Club News, January 1981

The Frazer Nash Section

The ‘chain-gang’ section of the VSCC held their annual Christmas Party and beano at the Green Dragon Hotel, Hereford on Saturday December 6th at which Reggie Wright, who owned his first Frazer Nash in 1928, was the guest of honour and a trophy was presented to the section in memory of Basil Davenport, by his daughter. At the end of the racing season a team of ‘Nashes took part in the 750 Club 6 Hour Relay Race and finished 21st out of 27 teams. The section was well pleased. The 1981 “Raid” is planned around a week at the Nurburgring and at Zolder to take in the Historic Car Meetings at those two circuits next August.

The Amilcar Register

Owners of the exciting little 1,100 c.c. supercharged six cylinder Amilcars are well ahead with a combined effort to manufacture a batch of new cylinder blocks. As organiser Desmond Peacock, himself a C6 owner, says “. . most of the existing blocks are well over 50 years old and are held together by Metalok and welding. . . .

Austin Big 7 Register

R. E. Taylor of 101 Derby Road, Chellaston, Derby has recently taken over as official registrar of Austin Big 7’s from J. Denhams.

Aston Martin Owners Club

Victor Gauntlett, the MD of Pace Petroleum, was very pleased to announce that his firm would be sponsoring the major meetings organised by the AMOC, which include the ever popular Wiscombe Park HilIclimb, on April 11/12 and the St John Horsfall Race Meeting at Silverstone on June 27th. Pace were happy to have provided a measure of support for Michael Bowler and his Lister-Jaguar in winning the 1980 FIA Historic (Mickey Mouse) Championship.

750 MC

The 750 Motor Club had another very successful season’s racing in 1980, and plan a similar calendar this year, including the Six Hour Relay Race in October. Enthusiasm has always been the backbone of this Club for the amateur racing driver, and this is highlighted by the efforts of a group of Australian members who are shipping their cars over for a number of Austin 7 events in August.

Alta Register and HWM

Enthusiasts for the marques Alta and HWM had a friendly get-together recently at the home of Nick Jerome, the owner of an interesting hybrid comprising a rubber-sprung 1949 GP Alta chassis fitted with the body from one of the 1950 HWM Formula 2 cars and powered by a Jaguar engine, following the lines set by Oscar Moore in 1952 when he replaced the 4-cylinder Alta engine in another of the 1950 two-seater Formula 2 HWM cars with a 6-cylinder XK Jaguar engine which he enlarged to 3.8 litres. This ex-Oscar Moore car (XMC34) has been owned by Tony Grainger for many years and in 1980 Gillian Fortescue-Thomas drove it in sprints and hilIclimbs, and plans to do the same again in 1981.

Marcos Owners Club

Marcos owners who went In the Club’s Donington Park weekend in 1980 enjoyed the opportunity to see examples of just about all the various models made by this West of England firm and were able to take part in a series of well planned driving tests. An ambitious plan to computerise the membership files is under way to enable the Club to provide a better service for its members and a number of competitive events is planned for 1981.

AVO Owners Club

Plans are afoot to form a Club to cater for the needs of owners of all Ford AVO produced cars, such as the Mexico and RS series cars, produced prior to the closure of the South Ockendon factory. The man to contact is Mark Smith, 20 St. Catherines Court, Aylesbury, Bucks.