147 Eddie Collins' Tarmac car before it's debut at Birmingham Wheels
Eddie Collins, aged 19, has spent every penny on buying his car, engine, and trailer, trying desperately to avoid the label “Daddy’s Money”. He has completely re-built the entire under-cage in tube and converted the car to 4-link front and rear suspension. He has also shortened the wheelbase and has extensively lightened the car to hopefully make it more competitive for tarmac.
Eddie started work 6 months ago for a Leeds company (Harrison Spinks) in their Innovation & Development Centre, building revolutionary machinery for the mattress industry, to feed his F1 dreams.
Eddie’s choice of paintwork and sign writing, whilst unusual, is due to the car being of older years and would never match up to the quality of a new build. It might be a bit ‘Marmite’, but he still wanted to try something different. We here at On The Oval love the car, and hope that Eddie and his team keep the style up.
Despite the season being underway, Eddie’s intentions for this year are to have fun and maybe sneak in the odd win. He is expecting a few teething issues with the car in the first few meetings as this is the first car he’s ever refurbished/built, however, I’m sure it won’t be long initial everything is sorted.
Eddie showing off his sponsors
We spoke to Eddie after this weekend and he said “This weekend was both a success and a disaster. The car went well out of the box however struggled with no brakes.” He goes onto talk about the Final, where he’s “not sure if Alex underestimated the room he gave me on the outside however I ended up climbing over his bonnet”. This crash put an abrupt end to the night with plenty of damage to the car. Bad luck continued throughout the night with Eddie's mum twisting her ankle and the trailer breaking twice on the way home; however, as Eddie say’s “that’s racing”.
James Bowles Photography
Antony Jenkins Photography
Colin Casserley Photography
Colin Casserley Photography
Despite this, Eddie would also like to say that he wouldn’t be on track without the help and technical advice he’s got along the way; there’s too many to mention but you are all greatly appreciated. We look forward to seeing Eddie on track again in the near future.
We'd also like to say thank you for reading and thank Eddie for taking the time to talk to us.