Salop Powder Coating have teamed up with TeamTopBanana that are Tim Edwards and Jane Salisbury, they run two Hillclimbe and Sprint cars at various Hill Climb events.
Director, Christopher Greenough said When we painted the wheels on the two cars for Tim, I saw the chance to get the word out, that Hill Climbing is an accessible way to get to see great British motorsport.
I had never been to an event before, and so at the end of September we went to the Loton Park. It was a great day, and we were so close to the racing, the noise, and the smell of the engines and fantastic racing as well.
The above picture was taken by Paul Elton; he is a Shropshire based commercial photographer with over 25 years experience in professional photography. Based conveniently in the heart of England, the drive-in studio is fully equipped with the latest digital technologies; this coupled with a passionate creative eye ensures a winning combination on every shoot.
Between Tim and his TeamTopBanana cars, Christopher and his Powder Coating and Paul taking the photographs they are combining skills to bring together three local Companies, to raise the profile of this great Motorsport.
TeamTopBanana came about thanks to an advert in a classic car magazine, the advert read something like this, for sale RS500 rolling shell, Tim asked me if I fancied having a go at Motorsport, I didnt have to think too long and very quickly replied yes, so the project began. We agreed that we would spend a maximum of £15k which should give us a very nice competion car.
Tim spoke to the owner who described the shell and the colour (orange we could live with that), it sounded good so off we went up to Lincolnshire with the trailer it took us 4 hours to get there, the shell was exactly as described, oh but the colour, it was like a Morris Marina beige, (we couldnt live with that, but we could paint it, up the budget a bit) so car paid for and loaded onto trailer and 4 hours later back in Shropshire.
The first thing we did was to have the shell sand blasted ready for Tim and a friend Phill Jones to paint the car, there was no doubt about the colour, it had to be the same as Tims Sierra Sapphire Cosworth, Millennium yellow. All of the work was done in an old barn with polythene draped round the walls to keep out dust, I nicknamed Tim and Phill Tinky & Winky after the teletubbys because of the onesies they wore, I do have photographic evidence but I dont think they would ever speak to me again and Tim prepares my car for me.
The entire rebuild didnt really take too long, and the car looked amazing,
We took the car to an engine builder for him to get the car running and put on the dyno, we were like a pair of kids waiting for Christmas, he had the car for 3 long months, anyway the phone call came its ready to collect so off we went minus trailer as it was going to be driven home, all looked well until we started her up, we did expect the pistons to be a bit noisy as they were WRC pistons but didnt quite expect that noisy, anyway we were assured its fine go and have some fun, we did a couple of track days to get to grips with the car but was never happy with the engine, anyway to cut a very long story short we found another engine builder who had done a friends pinto engine for his MK1 Escort, which had been very successful and reliable, and he promised us we would have the best engine possible, 3 years down the line and 3 rebuilds after only 23 miles having blown up twice on the track and once on the dyno and having missed 3 seasons of racing I decided I was going to buy myself a Scooby, I had completely falling out of love with the Cosworth, but fair play to Tim he stuck with it, I do have to say I admire his patience
Tim found another engine builder who we call the Stig, when he took the engine to bits he couldnt believe the carnage, a child could have done better.
The Stig also rebuilt Scoobys engine 2 years ago, she had after all had done a season at Loton Park, being thrashed up a hill on an engine that had done over 100,000 kilometres , and I had the Turbo done last year, again it had never had anything done to it from day one,
Results.
Both cars have been very successful at Loton; Tim very quickly got the car up the hill in 57.62 seconds, and has won many trophies,
Scooby and I have also won many trophies along with a 2nd place in The TTC Championship the first year and again this year I have taken first place in class 3 of the TTC Championship,
My PB to date is 61.64 and my best launch to 64ft is 1.97 seconds which I am immensely proud of.
Both cars have evolved not only in spec but appearance over the years, and I think all will agree that as they are now they look stunning, the blue wheels are the icing on the cake, and TeamTopBanana would like to say a very big thank you to Christopher and his team at Salop Powder Coating.
Loton Park.
The track at Loton Park is a very technical piece of tarmac, there have been many occasions when we have stood down by triangle and heard people say I can do better than that, how hard can it be, come on then let see what you can do is our response, and those that have taken up the challenge all say the same, well, thats a technical piece of tarmac, but they are still competing today loving the challenge,
The only problem, the better your time becomes the faster you want to go, so what do we all do, modifications, I was never going to remove the immaculate interior in Scooby, it now sits in the work shop in boxes, Scooby is now 200kg lighter and this year even more will come out, if its not needed remove it, even Tim is considering removing the lights from the Cossy, some go to extremes, for example, they will drill holes in the door hinges.
Do have a look at the Hagley & District Light Car Clubs web site www.HDLCC.com
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