Graham Davies
Graham Davies.
Graham Davies, was someone else intimately involved with Downton during the 60's, this time working in the London for Richard Miles.
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I did not work at the Wiltshire shop. I worked for Richard Miles ( Downton London ). The only time I went to Wiltshire was to collect part,s & the Xmas party. We were based in Elvaston Mew,s near the Albert Hall. 3 mechanic 1 storeman & 2 sales person,s. The Downton part,s were sorted in Wiltshire but we built the motor,s etc. Richard, Mike Pigneguy & myself were the mechanic's. As we were based in London we had most of the famous car's come through the door's, as it was more convenient. Hayley Mills, Peter Sellers etc,etc. Most of these were Radford car's, but then we had the race side also. The race car,s were all prepared for club racing, MGB,s Mini,s & of coarse the A40. We also did some work on the Billy Dulles Mini Marcos. The A40 was already a famous car before I got there, it was owned & raced by Mick Cave / Harry Digby & was a Mk1 with a different grille /front & painted dull farina grey. The car was raced often, mainly in the south of England. Goodwood, Castle Combe & Brands Hatch. It ran a 1300cc motor in the Spring Grove Championship & Goodwood members meetings. They would switch rolls each event, One would race the main event & the other race the handicap. It held many class track records & went like a rocket. I fell in love ! I would travel with Richard to the events towing the car behind a Mini pickup. We raced against much bigger cars ( Doc Merfield V8 Cortina & various Ford Anglias ) & of coarse other 1300cc Minis. The best race of my life was @ Brands Hatch, it was the last race of the year & we had already won the 1300cc Chamionship. BMC asked if we would fit a 1000cc motor for this race to try & beat the Fraser Imp,s that had been running ring's around the Minis all year. We did ! After practice the grid was front row the 2 Imps with the A40 in the middle & that's the way the race went. The people in the stands were standing & cheering on the battle. We came 2nd & all 3 cars were within a few feet of each other at the finish. When the car got back to the paddock area you could see tyre marks on both side,s of the body from the Imp,s. Great Race. Of coarse I then went onto work with Imp,s with Paul Emery. The above period was 1964-66
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