Tag Archives: JAP

Jack’s 500 – Waye JAP

Based in Adelaide, Australia Jack Waye built today’s featured Waye 500 in 1953 and painted it red.

Waye 500, Doug Yates, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Featuring a pair of conventional if no longer on trend transverse leaf springs front and rear the Waye was orignally powered by a JAP speedway engine fitted with a Norton gearbox.

Waye 500, Doug Yates, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Jack sold the Waye 500 to Kevin Fuss in 1955 and in the ’56 / ’57 off season Kevin swapped the JAP motor for a Manx Norton, and made sprockets with different ratio’s for hillclimbing and circuit racing.

Waye 500, Doug Yates, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

While Kevin mostly drove the car while it was in his ownership, until 1966, on one occasion Bernie O’Hare was credited with recording a top speed of 98mph at the wheel of the Waye 500 at Collingwood.

Waye 500, Doug Yates, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

John Vinall became the third owner of the Waye 500 but only raced it until the end of 1967 when he discovered cracks in the flywheel.

Waye 500, Doug Yates, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

John and his fiancee were killed in a road accident four years later and it was not until 1993 Waye 500 ran again after his brother David had the engine overhauled.

Waye 500, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

The overhauled engine did not run well after it’s second practice run and the car was put back into storage until it was bought by David and Andrew Halliday in Sydney, Australia.

When they removed the Manx Norton to fit it into a Cooper they discovered that the timing had slipped which is what had caused the engine to malfunction in 1993.

In 2011 Andrew Halliday advertised the Waye now fitted with a JAP engine again and it was bought by Doug Yates, who is seen at the wheel in these photographs at Castle Combe.

My thanks to members of The Nostalgia Forum who contributed to the Motorbike powered race cars 1950 to 1980 thread, particularly Greg Mackie and John Medley and to one lung who contributed to the Personal photos of Australian motor racing ’50s to ’70s thread all of which helped lead to discovering that J Waye was the most likely candidate to have built the Waye 500.

I’d also like to thank John Bolly Blog Low for helping me establish that J stood for Jack and finally previous owner Andrew Halliday for :-

a) advertising the Waye for sale on Loose Fillings PDF in 2011

and

b) sharing details about the Waye 500 with editor Graham Howard, producer Terry Wright and publisher Garry Simkin who ran a small article, on which most of today’s blog is based on, in the 2nd edition of Loose Fillings published in Winter 1999.

Thanks for joining me on this “Jack’s 500” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Leyland Concept car with a square wheel. Don’t forget to come back now !

No Body One Brake – GN G.N.A.T.

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GN cars founded by H.R. Godfrey and Archibald Frazer-Nash in 1910 were were made in London up until 1923 and were initially notable for being built with wooden chassis with chain driven JAP engines or belt driven Peugeot engines.

GN G.N.A.T., John Wiseman, Chateau Impney,

By 1919 GN adopted steel chassis and engines of their own design, I believe today’s featured GN G.N.A.T. special has a 1919 steel chassis that was lightened, shortened and lowered by E.G.Sharp who fitted a front axle with a wider track than the rear starting the work in 1925.

GN G.N.A.T., Richard Wiseman, VSCC, Prescott,

Sharp acquired an unusual 1088 cc / 66 cui aircooled V twin JAP engine for the car that featured modified Vitesse cylinder heads that dispensed with the original overhead cam shafts in favour of pushrod operated overhead valves.

GN G.N.A.T., John Wiseman, Chateau Impney,

It was only after the valve gear had been redesigned by E.G.Sharp that the twin carburetor engine produced any useful power.

GN G.N.A.T., John Wiseman, VSCC, Loton Park,

Since the chassis had been lowered a much smaller diameter clutch was fitted with a length of rope tied to the clutch pedal for the driver to pull if the clutch failed to engage properly.

GN G.N.A.T., John Wiseman, Chateau Impney,

Originally E.G.Sharp omitted any bodywork as was common practice in the period and had only one break drum operational on the rear axle to slow the car down.

GN G.N.A.T., Richard Wiseman, VSCC, Prescott,

The car is described in “Specials” by John Bolster as “Very fast, but only moderately reliable” with it’s most notable achievements being a fatest time of the day, FTD, recorded at Stalybridge in 1928 and a class win at Shelsley Walsh in 1930.

Richard Wiseman is seen driving the GN G.N.A.T wearing blue overalls at Prescott while John Wisemann wearing white overalls is seen driving the car at Chateau Impney and on the start line at Loton Park.

My thanks to Tim Murray for kindly lending me his copy of “Specials” 1971 edition by John Bolster.

Thanks for joining me on this “No Body One Brake edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Layout By Committee – Hardy Special III

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Having built a Riley based special Dick Hardy undertook his work on his second special in 1955 starting with a 1921 GN chassis he found under a pile of rubble at Micheal Meo’s garage in Hamstead around 1953.

Inspired by pre war Auto Unions Dick fitted a supercharged 1928 JAP twin engine, that he bought in 1954, behind the drivers seat in the Hardy Special II.

Hardy Special II, Rachel Williams, Chateau Impney

The Hardy Special II was quick but the period engines were weak, today the Hardy Special II is owned by the Gray family who still compete with it.

The VSCC committee appears to have refused to let Dick build another rear engined special, no doubt for fear of too many others being encourage to build similar vehicles and so the Hardy Special III came to be built with the engine in the front.

Hardy Special II, Rachel Williams, Chateau Impney

I gather Dick did not begin work on the Hardy Special III until he was already in his seventies around 2001.

He started by fitting the steering gear from a three wheel van to a 1922 GN chassis with 1932 Morgan front suspension.

Hardy Special II, Rachel Williams, Chateau Impney

Dick again chose a super charged motor for his third special, but this time a 1096cc / 66.8 cui V twin JAP KTOR.

Rachel Williams is seen at the wheel of the Hardy Special III in these photographs at Chateau Impney last year.

Hardy Special II, Rachel Williams, Chateau Impney

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

Not A de Havilland – Comet JAP

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In 1950 Brian Heyward bought the Rudge powered Aikens 500 Formula 3 car from Wing Commander Frank Aikens, Brian only had the opportunity to drive it twice before he was called up to serve His Majesty King George V in the Royal Air Force for two years in Germany.

During his national service Brian’s father Charles bought a Cooper Mark IV which he already found was far too overweight to be competitive.

Comet, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

Upon completion of his National Service Brian and Charles used parts of the Cooper Mk 4 and some, lighter, cast magnesium components off a Cooper Mk VI to build the Cooper Heyward Special more commonly known as the C.H.S..

Brian raced the C.H.S. from 1953 to 1957 and is known to have finished 5th at the wheel of the car in a final at Brands Hatch in December 1954.

Comet, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

Brian found employment at de Havilland alongside future Lotus designer Maurice Philipe, future Lotus driver Alan Stacey, the Costin brothers Frank and future Cosworth partner Mike, and Brian Hart who would also make an enviable name for himself in the field of race engine production.

Soon after in 1953 Brian and Charles began construction of their second car, today’s featured Comet, named after the the jet powered de Havilland airliner.

Comet, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

With machining help from fellow 500 F3 racer Don Parker in it’s original form the Comet featured Kieft castings and wishbone suspension at the front, with swing axles and bungee cord springs on the rear.

The Comet was developed up until 1958; receiving a Norton engine in 1955, glass fiber body in 1956 and at some point a rear transverse spring, as had been employed by Cooper since 1946, replaced the bungee cords at the back.

Comet, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

Construction of a Comet II was started, but never completed, both Comet’s were sold on in 1964 to Brixham Lifeboat Coxwain Arthur Curnow who entered the Comet for Ivor Churchill to race.

Since then the Comet, seen in these photographs at Race Retro, has been restored twice; by Sandy Skinner who fitted the JAP engine along with a new aluminium body in the early 1980’s and by Neil Hodges for Peter Becker in 2003, today the Comet belongs to and is run by James Gray.

Thanks for joining me on this “Not A de Havilland” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the first of this month’s series of cars that ran in the Indianapolis 500. Don’t forget to come back now !

Large & Small – Cooper Mk V (T15)

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For 1951 Cooper built the Mark V to compete in “500” Formula 3 events, the Mark 5 has also been given the retrospective Cooper T15 moniker.

Cooper Mk V, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Improvements over previous “500” Coopers listed in their contemporary advertisements included a completely redesigned chassis, lighter body with hinged top panels for easy access fore & aft, reduced weight, smaller frontal area and rubber suspended alloy side tanks.

Cooper Mk V, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

A Mark 5 chassis could be supplied for £500 without an engine or £582 with a JAP excluding taxes, customers for the Mark 5 included a Mr Bernhard “No Angel” Ecclestone and a semi works team run by Ecurie Richmond with drivers Eric Brandon, who became the inaugural 1951 National Formula 3 Champion and Alan Brown was run alongside the team of works drivers Ken Carter and Bill Whitehouse.

Cooper Mk V, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Today’s featured Mark 5 was modified to accommodate the larger frame of works driver “Big” Bill Whitehouse who raced the car in the UK, Italy and Germany during the 1951 season scoring a win at Silverstone and many podium finishes.

Cooper Mk V, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

The following season it was bought by Lewis “Pop” Lewis-Evans who shared the driving duties, with an emerging talent, his son Stuart who scored wins at Silverstone, Brands Hatch and finally at Chimay in Belgium during the 1952 season.

Cooper Mk V, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Over the winter of 1952 ’53 a lowline body work was fitted to the car to capitalise on Stuarts 5′ 4″ frame, this kept the car competitive for 1953 before it found it’s way to Tom Wheatcroft’s hands in 1954.

The car remained in Tom’s Donington Collection until 2014 when the current owner acquired it and restored for racing this season.

Thanks for joining me on this Large & Small edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at Jim Clarks 1965 World Championship winning Lotus 33. Don’t forget to come back now !

03/05/15 PS Yesterday I learned from Doug Nye that Stuart Lewis-Evans was one of the earliest racers to use seat belts, this link shows Stuart wearing what appears to be seat belts of a type designed for use in aircraft at the Crystal Palace meeting in July 1953.

The Lewis-Evans family also had a novel way of carrying their Cooper atop their Land Rover as seen in this link.

Unlike A Cooper – Revis

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Reg Bicknell from Southampton was an entrepreneur who built up several business which eventually included dealing in cars, running pubs and managing amusement arcade machines.

After being demobed from the Royal Air Force where he served as a night fighter pilot Reg returned to his auto sales and repair business.

Revis, Mallory Park

Inspired by a copy of the Formula Three magazine IOTA in a pub he determined that he too could have a go at building a car, without interfering with his business commitments, to compete in the formula aimed at the impecunious.

Reg drew up nine criteria for his car before he started which began with “1. Be as unlike a Cooper as possible” and went on to include all round independent suspension, all parts to be made from scratch and so forth.

Revis, Mallory Park

He began building the car in the winter of 1950 with his teen neighbour Brian Trew after first getting a set of magnesium alloy wheel rims cast which could be bolted on to the brake drums.

The first JAP powered variant of the car was finished in late 1951 after many build problems particularly with the suspension were overcome by trial and error.

Revis, Mallory Park

Reg’s car initially proved too heavy and unreliable so over the winter of 1951 Reg ditched the independent rear suspension for a swing axle arrangement and during 1952 he replaced the JAP engine with a heavier more powerful “double knocker”, twin cam, Norton motor but still managed to bring the overall weight down from 625 lbs to 560 lbs.

These refinements along with replacing the pair of rear brakes with a single inboard unit turned the Revis into an altogether more competitive machine and Reg clocked up 2 wins and numerous placings along with a shared lap record at Goodwood during 1952.

Revis, Mallory Park

In 1953 Reg took the offer of a semi works ride with Staride, but on his only outing in the Revis took another win at Silverstone.

For 1954 Reg replaced the conventional aluminium body work of the Revis with a rough home made fibre glass nose that enclosed the front wheels, in this configuration Reg clocked up 10 more wins during 1954.

Revis, Mallory Park

The following season Reg abandoned the original Revis for the Revis II and in 1956 the original Revis seen here was shipped to the USA for future SCCA champion Pierre Moin who raced the car 5 or 6 times as an open wheel car with a Triumph twin motor without much success.

The Revis had further unreliable outings until at least 1961 and was brought back to the UK from Canada by present owner Richard Bishop Miller in 2009.

Revis, Bishop-Miller, Oulton Park

Reg Bicknell would go on to share a Lotus XI with Peter Joop in at Le Mans in 1956 where the pair finsihed 7th overall and 1st in class.

At the beginning of the 2014 season Richard Bishop Miller had the misfortune to fracture his vertebra after the Cooper of John Turner landed on top of him at the VSCC Silverstone Spring Start meeting.

Fortunately while Richard was recovering in hospital the Revis was striped and repaired so that both car and driver could return to the track at Zandvoort in Holland a couple of weeks ago.

Richard hopes to make the trip down from the Lake District to Castle Combe for the VSCC meeting on Sunday October 5th and I for one shall look forward to seeing him compete for the The Bristol Aeroplane Company Motor Sports Club Challenge Trophy for the “500” Formula Three cars which have not been seen at Castle Combe since 1955.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unlike A Cooper” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a concept competition car from Renault. Don’t forget to come back now !

Behind The Picture House – Hornet

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Almost nothing is known about today’s featured car before it was found in 1986 behind a picture house in Hereford by Martin Cowlin.