Wing Commander Frank Aikens was one of the leading lights of the early years in his special. His eponymous car was powered by a Triumph twin engine driving a Norton gearbox, built on a Fiat chassis. Legend has it the car was constructed whilst his wife went to visit her mother - when she left, she had owned a Fiat, but when she returned she... didn't. With the aide of a German POW, at Aikens' RAF base,  he extracted considerable power from the engine but the driving position was less than ideal. Frank enjoyed some success in 1947 with a third at Prescott in May, second at Shelsley in June and third again at Prescott in June. He failed to finish at Gransden Lodge (along with almost everybody) for the first post war motor race in July but achieved a fourth at Prescott in the same month and then second there in September.

1948 proved more difficult, a fourth in June at Prescott and a DNF at the Grand Prix Meeting in October and by the '49 season the car was completely outclassed.

For 1950, he appeared in an Iota, Frank's finest hour came at "Royal" Silverstone in May when he enjoyed a race-long dice with Moss to win from Stirling and Peter Collins. He followed this with a fourth in the heats at Goodwood in May and a third in Heat 4 of the Daily Telegraph Trophy in August but the Iota was not the most competitive car so for '51 he switched to a J.B.S. This proved to be poor timing as sadly this project lost much of its momentum when Alf Bottoms was killed at the Luxembourg Grand Prix in 1951.

The Aikens car, minus bodywork.

Franks Aikens moment of triumph, ahead of Moss in the Royal Silverstone Grand Prix d'Europe, May 1950.

Man and machine in action, suitably dressed!

Report on the Aikens from Iota May 1947