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David started working with Racing Engines in
1968 and shortly thereafter setup his own high performance
engine development company – Swaymar Race Engines to fulfil his
ambition of becoming one of the leading Engine Builders in the
UK.
Swaymar’s reputation quickly built and extreme engine
modification work was soon commonplace. Swaymar was very well
known through the 70's and 80's as a quality and serious
competition engineering concern. During the course of the 70's
Swaymar became very involved with David Vizard and the Chrysler
competition department. The Chrysler Avenger was in fact at that
time the only saloon car which had ever won the Group 1
Championship three years running, driven by Bernard Unett. The
competition department was at this time run by Des O Dell.
Chrysler Competition Department at this time produced and sold
their own group 1 cylinder heads to the public and other
competitors; however, during this three years all the factory
cars raced only with Swaymar prepared cylinder heads. By the end
of the 80's there was no form of racing at club level which
Swaymar had not had success in.
Swaymar was always known as an innovator, pioneering many
components which are still to this day copied and manufactured
by other tuning companies. In the mid 80's, such was the
reputation of the company that technical news reporters
associated with motorsport magazines were frequently obtaining
cutting edge information and newsworthy articles from Swaymar.
One of our most successful projects undertaken by Swaymar was
the Ford Cologne 2.8 litre V6 engine. Swaymar were approached by
a customer (Andrew McKenzie) with the brief that he wished to
use a Ford XR4i in "Shellsport" special saloon racing and wanted
to win the championship. The finished development resulted in a
3.2 litre 6 port engine which allowed him to win the
Championship without having to bother to enter the last three
races, having already accrued enough points to win outright. It
is Interesting to note that Ford later used a six port head on
their own engines.
Shortly afterwards Swaymar were approached by Richard Williams
and were asked to produce a 6.3 litre version of the 5.3 litre Aston
Martin V8 engine. Being asked to become involved in such a
precious project was the culmination of years of effort and
learning. The engine proved to be so successful with virtually
no teething problems that it was later adopted as a factory
option by Aston Martin Ltd.
In early 1990 the industrial estate that Swaymar occupied was
scheduled for re-development and based on the success of the
Swaymar /Richard Williams /Aston Martin Project, Richard
Williams approached Swaymar with the idea that he was starting a
new venture. He very much wanted Swaymar's expertise under his
roof. Swaymar Engineering Ltd., was later dissolved and joined
Richard Williams at Cobham on 1st September 1990.
At Richard Willams, David’s first project was to produce a 7
litre version of the original 5.3 litre Aston Martin engine
which was successfully designed, developed and tested. Many
Aston Martin engines are still running with this upgraded
specification.
David left RS Williams in March 1999. David went on to produce a
7.3litre litre version of the original 5.3 litre Aston Martin V8
engine. Only two of these extreme
engines were prototyped and David hopes to complete and refine
this engine to the exacting standards that Aston Martin owners
expect.
Another of the projects that he was responsible for at RS
Williams was to produce a 4.5 litre six cylinder Aston Martin
engine for the historic racing series that would produce over
400 BHP. The remit was that nobody had yet produced a six
cylinder Aston Martin engine with more than around 380 BHP.
Despite some people having 20 years experience of the engine and
that he had no experience at that time with this engine, the
remit was fully addressed. When
the final engine was tested, it produced a massive 437 BHP – far
surpassing any expectations.
Motorman Engineering Ltd:- Engineering Director.
David left Richard Williams to start as Engineering Director of
a new company Motorman Engineering Ltd. During his time at
Motorman, he was responsible for successfully re-designing the
Aston Martin 5.3 litre V8 2 & 4 valve engines up to 7.3 litres.
Acting under instructions from the M.D. at head office he was
responsible for upgrading the Aston Martin DB7 engine up from 3.2
litres 330 BHP to 3.8 litres 438 BHP. During the short period
from march 1999 to June 2004, Motorman achieved a reputation as
the benchmark for quality and excellence in the Aston Martin
rebuilding industry, which has not since been equalled.
AUSTEC Tuning’s ambition of being at the forefront of Performance
Car Engineering fits with David’s plans for the future, to pick
up and go further with Engine Design,
research and Development on not just Aston Martin, but all
Sports cars.
David is excited about the future and working closely with such
experts as Paul Austin and David Vizard.
Achievements
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Personally responsible for and first to develop & produce:-
6.3 litre V8 engine upgrade for Aston Martin Ltd, now officially
offered by Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd as an official Factory
fitted upgrade.
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7 litre V8 upgrade for Aston Martin engines.
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7.3 litre V8 upgrade for Aston Martin 2x and 4x valve engines.
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Officially recognised modern replacement camshafts for Aston
Martin DB4, DB5 & DB6 engines.
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4.7 litre 6 cylinder up grade for DB4, DB5 and DB6 Aston Martin
engines.
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1st 6cyl 4.5 litre Aston Martin engine in DB4-6 range to exceed
430 BHP.
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3.8 litre 438 BHP DB7 engine
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Rocker shaft conversions for V6 "Essex" engine.
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Chambered Ford X flow cylinder heads.
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4 Barrel Holley Carburettor kits for V6 engines.
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Steel timing gear sets for V6 "Essex” and “Cologne” series
“Ford” engines.
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Roller rockers for V6 "Essex" engine.
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Chambered cylinder heads for Chrysler Avenger engine.
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2 litre all steel engine conversion for Chrysler Avenger engine.
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3.2 litre all steel engine conversion for "Cologne" 2.8 litre V6
engine.
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6 port cylinder heads for "Cologne" 2.8 litre V6 engine.
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6 port X over inlet manifold for "Cologne" 2.8 litre V6 engine.
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Steel counter weighted ultra light flywheel for V6 "Essex"
engine.
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