I have been a long time admirer of Gerald Wingrove and his 1/15 scale classic car models, – www.wworkshop.net is well worth a look. Gerald has been England’s foremost model maker for the past four decades. The subjects of Gerald’s work have principally been the classic cars – Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Duesenberg, Bentley, Hispano Suiza and Cord. He has also made some racing cars especially Alfa Romeo and some Alfa Romeo roadsters too, not to mention the Bugatti Type 59. Gerald’s wife Phyllis, has always been in the background converting the data into drawings on the computer and lending a hand at a variety of model making tasks, having become a proficient helper in all areas, being helped by the children in the early years.
Gerald having taken over the role of providing a series of models for the National Motor Museum (NMM) in Beaulieu (England) during the 1970’s, these very same models were relatively recently auctioned-off at about the time Gerald retired from auto model making to concentrate on his first love, ship building. Amongst this collection for NMM were a series of 1/20 Formula One cars of the 1970’s, however it is his later 1/15 scale collection of classic cars that enabled his artistry to come to it’s peak of perfection and desirability.
After the NMM commission was underway, Gerald divided his time as freelance model maker between one-off commissions and contract work for toy companies, also finding time to produce the 25 foot square diorama depicting work on two ships at Buckler’s Hard on the Beaulieu river in 1803, displayed at the local maritime museum down in Hampshire, UK.
Returning to the 1/15 scale classic cars that Gerald is most well known for, it is a rare thing to see a ‘Wingrove’ in the flesh as it were, for they were usually pre-sold and remain in collector’s hands and seldom come to market, being auctioned by Bonhams for example. For this reason, I was truly privileged to see some examples recently and view what some have considered to be likened to the ‘Faberge eggs’ of the automobile model world. Perhaps Gerald’s favourite subjects are the Duesenbergs, however each has it’s own charm and point of interest whether it’s the style of the Duesenberg dual cowl phaeton or the majesty of a Rolls Royce, perhaps the complexity of the Bugatti chassis alongside the rather unusual Bugatti engine, then there’s the sculptural quality of the Alfa Romeos, the racing feel of the Bugatti Type 59 or the Alfa Romeo P3. Also there’s the modern art styling of the American Cord cars and the robust business-like presence of the Blower Bentley – whatever the car, the key thing is getting the ‘look’ right for many a modeller has been able to create a dimensionally correct and detail-perfect miniature without the character and presence of the original. Gerald’s second-to-none abilities as a model engineer remain subservient to the bottom line of creating a replica in scale that has that right look. Anticipating what the human eye ‘expects to see’ in the detail, there’s enough detail along with that ‘right look’, that when you are looking at a photograph of the model without scale, you are not sure if it could be the original car – remarkable. There is another quality about Gerald’s work which is the efficiency with which he works, able to produce patterns and tools to make the myriad of parts quickly and efficiently. Gerald has confidently spent several happy weeks even months developing tools and patterns for each project that enables that project to be put into effect quickly and efficiently, producing several of any one item and spares too, in order to complete short runs for his eager customers. These abilities come from his early life in light-engineering on the lathe in particular where all manner of bespoke and mass-produced precision items were demanded. Then with self-taught efficiency he was able to put this experience to good effect when ‘work study’ and ‘piecework’ were introduced in the 1950’s. It was some time in the 1960’s that Gerald went freelance to pursue his own lines of interest within the miniature world, offering his skills to any who would value them which led into film prop and toy company contract work etc.
Gerald’s skills are expanded to include a full-range of innovative tools he has made for each project including specialist soldering irons, welding equipment, louvre punches, rolling devices etc, always looking for new ways of improving the techniques of actually making the models. The end result is solid, quality-weighty models with opening doors, working door latches crafted from metal with operating handles, spring loaded engine covers in many cases (to assist with their opening) and fully detailed chassis, wire wheels etc. The non-rotating wheels prevent the miniature from being considered a toy and reduces the chance of such an expensive item rolling off a slightly inclined surface. Automotive paint finishes, real glass and resin/wood seats made to look like leather complete the effect along with fully detailed dashboard, nickel and chrome plated parts and multi-part pewter cast engine blocks etc.
I have been inspired by Gerald’s work for about twenty years certainly since the beginning of the millennium when I acquired copies of his four books on the subject, which are now out of print (The Complete Car Modeller 1 and 2, Haynes, 1978 and 1991 respectively; The Model Cars of Gerald Wingrove, New Cavendish Books 1979; Art of the Automobile in Miniature, Crowood 2003). I cited Gerald’s work as an inspiration to press-onward with my own aspirations on page 21 of my first photo book, ‘MRO F1 Engineering – the first twenty years’. Other inspirations have been John Shinton who I have known for a long time and recently Rex Hays whose work I came across in a little book called ‘Trophy by Tribute’ (Macgibbon and Kee, 1958). This latter book details the life of this English car model maker since schoolboy days before WW1 producing the first collection of miniature cars for Lord Montagu at Beaulieu, the collection finally giving way to the updated 1/20 series provided by Gerald Wingrove starting in the late 60’s (evolution of the sports cart from 1913 and the F1 World Championship cars). Meeting Gerald and seeing his work close up and having him sign my books has been most inspiring. The most current relevant inspiration to my own preference of modelling Formula One cars remains Andy Mathews from the USA (check that out on the web or on page 21 of my first photo book).
I remain super-impressed by all that Gerald has made and this opportunity to view some of his cars for real brought his well written and detailed books to life (www.wworkshop.net).

I recently had the very real pleasure of meeting Sir Jackie Stewart OBE. The occasion gave opportunity to artist friend Anthony Dobson and I to meet Sir Jackie in relation to a painting depicting his epic drive at the Nurburgring in 1968 driving the Matra MS10 to victory. This was indeed a majestic performance at a terrifying circuit affected by heavy rain and low cloud in poor light.
Starting sixth on the third row, Jackie Stewart made it his priority to make his way up through the order in heavy spray conditions, achieving second place by halfway round the first lap and in the lead by the end of the first fourteen mile lap of the circuit, thereafter leading away from his rivals now unaffected by spray.
All the drama is captured in Anthony’s powerful painting in a scene painted as if the observer is positioned in the infield of the Karussel, the inwardly banked left-hander. Seen side-on, the car dominates the quite long painting and because the infield is higher than the inner banked section, one is looking into the cockpit feeling to some extent at one with the driver working at the wheel. The rain and spray dramatically adds action to this powerful painting and you can almost hear the car pushing on through the corner on its way to Hohe Acht and Pflanzgarten. This would be a race Stewart wanted to get on with and win, which he did convincingly and being able to shelter from the rain in the pits with a delighted and possibly slightly embarrassed Ken Tyrrell waiting for his competitors to return – Graham Hill (Lotus 49B), then Jochen Rindt (Lotus 49B) and rain master Jacky Ickx who had started from pole position in the Ferrari 312.
When Sir Jackie saw the painting for the first time he asked various questions about it borne from details long since forgotten yet fresh in the minds of artist and researcher. This was when I heard for the first time the expression ‘wearing a wing’. Sir Jackie asked if he was wearing a wing in the race, knowing he’d tried it in practice – we were able to confirm the car was fitted with the rear wing for this epic race, a worthwhile choice at this circuit. I next came across the expression in Jackie Stewart’s own book ‘Jackie Stewart World Champion’ as described by the author Eric Dymock, published in 1970. No doubt this painting which he very kindly agreed to sign, brought back great pride at such a memorable win and it was obvious that Sir Jackie enjoyed his trip down memory lane in celebration of such a win. The Matra MS10 being a terrific subject, but otherwise a less well known though pretty car in one of the most celebrated wins of Jackie Stewart’s career, couldn’t have been a better subject in my opinion.
Having arranged the meeting, I was able to show Sir Jackie models in 1/12 scale of that very Matra and the Tyrrell 006, the latter in which he won the 1973 World Championship, also having the opportunity for some personal books to be signed by the triple World Champion.
We had a special time with Sir Jackie discussing this and that in context with the subject of the painting, also receiving a welcoming cup of coffee by his office staff who very much made us feel at home.

With recent publication of another photoboook, MRO F1 Engineering Volume 1: Hesketh 308 (1975), it’s an appropriate time to release a short four minute video I made of the car during restoration in June 1998 (308/2).
I hope the limited views whilst walking around this iconic car supply a little inspiration to supplement the still photographs of the car taken at BS Fabrications, some of which are shown in the book. Other photographs in the book are of the same chassis during a later rebuild fifteen years later in preparation for entering the car for the 2014 Monaco Historic Grand Prix (WDK Motorsport). There are are also many photographs of the model I made in 1998/9 before I had access to the real car, such that by the time I did have access to it via BS Fabrications only the details of the car could be incorporated into the model. With later models, more complete access to the car was relied-upon before starting the model. Other photographs of the actual car in competition, on display and demonstration runs appear in the photobook, all fully supported by explanatory text, the theme running through the book being the racing life and subsequent years, exclusively of 308/2.  Hesketh 308/2 will be remembered for its Grand Prix win at the hands of James Hunt in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and in the photo book this momentous event is celebrated by a visit to Lord Alexander Hesketh in the autumn of the year 2000. I hope you find the photobook enjoyable and well supported by this video!

Having exchanged a few letters and e-mails over the past ten years with John relating to the Surtees TS9 that I have completed the monocoque for, it was with great pleasure I was able to meet him on July 1st this year.

This was at the 2014 Henry Surtees Foundation Team Karting Challenge, held at Mercedes Benz World (what a fabulous venue!). I learnt much about this local charity in memory of John’s son Henry, which supports a variety of organisations, the most prominent cause being that of the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance.

I had met John Surtees briefly to say hello at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed events a couple of times and on a recent such opportunity he kindly agreed to sign an oil painting of himself driving a Ferrari 312 in 1966, beautifully captured by artist Anthony Dobson of Collier and Dobson Ltd (Fordingbridge). Knowing Anthony well, I took my painting along and John was very pleased to discuss the merits of this car and its shortcomings which led to him leaving Ferrari early on in the season. He happily signed the painting and I was able to bring added value to his experience by showing him a selection of my 1/12 models, namely a Tyrrell 006, a McLaren M19C and the part-completed 1971 Surtees TS9 as well as the Honda RA300. Naturally, the engineer in him was brought to life and his kind and genuine enthusiasm shone out and inspired me even more. I look forward to completing the RA300 and the Surtees, but fear I will have to wait until more time becomes available in the next few years as the work commitments are fine tuned for those of us who are looking towards a well earned break at some point.

This fantastic experience, which began with understandable nervousness as Jason Jenner and Andrew Francis of The Signature Store made the meeting happen and carefully choreographed everything, also taking the pictures that appear on my Twitter account @mrof1models on July 1st 2014,… thanks guys. As soon as John became available, his gentle and generous spirited way, soon made me feel completely at ease and experience his genuine interest, a real gentleman. Later we saw him in action in the really lovely Ferrari 158 Ferrari of 1964 and no doubt there are photos and video of this on You-Tube, although I have my own personal images and memories too.

After many months of research and work, Volume 1: Hesketh 308 (1975) is finished! Take a look at it here.

This has taken longer than I hoped due to the vast amount of photos, documents and other material I have had to bring together from 1997, right through to the present day (seventeen years). Many of the photographs were confined to 35mm negative SLR format and had to be scanned into digital form. There has been a variety of strands of thought coming together and running in parallel across more than a decade – the research and original inspiration, various key personnel, the model itself, the changing Race Preparation workshops looking after the car and Lord Hesketh himself. The result is a book presenting a favourite car, weaving these various concepts and experiences together to bring an interesting interaction between our hobby, the car itself and plenty of special folk involved with the car over the decades. I hope therefore you enjoy reading my account.

Should you wish to purchase a copy from myself (£70 excl P&P), drop me a line and I will make sure you receive one. The main motive for this book was to begin the series with volume 1 for my personal library (adding to Vol 4 re the 1972 McLaren M19C); additional purchases would be a bonus, not the prime purpose and I would be happy to make the extra effort acquiring them for anyone interested.

My next aim is to begin Vol 2 re the McLaren M23’s (1974 and 1976) later in the year. However, only one or two books per year is realistic, such is the workload.

I have published the first MRO F1 Engineering video on YouTube (see below, or search Goodwood Festival of Speed 2002, Lotus 72D).

Thank you to church friend Matthew Colclough for introducing me to video editing and his efforts over the past week or so making this aspect  successful. Thank you too, to my son Thomas who has performed his website magic again and looked after the YouTube part. My other son Philip (twins) will no doubt do his enthusiastic part encouraging from the sidelines – Phil Oakley @redbullcat.

I hope to select more short excerpts from a variety of experiences over the years and this first offering will be one of the longer ones, others being of varying lengths, some much shorter. I hope to upload others at a reasonable frequency of perhaps one a month, we’ll see how it works out.

If nothing else, this first video will whet the appetite for this year’s Festival of Speed at Goodwood in Sussex, United Kingdom, which starts Thursday this week June 26th and continues during the weekend, June 28 – 29th.

Volume 1 of my Photobook series will cover the wonderfully charismatic Hesketh 308, specifically James Hunt’s chassis 308/2 raced in 1975 and the winner of the Dutch Grand Prix ahead of Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312T.
The book is about 90% complete and is likely to be 70 pages long, crammed with the usual spread of photos supported by informative text. It deals with the initial concept desire for this 1/12 scale model and the various experiences of trying to get the research data necessary to build such a model accurately – before the time when historic F1 racing was common and before I had ever set foot in an historic F1 Race Preparation workshop. Naturally it was in the earliest days of my work converting or semi scratch-building parts of cars, not to mention many of the photos were taken on 35mm film with an SLR and have needed their negatives scanning etc. I have witnessed this chassis from its first emergence from storage after 1975/6, through its historic racing period (2000’s), its appearance on the ‘Rush’ set and to its current racing ownership (where it competed in this month’s Monaco Historic Grand Prix – one day, I hope to go to this event). I have only to complete some final pages relating to its historic racing appearances and then a gallery of photos before final editing and approval for sharing on the internet via this website. Along with vol 4 (McLaren M19C), I am producing this Photobox photobook for my personal collection whilst the data is still retrievable and the memory remains keen, however should anyone wish to purchase a copy from myself, it is likely to cost the same as the others, namely £70.
When this work is done, I will need to assess how time should be apportioned between busy work and family life, the work in progress (Honda RA300 1/12) and the next book, vol 2: McLaren M23.
Ideas for the future – I have an external drive with saved video from many Goodwood Festival of Speed events and my visits to historic F1 Preparation workshops. This hard drive data has been produced for a Mac I believe and needs to be looked through and have short edited film clips (a few minutes long perhaps?) prepared and periodically released through this website to increase interest and share my experiences. At the moment, this hard drive has not even been unwrapped, let alone looked at, so if there is anyone out there with these skills and interest to help, I would be glad to hear from you.
Thanks for your interest and support. Mark

This film recently released on DVD, is to be given a cinematic viewing opportunity at 11am Sunday April 22nd at Dorking Hall (cinema), Reigate Road, Dorking, Surrey RH4 1SG (United Kingdom).
Tickets are £10 each and applications for a ticket need to be made in advance to Karen Somerset at karensomerset4@gmail.com
I hope to be there with friends from Brooklands and a neighbour and once I’ve seen it in glorious technicolour on the big screen, I hope to enjoy it again from time to time on DVD. In the evening, I hope to go to church ahead of a further week’s work before the next interesting event which is listening to an evening of recollection from Motorsport magazine’s Doug Nye (author of many books) on Thursday May 22nd at Brooklands Museum, where bookings can be made via their website.

Signed copies of ‘MRO F1 Engineering – The First Twenty Years’ are now available!

To purchase a copy from Photobox:
These can be purchased direct from Photobox either at their current standard price or one can wait for their periodic photobook offers. The typical price including usual add-ons can be in the region of £80-£90.

Alternatively, unsigned or signed numbered copies (limited to 50 copies), can be purchased directly from myself at a discounted rate for £70 excl P & P. I have pre-purchased several copies at a small discount and am passing this on, perhaps making it easier and more straightforward to get a copy to you. For further details, see the brightly coloured banner on the home page. In this way, I invite you to have your own personal copy, giving a fascinating, unique insight into twenty years of exclusive 1/12 scale Formula One model making.

This account is unique and full of variety as the models take their place side by side with relevant Formula One personalities, each of them having shown genuine kindness and enthusiasm for the miniature representations of cars they either designed, raced or worked on. The subjects modelled are often themselves unique in that they are not represented by commercial kit manufacturers and so 1/12 scale models of these cars will have been rarely, if ever seen. Anyone familiar with model manufacturers Tamiya, Protar, Heller etc are in for a treat as Formula One racing cars never seen before in this scale, appear alongside more well known examples.

Additionally, these models increasingly demonstrate the engineering which was so skilfully conceived and packaged with such concise integration by such as Colin Chapman, Derek Gardner, Gordon Murray and Gordon Coppuck, almost being an art in itself. The book necessarily celebrates the wide variety of design concepts which flourished in the 1960’s and 70’s, equally striving to maximise speed and reliability along with a well-handling car, able to do justice to a champion driver’s talent and determination to win the Drivers World Title. In order to achieve this, I have spent countless hours with these Grand Prix winners during restoration, the kindness of their owners and those to whom the car has been entrusted, is very much appreciated – measurement, drawing and photographs forming my Instruction Manual.

Furthermore, the unsung heroes, the mechanics were also sought out, each contributing memories, opinions and expressing abundant nostalgic pleasure in being re-united with their ‘charges’ from so many years ago. Without exception, each of these mechanics showed generous enthusiasm for these “14 inch wonders” and were able to lend further anecdotal gems of information to enhance the product. Those that I have met over the years, represent all mechanics to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude for making it all possible, so that the champions of their day are able to continue in their fame.

Going forward, the book and its subject matter have given me privileged access into places and amongst motor racing folk I would never have otherwise had the pleasure and honour to be amongst. For this I thank God and am very grateful and wish therefore to share some of this experience by making the book available to any that should wish to own a copy, having either seen a few still photos, or viewed it page by page electronically via Photobox. The Photobook is approximately 50/50 photo and explanatory text covering 70 pages, typically with two photos per page. It is hoped to follow this edition with a second when sufficient new material justifies. There is also a group of volumes being worked on currently, one per car, where volumes 1 to 7 so far have been identified with volume 4 already having been written (1972 McLaren M19C). There is an explanatory article which is accessible via the home page, giving some further description and hopefully some photographs.

By clicking on the coloured banner on the home page, or searching via ‘Published Works’ on the interactive Menu bar, the book can be accessed via links prepared by my son Thomas. There you have the option of purchasing the book directly from Photobox or from myself, having acquired copies at small discount to pass on and for optional signing. My other son Philip has made Twitter a reality for me, enabling a rich sequence of photos with descriptive text possible. This started with and mainly relates to the 1973 Tyrrell 006 build (Tweets from 24th Aug 2011 to 27th Aug 2012), a truly unique model, five cars in one with removable and interchangeable bodywork, driver/race number changes all possible etc.
To purchase a copy from Photobox:
These can be purchased direct from Photobox either at their current standard price or one can wait for their periodic photobook offers. The typical price including usual add-ons can be in the region of £80-£90.

Otherwise (and especially if you wish to have a signed numbered copy), contact Mark via mroakley@ntlworld.com and I can arrange to send you a copy for £70 excl P&P; please supply destination in initial email re postage estimation. I look forward to helping you out.

Thank you for looking at the book; the more you look, the more you see!

I was privileged to be invited to one aspect of McLaren’s 50th year anniversary celebrations last week (September 11-12th). I felt very honoured when Neil Trundle (McLaren heritage) recommended me to Matthew Jeffreys (former McLaren chassis designer) and Richard West (former McLaren Sponsorship Coordinator) earlier this year.  These two gentlemen have worked their socks off for over six months to plan and execute the McLaren Old Boy’s 2013 (MOB) Reunion, which has been in existence for less than five years and had their first meeting together last year at Brooklands. Neil Trundle has very kindly promoted MRO F1 Engineering at several McLaren related events in the last 12 months. I was keen to bring along McLaren-only models which event organiser Matthew appreciated and I managed to relocate and borrow two of my models long since in the hand of new owners. One was the M23 of Jody Scheckter which I converted from the 1974 Mike Hailwood car to the 1973 car with which Jody so famously decimated the grid at Silverstone that year – M23/3 (story in my book, MRO F1 Engineering – the first twenty years). The second one was the 1974 M23/5  which I built for one of Emerson Fittipaldi’s mechanics, Kerry Adams which I have shown at various shows since 2000, also described in the photobook, however eventually it went to France and stayed there in Kerry’s residence. He kindly agreed to re-patriate it earlier this year and I assembled a five car line-up also including my own 1972  M19C, a 1976 James Hunt M23 and Alain Prost’s 1986 MP4/2C. Kerry runs a race preparation workshop and has generously given me unrestricted access to various Grand Prix cars during restoration for over ten years, hence the favour returned (1/12 M23/5). The MOB event was an amazing day of meeting various characters including many of Emerson’s mechanics, Alastair Caldwell, John Watson, Howden Ganley, Steve Nicholls, Leo Wybrott, Jo Ramirez, Gordon Coppuck, Matthew Jeffreys at last (many months of occasional emails in preparation for the event), Richard West, M23/6 on the lawn outside, MP4/4 inside on the stage at the celebratory dinner for 250 people in the evening, an event packed-full of guest surprises on stage and also a live video stream from Dan Gurney and a phone call from Emerson to the assembled group via Matthews mobile phone during the evening – this was relayed to all via Richard’s clip-on microphone, very moving. The whole evening has been brilliantly described in a substantial blog by Richard West, the link being http://richardwestassociates.com/wp/ Apparently, there will be more still photos and video from the same source in the coming week or two. There was a strong New Zealand contingent led by Jan McLaren (Bruce McLaren’s sister), also Patti Bruce’s wife and Amanda their daughter – it was a privilege meeting these three ladies and having them sign my copy of The Bruce McLaren Scrapbbook (Harper Sports). Looks like I will have to add this and other experiences and hopefully a completed Honda RA300 to a second edition of my first book – perhaps next year.