Or is it…
About a year ago I posted on this thread that I was hoping to have my car completed and running in time for the 50th Anniversary of that first race, and I’m sure many of you may now be wondering if I managed it or not. Well, in short the answer is no, but I’m now not too far off from my goal and things have moved forward and in quite an unexpected way since February 2013 when I bought my first JW4.
In the last 3 years I’ve spoken with and met some quite amazing people each with a unique storey to tell and something to give. My search for parts has taken me as far north in the UK as Blackburn and to the West into Cornwall, and what started with one car became three and is now two. The correspondences have been worldwide, with owners past and present in Canada, America, Belgium, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands all getting in touch.
I’ve gone from a car which I knew nothing about that once raced in an almost forgotten Formula to unwittingly becoming the authority for the Johnny Walker JW4 in the UK. The garage is now stacked full of spare parts waiting to be reunited with cars and the rafters are filled with tooling and body moulds; even the house hasn’t escaped, the once empty bookshelves are now filled with a diverse collection of books, period magazines, newspapers and of course drawings.
Whilst I may have not yet achieved my goal of having a running car for the 50th Anniversary, this will not stop me celebrating this occasion in some modest style; I am therefore pleased to be able to report that on the Bank holiday Weekend of 29th/30th May my car will be on display at Crystal Palace for Motorsport at the Palace featuring with it a small exhibition on F4, Johnny Walker and the JW4.
http://www.motorsportatthepalace.co.uk/
For anyone attending the event, please do come and say hello, pick up a free post card and whist there learn a little bit more about Formula Four racing in the 1960’s.