Walker/Tuthill raced at Dartford in 1959 where the engine broke its conrod I remember Ken saying he found a piece of alloy on the workshop floor and made the conrod out off it, or was he joking?

Ray's chicken hopper tank was a work of art, all the seams and connecting pipes were brazed together and the fits were so good you couldn't see the brazing. I should like to know how Ray assembled it.

A few years latter when I was racing with Ken I asked him to make a small shut-off valve for a 7cc fuel tank. Ken said he didn't have the time to make one, then he said "I think I can find just what you want." We went into his office he opened a cupboard and there sat the model car Ken used to create the British 5cc RTP speed record - apparently the engine seized on the last lap. He went to get a "Fertall" out of another cupboard and there in my hand I held the Tuthill tank. "Let's take it in to the workshop and remove the shut-off valve" Ken said. We played a gas torch on it but it wouldn't give, so more heat was added - still no joy and by this time the tank was a dull red and still holding together. When we eventually got the valve off I still couldn't use it as it had seized solid!

After Ken closed the factory I made a version of Ray's model based on these photos powered by a 5cc Super Tigre. It flew perfectly timed at 116mph on 10% nitro and a "Regiflow" tank and a mono wheel undercarriage. With more nitromethane and an 8X8 Tornado prop I estimate that it should have been good for 120mph.

In his gallery and Ken Bedford's, Ray Tuthill refers to the use of both a Smiths Tacho and a Ken Bedford designed audio tachometer. Here are a couple of pictures showing both types in use which I was told could in fact be used to check the rev's from outside the circle.