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Added: 16 Dec 2013 Category: Older Oval Racing
My Favorite F2s
In upsurge in older photos being uploaded in recent months has made me have a think about what cars and car/ driver combinations I'd love to see back on track, and just what my favorite cars down the lines have been. I thought I'd start the journey with the F2's.

I imagine most people will have their favorite cars, and to most they are probably from their favorite eras.
I sat down thinking I'd try and keep the piece away from the mass produced factory cars that over run the sport now, but somehow it didn't pan out like that.

Some of these photos were found online down the years, my apologies to the photographers concerned, I don't know who took them to credit them, but most of them are my own


#1. Rob Speak's 97 Higman
Of all the F2’s I’ve seen down the years, this is my personal favourite. I think the car was actually debuted at Nutts Corner during the Irish Championship week, if it wasn’t it was debuted very close to it.
The car looked stunning in Gold and Red and won the first F2 world that I’d attended.

#2. George Fegan's Clifford McKnight car
It was close between this Speak’s 97 Higman as to which car is my favourite F2 of all time, Speak’s got it on the significance of winning the first world I was at, but if I could go back in time and watch any car going round a track again, this would likely be the one. This for me was more about an era when F2’s where log slung cars, mostly, if not all running 1300 engines. I believe this was a Clifford McKnight built car and I think dated back to the late 80’s early 90’s.

#3. Davy McCrory's Late 90's car
This was one of my favourite cars from the late 90’s, back at a time when I’d have considered myself a Davy McCrory fan (now I try to be more impartial). As well as being one of my favourite cars, it’s also one of the biggest wrecks of an F2 I’d seen, when the car was more or less demolished in the 98 World at Swindon and looked a sorry sight on the trailer going up the road after the meeting. I have in my head that there was an even tidier car of Davy’s just before this one, but I can’t find any photos of it, so I could be wrong, perhaps if anyone has has pics of the predecessor of this one, they could share them.

#4. Ian Thompson's 'Tilter'
Ian Thompson’s “tilter” was possibly a taste of what F2 could have looked like today had the tilting chassis not been outlawed. Bill Batten, Rob Batten and Tim Farrell also had some success with tilting chassis, but Thompson’s went on to win the world. In an era of factory produced cars though it was just something different. It probably had the greatest offset on a wing on any F2.

#5. Lee Guinchard's Mtec BLT
In 1999 shortly after winning the European Championship in an Elite, Lee Guinchard came out in this fantastic looking machine just ahead of the World Championship, where it was pictured here. Built by Mtec the BLT was a fantastic looking car, and one of the first to skirt in the nerfs of F2s and bring back sidepods.

#6. Steve Green Jnr's Mtec
A few years on from the Mtec BLT, Steve Green Jnr came out in this car, which was quite similar and also stunning

#7. Mark Wareham's 2002 Elite
Mark Wareham debuted this car at the 2002 World final at Cowdenbeath. A real looker, with the wing set forward on it, and the from spoiler below the bumper a bit of a throwback to the elite of Nick Smith which was used as the post car when elites arrived in F2. I don’t recall anyone else ever having one quite like it.

#8. Bill Battan's last screamer
I seen pics of this car on facebook recently, and remembered what a fantastic looking car it was. There was several Bill Batten and Batten built cars that almost made this list, but this I thought was the nicest of them all.

#9. Ian McKnight's mid 90's car
The second McKnight car in my top 10 and a splendid looking piece of kit. Raced by Ian McKnight in the mid 90’s.

#10. Paddy MacAtamney's Forsythe car
Fondly known in our house as “The Inside Out Car”, I think this car was first raced in NI by Colin Hammill before having a few more owners and ending up in the hands of Paddy McAtamney who probably got more racing out of it that anyone else I can remember. I was just different and stood out from the crowd.

As I went through the making of the list, the top 10 changed a few times and each of the following cars went on and off the list, Darren McKinstry’s silver HCD, Bert Finniken’s Downbar car of 97 and indeed the downbar elite of 99, Ivor Greenwood’s car of the mid naughties and the Greenwood built car of Mike Booth, Willie Peeters original Randall and Toon Schut’s 97/98ish HCD), Neil Smith’s elite, Big Ted’s A&D, Ian Thompson’s 2002 A&D and his 99 Higman, Gary McCourt and Philip English’s cars were also favourites from my youth, and when I start thinking back to the pre-winged era there was a lot of tidy cars back then. Then there is the cars I never seen race myself, the Billy Finnegan car and Batten’s Greenwood car stick out. I think I could probably have made it my top 100 cars and I’d still be struggling to draw the line.





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