Tim Samways

Company Director

Tim spent his childhood on a farm, saving his pocket money and buying his first motorbike – a BSA Bantam - when he was 10 years old. After leaving school he took an apprenticeship engineering course at Banbury College.

His first job was working for his local motorcycle dealer and when they took on a Yamaha agency he looked after that side of the business. Meanwhile he started preparing and racing motorcycles in the British Championship and home international with a lot of success.

In his spare time he helped a local enthusiast who owned some classic cars including a Ferrari 275 GTB where he got the bug for this type of work.

He worked for a while at Hesketh on the prototype motorcycle until the launch and then went to look for a change in career.

While working at a Ford dealership for a while he realised that part of the industry didn’t really have what he was looking for so in November 1989 he found premises and set up on his own. He started out by looking for historic cars to prepare and restore and soon started working on Aston Martin, Porsche and Ferrari.

His first break came in 1991 when he was given the 1959 Le Mans winning Aston Martin DBR1. This required a total rebuild and, because it still had the original engine, it was decided to build a completely new motor. Tim sought out foundries and machine shops and oversaw the manufacture of his first engine. Its first outing was the 1993 Ecosse Tour where the proud owner enjoyed the car to its full extent. It was then decided that the car should be raced and, with Peter Hardman driving, the rest became history with numerous wins in all the major races.

Tim went on to run cars in the fledgling Ferrari Historic Challenge in Europe winning the championship in 1995 and being awarded Preparer of the Year by Ferrari.

The highlight of 2008 was winning Goodwood Revival TT taming the Ferrari 330 LMB and turning it into a race winning car.

Having outgrown and moved premises twice a final move was made to Greatworth Park in 2008 where he has grown and developed the business into its current position; frequently working with prototype cars and enjoying that challenge, again making engines - this time for the Alfa Romeo T33 prototypes.

More recently he has also taken in 2000 and 2003 Mercedes DTM cars and in the last two seasons running Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 cars in the new series. This is a natural progression for the business as it fits well with the prototype work and there is a lot of interest in these newer cars.

First car: Mini Van
Dream car: Ferrari 330 LMB
Motoring guilty pleasure: BSA Bantam

Duncan Mclellan

General Manager

Duncan’s love affair with cars started when he visited Beaulieu as a child, then witnessed Keke Rosberg’s extravagant driving style in early eighties F1. A career in cars/motorsport beckoned, starting at renowned Aston Martin restorers Oselli. Ten years later he joined Prodrive as an engine technician, a few years later being in charge of the Subaru WRC engine build programme, winning multiple world drivers and Constructors’ Championships with Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg. He joined Sporting & Historic to rekindle his love of classic cars, serving over 12 years to date.

First car: Ford Capri MK2 1600GT
Dream car: Aston Martin DB5
Motoring guilty pleasure: Martin Lagonda

Ben Bradley

No 1 Technician

Ben Bradley has had a passion for cars and engineering from an early age and over the past 20 years has established a career which has given him the opportunity to work on some of the most famous race and road cars in history, such as Porsche 993 GT2 & 962, Ferrari 250 SWB & 1957 Testarossa, Aston Martin Vantage GT3 & GT4 to name but a few! Having worked his magic at a respected Porsche race team, Ferrari dealership and Prodrive, Ben has always appreciated the old and the new when it comes to cars and finds working in this industry both exciting and rewarding. One of the highlights of his career has been to rebuild, prepare and support the 1959 Le Mans winning Aston Martin DBR1/2.

First car: VW Polo Coupe S
Dream car: Ferrari 288 GTO
Motoring guilty pleasure: Ford Falcon XB (Mad Max car!)