MY FEEDLY

This is a 1991 Birkin Seven Sprint, it was ordered new by Formula 1 driver and future world champion Nigel Mansell. He kept the car in his private collection for decades and has only recently decided to sell it.

The Birkin Seven Sprint was developed and built in South Africa, it’s based on the design of the Lotus Seven and it was developed by engineer and former special forces solider John Watson – a relative of legendary racing driver Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin.

Fast Facts – The Birkin Seven Sprint

The Birkin Seven Sprint and the other members of its model family were developed by John Watson. Watson had previously owned a Lotus Seven but was forced to leave it behind when leaving Rhodesia, modern day Zimbabwe.
Watson had first tried to work with Caterham however they had no interest, so he developed his own car from scratch. Initially the project was for one car just for himself but as more and more people showed interest, he put the new car into limited production.
Birkin have now been building their Seven for decades, they offer the vehicle as both a turnkey car or as a kit car for those who want to assemble it themselves. Thousands have been sold around the world.
The Launch of the first Birkin at the 1983 South African Grand Prix was attended by Colin Chapman’s widow, Hazel, and the Lotus Formula 1 team drivers Nigel Mansell and Elio De Angelis.

John “Birkin” Watson

John Watson was born in Wales, the son of a veterinary surgeon. The family moved out to Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe) when Watson was still a boy, after leaving school he joined the military and served in the special forces.

As with all Seven-type cars the Birkin has seating for two, there are very few luxury refinements as the car is designed to be a lightweight, sporting driving experience.

While he was serving he bought a secondhand Lotus Seven that he enjoyed working on and driving, he didn’t know it at the time but the car would fundamentally shape the course of the rest of his life.

He would return to the UK as a young adult to study engineering at Technicon in Salisbury, after which he emigrated to South Africa.

Immigration laws being what they were at the time, Watson was only permitted to bring one car with him from Rhodesia to South Africa, for reasons of practicality he chose the family car rather than the Lotus Seven which was left behind.

The Arrival Of Birkin Cars

After an unsuccessful attempt to get Caterham to set up a dealership in South Africa Watson set about using his engineering training to develop his own Lotus Seven-type car from scratch.

Power is provided by the venerable Ford Kent “Crossflow” engine, in this case it’s fitted with twin Wever carburetors and tubular steel exhaust headers.

He initially just planned to build one for himself, but demand from friends was such that soon he was building two, then three, and so on until he decoded to launch a company – naming it Birkin after a distant relative and legendary Bentley Boy Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin.

The company has now been in business for almost 40 years, thousands of Birkins have been delivered to owners around the world as either turnkey cars or kits, and they’re considered to be among the highest quality Lotus Seven-type cars in the world.

Nigel Mansell’s 1991 Birkin Seven Sprint

The car you see here was ordered new by Nigel Mansell and kept by him in his private collection for well over 30 years.

Mansell first encountered cars made by Birkin at the South African Grand Prix in 1983. He was a driver for the Lotus Formula 1 team at the time, and he attended the launch of the first Birkin car along with co-driver Elio de Angelis and Hazel Chapman, the widow of the late Colin Chapman (the founder of Lotus).

The Birkin is famous for its excellent, precise handling and very low curb weight. It’s been described as one of the purest driving experiences in the world.

Although Mansell didn’t buy a Birkin on the spot the little car obviously made an impression on him, as he bought one years later in 1991 and had it shipped to Britain to join his private collection where it has remained ever since.

This car is the Seven Sprint model that was formerly offered by Birkin. It’s powered by a Ford Kent “Crossflow” inline-four cylinder engine with twin Weber side draught carburetors and tubular exhaust headers.

The body is finished in a combination of red and polished alloy panels and in true Lotus Seven fashion it offers cozy seating for two.

Mansell has now decided to sell this car along with a couple of his Formula 1 cars and some other memorabilia. They’re all due to roll across the auction block with RM Sotheby’s on the 14th of May and this car is being offered with no reserve.

If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

The post For Sale: Nigel Mansell’s 1991 Birkin Seven Sprint appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/nigel-mansell-birkin-seven-sprint/
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Five years ago a new event rattled the windows of holiday makers at the Crowdy Head caravan park on the coast of New South Wales in Australia, located three and a half hours north of Sydney.

The event was the suitably named “Rattletrap,” and it consisted of dozens of pre-World War II hot rods and motorcycles running 1/8th of a mile drag races up the beach side by side as dozens of spectators cheered them on.

What the spectators didn’t realize was that this event would become an annual pilgrimage for many Australians in the years that followed, the images you see here are from the 2021 running of the event that drew the largest crowds in Rattletrap’s five year history.

When you attend Rattletrap it’s almost like stepping through a timewarp back to the mid-20th century.

The idea of drag racing on the beach may sound strange at first, but these competitions aren’t held on just any beach. Suitable beaches need a relatively flat elevation change, well compacted sand, and a broad width event at high tide.

With all of those criteria met the real challenge then begins – getting approval from the local council and finding an insurance company that’ll work with you rather than running for the door as soon as they hear the outline of what the event will entail.

Amazingly the members of the Drag-Ens Hot Rod Club managed to get all the boxes ticked, and they’ve done it every year since with a break in 2020 for obvious coronavirus related reasons.

The Drag-Ens Hot Rod Club, Est. In 1962

Although they’d never admit to it, the Drag-Ens Hot Rod Club is the most exclusive and difficult to join hot rod club in Australia. The club was founded back in 1962, making one of the oldest surviving hot rod clubs in the country.

Whereas joining most classic vehicle clubs is simply a matter of filling in a membership application form and submitting the typically affordable annual membership fee, joining the Drag-Ens is a much more challenging process.

Competitors race two-by-two down the 1/8th of a mile track, dodging ruts and clumps of seaweed.

In order to even apply to join you first must prove that you own a pre-1941 hot rod, or that you’re currently engaged in actively building a suitable car.

If you’re accepted on the basis of the fact that you’re building a car you should expect that your progress with the build will be checked, and if you stop working on it your membership can be revoked.

Although this may sound far more strict than you’d expect from a group of fun-loving, free wheeling hot rodders the rules were all implemented for a reason. And as a result the club is now one of the most tight-knit, and respected hot rod organizations in the country.

How To Attend Rattletrap

If you’re in Australia then attending Rattletrap is a simple matter of getting to Crowdy Head in New South Wales and making sure you have accommodation booked, or a tent and camping equipment.

For overseas visitors a little more planning is required. The nearest international airport is in Sydney, and from there a rental car will get you to Crowdy Head in about three and a half hours.

One of the benefits of riding on sand is that when you crash the landings are nice and soft.

You can try your luck booking accommodation at the Crowdy Head caravan park, but you might have more luck booking in accommodation in the larger nearby towns of Port Macquarie, Taree, Harrington, Wingham, or North Haven.

When you’re not at the races there’s a lot to see in this part of Australia.

You might even want to fly in to Sydney then fly out of Brisbane, so you can enjoy the coastal drive north between the two major cities – they’re approximately 910 kms or 565 miles apart and Crowdy Head is nearly in the middle between them.

About The Photographer: Nic Walker

The man responsible for this series of photographs is Nic Walker, one of Australia’s most celebrated photographers who has taken portraits of no less than six Australian prime ministers, including Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, and Malcolm Turnbull.

Nic studied commercial photography at Canberra Institute of Technology, and landed a job at The Australian Financial Review shortly thereafter.

Over the years he’s also been published in the The Australian Financial Review Magazine, Good Weekend, Sunday Life Magazine, Spectrum, the Sydney Morning Herald, and the Age.

If you would like to read more about Walker or see more of his work you can click here to visit his official website.