Just wondering if anyone on here has any contact with Ron Champion.

It would be good to know what he thinks about the way things have gone from the spark he first ignited, whether he was ok with the developments that Chris Gibbs brought in with the later book, the range of variations in design and the number of specialist makers and suppliers who have grown from it ? He has a website but it doesn't look to have been updated for some while and doesnt provide any views or opinions.

[Edited on 28/5/2012 by Not Anumber]

Isn't he in Spain avoiding the tax man?!

and his first wife

email, phone and postal contacts all on the website - drop him a line!

and everyone else he ripped off

Seriously - he's best left under whatever stone he crawled under

[Edited on 28/5/12 by D Beddows]

What did he do!?

quote:

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Originally posted by scootz
What did he do!?

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It just seems strange that he started all this off and yet rarely gets a mention on here in a positive light. It contrasts hugely to the universal reverence for Caroll Shelby RIP in the Cobra world.

It seems there is an underlying story no one wants to share...

EDIT: All i can find is lots of forum rumours saying he went bankrupt and retired to spain

[Edited on 28/5/12 by theduck]

There are a fair few threads about it/him if you have a search - don't think we need another one tbh and it really isn't that interesting anyway! you've pretty much got the basic jist of it from the comments above.

As to even mentioning him in the same sentence as Carroll Shelby........ that's a bit like comparing a Pot Noodle to a slap up meal at Heston Blumenthal's place.....

I met him, many years ago - actually quite a friendly bloke, and was quite helpful. He really did get a bad name in the end though.

I think the problem was that he was always very enthusiastic about new projects, would get others involved, then after a while his total lack of business sense would shine through and the other folk would lose their money. Not entirely his fault - they should have taken a really good look at the business case before investing. Mostly though, there really isn't a lot of money to be made in the Locost business, and people got their fingers burnt.

Perhaps if someone wants to start a business, don't take advice from a schoolteacher!

Issues aside, should he not take some credit for starting the whole Locost thing off. After all it's what bought most of us together here and for any that did lose money, there's quite a few who have spawned a living or a business from those origins too. MK for one can be traced back to the very early days (although I'm aware they were around before that too).

Yup, he wrote the book that started it all - fair play to him. I met him on a fair few occasions at the very beginning of 750MC Locost racing and as David Jenkins says he was a friendly enough chap, lent us a cordless drill when we we in dire need once as it happens, but he wasn't/isn't any kind of engineering genius just a metalwork teacher who had a good idea and a set of westfield dimensions at the right time.

He didn't play any part really in making 'Locost' what it is today either - those people I'd suggest at the beginning were (in no particular order) Martin Keenan, Ian Grey aka Stuart Taylor and the 750MC for giving the whole thing a certain amount of legitimacy with the race series.

Dreamers are not business men. I would have never invested in einsteins work but that doesn't mean he didn't have good idea's :-)

Never quite understood the Ron admiration.

All he did was write a book on a car that already existed, ie the lotus 7, so there was nothing that novel in what he did.

He perpetuated an illusion that you can build a car for cheap. Yes, you can, now that you mention it; especially when you get all your parts free, and have use of a school garage with all the tools. His book is very inspiring, but a lot of us feel a bit done over, don't we, once we realise that it is just highly entertaining fiction.