Kas Kastner – 1928 to 2021

[Ben Hutchings]

I’m guessing some will have heard about Robert ‘Kas’ Kastner’s passing Saturday before last. 

Interesting chap, Triumph legend - The Sebring TR4s, modded Macau Spit, a load of SCCA racing and the infamous TR-250K to name just a few things he was responsible for.

I seem to remember @Jason you had some comms with him a decade or so ago right? Anything to share? 

Anyway for me he’s best knows for his Competition Prep Manuals and later Historical and Tech guides:

[Tim Hunt]

Yes Ben, he was the absolute ace Triumph tuner and an expert in maximising performance whilst still adhering to regulations.  His power claims for the wet liner TR engine were disbelieved by Triumph over here until he sent engines over for test  in Coventry which developed 155bhp on twin SUs while Triumph here were at 135bhp on Webers! RIP Kas.

Tim

[Jason]

Sad loss, he was a character that's for sure. Yes he and I had a lot of to and fro comms - one of my cars even features in a book of his! My go to Kas Kastner story is one of him helping Dave Pearson and I track down the original 8 port head to the Macau that Kas raced and turned into a 6 pot. Dave had acquired the car with the intention of returning it to its original Macau GP spec - but where to do you find any 8 port alloy Spitfire head let alone the actual head the car had when it went to the US? You mention it to Kastner who then said "I remember the car", turns out he sold the head to Lee 'Mother' Mueller one of his drivers - along with a few trucks full of Triumph parts. This got us interested so asked him if he knew where it went from Mueller and Kas said "nowhere, he's still got it" - my recollection is slightly hazy here and I can't remember if Kas approached Lee or the other way round but basically Mueller or his son was in need of some funds for medical care and was selling off some stuff. The head was on the shelf in the Mueller workshop along with some manifolds and a spare handmade gasket. A conversation was had, a deal was done and well, it got crated up, sent across the pond and is now atop a 70x engine, back in the Macau where it started life 50+ years earlier. 

I had some conversations with him about Lucas fuel injection modifications, he wasn't very complimentary he got it running well but said it was "like pouring fuel in with a bucket"!