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Joe Potts' involvement with Vanwall

Started by joepotts7 , Jun 10 2010 08:53

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6 replies to this topic

#1 joepotts7

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 08:53

Hi there,
I was wondering if anyone has any information about the link between Joe Potts of Bellshill (Glasgow) and Vanwall's engine development. Joe was known as "Scotland's high priest of tune" and in his spare time ran a motorcycle racing team and built racing cars. His main buisness was an engineering works and a funeral parlour!

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#2 GD66

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 09:02

Hi JP7, I think the Norton-Vanwall link was via Joe Craig initially, and then Leo Kusmicki the Polish engine whiz. I'm not aware that Joe Potts had too much of a finger in the pie. Always happy to learn differently, of course ... :wave:

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#3 joepotts7

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 09:07

Hi JP7, I think the Norton-Vanwall link was via Joe Craig initially, and then Leo Kusmicki the Polish engine whiz. I'm not aware that Joe Potts had too much of a finger in the pie. Always happy to learn differently, of course ...

Yes Joe Craig and Leo Kuzmicki did much work on the Vanwall, but I have heard from a couple of seperate sources that Joe Potts also contributed. I wanted to see if anyone here knew anything to substantiate it. Joe Potts was often used by racing teams to do development work because he would keep it quiet - for example Ducati of all people!

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#4 Doug Nye

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 09:33

I don't recall Potts' name being mentioned in any Vanwall records I have seen, but Tony Vandervell was a director of Norton, and if Potts was involved with Norton works engine development he might well have become involved alongside Joe Craig and Leo Kuzmicki. Presumably he was a valves and porting tuner? Lot of work went on in those areas with the Norton-derived cylinder heads and valvegear. How interesting.

DCN

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#5 Graham Gauld

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 10:33

I must say I never heard any mention of Joe Potts and Vanwall but he was a very quiet and modest guy who kept things very much under his hat. He did, of course, help work on various Ecurie Ecosse engines.

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#6 simonlewisbooks

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 16:13

And he built a few of these while he was at it... busy chap
Posted Image

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#7 David Birchall

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 18:07

Nothing to add to the Joe Potts/Vanwall question except that I did find a JP car in a barn on Vancouver Island in 1980. I sold the car to fellow TNFer Miles Fenton who restored it as it is pictured here. The car is in the UK now being campaigned on the hills. Interestingly, it has the longer wheel base of the vee twin powered cars and when I found it -engineless-I noted that there were marks from two exhaust pipes having rubbed on the engine cowling-it has a JAP 500 now that Miles fitted.