Make Mine Milk. Jack Raybould and Arthur Terdich, Bugatti T37A mechanic and driver, 1929 AGP winners, Phillip Island (B King Collection)
With the 100th anniversary of the Australian Grand Prix approaching, we thought it would be of interest to look at photographs taken at Phillip Island of some of the old racers shortly after the Golden Jubilee celebration on the Island.
After the highly successful GOLDEN JUBILEE celebration of the AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX held on Phillip Island in March 1978, some of the older LIGHT CAR CLUB of AUSTRALIA members made an annual pilgrimage to Phillip Island to reminisce, have lunch and a drive around the original track used for the 1928 100-MILES ROAD RACE – a race which was to be perpetuated as the first Australian Grand Prix. These pleasurable events were the idea of brothers Bill and Jim Leech and dreamed up at a regular Friday convivial lunch at the club premises in Queens Road, Melbourne.
(R Simmonds Collection)
On this particular day we can see, clockwise from the front left, Peter de Wolf, Bill Leech, David Anderson, unknown, John Ould, Arnold Terdich, Ron Rawson, Ron Edgerton and Jim Leech. Bill had competed on the original Phillip Island track before the war and Jim had attended with him. The brothers’ enthusiasm led to the erection of corner signage naming each corner. In 1978 we did multiple commemorative laps of it on the Saturday of the Golden Jubilee celebration The track was unchanged from pre-war, apart from bituminisation. During that weekend a commemorative brass plaque was unveiled at Heaven Corner. See this lengthy pice on the 1928 AGP; https://primotipo.com/2020/05/28/1928-100-miles-road-race-phillip-island/
(B King Collection)
The names of the corners are of interest. The start-finish line was on the southern-most straight which led quickly to Heaven Corner. ‘Heaven’, because the previous and last corner was Hell, as it was approached downhill at maximum speed. (Hope Bartlett claimed he reached 130mph in 1931 driving his Type 37A Bugatti on this downhill stretch through ‘The Bridge of Sighs’). The next corner, just a short walk from Cowes, was named Young and Jacksons as it was nearest to the Isle of Wight Hotel, recognizing the pub of that name conveniently place opposite Flinders Street Railway Station in Melbourne. The south-east corner was Gentle Ann, named for a memorable local maiden. The track was 6 miles in length – this figure having been arrived at by a gentleman seated in a dray, drawn by a horse. To the large diameter wheel of the dray, he had nailed a flap of leather which hit his foot on each rotation and, knowing the diameter of the wheel, he was able to calculate the track’s length. Subsequent survey proved that this method was highly accurate. As the roads were unsealed, the racer’s nightmare was dust, dust so thick that in places they steered by the tops of the trees.
In the mid-eighties photographs were taken of attendees at the LCCA commemorative events at Phillip Island. As he is absent from the photos, it is likely they were taken by Jim Leech – they are representative of three visits to the Island. We felt that these photographs should be shared.
(B King Collection)
A group photograph with the secretary of the LCCA, Ian McKnight in the foreground. L to R: John Whiting of the Luxton family, Arthur Terdich, winner of the 1929 AGP, David Anderson, an LCCA official, Les Murphy, two times AGP winner, 1935 and 1936, Jack Ould (known as Jack Ancient to distinguish him from the LCCA president, John Ould), David Watson, Bob Chamberlain, with Barney and Bess Dentry flanking him, Bill Chamberlain, Ron Edgerton, unknown, Bob King and Peter Menere
Jim Leech in conversation with Harold Edwards and partner in Bugatti T39 #4604 – the 1931 AGP winning car driven by Carl Junker – while Bill and Lyn share the back seat of Jim’s Singer during the LCCA Ballarat Trial in the mid-thirties (B King Collection)(B King Collection)
The ever-engaged Bob Chamberlain with Barney Dentry.
(B King Collection)
The extraordinary, avant-garde Chamberlain 8 leaves the line in a haze of screaming two-stroke fuel and exhaust music, Jim Hawker at the wheel. Rob Roy June 1946.
Godbehear attacking Rob Roy on November 3, 1959, JBS JAP 298cc. Jack Goldsmith Godbehear was a legendary mechanic/engineer/mentor to drivers such as Jim McKeown and Tony Stewart. He taught driver/mechanics like Larry Perkins and Peter Larner many of his principles and tricks in his Park Orchards shed, the dyno of which upset the bucolic splendour of the outer Melbourne suburb on many a fine day.
The inspiration for these visits, Bill Leech, at right with Jack. Bill and Jim Leech were pillars of the Melbourne business and motorsport establishment, their creative, competitive, political and organisational skills were all over the successes of the Light Car Club of Australia for a half-century. One can’t overstate their contribution behind the wheel or boardroom table.
(B King Collection)
Bill Leech at Lakeland hillclimb in the 1970s, Bugatti T37A.
‘Memories’, Len Sydney and his brother reminiscing about when they raced motorcycles on the 20-mile track that went north as far as Rhyll (Phillip Island).
Ace drivers and preparers Reg Nutt and Otto Stone.
(Davey-Milne Collection)
Otto Stone working on an MG Q-Type with Verna Davey-Milne looking on. Stone was another life-long competitor/engineer with influence across the sport not least preparing – and calming down a bit – Stan Jones and his Maserati 250F to AGP and Gold Star victories.
(S Wills)
The list of cars prepared and/or raced by Reg Nutt is a very long one – a long overdue article – here in a Cisitalia D46 Fiat at Rob Roy in the 1950s.
Eddie Thomas of ‘Speedshop’ fame and Otto Stone.
(unattributed)
Fast Eddie Thomas about to do a career best 8.55 seconds pass during the 1968 nationals at Calder in his shed built, blown Chrysler-Hemi powered dragster, Old No 17. An ace on two-wheels and four he formed his first Eddie Thomas Speed Shop in Caulfield, Melbourne in partnership with another ace-mechanic, Pat Ratliff in 1956. Corporate and competition fame and fortune followed.
Light Car Club stalwart Alex Hay with Maurie Quincey, nine times Australian TT champion and four times Isle of Man competitor on motorcycles before success as a Honda dealer and late career Formula 2 racer in a ‘relatively safe’ Elfin 600 Lotus-Ford.
(I Smith)
Maurie Quincey’s Elfin 600B Lotus Ford about to be rounded up by World Champion, Graham Hill’s Lotus 49B Ford during the Sandown Tasman Cup round in February 1969.
Reg Nutt, who was riding mechanic to Carl Junker when they won the 1931 AGP. He is seen with Ken McKinney who drove an Austin 7 in the AGP in 1932-34.
(B King Collection)
Oopsie. McKinney’s Austin 7’s dignity being restored at Phillip Island circa 1934. DNF that day, but he was fifth in 1933 to go with another DNF in 1932, all aboard Austin 7s which always punched above their handicaps on the rough Island course, Arthur Waite’s 1928 AGP victory duly mounted, noted.
Gib Barrett, brother of Alf Barrett and driver of the BWA, sometimes known as the ‘Bloody Work of Art’, seen below at Templestowe Hillclimb circa 1960.
(unattributed)(B King Collection)
Silvio Massola drove an HRG in the 1952 and 1953 AGPs at Bathurst and Albert Park
(B King Collection)
Silvio works on his Bugatti T37 supervised by his son Carlo, John Monks, Snapper-Jack Mayes and grandson, James Massola.
(B King Collection)
Credits…
Bob King Collection, Spencer Wills, Ian Smith, Ron Simmonds Collection, Dentry Family Collection, Spencer Wills, Davey-Milne Family Collection, Nathan Tasca
Tailpiece…
(B King Collection)
Jack Day was an AGP perennial who attended the modern gatherings, but he seems to have escaped the photographer. Here he is, in the day, aboard a Lombard AL3 at Safety Beach, Dromana, perhaps.
Rothman’s promo handout of the type used at race meetings back in the day.
Frank Matich did well with this unique Repco-Holden F5000 V8 engined McLaren M10B, chassis 400-10, winning the Australian Grand Prix with it in November 1970. In early ‘71, after finishing second to Graham McRae’s M10B Chev in the Tasman Cup, he took he entered the first two rounds of the US F5000 Championship held in California in April/May. He won the Riverside Grand Prix and finished second in the following Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, proving the car was one of the quickest F5000s around.
Sponsorship commitments forced his return to Australia to contest the Gold Star, a pity! Given the solid US campaign you would think Repco – he was their contracted test and race driver – and Rothmans would have seen the good sense in staying a bit longer and surfing the wave of success. US wins would have created good column inches back home and promoted Repco-Holden engine sales stateside, the irony of successful Australian V8s on the ‘home turf’ of that pushrod-V8-donk genre will not be lost on most of you. When Repco and Matich returned to the US with a full-on two car works L&M F5000 Championship assault in 1973 it was a clusterfuck, a tangent covered in this article and another linked below; https://primotipo.com/2015/09/11/frank-matich-matich-f5000-cars-etcetera/
(R Wolfe Collection)
Back home things turned to custard as he collided with another car – in a zig-zag moment as two cars converged – in practice at Oran Park before the first Gold Star round on June 27.
By then FM had decided to build his own car, so rather than order a replacement M10B chassis from Trojan Cars – manufacturers of McLaren customer cars – he decided his Brookvale team should rebuild the buggered monocoque as practice for what became the Matich A50 Repco-Holden that November. FM’s cars to that point – the SR3-4 sportscars – had spaceframe chassis.
When the thrice tubbed – the original, a Trojan replacement after a July 1970 prang, plus the Matich built chassis – M10B was rebuilt it was designated M10C.
Compare and contrast. Matich shown winning the November 1970 AGP above at Warwick Farm fitted with 15-inch front and rear wheels, and below at the same circuit using 13-inch jobbies up front during the February WF Tasman round, DNF electrical. Same car, chassis 400-10, and same tub at this point! (unattributed)(Terry Russell/an1images.com)Matich in the M10C in New Zealand – where folks? – during the ’71 Tasman showing its M7/M14 13-inch front wheels. Isn’t it neat looking sans hi-airbox – that ‘innovation’ was introduced by Tyrrell during the ’71 French GP weekend – and with engine cover (D Kneller Collection)
In the lead up to the 1971 Tasman, FM developed 13-inch Goodyears as part of his test-driver role with Goodyear, he was one of about 10 in the world at the time, he was the distributor of the Akron giant’s race-tyres in Australia too. F1 cars raced on 13-inch covers and Goodyear were keen to evolve suitable boots of the same diameter for the heavier F5000s. The M10A and M10B were supplied ex-factory with 15-inch wheels front and rear. Simultaneously, the Matich crew increased the wheelbase of the car by 150mm by using redesigned front wishbones and longer radius rods, these and other subtle changes heralded the very quick C-specification.
Back to the ’71 Gold Star. Matich won at Surfers Paradise when he rejoined the Gold Star circus on August 29, 1971 but retirements at Warwick Farm and Sandown cruelled his championship aspirations. By then the main game was readying the new Matich A50 Repco-Holden for the November 21 AGP at Warwick Farm where the several days old car finished a splendid first!
Etcetera…
(G Wadsworth Collection)
Matich in the middle of the leading gaggle of cars not long after the start of the Riverside Grand Prix, that’s Sam Posey’s Surtees TS8 Chev turning in. The red car out of focus on the left looks suspiciously like Skip Barber’s F1 March 701 Ford DFV. Ron Grable’s Lola T190 Chev won the first 38 lap heat and Posey won the second, but FM’s two second placings won the day and the bubbles overall.
(M Kidd)
I like this unfinished painting, Kiwi artist Michael Kidd never got beyond his initial sketch of the McLaren M10C Repco-Holden in ‘71 Tasman specs as shown below. Matich leads Niel Allen’s M10B Chev and Frank Gardner’s works-Lola T192 Chev in the distance. Circuit folks? How ’bout completing the painting Michael?
(D Kneller Collection)
What’s interesting to we anoraks – perhaps – is that between the end of the Tasman and the trip to the US a couple of months later, Matich fitted a more substantial roll-over hoop with two rear stays mounted further back on the car at the rear. Look at the shots above and below. I wonder why? Different US regs perhaps, dunno, that’s one for Derek Kneller…
(D Kneller Collection)
The more you look, the more you see of course, here’s one for the Repco-Holden perves. Don’t the inlet trumpets on the engine above indicate that that injection slides are in use rather than butterflies? I thought by this stage slides had been given the arse by REDCO given their propensity to jam from the collection of roadside detritus on our shitty tracks?
Credits…
Rod Wolfe Collection, Derek Kneller Collection, Terry Russell, Michael Kidd, Eli Solomon
Tailpiece…
Frank Matich, McLaren M10A Chev, Thomson Road, Singapore GP, March 1970 (E Solomon)
Frank Matich’s F5000 commitment began with the purchase of this McLaren M10A Chev in late 1969, before CAMS had ‘finally landed’ on their decision for the new Australian National F1 to succeed the much loved, but running out of puff, 2.5-litre formula. That balsy-call by FM and staggering tale of ‘decision making fuck-wittery’ by the Conspiracy Against Motor Sport is contained within this exhausting epic; https://primotipo.com/2018/05/03/repco-holden-f5000-v8/
By the way, the small minded and petty (me) can still take the piss out of CAMS’ name quite legitimately. They registered the new business name Motorsport Australia with effect from January 1, 2020 but the full legal name of the organisation we all love is the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Ltd (ABN 55 069 045 665) trading as Motorsport Australia, so CAMS it is.
Frank’s M10A, chassis 300-10, was delivered to him in August 1969, and Derek Kneller, ex-McLaren came with it. Derek and Peter Mabey immediately set to and updated the car to the just coming M10B spec – DG300, radiator, body, suspension wheels etc – and created a jet that Matich put on pole in four 1970 Tasman rounds for two wins, the NZ GP at Pukekohe and Wigram.
The last time Frank raced it – F5000 was not Gold Star legal in 1970, see fuck-wittery above – was during the March 29, 1970 Formula Libre 1970 Singapore Grand Prix on the big-balls Upper Thomson Road circuit.
Eli Solomon picks up the story, “Frank complained that his car weighed 1500lbs and carried 28.5 gallons of petrol designed for a 100 mile course. Talk that Niel Allen would also race an M10A never materialised (albeit he had a race winning M10B ready for the 1970 Tasman).”
“In Thursday practice Matich took out a bus stop doing 160mph on the Murder Mile, his best time had been 2:05.5, fifth fastest compared with the winner Graeme Lawrence, Ferrari 246T on pole at 1:57.8. Kevin Bartlett, Mildren Alfa Romeo T33 2.5 V8, did 1:58.6 and Max Stewart, Mildren Waggott TC-4V 2-litre, 1:59.6.” Lawrence won from John MacDonald’s Brabham BT10/23C Ford FVA and Albert Poon’s similarly powered Brabham BT30.
Matich’s M10A 300-10 on the NZ GP grid at Pukekohe, January 10, 1970. Guy tapping the nose folks? the Keke Rosberg look-alike is Hugh Lexington with Graeme ‘Lugs’ Adams alongside right. Matich won from Derek Bell, Brabham BT26 Ford DFW and Graeme Lawrence, Ferrari Dino 246T. Engine is a Traco prepped Chev (The Roaring Season)
Obiter…
One last final fleeting glance for me before uploading this masterpiece. The Rothmans’ shot of 400-10 isn’t a photograph of the car in M10C spec but rather M10B spec before modification, the specification sheet listing is M10B before mods too, the poor old marketers are always the last to know. So, sleep easy now with that knowledge, I’m not OCD-ADHDxyz believe it or not but I do have my uber-anal moments…
With the announcement of Formula Junior in 1958 the floodgates opened to chassis builders from around the globe using 1100c BMC, Fiat, Ford, Renault and Lancia engines. The latter provided one of the loudest, potent engines to ten or so front and mid-engined cars built by Milanese mechanic, Angelo Dagrada.
Born in 1912, he initially made his name building cars for the post-war Italian 750 and 1100cc classes. He improved the Fiat 1100-Siata head and achieved some significant wins before road accidents slowed him. By 1955, Dagrada was again tuning cars, this time Alfa Romeos.
Angelo Dagrada with Franco Bordoni, Scuderia Ambrosiana Dagrada Lancia #001 at Monza in 1959, during the Trofeo Bruno e Fofi Vingorelli meeting. He was 12th in the race won by later Alfa Romeo factory driver, Roberto Businello – this shot and the one below (unattributed)(unattributed)Lancia Appia 1090cc (68x75mm bore/stroke) V4.Monobloc, crankcase and head made of duraluminium, hemispherical combustion chambers, modified crossflow head with two chain operated camshafts in the crankcase, two-overhead valves per cylinder inclined at 67 degrees to each other operated by pushrods and rockers. Two Weber 38DCO3 carburettors, compression ratio 8.75-9:1. Short, counter-weighted crankshaft (velocetoday.com)
The Baghetti’s, owners of a successful Milan foundry were customers. Dagrada aided and abetted teenage would-be-racer Giancarlo Baghetti by modifying the family Alfa 1900, without telling Baghetti senior.
Just as Baghetti started racing Alfas and Abarths, Dagrada concocted a new Formula Junior design for 1959, just as the British mid-engined hordes took over the class.
Always an engine man, Degrada good look at the 1090cc Lancia Appia engine rather than go the Fiat route like most other Italian FJ manufacturers. With a sturdy 10-degree cast-iron V-4, the Appia unit was available and light. The design’s shortcoming was an intricate aluminum head that stymied attempts to make it breathe deeply.
Dagrada’s solution was to substantially redesign the head. By creating new intake and exhaust ports, he achieved a crossflow design which was fed by a Weber 38DCO3 carburettors mounted either side of the block. With carefully calculated tuned-length-exhausts the horsepower gain of the 1090cc (68x75mm bore/stroke) engine was huge, up from 48bhp to circa 95bhp @ 6700-7000rpm.
The gearbox was a modified Lancia Flaminia/Flavia unit. With a simple ladder-frame chassis – the engine was offset to allow the driveshaft to pass alongside the driver – wishbone and coil spring/dampers and adjustable roll bars front and rear, modified Fiat 1100 brakes and an aluminum body reminiscent of a 250F Maserati, the car was ‘the goods’.
All smiles for Giancarlo Baghetti after winning the Vigorelli Trophy at Monza on April 25, 1960 (unattributed)
Giancarlo Baghetti demonstrated his burgeoning talent with a new Dagrada doing well in the junior-leagues before winning the more professional Prova Addestrativa on March 27, and Vigorelli Trophy races on April 25, 1960 both at Monza. He was equal fourth in the Italian FJ Championship together with Geki Russo – the title was won by Renato Pirocchi, Stanguellini Fiat. Giorgio Bassi was the other driver who did well in his Dagrada that year. By the spring of 1961 Baghetti was on Enzo Ferrari’s radar with an F1 seat his shortly thereafter.
The British rear-engined revolution started by Cooper and refined by Lotus ensured the days of front engined Formula Junior were nearing their end, one of the sweetest of that breed was the Degrada Lancia…
Angelo’s mid-engined design (below) which followed wasn’t a success, Giorgio Bassi took one race win for the chassis in the Coppa Junior Italian Championship round at Monza on May 13 1962, when the top-Brits were elsewhere…
(Leo Schildkamp)
Etcetera…
The donor of the Dagrada engine. 107,000 Lancia Appia’s were built between 1953 and 1963.
(unattributed)
Dagrada was not the only marque to use the Appia engine, others included Raf, Raineri and Volpini.
(unattributed)
Giorgio Bassi in his mid-engined Scuderia Sant’Ambroeus Degrada Lancia, 22nd during the Preis von Tirol at Innsbruck on October 8, 1961, car #15 is the Andre Rolland Stanguellini Fiat and #7 Bernard’s Foglietti Fiat.
Credits…
‘Emily’-Vladyslav Shapovalenko, velocetoday.com, Leo Schildkamp
Lamberto Leoni at the Formula 2 Grand Prix de Nogaro (ninth), aboard his Scuderia Everest Ralt RT1 Ferrari 206 in 1977.
Ferrari entered into an arrangement with Giancarlo Martini and Giancarlo Minardi’s Scuderia Everest – originally Scuderia del Passadore and from 1975 Scuderia Everest, after obtaining sponsorship from the Italian rubber products manufacturer Everest Gomma – and another ex-racer, Pino Trivellato’s Trivellato Racing to provide 2-litre Dino V6 engines to be fitted to Ralt/Chevron chassis run by each team to bring-on young Italian drivers through Formula 2. The program ran for two years, 1977-78 with only modest success.
Enzo Ferrari, Giancarlo Minardi, Roberto Farnetti keeping an eye on Lamberto Leoni at Fiorano in 1975, March 752 BMW (F Minardi)
Martini drove March BMWs for the team, during this 1975-76 period Minardi developed a strong relationship with Scuderia Ferrari team manager – and decades later Ferrari CEO – Luca di Montezemolo. Via this connection Everest tested their cars at Fiorano, and at the end of 1975 Minardi secured a deal with Enzo Ferrari to run a Ferrari 312T F1 car to race in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch and the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone, way back when in the days of non-championship F1 races.
Giancarlo Martini, Ferrari 312T, International Trophy, Silverstone 1976 (unattributed)
The deal was reminiscent of the arrangement whereby a Ferrari 156 was raced by Giancarlo Baghetti under the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche (FISA) banner in 1961. Maurizio Flammini was offered the Everest 312T drive but knocked back the opportunity so Martini got the gig. With very limited practice at Fiorano he was Q13 and DNF prang at Brands, and Q10 and 10th in the rain at Silverstone. Giancarlo Minardi would of course return to F1 a decade later.
The Scuderia Everest Ferrari connections were immaculate and led to the agreement to run Dino engined Ralts in 1977. Everest ran Lamberto Leoni and Gianfranco Brancatelli in RT1 Ferraris, while to broaden their coverage, Pino Trivellato, the Chevron agent in Italy, planned to run Riccardo Patrese in a Chevron B40 Ferrari.
Just the view of the Prancing Horse on the steering wheel must have been good for an extra couple of tenths! Chevron B42-78-07 Ferrari, the ex-De Angelis 1978 chassis (Legends Automotive)
Ferrari F2 206 V6 engine and lineage…
The Ferrari Dino V6 family(ies) of engines were incredibly versatile, fitted as they were to single seaters and sportscars and winning World F1 Championships in 1958 (drivers) and 1961 (drivers and manufacturers). They were built in capacities of between 1.5 and 2.4-litres, with two, three and four valves per cylinder, fed by carburettors and fuel injection, not to forget the turbo-charged and experimental radial valve variants. In mid-life 2.4-litre Ferrari 246T open-wheelers – a derivative of the Ferrari 166 F2 car – won the 1969 and 1970 Tasman Cups for Chris Amon and Graeme Lawrence. Who could forget the 206/246 Dino roadies and the similarly powered Lancia Stratos, competition variants of which were winning rallies into the 1980s.
The challenge of building an engine to match the competitor set, the modern as tomorrow 300bhp Hart 420R and BMW M12/7 fours, and Renault-Gordini CH1B V6, was given to long-time Ferrari mechanic, ex-F1 chief mechanic Giulio Borsari. He was handed an all-alloy 65-degree 24-valve Dino V6 with the four camshafts driven by chains! The bore/stroke of the new Ferrari 206 was 86mmx57mm. This was achieved with a visit to the parts-bin and mating the short stroke of the 1965 Dino 166P (sportscar) with the “86mm bore of the unlamented Dino 166 1.6-litre F2 engine,” wrote Doug Nye in ‘Dino:The Little Ferrari’.
The compression ratio was 12:1, 10mm Champion plugs were used and titanium conrods. While dry-dumped, the long engine was also very tall as the pressure and scavenge pumps occupied a lot of space, while the sump itself was deeper than what had become modern practice. Ferrari claimed 300bhp @ 10,500rpm for the 120kg engine “which was outdated before it had begun to race.” Nye wrote.
The immediate concern of the Ralt/Chevron proprietor/designers Ron Tauranac and Derek Bennett was the engine installation challenges, particularly its height. Tauranac and his lads in Snelgar Road, Woking simply took the handling penalty implicit and mounted the motor as low as they could into an RT1.
Derek Bennett and Paul Owens up in Bolton thought “stuff that” and designed a 1 1/2 inch lower sump, “so that the gearbox would come down to the right level and the driveshafts could be put on at a sensible angle” wrote David Gordon in ‘Chevron:The Derek Bennett Story’. They had the sump cast and along with a new oil pump, fitted the modified engine to a B40 and headed to Fiorano to test it shortly before the first Euro F2 round at Silverstone in late February/March.
Paul Owens and Derek Bennett ponder the installation challenges of the tall Ferrari 206 V6 into a Chevron B40 chassis (Autosprint)Lamberto Leoni, Chevron B40 Ferrari, Estoril 1977 (MotorSport)
The Ferrari folk were delighted with the look of the Chevron but flipped when they saw the modifications to their engine. The Mona Lisa had been desecrated, Chevron/Trivellato were forbidden to race the car and Paul Owens copped a major pull-thru in a meeting with Mauro Forghieri and Piero Lardi Ferrari.
Ferrari then tested the modified engine, which performed well on the dyno under static conditions but lost power when rotated through 45-degrees, a technique used to simulate cornering loads, the pumps were not scavenging properly.
Another slanging match ensued in a subsequent meeting when Paul Owens and Dave Wilson, who spoke Italian, met again with Ferrari. The Chevron boys asserted strongly that the car wouldn’t handle properly – which was pretty much proved by the poor performance of the Ferrari engined RT1s compared with Hart and BMW powered Ralts throughout the season – while the Ferrari people wouldn’t agree to lower the engine.
“After much shouting and thumping on the table, the meeting broke up acrimoniously, with Paul declaring that Chevron were no longer interested in pursuing the project because it would be detrimental to their reputation. Although that was exactly what Paul and Derek believed, it still felt extremely strange to be telling Ferrari that running their engine could be bad for Chevron.” Gordon wrote.
The stalemate was broken when Pino Trivellato negotiated a process whereby B40s would be tested back to back at Fiorano, one fitted with the Ferrari engine in its original form and one BMW M12/7 powered. The Ferrari engined car was the slower.
Leoni awaits a ready mount at Fiorano in early 1977, Ralt RT1 Ferrari (F Minardi) Brancatelli overhead shows the cohesive look of the RT1 Ferrari (unattributed)206 Dino V6 installation – which appears to be at least a semi-stressed member – in an RT1 (G Gamand)
While all this was going on the European F2 Championship was well underway. Rene Arnoux won the Silverstone season-opener on March 6 in his works Martini Mk22 Renault Gordini V6. Then Brian Henton won in a Boxer PR2 Hart at Thruxton, with Lamberto Leoni’s RT1 Ferrari a DNF oil pressure. Leoni failed to qualify in the following Hockenheim round where Jochen Mass’ March 722P BMW prevailed. Mass won again at the Eifelrennen at the Nurburgring in May with both RT1 Ferrari’s DNAs.
In the first ‘home race’ for the Ralts at Vallelunga, Brancatelli had his first RT1 start and finished 13th while Leoni was outted with clutch failure. Bruno Giacomelli’s works March 772P BMW won. The Pau GP was similarly disastrous, Leoni DNQ and Brancatelli DNF with oil pump failure, somewhat ironic given the Chevron-Ferrari chitty-chats taking place at the same time! Arnoux won from Didier Pironi in a Martini Renault 1-2. To make matters worse, Riccardo Patrese was one of the season smash hits aboard a Trivellato B40 BMW. Pino did a deal to get Patrese works BMW engines when the Ferrari dramas appeared impassable…
Both RT1 Ferraris finished at Mugello on June 19, in seventh/eighth Leoni/Brancatelli, while up front the top-four were Giacomelli/Patrese/Alberto Colombo/Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi. Italian drivers seemed to be doing quite well without Ferrari’s help thank you very much.
Leoni, Trivellato Chevron B40 Ferrari, Mediterranean GP, Enna Pergusa, July 1977. Eighth in the race won by Keke Rosberg’s Opert Chevron B40 Hart 420R (MotorSport – E Colombo)
Eddie Cheever’s Ron Dennis-Project Four Ralt RT1 BMW won at Rouen from Patrese’s Chevron B40 BMW – there was nothing wrong with both chassis if a decent engine sat in the back – while Brancatelli’s RT1 Ferrari was an encouraging fourth but Leoni again was a DNQ. While the Chevron-Ferrari soap-opera continued Leoni was ninth at Nogaro in his Everest RT1 Ferrari on July 3 with Brancatelli a DNF with suspension damage, Arnoux again won.
At Enna – the Gran Premio del Mediterraneo – Gianfranco Trombetti guest-drove an RT1 Ferrari to sixth, which was frustrating for Leoni, but he was eighth in a Trivellato Chevron B40 Ferrari which finally made its race debut!
Up front Keke Rosberg, off the back of a career enhancing win at the start of the year in the competitive New Zealand Formula Pacific Championship aboard a Fred Opert Chevron, won in an Opert B40 Hart. Brancatelli was unclassified in the other Everest RT1.
Leoni’s placing was just reward as he had taken over the testing duties of the Trivellato B40 Ferrari after Patrese signed with BMW. After even more angst Ferrari “made a sump the same height as the original one we made, almost a copy of it,” said Paul Owens. “From then on we started to make progress.”
The F2 cirus then moved on to Misano for the Adriatic GP where Leoni took a sensational win (above) in the B40 Ferrari! In an ominous start to the weekend, 19 year old Elio De Angelis outqualified Lamberto in practice aboard an Everest RT1 Ferrari in his first F2 race. He earned the drive after bagging second place in the Monaco F3 GP (Chevron B38) and then a win at the F3 Monza Lottery race aboard an RT1.
Leoni was second in the first heat, then won the second and the round overall. It was a much needed victory for all concerned, Ferrari were delighted and it also proved Chevron’s stance had been correct all along. De Angelis was eighth in his F2 debut (shots below) and Brancatelli unclassified in the other RT1 Ferrari (chassis numbers RT1-65 and RT1-66 by the way).
(unattributed)
Then it was off to Estoril where the Martini V6s did a Pironi/Arnoux 1-2 with Leoni the best of the Ferraris, he was ninth in the B40 Chevron, while De Angelis was out with suspension damage on lap two, with Brancatelli a DNQ.
For the final Euro F2 round Giancarlo Minardi pursuaded Pino Trivellato to lend him Leoni’s B40 Ferrari for Elio de Angelis to drive at Donington on October 29. That all came to nothing when the car jumped out of gear and hit a concrete retaining wall. Repaired overnight, the car wasn’t as quick as the day before, with Elio finishing tenth. Up front, Bruno Giacomelli indicated his intent by winning in the new – very fast – March 782 BMW.
Reno Arnoux won the championship for Martin Renault with his team mate Didier Pironi third, while Eddie Cheever was second in a Ralt RT1 BMW. Leoni was the best placed of the Ferrari powered drivers with nine points in 11th place.
Elio De Angelis, Chevron B40 Ferrari at Donington in 1977De Angelis during the GP di Roma at Vallelunga in June 1978. Eighth in the Martini/Everest Chevron B42 Ferrari, race won by Derek Daly’s Chevron B42 Hart 420R (unattributed)
Chevron B42 Ferrari Dino 206, 1978…
The Minardi/Everest Ralt Ferrari deal ended at the end of the year but Trivellato continued the Chevron Ferrari program with De Angelis as driver into 1978. Scuderia Everest also ran a Chevron B42 Ferrari for Beppe Gabbiani.
Bruno Giacomelli dominated the season in the superb March 782 BMW – an all new March F2 design, the first in years – and the Chevron B42, a best-seller with 21 chassis built, took its share of wins as well despite the tragic loss of founder and guiding light Derek Bennett after injuries sustained in a hang-glider accident claimed him on March 22.
Elio only had five races with the Ferrari 206 V6 engined B42, for two DNFs and three placings – none better than tenth – then gave up the unequal struggle and fitted a Hart 420R. Gabbiani ran in 11 of the 12 rounds for three DNQs, three DNFs with his best in the other rounds a fifth at Vallelunga – elbowing Rosberg off the track in the process – and seventh at Thruxton. The Argentinian, Miguel Angel Guerra ran one of the cars in the last five events for a best of seventh at Donington.
Bepe Gabbiani, Chevron B42 Ferrari, Nogaro 1978 (A Simmonel)The business end of the ex-De Angelis Chevron B42-78-07 Ferrari Dino V6 in modern times (Legends Automotive)Guerra, Chevron B42 Ferrari, Nogaro 1978 (A Simmonel)
Giacomelli won the championship in fine style on 78 points from Marc Surer in another works March 782 BMW with Derek daly third in a Chevron B42 Hart. The Ferrari engined Chevron B42 drivers were 14th and 20th – De Angelis and Gabbiani.
After such an appalling season of reliability and results, Ferrari canned the project. And that seemed to be the end of it, but Giancarlo Minardi and Ferrari were drawn to each other…
Guerra, Minardi 281 Ferrari 206, Misano pits 1981 (F Minardi)
Minardi 281 Ferrari Dino 206, 1981-82 …
On his inexorable rise to the top echelon of motor racing Minardi was after an unfair advantage to take his F2 team above the BMW M12/7 ruck, his mind turned to the Ferrari Dino 206 which had caused him so much pain a few years before. Surely with a little development it could be a winner…
Before too long, Minardi had done a deal with Enzo Ferrari and a truckload of engines, parts, patterns, drawings and much, much more were on their way to to Minardi HQ in Faenza. The project to squeeze more power from the old-gal was given to chief mechanic, Bertoni Tonino di Piangipane together with engineers Giacomo Caliri and Luigi Marmiroli. They managed to extract 325bhp from it, a little more than the BMW.
Miguel Angel Guerra, Minardi 281 Ferrari, Misano 1981 (MotorSport)
Miguel Ángel Guerra debuted the Minardi 281 Ferrari during the 1981 GP dell’Adriatico, Misano, finishing 13th. In 1982 Paolo Barilla practiced the 281B Ferrari, but raced a 281B BMW at Thruxton in April, then raced the Ferrari engined car at the next round on the Nurburgring to 15th.
At Mugello Sigi Stohr had engine failure after 2 laps…and that really was it for the incredibly long-lived Ferrari Dino V6, a shortage of funds made it untenable to fight the good fight against the thoroughly modern Honda V6 fitted to Ralt and Spirit chassis.
Of course those with a keen interest in Minardi – and who didn’t love the little guys that always punched above their weight – know the ‘Bromance’ between Minardi and Ferrari still wasn’t over.
Pierluigi Martini aboard the Minardi M191 Ferrari at Monaco in 1991 (MotorSport)
Giancarlo Minardi negotiated the use of the Ferrari Tipo 037 3.5-litre 65-degree V12 – shown below during the 1991 US GP weekend – for the M191 F1 car designed by Aldo Costa and raced with some success by Pierluigi Martini – Giancarlo’s nephew – Gianni Morbidelli and Roberto Moreno throughout 1991. Pierluigi’s pair of fourths in San Marino and Portugal were the best results of the season.
Leoni aboard his RT1 Ferrari at Thruxton during the B.A.R.C. 200 in April 1977, DNF with falling oil pressure after only nine laps, the popular winner was Brian Henton in a Boxer PR2 Hart 420R.
Graeme Adams, Adama GA01 Chef in front of Chris Middleton, Elfin MR5 Chev, Oran Park 100 February 26, 1978 (N Stratton)
Graeme ‘Lugsy’ Adams (24 September 1941-24 September 2013) is one of many talented mechanics who jumped the fence from the paddock onto the grid. He quickly graduated from a self-built Holden Torana GTR XU-1 Group C tourer to the equally home-grown Adams GA01.
Adams worked for the very best of Australian outfits in F5000 from 1969 including Niel Allen Racing, Frank Matich’s Repco sponsored team and Warwick Brown’s team where he worked again with Peter Molloy, one of the country’s most gifted mechanics-cum engineer-cum Driver Whisperer. He worked on McLaren, Matich and Lola chassis and therefore knew his way round these machines better than most.
He acquired and built a 3.3-litre, two-OHV, straight-six Holden Torana GTR XU-1 racing the machine to some Australian Touring Car Championship points in 1974 and a great fifth place at the 1974 Bathurst 1000, sharing his car with Bob Stevens, in a real smell-of-an-oily rag operation.
Adams/Stevens during the 1975 Bathurst 1000, DNF that year – and with a few $ from Amex. I wonder how much!(D Cratchley)(D Cratchley)
Turning his mind to Formula 5000 – Australia premier single-seater category for both our summer internationals and domestic Australian Drivers Championship, the Gold Star – Lugs considered his options and decided to build his own car.
He set to work on the car in an office within his workshop, progressing the project as customer commitments allowed. The machine was Lola T400-esque in appearance and in the overall look of the aluminium monocoque chassis.
Surfers Paradise, February 1978, and yes, the day is fine! (G Simkin)Adams built 5-litre, injected Chev (G Simkin)
The uprights are Lola, so too the steering rack, while the top bodywork section is Matich, as used on the A50-53 series of cars. The transaxle is of course the good ‘ole Hewland DG300 five-speeder and the engine a fuel injected Chev of Adams’ own assembly.
Adams during his F5000 race debut weekend at Surfers Paradise in February 1978. Lost in thought but enjoying every minute (G Simkin)Allan Newton, McLaren M18/22 Chev and Adams dicing down the back of the field during the February 19, 1978 Surfers Paradise 100. DNFs for both
Graeme finally completed the car, extricating it from the office by knocking down a wall, and entered all four of the 1978 Rothmans International rounds, racing the car at two, the Surfers Paradise 100 and Oran Park 100 in February 1978.
Garry Simkin, friend of Graham and for many years a salaried mechanic/technician member of Racing Team VDS picks up the story. “Money was really tight, in the shots below he is getting a push-start at Surfers as he hadn’t fitted starter motor yet. His initial tyre setup (below) for exploratory laps comprised three wets and a dry! I have a funny feeling that Count Rudy Van der Straten may have bought a set of tyres for him.”
(G Simkin)
“I remember Lugs telling me that he thought he was going ok, really fast, when WB (Warwick Brown) passed him on the outside of the corner onto the main straight with one wheel in the dirt and waving to him. ‘The bastard!’ Lugs said with a laugh.”
He was Q23 and completed 31 of the 40 laps of the Surfers race won by Brown’s VDS Lola T333/332C Chev. The new car completed too few laps to be classified.
Adams GA01 side profile at Oran Park (A Betteridge)
Things were pretty tough in his home race at Oran Park, where again he qualified 23rd, and this time retired the car with a thrown oil pump belt after completing only 12 laps. Bown won that race too, and the championship from Vern Schuppan’s Elfin MR8B-C Chev and Bruce Allison, Chevron B37 Chev.
Graham Bristol with the Adams GA01 being rebuilt to original spec (G Simkin)
Those were the only occasions the car raced, “Then Lugs crashed it badly into a concrete pylon at Oran Park. He didn’t ever repair it, with the engine and gearbox sold over time.”
“Graham Bristol was working for Lugs and eventually bought the remains of the car. Up Lake Macquarie way he is working steadily on the GA01. I’m helping him piece together a DG300 and he’s built an injected engine and is keen to get it up and running.”
So treat this article as WIP, I shall report further about this valiant attempt at F5000 on an FF budget, in due course.
Etcetera…
(G Simkin)
Simkin, “That’s Graeme in the black singlet looking longingly at the VDS 332 (T333/T332C HU2) outside his workshop in Silverwater, where we assembled the car in 1978. On the far right of the shot is Herve, Count VDS’s son.”
(G Simkin)
“I love this one, it’s Graeme at a Sandown historic meeting in the mid-1980s when WB had a run in his old Lola T332 HU27. This was the Pat Burke owned car prepared by Peter Molloy, John Wright and Phil Harris with me and Michael Truman as gopher that won the 1975 Tasman Cup at Sandown. It was the first and only time an Aussie won that title.”
“All of my shots taken with my trusty Minolta 101B.”
Credits…
Neil Stratton, autopics.com.au, David Cratchley, Bob Quinlan Collection, Arn Betteridge, eldougo, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Garry Simkin
Tailpieces…
(eldougo)
A few words from Graeme at Surfers Paradise in 1969 when he was working with Frank Matich, here shown with Don O’Sullivan who had just acquired a Matich SR3 Repco from Matich; https://youtu.be/nxQILr8mgUE
Graeme Adams and Don O’Sullivan during the 1969 Surfers Paradise 6 Hour (ABC)(G Simkin)
A racer in approach and mindset to his core, Graeme Adams all set for battle at Surfers Paradise in February 1978.
Well known in Australia but perhaps less so elsewhere are Ron Tauranac’s pre-Brabham phase Ralts as against the post-Motor Racing Developments ones…
Ron looking young and shy in the first Ralt, the ‘Ralt Special’ above at the King Edward Park hill, Newcastle in 1951. By this stage Ralt 1 was fitted with schmick Ralt wheels and low-pivot trailing arms to better control the swing-axles.
Ron and Austin Lewis Tauranac (RALT) built five racing cars in the 1950s fitted with a variety of engines, two were powered by Norton 500s and one each by Ford 10, Vincent 1000 and Peugeot motors. Sadly, only the latter seems to remain.
‘Series Two’ Ralt. Larry Perkins and Ron with the RT1 Toyota with which Larry won the 1975 European F3 Championship. Monaco GP weekend, where he won the first heat and crashed out of the final. Renzo Zorzi, GRD 374 Lancia won the second heat and the final. The car behind looks like a Modus M1 but I can’t make #117 work (Auto Action Archive)
After that they built another five or so chassis on their jig, which were Vincent 1000 powered, before Jack Brabham made the offer to Ron to join him in the UK as Jack hatched his post-Cooper plans.
Peter Wilkins, who had been working with Ron making chassis, fibreglass bodies, seats, alloy wheels with integral brake drums, steering and suspension gear, bought the stock of parts. He then onsold the Ralt bits – Ron’s version is he sold them direct – to John Bruderlin and Leon Thomas, whose Concord, Sydney, Lynx Engineering business specialised in building hot MGs and selling MG parts.
Wilkins joined them as a partner for two highly productive years making what John Blanden described in his book as Ralt Derivatives; three Vincent engined cars and various Lynx Peugeot, Borgward, Ford and BMC powered FJ/single-seaters until Wilkins joined Tauranac in the UK to assist in the construction of the first Brabhams at Motor Racing Developments. These cars are covered later in the article under the Ralt Derivatives heading.
The descriptions of the cars are those used in Ron’s biography, ‘Brabham Ralt Honda : The Ron Tauranac Story’ written by Mike Lawrence, but I have used Ralt 1, 2 etc for brevity. There is no shortage of photos of the cars on the internet but most don’t have captions, if you can help with the who, where and when please email me on mark@bisset.com.au and I will update the piece.
In the beginning…
Tauranac was born in Gillingham, Kent in 1925 and emigrated to Australia with his folks in 1928. Austin was born in 1929 by which time the family lived in Fassifern, Newcastle. When of working age Ron joined the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation as a junior draftsman in 1939, continuing his technical studies. Despite being in a protected occupation he joined the RAAF in 1943 and trained as a pilot but missed out on combat with the end of the conflict, he was a Flight Sergeant when he returned to Civvy Street.
A very youthful Ron aboard Ralt 1, probably near the Bondi garage/workshop in 1949 (B Caldersmith)
Garry Simkin, historian, air-cooled expert and el-supremo of the superb loosefillings.com – from which a chunk of this article was drawn, together with the relevant section of Blanden’s bible which was written by Doug Grant and Mike Lawrence’s biography on Ron – writes that legend has it Ron was driving through Marsden Park when cars were racing on the ex-RAAF landing strip there, and his appetite for racing was whetted that day. Simkin debunks the theory, but one way or the other Ron and Austin, by then a motor mechanic, were soon reading all they could about the fledgling 500cc Movement in the UK. The 500cc Car Club of NSW was formed in April 1947, the brothers were soon hatching plans of their own aided by the knowledge gained in buying/improving/selling an Austin 7, Lea Francis and a Morris Minor. Suss and and carefully search Loose Fillings here; https://loosefillings.com/
Ron drew the Ralt Special – as he called it in Lawrence’s book – Ralt 1 in 1947 but there was then a two year gestation period until it was rolled out of a rented garage in Blair Street, Bondi, closeby to the family flat. Powered by a Norton ES2 500cc engine, the car was a typical 1940s 500 with 19-inch wire wheels, tubular steel ladder-frame chassis, wishbone-leaf spring front suspension and swing-axle rear with an engine/gearbox from a road-going motorcycle.
Ralt 1 at Marsden Park, Peter Finlay suspects, an RAAF emergency airfield at Berkshire Park, west of Sydney. This shot and the one below are circa-1950 with the 19-inch wires and original rear suspension fitted (B Caldersmith)(B Caldersmith)
Despite lacking shock absorbers, money was tight, Ron entered a hillclimb at Hawkesbury on November 20, 1950. “On his first run, the Ralt, which had already given him a few frights in the first corners, ran wide, hit a drainage gully and flipped. Ron was thrown out and taken to hospital to be stitched together,” wrote his biographer, Mike Lawrence.
When RT recovered from the crash, he repaired the car, fitted shocks, stiffened the rear suspension and then took it back to Hawkesbury. After some impressive practice times, he set off on his first timed run and again crashed, this time one of the back wheels tucked under and the car flipped, Ron was unhurt despite cuts and abrasions. A shackle on the rear spring had broken and caused the wheel to fold over, the problem was that the spring was the main locating medium.
Ron was learning valuable lessons on-the-hop and back to the drawing board he went. He devised long-arm, low-pivot swing axles, adding universal joints and was able to lower the roll-centre of his car by six-inches. Then it returned to competition in 1950 and was raced consistently, notable early performances included a 58.13 seconds Newcastle hillclimb time, an Australian quarter-mile class record of 16.3 seconds, and an appearance at the Easter Bathurst meeting in 1951 when Ron drove. By then the car also had Ralt cast-alloy wheels, Ralt 2 – the ‘Ralt 1100’ – also contested this meeting.
Merv Ward’s Ralt leads the Day Special (Bugatti T39 Ford V8 Spl) at Mount Druitt (B Caldersmith)Merv Ward in living colour on the cover of Modern Motor magazine aboard Ralt 1 Norton during the Easter Bathurst meeting in 1956 (S Dalton Collection)(B Caldersmith)
Ralt 1 then raced with continuous engine development at Foleys Hill, Newcastle and Parramatta Park among other venues. It was during this period that Ron met Jack Brabham and started to use him for his CSR Chemicals, his employers, machining work. The car was then sold to Merv Ward and Bernie Short, both of whom raced it in 1955 with much success using both ES2 and Norton overhead camshaft engines until Easter 1957 when the ES2 engine blew at Bathurst and the car crashed.
Sold in 1957 to Bert Bartrop, then to Reg Mulligan, on to Leaton Motors and Bert Lambkin, he crashed into a pole at Orange in 1960 during his first race. Taken to motorcycle expert Cec Platt for repair, parts of the car were used in building TQ midgets, the rest, apart from the two wheel-centres, was disposed off at the local tip after Platt’s death.
The Ralt 1100 (Ralt 2) appeared from the Bondi garage in 1949 fitted with a Ford 10 E93A engine, Standard 10 gearbox mounted mid-car fitted to a ladder-frame chassis, a Morris 8/40 rear end completing the key mechanicals. These components were clad in a sleek two-seater aluminium body, registered NSW KJ.989 and was raced by Austin at Leura, Mt Druitt, Foleys and Bathurst through to 1951.
Featured in the April 1951 issue of Australian Motor Sports, the car was sold to Lane Cove’s Austin Sudden in 1952 after Tauranac’s marriage, his wife to be wasn’t keen on his racing. Sudden used it on the road before selling it, passing through a couple of pairs of hands – Doug Grant chanced upon a photograph of the car below in a South Brisbane car yard circa-1959 – it was badly damaged in a 1969 car accident in Queensland and assumed scrapped.
(unattributed)(D Willis)
Ron Tauranac in the Jack Hooper car modified by he and Austin, then raced by Austin as the ‘Norton Special’ at King Edward Park hillclimb, Newcastle in 1951. Dick Willis tells us “It took FTD with a mere 500 Norton engine ahead of many more fancied runners including Sir Jack with the Cooper Bristol.”
Originally built by the Hooper brother, operators of the Hooper & Napier Motorcycles business in Sydney, Austin bought it and the brothers comprehensively rebuilt it inclusive of a new chassis. The Ralt MkIII (Ralt 3) took nine months to build in the Austin Service Station, East Circular Quay ‘on’ Sydney Harbour.
Austin debuted it at Mount Druitt in 1953 then raced very successfully for two years, he placed third at the Bathurst Easter 1955 meeting in an event also contested by Merv Ward in Ralt 1. Sold to a Broken Hill enthusiast who raced it at Port Wakefield in October 1956, no further details of the car’s whereabouts are known.
(B Gunther)
Byron Gunther wrote on the reverse of his photograph above, “A Tauranac, Norton 500. Very consistent all day (what day and where tho Byron??), this is the ex-Hooper 500, the first really good 500 built in this country.” Interesting to get this in-period perspective from an expert on the scene.
Ralt 1 at left with the Hooper originated Norton Special (Ralt 3) – by then fitted with Ralt alloy wheels on the front – at Mount Druitt (B Caldersmith)(B Caldersmith)
Austin and Ray Tauranac with the Ralt MkIV (Ralt 4) in build. This car, which used a four-tube chassis had no similarity to the earlier cars. Its front suspension used Austin A30 wishbones and uprights and Tauranac’s twist on De Dion rear suspension. The wheels and rack and pinion steering were also RT built. The much more sophisticated car was fitted with a Vincent Black Lightning 998cc engine and was also built at Circular Quay.
First raced in 1957 by Ron, it was driven by Jack Brabham at Mount Druitt on a trip home that year. Ron sold it to Noel Hall of Woolgoolga in 1958, he raced it in both the Easter and October 1958 Bathurst meetings before selling it to John Hough in mid-1959.
John Hough in the Ralt 4 Vincent on the family farm at Woodford Island in 1958 or 1959. Later traded to Reg Mulligan for the ex-Moss-Davison HWM Jaguar, it was crashed by Richard Compton at Catalina Park in 1962 then left in Lehane’s workshop in Auburn, Sydney, before being sold in damaged condition and disappearing without trace.
(B Caldersmith)(D Grant)
Reg Mulligan in Ralt 4 Vincent on pole of a four-lapper during Catalina Park’s opening meeting, February 12, 1961. Bob Maine and Vincent guru, Alan Burdis are awaiting the push-start.
Barry Garner is in the Nota Major alongside, and #37 D Russell’s MG TC Spl, #68 is Peter Wherrett’s Cooper Mk4 Hillman Minx and #31 the Toby Hines’ Ralt 498cc.
(D Grant)
The Ralt 5 – Ralt MkV – was a front-engined single-seater for Austin which was built simultaneously with Ralt 4. With a spaceframe chassis and similar suspension to Ralt 4, the car was sold incomplete when Austin retired from racing, what became of this car, nothing is known?
Having referenced John Bruderlin and Leo Thomas’ Lynx Engineering business, here is the Bruderlin/Thomas cigar-bodied MG TC Spl of Max Williams at Lowood in 1958 (G Smith Collection)
Ralt Derivatives…
The list of the cars built with Tauranac designed chassis, sold to Peter Wilkins and then Lynx Engineering follows. lt’s a precis of the Doug Grant/John Blanden material in Blanden’s ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’, which is included for completeness, it’s not a treatise on the history of each car.
Ralt Vincent 1959
Bought by Tony Hindes in 1959-60 and used with both V-twin and 500cc engines, sold to Todd Hamilton in 1962-63 and still with him in 2004.
(K Starkey)
The shot of Todd above is on the Amaroo Park hill in 1968, the one below at an historic meeting in more recent times.
(D Willis)
Marvellous shot of Ron and the same car at a Parramatta Park reunion (I think) not too long before he died.
In more recent times the car has been sold to Chris Page.
Ray Walmsley, Alfa Romeo P3 Chev up front, with Jack Myers’ #3 Triumph Thunderbolt, Barry Collerson, Talbot Lago T26C #15, #41 Frank Walters, SoCal and Gordon Stewart, Stewart MG at the start of a Catalina Park race during the opening meeting in 1961
He raced the Thunderbird at Easter Bathurst in 1961 and took part in hillclimbs throughout Australia, but tragically died in it after being thrown from it at Catalina Park, Katoomba in January 1962.
The photo above shows Jack – wearing his usual T-shirt with hoops – in car #3 at the start of a Catalina race in 1961, while the post-accident one below is shown to provide an idea of the engine packaging challenges.
(P Goulding)(D Willis)
As the post-Catalina-crash shot shows, the damage to the car does not appear significant. Sold by the Myers family, here the car is in the hands of Jim Reuter at Lowood in 1964.
Jennings Vincent
Built and owned by George Jennings in Victoria, whereabouts unknown.
(G Simkin Collection)
Lynx Vincent chassis 101
Built for Narrandera racer Les Trim in 1960, 998 Vincent. Sold in 1964 with the parts going into a sportscar project in Queensland.
Lynx Vincent chassis 102
John Marston raced it in Victoria and New South Wales fitted with a supercharged engine often as a Bruderlin & Thomas works entry. Through many hands, extant, and partially restored, albeit less engine, the car survives and was authenticated by RT.
(J Ellacott)
John Ellacott’s marvellous, rare colour shot was taken of John Marston gently sliding through Homestead corner at Warwick Farm in 1961.
(unattributed)
Lynx chassis 103
Built in 1961, through the hands of five drivers until the caring, skillful Dick Willis bought it in 2004.
Lynx chassis 104-109
Generally Ford and BMC powered FJs. Below is Kevin Bartlett’s Lynx BMC, chassis #105, at Lakeside in May 1962.
(B Miles)(B Thomas)
The same car at Lakeside a little earlier, November 11, 1961. KB’s #105 having its gizzards attended to; BMC 1-litre A-series engine with Amals, Renault transaxle.
Lynx chassis 110-116
The slimline Mark 2 machines were all Ford powered with the exception of the supercharged Peugeot powered machine built for Bob Holden and later raced very successfully by Colin Bond.
Holden’s lovely Lynx Peugeot is shown above Warwick Farm on debut in 1963.
(unattributed)
The same car with Colin Bond at the wheel and key team-members in attendance, Bob Riley standing alongside Vicki Allingham with Bob Allingham behind the front wheel. Bond’s performances in this car on the circuits and in the hills, and in rally Mitsubishi Colts resulted in subsequent fame-and-fortune via the Holden Dealer Team.
Etcetera…
Ralt 1
(B Caldersmith)
Ralt 1 in very early spec spec with Morris 19-inch wheels.
“I made two fundamental mistakes on that car,” Ron related to Mike Lawrence. “I put the seating position too far forward, and and the other was that I put swinging half-axles at the rear. The seating position gave me the theoretically correct weight distribution but it also made the car much harder to drive because you just didn’t get enough warning when the back end was going to break away.”
The shot above at Foleys Hill on July 13, 1952 shows Ralt 1 with its Ralt alloys and another angle on Ron’s swinging-half axles, and you can just see the end of the trailing arm.
(B Caldersmith)
Ron with hands in pocket and Austin looking towards us, Ralt 1 then with his alloy wheels and trailing arm rear suspension at Foleys Hill, July 13, 1952.
RT told Mike Lawrence, “The homemade engine was based on a Norton ES2 pushrod unit. The cams from a Norton WD side-valve gave me the timing I wanted. Over time, we made a crankcase, fitted a locally made piston which gave a 14:1 compression ratio, and ran it on methanol with an Amal carb. It had a cast-iron flywheel, then I had Jack Brabham machine me a a steel one. We played around with new barrells and eventually enlarged it from 500-600cc, I learned a lot about engines from that.”
(B Caldersmith)
In front of Dick Cobden’s Cooper.
Merv Ward at Gnoo Blas in 1956 (D Grant)(B Caldersmith)(B Caldersmith)
Mountain Straight at Bathurst perhaps. Do get in touch if you can help with the missing where, when and whom caption gaps.
(B Caldersmith)
Ralt 4
Noel Hall took FTD in the Ralt 4 Vincent at this gravel hillclimb held at Rushford Road, South Grafton, NSW in 1959. Racer/restorer/historian Dick Willis was there to catch the relaxed vibe of the day in countryside Dick described as “sparse”. Indeed.
(R Hough)
Ralt 4 Vincent on its trailer on the Hough family farm.
Credits…
Brian Caldersmith, Dick Willis, Richard Hough, John Medley, ‘Brabham Ralt Honda: The Ron Tauranac Story’ Mike Lawrence, Kerry Smith in Loosefillings.com, ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden, Bill Miles, Bill Tyrrell, Pat Goulding, Barry Collerson Album, John Ballantyne, Ken Starkey, Brier Thomas, Stephen Dalton Collection, Daniel Bando, John Ellacott
Tailpiece…
Whatever Ron and Jack were talking about, it wouldn’t have been the past. They were all about the next project, not the last one…
Enzo Ferrari and buddies launch their new for 1970 Le Mans contender, the fabulous 5-litre V12 Ferrari 512S to the press at Modena on November 6, 1969.
Bonus points for anyone who can identify the attendees…
My propensity for multiple articles on my favourites is well established practice, but again, rather than write another I’ve added a lot of material to an existing quickie to make it more valuable as an overview to these erotic Italians, however ordinary their race results in 1970-71 under the heel of the Porsche 917-908/3 onslaught were.
Percy Hunter and Vida Jones – aka Mrs JAS Jones – aboard her Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS Zagato on the beach at Gerringong, New South Wales south coast in 1930. Click here for a long feature on this oh-so-famous Oz racing car; https://primotipo.com/2018/02/15/mrs-jas-jones-alfa-6c-1750-ss-zagato/
(Keith Anderson Photography)
Only in Australia…
And no, the little Angle-box isn’t blowing off Enzo’s finest, the Andy Buchanan Ferrari 250LM at Caversham during practice for the 1966 6-Hour race.
Graham Withers ‘slingshot’ Ampol GT sponsored dragster/rail at Castlereagh in 1968.
Whether the dude with the death-wish is a crew member sussing just how much air Mr Withers is taking on launch, or perhaps been ingesting tablets of a type not dispensed by suburban pharmacists is an interesting question. Do let me know if you can put all of our minds to rest. Manufacturer of the machine folks?
(B Williamson Collection)
Ron Hodgson’s Lotus 11 GT has to be Fugly Car Cup contender.
Here in the Warwick Farm paddock circa 1962. The story of how some lovely sportscars were re-purposed is told in this article about Murray Carter here; Forever Young… | primotipo…
Ken Kavanagh aboard the awesome Moto Guzzi 500 V8 GP machine during the 1956 Senigallia Grand Prix.
This wild machine made its race debut at the Belgian GP in June 1955, read about Kavanagh’s time with Moto Guzzi in this feature; Moto Guzzi… | primotipo…
(Moto Guzzi)(MotorSport)
Dave Walker and Tim Schenken during the 1971 Dutch Grand Prix weekend at Zandvoort.
Walker started the Lotus 56B Pratt & Whitney 4-WD from grid 22 and was looking good for a while in the very soggy conditions but like so much of the grid, missed his braking point – in a car in which he hadn’t done a huge number of laps – and ran off the track after completing only five laps. Quickie on DW here; https://primotipo.com/2022/01/05/walkin-on-water/
Tim Schenken’s Brabham BT33 Ford was a more competitive mount. In its second year – Brabham won the South African GP in one in 1970, and should have won two or three more – it was still competitive in the young Melburnian’s hands, third place at the Osterreichring was his best result of the year.
At Zandvoort he started from grid 19 but DNF with suspension failure in the race won by Regenmeister Jacky Ickx’ Ferrari 312B2. Short piece on Tim here; https://primotipo.com/2019/01/02/tim-schenken/
(MotorSport)(Reg Hunt Collection)
Reg Hunt dreaming about future conquests on one of his parents Nortons, aged nine, in the early 1930s in the UK, and living the dream at Albert Park in 1956 aboard his Maserati 250F below.
He and his A6GCM and 250F were Australia’s fastest combinations in 1955-56, then he retired early to focus on his family and motor dealerships, amassing a fortune. See more about Reg here; https://primotipo.com/2017/12/12/hunts-gp-maser-a6gcm-2038/
(Reg Hunt Collection)(P Miller)
Bob Jane relaxes on his Jaguar E-Type Lwt during the Australian Tourist Trophy meeting at Lakeside over the November 14, 1965 weekend.
This is a heat or support race, Bob was fourth in the ATT, while Ron Thorp – it’s his AC Cobra you can see – didn’t start. Pete Geoghegan won from Greg Cusack and Spencer Martin: Lotus 23B Ford, Lotus 23 Ford and Ferrari 250LM.
The dude in the brown shirt is longtime Bob Jane Racing chief mechanic/team manger John Sawyer, no idea who the driver is, the tiny splash of red is Bill Gates’ Lotus Elan. Jane usually raced this darlin’ of a Jag with its factory hardtop but wasn’t averse to running topless on hot days. Click here for a feature on the car; Perk and Pert… | primotipo…
Piers Courage on the hop during the Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup round in January 1968.
Giving away a bit of horsepower at old-Sandown, a power track. Piers pitches his McLaren into Peters Corner with the Richard Attwood BRM P126 V12 , and, I think, Kevin Bartlett’s Brabham BT11A Climax behind. This fabulous race had an amazing dice between Jim Clark’s Lotus 49 Ford DFW and Chris Amon’s Ferrari 246T, resolved by a smidge in favour of the Scot. It was his last race, and series win.
(D Simpson)
This is the Queensland Touring Car Championship meeting at Surfers Paradise in August 1969, a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship. Dick Johnson’s EH Holden in front of Alan Hamilton’s Porsche 911
Norm Beechey’s Holden Monaro GTS327 won – taking the first ever ATCC win for a Holden – with Hamilton second and Jim McKeown third in a Lotus Cortina Mk2.
Dick Simpson recalled a funny moment related to his photo. “A couple of laps after that shot, as the EH was entering Lucas Corner, there was an almighty bang, a massive cloud of blue smoke and black engine oil and a number of red bits of metal pouring out of the engine right on the apex of the corner. The noise stopped and the EH silently trundled on around Repco Hill and disappeared.”
“We had a flag post right beside us and had been chatting with one of the flaggies who was most impressed that we were keen enough, or stupid enough to drive all night from Wollongong. So he said he had to go and clean up the mess and would we like a couple of souvenirs? He brought up a couple of bits of steel, one looked like a huge main-bearing cap and plonked them on top of the fencepost to cool off. About an hour later a young kid who looked a lot like the EH driver came along and demanded his bits back. So we had a quick chat with a young DJ!”
Alan Jones was stunningly quick in Sid Taylor/Teddy Yip Lola T332 Chevs during Australia’s 1977 Rothmans International F5000 Series.
While Warwick Brown won it in his Racing Team VDS Lola T430 Chev, Jones was the series-ace, let down by mechanical dramas and a mistake or two of his own; a jumped start at Oran Park and writing off a car in practice at Surfers Paradise.
(R Steffanoni)
Here at Sandown he grabbed the lead from the start but retired with overheating. He won the fourth, final round at Adelaide International at the start of a year in which he won his first F1 Grand Prix aboard a Shadow DN8 Ford at the Osterreichring (below).
(LAT)(I Smith)
Amazing Ian Smith pan of Allan Moffat in his legendary Trans-Am Mustang at Oran Park during the final round of the Australian Touring Car Championship on August 8, 1972.
Steve Snuggs tells us that he was wearing an oxygen mask in protest to CAMS not allowing him to remove the car’s carpets which smouldered from the hot exhausts and gave off fumes.
Incredibly rare colour shot of Pedro Rodriguez’ works-BRM P261 2.1-litre V8 during the 1968 Longford Trophy.
He is on the rise having exited the Newry right-hander in second or third gear – that line of poplars and road is still there – before an open left-kink then onto The Flying Mile.
Pedro nicked second-place from Frank Gardner’s Brabham BT23D Alfa in the final lap but fell well short of Piers Courage McLaren M4A Ford FVA F2 car in demanding wet conditions. More about BRM in the Antipodes here; https://primotipo.com/2020/02/22/1966-australian-grand-prix-lakeside/
(I Smith)
The great Ian Smith is sharing his back-catalogue of photographs in great dollops via Facebook. I enjoyed this series of shots taken in Reservoir, suburban Melbourne during a compare and contrast Wheels road-test between the then new Holden Kingswood HQ, and the original 1948 Holden 48-215 circa 1972.
(I Smith)
The reason for the strange location is probably because Campbells Motors Holden were in High Street, Preston and they didn’t want their luvverly old-Humpy being taken too far from ‘home’. See here for a piece on the 48-215; https://primotipo.com/2018/12/06/general-motors-holden-formative/ The locale is Edwards Park Lake, Reservoir.
(I Smith)(Mitsubishi)
The giant-killing Colin Bond/Brian Hope, fourth place overall Mitsubishi Colt 1000F at the end of the 1967 Southern Cross Rally at Port Macquarie.
Michael Gasking Collection, Keith Anderson Photography, Bob Williamson Collection, oldracephotos.com-Dick Simpson, Moto Guzzi, Reg Hunt Collection via David Zeunert, Peter Jones, Peter Miller, Rod Steffanoni, Bill Forsyth, Ian Smith, IC Walker Collection via Russell Garth
Tailpiece…
(oldracephotos.com/DSimpson)
Dick Simpson’s artistry catches Niel Allen on the hop in Garrie Cooper’s first monocoque sportscar, the Elfin ME5 Chev on the entry to Homestead corner at Warwick Farm in 1969. It was a twitchy beast of a thing with its short-wheelbase, arguably, only Niel got the best out of it in the short time he owned it before buying a McLaren M10B Chev F5000.
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