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Post by ovaltrack on Dec 19, 2009 20:37:40 GMT 1
I thought it might me worth having a thread on the Fireball midgets as we'd mentioned them briefly in the New Brighton one.
Does anyone know what the Mk1 Fireball looked like? I will hopefully get around to asking Frank Boyles at some point.
The models I can identify are the Mk2, Mk3 and Mk4.
Of these only the Mk3 was front engine - the first of which won on its debut in the 1972 National Championship at Wimbledon in the hands of Rod Tanswell. Rod campaigned the car for just one season and I seem to remember the car went to South Africa where it was due to be raced by Koos Schoombie. The only other Mk3 as far as I know was built for Derek Johnson who went on to copy the design several times - his copies being raced largely overseas. There were some other UK copies as well later on.
There have been some unkind comments about rear engine cars on this forum but I would say that the Fireball cars were the best looking ones to grace the short ovals. I think the Mk4s still look the part today and let's face it, how many car designs can you say that about nearly 40 years after their debut?
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Post by ovaltrack on Dec 19, 2009 20:47:08 GMT 1
Mk3 in one of the early meetings - Ipswich, November 1972. great shot of Rod Tanswell with pipe! Attachments:
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Post by ovaltrack on Dec 19, 2009 20:59:18 GMT 1
Mk4s at White City, London, 3rd March 1974. The main one is Frank Boyles with the late Derek Kisby (99) just to the left of picture. Kisby's car is the 1973 Boyles machine according to various reports. That was the last Midget meeting at White City and Fireballs won all three races - Frank won the first and third races whilst Keith Fransella in a mk2 won the second. Kisby was second in the third race. Attachments:
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Post by ovaltrack on Dec 19, 2009 22:02:11 GMT 1
Here's a better picture of the Mk4 - same meeting - which was incidentally the first meeting of the '74 season and therefore the debut of this livery and this particular car for Frank Boyles.
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 20, 2009 2:53:40 GMT 1
Richard, the closest I can come to a possible Mk 1 Fireball is in the attached sales brochure. I believe it dates from the winter of '68-'69 and the launch of the marque. The rather odd looking car on the cover is probably the prototype, so basic it only has front wheels wide enough to carry what look like standard Pirelli Cinturatos! I don't remember ever seeing this car race, and it may be that Frank decided after testing that it was either not very good, or too difficult to produce in any numbers - guess you'll have to ask him that. There are more detailed views of the car in the following posts.
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 20, 2009 2:55:47 GMT 1
I've left all these fairly large so the text can be read easily, and what mechanical detail there is more clearly seen.
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 20, 2009 2:57:57 GMT 1
Page 3.
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 20, 2009 3:00:34 GMT 1
P4 rear cover. In these pix you can see that the road going Pirellis are actually mounted on much wider rims intended for racing tyres, but obviously Frank only had two even vaguely racey tyres when the photographer came to call!
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Post by ovaltrack on Dec 20, 2009 15:30:32 GMT 1
Thanks Graham - unusual seeing the Fireball car without the roll hoops - can't recall that although it might be tucked away on the history site somewhere. Great point about the rims and tyres!
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Post by ezwalk43 on Dec 28, 2009 13:17:09 GMT 1
For anyone interested I have just added details of my very tidy Fireball Mk4 to the sales and wanted page
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Post by ezwalk43 on Jan 29, 2010 23:50:00 GMT 1
Richard, My spy tells me that you may be about to join the ranks of Fireball owners in which case hope this the start of another great classic midget collection - can't think of too many other Fireballs though. The elusive Clive Sillance probably still his Mk3 and when we last raced at Ringwood there was a guy down there (Peter Wilson?) who had an original and was building a new chassis for it - mk4 from memory. Or are there more out there? regards, Ez
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Post by ovaltrack on Jan 30, 2010 17:15:45 GMT 1
Not sure who you spy is but he/she is not very good!! Living in a small terraced house I don't have anywhere to put a car but otherwise I would certainly like to have one. Also I think if I had the spare cash I would put up a trophy and some prize money for the club rather than buy a car and then not use it. The Sillence car won't be an original by the way - there are no original Mk3s out there although there were rumours that Derek Johnson still had his one but I doubt that as he never cared to share any information with us. I think we still refer to the copies as Fireballs simply out of respect to Frank Boyles.
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Post by ovaltrack on Aug 1, 2010 14:41:18 GMT 1
From One Classic to Another…
Classic Hot Rod racer Carl Checkley has joined the ranks of the Grand Prix Midgets and made a very successful debut at Northampton. Carl is well known as being one of the all too few Mini drivers in the predominantly Ford based Classic Hot Rod class. He has bought the ex Gary Bonner Fireball Mk4 which in itself is something of a classic, the car having originally been built by the great Frank Boyles back in 1973 or 1974.
Midlander Carl had his first taste of Midgets last season when he was invited to drive Neil Clarke’s Stealth chassis at the end of season Fun Day at Grimley. He subsequently started his 2010 campaign in the Classic Hot Rods but racing the ex Neil Edwin Mk1 Ford Escort rather than his trademark Mini. Carl was particularly impressed with the fact that you can get started and run in Grand Prix Midgets for a modest sum and he consequently agreed terms to buy the Bonner Fireball which came up for sale recently.
It’s worth noting that the change of hands for the car signals the end of an era for the Midget Club as the Bonner family name has been on the results sheets for over 40 years. Gary’s dad, Mick originally joined the class in the formula’s first competitive season, 1968 and went on to become one of the top drivers in those early years. Perhaps the highlight of Mick’s career was his win in the first World Championship back in 1977. After Mick’s retirement from the sport it was Gary who continued the family’s racing activities and he too was a frequent race winner.
Returning to the Fireball marque, it is incredible that the chassis can still cut the mustard with contemporary machines – At his first meeting with the car, Carl started all his races at the back of the grid and yet made it into the points in only his second competitive outing. Observers have commented that this underlines a) what a great car the Fireball Mk4 is, b) how well it’s been maintained by the Bonner family over the years and c) what a great drive was delivered by Carl on his debut.
There are three Fireballs on the club’s roster this year. The Checkley car is now Ford powered rather than BMC. In addition to that car former club chairman Barry Goldsby owns a BMC powered Mk4 (the car Ez Walker mentioned as for sale in the earlier post) whilst Clifford Bunn has been running his front engine Mk3. The latter is not an original Fireball but a later copy believed to have been built in the 1980s – the design was copied, without the blessing of Frank Boyles it must be added, almost immediately after production of the cars started. It’s thought that the last genuine Mk3 was cut up and scrapped in lieu of a debt about five years ago. I don't think the Sillence car mentioned in Ez's post is an original Mk3 either - I can only recall two of them in the first place - one was Rod Tanswell's which went to South Africa and the other was Derek Johnson's which raced in Europe. Derek told me some time back he still had a car in his garage although it would have been a copy. It’s also believed that there is one Mk2 Fireball (dating from around 1972) locked away somewhere – let’s hope it sees the light of day before too long.
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Post by ezwalk43 on Aug 1, 2010 20:58:49 GMT 1
Talkling to Carl today He's still grinning over his outing in the midgets last week. Really believe him being a respected Incarace official and well known midland budget racer can do the formula no halm at all - last week out of the blue I had three serious enquiries on my cars - two front engined and one rear. Maybe the formula is really on the up - in these current difficult times good luck to them all...
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Post by ovaltrack on Dec 8, 2010 16:50:21 GMT 1
I finally found some notes on the Fireball leaflet that Graham kindly posted on here. Apparently the car in the leaflet was indeed the Mk1 - built from bits of an Australian Midget bought from Exchange & Mart. Still hoping to do a feature on Mr Boyles in the 'new' magazine which I am putting together.
Incidentally there are two Fireballs for sale at the moment - Carl Checkley has just advertised his Mk4 on Facebook whilst the Midget Club site now has Clifford Bunn's Mk3 (copy built originally by Toni Scheepens).
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