(Jack Inwood)
Three-time Kiwi Gold Star champion Jim Palmer leads John Riley during the 1964 running of the ‘Renwick 50’ held each November in the township of Renwick…
Palmer’s car is the ex-Jack Brabham works 1964 Tasman Series Brabham BT7A Climax FPF ‘IC-2-63’, Riley’s the ex-Tony Shelly Lotus 18/21 Climax FPF.
When I initially saw this shot I imagined the cars were returning to the paddock but in fact they are entering what was in effect a single car at a time part of the track, a right-hander, the course was essentially rectangular in layout through the roads of Renwick.
The Marlborough region is a stunning part of New Zealand, its the countries largest wine growing area, in the far north of the South Island and famous the world over for some marvellous Sauvignon Blanc whites.
Palmer’s ex-Clark Lotus 32B Climax during the January 1966 Levin Tasman round, he was 5th in the race won by Richard Attwood’s BRM P261. Jim Clark won the ’65 Tasman in this car, chassis ’32-FL-8′ with 4 wins and then sold it to the Palmer family. Superbly prepared and driven, Palmer won the 1965/6 NZ Gold Star in it and then finished 4th in the ’66 Tasman with a mix of speed and reliability- only Stewart, Hill and Clark were in front of the plucky Kiwi. The car then raced in Oz in the hands of Greg Cusack and Mel McEwin. Ultimately restored by John Dawson-Damer in Sydney and sold/part exchanged for a Lotus 79 to Classic Team Lotus 20 years ago. 2.5 CC FPF and ZF 5 speed box clear in shot as is very beefy rear chassis diaphragm (TRS)
Click here for an article about the Lotus 32B and the Levin International won by Jim Clark in 1965;
The Renwick event was run from 1960 to 1967. Frank Shuter won the first in his Ferrari 625, but it was Palmer who had a bit of a mortgage on it.
He won in 1964, 1965 and 1966 in Cooper T53, Brabham BT7A and Lotus 32B, the latter the car Jim Clark won the Tasman Series with in 1965. All of these cars were powered by the venerable 2.5 litre Coventry Climax FPF 4 cylinder engine- the World Championship winning engine of 1959-60. Palmer won the New Zealand Gold Star, the NZ drivers championship in 1964/5, 1965/6 and 1967/8 in the Brabham, Lotus and a McLaren M4A Ford FVA F2 respectively.
Jim Palmer aboard the Scuderia Veloce Brabham BT11A Climax, not so long before vacated by Spencer Martin, at Bathurst, Easter 1966. The shot is taken near the crest at Reid Park Gate. Palmer drove well, albeit against no other 2.5 litre competition, to win the racing car feature Mt Panorama Gold Cup. It was about this time he failed his CAMS licence due to some vision issues, a great shame as the speedy Kiwi would have been a welcome addition to our Gold Star grids, skinny as they were (John Ellacott)
A top driver he retired too early in my book, partially due to being unable to get an Australian CAMS racing licence, he was long-sighted in one eye. He also married and decided to focus on his retail motor trade and property business interests which centred on Hamilton where he still lives.
Jim Palmer in the ex-Clark Lotus 32B Climax on the way to 6th place in the 1966 Warwick Farm 100 on 13 February. Clark won from Hill and Gardner (Bruce Wells)
The 1964 Renwick 50 was run over 20 laps of the 2.414 km course (three variants of Renwick roads were used over the years) on 14 November, a smidge under 50 km in total. Palmer won and took the lap record at 1: 17.0 with Morrie Stanton, Stanton Corvette 2nd and Red Dawson in a Cooper T53 Climax 3rd.
Check out this YouTube footage which shows the undulating, narrow nature of the circuit. Whilst the caption says 1965, the footage is from several of the Renwick meetings including 1964.
Bibliography…
sergent.com, ‘Bathurst: Cradle of Australian Motor Racing’ John Medley, oldracingcars.com
Photo Credits…
Jack Inwood/The Roaring Season, John Ellacott, Bruce Wells, Marlborough Car Club
Tailpiece: Chris Amon, Maser 250F, Renwick 50 November 1962…
Chris Amon, Maser 250F just ahead of Bob Eade’s similar car with John Histed’s Lola Mk2 Ford behind. Angus Hyslop Cooper T53 Climax won from Amon and Barry Cottle, Lola Mk1 Climax. This race on 10 November 1962 was Chris’ last race in the Maser (Marlborough Car Club)
Postscript: Next stage of Chris Amon’s career…
Click here for an article on the next critical months in Amon’s career after the Maserati was put to one side and Chris drove David McKay’s Cooper T53 Climax in the 1963 Australasian Internationals; https://primotipo.com/2017/09/06/chris-amon-cooper-t53-and-the-australian-grand-prix-1963/
Finito…
primotipo... 
[…] Went all the way to the top of racing too, winning the NZ Gold Star drivers championship on four occasions in the sixties, click here for a brief article on Jim; https://primotipo.com/2018/01/02/renwick-50-and-jim-palmer-new-zealand-1965/ […]
From records it would appear the 1st Renwick 50 was in November 1960 with Frank Shuter taking first place in a Ferrari 625. I’ve only come across this information as my cousin and I are researching Frank Shuters history: https://www.sergent.com.au/motor/nzdriverss.html#Frank%20Shuter
Thanks Lisa,
Lazy research on my part, I’ve corrected the article accordingly. Best wishes with your Frank Shuter research, we all look forward to seeing the fruits of your efforts in due course.
Mark
Many thanks Mark for including the information on your page.
Kindest regards, Lisa