The rolling chassis was built by Empress Race Developments for the 1991 Thundersaloon Championship for Trevor Griffiths who shared the car with Ian Connell. It originally ran in "Welcome Break" colours.
In
1991 it ran with a Mass tuned Phase IV Opel Manta 400 engine, which was
fast, but fragile.
Later in it's life, it was fitted with a Ford Cosworth YB Turbo, and was used in that form by it's then owner, Peter Wright, shared with Rob Shepherd in the BRSCC Thundersaloon Championship.
I'm trying to find more information on it's history, pictures, setup information, etc...,
If you can help in any way, I'd appreciate it!
I know that the car was worked on by Matthew Mortlock (now better known for F1-Sales.com) and he changed quite a few things on it from the oringinal Empress spec.
As far as I know, the recent history goes:
Peter Wright - ran it in Thundersaloons to the end of the series, then in the early days of Formula Saloons.
Matthew Mortlock convinced him to fit a wet-sump Chevy V8, it didn't last long in testing, and was never rebuilt.
The car (and it's engine in bits) was sold to Tony Brass, who didn't do much with it. Tony sold it to Andrew Sturry who was going to re-install a Cosworth YB and use it for trackdays. Andrew sold the V8 bits to various people.
Andrew carried out considerable work on the shell, doing lots of tidying up under the skin, had the shocks rebuilt, the RFX's were sent away for rebuild, and the most noteable change was fitting the Lotus Esprit GT rear wing.
The rest is my own work!
Later in it's life, it was fitted with a Ford Cosworth YB Turbo, and was used in that form by it's then owner, Peter Wright, shared with Rob Shepherd in the BRSCC Thundersaloon Championship.
I'm trying to find more information on it's history, pictures, setup information, etc...,
If you can help in any way, I'd appreciate it!
I know that the car was worked on by Matthew Mortlock (now better known for F1-Sales.com) and he changed quite a few things on it from the oringinal Empress spec.
As far as I know, the recent history goes:
Peter Wright - ran it in Thundersaloons to the end of the series, then in the early days of Formula Saloons.
Matthew Mortlock convinced him to fit a wet-sump Chevy V8, it didn't last long in testing, and was never rebuilt.
The car (and it's engine in bits) was sold to Tony Brass, who didn't do much with it. Tony sold it to Andrew Sturry who was going to re-install a Cosworth YB and use it for trackdays. Andrew sold the V8 bits to various people.
Andrew carried out considerable work on the shell, doing lots of tidying up under the skin, had the shocks rebuilt, the RFX's were sent away for rebuild, and the most noteable change was fitting the Lotus Esprit GT rear wing.
The rest is my own work!