Ford Australia photo-shoot to amass material for the release of the new Cortina Mk2. The ski-bunnies are at Falls Creek in the Victorian Alps, 385km north-east of Melbourne during August 1967.
While the Going Ford is The Going Thing tagline days were a little after this, I always thought FoMoCo was a bit more edgy than their local competition with their marketing. The Sex Sells approach is consistent with that, bless them. Poor girls, it certainly would have stood the nippy-nips on end.
(R Donaldson)(R Donaldson)
My first car was a very fourth-hand Mk2 1600 GT which served me well in my student years and gave me a thorough grounding in the Kent engine and the foibles of Lucas electricals, both useful in my Formula Ford years later. I’ve always thought the Corty Mk1 was much the prettier car of the three Cortinas all the same.
In order that you won’t think I’m engaged in the wanton exploitation of the female form – goodness me, perish the thought – the shot below is of Paul Hawkins in an Alan Mann Racing Cortina FVA in 1967, circuit folks?
The Mk 1 Lotus Cortinas were built at Hethel (Lotus), while Ford built 4,032 Mk2 Lotus Cortinas and Cortina Twin Cams at Dagenham through until September 1970. Their use as Ford’s frontline touring car was relatively short as Ford homologated the Escort Twin Cam in May 1968, it was with the new car that Ford then focussed its marketing/competition efforts.
Ford Australia Ad in 1969 (FoMoCo)
The car shown – CTC24E chassis BA91GD12811 – was originally a Team Lotus car raced by Paul Hawkins and Jacky Ickx in the ’67 BRSCC Group 5 British Saloon Car Championship powered by the equally new Ford Cosworth FVA 1.6-litre F2 engine. Check out this website for some fantastic information: http://www.lotuscortinainfo.com/?page_id=101 and here: http://www.lotuscortinainfo.com/?page_id=4
Etcetera…
(R Donaldson)
Don’t do it, it can’t be that bad! I wonder if JUF-423 is still with us?
(R Donaldson)
Oops, nearly lost it.
(R Donaldson)
Cine camera as well, the footage would be interesting to see.
This is the second in an occasional series of articles plucked from the early issues of Autocourse, via the collection of my friend, racer and historian, Tony Johns.
In the unlikely event one could find Formula 1 articles of a technical type amongst all of the ‘Drive to Survive’ inspired dull, shit-boring, insipid dross in most magazines these days, one on racing spark plugs would be the last to expect!
These days they are a purchase-instal-and-forget item but once upon a time one’s méchanicien needed to be able to anticipate, read, and change plugs to suit the changing weather and other circumstances throughout a race weekend. Remember the shots of a mechanic labouring in the pits and paddock under big wooden boxes of plugs?
This article was written by Herr G Werner, a Bosch employee.
Oh yes, the opening shot is before the off, Spa, the Grand Prix de Belgique, June 17, 1951. Juan Manuel Fangio #2 is on pole in his Alfa Corse Alfa Romeo 159 with Giuseppe Farina alongside in another Alfa; the 1951 and 1950 World Champions of course. Farina won from the pair of Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 375 V12s driven by Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi.
Car #12 on the second row is Piero Taruffi’s Ferrari 375 (DNF rear axle) and #8 Ascari. Farina took 2hr 45min 46.2sec to complete the 36-lap, 316-mile race through the daunting, high speed swoops and dives of the Ardennes road circuit.
Fangio finished ninth and last. He was gradually catching Farina in the lead, when he pitted for fuel and tyres after 14 laps but no amount of hammering by the mechanics of the left rear wheel would move it (below). In the end the poor technicians removed the brake drum and wheel assembly, losing nearly 15 minutes in total. Fangio rejoined last of the remaining ten runners and four laps adrift of Farina.
Autocourse notes the following in relation to the Fangio and Farina 159s, “Fitted with an oval-section petrol tank each side of the driver extending forwards to the bulkhead and an oval-section tank on the right-hand side of the engine under the exhaust manifold. Fangio’s car had a De Dion back axle.”
(MotorSport)(Autocourse)
The Racing Plug : Its selection and the factors which influence its efficiency
Much has been written about sparking plugs. A whole science has evolved around them and their correct choice, and they have been become an inexhaustible theme for discussion at large motor sport events. A glance at the problem of the correct choice of sparking plugs will prove ample justification for this.
The purpose of our article is the discussion of the “Racing Plug”. Although its construction and requirements are entirely different from those of a normal plug, they have nevertheless many things in common.
One thing is expected from every type of plug. At exactly the right moment it must produce a sufficiently powerful spark for the fuel mixture in the cylinder of the engine to be ignited and for the chemical energy of the fuel to be converted into heat and work, thus giving life to the engine.
For obvious reasons a racing engine makes more specialised demands on the construction and material of the plug than does an ordinary engine. The right choice of a racing plug for a particular race needs much experience and knowledge of the many factors which play their part in the functioning of the plug. These problems will shortly be considered.
For every race the type of track and its length are common knowledge. The tuning of the engine develops from these known facts and from the conditions laid down in the regulations.
The type of fuel to be used will be either prescribed or left to choice. On it depends the compression ratio, the carburettor adjustment, the degree to which the ignition is to be advanced and, of course, the sparking plug itself. The length of the race and the engine’s performance determine the fuel consumption and accordingly the number of stops required for refuelling during long races. Fuels with a high alcoholic content raise problems different from petrol, benzol or a mixture of these two.
A two-stroke engine using a fuel-oil mixture requires a different plug from a four-stroke engine.
The weather is also a factor to be taken into consideration, as changes may occur between practice days and the actual day of the race. Even the most ideal carburettor and ignition adjustments may have to be changed if, for example, it is raining on the day of the race whilst during practice it was bright and dry.
We need hardly tell the experts, whether firms or individuals, how to adjust their engines so as to be “fit” for a particular race, but there are the younger ones without the experience of the more seasoned enthusiasts to whom perhaps a few hints might be of value. If amongst these tips there is something new to the old hands, we shall be doubly rewarded.
We feel that perhaps fifty years’ experience of plugs has given us some authority and we make no apology for stating our views.
I. What sparking plugs are required when the length and conditions of the race are known ?
This question, in so far as heat value is concerned, will, in most cases, be resolved after practice, but to some extent the driver must know the sort of plug he requires, at least the plug thread-either 18 mm. or 14 mm. thread diameter and 12 1/2 mm. or 18 mm. reach.
2. The higher the compression ratio, r.p.m. and consequently the engine pertormance, the higher the heat value of the plug must be, if self-ignition is to be avoided
3. Tracks which have no gradients and where corners can be taken without loss of speed present no great difficulty in the choice of the right heat value of the plug. Then, a high heat value and consequently a cold or hard plug is preferable as there is less danger of the plug becoming dirty or oily.
4. On tracks with steep gradients and many corners when brakes and accelerators are much in use it is different.
When decelerating and consequently pouring less fuel mixture into the cylinder a momentary depression results in the combustion chamber. This causes oil to seep through the piston rings which brings with it a danger of the plugs getting oily and the formation of a carbon deposit. If carbon enters the plug, it may well stop the plug from firing, as carbon is an electrical conductor. This conductor may cause a short and instead of the plug sparking, the impulse will be diverted to the secondary circuit. It will be seen therefore that conditions demand special care in the choice of plug, as it is important to ensure that the plug does not become overheated during long races on fast circuits.
On the other hand the plug must not become oily when braking at corners or descending slopes; it must reach such a temperature to ensure that all the carbon is burnt up thus avoiding the formation of a secondary circuit. This temperature is approximately 500 degrees centigrade at the points.
5. If the driver removes his plug during practice after a fast run and discovers (generally by means of a magnifying glass) that a fine light grey metal deposit, the size of a microscopic pearl, has formed on the electrodes and insulator, then there has been an error, even if, according to the driver’s opinion, the engine has been running well. This metal deposit means that the ignition was too advanced and that there is a burning of the piston. Here, too, it may be advisable to use a colder plug with a correspondingly higher heat value. But the most important factor of all is a correct ignition adjustment.
6. The metal washer between the plug and the engine must not be forgotten. This washer must fit well but not too tightly. If too tightly fitted, then the piece between the thread and the plug body will become strained and looseness will result. The looseness brings about a deterioration of the thermal conductivity in the inner part of the plug which causes overheating.
Plug-box to the fore on the scuttle of one of the Alfa 159s during the July 1951 British GP weekend at Silverstone (MotorSport)Bosch 1950s adPlug box atop the engine bay of a Ferrari 375 V12 again at Silverstone during the 1951 GP weekend. Twin-plug heads = 24 plugs, I wonder what a good time to change them all was? (MotorSport)
7. If the compression ratio of the engine is raised with a consequent increase in output, the temperature of the exhaust gas from the engine itself becomes relatively cooler. The ultimately greater output is due to the fact that more heat is converted into energy; thus proportionately less heat passes unused from the exhaust pipe.
The implication is that the engine would now appear to run cooler, and the most suitable plug would be one with a lower heat value. This, however, is not the case. Although the greater amount of heat converted into energy in the engine’s combustion chamber-the most economical use of the fuel-leads to a relatively lower temperature, the combustion gas temperature in the chamber itself and also of the plugs, pistons and valves become higher as the amount of heat being converted is greater. It will be realised, therefore, that a high compression ratio demands a correspondingly high heat value of the plug and therefore a colder one.
8. The amount that the ignition is advanced measured in the degrees of the angular movement of the crankshaft or in the mm. of the stroke, greatly influences the output and particularly the temperature of the plugs, the piston and valves. The more advanced the ignition, the longer the period of contact between the flame and the plug, the piston and valves, which naturally become correspondingly hotter. If the ignition is advanced then a colder plug with a higher heat value is necessary. It is, of course, well known that the ignition must be advanced when the amount of engine revolutions is increased.
9. No alteration can be made to the plug seat or to the position of the plug unless the cylinder-head is altered. Nevertheless it may be said that the shape of the combustion chamber as well as the position of the plug and of the ignition spark are of great importance to starting and accelerating and to the output of the engine.
10. The selection of the plug for a two-stroke racing engine, running on a mixture of fuel and oil should not be more difficult than the selection of a plug for a four-stroke engine. It has to be remembered of course, that fuel, to which oil has been added in the ratio of 1 : 15 or 1 : 20 requires a rather warmer plug as the danger of it getting dirty and of carbon forming is greater than with a four-stroke engine. Therefore a plug with too high a heat value should not be chosen.
11. In general the heat value of a plug for an air-cooled engine should be somewhat higher than for a water-cooled engine. The plug should be cooler for the simple reason that with an air-cooled engine the rate of loss of temperature from the plug to the cylinder is smaller and therefore the cylinder and the plug seat become hotter.
12. It should be said that in principle the temperature of the water in a water-cooled engine has little influence on the temperature of the plug. Therefore the water temperature should have little bearing on the choice of the heat value of the plug.
13. The type of fuel used has the greatest influence, not only on the output of the engine, on the fuel consumption and on the number of refuelling stops during long races, but also on the carburettor adjustment. In view of the large output required, the adjustment of the carburettor must be generous. This adjustment may well cause the plug to get dirty and especially will have an influence on the temperature of the plug in use.
It is well known that a fuel with a high alcohol content allows for high compression and therefore an increased output. As alcohol possesses a high vaporization heat, the engine, and to a certain degree, the plug, remain cool.
Unfortunately, the self-ignition temperature of the alcohol fuels is considerably lower than that of petrol and benzol. Therefore, self-ignition may take place, in spite of the fact that the knocking resistance of alcohol is higher than of hydrocarbon fuels, i.e., petrol and benzol.
14. It is hardly necessary to mention that should the engine, pistons, piston-rings, cylinder sleeve, valves, etc., be in bad condition, this may be responsible for the plug getting oily or dirty.
15. The weather, in particular, has a great influence on the selection of plugs. Not only the team manager, the driver and the mechanics, but also those who are responsible for plug service, may consider themselves lucky if the weather during the actual race remains the same as during practice.
If during practice the weather is hot and dry and the plugs are selected accordingly, but on the day of the race it is cold and rainy, then in most cases a new plug which gets warmer, i.e., with a lower heat value, must be selected. Conversely, if the weather changes change from cold and rain during practice to dry during the race, a higher heat value, ie, a colder plug is indicated.
The weather indeed poses a problem for plugs, but generally it is fair to say that the height of the barometer is proportional to the height of the heat value of the plug.
It is beyond the scope of this article to go into the many factors which influence ignition and the many different stages of combustion. Theses subjects will be dealt with at some later date.
(Werkfoto Bosch)
From left to right a typical range of racing plugs shown in assembling order of hardness. It will be seen that the gas volume in the mouth of the plug decreases with the plug’s increasing ability to stand heat.
This photograph shows Bosch racing plugs with a thread of 3/4 and 1/2 inch. For alloy cylinder heads the longer thread is used to safeguard against stripping while the shorter thread is quite satisfactory for cast heads. The plug lying in the middle shows the centre and earth electrodes and the spark gap.
Credits…
Autocourse No 2 1951, Editor Stanley Sedgwick. Tony Johns Collection
Tailpiece…
(Rudy Mailander)
“Louveau’s car after running out of road and overturning’. Swiss Grand Prix, Bern, May 27, 1951.” It looks like quite an accident…
Bern’s 4.52-miles wasn’t for the faint heated either, especially in the wet. “Henri Louveau ran out of road on (lap 31) the fast corner after passing the pits, overturning his Talbot , and sustained a broken leg.” He qualified his Ecurie Rosier Talbot-Lago T26C 11th of 21 starters in his second and last championship GP start. The race was won by Fangio from Taruffi. More about Louveau here: https://www.f1forgottendrivers.com/drivers/henri-louveau/
Autocourse described the challenges of the place thus, “The Bremgarten Circuit at Berne is at the same time perhaps the most beautifully situated and the most exacting course in Europe. The bends, curves, corners and gradients make constant demands upon both drivers and cars and the thickly-wooded stretches leave no margin for error.”
(MotorSport)
This shot of the Henri Louveau and Louis Rosier Talbot-Lago T26Cs shows rather well some of the perils of Bremgarten.
The Gold Leaf Team Lotus rig is probably kosher as far as Bernie and the Liberty Media money-mob are concerned but the Pete Lovely VW Motors Kombi Ute and old Lotus 49B Ford would have made them choke on their canapés and Bolly.
Your average VW Dealer may have run a sportscar or touring car with his I’ll-gotten gains, not our boy from Fife, Seattle though, this lifelong racer contested US national events with his ex-Team Lotus/Mario Andretti 49B-R11 and took in the odd Grand Prix as well.
The shot above is in the Clermont Ferrand paddock during the 1970 French Grand Prix weekend.
(MotorSport)
The American took delivery of the car in time for the 1969 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. He was sixth among 12 starters in the March 16 race won by Jackie Stewart’s Matra MS80 Ford, the second of the combos six championship and non-championship F1 wins that season.
Brands was the first of ten meetings Lovely did that year: five F1 races including the Canadian, US and Mexican GPs and five US national meetings. Seventh place in the Canadian GP was impressive.
In 1970-71 – living the dream – Pete, his wife and the Kombi did another eight meetings, all but one were F1 events, but by then the game had moved on, his efforts were littered with DNQ/DNS/UNC.
Pete Lovely during the 1971 Canadian GP weekend (MotorSport)(MotorSport)
Canadian GP, Mosport September 1971.
With his Lotus 49 increasingly uncompetitive Pete concocted the brilliant idea of bolting the back of his 49B – the engine, Hewland gearbox and rear suspension wheeled away as one unit – to an ex-Jochen Rindt Racing Lotus 69 F2 car (ex-Hill #69.F2.5).
Whoosh-bonk – in Bruce McLaren’s words – an instant more modern GP car! Lovely raced it in some US L&M F5000 rounds in 1971 and entered it in the 1971 Canadian and US Grands Prix. He was sixth at the Monterey GP (49B), fifth and seventh at the Seafair 200 at Seattle (69/49B). In the Canadian GP he was Q26 and unclassified, and at Watkins Glen Q32 and unclassified in both cases aboard the Lotus 69 Ford DFV as it was described in-period.
Pete historic raced the Lotus 49 later in his life and retained it until his death, at which point it was sold to a Seattle collector.
Ernesto Neves, Lotus 69FF ahead of the chasing pack during the Johnson Rally Wax Cup at Brands Hatch in October 1971 (Sportography)
Obiter…
Pete’s effort in turning his F2 Lotus 69 into a Grand Prix car gives the Lotus 69 a unique title. It is the only racing car model, I think, to ever compete in Formula Ford, F3, F2/Atlantic and F1. Pedants will rightfully point out that the FF and F3 69s used spaceframe chassis not monocoques…but they were still Lotus 69s!
Lex Davison and passenger – probably Lyndon Duckett – at Fishermans Bend, Melbourne, unleashing all of the power and torque of his 7.1-litre supercharged, straight-six 1929 Mercedes Benz 38/250 SSK, chassis #77643. It’s March 13, 1949.
(unattributed but I’d love to know who?)
Davison raced the car from 1946-49 and is shown here in front of Alf Barrett’s Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza through Quarry during his highly competitive run into third place in the 1947 Australian Grand Prix at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.
(Mercedes Benz)
Production numbers and Technical…
How Davison’s car came to Australia is still a bit of a mystery, but a West Australian, a Mr Everett imported it and sold it to Eric MacKay, more of this anon. #77643 was one of 33 SSKs, one model of four of this stunning series of S, SS, SSK and SSKL Mercedes Benz built between 1927 and 1933.
The production numbers according to Mercedes Benz were: S-Sport 146 units built until September 1928, SS-Super Sport 111 units until September 1933, SSK-Super Sport Kurtz (short – the wheelbase of theses cars is 2950mm) 33 units between 1928 and 1932.
The numbers of the SSKL-Super Sport Kurtz Licht (short light) cars produced is not quoted by Mercedes publicly, “it is extremely difficult to obtain a precise record of the production numbers, since, already at that time, chassis were being shortened and provided with different engines.” A perfect situation for fakers of course.
Racing triumphs of the cars include the 1927, 1928 and 1931 German Grand Prix, the Avus races in 1931-32, the Eifel race in 1931, the 1929 Tourist Trophy, the Irish Grand Prix in 1930, and Spa 24 Hours and Mille Miglia in 1931. Despite their size the cars were competitive in the hills too, winning the European Hill Climb Championships in 1930-31 and the ’32 German Alpine Championship…and plenty more.
The U-section pressed-steel frame chassis cars were designed by Ferdinand Porsche who had succeeded Paul Daimler as chief engineer of Mercedes in 1923, three years before the company amalgamated with Benz. The six-cylinder SS 38/250 Mercedes-Benz debuted in 1928 as a 7.1-litre development of the 6.8-litre S model launched in 1927. It was both exclusive and expensive, the SS retailed at 35,000 Reichsmarks (£2350) with factory tourer bodywork.
(Mercedes Benz)(Mercedes Benz)
The Mercedes M06 7065cc engine was a long-stroke – 100mm bore, 150mm stroke – SOHC, two-valve, 225bhp @ 3300rpm straight six, fitted with twin-plug ignition: one plug was fired by the magneto and one by the battery.
The big, thirsty beast was fed by twin-Mercedes updraught annular-float carburettors and was Roots supercharged. Mercedes pioneered the fitting of superchargers to road cars using technology developed for its Great War aero-engines. While other marques developed permanently-engaged superchargers that the sucked fuel/ air mixture in through the carburettor, Mercedes employed a supercharger clutched in at full throttle to boost engine power by force-feeding air through the carburettors to cram fuel and air into the combustion chambers.
This method could only be used for a few seconds at a time to aid acceleration or hillclimbing and was accompanied by a distinctive banshee wail that Motor described as a “threatening high-pitched whine that is such a joy to spectators at racing events”.
The chassis was period-typical: rigid axles and semi-elliptical front and rear springs, worm and nut steering, mechanical drum brakes at both ends, wire-spoke wheels, with wheel size 6.5/7 inches wide and 20 inches in diameter. The gearbox had four speeds and a dry, quadruple plate clutch and three alternative final drive ratios giving a quoted top speed of 188-192km/h.
The SWB SSK wheelbase was 2950mm and had tracks of 1425mm front and rear. It was 4950mm long, 1700mm wide, 1725mm high and weighed 2000kg.
(Mercedes Benz)(Mercedes Benz)
Hailed by its makers as “an ideal high performance car for sporting owner drivers”, the SS Mercedes was claimed to be the fastest sports car in the world. Tested by Motor in 1931 a fully-equipped 7.1-litre Mercedes SS 38/250, not yet fully run in, clocked over 103 mph at Brooklands despite a slight head wind.
Mercedes Benz, “The ‘SSKL’ was the glittering highlight of the legendary S-Series, which was to decisively shape the image of the Mercedes-Benz brand. In 1934, three years after the ‘SSKL’ had made its debut, it was time for the product line up at Daimler-Benz to be reshuffled. From now on success on the racetrack was in the hands of the new Silver Arrows…From mid-1927 to the beginning of 1933, the S-Series models had fulfilled the roles of sportiness and elegance in equal measure, demonstrating their credentials as genuine all-rounders capable of sustained success on both fronts.”
Lex Davison’s interest in these big Deutschlanders commenced with this Dr Ferdinand Porsche designed 33/180 K-model Mercedes he acquired in late 1945 or early 1946.
The 6.2-litre, SOHC, six-cylinder supercharged giant was soon christened ‘Jumbo’ and is shown during a home event, literally. The Vintage Sports Car Club ran several sprint events at Killara Park, the Davison family, 500 acre farm which abutted the Yarra River at Lilydale, in the immediate post-war period.
Lex is shown competing in the first of these – his maiden competitive event – on January 13, 1946. The competitive life of this car was shortened when Davo wrong-slotted, selecting first, rather than third gear at a subsequent Killara Park meeting.
All was not lost though, as the young proprietor of the family shoe manufacturing business – Lex was appointed Governing Director of AA Davison Pty Ltd upon the death of his father, aged 22 in August 1945 – was dabbling in various cars: converting the family Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 into a biposto-racer, trading his Talbot 75 for a 4 1/2-litre Bentley, then a Bentley 4 1/2 Blower, and a 4 1/2-litre Delage Indianapolis car. Lex well and truly had the bug and the means to pursue it.
“The 38/250 Mercedes in an early rebuild while in the ownership of Alan Roberts,” wrote Troy Davey-Milne (Davey-Milne Collection)
SSK #77643…
Graham Howard records in his sensational biography of Lex, ‘Lex Davison : Larger Than Life’, that the Mercedes had been a tourer which was damaged when dropped onto the wharf from a cargo-sling. Perhaps that occurred at Port Melbourne when the car was shipped from Fremantle, West Australia to Victoria.
Whatever the case, the car was acquired by VSCC member Alan Roberts, he had been slowly restoring it. A visit from Lex to encourage Alan to retain the car turned 360-degrees when Lex bought it! Davison then placed it in the care of Reg Nutt, a very capable mechanic/engineer, racer and AGP winning riding mechanic in the Phillip Island days.
(L Sims Collection)
By September 1946 Nutt had the car ready to test at his Whiteman Street, South Melbourne premises. Lex first ran it in unbodied form at Rob Roy that December (above) where he won the Vintage class.
That same month he ran it in a VSCC trial, by the time the car was entered for the January 1947 race at Ballarat Airfield – Victoria’s first post-war – 77643 sported a short, boat-tailed two-seater body built by Bob Baker. Howard records that at that time Baker was working out-back of Nutt’s workshop and would later become the doyen of Victorian panel-bashers; the man of choice for single-seater and sportscar bodies.
Two of Lex’ fellow competitors for the next 15 years made their race debuts that weekend: Bib Stillwell and Bill Patterson, both racing MG TCs. Davison’s first circuit meeting had been aboard the Little Alfa – Lex’ fathers 6C 1500 Alfa which had been lightened and modified from a four-door sedan to two-seat sportscar – at the October 1946 Bathurst meeting where he impressed in the 20-year-old Alfa which had over 100,000 miles on-the-clock!
Lex ahead of the Avro Ansons at Ballarat airfield on January 27, 1947. Here in the Alfa 6C 1500 ‘Little Alfa’ and below in the Mercedes, running sans side-bonnets in the heat (G Thomas)(G Thomas)
30,000 spectators starved of entertainment watched the event with “the Mercedes a handful through the corners and still running too rich. The tachometer was reading low and the top came off one piston which meant the car did not start the main race of the day,” Howard wrote. “Even so, the sight of the massive white Mercedes almost matching Barrett’s Alfa (Alf Barrett and his Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza were the Australian class-combo in the immediate pre and post-war years) for top speed caused something of a stir, as did the sharp scream of its throttle-operated supercharger.”
All wasn’t lost, the Little Alfa finished the handicap in ninth, but retired from its other race with fading oil-pressure.
Reg Nutt readied the car for the 1947 Championship of New South Wales to be held on the Nowra naval air base, on the coast south of Sydney, in June. The big-beast would have been suited to the 6.8km circuit as it incorporated two straights of over 2km, it really would have had a good gallop, but the rear axle failed in practice so the car didn’t race; Tom Lancey’s MG TC won the handicap 160km event in a field of good Gold Star depth.
#77643 at Rob Roy shortly after Bob Baker built its body (L Sims Collection)Isn’t it a big bit of real-estate?! #77643 at Bathurst in 1947 (D Flett)
Lex had the repairs to the Mercedes done by Rex Marshall’s Monza Motors – a business established by elite level racers John Snow and Jack Saywell immediately pre-war – in Darlinghurst, Sydney.
The October 6, 1947 Australian Grand Prix was to be held at Bathurst, fittingly, the last was conducted at Lobethal, South Australia in 1939; big-balls road circuits both.
The meeting marked the first anniversary of Lex’s racing career, his first too in an AGP, a race he almost made his own with victories in 1954, 1957-58 and 1961 aboard HWM Jaguar, Ferrari 500/625 twice, and a Cooper T51 Climax.
“The 24-year-old Lex Davison, at Bathurst in October 1947, would have been judged as not much more than an enthusiastic and well-heeled Victorian youngster with an unusual car: his career to this point comprised three race starts for two finishes in the 6C Alfa, and one race start and one practice appearance in the Mercedes with mechanical trouble intervening each time. He was keen enough, and undaunted by the big Mercedes; but it was too early to know what he might amount too.” Graham Howard wrote. Nonetheless, Lex could have won the 1947 AGP.”
Davison in front of Elliott Forbes-Robinson’s (yep, there were two of ’em) MG TC and the legendary Frank Kleinig aboard his evergreen, fast Kleinig Hudson Spl. One of the highlights of the weekend for the pundits was Davo’s wheel-to-wheel 10-lap dice with hardman, veteran Kleinig who never won an AGP but should have by any measure…(G Reed)
Davo was advantaged by a good handicap but that year was a bit of lottery with so many unknown combinations. Further, the handicappers, Graham wrote, didn’t believe Lex’s declared top speed of the car – 120mph, he was recorded at 119mph during the race – and the combo’s potential lap times.
Had it not been for blowback through the carburettor in top gear, which restricted the use of the supercharger to second and third gears, and a four-gallon splash-and-dash fuel stop later in the race Davison may well have won the race. Instead he was a fine third behind Bill Murray, MG TC and Dick Bland’s Mercury V8 Special. Critically, Lex’s result wasn’t due to a great handicap, it was his speed too, he did the fastest race-time and impressed all present with his skilful handling of a demanding heavy car car over 150 miles on one of the country’s most challenging circuits.
He had arrived, and with a cocktail of money, balls, brio and finesse, Lex would go far…
Diana Davison at Rob Roy in March 1948 (L Sims Collection)
With more than a sniff of an AGP chance, before too long Davison had done a deal to buy an Alfa Romeo P3/Tipo B from Arthur Wylie, racer/engineer and founder of Australian Motor Sports magazine. Arthur had sourced chassis #50003 ex-Scuderia Ferrari from Jock Finlayson in the UK, but was left holding-the-baby when his patron, Jack Day declared that at £1650 the car had to be trouble…
Davison hoped the 1934 Italian monoposto would be in Melbourne in time for the January 1948 AGP held at Point Cook, an RAAF airbase in the city’s inner-west, in the event it didn’t. Held in stifling over 100-degree heat, the 100 mile, 42 lap race was a killer of cars and men!
John Barraclough observed Davo from his MG NE Magnette, “From behind, I saw Davison, after a dreadful spasm of front axle tramp, barge straight through some hay bales without even trying to avoid them. He raised his arms in mock helplessness. You could see he just couldn’t be bothered slithering the Merc about in an effort to miss them – plumb out of muscle he was.”
After 16 laps Lex pitted and collapsed onto the steering wheel, Lyndon Duckett took the car out as Lex was carted off for resuscitation, but within a lap the Mercedes had boiled its fuel and was retired.
Perhaps the German did it to spite Davison, his new, red, Italian love arrived three days after the GP…As Lex got to grips with the faster, more sophisticated Alfa, the Mercedes was put to one side of the garage at Killara Park, having its final race in team hands driven by Lyndon Duckett at Fishermans Bend in March 1949. There the Davison Equipe: P3, 38/250 and MG TC was cared for by Bib Stillwell, now in partnership with Derry George in Cotham Road, Kew having previously worked, Graham Howard wrote, for Reg Nutt and A.F Hollins.
(J Montasell)
These three shots (above and the two below) are of the 38/250 at Fishermans Bend on March 13, 1949, the final meeting in Davison hands. Lyndon Duckett is the fellow with an asterisk above his head.
These shots bookend the first action shot in this article taken on the same weekend – I don’t doubt that Lex is at the wheel in that first shot, probably with Lyndon alongside – and allow us to see how the car was prepared in the day. While the heavy braking and slow corners of Fishos’ didn’t suit the Mercedes it still finished both of its races in Duckett’s hands.
(J Montasell)(J Montasell)Lyndon Duckett at the wheel during the March 1949 Fishos meeting (T Davey-Milne)(D White Collection via L Sims)
Post-Davo…
John Blanden in his ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ recorded that little was heard of the Mercedes until it was advertised by a Mr Williams in the March 1951 issue of AMS. Ivo Robb was the buyer, he raced it at Ballarat in November 1951 but was unplaced.
Vin Devereaux offered the car for sale via AMS in January 1952 with Haig Hurst the buyer. He is shown above at Rob Roy in September 1955 where he was second to Ted Hider-Smith’s GN in the vintage class that weekend; note the Victorian road-rego JJ-933.
(G Edney Collection)
Hurst raced and ‘climbed it until 1955 when Laurie Rofe exchanged it for his Bentley Speed Six. Laurie used the car in full road trim as a fast tourer, and historic and vintage racer for about two years before selling it to Jeff Hoffert in late 1956 or early 1957.
(D Belford Collection via D Zeunert)
What an ignominious end for a racing car! From a near Australian Grand Prix winner to family chariot, what a chariot mind you! Every kid in the street wouldn’t have had as much cred as you did in the front seat of this thing.
David Zeunert circulated these photos of Jeff Hoffert family photos of the Mercedes Benz 38/250 at Hepburn Springs where Hoffert was a member of the organising committee of the Hepburn Springs Hill Climb, in the late 1950s.
(D Belford Collection via D Zeunert)(M Watson)
Hoffert sold the old stager to Len Southward in 1965, where it has been in his Paraparaumu, New Zealand museum since. The shot above shows it in recent times.
(M Watson)(Bonhams)
Etcetera…
(Bonhams)
Bonhams offered this rare sales brochure for sale in 2015.
Written in English, but printed in Germany in March 1930, it comprised 20 pages, Bonhams’ generosity did not extend, unsurprising, to reproduction of it in full! Many thanks to them for including the technical specifications page online.
The feature cover car, the “4-seater touring latest style,” is a 4.5-litre 32/90 perhaps.
(Bonhams)(Bonhams)
Credits…
VSCC Victoria Collection, mercedes-benz-publicarchive.com, ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden, George Thomas via State Library of Victoria, George Reed, Don Flett, Reg Nutt Collection via Greg Smith, David White Collection, David Belford Family Collection via David Zeunert, Michael Watson, James Montasell shots via the Leon Sims Collection, Bonhams, Graham Edney Collection, Stephen Dalton
Tailpieces…
(L Sims Collection)(SLV)
The First Lady of Australian motor racing, Diana Davison, launches the Mercedes off the line at Rob Roy #15, March 14, 1948.
Nice portrait of Allan Moffat during the September 9, 1979 Sandown 400K (Hang Ten 400) weekend.
Moff, Colin Bond and Carroll Smith had a season of incredible Australian Touring Car Championship/Championship of Makes/Bathurst 1000 dominance in 1977 with their Ford Falcon XB GT351/XC GS500 Hardtops but The General (General Motors Holden) changed all that with the introduction of the Holden Torana A9X 308 later that year – the car won on debut at the 1977 Hang Ten 400 driven by Peter Brock.
The Holden LX Torana A9X SS Hatchback was the ultimate Oz Group C era car. It addressed all of the weaknesses of the L34 Torana, not that those machines were exactly short of success.
The first three cars home at the completion of this ’79 Australian Championship of Makes 401km, 129 lap Sandown race were, inevitably, the A9X’s of Peter Brock, John Harvey and Peter Janson/Larry Perkins. Murray Carter was fourth in a Ford Falcon GS500 351, his machine was the only one of nine FoMoCo GS500s to go the distance. It wasn’t a happy time at all for we Ford fans!
Moffat and crew attend to the 351 Cleveland Ford V8 of the XC Falcon GS500 in Sandown’s pitlane. The ‘old’ Sandown pits were snug – fantastic for spectators – and dusty or muddy for the crews depending upon the mood of Melbourne’s weather.
Who was chief mechanic at this stage? Was Peter Molloy still building the engines?
Credits/Tailpieces…
Rennie Ellis – State Library of Victoria.
Rennie was a well-known ‘society snapper’ in Melbourne at the time, but he was pretty handy at a race meeting on the odd-occasion he slummed-it, as the two shots below taken during Sandown’s 1972 Gold Star round – the Victoria Trophy – on April 16 show.
(R Ellis)
The first shot shows Kevin Bartlett, Lola T300 Chev leading John McCormack’s Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden into Shell Corner – now excitingly called Turn One – while the one below is Clive Millis ANF2 1.6-litre Elfin 600B Lotus-Ford twin-cam. Frank Matich won the race, and the Gold Star that year in his Matich A50 Repco-Holden. McCormack was third, Millis eighth and KB suffered an ignition caused DNF.
Reg Hunt, Maserati 250F, on his way to winning the Victorian Trophy at Fishermans Bend on February 12, 1956
Context…
Australian motorsport’s governing body was the Sydney based Royal Automobile Club of Australia until 1953 when the Melbourne based Confederation of Australian Motor Sport took over. CAMS Ltd trading as Motorsport Australia (CAMS) still rules the roost today.
One of the CAMS’ rare acts of decision-making excellence was the creation of the Australian Drivers Championship – the Gold Star – from 1957.
Lex Davison, Ferrari 500/625 was the first recipient of the award for points gained in nine rounds spread across all states except Tasmania – remedied in 1958 – on an 8-5-3-2-1 points basis for first to fifth places in each round.
1956 Faux Gold Star Championship…
I’ve thought for a long while that it would be interesting to summarise our elite level Formule Libre racing results by seasons, if for no other reason than when I want to research one thing or another a summary of the competitor set exists. Why not, I thought, extend the idea to calculating notional Gold Star points?
Of course it’s a fucking stupid thing to do as it simply didn’t happen! In the words of that great Australian philosopher, ‘Sir’ Frank Gardner, “If yer’ Aunty had balls she’d be yer’ Uncle”. In other words, deal with what is/was, rather than what isn’t/wasn’t.
But of course CAMS run a who-gives-a-fuck-about-facts (WGAFAF, pronounced ‘woggafaff’) motor racing history model. They don’t recognise the January 1927 Australian Grand Prix at Goulburn as the first AGP, yet we have 1928 and 1937 Australian Grands Prix, apparently, neither of which actually took place then, as officialdom chooses to brand them now. So, in accordance with established Oz-racing fast-and-loose WGAFAF precedent, what follows is a summary of the 1956 Gold Star, Faux Division.
Officialdom awaits the ‘Champion of the Day’ of the 100 Miles Road Race at Phillip Island held on Saturday 31 March, 1928. Oopsie, sorry there were two 100 Mile Road Races that day. The morning one started at about 11am, oopsie again, sorry, B-Class started at about 11am, and D-Class at about 11.05am. The afternoon race, races really, started at about 2.25pm for A-Class and then C-Class at about 2.30pm. All ‘Akin to European GP practice’ is the favoured line of some
The readily apparent State-The-Obvious flaw in my Faux Gold Star award is that as there was no such championship, drivers didn’t enter meetings they may have otherwise if they aspired to win such a title. However, the rich/well-funded in every era raced far and wide beyond their local meetings, this was certainly the case for the 1956 motor trader front runners, so I’m not so sure the top-3 are impacted by this factor.
Some criteria points. I’ve basically followed the equivalent 1956 meetings that CAMS recognised in ’57, even though some of the races are too short, in my mind, to be of championship length. Where there were two Formula Libre races of ‘championship length’ – over 75 miles – at the one meeting, such as the Albert Park Moomba meeting, the longer, feature event prevails. Results are scratch based only. I’m only awarding points for first to fourth placings as those are the records I have. If someone has more comprehensive records, spreadsheet skills and OCD knock yer’ socks off and I’ll update this masterpiece.
Away we go.
Reg Hunt on Gnoo Blas’ Main Straight while the 4.05pm to Sydney gets ready to depart. Maserati 250F (GB.com)
Gnoo Blas, Orange, New South Wales (NSW) : South Pacific Championship : January 30, 1956
This season opening race meeting on the Gnoo Blas road circuit at Orange, 260 km west of Sydney had become Australia’s only international meeting in prior years. The Australian Sporting Car Club always managed to entice a few of the drivers doing a full southern summer season In New Zealand across-the-ditch to the Great Brown Land before they headed back to Europe. As an aside, the Kiwis were five years or so in front of us in the Big Race Stakes.
Our Jack was the only international in ’56 mind you. He raced the 2-litre Cooper T40 Bristol that he built for himself at Surbiton to make his championship GP debut at the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1955. Brabham brought the car home at the end of the year, winning the AGP with it at Port Wakefield after frontrunners, Stan Jones in Maybach 3 and Reg Hunt’s Maserati A6GCM/250 (a 2.5-litre 250F engined A6GCM 2-litre F2 car) had problems, then did the Kiwi season and would sell it to Reg Smith before heading back to the UK.
To rub in his advantage, Reg Hunt brought along both the Maserati he raced throughout 1955 and his new 250F on the long tow from Melbourne to Orange, then disappeared into the distance, winning the 27 lap, 100-mile race in the 250F from Brabham.
Stan Jones gave vigorous chase, but blew the 3.8-litre Maybach SOHC six fitted under the long bonnet of Maybach 3 sky-high on lap 22 when 39 seconds adrift of his fellow Melbourne motor trader.
That blow-up proved a defining moment in Australian Motor Racing History of that era as it marked the end of the Charlie Dean/Repco Research/Stan Jones/Maybach period. Repco’s stock of 3.8 and 4.2-litre Maybach cylinder blocks was at an end, so the car couldn’t easily be rebuilt. In any event, Stan realised he needed a Big Red Car to remain competitive, taking delivery of a 250F later in the season. Ern Seeliger created the very fast Maybach 4 Chev V8 of course, it proved to have a surprise or two in 1958-59, but the big-blue Maybach sixes were no more.
Kevin Neal was third in his Cooper T23 Bristol, then came Curley Brydon’s ex-Peter Whitehead – present at Gnoo Blas in the previous two years – Ferrari 166 and then Col James’s MG Special. Jack was a non-resident by then so he doesn’t get Gold Star points for his second place, so we have our top-four below.
1.Hunt Maserati 250F 8 points 2.Neal Cooper T23 Bristol 5 points 3.Brydon Ferrari 166 3 points 4.James MG Special 2 points
End of an era. Jones aboard Maybach 3 – very Mercedes W196’esque in appearance – before the engine let go, South Pacific Championship, Gnoo Blas in 1956 (GB.com)
Fishermans Bend (once Fishermen’s Bend) Melbourne : Victorian Trophy : February 11, 1956
Top guns entered for the 24 lap, 52.8 miles Formula Libre race included Hunt’s Maserati 250F, Lex Davison’s HWM Jaguar (“now with latest D-Type head and Weber carbs” according to AMS), Doug Whiteford’s Talbot-Lago T26C, Stan Jones’ Cooper T38 Jaguar sportscar, Brabham’s Cooper T40, Tom Hawkes Cooper T23 Bristol and Bill Craig’s Alta Holden.
While billed as on international meeting to attract some spillover visitors to New Zealand that summer, the only ‘internationals’ were Brabham from New South Wales and Craig from South Australia…
Hunt romped away, Whiteford’s old T-L, somewhat surprisingly, proved quicker than Davison’s ’54 AGP winning HWM Jag, then Davo spun, while broken throttle linkages accounted for Jones and Hawkes.
1. Hunt, Maserati 250F 8 points 2.Whiteford Talbot-Lago T26C 5 points 3. K Neal Cooper T23 Bristol 3 points 4.W Wilcox Ford Special 2 points
Albert Park, Melbourne : Moomba Meeting – Argus Trophy : March 18, 1956
Albert Park – promoted by the Light Car Club of Australia – hosted a pair of international two-weekend carnivals in ’56: the Moomba meeting in March and Olympic meeting in November/December.
The feature on March 11 was the Moomba Tourist Trophy for sportscars. Tony Gaze won that 150-miler in his HWM Jaguar VPA9, from Bib Stillwell’s brand-spankers Jaguar D-Type and Ron Phillips’ Austin Healey 100S.
F.A.O. Gaze DFC and Two Bars, OAM had decided to retire from racing and sold his HWM and ex-Ascari Ferrari 500/625 to his good mate, Lex Davison before the meeting. Tony had raced both cars in New Zealand that summer together with Peter Whitehead. Davison’s deal included racing the Ferrari in the Argus Trophy, the Formula Libre, 48-lap, 150-mile feature on the following weekend, March 18.
Davo had some serious opposition though, not least Hunt’s 250F and Melbourne haulier, Kevin Neal, who had bought Hunt’s immaculate A6GCM/250. Other expected front-runners included Hawkes’ Cooper Bristol, Stillwell’s D-Type, not to forget Arthur Griffiths, who had bought the ex-Moss HWM Jaguar just vacated by Davison, and Reg Smith in the Cooper Bristol similarly vacated by Jack Brabham.
Somewhat predictably, Reg Hunt won the race in his current model Maserati 250F – one of the great GP cars of any era – from Davison, with Neal, Hawkes and Stillwell third to fifth.
Lex’s old-bus dated back to 1952 – in 2-litre spec it was Alberto Ascari’s main weapon of choice in his triumphant 1952-53 World Championship years – but fitted with a 3-litre DOHC four-cylinder ‘Monza’ engine it proved for several years to have the measure of the fastest cars in the country thanks to a combination of Davo’s speed and almost peerless reliability. Tony Gaze had the Ferrari prepared by Alan Ashton and his AF Hollins crew in High Street, Armadale. He implored Lex to continue the relationship, Davo did so and it was key to his ongoing success with this car.
Reg Hunt from Lex Davison during the Argus Trophy at Albert Park, March 1956. Maserati 250F and Ferrari 500/625 (D Meale)
Port Wakefield, South Australia : Easter Saturday : March 31, 1956
Not all the serious boys spent Easter at the traditional Bathurst fixture, some contested the 50-lap, 65- miles Wakefield Trophy at Port Wakefield, South Australia: Tom Hawkes, Cooper T23 Bristol, Kevin Neale, ex-Hunt Maserati A6GCM/250, Ted Gray, Tornado 2 Ford, and Derek Jolly, Decca Mk1 Climax FWA Spl included.
The weekend feature was for the 20 fastest cars. Soon after the start, the race developed into a Cooper and Maserati duel a lap in front of the rest of the field. Hawkes, in a great performance in the slower of the two cars, won from Neal’s Maserati, Ron Phillips’ Austin Healey 100S and TE Stevens, MG TC Spl.
Interesting are the top speeds recorded on Century Straight (all mph): Gray Tornado Ford V8 110.5, Neal Maserati 2.5 108.5, Hawkes Cooper Bristol 2-litre 104.7, Eldred Norman in the legendary Norman Zephyr Spl s/c 102.5, Murray Trenberth, Vincent 1000, 100, and Eddie Perkins, VW Spl s/c 99.5
The 26-lap, 100-mile handicap, Bathurst 100 had a huge field, “more entries from interstate than Bathurst has seen for some time” wrote Australian Motor Sports. Stan Jones and Jack Brabham weren’t at the meeting, Maybach 3 was dead and Stan’s 250F hadn’t arrived, while Jack had returned to the UK.
The handicap was won by Davison from Hunt, Bib Stillwell, Jaguar D-Type, and Paul England’s Ausca Repco-Holden. To be consistent, Gold Star points are awarded for the scratch results: Hunt, Maserati 250F, Lex Davison Ferrari 500/625 3-litre, Stillwell D-Type, and Tom Sulman’s Aston Martin DB3S.
1.Hunt Maserati 250F 8 points 2.Davison Ferrari 50/625 5 points 3.Stillwell Jaguar D-Type 3 points 4.Sulman Aston Martin DB3S 2 points
Port Wakefield Road Races : South Australian Trophy : June 4, 1956
Stan Jones took delivery of his Maserati 250F in May, demonstrating it in an untimed run at the Geelong Sprints meeting on May 27, Port Wakefield was chassis #2520’s Australian baptism of fire.
Other fast cars which took the trip to the desolate, wind-swept permanent race track included Davison, Stillwell and brilliant, intuitive Adelaide engineer, Eldred Norman in his Norman Zephyr Spl s/c. Most significantly, Ted Gray was present in the Lou Abrahams owned, Gray/Mayberry Bros/Abrahams built Tornado 2 Ford. Tornado 1 Ford died a terrible death at the October ’55 Bathurst meeting, Tornado 2 was a new car using few of T1’s bits, amongst the exceptions were the Ford Ardun/Abrahams fuel injected OHV V8 and Ford truck ‘box. Ted was ok after a very long convalescence too.
At this point of 1956 the key machines of Australian Formula Libre racing from 1956-59 were in place: the two Maserati 250Fs, Davo’s Ferrari and Tornado 2…two-litre Coopers were still to come.
Held in a big rainstorm, the 30 lap South Australian Trophy race, early on was a close contest between Stillwell – pretty comfy in his Jag sportscar – with Stan all over him, but unable to pass and see…
Davo spun on lap 3, so too later in the race did Gray, although another column in AMS says Ted didn’t even start the race due to a broken CV joint… The race was won by Stillwell from Jones, Norman and ??
Somewhat prophetically, Bob Pritchett wrote in the July 1956 issue of Australian Motor Sports, “Who said Ted Gray’s Tornado Special doesn’t handle. Ted was, I think, the only high-powered operator who did not spin off in the meeting (the guy that wrote the race report sez otherwise!) and in winning the A-grade scratch race 6-lapper, held Stan’s Maserati for four laps until Stan spun off in the wet.”
In the same column, Pritchett reported that Tom Hawkes was considering a Maserati four to get more speed out of his Cooper T23 Bristol, that engine being at the end of its development potential; a Repco-Holden Grey shortly thereafter provided a potent and more cost-effective solution.
Similarly, he mused about the possibilities of Maybach 3, “by dropping in one of those 300-plus USA V8 monsters that are now available.” – the very path followed by Ern Seeliger, and Ted Gray with hot 283 Chev Corvette V8s being popped under the bonnets of Maybach and Tornado before too long.
Yes, the little-tacker in the lower shot is Alan Jones. He has recounted over the years his disappointment in finding Dad’s new, red Italian car was a Maserati and not a Ferrari! Bob Chamberlain at left Bob King thinksTed Gray from Stan Jones during their Port Wakefield scrap in June 1956. Tornado 2 Ford V8 and Maserati 250F; plenty of scraps to come from this pair from 1956-59. Gray’s experience went all the way back to giving Peter Whitehead and ERA R10B a run for their money at Aspendale and Rob Roy in 1938 aboard a speedway-midget
Lowood Airfield Queensland : Lowood Trophy : June 3, 1956
“Queensland Racing Drivers Club conducted this year’s ‘Lowood Trophy’ meeting in typical Queensland winter sunshine, before a crowd of about 6000. The 2.7-mile circuit was in good condition…34 entries was received, including eight from NSW…” recorded AMS.
Top guns included Arthur Griffiths’ ex-Davison HWM Jaguar, Ken Richardson’s ex-Whiteford Talbot-Lago T26C, Steve Ames aka Count Steve Ouvaroff ex-Davison Alfa Romeo P3, John Aldis’ ex-Whitehead/Jones Cooper T38 Jaguar and Arnold Glass’ Maserati 4CL; it wasn’t a great entry of modern cars.
The 12 lap, 32 miles Lowood Trophy results were as follows:
1.Griffiths HWM Jag 8 points 2. S Mossetter Austin Healey 100S 5 points 3.R Weintraub Healey Silverstone 3 points 4.J Johnson MG TC 2 points
Bathurst : NSW Road Racing Championships : September 30, 1956
A crowd of 8-10,000 people fronted up to cold, blustery conditions for the second traditional Bathurst meeting a year, October fixture.
While Stan Jones was present to sharpen his skills in advance of the Australian Grand Prix two months hence, Lex Davison and Reg Hunt were notable by their absence, ‘preserving the machinery’ or whatever.
Bill Pitt was there in the Geordie Anderson/Westco Motors Jaguar D-Type and Jack Myers in the WM Special, a much-modified (by Myers, a highly skilled Sydney mechanic-cum-engineer) Cooper T20 fitted with a Waggott-Holden twin-cam, two-valve circa 200bhp ‘Grey’ six-cylinder engine.
Handicaps were still prevalent, if not the norm in Australian racing, with the 26 lap NSW Road Racing Championship (Racing Cars) no exception. Jones set a new lap record of 2min 44sec without being hard pushed. While ‘J Archibald’ (who was he?) won the handicap classification in his MG Spl, the scratch results and Gold Star points allocations are as follows:
Fishermans Bend, Melbourne : Astor Trophy : October 14, 1956
You might think the Victorian Contingent would be out in force in advance of the rapidly approaching AGP, but not so. While Hunt, Whiteford, Neal and Gray were present, Davison and Jones were AWOL.
Then, having satisfied himself that his 250F was all tickety-boo in a 5-lapper, Reg Hunt didn’t take the start of the start of the 24-lap, 52.8-mile Astor Trophy feature.
While Kevin Neal’s Maserati A6GCM/250 was a far quicker car than Doug Whiteford’s – relatively new to him, but geriatric – Talbot-Lago T26C, there was no way Neal was going to beat the aggressive, cagey, vastly experienced triple AGP winner! Ted Gray and Owen Bailey were/are the other recipients of Gold Star points aboard Tornado 2 Ford and ex-Whiteford Talbot-Lago T26C respectively: third and fourth placings.
“Tell him, he’s dreamin…’ Count Stephen Ouvaroff aka Steve Ames offers his ex-Scuderia Ferrari/Davison Alfa Romeo P3 chassis #50003 for sale, £895 is the ask. In 2024 dollars that is $A32,700, the value of a P3 is, however, in the ‘your guess is as good as mine’ categoryMoss Mastery – high speed drift at Albert Park, Maserati 250F, AGP December 1956
1956 Australian Grand Prix : Albert Park : December 2, 1956
120,000 people watched 22 starters contest the ’56 AGP held in the afterglow of Melbourne’s staggeringly successful Olympic Games.
Furriners included a five-car squad from Officine Maserati: three 250Fs and a pair of 300S (sportscars for the Australian Tourist Trophy contested and won by Moss from Behra the week before) for works drivers Stirling Moss and Jean Behra, while Peter Whitehead and Reg Parnell raced their 3.4-litre Ferrari 555s.
Moss disappeared into the distance, winning the 80-lap 250-miles race in 2hr 36min 15.4sec, over two minutes ahead of Behra, then came Peter Whitehead.
The battle-within-the-battle was a local Melbourne Holden Dealer Derby – Davo’s farming and shoe making interests duly noted – between the 250Fs of Reg Hunt and Stan Jones, and Lex Davison’s Ferrari 500/625.
Graham Howard points out in his 1956 chapter of the ‘History of The Australian Grand Prix’ that “It was to be, surprisingly, the first encounter of the Hunt and Jones’ 250Fs, and Davison – at that stage the only driver to beat the Hunt 250F – was also there in his Ferrari.”
“Hunt and Jones had, to be strictly correct, lined up against each other the weekend before, in a short sprint race in the supporting program to the Tourist Trophy, but it had been inconclusive. With Hunt on pole position and Jones right beside him, the race had an explosive start as Jones – ‘jockeying for position’, as AMS discreetly termed it – hit the kerb and then a tree on Hunt’s side of the course within a hundred metres of the start. The car was fortunately not too badly damaged and was ready for the AGP the following weekend.”
At the start of the Grand Prix, Moss led from Behra, the Whitehead and Parnell Ferrari Super Squalo’s, then the Trident Trio: Hunt, Neal and Jones. Davison was slowed by engine maladies.
By lap 5 Jones was behind Hunt, and after two fast laps, passed him, where he stayed – with Hunt pacing himself behind – for 35 laps, “With both driving with a concentrated ferocity, which was almost tangible – no errors, no let- up, certainly no smiles.”
When Stan’s Maserati started to blow smoke from under the bonnet, he eased on lap 40, gifting his place to Hunt. Post-race the problem was disclosed as a broken breather.
The Gold Star points go to the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth placed local finishers:
Reg Smith competing at Templestowe hillclimb outside Melbourne in May 1956. His Cooper T40 Bristol was Jack’s ’55 British GP car and AGP winner. He can’t have been enamoured of the Cooper, replacing it with one of Officine Maserati 300S sold at the end of the ’56 AGP weekend
Gold Star Championship Points and Observations…
Drum roll…the winner of the 1956 Australian Gold Star Faux Championship is Reg Hunt, Maserati 250F, with 40 points, well clear of Kevin Neal’s 21 points gained with Cooper T23 Bristol and Maserati A6GCM/250, then Stan Jones, third on 18 points in his new 250F. Fourth was Whiteford, Talbot-Lago T26C 15 points, then the Davison Ferrari 500/625 on 13 points with Bib Stillwell sixth, on 11.
What does it all prove? Absolutely sweet-f-all, but I enjoyed it, which is all that really matters here.
I wish I could show you a neato little points chart or a spreadsheet of results for the year but I don’t know how to do those, so this hand-job will have to do, a remedy with which many of you will be familiar. Since publishing this, Stuart Murray – bless him – has done the vastly better spreadsheet which appears further below.
In my mind I’ve long thought Reg Hunt was the rock-star in 1955-56 aided and abetted by having The Best Equipment in the country in those two years by far. I’ve not done this exercise for 1955 yet to further prove the point, I’ll get around to it some time.
Having ‘came, saw, and conquered’, Reg retired from racing at the end of the season, aged only 33, to focus on his family and in building a staggeringly successful motor-dealership empire centred on his ‘Golden Mile of Cars’ in Brighton, Melbourne. He returned to historic racing in the 1980s with a Maserati 300S and Talbot-Lago T26C and died just shy of 100 on August 22, 2022.
Fellow Melbourne motor trader and later four-time Gold Star champ, Bib Stillwell bought the Hunt 250F (chassis #2616) but couldn’t resist the temptation of a factory freshen-up, so didn’t see it for the best part of 12 months. It’s a long boat ride between Port Melbourne and Genoa and back, and Maserati had bigger fish-to-fry, not least a World Championship to win with JM Fangio at the wheel of factory 250F’s.
At the end of ’56 the stage was set, the key players in 1957 seemed likely to be Jones, Davison and Gray with a tight contest likely given all three were well-funded ‘pro-outfits’ by Australian standards of the day. In the end Davo’s Ferrari 500/625 crushed the opposition with five Gold Star wins in nine rounds, a story for another time…
Credits…
Australian Motor Sports all 1956 issues, ‘Bathurst: The Cradle of Australian Motor Racing’ John Medley, ‘The History of The Australian Grand Prix’ edited by Graham Howard, ‘A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928-1939’ John Blanden, VSCC Victoria Collection, David Meale-Collections Victoria, gnooblas.com, Paul Cummins/Cummins Archive, Stuart Murray
Tailpiece…
(Cummins Archive)
Champions cockpit…the 1958 one’s actually – Stan Jones’ Maserati 250F chassis #2520, not Hunt’s #2516.
Paul Cummins wrote, “On the back of the photo it reads – this is the cockpit of Victorian racing driver Stan Jones’ new 2 1/2 litre ‘250F’ model Maserati which he has just imported from Italy. When that revolution counter shows 7800rpm his engine is developing 270hp giving a speed in excess of 165mph. It is expected to be the fastest car in Australia. It cost £7,200, but with freight cost and spare parts (including a 3-litre 300S engine), the actual landed cost is expected to be nearly £12,000.”
“The Maserati which will be using Mobilgas Racing Fuel and Mobiloil exclusively was built in October last year (1955) and taken to South America for the Argentine Grand Prix Season, but it was never raced. Stan Jones will race it for the first time at Port Wakefield South Australia on 4 June.”
Veglia instruments, right-hand shift for the 5-speed transaxle, note the far-left clutch location given Stan sits astride the driveline tunnel – Jones has clearly specified a ‘conventional’ right-hand throttle and central brake setup.
Finally, while Maserati’s bullshit story to Stan may have been that #2520 was a new car, in fact it was slightly shop-soiled. It had been raced as a works-car by Froilan Gonzalez at Buenos Aires on 22 January 1956 (DNF) and by Pablo Guile at Mendoza on February 5 (eighth).
The nose of the car as landed in Australia in the earlier arrival photographs rather suggests the car was shipped straight from South America rather than via the Modena paint-shop. What is in no doubt is that 250F #2520 has one of the simplest, most straight-forward histories of all Maserati 250F’s, so too does #2516 for that matter.
“Och aye! That really is more like it” or thoughts to that general effect. Jackie Stewart in his brand new Tyrrell 001 Ford Cosworth DFV at Oulton Park during the August 22, 1970 Gold Cup weekend.
Derek Gardner’s first F1 design was only days old and already it felt better than the customer March 701 Ford – victories in the Race of Champions and Spanish GP (Stewart) and International Trophy (Chris Amon) notwithstanding – that he had been racing that season.
Press release of the Tyrrell 001 at Ford’s London premises, August 18, 1970
Stewart and Tyrrell’s Matra International team had won the 1969 World Drivers and Manufacturers Championships with the superb Matra MS80 Ford. For 1970 the French aerospace giant wanted to race only Matra V12 engined cars. After Tyrrell and Stewart travelled to France and Stewart tested the new Matra MS120 the pair decided they preferred to stick with the Ford engine; hence the acquisition of March 701s. See here for a short piece on the 701: https://primotipo.com/2014/05/15/blue-cars-rock/
Tyrrell quickly realised he needed to build his own car to control his destiny, rather than be at the mercy of a chassis manufacturer, so Gardner was engaged and secretly set to work in a design studio he established at his Leamington home.
Ken got to know and respect Derek during the occasions on which Matra International raced the Matra MS84 Ford 4WD drive car in 1969, Gardner was then employed by Ferguson Research and was responsible for the transmission in that car.
“…and then it does that, really suddenly!’ OR “…it doesn’t matter what I do, it just doesn’t respond!” JYS and March 701 Ford (MotorSport)Stewart at Brands Hatch in the Tyrrell March 701 Ford during the July 1970 British GP (MotorSport)
The guidelines were, amongst others, that the design needed to be simple and competitive with minimal development, with a deadline of the August 22, Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting.
Gardner decided upon a light, aerodynamic car with very lower polar moment of inertia and optimum front-rear weight distribution. He had a wooden buck of the chassis made by a local joinery firm for Stewart to try. At that point the Tyrrell mechanics were let in on the secret with comments invited about what went where and maintenance – important design considerations for someone who hadn’t designed a racing car before
Hockenheim, Germany Q7 and DNF engine in the March 701, Jochen Rindt won(Schlegelmilch/MotorSport)March 701 Ford cutaway drawing (G Piola)
Given Tyrrell’s famous Ockham timber yard operation was equipped to prepare racing cars, not build them – something that would change quickly enough – a swag of well known industry suppliers and ‘subbies were soon busily making components to the account of this fella named Gardner D.
A Ford DFV engine and Hewland FG 5-speed gearbox were sent over to Derek, while Maurice Gomm’s Gomm Metal Developments fabricated Gardner’s open, bath-tub, pregnant-belly, monocoque chassis out of 18-gauge NS4 aluminium alloy. Derek had modelled a tenth-scale model of the car in the University of Surrey’s wind-tunnel. The front of the chassis covered Wee-Jackie’s feet, while a subframe extended forwards to carry the radiator and front lower wishbone pick-up points.
Doug Nye wrote that “A massive front bulkhead structure extended into Matra-like wings on each side, supporting tiny, split upper wishbones and top mounts for the outboard coil spring/damper units. Very wide-based fabricated lower wishbones were used.”
Jackie Stewart in 001 ahead of Mike Hailwood, Lola T190 Chev and Reine Wisell, McLaren M10B Chev Oulton Park Gold Cup, August 1970 (MotorSport)
The Ford DFV engine was mounted, as the design intended, to the bulkhead aft of the driver, while the rear suspension was attached to the DFV and Hewland transaxle via tubular subframes. Len Terry’s ‘industry standard’ parallel power links were used with a single top link, twin radius rods and again outboard coil springs/Koni shocks.
Brakes were outboard at the front, and inboard at the rear: rotors were ventilated and 10.5 inches in diameter front and rear. Aeroplane and Motor provided many of the castings: uprights, wheels and other items, Laystall made the stub axles and Jack Knight Engineering did most of the machining.
The unusual nose and cowling shape were informed by the ‘tunnel-work, the central spine designed to divert relatively clean air around the side of the cockpit back onto the two-tier rear wing mounted atop a gearbox strut.
“When the prototype car (#001) was first assembled and weighed it scaled some 100 lb less than the team’s proprietary March 701s, and was only 32 lb above the minimum weight limit. It had cost Ken Tyrrell £22,500 less engine and gearbox, compared to the purchase price of £9000 for his March 701s.” Nye wrote.
Messrs Gardner and Tyrrell looking youthful in 1970 (MotorSport)Tyrrell 003 Ford cutaway drawing, the eagle-eyed may pick the Girling twin-disc brakes (T Matthews)
After completion and dealing with all of the press-release niceties the car was despatched to Oulton Park where 18 cars faced the starters flag: five GP and thirteen F5000 cars.
Niggles that weekend included metering unit failure and a blocked fuel injection unit, so JYS also practiced and qualified his March fifth, but elected to start from the rear of the grid in 001 having not set a time.
On lap two of the first heat he pitted after the throttle jammed, to have the linkage eased a bit, and to have loose bodywork made good. He returned to set the lap record (twice) before an oil pick-up problem caused the engine to fail. John Surtees’ TS7 Ford won that heat, and Jochen Rindt’s Lotus 72C Ford the second, with John victorious overall.
Mosport, Canada 1970 (MotorSport)Stewart and team at Mosport where keeping wheels on 001 was a problem, and a broken stub axle (MotorSport)
Given a choice of cars Stewart did the logical thing and plumped for the new Tyrrell 001 for the final four championship round of the season at Monza, Mosport, Watkins Glen and Mexico City.
At Monza the car’s main fuel tanks weren’t picking up enough fuel to the collector to run at sustained maximum rpm so he raced his 701 – despite being distraught after the death of his close friend Jochen Rindt in practice – to second place behind Clay Regazzoni’s Ferrari 312B, Regga’s first GP win.
Things improved big time in North America. Jackie started from pole in Canada and was on the front row in the US and at Mexico City. At Mosport the wheels kept coming loose in practice, and then a left-hand-front stub-axle failed while Jackie led the race. Gardner designed stronger parts which were machined from solid magnesium by the Jack Knight crew and used on the car at the Glen and in Mexico.
Jackie lost in upstate New York when an oil-line retaining clip parted, “causing the plastic line to fall against a hot exhaust manifold and burn through, which allowed the lubricant to haemorrhage away.” Emerson Fittipaldi took his first GP win that weekend in a Lotus 72C Ford.
The Mexican GP was an entirely forgettable weekend all round, not least for Jackie Stewart, who hit a stray dog at 160mph. “It disintegrated and the car veered violently to the left towards a bank where spectators were sitting cross-legged a few metres from the tarmac. I only just managed to regain control and prevent my car from ploughing into that area and scything through the crowd.”
Importantly, despite the somewhat predictable niggles, the car was fast: Team Tyrrell, Stewart, Ford, Elf and the other sponsors looked forward to 1971 with plenty of optimism.
The Big Three at Kyalami in 1971: Stewart, Gardner and Tyrrell (MotorSport) Stewart in 001 during the ’71 South African GP (MotorSport)
Over that 1970-71 winter the team built up another car, chassis #002 for Francois Cevert. A taller chap than his team-leader, the chassis was four inches longer than #001, the wheelbase 1.5 inches longer, and the side-skins of the tub were thicker 16-gauge NS4 aluminium. In addition, Derek simplified the front bulkhead structure and braced the roll-bar forward, rather than aft. “This latter change was to allow the engine to break away from the chassis in an accident without compromising the drivers protection, and would become standard practice in all categories over the next four to five years,” wrote Allen Brown.
Longtime tyre provider, Dunlop withdrew from F1 at the ned of 1970 so Tyrrell did over 1400 trouble-free miles (two engines) with Goodyear in warm Kyalami over the annual break. Trouble-free but not incident free: a pebble jammed between the throttle pedal and bracket causing a crash which crushed the tub’s left-front corner and jarred Stewart’s wrist. The car was sent home, the monocoque unstitched, the skins repaired then the chassis was reassembled and returned to South Africa.
Stewart in his new Tyrrell 003 on the way to victory at Montjuïc Park, Barcelona in 1973. Rainer Schlegelmilch photographic brilliance (MotorSport)
Not much was wrong with 001, Stewart started his first three races in 1971 from pole…and finished second in all them: the South African GP, Race of Champions at Brands Hatch and the Questor GP at Ontario Motor Speedway in California.
From then JYS moved to Tyrrell 003 – identical in spec to 002 – and immediately won in Spain (Montjuich Park) and Monaco with it. He had brake dramas in the Zandvoort dunes but bounced back at Paul Ricard, Silverstone and the Nurburgring putting the World Championship in-the-bag. Later in the season Jackie won at Mosport and Francois took his first – and sadly his only – GP victory at Watkins Glen. Tyrrell won the Constructors Championship in its first full year of competition as a manufacturer.
Great cars! Doug Nye named his chapter in ‘The History of The Grand Prix Car 1966-1985’ about the 1970-73 championship Tyrrells ‘Uncomplicated Craftsmanship’, which about says it all…
Not a shot of Francois! Let’s fix that, here in during the September 5, 1971 Italian GP weekend in 002. Ronnie Peterson at left in his March 711 Ford, Cevert in 002, Mike Hailwood, Surtees TS9 Ford and one of the BRMs. Peter Gethin’s BRM P160 took a famous win by a bees-dick – one-tenth of a second – from Peterson then Cevert (MotorSport)
Etcetera…
Oulton Park 1970(MotorSport)
This overhead shot of Tyrrell 001 at Mosport in 1970 – sans rear wing – is a great one to show the overall packaging of the car – body features as per earlier text – and the period typical Ford Cosworth DFV, Hewland transaxle and outboard suspension. Quality of design, execution and preparation outstanding.
Contemporary photograph of 001’s cockpit.
(MotorSport)
Mechanics work on Francois Cevert new #002 at Kyalami in 1971. Note the forward facing roll bar bracing
Tyrrell 002 Ford (G Piola)(MotorSport)
Race of Champions March 21, 1971. Stewart in 001, Denny Hulme, McLaren M19A Ford and Clay Regazzoni, Ferrari 312B2. Regazzoni won from Stewart and Surtees in his TS9 Ford.
French GP 1971, Tyrrell 003, note Girling twin-disc set up (MotorSport)
Tyrrell experimented with Girling twin-disc front brakes fitted to 001 at Silverstone during the May 1971 International Trophy weekend. After Monaco both regular cars: 002 and 003 were fitted with the double-disc brakes as here, to Jackie Stewart’s 003 at Paul Ricard.
Doug Nye explains the set-up, “There were twofold discs on each hub, spaced by a double thickness of pad material, and with pistons on only one side of the caliper. The discs were given a degree of side-float which allowed them to move sideways, cramped by the pads, when the brakes were applied. The idea was to double pad and disc area and provide better heat dissipation plus the opportunity to reduce line pressures which permitted the use of smaller pistons and less deflection on pad wear. The problem had been that conventional discs were wearing the brake pads into a taper form. This in turn promoted knock-off when the drivers braked hard, giving a spongy pedal feel and slashing driver confidence.”
The twin-discs were removed from both cars at Ricard, “after Stewart had a harmless spin into the catch-fencing, for Girling seemed happy with the lessons learned thus far.” Nye wrote.
(MotorSport)
Two of Derek Gardner’s innovations are shown in the shot above, Stewart’s 003 at Paul Ricard, and Peter Revlon having this final in-period race of 001 at Watkins Glen in 1971 below.
The ‘Tyrrell nose’ first appeared in scutineering over the Dutch GP weekend and made its race debut at Ricard. The bluff nose extended to the maximum allowable width ahead of the front wheels, reducing the lift they caused and reducing drag.
With that, Gardner introduced the second alternative nose treatment until the ground effect era, the other was the wedge nose inspired by the Lotus 56/72.
Doug Nye notes that Stewart was “simply uncatchable on the long (Ricard) Mistral straight”. After the Tyrrell 1-2 in France and Stewart’s strong win at Silverstone a fortnight later, his engine was sealed and checked, and a fuel sample was taken in France with no irregularities found. Tyrrell simply had two very quick cars and drivers…
Note also the engine snorkels on the two cars. Lotus fitted ducts to the 72 from the 1970 British GP, and Matras snorkels, but Gardner’s design was sealed allowing clean air and a mild ‘supercharging’ effect.
It was far from the end of Derek Gardner’s innovations of course!
(MotorSport)
Peter Revson had a long international apprenticeship. Six years after winning the Monaco F3 GP and some promising top-five F2 performances in Ron Harris-Team Lotus 35s in 1965, at the ripe old age of 32 he returned to F1.
In 1971 he won the Can-Am Cup aboard a works McLaren M8F Chev and popped the team’s McLaren M16 Offy on pole at Indianapolis, then finished second behind Al Unser’s Colt Ford.
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