Archive for July, 2019

Shake, Rattle and Roll…

Posted: July 30, 2019 in Fotos, Touring Cars
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Touring Car and Sportscar tustle at Longford in 1965…

Don Gorringe, John Goss, Bob Curran and Greg Ellis blast over the River Esk- they have just completed the fast left-hander onto Long Bridge.

These blokes are all Tasmanian’s- I think it’s probably one of the locals only races, Gossy learned his trade pretty well down south- the only fella to win the Australian GP and Bathurst 1000 race double of course.

Goss is in an Appendix J Holden FJ, in front Gorringe is aboard a Jaguar XK150- which is clearly the successful businessman’s ‘daily driver’ given the rego plate affixed to the front bumper. Bob Curran’s Triumph TR4 was a machine he raced through to 1970 at least and the last car is Ellis’ MGA, it too appears as though he raced it for quite a bit.

Do any of these cars still exist? Who won the race?

Love this David Keep photo, it’s very much a ‘feel the noise’ shot…

Credit…

oldracephotos.com.au/D Keep

London Trophy, Crystal Palace 1965…

Posted: July 28, 2019 in Fotos, Who,What,Where & When...?
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John Surtees, the reigning World F1 Champ, aboard his Cooper T75 BRM P80 during the ‘London Trophy’ weeekend at Crystal Palace in June 1965…

He was a busy boy that year, fitting in F2 races around his primary programs for Ferrari in F1 and Endurance events.

Ken Tyrrell entered two Coopers that weekend, the other for Jackie Stewart, above, very much on his career ascent- he scored his first GP win with BRM that season at Monza in September aboard a P261 after a great dice with his teammate Graham Hill.

Surtees, Cooper T75 BRM

The London Trophy comprised two heats of 25 laps, the top four in each race were the same, Jim Clark, Lotus 35 Cosworth SCA, Graham Hill, Brabham BT16 BRM, Richard Attwood, Lola T60 SCA and Jochen Rindt, Brabham BT16 SCA.

(Getty)

The off, Heat 1.

Stewart at left and Clark right, Brabham on the inside of row 2.

Clark won both heats, the Tyrrell Coopers had problems in this heat which were fatal for their chances of a start in the second race- Stewart had half-shaft failure after completing 16 laps and a rod let go in the BRM engine after 21 of the 25 laps in Surtees case.

There was plenty of depth on the grid, other starters included Mike Spence, Trevor Taylor, Chris Amon, Denny Hulme, Jack Brabham and Peter Revson with the DNQ list including Jo Siffert, David Hobbs and Chris Irwin.

Credits…

Getty Images

Tailpiece: Jim Clark, Lotus 35…

Jim Clark aboard his Lotus 35 SCA, final chat to his mechanic who has a tyre pressure gauge at the ready. I’m not sure this is Crystal Palace, if it is, the car behind is Bill Bradley’s Brabham BT10 SCA.

Finito…

Ferrari 126 C4…

Posted: July 25, 2019 in F1, Fotos
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An impressionist’s perspective of the Ferrari 126C4 or thereabouts.

I cropped it off an AGIP ad of the period, I rather like it…

These turbo-charged Ferraris were an evocative series of Gee Pee cars for those of us in Australia who saw our first F1 machines ‘in the metal’ in the early Adelaide years.

Dangerous cars, high powered, towards 900 bhp depending upon the specs, aluminium monocoque chassis early on and then carbon fibre from the 1982 Harvey Postlethwaite designed 126C2.

Alboreto off to the shops in Turin- 126C4 in 1984 (unattributed)

 

Carbon fibre and kevlar monocoque chassis, disc brakes all round, rack and pinion steering. Pull rod and twin wishbone suspension front and rear. 1496 cc DOHC, 4-valve, twin-turbo charged 120 degree V6- 660bhp @ 11000 rpm. 5 speed manual transaxle (unattributed)

Gilles Villeneuve died in one at Zolder in 1982 and Didier Pironi had a huge career ending shunt at Hockenheim six races later.

Some talented fellas raced the cars to ten wins from 1981 through 1984- the roster included Villeneuve, Pironi, Andretti, Tambay, Arnoux and Alboreto. All won at least one race except Mario who had only two starts- at Monza and Las Vegas in late 1983.

(Getty)

Patrick Tambay 126C3 montage from 1983, above, and Michele Alboreto in a C4 at Monaco in 1984 below.

Tambay took two 126 wins at Hockenheim and San Marino in 1982 and 1983 respectively, whilst Michele won at Zolder in 1984.

Credits…

AGIP, Getty Images, Paul-Henri Cahier, LAT Images

Tailpiece: Ferrari 126C4, Monaco June 1984…

Arnoux and Alboreto were third and sixth at Monaco in 1984, Alain Prost won the race in a McLaren MP4 TAG- Porsche from Ayrton Senna’s rapidly closing Toleman Hart.

Only the early red flagging of the race- because of the awful wet conditions prevented the precociously talented Brazilian taking his first F1 victory.

Prost, McLaren MP4-2 TAG Porsche from Mansell, Lotus 95T Renault early in the race- Mansell lost it on lap 16- and we saw it all from the in-car footage. Monaco in the wet with 800 bhp or thereabouts to tame (unattributed)

Factory Porsche 956 driver Jacky Ickx was the Clerk of The Course, he took the decision to red flag the race in favour of the TAG-Porsche engined McLaren, at a time the rain had eased somewhat- without recourse to the race stewards.

Mind you, it’s said that Senna’s car had damaged suspension and would not have lasted too many more laps- and then there is Stefan Bellof, Tyrrell Ford mounted who was catching them both hand over fist, he too was disqualified later for weight restrictions broken by Tyrrell…

(unattributed)

Senna, Toleman T184 Hart 415T and Bellof, Tyrrell Ford DFY with Ayrton pulling away, but Stefan surged back to third later in the race- and was threatening Senna and Prost.

Speed, drama, excitement, politics- all the elements that make GP racing great.

Finito…

Cutaway 3: Brabham BT5 Ford…

Posted: July 22, 2019 in Fotos, Sports Racers
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(G Bruce)

Ron Tauranac’s two Brabham BT5 Lotus-Ford twin-cams’s were built in 1963…

The Ian Walker Racing ‘SC-1-63′ achieved plenty of success in the hands of both Frank Gardner and Paul Hawkins.

The car used a typical Tauranac multi-tubular spaceframe chassis with upper and lower wishbones at the front and lower links, inverted top wishbone and two radius rods- coil spring/shocks front and rear. Rack and pionion steering, disc brakes all around, a Hewland 4-speed gearbox and a Cosworth tuned Lotus-Ford Twin-Cam of 1596cc giving circa 140 bhp completed the package.

The photograph below is a BT5 test session at Goodwood early in 1963 with the Aussies out in force, oh, and a Kiwi.

From left in the nice, warm ‘jumper’ is Paul Hawkins, lanky Frank Gardner, the Guvnor and Denny Hulme. All rather handy at the wheel of a motorcar- and on the end of a ‘spanner’.

(unattributed)

Credits…

Gordon Bruce, frankgardnermotorsport.com

Tailpiece: Gardner, BT5 Ford, Mallory Park…

(FGM)

Finito…

Le Mans Arty Farty…

Posted: July 18, 2019 in Fotos, Sports Racers
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8

Mark Webbers Porsche 919 looking somewhat alien-like during the June 2014 running of the Le Mans 24 Hour classic…

He shared the car with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, the trio led the race a couple of times, as late as during the twenty-first hour but a broken roll bar forced them into the pits at that point and the car was retired.

 

Ultimately the Andre Lotterer/Marcel Fassler/Benoit Treluyer Audi R18 e-tron 4 litre turbo-diesel V6 won from the similar car of Tom Kristenson/Marc Gene/Lucas di Grassi with the Toyota TS040 Hybrid 3.7 litre V8- its crew Anthony Davidson/Sebastien Buemi/Nicolas Lapierre, third.

 

The best placed Porker was in eleventh- Marc Lieb/Romain Dumas/Neel Jani aboard the 2 litre turbo-V4 919 Hybrid. Webber and Co completed 346 laps but were non-classified, the winners did 379.

 

Most of you will recall Mark Webber left Formula 1 for Endurance Racing at the end of 2013 doing three seasons with Porsche before his retirement at the end of 2016.

He won the World Endurance Drivers Championship together with Hartley and Bernhard in 2015, the trio took eight wins over the three years they raced together helping Porsche win the Manufacturers Championship In 2015 and 2016.

Getty Images is an orgy of photography, regular readers will be well aware of the value of the resource to me, do have a look- key ‘Le Mans’ into the search engine and the 62,351 images which pop up will keep you busy for a while.

This piece is visual, with a focus on the more creative of Getty’s Mark Webber 2014 ‘Lee Manz’, as Larry Perkins calls it, shots. More on the Porsche 919; https://primotipo.com/2016/02/10/testing-testing/

My posts may be a bit hap-hazard over the next three weeks, I am on safari in England and Italy for a bit.

 

Credits…

Getty Images

Tailpiece…

Finito…

Riley Club, Bacchus Marsh Sprints 1937…

Posted: July 14, 2019 in Obscurities, Who,What,Where & When...?
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(G Morris)

Ralph Morris about to leave the line in his 1937 Riley Sprite, Bacchus Marsh, Victoria 19 September 1937. He won the half-mile sprint with a time of 22 4/5 seconds…

The event is being conducted on the road between Bacchus Marsh and Gisborne. Bacchus Marsh is 60 Km to Melbourne’s west on the Western Highway- the road to Adelaide and beyond.

The TT Sprites were a series of cars built to take part in the Tourist Trophy races run in the UK in the mid thirties, it is thought that as many as 10-12 were built, with a variety of engines- 12/4, 15/6 and at least one with a six-cylinder engine.

The chassis was either the 22T or 44T. The 12/4 engine was an undersquare 1496 cc 4 cylinder unit fed by two SU carbs and gave 61 bhp @ 5500 rpm. A 4 speed pre-selector gearbox was used and semi-elliptic solid axle suspension front and rear. Top speed was quoted as 88 mph.

The Melbourne ‘Argus’ announced the arrival of the first Sprite in Australia in its 4 May 1937 issue, has to be this chassis surely?

Rileys were popular light sporting cars in Australia, the ‘lineup’ from front to rear above are ’37 Kestrel, probably a ’34 Sedan and a 1931/2 Australian bodied Riley 9 Coupe.

The photo below is of the same group of cars- the car in the centre is the Kestrel owned by Club President Norman Horton who is doubtless at the wheel, he was second with a time of 26 3/5 seconds. Ralph Morris is standing next to the car. To the far left is the front of the Imp and to the right the Riley 9.

(G Morris)

Click on this link for an excellent website on Rileys in Australia, it is amazing just how many of these light, sporting and robust cars came to Oz.

http://www.phil.soden.com.au/ria.html

I am also intrigued to know the whereabouts of any of the cars featured.

Photo Credit…

G Morris

Finito…

 

It’s All Happening 3 : 1968 French GP, Honda RA 302…

Posted: July 13, 2019 in F1, Fotos
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French GP, Rouen 1968…

It has the feel of final practice/qualifying about it doesn’t it? The wing in the foreground is either Jacky Ickx’ winning Ferrari 312 or Chris Amon’s sister car.

Graham Hill stands patiently at left whilst the mechanics make adjustments to his car with Lotus boss Colin Chapman leaving the boys to it, resting against the pit counter.

At far left, obscured, Jack Brabham is being tended to in his Brabham BT26 Repco 860 V8. Jochen Rindt popped his BT26 on pole proving the car had heaps of speed if not reliability from its new 32-valve, DOHC V8. The speedy Austrian took two poles with it that year.

The dude in the blue helmet is Jackie Oliver who is about to have the mother and father of high speed accidents when wing support failure saw him pinging his way through the French countryside, clobbering a set of chateau gates and dispensing aluminium shrapnel liberally about the place at around 125 mph. He survived intact – shaken but not stirred you might say. It wasn’t the last of his career ‘big ones’ either. Click here; https://primotipo.com/2017/01/13/ollies-trolley/

In the distance is Goodyear blue and white striped, jacket wearing Tyler Alexander so there must be a couple of McLaren M7As down that way.

Ickx won a tragic wet race in which French racer Jo Schlesser died on lap two when he lost control of the unsorted Honda RA302 in the fast swoops past the pits, burned alive in the upturned car, it was a grisly death. Ickx’ first GP win, no doubt was memorable for the Belgian for all of the wrong reasons. He won from John Surtees, below, in the conventional Honda RA301 V12 and Jackie Stewart’s Matra MS10 Ford.

Surtees did not have a great Honda season retiring in eight of the twelve GPs, his second place at Rouen and third at Watkins Glen were the two high points of the season.

Honda withdrew from GP racing at the end of the year “to concentrate their energies on developing on new road cars (S360, T360 and S500), having cemented the Honda name in the motorsport hall of fame.” A racing company to its core, its interesting how Honda still use racing past and present to differentiate themselves from other lesser marques: https://www.honda.co.uk/cars/world-of-honda/past/racing.html

Click on this article for a piece on the 1968 French GP and also the evolution of wings in that period; https://primotipo.com/2016/08/19/angle-on-the-dangle/

Jo Schlesser and the Honda RA302…

You would have to have a crack wouldn’t you?

The offer of a works car (Honda RA302 #in your home Grand Prix, however badly your vastly experienced team leader felt about the radical magnesium chassis, 3-litre (88mm x 61.4 mm bore/stroke, four-valves per cylinder -torsion bar sprung – 2987cc) 120-degree air-cooled V8 machine would have been too much to resist?

The new car bristled with innovation, including the mounting of the engine, which was in part located via a top-boom extension of the monocoque aft of the rear bulkhead. This approach was adopted by the Mauro Forghieri led team which designed the Ferrari ‘Boxer’ 312B in 1969, one of the most successful 1970 F1 machines.

And so it was that poor, forty years old, Jo Schlesser died having a red hot go after completing only 12km of the race.

Denis Jenkinson looks on, above, as Schlesser prepares for the off during practice, the look on the great journalists face says everything about his interest in this new technical direction. The car behind is Richard Atwood’s seventh placed BRM P126 V12.

Douglas Armstrong wrote of the Honda RA302 as follows in his review of the 1968 Grand Prix season published in Automobile Year 16. “Although it was ill-fated the car was immediately recognised as a new and formidable approach to Formula-1 racing.”

“Taking a leaf from the Porsche air-cooling technique, Honda had mounted a large oil-tank behind the right of the driver, and this was meant to dissipate much of the engine heat. On each cockpit side was a light-alloy scoop to convey air to the engine, and the sparking plugs were also duct enclosed for cooling. To the left of the drivers head another scoop took cooling air into the crankcase where it became involved with oil mist and was then drawn out by a de-aerator which retained the oil but expelled the air from a vent on top of the magnesium backbone.”

(MotorSport)
(unattributed)

A magnesium monocoque chassis supported the unstressed, fuel injected V8 which is variously quoted at between 380-430bhp at this early stage of its development, I am more at the conservative end of that range.

Inboard rocker front suspension and outboard at the rear, note the ‘boxed’ inboard lower inverted wishbones, single top link and two radius rods. As Doug Nye noted, “The suspension was the only conventional part of this wholly Japanese designed and built new comer.”

All the attention to weight saving and compactness – the Lotus 49 Ford DFV would have been very much top-of-mind in Japan – resulted in a car “reportedly weighing close to the minimum requirement of 1102lb.”

Politics and priorities…

John Surtees tested another RA302 (chassis #F-802 remains part of the Honda Collection) during the Italian GP weekend at Monza in September but declined to race the car, that chassis still exists. Instead Il Grande John put his RA301 V12 on pole!

Lola’s Derrick White developed an evolution of the ’67 Honda RA300 for 1968, the lighter, but still 649kg, RA301 was blessed with a 430bhp Honda V12. Let’s not forget these Hondolas spun out of, or off Lola’s very successful 1966 T90 ‘Indycar’.

A careful review of the year reveals a better performing car than the results suggest. Surtees was second at Rouen, third at Watkins Glen and fifth in the British GP at Brands Hatch despite a broken rear wing. Elsewhere, he ran well in Spain and at Monaco until the gearbox failed, then led at Spa and set fastest lap before a rear wishbone mount broke. At Zandvoort he was delayed by wet ignition, then alternator trouble ended his run. In a notable wet season, he was impacted by wet ignition and then overheating caused by a long delay before the start. Surttes started from pole at Monza, then led, and crashed…He was up-there in Canada until gearbox failure , then led after the start in Mexico before falling back and retiring with overheating.

Surtees, RA301, Spa June 1968 DNF (MotorSport)
Honda RA301 cutaway (unattributed)
Business end of Surtees Hondola RA301 in Spain 1968. 3-litre quad-cam, central power take-off V12 (MotorSport)

MotorSport wrote that the the ill-fated debut of the Honda RA302 took place against a background of strong opposition from Surtees. He had been expecting an improved V12 for the RA301 – a lighter 490bhp V12 with conventional power take-off at the rear of the engine – and was therefore surprised when the all-new RA302 was delivered to Honda’s UK base at Slough. Its 120-degree air-cooled V8 was a mobile test bed to showcase the technology Soichiro Honda was to use in his new road cars; remember the sensational air-cooled Honda 7 and 9 Coupes of the early 1970s for example?

“I tried it at Silverstone,” recalls Surtees. “You’d drive out of the pits and it would feel quite sharp, but it was impossible to drive any distance with it performing as it should. Mr Nakamura told Japan we could not take this to a race.”

During that Silverstone test, the car ran for only two laps before the oil blew out, even after modifications it still wouldn’t go far because the engine overheated rapidly. John refused to race it – not unreasonably given the pace of the RA301 – before further tests could proved its speed and endurance. In addition Surtees suggested they build an aluminium version to replace the flammable magnesium chassis machine.

Jo Schlesser during practice, Rouen 1968 (MotorSport)
RA302 far forward driving position and distribution of weight, contrary to the trend of most teams then. Small oil radiator, steering rack, front bulkhead and rocker/wishbone front suspension clear (unattributed)
With the cooling duct removed, look closely at lower left and you can see the cooling fins on the block. Fuel metering unit actuated by the inlet camshaft (unattributed)

When Honda arrived at the French GP in 1968, the French arm of Honda urged the team to race the new RA302 to promote its small but growing range of cars. Soichiro Honda was in France on a trade mission that week and, doubtless influenced by his local representatives, he decided to enter the RA302 under the Honda France banner, with Schlesser as the driver.

Surtees, and even team boss Nakamura, didn’t know of the plan until 7.30am on the Thursday, the first day of practice. “It was not run by the existing Honda team,” says John, “but people who’d previously worked with us were brought over from Japan. They worked as a totally separate unit” to the guys looking after Surtees V12 engined RA301.

Surtees shed no light as to the cause of Schlesser’s crash, but acknowledges the circuit is tricky at the site of the accident, describing it as “the sort of place on the circuit where you were fully occupied”.

It is thought a misfire or complete engine cut-out caused Schlesser to lose control. Honda acquired film showing him getting into a ‘tank-slapper’ before going off – but there were never any official conclusions. Engine designer and future Honda boss Nobuhiko Kawamoto was in Japan that weekend. “I thought the cause may have been a transmission seizure,” he says. “After three months, the residuals came back, small amounts of steel parts, the engine and transmission, but we found it was really clean. The cause was not revealed.”

Surtees in the Monza pitlane in September 1968, RA302. Note the additional oil cooler mounted atop the chassis boom not present at Rouen (unattributed)
Rouen. Aren’t the spring/shock units mounted high on the uprights and relatively horizontally (unattributed)
David Hobbs aboard the other Honda RA301 at Monza in 1968 (MotorSport)

Surtees would briefly drive a second RA302 in practice at Monza, but by then it was academic.

With Soichiro Honda present, Surtees refused to race it and the popular 40 year old, very experienced single seater and sportscar driver, was appointed to drive the new car. Unfortunately, Surtees’ doubts were proven true, when Schlesser lost control of the car in the downhill sweepers and crashed. The car overturned and caught fire. The full fuel tank and magnesium chassis burned so intensely that nothing could be done to save Schlesser. He became the fourth F1 driver to die that season (after Jim Clark, Mike Spence and Lodovico Scarfiotti).

“The episode of that car and the accident brought Honda’s whole Formula One programme to an end,” says John. “The fact that it didn’t work meant there weren’t the resources to go back to what we were originally going to do.”

Rouen paddock. Engine cover all-enveloping with all ducts in place. Ex -Ferrari team manager by then journalist, Franco Lini is the focus of Goodyear man and AN Other at left, is that Rolf Stommelen in the driving suit and glasses in the group at the right? (MotorSport)
Monza. Good shot of the monocoque structure and top mount of the engine. Fuel metering unit at the front of the inlet cam, distributor at the rear. Note two coils and electronic spark-units at the rear of the top monocoque boom (unattributed)

“When you add up how far we progressed (in 1968) on a very limited budget we didn’t do too badly. If you add up how competitive we were and of we hadn’t had the silly problems, we could have been champions that year,” Surtees said to David Tremayne.

“Derrick White had drawn up a good chassis and Nobohiko Kawamoto had promised us a new lightweight 490bhp V12engine and gearbox for 1969.” The increasing focus on emissions and the road cars obliged Honda to cut their budget, and the F1 project was cancelled.

Surtees, “I understood why of course, but I really believe that Honda’s later situation in Formula 1 could have come sooner. The 301 was the right car, and with the new engine and gearbox it would have been shorter and much lighter…Instead it was a case of what might have been…”

Tremayne wrote, “Many years later when Honda were winning championships with Williams, Honda Motor Company boss Tadashi Kume – who had been a senior engineer on the RA301 in 1968 – sent Surtees a telegram which said in part, “None of this would have been possible without your investment.”

Credits…

Getty Images, oldracingcars.com, ‘History of The Grand Prix Car 1966-85’ Doug Nye, MotorSport, David Tremayne ‘Honda’s First F1 Chapter’ in hondanews.eu

Tailpiece…

(MotorSport)

Jo, drivers parade immediately before the race.

Finito…

Crystal Palace Mystery Car…

Posted: July 9, 2019 in Fotos, Obscurities
Tags: , , , , , , ,
1

Nice bit of promotional artwork, I wonder what car is being characterised though?…

The image is a crop from a London Midland & Scottish Railway poster to promote the Crystal Palace 21 May 1938 meeting. The Sydenham Trophy, the car feature event of the day, was won by the John HT Smith, MG at an average speed of 52 mph.

It seems possible the inspiration is the Alfa Romeo 308C, although the bodywork is not an exact fit, mind you maybe its a stylised Mercedes W125 or an Alfa 8C-35 or perhaps something else?

(forix.com)

The image above is of Manfred Von Brauchitsch taking some air on the Melbourne Rise during the October 2 1937 Donington Grand Prix weekend.

Bernd Rosemeyer won in an Auto Union B Type from the Mercedes W125’s of Von Brauchitsch and Rudy Caracciola, perhaps the artist, a ‘Mr Light’ attended the weekend with his art an impressionist interpretation of the car, but in red?

(Getty)

Mechanics attend to one of the W125’s in an unidentified paddock. Click here for an article about this great car;

Mercedes Benz W125: 1937’s Dominant GP car and Rudy Uhlenhaut…

How about the Alfa 308 or 308C then?

Four of these Colombo engineered cars, with independent front suspension and 2991 cc versions of Vittorio Jano’s long-lived straight-8 were built and first raced by Tazio Nuvolari at Pau in 1938. A leaking fuel saddle-tank caused the accident which was the catalyst for the great Mantuan to leave Alfa.

(unattributed)

Raymond Sommer, above Alfa Romeo 308C during the July 1939 French Grand Prix.

Sommer and Chinetti in two of the machines were fifth and eighth. The race was won by Herman Muller from George Meier, both aboard 3 litre V12 Auto Union Type D’s- third was a Talbot MD 4.5 litre straight-6, the driver Rene Le Begue.

It is possible Mr Light used these cars as inspiration but the two vents either side of the radiator aperture are missing.

(unattributed)

Qsqui Jarillo advises ‘The photo was taken in Buenos Aires city in 1949 and is probably the car being moved in front of the Automobile Club of Argentina building. In the background is the ‘Bosque de Palermo’ park, the place where pre-F1 age Grand Prix cars were raced.’

‘The car is the 1938 Alfa Romeo 308 Tipo C, chassis number 50017, engine 80017 and raced by local driver Oscar Galvez, now displayed in the Fangio Museum.’

image

Etcetera: 1938 Sydenham Trophy…

Credit…

Light, Fox Photos, forix.com, ‘Alfa Romeo’ in kolumbus.f1

Tailpiece: Alfa Romeo 8C-35 perhaps?…

Light’s car could be I guess, the Alfa 8C-35- the donor chassis for the four Alfa 308C’s were ‘old 8C-35/12-C36 tubular chassis used with only minor updates’.

The car above is the Hans Ruesch Alfa Romeo 8C-35 cruising through the Brooklands paddock past the Clubhouse and about to be tested by wealthy Australian John Snow in 1938.

John Medley in ‘John Snow: Classic Motor Racer’ wrote that after the Brooklands test Snow hired the car for meetings at Crystal Palace, Donington, Brooklands and Cork. Unfortunately the car, with Buddy Featherstonhaugh at the wheel crashed badly during practice at Donington and was then sent back to the factory for repair.

In a sidebar of Australian motor racing history Snow brought another of Ruesch’s cars to Australia, the Alfa P3/2900 Tipo B #5002 which he sold to his friend Jack Saywell.

It’s possible Mr Light saw the 3822 cc car in the UK and liked it so much he used it as a base for his poster? The 8C-35 was Alfa’s post Tipo B response to the Silver Arrows onslaught.

(unattributed)

Hans Ruesch in his Alfa Romeo 8C-35 during the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix.

He was seventh, five laps adrift of the three W125’s at the head of the field raced by Von Brauchitsch, Caracciola and Christian Kautz. Three of the four 8C-35’s contested the event and finished line astern from sixth to eighth places- Giuseppe Farina, Sommer and Ruesch, ‘best of the rest’ behind five German cars…

Finito…

Oran Park ‘Diamond Trophy’ Gold Star 1970…

Posted: July 5, 2019 in Features
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
4

(P Greenfield)

Malcolm Ramsay awaits the start of the ‘Diamond Trophy’ Gold Star race at Oran Park on 28 June 1970…

His car is an Elfin 600C Repco ‘730’ 2.5 litre V8, alongside him you can just see the nose of the cars constructor, Garrie Cooper’s Elfin 600D ‘830’ V8- only three of these Repco V8 engined Elfins were built, John McCormack’s Elfin 600C was the other, and all are ‘Australian Motor Racing Royalty’ to me- about as good as it gets!

The Oran Park round was the third of the 1970 series, a championship which was wide open- reigning champion Kevin Bartlett had finished third in the first Symmons ‘Tasmanian Road Racing Championship’ round behind John Harvey’s old-faithful Brabham BT23E Repco and Leo Geoghegan’s equally venerable Lotus 39 Repco.

Bob Jane, John Harvey, a young Pat Purcell, ? and John Sawyer, side on during the 1970 Symmons round- car wing is BT23E (oldracephotos.com.au)

 

Symmons Plains 1970- changing of the guard- last race for Harvey’s Brabham BT23E Repco, Geoghegan’s white Lotus 39 Repco and almost KB’s last race in the Mildren Yellow Submarine Waggott. Max Stewart in the Mildren Waggott on row 2 (H Ellis)

 

Leo Geoghegan and Garrie Cooper at Symmons in 1970 (oldracephotos)

 

The Mildren Duo- The Sub, Mildren Waggott with Glynn Scott’s blue trailer alongside

At Lakeside for the ‘Governor’s Trophy’ in early June, Max Stewart won from Harvey’s new car, the ‘Jane Repco V8′ built on Bob Britton’s Brabham BT23 jig. It was a modified car with suspension geometry suited to the latest generation of cars and other tweaks. Bartlett DNF’d with ignition problems- and Leo Geoghegan made the championship debut of his Lotus 59B Waggott 2 litre ’59-FB-14’, at long last (or sadly depending upon how you view that wonderful Lotus 39) Leo had a modern car, that 39 had served him so well but had not delivered the Gold Star it was surely capable of- with Repco reliability in 1967 or 1968.

Lakeside, Governor’s Trophy 7 June 1970. Pole-sitter and winner Max Stewart in the Mildren Waggott with Kevin Bartlett in the Mildren ‘Yellow Submarine’ Waggott alongside (G Ruckert)

After Lakeside KB jumped on a plane to the ‘States to chance his arm over there in Indy racing- he raced on and off in the US from 1970 to 1973- we must get him to tell us that story.

Garrie Cooper, perhaps the other driver capable of winning the Gold Star that year also had a poor start to the season with his new Repco 830 Series V8 powered Elfin 600D ‘7012’. At Symmons he retired with a flat battery having failed to set a time in practice and at Lakeside he was ninth from Q5 with a misfire for the races duration.

Malcolm Ramsay was a title contender too- if the Repco planets could be aligned, mounted as he was in Cooper’s first Repco engined 600- the 600C ‘6908’ raced by Garrie in Asia and then sold before returning to Oz in late 1969.

GC Cooper, Elfin 600D Repco ‘830’, Oran Park June 1970- oh to have seen an ace in this chassis (oldracephotos)

1970 was an odd year in terms of Gold Star eligibility…

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport made the following naff decisions during 1969 in an attempt to keep the peace with all interested parties- an impossible challenge of course and provide a formula, or formulae to suit the needs of Australian single-seater racing into the future. A summary of the rules for the next couple of years goes a bit like this;

1970 Tasman Series- Tasman 2.5, F5000 and 2 litre cars and under

1970 Gold Star- Tasman 2.5 and 2 litre cars and under

1971 Tasman- Tasman 2.5, F5000 and 2 litre cars and under

1971 Gold Star- F5000 and 2 litre cars and under

1972 Tasman- ditto as per ’71 Gold Star

1972 Gold Star- F5000 and ANF2 (to make up the numbers)

The impact of the above in 1970 was that those fellas who invested in F5000 could not race their cars in Australia- in particular Frank Matich and Niel Allen, both round winners during the 1970 Tasman could not race their McLarens in Gold Star events- a bummer for them and their fans but a bonus for the rest of the elite grid- Bartlett, Matich and Allen were out of the equation in 1970.

The machinations of the change from the Tasman 2.5 to F5000 category are ventilated at length in this article;

Repco Holden F5000 V8…

Wearing my Repco bias on my sleeve- 1970 was it, the last opportunity for the Maidstone concern to win either a Tasman or Gold Star 2.5 litre title for their beautiful little V8’s!

Max, second on the grid before the off, Mildren Waggott TC4V 2 litre. A jewel of a car and uber successful chassis (P Greenfield)

And so the title protagonists headed in the direction of Narellan on Sydney’s then western outskirts for the Oran Park round…

John Harvey put his stamp on practice with a 43 seconds dead lap in the Jane Repco with Max Stewart’s Mildren Waggott two-tenths adrift on a circuit Max knew like the back of his hand.

Its interesting that Max/Alec chose to keep racing the spaceframe car rather than the ‘Sub, a monocoque (after KB went away) but I guess Max wore that car like a glove- an extension of his body and he was never more than a bees-dick away from KB in terms of pace, so why not sell the Sub and keep the little Mildren nee Rennmax Waggott?

John Harvey ahead of one of the Elfin 600’s. Jane nee Rennmax Repco V8 – 830 Series V8. Bob Jane obtained the 830 V8’s used by Jack Brabham in the 1969 Brabham BT31- good works motors (L Hemer)

And as most of you know Mildren commissioned an F5000 car which Bartlett raced in the 1970 AGP and throughout the 1971 Tasman Series before the team was, very sadly, disbanded. But lets not get distracted from Oran Park.

Geoghegan did the same time as Max- he had clearly got to grips with the Lotus chassis and Waggott motors quickly having pedalled Repco V8’s since mid-1967. His Repco 830 would have had a smidge over 300 bhp with the Waggott at that stage of its development circa 265 bhp- albeit the 59B would have been a bit lighter overall than the 39.

Leo raced sans nose wings. Lotus 59B Waggott TC4V- yes please. OP June 1970 (oldracephotos)

Bob Muir demonstrated his growing pace with a 43.6 in his Rennmax BN2/3, at this meeting 2.5 Coventry Climax FPF powered- my guess is this was the best Gold Star FPF performance for a couple of years, by then these motors were no spring-‘chookins at all having taken two World Championships on the trot for Cooper/Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960.

Bob bought a Waggott TC4V 2 litre engine which he popped into this chassis (in specification it is a BN3 but Bob referred to it as a BN2 ‘in period’) before the following ‘Sam Hordern Trophy’ round at Warwick Farm in early September and then later in the year bought the Mildren Yellow Sub off Alec and put the Waggott into that chassis- and somewhat famously rated his Rennmax BN2/3 the better car of the two. (same chassis as the Mildren Waggott).

Garrie Cooper and Malcolm Ramsay were fifth and sixth with a 44.6 and 45 seconds dead respectively, perhaps more could have been expected of the two V8’s but the dudes in front of them were all ‘locals’- if you can refer to an Orange resident as ‘local’ in Max’s case and Melbourne local for Harves! Harvey did plenty of laps at Oran Park before he emigrated to Mexico (Melbourne) when he started driving for Bob Jane .

John McCormack took the next step in his career when he replaced the ex-Jack Brabham 1962 AGP Caversham Brabham BT4 Climax FPF with an Elfin 600C in time for the 1970 Gold Star.

Fitting it with the FPF from the Brabham was sub-optimal but he was in the process of putting together a lease deal on a 740 Series Repco V8 with Malcolm Preston which would take him a further step along the path towards national championships in the years to come.

One day of The Year- that you can race your F5000 that is. Frank Matich on the way to 1970 AGP victory in his McLaren M10B Repco Holden (N Foote)

Preston and Mac developed a lifelong friendship during the Repco Holden F5000 years- Preston was the General Manager of REDCO, the Repco Engine Development Company which assumed the assets (most of ’em) of Repco Brabham Engines Pty. Ltd. and designed, built and maintained the Repco-Holden motors.

That Repco 740 engine was nestled in the spaceframe of Mac’s 600 ‘7011’ by the Hordern Trophy meeting, so he used it at WF, Sandown, Mallala (pole) the AGP at the ‘Farm in November as well as the Warwick Farm Tasman meeting in February 1971.

In 1970 the Australian Grand Prix was a stand alone meeting- not part of the Gold Star or Tasman Series and allowed Tasman 2.5, 2 litres and under- and F5000’s!

Warwick Farm Meister Frank Matich won the race from a strong field in his McLaren M10B Repco Holden- it was the first ‘notch in the belt’ for another world class race engine from the Repco boys, the design of which was led by Phil Irving- he of Vincent and Repco Brabham Engines ‘620 Series’ fame with the assistance of Brian Heard, also ex-RBE.

Queenslander Glynn Scott in his brand spankers Elfin 600B Waggott TC4V, DNF (L Hemer)

Meanwhile, back at Oran Park in June…

Glynn Scott was next up, seventh in a brand new Elfin 600B Waggott 2 litre. Glynn was sure to be quick in this car over the next season or two but his time in it was way too short, only a month later he was killed in an awful accident at Lakeside when he and his friend Ivan Tighe collided, Ivan also Elfin 600 mounted.

Waggott engined Elfin 600’s are rare beasts- this (destroyed) chassis ‘7016’, Gary Campbell’s ‘7122’ (the chassis, then powered by a Lotus-Ford twin-cam  in which Larry Perkins won the 1971 ANF2 Championship) and Ramsay’s ‘6908’ were so equipped.

The Goodwins, unrelated were next, Len in the ex-Piers Courage/Niel Allen McLaren M4A ‘M4A/2’ Ford Cosworth FVA, the Pat Burke owned car soon to become an important stepping stone in the career of Warwick Brown who raced it in 1971 before stepping into another ex-Allen McLaren, M10B F5000, for 1972- fame if not fortune followed.

Ken Goodwin’s Rennmax BN3 Ford in the OP paddock June 1970 (K Hyndman)

Ken Goodwin who had come through Formula Vee raced a beautifully self-prepared Rennmax BN3 Lotus-Ford t/c ANF2- its amazing how many guys did well in these beautifully forgiving motor-cars. Ron Tauranac got the Brabham BT23 design spot on and Bob Britton didn’t bugger things up in his translation of same!

The thirteen car grid was rounded out by the ANF2 1.6 cars of Jack Bono, Brabham BT2 Ford t/c, Ian Fergusson, Bowin P3 Ford t/c and Noel Potts Elfin 600 Alfa Romeo 1.5.

Come race-day there were only twelve starters, unfortunately Muir’s Coventry Climax engine had ‘oil leaks’ which could not be remedied.

Stewart’s Mildren sorted before the off- Glenn Abbey and Alec Mildren look on as Derek Kneller at front and Ian Gordon set final tyre pressures. Waggott 2 litre TC4V engine and FT200 Hewland ‘box (K Hyndman)

Gold Star fields in terms of numbers were always tough, other than in the Formula Pacific and Formula Holden ‘peaks during the eighties/nineties- in 1970 the number of starters were; Symmons 11, Lakeside 17, Oran Park 12, Warwick Farm 12, Sandown 18 and Mallala 12- the AGP, not a Gold Star round had 19 starters with F5000 making the difference in the main.

The field was interesting too- all of the top-liners were racing cars with spaceframe chassis, four had Repco 730 or 830 ‘crossflow’ V8’s, three modern as tomorrow Waggott 2 litres started, with one Ford Cosworth FVA, an ‘old school’ Coventry Climax FPF in the back of McCormack’s Elfin 600 and a smattering of Lotus-Ford twin-cam ANF2’s plus Pott’s 1.5 litre twin-cam, long stroke Alfa Romeo.

Look mum, one hand! Stewart shows perfect control and a gaggle of car down OP’s Main Straight (L Hemer)

The 82 lap race was won by Max Stewart by 17 seconds from the similarly engined Lotus 59 of Geoghegan, then the ‘Elfin-GT Harrison Racing’ 600 Repco’s of Garrie Cooper and Malcolm Ramsay.

McCormack was two laps back in his 600 FPF from John Harvey a couple of laps back with problems.

Than came Ian Fergusson’s monocoque Bowin P3 Ford, Noel Potts Elfin 600 Alfa and Glynn Scott with only 50 laps in his 600 Waggott.

As Max Stewart left Oran Park for home in Orange on the Sunday night little did he know the high point of his 1970 Gold Star season had been reached, he took no points at either of the following Warwick Farm (injector problem) or Sandown (bearing) rounds won by Leo Geoghegan and John Harvey respectively.

John Harvey in the Jane Repco V8 in Warwick Farm’s Esses during practice for the Septmeber Gold Star round won by Geoghegan from Cooper and Muir. Harves Q4 and DNF fuel pump (L Hemer)

In fact the difference between Leo and his pursuers that season was a blend of speed and consistency- lessons from his Repco years!

He won two of the six rounds but scored in all but one. Stewart and Harvey both won two rounds as well but scored points in four rounds apiece. Harves went mighty close though, he recalled recently ‘…at the last round of the Gold Star at Mallala I was so far in front of Leo Geoghegan and Max Stewart I thought I had the race and the series in the bag. However, not to be, the left front suspension broke and took me off the road.’

In terms of qualifying performances, often an indicator of outright speed, Harvey took pole on three occasions with Stewart, Geoghegan and McCormack, the latter at Mallala using his Repco V8, to good effect once.

Geoghegan won the championship with 33 points from Stewart 27, Harvey 25, Cooper 16 and Ramsay 9.

Leo’s 59B before the off with Bob Holden’s Escort Twin-Cam sharing the Castrol tent. OP June 1970, car still in Oz (K Hyndman)

Leo Geoghegan- Lotus 59B…

Leo Geoghegan’s Lotus 59B Waggott…

Max Stewart- Mildren Waggott…

Singapore Sling…

Bob Muir- Rennmax BN3 Waggott…

Rennmax BN2 Waggott…

Garrie Cooper- Elfin 600D Repco…

Garrie Cooper, Elfin 600D Repco V8

1970 Gold Star Season…

https://www.oldracingcars.com/australia/1970/

Credits…

Peter Greenfield, Harold Ellis, Lynton Hemer, oldracingcars.com.au, Nigel Foote, Ken Hyndman, oldracephotos.com.au, John Harvey, Graham Ruckert

Tailpiece: Harves and Hottie, Maxxie and ‘Yoko Ono’…

(L Hemer)

Finito…

GoPro 1…

Posted: July 3, 2019 in F1, Obscurities
Tags: , , , , ,
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Jack Brabham looking very comfy in his Brabham BT20 Repco with ‘lightweight’ head-cam attached during practice at Watkins Glen in 1966…

When looking at this shot it’s amazing to reflect on such equipment, every man and his dog have ‘GoPros’ to capture their sporting triumphs these days whatever they might be.

What Jack was up to is interesting, and not covered in the MotorSport report of the race. ‘Grand Prix’ was released on 21 December 1966, the date of this footage is the Watkins Glen weekend of October 1/2 that year.

Given James Garner’s presence is this some late footage for the classic which would have been in the final production stages or some other sort of promotional activity?

I’m interested to know from you ‘Grand Prix’ anoraks or any of you who were there.

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Brabham, Bandini and Surtees at the start. Brabham BT20 Repco, Ferrari 312 and Cooper T81 Maserati respectively (Upitis)

Jacks car is not his regular 1966 mount, the one-off 1965 BT19 chassis but rather a BT20, the 1966 F1 design raced by Denny throughout the year.

Brabham put the Repco V8 engined car on pole, a good effort as he was experimenting with both Lucas and Bosch ignition systems during practice which hampered him putting sequences of quick laps together.

He led the race convincingly until a cam follower broke, jamming the camshaft and breaking its drive chain. Jim Clark lead from that point, lap 55 in the Lotus 43 BRM. The engine of Jim’s car, BRM’s spare, was still being fitted and finessed right up to the start of the race.

It was a famous win, the H16’s only victory and ironic that the complex, heavy, powerful lump was in the back of a Lotus rather than the BRM chassis the Bourne boys had laboured so long and hard to perfect. Tony Rudd’s mob deserved the win more than Chapman’s but that’s motor racing! Cooper Maserati were second and third, Rindt in front of Surtees after the 1964 World Champs T81 tangled with Peter Arundell’s Lotus 33 Climax early in the race.

Click here for an article on the Lotus 43; https://primotipo.com/2015/02/17/jim-clark-taking-a-deep-breath-lotus-43-brm/

Clark heads to the dummy grid whilst Richie Ginther walks behin- #5 is the nose of Jack’s car

Credits…

Alvis Upitis

Tailpiece: Jack being plumbed for the camera before the off, the new World Champ has everything to smile about…

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Finito…

 

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