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Scripps-Booth V8…

Posted: November 3, 2023 in Features, Icons & Iconoclasts
Tags: Ferro V8, Ford Model 40 Special Speedster, James Scripps Booth, Kelvin Bulloch, Scripps-Booth, Scripps-Booth Model D, Scripps-Booth V8 Special

Kelvin Bullock’s 1917 Scripps-Booth V8 Special looking very handsome at Lake Perkolilli, Western Australia in the late-1930s.

I’d never heard of the marque Scripps-Booth (S-B) until tripping over this shot of Bullock’s handsome racer on Graeme Cocks’ mighty-fine Lake Perkolilli Red Dust Revival Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/reddustrevival2022/

The American marque was imported into Western Australia by the Armstrong Cycle and Motor Agency, this car was living in the rural hamlet of Corrigin when Claremont racer/mechanic Bulloch acquired it and extensively modified it circa 1937.

He raced at various of the West Australian’ Round the Houses towns including Albany, Bunbury, Pingelly, Applecross, Cannington, Dowerin and Lake Perkolilli.

Dowerin, September 4, 1938 and side view of the Bulloch Scripps-Booth V8 Spl (G Cocks)

Ferro V8 engine 1916-17 technical details as per text (Ferro)

Motorist and Wheelman magazine outlined the technical details of the Scripps-Booth Model D based special, as Cocks quipped, it shows just how inventive Specials builders were.

The engine was a Ferro V8, one of the first production American V8s, “which was surprisingly modern in design, and a most beautifully made and finished motor.” It still had its original cast iron pistons and had never been rebored. “The valves now in use, were designed for an Essex, and turned own for the Scripps. They are now closed by Chevrolet springs.”

The Alanson Brush designed series of V8s were built by the Ferro Machine and Foundry Company in Cleveland, Ohio; the Ferro Corporation still exists. The engine chosen by Scripps Booth was Ferro’s Model 8-35, a 162cid/2660cc, a two-main bearing OHV unit famous for being one of the first production automobile V8s, the first too with the block and crankcase produced as a single casting, 16 years before the 1932 Ford V8. The 8-35 had a 2 5/8 inch bore, 3 3/4 inch stroke, with a compression ratio of about 5.5:1. Fed by a Zenith twin-barrel carb, it produced 22.05hp/SAE, with an advertised output of 35hp. A Bosch magneto provided the sparks on Bulloch’s engine.

One owner described the engine as like two four-cylinder motors joined at the crankshaft, with each bank of cylinders fed by one chamber of a water heated inlet manifold. A heavy flywheel kept the vibrations at bay.

“The gearbox is original Scripps-Booth, but the rest of the 889kg that makes up the car, includes parts from a remarkable number of makes. The front dumb-irons are Chevrolet and the wheels and spring shackles Citroen. The radiator grille is ’34 Ford, the core Chevrolet, while the fan did 10 years service on a Rugby but its mounting is Bulloch Special.”

“Both the front axle and front brakes are Whippet, while the lamps in the first place showed the way to a driver of a Chrysler. The steering box, tailshaft and universals are Essex. At the top of the column a Ford steering wheel rides and behind it are two Austin bucket seats. Shock absorbers are Ford, and the rear braking, Bulloch says, ‘is by accident’!”

Dowerin September 4, 1938 (G Cocks Collection)

James Scripps-Booth and his creations…

“James Scripps Booth was a Detroit-area artist and automotive engineer. Born on May 31, 1888, in Detroit, Michigan, Booth was the eldest child of George Gough Booth, of the Booth publishing chain, and Ellen Scripps Booth, of the Scripps publishing empire,” according to the Detroit Historical Society. What follows is their ‘Encyclopaedia of Detroit’ entry on Booth.

“Booth grew up in a household that encouraged an awareness and appreciation of the arts, and he spent many hours sketching in and around his parents’ home in Detroit, surrounded by an extensive art collection. He also encountered many distinguished artists, writers, and musicians. Booth received most of his education through private schools and left school before finishing tenth grade. He taught himself the basics of automobile mechanics by systematically dismantling and reassembling the family’s car. While employed at the Detroit Evening News he developed his writing skills, broadened his automotive background, and refined his art techniques.”

“In 1910 at the age of 22, he married Jean Alice McLaughlin in Detroit. Following their marriage, Booth and his wife moved to Paris, where Booth studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts. They also spent some time living in Etaples, France, where Booth learned the fundamentals of working with pastels from Michigan-born artist Myron Barlow. In the decades following the couple’s return to the U.S., several of Booth’s works received critical acclaim at exhibitions at the Detroit Museum of Art and at other shows in both Michigan and California.”

James Scripps Booth (he didn’t hyphenate his own name) posing with a life size drawing of his Da Vinci ‘Pup’ cyclecar in 1921 (HA Parker)

James Scripps Booth’s drawing of the 115 inch wheelbase 1915-16 Scripps-Booth Vitesse Speedster V8, only one of which was built. The reverse of this drawing has this note by James “Proposed for Scripps Booth, accepted and detailed, then policy changed by Clarence Booth, then JSB quit.”

“As Booth perfected his artistic talents, he also developed a keen interest in mechanical engineering and automotive design. Many of his early drawings consisted of new designs for automobiles. In 1913, Booth developed his first automobile prototype, the “Bi-Autogo,” a unique two-wheeled cyclecar. The Bi-Autogo utilized the first V-8 engine ever built in Detroit. Booth’s Scripps-Booth Cyclecar Company was defunct within a year but was responsible for memorable designs. In 1914, with the financial support of his uncle William Booth, publisher of The Detroit News, Booth began his second business venture, the Scripps-Booth Automobile Company. The company produced more traditional upscale automobiles and was much more successful than the cyclecar business. Booth resigned in 1913 and moved to Pasadena, California. The company was purchased by General Motors and continued to operate until 1922.”

“In the 1930’s Booth moved his family back to Detroit from California, established an industrial design/art studio in Indian Village, and assumed responsibilities both as a trustee of the Brookside School and Cranbrook Foundation and as a director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art. During World War II, Booth published the General Handbook, Motor Mechanics Simplified: Understand Your Car, used by the American Red Cross in their automotive mechanics classes.”

“Following Booth’s death on September 13, 1954, a large collection of his automotive drawings, artwork, and several of his cars were donated to area institutions, including the Detroit Historical Museum.”

Scripps-Booth Model D…

The donor car for Bullock’s special, the model D was built between July 1916 and July 1917. VIN numbers quoted are 101-801 (and 101-700) and 801-1807 (and 801-1525) respectively: 700 cars and 725 cars depending upon the figures you believe.

While Booth’s prototype of the Model D V8 was the short wheelbase (115 inch) two-seat sporty Vitesse, Booth lost the production battle with his fellow management team of the Michigan based Scripps-Booth Company. The cars built were 2-door tourers and town cars (and runabout, chummy runabout/roadster built on a 120 inch wheelbase. Whether S-Bs imported to Australia were factory built or arrived sans-bodies, given the favourable tax-treatment afforded cars imported as rolling-chassis, is unclear.

The agents for S-B in Australia were the Armstrong Motor and Cycle Agency in WA, Roy Standfield Ltd in Sydney (from 1919 John McGrath) and Durance-Mayston Motors in Melbourne. It appears the cars came to Australia in some numbers, 62 S-Bs were registered in NSW in 1919 alone. How many are left here now? less than 10 it seems.

1916 Ferro ‘V-Type’ Motors ad. The types listed are the 8-35 (163cid), 8-48 (198cid), and 8-60 (265cid), that is 35, 48 and 60hp V8s and the 12-80 80hp V12. Hopefully, you can just read this…

What inspired this exploration of the arcane is the gorgeous looking body Bulloch had built by a body-artisan of some ability in Perth. It seems it’s perhaps not entirely original though. Perth man Graeme Holman is building a tribute car to the long-lost Bulloch Scripps-Booth V8 Special and credits the design inspiration for it as the 1934 Ford Model 40 Special Speedster commissioned by Edsel Ford for his own use. What a shame it is the magnificent E.T. ‘Bob’ Gregorie designed car was not put into series-production, they would have sold like hot-cakes. See here for a great piece on these cars; https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/01/look-at-what-i-found-the-most-significant-car-at-the-2012-naias-edsel-fords-1934-model-40-special-speedster/

The second Ford Speedster ordered by Edsel Ford – 1934 Type 40 Special Speedster – with its original, very elegant front styling, the photo was perhaps taken near Greenwich Village on Ford’s Dearborn campus. The shot below shows Ford Chief Designer Bob Gregorie’s scale model of the 1940 restyling to address overheating issues, and Edsel’s note to him (FoMoCo)

Bulloch bought his S-B in late 1937 or early 1938 in Corrigin, an affluent wheatbelt town 230km southeast of Perth. Perhaps the car was a farmer’s pride and joy and was pushed into a shed when it eventually misbehaved? Interestingly, a Mr C.D. Kerr placed fifth in a S-B at the Bibra Lake standing-quarter mile meeting in February 1935 (26.4sec), I wonder if it’s the same car?

Quite who the team of mechanic/engineers/bodybuilders that assembled the cocktail of S-B Model D chassis, engine and gearbox and other assemblage of components into such a cohesive looking and seemingly competitive racer is unknown…but I’d love to know.

Kelvin Bulloch had been a prominent in the WA Sporting Car Club from about 1935. In ’37 he won the club’s silver-star for the greatest aggregate points in club competitions as well as the over 1500cc hill climb and had considerable success in gymkhanas. In 1936 he won the club’s eight-hour trial, the year before he dead-heated with Aub Melrose for first place.

Some of the field at the September 1938 Dowerin meeting, Bulloch #6. Help with other car IDs welcome (G Cocks)

Bulloch is said to have raced the car at various of the WA Round the Houses town tracks including Albany, Bunbury, Pingelly, Applecross, Cannington and Lake Perkolilli, with his best result a win at Dowerin in September 1938. There he won the main event, a 20 lap handicap, “driving well to gain the lead in the early stages” and triumphing despite his engine misfiring in the race’s final stages.

In an article to promote that Dowerin meeting, The West Australian described the car as ‘The Venerable Scripps-Booth’. It reads “One of the most unlucky drivers in recent months has been Kelvin Bulloch. He failed to start at Albany, and a minor ignition failure robbed him of almost certain victory in the big race at Dowerin in June. This time he is hopeful that the old Scripps-Booth, which has been dubbed ‘The Scraps’ will at least last the course.”

The class of the field in WA then was soon to be 1939 Australian Grand Prix winner Allan Tomlinson and his MG TA Spl s/c and Jack Nelson in a Ballot 2LS Ford V8 Spl.

Quite what became of the Kelvin Booth Scripps-Booth V8 Special is unknown, do get in touch if you can assist.

Other Australian competition Scripps-Booth…

“A picture of my old man, Wally Cox about 1937,” Allen Cox wrote. “A 23 year old petrol-head, his car was a 1922 Scripps-Booth fitted with a T-Model Ford engine fitted with a Frontenac or Rajo cylinder head conversion. In addition to that he pulled off the guards and lightened it etc. The problem was that in small country towns the constabulary knew where everyone lived!”

1960’s drag-racing champion and speedshop chain entrepreneur Eddie Thomas owned a Scripps-Booth 13-34 162cid V8 that he fitted to a speedway midget he raced circa 1940.

What became of these cars and engines is unknown.

Etcetera…

These tables are from the Scripps Booth register, check out scrippsboothregister.com if you have a hankering to learn more about these cars.

Model D styling drawings by James Scripps Booth

Credits…

Red Dust Revival Facebook page, Graeme Cocks Collection, Detroit Historical Society, Harold A Parker, scrippsboothregister.com, various newspapers via Trove, Terry Walker’s Place – West Australian race results, Ferro Corporation, FoMoCo

Tailpiece…

Finito…

Ballots and Coopers…

Posted: October 27, 2023 in Features, Obscurities
Tags: 1919 Indianapolis 500, Alan Cooper, Australian Motor Racing History, Ballot 2LS, Ballot 5/8LC, Hal Cooper, Louis Wagner, Maroubra Speedway, Ron Edgerton, Stephen Brown

Ouch. Wow, that’s daffy-ducked isn’t it!? Alan Cooper’s very dead 4.8-litre, straight-eight, 1919 Ballot 5/8LC lies on the front-straight of Olympia Speedway, Maroubra, Sydney on January 2, 1926.

Behind is his brother, Harold ‘Hal’ Cooper’s 2-litre Ballot 2LS #15. In the feature that night, relative novice Alan tried an outside pass on his vastly more experienced younger brother on the last lap, snagged a hub on the fence and cartwheeled along the track at over 100mph and into the sandy area between the track edge and the spectator compound. Alan walked away – shaken and stirred – but the poor riding mechanic wasn’t so lucky, the worst of his injuries was a pair of broken thighs.

Alan Cooper aboard #1004 earlier on the fateful day (Sherwood Collection)

Alan never raced again, but chassis 1004 was repaired by racer/mechanic/engineer John Harkness using an Australian Six chassis, and appeared again at Maroubra with Harkness at the wheel that August. Whatever thoughts I had about the original chassis being repaired have been well set aside…

The Cooper boys were from a family of 11 children. They were brought up in Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens where their father was Chief Gardner. Via a familial connection, Alan Cooper met the 30-years-older Stephen Brown not long after he returned from the Great War. The Brothers Brown owned a large vertically integrated Newcastle coal mining and distribution business named J & A Brown (now part of Yancoal Australia). Stephen treated Cooper as his son and lavished stupefying levels of wealth on him including the most exotic racing cars of the time; the Ernest Henry designed Ballot’s were the best there was, the 1919 ‘Indy’ Ballot undoubtedly one of the fastest cars on the planet.

Indy 500 1919. #4 Ralph DePalma, Packard, #32 and 31 are the Albert Guyot and Rene Thomas Ballot 5/8LCs, #3 is Howdy Wilcox – the winner – Peugeot, and #33 Paul Bablot’s 5/8LC. The pace car is a Packard Twin Six V12 (IMS)

Louis Wagner, Ballot 5/8LC #1004 before the off (IMS)

Louis Wagner raced 1004 at Indianapolis 1919 as part of a four-car factory assault on the race. The Ballots where the quickest cars too, but the hastily built machines were geared too-tall. The quick fix, in the absence of an alternative diff-ratio, was the use of smaller diameter locally made wheels and tyres – Goodrich instead of Michelins. These failed, Wagner was out with a broken wheel after only completing 44 of the 200 laps while running third, then Paul Ballot crashed when a wheel failed after 63 laps, so the other two 5/8LCs of Albert Guyot and Rene Thomas cruised home in fourth and 11th places.

While it was a bad day for Ballot all wasn’t lost for Ernest Henry, the winner was Indiana boy Howdy Wilcox in one of Henry’s old Peugeot GP cars. Indy was/is tough and dangerous. Of the traditional 33 cars that started, 18 didn’t finish, four of whom crashed, two fatally: Louis Le Cocq and Arthur Thurman both lost control aboard Duesenbergs. Robert Bandini, Thurman’s mechanic died as well.

As a result of the rise in pole-time speed to nearly 105mph in 1919, and one suspects, perhaps the three deaths, the Indy Formula engine size was reduced from 300cid in 1919 to 183cid for 1920. Ernest Ballot immediately had four very expensive racing cars surplus to requirements, just the thing for a bright-young-colonial with somebody else’s dosh jangling loose in his pockets.

By the time Brown and Cooper swung past Paris’ Boulevard Brune to acquire 2LS #15 – the ex-Jules Goux second-place 1922 Targa machine – Monsieur Ballot was using #1004 as a swish, speedy roadie. Fitted with Perrot brakes, mudguards and a windscreen, he cut quite a dash on the Boulevard St Germain.

Thelma – quite tidy too – at the wheel of #1004 at what became known as Safety Beach, Dromana on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula in December 1928 (B King Collection)

That’s why the car before Alan Cooper crashed (pic 2 above) it looks road-equipped, it was. When shipped to Australia it supposedly arrived with three bodies, the one shown and destroyed in the prang, a slipper body which Harkness fitted (or built) when he rebuilt it, and another, a shot of which I’d love to see…

Harold Cooper raced 5/8LC 1004 for a while south of the Murray at Aspendale, the Melbourne Motordrome and other venues. He was described as “Victoria’s best known racing driver” by the Melbourne Herald before racing on the 2-mile 163 yards rectangular gravel course at Safety Beach, Dromana in December 1928, and duly set the fastest time.

Unfortunately Harold didn’t contest the 1927 Australian Grand Prix at Goulburn, nor did he ever give the 2LS a gallop in any of the early (2-litre supercharged and under) Phillip Island Road Races/Australian Grands Prix. Had he done so he would have been a red-hot favourite, he is the most underrated and forgotten Oz driver of the period…

Melbourne racer Jim Gullan and mechanic during practice for the January 2, 1939 Australian Grand Prix at Lobethal, South Australia. The exotic eight let go at warp speed, a rod carved the block in half with expensive shrapnel being spread across the Adelaide Hills countryside. It would be 40 years before the chassis was reunited with another Ballot engine (N Howard)

1004 in the Edgerton suburban garage, date unknown. Other than the Dino I’ve no idea of the identity of any of the other machines (R Edgerton Collection)

Both Ballots raced on. The 2LS’ svelte twin-cam 16-valve four was replaced by a succession of V8s and raced in Western Australia for decades, its mortal Ballot remains survived and are well cared for in Australia. The 5/8LC was restored after being tracked down to a northern Victoria farm by ‘Racing Ron’ Edgerton in the 1970s. The ‘Edgerton’ branded crankcase side covers were a tad vulgar for most but he got the car running and competed in it, a state to which it has never returned in the hands of the UK owner for the last three decades or so.

Check out the May 2021 issue of The Automobile. I wrote a never-published-before long yarn about the Coopers, Ballots, the elusive Stephen Brown and the staggering lifestyle he afforded them, and their later second lives as Captains of The Turf. See here to purchase; https://www.theautomobile.co.uk/may-2021-issue/

Ballots up. Frying tyres, rings or bearings? Ron Edgerton attacks Shell corner (Turn 1 in today’s vulgar parlance) at Sandown on one of 1004s relatively few outings – partially restored by the look of it – before the car was sold overseas. The following Ballot is Wes Southgate’s 2LS, now restored to original bodywork and owned by publisher/hotelier/renaissance-man Douglas Blain, who keeps the car in fine fettle in Victoria. Those Rothmans brake markers are circa 1978-79’ish, so a meeting about then?

Etcetera…

Harold Cooper aboard #1004 at La Turbie Hillclimb in 1925. Hal did four ‘climbs: three venues near Nice including this one, and another in Monaco, before the car was shipped from Le Havre to Melbourne. Quite why this slipper-body was removed back at Ballot HQ at Boulevard Brune for the ‘Indy’ body before shipment to Australia is anybody’s guess. The body above is different to the form in which the car emerged Harkness’ workshop after Alan Cooper’s Maroubra accident.

While Alan Cooper makes much of his racing career in the Smiths Weekly serialisation of his life story – a grand, rollicking, bullshitty yarn it is too – in fact he did relatively few competition miles. Harold, on the other hand, competed a lot from 1922 when the 2LS arrived and was a man of great skill. He was far more competent than Alan, had competed in the 5/8LC in France already, so had a level of familiarity with it.

The car was ministered to in Sydney by Giulio Foresti, Ballot factory racer/dealer/mr-fixit who tested it at Maroubra and schooled the brothers in its use and mechanicals. We know from contemporary reports that a planned early Maroubra test by Alan was thwarted by steering problems. Harold should have raced the 5/8LC and Alan the 2LS that fateful night; letting Alan loose in it at Maroubra was akin to a modestly credentialed Formula Ford driver have a lash in Oscar’s F1 McLaren. Alan Cooper was kissed-on-the-dick-by-tinkerbell – to use vulgar Oz slang – many times during his long life, not least on that fateful 1926 evening.

“Thrilling motor-racing was witnessed at the Aspendale Speedway (Melbourne) on Saturday afternoon. The best display of driving was that given by Harold Cooper, who is shown here negotiating a corner at speed in his eight-cylinder Ballot car. He defeated Albert Edwards who drove a front-wheel-drive supercharged Alvis.”

Credits…

Peter White Scrapbook via Colin Wade, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, The Argus, AD Cook Collection, Ron Edgerton Collection, Norman Howard, Bob King Collection, John Sherwood Collection from the wonderful ‘A Half Century of Speed’ by Barry Lake

Tailpiece…

The essential element of Edgerton’s rebuild of #1004 was locating one of the very exotic, Ballot 4.8-litre DOHC, four-valve, straight eight engines or the bones thereof.

As luck would have it, Briggs Cunningham had one, and wanted a Cottin & Desgouttes, Edgerton was happy to oblige. Here is Ron’s (at right) pride and joy (with Silvio Massola) – didn’t he have a lot of those in his automotive lifetime – on a 1977 rally in Tasmania, Australia’s South Island.

Finito…

Le Mans 1928…

Posted: October 14, 2023 in Features, Sports Racers
Tags: Bentley 4½-Litre, Bentley 4½-Litre Chassis ST3001, Bernard Rubin, Le Mans 1928, Old Mother Gun, Woolf Barnato

Woolf Barnato and Bernard Rubin on their winning Bentley Motors Ltd entered Bentley 4½-Litre at Le Mans, June 17, 1928. The duo completed 155 laps, 2669 km.

Second was the Robert Bloch/Éduard Brisson Stutz DV16 Black Hawk ‘Bearcat’ 5.2-litre straight-eight, with the André Rossignol/Henri Stoffel Chrysler 72 Six 4.1-litre third, having completed 154 and 144 laps respectively.

It was Bentley’s third victory in the race: Frank Clement and John Duff won aboard a 3-litre Sport in 1924 – the second time the event was held – and Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis, 3-litre Speed in 1927. The marque won again in 1929, Barnato/Birkin 6½-Litre Speed Six, 1930, Barnato/Kidston 6½-Litre Speed Six and most recently the Capello/Kristensen/Smith Speed Eight in 2003.

Tim Birkin/Jean Chassagne Bentley 4½-Litre in front of the other team car driven by the Frank Clement/Dudley Benjafield then the Louis Chiron/Cyril de Vere Chrysler Six Series 72. The Birkin car finished fifth, the other pair were DNFs: the Clement machine with radiator hose/oil issues, and Chiron/De Vere were disqualified after a bump-start.

Bentley 4½-Litre chassis ST3001…

The winning Barnato/Rubin machine, chassis ST3001 (above) was the first Bentley 4½-Litre off the Cricklewood production line. Completed in June 1927 with Vanden Plas Le Mans-type body, it was delivered to Barnato for use as a Bentley Motors team car.

Barnato gave ST3001 the nickname Old Mother Gun. YH 3196 debuted at Le Mans in 1927. Driven by Frank Clement and Leslie Callingham the car set a lap record on its second lap with the convertible hood still up. ST3001 retired from the race after 35 laps while leading, having become enmeshed in the infamous White House Crash that eliminated seven cars, including the Bentley team. There was a second 24-hour race held at the Circuit de la Sarthe on August 15-16 that year, the Grand Prix de Paris. Frank Clement and George Duller led from the off and won it by over 80 miles.

In 1928 the car won despite the challenges. Frank Clement’s car was forced out when the chassis frame cracked, disconnecting a water hose and emptying the radiator. All seemed lost again when the frame of Old Mother Gun, leading at the time, also cracked with about 15 miles to go. Despite having to ease, Barnato hung on with the other 4½-Litre of Birkin/Chassagne fifth after losing a lot of time during a wheel change.

ST3001’s chassis was then replaced with a new heavy-pattern chassis frame. OMGs second chassis was later used to rebuild the 4½-Litre MF3157.

In 1929, Old Mother Gun raced again Le Mans, as the only 4½-Litre entered, alongside Bentley’s two 6½-Litre Speed Six’. Victory went to the Speed Six Old Number One with Old Mother Gun second raced by Jack Dunfee and Glen Kidston.

The rest of the field…

The Maurice Benoist/Louis Balart Tracta FWD leads the similar car of Roger Bourcier/Hector Vasena, while below, the Bourcier/Vasena machine passes the stranded – but ultimately eighth placed and first in class – Robert Benoist/Christian d’Auvergne Itala 65S 2-litre.

The Clive Gallop/EJ Hayes FW Metcalfe entered Lagonda OH 2L Speed, DNF accident.

The Sammy Davis/Bill Urquhart-Dykes (ninth) and Maurice Harvey/Harold Purdy (sixth) Alvis TA FWDs and to the right, the Lucien Lemesle/Henry Godard S.C.A.P – Sociéte de Construction Automobile Parisienne – (DNF) in the pitlane before the off, and below, Davis at speed.

Action for the grandstand crowd, the Émile Maret/Gonzaque Lécureul S.A.R.A SP7 (DNF) battles with the Goffredo Zehender/Jérôme Ledour, Chrysler Six 72 DNF radiator.

The Maurice Benoist/Louis Balart Tracta-SCAP (12th) chases the (11th) Baron André d’Erlanger/Douglas Hawkes Lagonda OH 2L Speed.

The Robert Benoist/Christian d’Auvergne Itala 65S passes the crashed Sir Francis Samuelson/Frank King Lagonda, Samuelson was experiencing gearbox problems at the time he crashed.

As the MotorSport report reads, our Knight’s frenzied reversing efforts resulted in his teammate, D’Erlanger, in another FE Metcalfe entered Lagonda, colliding with him and pushing him further into the sand and through a fence. The shot below shows him in this situation, as the Gregoire/Vallon Tracta passes.

The shot above shows Samuelson attempting the difficult task of releasing the left-front guard/wheel from the voracious clutches of the fence and sandbank. A task in which he was unsuccessful.

Front of the field action from the winning Barnato/Rubin Bentley 4½-Litre and second placed Édouard Brisson/Robert Bloch Stutz DV16 Black Hawk ‘Bearcat’.

Journo’s enjoying a Gauloise – with a Pernod closeby no doubt – as they interview a driver atop the pit counter.

Gorgeous Lombard AL3 of Lucien Desvaux/Pierre Gouette, they finished 13th outright and third in the 1100cc class.

Winners are grinners, sort of. Not really at all actually. Bentley Boys Frank Clement, Tim Birkin and Woolf Barnato.

Credits…

LAT Photographic, MotorSport, MotorSport Images, F2-Index, Wikipedia

Tailpiece…

Incredibly evocative, romantic shot of Francis Samuelson trying to extricate his Lagonda from the ‘merde’ while the Maurice Harvey/Harold Purdy Alvis TA FWD passes (sixth)…and the shadows grow ever longer. Marvellous.

Finito…

Ryan Briscoe…

Posted: October 1, 2023 in F1, Features, Sports Racers
Tags: Australian Motor Racing History, F3, Formula Renault, Indycars, Karts, Ryan Briscoe, Sportscars, Toyota F1, V8 Supercars

Ryan Briscoe is one of those Australian internationals I tend to forget about as he raced so little in Australia. His formative Karting years were here and then – Oscar Piastri like – most of his secondary education was in Europe from the age of 15 as he and his family successfully chased The Dream.

Briscoe, born in Sydney on 24/9/1981, is shown above testing the Toyota TF106 Grand Prix car at Jerez in December 2005. He was in on the ground floor of Toyota’s F1 program – from 2002-2004 – but never quite cracked it for a race seat so he was switched to Indycars in 2005, initially racing a Toyota powered Panoz for Chip Ganassi.

With Dad, Geoff circa 1992 (R Briscoe Collection)

During the climb, he won Australian , American and Italian Karting titles in 1994, 1998 and 1999 respectively.He switched to cars, Formula Renault in 2000, winning the Italian F Renault Championship in 2001.

Ahead of the F Renault pack at Monza on April Fools Day 2001 from pole, but DNF as below! Tatuus Renault 2-litre (LAT)

During this most meteoric of rises Ryan also did some F3 in 2001, the shot below is at Zandvoort during the Marlboro Masters event on August 5, 2001. Car is Team Prema Dallara F300 Opel, DNF in the race won by Taka Sato, but third overall.

By the end of that year, aged 20, he was front and centre of Toyota’s F1 program as their test driver. Here he is at the launch of the Gustav Brunner designed Panasonic Toyota Racing TF102 V10 in Cologne, where the team was based, on December 17, 2001. The race drivers in 2002 – at the start of a rather grim eight year F1 sojourn for Toyota – were Mika Salo and Allan McNish.

Amongst his testing duties he raced initially in F3000, not going very well in the Nordic run car, and F3 later in 2002, and in 2003, winning the Euroseries that year. He progressed to being Toyota’s third driver, testing on the Friday of each grand prix, in 2004.

Lola TB02/50 Zytec-Judd KV circa 450bhp V8, Formula 3000 Barcelona April 2002 (MotorSport)

During the Pau GP weekend in June 2003, Dallara F303 Opel. Briscoe won a race, and Fabio Carbone the other (Glenn Dunbar/LAT)

Briscoe won eight of the 20 races in the F3 Euroseries in his Prema Powerteam Dallara F303 Opel to take the title from Christian Klien. Other hotshots in the field that year included Niko Rosberg and Robert Kubica.

Briscoe, during practice, Toyota TF104 3-litre V10, Hungary 2004 (unattributed)

Ryan moved to Indycars (I’m using that word as a generic descriptor of the genre) with Chip Ganassi in 2005, showing extraordinary pace for a rookie; two poles and regular top-half qualifying on unfamiliar ovals. Tenth at Indy on debut was stunning, equally so was seven crashes in his 15 starts, the last of which was a massive accident after his Panoz GF09C Toyota climbed atop Alex Barron’s Dallara at Chicagoland Speedway in September that landed him in hospital and rehabilitation for four months.

Zandvoort A1 GP Cup October 2006 – the first meeting of the 2006-7 season – third in the main race won by Nico Hulkenberg. Lola A1GP Zytec 3.4 V6 circa 520bhp (MotorSport)

In 2006 he did a mixed programme of Indycar, V8 Supercars and A1 Grand Prix, but it was a full season in the American Le Mans Series for Penske Racing driving a Porsche RS Spyder in 2007 that pushed his career forward with Penske. He won three rounds sharing with Sascha Maassen.

Ryan at Watkins Glen in June 2006. I rather like the shot of the Dallara IR03 Chev aero elements doing their thing (Dan Streck/LAT)

Briscoe in front of Vitor Meira at Sonoma Raceway, California in August 2006. Racing for Dreyer & Reinhold Racing in a Dallara IR03 Chev V8. 16th in the Indy GP of Sonoma won by Marco Andretti (Dan Streck/LAT)

Briscoe, American Le Mans Series, Northeast Grand Prix, Lime Rock July 2007, Penske Porsche RS Spyder. Ryan won the LMP2 class, and was third outright, sharing the car with Sascha Maasen (Sutton Images)

This sportscar success, together with some strong performance in limited Indycar outings – Q5 and fifth in the Indy 500 for Luczo-Dragon Racing, led to a full-time Indycar drive with Penske from 2008-2012.

In a strong Indycar career he won eight races, had 28 podiums and finished third in the title in 2009 (three wins), and fifth in 2008 and 2010 as his bests. In 2009 he led the championship going into the penultimate round but hit the wall exiting the pitlane at Motegi, then, in a three-way battle for the title finished second behind Dario Franchitti in the final round, who became champion.

Aviating at Surfers Paradise on the way to winning the Indy 300 in October 2008, Team Penske Dallara IR-04/05 Honda 3.5 V8. Scott Dixon was second, 5/10ths behind and Ryan Hunter-Reay a further nine seconds adrift.

And below doing the same thing at the same place in a V8 Supercar in October 2011, sharing the Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE in the Gold Coast 600 with Garth Tander. The pair were 11th in the first race, 23rd and last in the second. The winner overall was the Triple Eight VE Commodore crewed by Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais. Ryan’s best V8 Supercar result was at this event in 2013 when he shared a VF Commodore with Russell Ingall to third place.

The Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Ford GT at Le Mans in 2018. Q37 and 39th outright in the 3.5-litre turbo-V6 powered car – and shot below (MotorSport)

“Ryan has driven more sportscars that I’ve had Sunday roasts,” would perhaps be the observation Australia’s greatest all-rounder, the late Frank Gardner would have made.

Briscoe’s best sportscar results are victory in the Daytona 24 Hours in 2020 (Cadillac Dpi-VR), and Petit Le Mans the same year.

He was runner-up in the 2016 (Ford GT), 2018 (Ford GT) and 2020 (Cadillac DPi-VR) IMSA Sportscar Championship GTLM class. He was third in the 2007 American Le Mans Series, winning the LMP2 class (Porsche RS Spyder),

His best results at Le Mans were fifth in 2021 sharing a Glickenhaus 007 LMH with Romain Dumas and Richard Westbrook, and third in 2022 in the same make/model, this time sharing with Westbrook and Franck Mailleux.

At Daytona he won outright in 2020 (as above) and was first in class in 2015 and 2018 racing a Cadillac DPi VR, Chev Corvette C7.R, and Ford GT respectively – with co-drivers of course. At Sebring he won his class in 2013 and 2015 aboard a HPD ARX-O3b and Chev Corvette C7.R.

Briscoe/Richard Westbrook/Franck Mailleux Glickenhaus SCG007 LMH, fifth. Le Mans 2021 (MotorSport)

Richard Westbrook, Franck Mailed, Ryan Briscoe and James Glickenhaus, Le Mans 2021 (MotorSport)

Power by Pipo Moteurs 3.5-litre twin-turbo 500Kw V8, Xtrac 7-speed sequential manual (MotorSport)

Ryan married Nicole Manske in 2009, they have two children, and in 2018 he became a naturalised American.

Etcetera…

Here to zero at the Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois on the Indy 300 September 10-11 weekend in 2005.

Here with the Gregory-Peck for pole, a handy $10k. It was Ryan’s second Indycar pole, he started from pole at Sonoma, the previous round but crashed out on the first lap. The car is a Chip Ganassi run Panoz GF09C Toyota.

Shortly after this happy scene the car failed post-practice scrutineering, so Ryan lined up last on the grid, perhaps sowing the seeds of the crash which followed.

‘Roger that, we have lift-off Houston.’

On lap 20 Briscoe’s Panoz GF09C Toyota ran into 15th placed Alex Barron’s Dallara Toyota (Q18) as he sought to go under him on his way up the field towards turn 3 of the 1.5-mile oval – look at the proximity of his right-rear to Barron’s head/roll bar area – and the staggering physics of a collision at 215mph were unleashed.

Briscoe hit the fence with the bottom of his Panoz first, it split in two as it ripped through a fence post, leaving a big hole. With a half-tank or so of fuel there was a spectacular explosion as the car split, with the cockpit safety cell spinning down the track narrowly avoiding other cars. Car 2 is Thomas Enge, #55 is Kosuke Matsuura.

After several anxious minutes Ryan was removed from the wreck – the monocoque had done its job well – and gave a reassuring wave as he was placed into the ambulance with injuries later diagnosed as two broken collarbones, a bruised lung, fractured right foot and contusions to his arms, legs and back.

Briscoe was hospitalised for nine days then had extensive rehab in the US and Italy before returning to the cockpit in a Riley Mk9 Pontiac 5-litre V8 in the Daytona 24-Hours on the January 28-29, 2006 weekend – four months after his Big One.

Credits…

LAT, MotorSport Images, Ryan Briscoe Collection

Tailpiece…

The Briscoe & Co Ford GT at Le Mans in 2018.

Finito…

Cisitalia D46…

Posted: September 8, 2023 in Features
Tags: Australian Motor Racing History, Cisitalia D46, Ecurie de Paris, Ian Wells, Leech Brothers, Reg Nutt, Rob Roy Hillclimb, Roger Loyer

Favourite shot of a favourite car…

Reg Nutt aboard the Leech Brothers owned Cisitalia D46 Fiat at Rob Roy hillclimb in Melbourne’s glorious Christmas Hills on May 4, 1958. He ran second in his class that day behind multiple Australian Hillclimb Championship winner, Bruce Walton, Walton J.A.P with a time of 28.30 seconds.

Nutt was a riding mechanic in the first decade of Australian Grands Prix at Phillip Island in the 1920s and 1930s and then a racer of note in his own right, including AGPs. “Reg told me that he had raced 27 cars and never owned any of them,” recalled Bob King. What a lucky man.

Nutt in the Rob Roy paddock on November 5, 1947 when the car was owned by Fred Gibbs’ Sabina Motors (Davey-Milne Family Collection)

Harry Firth in the D46 at Rob Roy in 1958. Later Oz 1960s and 1970s touring car star driver/engineer/team manager (L Sims Collection)

The car – chassis D461.1 according to John Blanden, and #0020 “the 20th of approximately 30 D46s built” according to a dealer in more recent times – was built in 1947 and sold to Frenchman, Roger Loyer (5/8/1907-24/3/1988) of the Ecurie de Paris. See here for a full-profile of Roger; https://gprejects.com/centrale/profiles/drivers/profile-roger-loyer

Loyer was a two time French national motorbike champion who switched from two wheels to four postwar aboard an old Delage D6. He then bought the Cisitalia – two D46s in fact, the other Ecurie de Paris car was driven by ‘the mysteriously self-styled Robert’ – which was prepared in his Ecurie de Paris garage located in the swish 17th Arondissement.

His D46 debut was at the Circuit des Remparts, Angouleme on June 15, 1947 and netted a heat victory, and third in the final sharing the car with Raymond Sommer. In the Coupe des Petites Cylindrees at Reims he was ninth, much better was third in the Coupe de Paris at the Bois de Boulogne in central Paris. Another strong fourth in a field of depth in the 330km GP du Comminges followed at St Gaudens in August, the three cars in front were Talbot Lagos. Late in the month Roger was third in a field of 12 Cisitalia D46s on the Circuit del Montenegro in Italy. A DNF late in the season at Lyon wasn’t representative of qualifying pace, fourth again at the Prix de Leman at Lausanne in October was followed by a season ending DNF with rear axle failure at the GP du Salon, Montlhery.

Roger Loyer and Velocette at the Isle of Man in 1933 (unattributed)

GP des Remparts, Angouleme in 1949. Maurice Trintignant, Simca Gordini T11 in front won sharing with Jean Thepenier. Bruno Sterzi, Ferrari 166 #26, with Roger Loyer at right D46 Fiat DNF, and Harry Schell, D46 Fiat behind Trintignant (unattributed)

Roger Loyer with his Cisitalia D46 Fiat at Lyon in September 1947 (Jannaud)

In a limited 1948 season – when the D46 was still very competitive in F2 events – Loyer raced at Pau in March, then Geneva in May for a DNF, then shared a car to third in the Circuit des Remparts with Robert in July. 1949 was worse in an even more limited campaign. DNQ at the Circuit du Lac in June and a crash at the Circuit des Remparts in July despite finishing second and setting fastest lap in the second heat. Robert and Roger shared a drive to sixth in the Circuit de Lac in a Simca, then contested the Grand Prix of the Nurburgring, where Roger was again a DNF.

Loyer then joined the Simca Gordini F2 team, selling one of the D46s to Melbourne’s Dale Brothers in April 1951 – https://primotipo.com/2018/08/23/words-from-werrangourt-1-by-bob-king/ .

Alan Watson was the buyer, but he didn’t use it much, notably giving it a run at Longford in March 1955. The car passed through several owners hands, albeit who were owners and who were drivers is lost a bit in the mists of time; the roll call includes Tony Osborne, John Doherty, Harry Firth, Syd Fisher, Ian Wells, Ray Gibbs and Ian Wells.

Lou Burke sold it to the Leech Brothers in 1964 and they used it for decades in Eastern Seaboard Australian historic events. The car was painted red circa 1980 when the pretty-Italian formed the bloke-magnet for the Lombard Insurance stand at motor shows. The car left Australia for the ‘States in 1987 and has pinged around the auction scene, some of the sales-prose Arthur Daley would be proud of.

More about Dante Giacosa’s most significant design here; https://primotipo.com/2017/02/24/the-cooper-t23-its-bristolbmw-engine-and-spaceframe-chassis/

The lack of straight tube-runs would have offended Colin Chapman (but not Owen Maddock), however, the Cisitalia D46 spaceframe – here in definitive production form – was simple, light and stiff for its day. So elegant in its simplicity (unattributed)

Design and Production…

While the Piero Dusio founded (1943) and funded – Compagnia Industriale Sportiva Italia or Cisitalia – Dante Giacosa 1946 spaceframe design is rightly lauded as one of the world’s first, certainly of one built in volume, Australian historians point to the Chamberlain Brothers’ Chamberlain Indian/Eight of 1929 as a stunning much earlier expression of multi-tubular spaceframe brilliance. See here; https://primotipo.com/2015/07/24/chamberlain-8-by-john-medley-and-mark-bisset/

In 1944 Dusio, via an interlocutory contacted and contracted Giacosa (to the end of 1945), a Fiat engineer to design ‘the outline and technical hypothesis of a racing car using Foot 500 and 1100 components.’

Giacosa’s small team comprised draftsman Edoardo Grosso, and from August 1945, Giovanni Savonuzzi, Dante’s replacement. ‘The project number 201 in keeping with those used by Giacosa at Fiat. While the car was later called D46, this remained the basis of the subsequent numbering of Cisitalias: 202, 204, 303, 505, 808 etc.’

‘Giacosa’s project 201 (first version with low sides and straight tube-runs) had a tubular spaceframe, the first time (it wasn’t) this revolutionary construction system was used’ (Cisitalia)

Overcoat clad Giacosa susses one of his early D46s. He later remarked, “When I came to build the chassis it was in my mind to make it of tubing. That’ll appeal to Dusio, I thought, since he builds Beltrame bicycles in his workshop.” It’s also thought that the tubular cockpits of the Rosatelli designed aircraft Giacosa worked on during the war was also influential.

Whatever the case, the ‘framework chassis’ adopted was light and stiff and provided a platform to ‘which the mechanical parts could be easily mounted in a low position…using existing equipment and staff already specialised in this kind of procedure. The molybdenum chrome plated steel (remember how scarce high quality material was in this immediate post-war period) used came from leftover Aeritalia stock ‘used by Rosatelli in the construction of CR and BR aeroplanes during and after the war.’

‘An interesting system was chosen for the gear change using three semi-automatic gears. The rear axle with its upside-down differential was another novelty’ (Cisitalia)

‘The design envisaged two ways of lowering the drive: using a crown wheel and pinion or turning the differential upside down and using driving gear. The second solution was adopted’ (Cisitalia)

To better exploit the chassis further lateral thinking was applied to other key components. The rear axle and diff was turned upside down, with a small aluminium crankcase developed for the Fiat engine allowing a bevel gear pair to take the drive from front to back passing under the differential towards the driveshaft turned from a steel billet -the gear pair offered a range of ratios to driver choice. This lowered the engine by 12cm.

Front suspension was lifted straight from the Fiat 500. ‘Hydraulic shock absorbers were fitted on the prolongation of the lower triangle’ (wishbone), but turned upside down compared to original Fiat fitment. An upper transverse leaf spring performed compliance and locational duties.

Equally brilliant was the Grosso drafted three-speed, semi-automatic mechanical gearbox ‘intended to save time for the drivers during races’, later in the D46’s life (1948) four-speed conventional Fiat ‘boxes were used.

Short tests of the prototype took place on a short circuit backing onto the railway at the rear of the factory in Corso Peschiera in February 1946: Adolfo Macchieraldo, Carlo Dusio, Giacosa and Savonuzzi all had a steer. More importantly the vastly experienced engineer/racer Piero Taruffi drove the disc-wheeled, sketchy bodied prototype a short while later, and was appointed the official test driver. Evolution of the then car progressed quickly.

Rear axle with short coil springs and lever action friction shocks. Frame member and diff also in shot (Cisitalia)

A Giacosa sketch which shows the differences in the original solid rear suspension location medium and quarter elliptic setup adopted – as per text. Also shown is the clever diff/driveshaft arrangement (Cisitalia)

Initial problems included rear end judder rectified by replacing the two rigid lateral suspension arms with two quarter elliptic springs ‘five to the axle, rotating freely on two pinions integral with the chassis, offering only resistance to torsional stress like an anti-roll bar, leaving the real springing to two short coil springs. The axle was connected to the chassis via a hinged triangle mounted to the diff and a spring at the point of chassis attachment which allowed suspension adjustment.’

The chassis cracked in the central area so was strengthened, in part by enlarging the body side and inserting a welded shaped metal panel of greater size. Note the differences clear in side views of the frame of the prototype and production cars, it evolved from Colin Chapman straight tube-runs to Owen Maddock wonky-ones! and worked as well as Owen’s!

‘From the first model with a small tubular lattice-work frame, the D46 moved swiftly to the definitive version with a modified chassis and a sophisticated semi-automatic gearbox’ (Cisitalia)

By September 1946 seven D46 Fiat 508B/1100cc powered 62bhp @ 5500rpm, 370kg Voiturettes had been built. ‘The line of the car was fascinating and aggressive at first sight, offering pleasing solutions such as the double fairing on the front suspension which gave it something of the air of a biplane. The nose was perfect oval which incorporated a small upper air intake which fed the carburettor via a duct, brining a certain amount of overpressure when racing.’

The steering wheel could be tipped to allow easier access for the portly. The six-piece, beautiful, quick-fitting Itallumag body was made by Turin’s Rocco Motto, the riveted 45 litre duralumin fuel tank by De Gregori, another local.

The initial batch of seven cars were raced in the Coppa Brezzi at Valentino Park, Turin on September 3. Piero Dusio won from Franco Cortese and Louis Chiron, poor Tazio Nuvolari had the steering wheel come away in his hands when it broke away from its hinge, below.

‘The definitive version of the little 1100cc D46 with fairings on the front wheels and the curious system of the tip-up steering wheel’ (Cisitalia)

‘Selection of first gear or reverse was carried out by means of a lever set on the side of the steering column, while to change from first to second or from second to third or back down again the clutch pedal had to fully depressed. To change from second or third to first or neutral, the clutch pedal had to be fully depressed again, but after having moved the hand lever to the desired position. To use the clutch without changing gear, the pedal had to be depressed about halfway, when a hardening was encountered beyond which the gear shift was operated.’ Yeah right, buggered if that makes sense to me despite driving a couple of cars with pre-selector ‘boxes recently…

Towards the end of 1947 Rudolf Hruska and Carlo Abarth joined Cisitalia as Technical General Manager and Racing Manager respectively. The D46 was modified and shown at the October 1947 Milan Motor Show (above).

The nose was still oval but more horizontal, the fairings deleted, sides extended to house two lateral fuel tanks. ‘The overall line of the car was influenced by the design of its big sister, the supercharged 1500cc Grand Prix car taking shape on the firm’s drawing boards.’

In addition, the semi-automatic gearbox was dropped in favour of a standard Fiat 1100 4-speeder, the rear suspension modified by fitment of twin torque arms on each side, and telescopic hydraulic shock absorbers adopted all-round.

Etcetera…

Cisitalia D46s at the Circuit des Remparts, Angouleme in 1949. #2 is Loyer, #28 is Guy Michelot and future, fast GP driver Harry Schell is on the move in the family Ecurie Bleue #20 machine.

Roger Loyer having a gargle alongside ‘our’ D46, perhaps, Ecurie de Paris raced two, after a strong showing, place unknown. Fosters Lager stubby perhaps…

Who said tits don’t sell, it’s always worked with me? A couple of delightful lasses resplendent in much less than acceptable attire these days, during Melbourne’s March Moomba festival in the early 1960s.

Looking quite the beauty queen at Sandown in the 1970s above, and below in the old pits at the same venue in June 1963; so distinctive from every angle, form and function…

Not Tazio’s tiller but the altogether more flash one of ‘our’ D46 at Calder when owned by the Leech boys circa 1966.

Ian Wells with elbows out at Calder in the early 1960s. The car in strife behind is the “Platypus MG”, Greg Smith tells us. “By this time it was fitted with a big Healey-four, later to be reconfigured by Lou Molina as Vulgarilla (famous Oz MG Special raced by Molina, an equally legendary racer/hotelier/raconteur) and still sports the same alloy tail, maybe Murray Nankervis at the wheel.”

Jim Leech taking on the challenging Mount Tarrengower hill, in Victoria’s Goldfields region, 1964. The Brothers Leech had a small but very select collection of old cars they used extensively.

(Australian Motor Racing No 2 1952 – S Murray Collection)

WTF…

The Sehab Alma Bey Trophy was an invitation race for Cisitalia D46s held on the 1.48km Circuit El Guezireh – The Pyramid Circuit around the Guezireh Park – Cairo on March 9, 1947.

Franco Cortese won the first heat and Piero Taruffi the second, and Cortese the 50 lap final from Alberto Ascari, Taruffi, Piero Dusio and Mario Tadini (below entrant numbers unknown).

Credits…

Reg Nutt Collection via Leon Sims, Troy Davey Milne, Mark Wells Collection, Graham Shepherd via David Zeunert, Jannaud, Russell Jackson, Ashley Tracey, New York Times, ‘Profile – Roger Loyer’ Jeremy Scott, ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden, ‘Cisitalia’ Nino Balestra and Cesare Agostini via Tony Johns, Stuart Murray Collection

Tailpiece…

Rendition by Martin Vins of a famous original photograph of Felice Bonetto – replete with fag – sliding his D46 Fiat at the Circuito di Mantova in 1948.

Finito…

Alta 1100 Special…

Posted: July 15, 2023 in Features, Sports Racers
Tags: Alan Sinclair, Alta 1100 Special, Alta 21S Sports, Alta Ford V8 Special, Australian Motor Racing History, Ted Gray

Bill Dutton’s gorgeous little Alta 1100 Special in the Fishermans Bend paddock during the 29-30 January, 1950 Victorian Tourist Trophy meeting. Love the ‘works’ Alta overalls.

George McKaige attended the meeting and took some marvellous photographs. A prolific enthusiast, driver, restorer and photographer, he and his son Chester published two books of George’s work, called ‘Beyond The Lens’, the shot above is on the cover of Volume 1.

This little known car was conceived when Bill Dutton – of the famous Melbourne car trading family – bought the supercharged, DOHC Alta 1100c engine (number 25S) which had been cast aside when Bill Reynolds bought Alta 21S from probable British MI5 spook, Alan Sinclair. Sinclair raced the car in Australia in 1938, an exhaustive and exhausting account is here; https://primotipo.com/2018/11/08/the-spook-the-baron-and-the-1938-south-australian-gp-lobethal/

Reynolds replaced the troublesome Alta four with a big, fat, lazy, powerful and reliable Ford V8. The Alta engine was surplus to requirements until Dutton saw its potential and built a car around it. The evolution of Alta 21S from four-cylinder sweetie to brawny V8 marauder is covered here; https://primotipo.com/2015/11/27/the-longford-trophy-1958-the-tornados-ted-gray/

Alta 21S as built, an 1100cc sportscar delivered to Scotland’s AJ Cormack on March 19, 1934. Here at Donington Park later that year (G Smith)

The svelte Alta 21S 1100cc sports of the previous picture, by the time of the 100 miles January 3, 1938 South Australian GP at Lobethal, had become a dumpy, upright 1100cc single seater. Probable MI5 spook, Alan Sinclair up (N Howard)

Tony Johns tells me that the Dutton family business had all of the mechanical, engineering and body building skills to create the car on their Burnley Street, Richmond site. Stephen Dalton points out that Bill Dutton thanks Jack Dongers and Tom Stevenson for construction and body help respectively in the October 1949 issue of Australian Motor Sports. Do theses chaps ring a bell with any of you?

The 1950-51 Motor Manual Yearbook records that the Alta 25S four was 1096cc in capacity, was of twin-cam, two-valve type and fed by an Alta built Roots type-blower/SU carb giving 130bhp @ 5800rpm with 15lbs of boost. It was mated, via a bespoke bellhousing and metal to metal clutch, to a four-speed gearbox of unspecified make.

The Alta Spl it is a fine example of the body-builder’s art, but who was the gifted chappy? (R Edgerton Collection)

The chassis was made of chrome-moly steel tube, the main members of which were 16 gauge and two inches in diameter. The tubular front axle was specially made and suspended by transverse leaf springs front and rear with Armstrong hydraulic/Hartford friction shocks. The back axle was also specially made and used Ford bevel gears.

Brakes were hydraulic using modified Chev/Ford drums front/rear, wheels were pressed steel, 16 inch x 6 inch in size, with the whole lot clad ‘in a single-seat aluminium panelled racing body with a long tail, similar to a Grand Prix Alta.’

Ted Gray aboard Alta 21S Ford V8 (aka the Male Special / Ford V8 Special) at Penrith Speedway, west of Sydney in 1940 according to John Medley. Racer Ken Wylie is in the goggles at right, perhaps Jim McMahon left. I’ve still to get to the bottom of Pinocchio’s presence on the scuttle. Just look at all those names on Byron Gunther’s image…

Ted Gray clears Hell Corner for the run up the mountain, Bathurst October 1950, the left front is just clear of terra firma (J Blanden Collection)

Bill Dutton engaged Wangaratta’s Ted Gray to drive his new car. Ted initially showed speed on pre-War speedways and in two very impressive appearances in the Male Special midget against Peter Whitehead’s ERA R10B at Rob Roy and Aspendale in 1938. Gray’s Alta credentials became impeccable when his patron, Melbourne car dealer, Alan Male bought Alta 21S Ford with which Gray took 24 wins from 26 starts pre-War according to John Blanden.

After the conflict, Ted re-commenced racing in another famous old-Oz racer, the ex-JAS Jones Alfa Romeo 6C1750 Zagato into which, you guessed it, Ted fitted a Ford V8. Blanden records that the Alta Special’s first race as being at the Fishermans Bend October 29-30, 1949 meeting where a broken cam-follower ended proceedings early in the day. ‘In the late 1940s, early 1950s, the car was a regular competitor, however the engine problems continued. The little car was third in the F1 Scratch Race at Woodside in October 1951,’ a better performance.

In the 1950s ‘the car simply disappeared’, one theory is that it sat on a service station roof in St Kilda (an adjacent suburb to AGP venue Albert Park) as a drawcard for punters after the servo owner refused to pay an exorbitant Alta engine repair bill from a Sydney business. Then Melbourne pilot/enthusiast/engineer Graeme Lowe responded to a VSCC Newsletter ad for an engine in 1967. His £10 purchase of 1100 #25S was the catalyst of a very long, thorough reconstruction/restoration of Alta 21S which was completed and then made its public debut in Betty Lowe’s hands in 1999.

In recent times 21S was acquired by Fiona Murdoch, the shot below was taken at Gladysdale, Victoria on March 4, 2023 during a drive – one I won’t forget in a big hurry – and photo session for a feature article just published in issue 07 of quarterly Australian classic car magazine, Benzina. If you can’t find it in a newsagent, a decent example of which is as rare as rocking horse shit in Australia these days, email the publisher, Jack Quinn; jack@benzinamagazine.com

Credits…

George and Chester McKaige, Ron Edgerton Collection, ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden, 1950-51 Motor Manual Year Book, Graham Smith Collection, David Woodhouse, Norman Howard, Byron Gunther

Etcetera…

The other pages of the 29-30 October, 1949 Fishermans Bend (correct spelling of the place according to our Government and lack of apostrophe by the way) programme sent by Tony Johns.

I always find these documents of wonderment as I don’t have a collection of them. This was fundamentally a local meeting but there are a swag of interstaters too, its interesting to see the Top Guns, Future Top Guns and Notables in the mix. Mine are – in no particular order – Ted Gray, Reg Hunt, Otto Stone, Lex & Diana Davison, Ken Tubman and Dick Cobden (NSW interlopers), Stan Jones, Gib Barrett, Rupert Steele, Tony Gaze, Jim Leech, Charlie Dean, Eldred Norman (Adelaide Hills), Doug Whiteford, Tom Hawkes, Ron Edgerton, Jim Gullan, Lou Molina, Murray Carter, Hedley Thompson, Arnold or Arthur Terdich, Peter Manton, Bill Patterson, Derek Jolly and no doubt others who just don’t ring-the-bells for me.

What jumps off the pages too is the importance of Australian Specials, and MGs in particular, which provided the lifeblood and bulk of Australian motor racing grids for decades. Depending on the year MG provided both outright contenders and the ‘Formula Vee’ in unmodified form, and ‘Formula Ford’ in modified form entry-level classes of the day.

Finito…

Ralt, Chevron and Minardi Ferrari Dino 206 V6s…

Posted: June 17, 2023 in Features, Obscurities
Tags: Chevron B40 Ferrari, Chevron B42 Ferrari, Elio de Angelis, Gianfranco Brancatelli, Lamberto Leoni, Miguel Ángel Guerra, Minardi 281 Ferrari, Ralt RT1 Ferrari

Lamberto Leoni at the Formula 2 Grand Prix de Nogaro (ninth), aboard his Scuderia Everest Ralt RT1 Ferrari 206 in 1977.

Ferrari entered into an arrangement with Giancarlo Martini and Giancarlo Minardi’s Scuderia Everest – originally Scuderia del Passadore and from 1975 Scuderia Everest, after obtaining sponsorship from the Italian rubber products manufacturer Everest Gomma – and another ex-racer, Pino Trivellato’s Trivellato Racing to provide 2-litre Dino V6 engines to be fitted to Ralt/Chevron chassis run by each team to bring-on young Italian drivers through Formula 2. The program ran for two years, 1977-78 with only modest success.

Enzo Ferrari, Giancarlo Minardi, Roberto Farnetti keeping an eye on Lamberto Leoni at Fiorano in 1975, March 752 BMW (F Minardi)

Martini drove March BMWs for the team, during this 1975-76 period Minardi developed a strong relationship with Scuderia Ferrari team manager – and decades later Ferrari CEO – Luca di Montezemolo. Via this connection Everest tested their cars at Fiorano, and at the end of 1975 Minardi secured a deal with Enzo Ferrari to run a Ferrari 312T F1 car to race in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch and the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone, way back when in the days of non-championship F1 races.

Giancarlo Martini, Ferrari 312T, International Trophy, Silverstone 1976 (unattributed)

The deal was reminiscent of the arrangement whereby a Ferrari 156 was raced by Giancarlo Baghetti under the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche (FISA) banner in 1961. Maurizio Flammini was offered the Everest 312T drive but knocked back the opportunity so Martini got the gig. With very limited practice at Fiorano he was Q13 and DNF prang at Brands, and Q10 and 10th in the rain at Silverstone. Giancarlo Minardi would of course return to F1 a decade later.

The Scuderia Everest Ferrari connections were immaculate and led to the agreement to run Dino engined Ralts in 1977. Everest ran Lamberto Leoni and Gianfranco Brancatelli in RT1 Ferraris, while to broaden their coverage, Pino Trivellato, the Chevron agent in Italy, planned to run Riccardo Patrese in a Chevron B40 Ferrari.

Just the view of the Prancing Horse on the steering wheel must have been good for an extra couple of tenths! Chevron B42-78-07 Ferrari, the ex-De Angelis 1978 chassis (Legends Automotive)

Ferrari F2 206 V6 engine and lineage…

The Ferrari Dino V6 family(ies) of engines were incredibly versatile, fitted as they were to single seaters and sportscars and winning World F1 Championships in 1958 (drivers) and 1961 (drivers and manufacturers). They were built in capacities of between 1.5 and 2.4-litres, with two, three and four valves per cylinder, fed by carburettors and fuel injection, not to forget the turbo-charged and experimental radial valve variants. In mid-life 2.4-litre Ferrari 246T open-wheelers – a derivative of the Ferrari 166 F2 car – won the 1969 and 1970 Tasman Cups for Chris Amon and Graeme Lawrence. Who could forget the 206/246 Dino roadies and the similarly powered Lancia Stratos, competition variants of which were winning rallies into the 1980s.

The challenge of building an engine to match the competitor set, the modern as tomorrow 300bhp Hart 420R and BMW M12/7 fours, and Renault-Gordini CH1B V6, was given to long-time Ferrari mechanic, ex-F1 chief mechanic Giulio Borsari. He was handed an all-alloy 65-degree 24-valve Dino V6 with the four camshafts driven by chains! The bore/stroke of the new Ferrari 206 was 86mmx57mm. This was achieved with a visit to the parts-bin and mating the short stroke of the 1965 Dino 166P (sportscar) with the “86mm bore of the unlamented Dino 166 1.6-litre F2 engine,” wrote Doug Nye in ‘Dino:The Little Ferrari’.

The compression ratio was 12:1, 10mm Champion plugs were used and titanium conrods. While dry-dumped, the long engine was also very tall as the pressure and scavenge pumps occupied a lot of space, while the sump itself was deeper than what had become modern practice. Ferrari claimed 300bhp @ 10,500rpm for the 120kg engine “which was outdated before it had begun to race.” Nye wrote.

Gianfranco Brancatelli, Ralt RT1 Ferrari, Fiorano 1977 (F Minardi)

Ralt RT1 and Chevron B40 Ferrari Dino 206, 1977…

The immediate concern of the Ralt/Chevron proprietor/designers Ron Tauranac and Derek Bennett was the engine installation challenges, particularly its height. Tauranac and his lads in Snelgar Road, Woking simply took the handling penalty implicit and mounted the motor as low as they could into an RT1.

Derek Bennett and Paul Owens up in Bolton thought “stuff that” and designed a 1 1/2 inch lower sump, “so that the gearbox would come down to the right level and the driveshafts could be put on at a sensible angle” wrote David Gordon in ‘Chevron:The Derek Bennett Story’. They had the sump cast and along with a new oil pump, fitted the modified engine to a B40 and headed to Fiorano to test it shortly before the first Euro F2 round at Silverstone in late February/March.

Paul Owens and Derek Bennett ponder the installation challenges of the tall Ferrari 206 V6 into a Chevron B40 chassis (Autosprint)

Lamberto Leoni, Chevron B40 Ferrari, Estoril 1977 (MotorSport)

The Ferrari folk were delighted with the look of the Chevron but flipped when they saw the modifications to their engine. The Mona Lisa had been desecrated, Chevron/Trivellato were forbidden to race the car and Paul Owens copped a major pull-thru in a meeting with Mauro Forghieri and Piero Lardi Ferrari.

Ferrari then tested the modified engine, which performed well on the dyno under static conditions but lost power when rotated through 45-degrees, a technique used to simulate cornering loads, the pumps were not scavenging properly.

Another slanging match ensued in a subsequent meeting when Paul Owens and Dave Wilson, who spoke Italian, met again with Ferrari. The Chevron boys asserted strongly that the car wouldn’t handle properly – which was pretty much proved by the poor performance of the Ferrari engined RT1s compared with Hart and BMW powered Ralts throughout the season – while the Ferrari people wouldn’t agree to lower the engine.

“After much shouting and thumping on the table, the meeting broke up acrimoniously, with Paul declaring that Chevron were no longer interested in pursuing the project because it would be detrimental to their reputation. Although that was exactly what Paul and Derek believed, it still felt extremely strange to be telling Ferrari that running their engine could be bad for Chevron.” Gordon wrote.

The stalemate was broken when Pino Trivellato negotiated a process whereby B40s would be tested back to back at Fiorano, one fitted with the Ferrari engine in its original form and one BMW M12/7 powered. The Ferrari engined car was the slower.

Leoni awaits a ready mount at Fiorano in early 1977, Ralt RT1 Ferrari (F Minardi)

Brancatelli overhead shows the cohesive look of the RT1 Ferrari (unattributed)

206 Dino V6 installation – which appears to be at least a semi-stressed member – in an RT1 (G Gamand)

While all this was going on the European F2 Championship was well underway. Rene Arnoux won the Silverstone season-opener on March 6 in his works Martini Mk22 Renault Gordini V6. Then Brian Henton won in a Boxer PR2 Hart at Thruxton, with Lamberto Leoni’s RT1 Ferrari a DNF oil pressure. Leoni failed to qualify in the following Hockenheim round where Jochen Mass’ March 722P BMW prevailed. Mass won again at the Eifelrennen at the Nurburgring in May with both RT1 Ferrari’s DNAs.

In the first ‘home race’ for the Ralts at Vallelunga, Brancatelli had his first RT1 start and finished 13th while Leoni was outted with clutch failure. Bruno Giacomelli’s works March 772P BMW won. The Pau GP was similarly disastrous, Leoni DNQ and Brancatelli DNF with oil pump failure, somewhat ironic given the Chevron-Ferrari chitty-chats taking place at the same time! Arnoux won from Didier Pironi in a Martini Renault 1-2. To make matters worse, Riccardo Patrese was one of the season smash hits aboard a Trivellato B40 BMW. Pino did a deal to get Patrese works BMW engines when the Ferrari dramas appeared impassable…

Both RT1 Ferraris finished at Mugello on June 19, in seventh/eighth Leoni/Brancatelli, while up front the top-four were Giacomelli/Patrese/Alberto Colombo/Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi. Italian drivers seemed to be doing quite well without Ferrari’s help thank you very much.

Leoni, Trivellato Chevron B40 Ferrari, Mediterranean GP, Enna Pergusa, July 1977. Eighth in the race won by Keke Rosberg’s Opert Chevron B40 Hart 420R (MotorSport – E Colombo)

Eddie Cheever’s Ron Dennis-Project Four Ralt RT1 BMW won at Rouen from Patrese’s Chevron B40 BMW – there was nothing wrong with both chassis if a decent engine sat in the back – while Brancatelli’s RT1 Ferrari was an encouraging fourth but Leoni again was a DNQ. While the Chevron-Ferrari soap-opera continued Leoni was ninth at Nogaro in his Everest RT1 Ferrari on July 3 with Brancatelli a DNF with suspension damage, Arnoux again won.

At Enna – the Gran Premio del Mediterraneo – Gianfranco Trombetti guest-drove an RT1 Ferrari to sixth, which was frustrating for Leoni, but he was eighth in a Trivellato Chevron B40 Ferrari which finally made its race debut!

Up front Keke Rosberg, off the back of a career enhancing win at the start of the year in the competitive New Zealand Formula Pacific Championship aboard a Fred Opert Chevron, won in an Opert B40 Hart. Brancatelli was unclassified in the other Everest RT1.

Leoni’s placing was just reward as he had taken over the testing duties of the Trivellato B40 Ferrari after Patrese signed with BMW. After even more angst Ferrari “made a sump the same height as the original one we made, almost a copy of it,” said Paul Owens. “From then on we started to make progress.”

The F2 cirus then moved on to Misano for the Adriatic GP where Leoni took a sensational win (above) in the B40 Ferrari! In an ominous start to the weekend, 19 year old Elio De Angelis outqualified Lamberto in practice aboard an Everest RT1 Ferrari in his first F2 race. He earned the drive after bagging second place in the Monaco F3 GP (Chevron B38) and then a win at the F3 Monza Lottery race aboard an RT1.

Leoni was second in the first heat, then won the second and the round overall. It was a much needed victory for all concerned, Ferrari were delighted and it also proved Chevron’s stance had been correct all along. De Angelis was eighth in his F2 debut (shots below) and Brancatelli unclassified in the other RT1 Ferrari (chassis numbers RT1-65 and RT1-66 by the way).

Then it was off to Estoril where the Martini V6s did a Pironi/Arnoux 1-2 with Leoni the best of the Ferraris, he was ninth in the B40 Chevron, while De Angelis was out with suspension damage on lap two, with Brancatelli a DNQ.

For the final Euro F2 round Giancarlo Minardi pursuaded Pino Trivellato to lend him Leoni’s B40 Ferrari for Elio de Angelis to drive at Donington on October 29. That all came to nothing when the car jumped out of gear and hit a concrete retaining wall. Repaired overnight, the car wasn’t as quick as the day before, with Elio finishing tenth. Up front, Bruno Giacomelli indicated his intent by winning in the new – very fast – March 782 BMW.

Reno Arnoux won the championship for Martin Renault with his team mate Didier Pironi third, while Eddie Cheever was second in a Ralt RT1 BMW. Leoni was the best placed of the Ferrari powered drivers with nine points in 11th place.

Elio De Angelis, Chevron B40 Ferrari at Donington in 1977

De Angelis during the GP di Roma at Vallelunga in June 1978. Eighth in the Martini/Everest Chevron B42 Ferrari, race won by Derek Daly’s Chevron B42 Hart 420R (unattributed)

Chevron B42 Ferrari Dino 206, 1978…

The Minardi/Everest Ralt Ferrari deal ended at the end of the year but Trivellato continued the Chevron Ferrari program with De Angelis as driver into 1978. Scuderia Everest also ran a Chevron B42 Ferrari for Beppe Gabbiani.

Bruno Giacomelli dominated the season in the superb March 782 BMW – an all new March F2 design, the first in years – and the Chevron B42, a best-seller with 21 chassis built, took its share of wins as well despite the tragic loss of founder and guiding light Derek Bennett after injuries sustained in a hang-glider accident claimed him on March 22.

Elio only had five races with the Ferrari 206 V6 engined B42, for two DNFs and three placings – none better than tenth – then gave up the unequal struggle and fitted a Hart 420R. Gabbiani ran in 11 of the 12 rounds for three DNQs, three DNFs with his best in the other rounds a fifth at Vallelunga – elbowing Rosberg off the track in the process – and seventh at Thruxton. The Argentinian, Miguel Angel Guerra ran one of the cars in the last five events for a best of seventh at Donington.

Bepe Gabbiani, Chevron B42 Ferrari, Nogaro 1978 (A Simmonel)

The business end of the ex-De Angelis Chevron B42-78-07 Ferrari Dino V6 in modern times (Legends Automotive)

Guerra, Chevron B42 Ferrari, Nogaro 1978 (A Simmonel)

Giacomelli won the championship in fine style on 78 points from Marc Surer in another works March 782 BMW with Derek daly third in a Chevron B42 Hart. The Ferrari engined Chevron B42 drivers were 14th and 20th – De Angelis and Gabbiani.

After such an appalling season of reliability and results, Ferrari canned the project. And that seemed to be the end of it, but Giancarlo Minardi and Ferrari were drawn to each other…

Guerra, Minardi 281 Ferrari 206, Misano pits 1981 (F Minardi)

Minardi 281 Ferrari Dino 206, 1981-82 …

On his inexorable rise to the top echelon of motor racing Minardi was after an unfair advantage to take his F2 team above the BMW M12/7 ruck, his mind turned to the Ferrari Dino 206 which had caused him so much pain a few years before. Surely with a little development it could be a winner…

Before too long, Minardi had done a deal with Enzo Ferrari and a truckload of engines, parts, patterns, drawings and much, much more were on their way to to Minardi HQ in Faenza. The project to squeeze more power from the old-gal was given to chief mechanic, Bertoni Tonino di Piangipane together with engineers Giacomo Caliri and Luigi Marmiroli. They managed to extract 325bhp from it, a little more than the BMW.

Miguel Angel Guerra, Minardi 281 Ferrari, Misano 1981 (MotorSport)

Miguel Ángel Guerra debuted the Minardi 281 Ferrari during the 1981 GP dell’Adriatico, Misano, finishing 13th. In 1982 Paolo Barilla practiced the 281B Ferrari, but raced a 281B BMW at Thruxton in April, then raced the Ferrari engined car at the next round on the Nurburgring to 15th.

At Mugello Sigi Stohr had engine failure after 2 laps…and that really was it for the incredibly long-lived Ferrari Dino V6, a shortage of funds made it untenable to fight the good fight against the thoroughly modern Honda V6 fitted to Ralt and Spirit chassis.

Of course those with a keen interest in Minardi – and who didn’t love the little guys that always punched above their weight – know the ‘Bromance’ between Minardi and Ferrari still wasn’t over.

Pierluigi Martini aboard the Minardi M191 Ferrari at Monaco in 1991 (MotorSport)

Giancarlo Minardi negotiated the use of the Ferrari Tipo 037 3.5-litre 65-degree V12 – shown below during the 1991 US GP weekend – for the M191 F1 car designed by Aldo Costa and raced with some success by Pierluigi Martini – Giancarlo’s nephew – Gianni Morbidelli and Roberto Moreno throughout 1991. Pierluigi’s pair of fourths in San Marino and Portugal were the best results of the season.

Credits…

Daniele Arfelli, Ferdinado Minardi, MotorSport Images – Ercole Colombo, f1forgottendrivers.com, ‘Dino:The Little Ferrari’ Doug Nye, Autosprint, Alain Simmonel, F1prints, Legends Automotive, G Gamand

Tailpiece…

Leoni aboard his RT1 Ferrari at Thruxton during the B.A.R.C. 200 in April 1977, DNF with falling oil pressure after only nine laps, the popular winner was Brian Henton in a Boxer PR2 Hart 420R.

It certainly looked the goods…

Finito…

Australian Racing Random 12…

Posted: June 3, 2023 in Features, Fotos, Sports Racers
Tags: Australian Motor Racing History

Hey man, hip-cat, cool and groovy is what pops to mind!

Who said the Bell Corporation was the first to invent the fully enveloping helmet? Spencer Martin in Bob Jane’s Brabham BT11A Climax at Sandown Park during his second on-the-trot Gold Star championship winning 1967 season. More about Spencer here; https://primotipo.com/2015/04/30/spencer-martin-australian-gold-star-champion-19667/

Percy Hunter and Vida Jones – aka Mrs JAS Jones – aboard her Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS Zagato on the beach at Gerringong, New South Wales south coast in 1930. Click here for a long feature on this oh-so-famous Oz racing car; https://primotipo.com/2018/02/15/mrs-jas-jones-alfa-6c-1750-ss-zagato/

Only in Australia…

And no, the little Angle-box isn’t blowing off Enzo’s finest, the Andy Buchanan Ferrari 250LM at Caversham during practice for the 1966 6-Hour race.

He wasn’t able to repeat the success of Spencer Martin and David McKay in the same car the year before, failing to finish. Ron Thorp won in his AC Cobra 289. The Brockwell/Mitchell Anglia failed to go the full distance too. More about the 250LM here; https://primotipo.com/2014/07/03/pete-geoghegan-ferrari-250lm-6321-bathurst-easter-68/

Graham Withers ‘slingshot’ Ampol GT sponsored dragster/rail at Castlereagh in 1968.

Whether the dude with the death-wish is a crew member sussing just how much air Mr Withers is taking on launch, or perhaps been ingesting tablets of a type not dispensed by suburban pharmacists is an interesting question. Do let me know if you can put all of our minds to rest. Manufacturer of the machine folks?

Ron Hodgson’s Lotus 11 GT has to be Fugly Car Cup contender.

Here in the Warwick Farm paddock circa 1962. The story of how some lovely sportscars were re-purposed is told in this article about Murray Carter here; Forever Young… | primotipo…

Ken Kavanagh aboard the awesome Moto Guzzi 500 V8 GP machine during the 1956 Senigallia Grand Prix.

This wild machine made its race debut at the Belgian GP in June 1955, read about Kavanagh’s time with Moto Guzzi in this feature; Moto Guzzi… | primotipo…

Dave Walker and Tim Schenken during the 1971 Dutch Grand Prix weekend at Zandvoort.

Walker started the Lotus 56B Pratt & Whitney 4-WD from grid 22 and was looking good for a while in the very soggy conditions but like so much of the grid, missed his braking point – in a car in which he hadn’t done a huge number of laps – and ran off the track after completing only five laps. Quickie on DW here; https://primotipo.com/2022/01/05/walkin-on-water/

Tim Schenken’s Brabham BT33 Ford was a more competitive mount. In its second year – Brabham won the South African GP in one in 1970, and should have won two or three more – it was still competitive in the young Melburnian’s hands, third place at the Osterreichring was his best result of the year.

At Zandvoort he started from grid 19 but DNF with suspension failure in the race won by Regenmeister Jacky Ickx’ Ferrari 312B2. Short piece on Tim here; https://primotipo.com/2019/01/02/tim-schenken/

Reg Hunt dreaming about future conquests on one of his parents Nortons, aged nine, in the early 1930s in the UK, and living the dream at Albert Park in 1956 aboard his Maserati 250F below.

He and his A6GCM and 250F were Australia’s fastest combinations in 1955-56, then he retired early to focus on his family and motor dealerships, amassing a fortune. See more about Reg here; https://primotipo.com/2017/12/12/hunts-gp-maser-a6gcm-2038/

Bob Jane relaxes on his Jaguar E-Type Lwt during the Australian Tourist Trophy meeting at Lakeside over the November 14, 1965 weekend.

This is a heat or support race, Bob was fourth in the ATT, while Ron Thorp – it’s his AC Cobra you can see – didn’t start. Pete Geoghegan won from Greg Cusack and Spencer Martin: Lotus 23B Ford, Lotus 23 Ford and Ferrari 250LM.

The dude in the brown shirt is longtime Bob Jane Racing chief mechanic/team manger John Sawyer, no idea who the driver is, the tiny splash of red is Bill Gates’ Lotus Elan. Jane usually raced this darlin’ of a Jag with its factory hardtop but wasn’t averse to running topless on hot days. Click here for a feature on the car; Perk and Pert… | primotipo…

Piers Courage on the hop during the Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup round in January 1968.

He had a fabulous Tasman aboard the little F2 McLaren M4A Ford FVA, he brought home the bacon by winning the very wet final round at Longford despite giving away plenty of power to the 2.5-litre cars. See here; https://primotipo.com/2015/10/20/longford-tasman-south-pacific-trophy-4-march-1968-and-piers-courage/

Giving away a bit of horsepower at old-Sandown, a power track. Piers pitches his McLaren into Peters Corner with the Richard Attwood BRM P126 V12 , and, I think, Kevin Bartlett’s Brabham BT11A Climax behind. This fabulous race had an amazing dice between Jim Clark’s Lotus 49 Ford DFW and Chris Amon’s Ferrari 246T, resolved by a smidge in favour of the Scot. It was his last race, and series win.

This is the Queensland Touring Car Championship meeting at Surfers Paradise in August 1969, a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship. Dick Johnson’s EH Holden in front of Alan Hamilton’s Porsche 911

Norm Beechey’s Holden Monaro GTS327 won – taking the first ever ATCC win for a Holden – with Hamilton second and Jim McKeown third in a Lotus Cortina Mk2.

Dick Simpson recalled a funny moment related to his photo. “A couple of laps after that shot, as the EH was entering Lucas Corner, there was an almighty bang, a massive cloud of blue smoke and black engine oil and a number of red bits of metal pouring out of the engine right on the apex of the corner. The noise stopped and the EH silently trundled on around Repco Hill and disappeared.”

“We had a flag post right beside us and had been chatting with one of the flaggies who was most impressed that we were keen enough, or stupid enough to drive all night from Wollongong. So he said he had to go and clean up the mess and would we like a couple of souvenirs? He brought up a couple of bits of steel, one looked like a huge main-bearing cap and plonked them on top of the fencepost to cool off. About an hour later a young kid who looked a lot like the EH driver came along and demanded his bits back. So we had a quick chat with a young DJ!”

Click here for a piece on the 1969 ATCC; https://primotipo.com/2018/02/01/1969-australian-touring-car-championship/

Alan Hamilton in the giant killing Porsche 911T/R at Hume Weir in 1969 (unattributed)

Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill in the Warwick Farm pitlane during Saturday practice for the 1969 Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup round.

Rindt famously drove off into the distance during the incredibly wet race day: https://primotipo.com/2018/01/19/rindt-tasman-random/ and; https://primotipo.com/2022/02/26/lotus-49b-ford-chassis-r8/

Alan Jones was stunningly quick in Sid Taylor/Teddy Yip Lola T332 Chevs during Australia’s 1977 Rothmans International F5000 Series.

While Warwick Brown won it in his Racing Team VDS Lola T430 Chev, Jones was the series-ace, let down by mechanical dramas and a mistake or two of his own; a jumped start at Oran Park and writing off a car in practice at Surfers Paradise.

Here at Sandown he grabbed the lead from the start but retired with overheating. He won the fourth, final round at Adelaide International at the start of a year in which he won his first F1 Grand Prix aboard a Shadow DN8 Ford at the Osterreichring (below).

Amazing Ian Smith pan of Allan Moffat in his legendary Trans-Am Mustang at Oran Park during the final round of the Australian Touring Car Championship on August 8, 1972.

Steve Snuggs tells us that he was wearing an oxygen mask in protest to CAMS not allowing him to remove the car’s carpets which smouldered from the hot exhausts and gave off fumes.

Moffat lost a nail-biter of a race, and the title, to Bob Jane’s Chev Camaro ZL1. More about Moffat’s cars here; https://primotipo.com/2020/03/06/moffats-shelby-brabham-elfin-and-trans-am/

Incredibly rare colour shot of Pedro Rodriguez’ works-BRM P261 2.1-litre V8 during the 1968 Longford Trophy.

He is on the rise having exited the Newry right-hander in second or third gear – that line of poplars and road is still there – before an open left-kink then onto The Flying Mile.

Pedro nicked second-place from Frank Gardner’s Brabham BT23D Alfa in the final lap but fell well short of Piers Courage McLaren M4A Ford FVA F2 car in demanding wet conditions. More about BRM in the Antipodes here; https://primotipo.com/2020/02/22/1966-australian-grand-prix-lakeside/

The great Ian Smith is sharing his back-catalogue of photographs in great dollops via Facebook. I enjoyed this series of shots taken in Reservoir, suburban Melbourne during a compare and contrast Wheels road-test between the then new Holden Kingswood HQ, and the original 1948 Holden 48-215 circa 1972.

The reason for the strange location is probably because Campbells Motors Holden were in High Street, Preston and they didn’t want their luvverly old-Humpy being taken too far from ‘home’. See here for a piece on the 48-215; https://primotipo.com/2018/12/06/general-motors-holden-formative/ The locale is Edwards Park Lake, Reservoir.

The giant-killing Colin Bond/Brian Hope, fourth place overall Mitsubishi Colt 1000F at the end of the 1967 Southern Cross Rally at Port Macquarie.

It was the very start of the Japanese company’s international rallying programme, see here; https://primotipo.com/2023/05/28/mitsubishi-competition-formative-days/

The Charlie Dean-Repco Research built Repco Record at Mallala during the AGP meeting in 1961. It was the Clerk of the Course’ car no less.

The Repco-Holden engined research machine is looking fairly well used at this point, but it did have to sing for its supper testing all manner of Repco group subsidiaries components! See here; https://primotipo.com/2015/06/26/repco-record-car-and-repco-hi-power-head/

Credits…

Michael Gasking Collection, Keith Anderson Photography, Bob Williamson Collection, oldracephotos.com-Dick Simpson, Moto Guzzi, Reg Hunt Collection via David Zeunert, Peter Jones, Peter Miller, Rod Steffanoni, Bill Forsyth, Ian Smith, IC Walker Collection via Russell Garth

Tailpiece…

Dick Simpson’s artistry catches Niel Allen on the hop in Garrie Cooper’s first monocoque sportscar, the Elfin ME5 Chev on the entry to Homestead corner at Warwick Farm in 1969. It was a twitchy beast of a thing with its short-wheelbase, arguably, only Niel got the best out of it in the short time he owned it before buying a McLaren M10B Chev F5000.

Finito…

Mitsubishi : Competition, formative days…

Posted: May 28, 2023 in Features, Who,What,Where & When...?
Tags: Andrew Cowan, Colin Bond, Doug Stewart, JAF Japanese Grand Prix, Mitsubishi Colt, Mitsubishi Colt F2000, Mitsubishi Rally History, Southern Cross Rally

The Japanese zaibatsu (conglomerates) were exhorted by their government to build and export cars post-war after the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The Mitsubishi Corporation was happy to oblige their political masters.

The enormous transnational had a dalliance with automobiles in the early twentieth century, but they got serious with the Mitsubishi 500 – a design which drew on their wartime aircraft manufacture – which was mass-produced with the vision of becoming a ‘national car’ in 1959.

The lure of competition was great so the company contested the 1962 Macau Grand Prix to showcase their engineering capabilities, the little cars finished 1-2-3-4 in a support race, taking the under 750cc class.

Mitsubishi raised the bar when they developed a 90bhp competition variant (cam, carbs, head/valve modifications) of the 1-litre R28 engine which was fitted into the first of a number of Brabham/Brabham copy chassis, the first car was called the 1966 Colt F3A.

In the 1960s the Japanese Grand Prix was held for Group 7 sportscars, some of which were built by local giants such as Prince/Nissan and Toyota. At the same Mount Fuji circuit meetings there were support events for other categories, including single-seaters – the blue riband of these was the J.A.F. (Japan Auto Federation) Japanese GPs – it was on these races that Mitsubishi focussed.

In later decades Mitsubishi’s competition history was celebrated with a series of calendars and posters which stimulated this article.

Ken Yamamoto’s painting depicts the Osamu Mochizuki-Osamu Masuko one-two battle aboard 1.6-litre pushrod R46 circa-160bhp engined Colt F2As in the 1967 JAF Japanese GP

The company led in domestic single-seater racing, while Honda took on the world in F1. Drivers such as Osamu Mochizuki, Tetsu Ikuzawa – the very first of the Japanese internationals who competed in F3 and F2 in Europe – Osamu Masuko, Kuniomi Nagamatsu and others competed against European and Australasian drivers, proving their ability at international level.

Single-seater engine developments spilled over into a rally program which commenced in Japan in 1965, but kicked up a couple of gears when Mitsubishi decided to enter Australia’s Southern Cross Rally off the back of a gruelling testing program to ensure the suitability of the Colt 800 (first launched in November 1965) for the country’s tough roads and vast climatic extremes.

Australian rally-driver, Doug Stewart – later appointed a Director of Ralliart along with Andrew Cowan – conducted the ‘destruction testing’ of two cars in the outback/alps and was so impressed he convinced Mitsubishi to rally the Colts in the Australian Rally Championship (from 1968) competition. Colin Bond, later Australian Rally/Touring Car Champion, also drove and helped prepare the cars.

Colt 1000F depicted during the October 1967 Southern Cross Rally. Colin Bond/Brian Hope fourth placed car (Akira Yokoyama)

Mitsubishi’s website records that, “Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Automotive Division considered his (Stewart’s) advice and concluded that rally participation would effectively promote road car sales and raise brand awareness.”

“They decided to contest the 1967 Southern Cross Rally with two Colt 1000Fs, pitting themselves against vehicles with much larger engines using high reliability and durability as their main assets. Colin Bond was fourth outright, also winning the small engine capacity class, while Stewart finished third in class. The foundations for what is referred to as ‘Mitsubishi Motors in Rallying’ were laid at that time.”

“1985 calendar illustration starting with the Mitsubishi 500 in 1962, Colt 1000, Colt F2, Colt F2000 – the 1971 Japanese GP winner – the Starion” (Dennis Brown)

Mitsubishi’s R39 1.6-litre (from 1968) and R39B 2-litre (1971) twin-cam, four-valve, fuel injected race engines won the 1971 Japanese Grand Prix in Colt F2000 chassis when Kuniomi Nagamatsu triumphed over Osamu Masuko in a great Colt F2D (F2000) 1-2 in an international field of depth.

Just as it seemed the company was poised as a possible engine supplier in the new 2-litre European F2 Championship which commenced in 1972, the company turned 180-degrees away from single-seaters into touring car racing and the forests and deserts where its competition focus has largely remained. From a cost-effective brand-building perspective with production-car spinoffs, it was doubtless the right call.

Mitsubishi’s first international rally win was in the 1972 Southern Cross Rally, the winning crew of the Colt Galant was Andrew Cowan and navigator John Bryson. The company won three more of the Oz internationals and two Safari Rallies between 1973-77. Their first Safari win was taken by a privately entered Colt driven by Joginder Singh. Lancer Turbo and Lancer Evolutions programmes followed.

It’s a bummer not to be able to read the detail of these posters found on-line, but I thought them worth sharing all the same.

Credits…

mit-cardesign-t.com – Dennis Brown, Tetsuaki Makita, Ken Yamamoto, Akira Yokoyama, rally-japan.jp

Another page from the 1985 calendar (Dennis Brown)

In the process of researching this story the only technician I have uncovered as involved in the race and rally programs is a man named Iwao Kimata, “a former Nissan rally driver, who was hired to help Mitsubishi learn about rally racing step by step” according to rally-japan.jp.

If any Japanese readers now the names of the key engineers/technicians/mechanics involved in Mitsubishi’s mid-1960s race and rally programmes, please get in touch with me on mark@bisset.com.au. I am keen to record such folks names and if possible communicate with them.

Finito…

Brian Spurr Collection : 1968 Tasman Cup…

Posted: May 24, 2023 in Features
Tags: 1968 Levin International, 1968 New Zealand Grand Prix, 1968 Tasman Series

Frank Gardner leads at the start of the Levin International, round two of the 1968 Tasman Series, won by Jim Clark’s works Lotus 49 Ford DFW, on January 13, 1968.

Clark is second, Chris Amon, Ferrari 246T third, then Pedro Rodriguez, BRM P126 and Piers Courage, McLaren M4A Ford FVA at the rear of the lead-bunch.

We have South African photographer, Brian Spurr to thank for these shots. He didn’t take them, but rather scanned them to preserve the deteriorating images given to him by a lady named Tracy Robb, then made them available through his Facebook page – via good friend, Peter Ellenbogen – for us all to enjoy. Brian has no idea who the snapper was, but clearly the man had a good eye. Many thanks to Tracy, Brian and Peter.

Frank Bryan’s Mustang from, perhaps, Robert Stewart’s Cooper S at Cabbage Tree Corner during the same meeting.

Graham McRae explores the limits in his Brabham BT2 Lotus-Ford 1.5. He failed to finish the 1968 race but three years later triumphed aboard the McLaren M10B Chev he took to the first of three-on-the-trot Tasman Cup victories from 1971-73. See here for an article about the amazing McRae and his cars, including his formative years; https://primotipo.com/2018/09/06/amons-talon-mcraes-gm2/

Contretemps between Vince Anderson’s Brabham BT11A Climax and Bill Stone’s #24 Brabham BT6 Lotus-Ford 1.5 in practice. Stone got his car repaired for the race, finishing sixth in the International.

Chris Amon on his way to victory at Levin in front of Bruce McLaren’s brand-new, Len Terry designed BRM P126 and Jim Clark. Amon won the 63 lap race from Courage and Jim Palmer in another M4A McLaren.

Jim Clark and the lads push Clark’s Lotus 49 #R2 back into the incredibly picturesque Pukekohe paddock during practice. The New Zealand Grand Prix was traditionally the first Tasman round and was usually held at the Auckland circuit, this is/was the January 6 weekend.

Bruce McLaren, BRM P126-02 (B Spurr Collection )

McLaren drove the BRM in the four Kiwi rounds only with his best results fifth at Wigram and a splendid win at Teretonga, then it was back to Colnbrook to ready the new Ford Cosworth DFV powered McLaren M7 and McLaren M8A Chev for F1 and Can-Am competition respectively.

Bruce’s analytical skills kick-started BRM’s development program for their new car, he was familiar with the Type 101 V12 engine, having raced his M5A with it in the latter part of 1967. See here for an article on these cars; https://primotipo.com/2018/01/25/richard-attwood-brm-p126-longford-1968/

What was the Phil Irving line? “One more tube and you could breed from it!” BRM P126 highlighting the Hewland DG300 gearbox and 2.5-litre variant of their 3-litre F1 Type 101 V12 as first fitted to McLaren’s F1 car in 1967 (B Spurr Collection)

The undoubted stars of the show in 1968-69 were the works Lotus and Ferraris, arguably THE YEAR of Tasman competition in terms of variety was 1968.

Repco Brabham V8 engined Brabhams for Jack (in Australia) and Leo Geoghegan’s Lotus 39, BRM V8s and V12s – the P261 and new P126, the V6 Ferrari 246T and of course the Ford DFW V8 in the back of Jim Clark and Graham Hill’s Lotus 49, the 1.6-litre Ford FVA powered Brabham BT23 raced by Denny Hulme and Piers Courage’s McLaren M4A FVA. Not to forget Frank Gardner’s one-off Alec Mildren owned Brabham BT23D powered by a 2.5-litre variant of Alfa Romeo’s sportscar Tipo 33 V8. Plus the 2.5-litre FPF Climaxes, so long the backbone of the series. We never had it so good! Vive Le difference

Piers Courage re-launched his career with his performances in this self-run F2 210bhp McLaren M4A Ford FVA. He drove the wheels off it, stayed on the black-stuff and capped a series of speed and consistency off with a famous win in the teeming rain at Longford in the final 1968 race.

Longford Tasman: ‘South Pacific Trophy’ 4 March 1968 and Piers Courage…

Gardner’s Brabham at left, Amon’s Ferrari at right with Clark in the middle (B Spurr Collection)

Les Jones’ Lotus 20B Ford 1.5 (DNS) and the spare BRM P261 raced that weekend by Pedro Rodriguez at the Shell depot in among the Puke trees.

This will cause a state of excitement for Lotus historians. Peter Yock’s white Lotus 25 BRM is chassis R3, the machine used by Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor in 1962-63 before being sold to Reg Parnell racing in 1964 and fitted with BRM P56 V8s. Later, as here, R3 was fitted with a 2-litre BRM P60 V8 and sold to Yock.

This link to Allen Brown’s wonderful oldracingcars.com website tells all about the tortuous Lotus 25/33 chassis by chassis history; https://www.oldracingcars.com/lotus/25/ His records show this old-warrior contested 95! races in the hands of Clark, Taylor, Jack Brabham (Monaco 1963), Peter Arundell, Mike Spence, Pedro Rodriguez, Mike Hailwood, Chris Amon, Richard Atwood, Paul Hawkins, Giancarlo Baghetti, Jonathan Williams, Mike Spence, Rob Slotemaker, Piers Courage, Chis Irwin, Peter Yock and Peter Hughes…

Converted to Lotus 33 spec along the way, R3’s best results were wins at the 1962 US GP and Rand GP, and the ’63 Kanonloppet in all cases driven by Clark. Peter Yock’s ’68 Tasman was grim with DNF’s in all four of the Kiwi rounds he contested.

Better shots of the Lotus BRM engine installation – note the Owen Racing Organisation decal between the two front radius rod mounts. Circuit and date unknown (N Tait)

Piers Courage and Chris Amon await their MGB ride prior to the off at Pukekohe. Who is the BP driver at right?

Clark and Amon above, and the yellow nose of the Mildren Brabham, #2 is Pedro Rodriguez’ BRM P261 Bruce in the other car beyond in the shot below. The Goodyears on Chris’ car are interesting, I thought the Scuderia were contracted to Firestone at the time? Maybe ‘freelancing’ Down South was hunky-dory?

No works Brabham Repco V8 for the ‘68 Tasman for Denny – ’67 World F1 Championship and all – he was off to McLaren for 1968 so had to run a Brabham BT23 Ford FVA F2 to keep the fans at home and in Australian happy.

In fact he used two cars that summer. BT23-5 is shown above on the Pukekohe grid. In a very dodgy accident on lap – the blame for which was attributed to Hulme, albeit it was ‘hushed up’ at the time – Denny took Laurence Brownlie’s Brabham off the road, frustrated with his failure, as he saw it, to get out of the way, injuring him very badly and effectively ending the promising Kiwi’s career.

BT23-5, the Winkelmann Racing chassis with which Jochen Rindt won so many races in 1967, was rooted. Sold to Feo Stanton and Alec Mildren, Bob Britton made a BT23 jig with it then set it aside in his Rennmax Engineering workshop. 50 years later it’s alive and well in Europe.

BT23-2 was then shipped to New Zealand, a works car raced by Brabham and Frank Gardner in 1967. His bests in that was third place at Wigram and fifth at Warwick Farm.

Clark contemplating loading-up while the shape of BRM Team Manager, Tim Parnell is to the right, a burger-boy of the nicest kind it seems.

Parnell, a few moments later is amongst his lads, Bruce with his back to us is about to jump aboard his P126 while Rodriguez – centre shot – is about to board his V8 P261. Pedro was much keener to race this very well-sorted old-tool that summer, rather than the car he should have been focusing on, his V12 mount for the upcoming F1 season!

The off, with someone shitting-himself mid-grid. It is not a good feeling…and what a unique Pukekohe view too. Frank Gardner is on the outside of the front row we can see, Brabham BT23D Alfa, with Jim Clark, Chris Amon and Pedro Rodriguez obscured to FG’s right.

Amon has the jump with Clark right up his clacker. Gardner’s #7 Brabham Alfa is outside, then Pedro’s P261 with Bruce’s V12 on the inside and Denny’s four-cylinder Brabham #3 on the outside.

Chris Amon drove a great race to win his national Grand Prix from Frank Gardner, the Aussie was the only other driver to complete the full race distance of 58 laps. Piers Courage was third, Jim Palmer fourth in his McLaren M4A Ford FVA and Australian, Paul Bolton fifth in the Rorstan Racing Brabham BT22 Climax.

Jim Clark had engine failure after 44 laps, while Pedro Rodriguez’ old faithful BRM P261 V8 lasted only 28 laps until clutch failure, while Bruce McLaren’s P126 V12 was hors de combat with clutch failure after completing only 14 laps. More on the race here; https://primotipo.com/2017/07/21/amons-tasman-dino/

Winners are grinners! ‘Sir Christopher’ Amon, Pukekohe 1968. Other dudes folks?

Etcetera…

I love the look of this Pukekohe paddock, the death sentence has just been made on this place, Denny.

David McKay’s – to the right of the car touching his chin – Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM was racing-royalty in this part of the world, competition Ferraris being very thin on the ground. Click here for an article about the car;

Pete Geoghegan: Ferrari 250LM ‘6321’: Bathurst Easter 1968…

Here the machine is sharing the grid with another legendary car, the Lycoming Special – in which Jim Clark did some laps one year – with Jim Boyd at the wheel, the flash of red at right is the Stanton Corvette raced by Geoff Mardon.

The shot below is of the same three cars at Levin the week after Pukekohe at Cabbage Tree corner.

Together with Scuderia Veloce and Frank Matich Racing, Alec Mildren Racing was the only other fully-professional racing outfit in Australia at the time. See here; https://primotipo.com/2020/01/14/alec-mildren-racing/ and here on the BT23D;

Hordern Trophy…

Gardner finished equal fourth in the Tasman title chase, with Graham Hill, his best results were second place at Pukekohe, third at Teretonga and Longford, and fourth at Sandown, the AGP.

While the car fell short in international competition, Kevin Bartlett took BT23D over when FG returned to Europe and won the 1968 Australian Drivers Championship, the Gold Star, in it in 1968 before contesting the Australian 1969 Tasman rounds. After a chequered history, BT23D-1 is still with us.

Andy Buchanan’s Elfin 400 Chev, looking superb as it did in the day, and now does! A Kiwi mate sent an image of this car very recently, the restoration is now nearly complete albeit the car is not yet running.

He’s a bit anally retentive as a sculptor, but let’s give him points for creativity anyway. Those are called long-necks or depth-charges in this part of the world, unlike the little poofhouse things we mainly drink from today.

Clark’s 49 R2 alongside Laurence Brownlie’s Brabham BT18/23 Lotus-Ford 1.5. Brownlie’s car – the quickest of the Kiwi 1.5s that year – was destroyed in the terrible accident with Denny Hulme mentioned earlier. More on the ’68 Tasman cars here; https://primotipo.com/2021/03/06/1968-australian-gp-sandown-2/

Bruce labours on BRM P126-02, giving us another look at the DG300 Hewland – rather than one of Bourne’s own ‘trannies – and Len Terry’s signature twin-parallel-link lower rear suspension, which soon thereafter became the ‘industry standard’.

Note the local work-boots, typical attire on both sides of The Ditch (Tasman Straight). OH&S, WTF is that?

Rod Coppins in Pete Geoghegan’s first Ford Mustang, ain’t she sweet.

BRM P60 V8 in the back of Peter Yock’s Lotus 25/33 (N Tait)

BRM maintenance on a shoestring.

I love this explanation by Warner Collins, one of Peter Yock’s mechanics, about repairs to the BRM V8 to keep his driver in the field. It appeared on the Old New Zealand Motor Racing Facebook page.

“The engined no compression in one front cylinder. BRM were stationed at Croydon Motors, so I went and spoke to Tim Parnell who pointed out boxes of V12 and V8 spares, nothing suited. Of course this was Wednesday/Thursday before Wigram so I told Peter Yock it couldn’t be fixed. He then went and barrelled Tim, who said they had no spares for the obsolete engine.”

“Peter said we had to try, so my brain kicked into gear, we got the car onto its side, got the sump off – there was no way the head was coming off without gaskets, 50,000 gears and no manual – so another thinking session. I managed to get the piston and rod out the bottom, the two-ring piston had a broken compression ring. After all day I managed to find a motorbike sized one, the .20th gap was a bit large but in it went. Getting it back in was a mission, I had to get around the crank and compress the rings without breaking them, and bolted the thing up, even having to make a sump gasket.”

“The BRM guys came over and said, ‘You must be joking!’ They would’ve sent the engine back to BRM. It was ok, not 100%, at least it was on 8-cylinders, well that is my story! I think Peter got tucked up a bit, a Lotus with a cobbled up, well-used V8. Peter wanted me to do the rest of the series, but it was not for me, you can’t run a car like that without spares.”

Peter Yock responded to Warner and Gary Sprague, “Well, you are both right. I probably did get tucked up, but for 3000 pounds it wasn’t overly expensive. After the Timaru meeting we went into Ernie Sprague’s garage and completely reset the ride height and suspension and the following week at Ruapuna we blew the opposition away, different handling car altogether.”

“I don’t know if you guys are aware, but the car ended up in Dawson-Damer’s collection in Sydney, after he was killed at Goodwood it was sold at auction for 1.2million. Mind you, it had to be completely restored to to the Jim Clark winning 25 with Climax engine.”

Credits…

Brian Spurr Collection, Bruce Sergent Collection, Naomi Tait, oldracingcars.com

Tailpiece…

Amon’s Ferrari 246T, Pukekohe (B Spurr Collection)

‘cor, dunnit look utterly lovely! Amon’s long-time mechanic, Bruce Wilson has lovingly, carefully, skilfully built up 246T/68 #004 for his longtime friend. They won two rounds in 1968 – Pukekohe and Levin – but returned the following year and went all the way; two cars for Chris and Derek Bell with logistics taken care of by Scuderia Veloce.

2.4-litre V6 is a three-valver here, the four-valve units mainly used in Australia gave very little away to anything else, Amon missed winning the Australian Grand Prix at Sandown so equipped, by only one-hundredth of a second to Clark’s flying Lotus 49 V8.

As you all know, that ’68 Tasman was Jim’s last championship win.

Finito…

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