GALPOT Weekly #30

Welcome to GALPOT Weekley #30 a review of the daily posts on the 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' blog.



This week I started off with a visit to the Spring Performance Car Action day at Castle Combe, which despite unseasonal inclement weather was an all blingin', slamin, surfin' and driftin' affair as exemplified by the Nissan Skyline drifting the wrong way through Camp Corner above.



Tom Killeen took out patent's on the design features of the monocoque Killeen K1 designed in 1950 and built for the 1953 season. It was Colin Coopers privilege to own the Killeen from 1979 to 1985 and he can be seen at the wheel above at Donington Park in 1983.



MK III Ford Cortina's were the subject of Wednesday's blog. The base 1300 model above, seen in Malta, is one of the lightly face lifted TD models introduced in late 1973 I did not know it at the time of the original post but a Ford Cortina features in a car chase in the 2011 Robert De Niro action movie 'Killer Elite'.



Like Europe's Ford Cortina the contemporary US Ford mid size car has featured in a relatively recent action film in the later case the 'Easy Handler' car gave it's name 'Gran Torino' to the Clint Eastwood thriller.



Ferrari Fridays post was dedicated to the memory of the most entertaining open wheel driver it has been my privilege to ever see in action.



The famous twin wing Lotus 76, which I looked at in yesterday blog, featured an electrically operated clutch and caused quite a stir when it was first shown to the public in 1974 however it proved to be a huge disappointment and nowhere near as competitive as the venerable Lotus 72.



Today's post reviews the Auto Italia Day at Brooklands last weekend where the AC Zagato AC 378 GT was one of a number of vehicles I had not seen before.

Thanks for joining me on "GALPOT Weekly #30", I hope you will enjoy catching up through the links and that you will join me on "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" in the week ahead when I'll be covering last Bank Holiday Mondays action packed race meeting at Castle Combe, on Wednesday I'll be starting a new regular "Continental" feature looking at cars made built in Europe starting with a Panhard. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #29

Welcome to GALPOT Weekley #29, the 2012 season is now well underway and this is reflected in the increased numbers of events I and the GALPOT team have been attending of late. The week started with a trip to a soaking Prescott where the 2012 Avon Tyres MSA British Hillclimb Championship got underway, Scott Rayson driving the mighty Chevrolet Special sand racer above did not come close to making the top 12 run off but was the fastest of the four sand racers present. Colin Cooper took no shortcuts when he hand cut the tubing for his Kayne Special III seen above at Oulton Park, the car was designed for towing his Kayne Special II to events but it turned out to be a handy competitor on the hills and in speed events. On Wednesday I looked at the Ford Corsair 2000E, one thing I forgot to mention was that in 1967 Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers took part in an epic race racing their Ford Corsair from Cape Town to Southampton against the RMS Windsor Castle. There are many myths about the events surrounding this competition for the full accurate story I highly recommend reading the Damn Long Way posts and disregarding almost everything else that has been posted on the internet regarding this http://damnlongway.com/blog/records/racing-the-windsor-castle/. Following up this story it has transpired that the story of the Corsair setting records at Monza is a myth that appears to have started in the Ford publicity department. I have amended the original Corcair post in the light of these findings. Thanks to Kerry Williams Thursdays GALPOT blog paid a trip to last weekends Classic Motorsports Mitty presented by Mazda at Road Atlanta, which taught me about the BRE TR 250K which I had never seen or even heard of before. For Ferrari Fridays blog I visited the set of Ron Howard's movie 'Rush' a film about the rivalry between James Hunt (#11 McLaren) and Niki Lauda #1 Ferrari, the scene above is a reenactment of the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix from which John Watson in the #28 Penske has just retired with a blown engine. The Lotus Europa Special, featured on Saturdays GALPOT blog, was originally conceived as a limited edition with for a production run of just 200 but the demand for the model led to a total production number of 3130 big valve Lotus Type 74's. Today's post review's last Saturday's Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival where one of the stars of the show was this Lancia Volumex powered FIAT X1/9. Over the Bank holiday weekend I have already visited the Auto Italian Car Day at Brooklands and will be visiting Castle Combe tomorrow and will be posting blogs on these events along with features on the Patent Monocoque Killeen K1 once owned by Colin Cooper in the days ahead. Thanks for joining me on GALPOT Weekly #29, I hope you will enjoy the links and that you will join me again at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' blog during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #28

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #28 the review of activities at the 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres blog', where last week I covered two events, looked at the 2nd of Colin Cooper's Kayne Special and more.



I started the week with a review of the 33rd Bristol Classic Car Show held at the Bath & West Show Grounds near Shepton Mallet, among the many exhibits that caught my eye was this 1951 Singer Roadster.




Photo Copyright Frank Hall 1983

Colin Cooper's Kayne Special II was part recycled MG B, the engine subframe and part self designed and built, the rest of the chassis, powered by a highly tuned MG B motor among many awards Colin won was the 1981 MG Car Club Speed championship. Above Colin was captured in 1983 by Frank Hall at Baitings Dam smoking his tyres.



Terry McCann's Ford Capri II 2.0S from the TV series Minder was voted 28th most popular TV car in 2005, the example above which I looked at on Wednesday was seen in the car park at the 33rd Bristol Classic Car Show I reviewed on Monday.




On Thursday I looked at the 224 in / 5690 cm long eighth generation Cadillac Eldorado, of which this is one of 51,451 built in 1973.



Ferrari Friday focused on what is possibly the most attractive steel bodied Ferrari ever built the Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Pininfarina Berlinetta, an example once owned by Steve McQueen fetched $2.3 million in 2007.



Saturday's Lotus blog featured the second generation Lotus Europa, Type 54 and debunked the 'Black Badge' myth.



Today's post looks at the Bristol Pegasus Motor Clubs, Cross Trophy which I'll be regrettably passing on to Paul who drove his 25 year old Golf II to a well deserved victory last Sunday.

My thanks to Chris Winstanley for permission to use Frank Halls photograph.

Next week I'll be reviewing a trip to Prescott for a Hill Climb event, looking at the Kayne Special III and looking at some of the machines at this weekends Classic Motorsports Mitty presented by Mazda.

Thanks for joining me on GALPOT Weekly #28, I hope you will enjoy the links and that you will join me again at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres blog'during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #27

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #27, a review of the week at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' which started on Monday with an interview with Special Builder and Restorer Colin Cooper.



Colin's first project was to restore an Austin 7 with a friend when both were still at school, his affinity with MG's began when his mum bought him an MG VA, seen above, for his 20th birthday. Colin subsequently went on to compete, build and restore a number of interesting vehicles and upon retiring from his professional career started a Frogeye restoration business called Central England Sports Cars.




Colin's first, of three, specials, seen above at it's first meeting in 1973, was based on a MG J2 chassis and powered by an MG PB motor which was eventually supercharged. As you can see in Tuesday's post the Kayne Special is still to be found in competition driven by Mike Painter.



Wednesday's Ford blog looked at the first three generations of the Fiesta XR2, Fords entry into the hatchback market, above the 2nd generation #23 of Norman Grimshaw is seen at Brands Hatch.



Chrome was king on US models revived after World War Two, as demonstrated by this 1948 Buick Roadmaster seen by Geoffrey Horton at the Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance earlier this year. Thursdays post revealed that the '48 Roadmaster was the first model to offer a 'Dyna Flow' automatic transmission, developed from a military tank application, with a torque converter.



Ferrari Friday looked at Ross Brawn's company 2000 Ferrari 360 Spider, seen above at the Haynes International Motor Museum, Ross was technical was part of a 'Dream Team' at Ferrari they ruled supreme in Grand Prix racing with Micheal Schumacher at the wheel.



Yesterday's Lotus blog looked at the all wheel drive Lotus 63 Grand Prix Challenger, seen above at Donington Park Museum, which achieved a best 2nd place finish in a non Championship Race at Oulton Park before it was abandoned on both safety and lack of performance grounds.



Today's post celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Maserati Merak, seen above at last years Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival. The Merak was born when Citroen owned Maserati and shares a motor derived from the Citroen SM. Note details can be found on today's blog about next weeks Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival where I'll hope to meet a few UK based GALPOT members.

Thanks for joining me on GALPOT Weekly #27, I hope you will enjoy the links and that you will join me again during the week ahead. I'm now off to defend my Cross Trophy Production Car Trial title. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #26

Welcome to the 26th edition of GALPOT Weekly, where I keep tabs on what has been happening over the last week at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres'.



Last week GALPOT started off with a visit to Queens Square, Bristol, where The Avenue Drivers Club meet in the morning of the second Sunday of every month for a get together over Coffee & Croissant. The original idea was for owners capable of 100 mph plus to bring there cars along, but the rule is not absolute as the presence of this 1925 BSA Ten attests.



A combination of lumpy six cylinder engine, excessive press expectations and corporate merger politics guaranteed the MG C was never going to have an easy ride however that did not stop MG entering the model against full race spec cars, like the Porsche 907 and 908 at Sebring, the MG C seen here is a replica of a Sebring spec racer.



Ford's plucky Puma, seen above and the subject of Wednesdays blog, was marketed as a Drivers Dream with none other than a posthumous Steve McQueen at wheel in 1997.



The AMC 'Rambler' Ambassador SST Sedan, which I looked at on Thursday, saw the introduction of delete option only air conditioning and was the last Ambassador to feature the Rambler name.



On Friday I looked at a Goodwood Festival of Speed Councour's d'Elegance winning Ferrari 340 America Touring Coupé one of just two built that started at least two races in Africa in 1958.



Yesterdays blog was about the all wheel drive gas turbine powered Lotus 56 which was entered in the 1968 Indy 500.



Today's post is about the only right hand drive Slovakian K-1 Attack in which Bristolian owner Oliver invested £70,000 and three and a half years building !


I hope you enjoyed GALPOT Weekly #26 and that you will click on some of the links to find out more about today's featured cars.

Next week on 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' I will start the week with a visit to MG powered Specials Builder and Restoration expert Colin Cooper, on Tuesday I'll be looking at Colin's Kayne Special, and Fords Fiesta XR2 models will be featured in Wednesday blog, I hope you will join me in the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #25

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #25, this last week I have looked at a Pick Up with a racing heritage, a limited edition MG, something Big 'n' Green a Grand Prix car of a type driven by five World Champions and a Concours Delahaye.



The GALPOT week started with a look at a Reef Engineering Cub pick up, an idea from the fertile mind of Yorkshireman extraordinaire John Crosthwaite who's name has appeared in connection with several racing cars featured in previous in GALPOT posts.



Just over three quarters of the entire production run of 2000 MG RV8's, like the one which I looked at on Tuesday, went to Japan.



Karl Jones qualified this Ford Escort RS Turbo, which I looked at on Wednesday, on the front row of the grid for the Willhire 24 Hour race at Snetterton in 1987 but could only finish 6th, the model dominated class B of production series racing in 1986 and 1987.



Possibly representing the zenith of square acres of sheet metal per dollar was this mean 1969 Chrysler Newport with 'fuselage' styling which I looked at on Wednesday.



The Ferrari 365 GTC, which I looked at on Ferrari Friday was outwardly similar to the 330 but under the bonnet / hood was a larger engine with 20 hp more than the 330 and the gearbox was now to be found ahead of the rear axle instead of behind the engine to improve weight distribution.



What do Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Mario Andretti all have in common ? They all put a Lotus 49, like the one above which I looked at yesterday, on pole position and in 1970 future World Champion made his Grand Prix debut in an updated version of the Lotus 49, that's five world champions, albeit three of them future world champions all driving one model, a record possibly only bettered by the Maserati 250 F, if you know better please chime in below.



Today's featured car thanks to Geoffrey Horton is this Delahaye 135 Competition, to find out more about this beautifully stylish car click here.

I hope you enjoyed GALPOT Weekly #25 and that you will click on some of the links to find out more about today's featured cars.

Next week on 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' I'll be going for Coffee and Croissants to meeting of Vintage and Classic car owners, and looking at a Rambler on Americana Thursday, I hope you will join me. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Just realised I forgot to press the publish button on Sunday, apologies for the delay @-)

GALPOT Weekly #24

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #24, this weeks posts have covered a classic car museum, big bumper MG B and a 4 wheel drive Ford. For Americana Thurdays blog I found out about a Ford I'd never heard of before and on Ferrari Friday I looked at a static show version of the F310 of the same type that Micheal Schumacher raced during his first two seasons at Maranello.



Among many interesting and storied vehicles at the Malta Classic Car Museum which I in Qawara, silent Q, which I looked at on Monday was this oddly named Austin Somerset Coupé which was driven by the Queen of England during her visit to the Island in her Coronation year.



This big bumper MG B MK III was built to meet the 1974 US Federal safety standards you can fin out these cars were known as Sabrina's on Tuesdays blog linked here.



Wednesdays blog featured the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 which was built primarily for Ford to keep their hand in on the Rally scene, however it's size meant that it struggled to be competitive against the pint size hatch backs like Lancia Delta.



I'd never heard of a Ford Business Coupé which was in production from 1937 to 1940 until researching the vehicle featured in Thursdays Americana blog.



Micheal Schumacher moved to Ferrari on 1998 in a two year deal worth an estimated US $60 million. The Ferrari F310 designed by John Barnard gave him 3 wins in 1998, on Friday I looked at a static show version of the F310 which is on display at the Haynes Motor Museum.



Yesterdays featured car the Lotus 41 was designed for a variety of second and third tier open wheel formula in 1966. Despite the fact 61 of these cars were built, Piers Courage French Formula 3 Championship victory was the cars only major success.



Nissan recently announced a slight reprise of the Datsun name in Russian, Indian and Indonesian markets commencing 2014, today's featured car is a mid seventies Datsun 129A - FII was also known in Japan by the Cherry name.

Thanks for joining me on GALPOT Weekly #24, I hope you will enjoy catching up with the full blogs on the featured cars using the links.

Coming up in the week ahead at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' featured cars will include a pick up the brainchild of John Crosthwaite who worked with Lotus, Mickey Thompson, BRM and Reliant during his career. On Tuesday I'll be looking at an MG limited edition three quarters of which were exported to Japan. Wednesday I'll be looking at a hot hatchback from Ford.

I hope you will join me at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !