| Is it a waste of life if we don't make our dreams come | | | | wheelwrights still building in that flexible mix of ash |
| true? I believe so, which explains why I built a Roman | | | | spokes and oak rims. To make things even more |
| Chariot, trained the horses and taught myself to drive it. | | | | difficult, I wanted the wheels to be shod with a thin |
| I remember exactly when and where the idea was | | | | rubber "tyre" so the vehicle could be driven on public |
| born. Sitting in our local Odeon with three ten year old | | | | roads. Without this rubber cushioning, the constant |
| friends, I watched wide eyed as Ben Herr fought for | | | | noise and steady impact would restrict my chariot to |
| the lead in The Collesium. At that time I never imagined | | | | just soft surfaces. |
| I would ever be able to emulate Charlton Heston. | | | | Again the internet came good. In Cornwall, on the far |
| Nearly fifty years later I owned an Equestrian centre in | | | | side of the country, was a wheelwright still using |
| Colchester. Originally Briton's capitol, (prior to London,) | | | | traditional methods. That my two wheels would cost |
| before Boudicca in her chariot burnt it down. Also UK's | | | | as much as the rest of the project was immaterial. |
| oldest recorded town and once proud possessor of | | | | The next brain teaser was a strong method of |
| the second largest Roman circus in the world. My | | | | securing the wheels to the chassis. The chosen |
| speciality was training horses for carriage driving. This | | | | system must also include free running bearings to |
| followed a career of driving and building racing cars, so | | | | minimise friction. Lightweight car trailer (Indispension) |
| I realised that my life had equipped me with all the skills | | | | units were the solution. Bought from our local caravan |
| to make that 10 year old's dream become real - using | | | | suppliers, the hubs were quickly dispatched to Cornwall |
| 21st century technology I would build a replica racing | | | | to be incorporated within the wheel build. |
| chariot. It needed to be light and flexible, so I would | | | | The pole came next, (the large diameter steel tube |
| make the base structure in 16 gauge round steel tube. | | | | that sits between the horses and connects the chariot |
| This is where the internet came into its own. Using a | | | | to their breast harness.) Although an optimist by nature, |
| variety of images and making an inspired guess as to | | | | I wanted a speedy method to separate the horses |
| the horse sizes, I drew up the design. | | | | (plus thrashing steel shod hooves) from me in the |
| A friend who was a vastly better welder than I, was | | | | chariot, should it all go badly wrong. The answer was |
| persuaded to build the chassis in my carriage store. | | | | tractor technology. A search of agricultural engineers |
| We clad the bare tubes with thin gauge steel sheet | | | | produced a very sturdy quick release coupling |
| and then formed the floor from steel mesh for | | | | designed for farm machinery, to connect pole to |
| lightness. The biggest problem was wheels. They had | | | | chassis. |
| to look authentic and there appeared to be no | | | | |