Engine Punk

The Lomax Super Vee rose again after an intensive reworking by Pete Low so I call it the Low Super Vee Following the problems of the Super Vee engine, the Lomax Super Vee project was abandoned and the rolling chassis lingered at the Lomax factory until 1999 when my mate Pete Low (he of hopped up Armstrong motorcycle fame - see VT No.15 ) visited the factory. Pete had already built a very successful 2CV-based Lomax with which he'd competed in many Guild of Endurance Motorists events throughout Europe. After many giant-killing perfomance, Pete was on the look out for more power and having owned a Moto Guzzi Le Mans had formed a cunning plan. "To begin with, I was only thinking of putting a Guzzi engine into my much loved Lomax 223." Then on the 1999 Guild of Endurance Motorists event, Pete met Peter Van Pelt, a Dutch guy who had a Lomax business in Holland. He was competing in a 224 Lomax with a 1300 GSA engine but told Pete he could supply an adaptor plate to ...

Tarkus is the title of a 20 minute Emerson, Lake and Palmer prog rock epic describing the three battles of a turret toting armadillo on caterpillar tracks by the name of Tarkus. But of course I knew nothing of this until recently, being a punk rocking gear head. To me, Tarkus was the grandaddy of all Citroen hill climbing trikes. The existence of the hillclimbing Tarkus had often been mentioned just within my earshot in hushed whispers as I stalked around the Cornish hillclimb paddocks and pits. It was always in connection with a fire breathing supercharged Citroen powered trike called Kermit . Gradually, I pieced the story together and discovered that Tarkus was the inspiration behind Kermit. Tarkus was built by a chap with the suitably heroic name of Jake Challenger and is actually one of six. The very first one was originally designed around a two-stroke three-cylinder engine from a DKW (Vintage Thing No. 13) . Tarkus - small loud and very fast. I love the matching helmets...

An Anglo-French hybrid, British Racing Green but definitely une bolide I first met Ontos at the Exeter Kit Car show. It had been widely reported in the media that Lomax were going to do something different from their 2CV powered trikes and the result was this surprising device. It was a very clever motoring joke, recreating a vintage Bentley out of a 2CV. But what really made our heads spin was the drivetrain that looked like a supercharger. Despite a great deal of publicity, it remained a one-off but Ontos cropped up at Geevor Tin Mining Museum earlier this year when I visited this fascinating site, and when it re-appeared at the Lanlivery Show this September I was able to talk to the owner, who works at the museum and instructs school children on rock breaking. If the government is seriously expecting to re-generate heavy industry, this is more important than most people think. Ontos has a standard 2CV chassis so avoids any SVA test. However, everything else is different...

On the Thursday, Al and I had a run out in the Morgan to Blois. Al always reckons that you have to pace yourself when spectating the Le Mans 24 Hours. You can get over excited and then race will eat you up. Many people never leave the campsite, sleeping off hangovers by day and raising hell all night. Some are wired into the excellent Le Man FM radio station and wander around in a world of their own with combination radio hats and enormous ear phones/ear defenders that blot out all other noise around them. Blois is about an hour and a half away, to the south east on the River Loire – Blois on the Loire via Amboise, where they eat framboise (raspberries to me and you). King Stephen of England (famous for fighting Queen Matilda) was born here around 1097 but the town’s other notable feature is a magic museum – La Maison de la Magie - dedicated to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. I’d never heard of him but he’s the guy Harry Houdini named himself after (although he made a mistake and actually...

Well, Wiscombe came up trumps. It was even better than I expected and I ran into a number of old friends. The weather was spectacularly good with Vintage Things as far as the eye could see and I made the most of the relaxed and friendly atmosphere in the paddock. Conditions for racing were ideal and good times were had by all, even those of us not competing. I went up with Pete Low the famous ex-Army Armstrong despatch bike expert. Er, that's the bike that's ex-army not Reverend Low. We bumped into Mike Luff and Peter Chitty of the Citroen Specials Club. Later, Pete Low also got recognised by Rodney, another Citroen Specialist - I said he was famous (Pete not Rodney. If Rodney was more famous I could remember his surname. He's undoubtedly much more memorable by those who know him better. Sorry Rodders) Rodney was also there with his Lomax and as happens when fellow enthusiasts meet we compared notes and admired each other's mechanical contrivances at the end of ...