1933 Riley 12/4 Special Vintage Racecar
Fully Restored and Finish in Bright Red
Like so many of the pre-war single seater racecars, this car has a unique and romantic history. Formed into its current configuration by David Fairly of Ireland, this car was the product of his early, cash strapped, racing ambitions. In 1959 Fairly pulled this engine out of a road going Riley 12/4 which bad been abandon in a field, and mounted a Roots style supercharger to it. He located the Armstrong pre-selector gearbox and narrowed the chassis to its single seater format. Fairly assembled the finned alloy hydraulic drum brakes, which remain on the car today. Unfortunately, in pre-season testing for the 1960 season on the roads outside of Belfast, Fairly found ''the engine to have been worn out and the project a disappointment". With no capital to improve the car he parked it and attempted to race an Alvis Special he bought for 15 pounds sterling which was "even worse".
In 1970, now more financially sound, Fairly extracted the Riley Special from the back of his shed and rebuilt it properly. He obtained VSCC papers and raced the car with much success in historic races in England in 1970. David Fairly sold the car to Malcolm Dunsworm who continued to race it in England through 1990 in much the same configuration.
Recently the car has seen a comprehensive restoration. Much of the work was done by specialist in their respective fields. The Chassis was reworked by Phil Venables, heads by Riley guru Goldflow, gearbox by pre-selector expert Bill Morris, and the final assembly overseen by Mika Hakkinen's chief engineer from the 1998-9 seasons. While in the US the car was race prepped by Don Koleman's Competition Motors for vintage events at Lime Rock Park and a hill climb at Mt. Equinox in 2004.
The car is in outstanding cosmetic condition and, would be fit for showing. It is eligible for any historic racing series in the US, including General Racing which hosts both the Monterey Historics and the Wine Country Classic. The shorter, tighter tracks of the West Coast favor lighter, small bore cars like this Riley. With its excellent power to weight ratio, we can expect it to be competitive among the Alfa Romeo P3s and Monzas, and ERAs, and at a fraction of the cost.
With the car; letters from David Fairly relating to the cars history, notes on the restoration, and a VSCCA logbook.