The ( Historic ) Special Saloon Register

BUILT : circa 1979/80 by Tom Shepherd at John Maguire Racing in Coventry.

CLASSIFICATION : Special Saloons

ENGINE : BMC 4 cylinder 1293cc

BHP : 180 bhp ( 1992 ) WEIGHT : 430 kgs ( 1992 ) 

RACED BY : Dave Horsley ( 1979 ), Peter Wartenburg

( 1980-94 )

CURRENTLY : alive and well in England

NOTES : One of the most significant racing Minis came out of storage after nearly 30 years to compete on the Wolfstone Hillclimb in 2021. This is 'TS 79 DH' one of the early John Maguire spaceframe Minis that not only still exists but 10 years into its life became the first car to use the KAD 16-valve engine conversion. 

Built at Maguires Coventry workshop by Tom Shepherd, who raced Maguire cars himself in period. This one was built for Dave Horsley of Scarborough in 1979 but apparently the car gave him backache. After a season it was sold to Peter Wartenburg from Monchengladbach in Germany who had alot of success in it. So much so that the car began to be required to be ballasted to slow it down in its class. What started as a 430 kg car was ballasted to 675 kgs. Peter started making the long trips over to the UK where he could compete more freely in the BARC 'Wendy Wools' special saloons.

Peter recorded 3 third-in-class finishes in the 1984 Wendy Wools championship ( 1300cc class ). A 2nd in class and 2 thirds were also recorded in 1985. He was a regular competitor until around 1987 at the time using using a short-stroke 5 port A-series engine. 

After meeting Gary Oldfield of Kent Auto Developments the pair created the first KAD 16-valve conversion for A series engines using Peter's car as the prototype. In June 1992 Bill Sollis track tested a group of racing Minis for CCC magazine. He said 'Its absolutely mega quick and yet so sure footed even in the wet'. Now with 181 bhp @8600 rpm in car weighing less than half a ton it had been clocked at 139mph down the Snetterton straight. The conversion has since been used on many of the fastest Mini race cars of the 1990s. Its therefore a shame the car was retired in 1994, put into storage and not really seen again until the current owner brought it back to England in 2019. Its been recommissioned by Tom Shepherd who gave the car its return at the 2021 Mini festival at Prescott before the owner himself took it on the Wolfstone Hillclimb where most of the photos in the gallery were taken by myself.