Alan is the son of Dick Shattock, whose life and work is the subject of Alan's book, The RGS Atalantas. He was educated in the UK and Trinity College Dublin and is a retired senior lecturer in medical microbiology. He is the author of over 60 scientific papers and has also written a book about life in France. He is no stranger to motor racing having been brought up in the world of UK and Irish motor sport during the 1950s and has rebuilt several historic sports and racing cars and raced them in Ireland during the 1970s.
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FORTHCOMING BOOK WITH MATADOR: THE RGS ATALANTAS
Alan Shattock has been researching the history of his father, Dick Shattock's, RGS Atalanta sports cars, his pioneering work on the use of fibreglass for the manufacture of sports car bodies and his collaborative work with John Griffiths on the production of JAG cars. The importance of Dick's entrepreneurial sports car work in reviving the Atalanta marque after the war and how, essentially as a one-man sports car designer, Dick achieved performances capable of beating the top works sports cars of the mid-1950s is recounted. This is a unique story, covering the late post war period to the present time, of these two important, but less well known, marques; some RGS Atalantas and JAGs still survive and are still winning, but the story does not end; a new Atalanta has recently emerged.
Amazingly, Alan has managed to trace almost all of the RGS Atalanta cars built by, or with the assistance of Dick, at Brookside Garage. These are believed to number about 12 cars, and, of these, at least six still survive and at least two, including Dick's works RGS Atalanta, are currently racing in the UK and internationally. Over 100 fibreglass RGS Atalanta car bodies were sold all over the world by Dick. Alan has traced some 28 cars fitted with these bodies, some of which are also used in competition. Alan has also put together a comprehensive account of the relationship with John Griffiths and the 21 JAG cars that he built, more than two thirds of these with Dick at Brookside Garage in Berkshire.