What a 2 1/2 years we have all gone through since our last gathering in October 2019 . We have not given up on the idea but there are problems and it may be a while yet .
Those of you who attended club race meetings from 1969 to 1973 will remember at that time the most popular crowd pleasing race was usually the last race of the day for unlimited 'Special Saloons '
Crystal Palace set in residential south London at that time was a big draw for both competitors and spectators as indeed of course was Brands Hatch set as it is in a natural bowl for great visibility. In 1969 a chap called Dave Brodie who started racing as a youngster in 1963 in an Austin A35 with immediate success had progressed on to racing a Ford Anglia . Working hands on in his electroplating business 12 hrs a day working in the main for racing car manufacturers to get the wherewithal to build his car and go racing.........appeared in 1969 with the then new model Ford Escort Twin Cam self built with the factory steel bubble wheel arches - from the factory assisted Alan Mann and Broadspeed project cars .
David's car stood out from everything else in the paddock, finished as it was in a high quality deep gloss black paint finish with the outline of the car and panels highlighted with yellow coachlines. At a time when many saloon competitors had brush painted or sprayed with a vacuum cleaner finished with all the smoothness of Brighton Beach ... 'Run Baby Run' as the legend on the front panel wrote immediately caused a crowd around it of mouths open viewers.
This set a whole new standard of presentation which lifted standards from that point . The car was fast, David was a winner very nearly every time out - usually after crowd pleasing close dices with the likes of Roy Pierpoint , Mike Chittenden , John Bloomfield and others but RBR almost always got the garlands, seemingly unbeatable MK 1 Escort . The car was further developed by enlarging the capacity out to 2.1 litres by audaciously boring the Ford block way out in to the waterways and having thick iron liners gas welded in...... to a furnace pre heated block taking a whole week to cool down in a sand box and all re machined . A capacity resulted that no one else ever matched . The Twin Cam Lotus engine became a Cosworth BDA.
David amassed over 200 wins in his career.
Anyway , after 50 years of inactivity and being dismantled under a sheet in Wiltshire in a farm building following a 6 year rebuild 'Run baby Run was revealed to a gathering of 120 people at the BRDC Suite at Silverstone on a glorious day last Wednesday and it again looks spectacular
Here is a 8 min film clip , click on this to watch of proceedings https://youtu.be/eylzslfOstA
