Tui
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Quasar (see Supernova)
Shannon (see Tui) Supernova (see Tui) |
Tui - United Kingdom (morphed into Super Nova or Shannon)
BH - 1973 |
The Tui's were made bu Alan McCall, a Kiwi, who worked as a mechanic for McLaren (if I remember right) He constructed F-3, F-2, and Supervee cars, which ver pretty successful for such a small builder, winning the US SV championship in '73 ( I think) with Bertil Roos driving. The cars were well put together, simple, and fast. The death of his friend, and main test driver in mid, / late 70's put a damper on things, as I recall driving a Tui F-2, and the marque faded away. Alan still lives in New Zealand.
the friend of McCall was bert Hawthorne and he died in a f2 race at hockhenheim in 72 . but what i wish to know is why they were enter in the usa super vee cup as Tui supernova and sometime just as supernova . i think that fred opert racing was the importer of both the Tui and for a very short period of Supernova formula ford . was this just a "branding"
I owned a Tui BH3 Super Vee ex Bertil Roos car entered by Fred Opert Racing. McCall was involved with Tui up to about 1972 and then moved on to other things, one was the design of the Martini F1 car and then he ran the Hexigon Brabham F1 team with John Watson as driver. After McCall left, the cars became known as Supernova Tui then just Supernova. Supernova cars were manufactured in Billingshurst in West Sussex in the UK. McCall's first car was an F3 which quickly morphed into the AM29 F2 car for Bert Hawthorne who sadly died at Hockenheim just feet away from the spot where Jim Clark died. This was somewhat ironic as Alan McCall had been a mechanic for Jim Clark on Lotus before he joined McLaren Cars. After the death of Hawthorne, Tui cars were designated with the pre-fix BH after Bert Hawthorne. The BH4 had a different tub to the BH3 and the BH5 was a development of this tub. The BH5 had wings - Supernova also built a one-off F3 car in 1976 called the SF3. All in all the AM29/BH3 Super Vee cars were quite successful with Roos winning the 1973 SV Gold Cup Championship. Do you have a Tui
Alan McCall was a mechanic at Lotus as well. Initially Cortinas, then the Formula cars. Ended up being Jim Clarks mechanic on the 49. Left due to frustration with the cars breaking and Chapmans autocratic style. For trivia a TUI is a native bird of NZ that is well known for its unique bid song.
the friend of McCall was bert Hawthorne and he died in a f2 race at hockhenheim in 72 . but what i wish to know is why they were enter in the usa super vee cup as Tui supernova and sometime just as supernova . i think that fred opert racing was the importer of both the Tui and for a very short period of Supernova formula ford . was this just a "branding"
I owned a Tui BH3 Super Vee ex Bertil Roos car entered by Fred Opert Racing. McCall was involved with Tui up to about 1972 and then moved on to other things, one was the design of the Martini F1 car and then he ran the Hexigon Brabham F1 team with John Watson as driver. After McCall left, the cars became known as Supernova Tui then just Supernova. Supernova cars were manufactured in Billingshurst in West Sussex in the UK. McCall's first car was an F3 which quickly morphed into the AM29 F2 car for Bert Hawthorne who sadly died at Hockenheim just feet away from the spot where Jim Clark died. This was somewhat ironic as Alan McCall had been a mechanic for Jim Clark on Lotus before he joined McLaren Cars. After the death of Hawthorne, Tui cars were designated with the pre-fix BH after Bert Hawthorne. The BH4 had a different tub to the BH3 and the BH5 was a development of this tub. The BH5 had wings - Supernova also built a one-off F3 car in 1976 called the SF3. All in all the AM29/BH3 Super Vee cars were quite successful with Roos winning the 1973 SV Gold Cup Championship. Do you have a Tui
Alan McCall was a mechanic at Lotus as well. Initially Cortinas, then the Formula cars. Ended up being Jim Clarks mechanic on the 49. Left due to frustration with the cars breaking and Chapmans autocratic style. For trivia a TUI is a native bird of NZ that is well known for its unique bid song.
1973 Tui BH3-011
1973 Tui BH3 011
1973 Tui BH3 on the Grid
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This car was raced in the 1973 VW Gold Cup Championship and was driven by Bertil Roos in the Opert Racing Team. Roos won the championship in '73 with this car Chassis #011 - the car was also used in the Super Vee World Championships in which Roos finished 2nd. The photo of the car at Hockenheim was provided to me by Fred Opert. Actually this car won many autoX races and championships in Nevada - I think 4 years in a row.
Tui cars was formed by New Zealander Alan McCall who was one of Jim Clarks mechanics. He moved on to McLaren where he worked in USAC, CanAm and F1. At this time he decided to build his own F3 car which included many parts borrowed from the McLaren works including suspension, windshield and wheels. Many said the car was a mini version of the McLaren M7. The car was very successful in the US winning the FB championship with Bert Hawthorn (NZ). The chassis was redesigned for formula 2 and became the AM29 (also used in Super Vee). Sadly Bert Hawthorne was killed at Hockenheim at the very same corner Jim Clark lost his life. John Watson took over the drive and put in some excellent performances. After Hawthorne was killed the prefix on Tui cars became BH for Bert Hawthorne. The BH3 Super Vee is basically the same chassis as the AM29 with very minor differences. The car was very successful in Super Vee winning the championship with the Fred Opert Racing Team and Bertil Roos driving. Tui Formula Atlantics (Tui BH2 ex AM29) were also relatively successful considering there were only a couple of cars and Alan McCall's team was on a very tight budget. They became a bit of a thorn in the side for March who otherwise dominated in 1976. Alan McCall was also involved with the Hexigon Brabham F1 team as manager (John Watson - driver) and also designed the Tecno PA123 F1 car. I hope this gives some insight to those who have never heard of this little known marque. |