10 replies to this topic

[garyfrogeye]

Does anyone know anything of "HWH Engineering, Beech Lane Garage in Wandsworth" ? Matthew Parkin is restoring a supercharged Frogeye which lived there for its first 10 years.

many thanks in advance

Gary

[Sharman]

Gary
John Harris who had Healey connections (and may or may not have been Michael Harris under a pseudonym to prevent his mother from finding out he was still racing after a big accident) turned up 1962ish at a CUAC sprint at Snetterton with a red s/c Sprite with full factory mods on it. In typical enthusiastic Harris fashion he managed to invert it. We spent a considerable time "repairing" the SU which had protruded through the standard frogeye (albeit in alloy) bonnet. Engine oil and fine gravel made a lapping paste and he got it home to Warwick when we got him back from hospital where his hand which got trapped betwixt steering wheel and road had been stitched together. Do you have any record of a blown factory Sprite?
John

[bradbury west]

John, I have not checked Autosports yet for the period, so there may have been a blown works Sprite around; it does ring a bell. The only other one which springs to mind in racing then was Paddy Gaston's car which was quite successful, and had an entry in a TT race IIRC. I believe Gaston was S London based. It was, of course, almost the halcyon period for use of Shorrock blowers, popular in hillclimbing, and ISTR 2 Irish brothers winning the big Easter Intl. rally in a blown Midget around '62/'63.
Roger Lund

[Sharman]

John, I have not checked Autosports yet for the period, so there may have been a blown works Sprite around; it does ring a bell. The only other one which springs to mind in racing then was Paddy Gaston's car which was quite successful, and had an entry in a TT race IIRC. I believe Gaston was S London based. It was, of course, almost the halcyon period for use of Shorrock blowers, popular in hillclimbing, and ISTR 2 Irish brothers winning the big Easter Intl. rally in a blown Midget around '62/'63.
Roger Lund

Roger
I knew Paddy or Sqn. Ldr. Gaston as he liked to style himself even after retiring, his racing mechanic and business partner was Barry Wood. Paddy's Sprite had the registration numerals 35 but I can't remember the letters. Whether he carried on with the same car over the years and progressively modified it I can't say but it was quite light and it needed suitably concealed flywheels to bring it up to weight for scrutineering.
J

[garyfrogeye]

It was RAM35 a well known car later sold to and destroyed by John Britten. As for its survival, I won't go there but (perhaps) a search of the archives here will give a flavour of various schools of thought. Recently deceased Keith Hopwood(?) showed a car at Goodwood in the last few years bearing the RAM35 registration number (and dare say it, the correct chassis number too). There was a sister car RAM36 although it was used as a road car until the owner sold it, having no idea of its history. We're pretty certain that it no longer exists, although I'd love to be wrong. Neither were factory cars.
I'll check when I get home if there ever was a blown factory Mk1 Sprite. I cannot believe that the factory wouldn't have dabbled with a blown sprite as I know that they later tried fuel injected A series engines.

[garyfrogeye]

See here
http://frogeye.smugm...9190_33gFH-O-LB

[Sharman]

That extract from MS was Dec 1959 and from the looks of it the test subject was a standard frog-eye with a Shorrocks bolted on together with discs, my recollections were about 12/18 months later. Sprites were a bit lumpy in the suspension area but the tester complains about the hardness of the ride. I suggest that it was a press car which had received a thrashing and the Armstrongs were knackered, anybody have the Autosport test so that we can check JVB's observations?

[garyfrogeye]

I don't think that I have that article on my website, but I would appreciate any scans of Mk1 Sprite articles which are don't appear there.

[Rupertlt1]

RAM 35 here:

 

https://revslib.stan...log/gf322zt6852

 

Update, 4 June 2021:

 

https://library.revs...ion=p17257coll1

 

RGDS

 

RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 04 June 2021 - 07:54.

[DUFFY]

In “MOTOR” magazine dated Dec 23rd 1967 was an article called

 

THE ROAD THAT DIED  ---  or The Demise of the Ragged Rochdale  By Alexander Kim.

 

In 1966/67 Alex worked for John Britten and with the help of Oliver Ball and Rob Harris was building a Rochdale Olympic for racing. The article was

about the beginning and the end of said Rochdale. Near the beginning he writes, “The first windfall happened as a result of the boss man’s Sprite flipping

at the hairpin at Mallory. He decided that his next projectile would use wider wheels. So I found myself the proud possessor of a set of nice wide,

magnesium alloy Minilites complete with Dunlop R6 yellow spots”. 

 

 

This is the Rochdale Olympic fitted with the magnesium alloy Minilites from John Britten,s Sprite RAM 35.

 

 

The demise of the Rochdale was when fire engulfed it on a road trip and Alex writes, “It was a long walk back to the nearest phone and it was about

three-quarters of an hour after the start of the fire by the time we got back. In that time the Rochdale had ceased to exist. There were still plenty of

flames but they were rising from an unrecognisable mound, not a car. The only things left to tell one that this had once travelled on four wheels were

the hot steel blue flames that shot from the pools of molten, magnesium at each corner.”

 

So not only does the original chassis of RAM 35 not exist neither do the magnesium wheels.

 

Tony Stanton, Compiler of the Rochdale Olympic History Archives.

 

Ps – If anyone can please help with the racing history of the Rochdale Olympic, please go to :- 

 

http://forums.autosp...chdale-olympic/

[Rupertlt1]

This may be of interest:

 

https://revslib.stan...log/qj298gg0050

 

Update 4 June 2021: https://library.revs...ion=p17257coll1

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 04 June 2021 - 07:51.