11 replies to this topic

[Nigelw]

I grew up in the Derbyshire village of Stanley Common. The local garage was owned by Amos Robinson, whose son, Philip, raced a Lotus 18/21 in non-championship F1 races in 1962/3 and later an Alexis in F2. As a curious 11 year old I would visit the garage to see what was around. On one occasion I was braver than usual and looked behind a closed door and there was this magnificent green Lotus, a full size version of the Scalextric car I had received the previous christmas. Unable to resist I climbed in and was immediately intoxicated by the smell of oil, fuel and rubber that exuded from the car. Unfortunately, I was all too quickly awoken from my daydream by the arrival of Amos Robinson himself. I leapt out of the car and disappeared with his shouts ringing in my ears. To this day it is the only occasion I have sat in an F1 car.

I believe it was the former Tim Parnell 18 (chassis 904) updated with a 21 body kit. Can anyone confirm this? Does the car still exist and if so is it raceworthy.

[David McKinney]

I believe the car was built by Robinson for the 1962 season from bits supplied by Parnell. How much of 904 was included in that I don't know, but I have no record of the original 904 appearing after 1961...

Robinson's car was hillclimbed by Fred Sloman in the later 1960s - haven't heard anything about this since then either

Phil Robinson still attends historic meetings at Silverstone (and maybe elsewhere), usually arriving in his little self-built open two-seater

[raceannouncer2003]

Photo here:

http://www.latphoto....?qu...on"&pp=25

Vince H.

[Barry Boor]

Wasn't it a wonderful thing that people were able to simply 'join in' with F.1 races as Phil Robinson did?

[David McKinney]

Thems was the days

[bendit]

This car is alive and well and still races from time to time although it does carry many battle scars and evidence of repairs.  David McKinney is wrong when he states that there are no records of 904 beyond 1961 - there are!

Edited by bendit, 30 April 2014 - 18:49.

[Doug Nye]

Such as?

DCN

[bradbury west]

As David is no longer in a position to answer my query, I must ask generally, is Mr Robinson's little car the Climax engined cigar-bodied device oft seen at the FoS, resembling say a Super 2, with a Robin badge, IIRC, on the nose ? If so I have photos here.

Note for poster bendit; David did not say there are no records, simply that he did not have any records in the period in discussion. Semantics, I know, apart from courtesy, but we do aim for  accuracy here rather than  random comments. Again, in the cause of historical accuracy, details of the causes, extent and time of any repairs would be salient, I feel, as a key part of its provenance.

Roger Lund

[46700]

I grew up in the Derbyshire village of Stanley Common. The local garage was owned by Amos Robinson, whose son, Philip, raced a Lotus 18/21 in non-championship F1 races in 1962/3 and later an Alexis in F2. As a curious 11 year old I would visit the garage to see what was around. On one occasion I was braver than usual and looked behind a closed door and there was this magnificent green Lotus, a full size version of the Scalextric car I had received the previous christmas. Unable to resist I climbed in and was immediately intoxicated by the smell of oil, fuel and rubber that exuded from the car. Unfortunately, I was all too quickly awoken from my daydream by the arrival of Amos Robinson himself. I leapt out of the car and disappeared with his shouts ringing in my ears. To this day it is the only occasion I have sat in an F1 car.

I believe it was the former Tim Parnell 18 (chassis 904) updated with a 21 body kit. Can anyone confirm this? Does the car still exist and if so is it raceworthy.

I also am/was a native of Stanley Common, & my connection to Philip goes back to his motorcycle racing days 1952 & then through his F3 500 & the odd F1/F2 races, I was gofor, mechanic,&an

[Rupertlt1]

Two sightings of Fred Sloman in the Lotus 21 in 1965:

 

Autosport, April 9, 1965

SOUTH WALES A.C.

LLANDOW SPRINT

Of the few cars that got underway, Colin Priddey's 

Lotus-Ford 20 was fastest and set second B.T.D.

with 90.94 secs, before throwing a rod second time

out, and Colin Watts's big twin Cooper-J.A.P. oiled

up, could not improve on 95.58 secs, for third in the

class, and finally retired with scavenge pump trouble

when driven by Shirley Presland. Fred Sloman

appeared with a recently acquired and fairly fierce

Lotus-Climax 21 and, after taking to the grass in

practice and then running out of petrol at the start,

finally got motoring to some purpose with a crisp

91.53 sees, for second in the class.

 

Weston-Super-Mare

National Speed Trials

2 October 1965

#150 F.L. Sloman, Chepstow, 1962 [built], Lotus 21 F.1, 1486 c.c.

(Source: programme.)

 

Begs the question where did Fred Sloman acquire the car from?

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 15 October 2016 - 08:53.

[Rupertlt1]

1966: Tony van Moyland, from Abergavenny, Lotus 21-Climax,

campaigned successfully in the British Hill Climb Championship until:

 

"And so across the border into Scotland. The first

meeting was on 25th June, the Lothian C.C.’s Bo’ness,

possibly the last (I hope not !) time it will be held due

to housing expansion near the finish. It was here that

Tony van Moyland had such a nasty accident in practice

in his Lotus 21 resulting in severe head injuries.

Although it will be a very long job it is good to know

that he is getting better."

 

"of these poor Tony van Moyland,

the Chairman of the B.A.R.C. South

Wales Centre, is still not recovered

from the effects of his disastrous

crash at Bo’ness in June,..."

 

Note: Abergavenny is not far from Chepstow (see post #10).

 

RGDS RLT 

[Rupertlt1]

B.A.R.C. Gazette, October 1965:

B.A.R.C. SOUTH WALES CENTRE

OUR final sprint meetings for 1965

broke new ground on Sunday, 26th

September, being on the Llandow Circuit.

Practice runs were delayed by torrential

rain and an emergency call from the M.O.

who bad gone all agricultural on the way

in! Thereafter the sun shone, the track

dried out and the runs were completed only

15 minutes behind schedule. Our rather

modest entry entailed amalgamation of

classes but nevertheless produced some

exciting finishes. Interest was maintained

right to the last when J. Davies (Merlyn

Mk 7) went out to beat the time established

by F. Sloman (Lotus 21) at 87.73 sec.

and with a storming last lap returned a

breathtaking time of 85.31 to take F.T.D.

 

RGDS RLT