PastImperfect: Crosslé - an Irish racing success storyAsk any knowledgeable motoring enthusiast to name the most successful manufacturers of motor vehicles in Ireland and chances are the name is unlikely to be among them. But, within its specialist field, this manufacturer of racing cars, which is this year celebrating its 50th anniversary, is an unlikely success story.
Scottish-born, Co Tyrone-raised John Crosslé first became interested in things mechanical while at St Columba's school in Rathfarnham, Dublin. Motorcycles were forbidden at the school, but he managed to have three of them hidden on a nearby farm. On leaving school, Crosslé decided he wanted to be a professional motorcyclist, a choice which his parents, not surprisingly, frowned upon. He also had a great interest in farming and farm machinery, and eventually it was agreed that he would enrol at Greenmount Agricultural College near Antrim.
There he found plenty of time to pursue his interest in motorcycles and began attending motorcycle races, such as the North West 200. Christmas 1950 saw him take delivery of a new 350cc Matchless trials bike, with which he began to compete in Ulster events. In 1956 he was asked to accompany Alex Jameson to the Wicklow Motor Races as mechanic. Crosslé became hooked on motor racing and set about acquiring something with which he could afford to compete. With the Lotus 6 as inspiration, he set about constructing what would be the first in a long line of Crosslé racing cars.
This first Crosslé was an 1172cc Ford Special and led to a win at Newtownards as well as at Spelga Hillclimb and Kirkistown. The following year Crosslé built the distinctive and very professional looking Crosslé Mark II which again was successful and helped to establish him as a leading contender in Irish motor sport.
Soon friends were asking him to build copies of his cars for them, and in 1962 he began to build racing cars for sale. That year saw the construction of the first of a long line of Crosslé sports cars, the 5S, taking the marque into a class of motorsport in which it is still successful.
More Crosslé designs were to follow, and there's space here to mention only some of the most significant: the Crosslé 16F, the first and highly successful Formula Ford of 1969 of which 40 examples were made and which, in the hands of the late Gerry Birrell, won the European Formula Ford Championship; the 32F, which had the largest production run of any car from Crosslé and which saw 140 examples of this highly successful Formula Ford car being built. In recent years the company, now owned by long-time Crosslé racer Arnie Black, has produced a highly successful trials car, the radical 80T as well as restarting production of its iconic 9S sports car.