Ray Mallock Ltd.

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Contents 1 RML Group 2 Motorsport 3 Production Based Race Cars 4 Production Based Rally Cars 5 Oval Track Racing 6 Automotive

[edit] RML Group

Company Website

History

The Mallock family motorsport history started with Major Arthur Mallock, who was later joined by sons Richard and Ray, in the creation of a series of race-winning Mallock U2 cars. Ray developed his career as a professional racing driver before branching out in 1979 to form Ray Mallock Atlantic Racing which developed into Ray Mallock Limited (RML) in 1984.

[edit] Motorsport

Prototype Sportscar Racing

In 1982 Ray was recruited to drive the new Aston Martin Nimrod for the private team entered by Lord Downe in the World Sports Car Championship and Le Mans. Ray quickly made an impact not only as a driver but also as the teams development engineer where he tuned and developed the Lola designed and built car. The RS Williams managed team collected more championship points than the factory entered Nimrod by the end of the season.

Thrilled with the prospect of even better results Lord Downe and Victor Gauntlett provided further development budget ahead of the 1983 season which allowed Ray to undertake a wind tunnel development programme. This resulted in a total re-design of the bodywork and when the car returned to Le Mans it recorded a lap time 11 seconds faster than the previous year. The team went on to claim third place in the World Championship.

RML was formed in 1984 and immediately attracted additional projects. The Downe Nimrod project continued with addittional support from Aston Martin majority shareholder Peter Livanos but was forced to stop mid season after both team cars were involved in the same multi car accident at over 200mph on the infamous Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans. The second project being undertaken was for a group of Scottish businessmen who had re-launched the famous Ecurie Ecosse team. Based upon a de Cadenet chassis RML developed the car to accept a completely new bodywork package, a shape that would be familiar in sportscar racing throughout the eighties.

As the Nimrod project drew to a close the Ecurie Ecosse project took off and RML were tasked with the responsibility of designing a new chassis to mate up with the bodywork package created a year earlier. Racing in the C2 category the RML Ecurie Ecosse team/car secured second place in the 1985 World Sportscar Championship, and in 1986, with an engine and support from Austin Rover won the World Championship title. In 1987 the team reverted to Ford power and once again secured second place in the World Championship.

Next was an Aston Martin C1 category design with carbon-composite chassis and bodywork, the AMR-1. The car finished on its debut at Le Mans and by the end of the season had accumulated more points than the 1987 World Champions - TWR Jaguar. When Aston Martin withdrew suddenly from racing on the brink of the 1990 season RML was engaged by Nissan to develop and assist with running its Nissan Performance Technology Le Mans entry.

It was a potential race winning programme as the team battled with the front runners, including the eventual TWR Jaguar victor, for over 16 hours. The car led the race for over 5 hours, setting a new lap record in the process but was sidelined on Sunday morning with a fuel tank failure.

In 1999 RML designed and produced the new Mallock Supersports car in collaboration with Richard Mallock, Ray’s brother, of Mallock Sports. RML produced the car with the aim of advancing the competitiveness, user friendliness and world-wide sales of the Mallock sports cars. The cars debut outing at Silverstone in the 1999 National Supersports Championship proved successful with an outright victory, 21 seconds clear of its nearest rival. The following year saw further success when Michael Mallock, Ray’s son, took overall championship honours.

After a long absence from prototype sportscar racing RML teamed up with a new sponsor Dedicated Micro’s to develop and race an MG Lola LMP1 car in the 2004 Le Mans and Le Mans Endurance Series. The package proved to be a regular top ten finisher. Dedicated Micro’s decided to continue with the Le Mans and LMES programme in 2005 but this time in the LMP2 class with a new MG Lola EX264. Their decision proved to be a good one as a successful campaign followed that saw the team collect class honours in the Le Mans 24 Hours and 2 nd place in the LMES class championship.

[edit] Production Based Race Cars

Recognising its massive promotional value to automotive manufacturers, in 1992 RML moved into the BTCC (British Touring Car Championship) running the privately entered Ecurie Ecosse (ex factory) Vauxhall Cavaliers. In 1993, running with the first RML designed and manufactured touring car, the team frequently outpaced the factory-supported cars, and in 1994 was awarded the Vauxhall ‘works’ contract. This early touring car success also led to the company’s first customer race programme when Nissan Motorsport South Africa contracted RML to design and build Sentra/Sunny touring cars for its national championship.

Soon RML’s customer business was booming with teams across the globe choosing to race in high profile championships with the RML built Vauxhall/Opel and Nissan touring cars.

The 1995 RML Cavalier/Vectra was one of the most successful cars of the Super Touring era and went on to claim numerous race wins and championship titles, including the BTCC Drivers’ and Teams titles for the RML Vauxhallsport team.

Opel chose RML to design and develop its new Vectra model for the season. 18 cars were manufactured and raced around the world netting a number of championship titles in Thailand, Australia, Spain and South Africa.

When Nissan decided to return to the toughest touring car championship in the world (BTCC) they chose to do so with RML. In 1998, the second year of the programme, RML took the BTCC manufacturers and teams titles and in 1999 the RML Nissan team achieved a clean sweep of BTCC titles by retaining its ’98 titles and adding the drivers' championship.

In 2004 Chevrolet began looking for a suitable platform to showcase their brand and were immediately convinced of the benefits of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. The manufacturer chose RML as their motorsport partner who immediately began the task of building three Chevrolet Lacetti WTC’s for the start of the 2005 season.

Americas first supercar, the Saleen S7, was designed and developed by RML throughout 2000. In parallel with this RML developed a racing version (S7R) which made its debut at the end of the 2000 American Le Mans Series. Six months later the car raced to victory in the famous 12 hours of Sebring having battled with the two factory GM Corvettes for the entire race.

RML raced its own Saleen S7R in the 2001 ELMS (European Le Mans Series) winning the Manufacturers, Teams and Drivers Championships. The team won four out of the five races in the GTS category, taking an outright victory in Estoril, Portugal. Throughout its first season the S7R won 11 times out of 16 starts in RML and customer hands.

RML constructed eight Saleen S7 race cars all of which competed in various national and international events throughout the 2002 and 2003 seasons in customer hands. For 2004 RML were re-united with two of the cars and entered them in the FIA GT Championship.

At the end of 1999 touring car racing suffered a downturn but by 2003 the BTCC was growing again with new manufacturers committing to the championship. SEAT decided to join the championship in 2004 and chose RML for its debut season, and what a season it was. The RML SEAT Toledo’s won nine races, led more race laps than any other team and finished third in the driver’s championship.

[edit] Production Based Rally Cars

RML embarked on its first rally programme in October 1997 when chosen by Opel to design and develop the Astra Formula 2 rally kit car. Soon after Vauxhall also chose RML to run its British Rally Championship team.

The Astra was designed from clean sheet to first prototype in less than five months. Its competition debut was one month later on the UK Vauxhall Rally of Wales. The first championship title came in Germany in 1998, the car's first year of competition.

In 1999, the RML Astra won titles in Germany, Norway and Sweden.

In 2000, the RML team won the British Rally Championship Manufacturers’ title for Vauxhall. In the same year Opel Team Norway's Astra won their national championship title and again, an RML Astra won the German national championship title.

In late 2000 Opel asked RML to design and build the Corsa Super 1600 Rally Car to replace the Astra. The car made its competition debut in the 2002 Monte Carlo JWRC event and by the end of 2003 had secured its first championship title. Over 15 cars now successfully compete around the world in international and national events with technical and parts support from RML.

[edit] Oval Track Racing

In 2002, RML became one of the first European motorsport organisations to undertake oval racing programmes in the form of ASCAR (a European version of NASCAR) and the Champcar World Series.

In ASCAR, the RML team claimed the 2002 and 2003 championship titles with drivers Nicolas Minassian and Ben Collins.

For the 2002 Rockingham (UK) Champcar event, RML prepared and managed the Team St. George car driven by Darren Manning. This event marked the Champcar debut for both the driver and team, who were rewarded with a competitive 9th place finish after having led for part of the race.

[edit] Automotive

RML utilise all of the skills and technology honed in the highly competitive motorsport environment to provide a complete design, engineering, manufacturing and prototyping service to major and niche automotive manufacturers.

Most of the automotive projects undertaken by RML are confidential and details cannot be released. However, an overview of some well known RML projects are set out below:

RML GT40 - RML’s first complete road car project in 1990 was instigated as a tribute to the original Ford GT40. At the time a number of other companies were producing GT40 replicas, unfortunately most had the exterior look but lacked the performance and agility of the original 1960’s supercar. RML produced a limited number of cars that closely followed the original specification and then tuned the ride and handling to exceed modern expectations.

RML Project 10 - In 1994 RML undertook its first ‘clean sheet’ automotive project by taking concept sketches through to reality for an undisclosed Japanese manufacturer.

Opel Astra Concept DTM - Opel appointed RML to build a concept car that was used to re-launch the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) in 1999. Although the finished vehicle was very much a concept race car RML had to employ its automotive engineering skills to construct the base chassis as production of the Astra Coupe had not commenced. The vehicle was completed in four weeks from a standard Astra bodyshell, a selection of prototype Astra Coupe body panels, existing race/rally car components and bespoke parts designed and manufactured by RML.

Saleen S7 - RML’s best known ‘clean sheet’ automotive project commenced in 2000 when Saleen Inc selected RML to design and build America’s first supercar, the 7 litre Saleen S7. The prototype road car was completed in record time just ten months into the project. Following the vehicles launch a further ten cars were produced for the certification process and as donor vehicles for the construction of the RML built race cars.

Nissan Micra R - In 2003 Nissan GB approached RML to produce a headline vehicle to coincide with the launch of the new Micra, this race car for the road was called Micra R. RML took a standard model and transformed its looks to match the dramatic styling of a Geneva concept car. From nose to tail the ‘R’ is unlike any Micra ever produced, the bonnet hides a radiator and fuel tank and the rear sliding seat was replaced with a 265 bhp fully race-prepared engine linked to a 6 speed sequential gearbox. The project was a great success having generated multi page reviews in all of the leading UK motoring publications and national press.

Following its highly visible premiere at the World Touring Car Championship in 2005 Chevrolet decided to take the flair of the racetrack to the road. RML were put to the task of designing a concept vehicle for the manufacturer and thus the Chevrolet Lacetti WTCC R+ was born. The WTCC R+, like the two-litre racing version, is based on the four-door Lacetti/Nubira and has been thoroughly reworked and upgraded – optically, aerodynamically and technically. The four-door model’s external appearance has a great deal in common with the racing car and the sporty aspect is consistently pursued in the interior with black leather upholstered seats and satin aluminum finish. A supercharger joins forces with a charged air intercooler to raise the output by more than 40% and ensures the car touches 100km/h in around 8 seconds and races to a maximum speed of over 215km/h. The brakes grip faster and last longer and the suspensions have been fundamentally modified.