Archive for June, 2026

Australian Racing Random 27…

Posted: June 15, 2026 in Features
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0
(LMRA-MBisset-WordPress)

Stan Jones and Len Lukey during their epic dice for the lead of the 1959 Australian Prix at Longford on March 2, Maserati 250F and Cooper T45 Climax FPF 2-litre.

In a fitting dose of karma, Stan finally bagged the AGP win he deserved, while Len won the Gold Star.

As you will see in this link to my ’59 AGP piece, the image above was filched from the cover of the 1960 Longford program: https://primotipo.com/2024/05/08/omg-stan-jones-and-len-lukey-longford-1959/ The WordPress AI device hasn’t managed to fuse these two pages below successfully, but here ’tis anyway.

(McNeill Art-MBisset-WordPress)
(ADick-CAN)

I do have a BRM fetish, always have. The Brits’ Ferrari and all that. That nice Mr Nye has nearly finished BRM Vol 4, can’t wait.

Allan Dick posted on his Classic Auto News FB page these fabulous colour shots of Arnold Glass’s BRM P48 during the 1962 New Zealand Grand Prix weekend at Ardmore.

Australian Arnold Glass was an NZ Grand Prix regular, first bringing the ex-works/Parnell Ferrari 555 Super Squalo – #555/2 and FL9002 – to Ardmore in 1958, where he was 12th, a performance he repeated in the same car the following year. He got on very well with the ex-works/Hunt/Stillwell Maserati 250F #2516, sixth at Ardmore in 1960, reflected the bond between man and driver-friendly machine.

(ADick-CAN)
Brue checking out the BRM, McLaren was third in the NZGP behind Moss and Surtees; Lotus 21 and Cooper T53 by two (ADick-CAN)

He got with the Cooper strength in 1961, finishing eighth in his Maserati-engined T45 before returning in 1962 in a BRM P48 #482. The model had impressed him in the hands of Graham Hill and Dan Gurney during their 1961 Australasian tour. He qualified #9 midfield but retired in the race. He was seventh at Wigram a fortnight later.

He was back in ’63 with the BRM, which was by then fitted with the 3.9-litre Traco modified Buick alloy V8 that had powered the Scarab RE raced by Chuck Daigh at Sandown in 1962. Glass didn’t compete as a consequence of a water skiing injury. Allan Dick wrote that ‘The car was still here at the next national meeting at Pukekohe and it was given a run — and a victory — by Ross Jensen, showing he’d lost none of his old touch, winning after an early battle with Forrest Cardon in the Lycoming.’

‘Trinkets’ returned in 1964, this time with a Lotus 27 powered by a Cosworth-built Lotus-Ford twin-cam engine, but he crashed the 1.5-litre car in practice, and that was that. More on Arnold’s BRM here:https://primotipo.com/2018/03/16/bourne-to-ballarat-brm-p48-part-2/

(BForsyth)

Andrew Miedecke, climbing the mountain in his Peter Brock, Perkins Engineering-built Holden Commodore VN during the 1991 Bathurst 1000.

He shared Brock’s car to seventh place, see this interesting sidebar on their journey:https://www.v8sleuth.com.au/how-racecam-rescued-brocks-car-at-bathurst/ The race was won by the Jim Richards/Mark Skaife works Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R.

(EAdamson-SLV)

Edwin Adamson’s shot of John Barber’s Lancia Lambda, on the way to winning the ten-day 1520-mile RACV Great Alpine Trial held in the high country of Victoria and New South Wales starting on March 10, 1926.

39 cars started the event, which took in Melbourne, Wangaratta, Mount Hotham, Omeo, Tallangatta, Tumut, Mount Kosziusko, Canberra, Eden, Lakes Entrance, and Mornington. Barber won from RJ ‘Herb’ Beith’s Chrysler, WA Terdich’s DFP, AW Bernadou’s Austin and JCB Hutton’s Alvis Sports. More here:https://primotipo.com/2026/06/12/1926-alpine-trial/comment-page-1/

(LangdonFamColl-HRCCTas)

The March 4, 1963, South Pacific Championship at Longford is about to start.

Winner of the 25-lap, 100-mile race, #10 Bruce McLaren, Cooper T62 Climax is on pole with Bib Stillwell, Brabham BT4 Climax and Lex Davison, Cooper T53 Climax on the outside. That’s the yellow helmet of Tony Maggs’ Bowmaker Lola Mk4 Climax and David McKay, Brabham BT4 Climax on row two, then the rest. McLaren won from Stillwell and John Youl in Cooper #5, a T55 Climax. Frontal view, WordPress has given the Olympic logo on the starter’s seat a lick of Mandarin, hopefully it doesn’t say anything rude.

(SWilliams-MBisset-WordPress)
(Unatt-MBisset-WordPress)

Australian Tourist Trophy action at Lakeside on the November 14, 1965 weekend.

From the left it’s Frank Gardner, Mildren Maserati from pole, then Pete Geoghegan, Lotus 23B Lotus-Ford and Ken Miles’ works Shelby Cobra 427 on the outside. Then Greg Cusack’s Lotus 23, back a bit to Spencer Martin in the SV Ferrari 250LM, then the red Lola Mk1 Climax of Frank Demuth and Glyn Scott in Ann Thompson’s Lotus 15.

Let’s not get too carried away, though. Frank Gardner’s presence tells us this is a heat. The Maserati engine in the Bob Britton-built Mildren let go in the biggest possible way, about where it is now in this heat, so FG didn’t make the final.

(TRS-MBisset-WordPress)

The star of the show was Miles in the works-Shelby American Cobra #CSX3002. Despite his presence, the 83-lap 125-mile race was won by the nimble Lotus of Geoghegan from Cusack and Martin, with Bob Jane’s Jaguar E-Type fourth (below in front of Gardner in the heat).

Miles, from grid 3, gave the crowd a helluva show until lap 34 of 85 laps when the rear suspension failed. Interestingly, as Steve Holmes observed, the only other races Miles did outside the US that year were the Le Mans classic and Monza 1000kms; DNF gearbox on lap 45 in a Ford Mk2 shared with Bruce McLaren, and third in a Mark 2 again shared with Bruce.

(RBell-MBisset-WordPress)

What has always intrigued me is why Shelby/FoMoCo bothered freighting this car/driver to an event in Australia of no real consequence at all. Paul Newby answered those questions in an Australian Muscle Car feature some years back and summarised the salient points on The Nostalgia Forum in 2019.

‘There was no direct sponsorship from Shell or Ford. Shell may well have underwritten the meeting programme and the Thursday night social event, but that was it. There was no appearance fee, just freight costs to get the Cobra there and back and expenses for Ken Miles and mechanic Ron Butler. I asked QMSC Secretary David Harding whether any documentation was retained, like copies of letters or Committee Minutes, but alas, there isn’t.’

‘Harding told me that Miles and Butler were put up at the Travelodge at Kangaroo Point, like the Tasman drivers were. However Richard Croston’s Lakeside, the early years, says that the duo were accommodated at the Coronation Motel near the Brisbane River. So I didn’t mention that detail in the story.’

‘Why did Shelby agree to send Miles and the Cobra 427 Competition to Australia? I can’t answer that, but I’ll make the following observations:

1. The 427 Cobra was an obsolete race car, so there was no risk to an existing race program. Miles had graduated to the Ford GT program by then and Bob Grossman was Shelby American’s works driver in the 289 Cobra. (He raced at Nassau in December 65.)

2. With a full order book for the Cobra 427 and Mustang GT350 plus being bankrolled by Ford for the GT program, Shelby didn’t need an appearance fee nor the $$$ to offload the Cobra 427 Competition to an Aussie hotshot.’

(RBell-MBisset-WordPress)

‘John Harvey having his first open-wheeler drive on bitumen’, is a quote among quotes from Ray Bell!

Harves is at the wheel of Ron Phillip’s ex-Stillwell Brabham BT14 Lotus-Ford #FL-1-65 during the Lakeside ATT meeting on November 14, 1965. A date to pop into the diaries of John Harvey fans. Harves proved rather adept in cars of all types: https://primotipo.com/2021/01/25/harves/

The nose band of the repaired image isn’t quite right, but I’ll take it all the same (RBell)
(DOverend)

Norm Beechey, Chev Nova from Bryan Thompson, Ford Mustang, Norm’s old car, at Calder in 1967. A little bit more here:https://primotipo.com/2019/09/26/norm-jim-and-pete/

(unattributed)

In amongst dominating the 1973 Australian F2 Championship in his works Birrana 273 Hart-Ford 416B Leo Geoghegan squeezed in a pair of visits to South East Asia.

These shots are in Macau; the one below was way out-of-focus made acceptable by AI, take in the car if not the decals…

(MBisset-WordPress)

Leo was fourth in the race won by John McDonald’s Brabham BT40, from Sonny Rajah, March 712M/732, and Graeme Lawrence, Surtees TS15.

Geoghegan opened his tour at the Malaysian Grand Prix held at Batu Tiga on April 13, DNF, then went to Singapore on April 22 for Q3 and a problem-filled ninth, before taking the car back to Macau in November.

Hong Konger John MacDonald and Kiwi Graeme Lawrence were the Toppish Guns in South East Asia in this period.

(SCMP)

Kevin Bartlett, Vern Schuppan and David Brabham are the Australians who’ve won the Macau GP. Here’s KB with Glen Abbey, longtime Alec Mildren Racing mechanic, after his 1969 victory in the sub; Mildren Alfa Romeo 2.5 V8.

I don’t have a race report for this event, but the missing bit of bodywork suggests a late-race splash-and-dash for KB to get The Yellow Submarine home. Those with a better RCN Collection than mine will have the answer.

(SCMP)

It’s an all-Brabham front two rows in some ways…KB’s Mildren on pole is chockers with Brabham bits bolted onto Len Bailey’s chassis, alongside is John MacDonald’s BT10 Ford Cosworth FVA; #66 is Albert Poon’s Brabham BT30, not to forget the two Mitsubishi Colt F2-Cs of Osamu Masuko and Soohei Kato, which are Brabham BT18/21 chassis or BT 18/21 copies built by Mitsubishi.

(KDevineColl)

The ex-Peter Whitehead Cooper T38 is a favourite car of mine. I’d love to have that sucker in my garage and use it as Ian McDonald did, as an occasional fast roadie and a regularity competitor, rather than racing it, given its value.

Ron Phillips racing it above during the 1958 Australian Tourist Trophy at Bathurst, and Stan Jones in his first meeting with it in the Albert Park March, Moomba meeting in 1956. Stanley didn’t like it much and moved it on pretty smartly. Ron liked it and won the ’59 Australian TT at Lowood in it, amongst other successes.

(REdgertonColl)

The radiator is to keep VB bottles and Chiko roll packaging away from the radiator. Tom Sulman in the following Aston Martin from memory?

Phillips in the Cooper T38 Jag on the way to winning the ATT at Lowood in 1959.

I did a feature about the car in MotorSport a few years ago:https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-2022/137/home-away-a-cooper-jaguars-racing-adventures/?srsltid=AfmBOopoJW16bmVp1TzpdbUOZX9dS9rj_md0E778DXtve5AqUURxFBzh There are quite a few bits and pieces on the car within primotipo, so just key in Cooper T38 Jaguar into the search bar on the home page.

(SElliott-MBisset-WordPress)

Bruce Allison leads Ken Smith at Bay Park during the January 3, 1977 New Zealand Formula Pacific Championship, Ralt RT1 Ford BDA and March Ford BDA.

Allison was Q3 and second in the race behind Steve Millen’s Chevron B35. He was third in the five round series behind rising star Keke Rosberg’s Fred Opert Racing Chevron B34 and Tom Gloy’s Tui BH2.

At rest below, I’ll take your advice as to circuit. Results here:https://www.oldracingcars.com/newzealand/1977/ and Rosberg here:https://primotipo.com/2015/10/18/keke-rosberg-attacks-the-pukekohe-chicane-new-zealand-grand-prix-january-1978/

(RSteffanoni)

John Leffler on a fairly rare visit to Mexico (Victoria) with his works-supported Cooper S sports sedan, Calder, August 1971.

Paul Knott’s name on the door proves just how far back that successful partnership extended. Does this car still exist? More here:https://primotipo.com/2019/03/01/cooper-s/

(RSteffanoni)

Credits…

Longford Motor Racing Association, Allan Dick-Classic Auto News, Bill Forsyth, Edwin Adamson-State Library of Victoria, Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania, Ray Bell, The Roaring Season, Darren Overend, Ron Edgerton Collection, Australian Motor Sports, South China Morning Post, Steve Elliott, Warwick Clayton, Rod Steffanoni

Finito…

1926 Alpine Trial…

Posted: June 12, 2026 in Features, Obscurities
Tags: , , , ,
3
(JBeatson-SLV)

Jean Beatson’s shot of John Barber posing in a Lancia Lambda in 1927. He was the winner of the ten-day 1520-mile RACV Great Alpine Trial held mainly in the high country of Victoria and New South Wales starting on March 10, 1926.

39 cars started the event, which took in Melbourne, Wangaratta, Mount Hotham, Omeo, Tallangatta, Tumut, Mount Kosziusko, Canberra, Eden, Lakes Entrance, and Mornington. Barber won from RJ ‘Herb’ Beith’s Chrysler, WA Terdich’s DFP, AW Bernadou’s Austin and JCB Hutton’s Alvis Sports.

Initially I thought it was a shot of the winning car, but Rob Alsop set me straight; #26 is the 1926 winner, whereas #31 above is a LWB machine. If any Lancia Fanciers can tell me which event is depicted above, I’d love to hear from you.

Albert Valentine Turner, AV to his mates, won the first Australian Alpine Trial aboard an Itala T51 Tourer in 1921, that event, more or less continually held since, pre-dates the first, Australian Grand Prix held at Goulburn in January 1927 so its an important event in this part of the world. See here for more about AV:https://primotipo.com/2022/11/08/av-turner-itala-1924-sydney-melbourne-record/

John Barber in his Lambda First Series (B Jamieson)

The Sun News Pictorial Melbourne covered the ‘26 Alpine this way in its Friday, March 26, issue.

‘MR. J. BARBER, of Coliban Park, Elphinstone, winner of the Alpine motor trial, said yesterday that his Lancia Lambda was the first sold in Victoria, and had travelled 21,000 miles before the trial.’

‘He attended personally to the adjustment of the car before the race, and did not have it specially overhauled in any way. He has always driven it himself. Vacuum Oil Co products – Plume petrol and lubricants – were used on the trip. His electrical equipment included Bosch plugs, starter and magneto, and gave no trouble whatever.’

Nine Punctures

‘His tool kit was never opened during the trial. He had to use the jack, however. “I had nine punctures,” he said, “thanks to the extraordinary roads. Many others fared worse.”

‘Far too much, in his opinion, had been made of his hill-climbing exploit on the summit of Mt. Talbingo, when he passed the leading car at the bend with his off wheels practically over a precipice. “I had plenty of room to pass,” said Mr Barber. “There was really nothing in the incident, and when I cut the bend it looked far more dangerous to those at the finishIng point than it actually was.”

‘There are three Laucia cars at the Coliban Park merino sheep station. Barber’s sister has a Lambda saloon, while his elder brother favours a 35 Kappa. They also possess a Ford and a Fordson tractor.’

‘The secretary of the Royal Automobile Club (Mr C. J. Hodges) advises that the statement published yesterday, to the effect that the Oakland car would have won the test had it not been disqualified, was incorrect. Even if the Oakland car had not been disqualified, it would not have been the outright winner of the contest. In fairness to the car that won the context. He pointed out that it could not have been displaced from it position by any of the cars which were disqualified.’

(EAdamson-SLV)
(The Argus, March 29, 1926)

‘Spark Plug’ commented on the results and made some post event observations in The Leader (Orange, NSW) on April 2, 1926. His comments are interesting, a century on, about where the automobile was at back then in the minds of Joe Public.

Salient is that, ‘Beyond question, the first matter that will excite comments from a layman is that the reliability of modern reputable makes has been vindicated.’ (35 of the 39 starters finished). There has been a most remarkable absence of major mechanical defects throughout the tests.’

‘True, there have been one or two electrical faults, which have embarrassed the driver, and in some cases, springs have broken, but as for vital defects of mechanism, these have been conspicuous by their absence. 1500 miles is in itself a sufficiently long tour to make offhand, but when the itinerary is laid out to cover the worst of gradients, and some of the roughest roads in the Commonwealth, then indeed we may describe it as an acid test.’

‘Whilst paying a tribute to all the cars that came through with flying colours, it is justifiable, in view of the prejudices which exist in some quarters, to make special allusion to the light British and Continental models.’

‘For instance, the outright winner on aggregate points was the Lancia Lambda, a comparatively light Italian product. The success of this vehicle is very interesting, by reason of the fact that it is equipped with an unusual type of front springing, consisting of individual hydraulic cylinders and coil springs fitted to each front wheel.’

‘Then too, one must not lose sight of the fast times achieved in the hill climbs, which demonstrate clearly that both American and Continental manufacturers, as well as paying attention to top gear performance, also realise that cars require from time to time, to maintain good speed in second gear, and plan their designs accordingly.’

Bill Jamieson wrote of Barber’s achievements, ‘In distant Australa, without any encouragement or even awareness from Lancia & C., the Lambda was also making its presence felt. John Barber, a Victorian grazier and motoring enthusiast, acquired one of the earliest First Series Lambdas to reach that country, and campaigned it with great success.’

‘In March, 1926, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria held an Alpine Trial over eight days, involving hill-climbs, speed, and acceleration tests on some of the roughest and most remote roads in the country. In a large field, Barber won first in formula and fastest time in every section, finishing with a virtually clean sheet. His success was used to good effect by Shields Motor Co., the local Lancia agents, in promoting the sale of the Lambda.’

Oodnadatta, South Australia 1927 (JBeatson-SLV)

Jean Beatson, the snapper who took the first shot, was a driver and mechanic of considerable repute, here she is fettling her Lambda.

More research required on my part but her Wiki entry is a start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Beatson

Beatson’s photo archive is held by the State Library of Victoria, for those interested in her exploits, try this:

https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Jean%20beatson&tab=searchProfile&search_scope=slv_local&vid=61SLV_INST:SLV&offset=0

Kingston, South Australia (JBeatson-SLV)

Etcetera…

(Barber Family Archive)
(Barber Family Archive)
(Barber Family Archive)

Amazing stuff from the Barber Family Archive via Tim Barber, with thanks to Rob Alsop.

(Barber Family Archive)

More shots from the Barber family’s archives, I’ll give you the events and dates when I have it.

(Barber Family Archive)
(Barber Family Archive)
(Barber Family Archive)
(Barber Family Archive)

Credits…

Jean Beatson-State Library of Victoria, Edwin Adamson-State Library of Victoria, Capolavoro: The Design, Development and Production of the Lancia Lambda’ by Bill Jamieson and Barber Family Collection via Tim Barber by courtesy of Rob Alsop, The Argus

Finito…

Warwick Farm by Bryan Henderson…

Posted: June 9, 2026 in Fotos
Tags: , ,
0
(B Henderson)

Where’s ’me helmet Sheppo?

Why not start an article about Warwick Farm with a couple of pics of Leo Geoghegan at Oran Park aboard his Lotus 39 Repco circa-1968? Who is Leo speaking to in the shot below?

(B Henderson)
(B Henderson)

The bulk of this batch of shots, published by Sydney photographer, Bryan Henderson, on Bob Williamson’s Australian Motor Racing Photographs Facebook page, were taken during the 1968 and 1969 Warwick Farm 100 Tasman rounds I’ve well ventilated before. But why not go again?

Frank Gardner aboard Alec Mildren’s Mildren Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 2.5 V8 – aka The Yellow Submarine – during practice for the 1969 Warwick Farm 100, won in shocking wet conditions by Jochen Rindt’s works Lotus 49B Ford DFW, the Austrian demonstrating his mesmeric wet-weather skills throughout. Rindt, ’69 Tasman:https://primotipo.com/2018/01/19/rindt-tasman-random/

FG was third behind Rindt and Derek Bell, Ferrari Dino 246T, and sixth in the series won by Chris Amon’s 246T. DNF’s at Pukekohe, Wigram and Lakeside cost Gardner while the car was unwinged/under-winged for half the series, which cost him a bit, arguably, in ultimate pace.

(B Henderson)
(B Henderson)

Bob Jane and FG chew the fat during practice. I guess Bob ran his Shelby-built Mustang Trans-Am in the touring car supports.

On Tasman point, John Harvey returned to racing after his huge ’68 Easter Bathurst accident at Sandown the following week. Harves ran Jane’s Brabham BT23E Repco 830, the same machine he crashed after the breakage of a rear upright at Mount Panorama. More on the BT23E here:https://primotipo.com/2015/12/22/jack-brabham-brabham-bt23e-oran-park-1968/

(B Henderson)

Graeme Lawrence, McLaren M4A-14 Ford FVA, eighth at the Farm and equal ninth in the series with Niel Allen, McLaren M10B Chev.

While the FVAs lacked the mumbo to be competitive in dry ’69 Tasman Cup 2.5 events, Graeme won the 1969 Singapore and Selangor Grands Prix in this car while knitting together a Big Deal.

The Lawrence family, with great support from Shell, bought Amon’s Tasman-winning Dino 246T/69-0008 from Ferrari and splendidly won the 1970 Tasman series from some very quick F5000 and 2-litre machines. More on the Dino here:https://primotipo.com/2022/02/01/ferrari-dino-166-246t-take-4/

(B Henderson)

Graham Hill during dry practice on the Friday or Saturday, Lotus 49B Ford Cosworth. Graham and the ’69 Tasman here:https://primotipo.com/2022/02/26/lotus-49b-ford-chassis-r8/

(B Henderson)

The talented Roly Levis, Brabham BT23 Ford FVA 1.6 was at Warwick Farm and in the Tasman Cup

Kiwi Gold Star Champion in 1969, ‘69 was the only year in which Levis did the whole Tasman tour; it was a seven-race, two-month commitment that year, a biggie for a privateer; he was 12th in BT23C-7, the ex-Frank Williams car raced by Piers Courage in the 1968 Euro F2 Championship.

(B Henderson)
(B Henderson)

The last few shots were taken during the February 18, 1968, Warwick Farm 100 race day.

Bib Stillwell and a mechanic roll Jack Brabham’s Brabham BT23E Repco-Brabham 740 2.5 V8 onto the grid – the car Bob Jane bought for John Harvey at the end of its ’68 Tasman campaign.

Jack was seventh in the race won by Jim Clark’s Lotus 49 Ford DFW.

(B Henderson)

Stirling Moss getting the lay of the land from just minted 1967 World F1 Champion Denny Hulme, Brabham BT23 Ford FVA, he was fifth. More on the ’68 WF100 here:https://primotipo.com/2018/08/01/warwick-farm-100-1968-take-three/

(B Henderson)

Warwick Farm chief Geoff Sykes, Moss and race winner Jim Clark during the 1968 WF100 prize giving.

Credits…

Bryan Henderson

Finito…

Australian Racing Random 26…

Posted: June 5, 2026 in Features
Tags: , , , ,
6
(Unatt-MBisset-Wordpress)

Frank Matich tests his new, very late to the party, Matich SR4 Repco, Bruce McLaren Style, sans bodywork – and six-point harness – at Warwick Farm on a date I’d love you to assist me with.

Sitting very close behind FM’s shoulders is RBE E41, a 4.8-litre 760 four-cam V8 being dyno-tested by its builder, John Mepstead, in Repco Brabham Engines’ test cell at Maidstone in the photograph below.

(JMepsteadColl)
(RWolfe/JBondini)

‘Meppa’, much admired, respected and liked by his Repco peers, died this week on Monday, June 1. May I offer my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. He was very kind to me when I met with him and was enormously helpful with this article about the SR4, as well as with another published by Auto Action. See here:https://primotipo.com/2016/07/15/matich-sr4-repco-by-nigel-tait-and-mark-bisset/ RIP John Mepstead.

Funeral details from Rod Wolfe, ‘John Mepstead funeral details, Friday 12th June at 2.30 at Bunurong Memorial Park in the Stratus Reflection Space, live streamed. Celebration of John’s life afterwards at the Sandown Park Hotel.’

See here for the footage from which the still above was filched;Frank Matich & The Matich SR4 Repco, Shannons Legends of Motorsport:https://youtu.be/YL-n7S_OexU?si=vG_avWRf2FJwL2hE

Matich, SR4, Catalina Park below, perhaps in early 1970, by which time the car/driver combo was the Australian Sports Car Champion.

(JMepsteadColl)
(PHouston-MBisset-Copilot)

Peter Houston’s shot of Kevin Bartlett and Niel Allen is a fantastic Warwick Farm battle between KB’s Alec Mildren Racing Mildren Waggott TC-4V and Niel’s Peter Molly prepped 5-litre McLaren M10B Chev.

I thought the shot was a David vs. Goliath contest during the February 15, 1970, Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup round, but Lynton Hemer has set me straight.

‘The photo with KB and Niel Allen was taken at the July 1970 AJC Trophy Warwick Farm meeting during the 15-lap Racing Car support race. Niel knocked the wingtab awry during his dice with Bartlett early on.’

‘This was the race when Niel’s harmonic balancer came adrift, cutting a brake line and sending him into the back of Frank Matich later in the race. Garry Rush and KB came together at Homestead as the Mildren attempted to lap the Formula Ford. It was Bartlett’s last ride in the Submarine.’

‘At the (1970) Tasman round, Max Stewart was never more than a few car lengths back from Bartlett as they took the race for Mildren with a one/two cleansweep.’

These two shots show the car, fitted with Merv Waggott’s 2-litre TC-4V engine, were taken during KB’s victorious February 1970 Tasman round.

The bathtub monocoque designed by Len Bailey and built by Alan Mann Racing is shown below. I’ve written about one of my favourite racing cars often, here is a starting point:https://primotipo.com/2017/11/14/missed-it-by-that-much/

(PHouston-MBisset-Wordpress)
(unattributed)

Two shots of Bob Jane’s Elfin 400 Repco-Brabham 620 4.4-litre V8 with the man himself at the wheel at Sandown circa-1967 and with Bevan Gibson up on that fateful day during the Bathurst Easter meeting in 1969. More here:https://primotipo.com/2018/04/06/belle-of-the-ball/

(unattributed)

Dressed like that, Frank Williams must have just arrived from Essendon Airport, his suitcase full of start and prize money amassed by Piers Courage during a very successful 1969 Tasman Cup campaign, during which he finished third overall and won the Teretonga round aboard Williams’ unique Brabham BT24 Ford DFW 2.5 V8.

There is no shortage of spectators in the Sandown Park Cup paddock on February 16. It was Amon, Rindt and Brabham in the race. Piers broke a driveshaft on lap three, so he was a DNF, but he had shown great speed and intent that Australasian summer, which was delivered in spades aboard Frank’s Brabham BT26 Ford Cosworth DFV in the ensuing Grand Prix season.

More on Piers here:https://primotipo.com/2015/10/20/longford-tasman-south-pacific-trophy-4-march-1968-and-piers-courage/

(oldracephotos.com/DSimpson)
(JSemple)

I do love an LJ XU-1.

Colin Bond during the Thursday, November 9-Saturday, November 18, 1972, Dulux Rally. Photographer, James Semple, is NSW-based, so I guess it’s somewhere – a hillclimb? – up there, thoughts folks?

The reigning Dulux Champions, Bondy and George Shepheard, won in the Holden Dealer Team Holden Torana GTR XU-1, from teammates Peter Brock/Frank Kilfoyle, and Stewart McLead/Adrian Mortimer in another XU-1. More about the Dulux here:https://primotipo.com/2015/04/09/australias-cologne-capris/

(PHouston-MBisset-Wordpress)

Peter Houston has captured a very rare car/driver combination in what must have been one of Gary Campbell’s last drives? A couple of LJ XU-1s or GTRs are clearly favoured by the flaggies too!

Here the popular, generous Sydney car dealer – a big supporter of Larry Perkins before and after he got to Europe – is drowning aboard his new Lola T330 Chev HU4 during practice for the 1973 Warwick Farm 100 Tasman round on February 11 and won by Steve Thompson’s Chevron B24 Chev.

GC didn’t start the race as he crashed it, so this is either practice or race day warm-up? HU4 was bought by Bob Muir, rebuilt and raced by him with great speed in the 1973 US L&M F5000 Championship. More on the T330/T332 here:https://primotipo.com/2025/01/12/lola-t332-factory-specification-information/

(PHouston-MBisset-Wordpress)

Bill Brown blasts across the top of Mount Panorama aboard David McKay’s Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 350 Can-Am during the 1968 Easter Meeting.

Bill won a race and set the fastest straight-line speed record at a heady180.722 mph. The quickest sports car that weekend was Niel Allen’s Elfin 400 Chev. See here:https://primotipo.com/2023/08/18/ferrari-350-can-am-take-4/

(N Johannsen)

Ulf Norinder from Max Stewart and Leo Geoghegan during the early laps of the February 22, 1970 Sandown Park Cup Tasman round: Lola T190 Chev, Mildren Waggott TC-4V 2-litre and Lotus 39 Repco 830 V8 2.5.

The cars are on the blast from Dandenong Road towards the fast right-left combo of the Causeway and Dunlop Bridge. Niel Allen, McLaren M10B Chev won from Graeme Lawrence, Ferrari 246T and Norinder. Lawrence won the Tasman in the same chassis, 246T/69-0008, in which Chris Amon triumphed the year before.

And one of the Formula Vee support races below, I’ll take your advice as to competitors.

(Orange Photography)

Jeremy Browne’s rally Cooper S opposite locking its way around Collingrove in 1972 and gets no shortage of admiring glances from the punters in the process!

(Unatt-MBisset-Wordpress)

John Harvey in Bob Jane’s Bowin P8 Repco-Holden at Warwick Farm during the September 3, 1972 weekend in which he contested the two-heat Motor Show Trophy.

He was fifth in the first heat from the back of the grid, and collided with Kevin Bartlett’s Lola T300 Chev at the start of the second so didn’t finish. Matich won overall with victories in both heats, with John McCormack second and Warwick Brown third: Matich A50 Repco-Holden, Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden and McLaren M10B Chev.

Shots of P8-118-72 in its original form are rare; this photo resurrection exercise was reasonably successful. Such a small, handsome and innovative car, John Joyce!.

Harves spoke favourably about the P8 Repco-Holden to Tony McGirr for his ‘Gentleman John Harvey’ book.

‘Then the Formula 5000 car arrived. It was a Bowin car. We actually took a bit of a gamble on that. If Bob (Jane) couldn’t get what he wanted overseas, he was always happy enough to try an Australian-made product. If – always ‘if’ – he thought they were good enough. Bob was one of Garrie Cooper’s staunchest supporters. He had in the past bought a few cars from Garrie. But, Bob always wanted to win. If he thought Australian-built cars were not up to scratch, he bought whatever it took to win.’

‘The Formula 5000 car – built in Sydney – had a revolutionary suspension system. Around the traps, in racing circles, people were saying it won’t work – it can’t work. At that time, the designers of race cars were getting into technical areas that had not been explored before. Even in the Formula One McLarens, they were still experimenting with this rising-rate suspension and the variable spring rates.’

‘They had this system-or a similar system-on the front of the McLaren (M19), and it was working fairly well. Bowin – I should say John Joyce – built this Formula 5000 with these variable suspensions on both front and rear. Everyone said it was all too revolutionary and couldn’t work. Actually, it was all quite simple, and it worked extremely well, particularly off the start line. You could get really good traction with it.’

Warwick Farm September 3, 1972 meeting. Repco-Holden F5000 V8, Hewland DG300 5-speed transaxle, and look closely and you can see some of the variable rate suspension linkages (TGlenn)

‘The reason the whole deal did not work out was that Bob lost interest. We also had a crash with the car at Warwick Farm. I got a ‘ripper’ of a start. I forget the exact details of what happened to cause the accident. Somebody spun, and I got a front wheel knocked off the car. 1 slid off the track, and that was the end of my race. Essentially, that was also the end of that adventure.’

‘We did do a couple of more races with it, and we were still developing the car. The car was showing a lot of promise, but Bob lost interest. It was just as simple as that. “Forget the Formula 5000. Park it over there”. Castrol don’t want to know about it. So, we parked the Formula 5000 and got on with Touring cars.’

‘My whole open-wheeler career came to a halt, there and then. But, I must add, I wasn’t all that impressed with the Formula 5000 category. By comparison to the original Formula cars I had driven (Tasman 2.5 Brabhams), the Formula 5000s were just ‘trucks’. So, the decision was made to concentrate on Touring cars, and that is how the remainder of my career was spent.’

(KRankine/BColechin)

Start of the March 18, 1956, 48-lap, 150-mile Argus Trophy held at Albert Park during Melbourne’s annual Moomba Festival. Bryan Colechin’s images captured from Kenneth Rankine’s film show all the fun of the fair to great effect!

The three red cars are the victor, Reg Hunt’s Maserati 250F at left, second-placed Lex Davison, Ferrari 500/625 3-litre at right, and third-placed Kevin Neal, Maserati A6GCM 2.5-litre, partially obscured in between the two.

The white central seat sports-bodied car is the ex-Brabham, Cooper T40 Bristol, raced by Reg Smith, while the red car in front of Smith is the ex-Brabham Cooper T23 – then Repco-Holden powered – raced to fourth place by Tom Hawkes.

(KRankine/BColechin)

Reg Hunt, the star of Australian racing in 1956, on one of Albert Park’s high-speed swoops in his 250F during that Moomba weekend. All too soon, he retired from racing, see here:https://primotipo.com/2024/02/10/australian-gold-star-championship-1956/

(unattributed)

1969 JAF Japanese Grand Prix action with Aussie Glyn Scott, Bowin P3 Ford FVA having a look at Sohei Kato’s Mitsubishi Colt F2C 1.6 during the May 3 race.

It’s a battle for third place resolved in favour of the Japanese twin-cam, four-valve, fuel-injected powered Brabham/Brabham copy chassis. The race was won by Leo Geoghegan’s Lotus 39 Repco 830 2.5 V8 from Roly Levis’ Brabham BT23C Ford FVA.

Scotty’s Bowin was powered by the dominant 1.6-litre F2 engine of the era, the Ford Cosworth FVA as below in this circa-1969 trailer shot. Equally ubiquitous is the Hewland FT200 five-speed transaxle.

(PHouston)

More on the Bowin P3 here:https://primotipo.com/2021/05/06/ian-peters-ex-glyn-scott-bowin-p3-101-68/ , Geoghgan and the Lotus 39 here:https://primotipo.com/2016/02/12/jim-clark-and-leo-geoghegans-lotus-39/ , and Mitsubishi here:https://primotipo.com/2023/05/28/mitsubishi-competition-formative-days/

(Autoweek-MBisset-Wordpress)

Allan Moffat’s two big victories in the US were in the March 21, 1975, Sebring 12 Hour classic aboard a factory BMW CSL 3.5 Batmobile shared with Brian Redman, and then later in the race, Hans Stuck and Sam Posey jumped into the car after their own failed.

Moff’s other big triumph was in the Bryar 250 Trans-Am round held at Bryar Motorsport Park on July 10, 1966. He raced that 250-mile race event solo aboard a Ford Lotus Cortina prepared by his team; that must have been icing on a big cake?

See here:https://primotipo.com/2025/12/04/allan-moffat-rip/ and here:https://primotipo.com/2020/03/06/moffats-shelby-brabham-elfin-and-trans-am/

(BryarMotorsportPark)
(primotipo archivio)

Frank Gardner on the way to winning the December 3 Hordern Trophy, the final round of the 1967 Gold Star, on debut of the Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo 2.5 V8, and below, Kevin Bartlett racing it to victory in the first round of the 1968 Gold Star at Bathurst on April 15, 1968; luvverly symmetry in that lot. KB won the Gold Star too. More here:https://primotipo.com/2021/07/25/hordern-trophy/

(PHouston-MBisset-Wordpress)

Credits…

Peter Houston, Neil Johannsen, Orange Photography, Autoweek, James Semple, John Mepstead, Bryar Motorsport Park, Kenneth Rankine’s film with individual frames made by Bryan Colechin, Tony Glenn, ‘Gentleman John Harvey’ Tony McGirr, Rodway Wolfe, Jay Bondini

Finito…

Shell Methyl Benzine…

Posted: June 1, 2026 in Obscurities
Tags: , , , , ,
2
(unattributed)

It’s not often a ‘chemical name’ has an addictive ring to it, but this is one of them. I’m old enough to remember the advertising mantra of the day too…

Watch out for the drums, Jim! Clark’s Lotus 33 Climax V8 2-litre at Pukekohe during the 1967 NZ GP. Clark was second behind reigning Tasman Cup Champion, Jackie Stewart’s BRM P261, with Richard Atwood’s P261 third. More here:https://primotipo.com/2014/11/24/1967-hulme-stewart-and-clark-levin-new-zealand-tasman-and-beyond/

Methylbenzene – yes, it seems Shell used a bit of poetic licence – (commonly called toluene) is a clear, colourless, water-insoluble liquid aromatic hydrocarbon that does lots of cool things, but in an automotive sense, was/is added to petrol to improve octane ratings and performance.

(Chevron-MBisset-Wordpress)

Shell sponsored Spencer Martin has the inside line at Murray’s, or is it Hell corner, from BP-sponsored Kevin Bartlett in one of the memorable Brabham BT11A Climax battles between the Bob Jane and Alec Mildren cars throughout the 1967 Easter meeting at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, during which KB was the first to break the 100mph lap average; Spencer achieved it too, only shortly/minutes later. See here:https://primotipo.com/2018/04/27/kbs-first-bathurst-100mph-lap/

(MBisset-Wordpress)

Spencer Martin’s boss, Bob Jane, had a pretty good Bathurst meeting as well. In only his second meeting with his brand-new Ford Mustang 390 GT, he bagged two race wins and one second place in the improved touring car races. The WordPress AI tool shot a load with excitement here; this looks more like it below…More here:https://primotipo.com/2020/01/03/jano/

(unattributed)

Australian designer Frank Eidlitz created a series of cool posters for Shell via ad agency USP Benson about 1964, in which Graham Hill features with his ‘stackpipe’ BRM V8. More about Eidlitz here:https://recollection.com.au/biographies/frank-eidlitz and BRM here:https://primotipo.com/2016/02/05/motori-porno-stackpipe-brm-v8/

Credits…

Classic Auto News, Chevron, Shell

Finito…