Austin 7 Ulster Replica

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The diminutive baby Austin made an unlikely sports car. The butt of many jokes when unveiled to the public in 1923, it was Herbert Austin’s son in law, Arthur Waite, who suggested competing in one, having spotted the potential of its ultra-light body and chassis combination and its tough, reliable engine. 

In that same year, he entered a specially prepared Austin Seven in the Easter Small Car Handicap Race at Brooklands, comfortably seeing off the competition. Ace tuner and race engineer Gordon England soon offered an Austin Seven Brooklands Super Sports which was guaranteed to do 80mph, speeds pretty well unheard of in a car of under three-litres! It was no surprise that in 1924, the factory introduced their own Standard Sports model with a pointed tail and rakish flared wings.

The little cars dominated the 750cc racing class wherever they went, often taking the 1100cc and 1500cc classes at the same time. Arthur Waite, by now living in Australia entered the 1928 Australian Grand Prix with a specially prepared works two-seater with a pointed tail and twin aero-screens, a car thought to be the prototype of what was to become the Ulster model. His post-race telegram says it all “Austin Seven (Waite) first against all classes up to 2000cc……..created furore.”

The following year Herbert Austin employed Gordon England to manage a team of similar cars in an attempt on the Irish RAC Tourist Trophy held at the Ards circuit located near Ulster. Based out of Harry Ferguson’s workshops, they finished third and fourth overall, witnessed by over 50,000 spectators. Their drivers, Archie Frazer-Nash and Holbrook, were cheered all the way for their David vs. Goliath performance, the eventual winner, Rudoph Caracciola in his monstrous works Mercedes, commenting after the race “what a performance those little midget cars put up. They were wonderful, it was a great moment when I flashed past Campari [second place works Alfa Romeo], but I think it was a greater one when I got in front of the Austins.” No surprise then that the little marvels sported the name 'Ulster' thereafter.

Made in very limited numbers, their survival rate was low as they generally led hard lives. As a consequence, original cars today are very highly prized. With so many of its components used in the standard model, many Ulster Replicas have been produced, continuing the long tradition of ‘special’ building on the Austin Seven chassis.

This car was built by Tony Marvel between 2004 and 2011 with much of the work being undertaken by Rawson and Rawson Motorsport, renowned for their expertise in Austin Seven preparation and engine building. Aside from providing a significant number of chassis components, they completely rebuilt the engine with a new Phoenix crankshaft, Phoenix rods with shell bearings, +.060” pistons, a high pressure oil pump, Ruby head, deep sump and a remote oil filter. Other bills on file show a rear axle rebuild plus the conversion of the three-speed gearbox to close-ratio specification. When built, the engine was run-in on the dyno and when fitted with a temporary carburettor produced a very healthy 30bhp, nearly double that of the standard unit.

The rest of the car has been finished to a very high standard. Most Ulster Replicas are fitted with simple cycle wings, however this has the correct full factory-style wings, a working hood, correctly trimmed seat (not cheap buckets as so often seen), a comprehensive dashboard layout and even a removable steering wheel which makes getting in and out much easier, while the 12-volt conversion also makes the car more usable.

The end result is superb. A correct looking Ulster Replica with a well built engine with all of the right bits inside. Usable for the full range of VSCC events, or simply for runs out to the pub on sunny days, this example is on offer at a fraction of the cost it would take to build, a fact which your cataloguer can confirm, being half way through a similar build himself!