The story starts in the late 70s on a trip to New York to visit Jim McAllister at Grand Prix SSR. They were a well-known restoration shop outside New York City. It was financed by Jim McAllister who was the owner of Red Stack Tugboats which controlled the port of New York. He was a great fan of classic racing cars and, even though older, often took the wheel in one of the many cars he owned for go against the younger guys.

I went there to look at a Lotus XV sports racing car with the intent to buy it for resale. There were, in fact, two cars in a semi-completed state and I agreed to buy them both and a Maserati 150S that Jim had managed to smash badly at a race at nearby Lime Rock Park.

I went to have a look at the Maserati in a storage shed and sitting alongside it was a Cooper formula chassis with a Colotti transaxle attached to it. Upon closer examination, I decided that it was a Type 53 chassis like Jack Brabham used to win the 1960 World championship. I asked if it could be put into the deal with the other cars and I was told that he would think it over and give me an answer the following day. He said yes to include it so now I owned my first Cooper.

All the cars and parts were sent to the UK. I was living there part-time. I sold the two Lotus to my good friend Chris Drake and the Maserati to another friend, without its engine.

I didn’t have a workshop yet in the UK so I went to see my friend Sid Hoole who restored Coopers and asked him to restore it for me. The engine, I decided I would build myself. It was a 2500 cc Coventry Climax F1 engine and I searched about and found all the parts and patiently put it together and delivered it to Sid. The car took about two years to complete and the day to test it finally arrived. Sid delivered it to Silverstone Circuit. The car went like lightning right out of the box and I was delighted.

 

 

The afternoon test session was a mixture of all types of formula cars most of which were many years younger and much faster in the turns. On about the 5th lap I was attacked from behind by a Formula 3 driver who dove inside me and forced me to take a wide line… Too wide in fact, my wheels touched the grass border and the car took off and went straight into a guardrail. UGH!!! I now faced a complete rebuild of my car. I was really sick and cursed the young gun who had caused this.

Like all things mechanical they can be repaired. In another six months, it was ready to race. I did many races in Europe and the UK and the car was a delight to drive. I had many wins with it and really enjoyed the experience. Like so many times before I was approached by a friend who really wanted to buy it and I was happy to take his money.
Because of what I had learned by building my Climax FPF engine I was able to start a thriving business for just these engines. This was really enjoyable and provided some much-needed money to keep on racing.