Tag Archives: Ford

Nothing can extinguish the Olympic Flame – Rochdale Olympic Phase I

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This comes under the category of cars I had not heard of before I took the picture.

Rochdale Motor Panels and Engineering were beased in Rochdale, Greater Manchester between 1948 and 1973, best known for making fibre glass bodied kit cars .

In 1959 they designed the glass fibre monocoque for the Olympic the only other such monocoque at the time was the Lotus Elite. After a factory fire the car went into production in 1960.

The Olympic was designed by Richard Parker to take a variety of engines including the twin cam 1.5 litre 91.5 cui Riley, Morris Minor, MGA and Ford 109E, unusually for kit cars of the time it featured wind down door windows.

With the Riley engine the car was capable of 0-60 mph in 11.9 secs and could reach 102 mph.

It is estimated that 250 of these vehicles were built of which 100 survive.

Remarkably the Olympic flame is still kept alive by a group of enthusiasts who own the original moulds making it technically possible to build a new Rochdale Olympic.

Hope you enjoyed this Mancunian edition of Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres, don’t ferget to come back now !

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Sunday Best – Triumph Vitesse

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Yesterday, like to day, there was no racing going on locally, but it would have been criminal not to go out and enjoy the fresh autumn air and unbelievably bright sunshine that turns the world of photographers such as my self into a super illuminated paradise.

So I headed out to my local track Castle Combe where there was an event billed as a ‘Mini Festival’, there were hundreds of the cute critters in a variety of states of tune to be seen and I’ll post pictures of them in due course, because the vehicle that leapt out at me as the subject for today’s blog was this convertible Triumph Vitesse MKII.

The 1968 – 71 Triumph Vitesse 2 originally featured a 104 hp 6 cylinder 2 litre / 122 CUI engine with two carburettors which gave it a 0 – 60 mph performance time of 11 seconds. As can be seen above this 1968 model has been upgraded with triple carburettors.

The Vitesse was outsold, in the UK, by its smaller 4 cylinder sibling the Herald, at a rate of 10 to 1, and was no match for the cheaper Ford Mustang in the US, however as is the way of these things the Vitesse has a strong following amongst aficionados of performance convertibles.

Slightly off topic, I tuned into JTV to watch the Nationwide NASCAR race at Dover last night just in time to see Kyle Busch taking his victory bow in a cloud of smoke of his own making, congratulations to Kyle on winning his 11th Nationwide race of the season thereby beating the Sam Ard’s record of 10 wins which he set in 1983.

Further off topic, I see Kevin Harvick took the NASCAR ‘have at ’em’ policy to heart during practice for the Dover Cup race ! Much as I’d like to see Kevin take the Cup home at Miami Homestead, these actions do not inspire me, sitting in the peanut gallery, with confidence about his chances.

These play ground antics probably make great headlines and are sure to provoke a further on track response from “Dangerous ‘I am owed four cups’ Denny” Hamlin, I just hope they are not a distraction from the real job in hand for Kevin, which is to make sure he beats Jimmy Johnson in the infernal #48 to the big trophy at the end of the season.

Looking forward to tonight’s race at Dover hope to catch some of you on Rowdy Chat.

Look forward to to hearing from you all, ‘y’all come back now ! Hear !

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Things to do if you have to get up at an unholy hour to take someone to a Midlands airport on a summers Wednesday morning. Visit Mallory Park !

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A couple of weeks ago I had to take a very good friend to a Midlands airport for a 6 am check in one sunny Wednesday morning.

The upside was I had a lovely little black one year old 3000 mile (!) KIA to whizz around in for a week.

I heard that there was testing most Wednesdays mornings of the summer for mostly historic vehicles at Mallory Park and since my day had been written off I went along to see what all the noise was about.

I have not been to Mallory since the late 1980’s when my mate Sven was racing a Class D 105 production Alfa 33 and this was my first opportunity to see any action at Mallory Park from anywhere but the pits.

I recommend stopping of for a hand made BLT at the Cafe just by the competitors entrance I had one at 10 am and it kept me going ’til i got back to Bristol at 4pm !

Here are a couple of snaps that I took after my Breakfast feast. I am afraid I can’t tell you who all the drivers are if you know any of the answers please drop me a line and put me out of my misery 🙂

Mini Cooper, Mallory Park

Above a Mini Cooper at Shaw’s hairpin,

Lotus 23, Mallory Park

A better than new Lotus 23

Ford Cobra, Mallory Park

Cobra Coupe

Barrie Williams, Ford Zephyr, Mallory Park

Barry (Whizzo) Williams extreme right, Ford Zephyr MK11, 1956/62

Ian Ashley, Elden Mk8, Mallory Park

Former British F 5000 champ, sometime F1 and CART driver Ian Ashley in his immaculate 1972 Elden MK8 FF 1600, which goes like stink round corners with Ian at the wheel who, totally randomly, was born 14 miles from where I was some 11 1/2 years earlier.

Mike Wrigley, Matra Ford MS80, Mallory Park

Mike Wrigley in Jackie Stewart’s 1969 World Drivers Championship winning Matra MS80, JYS signed the bodywork between the shoulder height cockpit air scoop and bottom of the roll hoop at Goodwood last year I believe.

Alberique, Maserati 250 F, Mallory Park

One of two Maserati 250 F’s I saw this one driven by a gentleman that goes by the name of Alberique I believe

Kevin Musson, Lola, Mk 3, Mallory Park

Finally a Kevin Musson at the wheel of a pretty 1961 Formula Junior Lola MK3

After the lunch break a variety of bikes were due out including side car combinations unfortunately I was called away and missed them.

A couple of weeks ago a well known Indy & CART champ was in attendance so you never who you might bump into, for a fuller flavour check out this thread with over 1000 contributions by race fans.

Well worth a trip Wayne Pearson is the man in charge in the control tower worth popping up to have a look if you ask after him.

Hope you enjoyed today’s post and that you will join me again tomorrow.

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