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Enquire OnlineIan Mantle
Ian Mantle, previously Chairman of Mantles Group, died on 2 August 2010 aged 90 years. A motor vehicle engineer, entrepreneur and motor sports enthusiast, his achievements ranged from the world of caravans to rally cars. Ian took over the family business in Biggleswade after the Second World War and became a leading influence in the development of touring caravans from the early 1950's. A keen motor sports enthusiast, he had considerable success as a rally driver in the diminuative and distinctive Berkeley fibreglass sports car, winning many trophies.
A pioneering spirit, he was involved in developing caravan stability in conjunction with Sprite Caravans and in 1966 he established a world towing endurance record at Monza, Italy. On that occasion, driving a Ford Zodiac, he towed a Sprite Major 16ft caravan around the Monza track for 24 hours at an average speed of more than 70 mph, a feat which got him in the Guiness Book of Records. He won the British Caravan Road Rally - in those days a taxing event including some hair-raising forest sections - four times in the 1970's.
In the mid 1950's he helped to develop and publicise the Berkeley, a sporting microcar powered by an air-cooled motorcycle engine. This was designed by Lawrie Bond at Charles Panter's Berkeley Coachworks, a large caravan manufacturer whose factory was also in Biggleswade. With its fibreglass monocoque construction the Berkeley was driven at Goodwood by Stirling Moss in September 1956. At one point Ian was leading the International Tulip Rally in the Netherlands when his Berkeley's engine expired.
Ian was very competitive and enjoyed Autotesting, a highly accessible form of rally-style precision car control testing and he won the BTRDA Flather Star Autotest Championship in 1955. He then went on to captain the England team in the Ken Wharton Memorial Five Nations Championship which was televised on BBC's Grandstand in the 1960's.
A member of the National Caravan Council for more than 40 years from the mid 1990's, Ian was also chairman of the organising committee of the Caravan & Camping Exhibition at Earls Court from 1986 to 1991. A well known local figure in Biggleswade, he served its Magistrates Court for a quarter of a century, for five years of which he was chairman of the bench.
In retirement in Cambridge he enjoyed gardening, particularly his famous lawn which was said to be the envy of many a Cambridge college groundsman!
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