primotipo…

(oldracephotos/DSimpson)

Or Beach Buggy, more specifically?…

The CMS VW buggy of George Geshopoulis in this group of four cars has been rounded up by one of the fastest cars in Australia at the time, Bob Jane’s 4.4 litre Repco-Brabham V8 engined Elfin 400, a racer I wrote about a while back;

https://primotipo.com/2018/04/06/belle-of-the-ball/

Its a typically varied country race meeting grid of the day, 1968, on this occasion at Hume Weir close to the Victorian/New South Wales border towns of Wodonga and Albury. Here is the Hume Weir story;

https://primotipo.com/2016/05/06/hume-weir/

The other cars shown are the Warwick De Rose Lotus 11, having difficulties with one of his doors, and the John Sheehan Geneer Outlaw VW at the rear of the group.

Australian Formula Vee enthusiasts will recognise CMS and Geneer as Melbourne constructors of Vees. I was aware of the Outlaw sporties, attractive little cars, but not that CMS made beach-buggies- which were big at the time constructed on shortened VW chassis’.

Maybe Janey, with a short set of ratios in his Hewland DG300 would have seen 130 mph at the Weir but no way the CMS would do 80, so the closing speeds and differential of pace are not to be sneezed at.

In any event, it’s a cracker of an amusing shot of a time and place long ago.

Credits…

Dick Simpson/oldracephotos.com.au – Lindsay Ross, Duane De Gruchy

Tailpiece: Geneer Outlaw…

The Geneer’s were built by Barry Coutts in East Burwood, not too far from where I used to live, about 15km to Melbourne’s east. About 30 are thought to have been constructed between 1960 and 1967 with a range of VW, and the occasional Porsche engine inserted in the rear of the multi-tubular spaceframe chassis. Very interested to hear from an owner.

Finito…