I wouldn't mind "modding" a 4/4sports in to a TOK-look-a-like
but my wallet isn't yet up to that task...

No discredit to all Morgans, this little Riley would be my choice to drive as a replica or a 1928 Brooklands Riley Racer to cherish.

Lovely choice Frank.

I finally saved up and bought the Mike Hawthorn book Golden Boy and there were some great photos of the Riley Imp which he got from his father ('Crasher' Hawthorn).
My dad was a massive fan of Freddie Dixon, so the Riley photos bring back great memories

regards,
G

In my opinion, you've hit the nail squarely on the head with the comment shown above.

I have no issue at all with people recreating cars, my concern is when they attempt to pass them off as an original.

This past summer I got chatting with a chap in a 356 Speedster in a petrol station. I commented on his car and he went on to tell me all about it, neglecting to mention that it was Chesil replica. He went so far as to allude to the £100k price tag. I found it quite sad and wondered why he felt the need to pretend it was something that it wasn't. While 95% of the population wouldn't know, surely the most important person is yourself. It was a lovely car, appreciate it for what it is and not what it isn't.

I have always wanted to recreate a 1973 911 RS...



To my mind, it is one of the most iconic Porsches of all time.

I'd built one, track it, enjoy the hell out of it BUT never pretend it was anything other than it was: a homage to a truly brilliant car.

I fully agree with the comments about not faking it for faking sake. As can be seen by most peoples choice of recreation, if you are going to choose an iconic model from a previous era do it justice and use modern advances to make it better than it was and in fairness, I think the early days of kit cars when you stuffed a Cortina engine in poorly produced Cobra body / chassis have long gone. Maybe that's in part due to the more stringent SVA Tests that have to passed nowadays and if you think it about even the big manufacturers are effectively producing "replica" cars with the advent of the re-invention of the Mini, the VW Beetle, The Mustang , etc. That Riley is very, very nice looks like mini Jaguar SS.

HI G.
My interest in the Brooklands Riley came from an old business colleague, Harry Rea of Donaghadee in NI who sadly passed away last year at a young age. Harry, a collector of vintage cars, was the proud owner of the car in the pics below once driven by the famouse SCH (Sammy) Davis, past editor of Autocar. Harry's proudest moment was managing to track down Sammy before he died and spending an afternoon reminising about racing and particularly the nearby Ards TT races.

Next, I was chatting to a Lady Antique dealer who's son dealt in Car Racing painting. Through our conversation, she sent me two copies of a wonderful book by Irishman Brenden Lynch called Green Dust which covers Ireland's Unique Motor Racing History 1900-1939. The book features many famous mames from those heady days including Freddy Dixon who won the last two Ards TT's in 1935 & 36.


Sammy Davis driving the Car Harry Bought.


A photo copy of a poor pencil drawing I did and gave to Harry.

I forgot to mention earlier another Business collegue and good friend of Harry who has also sadly past away. In his youth he was a Riley works racing driver but then went on to run the Leeds based family Clothing Industry Supplies business, One Robert(Sideways)Staples.

Thanks Frank. great post which I and I am sure everyone else enjoyed reading By the way, if that is a 'poor' pencil drawing, I'd love to see the good stuff!

As an MG fan, I've always been fascinated by the career of Hugh 'Hammy' Hamilton who was of course another Ulsterman (born Omagh 1905, died in a freak accident during the 1934 Swiss GP at Bern's Bremgarten circuit.)

Sammy Davis wrote a famous piece about Hamilton's(J4 Midget) tussle with Tazio Nuvolari (K3 Magnette) during the 1933 Tourist Trophy race at Ards.

I've heard of Lynch's book but never seen a copy. Another source is W McMaster A History of Motorsport in Ireland 1903-1969.

Once again, thanks for sharing

Best wishes

G

The Lynch book devotes 3 pages to Hugh(The Wild Man of Ards)Hamilton. He, like most of these brave racing men of his time, sounds a fascinating character.

Frank,
For a short but quite evocative piece about Hamilton,
see:
http://www.carkeys.co.uk/features/people/15466.asp

regards,
G

Ps Some of the accounts of his death say that the real version was that his rain poncho blew up over his head, causing him to crash

Frank

I was interested to read your post as I live on the TT Circuit between Dundonald and Newtownards. The last race unfortunately was in 1936 but you can find little sources of information around the circuit. The Old Mill at Dundonald has a small information area and the Start and Finish line in Dundonald is marked. In fact i will take my Morgan around the circuit regularly, pathetic lap times though, traffic lights and pedestrians get in the way.

A Bently roars by

The TT here is remembered, sadly, because of the dramatic final race, I believe by then crowds of 250,000 flocked around the circuit. On a wet day, a Riley driven by a local man Jack Chambers lost control in the wet. He crashed into the crowd near the Strangford Arms Hotel, some 1 mile from my home, killing 8 and injuring many others. I believe it then moved to Donnington Park a safer but less popular venue.
I have always been dissapointed that Morgan were not competing on this particular stage, maybe 3 wheelers not welcome. Also the first 4/4 was tantalisingly close to coming out of Malvern