Engine Punk

Tarkus still seeks a new sponsor Tarkus is up for sale again. Incredibly, it didn't sell at the last auction so Jake Challenger is offering it through Bonhams again at their sale at the national Motor Museum at Beaulieu on 8th September. As you can imagine I would like this device very much but don't have the money or anywhere sufficiently dry to put it. I hope it goes to a good home. To those with the resources, I say buy this extraordinary machine. Alternatively, buy my books - The Horsepower Whisperer and The Wormton Lamb - from Amazon and make me the eccentric millionaire I am properly destined to be (I'm merely eccentric right now).

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 most amazing of Jake Challenger's trikes is for sale (Photo : Bonhams) As I mentioned earlier, Jake Challenger created a series of special three wheelers named Tarkus after the ELP track and the last of the series (I'm tempted to say latest for you never know) is this device featuring a 3 cylinder radial engine of his own design that uses BMW R100 barrels and cylinder heads. Stable as a very stable thing, if you're going to leap aboard Tarkus be sure you're wearing split screen goggles and a sheepskin jacket (Photo : Jake Challenger) I had an e-mail from Jake this weekend to say he's selling it and having spoken to him again and found out some more details I can divulge that it's in Bonhams Motorcycle auction at Stafford on 29th April . Unfortunately, his wife Cynthia has had a knee replacement and can no longer get in Tarkus. The standard BMW components look like they should've been made for use in a radial 3 cylinder engine (Photo : B...

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...

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...