Inspiration and Innovation - Prodrive Factory Visit

I was privileged to join fellow members of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club and Barrie 'Whizzo' Williams on a factory tour of the Prodrive Factory over the weekend.



David Richards a qualified chartered accountant and 1981 World Championship Winning Rally co-driver who started his business as a motor sport consultant in the middle east, says of his company that it's purpose is to 'inject excitement'.



That injection of excitement is backed with 25 years of Championship winning motor sports success that includes rallying



and racing ...



to the very highest levels including two spells in which David Richards ran teams in Formula One.



In 2006 Prodrive built a fully working concept car, but declined to put it into production,



After numerous successes running Aston Martin racing teams ...



David Richards led a consortium of investors in a $925 million take over of Aston Martin in 2007,



a company of which he is now the Chairman.

It was uplifting to see British engineering is alive and well in Banbury, Oxfordshire with a fascinating range of activity including the assembly of a range of competition vehicles, computer operated machining of a huge variety of items from solid blocks of material, and truly mind boggling assembly of competition spec wiring looms, if your into engineering and or motor sport the Prodrive tour run by the effervescent Jackie Irwin, who has petrol running through her veins, is an absolute must.

My thanks to everyone at the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club who organised the tour including Andy who kindly did the driving honours.

Hope you have enjoyed today's excitement injected edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Gundam vs Godzilla - Nissan GTR

In 2007 Nissan re launched the Nissan GTR, currently this model is marketed as the first true supercar for anyone, anytime, anywhere with the disclaimer that "Driving is a serious business and requires your full attention. At all times obey traffic laws. Not intended for unpaved off road use. Always wear your seatbelt, and please do not drink and drive."


My only experience with any kind of GTR was with the Gran Turismo GT2 and later GT 4 games in which super car performance for the 3 box Skyline GTR could be obtained with 1000 plus hp tunning kits. Polyphony Digital the makers of Gran Turismo were responsible for designing the multifunction display inside the real GTR.



This car is a must for anyone into hi tech abbreviations, for example the GTR is powered by a 485hp VR38DETT DOHC V6 engine fitted with two parallel IHI turbochargers that meets California Air Resources Board Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) standards.



Like the motor the rear mounted Borg Warner designed six speed gear mounted gearbox is built by hand and coupled to a dual clutch, with Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All-Terrain (ATTESA) and Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC-R) systems to aid stability come as standard.



The performance of this model, so long as it is not in Japanese limited to a 112 mph spec, on the track is right up their with the Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche GT3 and Ferrari 430 Scuderia, the GTR can cover 402 meters in 11.6 secs from rest and has been tested to 195 mph.



Nicknamed Godzilla, the GTR takes it's rear end styling cues from the giant robots featured in the popular Japanese Gundam animated TV series.

My thanks to the petrolhead who bought this Godzilla to the Sunday Service back in January.

I am sure you will all want to join me in wishing all those who are coming to terms with the devastation in Japan condolences and best wishes for the future.

On a happier note I'd like to wish one of GALPOT's earliest followers Cheryl a Happy Birthday !

Hope you have enjoyed today's ATTESA edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Wuzzum - WSM Sprite #202

Douglas Wilson-Spratt the designer of the WSM Sprite had an engineering background with the car division of the Bristol Aircraft Company which included experience as a production test driver. Douglas worked with Jim McManus, founder member of the Healey Drivers Club and former salesman at the Donald Healey Motor company to set up the Healey Centre in London to cater for the performance Healey Market in 1962.




793 XPP is a 1962 MG Midget fitted with a Douglas designed aluminium body beaten by Peels Coachworks featuring a glass fibre bonnet for Douglas's son in law Mike Lewis .



This second Douglas Sprite conversion known as WSM 202 was driven to numerous victories in racing and hill climb events by Mike in 1963.



The WSM initials of Wilson-Spratt and McManus, only became a marque name after a couple of American owners needed a name for their import documents, WSM's are occasionally referred to as Wuzzum's.

Production was suspended after the ninth WSM was completed in 1965 and restarted with Sanction 2 WSM Sprite's in 2008 which are still available from WSM Cars.

Hope you have enjoyed today's Wuzzum edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Superfast2 - Ferrari 430 Scuderia

The Ferrari 430 Scuderia, launched in 2007, fell between the standard road F430 and the race only Ferrari F430 GTC as a track day car.



A 430 Scuderia benefits from a weight saving over the standard F430 of 100 kg / 220 lb.



Performance of the 430 Scuderia was further enhanced by electronic upgrades including Superfast2 software for the semi - automatic transmission which facilitates 60 'millisecond' shift times.



The Scuderia engine produces 508 hp at 8500 rpm enough to give the vehicle a rest to 62 mph time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 198 mph.



When tested around the test track by a popular TV series the Scuderia proved to be even Stevens with the Nissan GTR and fractionally faster than the Porsche Carrera GT and significantly faster than a Mercedes Benz SLR.

Thanks to the pistonhead who brought this fabulous Ferrari along to January's Sunday Service.

Hope you have enjoyed today's Scuderia edition of Ferrari Friday and that you'll join me again tomorrow, don't forget to come back now !

Rust Free Find - Jaguar E-Type Series 1

Continuing GALPOT's Golden anniversary of the E-Type, today's car was found rust free in a lockup by Justin Rockett and rebuilt as a club racer in 1997.



In 2005 it was upgraded to full 'FIA' specifications, which includes a Safety Devices roll cage, the original iron block 3.8 litre / 231 cui motor raced prepared by Sigma Engineering , straight cut close ratio gearbox, limited slip differential,



Jaguar MK IX braking system, polyurethane suspension bushes, uprated torsion bars, springs and shock absorbers. The peg drive Dunlop 'style' wheels are fitted with period 'L' section tyres.



This vehicle which has been seen carrying a registration plate 5187 KV, was purchased by Nothern Irish Jaguar enthusiast and racer Mark Russell in 2009 and has been developed and prepared by Classic Spares.

Hope you have enjoyed today's rust free lock up find edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don't forget to come back now !

Mini Rust Beater - Domino HT

Today's blog comes from the BMW Plant near Cowley where the current range of retro Mini's are made and where I saw this splendid little Domino HT at the recent PistonHeads Sunday Service.



The Domino's in 4 styles were Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) kit cars designed around Mini running gear and manufactured by Fibretech GRP Ltd which was taken over by Domino Composite itself renamed Composite Designs from at least 1978 to 2007 when liquidation forced the cessation of production. It would appear an wholly autonomous group DominoCars - Organisation is attempting to keep the Domino brand alive.



The HT (hard top) model seen here was the follow on from the original T top Pimlico model and is loosely based around a standard Mini though it is bereft of the standard Mini seams and gutters. It is also significantly different below the waist line with built in flared wheel arches and a flared body around the top of the road wheel line. The doors are 2/ 1/2 inches shorter than Mini doors to accommodate the higher sills needed to aid the structural integrity of the GRP body.



If your original style Mini is falling to bits with dreaded tin worm you could do worse than find a smart Domino GRP body, take of all bits of your Mini and transfer them straight on to the GRP shell including subframes, interior, windows, up to 13" wheels and off you go in your new car with parts recycled from your old one.

Hope you have enjoyed to days Glass Reinforced Plastic edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Replica Rallysprint - Triumph TR7

The Triumph TR7 was manufactured from 1974 to 1981.



Works competition versions of the TR7 run by British Leyland from 1976 to 1978 were initially powered by the Dolomite Sprint 16 valve engine and later switched to the ubiquitous (in the UK) aluminium Buick derived Rover V8.



This is vehicle has replica paintwork of a Triumph works rally car registered OOM512M was used in the single stage 1978 Texaco Rally Sprint a staged for TV event run at at Esgair Dafydd, in Wales, won by Per Eklund in a later Triumph TR7 with Tony Pond coming second in the #6.



If the registration plates on this particular are original then this TR7 was first registered in Birmingham in 1976 and it is fitted with the later Rover V8 engine according to the records made available to me.

My thanks to Tim Murray and RS2000 at The Nostalgia Forum for their help identifying the event in which OOM512M ran.

Hope you have enjoyed todays Rallysprint edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !