410 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

Anyone know more about this 'B' Series Mini racer or have more photos?
With those Weber carbs out front I guess it used a version of the original HRG-Derrington crossflow cylinder head for the B-Series below?
HRG-Derrington Heads:-
http://www.rhodo.citymax.com/HRG.html




Paddock at Brands Hatch








More Here:-
http://www.rhodo.cit...f/HRG_story.pdf

[mab01uk]

Another 'period' Mini engine transplant below, this time based on the Imp engine.......shame few of them survive today as they were so much more interesting than today's Honda Vtec conversions!


I remember this Mini-Imp well and recently discovered this thread with some photos on the Ten Tenths Forum:-
http://tentenths.com...ad.php?t=122899



Monty Guildford's Mini racer fitted with an Imp engine, he finished it in 1973 after an 18 month build.
The engine was built and tuned by George Bevan but the gear box was designed by my Monty and built by Peter Wise of Goodland engineering of Tonbridge Kent. The crank was a one off. Note also the exhaust coming out of the nearside A panel!

[mab01uk]

[mab01uk]

British Saloon Car Championship 1973 - Silverstone GP

Accounts of the tragic Capri / Escort / Mini accident in the British Saloon Car Championship round at the British Grand Prix July 14th 1973......

Daily Mirror 2017 write up and photos:-
https://www.mirror.c...heated-10523107



Back to the drawing Broad
(Motorsport Magazine Archive)
The exhaustively named Broadspeed Lindrick Finance Ford Capri RS2600 turned heads when Dave Matthews raced it in the 1973 British Saloon Car Championship. It was the car’s end, however, that cemented its name in the history books – a horrific crash at the British Grand Prix support race which left it ready for the scrapheap and Matthews with career-ending injuries.
The British GP support started well enough with Matthews third on the grid. But seven laps into the race Matthews’ Capri, Dave Brodie’s Norman Reeves Escort 1600 and Gavin Booth’s BMC Mini were involved in one of the worst accidents in BSCC history.
“I’m a little bit tapped around by it but I remember what happened,” says Matthews, who can laugh about events now. “People who get banged on the head don’t usually remember a damn thing, but I remember everything. I remember the car, the colour of it, the sun on it…
“When you’re in a quick car lapping slower cars, you get to know whether they’ve seen you or not. I knew Gavin hadn’t seen me. I wanted to get after Frank [Gardner] and at Abbey I just popped down the inside of Gavin, giving him more space than I would have usually because my corner was spoiled anyway. The next thing I remember I was looking at the road.
“Witnesses thought Gavin had seen me coming up the inside and tried to pop in to get a pull. But with the speed differential in those cars, he was never going to get a pull anyway. It was just an unfortunate thing.
“I was going quicker than he was, sort of timing it so that as he drifted out, I drifted past on the inside. I remember the next thing he touched my offside wheel and pulled the tyre off the rim. I think the photographs showed it. And then the wind got under my car, and I don’t know how quick I was going but it was still quickish. Anyway, the car got up in the air and that was that.”
Matthews suffered head and eye injuries, and to this day has no sight in one eye. He subsequently missed out on an offer from Peter Ashcroft at Ford to race for the team in 1974, and has competed on few occasions since thanks to problems passing the medical for a race licence. But Matthews realises he was lucky to escape at all: “I owe my skin to the Broadspeed qualities in that car. I’m not sure many people have got away with a bigger one than that. I thank that car for getting me out of it.”
https://www.motorspo...k-drawing-broad

Lunch with... David Brodie
(Motorsport Magazine Archive)
"The black Escort was also converted to run in Group 2 form, and at the British Grand Prix meeting in 1972 on the long Brands Hatch circuit Brode had one of his best races, vanquishing Dave Matthews’ similar car after a frantic battle resolved by a brave move around the outside at Hawthorns. In 1973 Ford acknowledged his success at national level by giving him a works Group 2 drive.
The black Escort was also converted to run in Group 2 form, and at the British Grand Prix meeting in 1972 on the long Brands Hatch circuit Brode had one of his best races, vanquishing Dave Matthews’ similar car after a frantic battle resolved by a brave move around the outside at Hawthorns. In 1973 Ford acknowledged his success at national level by giving him a works Group 2 drive.
“I was contesting the British and European Championships, and the car was going in and out of England like a yo-yo. In July 1973 we went to the British Grand Prix round at Silverstone, with me now overall leader in the British Saloon Championship. On lap eight Frank Gardner’s Camaro was out in front, and the battle for second was between Dave Matthews’ three-litre Broadspeed Capri, my Escort BDA and Andy Rouse’s Escort BDA. I’d disposed of Rouse and was planning how to get past Matthews when, approaching the fast sweep of Abbey Curve, we came up to lap the 1-litre Mini of Gavin Booth.
“Matthews slammed into Booth’s Mini like it was a snooker ball and his Capri cartwheeled, with him hanging out, arms flailing. The Mini went off and then came back onto the track travelling in the opposite direction, and hit me head-on. I was doing about 130mph and he must still have been doing 70, so it was a 200mph head-on impact. Matthews ended up with two broken ankles, but he was out and about in a couple of weeks. I had a leg broken in three places, a busted jaw, toes, teeth, ended up in hospital for a long time. I needed a couple of corrective operations on my legs, and it took a while to learn to walk properly again. I heard that Booth had head injuries, but when I tried to contact him to make sure he was OK, no record of him anywhere. (Sadly Gavin Booth later died from his injuries).
https://www.motorspo...ch-david-brodie


Dave Brodie Photo Gallery:-
http://davidbrodie.co.uk/gallery/
http://davidbrodie.c...ini-head-on.jpg
http://davidbrodie.c...150mph-roll.jpg
http://davidbrodie.c...ort-head-on.jpg
http://davidbrodie.c...oth-head-on.jpg

 

 

Update below - Posted by Mya Booth on the TenTenths.com motorsport forum.
17 May 2024 Post by Mya Booth:-
"I would just like to let everyone know that Gavin Booth (the Mini driver) is actually alive and did not die in that accident. He’s my grandad and we all live In New Zealand now. No one in my family knows why it says he died as he did not. He was very badly injured and stayed in the hospital for 12 weeks."
https://tentenths.co...62&postcount=15

Edited by mab01uk, 19 June 2024 - 10:13 PM.

[mab01uk]

Last year I suggested to MiniWorld editor Karen Drury that she should interview 1960/70's Mini racer Simon Ridge and publish some of his great stories and photos from that era including how he introduced local boy James Hunt to the world of motor racing via Minis. A few weeks later a meeting was arranged and we spent most of a day at my brothers house listening to Simon's stories and asking him questions. Karen has put together an article from the recordings and Part 1 has 8 pages featured in the latest April 2019 MiniWorld magazine with lots of not seen before great period photos from Simon's Mini racing archive. Part 2 will follow in the May 2019 issue of MiniWorld magazine.




Couple of nice period photos of Mini racer Simon Ridge in the early days at Brands Hatch (around 1966-67) when he was running his own Free Formula car and before the heady days of sponsorship! He later drove for Automex & D J Bond.
Original Photos: Sunrise International Productions B.S.Kreisky (Archive: Martin Henn)

Edited by mab01uk, 16 March 2019 - 10:32 AM.

[mab01uk]

Part 2 of the Simon Ridge article on 1960/70's Mini racing is now out in the May issue of MiniWorld magazine. Another 8-pages of great stories, memories and period photos from Simon's Mini racing archive!
(See May 2019 MiniWorld pages 90-97). 

Last year I suggested to MiniWorld editor Karen Drury that she should interview 1960/70's Mini racer Simon Ridge and publish some of his great stories and photos from that era including how he introduced local boy James Hunt to the world of motor racing via Minis. A few weeks later a meeting was arranged and we spent most of a day at my brothers house listening to Simon's stories and asking him questions. Karen has put together an article from the recordings and Part 1 has 8 pages featured in the latest April 2019 MiniWorld magazine with lots of not seen before great period photos from Simon's Mini racing archive. Part 2 will follow in the May 2019 issue of MiniWorld magazine.

 

[mab01uk]

[mab01uk]

Simon Ridge - Automex Mini - Lydden Hill paddock 1969


(Photo: John Phillips)

[mab01uk]

(Photo: John Phillips)

More details below on the Lydden race, as remembered by Simon Ridge after seeing these old photos taken by John Phillips back in 1969:-

"The race in the photos at Lydden was on 24th August 1969. I was on Pole, and alongside was Mike Chittenden in his Morris Minor with a full race Ford 1650 under the Bonnet. I knew I had to get off the grid fast and keep him behind.
 If he had got ahead, I would only have been able to get past on the corners, and with that size engine he was fast down the straights. I got a great start, and after a few laps at 10tenths, pulled out a good lead, so I eased off a bit, but in the last few laps, found I had eased off too much as he had now caught me, and looming in the mirror, I had to drive on the limit to keep ahead.
At the Flag there was just one second in it. Too close for comfort. I won the Jack Playford Trophy, and got fastest lap. The other Minis were some way back.
Strange thing, the time was  50.8, and I had broken the Lap Record the previous year on 20th July at 50.6, which I held for two and a half years. Obviously not 10tenths enough !!
The car had a new engine fitted, and Automex had put a “Running In “ sign in the back window. Talk about Red rag to a Bull !!!  Think you can just see it in the photo."
Simon Ridge

[mab01uk]

More nice period shots from Brands Hatch back in May 1969......















(All Photos: John Phillips)

Edited by mab01uk, 22 June 2019 - 08:50 AM.

[mab01uk]

Brands Hatch 1969 - Druids Bend
(All Photos: John Phillips)

[mab01uk]

More colour photos from Brands Hatch 1969
(All Photos: John Phillips)

[mab01uk]

Simon Ridge - Automex Mini - Lydden Hill paddock 1969


(Photo: John Phillips)

 

Some more photos from the same meeting in the Lydden race paddock on 24th August 1969....

 

(Photos: John Phillips)

Edited by mab01uk, 07 July 2019 - 09:58 AM.

[rich_959]

Love seeing these. Thanks for putting them up!

[mab01uk]

Rallycross at Lydden - January 1970
(All Photos: John Phillips)

 

Edited by mab01uk, 12 July 2019 - 08:25 AM.