52 replies to this topic

[ian senior]

Designed one of the F1 Tecnos and the Amon F1 car, both of which were spectacularly useless, and (so I learned recently) the Sana F Atlantic car, which won everything in sight.

So who was he? What was his background? What happened to him? Answers on a pinhead, I guess.

[Mallory Dan]

ian, sorry you're wrong re the Sana. Never won anything at all I'm afraid. It was a reasinable FAtlantic car in 76, but no more than that. One, of 2, later burnt when Graham Eden's base burnt down in early 77, in mysterious circumstances IIRC... The other sold to Andy Barton for Northen Libre, where it did win quite a few races, albeit not up against much, and Andy B was pretty good up north in that company. It later became the Barton JTB3, and again went well in that type of race.

So back to Mr Fowell, not much of a record really is it !

[ian senior]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan
ian, sorry you're wrong re the Sana. Never won anything at all I'm afraid. It was a reasinable FAtlantic car in 76, but no more than that. One, of 2, later burnt when Graham Eden's base burnt down in early 77, in mysterious circumstances IIRC... The other sold to Andy Barton for Northen Libre, where it did win quite a few races, albeit not up against much, and Andy B was pretty good up north in that company. It later became the Barton JTB3, and again went well in that type of race.

So back to Mr Fowell, not much of a record really is it !

I must have got that a bit wrong (memory, old age, etc), but it was certainly a front runner in the hands of Cyd Williams. Could have sworn it won, though.

[MCS]

Originally posted by ian senior


I must have got that a bit wrong (memory, old age, etc), but it was certainly a front runner in the hands of Cyd Williams. Could have sworn it won, though.

Are you having a bad afternoon, Ian ?;)

The Graham Eden Sana - pedalled initially by Cyd Williams was quick, but never a front-runner, which led in turn to Cyd being replaced by Terry Perkins (and others if I remember correctly).

There were two built, the other one being bought by Cal Withers of Withers of Winsford which was driven by David Winstanley and then, rather ironically (after Winstanley left the team) by none other than Cyd Williams. This must have been the car that ended up with Andy Barton I guess.

Did Mr Fowell ever re-surface after the Amon debacle I wonder ?

Mark

[RAP]

A Gordon Fowell raced a Lotus Eleven in 1957, to no great effect. I assume it's the same man.
RAP

[MCS]

Originally posted by RAP
A Gordon Fowell raced a Lotus Eleven in 1957, to no great effect. I assume it's the same man.
RAP

Didn't think he was that old. Wasn't he described by some magazine as a "young" designer ???

As I remarked earlier, I'd be very interested to find out where he went after Amon.

Surprised he didn't end up at BRM really... (sorry,Twinny!)

Mark

[ian senior]

Sorry to bump this, but I've been thinking about Mr Fowell again. Perhaps someone who didn't see this first time round may know some more.

His name appears in the entry list for the 1962 Nurburgring 1000 km,driving a Gitane-BMC (was that a Mini-based mid engined car?) with Dan Margulies. Was this the same man that raced the Lotus 11 in 1957, or the other one - the designer - or are they one and the same?

[MCS]

Iwas thinking about the Sana after seeing grid for the Brands ShellSPORT race...

http://forums.autosp...&threadid=82147

I don't know about Gordon Fowell and the Gitane-BMC, but didn't John Thompson (the subject of a recent thread) build the Sana?

[Mallory Dan]

From memory Fowell was a designer, Thompson a builder, so perhaps they were both involved. Given that the Sanas were built only for Graham Eden, what connection did he have with Fowell I wonder ? I think one was built as an Atlantic, the other as an F3 car for Terry Perkins. The latter only appeared once (Hodges?), and was the one sold to Withers and later Barton-ised. The original was burnt down in early 77 in the workshop fire.

[MCS]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan
From memory Fowell was a designer, Thompson a builder, so perhaps they were both involved. Given that the Sanas were built only for Graham Eden, what connection did he have with Fowell I wonder ? I think one was built as an Atlantic, the other as an F3 car for Terry Perkins. The latter only appeared once (Hodges?), and was the one sold to Withers and later Barton-ised. The original was burnt down in early 77 in the workshop fire.

Didn't realise an F3 version was built. Perkins certainly raced the eden car in Indylantic after Cyd Williams was dropped though.

[Vicuna]

Originally posted by MCS



Surprised he didn't end up at BRM really... (sorry,Twinny!)

Mark

[Bonde]

Both Sanas were the subject of Autosport's September 16, 1976 colour centre spread.

The caption reads:

"Cyd Williams and Terry Perkins driving their sister Sanas at Silverstone are featured in our centre spread this week. Respectively, they drive the Gordon Fowell designed Atlantic Sanas for Withers of Winford and Harrisons the Homebuilders/Graham Eden Racing Team. The cars have already shown themselves to be competitive and should give Messrs Wentz, Trimmer and Dowsett a run for their money when fully sorted. Already a Sana holds an outright circuit record..."

The Sanas were indeed built by John Thompson Prototypes, so there could be an early connection - I believe John Thompson is still around, so someone who knows his whereabouts might ask him.

Assuming Fowell was, say, in his early twenties in 1957, he'd still be reasonably young in the early seventies - it could be the same bloke; it's not the most common of names.

FWIW: I rather liked the appearance of the Sana - tiny, neat and different...Fowell may not have designed winners, but his Tecno-Goral and the Sana were certainly non-conformist styling-wise, and with the exception of some aspects of the Amon, they had a notable purity of line, which wasn't all that common in the early to mid seventies.

[Allen Brown]

I interviewed Fowell some years ago but I can't find my notes His expertise lay in some other form of engineering - irons, toasters, fork-lift trucks, b*ggered if I can recall - where he was very successful and to which he qucikly returned.

Thoroughly nice bloke though.

Allen

[ReWind]

According to my notes Gordon Fowell died in November 1999 at the age of 62. So he should have been born around 1936/37.

[MCS]

Originally posted by Bonde
Both Sanas were the subject of Autosport's September 16, 1976 colour centre spread.

The caption reads:

"Cyd Williams and Terry Perkins driving their sister Sanas at Silverstone are featured in our centre spread this week. Respectively, they drive the Gordon Fowell designed Atlantic Sanas for Withers of Winford and Harrisons the Homebuilders/Graham Eden Racing Team. The cars have already shown themselves to be competitive and should give Messrs Wentz, Trimmer and Dowsett a run for their money when fully sorted. Already a Sana holds an outright circuit record..."

Don't remember that......no surprise there then

But I find it strange that we know so little about him, especially given his involvement with the Tecno and Amon F1 cars...

[Gerald Swan]

The F3 Sana did the one race, Monaco 1976. Seemingly Gordon Fowell thought that his suspension design did not require any anti-roll bars, Terry Perkins might have begged to differ. He qualified on the back row of his Heat and to quote Autosport "Terry Perkins had a torrid time with the lurching, brake-locking Sana, which was completed just in time for the event: he qualified bravely". In his Heat Autosport didn't think things had improved "Perkins, after entertaining the crowd with his Sana stunt-driving, finally gave up the unequal struggle." Presumably nobody considered it worth continuing with the project.

Gerald.

www.f3history.co.uk

[ian senior]

Thanks, guys. Sorry to keep banging on about Gordon F, but like Anders I thought his cars were very neat looking and I would have liked them to have done better. I wonder why he gave anti-roll bars the elbow on the F3 Sana - it's all very well trying something new, but unless you are going in for a fundamental re-think of suspension design, it strikes me as a rather bonkers thing to do in an otherwise conventional suspension system.

It's all very mystifying, this subject. OK, Gordon played a relatively small part in motor racing history, but I'd say it's not an insignificant one. I really would like to know more about him.

[ReWind]

Has anyone access to this?

[ensign14]

Originally posted by Gerald Swan
www.f3history.co.uk

BTW, this is some site. Many thanks.

[ian senior]

Originally posted by ReWind
Has anyone access to this?

If only....I've tried and failed.

I did try something else, though. A Google search revealed a website devoted to the history of the Fowell family - one of those things created by someone researching their family tree. No sign of a Gordon, but interestingly a branch of the family exists in New Zealand - Amon territory. Perhaps I'm jumping to conclusions, but do we know if Gordon was British or a Kiwi?

Anyway, I've bunged off an e-mail to the guy who created the Fowell website, so you never know....

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by ian senior
Perhaps I'm jumping to conclusions, but do we know if Gordon was British or a Kiwi?

I've certainly never heard any suggestion he was a New Zealander (and I'm sure I would have if it was so)

[Bonde]

Ian,

Mind you, roll bars were apparently fitted to the F3 Sana, but were just not adjustable. Who knows, maybe you just had to change the bar itself (which is and was not unusual of and by itself) and perhaps they'd only brought along one (wrong) size of bar for Monaco...

I wonder if we have any corroborating alternative source to the Sana entry in the late, great David Hodges' "A-Z"?

O/T: Ian, have you checked your PM recently? It seems you and I share some common interests re microcars and specials...

[ian senior]

Originally posted by Bonde
Ian,


O/T: Ian, have you checked your PM recently? It seems you and I share some common interests re microcars and specials...

Apologies, Anders - I knew there was a PM and an e-mail from you somewhere . I'm hopeless at catching up with things, but I'll reply very soon!

Got a reply from the Fowell website guy. There is no known connection with "our" Gordon Fowell in his records, either here or in New Zealand. One useful, if off-topic reference though - he has a cousin in NZ, descended from the branch of the Fowell family out there, who is married to a man called Allan Drinkrow. Allan used to race Toyota Corollas and is also involved in the Americas Cup (ignorance here - is that a yachting thing?). Presumably some of our NZ friends on here may have heard of him.

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by ian senior
Allan used to race Toyota Corollas and is also involved in the Americas Cup (ignorance here - is that a yachting thing?). Presumably some of our NZ friends on here may have heard of him.

And very well-known in NZ historic-racing circles, primarily as owner of Jack Brabham's 1959 championship-winning T51 Cooper-Climax, which he lets people like Moss and Brabham drive when they visit NZ.
And yes, the Americas Cup is a "yachting thing"

[Richard Jenkins]

Ian Gordon G Fowell was born on the 23rd February 1937. He died, as Rewind said, in Nov 1999, in Birmingham. It would appear that the racer & the designer are one & the same.

[Alan Cox]

[MCS]

Nick May?

[MCS]

I've just been reading through some of the 1976 Group 8 results over on oldracingcars.com - I had forgotten that a number of the Indylantic runners used to compete in the series (and who could have blamed them?)

But I didn't realise that the two Atlantic Sanas; the Graham Eden car (as shown in Alan's picture) and the Withers of Winsford car were actually labelled Sana RD9 and Sana RD11 respectively.

Does anybody know what a) "RD" stands for and b) why 9 and 11 ?

And what was the singleton F3 car designated ??

[Mallory Dan]

Mark, fairly sure that the second Atlantic Sana was in fact the car originally built as an F3, ie only 2 were made, not 3. No idea what the 'RD' stood for. Equally, when the second car (the F3 one) was later sold to Andy Barton, he modified it into the Barton 'JTB3'. What do these letters indicate ?

[ian senior]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan
Mark, fairly sure that the second Atlantic Sana was in fact the car originally built as an F3, ie only 2 were made, not 3. No idea what the 'RD' stood for. Equally, when the second car (the F3 one) was later sold to Andy Barton, he modified it into the Barton 'JTB3'. What do these letters indicate ?

Assuming RD9 and RD 11 are chassis numbers, was RD10 the elusive F3 car? And what were RDs 1-8? Earlier Fowell designs, in the way that some designers such as Mike Pilbeam gave each of his designs his own type number even if they appeared under some other name? And does RD stand for something as obvious as "Racing Design"? JTB doesn't make much sense though, except B might be Barton.

[MCS]

Maybe the earlier designs really were irons and toasters, as per Allen's post !!!

[Alan Cox]

Sorry I have been slow to respond - Yes, Mark, It is Nick May in my photo

[David Winstanley]

Just doing as I was told by Alan Cox and searching for my name and obviously I came across this thread so maybe I can add a little to it, although not sadly too much about Gordon Fowell himself.

I helped to rebuild the car that Withers of Winsford 'bought' which was the F3 car. It was built at John Thompsons workshops in Northampton and Gordon told me that the car was named after the Princess Asana from some middle eastern country. Obviously he couldn't call the car an asana so he called it the Sana. It was super light, but also in our case a heap of junk with the front brakes moving around because of a machining problem with the front uprights which made it both difficult to drive and difficult to stop!

After I'd driven it in one Formula Libre Race at Oulton Park Cal Withers decided to put Cyd Williams in the car for the upcoming Indylantic Race - his decision despite the fact that the car was bought with my money (the proceeds from the sale of my Brabham BT40, the ex Cyd Williams/Graham Eden car). Cyd actually finished 5th or 6th I think which prompted much joy so much so that nobody (except me) seemed to notice that Cyd hadn't once broken 60 seconds around the club circuit when he had been capable of 57-58 seconds laps in the older Brabham. This lack of speed was down to the problems with braking but of course Cyd wasn't going to make a fuss as he was getting a free drive, in my car!

We then took the car over to Ireland, I think for a Phoenix Park meeting but we had an engine problem very early on and soon discovered that unless we had allen keys about 8 inches long we couldn't change the engine. 24 very dispiriting hours later we realised that this was an impossible job and that became the second race I had missed in the same year where we couldn't get my car ready for the start - the first being in the Brabham at Oulton Park, following which we got the Sana and I had a death threat issued against me.

But that's another story!

[Rob Ryder]

Welcome David... are Pierless still going strong?
Rob

[Allen Brown]

Hello David

What happened to your Sana after the 1976 season? The sister car makes two appearances in early 1977 as a F2 car in Graham Eden's care and was then destroyed in a fire. Later in 1977, Andy Barton bought another Sana from John Thompson of TC Prototypes who may have been the man that built them originally. I've never known whether that was your old car or a third Sana.

Allen

[David Winstanley]

Hello Allen, Hello Rob,

Pierless are the UK's biggest unknown band! You can find out more at Pierless , not a lot more it has to be said but a little more. Unfortunately the talent behind the band Steve "pressman" Jones is very busy nowadays painting women with no clothes on (for which I'm sure he will get arrested one day) and so he's very busy with his hands.

As for the Sana. I know that Andy Barton had our car and I thought that he bought it from Cal Withers, but I could be wrong and it might have gone back to John Thompson before going to Barton. Apparently it took Andy quite a while to get it right and it was he who told me about the upright problems when I saw him some time later.

If I get the chance I'll try and pop up a few pictures of the Sana on this and the Formula Atlantic thread.

[Bonde]

Please do, David!

And welcome to TNF!

[Allen Brown]

Originally posted by David Winstanley
As for the Sana. I know that Andy Barton had our car and I thought that he bought it from Cal Withers, but I could be wrong and it might have gone back to John Thompson before going to Barton. Apparently it took Andy quite a while to get it right and it was he who told me about the upright problems when I saw him some time later.

Thanks David - another mystery solved.

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Gerald Swan
The F3 Sana did the one race, Monaco 1976. Seemingly Gordon Fowell thought that his suspension design did not require any anti-roll bars, Terry Perkins might have begged to differ. He qualified on the back row of his Heat and to quote Autosport "Terry Perkins had a torrid time with the lurching, brake-locking Sana, which was completed just in time for the event: he qualified bravely". In his Heat Autosport didn't think things had improved "Perkins, after entertaining the crowd with his Sana stunt-driving, finally gave up the unequal struggle." Presumably nobody considered it worth continuing with the project.

Gerald.

www.f3history.co.uk

The car used by Perkins at Monaco in F3 was also run in Atlantic and was eventually bought as a roller + gearbox by Bill Oliver. Bill then bought a Rover 4 litre V8 and slotted that in the back. The car was used in sprints & the occasional hillclimb until it was sold on in 1996.

[Mallory Dan]

Are you sure of this Steve? The ex-Terry P F3 Sana, was the one Mr Winstanley used late in 76 in Indylantic, then bought by Andy B up north, and 'Bartonised'. Andy and Dave Muter used it variously in F2/FAt guises thru' 77-79, not sure after that. Have you any pics of its later Sprinting/Climbing life?

[Phil Rainford]

Well below average picture .........however I think this is the Graham Eden Sana???



Kind regards

Phil

[Bonde]

Seeing as Gordon Fowell's Sana has 'reappeared' on the Formula Atlantic thread, I thought I'd bump this one, as we now have some closer detail shots of it thanks to John Bicht; and a very warm welcome to the TNF, John! If you're reading this, John, thanks a lot for the posted pictures and background information - if you do find more Sana photos please do post them!

The Sana really appears tiny, neat and different, although there is some evidence of mid-1970s trends also borne out by the contemporary Lola: A very shallow tub and a very narrow track.

I can see the point of making everything small rather than thin or exotic in order to achieve lightness - the Sana certainly appears very minimalistic, yet with clean, neat detailing [although I do hope though, that there was some interior back-up structure where the cast suspension fittings were attached to the tub torque boxes]. With someone to temper his excesses, I'm sure Gordon Fowell could have been a very successful innovator - his designs certainly appear to have received a lot of thought, and with development, such as moving the front brakes outboard in period, the Amon appears to me to have had a lot going for it. Having seen the Amon up close recently, I'd say there isn't much wrong with the overall design and detail engineering of it - it was perhaps just too ambitious at the time.

Whatever, Fowells designs fascinate me with their very overt individuality - What other racing cars did he design/work on, apart from the Tecno Goral, the Amon and the Sana?

[MCS]

I may have missed something - so apologies if I have - but is there still a Sana somewhere ?

[Mallory Dan]

Originally posted by MCS
I may have missed something - so apologies if I have - but is there still a Sana somewhere ?

Don't think so Mark. One was burnt out in early 77, the other became the Barton JTB3, no idea where that is now.

[pressman]

Is this the same car ?










Steve.

[Bonde]

Indeed it is the Barton JTB3, née Sana. Was it rebuilt after this fairly hefty shunt in - what - 1979 (or later)?

[RJE]

In the mid 90's the late Roger Hurst got hold of a Sana and for some reason which my memory fails to dredge up the chassis ended up in my workshop having some form of structural repair, mod. or missing parts remade.

Some time later the chassis was again brought back to me by its new owner, Roger I believe having sold it to him, to have some form minor repair carried out. At that time it was being sprinted, was not in a very good state and was being run on a shoestring. I think it had a Rover V8 fitted (if fitted is the right word) which was not in the car at the time and which would appear to have been overkill for such a light and shallow frame. Something in the back of my mind also tells me it had some odd form of gearbox for such a car, Renauld or some such.

I remember the chassis was beautifully made and looked a real class act however as with so many old and not successfull cars it had suffered the ravages of time, neglect and the use of unqualified operatives.

I cannot recall the name of the last owner but maybe a trawl through some old invoices may turn it up if anybody is interested. At the time I seem to recall it was painted black.

[Mallory Dan]

Originally posted by Bonde
Indeed it is the Barton JTB3, née Sana. Was it rebuilt after this fairly hefty shunt in - what - 1979 (or later)?

Anders I think the Barton crash pictured was 1980. Dave Muter used it in 1981, so it must have been repaired. I don't think it was out at all after '81, and no idea where it went after Barton/Muter.

[Bonde]

Dan,

Could that then have been the same car RJE had in his workshop, re-converted from Barton to Sana? Were there 2 or 3 Sanas built? From this thread I gather only 2 were built: One the early season 1976 Perkins F3 car, since converted in 1976 to Winstanley's FA, and hence to the Barton; the other the 1976 Cyd Williams FA car, which became Graham Eden's 1977 F2 car, and subsequently lost in a fire. Or was the Perkins F3 car the third chassis?

[markthompson]

Gordon Fowell came from the West Midlands.

He hadn't designed a car before the Techno.

He worked with John Thompson in the design and building of the Sana. I think the F3 car came first and went to Monanco in the hands of Larry Perkins. Unfortunately there were insufficient funds for a new set of tyres and the car failed to qualify. The Sana was then subsequently developed for Atlantic.

Gordon then worked again with John Thompson on the Amon car.

Gordon went onto great success in designing and developing the Powerjog running machine.

Gordon died in November 1999