13 replies to this topic

[Jagjon]

I wonder if people with longish memories of obscure hillclimbs and sprints may help in putting together some history of Simca - Abarth in UK events.
They were pretty rare & it is difficult to find out much information.
Anglesey man & member of the Ferranti family Paul Pycroft had a Due Mila but where and when did he compete with it?
Did he enter anyone else in the car?
Usually he seemed to chuck a few spares in a car drive to an event, compete & go home, so it may have been just to some of the events in SWales or Shelsley, Prescott or a race at Castle Coombe?
I know a little about Pycroft with other cars but not with the Abarth.
Another name is former rally & powerboat racer Bobby Buchanan-Michelson, he also had a Due Mila but did he race it or not?
I believe he ran a driving school at Goodwood & the Abarth was used there, did he enter it for any other drivers?
The best known Abarth driver in 1964/5 was ex AC man Bob Burnard with the Due Mila reg RB38 which later graced his AC Cobras.
He apparently drove it entered by Swedane Engineering. Who were they?
Anyone know anything, have photos recollections? Anything and everything appreciated however small.
Another mentioned was about GT40 & Ferrari racer Ron Fry that he also owned a Due Mila but is it one of the above or another or just heresay?
A hillclimb competitor who used a later Periscopio 2.0 litre version was Gerry Tyack.
Any information is appreciated, this is just an exercise to gather as much info about an obscure section of motor sport before it is too late if it isn't already!

[Twin Window]

This thread has been moved from HR in the hope it attracts some attention.

[Ted Walker]

As far as I know Ron Fry never owned an Abarth. The Pyrcroft car was I think the ex Bob Burnard one.

[Stephen W]

I would broaden your search to include sprints as well. Paul P used to do sprints and the odd drag meeting as well!

[Adrian Beese]

I would broaden your search to include sprints as well. Paul P used to do sprints and the odd drag meeting as well!

In the mid 60's I had a holiday job in the worshops of Howells in Newport Gwent.
For some time a red Simca-Abarth was in the works for repair. It belonged to a friend of the manager Trevor Roden
I have a feeling that it was climbed and sprinted and that I saw it in the paddock at Llandow but I cant remember if it was competing. I am sure that it was road registered and remember seeing it in Cwmbran nr Newport
Other names that spring to mind about that time are Tony van Moyland and Bob Phillips of Pontypool who later became a scrutineer


Adrian

[The Mountaineer]

My memory tells me that Paul Pycroft once competed with his Abarth Simca 2000 in a hillclimb in Switzerland. Give me a bit of time to dig for it.

[Jagjon]

In the mid 60's I had a holiday job in the worshops of Howells in Newport Gwent.
For some time a red Simca-Abarth was in the works for repair. It belonged to a friend of the manager Trevor Roden
I have a feeling that it was climbed and sprinted and that I saw it in the paddock at Llandow but I cant remember if it was competing. I am sure that it was road registered and remember seeing it in Cwmbran nr Newport
Other names that spring to mind about that time are Tony van Moyland and Bob Phillips of Pontypool who later became a scrutineer


Adrian

Thanks for that, sounds like it was Waldo Edwards of Cardiff who had the ex Pycroft car so I believe, & used it at Llandow but I don't know when, maybe 1960's then?
I will have to try to make contact with him, I remember in the 1980s he had a Iso Lele which I used to see parked at Roath Park when I lived in Cardiff. Thanks, John.

[Jagjon]

As far as I know Ron Fry never owned an Abarth. The Pyrcroft car was I think the ex Bob Burnard one.

Thanks for that, I was doubtful myself as I do not recall Ron Fry with one, but he may have had something in connection with his garage business.
Do you have photographs of any Abarth racing etc in UK? Just trying to collect material as it doesn't seem covered anywhere else, too small a subject.
The picture I get re This Simca Abarth is of one car owned initially by Bobby Buchanan-Michelson, used at Goodwood in his racing school seemingly entered in at least one race there as pictured in the paddock as no 79 also another time as 69.
If it was new in 1964 then who entered it in 1964 for the support race at Brands Hatch at GP weekend for Bob Burnard, but who was prevented from starting?
I'm told he did not own it, but then who was behind Swedane Engineering (1965) who entered him in 1965 when he was pretty successful with it?
I am trying to discover if I am looking at one car or several.
So do I assume Paul Pycroft had it after this success of Bob Burnard, later Waldo Edwards in Cardiff and later still Peter Nielsen in Holland or Belgium from the 1970's to date.
I was once told that Anthony Crook Motors sent mechanics up to sort out the gearbox for Pycroft which to me indicated he had his car new!
I am annoyed with myself as I knew someone who knew Pycroft & several times offered to introduce me to him, too late now, and how difficult it is to find out about obscure cars & lesser known aspects of m/sport.
Swiss event sounds interesting. Pycroft had connections to Switzerland & once worked there.
I recall him entered at the sprints & hillclimbs with Cobra & Pantera, but a drag race is a new one for me!
Thanks for all replies. J.

[d j fox]

According to Robert Barker's Goodwood book Burnard raced his Simca Abarth at the 1964 Whit Monday race entered by "Everest Racing Partnership", but at the following Members meeting the car was self entered.

[Ted Walker]

Yes I do have photos including Burnards accident with it at Brands. Call or E mail me. Or visit me at race Retro.

[The Mountaineer]

And here's Paul Pycroft's Swiss result:

St. Ursanne-Les Rangiers hillclimb, August 22, 1965
GT 1600-2000cc, 10th from 11 starters Paul Pycroft, Abarth Simca 2000

Class winner was German Werner Brockhaus (Porsche 904), from Jacques Calderari (Porsche 904), Hans Kühnis (Abarth Simca 2000) and Patrik Godfrey (Porsche 904).

[Jagjon]

According to Robert Barker's Goodwood book Burnard raced his Simca Abarth at the 1964 Whit Monday race entered by "Everest Racing Partnership", but at the following Members meeting the car was self entered.

From what I'm told the Bob Burnard car was bought from the 1963 Motor Show by a Mr Everest for his son's racing team Swedane Racing.
But Swedane was not formed until April 1964, after they had to enter for Whit Mon race? So thanks for that piece of information it confirms some of the info I have.
I'll up date all the info I have when it seems to be completed. John.

[bill moffat]

Thanks for that, sounds like it was Waldo Edwards of Cardiff who had the ex Pycroft car so I believe, & used it at Llandow but I don't know when, maybe 1960's then?
I will have to try to make contact with him, I remember in the 1980s he had a Iso Lele which I used to see parked at Roath Park when I lived in Cardiff. Thanks, John.

Yes it was Waldo Edwards who ran the Simca Abarth at Llandow - that would have been between 1968 and 1970 or thereabouts. Waldo had an exuberant and crowd-pleasing driving style and every race of his would be marked by atleast one lurid spin - but he was quick.

He was a travel agent in our local village near Cardiff and obviously did pretty well out of this as his roadcars (complete with "WME" plates) included the Iso but also a lime-green Maserati Bora. Opposition in the sportscar classes at Llandow would usually include Charles Sgonina in the ex Jimmy Clark Border Reivers Aston DBR1, Ken Wilson in his Lotus 30 and (also from our village) hairdresser Pino Scarpino in his modsports E type. From "abroad" Ron Fry made the journey across the Bristol Channel from time to time in his GT40.

Happy days.....

Edited by bill moffat, 31 January 2012 - 15:24.

[PeterPoint]

Yes, Waldo Edwards was "active" in a rapid and beautiful red LHD Simca-Abarth at Llandow circa 1967-70+. However, he never entered a race meeting but was a regular competitor at the circuit's 2-laps sprints, organised 3 or 4-times a year by SWAC (South Wales Automobile Club) and possibly by the SMC (Swansea Motor Club). The car and the driver were a rapid combination. Waldo's amazing car control - he tended to throw his mount sideways at Devil's Elbow & just about everywhere else on the track - was a sight to behold but perhaps not conducive to circuit racing, where the presence of other cars on the track would have inhibited his ebullient driving style. He did the same thing circa 1965-67 in a beautiful and ultra-rare Spacecraft-bodied Lotus Elan at Llandow and Castel Farm Hillclimb. He once turned up at Llandow sprint in a LHD Panhard saloon, 2-cylinder 848 cc, with a beautiful aerodynamic body (far ahead of its time) but this didn't have the grunt to allow the masetro to indulge his sideways driving.