Lotus 35 Martin F1

4th December 2009

Done a small site for a mate Allan Rennie who has spent 5 years - and 5000 hours - and a load of dough creating a recreation of the unique Lotus 35 Martin F1 car which was destroyed in 1967.

Allan is an old school engineer - and what has been done in his workshop is little short of remarkable. A potted history of the car build is on the site - but there have to my mind been two key moments which have been special with the car running this year:

1 - Allan's first race at Snetterton - where the engine holds together - the two leading cars retire - and the little Lotus howls to a dream debut win. I am on the pitlane with Allan's mate and ace crew chief - Karl - we don't have the luxury of a pit board - so we are frantically gesturing for him to hurry up and finish the race so we can grab a cold beer - a couple of laps from the end we realise he is in the lead - priceless!

2 - From Allan's perspective - after one of the races at Silverstone - he dropped round to Ted Martin's place - the designer of the engine - and started the car up. Apparently Ted was visibly pleased to hear the old racecar sing - which I know gave Allan a buzz.

Anyway Allan has taken the engine out for the winter and is already busy planning some outings for 2010 - he is bit of a petrolhead - he is also rebuilding  the ex-Rob McAlnea 1983 Senior TT winning Suzuki GSXR and recommissioning his factory Suzuki RG500 racebike. I was there when he started up the RG the other day - now that is a machine which commands respect!

Allan is obviously quite tidy with the spanners - he engineered Tim Bridgman to the inaugural FBMW Championship - worked for GT Teams recently and does some trick fabrication/restoration/race preparation work - so give him a call if you have need any help - details on his site.

To find out more about Allan's labour of love to get this Lotus running click on the link below:

Click here for the Official Lotus 35 Martin F1 web site - designed and built by Racecar

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