I have met Howard several times at the tracks and I painted a picture for Neil Taylor in 2006. I put Howard's car in the background:
http://www.andrewkitson.com/pages/s-type.htm

Andrew - Fantastic!

I know Neil and have often slept in his motorhome at the JEC events (usually after many beers/wines/spirits!).

The painting is excellent, and not only do you have Neil up front and Howard at the rear, but my brother Tim Morrant between the two!!

Amazing...

Thanks very much Rich, I did wonder if you and Tim were related. Neil's a good bloke as are many in the JEC paddock. I've also done one for Steve Davis (XJS racer) and several for Derek Hood at JD Classics, including his showroom mural:
http://www.andrewkitson.com/pages/paint-12.htm

Andrew - The showroom mural is a wonderful backdrop to the cars, I'm sure Derek Hood was very happy!

Rich.

Nice one Andrew.

Do you have problems painting large pictures. I did a couple many years ago, but found I needed to be at least 6 feet away to get any real idea of what I was doing :\

Cheers Alan. I painted it on seperate 8x4ft panels in the studio, on my hands and knees on the floor! I could fit in three together in the space I had. Once the left hand one was finished I shuffled them along to add a new one. The panels were then transported and screwed to the wall and the joins touched up where necessary. I developed a good technique to see the work from a distance. Stand on a step ladder and look through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars!
But the initial small drawing was the all important part. Get that right and then just scale it up to the actual size and push through onto the board.

Clever. Must remember that

I spent some time up in the loft looking through my 20 -25 year old photos yesterday evening and have found some serial shots of both the Big Spin at Woodcote and another at the Esses at Snetterton.

I'll scan those and load them this evening but I also have about another 30 shots, mostly of my own car (as you'd expect!).

I don't really want to load them all up as much though I'd enjoy it I'm sure you'd all quickly get bored looking at shot after shot of the same car!

I'm not sure what the guidance is so I'll put the best ones up to see if that's enough and you can let me know if you want any more!

Meanwhile here's one for Gregor

AMOC Brands Hatch 1989

Thanks David, that'll be the same meeting as these ones then:-





P.s. This is the car that Anthony Reid raced and won in at Donington last weekend.

Later that year, I saw Geoff Lees having a one-off in the Dolly - he didn't go v well in it as I recall.

Hi Gregor
Heres your dad in the BRM at Silverstone VSCC 1990


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSasIsbdvxg

Cheers
Steve.

Thanks Steve, great stuff.

Marsh Plant have one of the Aston' up for sale in last weeks Autosport.

That's this one:-

That got me thinking - I can't recall Geoff ever racing any other saloons. He seemed to spend his entire career in single seaters and big sports cars. Thats quite unusual for a seasoned professional during the past two decades. During that time there were so many well funded tin-top series of one type or another around the world, almost everyone else seems to have been a part of one or other of them.
Did he race tourers in Japan?

.

I think he did a fair bit of tourers in Japan in the late 80's- he was certainly one of the drivers for the TOM'S Supra Turbos of 1987/8

Pic is possibly Lees/Hoshino at the Fuji WTCC round in '87
http://www.supra-garage.de/bilder/minolta-supra09.jpg

Lucas CAV Production Sports, Silverstone GP Circuit, June 1982

This was one amazing day...

Only my 4th race, and at Silverstone on the GP Circuit (including the proper Woodcote).

As my class was 1,600cc - 2,500cc I was up against a number of Lotus 7's. There were very quick at the tighter circuits but I found that here I could use the greater power of the TR6 and managed to qualify first in class.

Start went OK and I managed to stay in front of the Lotus' but they would always close right up under braking. A few laps in though, coming into Woodcote, I got a 'tap' from one of them and went into a huge spin:









John Stenning goes by (above), then Gary Wright (below)...



My main worry though was that I didn't go over the penalty line that was there to stop drivers taking a short-cut and avoid the chicane, but I was lucky and just kept inside (while sideways at quite some speed!)

So, now somewhat fired up, I set off in chase. Gary Wright (the guy who tapped me) went straight off at the next bend as he'd damaged his steering while trying to tap a 1 ton TR6 ;o) and I continued on after the rest.

I managed to catch each one and passed them all to take the class win, which was fantastic as that was my first 'win'.

But there was more: I'd also set a new lap record for that class and had been voted as Crompton Driver of the Day - at an F3 meeting!

So I was all abit adrift waiting for the presentation ceremony:



But collected my self up, ignored the huge oil stain on my borrowed overalls, and collected all the prizes!



All my friends who had come to support then packed themselves into the car and we drove a lap (it was the last race of the day) complete with Lucas CAV Laurels, CAV Winners Cap, Crompton Laurels, Crompton Anorak, Crompton Umbrella (!) and £100 in cash!



Just when I though it was all over though I got called to the RAC Stewards as my driving had been protested by a certain Lotus driver!

So I sat there (in my Crompton Driver of the Day anorak!) and after about 15 minutes discussion the protest was thrown out. Talk about a roller coaster day...

But it was just fantastic, and I spent the £100 buying all my friends a meal on the way home.



Hope this isn't too much of a long tale for this particular thread and I have a few more photos from around then that I can post if anyone would be interested.

Cheers,

Nice story, Rich. Sure that was an oil stain on your overalls?
Nice to see Peter Scott-Russell doing the honours on the podium (a rather fanciful description of the winner's platform)

Hi Alan,

Are you suggesting that I might have been a little frightened when taking Woodcote sideways !

And I remember that Brian Jones used to commentate at Brands Hatch as he was a friend of one of my sponsors so I used to get lot of mentions!

It's the summer of 1977... The Ramones let rip with Sheena is a Punk Rocker, Boz Scaggs makes waves with Lido Shuffle (nice keyboard riff, Boz) and The Jam's In The City is diverting Phil Rainford and Mallory Dan away from Camel, Caravan, Van Der Graaf Generator and all the stuff they really should have been buying. Meanwhile, in a converted quarry near Preston...


What is this - and who's driving? Anybody care to hazard a guess?

Talk about the need to get diverted from that lot, Simon.

Tricky one that, how about a Nike? Any clues at all?

Well it looks like Longridge. It looks like a Formula Ford. I am now going to go away and have a think! :\

Here it is from a different angle, shadowing Richard Peacock's Royale RP21...


...part of the answer is contained within.

Hi Simon

Great Longridge shots, more please ! Any Libre shots ?

Judging from the clue in your last post, could it be an Image ?

Cheers
Richard

57?

Richard

There are quite a few Longridge shots already posted on the 'Personal photos from the track' and 'British club racing' threads. There are also some under 'famous names in humble club races'...

I will put a few more up soon, though.

And, no, it's not an Image...

You're on the right lines...

Hi Simon

So if its not an Image, perhaps you should spill the beans !!

Cheers
Richard

Marc Hynes. In 1977? Can't be.

Gregor, if Mr. Arron won't tell us what the car is, put us out of our misery!

Could it be the Heinz?

Possibly because it is made up from various other makes?

The Heinz indeed. I can't recall its true provenance, but it was always entered, simply, as a Heinz. The driver was Paul Duerden.

Meanwhile, in response to the surge in demand (well, one request) for Longridge Libre shots, here are a couple of tasters.


Paul Gardner's March - another car with Heinz credentials - leads Warren Booth's Scott into Quarry Bend.


The true essence of Longridge... Gardner prepares to crest the rise leading onto Rock Straight and thence - just visible in the distance - Weighbridge Corner. The rockface formed one of the world's best natural spectator terraces (although it was a bit crap for pictures if you only had a 50mm lens).

October 1980. The Police didn't want you to stand too close to them, Ottowan were inexplicably selling zillions of copies of DISCO, Diana Ross was warbling about her old piano...


...and Nelson Piquet turned up in a PRS at Oulton Park, to tackle a round of the Dunlop Star of Tomorrow FF1600 Championship. Unless, of course, it's John Wadsworth.


James Weaver and the Lodge pavilion.


Ian Taylor breezes through Lodge. The guy standing on the left, facing the wrong way, is talismanic medical officer Big Dave.


Dud Moseley's Motus Mk10 and Keith Bowmaker's slightly more elderly Lola T492.

A half educated guess with the "Heinz" on the nosecone and I guessed it was just a mixture of bits/cars, hence my 57 post (what happend to the 56 beforehand?).

Gentlemen, this was resolved in posts 931 & 932!

Yeah, I saw Stephen, was just justifying my guesswork and trying to show I wasn't that clever and knew the answer!!

That's OK then!

There were a lot of BITSAs in FF1600 with the proliferation of manufacturers there were plenty of spares kicking around. Several people built their own chassis and then fitted a proprietory suspension from say Merlyn or Dulon.

After searching Flickr - photo sharing I found this wonderful photos.
Copyright: kal.917



Thruxton 25th March1973
A real pot-pourri of Special Saloons gets off the line under threatening skies. Just hidden on pole is Gerry Marshalls' 'Firenza, while John Cutting's victorious V6 Escort is flanked by John Pope's Viva GT. Hot on their heels are John Turner's black Escort, the bright red Jaguar Mk2 of John Morgan, and the yellow and purple Cooper S of Peter Crouch.



Thruxton 25th March 1973
Val Musetti sits in his Royale RP11 (#31), while Richard Robarts is a row behind in his GRD373 (#11).


Regards,

Henk A. Hazelaar

Next to Peter Crouch is Vince Woodman in the VMW Motors of Coalpit Heat, 1300 GT, how many more have you got Henk? These are fantastic!

Sterling 49,

All thes photographs I've found at Flickr - photo sharing.

Take a look at:

http://www.flickr.com/

Favorite search:

Targa Florio
Brands Hatch 1969, 1970
Sliverstone


Regards,

Henk A. Hazelaar

Hello
Does anyone have any more pictures from this event?
I´m looking for a picture of the RF85 that Tim A Jones drove (Brands commentators son)
I own that 1985 Van Diemen and would like to fill in some gaps in its early history.
From what I can see of the -85 Festival Video (Duke) it´s white and green.

The car was owned and run by Milldent Motorsport (Steve and Brian Farell) together with a cor for Perry McCarthy
In the start of the season it was hired buy a black guy nick named "TJ" but in mid season he ran out of mone and the car was hired by Tim A jones (and to various drivers?)
Does anyone have any recollection of this?
A start no at the FF festival perhaps?
At the FFF he was
1st in the "Lep Group" heat
2nd in the "Duckhms Oils" Quater final
3rd in the "Dunlop" semi
7th in the Final


http://www.johnnyherbert.co.uk/intsarts/old/festival.shtml
I got some respone back in 2004:
http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread...?t=47815&page=2

Regards
Henrik

They are fantastic agreed. Are you sure Sterl? Didn't Woodman's cars always have a blue stripe? Mike Crabtree perhaps?
EDIT - muppetry in motion, sorry! Picture was so big I didn't scroll across! Yes it is Woodman, the Escort infront with red stripe is Crabtree.

That F3 pic above Henk, was it the front of the grid or someway down? While Robarts was at the front a lot of the time that year, I don't think Val was? Looks like another GRD next to Val, and a March on the inside?

Great pic of the Motus, SA, a car ahead of its time with the spats covering the back wheels. Was it the first S2000 like that, within a year or 2, they were all covered. Rather like Victorian table legs...

Any surely 1980 was about Ska, not Diana Ross, Simon?

I didn't claim 1980 was about Diana Ross - she just happened to be selling lots of records while James Weaver and co were tearing around Oulton.

The Chevron B52 had encliosed rear wheels at this time, too. I'll post a picture later, once I've collected the progeny from school...

Not as many as The Specials surely, never mind the NuttyBoys? On reflection, the Lola T590 probably came out before the Motus, at the start of 1980, about the same time as Going Underground IIRC. The B52 came in summer 1980, Thats Entertainment time. Is that enough for now....

The top-selling singles that racing week were...

1 The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me
2 Stevie Wonder - Masterblaster
3 Ottawan - DISCO
4 Madness - Baggy Trousers
5 Randy Crawford - One Day I'll Fly Away
6 Diana Ross - My Old Piano

The Specials were at 25 with legendary double A-side Stereotype/International Jet Set.

The Chevron B52 wasn't the best-selling Sports 2000, having only been introduced a couple of months earlier, but here it is anyway...


The driver is listed as 'Peter Sadler or Frank Sytner', but I had outgrown making anal programme notes by that stage. Can't remember what Frank's lid looked like in 1980, but suspect this might well be Sadler.

Must have been the 4th October - for some reason I didn't attend the Oulton Park meeting!

Does the fact that I don't recognise any of those singles mean I'm very old?

I'm better on earlier stuff (right, Phil?)

Could it be Laurence Jacobson in the Chevron? That name rings a bell with me somehow.....