Austin 7 racing enthusiasts are lucky in Australia, and in particular,
in Victoria where we have a range of expert automotive engineers who have
been involved in the building Austin 7s racing cars for local and overseas
challenges for many years. Bob Booth along with Bill Morling and Jim Wilde
were responsible for the design and construction of three of the 1981 ‘Raid’
cars for Tony Johns, Graeme Steinfort and Max Foster. Richard Stanley built
the bodies using a photo of a Grand Prix Bugatti on a workshop wall, as the
inspiration for their final shape. These cars and two others went over to the
UK and “set the cat amongst the pigeons” as they say but that is another
story.

So when any of us hear that someone is building another racing car, our
interest is immediately aroused as to what form the new car will take.
Although I originally conceived this ‘series’ as articles about older cars, I now
feel that this could be some what limiting and that visitors to ‘Motormarques’
will forgive me for a occasional deviation.

My need to have some machining done on a brake drum was an opportunity
to visit Bob at his workshop and view progress on his new creation.
Conceived purely as a single-seat sprint car with the general appearance
of the 1933 ‘Jamieson’ side-valve, it is very much a synthesis of Bob’s many
years of engineering experience, which is being carried out to the highest
standards of workmanship and skill.

DESIGN DETAILS

Engine: Angled to align with off-set drive. Crankcase, 3-bearing type with
force fed 3 bearing crankshaft. 1937 cylinder head with ‘Yamaha’ valves. 3/8
‘Nippy’ camshaft. ‘Subaru’ 750 supercharger running at 1 1/2 engine speed,
driven by a toothed belt.

Gearbox: Close ratio 3-speed (8lbs lighter than a 4-speed).

Chassis: Lightened standard rails with various tubular and channel crossmembers.
Wheelbase, 6’ 10”.

Front Axle: Lightened standard straight type axle with transverse semielliptic
spring. Shortened and re configured radias arms. Friction dampers.

Back Axle: Early type with off-set locked differential, located by modified
trailing quarter-elliptic springs and a ‘Bugatti’ style reaction arm. Doubled-up
friction dampers.

Steering: Standard type steering box operating through an intermediate
crank-arm located at the passenger side radias arm swivel point to avoid
bump-steer. Fabricated steering arm.


Brakes: Cable operated front and rear.
Front brake shoes operating directlyagainst the wire wheel centres without
brake drums. Single drivers side rearbrake operating against a
conventional drum