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A few words of background if this is the first time you've clicked on to this page. I'm a self-confessed Sports/GT racing freak who got so far into his hobby that I turned it into a business. I won't bore you with lines like: "poorly paid", "barely scratch a living" although they're true. You've heard them all before and I wouldn't want to insult your intelligence, would I? I started racing in an Elva-BMW in British Hillclimbs a long time ago; After spending all my parents’ and my friends’ money on this lark (which I thoroughly enjoyed), I settled down to marriage and two kids until age 30. An XK120 Jaguar just begged to be bought and so I promptly equipped this with a roll-over bar and damn near killed myself at Mallory Park. After this, a few more years went by during which I ran a folk club, managed a very successful comedian and indulged myself in Porsche 911s. I'm currently on my twenty-fourth! I acquired a Ferrari 250 GT "Tour de France" and did all those jollies like the Mille Miglia retro and Coy's Silverstone until I felt the need for something a bit more serious. The racing bug bit again after I'd acquired a 1974 Porsche Carrera RSR, (see upper left corner) and off I went again, only this time to the circuits. I loved it and purchased a Porsche 935 that scared me silly. (In retrospect, the suspension was poorly set up. The power was of the "Oh my Gawd" variety and the combination was, shall we say, overwhelming. Definitely a brown trousers job, that one!) Still love ‘em though.
All this time, I'd been writing books about motor racing. I'd written four when Chris Renwick called from San Diego. "Would I like to go there and write a book about Ferraris?" Would I?! I was fed up of English winters, so I sold the T70 and moved to San Diego. Met a friend, Robert Tornello, who invited me to Florida to race his 935. What a man! Su and I moved to America permanently in 1998 and settled in San Diego for the first two years. There, we worked with the Symbolic Motor Car Company, surely the greatest dealership for exotic cars in the World! I cataloged Bernie Chase's (the boss) incredible automobilia collection.
Although we liked San Diego, we soon realized that house prices had become pretty much unaffordable and so, as I'd always had a fondness for Florida, having visited there on holiday for many years, we upped sticks and drove across America, (what an experience!), to settle here in St. Petersburg. It's a great place, falling into the “Places time forgot” category. Here, we bought a house and the March got finished being restored. I did Daytona and Sebring with it, but then swapped it for-you guessed it! - another Lola T70. This I raced just twice, in 2002, before a very nice man literally bought it from me and enjoyed racing it himself. Su and I started Gryfon Publishers and I've written and published another five books on motor racing and traded the odd car. We have three more books currently in the process of production and life is busy. Anno Domini and buying a house have had their effect, so I've retired from car racing and gone back to my first hobby, racing model airplanes. They go up to 130mph and require a high state of mental and physical alertness to keep up with the racing. A quick update to 2007: A very kind customer, George Tuma, bought an RSR with our help and asked me to help him race it in Europe in the Patrick Peter-run Classic Endurance Race series. We have just finished the last race at Silverstone and it's been a blast! This is a wonderful life! Kindest Regards, John Starkey |
Sold that, bought a Lola T70 Coupe. 
Now Rick McLean has been a pal in the car-dealing World for many years, having had many good racecars through his hands. He lived near us and I visited one day and asked him what he had in stock. He showed me his March 84G, an ex-Leon Brothers Chevy-engined GTP car and, almost on a whim, I bought it and set about bringing it back to life.