Tag Archives: Carlton

VSCC Spring Start – Silverstone

I awoke at 3:40am on Sunday full of anticipation, the weather forecast was good, the dawn chorus was getting underway as I prepared my sandwiches and daylight was lighting up the day as I headed towards Silverstone with my friend and regular GALPOT contributor Tim.

M4, Eastbound

We took the fast route in order to get to the circuit early, meeting up with friends for breakfast in the canteen we were saddened to learn of the death of Lotus Elan driver Alan Fleming in Hockenheim the day before and that Garry White had been seriously injured driving a GN Gnome the same day at Silverstone.

Lotus 49 R8, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Tim and I took a wonder round the paddock in the morning where we were astonished to find the late 1968 Lotus 49 R8 as raced by Graham Hill, Richard Atwood, Jo Bonnier and most successfully by Dave Carlton in South Africa to two local F1 championships, form the center of a Bonhams display. The car is expected to fetch between £700,000 and a million at Goodwood in June.

Standard, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

While we were working our way through the paddock the vehicle above wafted through the crowd, I was surprised to learn it appears to be powered by a Standard Vanguard motor, if you know anything else about the car please chime in below.

ERA 80th Anniversary Trophy, Gillies, Morris, Topliss, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The racing got underway with the ERA 80th Anniversary Trophy which was one by Mark Gilles aboard the green wheel lifting 1934 ERA seen leading the ERA 11B of David Morris which retired leaving Nicholas Topliss in the #5 blue ERA R4A to finish second.

FJHRA , Goodliff Woodhouse, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The battle for honours in the front engined Formula Junior race lasted the whole race with Simon Goodliff in his red 1960 Lola Mk2 managing to hold off the green 1959 Elva 100 driven by Mark Woodhouse.

Riley, Super Rat, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Pete Candy driving the 1936 Riley Super Rat seen in the paddock above won the 8 minute Short Scratch Race for pre war cars.

HGPCA Pre 66, Griffin, Moreton, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The action continued with the second race for pre ’66 Grand Prix Cars which was won by John Romano who clocked up his second win of the weekend in his 1964 Brabham BT11. Above Alex Moreton in his 1961 Lotus 21 is about to lap Paul Griffin in his 1959 Cooper T51 on his way to a seventh place finish.

Maserati 6CM, Lockie, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

It’s always great to see one of my former race instructors, from 1989/90, take part in an event above one such was Calum Lockie who is seen driving a 1938 Maserati 6CM to victory in the pre 1941 Continental Trophy race.

50's Sports Racing, Horsman, Wood, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Regular readers will have heard me make many references to The Nostalgia Forum who’s knowledgeable members include Peter Horsman seen above driving the #248 Lotus 15 above to victory over the #256 Lister Jaguar of Dr Barry Wood in the 1950’s sports racing cars event.

Tec Mec, Wood, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Tony Wood lifts a wheel at Becketts above on his way to his second win of the weekend in the Pre ’61 Racing Car event driving the 1959 Tec Mec F415 which readers may remember I looked at in some detail recently.

Pre War Handicap,  VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

By comparison the 5 lap pre war Handicap race felt like a race in slow motion, above a couple of Rileys lead a gaggle of cars in the event which was won by Richard Hudson driving a Bentley.

F3 500, Bishop Miller, Kingsland, Turner  VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The penultimate event of the day was for the 500 cc / 30.5 cui Formula 3 cars this was declared, with Ian Philips the winner, after the; #57 Revis driven by Richard Bishop Miller, #59 Staride Mk 3 of Xavier Kingsland and #86 Cooper Mk 9 of John Turner came to grief at Becketts one lap after the photo above was taken. I am not entirely sure what happened but the out come was that John Turner was thrown out of his Cooper and Richard Bishop Miller had to be cut out of the Revis and both were taken to hospital.

Andrew Mitchel won the final Pre War race of the day driving an HRG but by then Tim and I were negotiating a few diversions on the way home, seeing John Turner falling out of his Cooper having left me feeling considerably the worst for wear.

My thanks to Alan Cox at the Nostalgia Forum for pointing me in the direction of the results pdf.

I hope you will join me in offering sincerest condolences to the the family and friends of Alan Fleming and best wishes for speedy recoveries to Garry White, Richard Bishop Miller and John Turner.

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

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Imperial Green – Lotus T104 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton

In 1990 Britain and Germany’s GM divisions launched a new Q car that could blow the contemporary Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4 performance model into the weeds. The new vehicle was known as the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton in the UK and Lotus Omega in the rest of Europe.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

Lotus project Type 104 was responsible for turning the 3 litre / 183 cui executive saloon, into a barnstormer which included a body kit that fed more air into the engine and two small louvered out lets on the bonnet hood.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The six cylinder motor was comprehensively revised; the swept volume was increased to 3.6 litres / 219 cui and twin Garret T25 turbochargers with a Behr water to air inter cooler were fitted to take the power up to 377 hp at 5200 rpm. Transmission came courtesy of the contemporary Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and the limited slip differential from the Australian Holden Commodore.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The performance figures included rest to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds with 100 mph being reached in 11.1 seconds and a controversial top speed of 176 mph, which made the car the worlds fastest four door saloon. There had been, unheeded, calls for GM to follow the lead of BMW and others to restrict the top speed to 155 mph.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The suspension was also suitably modified for improved stability and handling to match the straight line performance of the car, standard Carlton / Omega Servotronic power assistance for the worm and roller steering was used as space and budgets precluded the development of rack and pinion steering.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

You could have your £48,000 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton or Lotus Omega any colour you liked so long as it was imperial green, which as can be seen looks black in any light other than direct sun light. Just 320 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton’s were built and 630 Lotus Omega’s.

Thanks for joining me on this “Imperial Green” 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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