(D Lupton)
Denis Lupton’s ‘Team Devione’ Lotus 11 Ford Rep at Calder, ‘whilst the circuit was still being built, marked on the slide is 1960’…
Racer, engineer and mechanic Lupton and ace welder Hedley Thompson met at the Australian Motor Sports Club and soon developed a strong friendship.
Thompson was a foreman in aircraft maintenance at TAA- Trans Australian Airlines was one of two large domestic Australian airlines, Ansett the other. He was regarded by many, including Reg Hunt, as one of the finest, if not the best welder in Australia.
Regular trips to the likes of Boeing kept him up to speed with the latest aviation techniques which of course flowed through to his motor racing sideline. Pat Ryan mused that ‘it would be interesting to know how many cars came out of the nightshift at TAA?!’
Lupton and Thompson saw an opportunity to build some Lotus 11 replicas, the ex-Jon Leighton Lotus 11 Series 1 (chassis 198) provided the car from which to create a jig and working drawings when the pair rebuilt it.
(D Lupton)
Brian Devlin’s genuine Lotus 11, ex-Jon Leighton with Denis Lupton at the wheel, above, Fishermans Bend, Melbourne in 1959.
Little is known of the car’s early history other than that it was bought to Australia when Leighton emigrated here in 1958- first competing at the Hepburn Springs Hillclimb in November 1958, for a class win, Brian Devlin acquired it in 1960.
Between Thompson and Lupton the pair had the requisite skills to build racing cars. The little machine was stripped in the workshop behind Thompson’s home in Melbourne’s inner eastern suburb of Deepdene, (‘down the drop in Whitehorse Road from Burke Road till when it flattens and then in on the left’). When it was a bare chassis Denis took all the measurements and made a set of drawings.
Denis and Hedley made the chassis whilst the aluminium work was done by close friend of Lupton’s and noted racer Ian Cook and Frank Esposito. Whilst the standard Lotus bodies were aluminium, a buck/moulds were taken from the Devlin car with painter Jim Jewitt producing fibreglass bodywork.
Word travelled quickly of course that some beautifully built cars were coming together and the orders quickly flowed in.
This article is very much a ‘work in progress’ from Denis records of the cars, if you can help with the history of an individual chassis please get in touch.
Histories of the cars…
Don Ashton, Hepburn Springs Hillclimb in Victoria’s Goldfields or Spa Country (D Lupton)
No.1 Don Ashton, Gnat BMC 750cc. ‘A’ type sleeved down
John Partridge, 1100cc BMC A type
Warwick De Rose, 1100cc BMC A type
Ken Hastings, Atom, 1100cc BMC S/C
???
John Lambert, Current owner
Don Ashton in front of his Ballan, Victoria, garage (D Lupton)
No.2 Alan Coleman, Ford 105E Anglia engine
Shifted from Melbourne to Perth
Stuart Campbell, Car finished off and competed in Perth.
Bruce Campbell, Perth.
No.3 Jim Jewitt,
Julian Coker
Dick O’Keefe, BMC ‘A’ type S/C, currently active in Historic Racing
Dennis at Calder (D Lupton)
No. 4 Denis Lupton, Ford 100E with Elva cylinder head
Then fitted with 1500cc Cortina GT engine, close ratio gearbox, disc brakes and wide wheels.
Dr. Les Mendel
Steve Gifford
Colin Dane, Current owner
No.5 Bellair Brothers- Mike & Terry
Lindsay Urquhart
Alistair Scholl Graham Hail
Chris Ralph Gavin Sala
Bruce McGeehan Rowan Carter
Joe Farmer John Blackburn (Qld)
Ian McDonald all crossed up- ‘exiting The Hairpin the fast way’ at Hepburn Springs, Victoria in 1962-Tarquin (I McDonald Collection)
No.6 Ian McDonald, Tarquin TC
Ian McDonald picks up the story of his car ‘…this car was the first of the Hedley Thompson Specials to be completed and raced and was the most successful.’
‘Hedley built the chassis in 1959/60, Jim Jewitt made the body and then the hard work really started in my garage at home in Camberwell assisted by two friends, one a good welder.’
The MG TC engine, complete with Laystall head and gearbox came from the ex-Franz Bird, Jewett bodied MG TC Special.
‘I first raced it in 1960, campaigned it solidly for three years and sold it to Wes Nalder in late 1963.’
The name had me intrigued- Ian McDonald ‘The name Tarquin derives from Tarquinius King of Rome but it was also the name of my wife Helen’s family dog in the fifties and we have a dog named Tarquin now!! We just liked the name.’
Wes Nalder, of Horsham fitted the car with 1500cc Hillman Minx engine. In the historic era Alex Reid owned it, the car raced for him by Bernie Bisselling during the 1980s.
More recently Terry Cornelius of Seaspray bought it, with his son Rowan the current owner in Longford, Tas
(I McDonald Collection)
No.7 Geoff Aarons, Hillman Minx engine
R.Slaney, Sebring Motors, 123 Bridge Rd, Richmond.
???
No.8 Nev McKay, BMC ‘A’ type S/C
???
Russell McKenzie, Ballarat, current owner. C/o Redan Motors, Ballarat
No.9 Neville Ham, Ford Consul engine
????
No.10 Ian Munro, Ford 100E engine
???
Ed Flannery as it was with Alan Bail with Climax FWB motor (D Lupton)
No.11 Ed Flannery, MG TC engine and Gearbox
Syd Fisher, fitted Alfa Romeo engine and gearbox, then Peugeot engine.
Alan Bail, fitted 1500cc FWB Climax, very successful.
Graham Vaughan, Queensland, current owner.
No.12 Hedley Thompson, Lola Mk 1 copy.
Ford 1500cc engine.
Geoff Robbins
Ian Wells
???
Bruce Polain
Ray Kenny, NSW, to Barry Bates QLD current owner 2019.
David McKay raced his Lola Mk1 Climax at the Ballarat International meeting in February 1961. During the meeting a radius rod mount pulled out, Hedley was engaged to repair the car, again a jig was made and drawings of the chassis taken.
Long time racer David Crabtree was the first to drive the Lola ‘around Deepdene after we finished the car.’
‘In one of those “I thought you did moments” between us we hadn’t filled the diff with oil, so I took it back to my parents house in Malvern, and cobbled together a repair with all the Austin A30 bits I had.’
These days Crabby has a large successful aircraft maintenance business at Melbourne’s Essendon Airport, back then he was a young TAA apprentice, ‘I used to catch the tram up Glenferrie Road from Malvern and Hedley would scoop me up on the Cotham Road corner, not too far from his place and he would drive me out to the airport. He was a terrific bloke, immensely talented, he taught me how to weld. I did help in the build of the little Lola’.
Postscript…
Within a couple of hours of uploading this article my friend and historian Stephen Dalton raided his collection of magazines and emailed ‘…the history of Lotus 11 Replicas may have been somewhat different had Jon Leighton sold his Scuderia Birchwood Lotus in England. The 13 June 1958 Autosport ran his advert ”Scuderia Birchwood’s Lotus XI Sports, full 1172 trim, extras, enthusiast maintained, very fast, engine now dismantled, 850 pounds ono- Twyford 5 (evenings)”.
‘Devione’: the name?…
Denis advises the background to the names of his cars- ‘My lady wife is a Francophile, she says “Devione” is French for a “variation from a main theme” and I know better than to argue with her!’
‘So my cars were called ‘Devione’, and I built a few more for people, so we hoped to all race as a team so “Team Devione” was suggested. But people got married, or went sailing or found aircraft, or whatever, so it never got off the ground, pity!’
Credits…
Denis Lupton, ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden, David Crabtree, Doug Eagar, Stephen Dalton Collection, Ian McDonald Collection
Etcetera: Denis Lupton, Devione LC2 Ford, Calder circa 1970…
(D Eagar)
Denis is rather a modest fellow, the next Devione piece will be about the Brabham BT23 inspired Devione LC2 Ford Twin-Cam 1.6 ANF2 car built by Denis- the ‘L’ and Ian Cook- the ‘C’, and raced successfully by the pair from 1969 to 1972. A car owned and being restored by Grant Twining in Hobart.
Finito…
primotipo... 
Mark,
Number 7 Lotus replica – the Aaron’s Lotus is the car campaigned in historic racing for many years by expat Englishman, David Seath, and now for a goodly number of years by ‘Big’ Pete McKnight.
Thanks Bob,
I think I have a photo taken of the car at Sandown in the mid-seventies somewhere. Amazing to think about how many miles some of these cars have travelled down the decades.
Mark
I believe I’m the current owner of the moulds originally taken! Anyone with further information on the history of car’s built I’d really appreciate being made aware of it. The location of the chassis jig and drawings would interest me greatly too. Cheers,
Adam
0437897864
Adam, aren’t you the lucky one! Best wishes on the search. Mark
Hi ,I had a phone call from Don Ashton who lives not far from me in Healesville in the Yarra Valley telling me of this site. .Don is still going OK ,now in his late 80’s and still fiddling with cars, this time its a Ford Falcon XP Hard Top fitted with a 302 Windsor V8, he has recently sold his Mustang, Cortina GT (his daughter runs this car in Hill Climbs), various Land Rovers and his very quick late model FPV GT Falcon. Brian Devlin I know through the VHRR, I had heard he was not traveling to well recently. Stay safe guys, Cheers Simmo.
Thanks Simmo,
Appreciate the update- I’ll make sure Denis Lupton sees it. A car guy thru and thru it seems!
Mark
Hi,
An update on the Tarquin, its still with my family, my dad Trevor owned the car since the mid 80’s and never raced it. Has the Hillman engine fitted and is as he bought it all those years ago (1983 I think!).
Great to see the other cars histories here,
Rohan
Good on you Rohan,
Thanks for letting me know – shall pass that on to Ian McDonald.
Mark