Stumbled accross these

Having a little tidy up and came accross these.
A few of the cars ive had over the years.

17th Birthday in March and Passed my test in June and brought myself this stunning renault 5 , in eye catching brown
To think i went to the bother of fitting a bonet vent and seats from a gordini turbo





Next was a mirafiori racing in bright orange.
After 2 months of owning it i took a drive to Avanti Tune in somerset ,the uk's main abarth tuner. The engine was taken out to 2.1 , new crank, rods, pistons, big valve head and twin 50 delortos with trumpets.Also fitted some orange revolutions and an ansa marmite exhaust system. It made 212 bhp at the wheels.
Shame about the fog lights - it was the thing at the time , honest







This is a Mini that me and a mate stripped and rebuilt, it had a fibre glass flip front, hi-lo's, spax's ,revolutions, complete bare metal strip and re paint in VW tornado red.






























Next came an XR3i, this was a 1986 which i brought in 1988, OMG what a picture of me at 20yrs old
I thought it looked the dogs, with a full bodykit and twin square headlamps





Got bored of the XR3i and wanted a turbo car, so brought a Lancia Delta HF turbo , And wasnt long before i decided to give it the rally look. Basically copied a car i spotted on an a video.





Next was a lapse in sense, as i wanted something with a bigger engine.
This capri 2.8 special was show room condition. It had half leather, 7 spoke rs alloys , rs stearing wheel and a maxi flow exhaust system.
I was racing motocross at the time so fitted a bike carrier to the back.
What a pile of poop to drive, used to scare the crap out of mw when it has been raining



I had another fiat mirafiori in black, an XR2, and a few others , all of which i cant find any pictures

In 1993 i brought this saph cossie, i brought it from Stormont RS ford in Tunbridge wells, It had 1 owner and only 13k on the clock.
I was treated to a stage 1 ahmed Bajo chip , -31 actuator and a cone filter, which gave it aprox 265bhp. I thought it was the quickets car on the road.
This car was truly mint, shame it ended up 3 feet shorter - oops







Just a couple of my mad banger days, these are taken after the demolition derby at Arlington.
my number was 888 and my nick name was Dirty.
Looks a little bit shorter after the final head on

[wonkey85]

Quality write up. And what a collection of cars

Great collection Pal

All these old pictures floating about, must have been inspired by something

So, Mr 888! Nickname of "dirty"? It fits with your GT5 racing style

Brilliant little write up mate, love the Mini and the Super Mirafiori. Nice

[Steve_PPP]

Nice collection there mate, I was born to late to get into the fast fords as a young'un, my Escort was a 1.4 I guess insurance was less of a problem in those days? At 19, it was costing me £1500 a year for the escort and that only had 70bhp!

Love the Mirafiori, that must have felt very quick with 212 bhp at the wheels!

[rossmarts]

Great car history but the Mirafiori is the stand-out one for me. Just lovely.

Also love the white socks / black loafers combo next to the XR3i

[Gavsti555]

Nice cars mate liking the memory lane thing lol. My race number was 8 when I was racing bangerstox in Dover what a rush still can't Belive I gave it up

[mrs crowman]

Loved getting in the mini the day I passed my test, loved the delta too, will never forget losing the back end in the cossie!! Bit scary! But my favourite buzz was from driving the scoob :0) I was very lucky to drive some nice cars.

[tbtstt]

Great post and a good collection of cars. The Renault 5 is the pick of the bunch for me!

Originally Posted by Gavsti555

Nice cars mate liking the memory lane thing lol. My race number was 8 when I was racing bangerstox in Dover what a rush still can't Belive I gave it up

Mate, it was a rush for sure. Really miss it.
One of my funnier memories was racing a rookie rod at Arlington, i had virtually finished the build in the paddock, rushed out to get in the 1st heat,and rolled the car on the 3rd lap, got a propper smack on the head, which was unusual as we had building ackro's in the back and obviously wear a crash hat.
I had not clipped up my crash hat, it flew off my head on 1st roll, then i took an almighty smack on the head by a club hammer, that i had left laying beside the battery box due to rushing.

Big ouch

Originally Posted by worzel

Great collection Pal

All these old pictures floating about, must have been inspired by something

So, Mr 888! Nickname of "dirty"? It fits with your GT5 racing style

Brilliant little write up mate, love the Mini and the Super Mirafiori. Nice

Believe it or not the Dirty tag was not for my smelly rear either, I actually won a rookie final by spinning out one of my mates in a naughty move, was tagged Dirty from then on.
That was in an XR2, the quickest car at the time that you could wish for, as you could not have a car with fuel injection.

Out of all of these, the super Mirafiori is one i would love back, It sounded amazing, the sound of twin delortos with nothing more than gauze trumpets was awsome.
I have a video which i must put onto disc.

ADMIN POWER!!!!!

Originally Posted by worzel

ADMIN POWER!!!!!

Have i missed something

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Great post and a good collection of cars. The Renault 5 is the pick of the bunch for me!

Mate it had a wicker head lining

[Anger]

Makes me miss my Cossie

[Lucky]

Fantastic write up and some (some!!) great cars in there. Love the Fiat. Never had you down as a banger racer though!!. A mate of mine still does it at arlington, has done for many years, mainly in old austin cambridges!!!

Cheers steve, yes mate, raced motocross to a good standard when I was in my teans and early 20,s . Moved onto karting then found myself in bangers, roomie rods etc .
Had a good mate that owned a salvage yard , used to strip a car and prep it on a Saturday and destroy it Wednesday night

[Bolesroor]

Great post, I had a 2.8 special never had any issues handling wise but I did drive it like an back then, now I can`t use that excuse anymore as I am .
Like the Cossie

Interesting about your banger racing days used to watch regular at Wimbledon but really went for the Hot Rods. Barry Lee was my hero Went to a few World Championships at Ipswich and they even used to show it on ITV ` World of Sport`

[Gavsti555]

Originally Posted by Crowman

Mate, it was a rush for sure. Really miss it.
One of my funnier memories was racing a rookie rod at Arlington, i had virtually finished the build in the paddock, rushed out to get in the 1st heat,and rolled the car on the 3rd lap, got a propper smack on the head, which was unusual as we had building ackro's in the back and obviously wear a crash hat.
I had not clipped up my crash hat, it flew off my head on 1st roll, then i took an almighty smack on the head by a club hammer, that i had left laying beside the battery box due to rushing.

Big ouch

Lol that's funny. Bangerstox was light contact straight up race 1600cc festa with twin choke 1100cc box with 1300cc clutch and flywheel and it did fly

[Scott.T]

Nice collection there. Not often you see a Super Mif without rust. You didn't park the P1 near it did you ??

Love the Mini on the revolutions, not so sure about the white socks and loafers. Would look better with a mullet.

Barry lee was class.
The national hot rods with space frames and highly tuned engines were fantastic .

Yep, used to go to Wimbledon and Ipswitch .
Used to know some very interesting characters back then

[ralliart didz]

nice rides crowman,my uncle colin and his boys use to do hot rods racing too,as born and bread in wimbldon.

[Claire_PPP]

Originally Posted by Crowman

raced motocross to a good standard when I was in my teans and early 20,s

Where did you race mx Martyn? Locally or in the British championship? My dad raced solos and sidecars at British level in the 70s and most Sundays for the first 20 years of my life were spent standing in hot and dusty/wet and muddy fields watching motocross. Loved it!

Sod the side cars, there nuts
Just club stuff Claire , local Kent Sussex and the odd Surrey .
Didn't have the money or commitment to go any further .

Rob herring was one guy i watched go pass me a few times, he went on to be rather special

[BIG"E"]

Who was the red top no 320.

Was it Dave Pierce or something like that he was my favourite.

Originally Posted by BIG"E"

Who was the red top no 320.

Was it Dave Pierce or something like that he was my favourite.

Not sure mate, are you talking about national hot rods

Originally Posted by SilverSurfer

Nice collection there. Not often you see a Super Mif without rust. You didn't park the P1 near it did you ??

Love the Mini on the revolutions, not so sure about the white socks and loafers. Would look better with a mullet.

Lol, the fiat was mint , not a single bit of rust , it had been wax oiled from new.

The shoes and white socks is shocking

[Tyler]

Nice one mate, loving the pose with the xr3i and the swinging jeans with the bright white socks..

[Claire_PPP]

Originally Posted by Crowman

Rob herring was one guy i watched go pass me a few times, he went on to be rather special

Yep, he did alright for himself... several british championships, maybe a few world rounds as well iirc. I may be wrong, but I think he went on to be boss of the honda mx team or something?

Although whatever he's doing now, I bet he's got knackered knees!

[SUBARMAN]

Barry Lee! Wonderful. Used to win everything when I used to see him at Arlington. Got his autograph somewhere!! Great thread Martyn!!

:SUBARMAN:

[AndyWRX]

Nice collection there mate, lots of rwd fun

[Guy B]

Brilliant post Martin! Love the cossie, it looks mint!

[Bigtel]

I do miss my Cossie too, Was great flicking the rear out in the wet. Also used to take a few mates minds off of the wedding I was taking them too :0)))

Same year cossie too Tel

[Bigtel]

Originally Posted by Crowman

Same year cossie too Tel

Must be a Security thing ;0)

Mine was RWD but I struck a 4x4 bonnet on. I just had a stage 1 Mountune Chip then had it tweeked by Graham Hathaway. I had it from '95 to 2000 and sold it for £2K more than I paid !

[kartingsteve]

Good wright up,was a ford man myself but when I was thinking of a Cossie the ins was just to high as in over 2k so ended up with a XR4x4 but still a good car had it for 7 years. And talking about Wimbledon and Ipswich does any one remember Tony Roots always raced 77 I use to go with him racing as a sort of helper in my teens

Originally Posted by BigTel

Must be a Security thing ;0)

Mine was RWD but I struck a 4x4 bonnet on. I just had a stage 1 Mountune Chip then had it tweeked by Graham Hathaway. I had it from '95 to 2000 and sold it for £2K more than I paid !

Lol, must be mate.
Mine was 2WD but I put a set of 4X4 alloys on .
I had a little argument with a central road bollard, road sign, picket fence and a rather large bank , ended with the boot lock sat on the rear centre arm rest

[Bigtel]

Originally Posted by Crowman

Lol, must be mate.
Mine was 2WD but I put a set of 4X4 alloys on .
I had a little argument with a central road bollard, road sign, picket fence and a rather large bank , ended with the boot lock sat on the rear centre arm rest

Ooops! So you passed you test in 3 months ..... how many years before you learnt to drive without crashing then?

[Gavsti555]

Originally Posted by BigTel

Ooops! So you passed you test in 3 months ..... how many years before you learnt to drive without crashing then?

Lol funny

Like the Fiat. Love the Capri & of course the Cossie. Why did the Capri scare you & not the more powerfull Cossie? :EVO:

Originally Posted by Nige

Like the Fiat. Love the Capri & of course the Cossie. Why did the Capri scare you & not the more powerfull Cossie? :EVO:

Cheers Nige
The cossie could be given a bootfull from the off and the limited slip diff would just pull it back in, great fun and easy to control.
Ok, so i did destroy it, that was a silly error on my behalf.... Let off mid way through a fast corner, bad move with RWD

The Capri was about a foot longer and the LSD was just not good, maybe it was fooked on mine. Dont get me wrong it was fun and sounded amazing, just caught me out oin the wet, when i was honestly driving completely normal.

Originally Posted by BigTel

Ooops! So you passed you test in 3 months ..... how many years before you learnt to drive without crashing then?

lol, one thing i did learn was never let off mid way through a fast corner in a RWD, well not unless your a bloomin good driver

[Kerstin]

Only just saw this, Martyn. Great write up and some great cars you owned there.

[Bigtel]

Originally Posted by Crowman

lol, one thing i did learn was never let off mid way through a fast corner in a RWD, well not unless your a bloomin good driver

It took me a while to learn to NEVER lift off, especially when the back stepped out. It would always sort itself out nicely on it's own .... although the speeds could get a bit high before it did sometimes lol

PS I took my test after 3 Months too and after 4 months and after 5 months and then FINALLY passed on month 6!!!