Whitehead is shown here in the cockpit of his ERA during the abortive – and aborted – Parramatta Park meeting in 1938 (B King Collection)
English international, Peter Whitehead spent quite a bit of time in Australia during 1938 on business. One hat he wore was as a member of the W&J Whitehead famil, Bradford based, wool textiles business, the other was as driver of his much smaller motor racing enterprise.
As you will appreciate from the articles, Whitehead was in Australia long enough, and travelled broadly enough, for his views to be fully formed on the state of motorsport play at that time.
(B King Collection)Blurry and ‘Hatless’ Whitehead during the Australian Hillclimb Championship meeting at Rob Roy in June 1938. He did FTD and set the course record at 31.46 seconds on the still unsealed course which opened a year earlier (L Sims Collection)
Peter Whitehead was spot on with his observations really.
Picking up his points in the order they were made, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) was formed in 1953 to manage, organise and regulate (sic) the sport on a national basis. Perhaps without World War 2 a more focused governing body would have replaced the Australian Automobile Association earlier.
Handicap racing continued throughout Australia well into the 1950s. We had a relatively small number of racing cars spread over a vast continent. Handicaps ensured everybody had a chance of victory, by this means, competitors were prepared to travel vast distances by road, rail or coastal ships to race.
Then the only Australian racers who competed ‘regularly’ on bitumen roads were the West Australians on their Round the Houses road courses in various country towns. Allan Tomlinson’s stunning Lobethal AGP win in 1939 is in part credited to his skill on such surfaces relative to the east coast based competitors aboard his MG TA Spl s/c. See here; https://primotipo.com/2020/12/04/tomlinsons-1939-lobethal-australian-grand-prix/
A series of races to attract international competitors did eventually happen, formally with the Tasman Cup – seven/eight races in NZ and Australia in January-February each year – in 1964, and informally with a series of international races for the better part of a decade before that. Peter Whitehead returned and raced a couple of Ferraris here during that period. See here; https://primotipo.com/2020/10/10/squalo-squadron/
The bad-blood, combative relationship between the New South Wales Police and the racing community lasted well into the 1950s and is a story in itself.
The Yarra Falls building site in 1918. Melburnians will note the roofline of the Convent of the Good Shepherd on the north side of Johnston Street, that building is still there on the wonderful Collingwood Children’s Farm site; a visit to rural Australia in inner Melbourne is worth a trip for any international tourist. The Falls site was redeveloped, keeping many of the original buildings, for business and residential use several decades ago (Picture Victoria)
Etcetera…
The Whiteheads were customers of Australian wool from the earliest of times. The contents of an article in The Argus (Melbourne) appealed to the economist in me. The piece reported on the business trip of Henry Whitehead, a relative of Peter Whitehead, in January 1920 who is described as having interests in “three of the largest of the great Yorkshire textile works.”
Whitehead’s visit was as a director/advisor of Yarra Falls Spinning Co Pty. Ltd. at 80-110 Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford – on the shores of the Yarra River in Melbourne where wool was scoured/cleaned – and he commented that “Although Australia is the greatest wool producer in the world she could not have competed with England before the war in the marketing in Australia of goods manufactured out of her own raw materials…But times have changed, and today Australia has the opportunity of making more of her own goods, and particularly of making up her own raw materials.”
Funnily enough, a century on, we are still better at shearing sheep and digging holes in the ground (mining) than manufacturing, that is, value adding to the raw materials we export to others.
Henry Whitehead spoke of the need for immigration of skilled labour to aid growth of the industry and encourage further British investment.
The Yarra Falls Spinning Company was then capitalised at 200,000 pounds, “the great bulk of which is Australian money.” The other directors, with the exception of Whitehead, were Australian, the factory was commenced in 1918 and employed 200 in 1920. The only limiting factor in expanding the business right then beyond relatively simple wool scouring and combing, to the production of worsted cloth (for clothing) was the difficulty of getting specialised weaving plant and equipment made, and imported from the UK.
So, Peter Whitehead would have been busy, apart from his racing…
Credits…
The Car, December 1938 via the Bob King Collection, Leon Sims Collection, Ted Hood, The Argus January 1, 1920, Picture Victoria
Tailpiece…
(T Hood)
Peter Whitehead fettles his ERA #R10B in frigid Canberra weather in June 1938. He was taking part in annual speed record attempts in the national capital, weird though that seems.
Mind you, there was a round the houses taxi race in Canberra not so many years ago, the Canberra 400 from 2000-2002.
Mark Skaife, Holden VX Commodore V8 Supercar en-route to winning the 2002 Canberra 400, Parliament House in the background (unattributed)
I just love pit or startline just-before-the-off shots. You can feel the tension, excitement and driver’s surge of adrenalin just before they pop their butts into the cockpits of their chariots. Here it’s the Belgian Grand Prix, Spa 1965.
Our black-snapper in some ways ruins the shot but he gives it intimacy and immediacy as well. The front row from left to right are Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark and a very obscured Graham Hill; BRM P261 by two and Lotus 33 Climax.
(wfooshee)
The only fellas I recognise are Messrs Stewart, Clark, Chapman and Hill. Can you do any better? The weather looks a bit grim, but such conditions are common in the Ardennes.
(wfooshee)
It’s a smidge out of focus but let’s not be too hard on our photographer Mr Fwooshee, I’d love to be able to credit him/her/it fully if anyone knows the correct name.
Every time I see a Honda RA271/272 I’m stunned by the audacity of a transversely mounted 1.5-litre V12, six-speed, monocoque chassis design in your first crack at a GP car; RA270 space frame prototype duly noted. Karma was Mr Honda’s originality being rewarded with that Mexican GP win several months hence, here Richie Ginther (RA272) was sixth. Graham Hill is in front, #15 is Dan Gurney’s Brabham BT11 Climax – everybody’s favourite Lanky-Yank is about to insert himself into that little Brabham – and behind him, Jo Siffert’s Rob Walker BT11 BRM. Jo Bonnier, Brabham BT7 Climax is behind the Honda, and further back the redoubtable Bob Anderson in his self-run #24 Brabham BT11 Climax. Brabhams galore, bless-em.
Who is the driver playing with his silver or white peakless helmet? Down the back, top-right there is a glimpse of Jean Stanley getting that tosspot ‘Lord Louis’ Stanley’s cravat nice and straight…
Oh yes, Jim Clark won from Jackie Stewart with Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T77 Climax in third place.
Credits…
fwooshee
(fwooshee)
Tailpiece…
Frank Gardner had an early afternoon, his John Willment Brabham BT11 BRM had ignition problems after completing only four laps. He started from grid slot 18 of 21, the best placed BT11 was the Guvnor’s works-car, Jack Brabham was fourth.
Phillips-Parsons airborne on the Wirlinga road circuit (cars4starters.com.au)
The Jack Phillips – Ted Parsons 1934 Ford V8 was Australia’s fastest of the breed pre-war. Here the machine is aviating at Wirlinga – 10km northeast of Albury – on the Kings Birthday weekend in June 1940 “on the north-south straight heading towards what is now the Riverina Highway,” many thanks John Medley.
The car was one of the most successful of all Australian racing cars in the immediate lead up to the conflict, placing sixth and third in the 1938 and 1939 Australian Grands Prix at Bathurst and Lobethal respectively. “In Victoria for the 1937-38 season, the Phillips Ford was awarded ‘The Car Trophy’ for the most successful competitor,” John Medley wrote.
The duo also won the Interstate Grand Prix/Albury and Interstate Cup on the Albury-Wirlinga road course in 1938-39 and the South Australian 100 at Lobethal in January 1940. On the same day the pair finished second to Les Burrows’ Hudson Terraplane Special in the Lobethal 50.
Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men? Phillips/Parsons on the way to winning the South Australian 100 on New Years Day 1940 at Lobethal (unattributed)
As the lights were progressively turned down throughout 1940, the Phillips/Parsons pair were ninth in the Easter Bathurst 150 mile race won by Alf Barrett’s Alfa Romeo Monza. The car’s final meeting before being put on display for much of the conflict in their Wangaratta Motors Ford dealership was the 75 mile Albury and Interstate Cup Race on June 17, 1940. It was the final meeting on this road course and Barrett set the all-time lap record at 2 minutes 52 seconds but broke an axle and retired from the race. Harry James’ Terraplane won in a steady performance from John Crouch’s Alfa Romeo 8C2300 Le Mans with Phillips/Parsons third.
A great shot but whereizzit? Note the Victorian rego-plate and ‘tuned-length’ exhaust which will have aided driver and passenger comfort in longer races by dispensing with fumes and noise well-aft of the conducteurs. Quality of the body and standard of presentation impressive (cars4starters.com.au)
Based on a fire-damaged ‘34 sedan with over 20,000 miles on the clock, the car was modified in the partner’s Wangaratta, Victoria Ford dealership by fitment of a special, swoopy, lighter body. Engine enhancements included twin Winfield carburettors, Scintilla magneto, modified heads and free-flowing exhausts.
Timed at 115mph in top gear, it did 80 in second – at a then heady 6000rpm – using the 3.5:1 rear axle ratio. It was a paragon of solid reliability too, not suffering the overheating afflictions of so many modified Ford flatties.
The masked avengers at Wirlinga in 1939 I think, on the way to a second win on the trot in the Albury and Interstate Gold Cup. Bob Lea-Wright, Singer was second and Les Burrows Hudson Terraplane third after losing a shot at the lead with two laps to run after being hit in the face with a stone thrown up by Phillips. Clearly Phillips/Parsons were well prepared for this possibility and here are using all of the available real estate (B King Collection)
John Medley observed the car’s strengths, “The Phillips Ford simply soldiered on in prewar races on dirt and gravel roads, built tough to last to the finish. It continued to race postwar particularly in Victoria and South Australia where it was raced by South Australian Granton Harrison, by which time the newer breed of generally smaller and lighter V8 Specials could out-pace it.”
“Still it had been the mould in which the later V8s were shaped. In the postwar period, with T-Series MGs, Ford V8 specials were the backbone of Australian road racing.”
The Phillips/Parsons Ford was destroyed when it was crashed into a bridge, the remains were scrapped. Ted Parsons Jnr and his son Rob recreated the car between 2008-2014, the car took its bow at Winton in 2014.
Likely lads, who is the chap at left and where was the shot taken? Bob’s Lobethal 1940 guess isn’t on the money (B King Collection)Ted (Edwin) Parsons wearing Warren Safety Helmet, goggles, white overalls – the pocket of which had the Ford V8 symbol embroidered – wearing a leather kidney belt. “To look your best under the overalls it was common for Ted to wear a white shirt and tie,” Ted’s son Rob Parsons wrote. Wirlinga 1939 perhaps, chap behind unknown (Parsons Family Collection)
Etcetera: The Warren Safety Aviation Helmet…
WT Warren invented the Warren Safety Helmet in 1912. The spring-equipped pilot safety helmet, made of leather and cork with vented ear collars was padded with horse hair and designed to minimise head injuries, the major cause of aero accident deaths at the time. The helmet was part of RAF listed kit issue from 1920-24.
Later models incorporated an ear audio piece and a breathing mask. By the time Phillips and Parsons used them they had been pensioned off by the RAF. Curtis and Taut & Co made the helmets under licence, the inscription in Parsons’ helmet, retained by the family, reads ‘No 2 Tuatz & Co Patent 17855 Aviators Safety Helmet. Maker Tautz & Co, Hunting Military and Multifit Tailors, 12 Grafton St, New Bond St, London.’
Phillips and Parsons with their distinctive Warren helmets after winning at Wirlinga in 1938 (J Dallinger)
Rob Parsons explained further, “While the helmet was obsolete for aircraft, they were used by Phillips and Parsons from 1935-39. With a lack of sporting regulations, these cars lacked the safety features of safety belts which were not considered a benefit for car racing. Drivers had a steering wheel and the co-driver a grab handle to hold onto. It would be common in rollovers to duck-down and brace yourself, perhaps to be trapped or otherwise flung free of the car, all with grave consequences.”
“Ted Parsons first introduction to motor racing was at the Benalla Airstrip circuit, perhaps a likely place to find such a helmet. On the back page of his photo album, he list drivers who died racing during his involvement, a reminder of the sport’s dangers. He retired from racing after the war to pursue golf and film-making.”
“Jack and Ted wore leather face shields to protect themselves from their own flying stones and other track debris, an idea adapted from the oxygen flying mask. The leather was painted white to match the colour of the car, aviation goggles protected their eyes,” Parsons wrote.
(Der Spiegel)
WT Warren tests his new helmet – as one does – by headbutting the wall of William Ewen’s Hendon flying school, where Warren was a trainee, in 1912.
What follows is the German-English translation from an article in Der Spiegel.
“In a 1912 issue of Flight magazine, British inventor WT Warren’s invention, a protective flight helmet is demonstrated. The image is often erroneously reported to be a football helmet.”
‘The wall against which the helmet carrier ran belongs to the flying school of William Hugh Ewen. The owner (middle) and and his chief pilot LWF Turner (left) are behind. The Lord in the foreground is his student Mr WT Warren. And, no, he has not failed the flight test and is just reacting to his anger.” Clearly the German hilarity is lost in translation.
“Dated 1912, Mr Warren is a tinkerer. He introduced his latest invention to experienced pilots: a protective helmet ‘that will attract considerable attention’, Flight magazine wrote. Warren’s leather cap was padded with horsehair: A system of steel springs should intercept any impact, thus reducing the risk of injury. Head injuries were the leading cause of death in flight accidents.”
Credits…
‘John Snow:Classic Motor Racer’ John Medley, State Library of Western Australia, cars4starters.com.au, Bob King Collection, ‘The Warren Safety Aviation Helmet’ by Rob Parsons in the July 2021 issue of ‘The Light Shaft’ – Austin 7 Club magazine, Parsons Family Collection via austin7club.org, John Dallinger, Der Spiegel
Tailpiece…
(SLWA)
I’m cheating a bit, this 1934 Ford is a V8 ute rather than a sedan, but you get the jist of it.
The Phillips-Parsons racer was not too far removed from a roadie, rather than an out-and-out bespoke racer, reliant as it was on the standard chassis, axles wheel to wheel, differential and gearbox.
The ute is singing for its supper, doing a meat delivery in country Western Australia in 1937.
Brian Muir at Brands Hatch during the 1969 BOAC International 500, held over the April 13 weekend.
Muir shared the car with Lotus engineer and soon to be GP driver, John Miles. The pair qualified the new car 16th, finishing 13th outright and first in the 2-litre Prototype class.
The race was a Porsche rout, with the Jo Siffert/Brian Redman, Vic Elford/Richard Atwood and Gerhard Mitter/Udo Schutz 908/02s taking the podium. The Chris Amon/PedroRodriguez Ferrari 312P was fourth, the JW Automotive Ford GT40 crewed by David Hobbs and Mike Hailwood fifth with the other Porsche works car – yes, it finished too – raced by Hans Hermann and Rolf Stommelen in sixth. The 908 was quite a machine, about as reliable a racer as the 911 was/is a roadie.
(MotorSport)
It’s all about the engine really, this car. It was to a large extent a development exercise for the Lotus Vauxhall 2-litre LV240 Type 904 engine which, with lots of development, replacement of the Vauxhall block with bespoke Lotus alloy unit, and a whole lot more, later powered a couple of generations of Lotuses for 25 years or so. More about the engines gestation and useage at the end of this piece.
(MotorSport)
The arguments within Lotus Components about the location of the dry-sump oil tank would have been interesting! It’s all Tecalemit Jackson fuel injection componentry isn’t it. The metering unit is sharing the distributor drive (below). See the oil filter, “The heavy oil tanks sits too high Martin!” you can feel Our Col saying to designer Martin Waide. “Yep, I know but this car has bodywork Colin, I can’t shove it wherever I like compared with the open-wheelers.
A ZF 5DS five speed manual gearbox sits where a Hewland FT200 transaxle really belongs. Doncha-reckon Chapman said “use one of those things” and pointed to one of the ZFs pensioned off when Lotus got with the strength and fitted Hewland DG300s to the Lotus 49Bs?
(MotorSport)
240bhp @ 8000rpm is claimed for the 1992cc, twin-cam, four-valve, oversquare (95.3mm x 69.9mm bore/stroke) cast iron block, aluminium head engine. See the nicely boxed reinforcements for the top-hats of the coil spring damper units and cable drive for the Smiths chronometric tach. Plenty of Aeroquip there too, it’s coming into vogue…
(MotorSport)
The Lotus Europa parentage is clear enough, but parentage is putting things crudely, there is nothing Europa about this car other than the body. Two of these purpose built Group 6 racers were built. The thing clearly didn’t want to turn-in given the aero experimentation shown in this series of shots.
(MotorSport)
Front end detail, spaceframe chassis and conventional for the day front suspension comprising upper and lower wishbones, alloy uprights, coil spring/damper units and roll bar. Disc brake rotors are 12-inch Girlings, who also provided the calipers, weight of the car is circa 1250 pounds.
(MotorSport)
On the hop through Bottom Bend. The other cars in the 2-litre prototype class at this meeting were Chevron B8 Ford, Ferrari Dino 206S, Nomad Mk1 BRM, Abarth 2000S and Ginetta G16A BRM. The Muir/Miles Lotus 62 won the class from the Beeson/DeCadenet Dino and Blades/Morley B8 Ford.
26 year old racing driver/mechanical engineer John Miles, and 38 year old racing driver/mechanic Brian Muir will surely have extracted all their new mount offered and added a sizeable dollop of mechanical sympathy to boot (MotorSport)(MotorSport)
Lots of sheet aluminium to reinforce the tubular chassis. Lotus cockpits of this era, open and closed are the yummiest of workplaces. Attention to detail and finish of their racing cars is exceptional, while freely acknowledging the under-engineering on way too many occasions that also went into the package…
(MotorSport)
Hard to tell who is up? Mechanic’s names welcome. That’s one of the four Porsche System Engineering 908/02s behind, the numbers of which all started with a 5…I can see the short-arse driver but cannot pick him.
Lotus fitted development versions of their 900 engines to their Bedford CF van, Vauxhall VX4/90 and Viva GT in addition to the two Lotus 62s (B Wellings)
History of the 900 Series Lotus Engines by Tim Engel…
The production 9XX engines are Lotus designs. To expedite development, early versions of the cylinder head was bolted onto a Vauxhall block. No non-Lotus blocks were used beyond the first prototype iteration (904) and certainly not in production. Whether the 907 is a blueblood or a bastard is one that periodically comes up.
16 Apr 1997, Erik Berg <Erik.Berg@trw.com> wrote: OK, does anyone know more about the history of the development of the 62 engine? My recollection is that it was *not* in fact a 900 series engine, but was a four-valve head adaptation of the existing Vauxhall 2-litre block.
The Mk 62’s 904 engine was a development mule for the 907, and was a composite of a Vauxhall 2-litre iron-block assembly, a Lotus-spec’d, longer stroke crank and a Lotus prototype cylinder head. Lotus recognised that the most development intensive part of the engine design was going to be the head. To expedite head development without waiting for the complete engine to be designed and prototyped, they ‘borrowed’ the cylinder block from the very similarly sized/ configured (slant four) Vauxhall Victor 2.0 and mated it to the prototype head.
Later, the Mk 62 received the 906 engine, which was a further development of the Lotus design with a prototype sand-cast aluminum block. The 906 eliminated the Vauxhall crutch that had allowed the development program to get a faster jump start and got the engine closer to it’s final, all-Lotus design.
The Mk 62 car was built as much as a development test bed for the new engine as a race car. It was felt that racing the engine would accelerate the learning curve.
(MotorSport)
The aluminum 907 block is very different from the iron Vauxhall block and not just an alloy adaptation of an existing design. However, it’s probably (I’m jumping to a conclusion) more than coincidence that the bore centers are the same. The head was first designed to fit the Vauxhall block. Once that was done, why incur the extra work of re-designing it to fit a different bore spacing? Just design your new block to fit the head that was developed in advance of the rest of the program.
Iron block 2.0 race engine with T-J fuel injection, July ’68 (aka, LV220 = Lotus-Vauxhall, 220bhp)
Iron block 2.0 road car engine (non-production, test only).
Die-cast aluminum block 2.2 N/A Lotus road car engine
The 904 had a 95.25mm (3.75 in) bore x 69.85mm (2.75 in) stroke for a 1995 cc displacement… just under the racing class limit. The similar Vauxhall Victor 2000 used the same 95.25 bore, but a shorter 69.25 stroke for a 1975 cc displacement. As installed, the 904 crank was a Lotus specific part; however, I don’t know if it was machined from a Vauxhall blank or made from scratch.
Later, the 907 used the same 95.25 (3.75) bore as the Vauxhall, but with a claimed 69.2 (2.72) stroke/ 1973 cc displacement. Just a weeee bit smaller than the Vauxhall engine. The Elite/Eclat/Esprit manuals give the bore dimension to 4 decimal places, but leave the stroke at 69.2 (2.72).
I wouldn’t doubt (but I don’t know) that the stroke and displacement numbers (.05mm / 2cc smaller than the Vauxhall) were more of a weak marketing attempt to give the 907 it’s own non-Vauxhall identity by simply rounding off the numbers.
The 907 was supposed to be an important step for Lotus in establishing itself as a stand-alone manufacturer. However, when Lotus fast-started it’s development program by basing the first prototypes on the Vauxhall block, the press grabbed onto the Lotus-Vauxhall identity with a death grip and Chapman couldn’t break it. After a while, hearing the press continually refer to his new engine as a Vauxhall or Lotus-Vauxhall started to SERIOUSLY rub Chapman the wrong way.
Etcetera…
In a previous life I was CEO and a partner in one of Australia’s best graphic design and branding firm. I saw plenty of corporate identity standards manuals along the way but never one where the client felt the need to define the plural of the entity, as Chairman Chapman or his PR apparatchiks felt the need to do.
I don’t think anybody took any notice either, ‘Lotuses’ seems to have been in common use since Jim Clark was in shorts. I used Loti until someone observed that I had a touch of the Setrights. So I stopped.
Clearly the name of ‘our car’ is officially the Lotus 62 Europa albeit I follow the racing car nomenclature practice started by DC Nye and some of his buddies during the 1960s, viz; make-model-engine maker, that is Lotus 62 Vauxhall. Mind you, a more accurate description is perhaps Lotus 62 Lotus-Vauxhall given the mix of Lotus and Vauxhall mechanicals, mind you that sounds shit. How bout Lotus 62 Vauxhall-Lotus. Nah, that’s not too flash either. I think Lotus 62 Vauxhall will do the trick, application of the KISS Principle is always the way to go.
(MotorSport)
Credits…
MotorSport Images, Tim Engel 900 engine article on gglotus.org, bedfordcf2van.blogspot.com, Bruce Wellings
Tailpiece…
(MotorSport)
I wonder who took out the rest of the BOAC sign? An expensive accident no doubt.
It looks pretty good to me, not exactly Margaret River, but hey, what’s all this nonsense about the grim North Sea?
Jack Brabham was never the life of the party, seemingly, but he had a pretty good sense of humour, here making his way to the grid for the 1966 Dutch Grand Prix and addressing head-on media comments about his advancing years, complete with ‘walking stick’ and beard. He had turned 40 on April 2, like a fine wine he got better really, not too many of the over-40s won races in their final season, 1970 in Jack’s case. Ignoring the occasional touring car outings back in Australia.
(wfooshee)
He had the last laugh too, he had won the previous two Grands Prix in France and the UK and was on the-roll that delivered his third World Drivers Championship that year. He beat Graham Hill, BRM P261, and Jim Clark, Lotus 33 Climax to win at Zandvoort, then repeated the victorious dose at the Nurburgring a fortnight later. See here for a piece on his ’66 championship year; https://primotipo.com/2014/11/13/winning-the-1966-world-f1-championships-rodways-repco-recollections-episode-3/
Two 3-litres ahead of two 2-litres in the Dutch dunes. Brabham and Denny Hulme, Brabham BT19/ BT20 respectively from Jim Clark’s Lotus 33 Climax and Graham Hill’s BRM P261 (MotorSport)
BT19 F1-1-65 defines simplicity.
Spaceframe chassis, and a repurposed one at that, Alford and Alder (Triumph) front uprights and povvo Repco RB620 290-310bhp, SOHC two-valve, Lucas injected V8 with a block donated by an Oldsmobile roadie. Can’t be true, surely? It’s an unusual angle of Jack’s weapon of war for 95% of 1966 in Tasman 2.5 and F1 3-litre Repco guises, it raced on towards the end of ‘67 too, no rest for the wicked, World Champ or otherwise.
Credits…
wfooshee, Bernard Cahier-Getty Images, MotorSport Images
(MotorSport)
Tailpiece…
Brabham rounding up Guy Ligier’s Cooper T81 Maserati V12, he was ninth and last, six laps adrift of the winner. At the end of the season Jack sold Guy one of BRO’s Brabham BT20 Repcos (Denny’s F1-2-66), so impressed was the rugby-international watching them go past at close quarters that season.
Panorama of the Self Preservation Society’s ‘Wombat Park Classic’ Concours held at Daylesford, Victoria, Australia on Saturday February 18, 2023.
Being of the Oily Rag School of Restoration I’ve always found the top end of this arcane world – Pebble Beach et al – pointless. Getting a car – ‘restoring it’ is such an inaccurate descriptor – to the point it never looked ex-factory defies me, why not go buy a Monet and pimp-that instead, it’s much smaller and easier?
At the more sane end, with fabulous cars that are used, I’m troubled to find fault with a day in the sunshine as works-driver of the Equipe King AC Ace Bristol talking gobshite to other punters, admiring the cars and pretty-ladies, not to forget sipping some exy-French-bubbles.
Wombat Park, Daylesford was settled in the 1850’s by William Stanbridge, gold-mine owner, entrepreneur and State MP, the place is slap-bang in the middle of Victoria’s beautiful Goldfields region. The current, magnificent 1910 Rodney Alsop designed – the great-grandfather of a car mate of mine as it transpires – English Arts and Crafts style home was recently bought by the Mayor of Daylesford, Tony Demarco, a local hospitality entrepreneur with over 1100 beds in the region.
The Concours d’Elegance was the first gig held at Wombat since the Demarco’s acquisition. Many thanks to the sponsors below for a wonderful day of largesse.
I believe The Self Preservation Society (SPS) – you would need to ask them directly, any connection with The Italian Job is entirely accidental – is one of many seditious automotive organisations that have popped up around the world to celebrate life post-Covid, in particular the failure of the Wuhan Wet n’ Wild Market Alchemy Team to kill us all. Rest assured, the SPS is as potent a force as the Judean People’s Front, or was it The People’s Front of Judea? so no need to worry too much about recommendations to storm The Capitol from them.
Fabulous Alta 2-litre #55S/DPG167 recently purchased by the brothers Murdoch, Geoff and Neill.
Fortunately this machine, and the ex-Sinclair-the-MI6-Spook Alta 1100 s/c have remained in Australia, many thanks to Betty Lowe and the Murdochs for that. The Late Graeme Lowe was a lifetime Alta fan, restorer and racer and would be best-pleased that they’ve remained in the colonies.
I don’t think quite so much technology had ever been shoved into one car until the Porsche 959 came along, it was quite the thing in 1986. Lots of bang for your buck, but visually not so exciting, Der Deutschlanders have never quite had the je ne sais quoi of the Italianos have they?
Seeing this car reminded me of an old client. Chris Taylor (Motors Pty.Ltd) was the Geelong and region Porsche dealer for many years, I was invited along to a presentation of a 959 to the-great-and-the-good of that city when it did its tour of Australian Porker dealers circa 1987.
There was never a dull moment with him as an old-school dealer, read wine, women and song. Chris’ production of a pair of boxing gloves from the drawer of his desk in the middle of a pitch to his bankers to increase his finance facility was memorable, I doubt Milton the Banker ever forgot it, worked too! When Chris bought a new sprintcar, the sound of the 6-litre thing idling @ 5500rpm in the dealership back lane could be heard at Mount Duneed.
What wasn’t such a good idea was racing the 650bhp winged, roller-skate (at Warrnambool or perhaps Mount Gambier) with a residual smidge of alcohol in the system after a big-night the day before. His decline was dreadful, but his wife capably stepped into the breech to run the place for a while after that, RIP Chris Taylor. Not a man who died guessing.
(Porsche AG)
The Lola T70 in all of its forms is the most erotic – if not exotic – of all sixties sports-racers, bar none. It’s a big statement in a decade of sports-racer spunk-muffins I know, but T70’s lack nothing other than a Le Mans win.
This one is ‘the remaining bones’ of chassis SL70/5 an iconic, mainly South African domiciled Ford 289 engined machine. Of note is a period of ownership by Stirling Moss and wins in the 1966 Lourenco Marques 3 Hours (Doug Serrurier/Roy Pierpoint) and the 1967 Roy Hesketh 3 Hours (Serrurier/Jackie Pretorious).
Allen Brown explains the history of the car in his fabulous oldracingcars.com. My bit below is a summarised version, the full entry is here, scroll down to Lola T140:T70/140 SL70/5 https://www.oldracingcars.com/lola/t140/ We historians thank the good lord above for Allen’s site in that we have arms-length information about a machine rather than relying on the often Disney-esque fantasy-tales of some owners.
Lola T70 Chev cutaway (unattributed very nice work)Lola T70 SL/5 Ford at Clubhouse corner Kyalami, advice taken on the driver and date folks
“Doug Serrurier bought the ex-Mike Taylor/David Good 1965 Lola T70 (chassis SL70/5) with its 4.7-litre Ford Weslake engine for sports car racing in South Africa and raced it until it was crashed by teammate Jackie Pretorius in the 1969 Roy Hesketh 3 Hour. Serrurier then converted it into a Formula A T140 (spaceframe 1968 model Lola Formula 5000 car) using the running gear, Ford Weslake engine and Hewland LG gearbox. He didn’t use “T/70/140″ but sold it to the Domingo Bros. Mike Domingo contested the 1970 Bulawayo 100 and Alan Domingo the 1970 Rhodesian GP. Team Domingo had three Lola T140s during 1971.”
“T70/T140 then went to Peter Haller and was converted into a drag-racer by ‘a man named Delport’. Johan van der Merwe, Janie van Aswegen and Ivan Glasby were all owners of what Serrurier called ‘the sorry remains’ during the 1980s before it was purchased by A. R. Culpin in 1989. The T70 origins of these remains were now more important than its T140 interlude so the parts were combined with new T70 body panels and the whole project sold to David Harvey of GT40 Replications Ltd, New Zealand in July 2003. The car was completed as a new T70 by 2005 and is retained by Harvey in 2007. With its remaining parts in the T70, the T140 no longer exists.”
And on to an Australian owner in more recent times. New Zealand is a good place to ‘restore’ one’s Lola, they’ve built far more than Eric Broadley ever did…
Ferrari 365 GTC/4 looking absolutely marvellous with a Sunbeam and Lancia Fulvia 1.3 HF in the background.
Described to me as a thinking man’s Daytona once, but on reflection, that was this particular knob-jockey’s attempted put-down of a good chap of mutual acquaintance who owned a 365 GTB/4.
Whatever the case, what a marvellous machine, who get’s the individual credit at Pininfarina? I guess it’s only period competitor was the Lamborghini Espada. I’m intrigued to know the relative merits of the two if any of you have had that pleasure at length?
(Ferrari)(Ferrari)(unattributed)
I’ve never seen Lindsay Fox’ Museum at Docklands so it was with great anticipation I looked forward to seeing one of their prize-exhibits, the Porsche 550RS Spyder imported to Australia by Norman Hamilton in October 1955. The Self Preservation Society El Presidente, Jack Quinn must have a particularly good line-of-chat as Foxy doesn’t even lend his cars to his Point King clifftop buddies. Many thanks to both of you.
Norman Hamilton, Porsche 550 RS Spyder, Longford 1958. The Mountford Corner trees are still there (B Young)
So complete is the restoration that every single cell of character and patina the machine once had is destroyed, long gone; well done, mission accomplished. I’m at odds with the majority here, there were plenty of chaps with a grumble in the groin as they approached the perfect blue missile. How much restoration is too much you may ask? About this much in my mind.
I recall wandering the better suburbs of Perth with my brother a few years ago – Dalkeith, where he lives, Peppermint Grove and Mosman Park – and observing the small remaining number of older stylish homes and their modern, big, bold, gold’n brassy, loud n’proud replacements and proffering the view that “money and taste are non-converging circles in this part of the world.” He laughed initially, but not so much as the numbing effect of several Schofferhofer Hefeweizens drained from his system.
The same applies to cars of course, Lindsay Fox – a great philanthropist in addition to his stunning, enduring business successes I should point out – isn’t a knowledgeable car enthusiast so the nuances of what happens to each machine are lost in a big collection of mobile global investable assets. When Fox spoke to Dictator Dan and his other mates about 540K at a recent summer-soiree they thought he was rabbiting on about the deposit on a Shelley Beach bathing box not the Nazi’s favourite chick-bait vehicle of choice, one of which Fox bought in recent times.
A Pebble Beach judge tells me that the the Prewar and Postwar Preservation classes are growing in number at prominent concours events, which is great. Hopefully it’s not too late though, over restoration is like virginity really, once it’s lost you’re fucked.
The perfect world of course is somebody with Lind’s money and my taste (sic)…
Delahaye 135M Coupe singing for its supper, roof-rack and all
These two French trailer-queens were easy on the eye, a 1929 Delage D8S Cabriolet and 1948 Delahaye 135M Coupe with body by Jean Antem.
“The D8S has been extensively toured, with wins at Motorclassica and was invited to Pebble Beach in 2014 where is was displayed on the 18th Green,” the info card says. I suppose “has been extensively toured” in this context means on a truck? Perhaps somebody can explain the 18th Green bit to this particular Concours bogan.
Fabulous Maserati Ghibli was a car I admired in my childhood, Sam Patten kindly chauffeured me on the final leg of the trip to Wombat Hill, a lovely, quick, big-car from the passenger seat.
Bugatti Type 44
There was a Concours winner and placegetters of course, but the voting was by Peoples Choice rather than the usual army of morbidly obese geriatrics in gold-buttoned blue-blazers, bone carefully ironed trousers and practical shoes. Stuff that, I’m down a bit on democracy since Trumpy’s ascension to the US Throne, and the 74,222,958 nuffies who voted for him last time. Screw the will of the people, WTF do they know? I’m therefore going through a benevolent dictator phase presently, on that basis the trailer-queens don’t get a look in, if you didn’t drive to the gig you’re disqualified. My three favourites, differing flavours of course, in no particular order are the Alta, Maserati Ghibli and AC Ace Bristol.
Credits…
M Bisset, the shots are all mine unless credited otherwise, oldracingcars.com, Bob Young, Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati
Tailpiece…
Two MGs, the one on the left (what is it?) is just/nearly finished, the one on the right is a J2 if memory serves.
Arthurs Seat. Port Phillip Bay at right, Bass Straight in the distance, next stop King Island then Tasmania (N French)
I’ve taken a step sideways from my motor racing core and have started contributing to Benzina Magazine, a quarterly classic-car mag.
It’s the brainchild of Australian classic motoring and historic motorsport entrepreneur Jack Quinn. We have just put away issue #6, it’s published in Australia and the UK, so you Pommies should be able to find a copy too.
What was it Frank Gardner and Jim Hardman taught me at Calder in 1975? Very comfy in here all day, steering heavy, ‘box devine (N French)Test of the toupee near Flinders, the exhaust note at speed is six-cylinder sonorous. Victorian B-roads at present are shit, they must have Covid, but the independent suspension front and rear is well up the challenge though. Hang on Dr King, purple will not catch on by the way (N French)
My feature in this issue (#6) is an historic treatise and driving impressions on the AC Ace Bristol, the first and best of the breed. I co-wrote a piece on the late Australian racer/businessman Reg Hunt too. #5 on back-issue was an article on the Lou Abrahams and Ted Gray Tornado V8s.
Check the mag out, we’re still locking down the ‘standard mix of articles’ so do give me your impressions on the good, the bad and the ugly. https://benzinamagazine.com/
Nico French is the photographer, a talented, fun guy to work with, a Lotus driver so say no more. The venues in-shot are Arthurs Seat, Shoreham and Flinders on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. The car is Bob King’s 1960 Ace, a machine delivered to its original Australian military-man owner in Europe but otherwise always resident here.
(N French)
The 2-litre BMW derived, two-OHV, Bristol triple-Solex fed straight-six is good for circa 135bhp in this tune, more than enough for the 1960 light, spaceframe chassis car. These magnificent machines have racing-roots, it shows in every aspect of their performance.
Photo Credits…
Nico French
Shoreham looking at Point Leo (N French)
Nothing beats a pert, perky, two-handful rump. No fat, no frills and no baubles. Perfetto…
“Carl Junker, winner of the fastest time prize at the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island is the most modest man in the motor world. He had so little confidence in himself that it was only the repeated urgings of Terdich (Arthur Terdich, winner of the ’29 AGP) that caused him to enter.
This was his first big race, as he has previously competed in nothing more exciting than hillclimbs, but was formerly a motor cyclist of ability, and is a dirt track fan. Junker’s Bugatti, formerly the property of Sid Cox the NSW motorist, has a guaranteed speed of 115 miles per hour.”
“G McFarlane, winner of the Australian Outboards Championship in Melbourne on Albert Park Lake, is an Adelaide University student, who is in his second season with hydroplanes.”
He raced a boat called Tilmerie, and won the open class title in two heats and a final. At the end of the carnival, in a special speed test, he broke the Australian record averaging slightly over 45mph, beating the existing record of 42mph. McFarlane took the O’Donohue Shield for the championship, and held it for the ensuing 12 months.
“He is following in the footsteps of his father, GH McFarlane, who began outboarding in 1900, and was one of the pioneers of hydro-planing in South Australia. GH competed in several Australian championships with Millawa, and won the Albert Cup in New South Wales with Maltric, and successfully defended the cup in South Australia in 1929. Young McFarlane and his father built the boat in which he won the title on their station (farm) at Brinkley on the River Murray.”
TheReferee April 1, 1931Carl Junker in the Phillip Island winning Bugatti T39 #4607 in Melbourne after the 1931 win (B King Collection)
The 31′ AGP is somewhat controversial even after all these years. The Labour Day weekend, Monday March 23 race, 30 1/2 laps of the 6 1/2 mile rectangular sandy-gravel course, 200 miles in all, was held as a handicap.
“The system of handicapping to be adopted will be an allowance in time, based on the capacity of the engine, plus the knowledge of the speed of each car, and skill of the driver.” The West Australian record on February 12, 1931. “The data obtained by the promoters from the previous car races held on this course will, it is claimed, enable the handicappers to allot starts in accordance with the speed capabilities of each contestant, thus ensuring a better, fairer and more interesting race.”
Handicap racing was common in Australia until the early 1950s as we had relatively few racing cars of vastly differing performance spread over a huge area. Handicapping encouraged a come-what-you-brung ethos as the handicapping system meant everybody got a fair go, whether you raced a Bugatti or an Austin 7. In a perfect world, with the handicappers prognostications spot on – impossible of course – the field would all be bunched up together, mechanical mayhem permitting in the last lap or so of the race.
Cyril Dickason, Austin 7 Ulster, with onboard mechanic James Long won the race on handicap, received the plaudits of the crowd and were given the winners trophy. The early Tuesday morning newspapers reported the win in unequivocal fashion, then the event organisers, the Victorian Light Car Club changed the results and awarded the race to the Carl Junker/Reg Nutt Bugatti T39, which had done the fastest time.
Why?
(D Zeunert Collection)
About 5,000 spectators made the trip to Phillip Island to watch the race. Not many you may think, but back then the trip involved a train from Flinders Street Station in Melbourne to Frankston, then another on a branch line to Stony Point, on the shore of Westernport Bay. A shortish ferry ride took you, and perhaps your car if you were one of the fortunate few to own one, to Cowes on the Island. Then one had a walk of a mile or so, or more depending on where you watched the race on the course.
In an absorbing contest – 19 cars entered but only 13 started in a sign of ‘Depression times – Carl Junker’s1496cc straight-eight Bugatti T39, “Off a handicap of 10 minutes, gave a wonderfully consistent performance, and finished the long journey – 31 times around the course – in 2hr 54min 50.25sec. That was the fastest time, and by recording it Junker won the principal prize of 100 pounds. In a supercharged Austin Seven of 748cc CR Dickason (off 30 min) achieved second fastest time (3hr 2min 24.5sec). His handling of such a small machine, particularly on the bad corners, was keenly admired. He lost a minute or so through having to stop twice for minor adjustments. Third on time was the veteran, Harold Drake-Richmond (Bugatti T37 1496cc) off 10min, his figures being 3hr 3min 19.25sec.”
Dickason and May in Austin 7s start their first lap while the heavy metal awaits their turn. From the right; #15 Hope Bartlett and #14 Arthur Terdich, both in AGP winning Bugatti T37A’s off scratch. #20 is Jack Clement’s ex-AV Turner/G Meredith 1927 AGP winning car. #12 is Harold Drake-Richmond’s Bugatti T37, and then #9 is Bill Lowe’s Lombard AL3 (J Sherwood Collection via T Davis)Front runner, Hope Bartlett, Bugatti T37A s/c #37358 from Cyril Dickason’s Austin 7 Ulster s/c, he has just passed him, Heaven Corner (J Sherwood Collection via T Davis)
“On the handicaps Dickason won comfortably, passing the finishing line for the last time a lap and a half ahead of Junker. Junker and Hope Bartlett were having a thrilling tussle, in the 30th lap, for second when Bartlett, driving a supercharged four-cylinder Bugatti, had mechanical trouble and was obliged to stop…”
The Iron Cross for stupidity went to Bartlett – arguably the most experienced and best credentialed of the drivers who started – who had the race shot to bits in the same Bugatti T37A in which Bill Thompson won the year before, but kept going faster still while well in the lead. Somewhat inevitably, the the supercharged-four blew and with it went Hope’s chance to join the AGP Roll of Honour where he surely belongs.
(T Johns Collection)
All good so far. At the end of the race Dickason was acclaimed the winner of the AGP, received the plaudits of the crowd, probably copped a peck on the cheek from Miss Phillip Island and was handed the AGP trophy for winning the race on handicap. He was formally feted as the 1931 Australian Grand Prix winner, with the Tuesday morning Melbourne Sun – the day after the race – proclaiming as such above.
The 1931 AGP Trophy is the big one in the middle of the third row from the top in Cyril Dickason’s collection. There’s no doubt they gonged him as the winner, the question is why the same mob then took it away. Clearly though, Dickason gave them the 1931 equivalent of ‘Go and Get Rooted’ when the blue-blazer commanders of the VLCC asked for that nice trophy back, he hung onto it (Ann Dickason Collection)
Then, 24 hours later, the fix was on, the Victorian Light Car Club committee had met, and announced Junker as the victor, the AGP winner. Dickason’s wife recorded in a November 6, 1982 letter to assist Birdwood Mill historians with photo details of the image below, “C.R Dickason, in Supercharged Austin 7, passing G Dentry. He won the Grand Prix but the following day the Victorian Light Car Club altered the rules and awarded the race to C Junker in a Bugatti.”
Certainly the Melbourne Sun, published on the Tuesday morning after the race, before the VLCC gave the rules a tickle, published an article which records, “Driving magnificently and making a non-stop run, C.R. Dickason, in a supercharged Austin Seven, off 30 minutes handicap, won the fourth 200 mile Australian Grand Prix, run here today.”
So, in the very early hours of Tuesday morning, when The Sun‘s presses rolled in Flinders Street, Melbourne, the winner of the AGP was Cyril Dickason. That he was presented with the award post-race is supported by the fact that the AGP Trophy remained in his collection. He never gave it back, even if the VLCC was stupid enough to ask for it’s return…
Dickason’s mechanic, James Long thanks Barney Dentry – with wife Bess alongside – for making room, Riley Brooklands (fourth) (H Paynting via A Dickason)
The VLCC committee in 1931 comprised AJ Terdich, H Drake-Richmond, AW Bernadou, OF Tough, AC Tye, A Carlton, F Walch, G Weiss, JW Condon, WJ Middleton and G Wright. At least three, and probably more of these fellas were/had been Bugatti owners/racers. I wonder how many of the establishment car club, VLCC committeemen were Austin 7 owners? Clubs are often terrible things when it comes to governance, who knows what went on and why in the hallowed, dark timber, panelled halls of the VLCC’s Fitzroy premises.
“I mean olde-bean, an ‘Orstin 7 won in 1928, ruddy-hell we can’t have another of those plebian roller-skates beating our French racing aristocrats! Besides, the Austins are grubby-factory cars, ours are amateur entries which are much more worthy and in the spirit of the race. And look, I know Carl Junker is only a Heidelberg butcher and didn’t go to Scotch (College) or Grammar (Melbourne) let alone live in Toorak or South Yarra but he is a protestant stout-chap, has plenty of money, and goodness – happy-hockey sticks – the main thing is he’s driving a Bugatti and that’s what we want winning OUR RACE not a ruddy-Austin…blah-blah, wank-toss-jerk see you at the Club this evening old-China…”
Well OK, maybe I’ve overdone it a bit. We Skips like to think of ourselves as an egalitarian lot and in relative terms compared to some other parts of the world that’s correct. But back then, your family, address, school, clubs, religion and of course bank balance all mattered. A lot. Why did the LCCV seemingly steal that AGP from Dickason and Austin and give it to Junker and Bugatti?
Two of my close mates are on opposite sides of this argument. Austin 7/Bentley historian/author/racer Tony Johns swings one way and Bugatti historian/author/racer Bob King the other. Getting hold of a copy of the supplementary regulations for this race meeting would resolve the good-natured banter about this long ago AGP. That is, hopefully that document makes clear the basis on which the winner of the AGP was to be awarded, on a scratch or handicap basis. In short, we want to know if CR Dickason and Austin were shafted, or otherwise.
Austin Distributors ad which appeared in the Melbourne Truth on 28 March 1931. By that stage Austin Distributors Pty. Ltd, and their lawyers would have been aware the VLCC had reallocated the spoils of victory, so there is a commendable ‘up yours’ element to this piece of corporate communication. By the 1970s the Truth‘s raison d’être had evolved into a compelling mix of titties and lies (T Johns Collection)
Credits…
The Referee, Sydney, April 1, 1931, Bob King Collection, Tony Johns Collection via The Nostalgia Forum, John Sherwood Collection via Tony Davis, Harold Paynting via Ann Dickason Collection, David Zeunert Collection
Tailpiece…
(B King Collection)
Carl Junker (right) and mechanic, Mr E Lauder, having a cuppa before the start of the Phillip Island 100 on New Years Day 1934. Persil white overalls would not have looked quite so perfect a couple of hours later. It’s a Bugatti T39 again, but this time chassis #4604. Blow the shot up and suss the characters, wonderful.
Everything you need to know about 37 year-old Bob Muir’s skill behind the wheel is demonstrated in this shot of the grid at the start of the III Gran Premio di Mugello Euro F2 round in July 1976.
The red spec on the front row is Muiro’s Derek Kneller prepared Chevron B35 Ford BDA. Such are the dimensions of his wedding-tackle and blinding, god-given speed he has plonked a privateer Chevron with Ford BDA engine ahead of almost all the factory cars, the four Renault-Gordini V6 powered Elf 2Js (Jean-Pierre Jabouille alongside him on pole, and Michel Leclere) and Martini Mk19s (Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay). Then the works-March BMWs (Maurizio Flammini and Alex Ribeiro) and the rest including future/current GP drivers, Keke Rosberg, Vittorio Brambilla, Giancarlo Martini, Hans Binder, Ingo Hoffman and Harald Ertl. Bob’s Ford BDA was the pick of the engines in 1972 but the pecking order on this grid was Renault-Gordini V6, BMW M12/7, Hart 420R then the BDA. Jabouille won from Arnoux and Tambay. Muir was 16th.
In a different time, after tumbling out of the right womb, the likes of Bob Muir would have been funded through Karts by Daddy, funded through Formula Ford and F3 by Daddy, then picked up by one of the F1 Feeder Capital Vulture outfits (still part funded by Daddy, investment to this point circa $A6-8million) and into Grand Prix racing. And yes, I know he is not alone.
But Bob was old school, his formative years, indeed most of his years, were self funded by his motor dealership, so his appearances were usually sporadic and subject to availability of the-readies. I suspect his first real paid drive was with Bob and Marj Brown, in Australian F2 in 1974 and British Formula Atlantic in 1975 with a pair of Birrana 273s. The Browns funded this short Chevron campaign too, then it was back to Australia, where taxis beckoned.
Griffin helmeted Muir in front of Giorgio Francia’s Chevron B35 BMW. Bob had never raced at Mugello before, let alone visited Italy. It seems he rather liked the place (MotorSport)Meet the fam. Bob and Judy Muir, with Jason and Danielle at Mascot Airport, Sydney in April 1972 with third place booty from the Singapore Grand Prix. Australians 1-3 in this race; Max Stewart, Mildren Ford, Vern Schuppan, March 722 Ford and then Bob’s borrowed or leased Rennmax BN3 FordBob early in the year, 1973 US L&M Championship campaign at Riverside. Legendary engineer/mechanic/driver mentor Peter Molloy at left, John Wright in the middle? Lola T330 Chev (Muir Family Collection)
R.I.P Bob Muir, November 29, 1939-February 12, 2023, thanks so much for some wonderful memories, what a steerer…
The Muirs Sports Cars entry ahead of Teddy Pilette during the 1971 Tasman Cup Warwick Farm 100, Mildren ‘Yellow Submarine’ Waggott 2-litre TC-4V from McLaren M10B Chev. This is the battle for fifth place, resolved in Teddy’s favour. Frank Gardner won in a works-Lola T192 Chev from Chris Amon, Lotus 70 Ford and Kevin Bartlett, Mildren Chev (oldracephotos.com/D Simpson)
Credits…
MotorSport Images, Getty Images, oldracephotos.com/Dick Simpson, Muir Family Collection, Tony Glenn, oldracingcars.com, Alan Cox, Derek Kneller, oldracingcars.com
Bob about to take to Oran Park for the first time in the brand new Matich A53 Repco-Holden, Saturday February 2, 1974 (D Kneller)
Etcetera…
As is so often the case the article grows like topsy after the initial posting, in this case thanks to a long discussion with legendary engineer/mechanic Derek Kneller in the UK this morning, February 15.
“Bob was a bloody good driver, really good, he could sort a car too. He went very well in the Lola T330 Chev that he ran in the 1973 L &M (US F5000 Championship). I was over there that season running Frank’s two Matich A51 Repcos. Peter Molloy was over there for a while when Bob first arrived, and he soon hooked up with Jerry Eisert and Chuck Jones. The car was always well prepared but as the season went on they were cobbling together engines. They had a really smart rig but the engines weren’t too good, I remember Bob finishing a heat at Watkins Glen second with the thing running on only seven-cylinders.”
In an amazing run of raw pace despite the tight budget, Bob qualified fourth at Michigan International on May 20 for third in his heat and DNF final. Off to Mid Ohio for Q3 and DNS heat and final, and then to the demanding Watkins Glen, a circuit on which he hadn’t competed before. Q2 behind Jody Scheckter and ahead of Brett Lunger, Brian Redman, Peter Gethin, Mark Donohue, Tony Adamowicz, David Hobbs, Kevin Bartlett, John Walker, Vern Schuppan and Frank Matich was really something. He was fifth in his heat at Road America after qualifying poorly, DNF in the final then missed the last few rounds, out of money. While 23 year old Jody Scheckter was the L&M young star of the series, the older find was 34 years young Bob Muir.
“Bob was unlucky to destroy the A52 (Matich A52 Repco-Holden F5000 car) in later 1973 at Warwick Farm in testing, but there was no question of who we were going to turn to when Frank decided he couldn’t do the race distance at Oran Park.”
“What’s it doing Bob?” Muir and crew in the Oran Park paddock, Matich A53 Repco-Holden (D Kneller)
“The car (Matich A53 Repco-Holden) was brand new, Frank had done a few sessions and we’d attended to a few things, then Bob did three or so laps to get the feel of the thing but the oil pump drive-belt came off and that damaged the engine. We had that changed by late evening and were allowed to do some laps at about 8pm, Bob was quickly down to times in the low 40s but had to start the race from the back of the grid as he hadn’t done a flyer before the oil pump problem.”
“In the race he was soon up to eighth or ninth, doing fast, consistent times before getting stuck behind Gethin or Oxton, then the fuel pump overheated so he was out. Repco had relocated the fuel pump and we hadn’t done enough testing laps to know it needed a heat-shield. Bob did some practice laps at Surfers but FM felt he was ok to do that race, and the final two at Sandown and Adelaide International.”
“I went back to the UK in late 1974 after we had wound down Frank’s (Matich) racing business in Sydney when he retired, then worked outside racing, I didn’t realise Bob contested the British Formula Atlantic Championship in 1975.”
After some fast drives in a borrowed Rennmax early in the 1974 Australian F2 Championship, Muir was engaged by Adelaide couple, Bob and Marj Brown to drive their pair of Birrana 273 Hart-Ford 416-B 1.6-litre cars. Bob finished second in a very tight, thrilling title-chase with works-Birrana driver Leo Geoghegan who raced their latest 274 model.
Muir, Birrana 273-009 Ford BDA, Mallory Park August 24, 1975, DNF fuel surge. Jim Crawford’s Chevron B29 won
The Browns decided to expand their specialist glass-making business to the UK in 1975. Taking the Birranas with them to contest the British Formula Atlantic Championship would be an ideal way to create interest in the new venture. Bob was the driver with his family of four relocating to Bishop Auckland (in Durham, the very north of England not too far from the border with Scotland) where the equipe was based. Dean Hosking, a young Adelaide driver who had raced a Formula 3 Birrana 374 Toyota for John Blander in 1974 and did very well also went along to drive one of the cars. Importantly, Tony Alcock, the design-partner in Birrana Cars, came along to engineer the cars, he was at a loose-end when Tony and Malcolm Ramsay, his business partner, decided to cease volume production of Birranas in Adelaide at the end of 1974.
Dean picks up the threads, “Bob’s business had developed the technology to make the type of glass that enabled one to see inside hot domestic ovens. He sold the company to Pilkington Glass and was subject to the usual ten year non-compete clause. So he approached the UK Government with the idea of setting up over there, that’s why the factory was in Bishop Auckland, the incentives were provided there in an area employment opportunities were needed.”
British Formula Atlantic was at its peak then, grids of 20 cars fought for two championships in 1975, the John Player British Formula Atlantic Championship and the Southern Organs British Formula Atlantic Championship. Tony Brise and Gunnar Nilsson went head to head, Brise won the former and Ted Wenz the latter with Nilsson second. Other big hitters that year included Brian Henton, Danny Sullivan, Jim Crawford, John Nicholson, Ray Mallock and Brett Riley.
Bob Muir and Tony Alcock entered 14 of the 21 rounds with the two year old Birrana for bests a pair of third placings at Silverstone and Oulton Park. In an impressive first UK season, Muir’s raw speed was again demonstrated with six top-five qualifying performances, two on the front row, one alongside Jim Crawford’s Chevron B29 at Mallory in August, and another beside the similarly mounted Gunnar Nilsson at Oulton in October. “He led a race at Mallory until the subframe broke (June 15), that was pretty impressive,” recalls Dean. While he was fifth in his first outing at Mallory Park in March, generally the little equipe got better results from late May after they had dialled the car in to the circuits and tyres.
“The deals were that Tony and I were paid, not a lot in my case, but enough to live on, to prepare the cars and me to have an occasional drive. Bob traded in cars of course! He had some friends in the London motor trade, that’s how he supported his family while he was over there.”
Muir, Minos Ford BDA at Thruxton during the 1976 BARC 200. DNF in the race won by Maurizio Flammini’s works-March 762 BMW (MotorSport)
“The first time I drove one of the cars was at Silverstone (April 13). I could certainly feel the extra 70bhp of the BDA compared with the 135bhp Corolla motor in the 374 but soon got used to that after a few laps. In fact I got to the far side of the circuit and was pondering what was the right gear for that corner and somebody went past me – Zot – clearly it wasn’t third!” Dean quipped. Bob qualified 15th that weekend in 273-009, and Dean 18th in 273-006, both cars retired, so not a good weekend.
“Tony Brise was head and shoulders above everybody else, I was convinced he would be the next British world champion. I thought Richard Morgan was impressive up close too. Ted Wenz not so much. But we held our own in cars that were two years old. I wouldn’t have missed the experience for the world, but I wasn’t getting the drives I expected, money was perhaps a little tighter than Bob Brown may have hoped.”
It appears that Dean’s final race was at Snetterton on June 29. “Bob was great to be with, easy-going, a typical Sydney good-time guy! There was no prima-donna stuff, one one occasion we swopped cars as mine had the setup he was after. I came back and drove both contemporary cars for John Blanden, an ASP 340C Clubman, and some of his historic cars. I’ve always remained close to the scene with my involvement in the Sporting Car Club of South Australia and so on.”
At the end of 1975 Alcock took the fateful decision to join Hill Grand Prix, “I knew Tony well, he was with Matich for a while and came with us to the US when we did a couple of L&M races in the McLaren M10C Repco-Holden in early 1971. We lived close together in Sydney and saw one another quite a lot socially, both wives were Brits.” Kneller recalled affectionately.
“When Bob got in touch with me to help finish off the Minos Ford F2 car after Tony left – in essence it was a 273 rebodied and fitted with 295bhp Cosworth Ford BDX engine – it required assembly and finishing off, the hard stuff had already been done by Tony and Bob. I moved up to Bishop Auckland in this period and lived with Bob and Judy.”
“We took the car behind our little van to Thruxton (April 19) for the second round of the European F2 Championship. Bob was doing quite well in practice despite the fact that the car hadn’t turned a wheel before, 15th quickest time or thereabouts, but he only completed a lap in the race before the distributor drive failed.”
“We next set off for France to run in the Pau Grand Prix (June 7). What became clear in practice was that the Minos was flexing a lot when forced to change direction quickly, a problem not apparent at Thruxton. The Birranas had a chassis comprising an aluminium monocoque front and centre section and a tubular steel A-frame to which the engine was attached. It was built for 200bhp twin-cams not a 295bhp 2-litre BDX, the thing was twisting in the middle with the greater forces applied to it. I got some bits and pieces to brace the frame to the tub, including some radius rods Ron Dennis offered, but time ran out and we didn’t qualify.”
Derek Kneller’s shot of the Brown’s new Chevron B35 Ford (#35-76-10) after he had completed its assembly at Bolton in June 1976. B35 alongside’s owner? Chassis number of the half finished car please…? (D Kneller)
“The next thing I knew was Bob Muir asking me to go down to Bolton to assemble a new Chevron B35! Bob and Marj thought, stuff-it we need a new car.”
Derek Bennett himself helped me get the thing together, then off we set for Rouen (June 27). What should have been a good weekend quickly turned to tears, every time Bob applied the brakes at the bottom of the hill the car’s front wheels wanted to come off. The car assembly process at Chevrons involved going to the spares department to get the bits and pieces as you needed to attach to the chassis. The front suspension corners were complete sub-assemblies, all I had to do was bolt the wishbones, already attached to the upright assembly to the chassis. But left-hand hubs had gone onto right hand uprights, and vice-versa, so the wheels were trying to come undone under braking loads. What should have been an easy fix couldn’t be done in the paddock as none of the Chevron runners had the necessary parts.”
“We got the bits we needed out from England, then headed straight for Mugello which was held a fortnight later (July 11). We had heaps of time so Bob finally did lots of laps, getting himself and the car really dialled in. Don’t forget that when he got to the UK he didn’t know the circuits and the same applied in Europe of course. We had problems with the metering units of two engines, they weren’t getting the lubrication they needed from the Avgas we used.”
“We had great support from Swindons as we were the only ones running Ford engines. We needed another engine for the race so Bob Brown hired a plane, and he flew down with a Swindon works engine and one of their mechanics to look after it. When Bob put the car on the front row alongside Jabouille it was unbelievable. Our little team against the might of France complete with factory 320bhp Renault-Gordini V6s. Incredible really.”
Dicing with Alex Ribeiro’s fourth placed works-March 762 BMW early in the Mugello GP, Chevron B35 Ford BDX (MotorSport)
“Muiro led from the start of the 30 car grid, for about two laps our immaculate – Muir was fanatical about presentation – little red car led the field then he fell back a bit with clutch problems. The Aeroquip hydraulics line from stores was a fraction too short and vibrated loose, but he still ran sixth for a long while without a clutch, then slipped to ninth and eventually finished sixteenth. It was such a shame, without that who knows where he would have come.”
“And that was it. The Browns decided they had had enough and sold the Chevron. I’m not sure what became of the Minos, we sold it to a bloke from Scotland who ran it in the British Group 8 series for a while. Bob and Judy returned to Australia, I kept in touch with both of them, Judy too after they divorced, I last saw her at Frank’s (Matich) funeral in 2015. We kept in touch with Tony Alcock’s wife as well. After the plane crash (that killed most of Graham Hill’s team) she lived with her mother in Sussex for a while, she is still alive. The funny thing is, that light plane ride that Bob Brown took with the BDX from Bristol to Florence whetted his interest in flying, he and Marj took that up as another expensive hobby after they were finished with car racing!”
Three fabulous Muir Family Mugello happy-snaps, probably taken by Bob Brown as Derek Kneller is pushing the car in one shot and shirtless in another. Chevron B35 Ford BDX, the car on pole is Jean-Pierre Jabouille’s Elf 2J Renault
Tailpiece…
(T Glenn)
Super-sub. Bob Muir settles himself into Frank Matich’s brand new Matich A53 Repco-Holden at Oran Park just prior to the Tasman Cup round that in February 1974.
Matich had electrocuted himself in a near-fatal boating accident days before, FM ‘threw the keys’ to Bob after practicing the car and realising he wasn’t sufficiently well for the OP round, Q15/DNF. Frank was well enough to contest the remaining three Australian races – in which he was, as usual, very fast – his final races as events transpired.
The roll call is Peter Hughes in the white T-shirt, Lugsy Adams in yellow, then Grant O’Neill with the builders-cleavage, his woolly head obscuring Derek Kneller who is working on the left-front, all members of Frank Matich Racing. These are the machinists/fabricators/welders/mechanics who built A53-007, the very best of the Matich F5000 breed.
When I first posted an article incorporating this shot four years ago I captioned it on the basis that the fully-optioned, rather attractive young lady tending to Bob’s black helmet was his wife, a reasonable guess I thought. Not too long after, Bob’s ex-wife commented on social media that the blonde in question wasn’t her at all. There ya-go, my case rests, Muir met another of the tests of an elite level driver, the occasional away-game on the home front…’jokin of course.
The Scarab Offy debut at Monaco in 1960, when Reventlow and Chuck Daigh were so far off the pace, Stirling Moss did some laps in the car. Note the roll bar – high by the standards of the day albeit not high enough – seatbelts are fitted too, but those were for wally-woofdas in the views of Europeans at the time, so Moss is sitting on them.
Those lovely Halibrand wheels are Goodyear shod, Moss pointed them in the direction of the Dunlop tent, they raced so equipped. Goodyear nailed F1 pretty quickly mind you, they partnered with Brabham from the 1965 Tasman Series, with lots of input from Jack Brabham, Dan Gurney, Frank Gardner and Denny Hulme they improved exponentially to win the 1966 F1 World Championship and French F2 Championship, also the unofficial ‘European’ one.
That’s Lance in the orange driving suit off to the left, by the pit counter #48 is his car, Moss is lapping in Daigh’s machine.
(unattributed)
This undated workshop shot highlights just how low (shots both above and below) in the spaceframe the engine was mounted – the 2.5-litre, twin cam, twin plug, desmodromic, two-valve, Hilborn injected, Offenhauser designed and built, circa 220bhp four cylinder engine was laid right over on its side. Note too the drum brakes at this stage of development, the car raced with Girling calipers and rotors.
These photographs highlight the two-years-too-late aspect of the Aston Martin DBR4 and Scarab designs in relation to the mid-engined brigade. The practice shot above shows the big, front-engined non-qualifiers #48 Reventlow and Daigh being passed by Roy Salvadori’s Cooper T51 Climax, and below, the fastest design of 1960, Innes Ireland’s works Lotus 18 Climax closing in on Reventlow.
(D Orosco Collection)(P Darley)
Quite why the Scarab transporter is parked out front of Lotus’ Cheshunt factory enroute to the French Grand Prix that July is a bit of a mystery perhaps you can help solve!?
The 1959 Fiat truck based Bertoletti transporter was commissioned by Reventlow for Scarab’s use in 1960-61 before being briefly used by Lotus before its sale to Alan Mann Racing.
The shot below shows Lance alongside Lucien Bianchi, Cooper T51 Climax, at the start of the Belgian GP at Spa. Reventlow retired after one lap with engine problems, while Bianchi was sixth, and last, eight laps adrift of race winner, Jack Brabham’s Cooper T53 Climax. Difference is size between the 1960 model Scarab and ’59 Cooper, marked.
(RPcollectie-Roozendaal)(unattributed)
Wonderful pit shot taken during the French GP weekend at Reims. Chuck Daigh Q23 and Richie Ginther Q20 practiced but neither car started the race
Upper and lower wishbone and coil spring/damper front suspension, cast magnesium upright. Note the Aeroquip or braided steel oil lines to the front mounted oil-cooler in front of the coolant radiator, the first appearance of such fittings in GP racing years before they became ubiquitous.
Credits…
Don Orosco Collection, MotorSport, Peter Darley, RP collectie Roozendaal, edwardquinn.com, autopics.com.au
Tailpiece…
Chuck Daigh and Lance Reventlow full of optimism early in the Monaco GP weekend. Nifty fly-boy driving suits, Nomex I wonder?
There was much to admire in the Scarab’s design and execution but Reventlow Automobile Inc needed to be taking the start at the principality in 1958, not 1960.
The mid-engined 3.9-litre Scarab RE Buick V8 Intercontinental Formula machine on its way to fourth place in Chuck Daigh’s hands in the 1962 Sandown Park International. It was a step in the right direction, but sadly the machine never raced again.
primotipo... 