ANNIVERSARY | TIGER RACING38 September 2019 http://www.completekitcar.co.ukMike Finch has owned his Tiger Super Six since 1991,
when he ordered a comprehensive kit from the
factory, including a basic donor package. The latter
was as it was on the donor car, so all the suspension
components needed preparing before they could be
bolted to the chassis. The 2.0-litre Pinto was rebuilt by a local specialist
with a hot camshaft, lightened flywheel and other traditional go-faster
tuning mods. First on the road in 1992, the original 4-speed gearbox
was soon back out and replaced with a 5-speed Type 9. On the road
ever since, more recently Mike has upgraded the brakes to 4-pot
calipers while installing a quick rack. With 26,000 miles on the clock,
track days were an early appeal, as were trips to Belgium and Le Mans.
These days it tends to be club runs, shows and local runs. Highlights of
ownership include the sense of pride in having built it and the noise
and performance from the Pinto. “It’s definitely a keeper,” says Mike. “I
might even be buried in it!”TIGER SUPER SIX
Traditional dash layout suits car well.2.0-litre Pinto runs twin Webers and has traditional internal tuning.Bespoke Tiger seats a recent addition.Suitable mascot for the Tiger!T
his is unlikely to be the
most objective assessment
of Tiger Racing’s 30 years
of continuous kit car
manufacturing. Why?
The very first journalist to get behind
the wheel of the Tiger Six was... me!
While Tiger’s Jim Dudley formed the
company in 1989, it was in 1990 that
Tiger Racing launched its first in-house
designed product.
More significantly for me, it was the
very first proper feature I’d done for Which
Kit? magazine. Indeed, I had to return a
week later to reshoot the rubbish pictures
I’d taken first time around! Since then, I
suspect I have driven almost every Tiger
model launched and watched first hand
the ups and downs of an ambitious family
operation that has always assembled
honest kit cars that have worked well. But
it certainly got off to a shaky start!Already a prolific Lotus and Caterham
Seven owner, Jim Dudley had a passion
for the clubman sports car and, by 1989,
he decided it was time to move beyond
his existing Volkswagen parts company
business and turn his hand to making his
own interpretation of the breed. Initial
drawings and plans were well underway
when he became aware of a South African036 Tiger.indd 38 02/08/2019 1:41 pm