Tag Archives: Bristol

Follow That ‘Burb ! – Independence Day Touring Assembly

Yesterday evening Martin and Nick of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club were responsible for organising an Independence Day Touring Assembly, in aid of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and it was a good excuse to take some foreign guests staying with us out for an evening ride.

We assembled at The Parkway in Stoke Gifford where an eclectic collection of vehicles had gathered including

a 1935 Hudson Suburban Sedan,

and 1950 Ford V8 Pilot,

Ken kindly let our guests, Pablo from Barcelona seen here, jump into his Marlin 5exi.

Soon it was time to go to The Griffin in nearby Warmley to pick up some members of Bristol Hotrods who joined us on our cruise. Not knowing exactly where I was going I took the advice to ‘follow that ‘burb’ referring to a large gold Rover V8 powered 1964 GMC Suburban belonging to Chris, who some of you may remember got me interested in drag racing not so long ago.

After a 20 min drive round what counts as Bristol’s ring road

we arrived in the car park of The Griffin where I was surprised to find chain drive fan Duncan waiting for us in another of his amazing Edwardian vehicles a Monarch GP powered by an 8.4 litre / 512 cui Curtiss V8 aircraft engine.

No sooner had I taken a snap and we were on our way to our final destination in a convoy vaguely reminiscent of the Whacky Races, behind me here are a Parsons trials car, Duncan in his Monarch, what appears to be a genuine C type Jaguar and a Ford Hotrod.

Our final destination was the Book Barn in Hallatrow about 20 miles south of Bristol where coffee and a fine selection of used books was to be found including a Spanish English Dictionary for Pablo.

Outside I took the opportunity to get a closer look at some of the hotrods that had joined us from The Griffin, including this exquisitely painted Ford which was built from a kit,

this chopped Coupe which apparently started life as a humble 1949 Ford Anglia and is now fitted with a Supercharged Rover V8

and The Alchemist based on a 1933 Ford Coupe with tasty patina powered if I heard correctly by a 5300cc / 323 cui ‘Hemi’ V8.

Paulo from Milan took a real shine to the C – Type,

but after a 20 mile ride with Ken he was left most impressed by the Marlin 5exi.

My thanks to Martin and Nick who organised a splendid Assembly to everyone who came along and particularly to Ken and Rob, seen above in his TVR Griffin 500, for giving Paulo and Pablo rides in vehicles neither will forget in a hurry.

Hope you have enjoyed todays Independence Day Assembly edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a replica concept car. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Please spare a thought for Nick’s wife Cherry who had the misfortune to get clobbered by a 4ft iron bar in a freak accident while at Goodwood on Friday. Best wishes for a speedy recovery Cherry.

He who is first will later be last – Auto Gymkhana

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Flush with success after my first production car trial, last weekend I joined members of The Bristol Pegasus Motor Club and took part in an Auto Gymkhana for the first time at Sheepcot Farm not far from Chepstow.

(Ben in his Mitsubishi Colt finished 6th Overall)

There were 12 entries 11 of which stayed for the full 24 stages of the competition which centred on variations of 4 basic tests.

(Nick and Andy shared Andy’s Marlin, Andy finished 2nd and Nick 8th)

The first group of tests focused on parking skills in forward and reverse alongside a plank of wood. Not such a difficult task but when done competitively in one manoeuvre surprisingly difficult to get the wheels as close to the plank as possible without touching the plank. The competitor who parked with the front wheel closest to the plank won. There were further parking tests to see who could park closest to a cone.

(Kia Picante in which I came 10th)

Next came a timed slalom first time round I got the gates a bit mixed up at the end which meant I somehow contrived to travel a longer distance than necessary. Driving my landladies mothers Kia Picante I was woeful on this test deciding that discretion was the better part of valour I aimed to improve my times through each timed run and tried to avoid scratching the car by running too close to the markers.

(Daihatsu Curore shared by Chris and Coralie who finished 3rd and 4th.

I did much better when it came to driving round the slalom holding a pint of water in my own time spilling less water than most I finished in the top 3 each on each of the 3 occasions this test was run.

(Ken in the Mercedes C220 CDi with the amazing turning circle finished 11th)

The hillclimb proved relatively simple for everyone except for Ken in his Mercedes C220 CDi which could handle the turns but had no weight over the rear axle to afford the necessary traction over the final incline which got progressively more slippery.

(Nick soon came to the conclusion that his Mazda 626 did not have a good enough turning circle)

Finally there was an autotest which involved driving round a course of tight circles parking in garages and some reversing. Nick dropped his Mazda 626 out of the competition immediately when it became apparent his car simply did not have anything like enough steering lock to compete. He ended up sharing Andy’s Marlin instead.

(Alan brought his Hawk HF3000 in 9th.)

Alan driving a Hawk HF 3000 Lancia Stratos replica powered by a 3 litre ALFA Romeo V6 needed a co-driver on the autotest in order to open the passenger door and make calls on the positions of the cones when reversing ! I jumped in to help Alan on a couple of occasions and was struck by the heat coming off the radiator in front of the footwell and the engine mounted directly behind the seats. A fabulous car to sit in for the slalom though.

(Mal in his all conquering MG Midget Mk3 )

Clear winner of the event was Mal in his MG Midget Mk3 which he bought for just £250 many years ago.

My thanks to Martin and team of marshals who ran a wonderful days competition, to Tim who kept score of the days activities to Alan for the the ride in the HF 3000 and congratulations to Mal.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Auto Gymkhana edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres, and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Pininfarina Renaissance – FIAT 130 Coupé

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Returning to the Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival back in April today’s car is the stylish sharp edged FIAT 130.

Launched to much acclaim at the 1971 Geneva Motor show the FIAT 130 Coupé was designed by Paolo Martin at Pininfarina and won a design prize which marked a renaissance for a company that had fallen from favour since it’s heyday designing the Fiat 1800 Peugeot 404 and Austin A55 and A60 concepts for large volume producers in the late 50’s and early 60’s.

This smart new vehicle was powered by a 165 hp 3235 cc / 197 cui twin over head cam V6 designed by Aurelio Lamperdi designer of the original 4 cylinder Testa Rossa engine.

Just 4,294 examples of the FIAT 130 Coupé were produced from 1971 to 1977, this marked the end of FIAT’s presence in the Executive end of the automotive market, future vehicles for this market segment were handled by the Lancia marque which was also owned by the FIAT conglomerate.

Thanks for popping in to today’s Paolo Martin styled edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Classic and Sports Car Action Day – Castle Combe

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On my way back from a couple of interviews at Sheffield Documentary Festival at the weekend I found time to accept a kind invitation from David Roots to pay a flying visit to Castle Combe for the Classic and Sports Car Action Day.

As I arrived out on the track caught a glimpse of a huge variety of vehicles ranging from a Wolsely Hornet to a gargantuan, by comparison, Ford Zodiac.

Since I was on a tight schedule I directed my attention to the even larger variety of vehicles in the car parks and paddock.

Many owners clubs were in attendance including the Ford Capri owners club who’s members brought a fine variety of examples of ‘The car you have always promised yourself‘, along to the show.

I do not remember the last time I saw a Hillman Avenger Tiger, let alone half a dozen of them !

In the running for most exotic cat at the track was this Jaguar XJ 220, first time I have seen one in the flesh.

Another model I do not recall seeing before is the Lanchester Ten.

Richard Edmonds were auctioning a selection of classic cars and commercial vehicles, including the Morris Van above, during the event, their tent was packed out with bargain hunters as I went past.

Unfortunately I did not get to hear or see this 350 CUI GTO in action complete with this cool bonnet mounted rev counter. 18 03 12, this car actually turned out to be a Pontiac LeMans Sport.

Among the interesting vehicles in the car park was this Rover V8 powered Reliant Scimitar, manufactured originally with a Ford V6.

This Alpine A110 1600 S built for competition was one of several vehicles present with an interesting history in rallying.

There was also an impressive collection of Triumphs on display almost every type of TR and a couple of Stags.

Looking forward to blogging about some of the 40 vehicles I saw in the coming weeks, my thanks to David Roots, who’s Alfa powered Lenham I blogged several months ago, of the Bath & West Car Club for the invitation to attend.

Thanks for dropping in on today’s Classic and Sports Car edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Springbok Special – ALFA Romeo GTV6 3.0

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The ALFA Romeo GTV 2.5 was in production from 1980 to 1987 it featured a a fuel injected 156 hp 2,492 cc / 152 cui V6 motor from the Alfa 6 model, a rear mounted gearbox to optimise weight distribution just like the Porsche 924/944/968 and an attractive Giorgetto Giugiaro body with a bulge in the bonnet / hood to accommodate the V6 engine.

These vehicles won four consecutive European Touring (stock) Car titles, however out in South Africa the touring cars were running to different regulations with a 3.5 litre / 213 cui class cut off as opposed to the 2.5 litre 152 cui class cut off as used in much of the rest of the world.

In order to race competitively against BMW which ran 3.5 litre engines in South African Touring Car Races ALFA Romeo in South Africa approached Autodelta the competition arm of ALFA Romeo who obliged by supplying enough parts developed for a rally programme to build around 220 2934 cc / 179 cui carbureted V6 engines which were assembled and tuned in South Africa.

The outcome was a vehicle that in 1983 beat BMW to win the South African Touring Car Championship and in mid 1984 was declared the fastest South African assembled vehicle with a top speed of 139 mph / 224 kph.

With that ALFA Romeo Montreal inspired NACA duct in the bonnet and deep spoiler this 3 litre GTV6, belonging to Richard an acquaintance from ‘The Nostalgia Forum‘, is quite easy to distinguish from its 2.5 litre brethren.

My thanks to Richard for bringing his pride and joy to the Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival.

Hope you have enjoyed todays Springbok edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Mission Accomplished – Bristol Cars Ltd

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Bristol 411

On Saturday I was very pleased to receive an e-mail from Geoff Hawkins, Chairman of the Bristol Owners Club, informing members that the future of Bristol Cars Limited which was in administration has been secured by Kamkorp Autokraft which also owns Frazer Nash Research Ltd.

Italdesign Frazer Nash Namir (Photo Italdesign)

It should be noted that Frazer Nash Research which made the 2009 prototype Italdesign Frazer Nash Namir is

Frazer Nash Colemore

not directly related to the company that made pre WW2 Frazer Nash chain drive vehicles,

Frazer Nash BMW

Frazer Nash BMW’s and

Left F Thwaits Fraser Nash 100/163 (Picture Ed Arnaudin)

post WW2 Frazer Nash Bristols from 1927 to 1957.

That company, AFN Ltd, was sold by Archie Frazer Nash to the Adlington brothers when it ran into financial difficulties.

Under the Adlington’s stewardship in 1946 AFN were briefly partners with Bristol Aeroplane Company in Bristol Cars, however BAC bought Adlington out of Bristol Cars when it became clear the two companies had differing visions of the future.

After AFN Ltd ceased manufacturing in 1957 it became a successful Porsche dealer which along with the Frazer Nash trademark was sold in turn to Porsche.

In 1929 after Archie Frazer Nash had divested himself of his interests in AFN Ltd and motor vehicle manufacturing he set up Nash & Thompson which specialised in manufacturing hydraulic gun turrets for aircraft, this led to the development of a variety of 2 and 4 gun turrets used on WW2 Beaufort, Blenheim, Halifax, Lancaster, Manchester, Sterling, Sunderland and Wellington bombers.

Nash & Thompson which in 1996 was acquired by ML Aviation and later defence contractor Cobham spun off Frazer Nash Research Ltd which specialises in Electric and and Hybrid Power Trains, automotive multiplexing, advanced composites and mass transit systems.

It is this engineering branch of Archie Fraser Nash’s post vehicle manufacturing business that is now connected for the first time with Bristol Cars Ltd.

Kamkorp Autokraft a private limited company with offices registered in Mytchet, Surrey, is majority owned by chairman Mr Kamal Siddiqi, who like Archie Frazer Nash appears to have been born in India, and who has / had interests in Cicco Holding AG, Lithium Technology Corp, Electrosource Inc and Think Nordic, prior to acquiring Frazer Nash Research and Bristol Cars Ltd.

Spokesman for the Kamkorp Autokraft group and Director of Operations at Frazer Nash Research Mr ‘William’ Tet Hin Chia issued the following prepared statement :-

“Bristol Cars is a British institution and an important part of our national motoring heritage. Over the next few months we will start to reveal the details of our plans to combine Bristol Cars’ tradition and iconic marque with Frazer-Nash’s pioneering technology to showcase our cutting-edge electric and range-extended powertrains.

British engineers are globally recognised for their inventions and the quality of their innovation – and these attributes are inherent in all our systems and products. Mindful of Bristol Cars’ rich heritage and our responsibility as custodians of the brand, we are certain that our technology will blend seamlessly and successfully with the Bristol Cars tradition of engineering integrity.

Owners and enthusiasts of the cars should be assured that, even though these are early days in our tenure of the brand, we are committed to providing them and their cars with the highest levels of quality, technology and service”.

Geoff Hawkins e-mail suggests that Samuelson Wylie Associates, who represented TVR from 1993 to 2003, will be handling the PR and Marketing of Bristol Cars Ltd.

It will be fascinating to see what the future has in store for my local automotive manufacturer, with the prospect of all fossil fuelled vehicles being phased out of Europe by 2050, Bristol Cars may be well placed to become a leading edge manufacturer in the decades to come.

I hope you will all join me in wishing Bristol Cars every success.

My thanks to Geoff Hawkins of the Bristol Owners Club, James Trigwell a trustee of the Frazer Nash Archives, and bristol 7527 also known as Claude for the detailed information in this blog.

I hope you have enjoyed this edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Too Dangerous To Race – Ferrari GTO

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The Ferrari (288) GTO was designed to meet the 4 litre Group B regulations for rallying and racing sports cars which came into effect in 1982 .

To be homologated, granted approval, to compete in the liberal loose Group B classes of rallys and races 200 identical examples of a model had to be manufactured.

From 1984 – 1986 272 examples of the Ferrari 288 GTO were manufactured with a view to competing against the similar, albeit fitted with 4 wheel drive, Porsche 959/961.

The 288 GTO was loosely based on the Ferrari 308 GTB though the rear bodywork was extended to incorporate the engine which was now longitudinally mounted rather than transversely mounted as in the 308 GTB.

Pininfarina designed body panels for the 288 GTO were manufactured from a combination of fibreglass, aluminium and F1 technology Kevlar however in the interests of safety the door panels were made of steel.

With four hundred horsepower available, in road trim, from the twin turbo charged 2855 cc / 174 cui V8 it is regrettable that the 288 GTO never saw any competitive action as a result of the Group B regulations being deemed to dangerous for competition after a number of fatalities in Group B rally events during 1986. By 1987 the Group B regulations and even more lax Group S regulations had been suspended in the interests of safety.

This 1985 model, known officially as a Ferrari GTO but often called 288 GTO to distinguish it from other Ferrari GTO models, is seen at the recent Italian Auto Moto Festival in Bristol.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s homologation edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring