Lockdown Project Ex Mark Fish Trophy Car

[T1RBO]

Hello everyone - it's been a while [smilie=yay.gif]

I've now got a sparkly new barn which we've put together despite all of the lockdown madness.

What that means is that the barn that I've had for the last 22 years is being cleared and it's amazing what you find in dark corners.

This is the ex-Mark Fish/Rick Pearson Trophy car [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] that I have had for about 15 years. I bought it as a dismantled basket case when I bought the rally car. About two years ago, I had the shell shot-blasted inside and out and re-panelled and painted it properly - for the second time in my ownership! It is now a rolling shell as you can see, This isn't a weekend's work to finish but neither is it particularly challenging. I have the engine and gearbox and probably enough bits to get it up and running twice over.

I don't, however, have either the time or the inclination :rofl:

If anyone is seriously interested, pm me and I can give you the details. Pricewise - make me an offer! It's more than £200 but I am very realistic as I have a couple of other projects to keep me busy.

Some of you will be pleased to know that, after sitting quietly for the last three years, the rally car started first time with the smallest puff of Easy Start and still sounds just as awesome. I drove it into the new barn, keeping up my promise of no dead cars allowed.

I've also bumped the wings and undertray that were sold but never collected.

 

[Duncan]

dribble.

Hi Mark, hope your well. Congrats on the new barn.

The wife has said no. :ihatpcs:

I was actually working on the history of this car the other night:

link

Pretty sure its there or thereabouts now.

What a great opportunity for the right person!

 

[T1RBO]

Hi Duncan, nice to see you are still hard at the Trophy archives

The rally car really surprised us - the battery wasn't even flat and it just burst into life. What a noise!

M

 

[RickPClio33]

DM sent...
Thanks to all the board members that contacted me about this! (Duncan/ George!)
Ok, I'm a sentimental sucker.
Rick

 

[Sam Fish]

You tempted Rick?! Go for it. Think we still have some of the stickers in a box somewhere
What happened to your new shell if tis one is pauls with your panels? As Duncan as worked out. Amazing info as usual Duncan! :salut:

 

[Duncan]

Y
What happened to your new shell if tis one is pauls with your panels? As Duncan as worked out. Amazing info as usual Duncan! :salut:

Ricks new shell for 2002 car was [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque]. It ended up in rallycross, last seen in Belgium a few years back link to its page

 

[Sam Fish]

Thanks Duncan. I always wondered where those cars went. Nice to see them.

 

[T1RBO]

Ok, I think it likely that the car is sold but it might take a week or two to confirm.

Duncan - the doors on what you see above were freeParking livery and [v6plaque]33[/v6plaque], not [v6plaque]51[/v6plaque] so I guess I got shell [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] with the doors from [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque]. (I know how all this Trophy geekery makes you go all wobbly and faint [smilie=icon_eek.gif] )

Rick - if you PM me your address and I'll send you something......
(Your actual address as it won't fit down internet wires )

Cheers

M

 

[Sam Fish]

 

[RickPClio33]

Dang,
Sent Mark a PM on here, not sure he ever saw it.
Ok. Let's set the record straight. This is not [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque], it's [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque].
Atalanta had built their car and were racing it at Snetterton, as SIMFISH says above, they bought [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] first which was my car in 2001 and Paul Lomax's in 2002 after he tubbed [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] at Snett.
They then had an engine problem at Snett in April '03 when I was there hawking for a drive at the GT round, so I got Mark Fish to bring my car up (the re-tubbed [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] ex Ingram) and they "bought" it from me, ripped the engine out and I've seen photos of it sats, engine-less, covered in dust years later. Still with my decals on it.
The Atalanta car was only ever [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque], and I'm pretty sure it still had that plaque on the dash when I raced it at Knockhill. The Atalanta car was never crashed, so there is no reason to believe that they would then use the other tub for any reason, and I'm 90% certain when Atalanta got shafted by their pretend sponsor it was sold off still engine-less but basically intact.

I'd very much like to re-acquire this car and get it back to Mark Fish to be put back to as it was in '02.
Rick

 

[T1RBO]

Hello Everyone

The car and all of the parts are now SOLD to one of Scott's customers.

Just to put the record straight, I gave Scott not only the dash plate but also the tag from the rear suspension turret which I removed before shot blasting. [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque]

I kept the rally car and it's about to be properly refreshed.

M

 

[RickPClio33]

OK, there is something odd here.

This is my logic so far:

I found the receipt for my purchase of my '01 car and it was Chassis ##81 ex-Purplefinder.

This was the car that became the Lomax '02 car when he tubbed [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque]. (Can see original yellow roll cage in photos, new shell was never yellow, some old stickers of mine from '01 were still on it in '02.)

This is the car that Atalanta built their race car out of without a shadow of a doubt.

Atalanta never took delivery of my '02 car until after their car was built (and raced), and it was never reshelled. I watched them take delivery of my '02 car personally, so no question it could have been the other car that was delivered second.

It would also mean that if the tub had been replaced on the Atalanta car, the whole tub would have been Silver when delivered to T1RBO as it was 100% silver at Snett. Also given the mods they had done, the original panels would never have fitted. And I'm sure I saw a photo from Scott of the car sat as a rolling chassis.

SO

The only logic here would be that for some reason Mark Fish switched all the tags between the cars during the rebuild to give impression we were keeping the same cars for '02? But why would you do that and not remove the Mintex stickers which were an easy give-away? Also, seems mega unlikely for MF to have done that. Most honest guy on the planet.

Or most likely in my mind, that for some reason Atalanta took all the tags off the cars and gave the wrong ones to T1RBO.

But there is no shadow of a doubt in my mind that this is not the [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] of Wiseman/Pearson/Lomax but the Ingram/Pearson car.

Gutted it sold away from me, but for the best I guess. Always promised myself I'd never be tempted to buy one again!

Rick

 

[T1RBO]

If it helps the car was silver inside and out when I got it and the tag was riveted to the rear turret

M

 

[Duncan]

That is incredibly helpful Mark.

I think the switch happened at Atlanta Rick, if it did at all!

Looking at photos of their cars closely, I can see the cars they ran had two different colour roll cages and two different fuel cap arrangements, so it looks plausible that they eventually used both cars, but the timeline doesnt quite stack up

chassis [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] - was white inside with no fuel filler cap in the rear quarter
which looks like this car:

chassis [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] was with silver roll cage and with fuel filler cap in the rear quarter

The new shell of [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] was white and believe it consistently remained white.
Russell Etherington bought his car from Atlanta motorsport and used [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] in Rallycross

Here it is in 2005

Russell recently sent me photos of the Atlanta fuel tank he removed from [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque]

you can see here he still didn't have the conventional fuel cap on the rear wing

Or indeed painted they simply painted [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] inside from yellow to white initially for 2003 then later to silver? Swapping bodywork over and muddling up the two cars.

They then must of stripped down [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] at the end of 2004 season, sold [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] to Russell but perhaps with some bits off [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] and then sold Mark [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque].

I believe that Mike Sellars prepped [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] for Russell for the 2005 season. He did note to Russell that it was an ex Mark Fish car, perhaps it still had some of the livery on it when he got it? I will see if I can find out.

 

[RickPClio33]

Ok, the plot thickens...
Given the state of Atalanta's budget, I'd be amazed if they built up two cars...

Which would have meant the car that we know was Silver (outside) for the start of the Brit GT season was the ex-Lomax [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] (for sure, as they hadn't taken delivery of [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] at that point), and the car that remained white (inside) would have been my '02 car, [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque].

I had always assumed that the car Mark had received was white (and I'm sure I saw a pic of [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] as delivered to someone as a rolling chassis with the livery still on it) and that Russell had gone rallycrossing in the Silver Ex Brit GT car.

The logic would now suggest that this was in fact the other way around.

But given [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] had an Atalanta fuel tank in it, it must have been built up later in the season but god-knows with what cash as they owed everyone left right and centre after being de-frauded by a sponsor which I think in the end caused significant legal issues for the team. When I raced with them at Knockhill they were already totally broke (and we were definitely racing [v6plaque]81[/v6plaque] at that point with the [v6plaque]72[/v6plaque] sat untouched). Guess I need to dig out the pics of me in the car at Knockhill and see what colour the roll cage was (sure it was Silver).