COVER STORY
King and Queen of Clubs
Richard and Sue Mallock are the unsung heroes of the Clubmans Championship, working tirelessly to support the many Mallock racers on the grid.
“ I remember the first time I sat in a racing car was when dad drove us to the Nürburgring in one of his creations, the‘ Bombsk’,” smiles the now-retired Richard Mallock, recalling the origins of his 78-year journey in motorsport.
The car in question was a road-going Austin Seven – to which Arthur Mallock and his friend Jack French had added a Marshall supercharger and minimalist bodywork. It was used by Arthur on many events, including Hill Climbs, Sprints, Circuit Racing, Trials, and 1172 Formula racing.
Eventually, the running gear from that very car was transferred into Mallock’ s self-designed space frame chassis to create the very first Mallock U2. Immediately successful, Mallock set up Mallock Sports to build cars for his two sons, Richard and Ray, and many customers.
When Arthur died in 1993, it was down to Richard, who had been jointly running the business, and his wife Sue to continue the legacy. Together, they did just that, proudly and passionately supporting the owner of every Mallock that had left the company’ s small hand-build factory, right up until their retirement three years ago.
“ I’ m a genetic engineer, in that I’ m only here by chance,” jokes Richard, in what those who know him well will identify as his typically understated way.“ My father was a legendary, innovative engineer, arguably just as clever as Colin Chapman, and he influenced me tremendously. I was just fortunate to be part of it.
“ My brother, Ray, did his own thing, running RML( Ray Mallock Limited), enjoying great success at Le Mans and in the British Touring Car Championships – he can cope with all that pressure, whereas I’ m just a normal human being!
“ The one thing I have always particularly enjoyed personally is trying to find out why things happen. I guess that is engineering, but only simple engineering, really!”
What it is, is depth of knowledge. Over the years, Mallock Sports has made around 350 cars, and Richard knows the details of almost every one of them. The nature of the company’ s approach is one of evolution, so every car has grounding in one from the past, and even though the engineering is deliberately designed to be simple, all the cars have their quirks.
That is why Richard is so revered by everyone in the British Clubmans paddocks, as well as those who race Mallocks on Hill Climbs and Sprints. A keen racer himself, he competed in Formula Ford and Formula 3, as well as doing many Clubmans seasons, but it was never about him or his driving. It was always about demonstrating what the car could do.
“ We created a Mallock MK6 Formula Ford car, and I was in the first ever Formula Ford race at Brands Hatch in 1967,” he recalls.“ I was probably the first person to ever crash one of them! The car was incredibly quick though, and two years later I ended up with the lap record at Thruxton, and the Mallory Park short circuit.
“ I was also fortunate enough to race at Spa on the original Grand Prix circuit and at Zandvoort, when some young
>>>>>
Richard and Sue Mallock at Race Retro, with former Clubmans drivers Peter Richings on the left and John Muirhead on the right
14
Revolution- April 2025