Thanks all, it was Bill Bonner and I'm reasonably sure it was the Rover rather than the Ford. The Rover has a (relatively) light ally block vs the very heavy cast iron block of the Ford for pretty much the same hp.
Pity it's reverted to Gypsy power again, it looked very nice with the Rover engine. Because it has been done I would assume that it is now an approved major mod. Got to be cheaper than replacing a Gypsy that's put a rod through the block.
It was Viv Bellamy that put the Rover gas turbine in the Auster as well. From a brief article in the Auster Club mag it performed better than the Wot installation. Must have put big tanks in it though, those Rovers guzzled a lot of Avtur for the 100 or so shaft hp they produced. V. noisy to. Must have been fun to taxi to the pumps and give people the frights when filling up with Avtur instead of 100LL though
Hang on though, 85p/litre 100LL, 35p/litre Avtur as long as the consumption is less than 9 imp gal/hour it's a winner. Anybody selling a Rover gas turbine out there!!