[pistone]

Hello guys,

I hope you like this thread I've just posted on the Royal Enfield Owners Italian forum.

Maybe the oldtest (or more learned) passionates fo Royal Enfield can remember that two strange British cars were powered by Royal Enfield Meteor and Interceptor  twin cilynders engines.

I apologize for the text which is in mainly in Italian but the pictures can explain enough:

http://www.royalenfieldowners.it/threads/143-Auto-con-motore-Royal-Enfield-Si-può-fare.....

(if somebody like to register in our forum, we are going to open an English section, too...  )


Cheers


Fabrizio

[enfield freddy]

yes there is a berkley with that engine, parked no more than 30 mtrs from me , I am in the UK

[pistone]

Ooops !   


You're lucky, Freddy, the only time I've seen it..I was near  L.A. , some years ago and for a few minutes only.

I am trying to understand if one Berkeley could be in Italy.

About the second car: do you already know the Killeen Monocoque ?

Fabrizio

[enfield freddy]

berkley cars were commonly used for circit racing in the UK , I have a neighbour that owns a very early lotus 7 (no,2) a berkley and a very early porche , he races all 3 cars during the summer mths ,

[pistone]

My friend, the forum maker, is the president of Lotus Owners Club Italia, too....

they make lot of trackdays (also if the weather was really bad in the last two months) .

I am thinkin' about a Caterham (Super Seven).

[enfield freddy]

caterams are copies of the lotus , when colin chapman needed to raise money he sold the rights to the 7 off to caterham,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_7

my friends has the early coventry climax engine in it, this engine was first designed a a engine to run a 2 man portable firepump for the london fire brigade ,, if you follow the engine history on , it reappears as the basis for the "hillman imp" motor car ,,

I have a lot of books etc on the 7 , and occasionally work on the berkley.

tell your lotus friends that the 7 i work on , is the black /white car in the lotus book , sold to the "chequered flag" garage (they rallyed lancia stratos rac etc) then the 7 was raced by graham hill

[pistone]

Nice car!

I will tell him !

Did you see the Killeen ?   

[enfield freddy]

Did you see the Killeen ?   

sorry Killeen?

just to add , the reason that chapman sold off the 7 , was that it was sold in kit form (you provided your own engine) , and as such , you did not pay goverment tax on a car.

in 1973 the UK joind the EEC , and abolished "perchace tax" and replaced it by VAT (value added tax) , provision was not made for kit cars , so suddenly they were expensive!

sales dropped and says lowered , caterham cars were the only serviving dealer , and a deal was struck

in 1973 vat was 8% , it has rissen , at present 17.5% . but as of 1/1/2011 it goes up to 20%

[pistone]

Yes, Killeen was a revolutionary monocoque formula car made with a Royal Enfield twin Meteor engine placed in the back, as I already told in my previous message.

Look:

http://tardis.dl.ac.uk/Mercia/killeen_book/node9.html



About the Lotus History: thanks but I know it. just a bit .....I work on British cars since a long time ago, starting from Mini Cooper to Sierra Cosworth, which I tuned to win a national championship   
Then I left cars to move to motorcycles I manufacture now:

http://www.mcdeeb.it



http://www.classicfarmmotorcycles.com


Cheers


Fabrizio

[pistone]

Hi Freddie,

I've just posted some rare pics of the Killeen race car powered by the Royal Enfield 700cc. engine.

http://www.royalenfieldowners.it/threads/143-Auto-con-motore-Royal-Enfield-Si-pu-fare.....?p=958&posted=1#post958


Ciao

Fabrizio

[pistone]

knock knock !

Is Freddy here ?   

Hey guy, post the Killeen car for the US mates.

You can take picture and texts in the Italian Owners forum



Ciao

Fabrizio