Astra RNR1 & 2

[petestenning]

Continuing my research into British Sports Cars which raced in the U K in the late sixties and early seventies, I am looking for information on the Astra RNR1, built by Roger Nathan Racing hence
RNR.

How many Astras were built etc?

[Andrew Kitson]

Hi Ted, will call you later re: historic show.

The Roger Nathan Astra RNR1 was one of my favourite cars in 1960s club racing. Roger Nathan financed a sports car project in 1966 designed by Frank Costin, The Costin-Nathan powered by 1-litre Imp engine. A coupe GT version was built in 1967 and a 2-litre BMW powered Nathan was raced in 1968. In all, 30 Nathans were built.

Roger re-designed the car for 1969 and named it the Astra RNR1. I believe this was the only one built. It still used the Costin concept of wooden monocoque with front and rear subframes. A 2-litre Coventry Climax FPF was fitted, but later was replaced by a 235bhp Cosworth FVA F2 engine. The car then became the 'RNR1A' and it won many races and set numerous GT lap records. It also raced in International events including 2nd in class in the 1969 Nurburgring 500kms.
A revised version was built for 1970, the RNR2 using an 1800cc Cosworth FVC.
Here is a photo, front cover of Autosport in September '69 of Roger in RNR1A at Crystal Palace.

[Jeremy Jackson]

Pete,

Roger Nathan's 1970 RNR2 was the "sixth out of eight RNR2s built so far" according to Autosport in May 1970, but I think that would be 8 Astars in total, not just RNR2s...

RNR1 chassis 3 was apparently used in WCM races from 1969-75; In 1969 by messrs. Selback/Theissen at the Nürburgring, and from 1972-75 was owned by Olaf Wijk.

That Ardua looks rather different to the one I saw Les Aylott race in the early 70s; photo attached from Autosport April 1972, (at Cadwell, leading Frank Aston's B19)

Andrew Mylius did do the Gropas, the "works" car was completely new I think, but various B8 owners had theirs converted from 70-72.

[driftwood]

I have Astra RNR1 for sale i await chassi number info
does anyone have more accurate info on the cars

[petestenning]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Jackson

Pete,

Roger Nathan's 1970 RNR2 was the "sixth out of eight RNR2s built so far" according to Autosport in May 1970, but I think that would be 8 Astars in total, not just RNR2s...

RNR1 chassis 3 was apparently used in WCM races from 1969-75; In 1969 by messrs. Selback/Theissen at the Nürburgring, and from 1972-75 was owned by Olaf Wijk.

That Ardua looks rather different to the one I saw Les Aylott race in the early 70s; photo attached from Autosport April 1972, (at Cadwell, leading Frank Aston's B19)

This is the more familiar version of the Ardua ,Jeremy, that i remember , but it did go through a few changes in shape later on so i believe that the other picture is a later version.

The only Astra i remember seeing regularly was the Minilite version of Jeremy Lord, as my interest started after Roger Nathan was seen only rarely .


Pete

[driftwood]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kitson

The Roger Nathan Astra RNR1 was one of my favourite cars in 1960s club racing. Roger Nathan financed a sports car project in 1966 designed by Frank Costin, The Costin-Nathan powered by 1-litre Imp engine. A coupe GT version was built in 1967 and a 2-litre BMW powered Nathan was raced in 1968. In all, 30 Nathans were built.

Roger re-designed the car for 1969 and named it the Astra RNR1. I believe this was the only one built. It still used the Costin concept of wooden monocoque with front and rear subframes. A 2-litre Coventry Climax FPF was fitted, but later was replaced by a 235bhp Cosworth FVA F2 engine. The car then became the 'RNR1A' and it won many races and set numerous GT lap records. It also raced in International events including 2nd in class in the 1969 Nurburgring 500kms.
A revised version was built for 1970, the RNR2 using an 1800cc Cosworth FVC.
Here is a photo, front cover of Autosport in September '69 of Roger in RNR1A at Crystal Palace.
Jeremy Jackson said
Roger Nathan's 1970 RNR2 was the "sixth out of eight RNR2s built so far" according to Autosport in May 1970, but I think that would be 8 Astras in total, not just RNR2s...
RNR1 chassis 3 was apparently used in WCM races from 1969-75; In 1969 by messrs. Selback/Theissen at the Nürburgring, and from 1972-75 was owned by Olaf Wijk.

I believe this car is the car Roger used and is now in Germany still with FVC engine fitted- is this the RNR1A as mentioned above?
In theory 3 RNR1 cars and 5 RNR2 cars are built
2 RNR1 cars are known to exist at present is it possible that 1 became the 1st RNR2?
what is the difference between RNR1 & 2?
any photos?
i have a photo of the original brochure

[GTO Racing]

In 1970, the RNRII was a high technology car: The monocoque centre section is marine plywood to which steel space frames are attached at the front and rear. Some components were improved but the main difference came from the engine. Whereas the Astra RNR1 was fitted with the Ford Cosworth FVA engine, the RNR2 used the 1800 cc Ford Cosworth FVC engine.

[driftwood]

thanks for this useful info

[Hagis]

Hi,
Interesting with an own thread for Astra; i.e. the real ones, not Opels.

First I have to correct one thing. The Olof Wijk car is not the Selbach/Thiessen Astra. Wijk bought his car form Kaj Bjerke in Denmark. Bjerke raced under the pseudonym "Mr. Muzak". He had some troubles with the car so when Wijk bought it,think in -71, it was very much in pieces. Wijk also got trouble with the Coventry Climax engine, so put in an FVA instead. Wijk raced everything from club races home in Sweden to hill climbs and International races on the continent. Interesting note: To make the "1000 km Rennen" at Nürburgring safer, the organizers banned everything under 1600 cc, so Wijk and fellow Tommy Brorsson had to enter the Astra as 1601 cc. In spite of ageing, the Astra was no way a tail ender. Then Jan Lilliesköld bought it and restored it, and in the late 80ies Olof Wijk was offered to drive it in Historic races. When Lilliesköld died, the estate sold the car to Jonas Qvarnström who kept the engine (now FVC) for his Chevron. To-day the car is probably in Japan. Ch.no is 36.

Ch.no 37 , RNR 1 is to-day in Germany, restored to a fantastic condition and with TC engine. It is painted in "works" dark blue with orange livery, even if the chassis plate says "red". It probably has had an earlier live in France, before returned to England. In the late 80ies it was sold to Sweden as a restoration object, but the restoration was not ready until it was sold to the German owner.

Ch.no 38 should be the "works" RNR2 raced by Nathan in 1970 and after that sold to France. In recent years it was raced in Historic races by a French owner and then, I think, by a Belgian, and in brown colour, but now it is in Astra "works" livery again.

Ch.no 39 is the Guy Edwards, Philips Radio RNR2, raced by Edwards in 1970, and after the season offered for sale by Sloan Marshall Garages with a BMW engine. Then it was raced by Nick Amey with Lotus TC. He crashed it so it was resting for many years. The car in now beeing restored in Sweden.

The original "Works" Astra in 1969 had a CC engine, but then got an FVC, or had Nathan new one with that engine? I understand that Jeremy Lord raced it in 1970, but where did it go then?

Of the numbers of produced Astras, I would think 5-7 RNR1 and 2 RNR2, even if Autosport said something else.

The differences between RNR1 and 2 are modified suspension front with magnesium cast uprights on RNR2 while RNR1 had Triumph, I think, GT6. The RNR2 had also flared front wings, even if you could see smaller ones on RNR1 also.RNR2 had shorter an more "upright" uprights at the rear; on RNR1 it was longer and had an angeled lower part. Ther pic up points for the lower W-bones on RNR2 was further out from the car centre.

Sorry, this got much longer than I thought from the beginning.

[John Turner]

Don't apologise; this is excellent info; just what this forum is all about!

[Steve Wilkinson]

Roger Nathan at Brands during the BOAC 1000Kms in 1970.

[Al Weyman]

I worked on the first one of these in the late 60's and I can tell you it was first fitted with a BMW 2002 engine and I took engine to Silverstone to have it dynoed (I remember that as I spun the van into a field on the way back but dont tell any one as there was no damage ). For its debut we worked all night on it, took it to Crystal Palace the following day where it blew off an oil cooler hose and lunched the engine!

There was the usual enquiry and as I was the youngest mechanic on the team I suspect the finger was pointed at me as I was put on preparing the Imp racer and building performance engines and customers stuff after that. The hose had worked loose so obviously had never been secured correctly but if he ever reads these forums the real culprit knows who he is and he is standing on the grid in that Autosport picture, I was in the pits preparing for the session!

I used to go down to a boatyard on Eel Pie Island Twickenham to collect the wooden monococues (and no I cannot spell!). I always remember there was this narrow bridge over to the island and the old (well it was new then) Commer van and trailer just about fitted.

[Hagis]

Hi,
What a lovely photo, and the Astra, isn´t it beautiful?!
Also very nice with comments from Al; a man who was there and then.

In Sweden we also have a racing chat forum, Rejsa nu. They also have a thread about Astra:
http://rejsa.nu/forum/viewtopic.php?...er=asc&start=0 A terrible address, but if you are a little more than average interested in Astra, you will be rewarded. Most pictures are from the restoration of car Ch.no 37.

In my earlier post, I questioned if there were one or two "works" Astras in 1969. In Autosport September 25, 1969 there is an ad with picture of an Astra that first raced August 2nd, 1969, and about its achievements. So obviously there were two of them.

[Hagis]

PS. The http address were shortened by more than 50% of what I had written so I thought "disaster" but I don´t know why or how, but now you just have to klick on the address. It works, so now everybody who are just a little interested in the "real" Astras can have a look.

[Al Weyman]

Good link Hagis some very interesting pictures which bought back a lot of memories even a shot of the old Commer van I remember we used to carry a miny oxy acetlene set up in that and getting a roasting for braising something up for another competitor! I recognise the people in the pictures, Davy and Nick and the secretary a fiesty ginger haired scottish lass as I recall! BTW it will always truncate the link address like that it will still work though.

[driftwood]

Thanks for info hagis i have sent u a PM
Any more pics and period race results out there?

[driftwood]

hagis from the website you said this can you translate into english for us thanks


Nathans RNR 1 (som fick en 1,6 FVA) såldes till Jeremy Lord till säsongen 1970, och jag vet inte var den tog vägen sen. Annars har jag för mig att det såldes en till Frankrike, och åtminstone en till Tyskland. Det är ju möjligt att den gick till Frankrike efter Lord. Nathan hade ju en agent i Frankrike. Nathans RNR 2 såldes också till Frankrike sedan han slutat, och är med största sannolikhet den "bruna". Enligt "Astraboken" så tillverkades det 5 st RNR 1 och två RNR 2.
Hälsningar
----------
Betr #37 så bekräftar det ju att bilen kom från Frankrike, men jag hade ingen aning om varför den kom tillbaka till England. Mycket intressanta detaljer! Det var hos Higgins jag först såg #37.

Betr #36 så hade ju Lilliesköld renoverat bilen, och Wijk fick tävla historiskt med den. Tyvärr så dog Lilliesköld för ett antal åt sedan, och bilen såldes till Jonas Qvarnström som jag tror behövde motorn, varför bilen såldes vidare, och enligt Wijks mekaniker skulle den nu finnas i Japan.

Betr #39, som jag har tillsammans med Magnus Neergaard, så kom vi också över den hos bröderna Higgins, jag tror litet innan Olle Bergqvist 1986 el. 87. Meningen var att Higgins skulle renovera bilen. Detta påbörjades också, men sedan kom det i bakgrunden för en viktigare Lotus 19 renovering, och sedan avled tyvärr den äldre av bröderna, och vårt projekt blev stående åravis innan vi beslöt att göra det själv, så vi tog hem den för två år sedan. Vår Astra RNR 2 kördes 1970 av Guy Edwards med Philips Autoradio och Fina-sponsorship, och tävlade på de flesta stora arenorna i Europa, inklusive Anderstorp och Karlskoga. Kanske det är någon som tagit några bilder?? Mot säsongens **** annonserades Astran ut med BMW-motor. Edwards ville förmodligen helst behålla Cosworth FVC motorn till den Lola han ämnade beställa. Nick Amey köpte Astran utan motor och låda. Jag har pratat med honom och han berättade att han köpte en Lotus 47 för £ 1.200 och plockade ur TC motor och FT 200 låda och sålde resten för £ 1.200! Motor och låda åkte i Astran och han körde två tävlingar. I den sista skulle han varva ett ekipage som då svängde åt "fel" håll och Amey brakade ut i Armcoräcket. Sedan vet jag inte exakt, men bilen blev stående länge och monocoquen reparerades, kanske på samma ställe som Stellwagens!?

Betr. den tyska Astran så har jag något om den i mina "files", men de ligger i meckargaraget, så jag får återkomma.

[RS250]

New member so excuse the nerves... I dunno if this is of any use but Frank Aston (the guy in the ex-DART Chevron B19 in one of the earlier pics) purchased Jeremy Lords Astra & ran it in the Motoring News Championship until suffering a fairly major accident at Oulton Park which IIRC effectively ended his racing days. At around this time I believe Frank had asked the Radnall brothers to build him a 2 litre Gp6 car, the Landar R8. This car was later raced in the Interseries by a German guy with reasonable success and is now resident in the USA. A short while ago I was in touch with the new owner who was looking for info on the history of the Landar. He mentioned that the rear uprights had 'ASTRA' cast into them so maybe some of the remains of the Lord car found their way onto the Landar as I'm pretty sure the Radnalls only produced 1 Landar R8.
Cheers, Ian.

[driftwood]

useful info
jeremy Lord raced lola t280 later and i think S2000 in the late 70`s? now UK F3 organiser?

[Dan Rear]

Drifty, I don't think Lord did S2000 in 70s, if he did, it was certainly without much success.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Hagis

Ch.no 38 should be the "works" RNR2 raced by Nathan in 1970 and after that sold to France. In recent years it was raced in Historic races by a French owner and then, I think, by a Belgian, and in brown colour, but now it is in Astra "works" livery again.

RNR 2 is now owned by Stephane Gutzwiller, from Switzerland. The car made its reappearence at the CER race in Donnington in August 2006, with Roger Nathan at the wheel. Gutzwiller is the co-author of Nathan's biography. The car has been beautifully restored and was raced again several times by Gutzwiller in the CER, but he has now switched to a Chevron B16, not wanting to always finish last. If needed I have several pics of Roger on his first outing in Donnington. He even signed his biography for me..

[apexster]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Having spoken with Roger Nathan, Jeremy Lord and Frank Aston for the purpose of thoroughly documenting my 1974 Landar R8 (#750901), I can say with certainty that Roger's RNR1a was sold to Jeremy Lord. Jeremy drove the car to a championship win in the Motoring News series before selling it to Frank Aston. Jeremy had commented on the superb handling of the car and spoke of how he actually preferred it to his Lola T290 (minlite livery). As I'm told by Roger and Jeremy, the chassis was designed by Frank Costin, and the suspension was developed by Frank and Cedric Selzer (Lotus). Frank Aston crashed the RNR1a heavily at some point and it was said to be a near total loss. His then mechanic, Mike Kenney (Broadspeed and Landar Engineer), told me of how Frank stripped the RNR1a of all usable parts before building a bonfire with the remains of the wooden chassis (Frank was apparently known for being somewhat dramatic). The Cosworth FVA and all other parts including the Astra suspension spares were handed over to Mike Kenney for the purpose of completing the Landar R8 prototype (the only one in existence and the last Landar ever built). Frank too was so enamored with the Astra’s suspension that he insisted it be installed on the Landar R8 prototype. That very suspension was in fact so good that it apparently rode with the R8 from it’s first test day at Silverstone in September 1974 through the Interserie races of the mid to late 1970’s (under the ownership of the Hardt brothers) and into 1983 when the Landar R8 had placed 4th overall during the dawning year of the Porsche 956’s.[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I don’t know exactly in which race Frank crashed the RNR1a. Can anyone answer that question for me?[/FONT]

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by apexster

Having spoken with Roger Nathan, Jeremy Lord and Frank Aston for the purpose of thoroughly documenting my 1974 Landar R8 (#750901), I can say with certainty that Roger's RNR1a was sold to Jeremy Lord. Jeremy drove the car to a championship win in the Motoring News series before selling it to Frank Aston. Jeremy had commented on the superb handling of the car and spoke of how he actually preferred it to his Lola T290 (minlite livery). As I'm told by Roger and Jeremy, the chassis was designed by Frank Costin, and the suspension was developed by Frank and Cedric Selzer (Lotus). Frank Aston crashed the RNR1a heavily at some point and it was said to be a near total loss. His then mechanic, Mike Kenney (Broadspeed and Landar Engineer), told me of how Frank stripped the RNR1a of all usable parts before building a bonfire with the remains of the wooden chassis (Frank was apparently known for being somewhat dramatic). The Cosworth FVA and all other parts including the Astra suspension spares were handed over to Mike Kenney for the purpose of completing the Landar R8 prototype (the only one in existence and the last Landar ever built). Frank too was so enamored with the Astra’s suspension that he insisted it be installed on the Landar R8 prototype. That very suspension was in fact so good that it apparently rode with the R8 from it’s first test day at Silverstone in September 1974 through the Interserie races of the mid to late 1970’s (under the ownership of the Hardt brothers) and into 1983 when the Landar R8 had placed 4th overall during the dawning year of the Porsche 956’s.

I don’t know exactly in which race Frank crashed the RNR1a. Can anyone answer that question for me?

If you're still here apexster, Aston must have had more than one massive crashe. In April 1974, the year after he'd had the Astra, he had a massive accident at Cadwell Park when his Gropa went off the circuit, demolished a tree or two and ended up landing in front of a hotdog van! So it can't have been the Astra accident that ended his career, as was suggested earlier.

Did you speak with Aston directly?

[apexster]

Yes, I did speak with Frank Aston directly over the telephone, among others. He never mentioned the Gropa; that’s not to say it didn't exist. He simply never mentioned it to me.
Our conversation focused primarily on the Landar R8. Which crash ended his career I could not say with any certainty. I believe it was the thread from Ian (RS250) that contained the statement you’re referring to. Frank did mention a career ending crash in our conversation though. Having verified my information with Mike Kenney, Peter Radnall and others, I can confirm with certainty all facts relating to the Landar R8, not the number or severity of crashes Frank managed to survive. Cheers.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by apexster

Yes, I did speak with Frank Aston directly over the telephone, among others. He never mentioned the Gropa; that’s not to say it didn't exist. He simply never mentioned it to me.
Our conversation focused primarily on the Landar R8. Which crash ended his career I could not say with any certainty. I believe it was the thread from Ian (RS250) that contained the statement you’re referring to. Frank did mention a career ending crash in our conversation though. Having verified my information with Mike Kenney, Peter Radnall and others, I can confirm with certainty all facts relating to the Landar R8, not the number or severity of crashes Frank managed to survive. Cheers.

Were you still the owner of 750901 when it appeared at the Motorsport Reunion at Laguna Seca in 2010?