The name Kaditcha is one firmly ingrained on fans of the Australian Sports Car Championship during the 1980s as it dominated the category, but its roots date back to the 1970s and hold strong links to McLaren.
Barry Lock is the man behind the Kaditcha brand and was among a heap of Australians, who tried their luck in Europe during the late-1960s from not only a driving point of view, but also engineering.
It proved a difficult period to be part of McLaren as its founder died in a testing crash in 1970. During this time, Lock designed the successful McLaren M8 Can Am and also designed the first Kaditcha inspired by M7.
Interest quickly came for customer Kaditchas, with the M8 design leading to the SR781 sports car featuring the rare Nicholson McLaren Cosworth EAA engine, Hewland FG400 gearbox and a monocoque chassis design.
Lock moved back to Australia in the mid-1970s as Kaditcha expanded to open-wheelers when the local regulations turned to Formula Pacific.
However, Sports Cars was where success was achieved as Chris Clearihan, Peter Hopwood and Bap Romano won many titles during the mid-1980s.
Romano in fact approached Lock to build a sports car designed for Le Mans in 1981, with the Kaditcha K583 debuting two years later.
The goal was to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but this didn’t occur as Romano upgraded the chassis thanks to former Williams engineer Wayne Eckersley.
Renamed the Romano WE84, it contested the World Endurance Championship round at Sandown in 1984 and was among the C2 Class.
That same year it won the Australian Sports Car Championship and thanks to Romano’s contacts at Tyrrell he was able to acquire a 3.0-litre Cosworth DFV V8 engine.
A bad incident at Amaroo Park in 1986 ended the WE84’s racing career until a rebuild in 2001 by Lock, with the engine upgraded to a 3.5-litre Cosworth DFZ V8, which was intended to be installed in future development had the crash not occurred.
Lock’s career also extended to the De Tomaso GT entry owned by Paul Halstead and raced by Kevin Bartlett. Also through Halstead, he designed the Giocattolo limited edition model and lately revealed the Aero Sports Car.