Engine Punk

Magma's engine was unique Magma is actually one of the series of Tarkus trikes built by Jake Challenger and comes between the original DKW and Citroen powered one that inspired Kermit and the BMW 3 cylinder radial engined device to be sold at auction by Bonhams at Stafford on 29th April. Stainless Citroen GS wheel trims match the stainless Brooklands can I saw Magma at the Stafford Microcar Rallyin 1994 when that was for sale. I had a quick word with the owner and have subsequently realised this was the only (but first) time I've actually met Jake Challenger although we've since corresponded quite a bit over the years. I was mightily intrigued by Magma and only found out later that it was really one of Jake's Tarkus series. If you look carefully you can just make out the tank for the dry sump system That spectacular engine is a one-off consisting of the barrels and heads from two Weslake 500 speedway engines on a special one-off crankcase. The barrels...

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 ...

For Lomax, the Super Vee marked an entry into a whole new market (Photo: Lomax Motor Co.) The Lomax Super Vee was a super three wheeler conceived by Nigel Whall who ran the Lomax Motor Co. Most Lomaxes were Citroen 2CV based but a handful had been built with air cooled Citroen GS and GSA four cylinder engines. A factory option by Lomax featuring even more serious performance seemed to make a lot of sense. As Lomaxes looked similar to the classic Morgan vee-twin, a large vee-twin engine would be ideal. A US serviceman stationed in the UK told Nigel that the Nostalgia Cycle Inc of California made an air-cooled vee-twin 1543cc engine using some V8 Chevrolet parts. Called the Super Vee, this engine had been conceived as an alternative to hogged out Harley-Davidson engines and was intended to power kit built choppers. On paper, this made a lot of sense. Chevy engine parts were cheap and the sheer torque of the engine promised excellent performance in a three-wheeler the weight of a...

Phil's wife it was who painted on those eyes I would like to say exactly when I first clapped eyes on Kermit - for it was indeed a momentous occasion - but I can be no more specific than Easter 1984 or Easter 1985. Or maybe Easter 1986. I can't honestly remember. The venue is in no doubt, though - Tregrehan Hillclimb near St Austell in Cornwall On that occasion there were bikes, cars and three-wheelers at the same event, which featured a very muddy paddock. The three-wheeler classes consisted of traditional asymmetrical sidecar outfits and symmetrical home made creations, often a triangluar frame extending backwards from the front subframe of some front-wheel-drive saloon, typically a Mini. Kermit as built was a stubby little fellow. It's now a lot sleeker to allow me to get in it. One of them was so obviously different in concept from the others and conspicuously supercharged that it held my interest as it came to the start line. This I subsequently came to k...