Taydec Mk 5 car-by-car histories
Richard Jeanes in the Taydec F2 at Wiscombe Park in 1990. Copyright Steve Wilkinson 2019. Used with permission.
The Taydec Mk 5 was built for Formula Atlantic for 1972, but it cannot be said with certainty that a Taydec ever started a race in this category. A second Mk 5 was completed later and both were used in sprints and hillclimbs.
Tommy Clapham's career deserves to be told, but can only be recounted in passing here. After some success in hillclimbs with a Lotus 7 in the mid-1960s, Clapham teamed up with David Harrison to become Alfa Romeo distributors for Yorkshire in 1967. Based at premises in West Lane, Keighley, Clapham's operation ran an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA for Geoff Breakell to drive in the British Saloon Car Championship. Clapham later bought a Chevron B8 for Breakell to drive in GT racing in 1968 and 1969. For 1970, Clapham decided he could do better himself, and built a sports car called the Taydec Mk 2, driven by Malcolm Payne in 1970. In Mk 3 form in 1971, it proved a very capable car, and for 1972 Clapham expanded further with the production of a Taydec Mk 5 single seater, which could be used in Formula Atlantic.
The first of the Taydec Mk 5s was sold to Tate of Leeds, a long-established Ford dealer who had sponsored Chris Meek in Formula Ford in 1971. Not that Meek needed the sponsorship, as the flamboyant property developer had a whole garage full of road-going exotica, and spent his time off during one of his driving bans buying up Bradford City Football Club. He would spend the next four seasons being banned, protesting and typically being reinstated, most often because of the debatable legality of his Prodsports Lotus Europa. He is probably best remembered for buying Mallory Park. However, Meek never actually raced the Taydec as it was late arriving, so Tate acquired a second-hand March 712M for him to race instead. The Taydec was reassigned to the team's No 2 driver, Malcolm Wayne, best known up to that point for his exploits in a Clan Crusader. When it did appear, the Taydec was not used very often, and a new Brabham BT38 was acquired for Meek so that Wayne could take over the March 712M. At the end of the season the Taydec was disposed of to club racer Robin Darlington.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
New to Tate of Leeds (Racing), and entered at races in the 1972 British Formula Atlantic series for Malcolm Wayne to drive. It finally appeared for a libre race at Rufforth in late May, but Wayne crashed in practice. Wayne practiced for the race at Mallory Park on 18 June 1972, but it is unclear whether he started the race. He also practiced at Snetterton on 9 July 1972, but may have been in the March as Tate of Leeds had bought a new Brabham BT38 for Meek. Whether the Taydec raced in 1972 remains unclear. Reported to have been sold to Robin Darlington for 1973.
Driven by: Malcolm Wayne. First race: Mallory Park, 18 Jun 1972. Total of 2 recorded races.
Derek Robinson and the Taydecs, 1973-1974
The next that can be seen of the Taydec Formula Atlantic cars was in early May 1974, when they were advertised from the Radstock 3285 telephone number of Derek Robinson. Without calling them Taydecs, Robinson advertised three cars, two rolling chassis and a third "in kit form". The first was a rolling chassis which was "built to 1974 specification" and was "absolutely complete" except for engine. It was said to have had "1 outing, pole position" and was available with Hewland FT200 for £1,400. The second was "brand new and unused" for £1,300, and the third needed suspension parts and wheels to complete the kit and was on offer for £650. So we can discern from this the first Taydec Mk 5 was still unraced, the second unused and the third incomplete. No further advert was found from them, and in August 1974, Robinson entered one of the Taydecs as a "DBR P2" for Formula Ford graduate Frank 'Dusty' Rhodes to drive in the Formula Atlantic race at Mallory Park. No record could be found of his involvement at that event or the next, but at Oulton Park on 6 October, Rhodes set a practice time only for it to be so slow he was not allowed to start the race. He set a time at a non-championship race at Brands Hatch on 19 October, but again it is not clear whether he started. An accident the following day prevented him starting the championship event. As Robinson had advertised two complete cars in May, we cannot be sure whether Rhodes drove the first or the second.
Dusty Rhodes with the DBR P2 and his pit crew at Brands Hatch in October 1974. Copyright Graham Etheridge 2016. Used with permission.
Entered by Derek Robinson (Radstock, Bath, Somerset) for American driver Frank 'Dusty' Rhodes to drive in British Formula Atlantic in the last couple of months of the 1974 season. Rhodes did practice a few times in the "DBR P2" but was dreadfully slow at Oulton Park in early October and was not allowed to start. He may have started the Southern Organs Trophy at Brands Hatch on 19 October but a crash in practice put him out of the championship round at the same track the next day. In December 1974, the "1974 DBR FA" was advertised as a rolling chassis from Derek Robinson's usual phone numbers (Radstock 3285 and Frome 2835) as a rolling chassis that was "2 races from new". Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Frank "Dusty" Rhodes. First race: Brands Hatch, 19 Oct 1974. Only one recorded race.
1975-1976: The Taydec Mk 5s arrive in sprints and hillclimbs
At the end of July 1975, a complete Taydec Formula Atlantic was advertised from a Manchester telephone number (061-766 2404). This car was complete with a Titan BDA engine, and was said to have "just been built, never raced and in a pristine condition" and came with a large collection of spares. Another two months after that, a Taydec was entered for a Harewood hillclimb by Mike Allen, who had previously raced a Brabham BT35 with BDA engine. He made a few entries at events where he was not mentioned in the report, until Scammonden Dam in May 1976 where he was reported to be racing the "ex-Tate of Leeds Taydec-Hart TC5 BDA". This car is then relatively straightforward, as it was bought from Allen by Philip Marfleet who has kept it to the modern day.
So what had happened to the second complete Taydec? While Mike Allen was racing his Taydec in Yorkshire, a second Taydec appeared in the south where Nigel Martin took BTD at two sprints at Goodwood in August 1976 and at Wroughton a few weeks later. It was identified at one of those events as a single-seater, so this must mean that two of the cars in Derek Robinson's 1974 advert were now up and running. But we cannot say with any certainty which was the original Tate of Leeds car.
Philip Marfleet’s Taydec at Harewood in July 2023. Copyright Steve Wilkinson 2023. Used with permission.
Mike Allen (Halifax, West Yorkshire) entered a Taydec TC5 with 1600cc Hart BDA engine in hillclimbs at Harewood, Scammonden Dam and Castle Howard in 1975 and 1976. Allen had previously raced a Brabham BT35, which ended up on the other side of the Pennines with sometime dealer David Winstanley, an indication that the Taydec could have come from the Lancashire area. Winstanley's previous car, a libre car called a "Rooster", went to Dave Williams (Swansea, Wales) for libre at Llandow and Castle Combe. Allen's Taydec was presumably the 1600cc Taydec driven by David Wray (Wakefield, West Yorkshire) in the Longton & District MC Isle of Man Hill Climb in September 1977. Allen sold it in late 1977 or early 1978 to Philip Marfleet (Barnsley, South Yorkshire) who retained it until 2023 before running the car for the first time at Harewood. Run by Rob Marfleet (Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire) at the Harewood practice day on 23 March 2025.
Driven by: Mike Allen and David Wray. First race: Scammonden Dam (R4), 9 May 1976. Total of 4 recorded races.
Nigel Martin used a 1600cc single-seater Taydec in sprint events in 1976. He recorded BTD at Sutton & Cheam MC Sprint at Goodwood on 15 August 1976, and then in an Invaders MC Sprint at Wroughton on 5 September 1976. Nothing more known.
Driven by: Nigel Martin. First race: Goodwood, 15 Aug 1976. Total of 2 recorded races.
Single-seater Taydecs from 1977 to 1982
Neither Allen nor Martin have been spotted in results in 1977, but David Wray, of Halifax, used a Taydec in Longton & District MC's Isle of Man Hill Climb in September 1977. Also David Stenning used a Taydec in a sprint at Colerne in July 1978. We can be pretty confident that Wray was using Allen's car, so that would suggest Stenning had the ex-Martin car.
Also in 1977 and 1978, Keith Corridon was racing the Taydec Mk 3 sports car, and when he upgraded to the Lyncar a year or two later, he sold not only the sports car but also a single-seater he had owned. This went to Martin Chambers.
Martin Chambers’ Taydec in the pits at Goodwood. Copyright Bruce Chambers 2013. Used with permission.
Martin Chambers (Oakley, Hampshire) raced a Taydec in Formule Libre races in 1981, using a Cosworth BDA engine. He appeared at Donington Park, Silverstone, Castle Combe and Mallory Park during the season. Chambers' son Bruce recalls that the car was bought from Keith Corridon, from nearby Basingstoke, and that Corridon had a Taydec sports car as well as the single-seater. Chambers acquired a Lola T492 from Martin Slater and Bruce believes that the Taydec was "sold to a chap in Scotland around 1983", but that the price paid was not much more than the value of the Hewland FT200. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Martin Chambers. First race: Donington Park, 5 Jul 1981. Total of 4 recorded races.
Later references to Taydec single-seaters
From 1985 to 1989 Alan Wright drove a 1.6 Taydec in speed events in the Southwest. At Prescott in May 1990, Richard Jeanes (Bridgwater, Somerset) was entered in a 1596cc "Taydec F2". Also Hugh Kemp is said to have had a Taydec at some point.
So the implication here is that the two complete Taydec Mk 5s split geographically, with the northern one going from Robinson to Manchester to Allen to Marfleet; while the southern one went from Robinson to Martin to Stenning to Corridon to Chambers to Alan Wright to Richard Jeanes. We really need to talk to these guys to find out. Can anyone help?
In addition to the above, unknown Taydec Mk 5s were driven by David Stenning and John Yendle.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Steve Wilkinson for keeping track of the movements of the two cars that raced in sprints and hillclimbs through the latter half of the 1970s, to Ian Hebblethwaite for interviewing Spencer Elton and discovering that the DBR was a Taydec, to Chris Townsend for his observations, and to Simon Hadfield for background on the Taydec sports cars.
Details of Chris Meek's career came from Autosport, who rarely went a week without mentioning him in one context or another.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
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