Chateau Impney Unleashed, Part 2

Bill Tuer teeters on the edge in his 1932 1208cc Morgan Supersport. Fortunately he collected it all up and continued on his way on all three wheels.

I was rather taken by this 1962 series 1 Fiat 2300 Ghia Coupe at the auction.

This GN special was originally built in 1930 by Dick Caesar and used to race around the fields of Bristol before being converted to a hill climb car. Doc Taylor entered the Caesar Special in various events during the 1950s and 60s including the original Chateau Impney Sprints, often winning against far more modern machinery. In 1951 Doc declared that he would never be able to afford another racing car so would keep the car until he was 80 years old. This he did, continuing to compete in the car until the mid 1980s. The special is now in the care of Paul Martin.

Another GN, Robert Carr’s 1930 6 cylinder 1991cc GN/AC Special.

Phil Dobbin’s 1924/1928 twin-cylinder 1120cc GN Morgan Special “Salome” started life as a 1928 3 wheeled Morgan Aero which was converted to four wheels for Speedway work by Jan Beyer in 1931.

Dougal Cowley’s much campaigned 1929 4 cylinder 3300cc GN/Ford Piglet.

Martin Spencer’s GN Spider 11 (2) listed as 1938. Power comes from a 2400cc V twin engine.

Hughie Walker in Mark Walker’s 1922 twin cylinder 4200cc GN Thunderbug.

Here is a car that I had not seen before. Clive Scott’s 1962 1498cc 4 cylinder GSM Delta. Glass sport Motors(GSM) was a South African motor manufacturer based in Cape Town who produced fiberglass bodied sports cars between 1958 and 1964.

Julian Ghosh’s 1953 Jaguar C Type.

If this Jaguar D Type looks familiar it is because I photographed at the Heveningham Hall concours.

Guy Broad’s 1957 3442cc Lister Jaguar.

The 1958 3528cc V8 powered Lotus-Buick of Malcolm Thorne.

David Brazell’s Maserati 150S.

Maserati 250F of Niall Dyer.

Whilst Mavis did not compete it was demonstrated over the weekend. Built by Chris Williams, Mavis it is based around a modified 1930 8 liter Bentley and a 42 liter 1500 HP/,2000 Foot pounds of torque Packard V12 boat engine of the type fitted to American WW2 era PT boats.

Stefan Wray’s unique 1964 1071cc Dizzy Addicott Racing Team Mini DART. The DART is based on a crushed Mini van that Dizzy bought from a scrap yard for £5.

Another car in the auction that I could have been tempted with was this 1967 OSI 20 M TS, until I remembered that underneath the coupe body resides a humble Ford Taunus.

Powered by a 9934cc 4 cylinder engine, Clive Press’s 1913/18 Peugeot 148 GP sits in the paddock area.

Andrew Howe-Davies entered this TF SCAT.

David Wylie’s 1960 1293cc Austin Healey Speedwell Sprite.

The 1939 Talbot Lago T23 of Marcus Black.

John Guyatt’s 1936 Talbot Lago T150C.

Vauxhall 30-98 of Matthew Parkin just beginning a spin.

Dr Robert R Dyke’s faithful recreation of Whistling Billy. A steam powered racing car built by the White sewing machine company in 1905 and used mainly for dirt track racing in the USA before being virtually destroyed in a crash in 1912.

Now owned by Charles Gillet but originally raced by Graham Hill, Sir Jack Brabham, Les Leston and Stuart Lewis Evans, this Willment-Climax, Chassis 003, was the last of three cars developed especially for the team with a 1960cc Coventry Climax engine. Of the three built this is the only example still being raced.