Oy V.a.Y.!

For all the talk today of “level playing fields” and equal opportunities for all, it has to be understood that motor sport has never really been egalitarian. Contrary to popular belief, racing runs not on gasoline, but on money. From its humble beginnings at the turn of the 20 century, the combined forces of competition and advancing technology have always driven the costs of motor racing ever higher.

Yet, as early as the 1930s, racers and race organizers began to develop ways of fueling competition without fueling costs. Just before WWII, several groups of British enthusiasts began organizing competitions for inexpensive specials built around the relatively affordable Austin Seven passenger car. After hostilities ended, these Austin Seven enthusiasts returned to a Britain ravaged—both industrially and financially—by war. Looking again for an affordable way to compete, in 1946, one faction known as CAPA was reformed as the 500 Club, which became devoted to the construction and competition of small, single-seater racecars powered by 500-cc motorcycle engines, which were more affordable and readily available in postwar Britain. Those enthusiasts more interested in two-seater specials built around the 750-cc Austin Seven engine and chassis were known as the 750 Club and, in 1949, they began organizing races for these almost exclusively home-built specials. In fact, some of motor racing’s most legendary constructors, men with names like Colin Chapman and Eric Broadley, cut their car- building-teeth in the 750 Club.