Jedis posted the fastest lap of the season at two UK circuits last year, Brands Hatch Indy and Silverstone International. That news will come as no surprise to many on the British club racing scene, for this potent little racecar has been punching above its weight – currently just 350kg – for four decades now.
Remarkably, during that time its design has not strayed far from the initial concept, yet it remains fast and relevant, now plying its trade in its own F1000 championship, while it also gives Formula 3 cars a run for their money in Monoposto races.
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire-based Jedi Racing Cars is owned and run by father and son, John and Frazer Corbyn, although John is semi-retired and ‘now only comes in six days a week,’ jokes Frazer.
John designed and built the first Jedi in 1984, with the help of Roger Grigg, who did the drawings. It was Frazer, at the time a Star Wars obsessed young lad, who named it.
Hill start
However, to really understand this car and, by extension, the company that makes it, you need to look at its story, which did not begin a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but in the sport of hillclimbing.
We’re used to seeing bike-engined racecars these days but, in 1984, when the first Jedi made its debut with a Suzuki T500 engine, they were a rare thing indeed.
‘I think the first car wasn’t only right, it was also built at the right time,’ says Frazer. ‘There was nothing else like it. Other bike-engine cars had been done, there was the Johnny Walker 4 for example, but this was different.
‘This was the first time anybody really successfully used a two-stroke,’ John explains. ‘And the car was very light. It was the same weight as the bike that donated the engine.’
Initially, there was no intention to sell the car but, with its success on the hills, potential customers soon came knocking at the door.
By the late 1990s, when Jedis were also out on the circuits, that interest increased exponentially, and the little
