We do like Formula Ford, rallying and six cylinder BMWs …….so
It was the 50th Formula Ford Festival this year and. Must do event for the Rotor team. It would have been nice to be involved as competitors but despite making people really good offers we were driverless for this years event. It was a good event even if it was only as spectators but it was a strange experience all the same. As has been said previously there cannot be many teams that have raced their own designed and built cars at Brands Hatch.
Tom Brown in the RoToR JT1 at the 1983 Festival.
It had been a very quiet time for the team all year but out of the blue various options appeared and we finished the year with a flourish. With the GT4 McLaren away to a new home we did not expect to be out on any more track days then a new charge appeared. It is a BMW M2, prepared to endurance racing spec by BMW for a race series they promoted. As you would expect it is a really nice piece of kit. We gave it a quick look over and then headed to Knockhill for a end of year track day. Thankfully it all went well and it only needs a few thinks before it is ready for next year whatever that may bring.
BMW M2351RNext think to come our way for a bit of fun was a trip to Mull for the Beatson Building Supplies tour of Mull rally. Loyal Rotor team member Ian McRae had this on his bucket list for too many years and after some prompting from Graham decided this was the year. Ian has been a stalwart of the junior rally championship and in 2019 sat beside Cameron Davidson in his VW UP. We helped with advice and set the car up for them at the start of the season and lo and behold did they not go on to win the championship that year. Cameron then bought a Peugeot 205GTi which he rebuilt for his move into the senior level of the sport. Pleased to say they got the finish they were after.
Ian McRae and Cameron Davidson on the Mull rally
It has been a very quiet time for the RoToR team. Life has got in the way and house moves, extension building and a general lack of direction has seen few competitive outings. In fact up until October the only thing that we have been involved with is helping out with a McLaren 570s GT4 at some track days. It is the third one that we have been trusted with and by far the best one. It has now been sold and we are sad to see it go.
It has been a tough start to 2021 with another lockdown in most parts of Scotland. We had a very poor 2020 and as a result did not get any use out of our truck. We have had it for eleven years and it has never let us down, taking us to most of the UK circuits . It was more than a means to transport our race cars because it was our accommodation and sleeping quarters when we were away from home. The team have had some good nights with some brilliant meals while on the road thanks to the skills of Munro and Graham at the cooker. Sadly with the cars we have now it became a bit of an issue as it was only built to carry a light car. As a result we decided to let it go and hope that the new owners have as much fun out of it as we have had.
The RoToR truck that served us so well.
With the truck away it is time to consider what we are going to do in the future. We still have the formula Fords but took the decision at the end of 2019 that we had gone as far as we could as an amateur team in the National championship and that we would move on. We had hoped to ship the cars to New Zealand but thanks to the old kung flu that is never going to happen so we are looking at a plan B which would involve selling two cars, keeping one and develop it till we were in a position to build our own car. It is all far down the road because in the short term we need to find another workshop This is not proving to be easy and we are now 6 months into our hunt. It seems we are classed as "motor trade" and landlords are very much against that sort of thing. We will keep looking but things are very slow with nowhere to work. At the moment we are storing the equipment we have gathered over the last 40 years in two double garages and a storage container which is far from ideal. At the moment there is no pressure but as things start to awaken after this Covid adventure I am sure we will want to get a move on.
