1935 Austin Seven Special Monoposto Racer

In 1935 a tradesman wrote off a new Austin van. This served as the basis for the special that was constructed in 1937.

The car is beautifully constructed, in particular the front suspension is very cleverly fabricated. The car possesses huge drum brakes reminiscent of a GP car of its era and the rear suspension features an offset axle to provide a very low driver seating position.

The car was raced in Britain in 1938-39 and at the outbreak of hostilities the owner entered the RAF and was killed in action.

The car sat in the family barn and was discovered in 1991 and sold to John Laugermann who took it to Don Rawson in 1994 for a complete restoration. John Laugermann raced the car on the East Coast in 1996 with VSCCA.

In 19999 Rodney Smith bought the car and both he and Mark Gillies raced the car with HMSA and CSRG and General Racing. It was accepted 5 times at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races and has 13 races on Rodneyys log book.

In 2008 Mark Sange bought the car and has raced it 5 times. In 2009 at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races he placed 2nd among 29 cars and was awarded the Rolex Award for presentation and performance.