35 replies to this topic

[foxyracer]

I am in the process of writing an appendix for a forthcoming book about the Monoposto Formula in the period 1958 to 1976.  The appendix will consist of a description of all the one-off specials that competed in Monoposto during that period, i.e. who built them, were they completely original or based on something else, details of specification, how were they modified/developed and, if known, what ultimately happened to them .  If anyone has any information about any of he following or about the people that built them could you please let me know by posting a reply.  I am confident of getting or have already got as much as I need about Fubar, Anco, Beagle(s), Viking, and Chamox.  Apologies about the formatting of the list, this is how it copied from an orderly Word document!  Many thanks. 

 

Milli-Cent/Milli-Duppio/Milli-Mono 1959 F Tiedeman

Lolita                                             1959 A Wershat (1172 Formula car)

Lomas                                           1961 Tony Lomas

Tervin                                            1961 Tony Scriven, 1968 Ken Jones; 1970 Dave Wall.

Anco                                              1961 Mike Cowburn, Jo Anziani, Brian Toft

Smithard                                        1961 Tony (Barry?) Smithard

Rae Spl                                          1961 Gordon Rae

BFM                                               1962 Tony Bodley

Project X (& XR)                             1963 Terry Ogilvie-Hardy; 1970 J. Brown;

Micron                                            1964 Mike Irons, Roger Lee

Embrio                                           1964 Brian Mitcham ( ? FJ racer )

Apex                                               1964 Bob Mitchell

Concorde                                         1966 Ian Stronach

Beagles                                          1968 Jim Yardley

S.A.R.M.                                          1967 John Aspinwall

Taylor                                              1968 Brian Taylor (car evolved from Smithard) (see also Lloyd)

JCM                                                 1969 John Lancaster

Vesey                                               1969 Peter Coulborn

Emberton                                         1970 Anthony Ford, David Emberton

Apogee 1B                                       1970 Richard de la Rue

Rudeani,                                          1965 Jack Heaton-Rudd

Moonraker                                       1970 Jack Heaton-Rudd

Mono Special                                   ? Jack Heaton-Rudd

Chamox                                           1970 John Chambers, Dave Chambers

Wellanier                                          1970 Maurice Ogier

Kiwi Mk. II                                         1971 Keith Laney

B.R.E.W.                                               1971 Jock Sergison

Lloyd                                                     1971 Brian Taylor

Rayton Special                                     1972 Tony Guilie

FNC                                                        1972 Bruce West (car evolved from Smithard/Taylor?)

Mono II                                                 1972 Eddie Heasell

Manta                                                   1971 David Coombs

Viking (s)                                               1972 Alan Baillie

Zircon                                                    1972 Bill Abbott

Whippet                                               1972 Anthony T. Sandars

Whippet & RTW                                  1973 Nigel Howard-Jones (RTW = "Rifle Tuned Whippet")

Fubar                                                   1974 Geoff Toms

Revoray                                               1974 Ray Thomas

Norseman                                           1975 John Withers

Lemas                                                 1973 John Christie

Barden                                                  1968 John Daniells

Derad                                                    1968 Geoff Patman

Nova Lotus                                         1968 Alan Gorsuch

Bassett Special                                     1968 (Was this the Jomo while owned by David Bassett?)

Unnamed specials         1969 – John Davis, Terrapin based; 1958/9 – R. Fixter; D. Taylor; 1973 Tony          Broster; 1975 Mark Kopieczek

Chequee                                               1968 B. Jeeps

Jomo                                                      1969 Peter Danby (NB Prior to Keith Vickery making professionally so was this a one-off?); 1971 Nick Dawson; 2009 Colin Cummings         

Diggory Gwyniad                                 1961 Michael Green (built by Jim Diggory of Wrexham

Invicta                                                   1969 M. Gibson

Raven 01                                              1971 David Bird

Macgregor                                            1971 Andy MacGregor (did it ever start a race?)

Danton Special                                    1971 Aidan Patton

Canyer                                                  1958/9 J. Canyer

Opus                                                      1959/9 S. Waine

Saxon                                                    1958/9 C. Scott-McArthur

Nordic                                                   1973 Jack Hemming

Bassonette                                           1973 Dennis Basson (evolution of Danton)

Barnett                                                  1974 Alan Sharpe

PVB                                                        1974 Robin Strange

Rooster                                                 1975 David Winstanley

PTSM 1A                                               1976 Paul Thompson

Renson/Rewson?                                1975 David Williams (from Swansea?)

Cencus Special                                    1976 Robert Williams

Cougar                                                  1976 Fred Smith  

Notes.

·         This may not be an exhaustive list.

·         It is not certain whether all cars listed were genuinely one-off specials.  They will be positively included or excluded as more evidence       comes to light. Those shown in bold type are definite.

·         Some cars listed were known to be under construction but it is not certain whether they ever raced

[DanTra2858]

This sounds like a good thing on the same critera for Australian made Monoposto,s how about it guys.

[Stephen W]

1975 Longridge 18th August - No town listed for drivers

Nigel Howard-Jones - RTW 74M

Alan Baillie - Viking 1AM

David Coombs - Manta 71/D

 

Also in 1975 at the August Harewood hillclimb Paul Mawson from Hanley was running the Jomo-Ford with a 1.6 Ford Twin Cam

 

1976 Oulton Park 1st May - No Town listed for drivers

David Coombs - Manta 75/B

Geoff Toms - Fubar T1

David Williams - Rewson

Mark Kopieczek - Swan

 

Outside of your year range in 1977 I also noted:

John Chambers - Chamox Mk 2

John Lipman - Lipman JL3A

 

Observations:

Jack Heaton-Rudd and others also competed in hillclimbs & sprints so you may also wish to cross check these events. for Monoposto.

Was the Diggory-Gwyniad a development of the Formula Junior car?

Maurice Ogier, from the Channel Islands, not only hillclimbed and sprinted but also sand raced and raced in Formula Libre. He ran a V8 powered Wellanir in all three other disciplines.

In several instances over the years some of the Monoposto runners also competed in Formula Libre races often at the same meetings as their Mono races.

 

[SJWBallistic]

Hi Frank Teideman's early Monoposto cars were based upon converted Cooper 500's initially a MK IV then athen later a MK VI.

The Cooper Mk VI was run as Milli-Mono with a Ford 1172 engine. This car is currently residing in my Dad's garage and has done so since 1973 albeit now as a Cooper 500 once again. We do still have the Monoposto bodywork.

Before Frank's death several years ago he advertised some Cooper Mk VI body panels for sale and we went to see them but he had crazy ideas as to their worth. Unfortunately at that time we were unaware that they were probably from "our" car and the conversation may have been very different.

More information regarding Frank's Monoposto connection can be found in the 750 Motor Club book which is how we made the connection.

Regards

Stuart Wright

[Cirrus]

As far as I'm aware, Alan Baillie still owns the Viking. The Manta (Renault-powered) was written off I think and David Coombs died in a parachuting or hangliding accident many years ago. Keith Messer races the Vesey in Historic F3. There was a (the?) Barnett racing at Silverstone on Saturday in Historic F3, driven by Neil Armstrong.

Edited by Cirrus, 17 October 2016 - 10:03.

[Sharman]

More intriguing to me is where are they all, all this non professional inventiveness seems to disappear without trace (saving for the odd sighting as mentioned above)

[foxyracer]

As far as I'm aware, Alan Baillie still owns the Viking. The Manta (Renault-powered) was written off I think and David Coombs died in a parachuting or hangliding accident many years ago. Keith Messer races the Vesey in Historic F3. There was a (the?) Barnett racing at Silverstone on Saturday in Historic F3, driven by Neil Armstrong.

 

Thanks for your reply.  Yes, Alan does still own the original Viking.  There was another one but that became the Norseman with John Withers, Alan's former mechanic, being the owner/driver.  

 

David Coombs died in the Chinook helicopter disaster in Germany in 1981 or 2.  44 died, mainly parachutists/sky-divers - David had taken that up after motor-racing.  He had two brothers, Peter who had raced previously and Roger who was largely responsible for the Mantas.  I am hoping someone can put me in touch with Roger if he is still around. There were two Mantas and only one was written off as far as I know.

 

I spotted the Barnett in the Silverstone programme when I was there yesterday.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go on Saturday so I missed it!!  It seems Neil is from Rugby so maybe I can track him down.  

[foxyracer]

Hi Frank Teideman's early Monoposto cars were based upon converted Cooper 500's initially a MK IV then athen later a MK VI.

The Cooper Mk VI was run as Milli-Mono with a Ford 1172 engine. This car is currently residing in my Dad's garage and has done so since 1973 albeit now as a Cooper 500 once again. We do still have the Monoposto bodywork.

Before Frank's death several years ago he advertised some Cooper Mk VI body panels for sale and we went to see them but he had crazy ideas as to their worth. Unfortunately at that time we were unaware that they were probably from "our" car and the conversation may have been very different.

More information regarding Frank's Monoposto connection can be found in the 750 Motor Club book which is how we made the connection.

Regards

Stuart Wright

 

Thanks for this; it's very helpful.  I suspect a copy of the 750 book will end up on my Christmas list!  Quite a lot of the early Mono cars seem to have done 1172 as well.  Do you have any photos of the car in Mono form?

[fyrth]

Rudeani still exists and is in the East Midlands. So does the Raven, built by half of the Rudeani team and competes regularly at Gusrston Down, still in family ownership.Revoray was an Ensign F3 chassis with a different engine and other changes, Ferret have some pics.

[mnkiii]

Hoping this is acceptable and vaugely relevant; does anyone recognise this 1172 car built in the mid / late 1950s (I believe) for 750mc 1172 and monposto racing at the time. It's nicely built in the typical Lotus Mark VI style using mostly Ford Pop bits but seems to have become detached from it's identity and history!

 

[Rupertlt1]

The word Speedex comes to mind:

 

See:

 

https://revslib.stan...log/jw457qq5127

 

https://revslib.stan...log/jx071xg1331

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 19 January 2017 - 11:48.

[mnkiii]

Definitely similar in shape but I thought Speedex's were Austin 7 based and this is defiitely a well made tube chassis and Ford based nicely drilled and split front beam.

 

Someone else suggested Cannon who was better know for his trials cars but did apparently built a few circuit cars too! He was certinly one who drilled his front axles. At the back this has radius arms and a neat A-frame which attaches beneath the diff casing. No idea whether that helps i/d it!

 

I hope there are some detectives out there who can help! It's been in our shed long enough! Pedals look nice too, home made I think, but well-made! I would definitely call it a poor man's Lotus Mark VI!

 

Thanks for looking at it!

[Rupertlt1]

Dave Armstrong is the Speedex fundi - I think there were Ford-based cars - but PM me and I'll put you in touch, (if only to rule it out). RGDS RLT

[Rupertlt1]

Take a look here:

 

https://revslib.stan...log/gs358gj9830

 

Registration SRO 5.

 

Can anybody identify this car?

 

Can you post a picture of the nosecone?

 

RGDS RLT

[GazChed]

Does anyone recall Woody Harris and his Genie Mk13 ? Recently I found an old Thruxton programme , October 12th 1975 , where the second event was a combined Monoposto/Formula Super Vee race .
Woody Harris finished second overall first monoposto , smashing the previous Monoposto lap record . I was curious as to whether the Genie was a proprietary chassis or home built special ? The rest of the entry was made up of Brabhams , The Streaker's Lotus 35 , a Formula Ford Dulon , a couple of Formula Juniors and several specials , all of which appear on your list .
Woody and his Genie appeared in some early season Formula Atlantic races in 1974 , in a car described as either a Genie Mk13 or a Genie FA74 . Also were the
Formula Juniors , Bruce West from London in a Gemini and Al Black from Brixham in a Lotus 18 , the green shoots of the now burgeoning Historic Formula Junior movement ?
Finally the meeting featured no fewer than five future Grand Prix drivers . Gunnar Nilsson won the feature Formula Atlantic race while Brian Henton ended his race in the Club chicane catchfencing . Geoff Lees won the Formula Ford race while shuttling between Thruxton and Mallory Park by helicopter and Derek Warwick qualified fifth but seemed to disappear on the first lap . Meanwhile a young man by the name of Jon Palmer appeared in a Modsports Frogeye Sprite which from my vantage point at the Chicane , rarely appeared on more than three wheels !

[Tim Murray]

According to the MN report Henton's spectacular accident was caused by brake failure. Warwick had 'nudged the bank' at the chicane, and his abandoned Hawke was later hit by the Image of Frank Bayes after he tried to outbrake Rod Bremner into the chicane on the last lap. There was one other (former) GP driver racing - John Nicholson finished fourth in the Atlantic race. The driving of some competitors in the FF race was described as 'suicidal'.

[GazChed]

I forgot that John Nicholson raced the Lyncar Formula One - I always associated him with winning multiple Formula Atlantic races and championships in Lyncars . IIRC he spun out of the Chicane in this race dropping to sixth before recovering to fourth . Didn't Emilio de Villota also race the Lyncar in the British Formula One championship some years later ? Or should that be Shellsport Group 8 ?

Edited by GazChed, 10 May 2017 - 14:32.

[Mallory Dan]

GC, yes Emilio raced the Lyncar in G8, through 76 into early 77. He then got an M23. Wasn't Jim Crawford in the FAt race that day? I was at Mallory watching the F5000s, at the other end of the Lees shuttle.

[Cirrus]

Re the Genie. This is all from memory but I think Genies were manufactured in the USA. Many were sports cars but Woody Harris's car was obviously a single seater with, I think, a glassfibre monocoque.

[GazChed]

The 1975 season saw two Formula Atlantic championships , the John Player and MCD\Southern Organs Formula Atlantic championships . Jim Crawford was competing in the John Player championship and the Thruxton race was a round of the MCD\Southern Organs championship so he didn't appear on the entry list . Can you remember how Geoff Lees got on at Mallory ?
Regarding the Genie that would make sense as I believe Woody Harris was originally from California . As an aside , that afternoon there were four single seater races , the Atlantic and Mono\Super Vee races and two Formula Ford races . According to my reading of the Thruxton fixture list the only single seater races at Thruxton this season were the three Formula Four races last weekend ! Changed times eh .

[Tim Murray]

Can you remember how Geoff Lees got on at Mallory ?

(As I still have the relevant MN to hand): He won his heat after resisting a strong challenge from Mike Blanchet. He led from the start in the final, but after three laps his engine started to cut out intermittently, which dropped him down the field and then finally to retire on lap 12. The race was won by Bernard Vermilio ahead of Mike Blanchet and Rad Dougall. The latter two were not happy with some of Bernard's race tactics and protested him after the race, but the result was allowed to stand.

[Bloggsworth]

For sake of historical accuracy, I drove the Nomad FF in a monoposto race at Silverstone in about June/July 1972.

[fyrth]

Back a few posts and Speedex was Jem Marsh - of course A7s and then Marcos.

 

A number of Lyncar chassis remain, well constructed by, was it, Martin Slater? John Hewett currently running an exemplorary refettled example on the hills with a quick 5 litre V8. Having looked at this car the detail work is delighful and the idea must have been to supply componets elsewhere.

[GazChed]

According to the programme racechat on page 4 , they say Lees was attempting to win the three major British Formula Ford championships . Did he succeed ? Also on the racechat page , they previewed the 15th November meeting 'featuring four top-class races for Formula Atlantic , Formula Ford , Modsports and Special Saloons . And added to that is SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL. It's top secret at the moment but if you're a Formula One fan you'll want to be at Thruxton ...' . Unfortunately the advert for the meeting on page 2 said ' FEATURING :THE PRESENTATION OF A BARC GOLD MEDAL TO LORD HESKETH AND THE HESKETH FORMULA ONE CAR ' !

[Tim Murray]

According to the programme racechat on page 4 , they say Lees was attempting to win the three major British Formula Ford championships . Did he succeed ?

Yes he did - as Autosport put it in their FF seasonal survey 'the impossible happened'. His hardest fight was in the MCD/National Organs Championship, in which he and Kenny Gray traded wins for most of the year, but problems for Gray in the very last races gave Geoff the title by 12 points. He won the BARC/British Air Ferries series by seven points from Rick Morris, and the Silverstone-based Brush Fusegear series by 13 points ahead of Matthew Argenti.

[Mallory Dan]

And he won the festival, Tim. Though not without a little controversy... Ask Rod Bremner!

[GazChed]

Thanks for the answers chaps . Happy memories , nearly sixty Formula Fords at Thruxton and probably the same at Mallory . My next memory of Geoff Lees was of him leading the pack by about 100 yards coming round Church corner on the first lap of the June Formula Three race at Thruxton which he went on to win easily . Sadly his career in Europe was very sporadic after that apart from his season in the Ralt Honda in 1981 , although he did have a long and successful career in Japan . In the meantime has anyone heard of Woody Harris ?

Edited by GazChed, 11 May 2017 - 09:01.

[Stephen W]

A number of Lyncar chassis remain, well constructed by, was it, Martin Slater? John Hewett currently running an exemplorary refettled example on the hills with a quick 5 litre V8. Having looked at this car the detail work is delighful and the idea must have been to supply componets elsewhere.

 

The Hewett Lyncar is an ex-Formula Atlantic chassis that has had the Rover V8 shoe-horned in. It spent most of its life 'on the hills' in Atlantic form but when John bought it there was no engine (and possibly no gearbox?) As he had the requisite items sat on the workshop floor he thought "Why not!"

[foxyracer]

Re the Genie. This is all from memory but I think Genies were manufactured in the USA. Many were sports cars but Woody Harris's car was obviously a single seater with, I think, a glassfibre monocoque.

 

Yes you are right and you beat me to it!!  It was built in the USA, did have a fibreglass monocoque and is somehow related to Huffaker.  At the moment I am only researching cars that ran in Monoposto from 1958 - 1976 and the genie came later.  Once we have this book finished there might be a sequel though.

[foxyracer]

For sake of historical accuracy, I drove the Nomad FF in a monoposto race at Silverstone in about June/July 1972.

Thank you for that.  I found a couple of records relating to nomad a few days ago.  One was at Silverstone on 30/7/72, the other was a week earlier (23/7/72) at Mallory Park.  There were two different drivers and the Mallory car was entered as "Nomad 5".  Does any of that make any sense?  Was the Nomad a one-off or series produced?  Do you have any pictures?

[foxyracer]

Thank you for that.  I found a couple of records relating to nomad a few days ago.  One was at Silverstone on 30/7/72, the other was a week earlier (23/7/72) at Mallory Park.  There were two different drivers and the Mallory car was entered as "Nomad 5".  Does any of that make any sense?  Was the Nomad a one-off or series produced?  Do you have any pictures?

Send me a PM if you prefer.

[GazChed]

The race that Woody Harris drove the Genie was on October 12th 1975 - if you like I could e-mail you the entry list and some pictures from that day .

[foxyracer]

The race that Woody Harris drove the Genie was on October 12th 1975 - if you like I could e-mail you the entry list and some pictures from that day .

The first reference that I have to Woody driving the Genie was 10th August 1975 at Snetterton where he finished third.  He won at Castle Combe on 6th September and again at Silverstone on 20th.  Finally he won Thruxton on 12th October, the final round.  I had thought his entry into Mono was post 1976 but further scrutiny of records shows I was mistaken.  Any photos you have would be very helpful; thank you.  I will PM you with my e-mail address.

[GazChed]

The Genie was obviously happier in Monoposto trim than Formula Atlantic - according to the Old Racing Cars website Woody hardly finished a race in Formula Atlantic in 1974 . Comparing his new lap record set that day of 1:20.2 with Gunnar Nilsson's new Formula Atlantic lap record of 1:13.2 suggests the Genie was barely slower in Monoposto trim than in Formula Atlantic !

[GazChed]

Sorry to go off topic but I have just looked at last weeks Formula 4 results from Thruxton and I see the fastest race lap was 1:13.756 - little more than half a second slower than Gunnar Nilsson's 1975 Formula Atlantic lap record ! Perhaps the MSA/FIA should be looking at another Formula between karting and Formula Four - preferably non spec . As Michael Ferner suggested we need to put the motor back into motor racing . Okay I know Nilsson's lap record was over forty years ago but ...

Edited by GazChed, 13 May 2017 - 14:26.

[davis2c]

Although strictly off topic, there are a number of references to the Genie Mk13 under this thread. Back in the day I had some involvement with the car and some of the surrounding characters.

 

Woody Harris was a very American, very laid back Californian engineer who certainly knew which way was up. He was the second A in ADA (Anglo Dutch American) Engineering, then of Willow Vale, Shepherd's Bush in London. In another guise ADA eventually went on to win Le Mans and I'll come back to that link in a minute. ADA back then was a classic engineering workshop with some motor sport pretensions. A series of lock-ups to one side housed a small number of race cars and hot rods including the Genie Mk13.

 

The Genie was an American built chassis with a full length Fiberglass bath-tub. My understanding is that there were manufacturing links to Genie and Huffaker, basically through Harris having worked with/for both.

 

The basic lay-out of the car was very similar to race-car thinking of the time with the exception of the tub. This had a relatively tall and thick wall section and 4 machined pick-up bulkheads. This extended right to the rear of the engine and made working on the engine bay a real pain - literally, I still have the scars to prove this. There were in fact two tubs, the much lighter spare having never been built-up. As far as I know these were the only two built, both originally for Formula Atlantic USA. There was no opportunity for other than those with snake hips to drive it. 

 

The Genie is an important step in the development of chassis from the ladder frame and space frames to the current reliance on carbon. Along with some of the Jim Hall Chaparrals, it was a short lived look at a technology that was perhaps not really appropriate when applied within the automotive sector.

 

The confusion as to dates referenced above may be because Woody sold the car to Peter Gillett, a kart graduate (via Linx Karts). In his first year, once we had sorted the car, Peter was quick and took a couple of wins on his way to the 1800 class championship. The following year he generally blitzed the opposition although at some point he was removed from the championship, at the time I was given to understand for having commercial markings on the car within a strictly amature championship.

 

The Le Mans link - by then I had gone to Cloud Racing - Dorset Racing Associates (DRA) in all but name. When we moved to London, I introduced ADA for general machining support plus the supply of the portable corner-weight checkers which Woody had developed. I knew Woody wanted to go back stateside, made an introduction and the rest as they say is history.