Wednesday 17 August 2011

Testing ! Testing ! - Mallory Park

I managed to make a second pilgrimage to Mallory Park for a test session with my friend Tim, of the Bristol Pegasus MC, last week.

Riley, Ford Ranger, Mallory Park

Among the many delights was the sight of a Vintage Riley driven in anger alongside a Ford Ranger from the Pickup Truck Racing Series.

Ford Ranger, Mallory Park

Micheal Smith from Hartlepool puts his nominal #93 Ford Ranger, featuring a space frame with a spec motor based on the, GM (!), Vauxhall 16 Valve engine, through it's paces prior to last weekends PTR races at Thruxton.

Chevrolet Corvette, Mallory Park

Castle Combe outright lap record holder Nigel Greensall was testing a new paddle shift gear selector in this 2008 Trans Am Spec Corvette which is due to appear in the French VdeV GT series at Paul Ricard Circuit in September.

Allard, Cougar, Chevrolet, Mallory Park

Best sounds of the day came from this 427 Chevy Big block powered Allard J2 Replica about which very little appears to be known.

Formula Vauxhall Lotus S2, Mallory Park

Lou Watts was out in this Series 2 Spec Formula Lotus Vauxhall easily distinguished by the high frontal cockpit, these spec vehicles were in use from the late 80's to early 90's in a series that rivalled Formula Ford 1600 and Formula Ford 2000. Lou races this car in Monoposto Racing Club Series.

Revis, Mallory Park

Harking back to the junior open wheel series of the 1950's was this chain driven Revis Formula 3 car powered by a Jap single cylinder 500 cc / 30.5 cui motorcycle engine connected to a Norton gearbox. Richard Bishop Miller traced the previous owner of this car to Canada where he eventually purchased it before restoring it.

GN CoGNac, Mallory Park

Finally another fascinating special, from the 30 odd cars that appeared at Mallory last week, was this 1930's GN CoGNac powered by a straight six AC motor. This car has recently been acquired by Tony Lees who was driving it for the first time.

My thanks to Dutchy, mikeC, David McKinney and Alan Cox at The Nostalgia Forum for additional information on the CoGNac.

Thanks for joining me on this 'testing' edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me tomorrow for a visit to the Bugatti Trust at Prescott. Don't forget to come back now !