The Roaring Season

by **jamie** » Wed May 22, 2013 5:02 am

Hi Guys as A young fella I was in love the later shape of the VANWALL espcialy when Moss drove. Jamie A

by **BMCBOY** » Wed May 22, 2013 12:15 am

driftwood wrote:Yes Howard i know Colin Vandervell was a front running driver in his day in various categories
after F3 he had a go at Touring cars in a Capri and then i think he decided to concentrate on business

This Andrew Marriot article is worth a read http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/9325.html

by **driftwood** » Tue May 21, 2013 7:16 pm

Yes Howard i know Colin Vandervell was a front running driver in his day in various categories
after F3 he had a go at Touring cars in a Capri and then i think he decided to concentrate on business

by **Rod Grimwood** » Mon May 20, 2013 12:16 am

by **Rod Grimwood** » Mon May 20, 2013 12:15 am

Continued

by **Rod Grimwood** » Mon May 20, 2013 12:14 am

Bit more history

by **Rod Grimwood** » Mon May 20, 2013 12:11 am

Little bit of the story after 'GAV' passed

by **Howard Wood** » Sun May 19, 2013 10:32 pm

driftwood wrote:Colin Vandervell was GAV son and he raced in British F3 in the 1970s

Drifty, Colin Vandervell did a bit more than that. He was British Formula Ford Champion in 1970 driving, I think, the same "magic Merlyn" Mk 11A Merlyn that Emerson Fittipaldi and Jody Scheckter drove. As well as F3, in 1973 he ran in Formula Atlantic in the UK, winning from NZ's John Nicholson in the Yellow Pages series with Johnny Nick reversing the result in the less prestigious BP series.

Incidentally, although its is obliquely referred to in Rod's articles, the 4 Cylinder Vanwall engine was essentially 4 "single knocker" Norton motors strung together in the modified Rolls Royce crankcase inside a water jacket. Simple but effective as so much development work had already been done to the donor Norton motor in both bikes and 500cc F3.

by **driftwood** » Sun May 19, 2013 12:30 pm

Colin Vandervell was GAV son and he raced in British F3 in the 1970s
I also know the daughter "Miki " married " below" her status and was cut off from the family and she was racing Minis at Brands Hatch in the early 1970s with her husband.
Their children went Karting in the UK and 2 of the girls where very competitive and 1 was a UK champ but they do not have the "money" to go racing in cars

by **David McKinney** » Sun May 19, 2013 11:40 am

I never liked it. By comparison with the Ferraris and Maseratis (and the BRM) the Vanwall seemed too big and bulky

Worse, it started the trend of hiding the driver so you couldn't see his arms at work

by **Carlo** » Sun May 19, 2013 9:02 am

kiwi285 wrote:A real favourite car of mine when I was at school. All of my school exercise books were covered with side view drawings of the Vanwall.

Me too.

by **John B** » Sun May 19, 2013 5:33 am

Great reading about an iconic front-engine GP car, from an era before F1 became far, far, far too complicated!

If you're interested in a model of the #26 Vanwall driven by Stirling Moss at the 1958 Italian Formula One Grand Prix, [color="#0000CD"]check this out[/color]...

Cheers, John
[color="#0000CD"]www.spr-models.co.nz[/color]

by **escorthvn** » Sun May 19, 2013 3:45 am

Rod Grimwood wrote:Vanwall 30

Thanks Rod for posting these pics, brings back memories, Len Butler in the photo above was my boss when I worked in the engine test dept. of Vandervell Products in late 73 early 74. Unfortunately due to the oil crisis and 3 day working week we were unable to run the engines for 24hours per day as we had done when I first started there. I left because there was just no work. I have very clear memories going out to a building attached to the workshop/factory and there was still bits of the old race car in storage. I remember there were several experimental, GKN/ Vandervell cars also in storage there. Cheers Pete Bryan

by **rf84** » Sun May 19, 2013 2:46 am

Tony Vanderwell was also a noted philanthropist, giving huge donations to the likes of the Royal College of Surgeons. He had inherited a lot of money from his father who was the founder of CAV (acquired by Lucas to create CAV Lucas) and added to this with the profits from Vandervell bearings.
But Tony was not as generous to his son Colin. He forbad Colin to go racing as he had seen so many deaths in motor racing and was afraid for his son's life. When he died all that Colin inherited out of his father's vast fortune was an antique "Grandfather" clock!!!! Just to add 'insult to injury' Colin soon discovered that someone had replaced the clock's original clockwork mechanism with a modern battery one making the clock virtually worthless!

by **kiwi285** » Sat May 18, 2013 4:57 am

A real favourite car of mine when I was at school. All of my school exercise books were covered with side view drawings of the Vanwall. I still have a couple somewhere with the drawings there to be seen.

It was a sensational looking car and did finally make its mark in the F1 world.

by **GD66** » Sat May 18, 2013 2:22 am

Great stuff ! Thanks for sharing, Rodders. Lovely-looking cars.

by **Rod Grimwood** » Sat May 18, 2013 2:13 am

Vanwall 30

by **Rod Grimwood** » Sat May 18, 2013 2:11 am

Vanwall 29

by **Rod Grimwood** » Sat May 18, 2013 2:09 am

Vanwall 28

by **Rod Grimwood** » Sat May 18, 2013 2:07 am

Vanwall 27

The Roaring Season

Tony Vandervell and the Vanwell Racing cars

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