Beattie was originally a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
kitcar
A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor v ...
created by Stephen Charles Beattie and its manufacture moved to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
2009. It ceased trading in 2017.
Stephen Beattie
Born in Hastings the late 1940's, Beattie has been interested in car design since seeing a
Lotus 11
Eleven or 11 may refer to:
*11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12
* one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11
Literature
*Eleven (novel), ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David ...
in his youth at the Levin motor races. The sleekness of the design made such an impression on Beattie that it became an influence in his cars, particularly the Beattie SR2000 and Clubman Sports.
[Beattie's beauties]
Motor Equipment News, February 2019, Page 22, retrieved 26 April 2022
Lola based models
Beattie made the Beattie SR2000 and Clubman Sports, based on the
Lola-Climax Mk1. Kevin Hunt of Redline Performance Cars Limited acquired the design from Stephen Beattie in 1999 and the car was renamed the Redline Sprint with a least two models being available, the Sprint and the Road Sport. It was available up to at least 2007.
Redline Performance Cars Limited changed its name in February 2007 to KGH Enterprises Limited and ceased trading in November 2009. Hunt became a shareholder in Hulme Supercars Limited later in 2009.
In 2007 Redline Racing Ltd, with Christophe Christianson as Director, was formed and acquired the rights for the Redline Clubman Sprint/RoadSport. The company relocated to the United Kingdom in 2009, becoming Beattie Racing Limited, and initially set up manufacturing facilities in
Frome
Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...
. In 2012 it relocated to larger manufacturing facilities at
Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...
, South Devon. There they made two models, the Beattie LM (Le Mans) and the Beattie RS (Road Sport). The company ceased trading on 25 April 2017.
Christianson returned to New Zealand and is setting up the Beattie Worx facility in the Bay of Islands. The Beattie LM is to be built there and he is developing a new Beattie Roadster. The cars are expected to cost between NZ$100,000 and NZ$200,000.
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Beattie Paolo
Stephen Beattie, in the interim, designed and built the ''Paolo''. It is a mid-engined sports car of similar style to a 1980 Can-am car. The car is powered by a highly modified 1,712cc Alfa Romeo engine. It has an aluminium and fibre glass body on a complex tubular chassis.[
]
External links
Beattie Racing Limited website
References
{{Reflist
Kit cars
Car manufacturers of New Zealand