primotipo…

Who is a pretty boy then? youthful too…

Bib Stillwell poses for the camera during the 1961 New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at the Ardmore Aerodrome, South Auckland. Bewdy’, nice cockpit shot of Stillwell’s Aston Martin DBR4/250 i thought- but upon closer inspection the negative is wrongly marked, it is not 1961 but  actually two years before- 1959 or three, 1958 or perhaps even four, 1957 and Bib is aboard his Maserati 250F. Evidence includes the different screen, see the Aston’s below, fuel filler located in different spots and the Maserati cloth badge on Stillwell’s polo-shirt, you can just see a glimpse of that under Bib’s left wrist/glove.

In 1959 Bib finished sixth behind the three Cooper T45s of Moss, Brabham and McLaren and the 250Fs of Carroll Shelby/Harry Schell and Ross Jensen.

 

This time it is the Ardmore paddock in 1961 with Bib’s Aston Martin DBR4/250 ‘3’ taking centre stage.

To the left is the nose of the Glass Cooper Maserati, the #12 Maserati 250F is Stan Jones’ Maserati 250F raced by David McKay that weekend- DNF exhaust after completing 45 laps. The Cooper T51 in the right-rear corner of the shot is Jo Bonnier’s, the gearbox of which, repaired after practice, soiled itself again in the race after completing only half of the first lap. As to the Cooper T43(?) to the right, i shall take your advice. See this piece on the Aston Martin DBR4/250; https://primotipo.com/2020/05/08/aston-martin-dbr4-250/

Bib, sharing, almost alternating the mid and front engined collection of cars in his Kew, Melbourne workshop raced one of his Coopers the year before- 1960.

Check him out below running in fourth place just after the start behind the McLaren Cooper T45, Moss and Brabham Cooper T51s- Bib in #6 is similarly mounted as is the partially obscured car of Ian Burgess behind the Victorian.

#18 out left is David Piper’s Lotus 16 Climax, #17 is Johnny Mansel’s Maserati 250F, followed by the similar cars of Arnold Glass and obscured Ross Jensen #88 the Ron Roycroft Ferrari 375 V12- Stan Jones Cooper T51 is nipping inside the unmistakable nose of the Ted Gray driven wonderful Tornado 2 Chev. What a shame Lou Abrahams and Ted Gray didn’t take Tornado to New Zealand in 1958 and 1959, by 1960 it was well and truly all over red-rover for the big, front-engined beasties.

Brabham won from McLaren, Stillwell and Stan Jones aboard another T51.

A bit about Bib Stillwell here; https://primotipo.com/2015/03/10/bib-stillwell-cooper-t49-monaco-warwick-farm-sydney-december-1961/

 

Love this shot above, this time 1961 of one of the Rob Walker mechanics- is it Mal Simpson?, giving the lovely Rob Walker Lotus 18 Climax a bit of a whirl on one of Ardmore’s access roads.

I never bought the ‘biscuit box’ descriptor of the 18’s appearance, i’ve always thought they were sexy little things, far nicer than the Cooper T53, the only thing between Lotus world dominance in 1960 was the pox ridden Lotus sequential gearbox…without doubt they were the fastest tool of the year but far from the most reliable, an attribute Messrs Cooper, Maddocks and Brabham worked very hard to build into their new ‘Lowline’.

The NZ GP was won by Brabham from McLaren both aboard Cooper T53s from Graham Hill’s BRM P48.

Credits…

National Library of New Zealand, ‘TRS’- The Roaring Season, Euan Sarginson, Stillwell Motor Company, sergent.com

Tailpiece…

First corner Ardmore Airfield 1961 shot by Euan Sarginson.

Ron Flockhart, Cooper T51 from #7 Moss, Lotus 18, Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T53 with Brabham right behind Bruce in another T53, then Innes Ireland #1 and John Surtees #2 aboard works Lotus 18s- all of these cars Coventry Climax FPF powered.

#20 is the Denny Hulme Cooper T51 Climax from Graham Hill, BRM P48, then finally the two Australians, Bib Stillwell’s Aston Martin DBR4 and Arnold Glass’ Cooper T45 Maserati.

Sixty-five thousand Kiwis basked in marvellous summer sun and saw Brabham win from McLaren Hill, Flockhart, Hulme and Clark- it was Jack’s third win at Ardmore.

Finito…