About us

History.

In 2005 Geoff Taylor started Taylor Automotive with the intention of being a freelance automotive engineer.
This allowed him to choose the projects and people he worked with. The most influential of these was Frank Catt of Wealden Engineering Development.

Working with Frank over the next seven years on numerous projects from GT40 & Cobra replicas to single seater motor bike engined racing cars proved both interesting and hugely valuable in terms of practical experience.

Future.

Through his association with Frank the opportunity came about to restore and race a 1965 TVR Griffith. Also at this time a commission to design a new fuel injection system for the classic car market by a major supplier came about. Taylor Automotive now needed larger premises to allow the business to grow.

In 2012 Taylor Automotive moved to its new modern workshops in Chiddingly to allow it to fulfill its racing and development commitments. 

Taylor Automotive continues to offer vehicle development to the highest standard as well as race support and specialist automotive product design.

Meet the team

Geoff Taylor portrait

Geoff Taylor

Founder & Technical Director

From an early age Geoff showed a natural leaning towards engineer – constantly dismantling items that interested him.
He has built Jet engines from car turbo’s, steam engines from scrap and his own dyno cell to develop his GT6 engine.

Graduated with a Degree in Automotive systems from Kingston University in 2003.

Worked with Frank Catt at Wealden Engineering for 7 years – learning the practicalities of building cars.
He put this knowledge to good use when he completed the build of his highly developed Triumph GT6.

His favourite part of the job is designing new parts to solve problems more than likely involving the use of computer aided design.

His current project is to re-design the front suspension of a 1965 TVR Griffith so that he can share drive it with the owner in two driver races in the UK.

When he gets the opportunity he enjoys mountain biking and various other interesting outdoor pursuits.

Louis Pilch portrait

Louis Pilch

Consultant Engineer

Trained in the Army as a Vehicle Mechanic serving in operations including Iraq, his work led him to work with nearly every motorised vehicle the Army had and in his spare time working as Chief Mechanic for the Armed Force Rally Team. When he left he went on to study ‘Motorsport and High Performance Engineering’ and this culminated in a degree from Coventry University.

His full time job is with Ricardo’s – Engine and Drive Train development. He specialises in working with the Oddball and sometimes more complex development projects including projects like Gasoline Spray Guided Direct Injection Research and their control systems or turning a Freelander into a Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV), which included integrating a Fiat 500 Engine to act as a generator.

In his position for Ricardo’s Louis has worked for manufactures including Jaguar, McLaren and Red bull. At Taylor Automotive Louis deals with computer simulations of new parts, engine electronics and provides another brain to bounce ideas off of.

He has a passion for Land Rovers and most outdoor adventure pursuits such as mountain biking and rock climbing.

Geoff Letts portrait

Geoff Letts

Car Builder

Whilst Geoff was studying Engineering he supported his older brother when he went racing rather than competing himself, this hands on approach proved a great learning ground and led to full time employment in the Engineering / Automotive / Motorsport industry. First as a chassis fabricator building replica Cobra’s, then into customer and in-house race car builds. Eventually the corporate world beckoned and a successful career in Engineering Sales was forged and allowed a return to racing. Initially class wins with his brother in Group N saloons, then Mini 7 and most recently an FIA spec Mk1 Lotus Cortina. Geoff has always built his own race cars and has experience of all 3 principle disciplines. Single seaters, sports cars and saloons. And success with each. So when not organising his social life, riding his bike or racing his car he can turn his hand to most tasks and get the job done. He also likes reading, socialising, going to the cinema and travel. But racing the Cortina somewhere in Europe is best!

John Moore portrait

John Moore

Engine builder

John formally worked at Crosthwaite & Gardiner, engineering and putting together some real exotic engines. He is now semi retired and has gained a good reputation for building Coventry Climax engines. So building the odd XK engine for us is easy, he also knows his way around a Superflow dyno which is quite useful.

In his spare time he enjoys fiddling with almost anything mechanical, particularly if its Italian and has a Fiat badge on it!