JULY 2008 www.kartingmagazine.com 59
THE HISTORIC SCENE
TEESSIDE INTERNATIONAL
With glorious weather and an amazing
atmosphere, 60 drivers with 100 karts ensured
that the first Teesside International on May
3rd-5th became an event to compliment the
annual Shenington Revival.
Held at the Teesside Autodrome and hosted
by the British Historic Kart Club, this fixture
on the historic karting calendar attracted 21
entrants from the Dutch, German and Belgian
historic kart clubs. The Europeans with their
Landias and Taifuns provided plenty of variety
to the many British makes such as Trokarts,
Barlottis and Zips.
Teesside has two independent short circuits
suiting the 100cc karts and some gearbox
karters but when combined they make a very
exciting 2.1km circuit for the long circuit
gearbox karters and in particular the 250cc
twins which could be seen in ideal conditions.
Robbie Logan (Zip/Yamaha) down from
Stranraer was one karter producing great
stuff on the long circuit.
Regular Anglo/Dutch meetings have been
held over the past couple of years and Dutch
karters such as AJ Kleijn, Wim Jepson and
Jooste Van de Hul are no strangers to these
shores, however it was a new experience
for the German and Belgian kart clubs.
The Germans were well represented by the
likes of Jochan Muller (Taifun/BM), Genot
Stocker (Taifun/BM), Ralf Wenzel (Taifun/
Komet) and Gunter Buttgereit (Swiss
Hutless), while Guy Matteusen (Landia) was
the sole Belgian entrant. However it did not
take long for his presence to be noticed.
As for the British they still produced a few
surprises. Supported by her husband Chris
(Zip), Erica Coates made her debut on the
historic scene with her 1960 DKW-powered
special. One of the more lively combinations!
Despite clutch problems she proved she
could hold her own on the track and proved
to be one of the characters of the weekend.
Many established karters who can trace
their careers back to the `60s such as Mike
Hodgkins (Barlotti/Villiers), Bill Longman
(Barlotti/Villiers) and Tony Wilkins (Blow)
all added dimension to the event. But for
technical dimensions, Bob Reynolds and
Shannon Gasson were experimenting with
their rotary valve 360cc Bultaco/Blow and
this engine did have us consulting the history
books. It was never homologated but we now
have evidence that one existed in private
hands in 1966 and that the Bultaco factory
made two for themselves.
Bob Pope who runs Teesside Autodrome
and the British Historic Kart Club already
have plans for the 2009 event.
Report: Brian Malin
RETRORACER - STRUBBY
The second round of the RetroRacer series
was held at Strubby on the 10/11th May. The
circuit was hired by the British Historic Kart
Club for the entire weekend to provide plenty
of track time for members of the club and
their classic karts, and hosted the RetroRacer
round on the Sunday (RetroRacer is run as a
separate entity to the BHKC).
All three Class IV Gearbox heats were won
by Chris Coates (Zip/Rotax), but he was
kept honest in the last two by Bob Reynolds
(Blow/Bultaco). The Vintage class karts were
extremely well matched, with Erica Coates
and 2006 Vintage Champion Steve Greaves
crossing the line neck and neck in all three,
two going to Greaves and one to Coates.
The heats for the 100cc Class I karts were
hotly contested by two of the latest Classic
class karts (1978-1982), two wins going to
David Smith (Sprint/TKM FF99TT) and one
to Gerry Cain (Ricard/Parilla TT27). Behind
them, Jeff Gray (Kestrel/DAP T70TT) was
3rd in heat 1 but retired in the others. In these
heats, 3rd place was taken by the Classic class
karts of Colin Crump (Ricard/Parilla TT27)
and Peter Freeman (Kali) respectively.
The Class IV Final followed the pattern of
the heats in that Chris Coates won, ahead of
Reynolds, Greaves, and Shannon Gasson (Zip
Shadow) who started from the back. Dave
Murdoch, driving his immaculate late `70s
Barlotti, ran in 4th for a while but went out at
half distance with mechanical problems.
The Class I Final set off with Smith on pole
with Cain alongside, but Gray came from two
rows back to spilt them coming out of the first
corner hairpin. However he ran wide out at the
back of the circuit to let Cain regain his 2nd
place. Smith and Cain were closely matched
until Smith, winner of round 1 at Teesside,
retired with a holed piston. Cain took over
and led the field home ahead of Gray, driving
the first of the Historic class karts (1971-
1978), and Crump in the second of the two
rare Ricard karts of Ricard tuning fame.
Report: Jeff Gray
RESULTS
Class IV Gearbox: 1 Chris Coates Zip/Rotax
(Classic), 2 Bob Reynolds Blow Invader/
Bultaco 250 (Historic), 3 Steve Greaves
Fastakart/Villiers 197 (Vintage).
Class I 100cc: 1 Gerry Cain Ricard/Parilla
TT27 (Classic), 2 Jeff Gray Kestrel/DAP
T70TT (Historic), 3 Colin Crump Ricard/
Parilla TT27 (Classic).
Erica Coates (1960 DKW Special) at Teesside Photo: Peter Brinkworth
Gerry Cain leads Jeff Gray at Strubby
Photo: Peter Brinkworth

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