Marcus Bicknell competed in the K Sports 1600 championship, organised by the BARC, the BRDC and the Clubmans Register, in  2001 using Ian Megson's Mallock Mk18 BW sports racing car (No.39) on a hire basis for each of the races in the championship.

I realised near the end of the 2001 season that I was hooked and would continue in K Sports in 2002. The hunt for a car to buy and cherish ended successfully with the acquisition from Allan Elphick of his Mallock Mk. 26/27 SG in October 2001. And as the picture shows, I have mended and resprayed 7 nose cones, 2 sets of side pods, 2 sets of mudguards, and the bonnet. Seven nose cones? Count them... one on the "car", 4 in the back row, and 2 with the number roundels on them (of which the left hand one is a high downforce nosecone for running in the wet). Martin Covill saw me with five, but then I rebuilt two throw-outs that came from Allan Elphick and have resprayed them in the Golden yellow and Oxford blue chevron colours. I have been ready since the end of February and the first race is not till the end of April (but I'll get a couple of other non-championship events in before then).

The car is a Mallock Mk.26 built in 1984 for hill-climbing, so very light in the chassis. It was rebodied with a Mk.27 body in 1985 so it has the later aerodynamic look, but more importantly it has the underbody venturi for more downforce with less drag penalty (hence the "G" in the suffix for "ground effect"). The chassis length is slightly shorter than the Mk.27, hence the "S" in the suffix. . But the chassis is much longer than Ian's Mk.18 and the cockpit size is considerably larger. Whew! I can get my left foot onto the brake pedal as the steering column runs an inch higher at the pedal box.

I drove the car at Kemble at our track day (picture above with Janet Sherry at the wheel) and loved it. I took it to the 24th October 2001 track day at Rockingham, 11th November at Snetterton and 18th November at Brands Hatch in the BRSCC Winter Series. The engine has only done 7 races from a rebuild, so should not need any attention yet.  Body? What about an Oxford blue stripe down the middle, to complement in reverse my colours this year? There is a temptation to equip the car later with the Mallock EBX all-enveloping body work but the wheelbase is too short for the present EBX body moudlings so decisions will be later next year.

The car spent the winter in my garage and Ian Megson's getting some TLC and waiting for its first outings of 2002. The engine DID need work. When Paul Freeman lifted the head he found two vales about to jump their collets. New cam belt, starter motor, clutch and silencer (as required by K Sports). Ian has fitted new brake lines, fuel lines, shock absorbers all round, Mumford link bearings, firewall between the engine and the driver's feet, rollover bar extension and a host of other small details. I have been working on repairing the two sets of sidepods, four bonnets, four front mudguards and six nosecones! Busy.

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