Engine Punk

Well conceived and brilliantly styled, the Toniq R is now even better It's especially good to do follow ups on Vintage Things but here's a VT that's got more of a future than a past. I first discovered the Toniq R at the Royal Cornwall Show in 2008 and was impressed in how it puts an original take on the Locaterfield type of kit car or track day car. To be honest, may of these open wheelers are getting a bit hackneyed. I like either the traditional ones or the radical ones. Most, though, fall between these extremes and seem to be neither one thing nor the other to me. The Toniq R is a fresh new interpretation of the four wheeled motorbike and I think it looks great. People ask Colin where gets his distinctive headlamp pods. The answer is he makes them. The battery and pedal boxes are pretty neat, too, certainly too good to hide under the bonnet, which fits so neatly over the brackets. Over the last two years, Colin and his dad have been developing the Toniq R and at...

Despite the recession and continuing economic gloom, the 2009 Exeter Kit Car Show at the West Point Exhibition Centre was still upbeat. Some people pointed to vacant spaces in the exhibition hall and maybe the weather did put some people off but there was still loads to see. This machine is the KZ1 and is a one off, although there are plans for production. Apparently, there has already been strong interest in the car from Middle eastern customers and although the designer is British production will probably be in Eastern Europe. I don't know if there is any link to the Ascari KZ1 but it looks superb. I went with Peter Tuthill, author of (among others) Cornwall's Motor Industry. He's currently working on a similar book on Devon's motor industry and needless to say that I've put my name down for one. As soon as it's out, you'll hear about it on this blog. Peter is another self publisher like me, so has to do practically everything himself but it'll be wo...