Alpha Sports Productions

Alpha Street Productions or Alpha Sports Productions

Company type	Private
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1964
Founder	Ray Lewis, Rory Thompson
Headquarters	Adelaide, Australia
Key people	Doug Trengove
Products	ASP 320, 330, 340, and 350
Services	Automobile manufacturing

ASP 320 G model, running a Toyota 4AGE 20 Valve 1.6 L twin cam engine.

Alpha Street productions and later Alpha Sports Productions (ASP) were an Australian kit car and racing car manufacturer. It has made sports cars and open wheeler cars. Originally building cars based on the Lotus Seven but have evolved to construct their own distinctive designs.

History

Alpha street productions was founded by Ray Lewis and Rory Thompson in the early sixties after the two had met through a common interest in sportscars. Ray, the part owner of Lewis Brothers Buses amongst other businesses provided the premises for their venture at his family home of Alpha house on Alpha Street Kensington Park in Adelaide. Rory however provided the technical knowledge after earning qualifications in mechanical engineering from the South Australian Institute of Technology.

Working initially on a Lotus 7 for Derek Jolly Rory decided certain deficiencies of the Lotus design could be overcome with the design of a new chassis. This first attempt at an entire car was named the Bacchus after the Greek god of wine. The first of the chassis was sold bare but further cars were built with a variety of drivetrains fitted.

After Ray returned from an overseas trip work began on what was now the Mk4 Bacchus Clubman. This car was renamed twice though, first from Bacchus to Shrike and then from Shrike to ASP, the company's initials. This first road car was known as the ASP 320A and was the only one of its type built. This car was sold to Paul Hannon who worked for the Savings Bank of South Australia and had spent time at the ASP premises when he was younger. The connection to the bank led the car to being used in an advertising campaign, driving sales of what was now the B spec of the new ASP Clubman.

Starting with the ASP 320B ASP started to build a car specifically for racing with four 320B's produced for this purpose, although most have found their way onto road registration since. From these 320B Clubmans came a short wheelbase version renamed the 340A. this was the beginning of a series of racing Clubmans. This first car known also as the Potts lightweight was owned by Doug Potts was powered by a Galant motor and was later converted to a road car by ASP employee Colin Reilly.

At about this time, 1971, ASP branched out into open wheeler formula cars with Formula 2 and 3 cars, the ASP 330. Four of these cars were built in period, three racing in Formula 3 and one in Formula 2. After this ASP returned exclusively to Clubman-style sports cars.

In 1972 two 340B cars were produced of a completely new design. One of these cars, Chassis 23 was built for Jim Doig who was still racing the car in 2021 and despite a large crash at The Bend in South Australia is intending to fix the car and have it back on track in 2022 for the cars 50th year. This design was followed closely by the 340C built from 1972 to 73. Six of these cars were built and all but one seem to have survived the intervening years.

These cars followed the Clubman Formula of the day: single camshaft engine of no more than 1.3 litres capacity, front engine two seat racing cars. All were powered by either the Toyota Corolla 3K or Datsun A12 engine and ran a differential from a Morris. These highly effective sports cars were affordable and quick, able to embarrass much more powerful sports cars and smaller formula type cars regularly.

By 1974 it had become clear that the company's finances were not as they should be, and a series of issues caused Ray to decide to wind the company up with Ray and Rory going their separate ways. However, after building some new road going ASP Clubmans in his spare time Rory decided to start a new business Alpha Sports Productions to build new models of the ASP 320. These were built by their owners under the supervision of Rory at his premises in Salisbury and not only resulted in a car, but the learning of all the skills to build the car being acquired by the owner. The final cars were known as the ASP 320G and were generally powered by 4AGE engines from a Toyota with some later owners moving to Mazda engines.

Ray Lewis died in November 2005. His previous years had been affected by an adverse reaction to prescription medication changing his personality. He was however still involved with the design of ASP cars, helping to design the Targa-style rollbar seen on the later cars. Rory Thompson followed him in 2020 bringing production of ASP sportscars to an end at least with one of the original founders at the helm.

Models

Bacchus

The Bacchus represented the first original car from the Alpha Street factory. Named after the Greek god of wine these Lotus 7 inspired Clubman cars were powered by a variety of engines with a total of six cars completed under this name.

ASP 320

The ASP 320 was born out of the previous Bacchus series of cars. Initially referred to as the Bacchus Mk 4 the car was renamed twice, once as the Shrike and then the ASP 320A. 320s continued to be made right up until the end of the company making it all the way to a G spec car with modern running gear in the traditional ASP 320 bodywork.

ASP 330

The ASP 330 represented a change in ASP by branching out into open wheeler formula cars. Appearing in October 1972 in the hands of Bob Wilkin Four cars were built in period, three Formula 3's and one Formula 2.

• #25 Bob Wilkins

• #26 Doug Trengove

• #27 Chris Milton (factory supported car)

• #28 J. Harvey

ASP 340

340A

The 340A, otherwise known as the Potts lightweight, was based on a 320B race chassis but shortened and lightened. campaigned by Doug Potts in period this car was later converted to road spec by ASP employee Colin Reilly.

340B

Jim Doig in his ASP 340B in the Paddock Area at Mallala Motor Sport Park

The new for 1972 340B was a new dedicated race chassis very different from its predecessors from the Alpha Street factory. Two cars of this type were produced in 1973 original owners and chassis numbers are as follows.

• #23 J Doig: Toyota Celica 1600
• #24 D Wallace: Ford 1500

Chassis #23 still owned and driven by Jim Doig in particular is a well known car in its native South Australia and beyond having been in almost constant use since new with well over 1000 races to date. Chassis #24 however has since been converted to road use.

340C

Guy Chick in his very original ASP 340C enterning turn 1 at Mallala in 2021

The 340C further developed the ideas introduced in the 340B in a dedicated lightweight racing chassis. In all six cars were built all to Clubman sports 1300 regulations with 1300cc engines. the original owners, car chassis numbers and engines are as follows The car owned by Alby Middleton was driven by Victorian racer Brique Reed and made its debut on the 31/3/1974 at Adelaide international raceway.

• #29 Alby Middleton: Datsun A12
• #30 David Mc Bean: Toyota 3K
• #31 David Walsh: Toyota 3K
• #32 Ken Durward: Datsun A12
• #33 John Blanden: Datsun A12
• #34 Jim Bidstrup: Toyota 3K

Ken Durward on the pit straight at Adelaide International Raceway in his 340C

Ken Durward in a developed version of his 340C leaving the line at Adelaide International Raceway

These cars were built using 19x1.2 square steel tube nickel bronze welded to create a very light dedicated racing chassis with a short wheelbase. Front suspension was by unequal length non-parallel wishbones with externally mounted coilover shock absorbers. The rear suspension used a Morris live axle located by an A frame at the bottom which provided both fore-and-aft and lateral location while two short arms were used at the top. More than one car was later updated in period to longer wheelbase and four long arms and a Panhard rod for rear axle location.

ASP 350

The ASP 350 was an attempt at building a new design of sports car by Rory Thompson based on readily available running gear. this car featured Holden commodore engine and drivetrain.

Known ASP racing Chassis Histories

The following table documents known racing chassis numbers for Alpha Sports Productions (ASP) cars, including original owners, engines, and subsequent owners where kn

own. This list reflects data compiled from long-term ASP owners, racers, and enthusiasts with direct access to period documentation and surviving vehicles.

Chassis No.	Model	Original Owner	Original Engine	Later Owners
01	Bacchus Mk1	Factory		Sold as a chassis. Derek Jolly fitted Coventry Climax 1100
02	Bacchus Mk 2	Garry Chapman	MG-A 1500	Owner assisted Factory Build
03	Bacchus Mk2	Ron Lewis	Peugeot 1750	Factory built MG-TC Gearbox
04	Bacchus Mk2	Dave Baille	Ford 1500
05	Bacchus Mk2	Bob Dwyer	BMC-B series	Factory built
06	Bacchus Mk2	Graham Green	Austin A40
07	Bacchus Mk3	Rory Thompson	BMC-A series	Chassia in storage
08	320A	Paul Hannon	Ford 1500	Built as a road car wit cycle guards
09	320B	G. Lewis / R. Butcher	Toyota Corolla 1100	Owner changed before completion. Racing chassis
10	320B	D. Hosking	Toyota 1100	Built for racing, chassis tubes 18#
11	320B	"Farmer" Giles	Toyota 1100	Built for racing, chassis tubes 18#
12	320	Alby Hastings Rob Passfield	Toyota 3K 1300	Road Clubman. ASP emblem designed by "Alby" 1979 Crashed car frame rebuilt by Rory. Original color Orange now Yellow
13	320C	Bob White	Ford 1600	Factory built. Featured in Sports Car World May 1973. original color Powder Blue
14	320C	Jack Murray	Toyota 1100	Factory built, original color Brown
15	320B	Alby Middleton (Victoria)	Toyota 3K 1300	Factory race kit car, Metallic Olive
16	320C	"Butch" Harding	Toyota 3K 1100	Owner built kit, Metallic Green. Crashed car rebuilt by Rory
17	320C	Tom Hosking	Toyota 3K 1100	Kit car expertly built by Tom, Red
18	320C	Ross Tilley	Toyota 3K 1100	Factory built Nov 1972
19	320C	Richard Pagliaro	Toyota 3K 1100	Kit car, Silver. Crashed and rebuilt by Arthur Donaldson at ASP workshop
20	320C	Dave Dixon	Toyota Celica 1600	Kit car, Yellow
21	320C	Brenton Trenorden	Toyota 3K 1100	Factory built
22	320D	Rory Thompson	Datsun 1200	Dec 1976 Prototype with simpler Chassis
23	340A	Doug Potts Linden Fairclough Ron Norton	Galant 1400	Dec 1971/ Shorter chassis version of 320B racing clubman. Chassis rebuilt in 1999 by Rory to 92in wheelbase for road registration
24	340B	Jim Doig	Celica 1600	Raced by Jim for decades
25	340B	Dave Wallace Nick Pagaros	Ford 1600	Factory built racing clubman. Converted for road registration
26	330 Formula3	Bob Wilkins Rob Butcher John Scotcher	Ford 1300	Factory built
27	330 Formula3	Doug Trengove	Ford 1300	Built while Doug worked for ASP. Current owner unknown, possibly raced as a bike engined hillclimb car
28	330 Formula3	ASP works car. Chris Milton John Rout F, Marshall Matt Campbell	Ford 1300	Factory built, downdraft head fitted
29	330 Formula3	John Harvey	Toyota 1300	Factory built
30	340C	ASP works car John Blanden	Datsun A12 (1298cc)	Lightweight racing clubman. Driven by Bob Butcher
31	340C	Ken Derwand	Nissan 1300	Kit racing clubman, 4 Amals
32	340C	David Walsh	Nissan 1300	Kit racing clubman
33	340C	Alby Middleton	nissan 1300	Driven by Brique Reed
34	340C	Jim Bidstrup Neil Sullivan	Toyota 3K 1300	Factory built. As original in 2000 at Broken Hill
35	340C	David Mc Bean	Toyota 3K 1300	Factory built to order
36	340C	Doug Trengove		Built using 340C parts
37	320C	Roy Kingham	Toyota 3K 1100	Factory built road car
38	320E	Rory Thompson	Mitsubishi 2000 Toyota 4-AGE	June 1979 Prototype wide body, 30's guards March 1999. Re-engined & road registered AA 411S. Porsche Guards Red
39	320F Clubman	Rory Thompson Kel Riddle (Bright Vic) David Sprod	Gemini 1600 Toyota 4-AGE 1600	Built by Rory using OE suspension. Bought as a rolling Chassis & registered. Bought in 1988
40	380A Sports Car	Rory Thompson	Holden 3800 V6	Prototype completed 2002 using all components from VN Commodore
41	380B Sports car	Rory Thompson	Holden 3800 V6	Supercharged prototype
42	570A Sports car	Andre Bosman	Gen III V8 5700	Prototype with Di-Dion IRS
In addition there have been a number of group built Clubmans made in the 2000s				The above details are taken from Rory's records published on an early "Alpha Sports" website. Some later owner details have been deleted because they were assigned to possibly incorrect chassis numbers. my apologies. aspfan

See also

• List of automobile manufacturers
• List of car brands

External links

• Alpha Sports Productions