DOWN THE PUB

WITH RICHARD UTLEY

81 Northampton Formula Junior veteran

He built the Caravelle “Bob Hicks and I built the Formula Junior Caravelle Mk1 in 1960 and it first raced at Silverstone. We did six or seven races that year with Bob driving as I was in the army at that time. I designed it and my role in the army wasn’t exacting, so I had plenty of spare time. I built the buck for the body in the carpenter’s shop on the army base near Taunton.”

“Bob welded up the chassis and I was very friendly with Eric Broadley so it has got Lola wheels on it. It was designed for a Fiat 1100 engine but we had problems getting the bits from Italy and so I bought a basic Ford engine from John Coombs and then Keith Duckworth put it together for us.”

They only built three “When I left the army I welded up two more chassis and we built the Mk2. It had a very short life as it was involved in a multiple pile-up at Brands Hatch on Easter Monday, 1961, and I was injured rather badly. So I concentrated on my business and the bits from the Mk2 were put away and the Mk3 was raced by Bob.”

He later bought it back “A friend of mine bought the Mk1 and converted it to an F3 car and it had been through various hands and in the late 1970s it ended up with Geoff Wragg. I was there one day and saw it in a container and I bought it in about 2001.”

He raced it at Monaco “We’ve had a lot of fun with it and I took it to Monaco in 2006 and we’ve raced it at places like Pau. I started racing again in 1988 in a 500cc F3 car and I’ve raced that at the Nurburgring and Dijon. I’m not very competitive but I have a lot of fun. As long as I get a licence, I’ll carry on.”

“We resurrected the Mk2 with a new chassis and young Callum Macleod raced it with Speedsports. I wanted to develop the car, because it was never developed in period. But with the help of Mike O’brien and Callum, the Mk2 really got sorted and it was very competitive. Bob Hicks’ son, James, drives the Mk3.”