2011 02 feb - Constructors Car Club

Spare Parts
February 2011
On the cover:
My involvement with Saker Cars 2004-2005,
page 24.
In this issue
Club Officials
Club minutes
President: Dave Clout
Secretary: Matthew Porritt
Club Captain: Richard Kelly
Treasurer: Stewart Collinson
Club Meetings
The Constructors Car Club Inc meets at
7.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month
at The Vintage Car Club, 3 Halford Place,
Petone (Eastern end of Jackson Street).
Prospective members or others interested in
building their own cars are welcome to attend.
(The club does request a donation of $2
towards running the meeting, and includes a
raffle ticket. Meetings generally include a guest
speaker or demonstration followed by general
discussion and supper.)
The Club Magazine “Spare Parts” is produced
monthly from February to December each
year. Contributions and advertisements are
welcomed.
Issue 1 Volume 24
Coming events...........................................2
Tuesday 14 December 2010......................2
Editorial....................................................5
Last month’s mystery car...........................8
This month’s mystery car..........................9
Tull Saker SVS GT and
Saker SV1 GT 1989 to Current...............10
Tull Sambar 1992 to 2001......................16
Tull Saker SVS Sprint
2000 to Current......................................22
My involvement with Saker Cars
2004-2005..............................................24
A celebration ‘Rappa Run.......................30
Start up...................................................32
Car club website classifieds.....................35
Who’s who February 2011......................36
Cut-off date for contributions for the next magazine is Tuesday 22 February 2011.
Send contributions to Brian by email: [email protected] or to Secretary
by ordinary mail.
Club Correspondence to:
The Secretary, Constructors Car Club, PO Box 38 573, Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045
Editor: Brian Worboys, phone: (04) 476 3799, [email protected]
Printing: The Colour Guy, 10 Raroa Cres, Lower Hutt, phone: (04) 570 0355
Design and typesetting: Tanya Sooksombatisatian, [email protected]
Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Constructors Car Club (Inc).
Coming events
Sunday 20th of March:
Tuesday 12 April:
Grass motorkhana on (Rain day 27th
March)
Save the date. Time and place details
to come.
Club meeting will include the AGM this
evening. Please consider offering yourself
for the committee.
There are also plans in the pipeline for a
visit to Rubber bits in Petone and a visit to
the Studebaker Museum in Otaki.
Club minutes Tuesday 14 December 2010
President: Dave Clout
Secretary: Matthew Porritt
1. Apologies:
Stewart Collinson, Sam Hunter
2. Visitors:
None
3. Previous Minutes:
In the magazine.
Matters Arising From the Previous
Minutes: None.
4. Previous Events:
13-14 November 2009:
24th Annual MG Classic Race Meeting at
Manfeild.
Sunday 14 November:
Tui Brewery “Mangatinoka Motors” car
meet/show event. Members who have been
to this in the past say it’s a fun event.
Sunday 28 November 2010:
Sealed Autocross series, to run at the
Slipway venue in Brooklyn. This is the
final event in a 6 event series.
Saturday 11 December:
Our Christmas dinner this year is at The
Carvery in Trentham. 18 people turned
up. We decided to save the planned entertainment for a club night in mid-2011.
5. Coming Events:
Tuesday 11 January:
Our January club night is usually an informal affair. The plan for January 2011
is to have a book night. Bring along some
interesting books that are related to cars and
car building. The intention is not to lend
other members books, but to give people a
chance to see what interesting books are out
there. Hunt out some old favorites and wellthumbed reference books to bring along.
Sunday 23 January:
Port Road Sprints
Sunday 30 January:
Wallaceville hillclimb.
Tuesday 8 February:
Skite night
Talk to the committee about borrowing
a trailer to bring your project along. If you
need to hire a car-trailer, the club can subsidise the hire cost.
6. Inward Correspondence:
Petrolhead Magazine, Sports Car Talk and
the Early American Car Club magazine.
Also, a request from member Nigel
Young in Christchurch for the contact
details of other members in Canterbury.
He intends for them to meet up from time
to time. Good to see other areas forming
chapters.
7. Outward Correspondence:
None
8. Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer Stewart Collinson reportedall
money was present when I checked the
bank. We look to be finishing the year
slightly in the positive, 100 additional
payment for mag printing this month
– Brian will cover
9. Committee Report:
Nothing to report.
10. Tech Committee Report:
• The Hot Rod code of construction has
been reprinted with numerous minor
changes.
• Tim Hutchinson reminded members
that when it comes to the final scrute,
make sure the engine is running properly as this could have a major effect on
the exhaust noise test.
11. Magazine, Spare Parts:
Editor Brian Worboys wanted to thank
The Colour Guy for the extra colour pages
in the December magazine. Please send
Brian your articles about what you did in
the garage over the Christmas break.
Grant is doing the Spare Parts for
January.
John Lewis has the wings and soft-top
from a Lynx to sell.
14. Club Shop:
New stock is here and selling. Old stock is
reduced to clear.
Ken also mentioned that he has ordered a
number of the clever ratchet tool he brought
along in November. He will be on-selling
them for roughly $130, depending on how
many people are interested in buying.
15. General Business:
Brian Robinson stood up and lamented
that the turnout at the Christmas dinner
was very low and almost everyone who
attended was a present or previous committee member.
16. Tool of the Month
Stud finder, brought in by Dave Clout.
17. Guest Speaker:
Patrick Harlow gave a brief talk about
the Tom Moreland replicas (Trans-Am,
Countach and DeTomaso Pantera). He
also showed some film clips from Shaker
Run, a 1984 NZ action/suspense film that
starred a Tom Moreland Trans-Am.
18. Guest Vehicle:
Last month’s mystery car was correctly
guessed by lots of people, so can’t have
been hard enough.
This month: Both Patrick Harlow
and Richard Kelly guessed that it was a
Donkervoort from Holland.
John Loar’s gleaming 1955 Ford F100
pick-up with a 460cu V8. Bought as an
“almost finished” project. John pulled it
all to bits and it is now a show-winner.
John estimates 10mpg if he takes it easy
and 4 or 5 mpg if he gives it a bit of welly.
It runs Toyota Hilux power steering and
John re-engineered the hood to open from
the front using a kit from the US. John was
presented with a CCC Grille badge.
13. Buy, Sell, Swap:
19. Raffle:
Brent Mewett, the former owner of Arco
motors, is having a big garage sale in
Silverstream in January.
Won by number: 8 – Edgar van den
Dudgeon
The meeting closed at 9pm.
12. Mystery Car:
Editorial by Brian Worboys
Saker at Autosport International Show, Birmingham, January 2011
Saker successes
A big part of the mag this month is about
Bruce Turnbull’s very successful Saker. To
bring this right up to date, Bruce emailed
me last week with the news that Saker
UK, in conjunction with Fun Cup, had
just won the ‘Best National Motorsport
Stand’ award at last week’s International
Autosport Show in Birmingham. Saker
Cars UK director Paul Rose noted “The
popularity of the Saker has caught us a
bit by surprise. Our initial plan was to sell
cars to customers to run themselves but
we have had a lot of enquiries asking us
to run cars, as we have successfully done
in the Fun Cup, so we may have to adapt
our plan accordingly”. The Fun Cup is a
very popular one-make endurance race
series with all the cars identical specially
built mid engined racers with bodywork
looking like the old VW beetle.
More info, and lots of pictures at:
http://www.sakercars.co.uk/
Half-built concrete sub near Mapua
DIY cars for some, DIY
submarines for others
An interior shot of the abandoned concrete
submarine project
Turned wood bulkhead behind the engine room
You will notice most members of the club
have a few other, often related, interests.
For example a lot are inclined to also build
their own computers, houses and boats,
(aeroplanes?). No one seems to be interested in building a submarine however
and I wonder why not. When visiting a
friend living near Mapua (on the coast
about 25km North of Nelson) last year
we went to have a look at the abandoned
project of “The Submarine Man” Peter
Mackey. This was to have been a vessel of
some 20m length (scaled off google earth)
and 2m diameter. He put a huge amount
of work into this project before he abandoned it due to debilitating problems with
his tools and materials repeatedly stolen
when he was away from the construction
site. What remains today is basically the
full shape of the vessel formed by a very
heavy reinforcing steel armature. This was
a serious investment in steel, not just the
3 or 4 layers of chicken wire that ferrocement yacht builders seem to get away
with. There is also some wooden bulkheads
and other fitments in a state of decay, but
the design intentions are quite evident, and
impressive. In the scrub nearby is the tiny
hut where the builder lived during periods
of construction. What a shame this project
was never completed, it does make a lot
of sense. Why aren’t more people building
concrete submarines I wonder? If you are
interested in checking this must-see tourist
destination out on your next Upper South
Island holiday, it’s near the end of Hoddy
Road. I credit Ron Grady’s book “Grady’s
People” for some of this information,
a great read in it’s own right, you won’t
believe some of these folks, don’t worry
anymore, you’re not as weird as you think
you are. Searching the internet for more on
this branch of naval architecture I found a
good site with an easy-to-remember name:
concretesubmarine.com.
The Road Rat needs fixing
In October I ran in the Port Road Sprints
again. After a spin on the first corner
during practice (just calibrating the levels
of grip available, only lost 10 secs, anyone
believe any of this?) I managed to improve
my times during the day and take half a
second off my previous best time… but the
knocking noise in the engine that had been
developing all year got a lot worse, so I had
to admit to myself that it was time for an
Road Rat at Port Road October 2010. Photo
courtesy of Motorsportcentral.co.nz
engine tear-down. Getting the engine out is
not a trivial matter. Everything behind the
seats has to be disassembled and stowed
away somewhere where I can find it when
reassembly time comes along. Boxes and
boxes of it. With that all done, and the
engine on the stand I took the engine to
bits. Generally it seemed to be in pretty
good order. Honing marks still observable
on the cylinders. But as I had expected,
one of the main bearings had been hammering into the Magnesium alloy crankcase halves. The grooves it had made were
0.3mm on each side of the engine. That
means the crankshaft was flopping about
the best part of a millimeter. Engine wear
you can measure with a ruler.. and still
racing! The best solution to this will be to
give up on old worn out crankcase halves
and rebuild the motor with a brand new
heavy-duty aluminium case. Fortunately,
the aftermarket VW bits business in the
USA is very competitive, and the US$
keeps falling so it’s not as big a deal as one
might assume. So that is the plan… but
with other projects on the go it might take
a while. You know how it goes.
It’s a slim issue this month
The RoadRat engine main bearing seat. This
surface should be smooth, not indented
You noticed? Well that’s mostly down to
you mate. You didn’t send that article in.
Don’t let another month slip by. Get typing
on your story about your car right now.
Then, go take the pictures. We NEED to
know all the details.
Last month’s mystery car
Quite a few people got it right straight off.
Patrick was one of them and I also heard
Richard Kelly and Iain Atkinson muttering away various pronunciations of the
name. It was of course the very potent
Lotus sevenesque Donkervoort D8 GT
from Holand. Quoting from a review of
the car, by Nick Hall on the website timesonline.co.uk …
“Every change on the five-speed manual
gearbox is greeted with a sound akin to
Darth Vader sneezing: “Ahshish”. Lift off
the throttle and the whole car slows like
you’ve stamped on the brake pedal; with
so little mass to carry, there’s precious
little momentum. But a set of monstrously
effective Tarox brakes is there for when
you need them.”
The car weighs 650kg, the turbocharged
engine delivers 270hp and 28mpg is
achievable. Sound like your sort of car?
This month’s mystery car
This is a competition. Do you know what this vehicle is?
Please provide country of origin, manufacturer, model name and number and other
distinguishing details.
Have a go. Announce your best guess at this month’s club meeting and get it recorded
in the minutes, or email it to The Editor. The winner will be announced in the next
issue of Spare Parts. Extra points will be awarded for any additional interesting relevant
information, pictures etc. provided.
OK… This isn’t actually a regular sort of “car”, it’s rather a big one… more of a truck
actually. Lets see if you can guess its name and location.
Tull Saker SVS GT and Saker SV1 GT 1989 to Current
by Patrick Harlow
Born and raised in the Manawatu, Bruce
Turnbull’s first car was a Humber 80 that
he modified to give it more speed on quiet
New Zealand roads. He drove this car whilst
he completed an apprenticeship as joiner
and cabinet maker, a job which eventually
progressed for Bruce into patternmaking.
His first competition car was a Citroën
Traction Avant which he used for local hill
climbs and gymkhanas. His next came in the
form of an ex-Bathurst Holden Torana XU1
which he raced in the late 70’s. A Mallock U2
purchased around this time sparked Bruce’s
interest for homegrown New Zealand cars.
His first serious venture into cars was
when he acquired a Fronzelli sports car.
He drove, redesigned and rebuilt this car
to win the New Zealand Championships in
1981 and 82. Next he worked on updating
the design of the Kerem Formula car which
was driven by Kevin Ingham who continued
the winning tradition by taking out the 1983
championship. After this he designed and
built a Formula Ford car called the Tull
84C which had some design features not
seen on any cars of that era. This car would
evolve into the Tull 86C. This car was also
driven by Kevin Ingram and it took pole
position at Pukekohe in 1987 in its first year
in the FF1600 class. Tull by the way is a
contraction of the name Turnbull.
After a successful racing career Bruce
Turnbull retired from motorsport to work
as a patternmaker in Bunnythorpe near
Palmerston North. However once petrol
is in the blood it is extremely hard to get
out. During quiet moments Bruce started
working on a car that would be a road car for
him to tinker with. It was never intended to
10
go into production but it was something that
would keep his mind busy with technological
problems that needed to be solved.
Having built several racing cars in the
past he designed and built a rectangular
tube space frame chassis to take a Ford
Essex 3.0 litre V6. The car was mid engined
and drive was via an Audi transaxle. Design
of the body, although influenced by GTP
sports racers, was dictated by the idea of
form following function with a key emphasis
on keeping the car aerodynamic. Scoops
at the side and on the roof were governed
by the need to get air into the radiators and
into the engine. Rear uprights came from the
Leyland Kimberly, a car not yet totally extinct
and the front uprights from the Holden
Torana. All other suspension components
were factory made. Instrumentation came
from the Mitsubishi GTO’s of the 1970s.
The car would be called the Saker SV1.
SV1 was an acronym meaning the first Saker
production vehicle. The name Saker came
from the Saker Falcon a well known bird of
prey. The first drawings of the car showed it
with a March IMSA windscreen but that was
not available in laminated glass. Fortunately
another car was being built in Palmerston
North, for Kent Taylor-Reid in Auckland, at
that time called the Mararn. The windscreen
for this McLaren M6GT replica was being
made in New Zealand by Pilkington Glass
and could be used in the car with very little
modification to the design of the car.
Using his skills as a patternmaker Bruce
constructed the buck for the car and with
the help of David Short was able to make a
set of fiberglass moulds for the body. David
Short lived just down the road in Fielding and
Saker SV1 Credit: M Cooley
11
was in the process of getting a Lamborghini
replica, the Countess, into production. The
two agreed that Bruce would design and
build a chassis for the Countess and David
would build the moulds and produce the
first Saker body.
The first car was intended to be a one
off but when Bruce was approached by
Kenwood who wanted a promotional car
to market their Jensen radios he agreed to
make a second car. Knowing that one of his
cars would be touring the country and all
the publicity that would produce he decided
that as he built the second car he would
prepare for full scale production. A full set of
jigs and tooling was constructed. The rear
side glass windows that were on the original
prototype were changed for the production
car as these were not useful and only
there for cosmetic purposes. However the
Kenwood car would be the last car to use
Audi transaxles as Bruce would start using
the Renault 25 transaxle for all subsequent
SV1 cars albeit with the same Kimberly
uprights. A unique design feature of the car
was that the steering wheel could be moved
to the left to give the driver more room to get
into and out of the car. Once ensconced the
driver could simply swing the steering wheel
back into place.
Claiming he was doing it to give more
publicity to the car Bruce decided to return
to racing and the third Saker powered by
a Ford Mercury V6 was premiered in the
Wellington Street race in 1990. A total of 10
Saker SV1 cars, mostly as a rolling chassis
with a lot of the hard work done, were built
before Bruce decided to move to a single
donor car to reduce the cost and simplify
the build process of the car. Matching a
variety of engines to the Renault transaxle
was always a headache.
12
The next generation of the car would be
called the Saker SVS with the second ‘S’
standing for Subaru. The advantage of the
Subaru donor car was that all the tricky parts
were ready to go and there was very little
re-engineering required in making it midengined. Where possible Subaru parts were
used throughout the design as this allowed
the now very rare Kimberly uprights to be
dropped in favour of the Subaru equivalents.
Additionally there were a large range of
engines and after-market go faster bits that
could be added to the car to whatever specs
the builder wanted. The Subaru engine was
light weight and being a Boxer motor had
a low centre of gravity. Another advantage
was the motor and transmission was a
single unit and axles could be fitted straight
off the shelf.
It was during this re-design that the car
lost it’s moveable steering wheel. This was
dropped because of hassles owners were
having trying to get a Warrant of Fitness
for their cars. Current road cars use
the standard Subaru tilt column system
although some have removable steering
wheels. Other parts were standardised for
simplicity. The Mitsubishi instrumentation
was dropped and replaced by standard
VDO aftermarket gauges.
Through the years production of the car
has continued with steady development
happening to the car. The most obvious
being a facelift given to the car in 2008 with
a new and thoroughly modern headlight
layout. The radiator has been moved to the
front with air being sucked in by two fans and
then ducted out by the low pressure zone in
the bonnet. So far 18 SVS and 10 SV1 cars,
eight of which were turnkey, have been built
in New Zealand with all cars coming out of
Bruce’s Bunnythorpe factory.
“The Electric Connection”
– The Saker GS750V
During 2007 Bruce was approached by
Philip Court who was interesting in building
an electric racing car along the lines of
the USA Tesla roadster. Bruce agreed and
built a modified chassis that would take the
electric motor and batteries. As of 2010 the
car is now drivable. Their website is http://
www.greenstage.co.nz/index.html
The Overseas Connection
The car has gained international interest
but plans to build the car in Britain and
the United States never eventuated. Gavin
Bateman went over from New Zealand to
show them how to build the car and three
cars were built in the US. The American
cars required some modifications to fit tall
American drivers. This ended up consisting
of lowering the floor pan of the chassis by
50mm which also meant the the body had
to be modified to match. The suspension
pickups were left at the same height while
the engine and transmission were lowered
by 50mm improving the centre of gravity.
This also meant that the cars were now too
low to be used on the road which was not
a great concern as selling road cars opens
up a large can of worms as far as product
liability in the US. At the end of the day
although the owners were happy with their
cars plans to enter into production went no
further.
A small number of cars have also been
assembled in Australia by a company called
“Saker Cars Australia” but no mention is
made of the New Zealand connection.
Europe is where the car has taken off with
the company being formed called “Saker
Sportscars Europe.” During 2001 Robbert
Visser had been looking for an entry level
Lemans GT type car.To gain a motorsport
license in Europe you need to attend a
racecar driving school. At the time there was
nothing available for an aspiring spors car
racers to use for their ‘racing driving lessons’.
He had considered the Ultima but that was
too expensive, however while browsing the
Internet one day he did stumble across the
Saker. The car had all that he was looking
for so he visited Bruce in New Zealand and
tested a Saker Sprint at Manfeild racing
track. He was very impressed and a car was
built and sent to Holland to be tested there.
Once there it only needed a few accessories
to get it to comply with the FIA regulations
such as approved race seats, fuel and
fire protection systems. Robbert saw the
opportunity and asked Bruce to build him
over 50 cars.
Bruce supplied the firs sixt cars which
were 77% complete but did not have the
capacity to build that many cars quickly
so Saker Sportscars Europe arranged for
the cars to be built under licence in China
using the patterns and body that Bruce
sent them. After doing some research into
Saker Sportscars I discovered it almost no
mention of the New Zealand connection and
very little credit is given to Bruce Turnbull.
Looking on their website I found this little
snippet which is a direct quote.
“Driven by pure passion Dutchman
Robbert Visser started working on his
sportscar project in 2001. His aim was to
design and build a new type of sportscar.
First of all, this sportscar needed to catch
the eye by a conspicuous design, but would
also need to possess an interesting price/
quality ratio. In sum, it needed to be a fast,
affordable and reliable car in order to give
as many drivers as possible many years of
sheer motorsport pleasure.
13
Kenwood car dash as it looks today
Saker number 2 in its original Kenwood colours
(circa 1990-1991) – Owned by Radiola
From top: Saker no
2 as it looked when
sold by Radiola to M
Cooley
No 2 chassis during
original construction
in Bruce Turnbulls
shed
Number 2 car was
repowered by M
Cooley with a Lexus
V8 in 2000
Right: Deep
windscreen is the
same as used on the
Mararn a McLaren M6
replica
All credit: M Cooley
14
During this project, Robbert met Bruce
Turnbull, a famous engineer in New Zealand.
Bruce possessed some interesting drawings
of the Saker Sportscar, where Robbert
could elaborate on. During the beginning
of the Saker development process, Robert
had also been sharing his ideas with Huub
Vermeulen….
Their website is http://www.sakereurope.
com/63/Press/default.ecms
At the first race in Germany in October
2004, the Sakers qualified 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
4th and 5th, and they finished 1st, 2nd and
5th against 911 Turbos, GT3s, BMW E30s,
etc. They have since proved themselves a
force to be reckoned with. Currently a Saker
Sportscar Challenge cup for 2011 is being
setup by JPR Motorsport due to start in
2011. A pure one make race series. Check
out sakerchallenge.com for more details
To date approximately 95 SVS cars
have been produced by the Holland based
company. Despite the lack of recognition
Bruce is still pleased to see his creation
racing on the European circuits.
Bibliography
Thanks to help received from Bruce Turnbull
and Gavin Bateman.
Pictures from P Harlow, M Cooley and P
Woodfield.
Saker Cars from Bunnythorpe to Spa by
Peter Murphy; Overdrive Magazine Issue
07.
Saker Run by Martin Zienert; Classic Car
August 2001.
The blue car featured belongs to
Matthew Cooley and has a lot of history
as it is the Kenwood Saker and the car
that encouraged Bruce Turnbull to put
the car into production. It is the second
Saker to be built with the first being
Bruce’s own car. The car started life as a
promotional vehicle in Porirua to advertise
the Stereo range was being imported at
that time. Being a promotional vehicle
it later clocked thousands of kilometres
traveling around the country to be seen
at shows and stores.
When Bruce built it had been
powered by an Audi 2 litre motor and
5 Speed transaxle. As this was driven
by just about everybody and their dog
the Audi motor eventually expired so
Bruce re-engineered the chassis and
fitted a Subaru 1800 boxer motor and
auto transaxle. However this motor
was treated no better than the first and
when the automatic gearbox expired
Kenwood put up the car for sale.
Matthew first saw the car in Lower
Hutt, as a young teenager in 1991, when
it was being checked for road worthiness
by the Constructors Car Club. At the time
he was smitten with its shape and sleek
lines. When he saw, the now very tired,
car advertised 9 years later and at a more
than reasonable price it was a no brainer
and money quickly changed hands.
The tired Subaru motor was thrown
out and Matthew began a ground up
rebuild which included a Lexus V8 that
gave the car the sound and supercar
performance that a car of this style
deserved. The finish of the car clearly
shows Matthews’s craftsmanship and
the number 2 Saker SV1 will be around
for a long time to come.
15
Tull Sambar 1992 to 2001
by Patrick Harlow
Once Bruce Turnbull had production of
the Saker GT well under way he started a
project that was a long way from any racing
track. Designed more for farm than the road
Bruce designed and built a unique little go
anywhere farm vehicle. The idea came about
when a couple of farming friends complained
about the demise of their Subaru Utes.
Mechanically they were still good but the
thin lightweight bodies were not up to the
long term rigours of farm life.
As the Saker was not selling in enough
numbers to guarantee a living Bruce felt
that a well designed off-road vehicle could
supplement his income. The name Sambar
was used because of the Sambar deer that
were introduced into the Manawatu in 1875
where Bruce grew up. Hunting of the breed
was quite popular until the 1930s. Sambar
16
are rugged creatures at home on the flat plains
and in the bush clad hills, hence the name.
The prototype was built as time permitted
over a period of two years with a design that
was intended for robustness and function
rather than beauty. The chassis was made
of heavy rectangular steel tubing which had
the sheet metal firewall and inner guards
welded in place. Once fully welded the
chassis was hot dip galvanised. The body
was made from fibreglass and the flooring
was plywood. Clearly this vehicle was built to
last. All window glass was flat and laminated
and extremely cheap to replace. Headlights
and taillights were all after market items and
could be bought anywhere in New Zealand.
The design premise was that the vehicle
would be simple and cheap to repair and
could take a lot of punishment.
Anti clockwise from top:
Sambar chassis was built to last
Last Samba built. Heading towards Pitcairn
Island
It was not a difficult job to bolt the Subaru
MacPerson strut suspension into place
Last Sambar
17
Not an aerodynamic curve in sight
This was about as luxurious as they got
Subaru Leone dashboard can be seen through
the Leone
The off-roader was simple and robust. Mag
wheels would have been taken off the donor car.
Samba lowered for Orchard Spraying
18
With 1980’s Subaru Leones acting as the
principal donor cars it was relatively easy
to bolt the mechanical layout into the new
chassis coming as it did with a standard
four wheel drive configuration. Wiring and
instrumentation were also transferred into
the new body. A lot of the donors were
low mileage rust buckets which is exactly
what Bruce wanted. Some even had diesel
engines.
Because of its standard in four wheel
drive format Sambar’s sold all over New
Zealand with most of them built as flat
decks, sometimes called a Rouzy, or
wellside ute’s with the two Leone seats vinyl
seats for comfort. If it was hot the doors
were mounted so that it was a simple task
to simply lift them off and store them in a
shed.
Tim Chadwick of Classic Car wrote;
“Down near a Taranaki sandbar, I launched
myself into a little off-roading and found
the Sambar to be very sturdy, with good
rigidity at work and the Subaru suspension
easily adequate. Good ground clearance
easily took care of any protruding mountain
boulders that had made their way to the sea
over the decades.”
Although these little off roaders were
tough and durable Bruce found that many
farmers preferred buying cheap Japanese
imports which they would run into the
ground and then buy another. Bruce could
not compete with the extras offered in
modern Subarus such as carpets, although
the odd framer has been known to throw a
doormat in. At 15,000NZD the Samba was
cheaper than a Subaru and more durable.
Farmers could even opt to build the vehicle
themselves ($8,000 for the kit set) which
was not a difficult task for the quiet winter
months. But despite this only a trickle of
vehicles left Bruce’s factory each year. Still,
every vehicle sold was money in the bank
and nobody cared about how well it did on
the racetrack.
Unfortunately at the start of the new
millennium the Subaru Motor Company also
took an interest in the Sambar. Coincidentally
the name Sambar was one that they were
using for a small sports utility they were
selling only in the United States and although
they had no intention of marketing the car in
New Zealand they did not like the fact that
he was using “their” name.
Sambar production stopped in 2001 after
18 off roaders had been built. All were road
legal and as far as Bruce knows all but two
of them are still operational. The last Sambar
was sold to the British High Commission
and went to Pitcairn Island where it is the
only vehicle on the island that is not a four
wheel quad bike.
Bibliography
Thanks to Bruce Turnbull.
Pictures from Bruce Turnbull
Sambar at a Sandbar by Tim Chadwick.
Classic Car April 2005
19
The Junkers Jumo 205D
Introduced in 1933, the Junkers Jumo 205
aircraft engine was the most famous of a
series of diesel engines that were the first,
and for more than half a century, the only
successful aircraft diesel engines. These
engines all used a two-stroke cycle with
twelve pistons sharing six cylinders, pistonhead to piston-head in an opposed piston
configuration. This unusual configuration
required two crankshafts, one at the bottom
of the cylinder block and the other at the
top, geared together. The pistons moved
towards each other during the operating
cycle. Intake and exhaust manifolds were
duplicated on both sides of the block. There
were two cam-operated injection pumps
per cylinder, each feeding two nozzles, for
4 nozzles per cylinder in all. This type of
engine needs a supercharger-like blower to
actually push the air into the intake ports,
which at the same time forces the spent
charge out through the exhaust system. The
205D displaced 16.2 litres and produced
880 HP.
Tull Saker SVS Sprint 2000 to Current
by Patrick Harlow
Early picture of the prototype Sprint. The top air intake was deemed unnecessary on production cars.
Credit: B Turnbull
After the success that Bruce Turnbull had
with the Saker SVS GT he decided to build
a car that could be driven to a racing track,
raced and then driven home again. Like the
SVS GT this car could be bought either as
a rolling chassis or as a complete turnkey
vehicle. To bring the price down and simplify
the build process it was designed to be a
no frills open top car in a similar manner
to many of the 7 type cars that have been
manufactured to date across the country.
To make the maximum weight saving Bruce
designed the car without opening doors or
even a windscreen.
Mechanically the car was very modern
using donor parts from a number of cars with
the Subaru flat 6 boxer engine or the WRX
engine and transmission ensuring plenty of
power and a low centre of gravity. Interestingly,
there is currently so much customer interest
that Bruce is modifying the design to take the
Saker GT windscreen. Once in place builders
of these cars will be able to drive home from
the race track in relative comfort. Although
not as popular as the GT interest in the
22
Sprint has been steady with six cars leaving
the factory so far. Development work parallels
the GT with ideas and modifications made for
the GT being immediately incorporated into
the Sprint.
Most builders choose to buy the chassis
first which leaves the factory ready to take
the Subaru motor and with the steering
fitted. The body is then bought later and is
very simple to attach to the tubular spaceframe tubular chassis. The people who buy
a Sprint quickly become part of a fraternity
of people that are keen to help each other in
the build process with Bruce always being
available on the other end of a telephone for
any required technical assistance.
As with the GT the sprint is also built in
China and raced in Holland by a company
called Saker Sportscars Europe and so far
26 Sprints have been made and sold by
them.
Bibliography
Thanks to help received from Bruce
Turnbull
Pictures from Brue Turnbull, Hue Allen
Above: Facelifted Saker Sprint Credit: H Allen
All else: Saker Sprint Credit: B Turnbull
23
My involvement with Saker Cars 2004-2005
by Gavin Bateman
Saker, Neal Looney driving
“While researching the History of Saker
cars I got in touch with Gavin Bateman and
asked him to send me a few words on his
involvement with the Saker in the United
Sates so that I could add it as a footnote
to my story. But as you will read below it is
too good a story to compress into a mere
paragraph or two.” – Patrick Harlow
It all started when selling my racecar,
Rhubarb 2 to the USA.
Firstly, after having already sold it, I had
another enquiry from Holland about the car,
so I pointed this person to the Saker and
Bruce. This person was Robbert Visser who
ended up buying a car and the European
agency.
Meanwhile the new owner of the Rhubarb
took it to the track & got so many enquiries
from other race-goers as to where to buy
one, he came back to me and asked if I
could build more. After thinking about it
I said no, because the car had too many
exotic components in it. I did suggest that
he take a look at the Sakers. He liked the
24
look of the cars & said lets go for it. He came
up with a business partner in his then boss
at CB Richard Ellis.
After several international conference
calls we had decided that taking the Saker
to the USA was a good idea. About this
time another party was also interested in
the US agency and I had just been made
redundant, so I spent my redundancy money
on buying the first Saker SVS GTA chassis.
I soon managed to sell this car to a 21 year
old student & musician from Florida who had
made enquiries about owning a car. This
car was built up in the Bateman Racecars
workshop here in Wellington to the spec
that the customer requested. This spec was
to make it probably the most hi tech Saker
around.
It was powered by a modified Lexus V8
with custom made inlet runners & headers,
ported heads & lumpy cams. The transmission
was Renault, with Godzilla driveshafts. I
made the Renault to Nissan drive adaptors,
and had them hardened. Rear uprights were
25
also from a Godzilla. The car had a sound
system with 1500W worth of amplifiers, 6
speakers & a neon light emitting sub. This
also entailed running a separate battery and
alternator. The sound system was fitted in
around the air conditioning, traction control,
gear indicator, shift lights, rear vision
camera, and ABS system, all trimmed with
$10k worth of leather.
While this car was off being trimmed, work
was started on the car that would become
the Saker Motorsports demonstrator. This
was also built here in Wellington based
closely on the Saker Challenge cars that
Robbert was building in Holland. Robbert
had negotiated good deals with Moton
suspension for shocks, TarOx for brake kits
and Continental for fuel cells, so these were
all imported to add to the car. The engine
was a brand new Subaru WRX provided
by the Saker Australia guys. This was an
outright race car but still required a lot of
machining welding & fabrication to finish.
Part way through this Tony Vakerics was
sent out from the US to help me with the
build. It ended up taking 9 weeks and 1 day
from when we started on the car till it went
on the plane to Chicago.
After shipping both cars I had a hiatus
for a while during which the guys in the US
took the race car to the Nashville Auto Diesel
College (NADC) where they modified the
rear bodywork to split in a different place than
original to allow fitment of a dry break fuel
coupler. They also painted the car in a Viper
Yellow with Subaru blue colour scheme.
In this form it went down to Daytona and
was displayed.
About this time the guy I had sold the
Rhubarb to, had his marriage break up and
he had to step away from the business
and was replaced by a computer guy from
California.
26
The tutor from NADC that had led their
work on the car organized a workshop for
us in Clarksville TN, so I was soon off to the
USA to be reunited with, the blue & yellow
Saker now known as Seabiscuit, as well as
Rhubarb 2 and a pattern chassis.
On the way to the US I went to Europe
and visited Robbert Visser and looked at
the cars he was building, as well as a visit
to TarOx in Italy and Moton in Holland to
secure parts supply.
Soon the guy who had bought the V8
powered car off me asked if I could make
some modifications to it, so I made a trip
to Florida and collected it. It stayed with
me for most of a year while I fitted electric
door actuators, removed the door handles,
improved some body fits, and sorted out
why the engine would run fine for 45
minutes, stop and not restart until it had
cooled down.
Its amazing how when you turn up to a
music event in a small US town driving a
car like that you automatically get given VIP
parking privileges.
With the guys in the US having had
the chance to try out the race car for size
prior to my arrival it was decided that
some modifications were required to fit tall
American drivers. This ended up consisting
of lowering the floor plane of the chassis by
2 inches and subsequent flow on effects
of modifying the body work to match. The
suspension pickups were left at the same
height while the engine and transmission
were lowered by 2”, improving the centre of
gravity. This also meant that the cars were
now too low to be used on the road which
was not a great concern as selling road cars
opens up a large can of worms as far as
product liability in the US.
Using the pattern chassis Chris made
some ‘chassis jigs’ which in reality ended
up being fancy car trolleys as they didn’t act
as jigs too well. This despite having been
provided pictures of Bruces’ jigs and having
built Nascar chassis for Roush.
I got to work and did a bunch of drawings
of the sheet metal parts so we could have
them laser cut. I did developments of all the
suspension pickups and designed a tool for
bending them all and found sources for all the
components required to build a car like this.
Jim my business partner went about trying
to sell the cars and helped in the workshop
when he could. Oh and supplied some
money to make it all happen.
Tony helped build the cars full time for
nothing more than lodging and did a bit of
carpet laying on the side for pocket money.
We took on Dusty to do our chassis welding.
He was our best & most reliable worker.
Through one of Chris’ students at NADC
we found that his father was a fiberglass &
composites guy of many years experience
who had won awards at SEMA for best new
product with some of his work. So for $10
an hour we got him to do the modifications
to the bodywork and make moulds.
With this team we built 2 complete cars
with spares. The cars had all imperial rod
ends as the metric ones used here are not
available in the US. This made it a lot easier
to make the wishbones as you can buy very
nice off the shelf threaded bungs to suit
these and the chrome moly tube sizes. The
lower ball joints were changed to an off the
shelf Chevy item for which you can buy the
housings cheaply. The bottom of the Toyota
and Nissan uprights were reamed out to suit
with the reamer supplied by the ball joint
seller. The steering racks were also changed
for off the shelf Mustang II units with billet
mounts from Flaming River. These guys are
very good for supplying all sorts of useful
steering parts from universals to column
supports.
It is quite surprising how long it takes to
get stuff in the US & how far you have to go
to get it. It’s just a factor of the place being
so big I guess that it generally takes 7 or so
days to get anything after it has been sent.
We got ourselves a good fastener
supplier in Dan Moon from HiTech fasteners
in Michigan who ended up buying a car from
us. He still has it & uses it. His car was built
using all the basic stuff, such as standard
WRX engine & trans, 15” wheels etc.
27
The other car we built was at the other end
of the spectrum, having a full carbon fibre
body, Motec engine management, a billet
dog type gearset, 17” wheels, and PI data
logging. It was built to take on the 1 lap of
America. This is where the competitors visit
racetracks and drag strips all over the US as
part of a tour, with their times all added up
to see who is the winner. Unfortunately the
build took a little longer than anticipated &
the customer cancelled his order. The car
was completed & eventually sold on. It was
last seen for sale on ebay about 2 years ago.
While building cars & trying to make
enough money by various means on the
side, (as I had no income for the time I was
in the US) we were also taking Seabiscuit to
various shows and race events around the
southern & eastern states, but not racing it.
We took it up to Canada to film a segment
for Sports Car World, a speed channel
show. We went down to Road Atlanta to
display it at the ALMS race there.
A lot of interest was shown by those
wanting a track day car and also from race
schools who liked the idea of a proper race
car, that they could put both student & driver
in, but didn’t make a lot of noise.
In I guess October we made the decision
that it was about time for Sebuscuit to stop
being a show pony & get out there & be
raced. 2 engines and transmissions were
ordered from SubWRX in Auckland. These
were 420hp engines turned down to 380hp
for reliability. The transmissions had billet
synchros fitted. The race was to be the 25
hours of Thunderhill in Northern California. A
serious baptism of fire for an unraced car.
While waiting for the engines etc to arrive,
Seabuscuit was stripped & fitted with a
compact heater & demister, an extra NACA
duct into the cockpit to aid with driver
cooling, a ship to shore radio fitted, a new
28
bigger diameter exhaust made, new wing
mounts designed & made, and various other
changes made to suit endurance racing.
Prior to going to the race track in Willow
we had to drive across the country with
the car. Going thru Texas we got stopped
by an ice storm & had snow in northern
Arizona before dropping into Phoenix where
it was rather hot. We went out to Phoenix
International Raceway to the BMW club
driver training day where the drivers for the
25 hour race were to try out the car. The
first guy in was Blaine McNutt. He went out
& did some laps getting faster & faster and
closer to the time the Daytona prototypes
do around the same course.
When he came back into the pits the
engine just stopped & would not turn over.
We pulled the sump & found the engine
had seized, so the car went back into the
trailer & we headed to Bullet Performance
in Anaheim. There we pulled the motor and
arranged for the spare motor to be shipped
out from TN. The car & engine were taken to
Easystreet Motorsport a Subaru specialist in
North Hollywood to have the engine rebuilt
and the car stickered up. The next day the
car was taken to one of our sponsors, Irvine
Subaru, for a show & tell.
When the spare engine arrived we fitted
it & got it running just in time to do a corner
weight check, pack up & leave for Willow.
Being December and Northern California,
we started to wonder if the track was going
to ice over at night.
Friday we set up camp with the Bullet
performance crew who were also running a
BMW for a customer. We spent time getting
all the drivers fitted to the car and familiarized
before one of them went out for a qualifying
session. He came back complaining that the
car was all over the place especially under
brakes, so we set to checking out the car. I
found one of the rear lower ball joints was
loose and after some questioning found out
that the person who was supposed to have
done the wheel alignment, hadn’t in fact done
it. We also found that the steering rack mounts
were bending. So while the Bullet guys did a
wheel alignment I came up with a rack brace
& other guys did a spanner check.
By the time this was done qualifying was
over for Friday leaving us just an hour on
Saturday morning. Ralph took the car out &
went around quietly, qualifying us 60th out
of 65 cars. Ralph was also down to start
the race.
After the traditional playing of a bunch
of national anthems & the air force fly over,
the race was started. For the first few laps
there was no communication over the radio
which caused a lot of worry in the pits, but
it was because there was nothing wrong
with the car.
In fact Ralph managed to get from 60th up
to 9th in the space of 15 laps. 9th & above
is where the car stayed for the rest of its
time on track. We changed tires at 5 hours &
they could have gone another 5. We started
out refueling every hour until we worked
out the fuel consumption, measuring the
amount of fuel left in the fuel churn after
each refueling.
At 10.5 hours our team manager asked
the driver to report on the gauges which
distracted him, resulting in an off course
excursion into the grass. The temperature
started to go up, so he came in to have
the grass removed from the radiator intake,
however the damage was done & the engine
threw a rod & caught fire. The car was
brought back in & we changed the motor,
which was the rebuilt engine from Phoenix.
The engine when cranked went clang & that
was it. Turned out the heads were bent from
the previous overheating.
So it was back to the motel for what was
left of the night, followed by packing up
the next morning and back to TN to keep
working on the other cars.
For a while my business partner Jim
had been talking to other people who had
shown an interest in building the cars for
us. One was in Indianapolis, and the other
in Detriot. In the end Jim decided to go with
Autosport Development in Detriot. This shop
was based on the site of the owners main
business Trenton Forging, an OEM supplier
of items such as tie rod ends to the auto
industry.
Notice was given to the landlord in TN,
and all the cars & gear moved in both the
24 ft trailer and several trips with the 40ft
gooseneck trailer to Trenton, about 8 hours
away.
At this point I had spent all the money from
selling my Porsche, and all my other funds.
The team owner didn’t want to employ me as
I didn’t have a green card, so I turned around
& went back to Clarksville TN, getting a job
helping building new houses for the influx of
new soldiers to Fort Campbell.
Meanwhile it seems that Jim forgot to
talk to Autosport Development about who
would pay for the components to build the
cars, each expecting the other to do so. As
a result everything came to a screaming halt,
with us also unable to find other investors.
Although I would like to go back to the US &
do it myself, and do it properly, so far this has
concluded my generally fun, but expensive,
involvement with Saker cars.
29
A celebration ‘Rappa Run
by Richard Kelly
Rich’s serious bit of
kit… the M3
To celebrate an imminent return to work at
the end of the Christmas break a small group
of fish and chip and car enthusiasts met up
to enjoy a drive in the Wairarapa countryside
via the Lake Ferry Hotel.
The cars making this trip had a unusually
German theme (BMW’s Z4, 320, M3 and
a Porsche 911) but were unmistakably lead
by a Brit.
The roads were amazing; the fish and
chips sadly were not. For our next road
trip a different venue will be essential, but I
am sure we’ll have no trouble finding some
great roads.
[Editor’s note … Actually, this is all about
Richard’s newly acquired M3. And why not?
That is a seriously nice car buddy. ]
Right above: Colin
Young’s BMW Z4
Right: Brian Hanaray
was there too
with his Honda
30
Iain out in Front
The following pack
Peter Skarrat’s Porsche
Partaking of the fish
and chips
31
Start up
by Stewart Collinson
Pic 1: Perhaps the
problem is in this
messy bit?
Exciting news, my Subie-powered Frankenbuild comes to life.
Day 1 – a good day
Over the last three months the fuel injection
computer has been cut from its original
loom and spliced into the Frankenbuild. The
fuel tank is installed and looks like a work art
(thanks to Alan Price’s welding genius). The
plumbing is done.
The ECU winks a friendly green light at
me. Green for go…
Day 2 – two good days in a row
I started the engine. No water in it, so just
a short burst to check fuel and electronics.
Fire blankets and fire extinguishers were
at hand – all fuel, oil and air lines doublechecked.
It started instantaneously. There was an
initial cloud of smoke as it coughed up five
years worth of oil and grime. It idled evenly
and revved freely. It was a bit fumy, but
this was to be expected from a cold $500
32
engine. No clanking or clattering, and the
exhaust muffling was reasonable.
I have proclaimed myself an electronics
wizard.
Day 3 – a bad day
I wish my radiator lines were as good as the
tank! I put water in it, but as soon as the
system pressurised much of it ran on to the
floor. My pipe soldering is good but my hose
clamping isn’t.
On shutdown a giant oil puddle quickly
formed on the floor. I tracked this to
untorqued turbo oil feed line. So much
for checking all the lines. This is a classic
source of engine fires.
With the floor awash, the oil leak spread
over several square metres. It was like an ice
rink and I fell on my arse several times. Wife
complained bitterly. I had to lay newspaper
so she could cross to the family car and I
was accused of tramping oil through the
house. It took an hour with Handy Andy to
clean up.
Day 4 – another good day
Day 5 – awful day
With the radiator hose refitted and oil banjo
pinched down there were no problems on
the third start.
Wife and daughter were compulsory
paraded past the car for the third start.
Mildly impressed they retreated inside while
I had a beer and crowed to myself.
Son, parents in Invercargill via telephone,
in-laws, friends, neighbours and postman,
all treated to engine starts. Wife claims I’m
obsessed.
Bad news, the engine no longer works. I
suspect a short in the wiring somewhere as
it occurred just after I stretched the loom to
look at the ECU plugs closely. (See pic 1).
Day umpteen
The motor just sits there clicking a relay
or two. The starter spins it but to no avail.
Then out of nowhere the motor sometimes
coughs and shrugs around half a rev, which
suggests its got mixture in the cylinders
Pic 2: ECU pin
diagram.
33
and can hold its compression, but that the
ignition is going haywire. (These shrugs
could be hard on my fingers so I’m staying
well away from the alternator belt).
Something is pulling the voltage down
and draining the battery really quickly. No
smoke comes from the wires – but then it’s
not Lucas electrics.
Looked at every wire, especially wires I
last touched. Unplugged and tracked every
wire and checking every join. I found a few
dicky things like one or two exposed positive
wires (must have been a late night) and the
cam sensor wire hanging by a thread.
Time to get logical. Out with the multimeter
and look for the most obvious ECU errors.
(See pic 2).
• Check ECU power and earths. All OK
but, arghh, the ECU has no sign of life
even when only wired to power and
earths.
• Check for ECU 12v output circuit shortcircuits. The ECU powers some items
(O2 heater, MAF heater). A short-circuit
to earth on one of these could draw
several amps. Poof goes the ECU. Uh
oh, found a suspicious exposed wire on
the MAF heater.
34
• Check ECU switching circuits. Typically
the ECU switches its peripherals,
(injectors, relays, etc) by earthing their
circuits. If these peripherals are working
properly this is only an amp or three
for a fraction of a second. But if one of
these peripherals has fused (or more
likely incorrectly installed) then the ECU
has to earth several amps. Poof again.
And it’s time for me to ‘fess up to myself.
Much earlier I had allowed the full fuel pump
load to be carried directly by the ECU rather
that through the fuel pump relay. I thought
this would bite me some time.
Well at least I’ve found and fixed lots of
problems now that would have been very
annoying later into the build.
Day Umpteen plus 1
I’ve purchased another ECU off Trade-me
for $60. Fingers crossed it works. It could
become a $60 fuse!
Day One again – a superb day
Oh joy, the engine is running again. I fitted
the replacement ECU, double checked
the wiring and then feed it juice. It winked
its welcoming green light. I hooked up
all remaining plugs and we are back in
business.