Month: August 2016

CHRISTCHURCH EARLY DAYS….

It was great to go to Christchurch last week to see the very early stages of GEORGE being built. A lonely chassis, couple of seats, motor balanced in place, nose cone taped in place…all made me smile! Over the past few years Mark had been designing the new chassis and suspension, a vastly different car is evolving. The choice of Honda Power was always the choice and developing and adapter for multiple gear box configurations has further widened options. The Toyota gearbox will then attach to a Subaru differential…so my friends in Japan are totally amused that within a Kiwi chassis is Honda, Toyota and Subaru! There is no way this car will be unveiled with anything other than 勝駒 KACHIKOMA JUNMAI SAKE.

CHRISTCHURCH EARLY DAYS….

It was great to go to Christchurch last week to see the very early stages of GEORGE being built. A lonely chassis, couple of seats, motor balanced in place, nose cone taped in place…all made me smile!

PARTS LIST

There is nothing more satisfying than the early stages of a build when hours upon hours are spent looking for parts that match the design concept. The kit car community is pretty specialized and three companies were soon the source of most of the parts I knew would enhance the design.

Car Builders Solutions
http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/

Demon Tweeks Motorsport
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport

Summit Racing Equipment
https://www.summitracing.com/

Each of these specialists was equally helpful and the range of products ordered soon began to arrive, the build then felt it was beginning. Of course ebay was a stock fallback for one off custom parts.

NEW OWNERS

Earlier in the year I was in Christchurch, Robert was in the process of selling McGregor Motorsports. The post-earthquake years had taken its toll financially and emotionally on so many Christchurch residents and Robert and his wife Isobel had absorbed enough….it was time to sell the business.

Fortunately a client who was building a McGregor and for many years had been their powder coater said he was keen to buy the business. I met Scot and his partner Delwyn and immediately knew this was a “good fit.”

Scott has an extensive background in cars, fabricating and as he said “give me some materials and I will build something.” Robert will continue to assist in the business transition and will still jump in and help with electrical designs and implementation. Mark is going to be a consultant in design, fabrication which will really maintain the continued development of the McGregor cars. Ironically there is not much left of the original McGregor designs….it’s an entirely different car with a far more sophisticated understanding and production of the evolving Lotus 7.

I am really excited to be a part of this change and working with Scott fits really well within what I want from a custom car build.

ITS STARTING AGAIN

Three years ago I joined a project with Robert and Mark of McGregor Motorsport in Christchurch; New Zealand. From the McGregor Lotus 7 Replica, Mark Roberts created the MACHsr7. This was a vast improvement upon the McGregor, largely due to a new front suspension, greater attention to detail in fabrication and performance. However, Mark’s vision of building a very unique Lotus 7 replica was born. Mark had completely designed an entire new chassis, suspension, and body design, simply a much more sophisticated car I was totally captured and named the project “George”.

This was the first prototype I filmed during my regular visits, little did I know that three years later I would sell Orange and then be encouraged to once again steer myself into another build project . So it appears that George is the new Orange.