Complete Kit Car – September 2019

ANNIVERSARY | TIGER RACING

42 September 2019 http://www.completekitcar.co.uk

Carbon effect tunnel top modern touch.

Modern Duratec runs Alpha engine management.

No screen for this caged Tiger!

Like many Tiger owners, this isn’t the first example

Dave McKenna has owned. He enjoyed a Cat E1

previously, but was getting a bit fed up with the

carburettors on the older engine. In regular contact

with the factory, when Tiger found itself with an R6

on its forecourt, Dave was keen to trade in the Cat to take advantage

of the R6’s Duratec engine, complete with aftermarket throttle bodies.

Goodbye carbs!

Since buying the car in 2017, he’s already taken it abroad a couple

of times and is joining Dave Thomas in his R10 on their Italy trip later

this year.

With no plans to sell this example, he’s happy to tinker with it when

necessary and has recently just replaced the thrust bearing and clutch

pressure plate (which needs the engine and gearbox removed from

the car).

TIGER R6

introduced in 2002, it has proved to be

one of the company’s best selling models.

But if affordability has always been a

Tiger forté, so too has performance... Jim

Dudley now looked back to the Super

Six, redeveloping the concept into a new

lightweight high performance offering,

the R6 which arrived in 2000. Dedicated

bike-engined cars were also on offer, in

the form of the B6. But Tiger has never

made life easy for itself. Rather than a

gentle tweak to an existing model, each

new Tiger has typically witnessed the

development of a completely new chassis,

clothed with all new bodywork. The

reason? Headman Jim Dudley designs

any new car himself, and he’s always

looking to try something new even if, just

perhaps, there might be a more affordable

compromise that would get close... he just

can’t stop himself!

In 2001, another significant new Tiger

emerged, but this time it was one bought in

from outside, in the form of the Avon Sprint

that was swiftly redeveloped (of course!)

and marketed as the Tiger Avon. Pretty

styling and significant affordability – it was

originally marketed in competition to the

Locost and its derivtives of the day – made

for a winning combination that has seen the

Avon continue to this day.

The original Super Six finally bowed out

in around 2007, with the R6 feeding the

top of the Tiger food chain and the Avon

satisfying those on a tighter budget. In

between, there has been plenty of time to

develop other, more niche offerings...

In 2009, the Tiger Aviator brought in a

brave new world with styling from Simon

Keys’ First Principle Design operation

(which was also behind the V-Storm), top

quality mouldings and a high specification

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