WAY 327 a Pheonix from the ashes.........

Owner Steve Colling tells the story:-
Fairthorpe Elecron Minor WAY 327 was despatched as a complete kit 0n the 29th July 1960 to Mr A Hawley of Leicester, who impressively managed to register the car on the 17th August 1960, only 19 days later.The kit included: chassis, body, screen, hood, side screens, carpets, wipers etc. The car was fitted with a Triumph Herald 948cc engine and gearbox, twin SU carburettors, a 4.11:1 differential, independent front and rear suspension, rack and pinion steering and drum brakes all round. Once built the car was driven by Mr Hawley until his children were born and the car was left to collect dust in a garage for about 13 years until I purchased the car in November 1980. Basic repairs were carried out on the car mainly using second-hand parts, the car was resprayed and a new hood made. I drove the car as daily transport until 1986 when one evening travelling home the electric fuel pump caught fire; the results can be seen in the photos.

Now was a good time to make WAY 327 faster and handle better. With lots of help from Martin and Frank who were running Motorville at that time, a new body was made from the original moulds and a new windscreen and aluminium frame were sourced. Then the fun began. First a Ford 1600cc Kent engine was sourced, this was completely rebuilt, lightened and balanced and fitted with an Kent A2 camshaft kit, GT cylinder head, Webber 40's, lightened flywheel and a competition clutch all bolted to a Lotus bullet gearbox. A four branch stainless steel exhaust system was manufactured and installed by a company in London who make racing exhaust systems. The propshaft had to be custom made to take the extra power and to mate with the Lotus gearbox and Triumph differential. The diff has a new crown wheel and pinion to take the ratio to 3.63:1. The output shafts were also changed to the stronger larger Triumph Spitfire items. All this has the benefit of less wheel spin in first and second, better acceleration, increased top speed and lower revs at motorway cruising speed. The rear brakes are drums and work fine but discs and callipers are fitted at the front, along with stainless steel braided hoses, kunifer brake pipes and new hydraulics.All four shock absorbers were replaced by gas Spaxs with adjustable dampening and height, 180lb competition coil springs were fitted at the front and 360 lb at the rear. Both front and rear suspension has been lowered a little and the geometry modified to improve the handling further. The rear suspension arms were remanufactured in solid bar (the originals were hollow tube) and larger TR6 ball joints fitted to cope with the added loads. The chassis out-riggers were replaced with 25mm box section and steel floors; the rest of the chassis has some extra bars and bracing for strength. The loom has been replaced with a Triumph Dolomite sprint item that has a fuse box as the original loom had no fuses which contributed to the fire. Inside the car has been updated with new carpets, a three piece walnut dashboard with extra instruments, glove box, heater with demister vents, bucket seats and a new roof and side screens. A new aluminium fuel tank has been manufactured with a 13 gallon capacity and reserve feed to extend the cars range when touring in Europe; the extra weight of fuel on the independent rear suspension has the added benefit of improving the handling as the car was originally too light at the rear.

The car was completed in about 8 months and then displayed at the classic car show in 1987 when the show was held at the Metropole hotel in Brighton. The cars had to be driven onto a dodgy looking wooden platform on the ground floor and whilst sitting in the car the platform was lifted up to the first floor by a forklift, the car had to then be driven off onto the first floor, needless to say the reverse journey was a lot more scary, you can't do that now with health and safety.

WAY 327 has been driven to France and southern Spain by me along with many trips in the UK and I can confirm the work, effort and modifications have all paid off, the car is great fun to drive and the performance and handling puts lots of modern sports cars to shame.

Rare Electron Climax to hit the tracks in 2011.

Todays post is about the Fairthorpe Electron Climax owned by Rob Cobden, the car spent most of it`s life on the Isle of Wight eventually being taken off the road and languishing in a Garden with bushes not just growing round it but in it as well!

After he bought it Rob spent 18 months stripping, repairing and rebuilding the car which has Triumph TR3 running gear and a 1220cc Coventry Climax engine. The engine had been left with the spark plugs out while the car was open to the elements and was so seized that the pistons would only come out of the engine by removing the cylinder liners as well. Rob says he was lucky the crankshaft was in a position where he could undo the conrod bolts otherwise he may have had to have cut the rods to get the engine stripped. Following a complete rebuild to race spec the engine now produces around 110bhp at the flywheel and he is hoping to get the car to Goodwood in the near future to give the it some testing.

The original bonnet and tail section have been replaced with newly moulded items as the old ones were too far gone to be repaired properly and a very nice looking roll bar produced which can be removed by undoing a few bolts. Rob is currently waiting for the F.I.A papers and once the car has done a few test miles on the track he will be looking at doing some racing in it later this year, when he has some dates penned in i will post them on the blog. I`m sure you will agree he`s made a very nice job of the car and it was voted the best Fairthorpe at last years Fairthorpe Gathering in August by those present.

Where are they now?

I have been contacted by Micheal Woodcock regarding a Fairthorpe EM2 that his father in law Kenneth Mansbridge built in 1960, the car was registered WBD 772 and was painted in red, his father in-law still has the original brochure/price list from when he bought the kit and speaks very highly of Don Bennett saying it was an honour to meet and speak with him back then.
He says he swapped the Fairthorpe for a mini estate needing more room for a growing family.

Having done a check on the DVLA website it shows the car as currently licensed so it has survived. Does anyone know the whereabouts of the car as the owner is not currently a member of the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club, both Micheal and Kenneth would love to see the car again. You can e-mail me at kartman.nascar24@btinternet.com if you have any information on it and i will pass it on.
I hope to make this a regular feature regarding `lost` cars so if you owned a Fairthorpe and are wondering what became of it drop me a line.

Here is a picture of the car whilst Kenneth owned it.

Fairthorpe racing news from down under.

This weeks Fairthorpe is currently being raced by Fairthorpe Sports Car Club member Les Whelen from Australia, he kindly sent me these pictures of his car and some background history to it.

BRIEF HISTORY:
Found advertised in the local Trading Post for $A4000 in late 2005. After inspection bought it dismantled with boxes of parts, many brand new, and bits and pieces. Rebuilt from chassis up. Factory plate shows Chassis Number 10433 indicating late 1959 build. Was road registered in NSW in early 1980s but no other history known.

As found picture

Still has original Standard 10 front suspension wishbones with modified coil springs. Standard 10 live rear axle with trailing arms as original. Steering had been changed to rack and pinion (Ford) at some time but came with original re-wooded steering wheel (Retained but not used now). Documentation indicates original 948cc Triumph engine replaced with a 1200cc Triumph engine in 1982. Came with Toyota Celicia 5 Speed gearbox and engine bored out to 1300cc. Retains original header tank and copper pipes to radiator. Original Standard 10 speedo (recalibrated to 120mph) and ammeter fitted with ancilliary dashboard fitted in driver’s side cubby hole with tacho, oil pressure and temperature gauges.

Alternator replaces generator and 45DCOE Weber carb, replaces original twin SU’s (These came with the car however). Front end fitted with later Herald/Spitfire disc brakes. The front end was a real puzzle because it had been cut up and at first the car rode very nose-up but many adjustments later is now fine. Restored as an historic race car so not road registered, but Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) refuses recognition because not FIA Homologated and has later modifications but allowed to run as “other” category in many events.
To overcome CAMS attitude most driving is done under the auspices of the Golden Era of Auto Racing Club (GEAR) where drive days are organized for us oldies to have fun on Queensland’s two major racing circuits- Queensland Raceway and Lakeside Park.

COMPETITION HISTORY:
1. Speed on Tweed 2009/2010 – Sprint event approx 1km long, one car at a time in classes. Fastest time in class wins. Held around houses in Murwillumbah on the Tweed River in northern NSW – tight corners, up hill and down.
2010 Best time for Les Whelan’s Fairthorpe Electron Minor – 1.02.4853

2. Cootha Classic 2009/2010 – Hill climb up and down Mt Coot-tha in Brisbane City
2010 Best time 1.18.277 Trophy for SECOND IN CLASS (Allowed to run as historic pre-1960 Sportscar up to1500cc)

3. Leyburn Sprints 2008/2009 – Around the houses sprint in small country town where the 1949 Australian Grand Prix was held on an abandoned World War 2 airfield. 1km flat with tight corners.2009 Best time 1.10.96 Trophy for SECOND IN CLASS (Ran again as historic)

4. Maryborough Sprints 2009 – Flat 1km sealed track in local showgrounds in Maryborough about 200km north of Brisbane.
2009 Best time 1.03.71

5. Historic Lakeside 2010 – Lakeside is the only former F1 race circuit still used in Queensland. In early 60s for the Tasman Cup and AGP drivers such as Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Frank Gardiner, Bruce McLaren, John Surtees, Chris Amon, Jack Brabham, Denny Hulme etc raced there watched by young fellas like me. Tight, up and down, known for destroying cars (One left hander is called Hungry Corner). My first attempt at ‘racing’ with around ten cars in my class but because of my lack of classification I found myself in a group comprising Porsche 911s, a TVR, a Mallock U2 Mk8, BMW 2002, hot MGs and Minis etc. Ran last with time of 1.27.284. Mallock U2 first in my class at 1.06.3855.

Les and the Fairthorpe in action!

This year, 2011, I will probably enter all of the Sprints and Hillclimb again but only enter Regularity at other Historic events. (In Regularity the object is to circulate at a given lap time consistently so you are racing against yourself not other cars which will be circulating with you)

It`s great to see the cars being used all around the world, if anyone else has pictures and info on their cars i`d be happy to post them here for all to see.

Fairthope International Race/Rally History

Following a request from a contact in Europe i have done some research into the International competition history of Fairthorpes as there seems to be a lack of published information for people wishing to use their cars in Historic racing.
It is widely known that Air Vice Marshall Don Bennett competed on the Monte Carlo Rally in 1959 in an Electron Minor and 1962 in an Electron Climax, (4th in 1001-1300cc Class ) but it was a surprise to me to find out that he also did the 1959 RAC Rally and the 58 Tour de France in Electrons with Peter Riley navigating in car no 133. The 1963 Spa Sofia Liège Rally was done in car no79 by Alex Mylonadis & wife in a Fairthorpe Triumph............I am also looking into other possible rallies the cars competed in and will publish here anything i find.
Here are a few pictures and entry list/results.

1959 Monte Carlo Rally

The car used on this rally was an Electron Minor

Here is the result sheet for the 1959 RAC Rally, the car used was an Electron with the Coventry Climax engine.

Here are the results from the 1962 Monte Carlo Rally

This is the entry list for the 1963 Spa-Sofia-Liege Rally

Fairthorpes have been used extensively in circuit racing from 1957 to the present day, as and when time permits i will try to catalogue those that there is information on or i know of. Most types have been used, Electron Minors, Electron`s, Zeta`s, Rockettes and John Green even raced an Atomota! The Formula Junior was not raced in period as far as i am aware but Ron Welsh is making up for lost time and competing (and winning) with it over the last couple of years. Several people have kindly sent me the link to the `Racing Sports Cars` website which has quite a list of events that Fairthorpes raced at in period, this is obviously the tip of the iceberg but is a good starting point. the page address is:- http://www.racingsportscars.com/cars/search.html?make=fairthorpe

The 1961 4hr race at Pescara was a round of the F.I.A World Sportscar Championship and had 2 Fairthorpe Electrons competing though sadly neither finished. Car no 116 was driven by Mylonadis / Stefani and car no 120 was driven by Gabrio Del Torre which retired with electrical problems. Fairthorpes are listed as entries for several other F.I.A races but are down as did not arrive. Unless someone turns up the results from these we won`t definitely know if the cars ran or not. I hope in the fullness of time to create a separate page with all known race events for Fairthorpes, please feel free to contact me with any information regarding events and i will include these on the list.

Picture of the week.

I have not posted a picture of 789 ERO for some time so this weeks two pictures are of Little Nero taken at Silverstone 50 years apart, the first picture was taken in June 1959 at the Eight Cubs race meeting with Frank taking a 1st and a 3rd on the day. The second picture was taken in July 2009 at the Silverstone Cassic event during the lunchtime parade. Frank is driving the car for the first time since he sold the Fairthorpe in 1962, you can almost see the smile from here! Paintwork is still to be finished but the car has now covered quite a few miles.

Another well known EM being resurrected

I recently had a phone call from Adrian Mancha who has owned his Electron Minor for 30 odd years and is only now getting around to restoring it to its former glory. Many of them seem to languish in a corner for 20 or 30 years before we get the urge to get our hands dirty! Adrian`s car has quite an interesting history in that it was built by Fairthorpe Sports Car Club founder Barry Gibbs, and is only one of four that had a modified kahm style tail fitted and, as far as I'm aware, is the only car with this style of tail still fitted.

The modified tail was an after market modification which used the Cortina mk1`ban the bomb` tail lights to give a totally different look to the car. Barry had a tuned 1340 Ford Classic engine built by the ex-Fairthorpe works manager John Green, and mated it to an MGA 1500 gearbox which gave far greater performance than the 1147 Triumph engines which were fitted to most of the EMs at that time. Adrian informs me that the engine and box are still with the car, which will make it a fun drive once rebuilt. The car also has an interesting hardtop fitted which looks similar to those fitted to the Lenham Sprites; maybe it started life as one then being modified to suit, I hope to speak to Barry at some point in the New year and get a bit more background history to the car.

Adrian has removed the body and is replacing the siderails and beefing up the roll bar mounting points. Hopefully we could see the car out and about in 2011, and I`ll update this post once the car is nearer completion. Watch this space as they say!

TX Tripper sold!

While surfing the net one evening I stumbled upon an ad for a Technical Exponents (TX) Tripper, cousin to the Fairthorpe. She had been sat disassembled in a lock up for the better part of 30 years. Following a telephone conversation with the owner, during which I discovered the car was way up in Carlisle, we made arrangements to collect the car the next weekend.

After a long five hour journey to the borders of Scotland, we opened a garage door to reveal a rolling chassis surrounded by parts and the car's body suspended above from the ceiling with an inch of dust on it. It took three hours for Sarah and I to put her back together sufficiently to wheel her up onto our trailer.

Anyway she's in traditional 1970s Ford Apollo metallic green (the Tripper not the wife) although her original colour was orange. I have decided to sell her as i am concentrating on the original 50`s and 60`s Fairthorpes.

So, here's the specs:

• first registered in April 1973
• comes with Triumph 6-cylinder 1600 engine and a 2000cc engine (seized)
• solid chassis, no welding required
• comes with tonneu cover and a hood, but the hood is very tatty and only useful as a pattern for a new one
• glass fibre body is in generally good condition, has some crazing around one of the rear wheel arches caused by the rope when it was suspended
• part stainless exhaust system
• comes with V5 logbook
• has its sidescreen frames and the uniquely-shaped rollbar

The car has a few negative points:

• it is missing one seat
• the rear suspension leaf spring clamping plate is missing (available from any Triumph breaker)
• carbs are missing from the 1600 engine
• one rear light unit missing

In summary, this is a rare opportunity to buy a slice of seventies motoring history.

Has to be a bargain at £650 and i can deliver for the cost of my petrol. Price includes a seventies wig and mustache!

Car is now sold.

Video of the Fairthrope Gathering at Stow Maries Aerodrome

It's taken a while to get it together but it's here! This is a very high resolution version of the movie which took almost 19 hours to upload to YouTube. In the meantime Sarah uploaded a low resolution version for those who couldn't wait (15 people couldn't and had viewed it today!) but she has now removed that and replaced it with this version.

If you were one of the people who watched the low-res version, take a few moments to see the high-res version as well. It really is well worth it.

Fairthorpe Gathering 2010 report

Having had torrential rain and thunderstorms on Saturday, we were thankfully blessed with reasonably warm but windy conditions for the 2nd annual Fairthorpe Gathering at Stow Maries Aerodrome in Essex.



The aerodrome dates from WW1 but fell into disrepair once the Royal Flying Corps left after the fighting stopped. Russell Savory bought the derelict site several years ago and is now restoring it back to its glory days. Russell started by giving us an overview of the aerodrome's history and plans for its future, followed by a guided tour round the numerous buildings and explanations of their previous uses. Then all the petrolheads piled into Russell's business workshop (RS Performance) for a guided tour of the premises, which houses a number of highly tuned V6 and V8 engines currently being fitted into high performance cars for his customers.

Now, I guess most of you visiting this site want to hear about and see some pictures of Fairthorpes. Hopefully those of you that own ine in bits will be spurred on to get them out of hiding and on the road in time for next year's event!

We had an excellent turnout of twelve cars comprising:

The one-off Formula Junior racing car

Two Coventry Climax powered Electrons

Eight Electron minors

One Rover V8-engined Pathfinder.

Several of the cars were immaculately presented, some were running restorations (mine included!) and special mention must go to Brian Townsend whose ground-up rebuild was there in its rolling chassis stage to show everyone what they are like `with their clothes off!'

A Ginetta G21 and a Jowett Jupiter also turned up, both driven by Fairthorpe fans.

The press turned up from Classic Car Weekly...

The day wouldn't have been complete without awards though. Best Fairthorpe was won by Rob Cobden`s Electron which he recently finished rebuilding ready for next season's historic racing campaign. The other award was for the furthest travelled Fairthorpe, which was hotly contested with three cars coming over 100 miles and all travelling within a total of 10 miles of one another! Rob walked away with that trophy as well. Rumours of him doing two laps of the airfield earlier in the day to bump the mileage up were unfounded!

The day was rounded up by Ron Welsh doing a couple of fast passes in a wheel spinning Junior past the 10 mile an hour signs....tune in later this week for the video of that.

Everyone was kept very well fed during the day with complimentary ham rolls, home-baked cakes, biscuits, and teas and coffees. Several of the cars were leaning noticably as they left at the end of the day due to the occupants' full stomachs (I would like to thank my lovely wife Sarah for the amazing effort that she put in to preparing the feast, it certainly went down well).

More pictures and some movies will be downloaded to the site over the next few days. and if you have any you would like to see featured on the blog please send them to me and I will put them up.

Now: next year's 3rd Annual Fairthorpe gathering will be on a similar date in August somewhere in the midlands to encourage some of the FSCC's more Northern UK owners to participate.

If you have a car in bits, there's no more perfect incentive to finish it up ready for its unveiling to club members next year. So go get stuck in!

Weather update for Sunday's Fairthorpe gathering

Sunny intervals.

[he heaves a sigh of relief - 789 ERO has no wet weather gear yet]

Fairthorpe gathering 15th August 2010

One week to go until this year's Fairthorpe Gathering at Stow Maries WWI Aerodrome in Essex. The event is open to all Fairthorpe fans, not just owners, so if you have one, had one or want one this event is for you!

At least 13 Fairthorpes are expected on the day, including several racing Electron Minors, the one-off Fairthorpe Formula Junior, a racing climax-engined Electron, and a pair of Pathfinder V8s.

Owner Russell Savory is doing some amazing restoration work of the airfield and has offered to include a guided tour of it as well as a tour of the R S Performance workshops, which house many V6- and V8-engined high performance sportscars.

The postcode for the airfield if CM3 6RN if you need it for your SatNav and cars will be arriving from 10am. If you need any further information contact me on kartman.nascar24@btinternet.com. There'll be refreshments available to keep you going and prizes for the best-looking Fairthorpe and the furthest traveled Fairthorpe.

Full pictures and report will be posted the week after the event.

1954 Fairthorpe Atom film

NEW "ATOM" LIGHTWEIGHT CAR

Many thanks to Turner Registrar Russ Filby, who alerted me to this Fairthorpe film on the British Pathe site (http://www.britishpathe.co.uk/) - Don Bennett and friends putting together and test-driving an early Atom.

You can tell it is an early Atom because the headlights are on top of the wings and later Atoms had them built into the wings.

Video of 789 ERO at Castle Combe 1st August 2010

Sarah shot these videos while at the 60th Anniversary event at Castle Combe on Sunday. We were on our way out to do a couple of parade laps during lunchtime. Frank is driving. Also shown in the video are Turners and a Tornado.




And here they are all coming back.

Fairthorpe for sale

In the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club magazine this month Chris Jones is advertising his Electron Minor mkII. If you don't get the magazine, here's a few words about the handsome beast (the car that is not Chris):

• Good condition, taxed and MOTd
• Triumph Herald 948cc with twin 1.1/8 su carbs
• White with black trim
• Alloy petrol tank and front hubs.
• Trailing arm rear axle, all rose jointed
• Magnesium 6" minilite front wheels, 7" alloy rear minilite
• 3 spare 6" mag wheels, Ford fitting all round
• Tyres only done 60 miles
• Mota-lita leather rim steering wheel, good hood and trim.

£3,500

CAR NOW SOLD

Picture of the week: now that's what I call a wedding present!

This Fairthorpe EM is owned by FSCC member Gary Julian. It was bought for him in 1986 as a wedding present from his wife-to-be - he suggests it may have been to keep him in the garage and out of the pub!

The car was first supplied as a kit in 1962 to two brothers and apparently it took them a couple of years to build it as it is registered on a `C` plate. By the time Gary became the owner the car required plenty of TLC. As it was pretty bashed about, he changed the bonnet from the original Electron style one with an opening hatch to a mkII twin vent. That's one of the good points of owning a Fairthorpe Electron Minor - six different bonnet shapes were produced over the years and they can all be adapted to fit any EM. The engine in the car is a Triumph Herald 1147cc engine with twin SU carbs.

Gary will be bringing the car along to the Fairthorpe Gathering on the 15th of August at Stow Maries WW1 airfield in Essex so if you want to take a look at it closer make sure you don't miss the event.

Picture of the week - if you go down to the woods today...

Well actually, if you did go down to the woods today you would be 25 years too late as I found and removed these Fairthorpe EM1 remains from behind a garage in Essex around 1985. I'd had a tip-off that they were there and my source told me the rest of the car had been scrapped.

The rescued panels were in very poor shape, but it just goes to show what may still be lying around. A 1950s fibreglass Ashley was recently discovered lying down the side of a riverbank, where it had lain for many years half in and half out of the water.

You never know what might turn up and where so keep your eyes and ears open!

Picture of the week - Silverstone meeting in 1959

This week's picture is of Frank at the wheel of 789 ERO at Silverstone during the Mid Kent Motor club meeting on May 9th 1959. The car chasing him is a rare Berkeley B105 driven by Ian Mantle.

The picture was taken at Copse corner, which looks a lot different nowadays!

Picture of the week: Fairthorpe Electron Minor kit components

The two images show the components for an Electron Minor kit (minus the bodywork) which was photographed around 1958. All components were new and just required assembly by the amateur constructor, thereby saving purchase tax. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the rear axle has not had its Fairthorpe trailing arm suspension brackets welded on at this point, meaning the axle is as supplied from the Standard Motor Company.