Our eye-popping visit to the extensive and high-tech RML factory in Wellingborough today. The best car company you’ve never heard of has morphed from the service provider which made such a success in World Touring Car Championship, British Touring Car Championship and Le Mans into a market-leading manufacturer of sophisticated high class racing touring cars.
Michael Mallock, who took over from father Ray in 2016 as chief executive of RML, has driven the company forward into building finished cars, both white label and in their own name. In the Bizzarrini assembly shop, seven identical bright red sports cars in the form of the iconic 1965 Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa – but with state-of-the-art suspension, drive train and 400hp 5300cc V8 engine – are having their finishing touches… door handles, rear-view mirrors and white roundel with the race number 3 in the exact format of the Le Mans appearances, dashboard and gauges to the original patterns and much more ensure that the product is as perfect and as original as the buyer could imagine.
Now RML is producing cars under their own name. The RML Short Wheelbase shown in August 2022 at the Pebble Beach and Monterey speed week in California has the mechanicals of a Ferrari 550, a carbon fibre body inspired by the championship-winning Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB of 1962 and a Ferrari 5.5 L 485hp V12 engine meticulously dismantled and rebuilt to new by RML. More at https://rmlgroup.com/rml-swb/short-wheelbase
Alongside these extraordinary enterprises RML is a major supplier of batteries for electric vehicles, the sole supplier of chassis and other parts for the British Touring Car championship and is upgrading the Lotus Emira to GT4 racing spec.
Each of these products increases the value of the company to its shareholders. We happen upon a red letter day – Ray Mallock is back at the works where he is no longer an executive but today is road-test driver for the SWB. He eases the dark blue delight out between the RML race equipment pantechnicons onto Wellingborough’s semi-urban roads and into the country. He’s back an hour later ready to complement the data on the set up on the car; ride height, damper settings, balance, drivability and the fingertip steering feel which make this such a prized drive for its owners. Ray drove the car for the first time on the Sywell Aerodrome runway earlier in the year where we rejoice in a sandwich lunch later, and now he is able to appreciate and comment on the finished product. A product which is badged RML. It’s a big thumbs-up and smiles all round.
In a conspicuous corner of the SWB assembly hall is the Mallock U2 race car built in 1958 by Ray‘s father major Arthur Mallock, still winning Formula Junior Championships in Ray‘s hands. This simple but very quick racing car is a reminder of the Mallocks’ garagiste roots. Fast forward 64 years and two generations of this family later; RML is a powerhouse in the top -end sports car market.
When Ray drives the Mallock U2 in the Rolex Monterey Historic Reunion at Laguna Seca in California his host is Rob Manson, owner and driver of several exotic Californian Road Race Specials, whose visit today to RML I was able to join. Thank you, all, for a mind-blowing experience.
Marcus Bicknell – marcus@bicknell.com – 4 November 2022
