primotipo…

Gnoo Blas actually! Ross Dalton and his Jaguar C-Type, February 1960…

Gnoo Blas was a circuit around the public roads of Bloomfield Hospital in Orange, in the Central West region of New South Wales, 250km west of Sydney. Gnoo Blas is the aboriginal name of Mount Canoblas nearby.

The superb opening photo, taken by John Ellacott, is one of those ‘ the more you look the more you see shots’.

Note the ‘fag’ between the driver’s fingers, plastic raincoat, overloaded control tower, Kombi with ‘tarp drying on top, official with ‘cuppa. All are about as far from Bernie’s ‘manicured paddocks and corporate scene’ as it’s possible to be. And thank the good Lord above for that.

As the Australian economy recovered from World War 2 and disposable incomes increased, together with the availability of consumer credit, motor racing and racing circuits were opportunities for individuals and communities alike. Circuits popped up all over the place. Oranges’ ‘Cherry Blossom Committee’ saw an opportunity to establish a circuit as the promoters of the Easter Bathurst meeting ‘up the road’, the ‘Australian Sporting Car Club’ were in dispute with local Bathurst authorities and were looking for an alternative venue.

The 6.03km, triangular shaped circuit opened in January 1953, the ‘South Pacific Road Racing Championship’ attracted 12,500 spectators.

All of the stars of the period raced there including Prince Bira, Peter Whitehead, Tony Gaze, Ted Gray, Doug Whiteford and Jack Brabham who made his road racing debut there in 1952 in a Cooper Mk IV and held the lap record until the circuits’ final meeting.

 

The shot of above shows the atmosphere of the place and time. John Medley IDs the shot as lap 1 of the 1955 South Pacific Championship, ‘Brabham leading Whitehead- a remarkable performance.’ F2 Cooper T23 Bristol from F Libre Ferrari 500/625.

Dwindling crowds, debts owed to the original investors and difficulties in renewing the track licence with the NSW police led to the circuits closure in October 1961, the lap record was then held by Jon Leighton’s Cooper Climax at 105.2 mph. One era and circuit closed with Warwick Farm shortly to open in Western Sydney, another era commenced.

South Pacific Road Racing Championships 1956…

One of the best promoted meetings was the ‘South Pacific Road Racing Championship’ contested on 30 January 1956.

20,000 spectators crowded into Orange on race day to see a quality field of cars and drives; Reg Hunt in his new Maserati 250F, Jack Brabham and Ken Neal in Cooper Bristols, Curley Brydon Ferrari 125, Stan Jones in Maybach 3 and Alf Harvey in the ex-Bira Oscar V12.

Hunt dominated, he lapped the field, took the fastest lap and set the highest top speed at160mph over the ‘Flying Quarter’. Jones withdrew with a ‘leg out of bed’, a rod poking outside the block of the precious 6-cylinder engine. Brabham and Neal were second and third in their Cooper Bristols.

 

Ex-Works/Gardner/Matich Jaguar ‘XKC037’…

The ‘happy chappy’ in the Jaguar in the first photo at the top is Ross Dalton who acquired the car from Frank Matich. ‘XKC037’ started life as a works car. It was built as a standard specification reserve 1953 Le Mans entry in case the advanced lightweight cars under development failed in testing (XKC038 and XKC039 were built for the same purpose).

Stirling Moss raced it at Silverstone in May 1953 and rolled it. XKC037 was then rebodied and sold to the Kenyan Coca Cola bottler John Marussis who entered it at Reims but wrecked it at Dundrod.

Rebuilt again, it was then sold via 1951 Le Mans winner, Peter Whitehead to Cessnock, New South Wales doctor, John Boorman.

Frank Gardner bought the car as an insurance write-off after it was involved in a fatal accident. Gardner recalled in a ‘Motorsport’ interview ‘…Boorman hit a Ford Customline, killed the (two) occupants and ended up down a ravine (near Tamworth NSW)…I wrote to Jaguar asking for information so i could rebuild it… a few weeks later a package arrived with all the drawings so I knew which way to go to get it sorted’.

‘I did it right because even then a proper C Type meant something and i thought if i bastardise this thing it will look like cleaning up a bloody Rembrandt with aftershave lotion! But I couldn’t get it to run cool so I altered the radiator grille a bit…’

 

 

The C Type replaced FG’s lightweight XK120 Jaguar and was an important stepping stone in the careers of both he and Matich, both progressed to ‘D Types’ after the ‘C’.

Years later ‘XKC037’ was acquired by Sydney Jaguar identity, Ian Cummins who completed its restoration in the mid ’70’s. It left our shores in 1984 for a sum considerably greater than the £2000 Ross Dalton paid in 1960!

‘C Type’ Jags won Le Mans upon debut in 1951 and again in ’53.

Etcetera: ‘XKC037’…

Dr John Boorman, ‘XKC037’ at Tomago Airstrip, NSW 9 April 1955.

Frank Gardner at Mount Panorama in 1957.

Tom Sulman’s Aston Martin DB3S chases Frank Gardner’s Jag ‘XKC037’ at Mount Druitt, November 1957.

FG ascending Silverdale Hillclimb during the 1957 NSW Hillclimb Championships, he won his class and was quicker than Arnold Glass in the ex-Lex Davison Australian Grand Prix winning HWM Jaguar.

Frank Matich Jag C during private practice at Mt Druitt, Sydney in 1959.

The engine of ‘XKC037’ as raced by Frank Matich for Leaton Motors at the October 1958 Bathurst meeting.

The car contested the Australian Tourist Trophy, FM finished fourth, David McKay won the race in his second, ex-works Aston Martin DB3S.

The current owner of this wonderful car, John Corrie, recently (March 2015) got in touch and sent these shots of the C Type, great to see it still being raced, Messrs Gardner, Matich and Dalton would be pleased!

 

 

Etcetera: Gnoo Blas 1960 Australian Touring Car Championship meeting…

Start of the one race, very first, Australian Touring Car Championship at Gnoo Blas on 1 February 1960.

Left to right are the Jag Mk1’s of Ron Hodgson, Bill Pitt and David McKay from pole who won the race.

Hodgson led early, the three Jags pulled away from the rest of the field- he ran wide and the other two spun at ‘Windsock’ on lap 1 then he did the same on lap 2 letting McKay and Pitt through. Max Volkers was fourth in his Holden FJ and Pete Geoghegan fifth in his Holden 48-215 until head gasket failure intervened.

By lap 14 McKay had a 26 second lead over Pitt, then rain fell catching Ron Sawyer’s Holden FJ out- he spun on the crest of Connaghans Corner hitting the inside bank and rolling- help was at hand when Des West stopped to assist the hapless driver from the car. McKay’s path was blocked by a Ford Zephyr which had also stopped (driver unknown) ‘McKay used his car to move the Zephyr out of the way’.

Further excitement occurred on the following lap when McKay spun yielding the lead to Pitt but the overdrive mechanism on that car began to fail allowing David McKay to regain the lead 2 laps from the end, he won the race six seconds ahead of Pitt with Ron Hodgson a minute in arrears then came Max Volkers a lap down in fourth.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography…

‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden, John Medley, Michael Hickey

Photo Credits…

John Ellacott, Jaguar Heritage, Orange & District Historical Society, Paul Cross, Don Read Collection, Dick Willis, Chris Perrett, John Corrie, Frank Gardner ‘Motorsport’ magazine interview March 2008, Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club, Jock Psaros, Jaguar Magazine, Ian Lord Collection

Finito…