This Dulon Dino is the epitome of a grassroots sportscar

The car we saw in action at Silverstone was a Dulon Dino. Powered by a 2.0-litre Ferrari engine, it sits alongside a Porsche-engined car in Keith’s collection. They-re small-engined Group 6 sports prototypes that ran in the era of the 312PB and the Matra MS650 in various 1,000km enduros in the World Sports Car Championship. You could probably think of them in terms of LMP2 or 3.

Dulon themselves were an English company that specialised in single-seater chassis, specifically Formula Fords. To the tune of 200, so says Keith, so the sportscar chassis was something of an offshoot even for a company as small as Dulon. The cars were assembled with all but a powertrain and sent off for whoever placed the order to fit an engine of their choosing.

This car following completion was left engineless on the books in '71 following a cancelled order before being sent off to Germany where it would receive a Lotus twin-cam. Keith wouldn’t come into ownership of it until the ‘90s when he was in Sweden racing his Dulon Porsche. He’d meet the owner of the Dino there, become friends and help with the car’s preparation, before buying it in 1996. The most success the car had seen competitively was in hillclimbs.

Keith puts the Dino to good work these days, with several appearances at the Silverstone Classic, Spa Classic, Brands Hatch, Nürburgring and Zandvoort. To drive, he seems pretty fond, although he has some specific reservations: “It’s a lovely car to drive. Well balanced, handles well, good brakes. Only trouble is it’s slow!” Something of a grassroots driving machine then? “Yes. A lot of fun, but not very fast.” For what it is, it did appear slightly swamped in the FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars race at 2017’s Silverstone Classic with thunderous V8 Lolas, Chevrons and McLarens coming at it from all angles.

It was fantastic to see a quintessential piece of early ‘70s wedge out battling at Silverstone and it was certainly interesting to learn about this little-known scrapper from the lower echelons of the historic endurance discipline. How many other little corkers are lost in the wake of the headline big-bangers?

Photography by Tom Shaxson