THE STORY OF THE MAYA GT AND A TRIP TO CAMBER SANDS
Nov 16th
George Holmes was a trained agricultural engineer who had been running a grocer’s shop in the Croydon area before moving to Camber Sands, East Sussex. His friend, Derek Bishop, from Greenwich, had previously run Heron Plastics and had been responsible for the Heron Europa and also for producing the bodies for Don Sim’s Diva operation. Meanwhile, down in East Sussex, George had bought a Nissen hut that was being used as a garage with two petrol pumps outside. A desolate location.
Camber GT – those headlights might not have been, ahem, road-legal!
The Camber was underpinned by a square tube steel chassis More >
WESTFIELD RELOCATES TO OXFORDSHIRE – BACK IN PRODUCTION SOON THEY SAY
Nov 10th
I received a press release this week from Dr Nigel Trilk of Westfield Chesil, which reads as follows:
“I’m delighted to announce that our new business, Westfield Chesil Limited, having secured the assets and rights to build Westfield cars and Chesil Speedsters, has completed the move from the old Westfield Sportscars site in Kingswinford to our new home in Bicester, Oxfordshire, a town known for its fantastic automotive engineering history and local motorsport and classic car skills base.
“We’ll also benefit from having access to the Bicester Heritage site and excellent transport links for ease of access to the facility.
“We’re locating the More >
EXCITING NEW KIT FROM NORTHERN IRELAND
Nov 10th
In the overall scheme of things, despite having a brilliant kitcar enthusiasts club, Northern Ireland hasn’t really had very many kitcar manufacturers. I think we worked it out recently at about eight manufacturers since 1949.
Anyway, the latest is a company called Vale Automotive located near Derry City and run by a nice chap called Shimie.
They are launching a Porsche Boxster (Mk1 986-generation) based body conversion. Although described as an original design there’s plenty of Porsche 911 GT1 in the car’s styling. Shimie tells me that a Mk2 (987-generation)-based version is also being developed.
Vale’s kit is a very interesting pastiche of More >
NEW MEV RX AVAILABLE NOW
Nov 10th
MEV Kit Cars are exhibiting at the NEC Classic Motor Show this weekend where they launched their new Exocet RX!
Using the Mazda RX8 as the donor vehicle which gives over 230bhp on a chassis weighing less than half the weight of the donor vehicle. More on this one soon.
More from www.mevltd.co.uk or 01452 849 357 ENDS.
COOL DICKIE DIRT
Nov 10th
RetroClassic Clothing has launched two new t-shirts in the run-up to Christmas celebrating the record-breaking exploits of Donald Campbell. Following in the wheeltracks of his illustrious father Sir Malcolm – himself a successful racing driver and record-breaker – Donald became the only man to break the Land Speed Record and the Water Speed Record in the same year, achieving that unique feat in 1964.
RetroClassic has collaborated with the Campbell Family Heritage Trust to produce the new t-shirts, which feature designs from the family’s photo archives. The first one shows Donald and Bluebird CN7 at Lake Ayre in Australia in July More >
NOT THOSE KIND OF TURKEYS!
Nov 10th
Tornado Sportscars boss Andrew Sheldon has been in touch to tell me that he now has 8 Stack 48 IDF carb setups in stock and they have ten sets available.
Options include with or without vacuum take-off for brake servos and braided or rubber fuel hoses. A cold air box /Turkey tray as fitted to original GT40s will also be available shortly.
They have now introduced a new cold air ‘turkey’ pan to complement their 48 IDF carburettor and inlet manifold kits.
The pan forms a heatshield to prevent the heat of the engine from causing fuel evaporation in the fuel lines and More >
BRAID UNIONS!
Nov 10th
Looking for custom brake lines? Well, Merlin Motorsport can build custom brake lines as well as fuel and clutch lines in-house. They’ve got a ‘Goodridge’ room!
This is a no-hassle way to make up hoses to your specifications using any parts off their shelves. They really do have a vast range of Goodridge unions, fittings and all the right hoses.
The brake lines shown here were made up to a customer’s specifications. They are a low-volume assembly manufactured using the Goodridge 600 series swage fittings with the company’s fire sleeve covering to shield them from extreme heat.
They have the capability to produce one-off More >
GUILTY AS CHARGED!
Nov 10th
GAZ Shocks is pleased to announce a new range of fully adjustable coil-over suspension kits. The new GAZ Gaz Charged is based on its highly successful GHA and GOLD ranges but upgraded with the benefits of nitrogen gas and ‘helper’ springs above the main suspension springs.
These upgrades will give an improved and smoother ride over conventional dampers. The nitrogen also minimises the aeration of the hydraulic fluid/oil under normal use by compressing the air bubbles inside the damper.
Of course, all the current features of the GHA and GOLD ranges are included in the GAZ Charged range:
The damper rate is adjustable and can be More >
CAR CARE FIT FOR A KING
Nov 10th
Are you struggling to come up with gift ideas for the petrolhead who claims to already have everything?
The royal-warranted car cleaning experts at Autoglym would like to suggest that the specially curated Supreme Car Care Collection will ensure that your favourite car enthusiast really does have all bases covered. No excuses!
Autoglym Supreme Car Care Collection is the most generous and comprehensive gifting set in the British company’s repertoire. Presented in a smart, zip-up satchel for easy wrapping and neat storage, the collection consists of nine key cleaning products and three premium accessories.
Together they cover everything from wheels and windows to paintwork More >
ROCKET PROP
Nov 10th
Burton Power has announced that it can now offer a single-piece propshaft based on the Group 1 version to fit all standard RS2000s or Escort Mk1/2 using a Rocket or five-speed gearbox and an English or Atlas axle.
This single-piece propshaft has been made much stronger than the original two-piece item through the use of a larger diameter tubing and removal of the centre bearing. It is suitable as a direct replacement for the original prop or for competition use.
It is a high-quality item manufactured in the UK, not a cheap inferior import. Most imports use rather crude forgings which are More >
