Special Saloon/Super Saloon Register

[Alan Brown]

With the opening (or re-opening) of Thruxton in 1968 I can supplemebnt MN reports with Thruxton programme information.

Mike Berman Ford Popular “Berpop” 1650 – also driven by John Wales
John Blankley A40 1800
Brian Bolton Cortina V8 4727 yellow/green – overall winner of the Osram-GEC Championship
Alan Brodie Viva Chevrolet 5.6 red – for sale A/S 4-10-68, offers around £1650.
Peter Calderwood Cortina-Zodiac V6 (an ex-Safari Rally car MN 30-5-68)
Mike Davies Viva GT 2.0s/c
Trevor Davis Mini BMC 1800-engined – destroyed in a fire (MN 13-3-69)
Gerry Dobbins Cortina Daimler (Majestic ) 4561 maroon and Piers Townsend (Was Ben Townsend in one report the same person?)
John Hewitt Anglia Climax 2698 blue/black
Don Howes (newly purchased MN 23-5-68) Tasman Anglia
Repurchased by John Hewitt (MN 12-9-68)
Mick Hill Anglia-Jaguar 3.8
Dennis King Imp Californian Lotus-Ford twin cam 2010 red (Twin Camifornian). Engine based on a special block prepared by Norman Abbott. Hewland gearbox and F3-type suspension all round. Won on his debut at Silverstone in September. “Flimp”. (A/S 4-10-68). Two reports in MN 3-10-68 say “one of the most exciting saloon car specials this year …. a car which puzzles on first sight as the rear wheels are about half a foot further back than those of the normal Imp” and “wishbone/coil spring suspension, rear wheels nine inches back from standard, the big engine cradled centrally in front of the rear axle line”.
Gerry Marshall and Tony Lanfranchi (Shaw & Kilburn) Viva GT 2000 (T-J injected) (“Slap and Tickle Special” MN 28-11-68). To be reshelled in 1969 (MN 30-1-69).
Jon Mowatt Corsair 7.0 – non-started due to scrutineering problems at Boxing Day Brands Hatch
Harry O’Brien Cortina V8 ex Sanger – debut Aintree May - and John Scott-Davies
Ex-Sanger Cortina 4.7 V8 for sale MN 18-7-78 [tel 051]
John Scott-Davies to sell the car MN 12-9-68
Laurence E D Parsons Lotus-Cortina Daimler V8
Alan Peer (Steve Peer) Corsair Ford V8 – to Martin Maudling
David Render (hillclimbing) Fiat 600 Lotus twin- cam
Brian Tarrant A40 Chevrolet 4638 blue
Sid Taylor Cortina V8 4.7 (ex-Terry Drury, ex-Sanger)
Lewis Wickham Morris Minor Ford 1600 or 1650 pushrod

Escorts began to dominate the larger capacity classes in 1968, the leading big-engined ones and FVA-engined ones were:
Graham Birrell (Wylies) Escort 1790 white/blue
Roger Taylor (Dagenham Motors) Escort Twin Cam 1820 blue
John Blackburn (Calypso Racing) Escort FVA 1600 orange/white
Brian Robinson (built by Byker Hill Garage) Escort FVA 1600
Mike Crabtree (Willment) Escort Twin Cam 1594 white/red


For sale (A/S 4-10-68) V Jag Anglia (3.8 E-type), now fitted Lotus suspension, £575, Long Eaton. Is this Mick Hill’s?

Ireland
D W Mitchell Anglia V8 Chevy

[driftwood]

1 Mick Hill is from the Donington area
2 I vaguely recall Shaw & Kilburn sponsoring later viva/firenza in the 70`s
3 the escorts for 69 are mostly Gp2/5 ex Broadspeed alan mann team cars or cars built to these specs

Dennis King Imp
does anyone have fotos?

[allenbrown]

Great post Alan!

[GBRM]

Originally Posted by driftwood

2 I vaguely recall Shaw & Kilburn sponsoring later viva/firenza in the 70`s

Not sure if they sponsored a Special/Super Saloon in the late '70s but they did sponsor a Chevette in the late '70s for Trevor Scarbrough, Skid's brother.

[driftwood]

It was not a fancy car a run of the mill vauxhall viva firenza ish car cant recall the driver
somehwere i have some B& W fotos of some cars at Brands im sure 1 is a Firenza ( not the usual suspects) maybe tony whibley?
shaw n kilburn are near the Oval cricket ground

[GBRM]

Shaw & Kilburn had a two or three sites back in the 1970s (definitely one in Hemel and one in Watford).
I had an e-mail a few weeks ago from a Tony Shaw about Old Nail and Thames sponsorship; I wonder if he's connected - I should know really I suppose!!

[Alan Brown]

1968

Another edited list (most successful, common, interesting cars). The variations in quoted engine size are great, often differing in the same report. The sources are mainly Thruxton programmes and MNs.

MGD (MN 16-1-69) in the 1968 club racing review said that ‘“Big” Ford Anglias now seem to have been abandoned by all but the less prosperous lads’. They were certainly less successful in the main club events - 1300 Cooper S and Escort Twin Cam being the cars to beat.

Norman Abbott – 1900 twin cam
Graham Bean – new Silverstone May –1598 twin cam or 1650
David Bertorelli – ex Tony Roberts – twin cam
Dave Brodie borrowed Norman Abbott’s 1900 twin cam
John Burbidge – 1900 – green
Terry Cockerell – 1558 or 1600 – blue/orange
Terry Croker ex-Craft/Superspeed Group 5 – 1820 or 1860 twin cam – maroon
Ken Dawes – 1560 twin cam or pushrod or 1600 or 1650 – red/yellow
Liane Engman and Keith St. John (David Bond) – ex-Alan Peer – 1000 MAE
Archie Forbes – 1558 or 1598 – red/white – rolled 8 times at Castle Combe in August (MN)
John Hewitt – 2698 Climax – blue/black – Don Howes (newly purchased Tasman Anglia MN 23-5-68) – repurchased by John Hewitt (MN 12-9-68)
Lawrie Hickman – also raced by Peter Hawthorne – 1000 – white/green - sold to Philip Roberts for 1969
Mick Hill – ex-Scantlebury (MN 4-7-68) – Jaguar 3.8
Roy Hubbard – 1675 written off at Silverstone in March either repaired or another car (1700) in October.
Lawrence Jones – 1650 twin cam – blue/black/yellow
Pat Mannion – ex Brian Peacock – 1800 or 1820 twin cam and also 1710 – white/blue
Stanley Matthews (John Bond-Smith) – ex-Martin Maudling – 1598 twin cam – green
John McDonald/MacDonald – 1800 – red/yellow
Terry J McNally – 1760 twin cam or 1650 twin cam – another car 1000 MAE fuel injected (MN 12-9-68)
John Myerscough – 1762 or 1600 twin cam
Jim (Ginger) Payne (Gerry Amato) – 1650
Brian Peacock – twin cam
David Pearson – 1600 twin cam
Zekia Redjep – 1600 or 1800 twin cam – red and gold – crashed at Crystal Palace in September
Tony Roberts (“Spottie”) – 1600 twin cam – spotted colours – for sale, £800, Caterham (A/S 1-3-68).
William Rockstro – 1650 – blue/white
D G Rogers – 1560 – yellow
D Rogers (Brian Smith) – 1498 - blue/white/gold
(Different drivers)
Bailie Russell – 1650 – blue
Richard Scantlebury – 1600 twin cam or 1650 – yellow/red/green/silver
Terry Smith – 1558 or 1600 twin cam – blue/orange
Gerry Taylor – 1700 – purple
Roger Taylor (Dagenham Motors Ltd) – 1820 twin cam
George Whitehead – 1760 pushrod or 1720 or 1825 – purple/orange
Roger Williamson – 1600 or 1650 pushrod
M Winch (“Wanglia”) – 1598 twin cam

Adverts

• Norman Abbott – mauve, 1930 twin cam, 3 races only £1250 (“the engine cost £1000”), 01-554 0640 (A/S 1-3-68).
• “Big Nelly” mauve, 1930 twin cam, £950, Norman Abbott, Radlett (A/S 4-10-68).
• East Anglian Racing Cars (Alan Peer) 1000 MAE in Group 5 and Clubman trim £1495 (MN 3-2-68)
• Winch wide-line Anglia, less engine and gearbox, £225, Wynn-Williams, Billericay (MN 19-12-68)


RAC British Saloon Car Championship
Chris Craft (Broadspeed) – 1000
Mike Walker and Trevor Taylor (Broadspeed) – 1000
(Could be the same car)
John Bischoff, Ken Costello and Lawrie Hickman (Leonard Ward Racing) ex-Anita Taylor/Broadspeed – 1000
G Edmonds – 1000
Les Nash – 1000 fuel-injected – purple – written off in a club meeting at Cadwell Park, engine and gearbox transferred to an ex-Superspeed group 5 car.
Ian McDougall – 1000

[driftwood]

good info Alan did you take any fotos back then or just notes?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by driftwood

im punting on mike newman possibly having ex Whibley car if Tony D did not have it
how many of the names above owned the same cars

I'm pretty sure that Mike Newmans Firenza was a rebuild (by Blydenstein I think) of his previous (also Blydenstein built I think) Viva GT.

[Alan Brown]

In a “Personality Parade” article in MN 26-2-70 on Gerry Birrell, there are some interesting revelations about the Birrell brothers' cars. For 1965 “Graham bought two Anglias. More accurately he bought two half Anglias, one a van which had been largely destroyed by fire from the middle rearwards, the other a saloon, the front of which had been written off in a collision, and Gerry’s job was to match the two halves to form one whole 2-litre racing Anglia. It was also Gerry’s job to stitch it together again following Race Two, Lap Three, when he shunted it fairly comprehensively after the engine had lobbed two rods through the side”. Both brothers won races in it at Ingliston.

In 1967, Gerry raced a special Imp (Chamois) for Claud Hamilton (Motors) Ltd. It was built from a write-off body shell and a large number of spare parts. “The frame was stiffened with Aeroweb and Araldite and aluminium. The suspension was rose-jointed, it had a limited slip differential, wire wheels, disc brakes, front radiator.” With an 1150 Climax engine, he was very successful in Scotland and the North of England. The Chamois was sold by the end of 1968. (Presumably to Campbell Graham who raced an ex-Gerry Birrell-Claud Hamilton Shannon Chamois Climax 1220 in 1969).

[allenbrown]

There's been a bit of a disaster on the ORC page. I went in to add Alan's latest material and found that it had been chopped off half was through. I'm trying to recover the lost entries.

This is, by the way, the first loss of any material from ORC in eight years but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

[driftwood]

dont want to teach grandma to suck eggs but i often email myself important info so its never "lost" in case i have " failures" and can be reinstated later and yes i do feel like a smug bar steward

Alan
interesting info on racing saloons in the period when i was just about walking

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

There's been a bit of a disaster on the ORC page. I went in to add Alan's latest material and found that it had been chopped off half was through. I'm trying to recover the lost entries.

This is, by the way, the first loss of any material from ORC in eight years but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

Everything is now restored.

http://www.oldracingcars.info/specia...ist-1964-1993/

[driftwood]

look at this footage from crystal palace
shows special saloon race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLQVZdKRhXE

you can see some other races that Rpy filmed either by clicking on his you tiue username or see eeh tread he started and he also has a thruxton race

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...8&goto=newpost

also here is the famous TV filmed race with gerry marshall etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY5zdnGvT0c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAK4...eature=related

[GBRM]

Originally Posted by driftwood

also here is the famous TV filmed race with gerry marshall etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY5zdnGvT0c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAK4...eature=related

As it never gets mentioned (other than by me!!), watch Mike Crabtree jump the start, Murray does mention it and then at the start of the last lap you can see Gerry M gesticulating and then when he crosses the line at the end hw celebrates, as he knew Crabtree would get a 10 second penalty for jumping the start so hangs back on the last lap - I do have the trophy to prove he won it too!!

[driftwood]

if i was racing against Gerry i would jump the start too it might be the only way to beat him on the road!!

i recall BBC filmed wendy wools race at thruxton 81 ish peter baldwin in 1300 mini jumped teh start by 5 seconds over tony dickenson peter led the race till the chicane before tony caught him
GREAT TV advertising for peters sponsors and Murray was beside himself yaking away

[Alan Brown]

In an article in MN 28-11-68, P.H. asked this question in a description of Dennis King’s Hillman Twin Camifornian, that because the wheelbase has been lengthened, the profile has been changed. ‘After only two public appearances (late 1968), both showing that the Camifornian completely out-dates anything else in saloon racing, there are dark mutterings that it does not qualify for saloon races. Pray why? Tin top dicing is getting rather boring these days with the greyness of Minis and Anglias, so why can’t we have a bit of glamour and colour? If this means that virtual Formulae Libre boobs (! bombs?) with roofs are going to be “in” so what?’

Norman Abbott replied (MN 2-1-69) that the car was built with the regulations in mind which say that the silhouette must remain unaltered above the wheel centre line. “As no body panels have been changed and as the wheel centre line is above the bottom of the body, then the vehicle must be within this regulation.” It was Abbott’s intention to use a 2.3 Lotus engine in 1969. Another writer argued that most saloon cars have bumps and bulges that distort the “standard” profile.

An outline of the car from the original article follows. About the only item from the Rootes Group is the bodyshell which was cut off level with the back seats and the floor cut away to make room for the bigger engine. Box members combined with tubing made up a chassis extension to hold the Hewland transaxle and Mk 5 gearbox and to provide pick-up points for the suspension. Lotus 41 castings were used at the rear and Herald uprights at the front (Armstrongs all round). Vauxhall Cresta discs were the basis of the braking system. 13in. mag’ alloy Lotus wheels were used with Dunlop M wets or Firestone dry tyres. The 180 bhp twin cam engine (2010 cc) was built by Norman Abbott, presumably using a very special crank, special pistons (CR 11½ : 1) and twin 45 DCOE Webers. The paint was Ford Monaco red.

I do not recall it doing much racing. I cannot find any reference to it racing in 1969 – it was due to reappear at the special televised Thruxton meeting in November, but I can find no mention. MN (22-1-70) reports that it was “smashed beyond repair against Paddock Bend’s banking” in late 1969 after Dennis King had sold it. In conclusion, I feel that it seems to have the best claim to be the originator of the super saloons of the 1970s.

[driftwood]

Alan great info
does anyone have any photos of the car?

[Alan Brown]

While browsing the magazines in a local newsagents this afternoon, those at a convenient height I may say, I saw an article in the above mag. on Anglias. Having read much about them recently, I had a quick read. The article was about Richard Allen's present Anglias, but it revealed that he had raced one in 1962-3, first with a 1475 engine and then 1650. The car was registered F 105. A big accident at Mallory Park in 1963 when a scaffold pole came through the windscreen suggested that discretion (or retirement) was the better part of valour.

[driftwood]

Alan thanks for the photocopy article in the post this week- a pleasant surprise made me smile!
I had never heard of this Imp until this thread mentioned the car it certainly looked the part
now can you assist with 1974 Penthouse pin ups?

Mallory park 1971 race now on you tube brodie escort mick hill capri

[Alan Brown]

A pleasure. But the other photos are so worn as the subject matter to be indistinghuishable from the wrinkled, leathery elephants seen in zoos.

[Alan Brown]

Mike Bennion – Morris Minor-Ford V8 5.2
Mike Berman – Ford Popular “Berpop” – 1650 pushrod – also driven by John Wales
John Blankley – A40-MGB 1800 or 1900
Brian Bolton – Cortina V8 - for sale
John Burbidge – Escort 2000
Mike Chittenden – Morris Minor 1000 Ford 1650 pushrod (replacing BMC 1100 FJ engine) (11-year old car)
Trevor Davies – Mini-Cooper 1.9 – “evil-looking” (MN 11-9-69)
Campbell Graham – ex-Gerry Birrell-Claud Hamilton Shannon Chamois Climax 1220
Reg Gubbins – Anglia-Buick 3.6
Colin Hawker – Escort Twin Cam Zodiac V6 2996 – dayglo orange/white
Mick Hill – Anglia-Jaguar 3800 – also driven by John Wales
Cecil Kent – Escort 3.0 (hillclimb)
Dennis King sold the Camifornian – written off (by new owner?) in late 1969 at Brands Hatch (MN 22-1-70)
R Lane – Anglia 105E 4275 (hillclimb)
Gerry Marshall (Shaw & Kilburn) [built by Bill Blydenstein] Viva GT 2000 – to Eddie Heasell (also Roger Bell and George Whitehead) in a two-car team when a new Blydenstein-built car (2310 cc) appeared in June for Gerry Marshall – the original car later to Des Donnelly in Ireland
Doc Merfield – Cortina Mk 2 Godiva Climax 3.0 – eventually made its debut at Silverstone in August – Weber carbs, capable of 350 bhp at 7000 rpm, prepared by Bill Lacey (MN 28-8-69)
Stan Prince and Simon Leech were building a Cortina Oldsmobile V8 with an automatic gearbox (MN 20-2-69)
David Render – Fiat 600 Lotus twin cam (hillclimb/sprint)
Brian Tarrant – A40 Chevrolet 4638 – blue
Piers Townsend – Cortina V8 Daimler 4.5

Main “big” Escorts:
Graham Birrell (Wylies) – Escort 1852 twin cam – reg. number XTW 386F (MN 4-9-69) – or 1780 – blue/white
Dave Brodie – Escort 2094 or 2105 twin cam (Norman Abbott-designed car and engine) – black – “Run Baby Run” – debut at Silverstone in September – an article in MN (22-1-70) claimed only 170 bhp, but a great deal of torque – Richard Longman thought that the radius rods should not protrude into the space provided by the removal of the rear seat (MN 29-1-70).
Eric Chappell – Escort Twin Cam 2094 twin cam (Norman Abbott-built car and engine as Dave Brodie’s)
Pat Mannion – Escort Twin Cam 1860
Zekia Redjep – Escort 1800 twin cam or 1600
Roger Taylor – Escort Twin Cam1820 twin cam
Mike Young – Escort Twin Cam 1760 twin cam – yellow – to be shared with Paul Webb


For sale
(MN 3-7-69) Jag Anglia, rebodied, 280 bhp E-type unit, £950, Long Eaton.
(MN 28-8-69) Full race Escort, 3-valve Martin engine £950, Ludgershall Car Sales (Wilts) – John Burbidge’s car (only a few miles from his home)?

[GBRM]

Originally Posted by Alan Brown

Mike Bennion – Morris Minor-Ford V8 5.2
John Burbidge – Escort 2000
Gerry Marshall (Shaw & Kilburn) [built by Bill Blydenstein] Viva GT 2000 – to Eddie Heasell
Graham Birrell (Wylies) – Escort 1852 twin cam – reg. number XTW 386F (MN 4-9-69) – or 1780 – blue/white

Quite sad to think so many have now passed on - above are the ones I know are no longer with us.

[driftwood]

Did eddie heasell race classic or URS FFord 2000 cars last 3 or 4 years?

the anglia for sale Long eaton is probably Mick Hill?

[Alan Brown]

Originally Posted by driftwood

the anglia for sale Long eaton is probably Mick Hill?

From post 101
For sale (A/S 4-10-68) V Jag Anglia (3.8 E-type), now fitted Lotus suspension, £575, Long Eaton. Is this Mick Hill’s?
From post 122
(MN 3-7-69) Jag Anglia, rebodied, 280 bhp E-type unit, £950, Long Eaton.

In my list for 1970 I still have Mick Hill in an Anglia-Jaguar (Janglia).