Vintage Thing No.74 - the Pogwit Special

A fine example of the Fiat 126's contribution to motorsport

These photos spilled out of an avalanche the other day and the memory of a day during the summer of 1985 came flooding back. While I was a student of Industrial Design Transport at Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic, the UK's motor city held various motorsport events, including autotesting. I was on my industrial placement working for John Mockett the motorcycle designer and during one weekend the sounds of engines having their nuts revved off floated across the city.

"I must go to it," I said to my mate Geoff and he, too, responded like some brave Ulysses as if captivated by the sound of the sirens softly singing.


We followed the sound to the city centre and found an autotest going on under one of the peirs for the Coventry inner ring road, a ring road notorious for being cited by its designer as an example of how not to design a ring road.

In case you didn't know, autotesting involves ragging your car around a pattern of tightly packed cones. There are slaloms, spins and garages to park in and garages to come bursting out of. It's all against the clock and if you hit a cone you get seconds added or points deducted.

Any car can take part but most popular cars were open Mini specials with no bodywork above the wheel arches so that all four corners can be accurately placed in a parking garage. The really good drivers were hardly ever stationary and with the screaming engines never getting out of first gear the transmisisons take a hammering. We saw more than one car "do" an outside cv joint but they were quickly fixed and back in the fray. There was that delicate aroma of clutch lining over the inevitable pong of fried rubber and the drivers made their cars dance. The top drivers never had their wheels spinning in the direction of travel. It was fascinating to watch and the nearest I've ever seen to automotive ballet.

But none of these remarks really applied to the Pogwit Special. I suppose that was why it was so memorable. The Pogwit Special was run by Team Pogwit and based on a Fiat 126 of which I believe Car magazine once said "Thousands of Italians can be wrong." This Fiat had been extensively lightened by the simple expedient of removing all the external body panels. Torsional stiffness had been augmented by a bar one each side that ran from the one bulkhead to the other. A flat piece of sheet metal had been curved and welded to the front wheel arches. Unless I am very muchg mistaken only the engine cover and rear panel remained of the outer body panels.

Engine tuning was unlikely judging by the performance. The Pogwit Special didn't light up its tyres - it just drove everywhere. Being so small (I almost added "and neat" here but stopped myself in time) the drivers could park it accurately without really trying - at least that's way it looked to me.

If you look closely you can make out a bottle of something strapped to a bracket on top of the engine. I think this might have been some sort of engine breathing arrangement.

Note also the windscreen. It's one of those temporary ones that Halfords used to sell when the council were spreading chippings on the roads and loose stones would shatter toughened screens.

Geoff and I particularly liked the adjustable chairs. If they look like the ones you used to sit on during lessons at school that's because they are the ones you used to sit on during lessons at school. Not partcularly comfortable, their adjustment is pretty well infinite because they are not fixed. The drivers just moved them back or forth to suit. Re-examining the photos, I think they acted a little bit like bucket seats because the legs look like they wedge between the outer sill and whatever passes for a transmission tunnel on a Fiat 126.

How Sealink felt about the alleged sponsorship deal remains unknown

These photographs are so old they date back to when I used write on the reverse any points of interest. Consequently, I can tell you that the Pogwit Special belonged to David and Mark Lucas, who were Team Pogwit. I think the wit of the Pogwit Special is writ large. I don't know how Team Pogwit placed among the finishers but they had some very cheap motorsport and a lot of fun.