A BARREL OF FUN
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more appropriate match of man and machine than Russell Cooper and his barrel racer.
The surname ‘Cooper’, after all, means ‘barrel maker’, and is derived from the German for ‘cask’, which is in turn from the Latin word cupa meaning ‘barrel’ or ‘tun’ (a large cask). To that piece of poetic justice, add Russell’s career in both fine furniture restoration and upholstery, plus a passion for motorsport, throw in a kitset go-kart, and you’ve got a recipe for a witty and offbeat vehicle that gives a new twist to the term ‘drink-driving’.
Traditionally, coopers used heat and steam-bending techniques to produce barrels — in fact any wooden cask with a bulge in the middle. Logically enough, a furniture restorer has the patience and experience with fine timber — in this case French oak
