The sleek style of the Taydec was designed and built by Tom Clapham an engineer in Keighley in the 60/70's. He and his small company built and raced the Taydec with some success against the might of Chevron B19s and Lola T212s.

HoweverTom suffered a bad crash at Shelsley Walsh whilst competing there in his Mallack U2 and was laid up for six months. 

Unfortunately this time was crucial to the development of the Taydec, that combined with the lack of funds affected the on going  development of the car.

John Suckling happened to be in the right place at the right time to be able to purchase the original body moulds.  John has spoken to Tom Clapham regarding the original drawing of the car. Tom said that as far as he knew all the drawings of the cars have been lost in the mists of time. This left John with no alternative but to design his own chassis to fit the body sections that have been produced from the original body moulds. 

As a matter of interest there are four moulds, these consist of  the nose cone/door section, three tail sections which are short, mid and long tail. John has chosen to use the short tail version.

Report from 1971

RAC Championship, Oulton Park 9.4.1971

RAC Oulton Park 1st Round

Race: Pos. NO Driver / Nationality Car Entrant Laps Time/Retired Group Practice Classified:

1. - Chris Craft / GB Chevron B19 Ford Chevron Cars 20 1. 1:34,000

2. 64 John Miles / GB Chevron B19 Ford DART 20 10. 1:42,200 3. 73 John Bridges / GB Chevron B19 Ford Red Rose Racing 20 5. 1:38,800 4. - Brian Robinson / GB Chevron B16 Ford DBE04 Brian Robinson 20 0:00,000 5. - Trevor Twaites / GB Chevron B16 Ford Trevor Twaites 19 11. 1:44,200 6. - Ken Walker Chevron B16 Ford Ken Walker 19 7. - Richard Simms Chevron B8 BMW Richard Simms 17 8. - Ray Seddon Chevron B8 BMW Roy Seddon 17 9. - Tony Evangelisti Chevron B8 Ford Tony Evangelisti 16 14. 1:49,000 10. - Mike Gribben Gropa CMC Ford Mike Gribben 15 12. 1:44,800 11. - George Whitehead Gropa CMC Ford WRA Engineering 14

Did not finish: - Malcolm Payne Taydec Mk.3 Ford Tom Clapham Racing 16 Water pump 7. 1:39,400 - Guy Edwards / GB Lola T212 Ford Phillips Autoradio 5 Collision, acc 2. 1:36,200 - Martin Raymond / GB Daren Mk.3 Ford Martin Raymond 5 Overheating af 6. 1:39,000 - Adrian Wilkins Chevron B16 Ford Adrian Wilkins 5 Fuel starvatio 9. 1:42,200 - John Lepp / GB Chevron B19 Ford Central Garage (Mirfield) 5 Puncture after 3. 1:37,400 - Jeremy Lord Lola T212 Ford Jeremy Lord 1 Fuel pressure 8. 1:40,000

Did not start: - Peter Clarke / GB Chevron B8 BMW Peter Clarke Oil leak - John Hine / GB Chevron B19 Ford Red Rose Racing Engine 4. 1:38,400 - Tony Charnell / GB Chevron B8 Ford Tony Charnell Drive shaft on 13. 1:45,600