Self build Sunday

Over the years there have been many hillclimb competitors who have decided that the quickest way to the top is in a car of their own creation. Aston Martin owes its existence to this philosophy. Cornishman Lionel Martin, who was born at St Ewe near St Austell, built his own specials which he used to compete at Aston Hill climb, Aston Clinton in the Midlands. When he joined forces with engineer Robert Bamford, they decided to call their car’s “Aston Martin”. In the 20’s and 30’s, there were the Bolster brothers, John and Richard, who were very creative, constructing their own “specials”, and their “Bloody Mary” is legendary. Sadly, Richard died during WW2 whilst in the RAF. However, his brother ensured that the Bolster name lived on with further “specials” after the war. We still see one of their creations, the 1923 “Bolster Special” being driven by Paul Baker, at the Wiscombe VSCC meeting’s. In the 50’s, brilliant engineer and extremely fast driver Tony Marsh scored a hat trick of British Championships 1955-57 in a Cooper-JAP Mk8. He repeated the feat, but the second time he created his own 4 wheel drive car – the Marsh GM or “Marsh Special” - with which he won the British Championship in ’65,’66 and ’67.

Today, for Self Build Sunday, a look at two single seater cars that we see regularly at Wiscombe. Plymouth MC’s Alan Bond self designed and built his Stretta R6. It was completed in 2003 originally powered by a 599cc Yamaha R6 bike engine but later upgraded to a 998cc Yamaha R1 unit. Torbay MC’s Kevin Frost took a similar route designing and building his KMD 004. This single seater was developed from his previous car, the Ford Zetec powered KMD Sports competing in the Sports Libre class. Alan and Kevin are following in the footsteps of Messrs Martin, Bolster and Marsh, and it is good for the sport that we continue to see this ingenuity and passion for constructing bespoke race cars. Long may it continue!

This article has been published on the Wiscombe Park Facebook page with additional photo's https://www.facebook.com/WiscombeParkHillclimb/posts/1912229605595948