We had some new drivers and some interesting new cars at the July Autotest.
Jack Williams was there in his Tempest. A familiar site on our PCT hills but the first time we have seen at a Falcon Autotest. Jack built this car some six or seven years ago and has developed it into a superb trial’s machine. I once had the pleasure of driving Jack’s car and can vouch for it’s unbelievable manoeuvrability and tractability. Jack himself is an immensely experienced driver and has done more than most of us put together. Jack and his cars were featured in "Jack Williams – Cars I have Owned", in the September ’97 issue of Classical Gas. If you missed it at the time this article can be found on the Classical Gas Web site, the address of which is on the footer of this page.
Falcon committee member Peter Manning is another very familiar face, normally seen driving a Midget on both PCT’s and Classics but choosing the July Autotest to debut his Clan Crusader. Peter bought his car as box of bits from a friend about six years ago. He had owned the car for some time and decided to restore it, but after stripping it down got bored and left it until Peter came along. Putting the car back together involved some new skills. The glass-fibre monocoque is re-enforced with plywood and some of this was rotten and had to be replaced so restoration was more a job for a carpenter rather than a welder!
Several members of the Herts VW club were introduced to trials by Murray MacDonald when he was Chief Official on the Exeter’s Fingle earlier in the year. They looked after the corner known as "Windy Ridge", so named because it’s so cold and exposed none of the locals’ will stand there! Later in the year they provided a marshalling crew at Eddlesborough on the March Hare Mini-Classic. Julian Robinson bought his 1303 Beetle the week before Upper Caldecote for the proverbial "fifty quid" so preparation time was rather limited! Julian is the Herts VW club’s magazine editor and is rumoured to own around 15 cars at the moment, plus more bits than Murray MacDonald has got in his shop! Julian shared his new car with Chris Simpson, the Chairman of the Herts VW club. Chris runs his own car repair business these days but used to be the guy who did the training for Audi dealers. Expect to see Julian and Chris on the trials hills in a Beetle really soon!
Peter Trulock had his GP Spyder, Porsche replica, certainly one of the most beautiful cars we have ever seen at one of our autotests. Peter built his car four years ago and has it has been much used ever since. He has been touring in France with it eight times. It has been to track days at most of the circuits in Britain as well as the popular Prescott Hill Climb. This was it’s first autotest, and we hope not it’s last. However, I don’t think we will see it on a trials hill although we can expect to see Peter in another car!
Finally we had the pleasure of another Skoda on the scene; surely Falcon’s most popular car! This is the one Murray MacDonald is advertising for sale. Murray has started preparing the car for trials and has got as far as putting a white class four sticker in the windscreen! From his business premises Murray had seen the Skoda arrive on Waters used car lot as part exchange. It seemed to be putting down roots there and so Murray decided to join the Skoda club!
Clan Crusader
Ex-Lotus man Paul Haussauer built the first Clan Crusader in Norfolk back in 1971 with assistance from stylist John Frayling. The glass-fibre monocoque body was made in upper and lower sections, re-enforced with plywood, and bonded together. A Hillman Imp Sport engine and rear end, mounted on a rear sub-frame powered the car. Later complete vehicles were built at a large factory in County Durham but like so many projects it was built on financial foundations of straw and floundered in 1974 after 325 cars were produced.
Other versions of the car subsequently appeared. The original project was sold to a Cypriot business who produced some cars with a Simca 1000 engine. Peter McCandless set-up a revived Clan Cars at Newtownards in 1982 and produced around 100 cars based on the original 1971 design. Then in 1986 the Northern Ireland manufacturer launched the Clan Clover kit, an attempt to move up-market with a mid-mounted Alfa Romeo Alfasud engine but less than forty of these cars were produced.
Peter Manning’s is not the first Falcon Clan. Alan Davies’ son Mike was an active competitor in his car and Steve Prestage had one amongst his Imp collection for many years.
In 1984, Reliant introduced a new multi purpose vehicle called "Fox". This car was developed for production in Greece but also appeared on the UK marked.
Tempest
The Tempest was designed and built in 1989 by John Box on a modified Reliant Fox chassis which was turned upside down to lower the ride height. The wire wheels where soured (at least on early kits) from India. Production continued for some years. The Reliant engine and transmission is a little jewel. Jack Williams has developed his car into a superb PCT machine but reckons the design is perhaps a little to fragile for bouncing over the rocks found on the Classics. Jack is not the only Falcon Tempest owner. Simon Robson has the yellow ex Mike Furse car tucked away in his garage while the engine and transmission are re-built.
Reliant Fox
Available in three forms, as a Utility, Pick-up or Hardtop, each had a 7.5 cwt load capacity and was powered by their own 848cc, 40hp alloy engine. The fox was based on the Kitten chassis and running gear but was modified on a few minor spots, like the front suspension and had a lower final drive. When the hardtop was removed, you could place an in-fill panel/rear window behind the front seats for weather protection. Optional was a removable rear seat, which was in the open air if the hardtop was not fitted. Because of the GRP body and the strong galvanised chassis, which Reliant introduced in 1982/83 for the Robin and starting 1984 for the complete model range, it was an almost indestructible car. You can argue about the Fox looks, it's not the most beautiful car ever !!
Peter Trulock’s replica of the 718 RSK Porsche was introduced by GP Developments in 1982 and since then around 1,200 have been produced. Siva founder Neville Trickett did the development work around a shortened VW floorpan. The beautiful GRP replica body is totally authentic and it’s a very good-looking car, capable of very high performance with the right engine. Most of the cars have been fitted with air cooled VW engines but some have been made with mid-mounted Porsche power and there was a special chassis for VW Golf engines but few were sold
GP Spyder
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