Royale Racing Cars were established in 1967 by Bob King with the intention of creating racers for competition in Sports 2000, Formula Super Vee, Formula 3, and Formula Atlantic competition. Today, Royale is best known for its Formula Fords. The name 'Royale' was chosen as it combined Bob King's name with the Park Royal district of London - this was the location where the cars were assembled. The Royale Company's first car was the RP1 which appeared in 1968. It was a Formula Ford racer which was soon followed by an F3 entrant in 1971. They soon became the second largest producers of racing cars in the UK and moved to new facilities in Huntingdon near their primary competition, Lola. They moved again in 1974 to Little Staughton.
During its twenty-year history, Royale created over 800 cars with many of them providing podium finishes for their drivers and ultimately winning many championships. In 1975, Geoff Lees won all three UK Formula Ford titles and the Formula Ford Festival in his RP21. In 1990, the company produced almost 90 examples of its Formula Ford RP24 racer.
By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2008
In 1976, King retired due to failing health and Alan Cornock assumed leadership responsibilities. Rory Byrne designed many of the racers during this era, which now included Ford Powered FF1600, 2000, F3 Atlantic, and even F2 racers.
By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2008
