Bill Jones was a very competitive driver, and actually campaigned one of his cars at the 1986 European Championships in Bologna, Italy, qualifying second on the grid with it and actually winning one of the A Final legs, eventually finishing 5th overall. He also used this success as a platform to sell on his Hotshot tuning parts and cars at this event. One write-up actually documents how he offered to lend a Supercharge Hotshot to one of the 2wd car owners in the hope of improving their chances (at that time 2wd and 4wd cars were in the same class).
Bill Jones was also the Race Director at the now famous Romsey circuit, so clearly had success there at his local track, with pictures of his car existing from a 1987 event.
I have always been really interested in the look of this car, particularly the low-slung swooping fibreglass chassis which was notably minimalist when compared to the FTD Hotshot - the other well-known and successful Hotshot racer of that time (over in Europe at least). A few months ago an elderly racer gave me the opportunity to purchase a fibreglass chassis Hotshot he had been steadily restoring, and so i grabbed it. I didn't really know too much about these cars and their tuning options so have spent a little time trying to work out the spec, but in summary as it goes back together after a thorough clean-up it has the shortened wheelbase swooping fibreglass chassis and a short main prop shaft, really low-angled Associated shocks (well worn), the red CRP front A-arm brace, alloy steering hubs (again well worn but perfectly fine), a centrally positioned single RC10 steering bellcrank which was the norm for these chassis modified cars, and a Thorpe rear ball diff.
It is still at the rebuild stage for the moment, but I can add a little on the original pictures of the car I have managed to gather in the last 4 weeks or so during my research. I have no idea how many Supercharge cars were built, or how many chassis parts Bill actually sold either at events or from his shop, but I can only assume it wasn't very many. This chassis has some light damage on the underside - just dings and scratches, but apart from being slightly yellowed it has come up really rather well. I will add some pictures of it once it goes back together, plus i don't have a shell for it just at the minute, although I have sourced a TMS swb Hotshot shell to go on to it.
- 122738115_916780348845567_4266415608742983443_n.jpg (13.48 KiB) Viewed 1693 times
- 122738115_916780348845567_4266415608742983443_n.jpg (13.48 KiB) Viewed 1693 times
