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SUPERSPEED (CONVERSIONS) LTD
Apr 6th
STEVE HOLE tells the story of SUPERSPEED (CONVERSIONS) LTD
Another of the well-known sixties tuning companies was Ley Street, Ilford-based Superspeed (Conversions).
The men behind the company were brothers, John and Mike Young and their operation was part of and located next to, Ford dealer, Youngs of Ilford founded by their father, Mike Young senior.
They rose to prominence with their racing activities when John and Mike took their first steps in motorsport in their maroon-hued (actually a BMC colour called Crimson Lake) Fords.
John began his career in the British Saloon Car Championship (then running to Group 2 regulations) in 1962 in an More >
THE AQUAPLANE COMPANY LTD
Mar 29th
STEVE HOLE pays his respects to a great old tuning name from the sixties, THE AQUAPLANE COMPANY LTD this week. If you had a Ford or a Mini in the sixties, they had a catalogue full of go-faster parts to tempt you with!
The Aquaplane Company Ltd was another famous old name of the sixties tuning and go faster scenes called founded by Harmer Copeman in 1954. They were based in Oulton Broad a suburb of Lowestoft in Suffolk.
Along with the likes of V.W Derrington and Alta, the Aquaplane name was a revered one.
Aquaplane’s biggest seller was their Superhead – pic More >
GUY SALMON MINI SPECIAL
Mar 23rd
The story of Guy Salmon and his car dealerships, plus the story of the Guy Salmon Mini GT
Born in 1913, Guy Salmon rose to become one of the UK’s leading car dealerships with dealers all over the country.
He borrowed £20 (now worth about £1000, allowing for inflation) from his mum to open his first dealership in 1934, on Brighton Road, Surbiton.
He drove a fire engine during WW2 and post-war he opened his first official Guy Salmon dealership in Thames Ditton in 1946. The site had made gun turrets for Bomber Command, although Salmon, aided by his brother Micky, sold Rolls-Royces More >
THE LEGEND THAT WAS MIKE THE PIPE
Mar 15th
STEVE HOLE pays tribute to Mike the Pipe
Everyone in motorsport (from bottom to top) classic, kit and custom car scenes all knew who Mike the Pipe was.
Who was ‘Mike The Pipe’? His real name was Mike Randall and for nearly thirty years his workshop at the unassuming 12 Stanley Park Road, Carshalton Beeches (people often say it was Wallington, which is very nearby, but technically it is in Carshalton Beeches) was the UK’s exhaust hub.
Randall first came to prominence when he worked for Vic Derrington and Bill Terry at TDC Components in Kingston-on-Thames, next door to the main V.W. Derrington More >
A TRIBUTE TO JOHN PARRADINE – DELTAYN PROTEUS, PARRADINE PEGASUS & JJR 525S
Mar 9th
I was very saddened to hear of the death this week of John Parradine, aged 72.
The late John Parradine 1950-2023
To regular readers and kitcar enthusiasts, John will need no introduction as he first appeared on the kitcar radar in 1985 with his Jaguar-based roadster the Deltayn Proteus.
John was always very kind to me and my first contact with him was when I worked for Kit Cars & Specials magazine in the eighties. We sponsored the Stoneleigh show back then and I was tasked with the job of arranging ‘interesting’ cars to appear on our showcase stand in the then new cowshed foyer More >
WITHAM ANNOUNCES MOTORSPORT PLANS FOR 2023
Mar 2nd
Witham Motorsport has announced an exciting new programme to support the UK motorsport 2023 season.
The UK lubricant manufacturer will be supporting a variety of British Motorsport competitions including the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship, British F4 Championship, 5 Nations British Rallycross, BTRDA Clubman’s Rallycross Championship, MG Championship, British Speedway, British Truck Racing Championship, BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Super cup, National Kart Racing Championship, Offshore Powerboat Racing and various Master Historic Race events.
Witham Motorsport is also one of the key partners for the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship – which consists of seven events held at various locations across the More >
UNSUNG HERO – CYRIL MALEM
Feb 23rd
The late Cyril Malem was one of those engineers, fabricators and designers, who was incredibly popular and always in demand for his skills but never got the credit he deserved, but those in the know, ‘knew’! Time to pay tribute I think.
Cyril hailed from North London and trained as a toolmaker. He was one of the first employees at Bob Robinson’s Arch Motor and Manufacturing Co Ltd in Tottenham, very close to Spurs’ White Hart Lane stadium.
He would have been involved with Colin Chapman who turned up one day enquiring about fabrication work. Arch started by making throttle pedals for More >
FROM TERRIER KIT CARS TO FORMULA ONE – THE CAREER OF BRIAN HART
Feb 16th
Words by STEVE HOLE
Brian Hart was another of those real motorsport characters that we just don’t see anymore. Born in September 1936 in Enfield, Hart got into motorsport after being hooked when visiting the British GP at Silverstone in 1949.
By 1958 he had his first crack at motor racing in a Lotus V1 in the 750 Motor Club’s 1172cc Formula before meeting the designer and maverick Len Terry and joining his Terrier team.
Rather embarrassingly for Lotus employee (at the time) Terry, Hart won the Chapman Trophy in 1960 in a Terrier Mk2 beating all the Lotus racers. It’s said that More >
SIR JACK BRABHAM – NOT JUST AN F1 DOUBLE WORLD CHAMPION!
Feb 2nd
STEVE HOLE looks at the career of one of his favourite F1 drivers Sir Jack Brabham outside of Formula One
The racing career of Jack Brabham has been well – and in some cases – excellently documented. What isn’t so well-known is his outside automotive business activities so we thought it was time to round them all up
Born in Australia in 1926, Jack Brabham won three F1 world championships in 1959, 1960 and 1966 and is still the only driver to win a world championship in a car bearing his own name and incidentally, the first racing driver to be knighted More >
THE ‘OTHER’ JIM CLARK
Jan 26th
We’ve all heard of Jim Clark, the late and fabled Grand Prix driver tragically killed at Hockenheim in 1968. However, there was another ‘Jim Clark’ at Lotus at the same time who later earned himself a great reputation in the kit and specialist car industry. STEVE HOLE is convinced that this Jim Clark doesn’t get the credit he deserves.
Very modest chap, Jim Clark. The ‘other’ Jim Clark as he was known at Lotus in the sixties. He’s had a hand in some of the most iconic racing cars ever built plus a good few kit and specialist cars, but even so, More >
