BILL’S SPRINT CAR.

Bill Gouldthorpe is a very amiable chap. A retired 67 year old lorry driver who likes nothing better than to spend his weekends pottering about in his Ford Mondeo.
Well, sort of. The Mondeo block forms the basis of his 2 litre 215 bhp Duratec engine, rebuilt by SBD Racing & mated to a Hewland 4 speed LD200 gearbox, geared to 140 mph. Bill uses this car for sprint racing & hill climbing. He’s won several sprint championships & most recently took part in the annual sprint races along Madeira Drive in Brighton. He’s lapped the Goodwood circuit at a very creditable 87 seconds, proving retirement doesn’t have to be all comfy slippers & allotments! I want one of these when I grow up!
The car is a 2 litre Duratec Van Dieman RF96M, which started life as an 1800 Formula Ford machine in Portugal. As well as the bigger engine, Bill’s also fitted wider wheels & tyres, a rear wing & a custom made fibreglass diffuser, all of which improve it’s road-holding quite dramatically. Beneath the fibreglass body shell is a tubular steel space frame with extra roll bar. Like all race cars changes & improvements are being made all the time in search of faster times. Bill does most of his own spannering but the specialist engine work was handled by SBD. Visit their site at www.sbdev.co.uk for more info on their tuning services, especially Duratec & Hayabusa engined race cars. You can also see shots of Bill in action.
Of course, he doesn’t always drive that fast. His daily runabout is a little more sedate -A bright yellow Ferrari 348 TS! He’s also got a gorgeous GT40 Ford in his garage awaiting a new paintjob. I’ll show you it as soon as it’s done. A nice guy. Thanks for your time Bill.

-Andy.