1997 James Courtney TonyKart Extreme Replica
| 24 July 2014 |
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Remember the photo of the James Courtney World Champion replica Tony Kart in Sunday's News Briefs? Well, here's the build story of that kart and how it went from this (below)...
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
...to this!
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
South Australian karter Glenn Davidson is already known for his replica restorations and he's just recently finished a Tony Kart Extreme to represent James Courtney's 1997 Formula A World Championship winner.
"The kart was purchased off Gumtree Australia almost a year ago and was sent down to Adelaide from Queensland" Davidson told KartSportNews.
"When I received it, everything was pretty dirty and lots of original parts were missing or were not worth salvaging, like the wrong-era plastics, disc carrier, axle, rims, steering wheel, tie rods, brake caliper and engine etc."
Above: The Extreme had been used with a Clubman Yamaha
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
Davidson said the frame was cracked and there had been a previous (poor) attempt at fixing it. A total strip-down was needed.
"Greg Young once again worked his magic and fixed up the previously butchered work and did a seem less job which exceeded expectations.
"The six months previous to the kart getting started allowed me time to search websites like ebay, Gumtree and 90s relevant pages on Facebook to collect parts so the kart was ready to go once returned from the powder coater.
Above: The Extreme after initial strip-down. Unique chassis layout with no middle cross bar.
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
Above: Back from the powder-coater, ready to commence assembly
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
"I designed and created the stickers for the kart based on James’ 1997 Formula A World Championship winning kart from Salbris. I had a new floor tray made as the old one was beyond repair. Thankfully I could purchase a new fuel tank, but again had to re-create the older style sticker for it.
Further trading and swapping via Gumtree ("I bought new plastics for a guy who was selling an old kart on Gumtree, and swapped them for his old plastics") sourced the correct period sidepods and nassau panel. The nose cone was purchased new.
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
"The engine was purchased from a person in the 'States and sent to Australia, which wasn’t cheap. It's a mid-90s Vortex VR95 rotary, like the one James used when he raced.
"The rear crash bar and pod bars needed welds and brackets fixed or added and again Greg Young helped out and did some fantastic work with these bits.
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
Glenn was able to get in contact with Martjin Koene (James’ engine builder from the Netherlands) who was of great assistance.
"He helped out with rims and other bits and pieces and has been a great supporter of my projects - even when the Dutch beat us in the recent World Cup!"
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
"Unfortunately for me, this kart will be sold as I already have a TonyKart Esprit and that’s the kart I always wanted" Davidson explained.
"Also, I need the room for my latest projects which are two Danilo Rossi CRG World Championship winning Heron replicas."
Glenn, we're certainly looking forward to seeing those!
Above: Press coverage from the era
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
pic - Glenn Davidson, reversegraphics.com
Above: Courtney aboard the original. Unfortunately, we hear this chassis (and many other Championship winners) were lost in the recent Tony Kart factory fire.
