entered into the 1965 Le Mans 24 hours by RRC Walker Racing and Shelby American for Bob Bondurant and Umberto Maglioli, this car running the #7 qualified third but retired with a leaking head gasket on lap 29, coincidentally the same lap as it’s sister #P/1005 driven by Ronnie Buckum and Herbert Müller retired with the same problem. #GT40 P/1004 then appears to have gone on Carrol Shelby’s promotional tour of America known as the Cobra Caravan.

When the JW Automotive Gulf team, operating from the same factory as Ford Advanced Vehicles had in Slough, needed a car for the 1968 Spa 1000kms they found they were a car short and so they rebuilt #P/1004 to 1968 specification and gave it a ‘new’ GT40 P/1084 identification although the factory records refer to the chassis entered at Spa where Hawkins and Hobbs finished 4th by it’s old number.

Some sources believe that #P/1084 was then shipped, by JW Automotive, to Watkins Glen two month’s later where Hawkins and Hobbs finished 2nd however I believe this is a typo, GT40 über authority Ronnie Spain identifies the car that Hawkins and Hobbs drove at Watkins Glen as GT40 P/1074.

During the 1970’s P/1084 was raced by Paul Wheldon for owner Connaught Engineering founder Rodney Clarke. Martin Colville seen in the #P/1084 here at Brands Hatch in July 1982 where Martin was taking part in a support race on the British Grand Prix weekend bought the car in 1981 and had a bubble fitted to the upper part of the drivers door to accommodated his frame.

Subject to revisions in Ronnie Spain’s much anticipated second edition bible on the subject “GT40: An Individual History and Race Record” this is my best understanding of the car known as #GT40 P/1084. If you know different please do not hesitate to chip in below.

My thanks to David McKinney, Pete Taylor and Ron54 at The Nostalgia Forum for their help in yet another carceology adventure.

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

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Podiumed In Class – Cross Trophy

Ten days ago I had a rare Spring Sunday lie in and arose in time to meet Chris Clarke at the Shell garage on the A38 just outside Bristol from whence we proceeded to Duncan Pittaway’s farm in Dundry for the 2013 edition of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club‘s Cross Trophy Production Car Trial.

Land Rover Evoque, Cross Trophy, Dundry

Photo Courtesy Andy Moss / BPMC Archive

Among the entries were the father and son Robsons using Mum’s 2 wheel drive Range Rover Evoque,

TVR 280S, Cross Trophy, Dundry

Photo Courtesy Andy Moss / BPMC Archive

the most powerful vehicle taking part was Duncan Pittaway’s 1989 TVR 280S,

Volkswagen Golf III, Cross Trophy, Dundry

Photo Courtesy Andy Moss / BPMC Archive

Newcomers to the event were the Firks brothers who were sharing this stripped track day prepared Golf III.

Firks & Firks, Cross Trophy, Dundry

The Firks brothers Keith and Andrew were not the first novice winners to win the Clubsport Class 1 front wheel drive honours but they are the first to have achieved the same score behind the wheel.

Citroen AX, Cross Trophy, Dundry

Photo Courtesy Andy Moss / BPMC Archive

Class 1 honours in the National B event went to Ray Jacobs in a keenly fought battle of Citroen AX’s with Colin Francis and Chris Buckle.

Marlin Roadster, Cross Trophy, Dundry

Photo Courtesy Andy Moss / BPMC Archive

Roland Panes won Class 2 rear wheel drive honours in his yellow Marlin Roadster.

Parsons, Cross Trophy, Dundry

Photo Courtesy Andy Moss / BPMC Archive

Making a welcome return to competition after his recent illness was Alan Spencer who recorded the lowest (best) score of the day with Cherry Robinson in the passenger seat.

Volkswagen Golf IV, Cross Trophy, Dundry

Photo Courtesy Andy Moss / BPMC Archive

With the Firks brothers sharing top honours in Class 1 Chris Clarke calmly guided me to a third place finish in class which translated to a 7th place overall in a field of 14 competitors who finished the Clubsport event. I’ve made my mind up to acquire a second set of wheels and far more aggressively patterned tyres and to remove various bit’s of plastic from the front wings and below the motor for my next production car trials outing.

My thanks to Mal who set the courses, Tim who kept the scores and Peter who checked the vehicles taking part for the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club, to marshals, Donny, Liz and Carlie to Andy Moss for sharing today’s photographs and last but not least Chris Clarke who sat alongside me on this event.

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

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Flower Power – Lotus 51A

Conceived by Geoff Clarke, manager of the racing school at brands Hatch, Formula Ford was introduced in 1967 for novice drivers as a means of getting a start in racing at an affordable cost.

Lotus 51A, Prescott

The original Formula Ford cars were based on those used at the racing school but fitted with a stock 1500cc / 91.5 cui pre crossflow Ford Cortina GT motor in place of the much more expensive to maintain Formula 3 race tuned motors.

Lotus 51A, Prescott

Brands Hatch played host to the very first Formula Ford race on July 12th, 1967. The race was one by Ray Allen driving a Lotus 51 similar to the one featured in todays blog.

Lotus 51A, Prescott

The first batch of Lotus 51 frames, including Ray Allen’s car, were actually welded up as Lotus 31‘s for use in Formula 3 but were retrospectively given the Lotus 51 tag when built to Formula Ford spec.

Lotus 51A, Prescott

Differences between the Lotus 51 and later 51A, seen here at Prescott, were minimal. For example brackets for an oil reservoir were not required on many 51A’s, if they ran with wet sump motor’s.

Lotus 51A, Prescott

Of the estimated 251 Lotus 51’s built, one, known as the 51R and unofficially as the Flower Power Lotus, was built as a road legal car complete with lights and mud guards.

Today’s featured Lotus 51A is driven by hill climber Briony Serrell.

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

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