Lyncar

[Steve Wilkinson]

Can anyone help with details of the Lyncar chassis numbers PLUS the people who drove the cars?

I am looking in particular for details of LA78-011 for its current owner.

Thanks.

[Dan Rear]

Steve, off top of head, I reckon Lyncar built 4-5 Atlantics, plus a couple of F1s. The latter were the David Good car, 004 (??) from about 1972, then the John Nick one 006, in 1974. The latter passed to Emilio Villota, then possibly Bob Howlings. No idea of it after about 1978.

On Atlantics there was the John Nick car, 005 (?) that he used in 1973-74, and which I think may have gone to Kelvin Bowditch after. Tony Broster had one in the late 70s too. There was one made in late 78/early 79, that Villota used in the odd 79 UK Atlantic round, and I think Howard Wood then took downunder for NZ Atlantic in the winter 78-79. Is this the one you're searching for?

I guess, given the nos I've listed above, there must also have been 001-003, possibly later ones too given that you're after -011. There was also the Group C2 car that Costas Los had built in 1983, and used sporadically until mid-85.

[Steve Wilkinson]

The current owner of LA78-11 was told that it was the ex-Ken Ayers car. However the chassis number I have for Ayers car is definately not as above.

What I am trying to do is get at the history of this one chassis, however if there is any info on the other Lyncars that is a bonus.

In the sprint championship the following have been identified:

Martin Steele ran 003 wth a 1.6 BDA engine installed.

004 complete with DFV was with John Ravenscroft for a while.

There was a 79A run by Keith Corridon and David Brown - chassis number unknown as yet.

I have the Ken Ayers car as 3.0 Lyncar/March-Cosworth DFV 79S/LM1

Then Ken was running 3.9 Lyncar-Cosworth DFL MS84

That is all the Lyncars I have in the sprint championship.

[Dan Rear]

Steve, I wonder if the no. LA78-11 refers to 'Lyncar Atlantic, made in 78, the 11th car they made' ?? Maybe thats too logical, but it would fit with the 78-79 Villota Atlantic car, and which I think later went to Corridon. If the Ayers car was the ex-Lane one, described as a 79S, I thought that was based on a 79 March tub, not a newly built Lyncar one.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Dan Rear

Steve, I wonder if the no. LA78-11 refers to 'Lyncar Atlantic, made in 78, the 11th car they made' ?? Maybe thats too logical, but it would fit with the 78-79 Villota Atlantic car, and which I think later went to Corridon. If the Ayers car was the ex-Lane one, described as a 79S, I thought that was based on a 79 March tub, not a newly built Lyncar one.

Yes the Lyncar/March 79S/LM1 was indeed a March chassis & Suspension that Lyncar modified - hence the 79S bit.

The LM84 may well have been a further mod to this car done in 1984!

It is all a bit wooly even though I have asked several of the people concerned.

[David McKinney]

Originally Posted by Dan Rear

On Atlantics there was the John Nick car, 005 (?) that he used in 1973-74, and which I think may have gone to Kelvin Bowditch after. Tony Broster had one in the late 70s too. There was one made in late 78/early 79, that Villota used in the odd 79 UK Atlantic round, and I think Howard Wood then took downunder for NZ Atlantic in the winter 78-79. Is this the one you're searching for?

Howard Wood took a car to NZ for the 1978 series but crashed it in testing at Pukekohe and broke his leg before the series, so it didn't run. In fact I have a note saying it was written off.
Wood returned for the 1979 series with what I understood to have been the works entry in the 1978 Canadian series, and descibed as an LA78.
Owner of the car (or cars) was John Anderson who was a de Cadenet mechanic at Le Mans (as was Wood) and is now back in NZ.

Villota's car was described at the time as a 79A, Good's hillclimb car as an MS4
Then there was the Marlyn - was that something different again?

Of the original Atlantics, 001 was Mike Endean's, 002 don't know, 003 John Nick's first car (1972-early 73), 005 Nick's from mid-1973 through 1974, and raced by Phil Sharp 1975

[David McKinney]

PS
I believe Broster's was 001, which he ran in Monoposto (as later did Peter Venn)

[Chris Townsend]

Early Lyncar history is given in a feature in Autosport 6.12.73 pp. 34-35
and runs like this

001. Appeared Racing Car Show, used by Mike Endean in 1972 F.Atlantic with a t/c engine and latterly in libre with an FVC. Think Endean still had this car in 1975. Then
to Broster.

002 John Nicholson 1972 Atlantic, badly damaged at BOAC meeting in April
and scrapped after one more race.

003 Nicholson, replacement car in 1972, retained 1973 until replaced by 005
Used by Dave Oxton at Atlantic support race for British GP

004 Hillclimb car 1973 for David Good

005 1973 Atlantic car for Nicholson built mid season. Retained 1974. To Phil Sharp
for 1975 British Atlantic. To Kevin Bowditch for Indyatlantic 1976 but may not
have appeared; seems to be sold to Frank Potts for Northern libre races later
in season

006 1974 F1 car.

Like David I wonder if the car in question here is not the ex-Howard Wood 1978
Atlantic car - but I have that, from somewhere unknown, as 010. 011 would make
more sense as the car used in testing only in Canada. Was the car used by Villota and Don Halliday in UK Atlantic in 79 the ex Wood car rebuilt or another new chassis?

Chris

[David McKinney]

If the Villota and Halliday cars were the same, there is a connection: Halliday was also a New Zealander (as was Wood) and a race mechanic (as was Wood)

[Dan Rear]

Slightly O/T, I wonder what happened to the Los C2 car ?

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Dan Rear

Slightly O/T, I wonder what happened to the Los C2 car ?

[Chris Townsend]

Villota and Halliday definitely appeared in same car, so is this the ex Howard Wood
car brought back and rebuilt? [Though whether Halliday was involved as mechanic
with the project I don't know. I remember him vaguely with a Van Diemen RF81
a few years later.]

Chris

[Dan Rear]

Without any evidence at all, I always assumed there was only 1 late 70s Lyncar, so if Wood smashed it up in NZ, was it really good enough for them to build another brand new identical one ? I presume they rebuilt the original as a cheaper option than buying a March/Ralt/Chevron. Wasn't Don Halliday a designer as well as a mechanic, I recall him being involved with the TDC S2000 car, then building his own, the Halliday JF3. Very nice the latter was too, the TDC wasn't !!

[David McKinney]

Can't remember what his involvement was with the TDC, but he certainly did his own S2000 - went pretty well, too, ISTR
Without wishing to go too far OT, isn't he (or was recently) on the US racing scene?

[jjordan]

Is this the same Don Halliday who was invovled with Adrian Fernandez in his Champ car efforts recently?

[David McKinney]

In pursuit of clarification I asked Howard Wood about his Lyncar(s) and he says the second one was built using what little was usable from the wreckage of the first. He doesn’t recall any chassis number, but doesn’t think there was another car to the same design.
The second car was sent to the US on a sales mission in 1978 and several people tried it but its times were not competitive with the Ralt and March opposition and there were no takers.
After its unsuccessful 1979 NZ series the car returned to the UK. Howard reminded me that Villota was running his McLaren M23 out of the Lyncar factory so it is possible it is this car the Spaniard raced after it returned from NZ.
Howard himself lost touch with it but thinks it was eventually sold for hillclimbing “and quite possibly ended up with a DFV at some stage”.

[Dan Rear]

David, in 79 Vilota was in that lovely yellow Madom Lotus 78, not the M23. But I agree he did have 'Lyncar links' of some sort, presumably from his days with the ex- John Nic 006. After him, I think it did go Sprinting, maybe climbing too, with Kwith Corridon.

[David McKinney]

Good old Kwith...
I wondered about which F1 car I meant as I was writing it...

[Howard Wood]

Vilota was running an "ex Hunt championship winning" McLaren M23 in Banko Aberiaco (spelling?) colours out of Lyncar in late 1977 when we were building the Lyncar Atlantic first time around then quite correctly the Lotus 78 when we repeated the exercise in 1978.The McLaren may well have actually had its origins in a one off Formula A car built(M2?) as there was a big Hewland (LG?) gearbox and rear end lying around which I understood came off that car.

[fausto]

Originally Posted by Howard Wood

.............in Banko Aberiaco (spelling?).......

Banco Iberico

[allenbrown]

He had two McLarens, the ex-works M23/6 and the ex-F5000 M25/1 which was converedt to M23 specification.

[Chris Townsend]

MN in 1979 says that the Villota Lyncar was indeed the car run in NZ.
Keith Corridon also used a Lyncar in libre races [at least at Combe in early
1982 in a race run with Atlantics]. This car all the way through?

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Chris Townsend

MN in 1979 says that the Villota Lyncar was indeed the car run in NZ.
Keith Corridon also used a Lyncar in libre races [at least at Combe in early
1982 in a race run with Atlantics]. This car all the way through?

Corridon also sprinted and hillclimbed the Lyncar.

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson

Corridon also sprinted and hillclimbed the Lyncar.

Only BSC result was 7th at Curborough 6 June 1982.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

Only BSC result was 7th at Curborough 6 June 1982.

Glad you are keeping tabs on the BMSA website!

Corridon also sprinted the car in 1981 as well as '82.

In 1983 Ken Ayers appeared with the Lyncar/March-DFV.