1970 HARTWELL SPRINT AVENGER
PHIL CHEEK AND CHRIS RHODES
Phil shares the original Hartwell Sprint Avenger works demonstrator with his friend and navigator Chris Rhodes. The car is a regular at Historic Rally Car Register and Historic Endurance Rally Organisation rallies and the pair have picked-up a number of class awards.
He said: ‘We’re lucky to have the original Hartwell Sprint Avenger. I have the road test that was published in Motor magazine in 1971. When the Avenger came out they decided to make it a car that a clubman could rally on a Saturday and drive to work all week.
‘It’s quite highly tuned and has a rally suspension set-up. It was discovered in a shed in Bournemouth where Hartwell was based and about three miles away from where I was born.
‘We bought it from a man in Scotland – it had been re-built – and were looking to pick something up to do the HRCR, so we bought it as a running car that didn’t need a lot doing to it. We replaced the seatbelts and solved a misfire and it has run pretty reliably ever since, though it blew its engine on the way back from a rally in Cheshire, so we’re working on that, but we have the knowledge and resources to manage.
‘Chris’ dad – George Rhodes – established a garage business many years ago and his sons run it. The garage maintains the car because Chris and I are both mechanical morons!
‘We’ve found that there have been no downsides to co-owning. We’ve been mates for years because we were both fell runners. We’ve supported each other on things like 24-hour events so it’s nice that we now get to support each other with this. I’m too weak to run uphill now and Chris has Parkinson’s so the car is a great focus. It has revitalised our friendship because we didn’t see a huge amount of each other for a while after the running stopped. I bought an MGB for hill climbs and sprints and Chris said that he fancied sitting in the passenger seat. We’ve never looked back.
‘We share the costs and find that works well for us; such is the relationship that Chris and I have, we have never really thought about whose name is on it. We love the camaraderie in the rally community, which is really special. We’ve become friendly with our fellow competitors and if navigation is too difficult for a novice crew a more experienced crew will help them out.
‘We’re keen map and navigation people so we did London to Lisbon, finishing in Lisbon on my 70th birthday and then we cycled home. After not seeing each other a lot we now have about ten weekends a year together. Chris has his bad days but the experience is all part of being mates, and him being able to take part is absolutely fantastic.’