1960 Formula Junior - Lova - Restoration
Discussion
Hello folks,
I have purchased a rare 1960 Formula Junior, called a Lova. It has a 3 cylinder 2-stroke DKW engine. It needs lots of work! If anyone has any information on this car, anything at all please share it with me as it will help in its restoration.
I managed to extract the DKW engine, and strip it ready for a re-bore. There was damage to one of the bores, and the engine had been appart before. I will need new pistons, and was lucky to spot the needle rollers in the little end before they dropped all over the floor.
There seems to have been a fair amount of porting work done through the whole engine.
As expected the car is slowly turning into a pile of parts, although I am taking care in documenting where stuff come from. Photo's and little boxes of nuts and bolts with labels.
Eventualy got into the garage tonight, and after some more careful tidying of parts took some pictures of those cylinder parts, after some gasket removal with a sharp blade.
A local PH'er asked about the carb set-up. It's nothing special(ish), and have been told to swap it for a side draught DCOE. This carb is the original, and someone had taken the care to knife edge the butterfly shaft in this carb, and flow the ports into the opening of the carb. Somehow it seems a shame to change it from its original 60's set-up. The exhaust expansion chamber fortunately is a recognised modification with the racing association I believe, so I will gather details of the best possible dimensions for its construction. I had a Leo Vinci hand made exhaust on my scooter that worked very well, its was and beaten out of miss-shaped mild steel, and without doubt this will be the method used on this one. (Could "wheel" it too).
Here's the pictures...
Not too sure if I should smooth out the damage on the compression face at present, as it may alter the compression on that one cylinder.
Crank and Pistons. I have been told there's a better design for the pistons.
I have purchased a rare 1960 Formula Junior, called a Lova. It has a 3 cylinder 2-stroke DKW engine. It needs lots of work! If anyone has any information on this car, anything at all please share it with me as it will help in its restoration.
I managed to extract the DKW engine, and strip it ready for a re-bore. There was damage to one of the bores, and the engine had been appart before. I will need new pistons, and was lucky to spot the needle rollers in the little end before they dropped all over the floor.
There seems to have been a fair amount of porting work done through the whole engine.
As expected the car is slowly turning into a pile of parts, although I am taking care in documenting where stuff come from. Photo's and little boxes of nuts and bolts with labels.
Eventualy got into the garage tonight, and after some more careful tidying of parts took some pictures of those cylinder parts, after some gasket removal with a sharp blade.
A local PH'er asked about the carb set-up. It's nothing special(ish), and have been told to swap it for a side draught DCOE. This carb is the original, and someone had taken the care to knife edge the butterfly shaft in this carb, and flow the ports into the opening of the carb. Somehow it seems a shame to change it from its original 60's set-up. The exhaust expansion chamber fortunately is a recognised modification with the racing association I believe, so I will gather details of the best possible dimensions for its construction. I had a Leo Vinci hand made exhaust on my scooter that worked very well, its was and beaten out of miss-shaped mild steel, and without doubt this will be the method used on this one. (Could "wheel" it too).
Here's the pictures...
Not too sure if I should smooth out the damage on the compression face at present, as it may alter the compression on that one cylinder.
Crank and Pistons. I have been told there's a better design for the pistons.
Can't help at the moment but have you also tried asking at http://forums.atlasf1.com in the Nostalgia forum, they are a very informed bunch of people?
LongQ said:
Eric Mc said:
The design actually looks a bit later than 1960 - more 1963-65 era.
Well the bodywork does but the suspension looks entirely timeless! Copied from an NHS broken neck and head support system by the looks of it!
Indeed. I do like the way it works, but it looks just like you say. A bit of paint may help!! It has inboard brakes as someone noticed earlier.
justinbaker said:
LongQ said:
Eric Mc said:
The design actually looks a bit later than 1960 - more 1963-65 era.
Well the bodywork does but the suspension looks entirely timeless! Copied from an NHS broken neck and head support system by the looks of it!
Indeed. I do like the way it works, but it looks just like you say. A bit of paint may help!! It has inboard brakes as someone noticed earlier.
I think it looks great.
Saw the FJ boys racing at Donington earlier this year and the front of the field looked like pretty serious stuff. Wonderful to see.
Good luck with the project.
Here we go:
*This might have been an F2 event.
So, unlike the entry on the Junior site, it would appear that the car was not built by Willy Vroomen (is that not the coolest name for a racing driver?), but may well be his chassis. Willy was something of a "name" driver in the Low Countries in the post-war years. I'm not aware of a Lova 500 but Jef Dujourie's name has come up driving Cooper 500s around 1954-55. The lowline, Lotus 49 style shape really looks far too modern - surely 1965-66 ish - though the suspension looks classically 1958-62. So I'd be a close to certain those aren't the original panels.
AtlasF1 said:
Lova was not a Dutch car but a Belgian car built at Leuven (Louvain, Lovanium in Latin so the name). The constructor Jef Dujourie first built a 500 cc racer and took part himself in Belgian hillclimb meetings. He built his first Formula Junior in 1960 and the car was tried by André Pilette in October on race at Monthléry. It was a front-engined car powered by DKW. The car was totally uncompetitive so the second car was laid aroud a rear-mounted DKW engine.
In 1961 the Lova were driven by Willy Vroomen, a Duchman living at Antwerpen, and Jean-Claude Franck, a young 21-year man from Louvain. In the GP des Frontières at Chimay, Vroomen finished 17th and one but last, Franck was a non-starter. In 1962 the DKW was replaced by a Ford Holbay in the Franck's car. Franck finished 9th (once again, one but last) in the GP des Frontières.
In 1963 Jean-Claude Franck found a more competitiva car - a Cooper MK3A - and left the Lova to his fate. He surely was right as he finished 3rd of the GP des Frontières.
Those informations are from Chimay Le Grand Prix des Frontières 1960-1973, by André Biaumet (part one is 1926-1959).
In 1961 the Lova were driven by Willy Vroomen, a Duchman living at Antwerpen, and Jean-Claude Franck, a young 21-year man from Louvain. In the GP des Frontières at Chimay, Vroomen finished 17th and one but last, Franck was a non-starter. In 1962 the DKW was replaced by a Ford Holbay in the Franck's car. Franck finished 9th (once again, one but last) in the GP des Frontières.
In 1963 Jean-Claude Franck found a more competitiva car - a Cooper MK3A - and left the Lova to his fate. He surely was right as he finished 3rd of the GP des Frontières.
Those informations are from Chimay Le Grand Prix des Frontières 1960-1973, by André Biaumet (part one is 1926-1959).
Ten-Tenths said:
The Lova DKW was in fact a belgian car and already totally outpaced in 1961, was entered in 1965 at Grand Prix des Frontières* by Roger Beguint, a garagist.
*This might have been an F2 event.
So, unlike the entry on the Junior site, it would appear that the car was not built by Willy Vroomen (is that not the coolest name for a racing driver?), but may well be his chassis. Willy was something of a "name" driver in the Low Countries in the post-war years. I'm not aware of a Lova 500 but Jef Dujourie's name has come up driving Cooper 500s around 1954-55. The lowline, Lotus 49 style shape really looks far too modern - surely 1965-66 ish - though the suspension looks classically 1958-62. So I'd be a close to certain those aren't the original panels.
Richard - This information is just what I need thank you, although there's no pictures found just yet, this certainly helps with its history. I hope you dont mind, but I have asked that this information be uploaded to the Formula Junior site. The DKW engine will be the engine I shall use.
I am progressing with its strip-down, and hoped to get it to its chassis for the end of the weekend, but yesterday I had the garage door open and rolled it out into the sunshine to work on it. There must have been 12 or so people come and look at it trying to work out what it was.
If anyone has any idea on how to shape the rear body then forward these on. It would be nice to start on the rear body.
I shall modify the chassis to incorporate a roll over hoop, with a detachable brace to the rear of the car for my own safety.
I am progressing with its strip-down, and hoped to get it to its chassis for the end of the weekend, but yesterday I had the garage door open and rolled it out into the sunshine to work on it. There must have been 12 or so people come and look at it trying to work out what it was.
If anyone has any idea on how to shape the rear body then forward these on. It would be nice to start on the rear body.
I shall modify the chassis to incorporate a roll over hoop, with a detachable brace to the rear of the car for my own safety.
Can't help with the car, but keep us posted with pics etc. Who knows, we might see you racing at Goodwood yet.
A mate of mine, Martin Walford races in Junior, he's just won the Lurani trophy.
PS there's an historic racers board at www.ten-tenths.com who might be of help.
A mate of mine, Martin Walford races in Junior, he's just won the Lurani trophy.
PS there's an historic racers board at www.ten-tenths.com who might be of help.
Edited by heebeegeetee on Sunday 1st October 10:38
Justin,
The quotes came from a fairly simple Google Search (maybe Lova +"Formula Junior" which also turned up leads to a few of the results sites. It might be worth trying a few others, like Dujourie and Vroomen. Both TNF and ten-tenths historians are very trustworthy, so I'd say it was pretty accurate. And Dujourie turned up in my research of the 500s. Although I've seen similarly huge radius arms on a 500 (specifically Hakan Sandberg's RJ500) I wouldn't suggest there's any chance that this is the Lova 500 upgraded to Junior spec.
Until you turn up a photo, I'd suggest you just wing it on the bodywork. I would guess at something simple (and cheap!), low and with a Lotus 18 style section behind the axle. Better to have something inaccurate but sympathetic than nothing at all. Just sketch some ideas on tracing paper until you get something you are happy with. Then hand the sketch and rolling chassis (with existing panels attached) to your panel beater to make something that fits.
The quotes came from a fairly simple Google Search (maybe Lova +"Formula Junior"
which also turned up leads to a few of the results sites. It might be worth trying a few others, like Dujourie and Vroomen. Both TNF and ten-tenths historians are very trustworthy, so I'd say it was pretty accurate. And Dujourie turned up in my research of the 500s. Although I've seen similarly huge radius arms on a 500 (specifically Hakan Sandberg's RJ500) I wouldn't suggest there's any chance that this is the Lova 500 upgraded to Junior spec. Until you turn up a photo, I'd suggest you just wing it on the bodywork. I would guess at something simple (and cheap!), low and with a Lotus 18 style section behind the axle. Better to have something inaccurate but sympathetic than nothing at all. Just sketch some ideas on tracing paper until you get something you are happy with. Then hand the sketch and rolling chassis (with existing panels attached) to your panel beater to make something that fits.
Good luck with it, they make a lovely noise when they run. There's a couple of two-stroke FJ's currently running in the HSCC FJ series. May be worth getting in touch with the club and see if they can put you in touch with either of those two competitors? I'm sure they'd be willing to help out
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