Tuner’s memories
Having just completed my book
Race Engines are Easy, covering 25 years of tuning at Brodie Brittain Racing, I had a problem. All 75 chapters were done from memory, and I had a niggling feeling I’d forgotten something. Then I saw
Your classic in the November 2020 issue and there it was: yes, the wonderful Isuzu Piazza Turbo that I’d missed. But then they were rare even back in the ’80s, with BBR only doing around 20 suspension and power conversions.
When converted, the Piazza Turbo was an amazing car to drive hard, with great grip and power from its 2-litre engine. It ran with low boost pressure, which BBR more than doubled – that made them go! – and had good looks, too. So I was not surprised that Matthew Abela is impressed with his car.
Thank you, because I can now add the Piazza Turbo to chapters on cars from Bentley to Ferrari F40 and even a few London taxis, over which BBR waved its magic wand for those 25 magic years, with global sales of way over 250,000 conversions. Our Mazda MX-5 BBR Turbo is still the biggestselling global aftermarket turbo conversion, and BBR won more than its fair share of races, too. Yes indeed, ‘those were the days’. David Brodie Whitchurch-on-thames, Oxon