DR. MICHAEL HENDERSON

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1965 ELVA-BMW MARK 7S

During 1965 and 1966 this Elva BMW Mark 7S was raced very successfully in Britain by Keith St John. With the works car driven by Tony Lanfranchi, it was one of the two best-known Elva BMWs in period.

It was also one of the first cars in Britain ever to carry sponsorship, being supported by Radio London, an early "pirate" commercial radio station. It was generally known as the “Radio London” car.

The car is one of only 15 similar models that were built with the BMW 2­litre engine.

I bought the car in 1967, and brought it out to Australia with me in February 1968. See photographs taken at Katoomba and Warwick Farm.

I sold it in late 1970 after an undistinguished few years, and it then passed through various configurations until being obtained and restored by Ian McDonald in 1986. It was raced in historics by him and his son Nick, and sold on to BMW Sydney in 1994. I bought back in 1998 and promptly crashed it when a poorly welded front upright (which I had failed to check) broke. So we rebuilt it again, with a new chassis from Roger Dunbar.

It has been very successful in its new life, and Nick and I hold many historic category sports car lap records in Australia.

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