WHAT’S IN THE WORKSHOP – BORLAND RACING DEVELOPMENTS

What’s in the Workshop – Borland Racing Developments

Borland Racing Developments is best known as the home of Spectrum Formula Fords and Sabre Formula Vees, but through the lockdowns imposed on the Melbourne metropolitan area, founder Mike Borland has had an eclectic mix of historic machinery through his door.

By HEATH McALPINE

That’s not to say Borland has spent lockdown working with older machinery, with the first Formula Thunder 500 chassis receiving some love.

“I reassembled the original FT5000 because the back end got used for the prototype S5000 and the rest of it got thrown in the storage unit around the corner,” explained Borland.

“That’s all been returned to the red and black guise it last appeared in.”

Borland has also taken the time to restore two of Spectrum’s most significant models, one is the first production model constructed by Borland, the 05 driven by Jason Bright back in the mid-1990s.

The other is a 010 driven by Paul Laskazeski, which signified the end of the Kent-era as Formula Ford moved to the Duratec engine for 2006.

Another manufacturer close to Borland’s heart is Cheetah as he is the nephew of creator Brian Shead.

Within the Borland Racing Developments workshop are two Cheetah Mark 8s, one belongs to a customer and the other holds a significant role in Borland’s motor sport career having scored two national championships.

“I have a couple of Mark 8 Cheetahs in here, one to do a bit of work on and the other a customer has bought,” said Borland.

“The one just bought is the Rohan Onslow car that I worked on when we won the championship in 1986 (with Jon Crooke) and 1988 (with Onslow). At the end of 1988, I took it back to Rohan’s place and it sat in his shed for 30 years so we bought it off him at the start of this year.

“So, we have that to rebuild.”

Another interesting open-wheeler that has arrived in the Borland workshop is a 1972 March 722 raced by Francois Cevert and Jean-Pierre Jabouille, which required a range of work to be completed.

“I did the tub on it because it had been damaged in an incident,” said Borland.

“The bodywork has been done somewhere else and there’s a few bits missing or damaged so we’ve been working through that. Crack testing hubs, reassembling uprights, making new rear wing mounts, fitting new bodywork and making a new exhaust for it so quite a bit of work on this one.”

It’s a project that Borland is enjoying immensely due to the old school methods needed to complete the repairs.

“I got to say I love it,” Borland emphasised. “I’m someone that thinks metrics are bad and the owner has got hold of the original drawings from the car so I’m working off paper and the measurements are in imperial. I’m getting to bronze weld things together so I love it.”

Borland has also completed fabrication and machining work for Maranello Motorsport, including an Osella BMW and a pair of Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 sports cars.

“I’ve been working on an Osella BMW within that stable, so I’ve made the exhaust system with pipes, mounts and bits of the chassis,” he said.

“The Alfas have strange castings that hold the engine and gearbox in, we re-worked those and there’s a lot of work in that.”

Outside of this work, Borland has started the design of the new Spectrum and re-stocked his spare parts inventory, which includes sending off components to America and the UK.

Borland is the only one left in his workshop, though this is not due to the pandemic, but he has managed to make 90 wishbones and as many uprights.

As racing gets back underway, What’s In The Workshop will continue albeit in a staggered manner.

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