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Trojan was an
automobile
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...
manufacturer
and a
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
constructor, in conjunction with Australian
Ron Tauranac,
from 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. They participated in 8 Grands Prix in 1974. They qualified six times and scored no championship points.
The car producer
Trojan Limited was founded by
Leslie Hounsfield in 1914 in
Clapham
Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Ea ...
, South London, and later in
Purley Way,
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
.
It produced cars and especially delivery vans until 1964.
Around 1960, the Trojan business was sold to Peter Agg who imported
Lambretta
Lambretta () was a brand of motor scooters, manufactured in Milan, Italy, by Innocenti.
The name is derived from the word Lambrate, the suburb of Milan named after the river Lambro which flows through the area, and where the factory was locat ...
scooters for the British market.
[ Motorcycle Mechanics, September 1965, p.23 Lambretta full-page advert: Lambretta Concessionaires Ltd, Trojan Works, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey. Accessed 1 March 2014] In 1962, the rights to manufacture the
Heinkel microcar were acquired
and the production line
was moved from
Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...
,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
to Croydon. Production then commenced, renaming the
bubble car as ''Trojan Cabin Cruiser''. Production continued until 1965, when some 6,000 cars had been produced.
Heinkel Trojan Club UK. Retrieved 1 February 2014 Speaking to ''
The Motor Cycle, Motor Cycle'' magazine in 1965 after cessation of production, Peter Agg confirmed that a 1962 British government reduction in
purchase tax from 50% to 25% aligning car taxation with three-wheelers and motorbikes, had given a big boost to the cheaper end of the car market, adversely affecting sales of the economy-sector three-wheeler, making continued production uneconomical.
[ The Motor Cycle, Motor Cycle 3 June 1965, p.743. Accessed 7 April 2014]
Also in 1962, Trojan acquired the
Elva sports car business and started to make the Mk IV Elva Courier.
This in turn led to the manufacturing of
McLaren racing cars until vehicle production finally ceased in the early 1970s. Trojan Limited still exists as an independent company though the factory was sold in the 1970s.
The Trojan T101
Formula 5000 model met with success when
Jody Scheckter won the
1973 SCCA L&M Championship driving a T101 and a
Lola T330.
They participated in eight grands prix,
entering a total of eight cars. In 1974,
David Purley won the
Brighton Speed Trials driving a Trojan-Chevrolet T101. While Formula One remained the major series, sports cars were also fashionable on either side of the
Atlantic. The
McLaren M1 was put into production by Peter Agg's Lambretta Trojan Group in
Rye, Sussex. They would make 200 McLarens during ten years.
File:1973 Trojan T101 at Silverstone Classic 2012.jpg, Trojan T101 Formula 5000 car
File:Trojan 103 Brands Hatch.jpg, Trojan T103 Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
car
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(
key)
See also
*
Trojan (automobile)
References
*All Formula One results are taken fro
formula1.com*
External links
Trojan Museum Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trojan (Racing Team)
Formula One constructors
Formula One entrants
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom
British auto racing teams
British racecar constructors