What's a Mallock Clubman?

[aeronca65t]

Some of you may be aware of the various "clubman" races held in the UK and OZ.
These races are not seen of the N. Amercian racing scene. Some of these events are held on road-race courses and some involve the trials format. Pictures from clubman races almost always show pictures of Lotus 7s, Caterhams and related 7-clones....but there are also Mallocks.
The light, front-engine, rear-drive setup in Mallocks is the same as a Lotus 7....a very "classic" look mixed with a modern racer. The 7 is one of my favorite cars, but I like Mallocks too....sort of the "Un-7". In the same sense that a Lotus 7 can be a (barely) streetable car, there are street version of Mallocks.

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[coldplugs]

[ QUOTE ]
... In the same sense that a Lotus 7 can be a (barely) streetable car, there are street version of Mallocks.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've seen a couple over the years at races but never knew there are street versions, even if "barely" streetable. Wasn't this an effort (largely successful) by a fellow named Mallock to build affordable but competitive cars?

 

[aeronca65t]

John:
You are correct. Mallocks were always intended to be just race cars....but I have read an account of a Mallock with added headlights (and so forth) being made roadworthy. The car was used for trials and also had an added passenger seat.
I guess anything is possible.....for what it's worth, I think there are several formula cars in the US that have been made roadworthy (with "historic" plates).
Come to think of it, my Spridget has legal license plates, despite being "less-than barely steetable" (I ran it down to the store yesterday with silver-painted Frisbees for "headlights").
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

 

[Roger]

My late father was very friendly with the late Arthur Mallock, and his sons Richard and Ray are still in the racing car business.
I well remember going to Brands Hatch for a Practice day. We stayed at the Mallocks' house overnight - they lived in an old Rectory at that time - and towed the prototype U2 to the circuit. It had no body panels at the time- - just a bare running chassis. That was in 1959, I think.
Arthur called them U2 because You Too could have a car like that.
Try reading "The Lone Furrow" or the following websites:
RML

Mallock Sports

 

[aeronca65t]

Roger:

Great info! Thanks!

 

[aeronca65t]

A friend of mine just sent me a link to the Mallock "Mumford Link".This is considered to be part of the "secret"
behind the excellent handling of these cars. Since Mallocks often used Sprite rear ends, it looks like I might have
a "secret project" this Winter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

My apologies for the oversized picture...it
is linked from a site that I not own, so I
can't reduce it (please scroll to the right
for a fuller view)

 

[Super 7]

There are a couple of Mallocks I see at the Vintage Races occasionally. They are pretty cool.

 

[coldplugs]

Nial, fascinating linkage. I wonder if, in a car like a Spridget with a fairly stiff rear suspension, a simple Panhard rod setup wouldn't work as well.

 

[aeronca65t]

John:

I am presently running a Panhard rod
(and sway bars front and rear, extra rear leaf
springs and tube shocks all around).
One of the problems with Spridgets (I think) is
that they have a pretty high rear roll center. The front
roll center is around ground level: I'm hoping this
Mumford-gizmo can be used to get both roll centers more even.
The picture below illustrates the amount of lean, even with a
pretty stiff setup...dropping the roll center
should help this

BeaveRun Race Track-04

 

[coldplugs]

[ QUOTE ]
...
The picture below illustrates the amount of lean, even with a pretty stiff setup...dropping the roll center
should help this


[/ QUOTE ]
You're probably right. But, lowering the roll axis will probably put it farther below the CG, though, won't it? (I'm no Spriget expert, just an assumption). That might cause the amount of roll to increase without stiffer sway bars - and the front looks pretty stiff already, based on the picture. As I said, though, you're probably right to try the linkage.

Suspension tuning really seems a black art compared to engine tuning, doesn't it?

Actually, if you go to narrower tires you'll probably get less lean. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Bruce Bowker]

For whatever it is worth and off the subject but do you have any kind of photo program? If you right click an image you should be able to save it from most any website and then reduce it. I just did it to the picture you have posted here of the mumford rear.

Or did you mean you can not reduce it because of copyright (not owning it)?


Bruce

 

[Roger]

If you use a Mumford link at the rear of a Spridget, you'll have to either throw away the leaf springs or ensure they play no part in axle location, or you'll have one heck of a quarrel!
You'll also have to figure out how to locate the axle fore-and-aft, though maybe you have radius arms already?

 

[aeronca65t]

John:

Suspension *is* a "black art". One of my friends runs a Spridget that has Chevy truck leaf-springs layered into his normal springs. He cut them *lengthwise* on a bandsaw so that they would be less than 2" wide...he may as well have welded the axle to the frame! Yet, somehow his car seems to handle pretty well. A New Englander, of course ! (NH)
Anyway, I'm intrigued by this Mumford link....I'll have to draw some stuff up on AutoCAD and see how it all works. For the record, I'm running the skinniest tires of any Spridget in our club so that I am also SVRA legal (175-60s).

Bruce:
I realize that I could shrink that drawing if I was hosting it on my website......it's not on my site, so I cannot control the size (I guess I could copy it, shrink and put it on my site, but that seems like a big pain).

Roger:
You're spoiling my fun! I realize that all the Mallocks seem to have coil-overs, but since my car has pretty limited suspension travel (race car) I was hoping that the "quarreling" wouldn't be too awful, especially if I'm careful with parallell links. My Panhard rod is already creating an "argument" to some degree, but I guess the rubber bushings in the leaf spings are absorbing any "difference of opinion". We shall see. I'll let you know if I pursue this further.