Fairthorpe Sports Car Club online magazine article.

The Fairthorpe Sports Car Club has been featured in a new online Classic car magazine called Classic Sports Car and Special. At the moment it is only available to view on Ipads, it is hoped to make it viewable in windows format for PC`s in the future. Below is the link for the magazine, You can get to it on an Ipad by going to the website at  www.ClassicSportsCarandSpecial.com    
It is well worth a look and keep an eye out for something interesting in next months issue as well..........

Alan`s EM makes progress.

 FSCC member Alan Green has recently sent me some pictures of the EM mk1 that he is currently restoring. Alan has owned the car from new but it has been off the road for many years, the pictures show it during the strip down and more recently with the repaired chassis coming back together. Alan's is one of a number of Fairthorpes that should see the road or track again over the next couple of years, hopefully i can bring you updates on some of the others in due course. If you are working on one at the moment and would like to share some pictures with others drop me a line.

Fairthorpe EM at Goodwood - pictures of the week.

The picture of the week was taken at Goodwood in August 1981 at a track day attended by a number of Fairthorpes including my Zeta, then owned by Keith Mapley. The pictures here show former Fairthorpe registrar Dave Davies in his Electron Minor Mk1 negotiating the chicane which makes an interesting comparison with how the track looks now that it has been put back to way it looked in it`s heyday back in the 60`s. Dave`s EM was fitted with a Mk2 bonnet (those with a keen eye may have spotted that!)
In the morning the club cars including Turners, Rochdales and a Tornado took part in an Autotest, the Zeta won this with a time 3 seconds quicker than the next car, Fairthorpes filled the first 6 places. Dave won the up to 1300cc class in his EM, all class winners received a gallon of oil for their efforts.

2013 Fairthorpe Gathering details.

                    General view of some of the Fairthorpes at the 2012 Gathering

The venue has now been sorted for this years Fairthorpe Gathering and it will be held on August 4th at the Museum of Berkshire Aviation. Here is a link to the museum website :-
http://home.comcast.net/~aero51/html/
The gates will be open from 10am, the museum has a cafeteria and those attending the Gathering will be entitled to a complimentary tea or coffee.
Sarah will be supplying the usual selection of cakes/rolls and soft drinks so make sure you make a note on your calender to come along.
More details nearer the event or drop me an email on kartman.nascar24@btinternet.com
The museum address is:-
Museum of Berkshire Aviation
Mohawk Way
(off The Bader Way)
Woodley
Nr. Reading
Berkshire
RG5 4UE, U.K.

Fairthorpe beginings........The Atom.

This weeks picture is of AVM Don Bennett with one of the early Fairthorpe Atom`s, the body shells were later changed to a more pleasing shape (in my opinion!) The picture was probably taken around 1954. No Atom`s are thought to survive, the chain drive from the motorcycle engines was a weak point as were the drive shafts.

Here is a link to a British Pathe` film of the early Atom being assembled and in action.........

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/new-atom-lightweight-car/query/fairthorpe

Where are they now:- 97 NNU Electron Minor mk1

This edition of where are they now is dedicated to mk1 Fairthorpe Electron Minor, 97 NNU which was fitted with an 1147cc Triumph engine last time i saw it back in the late 80`s.  The DVLA website says it was last licensed in 1992...............Where is it now?
My father Frank and i purchased the car from a chap in Leeds, i wanted to drive the car back but dad insisted that we took the trailer and loaded it to bring it back, as usual dad was right as you will see......
A couple of days after purchase i decided to take the EM to go and pick my then girlfriend up, she lived 15 minuets away, unfortunately whilst negotiating a large roundabout i was overtaken by one of the rear wheels!  The car was now stranded on 3 wheels on a busy roundabout, a closer inspection revealed that all the wheel nuts had come off and that all the other wheel nuts were loose, moral of the story is always check the wheel nuts when you buy a car..........
Luckily for me a couple of other motorists stopped and between us lifted the rear of the Fairthorpe and put the wheel back on and with an adjustable spanner used 1 nut from each of the other wheels to put 3 on to get me to my destination as the others were deposited somewhere down the road. By the time i got to my girlfriends place she was on the verge of calling the police as she had called my parents to be told i had left over an hour ago and was convinced i had ended up in a ditch somewhere!
The car was nicely trimmed, had Spitfire seats fitted and a black hartop which had perspex windows cut into the roof to let more light in, the rear wings had been shortened slightly and 3 separate lights fitted rather than the usual EM setup. NNU was painted metallic blue and was fitted with Dolomite Sprint wheels, if anyone knows it`s whereabouts or fate i would be interested to hear from you.

Restored Fairthorpe EM up for auction.

The former Charles Armstrong-Wilson EM is being auctioned by Coys at their March 12th sale. The car was completely restored a couple of years ago and is on the button, full details and plenty of pictures can be found by clicking on this link.
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-page/193324/