In the summer of 1997 the Sun newspaper came up with the idea of staging an alternative British Grand Prix for bizarre customised vehicles. But what started out as a spoof has developed into a proper race, held annually at Donington Park’s August Bank Holiday meeting.
The 1999 event was so popular that it had to be divided into two classes – road-going and non-road-going. The second category attracted no fewer than ten entries, including a motorised garden shed, a four-poster bed, a roller boot, a sofa, a giant orange, and a toilet and bath combination.
The shed was the brainchild of Derbyshire farmer George Shields, who originally built it in 1997 as a practical joke for a friend’s wedding. ‘I couldn’t find the pony and trap he wanted,’ said Shields, ‘so I decided to make some transport of my own. My friend thought his stag party had finished the night before. Little did he know he was going to show up at the church in a garden shed!’ The Shields machine, which held the distinction of being the only garden building ever to have completed the journey from John O’Groats to Land’s End under its own steam, consisted of a quad bike engine underneath and a six-by-four garden shed on top, complete with five hanging baskets. It had a top speed of 55mph (88.5km/h) and did 50 miles (80.5km) to the gallon. ‘Where to put the exhaust pipe was a bit of a problem,’ he admitted, ‘but I got it to go out of the door. The whole conversion is really comfortable, with a big cushion on the seat. It’s very noisy and smelly to drive, but that’s OK because there is a television and radio inside. And it doesn’t like corners much – especially at 55mph.’
Race organiser Edd China had three entries – the sofa, the toilet and bath, and the four-poster bed. The bed, welded to a 1,600cc Volkswagen Beetle engine, was inspired by the 1960s TV series The Monkees. ‘Their show would start with them pushing a bed around town,’ said China. ‘I just thought I wanted to live my life like that. It cost £5,000 and took two months to build, but it’s a car that impresses the women.’
The toilet and bath combination was driven by 65-year-old Donington Park track marshal Frank Richardson. ‘It is terrible to drive,’ he confessed, ‘although once you get it up to 40mph (64.4km/h) it tends to straighten itself out.’ Richardson had a nasty moment during practice when clothes from the laundry basket on the front became entangled with one of the wheels.
At the wheel of the giant rollerskate, a promotional vehicle for Derby Rollerworld, was the firm’s general manager Terry Wilcox. Other entrants included Mick Pike in a dodgem car, Geoff Quaife in the Outspan Orange, and Mike Hand driving a stuffed horse and covered wagon, in which the indicators were in the horse’s eyes. Among those sadly missing for the 1999 event was a motorised skip.
It may not have been the full Grand Prix distance but a few laps of Donington Park still produced plenty of excitement. In the end victory went to the dodgem car from the Outspan Orange, which just pipped the bed. The shed broke down. The non-road-going class resulted in a win for a customised fire engine, beating an armchair and a gondola on wheels.