1969 Riley Kestrel 1300
The newest OUMF project is a Riley Kestrel 1300, which was kindly donated by Harris and Carol Khairuddin who are pillars of the Riley Owners Club. A house move and loss of garage led to their rolling restoration project finding a new home in Oxford, and it has proved to be a great hit with those with little previous experience; much less daunting to learn on than a full house race car! Much of the car is stripped to address further repairs to the body, and this includes the engine and gearbox which is being overhauled too. The aim is to allow OUMF student beginners to accumulate a diversity of skills in the course of the restoration of a road going classic car – and its a Riley of course! The 1100 Club has been a key support, giving our members vital parts and access to a large technical archive on the ADO 16 model too.
1962 Sebring Sprite race car
This recently completed OUMF race car project owes so much to the generous initial support in October 2016 of Bob Kemp, Austin Healey Sprite registrar, John Yea of British Motor Heritage, Steve Hall of Halls Garage, and Frogeye guru Brian Wheeler, who helped the students find, restore and race prep the body to ‘as new’ condition before the race build could begin. The students received so much help and advice subsequently from our wonderful sponsors - including Swiftune, THINK Automotive, AkzoNobel, Helix Autosport, Lesonal, Owslebury Crankshaft Services, Speedycables – and literally 100’s of others. All are proudly listed in our Supporters section, and we are so grateful for their enabling of this exciting and educative project. The Sebring Sprite - nicknamed ‘Little BeWT’ due to its reg number - was completed in October 2021, the day before it finally made its track debut with the HRDC Allstars at Silverstone. Shortly afterwards it won the 2021 Brian Archer memorial ‘Sebring Sprite Trophy’ for the best turned out car of the year.
1959 Riley 1.5 Racer
The 1959 Riley race car was built specifically for the race track after three years of initially campaigning the OUMF rally Riley in the HRDC race series on circuits around the country. A thoroughly exciting project, the Riley was a blank canvas for OUMF members to show off their creativity and flair. The Riley saw a huge amount of development through racing during it's first two years, resulting in the team's first ‘Touring Greats’ Class win early in 2015. Further refinements and improvements in reliability led to OUMF's first outright win in the HRDC at Thruxton in September 2016, finishing just 0.48 seconds ahead of Mike Jordan in his unbeaten Austin A40! Success in the HRDC led to its debut at the Goodwood Revival in 2018 in the ‘Jack Sears Trophy’, with two further battles in the ‘St Mary’s Trophy’ at the Revival in 2019 and 2021 – in the latter driven by the great Jochen Mass to finish in 12th place. Now in its ninth season, the Riley has contested more races with the HRDC than any other car, thanks to the wonderful generosity, and continuing opportunities offered to the OUMF students by HRDC ‘Commendatore’ Julius Thurgood.
1959 Elva Courier Sports Racer
Built in 1959 by Elva Cars in Hastings, Sussex, it has a tubular steel, ladder chassis, lightweight fibreglass bodywork, and the ‘B’ series MG engine and gearbox, with a Riley axle. It raced at Goodwood, Brands Hatch, and at various hillclimbs in the early 1960’s. It holds the outright 1600cc class record at Firle Hillclimb which closed in 1966. This competition history was rediscovered by motoring historian Duncan Rabagliati soon after it was found in a field in Anglesey, restored and competed again in 1999, but since then it has been invited to race three times at the Goodwood Revival – generally acknowledged to be the world’s most prestigious historic motor racing event.
In The Fordwater Trophy in 2001, it came 13th out of 28. In the same race in 2002, the car finished a very creditable 7th - having been lying as high as 5th at one stage - against some very formidable and competitive ex-Le Mans cars, and drivers. It raced again in the Fordwater at the Revival in 2009, finishing 18th out of 30. It is being recommissioned for racing in the HRDC ‘Allstars’ series, and so it should be back in the limelight with the OUMF student race team - and their ultimate goal is to see this rare car back at Goodwood, its historic spiritual home.
In The Fordwater Trophy in 2001, it came 13th out of 28. In the same race in 2002, the car finished a very creditable 7th - having been lying as high as 5th at one stage - against some very formidable and competitive ex-Le Mans cars, and drivers. It raced again in the Fordwater at the Revival in 2009, finishing 18th out of 30. It is being recommissioned for racing in the HRDC ‘Allstars’ series, and so it should be back in the limelight with the OUMF student race team - and their ultimate goal is to see this rare car back at Goodwood, its historic spiritual home.
1965 Riley 1.5 Rally
The OUMF Riley has been a truly great all-rounder. Dragged from a Scottish hedgerow by OUMF founding members, it was originally campaigned widely in historic rallies in the 1990’s by Arthur Senior before being completely stripped and rebuilt as OUMF’s first project in 2004. It has since competed four times in the SOL Rally Barbados, and 8 times in the Ypres Rally since 2012, with Class wins in 2013 and 2014, and its best result ever of 13th Overall in 2019 – as the oldest car, and up against cars built up until 1990. (The two cars in its class were ex-WRC Golf GTis – and it beat one of them!)
It has also contested the Abingdon CAR-nival Stages, the Targa Rusticana, Targa Britannia, and numerous 12 Car road rallies. The little Riley never fails to capture the imagination of spectators whose 'Dad had one of those...'
It has also contested the Abingdon CAR-nival Stages, the Targa Rusticana, Targa Britannia, and numerous 12 Car road rallies. The little Riley never fails to capture the imagination of spectators whose 'Dad had one of those...'
The "Inca" Alfa Sprint GT
After hitting a llama on the 2001 INCA Trail Rally-15,000 miles around South America, the Alfa returned to the UK in a terrible state. Found in a scrapyard in 2005 with a tree growing through the engine bay, 4 years of hard work by members saw it debut in the St Mary's paddock at Goodwood 2011. Shortly after this, it was raced in the HRDC TC63 at Snetterton 2011, a break from its rallying past. Since then, the Inca has been to Barbados and turned many heads on the SOL Rally Barbados, where it was put through its paces as a rally car for the first time since the rebuild. Finishing 38th overall (46 cars finished after 101 started!), and 3rd in the Historic class, the Inca became the first ever Alfa Romeo to successfully finish the SOL Rally Barbados in it's 22 year history! An even more successful trip in 2014 saw the Inca finish 34th overall!
1988 VW 'TOYO' MkII Golf GTi - Rally Training Car
With a unique three seat arrangement, the TOYO Golf has become infamous on the Road Rally, Autosolo and Targa Rally scene in Oxfordshire; all whilst training the next generation of co-drivers and navigators! The TOYO Golf represents a more modern challenge for the team to deal with, giving an insight into modern production vehicles.
It has successfully campaigned in several championships over the years, one particular highlight being in November 2012 when success on the Woodbridge Targa Rally enabled the trusty TOYO Golf to take the Masters Trophy and secure the championship with an excellent 56 out of 60 possible points. The ongoing development of the car has seen the addition of Bilstein suspension all round, with engine modifications and bigger brakes in the pipeline, too!
It has successfully campaigned in several championships over the years, one particular highlight being in November 2012 when success on the Woodbridge Targa Rally enabled the trusty TOYO Golf to take the Masters Trophy and secure the championship with an excellent 56 out of 60 possible points. The ongoing development of the car has seen the addition of Bilstein suspension all round, with engine modifications and bigger brakes in the pipeline, too!
