Who is Graham Smart?

CONTACT DETAILS FOR GRAHAM SMART

Before you contact me, let me introduce myself. I am Graham Smart and I had a grounding in engineering from the early age of 15 . I took my apprenticeship in England in the art of blacksmithing, an age old craft where you learn everything about metal.

I learned how to drill it, machine it, thread it, file it, cut it, fire weld it, gas, arc , MIG and TIG weld it. You name it and I can do it.

I learned about triangulation and gussets then once all that was in my head and my hands I know that once whatever I am building is built, it will work first time because there are no weak areas.

In a nutshell, as a blacksmith, I learned how bend it and shape it anyway you want it…

At the end of my apprenticeship I moved from my home town of Brackley in Northhamptonshire to Hull in Yorkshire. Brackley is famous of course, for Winchester House which was designed and built at vast expense for the signing of the Magna Carta. Sadly this historic event took place miles away on Runnymede Island, near London. But I digress…

That was all a little before my time so it is none of my concern and anyway, Hull was where I began playing guitar professionally in 3 different bands. I loved it all, as we played everything from Django to rock and roll and pop jazz. I am still playing today with Chris in Blues and Beyond and with Mel in Silver Fox.

Two years later I returned to Brackley and began working for the Wallcolmondy Corporation. This forward thinking American company employed me as the research and development department where I dealt with coatings in nickel and cobalt. Yes, that’s right, I was the research and development department.

A small claim to fame lies in the fact that we sprayed the telescopic legs for the Explorer lunar landing and at least I can say that one of the parts I worked on is on the moon…Hmm…I must pop over and check it is still OK one of these days.

Five years passed before I started my own company, GDS Exhausts.

We made exhausts for cars, motorbikes, boats, aircraft, hovercraft, racing chainsaws (yes you read that correctly, RACING CHAINSAWS) and in fact anything that had an engine!

Some of the cars we made exhausts for included an Alvis Speed, Racing Porche, Lancia Integrale and my personal toy, a 6R4 Metro rear wheel drive only 4 litre V8 mid-engine with a top speed of 150mph. 0-60 in 3 secs and 0-100 in 7 secs. That was quick!

Meanwhile here is an example of some of my Bugatti manifolds in various stages of preparation. Bugatti Type 35, Bugatti Type 37 and Bugatti Type 49 are shown.

Bugatti