Hi Chris Melia and Chris Notley.
Chris M you have figured out what’s being planned. I’m friendly with the owner and his staff but as I agreed to a restraint of trade on the GT40 for five years when I left CAV at the end of March, 2001, I can’t be involved. In fact my input isn’t required as production volumes and distribution have already been planned and arranged.
I am however discussing, with the same company, the possibility of building a precise copy of another car from that era. This will be on a joint venture basis and once again I can’t reveal anything more at this stage as we are negotiating name use and approval by the company.
Due to the phenomenal growth of classic racing we believe that there will be an increasing demand for ‘rivet for rivet’ copies of cars like the GT40. In fact it’s now Sunday evening and I’ve just returned (sunburnt!) from the Killarney circuit where there was a full day of classic car and bike racing. It was a great day and there were Ferraris, GT40s, Chevrons, Porsches, Lolas, Lotus Sevens, 1960s single seaters and a huge field of saloon cars. You couldn’t wipe the smiles off the faces of the older boys, ie the 50s to 70s age group.
Sadly Nigel Hulme’s Lola T70 MK111B suffered engine problems in practice and was out for the day. Piper’s Ford F3L had brake problems and was also out. In the first heat the ex-John Surtees Lola T70 spyder went like greased lightning but the tail flew off and got badly damaged. Not a good day for the star cars.
Apart from the many Cobra, GT40 and Lotus Seven replicas being built, Andrew Keiller in Australia is building a beautiful Porsche 917, Barrie Martin is building a Porsche 904 at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire, a friend in Cape Town built a stunning Chevron B8 and Neil Foreman builds a Ferrari P4 in the UK. In fact one of his cars raced at Killarney today, powered by a Lamborghini V12 and driven my Max Wakefield of Castrol Oil fame. In July last year I visited Franco Sbarro in Switzerland and he also has a set of moulds, chassis jigs and tooling for the P4. In fact we collectively have so much on the table already that we could start an international classic replica race series. David Piper and his fellow drivers love coming to Cape Town. They go to the beach, visit wine farms, go up Table Mountain and so on. As in this case an international classic series could give us the opportunity to visit one another’s countries and have a bit of fun. If anyone out there thinks it’s a good idea why don’t we get the ball rolling. It’ll take a huge amount of organising but it could be worth the effort.
Chris N you are right about the financial benefits of building cars in SA.
In my report – ‘CAV – the true story’ you’ll see that when I visited GTD in November, 1991 the rand traded at 4,8 to the pound sterling. Today it’s 14 to one and about a year ago it went right down to about 18. But when we visit you, boy do we suffer! For example, a year ago I had a meeting at Harrods and parked in the nearby underground car park in Cadogan Square. Three hours cost me the equivalent of R175. In Cape Town centre I would pay about R15.
I’ve seen the Noble M12 production facility. It’s stunning.
Regards,
Andre 40
Chris M you have figured out what’s being planned. I’m friendly with the owner and his staff but as I agreed to a restraint of trade on the GT40 for five years when I left CAV at the end of March, 2001, I can’t be involved. In fact my input isn’t required as production volumes and distribution have already been planned and arranged.
I am however discussing, with the same company, the possibility of building a precise copy of another car from that era. This will be on a joint venture basis and once again I can’t reveal anything more at this stage as we are negotiating name use and approval by the company.
Due to the phenomenal growth of classic racing we believe that there will be an increasing demand for ‘rivet for rivet’ copies of cars like the GT40. In fact it’s now Sunday evening and I’ve just returned (sunburnt!) from the Killarney circuit where there was a full day of classic car and bike racing. It was a great day and there were Ferraris, GT40s, Chevrons, Porsches, Lolas, Lotus Sevens, 1960s single seaters and a huge field of saloon cars. You couldn’t wipe the smiles off the faces of the older boys, ie the 50s to 70s age group.
Sadly Nigel Hulme’s Lola T70 MK111B suffered engine problems in practice and was out for the day. Piper’s Ford F3L had brake problems and was also out. In the first heat the ex-John Surtees Lola T70 spyder went like greased lightning but the tail flew off and got badly damaged. Not a good day for the star cars.
Apart from the many Cobra, GT40 and Lotus Seven replicas being built, Andrew Keiller in Australia is building a beautiful Porsche 917, Barrie Martin is building a Porsche 904 at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire, a friend in Cape Town built a stunning Chevron B8 and Neil Foreman builds a Ferrari P4 in the UK. In fact one of his cars raced at Killarney today, powered by a Lamborghini V12 and driven my Max Wakefield of Castrol Oil fame. In July last year I visited Franco Sbarro in Switzerland and he also has a set of moulds, chassis jigs and tooling for the P4. In fact we collectively have so much on the table already that we could start an international classic replica race series. David Piper and his fellow drivers love coming to Cape Town. They go to the beach, visit wine farms, go up Table Mountain and so on. As in this case an international classic series could give us the opportunity to visit one another’s countries and have a bit of fun. If anyone out there thinks it’s a good idea why don’t we get the ball rolling. It’ll take a huge amount of organising but it could be worth the effort.
Chris N you are right about the financial benefits of building cars in SA.
In my report – ‘CAV – the true story’ you’ll see that when I visited GTD in November, 1991 the rand traded at 4,8 to the pound sterling. Today it’s 14 to one and about a year ago it went right down to about 18. But when we visit you, boy do we suffer! For example, a year ago I had a meeting at Harrods and parked in the nearby underground car park in Cadogan Square. Three hours cost me the equivalent of R175. In Cape Town centre I would pay about R15.
I’ve seen the Noble M12 production facility. It’s stunning.
Regards,
Andre 40