Two brothers face a race against time to complete the restoration of a 40-year-old sports car last driven by their late father.
The 200mph BRM Can-am was built and raced by David Hepworth before it was retired in 1973. It was then dismantled and left in “100 bits” in a Brighouse garage.
The restoration bid was launched when David’s sons Stephen and Andrew received a sought-after invitation to show the car at the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed at the end of June.
Stephen, 49, and Andrew, 50, both former racing drivers themselves, run Brighouse-based classic car business Hepworth International, and set about rebuilding a piece of their family’s history.
The car must be finished by June 19 and the brothers have drafted in their dad’s former mechanic John Brooke to help the complete the work on time.
John, originally from Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, now lives in Vancouver, Canada, but he’s come over for a month to help out.
David, who set up the company in the late 1950s, died in 1992 aged 52.
Dad-of-four Stephen said: “It’s been one hell of a job, really emotional and a matter of pride for us but definitely worth doing.
“The festival is invite-only and we have been hoping for an invitation for years. It means such a lot.”
The car was the second full P167 built by David at the family’s factory in Birds Royd Lane.
The restoration is taking place in premises just 100 yards from where it was built.
By the time it’s finished it will have taken some 2,000 man hours, described by Stephen with under-statement as a “major undertaking.”
To go to Goodwood it must be authentically restored but Stephen said: “It will be as new if not better.
“The car was in 100 bits and was dismantled for storage. Putting it together has been a labour of love.”
The car last raced at Silverstone in 1973 but it won’t be raced at the Goodwood festival, which takes place from June 26-28.
“We won’t have time to do all the testing that’s needed for that but it will still be driven in anger,” said Stephen.
The family haven’t added up how much it has cost to restore the car but Stephen reckons it’ll be worth six-figures, though it won’t be for sale.
Local firms have been used in the restoration including Martek Composites in Lockwood and MH7 Precision Engineering in Brighouse.
The brothers, who grew up in Bradley and attended Deighton High School, will be demonstrating another family-built racer, the Hepworth Ferguson four wheel drive Formula 5000 car, at the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power in Cheshire this weekend (June 12-14).
