Banks Service Station
40 Church Rd
Banks, Southport
Lancashire, UK
PR9 8ET
Tel: +44 (0)1704 227059

Classic & Sportscar Magazine..

The following article by Paul Hardiman featured in the February 1999 edition of Classic & Sportscar magazine and is reproduced by kind permission.
All text and images © Haymarket Specialist Publications Ltd. 1999. All rights reserved

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capital_s.gif (1505 bytes)o this is what a grown-up Europa feels like. Pop the lightweight door and crank your head to one side to slide sideways into the laid-back seat: Europas are a struggle for anyone over 6ft to enter, but happily tailor-made for a 5ft 8in 130lb Hardiman. Once comfortably inserted and strapped in with the racing harness, '70s Oatmeal vinyl overwhelms for this car's original features have been beautifully preserved. The wheel is high, and quite a reach away, like all Europas, a product of the lay-down position.

Yet something's different when you turn the key: gone is the Lotus/Ford twin-cam's raucous clatter; instead, there's a clipped, gruff exhaust bark, settling to a businesslike burble that belongs to a later era. Notch the lever into first slot in its tight gate, take off and discover plenty of torque - and guess what? This one revs happily beyond 7000 real rpm . As it reels in the horizon you're aware of being planted more firmly on the road than in any Europa ever before, stability that gives you the confidence to explore its gorgeously elastic powerband. It's not about weight - although this one is denser than most Europas, that's for sure. It's about authority and in this the tiny glassfibre sports-racer behaves like a baby GT40, cleaving through the Lancashire lanes purposefully, changing direction incisively and approaching other road users with wolfish rapidity. It rolls a little, and there's just a trace of understeer, but although it weighs just three quarters of a tonne, it won't budge off line. The steering's sublime.

csc2.jpg (22066 bytes) This car is not as it came out of Hethel. It has been got at, massaged by people who know, love and understand Europas.

When Chapman's mid-engined racer for the road came out in967, there had been nothing quite like it before. Anyone raised on A60s - or even the two-seat version, the MGB - could not have believed its dynamics. A combination of light weight and simple suspension that cheaply made the best use of the marginal rubber possessed it of clinging properties bettered only by the wife in the Beatles' Paperback whiter.

But, unless they are looked after, Europas can be fragile. One of the first things to go off is the rear suspension, which relies on the rubber gearbox mountings retaining their integrity to keep the back wheels pointing where they're meant to be. A bad one defies the Europa's raison d'etre - it does not want to go round corners very well, and the men at Banks Service Station understand that score implicitly. So when Nick Valery's Special, which he had owned from new in 1973, got tired, he sent it up to Southport for rejuvenation. Now, under its original body, it wears a new chassis with modern twin cam power and all-round disc brakes, and into the original interior air conditioning has cleverly been integrated, a home-made system that Banks boss Richard Winter plumbed in himself from proprietary bits. The chassis, or subframe as Richard prefers it, is Banks' own made of welded small-section box tubes stiffened by riveted and bonded panelling, and proper wishbone suspension at the rear. you can have one too for£1580 plus VAT.

Badge is no idle boast; both cars have new running gear
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'With 208bhp, there's no doubt this one will exceed 160mph. These cars are very slippery'

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This is 'high'-suspension rally version. Light weight gives
sharp steering response and innate feeling of chuckability

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Vaux is pop: 208bhp 16v 2-litre above, and 125bhp 8v 1600

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This is a completely re-engineered car, not a modified one. The 2-litre, 6-valve Vauxhall twin-cam runs fuel injection (MBE, firing through Jenvey throttle body injectors), that Richard casually mentions, throwaway: "We mapped it ourselves, using a PC." This stuff runs far deeper than normal cottage industry fare, folks. It makes 208bhp at 8000rpm, and driving through a reversed Renault five speed transaxle from the 18/Fuego series, it's geared for 70mph at peak revs. Richard has seen more than that on a car similarly geared but propelled by 240bhp, so there's no doubt this one will exceed 160: "It's a very slippery shape, remember," he says. Despite the extra weight - 742kgs is quite heavy for a Europa but quite understandable given the extra engine, soundproofing, electric windows and air - 0-60mph comes in at just 4.9 secs. This car has been very thoughtfully assembled. The gearchange has short, precise throws, remarkable given there's six feet of linkage between you and the 'box. The tyres, 85/60x14 Hankooks, are an interesting choice: there's huge grip but the soft sidewalls give a supple ride. The only failing of the chassis/tyre combination is that the car does tramline a lot, following imperfections in the road, especially when you get on the anchors. You either hate or put up with this trait, which is not dangerous but strangely endearing: I would rather keep it, along with the associate lightning responses. There's no servo, which would rob pedal feel so the brakes require a firm shove, and bias is adjustable via the discreet knurled knob down by the steering column.

The road car, which has since returned to its owner in Tokyo, is a very mature roadburner, discreet and deceptively effective cross country. But with its maturity is a feeling that, however high its limits, it would not tolerate liberties well. The silver rally car is completely different - you really want to chuck it about. What's remarkable is that the two cars do not differ massively in specification. And what's more remarkable is that a Europa - any Europa could survive a tough, 10,000 kilometre road rally.

 

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It depends how you build 'em. This one is made from the most appropriate parts in the range, to do a specific job. It runs Banks' own chassis and a lightweight Type 74 shell, a simpler engine, and it comes out at just 640kgs. Banks is now building racers down to 600kgs, which is Caterham territory. This 1600 is powered by an eight-valve sohc lump from an Astra, running a fast road cam and twin Weber 40s. It knocks out around 125 bhp - and quite a bit less torque: you don't need much in such a lightweight. It sits half an inch higher than the green car, but wears exactly the same wheel and tyre equipment. And it's a whole lot livelier to drive, less intimidating because it's not as quick: in fact, you can cane this one everywhere and it's a hoot: 100 kgs has never made so much difference.

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   Road car retains complete, original oatmeal interior. Air
   conditioning unobtrusive, and there's a discreet roll cage too

csc9.jpg (34322 bytes)Most of that comes from the lighter shell and engine, but soundproofing and electric windows are absent - and the wheel seems higher because there's much less seat padding or the 6ft 2in Winter wouldn't fit. Doors are from an S1, which would not normally have opening windows, but on this one they hinge slightly allowing a bit of a draught. More ventilation comes from the sock filter buried in NACA scoop at the back of the bonnet, to deliver air to the crew. One of the flaws of Chapman's original design was that with the front full, cockpit ventilation was blanked off. There's a full roll cage, and Richard found room for a Brantz tripmeter too.

It held together on 10,000 kilometres of tough, broken roads in north Africa, on the 1997 Liege-Agadir-Liege rally: "Officially it was Tarmac, but it didn't pan out quite like that," says Richard, remembering the typical Moroccan roads. "We went through rivers up to the door handles and mud up to the sills - that must have been one that was drying out. It didn't begin well: I went off within 20 seconds of the start, at Spa, after warning everyone to be careful on the dewy Tarmac after Eau Rouge. I'd been off there on a bike a few years before, so I should have known better."

Weight has a lot to answer for. Two cars, sisters so close in specification: it's amazing they call feel so different.

 

Road car (left) feels more ponderous in corners, thanks to extra 100kg. No more roll than 640 kgs car (right), though

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