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Exclusive suppliers of Sylva kits and accessories

  Started in 1981 by Jeremy Phillips, a draughtsman by trade, Sylva Autokits has been a familar face on the kit car scene for the last 25 years, with more cars designed and developed than many realise.
   Sylva Autokits
  Several key principles have been the mainstay of the Sylva Autokits approach for all that time. Firstly, a car and engine should be balanced, the obsession with large engines or high horsepower is not one which will necessarily produce a race winning car. This has echoes of the approach of the great Colin Chapman, but it is an approach which has seen Sylva dominate club racing. For that is the second key principle, a constant development process through circuit racing, which is a true test of the package that a kit car represents.
 

Jeremy Phillips

  

The 750 Motor Club has been the series of choice for developing Sylva cars, with Sylva supporting drivers directly through works teams and drivers choosing Sylva cars as their race winning solution. Unlike other companies, Sylva has constantly been involved with the club racing seen, with Jeremy's insatiable desire to innovate, develop new cars and solutions seemingly never ending!

This development has seen a suprising number of cars come from what has essentially been a one man operation.

 
Starting with the Star in 1982, which went into production in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire, the Leader (see right) soon followed in 1983 as production moved to Lymington. Already with these two cars the principles of a balanced package based on a superbly handling chassis were established, as well as Jeremy's break-neck development pace with two cars in as many years with a new kit car company and factory move!

  
Leader
 

The belief Jeremy had in his design principles were soon born out at the first Kit Car race in the 750MC at Brands Hatch in 1984, with a Sylva Star on the front row.
 
1985 saw the first incarnation of the now legendary Striker, the Striker MkI. This was based around a Leader chassis with Ford Escort rear axle and Mazda 10a rotary engine. This quickly led to the MkII (see drawings left) which then debuted at Castle Combe in 1986. In order to concentrate on the Striker, the Star and Leader projects were sold to Swindon Sportscars, in a move which has characterised Sylva Autokits througout its 25 year history.

   Striker MkII drawings
 
As a kit is developed Jeremy has traditionally sold it on to make room for new cars. However, this is something which is currently changing, with the two current Sylva offerings, the Riot and Mojo, being developed in-house, with the support of Stingray Motorsport, into mature well prepared kit car offerings. However, there is no doubt that these will soon be joined by variations on the existing cars or even completely new kits; Jeremy just can't seem to stop himself designing.
  Striker Clubman   1986 also saw the Striker Clubman released (see left) with production moving to Lincolnshire in 1987. In 1988 the budget Striker MkIII was developed, based around a GRP tunnel and Chevette front uprights, as well as outboard suspension, which is unusual for a Sylva car. Most Sylvas sport inboard suspension, which reduces unsprung weight and consequently improves handling. Indeed, this was one improvement that Caterham felt necessary in a rare development of Colin Chapman's classic Seven design, in the form of the Caterham CSR.

  The 1990's and early 00's saw a bit of a rout for Sylva and more importantly Jeremy Phillips designs in the 750MC Kit Car championships. In fact, only '93 and '96 were non-Sylva winning yearsin he 90's. Every other ninety-something saw Sylva take the Kit Car championship, with Sylva taking two class wins in 1998.

Brian Healey won two championships and can be seen on the right with his Phoenix.

The full honours list is as follows, which unless stated is for outright championship wins: 		Brian Healey
 


1990 - Brian Healey - Sylva Striker Mk4

1991 - Brain Healey - Sylva Striker Mk4

1993 - Martin Stewart - Sylva Phoenix

1994 - Martin Stewart - Sylva Phoenix

1995 - Steve Wontner - Sylva Phoenix

1997 - Steve Wontner - Sylva Phoenix

1998 - Andrew Owens (Kit Car)- Sylva Phoenix / Jon White (Class A) - Sylva Striker

1999 - Jon White - Sylva Striker

2003/4 - Steve Taylor - Sylva Phoenix

 
During this time Sylva was obviously still developing cars. With the Striker being offered throughout the '90s and being developed into several full-bodied cars, namely the Fury, Phoenix (see right) and Stylus. The Fury was sold to Fisher Sportscars in 1994, under which it has been developed further to be a well prepared complete package, with many different options and variations now available.
Sylva Phoenix
 
Stuart Taylor Motorsport took on sales and marketing of the Phoenix in 2001 in which guise it has continued racing. Indeed, Stuart Taylor has focused its efforts on developing the Phoenix as a racing package and their familiar purple cars can be seen around the 750MC scene all over the country. This development led to a series win in 2005 which was undoubtably due to the time and effort invested by Stuart Taylor, however they did have a race winning chassis to build upon - another Jeremy Phillips design.

  Sylva Autokits During the '90s Jeremy also developed the Stylus, another full-bodied car which he sold to Specialist Sports Cars, now Stylus Sports Cars in 1996. This was much more of a road going car than the Phoenix, although was still underpinned with a race proven Jeremy Phillips chassis design.

A curious car which also appeared in the '90s was the Jester. A modern day beach buggy, the Jester came about as an attempt to use the transverse designs of modern production cars in a new way, with a front engined set up. In fact it was actually suprisingly popular and demonstrated that Jeremy was not afraid to experiment away from the track as well as on.

  The turn of the Millennium saw a bit of a departure for Sylva and a new direction for the company and its cars. However, it was one which to some onlookers might have seemed slightly at odds with the company's key principles in terms of race development, although now it has been proven to be a vital development phase that saw Jeremy creating designs which were in fact ahead of their time, with other companies only now starting to catch up.

  If fact, it was actually the Jester that showed the way. The Jester was born out of modern day production cars adopting a transverse front wheel drive set up, rather than the traditional longitudinal set up with a prop-shaft going to a rear differential and axle which then drove the rear wheels. Ford adopted a tranverse set up with many of its cars, with the Sierra being the last mass market RWD model. Hence as the production cars started to go FWD, something had to be done to keep the donors flowing for kit cars.
Sylva Mojo
 
Front Wheel Drive has never been popular in racing circles as it requires the front wheels to deliver the power as well as steer, often resulting in a package that understeers and generally doesn't handle very well. So the answer that Jeremy came up with was to take the transverse drive train and transplant it to the back of the car. With many FWD setups having the engine in front of the axle, this actually resulted in a mid-engined car when put in the back - the engine was in front of the rear axle. Ask any Formula 1 team where the engine should be and they'd come up with the same answer. So, not only was the donor problem solved, but the resultant package was, in theory, better balanced.

The car born out of this development was the original Mojo (see above), which certainly challenged the market-place. With disitinctive front end styling and a 'love it or hate it' rear look due to the height of the engine package over the de-dion suspension set up, it proved only a moderate success commercially. However, what has now become apparant was that it was a necessary step in developing Sylva's current offerings.
  Mojo 2 With the race and commercially successful Striker kit being sold to Raw Engineering in 2002 in what was a suprise move for Sylva, the way was clear for full development of the original Mojo concept. The Mojo 2 soon followed with a completely redesigned rear end, which few deny is now quite pretty (see left). Underneath though things had changed dramatically, with a completely independant suspension set up based around MkII Fiesta running gear, which is still quite plentiful in the scrap yards. With the interchangability of Ford parts, this running gear can be mated with many Ford transverse boxes, including modern ones from Ka's, Focus' and Pumas.
  The front end sported outboard shocks, which was unusual for a Sylva design, however Jeremy was still very much feeling his way with the whole concept. The Mojo 2 was raced in the 750MC but with only limited success. The mid-engined concept proved tricky with heavier engine lumps in the back such as the Ford CVH and original Zetec, which slightly unbalance the car. It was also deemed that a mid-engine car has an unfair advantage against a front engine car (which it does), so the 750MC put it in the toughest class for racing, despite the choice of engine. This too affected results. With this Jeremy decided to leave 750MC racing at the time and concentrate on developing the Mojo 2 as a road going car, as which it has proved popular, with many examples now on the road.

However, as much as Jeremy thought that he would leave the 750MC alone for a while, the 750MC drivers weren't so keen to leave Jeremy alone! With many of his designs dominating the series, despite no current Sylva in contention, the pressure was on for Jeremy to develop another race winning car. With the current fashion for bike engines, which are light weight and high revving, the natural development was to put a bike engine in the back of a Mojo. A nice idea, but with a chance to do something different Jeremy couldn't stop himself from essentially coming up with a brand new car.

The R1ot was born.

  The engine of choice was the Yamaha R1 bike engine which is actually quite a compact package with the gearbox sitting under the engine rather than behind it. Despite this, the Mojo 2 engine bay needed more room, so the cockpit was moved forward, which placed the driver more in the centre of the car which helped with weight balance. The running gear was still essentially Mojo, with exactly the same independant set up. With the bike engine set up, one of the key problems to overcome was the drive method, with many front bike engined cars driving via a prop shaft.

 Sylva R1ot
  This has several problems. It means that the drive train requires special parts to mate the engine with the prop shaft, which in turn increases kit costs. The other problem is that the front engine solution mounts the engine in the wrong plane, as the engine in the original bike is mounted transversely, which can cause problems with oil surge when cornering. The Mojo/R1ot setup offered another solution. In typical Sylva style, Jeremy solved both problems, one by using the inherent design of the Mojo setup, i.e. mid-engined, and the other through some clever, yet simple engineering.

  R1ot diff set up The engine was mounted transversely in the bay using a specially designed cradle, which also means that almost any bike engine can be mounted in the same bay but with a different cradle. The chain drive was then used onto a sproket which then bolted onto a standard Fiesta diff mounted in a bespoke carrier via a couple of bearings. The standard Ford Fiesta drive shafts just then pop into the setup, leaving the rest of the drive train untouched. A top hat cover for the diff which is fabricated by Sylva completed the set up. Cheap, efficient and simple.
 

The front of the car was simplfied and redesigned with inboard shocks, with the complete GRP tub of the Mojo now replaced with an aluminium skinned chassis and GRP nose cone. The rear end of the car is another love or hate design, but is born out of a desire to be blindingly simple and efficient, with a three piece boot lid arrangement covering the engine and engine only.

One of the first people to sample the R1ot was Steve Hole of Totalkitcar (www.totalkitcar.com) who stumbled across Jeremy testing at Elvington. A chance to write a review was quickly taken and it was a review that confirmed the R1ot as a potentially race winning package. Sales quickly followed and now there are many R1ots and variations approaching completion all over the country.

One such variation is the zzRiot, which was forced by customers rather than Jeremy himself. Steve Knee (now involved with Sylva) and another customer, wanted a solution for a bike engine car which allowed the use of a cheaper engine, the Kawasaki ZZR1100. This engine had a distinct advantage in so much as it was around before 1995, meaning that engines could be sourced that would pass the SVA test much more easily than the post 1995 Yamaha R1 engine. Both engines produced the same power, but the zzR has slightly more torque, which should result in better low rev performance and hence better road going abilities.

However, the zzR has a slightly different format to the R1, with the layout requiring more space. The chassis therefore was changed again, lengthening the wheelbase by about 2" to allow for the different engine. This has resulted in the LWB chassis, which provides many options in terms of engine fittment. The R1 package with the Standard Wheel Base does however continue to be the main Sylva offering.

  Despite the bike engined Riot proving a potential winner, no time seemed to pass before Jeremy was developing again. This time he chose to take the basic Riot chassis and apply some tried and tested Sylva principles. That is to take a lightweight chassis design and mate it with a small, revvy engine package, but this time of car origin. Bike engine cars perform well on a track, but their low torque makes them difficult to drive at low speed, for instance when in traffic on the road. Thefefore a car engined Riot seemed a logical step.
Riot SE
 
The original bike engined demonstrator was sold and the Riot SE was created. Using a Ford Zetec SE engine, which is all alloy and hence lighter than the original Zetec engine, but placed in the Riot chassis, the Riot SE is what Sylva is all about. The extended engine bay of the Riot allowed the SE to be fitted, as the exhaust exits from the back so more room is required for the induction side of the engine. With the lightweight nature of the engine, the revised cockpit position and the longer engine bay, a 60/40% weight balance is created resulting in near-perfect handling characteristics.

The implementation of the engine package was also pure Sylva. With many manufacturers recommending older engines in order to pass the SVA cheaply, the use of a newer engine intially seemed problematic and expensive. Specialist engine manuafactures offer Zetec SE packages, but at a cost. Jeremy took the donor engine, had an exhaust patterned with a lambda sensor for emmsions, used the original Ford plenum injection set up, mated it with an Emerald ECU and had Dave Walker create a map. The result is 129bhp at the flywheel in a package that is modern, cost effective and one which delivers the power in such a no-nonsense way compared to carbs that it truly has to be driven to be fully understood.

...and driving it is exactly what the magazines did. With 129bhp the Riot SE would seem underpowered compared to large horsepower V8's and the like. However, as mentioned at the very start of this piece, a car has to be balanced - a key Sylva principle. The Riot SE has an all up weight of 458kg, so that is about 300bhp / tonne. Ian Stent seemed to agree with this approach in Which Kit Car?:

"...the Riot is so utterly brilliant that I'm positively aching to own one. "

Ian Stent, Which Kit Car?, August 2005


In a later article, the Riot SE was pronounced 'Kit Car of the Year 2005'.

Steve Hole (www.totalkitcar.com) seemed to agree when he drove the Riot SE:

"In case you hadn’t guessed I rather like the Riot SE. I would go so far as to say it could be the best car yet to wear the revered Sylva badge and that’s saying something, and I can’t praise it any more than that."

Totalkitcar.com, Jan 6th 2006 - full article here


In all this there were some developments at the company. Jeremy teamed up with Steve Knee to move sales, marketing and initially kit production to Ripley, Derbyshire. Matt Perrins served an intense apprenticeship with Jeremy in Lincolnshire before the move in October '05 and initially made chassis' at the new site to allow Jeremy to concentrate on Research and Development. However, demand for the Riot has been so great that Jeremy has extended the company by opening a small factory in Lincolnshire to allow him to continue to fabricate basic kits whilst also continuing development. All sales, marketing and custmomer support is now handled by Matt and Steve in the form of Sylva/Stingray in Ripley, which allows Jeremy to concentrate on development whilst also providing the Sylva customer with better support than ever before.

Going into 2006 Sylva has a product base which represents both consilidation and development, with the Mojo 2 (now just called Mojo) being a well proven road car with a number of crucial options such as all weather gear and luggage racks, whilst the Riot, both car and bike versions, representing the very cutting edge of modern kit car design.

2006 also sees another key development for Sylva, which is a return to the track. A number of Riots will be racing in the 750MC with different engine setups, not least of which will be Steve and Matt's racers based around the zzR package. Being complete novices no one really expects them to win in their first season, however with Jeremy's latest chassis design underneath them both, the results could be quite interesting...