Bob King had his motor racing roots as a mechanic in New Zealand, working on speedway machines. He later returned to the UK, selling road cars. One day, a customer traded in an Elva sports car, and Bob thought he would race it himself. This led to preparing cars for other people. To deal with the demand, King set up Racing Preparations, specialising in Coventry Climax engines. Alan Cornock joined the company, and as the demand for Climax engines decreased, the decision was made to move into constructing customer cars. In 1968, a Formula Ford, the Royale RP1, was produced (Royale for the Park Royal area of London and as a pun on King and RP for Racing Preparations). The RP2 was the first production Royale, of which 30 were built, and over the next few years, large numbers of competitive Formula Fords and Super Vees were sold.

Pat Symonds designed many of the cars built by Royale in 1980. The marque dominated both the British Formula Ford 2000 championship and the MCD Formula Ford 2000 championship with Richard Trott, with Royale RP27's winning every race in the BARC Championship. To this day, the RP27 is one of the cars of choice for the historic Formula Ford 2000 series, with the HSCC’s popular series in the UK providing great racing.

Chassis 40, on sale today with Klasiko is a great option for any driver looking to compete in the aforementioned HSCC Historic Formula Ford 2000 series. The car was purchased by Bob Pearson in 1996 from Spencer Nash, who competed in the URS championship through to 1998, before the car was sold to Ian Rowley. It then won the championship with Rowley in 2000, before being sold to Janet Sherry and raced by her and occasionally John Watson between 2003 and 2009. Chassis 40 then passed hands once more from 2012 until 2018, and again from 2018 to 2020 before it was acquired by the previous owner.

Shortly after acquired, the car was subject to a complete engine rebuild with David Gathercole, as well as a strip down and rebuild including replacement rose joints, hardware, hoses, CV joints etc, followed by set up and suspension development work for good measure. It was shortly after sold to the current owner, who intended to race the car. However, following retirement from racing on medical grounds, this well-prepared RP27 is now available once more having  had only light use with just 5 track days at Mallory, Aintree and Curborough.

Included with the vehicle is a comprehensive spares package comprising the following:

• Spare set of slicks on lightweight MB wheels

• Spare set of wets on wheels

• 3 spare noses (1 new)

• 2 complete rear wings

• Top body section

• 2 sidepods

• Nose frame and a selection of splitters

• Ratio box containing 11 good ratios

• Gearbox end casing

• 2x radiators

• Complete exhaust system

• Variety of suspension wishbones/rods/rockers

• Large box of running spares including ignition leads, pads etc

The extensive history file also accompanying the vehicle includes previous HSCC Vehicle identity forms, various setup information, ratio details and a collection of previous invoices and receipts for parts and work undertaken.

It is noted that the belts are now out of date and replacements will be required, and there is a small crack in the bell housing which the vendor notes has not had an affect on the running of the vehicle.