Origins of the GTD40 Car Club

By Roy Smart

Ken Attwell began marketing the first viable replica of the Ford GT40, the KVA, in 1982. Within a few years, rapid growth in the kit car and replica industry in the UK had spawned competitors from GTD, Tornado and Dax.  All of these were self build cars for the engineering enthusiast and needed a good level of skill to put together properly.  If you didn't want to build your own, you could commission a car from one of several experienced builders such as Brian Pepper, or persuade GTD or Tornado to provide you with a factory built car.  At the upper end of the market Peter Thorpe could provide a Safir GT40 with very few design changes from the original and a Ford sanctioned continuation chassis, all for the price of a good Ferrari.

The GT40 Replica Owners Club was formed in 1985 to cater for owners of all these cars.  The club chairman was Simon Osbourne who was also works manager at GTD in Poole.  Members used to get a short bulletin every three months which was produced by Simon's wife and which, not surprisingly, contained details of new upgrades available from the GTD factory.  At a subsequent AGM a number of non GTD owners objected to having a representative of a manufacturing company as chairman and following a discussion, Simon was voted off the committee.

Shortly after this event I was at a car show in Ashford, Kent and was impressed by a GTD40 on show.  I went over to have a chat with the owner who turned out to be Alan Barlow.  He told me then that a number of owners were unhappy with the treatment Simon had received and were setting up a new club, with Simon as chairman, to cater for GTD owners and any other GT40 owners who wished to join.

I joined on the spot and became member no 22.  The Club received much support from the GTD factory both in discounts for parts and support with events.  In those days Alan was in charge of events and with his influence we had free entry to events at Silverstone and Brands Hatch.  Other excellent trips included a track day at the Nurburgring.  Alan was not competition minded and most of the events were car shows which did not appeal to the bulk of members.  GTD used to arrange customer track days at Goodwood and their articulated van used to attend, which was very welcome shelter on wet days.  Ray Christopher would turn up with his light weight racer and Simon would drive the company McLaren M8 replica.  This car had a big block Chevy engine and was very quick.  The club started attending the Brighton Speed trials which gave me the opportunity to have a go in 1991 and I have taken part every year since then.

By 1993 production was declining at the factory and Simon was made redundant and returned to hotel management.  Alan took over as Chairman of the club but there was no committee and no magazine, we didn't even have a rule book.

In 1999 Alan decided to sell his car and fortunately it was purchased by Andrew Fordyce, who had it rebuilt to his own specification and repainted in Guardsman Blue.  At about this time I was asked to take over as Chairman, which I was pleased to do.  We set about organising the club on conventional lines, the first requirement being a rule book.  This was really a copy of the model rule book as laid down by the RAC, modified as required.

For some years we had enjoyed the benefit of a first class magazine produced by active GTD owners Tony and Rita Gordine.  The magazine was produced by glueing photos and typed text on to A3 master sheets, which were then photocopied and collated in to 48 page A4 black and white booklets.  The magazine was punctuated with Tony's ribald humour and was originally printed by me and later by Malcolm MacAdam on more up to date equipment.  Due to the home made production methods it cost next to nothing to produce and we were able to keep annual membership subscriptions low.

Malcolm had for some years been our Competition Secretary and his hard work and enthusiasm introduced us to many new competitive events and created a loyal band of competitors.  We all travelled round the country socialising, racing and developing the cars together and this is still the main core activity of the club today.

In 2002 Tony and Rita decided to retire from editing the magazine and Paul Thompson and Andrew Fordyce offered to take over and produce a full colour magazine.  I was concerned about the cost for a club of then only 200 members.  At a cost of about £1000.00 a time the magazine was expensive, but in the end it proved to be the right decision.  To a steam aged person like me the case for trusting all the work of producing a magazine to a small disc of plastic seemed suicidal!  Nevertheless we made it work and for a time we showed everyone what could be done.  Others had to follow suit, although our magazine always remained the best.

Now KVA, GTD, Safir and DAX have gone and only Tornado, MDA and Southern GT remain in the UK.  Overseas manufacturers in South Africa and the States have brought out GT40 replicas with the Superformance offering continuation chassis numbers.  The club has broadened it's appeal to include a wide range of "big banger" sports cars from Vipers to MG SVs.  Now we are changing again, I have just got used to a magazine on a plastic disc and now even that has been replaced by something I can't see that is apparently somewhere in the ether, whatever next?  At least the cars are as beautiful and tangible as ever, long may we continue to enjoy them.

Roy Smart
Club President