Thursday, January 15, 2009

Kas Kastner

Delivered into the hands of ace Triumph tuning guru Kas Kastner The Macau was soon pressed into service with Kas's preferred driver Charlie Gates. Racing in a series called the USRRC (U.S. Road Racing Championships) the car proved uncompetitive in its original 1200cc form against larger capacity cars, and only ran in this form for 2 or 3 races. Kas recalls doing the now famous 2 litre 6 cylinder conversion over the Christmas holidays in 1966 ready for the 1967 season. At the same time the original 22 gallon 'Le Mans' petrol tank was replaced with a sealed 'Moon' smaller capacity aluminium racing tank to satisfy the current regulations. Also incorporated around this time to satisfy the USRRC regs was a passenger seat, necessitating the removal of the centre spine, the tonneau cover over the passenger compartment, and the installation of a full width Perspex screen. The bonnet gained extra bulges and scoops and took on a far more aggressive appearance. Kas remembers winning $800 after getting a third place in the under 2 litre class at Riverside. Kas has supplied several pictures from this period taken at both Riverside and Cottati race tracks shown on these pages.

Courtesy Kas Kastner

Towards the middle of the 1967 season the car was painted overall white and the hump behind the drivers head was removed probably to make it look even less like a single seater.

After the 1967 season Kas quickly disposed of The Macau, as he has said out with the old in with the new, new projects came along and The Macau was now surplus to requirements.

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