Cec Dickason and C.V Whitta on the banking at Aspendale during a Chevrolet 24-Hour track record attempt on August 1 and 2, 1924.
‘Credit is due to Messrs. C. R. Dickason and C. V. Whitta, who, driving a standard Chevrolet chassis equipped with a ‘racing body’ last week, established an Australian ‘double-12’ hour record on the Aspendale Speedway in Victoria.
The distance covered in the 24 hours was 1.063 miles 8 chains. On the first day of the test, the mileage travelled in 12 hours was 584 1/2. The car was driven 600 miles in 10 hours and 21 min. 19 4-5 вес. On the following day, rain made the track slippery, necessitating great care in negotiating the turns.
The test was conducted under observation by officials of the Aspendale Park Motor Racing Club and the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria. S.A. Cheney Pty.Ltd ran the attempt. See here:https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cheney-sydney-albert-5574
The Victorians hold on to ‘the Australasian motoring record for 24 hours’, extended until Saturday, December 12, 1925, The Argus reported.
Don Harkness and Phil Harbutt covered 1236 miles and 122 yards, averaging 51 1/2 miles an hour aboard a ‘standard four seater Overland 6 from which the mudguards and rear seats were removed’ at the Olympia Speedway, Maroubra, Sydney.
(Powerhouse Museum)
Both Dickason and Harkness were prominent mechanics/engineers, racers and automotive industry executives. Google away, particularly in relation to Harkness. Cyril Dickason’s place in the Australian automotive/racing pantheon is dealt with comprehensively in my friend Tony Johns’ upcoming history of sporting/racing Austin 7s in Australia. Watch this space…
Credits…
Edwin G Adamson photographer via Cec Dickason and Tony Johns Archive, The Herald, August 4, 1924, The Argus, December 14, 1925, Powerhouse Museum
Pop McLaren and another helper about to bump-start Bruce’s Cooper T45 Climax FPF 2.5 at the Wigram RNZAF track on the January 23, 1960 weekend.
That’s Ian Burgess’ third-placed Cooper T51 Climax behind, then Pat Hoare’s Ferrari 256 V12 a little further back; he was fifth. Jack Brabham won the race in a T51 2.5-FPF with David Piper’s Lotus 16 Climax FPF 2.5 second. Bruce was fourth in the Lycoming Special; more of that soon.
New Zealand’s Summer Internationals commenced with the NZ GP, then held on the Ardmore Airfield circuit outside Auckland, with the Lady Wigram Trophy the other round most visiting internationals did. Sometimes they also entered the Dunedin Road Race and Teretonga International, held on a permanent racetrack near Invercargill, both venues on the South Island.
That year the visitors were headlined by Stirling Moss, twice-on-the-trot World Champion Brabham, and Burgess, Piper, while the Australian contingent included Bib Stillwell and Stan Jones in Cooper T51s, and Len Lukey in a T45. Similarly mounted was Kiwi youngsters Denny Hulme and George Lawton, both Driver to Europe exports; Lawton’s a sad one…
(T Marshall)
Coopers to the fore on the first lap at of the New Zealand GP at Ardmore: McLaren, Moss, Brabham, #6 Australian Bib Stillwell and then Ian Burgess. One T45 and four T51s. In the middle of the road is David Pipers Lotus 16 Climax, car #17 Johnny Mansel’s Maserati 250F, while #88 is Ron Roycroft’s positively historic but very well driven ex-Ascari Ferrari 375 4.5-litre V12. Behind Mansel is perhaps Pat Hoare, Ferrari 256 V12 – a Dino 246 fitted with a 3-litre V12 – then Arnold Glass in his Maserati 250F #12. Close to the oil drum is 1954 NZ GP winner Stan Jones, Cooper T51 Climax, and finally the big front-engined car is Ted Gray in his last drive of Australian Land Speed record holder, Ted Gray in Tornado 2 Chev V8.
At this time of technological change, it was certainly a grid lacking variety! Coopers were of course right up there: Brabham and McLaren finished one-two in their 2.5-litre FPF-powered cars from the 2.2s of Stillwell and Jones. The best placed front-engined cars were the pair of 2.5-litre six-cylinder Maserati 250Fs raced by Kiwi Johnny Mansel and Aussie Arnold Glass.
Stirling, Bruce and Jack all ears during the Ardmore drivers briefing – not necessarily in 1960 mind you (R Stuart)Brabham on the way to victory at Wigram in 1960, Cooper T51 Climax (T Marshall)
That summer, Jack Brabham won both the NZ GP and Wigram, while Syd Jensen’s nimble Cooper T45 Climax 1.5 won on the Dunedin city roads, and Ian Burgess triumphed at Teretonga, Cooper T51 Climax FPF 2.2-litre.
On the other side of The Ditch Brabham won at Longford and Phillip Island against local opposition; it was a great summer for him. It wasn’t until 1961 – and really 1962 – that the Australians had the tracks to cut it with the Kiwis to attract the internationals with the first Tasman Cup held and won by Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T70 Climax in 1964.
(G Woods Collection)McLaren, with ‘nomex’ jumper and long sleeved shirt on to deal with the summer chill, Burgess and Pat Hoare’s Ferrari 256 V12 (R Stuart)
While Bruce McLaren started the Lady Wigram Trophy in his Cooper, he retired the car and then took over the famous aircraft-engined Lycoming Special, finishing the race in fourth place (below).
Jim Clark did a few laps in one of the Kiwis’ most loved specials during practice during the Tasman Series a couple of years later.
Bruce McLaren in the Lycoming here and below (M Knowles)(BMcL Trust)(M Fistonic)
McLaren ran out of brakes in the Lycoming during the race; the car ran four-wheel drums sourced from an Austin road car. Bruce found the car’s handling so forgiving that he was able to make up for the lack of stoppers, in part, by throwing the it sideways into the corners.
Never one to forget a favour, when he returned to England, Bruce sent a set of Dunlop rotors and calipers to New Zealand, the Lycoming raced on so equipped!
The shot above shows the Lycoming in the Levin paddock in January 1960. Note the road-rego and Michelin radial tyres. Clearly, (pic above) Bruce raced it on Dunlop racing tyres, but the 4.7-litre four cylinder engines car was originally built by oh-so-talented Kiwi engineer Ralph Watson as a road-going racer. At the time Bruce borrowed the car, it was being raced by Malcolm Gill and later Jim Boyd, happily it is extant, alive and well.
(Nat Lib NZ)
Ian Burgess’s Cooper T51 Climax at Wigram above, and the 2.5-litre Climax in Stirling Moss’ car being fettled in the Ardmore paddock below.
(Nat Lib NZ)
David Piper (below) pushing his Lotus 16 Climax 2.5 #368 to the start line at Dunedin on January 30, where he withdrew with gearbox problems after 22 of the 36 laps.
Piper coaxed local boy Arnold Stafford into the hot-seat of his 1.5-litre FPF-engined Lotus 16 #353 ‘renter’ at Wigram (below), but Stafford thought the better of it after a big-spin in practice, having not raced for three years and didn’t start.
(K Brown)(unattributed)
Both cars weren’t particularly old in years but were technically passé by early 1960, even in the colonies where Coopers had been rather popular from the early 1950s.
Lotus 16 Climax cutaway (Lofthouse)(R Stuart)
Etcetera…
McLaren at Wigram in 1962, where he was fourth in his 2.7-litre Cooper T53 behind Stirling Moss’ Rob Walker Lotus 21 Climax 2.5 and the 2.7-powered Coopers of Brabham, T55, and John Surtees, T53…Happy Patty below.
(R Stuart)(R Stuart)
Pop McLaren and who folks?
Credits…
Rosalie Stuart, Graham Woods Collection, Merv Knowles, Bruce McLaren Trust via Jim Bennett, Kelvin Brown, Milan Fistonic, National Library of New Zealand
The ‘LAutomobile’s headline confidently predicted that ‘With its 135 hp and ultra-light tubular chassis, the monoposto 2-litte Lancia-Nardi will soon be a threat to Ferrari and Gordini.’
It proved a tad optimistic, only a few test sessions circa-September 1952 made it clear that the power of the modified production Aurelia V6 was well short of the Gordini, let alone the dominant Ferrari 500, so Enrico Nardi put the car aside in favour of other projects, the one machine built was never raced. Reader Henk Vasmel has a record of the car being entered for the Gran Premio Monza on September 7, 1952, but it didn’t appear; no driver was nominated.
(forix.com)
While some may say that the car is just another mighta-been – and such folks are indeed correct – Nardi was on the button, ahead of the curve in fact, in terms of the car’s conception, it’s 1952 remember: mid-engined, tubular frame, however butch it appears to be, mid-mounted fuel tanks, independent front and rear suspension, inboard rear drums, outboard of the wheels at the front.
Beefy tubular frame and plenty of fuel capacity. 2-litre Aurelia V6 was fed, perhaps, by four single-choke Webers, magneto ignition? (lanciaaurelia.info)
The Lancia parts bin donated the Nardi-modified V6 engine, the gearbox and final drive and the front and rear suspension components. If only Gianni Lancia had said to Vittorio (Jano), ‘This has merit, why don’t you have a play with it?’ History could have been quite different if he had!?
(forix.com)(uniquecarsand parts.com)
Credit…
Robert Roux, L’Automobile, lanciaaurelia.info, forix.com, uniquecarsandparts.com
Peter Brock pops his latest victory garland on the bonnet of his famous Austin A30 Holden sports-racing-closed machine at Hume Weir circa-1969. Perhaps after winning the June 1969 Australian Sports Sedan Trophy?
The realisation that there were a few very good colour shots in circulation of the self-built machine that pitched Brock into the spotlight, and thence into the Holden Dealer Team, is the catalyst for this piece.
For our international readers, Brock was rated as one of the world’s best ever touring car drivers by MotorSport some years ago. Top-Five if memory serves?
Brock, Oran Park circa late 1969 (R Thorncraft)
By the time PB was posted to Wagga Wagga for his two years of National Service in 1965’ish he was already a car nut, having cut his teeth as a ‘racer’ in the paddocks of his parents’ Wattle Glen property on Melbourne’s north-eastern outskirts. His mount was an Austin 7 Special; three of them actually, one owned by PB, another by his mate John Lovegrove, and a third parts-car
Peter and fellow ‘Nasho’ and old friend Ken Mitchell soon located the basis of a sports-racing-closed racer – this grouping of highly modified sedans was initially raced within sports car grids – an Austin A30, a crashed Holden HD 179 and a dead Triumph Herald.
The Austin, a good, straight car sans engine and gearbox, was found by David Turnbull, another Nasho, Brock mate, and later still an Elfin Formula Vee ace.
Lynn Brown, Mini Lwt on the ‘two-foot tow rope’ behind Brock’s Austin at Hume Weir (C Neal)
Construction commenced at the Kapooka Regimental Aid Post that ‘Colonel Brock’ commanded. Happily, the establishment had roads that doubled as a military ambulance racetrack and a workshop, which was soon devoted to extensive Brock A30 modifications.
Quick A30s weren’t that uncommon then, but they were usually fitted with hot BMC B-Series fours, not a brawny Holden six. The initially standard Holden ‘Red’ OHV, two-valve, seven bearing, 179 cid six-cylinder engine was mounted way back in the Austin chassis via an extensive hole hacked in the firewall by virtue of a new welding kit acquired for the exercise. The Triumph Herald remains provided some of the steel tube to brace the chassis weakened by holes and lightning by creating a full roll cage that was welded to the body.
A Holden (Opel) four-speed box’ replaced the standard Holden three-speeder that was first fitted, and sent its power via a shortened driveshaft to the Holden HD rear axle that was way wider than the Austin original. The rear axle was located by trailing arms at the top and an A-frame below, ‘the coil springs and shock absorbers (of unknown rate) came from a highly modified street racer (Austin Lancer) belonging to Heather’s (Peter’s first wife) brother, Geoff Russell.’
Up front, the upper and lower wishbone, coil spring/shock Herald front suspension, adapted to HD ball joints and uprights, was fitted to ‘match’ the rear track. The Herald provided the front disc brake calipers and rotors, and sharp rack and pinion steering components. Rudimentary but brutally attractive guard flares gave the little rocket its most distinctive styling element.
Close to Brocky’s home – the venue that initially wetted his interest in racing via pushbike schoolboy visits – Templestowe Hillclimb (J Brock/autopics)
Back in civilian life, the partially completed car was famously finished in the chook shed at the bottom of the Brock garden!
By late 1967, the little beast was ready to rock and roll. Unable to test at Calder or Winton, given a lack of readies, several fast blasts on the outskirts of Watsonia had to suffice, giving the nuns residing in the local convent the thrills they eternally lacked.
Brock first raced it at Winton on the November 26 weekend. Fuel pick-up problems cruelled that run, but Brock soon solved the car’s problems and began an ongoing series of modifications which demonstrated mechanical flair and understanding later recognised by Ian Tate in PB’s Holden Dealer Team days.
Brock in the company of another A30 and a Cooper S under brakes – with plenty of negative but not too much – into Peters at Sandown circa-1969. The scrutineers thought the engineering of the car was rough enough for them to order Brock to take it to Harry Firth’s Queens Street, Auburn workshop for a ‘safety check’. All was good, no doubt Harry remembered the consultation…(autopics.com.au)
Brock first showed his mettle by finishing second in a scratch race at Calder in late 1968 after a race long dice against thrice Australian Grand Prix winner, Doug Whiteford – a hard man who didn’t take prisoners – aboard a works Datsun 2000 prod-sports; a quite highly modified sports car.
The Holden engine copped triple 2-inch SUs, extractors and the usual mix of top and bottom end mods to give about 200bhp; plenty for a 700kg machine. Race tyres replaced the Goodyear Grand Prix roadies! and alloy wheels supplanted the heavier, 6-inch widened steel items initially fitted.
With Peter running up front at Victorian meetings he was soon enticed north of the Murray by Allan Horsley’s Oran Park start-money to run against the Sydney hotshots; NSW was then, arguably, the capital of sports-racing-closed.
The array of talent there was strong: Lynn Brown, Don Holland, Lakis Manticas, Harry Lefoe and later Australian Gold Star Champion, John Leffler, spring to mind. Harry Firth then chose the already well-credentialled Colin Bond and Brock to join the Holden Dealer Team as drivers in the 1969 Bathurst 500, Bondy winning on his HDT debut.
The rest, for both of them, is history, as the saying goes.
PB’s final race in the A30 Holden, Oran Park, January 3, 1970 (L Hemer)
Twitchy, Demanding Little Bastard…
The net effect of the seat-of-the-pants mods made to the Austin by Brock and Ken Michell created a car that was about as wide as it was long. The short wheelbase made the car very responsive but equally unforgiving!
‘Conventional wisdom’, repeated down the decades, is that very successful prod-sports Austin Healey 3000 driver, Ross Bond, who bought the car from Brock in early 1970, never got to grips with it before the accident that killed the significant little machine. Recent research by my friend, Lynton Hemer, suggests that wasn’t the case.
‘A lot has been said over the years about the Peter Brock Austin A30, suggesting that he was the only one capable of driving it quickly. He raced the car for the last time at Oran Park on Saturday night 3rd January 1970.
‘In the 6 lap Sports Sedan and Touring Car Scratch Race, Brock was second home behind Pete Geoghegan in the Mustang, and set a new class lap record of 50.3 seconds. Later that night, in a race for Open and Closed Sports Cars started at 10.48 pm, he won from John Goss in the Tornado Ford 9mid-engined sports car), and Lynn Brown in the Mini, and set the exceptional time of 50.0.’
Ross Bond hard at it in his very successful Austin Healey 3000 at Oran Park on August 8, 1971 (L Hemer)Ross Bond, Barry Sharp, Jaguar Ford V8, John Leffler, Mini Lwt. The latter had his first Formula Ford drives in Allan Vincent’s Bowin P4A that year (L Hemer)
‘Ross Bond then ran the car, winning in late February, and then experiencing mechanical problems in his next outing. By the time he got the car where he wanted it, several other cars were vying for position at the front of the Sports Sedan fields.’
‘Barry Sharp debuted his Jaguar Ford, Wayne Rogerson the XT Falcon, John Leffler got his Mini up to speed, and Barry Seton was now running the very rapid Torana GTR. All of those cars were capable of equal or better times than the Austin, so Ross found himself in among traffic at almost every race, whereas Brock had been at the front of much less competitive fields.’
‘In September 1970, Ross Bond did a best lap of 50.4, not that far off Brock’s second-best time in the car. Perhaps history has been a little harsh on Ross Bond’s performance in the car…’
Etcetera…
(N Brock)
Childhood fun times, and important driving and engineering lessons with the Austin 7s, above in 1959. John, Peter and Lewis Brock below in 1960.
(N Brock)
Brocky looking as happy as I would after my National Service number came up! Australian Army mug shot, June 1965 (N Brock)
(R Bell)
Ray Bell’s shot at Hume Weir circa 1968, early days. And Neil Baker’s below with the car looking more like its ultimate late-1969 spec, again at the Weir.
(N Baker Coll)(D Crampton)
This batch of three shots was taken by David Crampton at the Weir in 1969. Note the Castrol decal and sponsorship I guess.
(D Crampton)(D Crampton)
Credits…
John Brock-Brock Family Archive, Chris Neal, Russell Thorncraft, Lynton Hemer, Mark Oastler’s article about the car on Shannons’ website, Ray Bell, Neil Brock Archive, Neil Baker Collection, ‘Peter Brock Road to Glory’ by Colin Fulton and Terry Russell, David Crampton
Tailpiece…
(R Thorncraft)
Last run for Brock in the car was at Oran Park on January 3, 1970. The Diamond Valley Speed Shop was Geoff Brock, Peter’s dad’s, business. Are the wheels Simmons?
Such an evocative shot of the first couple of Australian motor racing, Melburnian’s Barney and Bess Dentry in their Riley 9 Brooklands. Perhaps during the 1936 Victorian Sporting Car Club Trophy held on the triangular Phillip Island road circuit on New Year’s Day.
Most ‘Island shots of the time are from the outside of the rectangular, right-handers-only course, looking in. This beautiful Edward Trevithick photograph looks the other way, with the Western Port sea-mist creating the rest of the magic.
The sign on the fence post issued by the People’s Republik of Phillip Island is headed ‘Closing of Roads’; sadly, I can’t read the fine print. More about the Dentrys here:https://primotipo.com/2023/04/07/barney-and-bess-dentry/
(E Trevithick-SLV)
Yes, the car doesn’t look kosher. Barney continually modified the Brooklands, chassis number 8062, over its long competition life, including this self-made, slipperier, lighter aluminium body. Both these photographs make it look like a Big Banger which it was not!
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