from MotorWerks Magazine - Volume 14, Issue 1

MotorWerks Magazine and Miniology Magazine believe in digital media and we are trying to expand our offerings to our readers. We have played with YouTube before but the plan is to create and post videos more frequently.

@MWGarage is our premier channel and follows what we get up to with our project cars, CooperRSR and Project 3ThirtyFive. We have run a series of videos called Tool Time with MotorWerks Garage where we showcase some of the special tools we use to maintain and fabricate parts for

We have also created videos talking about workshop organization and tool storage. Check out the existing videos and subscribe so you don’t miss the new ones! were many of them to choose from. As I had space available between the end of the bench and one of my toolboxes, I reckoned the solution was to store them coming out from the wall. As can be seen by the photo we can store 6 clamps on each side of the mount. They are easily installed by sliding the bar into a slot in the mount and squeezing the clamp until it closes on the plywood. Removal of the clamp is simply by releasing the lock pulling slightly down on the handle and removing the clamp from the slot. As many of you know it is a cardinal sin to have a race shop without some sort of music! An old neighbor of mine had worked for** and had a spare demo sound system lying around that he gave me, unfortunately it did not have a remote but that is not really a problem when I only listen to Toronto’s Q107 radio station and I only needed to power the unit on and off which was achieved by pressing the appropriate button with a piece of dowel rod. So, it too got the French cleat treatment with the speaker boxes mounted each side of the unit and before long we had AC/DC blasting out Kashmir!

Well, that’s it for this article, I am really pleased how the update on the shop is going. It is going to be a lot easier to be focused when everything is in place and everything has a place. Make sure you check out the video below and please subscribe to our @MWGarage channel on YouTube.

72 year-old Peter Richings is an Instructor at the Land Rover Experience but his weekends behind the wheel are in nothing as sedate as a Land Rover. Richings is one of those who early on, saw the potential of the Toyota GR Yaris. The 4 wheel drive Japanese pocket rocket is getting quite a following in the motorsport world with Peter using his in the 4wd roadgoing cars class of the Midland Hillclimb Championship.

“I was introduced to racing by my car mad father, who took me to Goodwood when I was not yet 5 years old”, Richings told us. “From then on, I absorbed everything I could read about racing. I went to as many race meetings as possible and followed the sport as well as I could in the days before extensive TV coverage and the internet. I followed the career of Bruce McLaren from when he won the F2 class in the German GP in 1958. He was (and still is) a great influence and inspiration to me. Although I only met him a couple of times in the paddock at Aintree and Brands Hatch it still felt like the loss of a family member when he was killed in a testing crash at Goodwood in 1970.”

Like many of us Richings could not wait to get behind the wheel in a motorsport envireonment. “I started racing in 1972 when I was still studying at University. I bought a fairly standard MG Midget and raced in the Modsports class. Initially the car was not competitive, and it took me a couple of years until I felt I was driving anywhere near properly. I lightened the car and built a short stroke engine for 1975 and started to finish well, even scoring a couple of wins. Sharing the car with Mike Donovan we then built a long stroke 1460 engine for 1978 and the car was so fast. We had a great season, won quite a few races and set some lap records.’

For 1979 the duo moved into Clubmans Sports racing with a Mallock Mk20. “I stayed in

Clubmans until 1985” he said “Enjoying some excellent racing and good results using initially a FF engine and then progressing to a full race 1700 Ford Kent motor crossflow engine. Then in 1986/7 we bought a Ralt RT30 F3 car and ran in class B of the British F3 Championship. I found the racing a little too physical especially after being pushed off at high speed at Silverstone. At that time the leading lights in British F3 were Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert To be honest I was glad to return to Clubmans for 1988 with a new Mk27SG Mallock built together with Barry Webb. In this car I won the BRDC Clubmans Championship in 1988.

“I continued racing this car for many years and also became a Committee member for the Clubmans Register. I was one of the key people who introduced the MG K series engine into Clubmans to replace the old FF engine in 1996. I finished well up in the championship many times (usually 2nd !!) until I sold the car in 2005. In 2006/7 I was lucky enough to be able to co drive Mike Donovan’s Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car in a few races. We had wins or podiums at Oulton Park and Dijon and experience the great Donington and Hockenheim

In 2009 Peter returned to Clubmans with a Mk28 Mallock and enjoyed a good season. He was eagerlly anticipating a good year in 2010 but an unfortunate collision at Oulton Park in the first meeting of the year saw the car inverted and written off. “I ended up upside down and backwards up the pit road! It was very convenient for the Medical Centre though! Fortunately I escaped reasonably unscathed but I did need a new crash helmet as well as a new car!! Fortunately I found a Mallock Mk30PR in need of some TLC and over a couple of months of work the car was brought up to spec. This turned out to be my favourite car of all time and I raced it until the end of 2022. In this car I won the Clubmans Championship in 2016 and finished in second place too many times! I managed to win quite a few races along the way, so it was not all bad.

At the end of 2022 he decided that 51 consecutive seasons of racing was enough and sold his beloved Mallock, with the only question left was what to do next?.

“During 2022 my wife Joy and I had done a few sprints and hillclimbs in our Toyota GR Yaris road car and rather enjoyed it! So for 2023 we decided to try and complete a full season with it. In about May or June I felt that I was getting the hang of hillclimbing and started to record some competitive times. At the end of the year I was class winner in the Midland Hillclimb Championship, something I definately would not have predicted at the start of the season.”

So with all those years of motorsport behind him what was his most memorable moment in racing? “I’m going to choose two memorable moments! The first was in 1982 when I beat Will Hoy to win at Thruxton. I overtook him on the run to the line and won by 0.07sec! Will was very successful in Clubmans and went on to win the BTCC and competed at Le Mans.”

“The second occasion was winning a close fought battle at Brands Hatch at the end of 2021. I managed to lead into Paddock Bend off the grid and held off stern challenges from Clive Wood and Steve Dickens throughout the race. It was extremely nerve wracking being pursued throughout and having to work through a lot of lapped cars. I kept calm though, never put a foot wrong and was delighted to see the chequered flag.

So on to the car! “The Toyota GR Yaris I have been hillclimbing is basically a standard roadgoing car. Some mods are allowed as long as the car remains road legal and runs on road legal tyres. The only changes we made to the car were to change the springs (lowering the car a little) and stiffening it up, plus adding some negative camber to the front wheels. I did try some different tyres but came to the conclusion eventually that the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres are as good as anything out there!” such fun to compete within a mile of home and to rush into the underpasses at 80 mph knowing it everyday life it had a 40 mph limit!! Motofest takes over the whole city with displays from various car clubs and manufacturers plus Drifting and a Concours held in the ruins of the old Cathedral. And best of all it is free to the general public.

As for the 2024 season Richings intends to continue next season with the car much as it is but he may look at one or two mods to try and eke out a little more power. The car develops 270 bhp as standard but it’s relatively easy to liberate about another 50 bhp by changing the air cleaner, exhaust, intercooler and a bit of remapping.

When it comes to thanks, the main person is my wife Joy, my long suffering partner, co driver, and photographer extraordinaire……

Build List

Engine: Toyota 1600 3 cylinder turbo G16E-GTS

Drivetrain: Toyota GR4 4wd

Electrics: Toyota standard

Cooling: Toyota standard

Exhaust: Toyota standard

Body: Toyota standard

Aero: Toyota standard

Safety: Toyota standard

Brakes: Toyota

One the things I can testify to is that the comeraderie in hillclimbing, and Peter agrees fullheartedly. “This season there were regularly three of us running GR Yaris cars. We are all over a certain age and some wags started to call us ‘The Last of the Summer Wine’ This refers to a UK comedy show about three old codgers who talk a mischief and dream about their lost youth!! Another highspot in 2023 was being able to compete in our hometown. As part of the Coventry MotoFest there is a Sprint held on the inner ring road. It was standard

Suspension: Stiffened and lowered with Eibach springs, plus added negative camber on front. Wheels: Revolution CR10 flow formed wheels shod with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres

2023 saw a new Time Attack series unveiled on Southern Ontario race tracks. CTAC was born from the ashes of the Northern Speed series the first season was low key with five events and only three of them involving competition. Series Competition director James Houghton told us, “The first event in May was to introduce the series to the racers. It was designed to be a fun day, we had burgers, hot dogs and sodas for the racers, we got to chat to them and tell them about complying with the Gridlife rules that we are running to and to what driving standards and safety requirements we will be enforcing as the series progresses”

As James noted the Canadian Time Attack Challenge has forged a partnership with the Gridlife series that has proven itself so successful in the USA. With a common ruleset it makes for easy cross border events and competition.

Introducing Tool Time

Build List

This article is from:

MotorWerks Magazine - Volume 14, Issue 1