Tag Archives: Harris

Testing Testing – Castle Combe

On my day off yesterday I headed over to the Atwell Wilson Museum in Calne, and taking the scenic route I happened by Castle Combe where pre season testing was under way, I couldn’t resist the allure of the sight of racing cars in action so stopped off to see what was going on.

Vauxhall Tigra, Oliver Bull, Castle Combe,

About to leave the paddock above is 2015 Castle Combe Sports & GT Champion Oliver Bull in his Fleuertation Flowers of Bristol Vauxhall Tigra in preparation of his campaign to defend his title which starts at the Howard’s Day meeting on Easter Monday March the 28th.

Haggispeed Mk9b, Tony Harman, Castle Combe,

Bob Haggis Le Seur is believed to have built around seventeen cars which included a couple of Hillman Imps and most notably Haggispeed Clubmans cars the series of which went up to Mk 10, I believe the Mk9b above has been owned and driven by Tony Harman since 2001 in the HSCC Classic Clubmans series, the HSCC will be holding a two day meeting at Castle Combe on April 16/17.

Ferrari 360, TBC, Castle Combe,

Just as I started making my way round the track it started to rain and so many of the cars immediately headed for the pits including the unmarked Ferrari 360 above, the driver of which is unknown to me as is the series in which the car might run, if you know please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Ginetta G16, George Douglas, Castle Combe,

In his time Mobile Windscreens proprietor and HSCC Guards Trophy competitor George Douglas has run a variety of special saloons and GT’s with exotic chassis including a Hillman Imp, Skoda and Ginetta G12, above he is seen diving into the pits in his slick shod Ginetta G16 as the heavens open.

Van Diemen RF00, Roger Orgee, Castle Combe,

I’ll try not to snigger at all the shenanigans going on in Formula One at the moment with the drivers unanimously requesting some one take control, as I have been saying for along time Formula One could do worse than come up with a 600hp version of Formula Ford 1600 on similarly skinny all weather tyres, if it was really interested in entertaining spectators, above 2015 Castle Combe FF1600 Roger Orgee spray’s the cobwebs out of his championship winning Van Diemen RF00.

Peugeot 106 GTi, Geoffrey Ryall, Castle Combe,

Geoffrey Ryall appeared to be having great fun in his #29 Peugeot 106 GTi with which he competes in Class C of the Castle Combe Saloon Car Championship.

Neil Harris, Nemesis Prototype, Castle Combe,

Seen setting sail for The Esses above is Castle Combe Sports Racing Series competitor Neil Harris in his #15 Nemesis Prototype.

Mini Miglia, Shayne Deegan, Castle Combe,

At the end of last year 2014 and 2015 Demon Tweeks 720 Stockhatch Championship winner Shayne Deegan switched from his Citroën Saxo to a Mini Miglia run by Peter Baldwin for the three race 50 Plate Triple Shoutout at Snetterton which he also won, Shayne who I believe is seen exploring the outer limits of Quarry above, won the #50 for 2016 the 50th Anniversary year of the Mini 7 club which runs the Mini Miglia Championship.

Reynard SF78, Graham Ridgeway, Castle Combe,

HSCC Formula 2000 competitor Graham Ridgeway is seen splashing towards Avon rise in his 1978 Reynard SF78, which he shares with Jennifer Ridgeway, above.

Nike Mk6, Peter Hannam, Castle Combe,

Back in the paddock Peter Hannam consults before adjust his shock absorbers on his 1970 Nike Mk 6 HSCC Formula Ford challenger for which he needed no tools beyond his fingers.

Wishing all GALPOT readers all the best for the 2016 Racing Season ahead, looks like my work schedule might allow me to kick my season off at the 24 Endurance race for Touring cars at Silverstone on April 2nd / 3rd.

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

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Beyond Injury Achieving The Extraordinary – Qt Wildcat 500 DKR

The Wildcat is a space frame off road competition vehicle developed by Bowler in Derbyshire who sold the production rights to Qt Services based in Plymouth in December 2007. Qt Services appear to have rebranded themselves Wildcat Automotive who now offer a range of off road vehicles themselves, apparently in competition with Bowler.

Today’s featured 120 mph Qt Wildcat is powered by a Jaguar derived 280 4 litre / 244 cui V8 which drives the wheels on both the Land Rover Defender derived solid axles through a Sadev SCL90 6-speed transmission.

The 365 litre / 80 gal imp / 96 gal US fuel tank gives the Wildcat a range of between 400 to 600 miles and the engine can run on petrol between 88 – 98 octane

Qt Wildcat 500 DKR, Capt Tony Harris, Goodwood Festival of Speed

PUD 755, registered on 19th September 2005, is part of a fleet of Wildcats run by the Race2Recovery Offroad Rally Raid Team founded in 2011 by Capt Tony Harris, a former Infantry Officer for the Royal Fusiliers and Cpl Tom Neathway as a platform for ex military personnel with combat incurred life changing injuries to exercise their adventurous spirit in off road competition while raising funds and profile of the Help for Heroes Charity and Tedworth House Personnel Recovery Centre in Tidworth, Wiltshire, where many injured in combat recover from their injuries.

Race2Recovery, who’s strap line reads “Beyond Injury Achieving The Extraordinary”, achievement’s include first disabled team to; complete the Turaeg Rally in 2012, complete the Dakar Rally in a car, Qt Wildcat500 DKR, 2014, complete the Dakar Rally in a Truck 2014, complete a British Offroad Rally 2014, 2nd place overall in the Defender Challenge 2014 and last year to win a British Offroad Rally Championship Event.

Thanks for joining me on this “Beyond Injury Achieving The Extraordinary” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a chain drive Mercedes Monday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Mud Plugger And Speedway Rider – Alexis Mk 1 #HF101

In 1953 Alex Francis set about buiding Trials car, mud plugger, to replace his Flathead Mercury V8 powered HRG, over the following years he built two more such cars before meeting Australian former speedway rider Bill Harris, in 1959, who had designed and been driving the 2nd Flather 500 Formula 3 car for Sheffield steel merchant and founder member of BRM Dennis Flather since 1954.

Alexis Mk 1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Alex, a building contractor by day, and Bill set about building the Mk 1 Alexis to meet the new Formula Junior regulations from a premises in Birmingham.

Alexis Mk 1, Duncan Rabagliati, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

The Mk 1 features a space frame and somewhat behind the curve front mounted 1 litre / 61 cui BMC A series engine and Austin A35 rear axle with a Triumph Herald based independent front suspension.

Alexis Mk 1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

The body for the car was in polished aluminium and the plan was that Alex and Bill would share the driving. I believe the car was raced just once by Alex and at Oulton Park, and I have seen a photo of it apparently competing on the short hill at Prescott, before it was bought by an American customer.

Alexis Mk 1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Over 20 years ago chairman of the Formula Junior Historic Racing Association Duncan Rabagliati bought the Mk 1 which had returned to the UK, there is only one chassis #HF101, and has been regularly racing it ever since.

Alexis Mk 1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Duncan, seen at the wheel above at last years Castle Combe Autumn Classic meeting, and the Alexis hold the distinction of being the only driver and car combination to have competed in all previous editions of the Silverstone Classic meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Mud Plugger And Speedway Rider” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a US Formula One car. Don’t forget to come back now !

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IMSA King Elvis – Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo #88-01

According to the results available to me Don Devendorf a “scientist” at the Hughes Aircraft Corporation was campaigning a Triumph Spitfire and then Mueller Fabricators Triumph GT6 in the GP and EP SCCA classes with some success from 1968 to 1970.

By 1978 Don had founded Electramotive Engineering of California with John Knepp to prepare and successfully race a succession of Datsun’s.

Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Starting with a IMSA GTU Class 240Z before moving onto GTU Class 280ZX and GTO Class 280ZX turbo models up until 1984.

In 1985 Nissan decided to drop the Datsun brand in favour of Nissan and entered into a partnership with Electramotive to field cars in the top GTP class of the IMSA series.

Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

From 1985 Electramotive used Lola chassis similar to the Lola T710 chassis used by General Motors Corvette GTP team but adapted to take the Electramotive tuned turbocharged Nissan VG30 V6.

Initially the Nissan variant of the Lola T710 was known as the T810 in 1985, but for 1986 and 1987 the cars were known as Nissan GTP ZX-turbo’s with Lola T710 chassis numbers.

Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The Nissan Lola chassis carried bodywork devised by Yoshi Suzuka which was easily distinguished from the Hendricks Motorsports GTP Corvette body by the large front intakes mounted below the windscreen.

By 1987 the GTP ZX Turbo had been developed into one of the faster cars on the IMSA GTP circuit scoring 5 pole positions and one win with Geoff Brabham and Elliot Forbes-Robinson sharing the victory spoils at Miami.

Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

For 1988 Electramotive commissioned Trevor Harris to design the chassis for today’s featured car, #88-01 built by Jim Chapman’s JC Prototypes, using the same Electromotive alloy block motor and running gear as the ’87 GTP ZX-Turbo and similar Yoshi Suzuka designed bodywork.

After gifting the two endurance events at Daytona and Sebring to the new Castrol sponsored Jaguar team, by not entering them. Geoff Brabham won nine of the remaining events, with a season high streak of 8 consecutive wins to secure the 1988 drivers and team championships for the Electramotive team.

Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Chassis #88-01 was known as the King of the IMSA circuit and given the nickname Elvis, much of the success of the car was due to an electronically controlled turbocharger waste gate devised by John Knepp.

Four of Geoff’s wins were with John Moreton acting as co driver, they also scored a fifth non championship win together at Tampa in November 1988 and one more with Tom Gloy sharing the driving duties at Mid Ohio.

Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Surprisingly in 1989 Geoff Brabham drove #88-01 to a further seven victories to secure a second drivers title and team title for the Electramotive team, this included securing pole with Arie Luyendyk, Chip Robinson and Michael Roe for the Daytona 24 Hours where they failed to finish and winning the 1989 Sebring 12 Hours with Chip and Arie sharing the driving.

During the 1989 season Geoff and Chip shared #88-01 with team founder Don Devendorf to win at Miami and Atlanta and shared another two victories as a driving pair.

Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

In 1990 Don sold Electramotive to Nissan and the team became Nissan Performance Technology Inc, NPTI. Elvis was wheeled out for it’s third and final season of competition and scored three more wins, including a second win at Sebring where Derek Daly and Bob Earl shared the driving. Derek and Geoff shared the driving to secure the chassis final two wins at West Palm Beach and Road Atlanta.

In all from 1988 Elvis made 32 starts, 16 from pole, finished 26 of those races and won 20 of them. Geoff went on to secure the 1990 IMSA GTP championship using a new twin turbo V6 NTP 90 chassis and the 1991 championship with a combination of a twin turbo V8 Nissan R90CK, twin turbo V6 NTP 90 and NTP 91 chassis.

Thanks for joining me on this IMSA King Elvis 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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It’s Not A Huffaker – BMC Genie Mk 8

By the early 1960’s Joe Huffaker and his Huffaker Automotive Engineering outfit had built a reputation for building specials and three evolutions of Formula Junior open wheel cars for Kjell Qvale which were known as BMC’s, in deference to Qvales British Motor Cars distribution business and not the British Motor Corporation some of who’s products Qvale was distributing.

BMC Genie, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

Joe next turned his attention to building sports cars for the modified classes of the popular SCCA series which included variants powered by British Motor Corporation, Coventry Climax, Chevrolet Corvair and Alfa Romeo motors. These cars were known initially as BMC Genie’s although entry lists frequently referred to them simply as Genies sometimes with the name of the motor manufacturer such as Alfa Genie.

BMC Genie, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

In 1963 Joe developed a sportscar that could handle a variety of V8 motors known as the BMC Genie Mk 8, these were sold as kits customers could buy and assemble or as finished race cars for competition in SCCA and USRRC events. Again these cars appeared primarily as Genie’s on entry lists.

BMC Genie, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

In 1964 and 1965 Joe built a more muscular version of the Mk8 known as the Mk 10 and later Mk 10B, these cars could also be assembled by the customer or bought complete ready to race. Even when Huffaker Automotive Engineering entered one of these cars in the 1966 LA Times Grand Prix for Bob Bondurant the car was listed as a Genie, but significantly not a Huffaker Genie as the cars are sometimes incorrectly referred to today.

BMC Genie, Simon Hadfield, Whitsun Trophy, Goodwood Revival

Today’s featured car is a Mk8 built in 1964 for Don Skogmo to replace his Maserati Tipo 61. Don raced his Genie from 1964 through to August 1966 scoring a debut win at Rosemont in July ’64 and a second win at Gran Forks in October 1965.

BMC Genie, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

Simon Hadfield is seen driving the Mk8 with faux Vinegaroon Mk 10 paint job at the 2012 Goodwood Revival.

BMC Genie, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

Vinegaroon was the nick name given to a Genie Mk10 Joe built for Bonanza TV star Dan “Hoss” Blocker that was driven by Canadian John Cannon and later Hollywood stunt man Bob Harris.

My thanks to Vince Raceanouncer 2003 H at The Nostalgia Forum for pointing me in the direction of details about today’s featured chassis which completely coincidentally happens to be for sale.

Thanks for joining me on this “It’s not a Huffaker” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you’ll join me for a celebration of Ferrari’s first half century on Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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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 !

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Katie – Morris 8 Series E

In 1935 Morris was keen to regain it’s position as Britains largest motor manufacturer when it launched the Morris 8 in response to the successful Ford Model Y which was first seen in 1932.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

Four series of Morris 8’s were manufactured Series I from 1935 to ’37, Series II in 1938 and Series E from 1938 to 1948. Unusually the Morris 8 Series E remained in production for military and essential civilian use through out the war with civilian consumer production resumed in 1945.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

The Series E Morris 8 is easily distinguished from it’s forbears by the semi integrated head lights and it’s absence of running boards.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

The waterfall styled grill was much in vogue at the time with Hudson in the US and Triumph in the UK being among the more fanciful users of the waterfall styled grills.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

The 29 horse power 6 volt 4 cylinder motor could propel the Morris 8 Series E to a top speed of 58 mph. The motor would remain in use in Morris Minor cars from 1948 to 1953 and would also find itself being installed in Centurion, Conqueror and Chieftain main battle tanks as an auxiliary motor.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

Katie as the Morris 8 Series E,seen here at the Atwell Wilson Museum in Calne, is known was purchased new for £120 pounds by Mr And Mrs EA & WG Harris of Laurel Farm Chadstoke Somerset from Stringers Garage in Chard Somerset on the 1st of November 1948 having been built a week earlier on the 25th of October.

The car covered 10,500 miles when it was returned to Strigers in 1952. The car remained in the Stringers show room and was used to train apprentices until 1979 when a Stringers employee purchased the car and put it back on the road. Since then it was repainted from its original black to its present two tone scheme. The car now has over 30,000 miles on the clock and has been on show at the Atwell Wilson Museum since 2000.

Thanks for joining me on this “Katie” 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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