Tag Archives: Elliot

Glass Side Windows – Healey Tickford

In 1950 Donald Healey and Samuel Elliot fell out over their Healey Elliot 2 door saloon car which resulted in Donald turning to Tickford to build further 2 door bodies.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Tickford was founded as a builder of horse drawn coaches in the 1820’s by Joseph Salmons on Tickford Street, Newport Pagnell and diversified into building coachwork for cars in the late 1890’s.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The design for the 5 seat 2 door bodywork for the Healey Tickford is credited to Winston Chater, it was heavier than the Elliot body in part due to the replacement of the perspex window’s of the earlier model with glass items, and the introduction of a proper boot / trunk.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Healey Tickfords were built on three different versions of the Healey Chassis starting with the C Type in 1950, the BT Type in 1951 and the last on the F Type chassis in 1954.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The introduction of the BT chassis saw the additional triangular vents either side of the main radiator intake.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The Healey Tickford built from 1950 to 1954 would prove to be the most popular of the Riley powered Healey’s with 222 examples built.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Today’s featured Healey Tickford, seen during last weeks VSCC Spring Start meeting at Silverstone, was built on a BT chassis in 1952 and first registered in the UK on October 15th the same year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Glass Side Windows” 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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Bird’s Wyedean Win – Wyedean Forest Rally

On Saturday I popped over to the Forest of Dean to see the 40th Weir Engineering Wyedean Forest Rally for which 175 entries had been received.

The Wyedean started and finished at Chepstow Race Course and was run over 8 stages making a total of 43.42 stage miles that were linked by 98.37 road miles.

MG ZR, Gemmell, Beebe, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

This was the first Rally I had been to since the 1985 Lombard Race Rally, during the course of the day I visited two stages the 3.26 mile Blaze Bailey on the eastern edge of the Forest of Dean near Soudley and 6.02 mile Mailscot near Staunton on the western edge.

Above co driver Matt Beebe directs enthusiastic spectators in their efforts to get driver Richard Gemmell and his MG ZR out of a mud trap that saved the car from a couple of hundred foot drop into an abyss on the last corner of the Blaze Bailey stage, the #243 crew recovered to eventually record a 100th place finish from the 120 crew’s who made it back to Chepstow.

Mini Cooper S, Lewis, Fife, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Unfortunately I was not party to any radio communications during the event which made it impossible to follow what was going on in terms of positions and stage times so today’s blog will be limited to photographs of the winners of the 5 classes which split into a total of 16 sub classes each with a winner along with an overall winner.

The historic class was divided into four, winners of the H1a Class were Peter Lewis and Paul Fife in the 1963 #255 Mini Cooper S, seen above in the Mailcot Stage.

Datsun 240Z, Easson, Reynolds, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally

Back in 1971 and 1973 Datsun 240 Z’s driven by Edgar Hermann and Shekhar Mehta respectively won the gruelling East African Safari Rally proving the model was no flimsy boulevard cruiser.

It was therefore perhaps no great surprise that Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds won class H2b on Saturday with their #53 240Z built in 1974.

Mazda RX7, Scannell, Stevens, Blaze Bailey, Whedean Rally,

Nowhere near as noisy as it’s circuit racing siblings was the 1979 #48 Mazda RX7 crewed by class H3b winners Jake Scannell and Adrian Stevens which like the #53 Datsun is seen on the Blaze Bailey stage above.

Ford Escort RS1800, Elliot, Price, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

The Ford Escort in MkI and MkII guises was a rallying staple through out the 1970s, winning the 1970 World Cup Rally in MkI form and the 1979 World Rally Championship in MkII form.

The #24 Escort RS1800 Replica above crewed by Nick Elliot and Dave Price won the H4 category and as we shall see was one of three MKII shelled Escorts to win awards on Saturday, the #24 started life as a far more mundane 2 door Ford Escort Popular.

Nissan Micra, Quinn, Carmen, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Three classes were run for the Rally First starter series for novice crews running production cars with a few basic competition safety features.

The RF 1.0 class for cars running motors of no more than 1 litre / 61.5 cui was won by the 2001 #260 Nissan Micra S crewed by Nick Quinn and Neill Carmen seen above on the Mailscot Stage.

Volkswagen Polo, Handford, Davies, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

Morgan Handford and Richard Davies took top honors in RF1.4 despite taking the longest route around the final corner of the opening Blaze Bailey stage in their 1999 #236 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 16V.

Volswagen Polo GTi, Smith, Houldsworth, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Top starter class RF1.6 honours were taken by Mick Smith and Calvin Houldsworth driving their 2001 #220 Volkswagen Polo GTi seem above on the Mailscot Stage.

MG ZR, Riddick, Riddick, Mailscot Wyedean Rally,

The BTRDA kick Start 1400 series is run in two classes for slightly more sophisticated cars than the Rally First vehicles, but with tightly controlled stock restricted specifications on motors and suspensions.

Winners of Class 1400 C were the Scotish pair Keith and Mairi Riddick in their 2001 #227 MG ZX.

Vauxhall Corsa, Bennett, McNeil, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

The slightly more liberal 1400 S class was won by #201 Vauxhall Corsa crewed by David Bennett and Alistair McNeil seen above on the Blaze Bailey stage following a much better line through the final corner than the #236 RF1.4 class winning VW Polo.

Ford Fiesta ST, Cook, Jones, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Group N is an internationally recognised production based category that allows only safety modifications and a free choice of electronic control unit (ECU) for the motor, the success of the category can be judged by the fact it has remained largely unchanged since it’s inception in 1982.

Winners of the Group N3 class for vehicles with motors up to 2 litres / 122 cui on Saturday were Geno Cook and Ryan Jones who drove the #66 Ford Fiesta ST seen above in the closing gloom towards the end of the final Mailscot Stage.

 Mitsubishi EVO IX, Thompson, Murphy, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

Russ Thompson and Andy Murphy won the over 2 litre / 122 cui Group N4 class driving the #10 Mitsubishi Evo IX seen on the Blaze Bailey Stage above.

Peugeot 205 GTi, Lloyd, Roberts, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

The top five classes, B10, B11, B12, B13 and B14 cater for a range of specialised vehicles which must retain FIA crash tested type body shells, which precludes the use of space / tube frame specials.

Winners of the up to 1600 cc / 97.6 cui B10 class were Thomas Lloyd and Sherrin Roberts in their formerly Grey 1987 #60 Peugeot 205 Gti running with non period LED fog lights.

Ford Escort Mk II, Elsmore, Harrold, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Graham Elsmore and Stuart Harrold won the first three Wyedean Rallies from 1975 to 1977, the pair were also British Group One, similar to Group N, champions in 1977 and competed for works Ford, Triumph and Vauxhall teams in to the 1980’s.

They were loaned the #32 Ford Escort Mk2, seen hanging it’s tail out on the Mailscot stage above, by event sponsor Rob Weir, Graham and Stuart repaid Rob’s kindness with an up 2 litre / 122 cui class B11 victory.

Ford Escort Mk II, Phelps, Manuel, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

Over 2 litre / 122 cui B12 class honours were won by the #61 Ford Escort Mk2 crewed by Tim Phelps and Elwyn Manuel, their car is powered by a 2.4 litre / 146 cui motor who’s origin I was not able to determine during the course of the event.

Mitsubishi EVO IX, Elsmore, Edwards, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Graham Elsmore’s son Nik is a proper chip off the old block, he was 1999 BRTDA Gold Star champion and shared the #21 Mitsubishi Evo IX above with Matt Edwards to finish 5th overall and win the B13 class for vehicles over 2 litres / 122 cui with four wheel drive.

Ford Fiesta ST, Payne and Williamson, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

The events Press officer Andrew Haill kindly explained that despite finishing behind 2 other B14 competitors James Payne and Carl Williamson driving the #3 Ford Fiesta ST above on the Mailscot stage were awarded the top honours in class B14 because the top three overall finishers are excluded from class awards.

Ford Focus WRC 07, Bird, Davies, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

Clear overall winner of the 40th Weir Engineering Wyedean Forest Rally with five stage wins and 3 second fastest times was 2005 ANCRO National champion Cumbrian Paul Bird and his Welsh co driver Aled Davies driving his 2007 #1 Ford Focus WRC.

Paul, the head of Paul Bird Motorsports who run PBM Moto GP and British Superbike teams, has finished 2nd twice on this rally before was thrilled to win the event at the third time of asking.

Paul finished last season with two straight rally victories, which has now become three and he will be looking to make it four on the Malcom Wilson Stages Rally on March the 7th.

If you have never seen a forest rally in person I can heartily recommend it, your fellow spectators are unfailingly friendly, kids seem to love the sport, one six year old on Saturday managed to detain his Dad on the stages for many hours beyond the original two Dad had planned for the visit and most National Forests in the UK can be visited for free, though there maybe charges for car parking, as for example the reasonable £6 being charged for Forestry parking on the Mailscot Stage.

Thanks for joining me on this “Bird’s Wyedean Win” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at King Richards ’67 Plymouth Belvedere. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Holy Terraplanes ! – Triumph Dolomite 14/65

After Donald Healey was invalided out of the Royal Flying Corps at 18 he took a correspondence course in automobile engineering and then opened a garage in his home town Perranporth, Cornwall, upon the cessation of hostilities at the end of WW1.

In the early thirties his reputation as a consultant engineer and designer led to an appointment at the Triumph Motor Company where he was responsible for Triumphs new vehicles including the Dolomite launched in 1936.

The design of the radiator grill of the Dolomite 14/65 appears to have been influenced by the contemporary US gangsters automobile of choice the Hudson Terraplane, as was, to a lesser extent, the grill on Healey’s post WW2 Healey Elliot and to a lesser extent still the grills on early four cylinder Austin Healey 100’s.

It is believed that 33 Dolomite 14/65 roadsters with a twin carburettor 13 hp 4 cylinder motor were built and this 1938 example driven by Derry Aust is one of 13 known to have survived.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s waterfall grill edition of ‘Gettin a lil’ psycho on tyres’, and I hope that you’ll join me tomorrow on a tropical island paradise in the Pacific to see what happens when the brakes fail on an 1850 hp jet powered vehicle weighing 250,000 lbs (two hundred and fifty thousand pounds). Don’t forget to come back now !

PS I’d like to thank Tim Fulcher who got back to me about the identity of the driver of last weeks Jaguar XK 140 in Northern Rhodesia, turns out the name of the gentleman driving the car is Ken Livingstone. Thanks again Tim 🙂

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