THE PILLINGERS' GALLERY PAGE

Father and son Dave and Scott Pillinger are regularly to be seen competing in speed events around the South West of England. Dave runs a motor engineering business at Peasedown St John, Bath where, amongst other services, he offers a complete road and race car suspension setup service. His computerised four-wheel geometry check and alignment equipment has enabled many a club member to realise the full potential of their car on the track. Scott takes up the story of their competition history...
 
Dad started racing in 1991, after chatting to Dean Robertson, a Bristol Motor Club member who happened to have an industrial unit next to Dad’s premises. He then introduced us to the Perry brothers. Chris at this time was running a Dutton. We then saw a Dutton for sale as a box of bits, bought it and started to build our first competition car. Dad's first event was Colerne in August 1991. We continued to develop the car and in October 1996 I had my first event at Castle Combe.
Scott Pillinger, Dutton B+, Wiscombe 5-Clubs September 1997
Scott at Wiscombe 13 September 1997
After blowing up the crossflow engine at Longleat in approx. 1998 we decided it was time for a change, and embarked on a new venture. Having always wanted to try slicks etc. we decided to convert the Dutton into a Sports Racing car. We retained the original chassis, suspension and running gear but fitted a Ford Zetec engine. After various chats with Dunnell we agreed upon a state of tune and bought the necessary parts to make our Zetec give approx. 215bhp. We bought larger wheels and tyres from Chris and Martin Perry, had a nose cone made from a mould Dean Robertson had, made our own rear wing and bodywork from alloy, and christened it the DSP11. After a few initial teething problems we had a very good season in 1999 with a selection of wins each.
Scott Pillinger, Dunkeswell Sprint, 13 May 2000
Scott, Dunkeswell May 2000
We started the next season with much the same plan but decided we really wanted to go for a single-seater. We found a Royale Formula Ford for sale with a cross-flow on fuel injection and decided to look at it, despite preferring to go bike-engine. Needless to say, we bought it. During the winter of 2000-2001 we sold all the cross-flow, fuel injection and Hewland parts and bought a standard Honda Blackbird engine. We sourced a diff unit from a kit car magazine (intended for trikes!) and constructed the car we compete in today. The engine is standard apart from a repackable Merlin silencer, dyno jet kit and K&N filter retaining the original airbox. The gearbox is standard, suspension is Royale RP26/27 (1979) (obviously set-up by Dave Pillinger Motorsport!) but running 8" front and 10" rear wheels. Wings are standard Royale Formula Ford 2000 (hence the /27 part!). The brakes are standard Metro cast 4-pots at the front and cast Mini-Cooper 2-pots at the rear.
Dave Pillinger, Royale RP26/27, Llandow Sprint, June 2002
Dave at Llandow, June 2002
Scott Pillinger, Royale, Colerne Two Club Sprint 2002
Scott at Colerne 2002
Dave Pillinger, Colerne Two Club Sprint 2002
Dave at Colerne 2002
Scott Pillinger, Finlake 2002
As with any new project we’ve had various problems, but we are both getting used to it and starting to get some respectable results.
Scott Pillinger, Finlake 2002

Picture credits: Colerne and Llandow - Steve Wilkinson; Finlake - Derek Hibbert

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