Colin Browne Colin Browne
With the Zwartkop international historic meeting due to take place on the weekend of January 29 and 30 - and another at Killarney a week leater - thoughts are once more going back to those carefree pre-minibus taxi days, when petrol was cheaper, roads were safer and traffic cops rode Harleys with a gearchange like a car.
But unlike the collectors of rare artefacts, the advantage for carburettor, aero screen and Castrol R devotees in this modern age, is that almost everything worth copying can be cloned to order.
One of the first of the eye thieves was a guy in a farmer’s overall who laughed off the dreadful pre-war, long-stroke two-litre AC engine, as well as its successors from Bristol and BMW and the Ford Zephyr, as he transformed the timid AC Ace into the hugely successful AC Cobra V8.
Of course, the original and best known replicator in this country was the affable Doug Serrurier. Ironically, Doug was such a perfectionist that his LDS single seaters are becoming collectors items themselves these days.
Beginning by copying the F1 Cooper of the early 1960s, he then graduated to more sophisticated, later-model Brabhams, much to the Australian world champion’s annoyance. There was even talk of a high-court action at one stage, but nothing came of it.
That apart, one of the easiest cars to reproduce, largely because of its still readily-available V8 engine, is the Ford GT40.
This classic was originally commissioned by Ford after Enzo Ferrari pulled out of a deal with them.
Stung by what they considered to be his effrontery, they threw everything into the design and construction of a car that would beat the Ferraris in Europe. Enlisting the aid of Eric Broadley (of Lola fame), they developed the GT40, so named because of its incredibly low roof height of just 40 inches (1016mm). The car was adjudged to have achieved its objective when it dominated the 24-Hour race at Le Mans during the late 1960s.
The awesome lightweight Porsche 917 is a different cup of rooibos. A high-tech unit powered by a a series of flat-12 engines, the last of the variants was the 917/30, a twin-turbo rocketship developed specifically for the North American CanAm Series. Its final 1180kW (yes, you read right, that’s 1580 Bee Aitch Pee in Britspeak) made it the most powerful sports-racing car yet built.
But although it won twice at Le Mans and went on to dominate the CanAm Series, it was never an easy car to control. Brian Redman, a sought-after international test driver and a familiar figure in Springbok Series events at Killarney in those days, recalls that “it was incredibly unstable, using all the road at speed”.
Despite that, replicas are still being built. However with the rare flat-12 motor not readily available on the internet spares sites, most of them are powered by flat-six Porsche engines, although other powerplants have also been used. - Drive Times