Bib Stillwell leans his Cooper into Homestead Corner, you can see and feel the energy being expended in extracting all the performance the car has to offer in this John Ellacott shot…
Stillwell was four times Australian National ‘Gold Star’ Champion from 1962 to 1965, his early sixties battles with rival Frank Matich in both single-seaters and in sports cars, Matich in his Lotus 19 or 19B, were legendary.
Both were Australian champions in both types of car and fierce rivals- Stillwell the Melbourne motor dealer/semi-professional racer and Matich, the Sydney based, and perhaps first truly professional Australian driver.
Stillwell in the Monaco just ahead of Frank Matich, Lotus 19b Climax, Lakeside, Queensland, perhaps the 1963 Tasman Meeting. (Peter Mellor)
In Sportscars Stillwell won the ‘Australian Tourist Trophy’ aboard the Cooper Monaco in 1961 and 1962. Matich won it in 1964 in a Lotus 19B Climax and in 1966 racing his almost brand new Elfin 400 Olds (aka the ‘Traco Olds’), then in 1967 in his first self-built Matich SR3 Olds and again in 1968 in a Matich SR3 Repco.
The ATT was not contested in 1969 but Frank’s Matich SR4, powered by a 5 litre quad-cam Repco ‘760 Series’ V8 was the fastest car in Australia of any sort that year. It was built to contest the Can-Am Series in 1968 but was too late in completion to compete so Frank used it to destroy the opposition at home a year later instead.
Bib acquired this ex-Moss car in the UK. The chassis number is uncertain but Doug Nye believes it to be the car ordered by Moss in April 1959 as a kit of parts ex-factory which was then built up by Keele Engineering.
The Monaco was lightly raced by the great Brit, commencing with the British GP meeting at Aintree in 1959, DNF after qualifying on the front row. He took the car to Scandinavia in August winning races at both Karlskoga, Sweden and the Roskilde Ring, Copenhagen, Denmark and it was then put to one side as he focussed on a Lotus 19 to which the engine and ‘box from the Monaco were fitted.
Bib bought the car off Moss during a trip to the UK in 1961.
At Stillwell’s Kew, Melbourne Holden dealership workshops it was fitted by Gerry Brown with a 2.5 Litre Coventry Climax FPF four cylinder engine and gearbox out of one of Bib’s Cooper single-seaters upon arrival in Australia and was soon ready in time for the 19 September 1961 Warwick Farm meeting.
Starting a familiar pattern, the Stillwell transporter left its Cotham Road, Kew, Melbourne base to go to Adelaide with two cars- Bib raced both his Cooper T53 in the Australian Grand Prix at Mallala in October 1961 finishing second to Lex Davison- Lex in Bib’s older Cooper T51, and the Cooper Monaco that weekend.
The Monaco arrived in Australia with the standard leaf spring rear suspension configuration but Alf Francis had modified the rear chassis bracketry to also allow the use of a coil spring/damper set-up- both were used in Oz.
Stillwell Cooper at Sandown 1963. Coil spring rear suspension in this shot (Kevin Drage)
Cooper Monaco during the Warwick Farm International meeting in 1961. Transverse leaf spring rear suspension configuration in this shot. Look at all those curvy bits of tube, offensive to engineering purists but effective all the same! Coventry Climax 2.5 or 2.7 FPF engine. Citroen Ersa gearbox (Ray Bell)
In Australia the car also raced with a 2.7 ‘Indy’ Climax FPF with which it was timed at 160mph on Longford’s ‘Flying Mile’ in 1963. In a quest for still more speed, in October 1964 the car was fitted with an ex-Scarab RE/Arnold Glass BRM P48 Buick V8.
Lance Reventlow sold one of his engines to Arnold Glass after the one off appearance of his mid-engined Scarab RE Buick Intercontinental Formula car raced by Chuck Daigh at Sandown’s opening meeting in March 1962. Glass replaced the somewhat temperamental BRM 4 cylinder engine with the lightweight, 3.9 litre aluminium, pushrod V8.
In Stillwell’s hands the car won the 1961 and 1962 Australian TT, the Victorian Sports Car Championship in 1962 and 1963 and the South Pacific Sports Car Championship at Longford in 1962.
Stillwell at Warwick Farm in the Cooper in 1965, at this stage fitted wth the ex-Scarab/Glass Buick V8 (R Austin)
The Cooper Monaco with the ex-Scarab/Glass Buick V8 behind the car and ‘George, a mechanic at East Malvern Motors where we both worked for Ray Gibbs’ quipped Mike Kyval. This is during the period Tony Osbourne owned the car. Gibbs was one of the cars drivers in that period of ownership- and prepared the car (M Kyval)
Sold to ‘Pitstop Motors’ Dick Thurston, he first raced it at Calder in January 1966- shortly thereafter he was fifth in the 1966 Australian Tourist Trophy at Longford- a race won, as mentioned above by the Matich Elfin 400 Oldsmobile.
The car was was soon sold on, still in Melbourne, to South Yarra’s Tony Osbourne of ‘Argo Racing’- as in Argo Street South Yarra, who raced it at Calder in May 1966 and then contested the first Surfers Paradise 12 Hour race together with Murray Carter and Ray Gibbs- the beast completed 96 laps of the race won by the Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM crewed by Jackie Stewart and Andy Buchanan.
The car subsequently passed through many owners hands including Fred Wheelhouse, Peter Nielson, Charles Dominelli before acquisition by Pat McLernon of Dandenong, Victoria who fitted a new body built by Ted Proctor in Sydney, by this stage a Ford 302 V8 was fitted. Stan Rumble owned it for a while before the wonderful machine fell into the loving hands of Paul Moxham who restored it to original Coventry Climax engined form.
In 2000 Frank Sytner and John Coombs acquired it, the car has raced in Europe since then.
Mallala is a wonderful, challenging shorter circuit built on a former RAAF airfield 60 Km North of Adelaide. (Kevin Drage)
‘Scuderia Stillwell’ arriving and unloading the Monaco and Cooper T53 at Mallala- South Australia Gold Star meeting in October 1962 after the long haul from their Kew.
Mallala is a fabulous little 1.6mile/2.6Km circuit 55Km north of Adelaide. It was built on the site of former ‘RAAF Base Mallala’, which was acquired by a group of enthusiasts in 1961..the opening meeting in August 1961 was won by Bib Stillwell in a Cooper…
Stillwell had a good start in life…
He attended Trinity Grammar and Scotch College in Hawthorn and at 22 had parental support for his original small MG dealership in 1949, but over the decades grew his business.
He was awarded a Holden franchise in 1953 operating from Cotham Road Kew, and later as a Ford, BMW and other prestige marques dealer building a large group with his own talent and entrepreneurial flair which prospers in his families hands today long after his death.
His management skills were world class, his interests included aviation. After success in that field from the mid-sixties in Australia- distributing Beechcraft and later Lerjets he was appointed President of the Lear Corporation in the US in 1982, a position he held for 3 years before returning to Australia to a ‘second motor dealing career’ in luxury franchises and historic racing, he died on June 12 1999.
Stillwell happy in victory, Cooper Monaco, Mallala October 1962. He took wins that day in this car and the Gold Star event in his Cooper T53 Kevin Drage)
I rather like this observation Michael Lynch made in his obituary of Bib published in the Melbourne ‘Age’ newspaper.
‘The links between business and sport, and the characteristics required to succeed in both, have often been drawn. Drive, determination, persistence, talent, luck, the ability to think outside the obvious and seize opportunities that others don’t see – and then make them work – are all characteristics shared variously by top sportsmen and the leading lights of the business world.’
’Stillwell, who died suddenly last weekend from a heart attack, had all of them in good measure, showcasing them in both his sporting career, which ran until the mid-1960s, and then his business career, which was still being developed at the time of his death’.
Cooper T49 ‘Monaco’ Specifications…
The Cooper Type number is 49- the car was given the ‘Monaco’ name in recognition of Jack Brabham’s victory in the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix, his first GP win on the way to his, and Coopers first World Championships as driver and constructor.
Of typical curved Cooper space frame construction, the car owes most of its hardware to its single-seater siblings. Front suspension is by upper and lower wishbones and coil spring/damper units with an adjustable roll bar. At the rear top location is provided by a transverse leaf spring, with a lower rear wishbone. Brakes are disc all around, steering rack and pinion and typical Cooper alloy wheels of the period were used.
Most of the cars were fitted with Coventry Climax FPF engines of varying capacities, Stillwell’s mainly with a 2.5 but it was raced with other engines as recorded above. Gearbox was the Citroen ERSA or Colotti units- the Moss/Stilwell car was first fitted with a Cooper CS5, 5 speed transaxle.
Stillwell again at Lakeside. Cooper Monaco 1963. (Peter Mellor)
Etcetera…
(Sparks Family)
Another successful Mallala weekend for Stillwell, this time after winning the 19 August 1961 ‘Mallala Trophy’ Gold Star round.
Looking very natty in his BRDC badged blue blazer, it’s perhaps a posed BP publicity shot, whatever the case, a top shot.
(P Skelton)
Stephen Dalton reckons this shot of the Monaco is at Calder in January or February 1962.
Credits…
John Ellacott, Kevin Drage, Ray Bell, James Allington cutaway, Ken Devine Collection, Reg Sparks Collection via Craig Sparks, Phillip Skelton via Tony Johns Collection
The Nostalgia Forum, Richard Austin, John Blanden ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’, Mike Kyval
Tailpiece: Equipe Stillwell during the November 1962 Caversham AGP weekend…
(K Devine)
The open-wheeler is a Cooper T53 Climax- Bib was third in the AGP behind Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T62 and John Youl’s T55 at Caversham off the back of winning the Gold Star from Youl and Patterson- he took victories at Bathurst and Mallala on the way to the title.
Leo Geoghegan victorious in the 1969 JAF (Japan Automobile Federation) Grand Prix. Lotus 39 Repco.
One of Australia’s racing greats of the 1960’s and early 70’s, Leo Geoghegan died of cancer aged 78 on 1 March…
Leo won the Australian GT Championship in 1960, (Lotus Elite) the Australian Formula Junior Championship in 1963 (Lotus 22 ) the Australian Drivers Championship, the coveted Gold Star in 1970 in Lotus 59 Waggott and the AF2 Championship in Birranas’ 273 and 274 in 1973 and 1974.
Internationally he won the JAF Japanese Grand Prix in his Lotus 39 Repco in 1969. It was in this car, raced by Jim Clark in the 1966 Tasman Series in which Leo stepped into the premier 2.5 litre ‘Tasman’ class, initially Coventry Climax powered and later with Repco V8’s that Leo more than held his own against the visiting Internationals in what was progressively an older car.
The Geoghegans’ held the Lotus franchise in Australia for many years, it was in a new Lotus 59 powered by one of Merv Waggotts’ 2 litre DOHC engines in which Leo finally won the Gold Star in 1970 after years of plugging away in the evergreen ’39.
Hamming it up for photographer Bruce Wells at Warwick Farm, before the ‘WF 100’ Tasman round February 1966. (Bruce Wells)
Leo and his brother Ian or ‘Pete’ were crowd favourites throughout the 60’s in particular, Leo mainly in open wheelers and Pete in Touring Cars in which he was 5 times Australian Champion.
Most of you outside Australia (85% of you by the way) won’t be aware of the Geoghegans’, this lovely period movie by Castrol ‘The Racing Geoghegans’ positions them nicely into the pantheon of Australian Racing in their day.
Leo was concentrating more on Touring Cars as the lead tester/driver for Chrysler into the early ’70’s in their Valiant Pacer/Charger ‘Series Production’ program but returned to open wheelers when offered the ‘works drive’ by Birrana’s Malcolm Ramsay, these jewel like cars a story in themselves, in AF2 in 1973 and in 1974.
The 1974 AF2 series was one of the most competitive domestic Australian open wheeler championships ever (series sponsorship attracted both the top up and comers and F5000 stars) Leo winning the title against the very best…to watch him in these cars, I didn’t get to see him in his Tasman days, was to see a bloke at the top of his game, a very smooth, precise line driver and aggressive with it. His battles with Bob Muir in another Birrana in ’74 spring to mind especially a very soggy Calder. A magic driver for sure.
Leo in the ‘Warwick Farm 100′ Tasman round February 1966. He finished 7th in the 1.5 litre Ford/Lotus engined Lotus 32. Race won by Jim Clarks’ Lotus 39 Climax, the car Leo acquired at the end of the series. (Bruce Wells)
Ray Bell ‘in period’ journalist with ‘Racing Car News’ had this to say about Leos’ commitment and precision, writing in ‘The Nostalgia Forum’ in 2002.
‘It’s time to look at Leo a little more closely. Maybe at Warwick Farm, his real home circuit and in the Lotus 59, equipped with a nice toey Waggott TC4V engine and good enough to win him the Gold Star… let’s wander over to Homestead Corner… the cars are whistling through, taking that line that clips the two apexes and is so important for their speed down Hume Straight.
Lap after lap, Leo is precise and fast. But look there, on the outside edge of the circuit, where he drifts to between the apexes… see the white line, and then the drop of two inches or so where the bitumen’s been laid over an old entry road? Watch Leo’s rear tyre as he drifts out there…
The wheel had only a couple of inches on the white line… the rest of the tyre was hanging out there with two inches between the tread and the bitumen… two inches from disaster at that speed… every lap!’
One of the greats. RIP.
Leo G in the racesuit, Fuji paddock JAF GP 1969. Lotus 39 Repco. Engine here is Repco ‘830 Series’ 2.5 Tasman V8, the ‘ultimate version’ of the Tasman Repcos’ , circa 295bhp@9000rpm. Packaging of this later Repco engine not as ‘neat and cohesive’ as the exhaust between the Vee ‘740 Series’ pictured below. (Unattributed)
Leo in the Lotus 59 Waggott at WF approaching the ‘Northern Crossing’. AGP November 1970. 3rd in the 2 litre Lotus behind the winning Frank Matich McLaren M10B Repco F5000 and Graeme Lawrence’2.4 litre Ferrari Dino 246T. (Rod Mackenzie Collection)
Quintessential combination for many years, Leo G and Lotus 39 Repco…1969. (John Stanley)
Wonderful portrait of Leo G by Rod MacKenzie in 1970. (Rod MacKenzie Collection)
Tailpiece…
Wonderful ‘Alec Mildren Racing’ film about the 1969 JAF GP won by Leo Geoghegan and contested by several Australians including the Mildren Racing pair, Kevin Bartlett and Max Stewart.
Etcetera…
Black helmet and black T-Shirt…Leo G Lotus 32 Ford 1.5, Hordern Trophy, Warwick Farm December 1964. This was a huge win, the little 1.5 beating the big 2.5 Climax engined Tasman cars in this ‘Gold Star’ round. (Richard Austin)
Leo G (left) & Jackie Stewart Warwick Farm Tasman round February 1967. JYS won the race in his BRM P261, Leo 5th and holding the trophy for first local resident home in his Lotus 32 Ford 1.5. (Dale Harvey)
Leo, Lotus 39 Climax heading for 5th place during the 1967 ‘Warwick Farm 100’ Tasman round, Kevin Bartlett? perhaps behind, Brabham BT11A Climax 6th. (Unattributed)
Leo and Pete Geoghegan won the Surfers Paradise 6 Hour in 1968 in the Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM
Leo G in his Lotus 39 Repco & Chris Amon Ferrari Dino 246T on the cover of MRA 1968. In this form the car was about as good as a 60’s open-wheeler looked. The conversion from Coventry Climax 2.5 FPF to Repco ‘740 Series’ 2.5 Tasman V8 was done by Geoghegans’ crew lead by John Sheppard, the marriage between chassis and engine superbly executed.
Leo Geoghegan leading his compatriot Max Stewart during the 1969 JAF GP. Lotus 39 Repco 2.5 & Mildren Waggott 1.6. Race was F Libre. (Unattributed)
Leo campaigned this Lotus 59 Waggott in 1970 and 1971, winning the Gold Star in the 265bhp 4 cylinder, DOHC injected four valve engined car in 1970. Here at Warwick Farm (lyntonh)
Geoghegan manhandling his Chrysler Valiant RT Charger around Warwick Farm in October 1971. These cars were powered by 265cid in line 6 cylinder OHV, triple Weber 45DCOE engines…together with the Ford Falcon GTHO and Holden Torana GTR XU1 comprised a much loved period of Touring Car racing in Australia. Shortcomings of the Charger were its 3 speed ‘box, 4 speeder from 72’ and under-developed relative to the opposition. Leo G chief test driver/developer and lead driver for Chrysler, cars built at a long since closed factory in Tonsley Park, Adelaide. (Jeff Nield)
Leo Geoghegan and Enno Buesselmann, Sandown 1973. Both Birrana 273 Hart Ford T/cam. (autopics)
Photo and Other Credits…
Bruce Wells, theroaringseason.com, lyntonh, Dale Harvey, autopics.com.au, John Stanley, Rod MacKenzie Collection
Jack Brabham winning the 1969 Australian Gold Star Series event at Easter Bathurst in his Brabham BT31 Repco…he is heading across Mount Panorama between ‘Skyline’ and ‘The Dipper’…
Introduction…
Those who have read the first three Repco articles may recall that we have been chronologically going through the history of Repco’s F1 and Race Engine program of the mid 60’s partially through the eyes of Rodway Wolfe who worked for the company as both technician and storeman during the glory years from 1966.
This article is out of sequence, its’ about Jacks’ 1969 Tasman mount, the Brabham BT31 powered by the Repco ‘830 Series’ 2.5 litre V8, logically the 1967 and 1968 F1/Tasman/Sportscar engines and race records come first. Rodways’ manuscript is running ahead of my own research so we will run with this article now, one he is intensely passionate about for reasons which become obvious, i will re-number once we have covered 1967 and 1968 down the track.
‘In the historic vehicle world there are some fascinating stories of various cars and some seem to just keep accumulating historic events and happenings throughout their existence. The BT31 Repco Brabham is one such car. The following story is mine, I was lucky enough to purchase the BT31 early in its history making saga…
Brabham, BT31, Bathurst Easter 1969. It is such a shame the car did not arrive early enough to compete in the 1969 Tasman and/or the 1970 Tasman, it was potentially a winning car in 1970. ’70 Tasman won by Graeme Lawrences’ ’68 updated Ferrari Dino 246T despite F5000 cars also being eligible that year…(Unattributed)
BT31/1 was constructed by Brabham Cars for Brabham Racing Organisation…(Sir Jack Brabhams works racing team, a separate entity from Jack and Ron Tauranacs’ race car production entity) It was built especially for the 1969 Tasman series, not just a modified Formula 3 car as some have suggested. It was bright red, unique itself as the FI BRO cars were all green and gold.
The engine was a ‘Tasman’ 2.5 litre ‘830 Series’ the car fitted with low profile wheels and tyres and various other features. It was consigned by sea freight to Australia, there seemed to be ample time for its arrival for the start of the Tasman series of races in New Zealand in January 1969.
I managed Repco Brabham Engine Company’s spare parts operation, we awaited the cars arrival with great anticipation. By a twist of fate the Melbourne ‘wharfies’ went on strike due to some industrial problem. They were cooperative and sympathetic to us and offered to unload the car if possible. A search revealed the car crate to be under many hundreds of tons of freight so it was not to be.
Eventually the strike ended and the crate arrived at RB on the Wednesday prior to the last race of the ’69 Tasman Series at Sandown Park, Melbourne. It was very disappointing but Jack being Jack he still wanted to be on the Sandown grid, Repcos’ home town race.
If anyone has been lucky enough to purchase a new Brabham they will know what I am talking about. The cars arrive in a very long crate just wide enough for the chassis and suspension, tanks and body parts are packed along the crate in front of the chassis. In this case a tubular space frame.
As despatch and receiving was part of my job I had the great pleasure of assisting Jack to unpack the car. I have been lucky in my life to have many days I enjoyed to the fullest but that Wednesday with Sir Jack has to rank as the best. I spent the day helping the World Champion assemble his car, imagine a star of today doing that!
Every part went together like a dream, Jack sat in the cockpit while we fitted instruments, adjusted pedals, steering wheel reach etc. We discussed many subjects including his flying in Europe. He asked if I had seen any ‘Brabham Holden Toranas’ in my travels. At the time he had done a deal with General Motors Holden, it was possible to buy a Torana with Brabham badges and gear knob, steering wheel. It was truly a memorable day for a boy from the bush!
Meanwhile my RB colleagues were power testing the ‘830 engine’. It was one of the best and most reliable of our engines. Finally it was fitted and the car was ready for testing mid Friday afternoon prior to the Sandown meeting on Saturday/Sunday.
We loaded the car on an old open trailer of Jacks and set out for Calder Raceway, near Keilor, an hour from Melbourne. Kevin Davies went in his car, I went in mine and I think Michael Gasking took his too. (1959 Australian Gold Star Champion) Len Lukey and his wife took Jack and Betty Brabham and one of the toddler Brabham boys.
Brabham testing at Calder the day before Sandown and the day the cars assembly was completed by Brabham and Wolfe…the DIY World Champion! Brabham is belted in but driving in a ‘parka’, no racesuit.(Rodway Wolfe)
Len Lukey towed the trailer. We stopped at Keilor and Jack disappeared into a house for a few minutes. He borrowed the key to the circuit from Calder owner, Jean Pascoe. We proceeded to the circuit, unloaded the car and with just a handful of us there Jack started testing.
The fuel cam was causing a hesitation coming out of corners but Michael Gasking had a selection of test cams and soon had the fuel mix OK.
Len Lukey parked his car on the infield and they all stayed in the car watching. At one stage Jack walked over and carried his small son to BT31 and took him for a few laps as he sat on Jacks lap, no wonder all those boys raced! Another memorable moment for me. It was such a lovely casual setting with Jack just wearing his Parka jacket, no fireproofs.
We had been there about an 1.5 hours, Jack seemed happy with everything and suddenly into the gate roared a car which skidded to a stop and out jumped a very irate man. He started shouting at us all, especially Jack who was still sitting in the cockpit. He yelled something about no engines were to be started at the circuit after 6pm at night and it was a council by-law etc. He would report us etc. When he finally managed to get a word in Jack calmly said ‘we will pack up now fellas’ the irate man left as fast as he had arrived.
I have often wondered how funny it was that he never knew he was abusing our World Champ!’
Needless to say the car was at Sandown next day for practice…
Jack Brabham, Brabham BT31 Repco, Sandown Tasman 1969, ‘Dandy Road’ corner. Winged in the race, he tested also sans wing. Note the ‘old style’ Buco helmet…Jack was wearing Bell Magnums in Europe, i suspect this is an old helmet left in Oz, ditto the goggles! (Rod MacKenzie)
sergent.com reported the race as follows…
‘It was a battle for pole again between Amon and Rindt, although the dark horse of the meeting was Jack Brabham hurriedly arranging a marriage between a Brabham BT31B F3 chassis and the 2.5 twin-cam Repco V8 engine. It was certainly the smallest and lightest of the V8 powered cars at the meeting, and although he fitted a wing to the rear, Brabham was down on horsepower compared to the other Internationals.
John Harvey was having his first competitive drive in the Bob Jane Repco Brabham BT23 Repco V8 since his Easter accident at Bathurst in 1968, and was using the outing as an extended test session for the coming Gold Star rather than trying to drive a hard race first time out. This was born out by Harvey’s practice time which put him 14th on the grid among the 1.6 F2 cars.
Brabham BT31 #9 beside Derek Bells’ Ferrari Dino 246T, Sandown Tasman grid 1969. Grey haired gent just in shot is Scuderia Veloces’ supremo, David McKay who entered the successful Amon/Bell Ferraris’ in both 1968 and 1969 Tasman. (Mildren Films)
Rindt (Lotus 49 DFW) got the start and lead the field through Shell Corner and held it through the very slow Peter’s Corner, but Amon (Ferrari Dino 246T) used his better gearing for the straight and took the Austrian as they headed over the hill and down toward the Esses. Hill (Lotus 49 DFW) had started in third position but dropped back sharply on the first lap when his throttle linkage came adrift and Courage (Brabham BT24 DFW) broke a previously twisted half shaft down the back of the circuit.
Amon and Rindt started to open a gap to Brabham, who was holding off Bell for third place. Kevin Bartlett (Brabham BT23D Alfa) pulled sharply into the pits on lap 5 with a broken exhaust which threatened to set fire to exposed oil and fuel lines while Hill re-joined the race and set about climbing back through the field. John Harvey spun when his Repco engine overheated and poured out scalding water at Dandenong Corner and he retired with a very sore neck from the results.
Meanwhile Hill was forcing his way back up and he took Levis on lap 33 for sixth place but couldn’t get any higher after his four lap deficit after the start. Garrie Cooper drove steadily throughout the race to finish eighth and first resident Australian home in his own Elfin 600B. Leo Geoghegan hadn’t started as mechanics found a leaking fuel cell in the Lotus 39 Repco V8 and they couldn’t repair it in time.’
Amon won the race and the Tasman Series that year from Rindt and Courage. Rindt and Brabham were second and third in the race.
Check out this fabulous film made by Alec Mildren Racing of the Australian Leg of the 1969 Tasman Series…
After that Sandown event, Jack returned to Europe to commence his F1 campaign for the year. Brabham’s BT26’s fitted with the Ford Cosworth DFV V8 for 1969 rather than the RB 860 Series 3 litre V8’s which had been so unreliable for he and Jochen Rindt in 1968, and caused his decision to bring the F1 partnership with Repco to an end.
The BT31 returned to the Maidstone factory, the engine was removed and the car stored for a while. We had two 830 2.5 litre engines for the car, one of course the spare.
Brabham, Bathurst Easter 1969. (Dale Harvey)
In April 1969 the car was brought out of mothballs and taken to Bathurst for the Easter ‘Bathurst 100’ race…
‘This race has also been widely reported over the years needless to say the BT31 started from the rear of the grid and hosed off all the Australian cars and set a new lap record for open-wheel cars of 2 min 13.2 seconds.’
‘Of course that was the old track layout with the full Conrod Straight and notorious hump. Typical of Jacks foxiness, he fitted both front and rear high wings for Saturday practice which resulted in some teams working frantically all night to install front wings as well to their cars. Of course Jack rolled out the BT31 on race morning minus the high front wing’.
Bi-winged during Easter Bathurst practice. One-off car based on BT28 F3 chassis. Multi-tubular space frame, front suspension by upper and lower wishbones and coil spring/damper units. Rear suspendsion by single top link, inverted lower wishbone, twin radius rods, adjustable sway bars front and rear. Cast magnesium front and rear uprights. Repco ‘830 Series’ 2.5 litre SOHC 295bhp V8, Hewland FT200 5 speed box. (Rodway Wolfe)
The car was suffering some fuel starvation problems in practice. Very hastily the electric fuel pump was borrowed from Charlie Deans’ Lancia road car, some of you may remember Deans contribution to Australian motor racing in the Stan Jones article published a while back;
It assisted fuel flow into a reserve pot arrangement in the fuel system and a switch fitted to the instrument panel. Jack turned the pump on each lap for either the climb up the mountain or the run down Conrod I cannot recall which.
I do remember how great the car sounded down Conrod. It was the days of the apple orchards at Bathurst and BT31 looked magical going down through the apple orchards. When I purchased the car later it retained the Bathurst gearing, Peter Holinger and i calculated 5th gear at 186 mph at 9500 rpm so it was flying!
After the Bathurst meeting the car went to Sydney for display at Jack Brabham Fords’ Bankstown showroom.’
Brabham during Bathurst practice pondering fuel starvation problems…(Rodway Wolfe)
‘Finally the BT31 was returned to our Repco factory at Maidstone…Jack Brabham had since returned to the UK, the cars engine was removed and it sat in a corner gathering dust.
Meanwhile Repco had been negotiating with Jack to purchase the car for the Repco Export Company to place on display in Japan at the upcoming ‘Expo 70’. Repco exported engine components around the world, most people would not know that Rolls Royce in the UK were supplied with Repco piston rings. So the display in Japan was a crucial part of the company’s export drive.
We will never know the details of Repco’s purchase of BT31, all I know it was involved with import duty with the amount paid dependent on the car being used as a race car or for advertising purposes.In other words, if the car was raced a higher level of duty applied than if the car was not.
One morning the works superintendant, Kevin Davies came out of his office and went down to John Brookfield in the welding shop, (John was our magic welder of all things aluminium) and was an excellent engineer. We all heard a bit of a discussion and Kevin disappeared back into his office. John was a big guy, his nickname, ‘Lurch’. We all knew something was wrong as Lurch came out of his welding bay with a red face, set to explode.’
‘Chop up BT31…
He told us with an incredible look on his face; ‘Kevin came and asked me to cut the BT31 chassis in half!!!??? I told him to F….k off and if he wanted it cut in two pieces he would have to find someone else to f…….g cut it for him…’
‘We all rebelled, the entire factory agreed on no destruction of BT31. It was something to do with Repco buying the car from Jack for advertising only, a space frame cut in half of course destroys the car and prevents it being raced. Anyway it was all to do with the usage of the car and the marketing idea at ‘Expo 70′ in Japan was to setup a display using a tunnel with the rear of the car disappearing in one end and the nose coming out of the other.
After a lot of discussion and refusal to damage the car the nose was removed and the bracket holding the radiator cut off the front. I didn’t visit Expo 70 but I understand the display did feature the car entering a tunnel. The car’s front high wing, the nose cone and the front wheels were in my care in our RB store until the car was returned in 1971’.
Editors Note: Without being an expert on Australian race car import laws of the past, the legislators allowed racing cars to be imported free of duty into Australia on the basis that the car left the country annually…perfect for Tasman series competitors as the cars left Oz for NZ to compete each year before returning. Eventually, when the car stays in Oz, duty is payable, therein commenced, often, a lot of ‘jiggery-pokery’ with chassis numbers as impecunious racers, seeking to avoid the taxmans net, applied very old chassis numbers to very new cars! Repco, as an audited public company could not afford to play ‘ducks and drakes’ in this manner. I suspect the scenario Rodway outlines is around the points outlined here. That is, how to minimise the punitive duties whilst remaining ‘kosher’ in the process as large public company.Mark.
BT31/1 cockpit shot taken in 1983 at Sandown. Quintessential 60’s English racing car cockpit; Smiths chronometric tach, oil/water temps/oil pressure, leather bound Mota-Lita wheel and right hand change for the 5 speed Hewland FT200 gearbox. Chassis tubes clear as is aluminium fuel tank to left and right. (Mark Bisset)
‘When the car was returned by sea freight from Japan Repco had undergone huge changes in their motor racing policy…
The whole Repco Brabham project had been dismantled and the factory in Maidstone was being converted to a new company, Repco Dynamics, which was to construct a new concept in automotive wheel balancers. Most of the RB employees, about 70 at the time, were given their marching orders but a few were selected for the new entity or other Repco companies.’
In essence what occurred was the commercial flow on of Jack Brabhams decision to change from Repco to Ford Cosworth power in F1 with effect the 1969 F1 season.
RB Engines raison d’etre was the supply of engines to Brabham; Brabham received race winning engines and Repco reaped the advertising and promotional spinoffs.
The sale of Tasman 2.5 and 4.4/5 litre sports car and other engines in Australia and elsewhere did not generate a commercial return, the parent companies subsidy to keep its RB Engines subsidiary afloat was increasing each year. The PR rub off ended when Jack turned to Cosworth and had lost its gloss in ’68 due to the engines unreliability in F1. Whilst the 2.5 Repcos’ won Gold Star races they never won a Tasman or Gold Star series. Frank Matich’s 1969 Australian Sports Car Championship Matich SR4 Repco win was laudable but again did not, in Repco’s view, justify the significant investment made.
Repco therefore ‘flipped’ the stock of unsold engines and other assets of RB Engines into Redco, a new company, which it continued to support. The deal was probably done that way to maximise the tax effectiveness of the transaction, with Redco then looking after the needs of RB Engine customers needing spares etc, and taking on development of the new Holden ‘308 V8’ as a race F5000 engine, CAMS having finally made the vexed decison of the new ANF1 category between 2 litre race engine and 5 litre F5000 stock block alternatives.
These are topics we will explore in later articles, in essence this is a summary of the circumstances around the issues Rodway addresses above.
Bi-winged BT31 during Bathurst practice. At ‘The Dipper’. (Unattributed)
‘In a corner of the RBE factory a wall was constructed with big doors and ‘No Entry’ signs, the new domain of ‘Repco Engine Development Company’ (REDCO) was set up with Mal Preston as Chief…
The former General Manager of Repco Brabham Engine Co, Frank Hallam was transferred to Repco Research at Dandenong. Don Halpin, John McVeigh, John Mepstead and Brian Heard were placed in the new company with Malcolm Preston.
Being the spoilt brat from the bush, i refused to accept the closing of Repco Brabham which was my life really. I wrote a nice letter to the board and thanked them for employing me through the RB project and told them I was returning to Gippsland. I asked them to re-employ me when they started building F1 engines again. I had been offered a job as Service Manager assistant to Michael Gasking who was the new Chief Engineer of Repco Dynamics.
It did have a huge future and I could not have found a better guy to work with than Michael Gasking but I was young and stubborn.
One day Charlie Dean arrived and said ‘What’s all this about you going home to the farm Rod’ I explained to him how I was not keen on the heavy cast iron 308 Holden engine. I had loved and appreciated my time on the Repco Brabham Engines. Anyway he said ‘right, I want you to work with Malcolm, he will need you to keep up the RB spares around the world as we have to maintain supply’.
‘The Repco Brabham engine spares represented $340,000 in value at that time!, were retained by REDCO, to sell the parts to RB engine owners. I ended up behind the wall with Don Halpin and the other boys. Looking back it was great to have Charlie Dean tell me I couldn’t leave! The time I spent at REDCO with Malcolm is another story altogether.’
Bi-winged BT31 during Easter Bathurst practice, car won sans front wing…and high wings shortly to be banned globally by the FIA during the 1969 Monaco GP weekend. (Dale Harvey)
Buying the Brabham BT31…
‘BT31 arrived back from ‘Expo 70’ in its crate and no one cared. Repco Brabham Engine Co did not exist, all the staff had gone. Mal Preston had not seen the car and was not interested as Charlie was continually on his back about Holden F5000 developments.
I did not envy Mal in those early months of the F5000 project he was under lots of pressure. Charlie Dean was like a small tornado wherever he went.
One day Mal asked me to unpack the BT31 as it was needed for a car show in Mornington. I spent a couple of days reassembling it around a mock ‘830 2.5’. It was rare for us to display a going engine. I recall once doing so with our one magnesium 3 litre, (which disappeared off the planet anyway) so at all times we used mock ups. They were mostly complete but had no internals.
There was no interest in the car, so i decided to write to the Repco Board asking to acquire it. I was a lot younger then but I did have some nous. I decided not to discuss it with anybody as I knew I was a ‘very small gear in a massive gearbox’. I pulled out a figure I would pay and got secretary Coral Allen to type the letter for me but I left a gap where the price offered was to be added later by me! Coral typed it and I duly posted it to the Repco Board. I trusted Coral completely but not all the bosses she typed for!
I really didn’t think I had any chance and I had not even given a thought to how i would pay for it. Malcolm asked if I would take the car to Mornington for a car show that Jim and Bill Leech had a lot to do with. I loaded the car on Jacks old farm trailer and took the car to the show, kept it polished and handed out Repco brochures and answered questions.
It was about mid afternoon when up bowled ‘Tornado’ Charlie Dean. Charlie told me he had read my letter and asked why I wanted to buy the car. I very politely (in Repco you rarely got to speak to a director anyway) told him I loved the cars history and it was important to both Repco’s and Australia’s history. He quickly replied yes we will discuss the matter next week.
He then commented on how good it looked and went to leave but just at that moment up walked one of the Leech brothers, these guys owned some serious cars including a Maserati 300S and Bugatti T37A, Jim was enquiring about the value of BT31, the conversation fortunately stopped when the entourage of Lancias’ arrived which Dean and the Leech boys joined…a close call!
A couple of weeks later I was cleaning the car. All of a sudden the double doors flew open with a crash and out came Mal Preston in ‘full flight’ RODWAY he shouted, ‘Did you write to the Repco Board offering to buy this car without even consulting me? I am your boss and the least you could do is tell me’ He was furious. He asked ‘Why didn’t you consult me first’. I replied in a rather shocked state, because you possibly would have talked me out of it Mal. He shouted at me for a minute then disappeared back to his office again. I was very low. I realised I had done my dash and might not even have a job!
A few minutes later Mal appeared very quiet and subdued. ‘I am very sorry for that outburst Rodway, I have thought about your reply and you are probably right, I would have bloody well talked you out of it’. It is of great credit to Malcolm that he was that sort of boss. He treated us all as equals and he got the most out of his employees that way. As he went to depart I called to him. Are you with me or against me Mal, he turned and said I will help you all I can. The matter was never discussed between us again.
During the following weeks I heard all kinds of stories about BT31. Several people wanted to buy it internally. BT31 was built in 1968, by then it was 1971, it had only raced twice by Sir Jack himself and was still setup as he raced it including all decals, accessories, gear ratios etc. It certainly was not an old car as some have suggested. There must have been many discussions and arguments about what was going to happen to the car within Repco until one night about 6 pm I was consigning some parcels, when Mal Preston came storming out of his office over to my desk.
RODWAY he shouted again, ‘I want you to get that F…..g car out of this f…..g workshop tonight, load it on a f……g trailer and I never ever want to see the f…….g car again ! As he stormed back to his office I called what about the money, as I had to get it. He shouted out he didn’t care at all about that just get it out of here now’.’
‘And so, BT31/1 was Mine…
BT31 spent the night on Jack Brabham’s old trailer in suburban Burke Road, Kew where I was living at the time with not much car parking. Anyway it was still there next morning! I rang up my good friend Peter Holinger who was now, after the Repco Brabham closure working in his own workshop in Warrandyte. He was happy to store the car in return for making a duplicate chassis for himself. He had decided to build another hillclimb car to replace the Vincent powered one that had brought him so much success.
Now that I had it I had to pay for it!, fortunately a wealthy uncle, who had a large, successful bakery business came to the party. It took a while for Repco to process my cheque, i firmly believe had i not paid for the car no-one would have asked for the money.
I left the car in Holingers’ care, it was in the safest of hands. He photographed the suspension and measured all the lengths of the components and duplicated the space frame so well that years later at Morwell Hillclimb he borrowed the shock absorbers and a few bits from BT31 and won the event with some of my suspension parts. He even used the fibreglass seat insert to make a pattern for another one.’
‘830 Series Engines, Paperwork and BT31’s Rarity…
Repco ‘830 Series’ 2.5 litre ‘Tasman’ V8. SOHC gear driven per bank, Lucas fuel injection, 295bhp @ 9000rpm. Note the heavily ribbed block, and below the ribbing socket head cap screws to ‘cross bolt’ the main bearing caps. This engine is ex Garrie Cooper Elfin 600D and has the later ‘Indy’ sump assy and combined oil pressure/scavenge pump. (TNF)
BT31 was fitted with Repcos’ latest ‘830 Series’ Tasman V8. The engine was first used by Brabham in his BT23E in practice for the 1968 Sandown Tasman round, he raced with an ‘840 Series’, which failed, Jim Clark winning the race in his Lotus 49DFW.
The ‘830’ incorporated the shorter, more rigid ‘800 Series’ block developed for the 1968 F1 engines by Norm Wilson with the ’30 Series’ cross-flow SOHC heads. With a bore and stroke of 3.34X2.16 inches, the engine developed 295bhp @ 9000rpm and weighed 150Kg.
‘The 830 was such a good reliable engine Jack stated that had Repco developed a 3 litre version (despite what people may tell you, we never EVER built a 3 litre 830 but I think Don Halpin has since) we would have quite possibly have retained the World Champioship in 1968.
Jack said that the 830 was such a great engine in 2.5 form and was so much lighter than the oposition despite being down on horsepower by comparison. I remember Jack saying to us fellows in the engine assy area one day. ‘If Ferrari had the horsepower they claim to have they would be leaving me behind by a much bigger margin than they are leaving me behind’ !!! We will never know what the 830 would have produced at 3 litres capacity?’
At the time, two 2.5 Litre 830’s were built for the car. Other 830’s were subsequently built for other Tasman competitors.
‘Now as our commercial manager Bob Sippo had been moved on to the Repco Replex Company we had no-one really able to make any commercial decisions. One night the Bob Jane Racing fellas turned up and I was informed that we were lending them one of the 2.5 litre 830 engines. (for the Bob Britton built ‘Jane Repco’, a car constructed on Brittons BT23 Brabham jig at his Sydney, Rennmax facility)
What the various companies and individual teams were charged was up to the manager and the accountants, this applied to all customers including Jack Brabham, he was of course sponsored by Repco.
So I did as I was told. Later the Bob Jane Racing boys arrived again, their car was going to Tasmania for the next meeting and they needed a spare! Well that of course meant the spare BT31 engine went too. Now as this was while the car was in Japan on display with a mock up engine and I never of course dreamed of ever owning the car I just did as instructed. The person instructing me never really had the authority to lend either engine but the factory was in disarray and the Jane organisation had been great ambassadors of our engines, the decision made sense at the time.
Neither engine ever came back of course as many others did not either. I knew about stock control and the hazards of stuff being squirreled away, the amount of stock of RB parts and even engines that were removed from my store illegally is staggering. No names, no packdrill!
I was not the least concerned about obtaining an engine, i had a good mock-up engine anyway and their were still enough bits around to build an engine.
I was not ambitious enough to buy the car to drive it as at the time I believed it was ultra valuable as an historic car, totally original as described above.
To me it is as collectible as BT19, Jacks 1966 World Championship car now in the Victorian Historic Racing Register, Melbourne, museum in Box Hill. One of the BT31 engines lay under a work bench at Bob Jane Racing for quite a time so was available to any collector.
In contrast I went to Sydney and called at Jack Brabham Ford to see BT19 when it arrived from the UK. A salesman showed me what was left of an F1 car. There was not too much of the car there, no engine and lots of parts missing. I am not sure if the wheels were there. Later BT19 was totally restored by Jim Shepherd to as new condition, Don Halpin built an original ‘620 Series’ Oldsmobile engine for it.
What I am saying is that BT 19 did not have an original engine or body and was mostly built up to original, BT31 in contrast even had the Bathurst tyres still on it and was totally original with an original engine available.’
Rod Wolfe, Brabham BT31/1 and faithful Leyland P76 towcar, mid ’80’s Sandown. Car fitted with mock-up ‘740 Series’ exhaust between the Vee, V8 in this shot. (Rodway Wolfe)
‘Working on the Repco F5000 Engine and home to Gippsland…
With the BT31 safely stored with Peter Holinger I continued at REDCO assisting with the new Repco Holden F5000 engine. We were all busy with only 5 of us to do everything, Mal Preston had a big job to do. Don Halpin was in charge of the workshop, he was exactly the right choice to work with Malcolm. Malcolm was always thinking, I mean always! so he would expect problems before they had a chance to happen in an uncanny sort of way and Don was seemingly unruffled at any problem so the combination worked very well with some very amusing conversations between them at times.
I had a variety of duties as I did stuff including porting cylinder heads and all the consignment of RBE parts and acquisition of F5000 bits. I enjoyed working with all my mates from the RB project and despite our regular ‘innings’ on various subjects I admired Mal Preston very much and learnt a lot from his rather unusual management style. He did tell me once after one of our sparring matches that out of all the boys I was the one most likely to end up working for myself eventually! I never worked out if it was a compliment or not.
Mal Preston was the right man for that F5000 project, his passing recently was very sad.
As I was not that happy with the situation, it was not a personal reason but a Repco political situation, eventually I resigned to go home to Gippsland. I ended up at Peter Holinger’s working with Pete and his wife Bev, after a period with them I departed Melbourne and towed BT31 behind to Gippsland. The car was a bit out of place on a farm in the country and various articles were appearing in motor magazines about it.
In my spare time I used to fully dismantle it and got to know every nut and bolt. My small son was toddler size and I used to make up a bed for him in the cockpit where he slept until the early hours of the morning and loved it. I am sorry to inform subsequent owners that my son holds the record for most hours in the cockpit!
I had the chassis gently sand cleaned and repainted by a good friend. You have to be very gentle with a space frame as you can upset the tension of the various tubes if it is sandblasted too severely. It was a satisfying pastime getting to know exactly what went into a Repco Brabham design.
I was a Kawasaki motorcycle dealer for a time and used BT31 as a display feature in the country showroom, it enabled me to meet lots of interesting people.
I would have loved to convert the BT31 to a hill climb car for myself as I had hill climbed a Cooper Mini and usually won my class at Morwell Hill Climb and loved it but I really believed to break that magic of Jack Brabham being the only driver and all original condition I would be a fool. One of my aims was to get recognition of Repco Brabham in Australia, even Phil Irving told me how Repco had totally missed the boat when it came to claiming the fame that they should have been recognised for.
I wrote to Ampol (Australian oil company) first giving them all the details and informing them of their association with the car. The car still had the Ampol decals on the nose cone too. A little secret here, we never did use Ampol oil, it was Shell ‘Super M’ in Ampol drums but that’s normal in advertising, only because Ampol did not make a racing oil. But even at director level they were not really interested. I have a file of old letters from various Australian Companies and museums. There was just no real interest.
I eventually moved to Metung on the Gippsland Lakes in the late ’70s and began a new sort of engineering with boats and became a Volvo Penta service agent.
BT31 gave me a huge insight into motor racing and motor sport generally. Many people were attracted to the car and i got to know them as a consequence. The legendary race car engineer John Sheppard spent holidays at Metung, we had many hours talking about his times including managing the Holden Dealer Team after Harry Firth.
The great Peter Brock and his engineer at the time, Bruce Nowacki spent hours leaning on the cars rear wing, Pete was a fantastic source of driving and handling technique so I was in another world. He and Bev even came and stayed at our holiday accommodation in Metung.
One day a guy showed up wanting to see BT31. He introduced himself as Austin Miller, or Aussie Miller. He was a fantastic character, he owned a crop dusting and spraying company in Northern Victoria. On looking up his past I realised just who he was. The fastest man on wheels in Australia prior to the Bluebird of Donald Campbell. A legend of Australia’s Motor Sports’ past and in the Guinness Book of Records.
I also featured the car on display at various race meetings. One Sandown meeting was very special. I met and talked for an hour or more with the great John Surtees. He was so down to earth and discussed the Italian Grand Prix between he and Jack Brabham at Monza in 1967. I also met and talked to Tom Wheatcroft, he told me all about Donington Park, his race circuit in the UK.
All these people could see my dedication to the Repco Brabham engines and they responded by letting go on their own particular Motor Sport interests.’
BT31/1 and ‘Penthouse Pet of The Year’ Tracey Wallace..shot of poor resolution sadly. AGP Calder auction 1980. (Rodway Wolfe)
‘Time To Sell…
Finally as the salt air beside the lake at Metung was getting to the car, I was disappointed with the lack of interest in preservation of BT31.
So I sent the car to auction prior to the 1980 Grand Prix at Calder. I set a reserve price, there was lots of hype and Alan Jones and Tracy Wallace (Miss Penthouse of the year) and other Australian motoring greats.I passed it in after a very good bid but slightly under my reserve. So I returned to Metung and kept the car for another term.
One day I received an offer from a museum owner who wanted the car for his collection. At last I thought I was on to something to keep me happy with the RB history. I believed this guy had the resources to purchase a going engine from Bob Jane. The guy purchased the car and forwarded a deposit and made several payments but never the full amount so the sale fell through.
I decided if Australia didn’t want the car I would advertise it in ‘Road and Track’. There were problems in placing the ad as they decided the car was a replica and didn’t want to run the advertisement! In the meantime a guy showed up in a Rolls Royce asking about it. He was a Sydney specialist Doctor. He specialised in repairing people after bombs had exploded, especially facial damage. He made up new jawbones from other body parts etc. It was a gruesome job, he had worked for many years in Ireland for experience. He never smiled and actually reminded me a bit of the film star Jack Palance. The Rolls Royce was filthy, covered in mud and he explained it had been in a motorkhana the weekend before!
He wanted BT31 and as I was browned off generally as all my attempts to preserve it for Australia had flown out the window. I had the advantage of already obtaining most of the required funds due to the museums closure and failure of the previous sale. So I agreed to sell the car, it was 1984. We did a deal and Don Halpin arranged to construct an engine for him.
Finally the ‘R&T’ ad bore fruit as Bib Stillwell contacted me. He was President of the LearJet Corporation in America at the time and wanted to buy BT31. Of course being a mate of Jack Brabham’s he knew all about the car. I explained that I had received a deposit and had sold it to the Sydney doctor subject to his final cheque arriving. Much to Bibs’ frustration, he tried hard to convince me to sell the car to him but i had committed to Dr William Marshall. Bib got his wish and did buy the car later, he won a lot of races ‘in period’ with Brabhams and was keen to own it.
Marshall put a team together and did race the car for a time and had a fairly serious crash during his term of ownership.’
Dr William Marshall in the cockpit, older gent former RBE Commercial Manager Bob Sippo and a mechanic, Sandown, not long after the cars ‘re-debut’. (Rodway Wolfe)
‘Bib Stillwell and BT31…
Some time later I was invited to an historic Sandown meeting and sure enough there was Bib Stillwell with BT31 looking great in the Stillwell green colours, he bought the car from Marshall in 1987. I was looking at the car in the pits and had not made myself known and said in my typical fashion. ‘Hey what’s with this green’ a big guy stood up and said and why shouldn’t it be green. I piped up that it was built red, raced red and Bib hearing all this came over and said hello.
We ended up very good friends. At one stage he said ‘You should have sold it to me first Roddy’. I was impressed with his driving that day. He really put in. I also suspect a little extra effort because I was there in his pit, when he came back he was covered in perspiration and all red in the face. He walked over and put his arm around my shoulder and said ‘How was that Roddy did I do a good enough job?’. I was pleased that he cared what that I had kept the car in original shape for so long. He was a born racer as Bob Jane was as well. They were not just collectors they were users and drivers.
We Repco boys were invited to Geelong on Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay for a special sprint meeting on the waterfront. The Geelong sprints are a wonderful spectacle on a good day. During the afternoon Don Halpin came in to the RB tent and said to me ‘Bibs gone in’ of course meaning an accident. We did not all rush down there of course and later I became aware that somehow it had been a very bad accident and Bib had multiple fractures of his legs. He had an extensive stay in Geelong hospital and sadly I think that he never recovered fully from that accident.
It was a long and tough call on Bib and he was no spring chicken. He also had lots of problems as the bottom had dropped out of new car sales in Australia. Sometime later he tragically collapsed and died of a heart attack in his Kew showroom. I don’t think that the BT31 had added much to his fine racing career.
The car was rebuilt and sold overseas and has since changed hands numerous times, but is back in Australia.
Nowadays I have the great pleasure of occasionally seeing BT31 in flight under various owners and I was impressed to see the car looking so good at Phillip Island in 2014. It gives me a lot of satisfaction in my older age and the reception I get from the younger owners is pleasing to say the least.
Long live BT31, the only one built and built specially as a works car for Sir Jack Brabham to race in Australia. You cannot get a car much more historic than that’.’
BT31 Phil Irving and Bib Stillwell, Sandown, late 1990’s. Stillwell won 3 of his 4 1960’s Australian Gold Star Championships in Brabhams, a World Class steerer in his day. (Rodway Wolfe)
Kevin Bartlett track testing BT31, whilst owned by William Marshall in 1987 at Oran Park, Sydney for ‘Wheels’ magazine. Bartlett typically sideways! (Wheels)
Etcetera…Track Test of BT31/1 by Kevin Bartlett in 1987…
Australian Gold Star Champion in 1968 and 1969, Bathurst Winner and ex-Brabham racer Kevin Bartlett track tested the car for ‘Wheels’ magazine, the article written by Graham Howard was published in August 1987. These are excerpts from that article;
‘…The car fires up and Bartlett hops right into it, giving it three hard bootfuls of throttle on the way to the first corner. Just so the car knows whos’ boss right? To the onlookers there is no doubt. All the gearchanges go in, the throttle work is smooth and confident. Progressively he is getting faster everywhere, braking later-tho still a bit early, it seeems, and now after a few laps starting to find the outside of the kerbs on the way out of corners’. Then he comes in.
KB, ‘It doesn’t like getting its power to the ground, does it. And the brakes are a worry. The front to rear balance is not right. The throttle needs heavier return springs’. He removes the seat and goes again. ‘Its a good torquey little engine from 3100-3200’. He suggests shock and tyre pressure changes. Present day Australian Historic Regs don’t allow a wing which Bartlett concludes it needs.
‘You can see the understeer into the corner but his exits are clean, decisive much steadier as he steers the car with its own noise, vanishing away with successive upward shrieks of acceeleration, gearchange, more acceleration. He is fast and accurate and the impressive thing is how, with a very peaky engine and a car with a willingness to break into wheelspin, Bartlett is stringing together lap after lap without a slip. No extravagant wheelspin, no attitude on the car, this mate, this is car control.’
Says KB, ‘Its understeering, just, which is the way they used to be. A bit, thats all on turn in, but you fix that with the throttle. It is better with the lower tyre pressures and stiffer rear shocks, not perfect but better. The engine starts to work at 5000 and at 6000 the cams come in, so you’ve got to drive it between 6000-7500. Any engine like this you have to work it right thru its range. No point having your gears too close. Its a good engine though, a good car.’
Graham Howard asked KB how his 1968 Gold Star winning Brabham BT23D Alfa (2.5 litre T33 V8 engine) would go up against BT31…’It would be very even, it would depend on the driver. I feel the chassis we had, with the Alfa V8, might have got the power to the ground better. But with the right tyres and a wing this car could be fantastic. The actual driving position is full of memories. I did my championship years in cars like this. It feels like home again.’
Bartlett BT31 in profile, Oran Park 1987. KB raced Brabhams BT2 Ford, BT11A Climax, BT23D Alfa, BT43 Chev and others in his successful single-seater years…(Wheels)
PhotoCredits…
Rodway Wolfe, Dale Harvey, Rod MacKenzie, Dick Simpson, Mildren Films,The Nostalgia Forum, Bob Frankel
Bibliography…
sergent.com, ‘Maybach to Holden’ Malcolm Preston, ‘Historic RacingCars in Australia’ John Blanden, Wheels magazine, Rodway Wolfe Collection, Racing Car News
Alf Barrett leads Frank Kleinig, Alfa 8C2300 Monza and Kleinig Hudson Spl, Australian Grand Prix, Mount Panorama, Bathurst 1947…
This was the race within the race, these quite different cars were outright contenders but the AGP was a handicap Formula Libre event in those days, the race was won by Bill Murray in an MG TC, neither Barrett nor Kleinig finished.
Alf Barrett and the Monza were the fastest combination in the immediate pre and post-war periods in Australia, he was and is regarded as one of the country’s greatest drivers.
Noted motoring writer and journalist Mike Kable wrote in 1998 upon Barretts’ death, ‘Alf Barrett was known as the maestro. It was an appropriate nickname because of his achievements between and after World War 2 in a supercharged straight 8 Alfa Romeo 2300 Monza at his favourite circuit – Mount Panorama at Bathurst, New South Wales.’
‘The dapper Barrett drove the thoroughbred Italian car with world class finesse and flair with exceptional physical and mental coordination and intense concentration that enabled him to control sliding the car at its absolute limits with a calm smooth flick-of-the-wrist precision. Seeing the black-helmeted Barrett in action, sitting high in the cockpit, wearing his trademark dark blue short sleeved shirt was a never-to-be forgotten treat.’
‘In an era of self funded amateurs who drove for token prize money, the challenging 6.2 mile Mount Panorama circuit was the standard setter by which the best drivers were judged. Barrett became the master in 1940 with an against-the-odds victory in the New South Wales Grand Prix. The classic race was a handicap with Barrett starting from scratch position, many of his rivals had already covered several laps before he started. He went on with a stunning performance where he set a new outright lap record that made the ‘King of the Mountain’. He had started last and finished first’.
This quite stunning, evocative shot was taken by racer/specials builder George Reed at Bathurst during the 1947 AGP weekend. Barrett is in the car, Alan Ashton being passed ‘plugs by Gib Barrett during a pitstop. Its a wonderful juxtaposition of the ‘high technology’ of the day with the rural NSW backdrop (George Reed/Dacre Stubbs Collection)
Barrett was born in 1908 to a well to do family in the affluent Melbourne suburb of Armadale. He and his brother Julian or ‘Gib’ inherited their father’s passion for cars. Before too long the boys were experimenting with all kinds of petrol powered devices in the large grounds of their home.
Not too far away a young mechanic, Alan Ashton, was serving his time as an apprentice at AF Hollins Motors, the three of them met and were messing around with cars and bikes which they tested at Aspendale Speedway. Alf and Alan built their first racing car, a Morris Bullnose Special in 1933, initially entering hillclimbs, it was competitive too, winning the Junior 50 and Winter 100 at Phillip Island in 1934.
Ad for AF Hollins, Australian Motor Sports 1947
Barrett then bought the ex-Jack Day Lombard AL3 in late 1935, and raced the car in his first Australian Grand Prix at Victor Harbor (correct spelling), in South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula on December 26, 1936.
It was the first AGP held outside Victoria and has been known over time as the 1937 AGP despite being held on Saturday 26 December 1936…and named when held as the South Australian Centenary Grand Prix. It seems this ‘corruption of history’ as historian John Medley called it, commenced in the 1950s, whence it originated nobody seems to know.
The Sporting Car Club of South Australia was formed in 1934 and played an active part in the celebration of 100 years of European settlement of South Australia, the piece de resistance of the organising South Australian Centenary Committee was SA’s first real road race held 50 miles from Adelaide on the Fleurieu Peninsula, only a few miles from the mouth of the mighty Murray River on public roads between Port Elliott and Victor Harbor, then as now a summer playground. The event was run over 32 laps, 240 miles.
The race attracted the best cars and drivers from all around Australia, the limit men of the handicap race drove MG K3s and Bugatti Types 37 and 43 and over 50,000 paying customers came to an event then a long way from Adelaide.
Barrett entered the Morris for Colin Anderson, his MG P type for Tim Joshua, driving the Lombard himself. He had a handicap of 21 minutes but lost a supercharger pop-off valve and failed to finish, Anderson’s Morris was delayed by overheating problems and was flagged off. Tim Joshua drove an exceptional race in the P-Type and was leading the event for some laps before a seven minute stop in the pits for unidentified maladies, he finished the race second behind the winning MG P-Type of Les Murphy.
The Victor Harbour road circuit used for ‘the 1937 AGP’ used public roads as the map shows close to the Southern Ocean, joining Port Elliott and Victor Harbour (The Advertiser)Barrett racing his Morris Cowley Spl in the 1938 Kings Birthday Grand Prix, Wirlinga road circuit on the outskirts of Albury, NSW (unattributed)
In the 1938 AGP Barrett again raced the 1927 Lombard but the Cozette supercharged car, running off 22 minutes, retired from the race held at Mount Panorama. Visiting Englishman Peter Whitehead won in his ERA Type-B off a very favourable handicap winning from Les Burrows’ Terraplane Spl.
As part of the Albury 150th anniversary celebrations a new 4.2-mile circuit was laid out on public roads at Wirlinga, an Albury suburb. Albury is a town on the Murray River on the New South Wales/Victoria border.
Barrett contested the Kings Birthday Grand Prix or Interstate Grand Prix – the event seems to have been attributed a variety of names – in the Cowley on 19 March 1938, it was won by local Wangaratta boy Jack Phillips in his self built Phillips Ford V8 Spl.
Barrett competing in the Morris Bullnose Spl, Lobethal 50 Mile Handicap in 1938. Kayannie Corner. The practice would be put to good use the following year (Norman Howard)This is the fabulous cover of John Blanden’s seminal book ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’. The fact that Barrett and the Monza, of the hundreds of cars and drivers written about in the publication made the cover says everything about the noted late historian’s opinion of Barrett and his place in the pantheon of Australian drivers…the scene depicted is at Bathurst 1938. Alan Ashton and Alf changing a wheel on the Monza.‘The Maestro, Alf Barrett, with the Alfa Romeo Monza at Rob Roy on 30 January 1939. The Black Friday fires preceded this photo by just sixteen days’ wrote Bob. Barrett right on the limit, glorious shot (Bob King)
In late 1938 Barrett acquired and imported the Monza from the UK, it had been raced successfully there by AP ‘Ginger’ Hamilton.
Chassis #2211134 was built in 1932 and sold to Raymond Somner. He won the Marseilles Grand Prix at Miramas in September 1932 and several other events selling the car back to the factory, having acquired a Maserati for 1933. Hamilton bought it in late 1933 and raced the car extensively in the ensuing five years, there is a comprehensive record of the car’s competition record in Europe in at the end of this article.
When the Monza arrived in Australia it was prepared by Alan Ashton, he acquired a reputation as one of the most talented engineers in the country, fettling cars for Barrett until the end of his career and later Tony Gaze and then Lex Davison throughout his reign in the 1950s and 1960s as well as various international drivers who sought his talents.
The Alfa arrived in time for the last pre-war AGP held on the fast, daunting road course at Lobethal in South Australia’s Barossa Valley.
Barrett Lobethal 1939 AGP, superb Norman Howard shot. Sandbags, barb wire fences, eucalypts, crowd on the hill, wonderful. Dangerous but wonderful…Bucolic Lobethal in the late 1930s. The race progressed into, through and out of the main road shown in this aerial shot (State Library of SA)Barrett during practice with a passenger, a fearsomely quick ride on this roller-coaster, technically difficult circuit of the brave, skilled and committed. Kayannie Corner, Lobethal AGP 1939. Railway line to Adelaide behind, bucolic delights of Lobethal clear to see (Norman Howard)Barrett sorts himself and his new Monza out at the start of the 1939 AGP at Lobethal SA. He stalled the car and was well behind the field by the time he cleared fouled plugs (Norman Howard)
South Australian, Patrick Atherton in his website ‘Lagler Racing’ paints a vivid picture of the circuit, these are still public roads upon which you can drive thus…
‘From the old start-finish and grandstand area north of Charleston you could be forgiven for thinking it’s nothing special. No really challenging corners just sweeping curves. But put it into context; these cars had spindly wires and tyres, cart springs and beam axles and near useless drum brakes. These ‘curves’ are all blind. There are crests preceding all of them, particularly the bridges, which funnel into chutes. Think of these machines dropping on to their suspension in mid-air whilst turning at 100mph.
Through the little town of Charleston, with it’s pub (still there) the crowds were thick. Stories abound of drivers stopping, mid practice sessions for a pint or two.Out past here are frightening kinks, all blind, all crests and dips. Then a blind right hand kink sucks you into Kayannie corner, the tight right hander leaving Woodside Road and heading towards the township of Lobethal. Here the spectators got off the train from Adelaide straight into spectator areas at the side of the track, driver’s left.
The climb up the hill is significant, mostly straight for almost two km, but at the top, this track steals straight from the soul of Nurburgring. Lined by trees, the blind crest plummets away left, bottoms out right, drops away again, into a rollercoaster left. Then it flattens, raises slightly, then another drop into the braking area for the hard right hander (Mill corner) into Lobethal’s main street. Even the main street isn’t straight. Past the pub on the right there’s now a little ribbon of paving (Indianapolis-style) across the road and a plaque to commemorate the racing era.
Up the hill it funnels between shops and houses and then there is the blind, off-camber Gumeracha Corner, which claimed lives. The stretch from here to the start-finish hairpin has to be experienced. 5 km of crests, blind curves, feature changes and major undulation. Here is where the truly great drivers would have made up time on nothing more than sheer bravery. Indeed they did, and one in particular, winner Alan Tomlinson.’
Wonderful high speed pan of the 8C2300 Monza, and its dark blue shirted driver, Lobethal 1939 (Norman Howard)AGP Meeting crowd scene, Lobethal 1939…captures the atmosphere and undulatig nature of the roads. (State Library of SA)
Jack Saywell had the car with the most potential, an Alfa P3 fitted with a 2.9-litre supercharged straight-eight, Barrett’s Monza, also designed by Vittorio Jano, had a less sophisticated 2.3-litre supercharged straight-eight. A big incident in practice involved Barrett’s avoidance of a slow moving MG, the Monza ran off the road at high speed, a rear wheel hitting a gutter and throwing the car high into the air before landing 20 metres down the road. Alf brought the car back under control, but the incident caused a bent back axle and buckled wheel, both of which were fixed by Ashton overnight. However, the wheelbase was two inches shorter on one side of the car than the other.
60,000 people attended the event, Barrett stalled at the start, losing five minutes in the process. He finished eighth, the handicap event was won in legendary fashion by Alan Tomlinson in a supercharged MG TA Spl.
Despite his handicap Tomlinson ‘punched way above his weight’, his preparation for the race was meticulous. He walked the circuit in the weeks prior to the event and drove around it in another TC practicing each section patrticularly the 5Km stretch from Gumeracha Corner to the Start-Finish hairpin, he knew that section would be key for a driver in a notionally slower car, if you were brave enough…Tomlinson was to say after the race that Saywell’s Alfa held him up on that stretch! Tomlinson returned to Lobethal in 1940 for the SA Trophy and almost lost his life in an horrific accident after colliding with another car, careering off the road through a wire fence, lucky not to be decapitated, and hit a tree. The young WA driver did not race again but lived into his 90s.
Check out this fabulous documentary on the short but sweet history of Lobethal road circuit…https://vimeo.com/83756140
The Monza quickly established lap records at Lobethal, Bathurst, Albury Wirlinga, Nowra, Ballarat and Point Cook. It’s last pre-war start was at Wirlinga in 1939, winning a short handicap and setting a lap record of over 90mph on the gravel course.
During WW2 Alf and Gib served in the RAAF, returning to racing after hostilities ceased, in late 1946 the Monza was again race prepared.
Barrett showing the deftness of touch and relaxed driving style for which he was famous. Monza, Bathurst AGP 1947 (John Blanden Collection)
The first race meeting organised by the LCCA in Victoria was at Ballarat Airfield in February 1947, the RAAF made the facility available for creation of a road circuit.
Over 30,000 people attended the meeting which featured all of the stars of the day. Barrett thrilled the crowds with his driving and the sight and sound of the fabulous supercharged straight-eight engine. Alf didn’t beat the handicappers though, off scratch, he gave away 22 minutes to the limitman, Hollinshead’s MG J2, victory in the feature race, the Victorian Trophy went to Doug Whiteford in ‘Black Bess’, the Ford V8 Spl later to win the 1950 AGP.
This fantastic bit of footage shows both the Ballarat 1947 event and 1961 international meeting contested by Dan Gurney, Graham Hill and many others. Don’t be put off by the commentary, Barrett is driving his Monza not an Alfa P3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2uwd7m6UGo
At Nowra, a new airstrip venue in June, Barrett won both the over 1500cc event and 110 mile NSW Championship in the Monza achieving both the fastest lap at 93mph and time, despite a pitstop.
Whilst motor racing recommenced post-war in Paris on September 9, 1945 the first post-war Australian event seems to be a hillclimb at Foleys Hill out of Sydney, whilst the AGP was not held until 1947 at Bathurst.
Despite problems with the police in getting the requisite permit and dissension in the ranks of the drivers, there were 29 acceptances and 22 race starters.
The caption of this photo is of ‘Alf Barrett receives the chequered flag October 1947’, he DNF’d the AGP so perhaps this is the finish of a preliminary race. Wonderful shot all the same (unattributed)
Barrett’s Monza was off scratch due to the absence of Saywell’s faster P3, it’s engine was dispatched by sea prewar to Italy for a rebuild, never to survive the voyage. Lex Davison entered a Mercedes SSK 38/250, the first of many successful AGPs for the Victorian, other fast cars included the Kleinig Hudson Spl of Frank Kleinig, Hope Bartlett’s Dixon Riley and Ewing’s Buick Spl.
Lex Davison leads Alf Barrett AGP 1947. Mercedes 38/250 and Alfa Monza respectively…it would not be long till Lex imported a Jano designed Alfa of his own – a P3 in 1948 – Davison set the fastest overall race time in the fearsome 7.6-litre SSK but was classified third under the handicap system (Byron Gunther)
Practice was on the preceding Thursday and Sunday, Barrett enlivened proceedings by taking all and sundry for rides around Mount Panorama in the Monza, as did Lex Davison in his Merc complete with linen helmet, goggles, coat and tie!
Barrett gave away 37 minutes to the first car away, Alf lapping at 3:08 and 124mph down the ‘narrow, bumpy and spooky Conrod Straight between the trees’ but retired on lap 27 with valve insert trouble – he really didn’t ever have a surplus of AGP luck!, the race was won by Bill Murray’s MG TC.
‘Alf in his 8C2300 was the fastest driver in Australia in 1947’ according to John Medley but for 1948 the level of competition increased with Tony Gaze and Lex Davison importing a 2-litre supercharged Alta and Alfa Romeo P3/Tipo B respectively.
Barrett with a passenger sans helmet…before the 1947 AGP at Mount Panorama. What a wild ride it must have been (Byron Gunther)
The 1948 AGP was held at Point Cook, it’s easy to forget the context of the post war times in a low key year for motor racing in Australia, John Medley in Cars and Drivers #3 wrote ‘The post war age of austerity with its restrictions and ration books still prevailed with a shortage of fuel, oil, paper, steel, food and power.’
’In fact fuel rations were tightened during the year which placed a limit on the number of events…The mainstay of Australian motor racing still remained the homebuilt sprecial, a few of them single-seaters but most two seaters used on the road with number plates and lights, and for racing.’
With ‘B24 Liberator’ and one Bristol Beaufighter aircraft as a backdrop Barrett leads Bill Ford’s Hudson Spl (seventh) and Dennis Curran’s Willys Ford V8 Spl (fifth) during his brief race in conditions which were amongst the hottest of any AGP. Fantastic evocative shot (George Thomas)
Point Cook is in Melbourne’s inner western suburbs, it was the first time the AGP was held at an airforce base and the first AGP not held on a course using public roads.
26 cars entered the event held on Australia Day, 26 January. It was over 42 laps of a 3.85 km circuit comprising airfield runways, taxiways and service roads, a total distance of 100 miles. Only 10 cars completed the race which was held in excruciating hot conditions, no shade was to be had on the desolate airfield. The handicap event, AGPs were not held as scratch events until 1951, was won by Frank Pratt a Geelong, Victoria motorcycle racer/dealer in a BMW 328.
Barrett started the race poorly having some issues which slowed him down then was the fastest car in the race for a while before withdrawing from the event with heat exhaustion on lap 22. He was far from alone, only 10 cars finished as stated above.
Alf contested the Easter Bathurst meeting which comprised some short handicap races, he didn’t win but set fastest lap in his Alfa, Gaze blew the Alta’s 2-litre engine and Davison retired early after troubles arising from a spectacular practice crash. The feature, handicap race, the NSW 100 was won by John Barraclough’s MG NE with a fine battle between the Barrett and Davison Alfas. Barrett in the older car broke the lap record at 3m 01 seconds with Davo recording 144mph down Conrod in the P3, a new straight line speed record at Mount Panorama.
Melbourne Cup Weekend in November seems to have been Alf’s final race with the Monza, winning his class at Rob Roy Hillclimb at the Australian Hillclimb Championship.
With a growing family and a business to run Barrett sold the Monza and retired from racing, not entirely though! He retired at the top, John Medley commenting about 1948 as follows…’Cars new to the scene included Lex Davison’s Alfa P3 and Tony Gaze’s two Altas with Alf Barrett’s Monza Alfa Romeo still the car to beat in major races’
The Monza passed into the hands of Rupert Steele in late 1949.
A Victorian, he was very quickly on the pace, his previous experience in a Bentley, practising the Alfa on the back roads between Beaconsfield and Dandenong to help get the feel of the fabulous machine.
He raced at Fishermans Bend, was sixth in the SA Championship at Nuriootpa in 1949 and put that practice to good effect in the 1950 AGP, which was also held on that quick road course in the Barossa Valley.
The race was still a handicap event, Steele finished second to Doug Whiteford’s Ford V8 Spl ‘Black Bess’ and shared the fastest lap with Whiteford who was a formidable driver with vastly more experience than Steele, albeit driving a much less sophisticated car. Black Bess was famously based on an ex-Victorian Forestry Commission Ute!
Steele didn’t own the Monza for long, later in life he became a notable Victorian in business and horse racing, the car was advertised again for sale.
Rupert Steele in the Monza contesting the 1950 AGP at Nuriootpa in the SA Barossa Valley. He finished second and shared fastest lap with Doug Whiteford, the winner (John Blanden Collection)(Tony Johns Collection)
The next owner was Victorian ‘Racing Ron’, a very experienced driver who was very competitive in the Monza racing it around the country, an initial win at Ballarat Airfield in the 1950 Victorian Trophy against strong opposition was impressive.
The car raced at the Bathurst October meeting in 1951, finishing fourth in the ‘100’ and third in the 50 Mile Redex Championship, Edgerton’s year was capped with a fourth in class at the Australian Hillclimb Championship at Rob Roy, in Melbourne’s Christmas Hills.
Ron Edgerton in the Monza #2211134 ahead of Frank Kleinig’s Kleinig Hudson Spl, Hell Corner, Bathurst in the 50 Mile Redex Championship in October 1951 (WJ Farncourt)With the inside front wheel pawing the air, Edgerton drives the Monza hard up Rob Roy, January 29, 1951 (unattributed)Alf Barrett hadn’t entirely retired, here he is at Bathurst in 1950 driving Tony Gaze’ 2-litre Alta Monoposto #56S, whilst the latter was overseas (John Blanden)
The Winter 2012 issue of Loose Fillings the wonderful Australian Newsletter about air-cooled racing cars had an article by the late lamented Australian Historian/Enthusiast/Racer Graham Howard.
‘He (Barrett) was at Bathurst in October 1951 as a spectator when offered a drive in Misha Ravdell’s Firth-prepared Mk4 Cooper Vincent… after Ravdell himself had been injured in a local road accident. Not having driven a racing car of any kind for more than a year and with no experience whatever of a Cooper-style car, he won a six-lap under 1500cc handicap and was well placed in the main event when he ran over a displaced sandbag and broke a driveshaft universal joint. He vividly remembered the Cooper’s vibration. ‘It was like driving a lawnmower– dreadful. You’d get out of it as if you’d been driving a lawn-mower.’ But everything else compared to his beloved Alfa was a revelation.
‘The Cooper made my hair stand on end. It ran so straight and it stopped straight. The brakes were like running into cotton wool. With the Alfa you always felt you were a foot off the ground and it would get such dreadful brake tramp. ‘The thing I noticed with the Cooper, it held on until all four wheels went together. You could go too far with the Alfa and cars like that, and they’d still hang on, the Cooper would just go snap. ‘But that little Cooper – it just went straight, it stopped straight. So when I say the Alfa was good, it was good-until the Cooper’.
Barrett in the borrowed Cooper Mk4 Vincent, Bathurst October 1951, he finished first in a race despite not having sat in the car before! He is in his civvies – collar and tie…and with a noticeable smile on his face! (John Medley)
Its fascinating to get the insights of the day from a top driver of the comparison between ‘the old and new paradigms’ of front and mid engined cars…Cooper won their first Grand Prix in Argentina 1958, in Stirling Moss’ hands, himself a former Cooper 500 exponent.
The Monza was offered for sale by Edgerton in Australian Motor Sports in April 1951 and was bought by Toorak, Melbourne enthusiast Earl Davey Milne, it is still owned by the family and whilst in good hands and complete it remains disassembled and unrestored.
Alf racing and sharing brother Gibs BWA, in the early laps of the 1953 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park. The car was a fusion of MG TC Chassis, Lancia front end and steering box, Lancia wheels, brakes and 1935 Chev truck driveshafts powered by a 1.5 litre supercharged Meadows four cylinder engine from a Frazer Nash! (unattributed)
Alf made a comeback of sorts in the 1953 Australian Grand Prix, the first held at Albert Park.
Gib built a two-seater sports car called BWA, colloquially the ‘Bloody Work of Art’ pre-War but actually named after the car’s builders, Messrs Barrett/Ashton/White. The BWA was converted into a single-seater post war, the 1953 AGP regs allowed two drivers so Alf started the race and handed over to Gib.
It wasn’t their best of events, the pair lost 15 minutes at the start with fouled ‘plugs and then managed to set fire to it after a fuel spill at a pitstop. Still, they finished twelth, Doug Whiteford won the race in his first Talbot Lago T26C, it was his third and final AGP win. The Lago was as aristocratic as Black Bess, his 1950 AGP winner, was proletariat, having won the AGP at Bathurst in 1952 in the Lago as well.
The BWA ablaze at the Albert Park pits. This was the end of the conflagration, the BBQ was immense at the point of ignition…the Barretts got the car going and finished the event (Youtube)
Barrett remained a motor racing enthusiast and in a neat bookend to his career commencement also finished it in a Morris.
He contested the 1969 Bathurst 500 in a Morris 1500 shared with Kyneton, Victoria motor dealer/racer Mel Mollison, they finished 37th. Barrett drove the car with the same verve and flair for which he was famous if not wearing the blue T-Shirt for which he was also renowned, he died in 1998.
Etcetera…
Alf Barrett racing brother Gib’s BWA in early unbodied form. The car was a fusion of MG TC chassis, mainly Lancia componentry and supercharged 1.5 litre Meadows engine. 16th Rob Roy Hillclimb (State Library of Victoria)A close up of Alf Barrett and his Morris ‘Bullnose’ Cowley Spl, Wirlinga, Albury 1938. Car built together with brother ‘Gib’ and Alan Ashton. Historian John Medley noted that this car was destroyed in a bushfire, only the engine survived (unattributed)Alf giving his new Monza plenty at Rob Roy on 30 January 1939 (B King)Barrett AGP Lobethal 1939 (Norman Howard)Yet another stunning Norman Howard AGP Lobethal 1939 Barrett shot.Monza in the Lobethal paddock 1940. To the left is the Jack Phillip’s Ford V8 Spl which won the main event at that meeting, the South Australian 100 and at far left a Bentley Ute used as a tender vehicle. Barrett DNF with rear axle failure but set fastest lap at 5m 48sec, 92mph average (Ean McDowell)Barrett and the Monza at Ballarat Airfield in February 1947 (John Blanden Collection)Barrett, Monza, Bathurst AGP 1947…the fastest car driver combination again that year (Byron Gunther)Doug Whiteford’s Talbot Lago in front of the Monza, then owned by Ron Edgerton at Bathurst in 1951… a happy hunting ground for both cars (unattributed)
Monza # 2211134 History…
The following article was published in Motor Sport by Denis Jenkinson in 1976 with input from Earl Davey-Milne, a Melburnian who still owns the car.
Bibliography and Credits…
John Medley in Graham Howard’s ‘History of The Australian Grand Prix’, John Blanden ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’, ‘Loose Fillings’ Winter 2012, Motor Sport, MotorMarque, Patrick Atherton Lagler Racing, ‘Cars and Drivers’, John Medley
John Blanden, George Reed, Dacre Stubbs Collection, John Blanden Collection, Ean McDowell, John Medley, autopics, State Library of Victoria, W J Farncourt, George Thomas, Byron Gunther, Norman Howard, Allan Griffin Collection, Bob King Collection, Tony Johns Collection
Tailpiece…
Barrett and Monza, descending the mountain thru The Dipper, Bathurst 1939 (unattributed)
Michael Andretti aviating his Reynard 941 Ford over the Surfers Paradise kerbs. Andrettis’ victory in The Australian Indycar Grand Prix in March 1994 was just the fillip the American needed after his abortive McLaren F1 season the year before…
Nigel Mansell started ’94 where he left off, the Brit a winner in the 1993 ‘Indy championship in his Lola Ford, the season after his F1 World Championship victory for Williams in 1992. Nige was on pole with Andretti alongside in the brand new Malcolm Oastler designed Reynard 941 Ford, the marques first Indycar.
The race was restarted 3 times, first lap contretemps famous on the Surfers circuit. In the final restart Michael got the jump on Nigel and lead all 55 laps, the race shortened by 10 laps due to lack of light.
Michael won again in the Reynard later in the season at Toronto but the Penske PC23 was the best car of the season and the ‘Dream Team’ of Al Unser, Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy extracted all the car had to offer winning most rounds and Unser the drivers title.
By seasons end Mansell had returned to F1 albeit briefly, with Michael competitive again with 2 victories and 7 top 5 finishes in a year where the pickings were slim for all but Penske.
Same car, driver and kerb but lower altitude…Reynard a lovely car and the first of many successful Indycars by the late, lamented marque. (Unattributed)
So what Went Wrong in F1 for Michael?…
Andretti came into racing via Karts, Formula Ford, Super Vee and Formula Atlantic. Before long he was an established Indycar Star and after a dominant season in CART 1991, on pole 8 times, winning the title and demonstrating his versatility with a Porsche drive at Daytona, he was looking to F1 as the next challenge.
Joining McLaren for 1993, alongside established team leader and candidate for the Greatest Grand Prix Driver ever was always going to be a tough ask, the Brazilian famous for taking no prisoners and intimidating his teammates in all ways possible.
Into 1992 things were looking a bit grim for McLaren…the teams performances were down, Honda were withdrawing from F1 and Ron couldn’t achieve the alternative factory engine deal he wanted. He attempted to buy Ligier to get the Renault engines, a deal vetoed by sponsors. The best he could achieve was Ford customer engines, one spec below those used by Benetton, who had the factory Ford deal, Michael Schumacher of course the driver.
Ayrton was watching all of this but couldn’t get a better drive, the best seat was with Williams, and engine supplier tipped Alain Prost into it rather than arch rival Senna.
Andretti, European GP Donington Park 1993. McLaren MP4/8 Ford. (Unattributed)
Ron needed a name driver in the event Senna decamped and signed Andretti…on paper a driver with potential albeit unfamiliar with both the cars and circuits. His announcement was made at the 1992 Italian Grand Prix to a bemused media.
The plot thickened somewhat with the signing of Mika Hakkinen, lately of Lotus, who was to be either test driver or race driver in 1993 depending upon what Senna decided, the Brazilian ultimately signing for the team again but on a race by race basis.
Michael optimistic early in the season at Kyalami, South African GP. (The Cahier Archive)
For Andretti things started badly with rule changes which limited testing…he badly needed seat time in both the car and on as many circuits as possible, the differences in characteristics between the relatively heavy single turbo 2.65 litre V8 Indycars, and 3.5 litre normally aspirated peaky, light, nimble and ‘very nervous’ Grand Prix cars immense.
The delivery of the Ford engine was late, only a month before the season opener at Kyalami, so was completion of the car and critical systems testing and checking which became clear with many failures particularly on Andrettis’ chassis during the year.
His season could be summarised as a series of own goals, accidents of his own making and mechanical or electrical failures which were entirely beyond his control.
Mixed in with that was his sheer pace which justified Andretti a second season in F1, at least.
F1 wisdom seems to be, including McLarens website, that the American didn’t really commit to F1. Indicative, in this view is continuing to live in the US, commuting by Concorde to the UK and the races as required. The theory is that living closeby to Woking, shootin’ the breeze with the Ronster and technicians would have helped.
It probably would have, as he would have done the testing miles Hakkinnen did but it’s too simplistic a view.
Andretti started the season behind the eightball, noting he was ‘silly enough’ to sign for McLaren alongside Senna in a team ‘he owned’…
Jackie Stewart was smart to sign with BRM not Lotus for his debut F1 season in ’65, he had the choice but figured the lower pressure environment at BRM would be better for him, and allow him to come up to speed without the pressure of going head to head with Jim Clark, the standard by which all other drivers assessed themselves at the time. Noting that his BRM team leader, Graham Hill, the ’62 World Champ was at the top of his game at the time.
But these guys aren’t like you and I, they have towering self belief, why not go up against Senna in a great team, the chance may never come again? In that sense Andretti is be admired for putting his balls on the line, he was not the first or last Ace to be blown off by the Brazilians mesmeric other worldly skill.
On balance, looking from everyone’s viewpoint; McLarens’, Andrettis’ and the sponsors’, the deal made sense.
The McLaren MP4/8 Ford was a competitive car, Senna took victories at Monaco, Donington (one of his best) Brazil and Suzuka in the rain and in Adelaide, his last GP for McLaren and final victory.
During the rest of the season the Williams of Prost and Hill were the class of the field, Prost taking the title and retiring.
McLaren MP4/8 Ford 1993. Neil Oatley designed Carbon fibre monocoque, suspension active with wishbones all around actuating coil springs and dampers. Carbon ceramic brakes. Ford HBE V8 ‘customer spec’ 3494cc circa 640bhp. McLaren 6 speed semi-automatic gearbox. 505kg. (Unattributed)
Let’s look at Andrettis’ year race by race…
Interlagos contretemps with Gerhard Bergers’ Ferrari. Could have been a lot worse. (Unattributed)
.Kyalami clutch failure on the line, fundamental preparation or lack of testing issue. He then ran into Derek Warwick on lap 4 trying to make up for lost time.
.In Brazil he goosed the start having muffed the 1-2 shift, qualified 5th (Senna 3rd), Wendlinger jigged one way, Michael the other collecting Bergers Ferrari initiating a spectacular shunt with the two cars cartwheeling thru the air.
.At Donington for the European GP. Q6 whilst Senna disappeared into the gloom in a sublime drive, from 5th to 1st in 10 corners and a lead of over 4 seconds at the end of lap 2. Andretti again took out Wendlinger leaving the Sauber and McLaren beached in the Leicestershire mud.
European GP, Donington Park 1993 lap1. Prost & Hill Williams, Wendlinger Sauber, Senna McLaren, Schumacher Benetton, Andretti McLaren, the Ferraris’ and the rest…Senna to the front and gone in 10 corners from Q4. (Unattributed)
.At Imola for the San Marino GP Q6 again, he completed 32 laps before spinning, whilst dicing for fourth with, you guessed it, Wendlinger. The spin was induced by a brake or suspension balance problem.
.In the Spanish GP Andretti finished fifth behind Prost, Senna, Schumacher and Patrese, the latter duo Benetton Fords with the factory engines.
. At Monaco Q9, his clutch did its own thing, up shifting early, losing revs and power, he was engulfed by the field, then hit Barbazzas’ Minardi up the chuff at Loews. He pitted to replace his front wing but then had a great run from last to 8th…but Senna won.
Andretti Monaco 1993. (Unattributed)
.In Canada the car again ‘cacked itself’, this time a dead battery, he started the race 3 laps down and was classified 14th, Senna also had electrical gremlins that day, finishing 18th with alternator failure. Whilst in more recent times (2008) there have been claims by Marco Andretti that McLaren ‘sabotaged his fathers career’, the claims don’t hold water as Senna had as many gremlins as Michaels’ cars did. Hakkinen was ‘standing in the wings’ but McLaren had every commercial and sporting reason for Andretti to succeed not fail.
Andretti was the only American F1 driver at the time, their was no USGP either, the US is the largest global economy which McLaren was keen to tap into via the interest provided by their American driver…the conspiracy theory makes no sense to me at all and contradicts the facts.
.In France at Magny Cours the semi-automatic shift misbehaved resulting in Q16 but a strong showing, finishing 6th and getting valuable mileage.
.Michael looked forward to Silverstone as he had tested there pre-season, but his qualifying run was spoiled by rain, Q11. He started well but spun on lap 1 again going too hard too early.
.German GP, Hockenheim he qualified 12th after more mechanical dramas unrelated to him. But he thumped Berger on lap 4, DNF.
.At the Hungaroring, his fly-by-wire throttle failed in a run as high as 4th. Senna experiencing similar problems 2 laps later.
.Belgian classic, Spa. He had a long tyre change during which the engine stopped, Andretti 8th
.Monza, Italy. Andrettis’ final GP. He qualified 9th, Senna 4th. In the race both cars had brake balance problems, both spinning, Senna into retirement. Andretti continued after having grass removed from the radiators, fighting his way back through the pack from 20th to 3rd, a great run and his only podium finish, ironically in his last race, Michael being sacked, the drive going to Hakkinen.
San Marino GP, Imola 1993. (Unattributed)
Andretti returned to Champcars successfully…he was competitive throughout his career but didn’t win another title and famously lead the Indy 500 for 431 laps in multiple 500’s the most of any driver without taking victory…
There are so many ‘Ifs, Buts and Maybes’ in life and racing…
If McLaren had done a better engine deal or installed the Ford earlier, maybe the glitches both drivers experienced all year would have been sorted in pre-season testing.
If the testing rules hadn’t changed Andretti would have driven the miles he needed in cars alien to him rather than doing his testing and familiarisations in the full glare of race weekends…and as worked so well for Villeneuve at Williams 2 years later who did a million miles in the car on all sorts of circuits.
If he had lived in the UK maybe his intent and commitment to McLaren would have been clearer.
Hakkinens’ signing added to the pressure on Michael, if he hadn’t been signed, the imminent potential replacement would not have been there.
If Andretti had started some of his races less agressively the DNF’s would have been reduced giving him the miles he needed and making him look less of a novice.
But, as the saying goes, ‘if yer Aunty had balls she’d be yer Uncle’ …
At the end of the day none of the above happened and it made more sense for McLaren to sign Hakkinen to partner Senna for 1994 albeit Senna went to Williams and Martin Brundle got to race the McLaren Peugeot in 1994, a combination which made the ’93 cars look like paragons of speed and reliability. In short had Andretti raced on with the team in 1994 he would not have had a car capable of running at the front.
Michael Andretti and F1 is still one of racings intriguing ‘mighta-beens’ all the same?
Lex Davison’s ‘Little Alfa’ leads Lyndon Duckett’s Bugatti Type 35 Anzani, the brand new body of the Alfa gleaming in the winter sun, Balcombe Army Camp, Victoria, Australia 12 June 1950…
The ‘race meeting’ at Balcombe was a small but historically significant part of Australian Motor Racing history, this wonderful shot is from the Dacre Stubbs Collection.
Balcombe paddock with Lyndon Duckett’s Bugatti T35 Anzani and the Davison Little Alfa in foreground (G McKaige)
It goes something like this, as reported in Barry Greens fine book ‘Glory Days’ which records the history of Albert Park in the 1950’s.
The army were keen to raise money for their canteen fund and asked the Light Car Club of Australia (LCCA) to run a race meeting using the grounds of their camp. The race meeting was a financial success, but key to the creation of a circuit was closure and use of a section of the Nepean Highway, the main road between Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula- permission was not forthcoming from the relevant authority
So the Balcombe meeting occurred as more of a sprint event given track limitations with two cars on the track at a time, and a series of eliminations on the day to determine the winners of the various classes.
Charlie Dean in Maybach 1- handsome and fast beast that it was, sold to Stan Jones a year or so later but maintained and developed by Charlie and his boys at Repco Research in Brunswick in the years which followed. Winner of the 1954 New Zealand GP in Jones’ hands. Recreated by John Sheppard in the eighties (G McKaige)
‘The Royal Australian Signals Corp Sprint’ for under 1500cc, ‘The Survey Corps Sports Sprint’ for over 1500cc and ‘Balcombe Apprentice School Trophy’ for outright cars were catchy names indeed!
Doug Whiteford won the outright final in his 1950 Australian Grand Prix Winning Ford V8 Spl, ‘Black Bess’, from Bill Patterson’s supercharged MG TC and Stan Jones HRG. All three were subsequently Australian champions and AGP winners.
Reg Hunt’s Hunt JAP ‘Flying Bedstead’ Spl, it’s engine installation pictured below. By 1955 he had raced 500’s for a year in the UK and was one of the fastest combinations back in Australia aboard a Maserati A6GCM- stiff not to win the AGP that year at Port Wakefield (G McKaige)
(G McKaige)
The historically significant bit is that when Bill Leech, lifelong competitor, car collector and LCCA President at the time discussed the meeting and its shortcomings as a circuit sans Nepean Highway with the Commander of Army Southern Command, he was asked ‘what can we use as an alternative’? Whereupon Leech replied ‘what about here?’. Here being Albert Park where Southern Command were based, and the rest as they say is history and covered a while ago in another post.
In an amusing end to the weekend the Hobart ‘Mercury’ reported that the Melbourne Traffic Police Chief described many motorists returning from Balcombe as ‘reckless road-hogs’- harsh language indeed.
‘Many of them drove like whirlwinds’ in attempts to emulate the skilled drivers with several booked for speeding at 75 miles an hour. The racers themselves were spared the blame- perhaps the ‘need for speed’ stretch was the straight road from Mornington along past Sunnyside to Mount Eliza? I guess Pt Nepean Road is what we now know as the Nepean Highway.
‘Little Alfa’ engine bay at AROCA Spettacolo, 2014. (M Bisset)
Balcombe will be well known to Melburnians of a certain age…
It was towards the top of the hill on the Nepean Highway as you leave Mornington and enter Mount Martha and these days is the site of a school, Balcombe Grammar and housing. The last army training units left the area in 1983.
For international readers Mount Martha, of which Balcombe is a part are on the shore of Port Phillip Bay, the vast expanse of water one can see in the distance on the AGP telecasts from Albert Park. The Mornington Peninsula, both it’s beaches and wineries are worthy additions to your tourist agenda when you visit!
The US Marines also played a part in construction of the circuit being credited with building both Uralla Road through the camp and Range Road locally to access a rifle range.
As World War 2 approached countries globally prepared for the inevitable, the 4th Division of the Australian Army were located at a camp in Balcombe on 209 acres of land compulsorily acquired from local landowners to defend Port Phillip and the Morninton Peninsula.
Tony Gaze, Alta Sports (G McKaige)
Derek Jolly, Austin 7 Spl over from Adelaide- road registered, I wonder if he drove his racer across? (G McKaige)
The army presence had a huge local impact, at the time their were 104 houses in Mt Martha- by mid 1940 over 3000 militia soldiers of the 4th division- trainees were located at four temporary campsites between the Nepean Highway and the coast just south of Bay Road.
Press reports at the time the camp was built said it was the most pleasant site for an army camp in the country, a point not lost on the ‘Army Brass’ one suspects, the Peninsula then as now is a popular summer playground.
The 1st US Marine Division, relieved from the strategically critical Coral Sea campaign at Guadalcanal, arrived in 1942 and used Balcombe Camp as a rehabilitation centre.
It became headquarters for the 1st Division of the USMC in 1942, the corp trained in the area including carrying out beach landing exercises using the ship ‘HMAS Manoora’.
Post war the Army Apprentices School was located there until 1983, and once, just once, it was used as a race track!
Davison ‘Little Alfa’…
Lyndon Duckett and Lex Davison, right, with their collections of cars at Rob Roy Hillclimb, Christmas Hills, Melbourne 1946. L>R. Ducketts’ 1908 Isotta Fraschini, Bug T35 powered by an R1 Anzani DOHC engine and Davisons’ ‘Little Alfa’ in 2 seater form as first modified by Barney Dentry, Mercedes SSK (Culture Victoria)
Lex Davison was one of Australia’s greatest drivers, the winner of four Australian Grands’ Prix and father and grandfather of two generations of racing drivers- grandsons Will and Alex are V8 Supercar Drivers and James an Indycar racer competing currently in Australia and the US respectively.
In 1950 Lex was still four years away from his first AGP win, he competed in everything everywhere and had just acquired an Alfa P3 in a progression which would take him to be a consistent front runner in the decade to come.
‘Little Alfa’ started life as a Tipo 6C 1500 ‘Normale’- chassis #0111522 was imported by Lex’ father in 1928 in chassis form as a road car. The original fabric body by Martin and King was replaced with a steel body built by Terdichs’ in 1945, both Melbourne firms.
Lex took over the car after the death of his father, Barney Dentry, a top driver of the day himself, stripped it and Kellow Falkiner built a two-seater body.
Always an exciting driver, Davo contests the 11th Rob Roy 1946. This wonderful shot by George Thomas shows the lines of the car to good effect after its first evolution from Tourer to Racer (George Thomas)
Lex slightly! sideways at the second hairpin, Cape Schanck Hillclimb on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula in 1946. ‘Little Alfa’ here in ‘evolution 2’ not its final spec (Cars and Drivers #1)
Little Alfa, Balcombe 1950 (G McKaige)
John Blanden records that the car became well known over the following years and was set aside when Davison acquired a Mercedes SSK. Dentry again ministered to the car and before it was completed the P3 arrived from the UK…as a consequence the 6C1500 became henceforth the ‘Little Alfa’.
Dentry shortened the chassis, lightened the brakes, replaced the rear axle with one from a 1750 SS Alfa, fitted a Rootes cabin mounted blower and moved the engine back 6 inches.
The chassis was then taken to renowned race body-builder Bob Baker who constructed a derivative but distinctive aluminium single-seater body with a pointed tail.
The cars first outing was at Balcombe as recorded above, coming second in its semi-final. The Alfa didn’t race much, the P3 was the front line car until the AGP winning HWM Jag was acquired/built later.
The Little Alfa was retained by the Davison family and moved from property to property before finally being restored by Nick Langford’s restoration business in Castlemaine. It made its debut in December 1979.
Lex’ son Chris driving in the car, with daughter Claire, post restoration, Amaroo Park Historics 1986. (Gordon Graham)
‘Little Alfa’ was run in historic events by Diana Davison, Lex’ widow and quite a driver in her own right, son Chris and WW2 Spitfire Ace and post war racer Tony Gaze, who married Diana in 1977. Chris, a very quick Formula Ford racer in period and historic competitor now, recalls with great fondness the car…
‘It was a massive honour for me to drive ‘Little Alfa’. The car was purchased by my grandfather in 1928 and used as the family car until his death in 1942. It was only then that Lex got hold of it and started racing it. Of course this is the same car that Lex and Di drove to Bathurst for their honeymoon and also became one of his first racing cars. But he only did a handful of races in it. I am not sure that it was going to be competitive and he got the opportunity to purchase the P3, or ‘Big Alfa’ as it was known in our house. This is why the cars were known as the ‘Little Alfa’ and the ‘Big Alfa’.
‘In terms of actually driving it, i am taller and broader than average so it was a real squeeze to fit in. We took out the seat and I sat on the floor on an old sheep skin. The first thing you notice is that it has an accelerator pedal in between the brake and the clutch, and this does take some time to get used to. With no actual fuel pump, you must ‘pump up’ the air pressure in the fuel tank with a dash mounted pump and if you get busy around the circuit its easy to forget to do this and next thing the engine starts to die from lack of fuel. The alcohol fuel used to cause problems with the supercharger freezing up, so it was very important to get the fuel mixture right’.
‘Being a tight fit in the car, I used to feel the chassis rails flex whenever I went around a corner or hit a bump.With no seat belts or roll bar, driving the car flat out up the back straight at Sandown was one of the most dangerous things I have done in motorsport, especially as I was virtually held in the car by a low piece of bodywork and hanging onto the steering wheel for grim life’.
‘The term ‘brakes’ could be described as an overstatement, ‘restrainers’ more accurate. The car weighed 1500kgs and with a blown 1500cc engine on alcohol, you picked up quite a bit of pace down the long straights. I did give the fence a whack at Sandown once when I arrived at the end of the old pit straight and had ZERO brakes. The mechanic had forgotten to adjust the length of the brake cable and the shoes were barely even touching the brake drums’.
‘The best the car ever drove was at the 1986 Amaroo Historic Meeting, i could actually get some attitude and drift going. Frank Gardner spoke to me after one of the races, he had been standing right on the start of the pit apron, where you would aim the car at the turn in point for the corner onto the straight. He commented that seeing the car in a full drift coming straight toward where he was standing sure got his attention!’
‘The biggest problem I had at that meeting was once I really got the car going well, the speed up the straight and through the kink was such that both front wheels vibrated very badly, which was a real concern when you were so close to the old quarry wall. In the wet the car was a nightmare with levels of understeer that could only be described MASSIVE. With very old tyres and little adjustment on the car, I used to use the handbrake on turn in to try and get the rear end to generate some changes of direction. But I walked a fine line and really had to get the timing right, requiring a flick into the corner, quick pull on the handbrake to get the rear to slide and power on to keep up some attitude. If you got it slightly wrong it was back to uncontrollable understeer and all I could see from the cockpit was a VERY long red bonnet and two front tyres wasting their time with massive levels of lock’.
‘It was fabulous to see Mum and Tony on the circuit in the ‘Little Alfa’ but Mum did find it difficult to drive. So we ‘retired’ the car after the 1986 Amaroo meeting satisfied that we had actually seen the car fire a shot in anger’.
Chris and Claire Davison in the ‘Little Alfa’ at the 1986 Amaroo Park meeting Chris speaks about in the text. These days Claire is a mum, she, husband Johnny and Chris race a team of 3 Reynard FF’s in Australian Historic Racing. Lex’ ‘Ecurie Australie’ races on…(Chris Davison)
‘Little Alfa’ remained in the Davison family until sold some years ago but thankfully remains in Australia in the hands of a caring Alfista, the car has an entirely Australian history since it’s departure from Italy in 1928.
Chris Davison…’I know that all of our family are delighted to see Trevor Montgomery now driving the car at most of the historic race meetings in the south. I feel that he understands and respects our family’s connection to this unique car and unique piece of Australian motorsport history’.
Paddock scene from gentler more relaxed times, Tony Gaze, Diana Davison and Lex, Rob Roy Hillclimb 1950. (Dacre Stubbs Collection)
‘Little Alfa’ current custodian Trevor Montgomery and Chris Davison at Sandown Historics November 2009…looking as pristine as it did in 1950. (Chris Davison)
Etcetera- Balcombe…
(G McKaige)
Derek Jolly’s Austin 7 Spl, he later won the 1960 Australian Tourist Trophy- a decade hence aboard an ex-works Lotus 15 Climax. I wrote about he and his cars a while back.
(G McKaige)
(G McKaige)
Love these these two shots above of Lyndon Duckett and George McKaige preparing the Anzani Bugatti before the event on a frosty Melbourne day in ‘Duckett’s Lane’- Towers Lane behind Duckett’s Towers Road, Toorak home. Road car is a Rover P3.
(G McKaige)
(G McKaige)
MG K3 and Engine above- here unsupercharged.
(T Johns)
Race Program courtesy of the Tony Johns Collection…
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
(T Johns)
Credits…
Chris Davison, many thanks for the recollections of driving the car and photos from the family collection
John Blanden ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’, Barry Green ‘Glory Days’, ‘Cars and Drivers’ magazine, Dacre Stubbs Collection, Culture Victoria, George Thomas, Gordon Graham, Hobart Mercury 14 June 1950, George McKaige via his son Chester, Tony Johns Collection
(G McKaige)
Tailpiece: The New and the Old…
The Keith Martin (John Medley thinks) Cooper Mk IV JAP 1000- which must have looked ‘other worldly’ to the good citizens of the Peninsula in 1950.
The modern as tomorrow Cooper is nicely juxtaposed with Doug Whiteford’s self-built #4 pre-war ‘Black Bess’ Ford V8 Special which won that years AGP at Lobethal six months before- and on the day at Balcombe. There were no Coopers at Lobethal but two made the long trip to Narrogin, down south of Perth for the 1951 AGP, Martin’s car and a later MkV driven by John Crouch.
#1 is Tony Gaze’s Alta and to its right Maybach with the bonnet covered- there was plenty of life in the front-engined cars at that stage of course, but the mid-engined era was underway from that little factory in Surbiton.
Jack Brabham dipping under brakes as he approaches ‘Pub Corner’ in his Cooper T51 Climax on the first lap of the ‘Longford Trophy’ in March 1960, wonderful Ellis French shot…
Jack retuned to our Australian summer as the reigning World Champion, he didn’t disappoint the Tasmanian crowd winning the race from the similar MkIV T51s of Alec Mildren and Bib Stillwell.
In those pre-Tasman 2.5 formula days Australian National Formula 1 was run to Formula Libre rules, but 1960 Coopers of various models and capacities were the dominant marque. There were still sportscars amongst the single-seaters including Doug Whitford’s ex-works Maserati 300S, sold to Doug after the 1956 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park when Officine Maserati brought five Maseratis to Melbourne- thee F1 250F’s and two 300S.
The ‘Australian Motor Sports Annual Review 1960/61’ has a report of the 1960 Longford Trophy and notes with superb understatement that ‘Possibly no circuit in Australia offers so many scenic attractions and quite so large a variety of racing hazards as that at Longford in Northern Tasmania.’
The article continues ‘Although racing has been carried out at Longford for several years, it was only after the selection of the circuit for a Gold Star race in 1958 that Longford became known to Australians outside Tasmania…One of the advantages Longford holds over any other mainland circuit is full government and community support. Unlike other states where motor racing is viewed with concern for safety or as a noise disturbing nuisance and a Sabbath breaker, Tasmania views motor racing as a vital tourist attraction and as such, gives it the fullest support’.
Improvements to the track since the 1959 meeting resulted in a faster, more even surface with a softened approach to the railway crossing in Longford township.
John Ellacott shot of the front 2 rows gridded up: Brabham #4, Stillwell #6, Miller in yellow, all Cooper T51 Climaxes and Arnold Glass in the Maserati 250F, evocative!
Australian Tourist Trophy contenders with the J Wright Aston Martin DB3S and Doug Whiteford’s Maserati 300S up front with Harry Cape’s MGA Coupe and the #18 Gorringe/Watt MG Holden on grid 2 (J Barnes)
The 1960 meeting was a double-header with both the Formula Libre Longford Trophy and Australian Tourist Trophy for sportscars, won by Derek Jolly’s ex-works Lotus 15 Climax FPF 2 litre, the ATT was a great race with a big field, check out this photo heavy feature; https://primotipo.com/2018/05/17/1960-australian-tourist-trophy/
Jack Brabham’s Cooper T51 Climax FPF 2.5 had been secured by the promoters and was the same chassis with which he had won the NZ GP at Ardmore in January from Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T45 and Stillwell’s T51- click here for that NZ7 GP; https://primotipo.com/2019/09/16/chief-mechanic/
Brabham had a good summer also winning The Lady Wigram Trophy, Light Car Club of Tasmania Trophy at Longford, the Repco Trophy at Phillip Island in mid-March before heading back to Europe.
Jack’s practice time of 2:38 was a second clear of Bib’s 2.2 litre T5, a welcome addition to the grid was Alec Mildren’s new Cooper T51 Maserati, the frame of the car was adapted by Mildren and mechanic Glenn Abbey to fit a four cylinder, DOHC Maser 250S sportscar engine running on methanol- the soon to be 1960 Australian Gold Star champion did 2:46. An article about this car is here; https://primotipo.com/2018/06/08/mildrens-unfair-advantage/
Stillwell gets the jump off the line, Glass at rear, Brabham on this side (John Ellacott)
Stillwell got the jump from the start and led for the first three-quarters of a lap before Brabham passed him in his more powerful Cooper. On lap 3 Jack did a 2:34, an average of 105.19 mph and on the following tour recorded a top speed on the Flying Eighth of 157.9 mph. Brabham reduced his pace and led comfortably from Stillwell, Mildren and Arnold Glass’s ex-Hunt/Stillwell Maserati 250F.
The punch of Mildren’s Maserati engine was demonstrated when he sailed past Stillwell’s Coventry Climax engined T51 on the Flying Mile, at about the same time Bill Patterson’s 2 litre T51 passed Glass with Jon Leighton’s Cooper T45 Climax being challenged by Glynn Scott’s similar ex-Mildren machine- both of these cars were powered by 2 litre Climaxes. Towards the end of the 17 lap 45 minute 40 second race Brabham allowed Mildren to close up to within 100 yards of his car, magneto failure spoiling Patterson’s good run.
Brabham won from Mildren, Stillwell, Glass, Leighton and Scott, the Glass Maserati was the only front-engined interloper amongst the dominant mid-engined Coopers.
Glynn Scott, Cooper T43 Climax 1.7 with Jon Leighton’s Cooper T45 2 litre behind him- the red car is Ern Tadgell’s Lotus 12 Climax aka Sabakat (J Barnes)
Allen Brown’s wonderful archive ‘oldracigcars.com’ states that the car Jack drove at Longford was probably the first of two cars he used during his successful 1959 F1 season, chassis ‘F2-4-59′- he drove it in the early part of the year, it then became a spare when ’27-59’ appeared at Zandvoort.
When Jack’s Australian season ended the car was sold to Bib Stillwell who then had two Cooper T51’s to choose from, his Gold Star campaigns had started to become more serious and ultimately were very successful from 1962 to 1965- four titles on the trot in Cooper and Brabham chassis.
Brabham returned to Europe to successfully defend his world title whilst the Gold Star championship was won by Alec Mildren’s Maserati engined T51.
Brabham in his Cooper T51 Climax at Longford in 1960. I think the gent in braces at the rear is Jacks’ father, this chassis 1 of 2 he used in his successful 1959 GP season (oldracephotos)
Allen Brown’s wonderful archive ‘oldracingcars.com’ states that the car Jack drove at Longford was probably the first of two cars he used during his successful 1959 F1 season, chassis ‘F2-4-59′- he drove it in the early part of the year, it then became a spare when ’27-59’ appeared at Zandvoort.
When Jack’s Australian season ended the car was sold to Bib Stillwell who then had two Cooper T51’s to choose from, his Gold Star campaigns had started to become more serious and ultimately were very successful from 1962 to 1965- four titles on the trot in Cooper and Brabham chassis.
Brabham returned to Europe to successfully defend his world title whilst the Gold Star championship was won by Alec Mildren’s Maserati engined T51.
Kevin Drages’ panoramic view of part of the Longford paddock in March 1960, looking across to Mountford corner with the Pit Straight on the right. Cars are green Derek Jollys’ Lotus XV Climax and the ‘Kenley Vincent Spl’.
Etcetera…
(Kevin Drage)
‘Modern media scrum’, Jack tells the press how it was post race.
JB’s British Racing Drivers Club badge proudly worn on his overalls, the car is a Humber ‘Super Snipe’, in those days British prestige cars were very popular in Australia, the Germans steadily whittled them back by the early seventies.
(Ellis French)
Bill Patterson’s Coopers T51 by two.
Patterson went on to win the Gold Star in 1961 and soon after retired from driving but supported others for decades via his Ringwood, Melbourne, Holden dealership, click here for a feature on Patto and his many Coopers; https://primotipo.com/2017/02/02/patto-and-his-coopers/
(Kevin Drage)
Jack Brabham and Bib Stillwell swapping Cooper set-up notes…or Bib is buying Jacks car!?
Bib Stillwell’s Climax engine being fettled in the Longford paddock.
(J Barnes)
Tornado 2 Chev won the 1958 Gold Star round at Longford with Ted Gray at the wheel, but by 1960 the marvellous 283 cid Chev engined beastie was an also-ran amongst the hordes of Coopers typified by Stillwell’s T51 at right- Ted didn’t start in the Longford Trophy feature and was unclassified in the LCCT Trophy a couple of days later. The D Type Jaguar without a rear wheel is David Finch’s car- note to the left Doug Whiteford’s Maser 300S ‘Rice’ trailer.
(J Barnes)
All the fun of the fair- who can help with the bike/rider identifications?
(J Barnes)
Ron Hodgson and David McKay in their Jaguars before the touring car race- who won this encounter?
(J Barnes)
Alan Jack cruises through the Longford paddock in his ex-Patterson Cooper T39 Climax whilst in the distance you can see Doug Whiteford’s Maserati 300S and trailer and further still Arnold Glass’ 250F.
Sticking with the T39 theme, the Jack and Lynn Archer cars sandwich Ron Phillips’ ex-Whitehead/Jones Cooper T38 Jaguar which raced so well in the Australian Tourist Trophy.
(J Ellacott)
(J Barnes)
Its a pity John Barnes got the shakes because this Light Car Club of Tasmania Trophy start shot really would have been a cracker but I still like it for its atmospherics.
Red #13 is Ern Tadgell’s Sabakat or more correctly Lotus 12 Climax ‘351’ about which I have written a lot. #9 and #20 are the Patterson and Scott Coopers Types 51 and 43- the Cooper in front of Scott’s is Mildren’s Maserati engined machine. The front engined car at left is the Glass Maser 250F and yellow machine to its right is Austin Miller’s distinctive Cooper T51.
Meanwhile in the simply superb panorama below we can take in the starters stand and beach umbrella, anxious mechanics, the old tram which served as race HQ, the flags and wonderful casual, bucolic air of this wonderful part of the world.
The cars- Sabakat at left, then Gray’s Tornado and one of the Coopers at right.
(J Barnes)
(J Barnes)
What a great shot, probably the grid of one of the Tasmanians only events perhaps, Ellis French identifies the cars as the #12 Gerald Tattersall, Buchanan, #14 R Ward, MGA Twin-Cam and #30 on row 2 the Mel McEwin in the Melmac Healey Spl, green car alongside the Hines #11 MG Special, red #18 is Mick Watt MG Holden Spl and #101 a Triumph TR not listed in the program.
(J Barnes)
She looks unbelievable!
I wonder what, or who it is which has captured the attention of Brabham’s crew. Who are they BTW?
Brabham Senior- Tom, and Esso’s Reg Thompson watch proceedings from the far left- look at those monster 58 DCO Webers, circa 235bhp from a 2.5 FPF tops at the time.
(J Barnes)
Photo and Reference Credits…
Ellis French, John Ellacott, oldracephotos.com, Kevin Drage, ‘Australian Motor Sports Annual 1960/61’, John Barnes
oldracingcars.com
Tailpiece…
Lets finish on the same note as we started, an Ellis French shot of Brabham, this time ‘panned’ into the braking area on the entry to ‘Pub Corner’, Longford 1960…
For international readers Tasmania is a wonderful place to visit.
The scenery is stunning on all of its coasts, the mountains in the middle worth climbing, the ‘Overland Trail’ in the Cradle Mountain- Lake St Clair National Park worth walking. Hobart, a centre of culture and ‘Foodie Stuff’ is worth a stop for ‘Mona’ alone, a gallery of contemporary art and you can still see a lot of the Longford circuit, not far from Launceston, including the ‘Country Club Hotel’ with heaps of racing memorabilia.
The victorious Ron Flockhart/Ivor Bueb Ecurie Ecosse entered D-Type Jaguar during the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hours, it was the third and last win for the fabulous car which reigned supreme at la Sarthe from 1955-1957…
The winning car covered 4397km, an average speed of 183kmh, a record which remained unbroken for four years. D-Types also finished second, third, fourth and sixth, an unparalleled result to that time. Ninian Sanderson/John Lawrence were second, Jean Lucas/ Jean-Marie Brussin third, Paul Frere/’Freddy’ Rouselle fourth and Mike Hawthorn/Masten Gregory sixth. Flockhart also won the race in 1956 partnered with Ninian Sanderson.
The car on its back is the Tony Brooks/Noel Cunningham-Reid Aston Martin DBR1/300. Brooks ran wide on the exit of Tertre Rouge, rolled and was hit by Umberto Maglioli’s Porsche, the cars were running second and seventh respectively at the time. Both drivers escaped without serious harm, the incident happened during the twelfth hour of the race.
XKD606, Bueb up leading the Lewis-Evans/Marino/Martino Ferari 315S (fifth), #4 behind the Ferrari is the Hamilton/Gregory D Type (sixth)(unattributed)
Undated unattributed shot of the ‘Browns lane’ factory, a C-Type being fettled as well as the Ds. (unattributed)
Technical Specifications and XKD606…
The summary technical specifications of the ‘XKD’ were included in this earlier post on its close brother the ‘XKSS’; https://primotipo.com/2014/05/30/72/
The winning car was XKD606, the last long nosed 1956 works car built, it was unraced that year as Desmond Titterington crashed it in practice. Jag withdrew as a factory team from racing at the end of 1956, 606 was delivered to Ecosse in November 1956 and was successful in 1957 with a 3.8-litre fuel injected engine at Le Mans with plenty of works support. This engine gave circa 306bhp@5500rpm and 312lb ft of torque@4500rpm.
Flockhart in red alongside Ivor Bueb post victory with the Ecosse Team and XKD606. (unattributed)
The car was raced at Buenos Aires later in 1957 by Flockhart and Galvez, but was crashed by Flockhart and rebuilt with a new chassis and bonnet.
The car remained in Ecosse’ hands in 1958-1960 and raced again at Le Mans by Flockhart and Bruce Halford in 1960, it failed to finish. The car raced on into 1961 in the hands of privateer Jack Wober and was split into two after a crash – the body and rear suspension, and front subframe and engine, both halves were then completed with replica parts creating two ‘original cars’.
The Louman Museum in The Hague acquired both cars in 1994. XKD606 was recreated by repair and uniting its original components, these days it is used frequently in historic events.
Flockhart returns the car post finish, Le Mans 1957. (unattributed)
Ron Flockhart…
Ron Flockhart at the wheel of the awesome, wild but unsuccessful BRM Type 15, the 1.5-litre supercharged V16 racer by then running as a Formula Libre car in the UK. In essence the car was late and largely missed the Grand Prix formula for which it was designed. Goodwood, Easter Monday 1954. (John Ross Motor Racing Archive)
Flockhart began racing motor bikes in Italy and the Middle East after the War before being de-mobbed by the British Army, having served in WW2.
He commenced in cars with the the ex-Raymond Mays ERA R4D in 1952, progressed to a Connaught and was picked up by the Owen Organisation where he was essentially their third driver. He contested fourteen championship Grands Prix between 1954 and 1960, the last aboard a Cooper T51 Climax in the US Grand Prix at Sebring. He was very competitive in sports cars, inclusive of the two victories at Le Mans.
# 6,8,7 Jean Behra, Ron Flockhart and Harry Schell in BRM P25’s and #2 Masten Gregory Maserati 250F, #15 Horace Gould Maser 250F. Daily Express Trophy, Silverstone 1957. Behra won from Schell and Flockhart, Gregory was 5th. (John Ross Motor Racing Archive)
Flockhart in his BRM P25 Monaco GP 1959. He spun on lap 64 having qualified well in 10th. Jack Brabham won in a Cooper T51 Climax, his first Championship GP victory.(unattributed)
Like many drivers of the period, Ron Flockhart was a pilot who flew to and from the circuits of Europe more quickly than commercial airline or car travel allowed.
He used an Auster for a long time to places such as Folkingham, Snetterton and Silverstone while testing for BRM in the UK, and introduced Jack Brabham to light aircraft.
His racing injuries restricted his activities somewhat, but his love of flying and passion for speed led him to decide to attempt the Sydney-London record for petrol powered planes. The attempt was backed by the United Dominions Trust who wanted publicity for their racing team ‘UDT Laystall’, a noted equipe of the period.
His first attempt in 1961 fell 1500 miles short of London when his Mustang suffered serious engine failure, rain having seeped into the engine whilst on the ground in Greece. Flockhart enjoyed Rock-star fame and attention in Australia before and during the attempts. To add insult to injury the first plane was written off after suffering a cockpit fire before take-off.
Ron Flockhart in his ‘Border Reivers’ Cooper T53 Climax, Ballarat Airfield, Victoria 1961. He raced well, 3rd behind the factory BRM P48’s of Dan Gurney and Graham Hill. He also raced in Australia the following summer in a Lotus 18. (autopics)
Ron competed in New Zealand and Australia that summer before setting off for London in a second ex-RAAF Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation built Mustang G-ARUK on 12 April 1962.
He left Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne’s southern outer suburbs enroute to Sydney where he was heading to have additional fuel tanks fitted. The Mustang had only been in the air 10 minutes, heading east over the Dandenong Ranges when he radioed in to report ‘I’ve got trouble. I’ve lost my compass, I’m at 3000ft and in heavy cloud’, immediately after this, contact with the plane was lost, the aircraft crashed into bush on the Monbulk hillside in thick cloud and light misty rain. Flockhart was still in the aircraft debris which was spread around the crash site, strapped to the remains of his seat with his parachute attached.
Ron Flockhart in the hours before his death. P51 Mustang CA-18 Mk21 frame # ‘A68-113’ was one of many built by the Australian ‘Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation’ in Melbourne during WW2 (Geoff Goodall)
A Ministry of Aviation Report did not conclusively determine the cause of the accident but it was considered a possibility ‘that the pilot temporarily lost control of the aircraft whilst circling in cloud, and that it subsequently stalled during the recovery and turn to avoid the high terrain…’
Etcetera…
Lovely portrait of Ron Flockhart at the 1959 Silverstone ‘Daily Express International Trophy’ meeting in May. RF finished 3rd in his BRM P25, the race won by Brabhams’ Cooper T51 Climax. (John Ross Racing Archive)
Etcetera…
Flockhart Le Mans 1957 (Automobile Year)
Nice shot of Flockhart cornering the D Type during the ’57 race. ‘XKD606’ works supported with factory 3.8-litre injected engine, last of the ‘long-noses built’ (unattributed)
Ron Flockhart in the D Type he shared with Ninian Sanderson to win Le Mans in 1956 (Automobile Year)
Flockhart leads the second placed sister Ecurie Ecosse D Type of Sanderson/Lawrence over the line, record distance travelled which stood for the next four years (unattributed)
Flockhart fifth in his Cooper T51 Climax, Warwick Farm 100 January 1961. The race was won by Moss in a Lotus 18 Climax (John Arkwright)
Photo Credits…
Motorsport Magazine, autopics, Geoff Goodall, John Ross Motor Racing Archive, John Arkwright, Automobile Year
Wonderful shot of Stan Jones winning the 1959 Australian Grand Prix. Tannery Corner, Longford, Tasmania. Maserati 250F (B Dunstan via Ellis French)
The Ascaris, Jones, Hills and Villeneuves…
When Alan Jones won the 1980 Australian Grand Prix at Calder, he and his father Stan joined the Ascaris as the only father/son combination to win their home Grands’ Prix.
Antonio Ascari won the 1924 Italian Grand Prix in an Alfa and his son Alberto won it in 1949, 1951 and 1952 for Ferrari.
Stan won the 1959 AGP at Longford in his Maserati 250F, the last AGP won by a front engined car.
Graham and Damon Hill both contested the British Grand Prix, Damon winning in 1994 aboard a Williams Renault, whilst Graham came close he never had a hometown win. His luck in the UK was as bad as it was good in Monaco where he won five times!
Similarly, Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve both contested the Canadian Grand Prix but only Gilles took a win, for Ferrari in 1978.
Sadly, all four fathers had one thing in common, they all died before their sons achieved Grand Prix success. Alberto and Gilles in testing/race accidents, Graham in the light aircraft he was piloting, together with his team, and Stan of natural causes at the very young age of 49.
Foreword…
Like so many of my articles, this one on Stan started with a photograph, the one above at Longford. I figured the article would be short but the more I dug, and there is not a lot of information available on Jones, the more interested I became in him and the series of Maybach cars which were such an important part of his career.
So, it’s ended up rather long but I hope of interest.
I leaned heavily for information on the Maybach phase on Malcolm Preston’s great book ‘From Maybach to Holden’, sadly, Malcolm died a month or so ago. He was very kind and helpful to me with the article on the John McCormack McLaren M23, that article in many ways was the inspiration for starting this blog, so I dedicate this article to him. RIP Malcolm Preston.
Famous shot of Stan Jones shaking hands with Otto Stone, his engineer after the 1959 Longford AGP victory in his Maserati 250F. Alan is 12, John Sawyer, the other technician wears the flat cap…Stan a justifiably happy-chappy after so many years trying to win this event! (unattributed)
Stan Jones…
Much has been written about Alan of course, but not so much about Stan, one of the great drivers and characters of Australian motor racing in the immediate post war years until the dawn of the 1960s.
He was raised in Warrandyte, then a rural hamlet 24km north-east of Melbourne and still semi-rural now, by his mother and grandfather. He served in the Australian Armed Forces based in Darwin during World War 2. He married Alma O’Brien circa 1940, Alan was born on November 2 1946.
Stan commenced motorsport after being encouraged by Otto Stone, a racer and engineer who would later make a great contribution to his success as an elite driver. He competed in his MGTC at Rob Roy Hillclimb, at Christmas Hills, not far from where he grew up in 1948.
Stan was soon a keen competitor in all forms of the sport including trials, twice winning the Cohen Trophy awarded to the best trials driver of the year by the Light Car Club of Australia.
His MGTC was supercharged, as so many of them were, his first circuit meeting was at Fishermans Bend, Melbourne in late 1949. He did well, finishing seventh against more experienced opposition.
In need for more speed, he bought an HRG chassis to which a local monoposto body was fitted, achieving success with the car in 1949 and 1950. His first road racing event was at Woodside, in the Adelaide Hills, he finished second in the Onkaparinga Class handicap in November 1949. Australian Motor Sports reported that it was the first appearance of one of the new production monoposto racing HRG 1500’s.’ In 1951 he also bought an Allard J2.
These faster cars were funded by Superior Cars, a dealership he opened in Richmond: yards in Coburg and South Yarra followed, northern and inner eastern Melbourne suburbs respectively.
Jones Allard J2 in the Bathurst paddock, 1951. (Ray Eldershaw Collection)Charlie testing Maybach circa 1950 on the road, in the grounds of ‘Willsmere’ the hospital for mental illnesses in Kew not far from Charlie’s home. His other testing venue was Princes Park Drive behind the Melbourne General Cemetery in North Carlton. This ‘track’ was conveniently close to Repco Research in Sydney Road, Brunswick. What a super car it was/is! (Dacre Stubbs Collection)
Charlie Dean, Repco and Maybach…
The turning point in Stan’s career was the association with Charlie Dean, the ‘Maybach’ racers which Dean built and the ‘Skunkworks’ at Repco Research, which continued to develop the car and its successors after Jones acquired it/them.
Charlie’s business, named ‘Replex’, manufactured large industrial transformers. He became involved in the Australian Motorsports Club and using his wartime knowledge of sophisticated German engines, sought a suitable motor to form the basis of a special.
A friend who operated a war surplus wrecking yard was briefed and Charlie was soon the owner of a ‘Demag’ half-track armoured personnel carrier. Critically, it was powered by a Maybach six cylinder 3.8 litre SOHC, crossflow engine. The block was cast-iron, the head aluminium, the crank ran on eight main bearings. In standard form the engine produced 100bhp at 2800rpm, but the engine’s performance potential was clear to Dean.
Initial modifications involved fitment of twin Amal carbs to a fabricated manifold, increasing the compression ratio to 8:1 by planing the head, fitment of a Vertex Magneto and a re-ground cam to increase valve lift and duration.
At about the time Dean started to build Maybach 1, he sold his business to Repco, being retained to run it, this gave him both time for his hobby and access to Repco resources.
The engine was fitted into a tubular chassis, the basis of which was two 4 inch diameter 10 guage mild steel tubes to the front of which was mounted suspension mounting framework. Front suspension comprised a transverse leaf spring with suspension arms and stub axles from a 1937 Studebaker Commander. Rear suspension was of conventional semi-elliptic leaf springs, Luvax lever-arm shocks were used. A Fiat 525 gearbox drove an open prop-shaft to a Lancia Lambda seventh series rear axle. A Jeep steering box was used. Standard Studebaker brakes and wheels were deployed at the front and Lancia brakes, hubs and wheels at the rear.
It was a quick sports car and was soon developed further for competition use, Charlie debuting it at Rob Roy Hillclimb in 1947.
The car was clothed in a metal body built by fellow Repco Engineer Frank Hallam. It was made from surplus metal Kittyhawk aircraft fuel belly-tanks. (made by Ford)
Charlie raced the car in the 1948 AGP at Point Cook, an ex-RAAF base in Melbourne’s inner West. He retired on lap 12 from magneto failure in a race of attrition in searing heat, victory going to Frank Pratt’s BMW 328. In those days the AGP was Formule Libre and handicaps were applied.
Charlie Dean with Jack Joyce as ballast competing at Rob Roy Hillclimb, Christmas Hills, outer Melbourne in March 1949. Maybach 1 Evolution B in the car’s never ending developmental cycle (Dacre Stubbs Collection)
The development of Maybach was constant and ongoing, the ‘program’ having strong Repco support due to its promotional value and the development of its engineers. In 1950 Dean was appointed to head up a Research centre for the Repco Group, located at the ex-Replex premises at 50 Sydney Road, Brunswick…from acorns do great oaks grow.
In June 1951 Jones, looking for an outright class winning car, bought the car for a nominal sum. Repco involvement continued with the car’s preparation, development and use by Repco for product development and testing. The car was engineered at Repco Research.
Dean’s business and family commitments had made ongoing motor sport participation difficult. Jones lived in the Melbourne eastern suburb of Balwyn, in Yongala Road, not far from Dean’s home in Kew so communication was easy despite the lack of email and iPhones.
By the time Stan bought ‘Maybach 1 Series 3’ the body was still a two-seater. Three feet of rear chassis rails had been removed from the original, it had rear axle mounted trailing quarter elliptics with radius rods.
The engine was 4.2 litres and used three 2 3/16 inch SU carbs, had a compression ratio of 9:1 and a reliable (sic) Lucas magneto. After the SUs were fitted the engine developed 200bhp @ 5000rpm. Tyres were 16×6.50 touring type.
A 1922 American truck Power Lock ‘slippery diff was adapted in the Lancia housing which was modified to suit. The brakes had also been changed substantially using 16 inch/ 14 inch drums front/rear.
Doug Whiteford, Lago Talbot leads Jones in Maybach 1 onto the main straight at Woodside in October 1951, Whiteford won the race, Stan second. Just look at the nature of this road circuit: telephone poles, fence posts, railway crossing etc. A tragic accident in a motor-cycle handicap race where an early starter completed his first lap before the scratchmen had gotten away, killing two people in the starting area caused a ban on racing on public roads in South Australia (Clem Smith via Ray Bell)
Racing Maybach…
Stan’s first race in the car was at Gawler, South Australia, the main scratch race setting the pattern for the season with Jones and Doug Whiteford in the Lago Talbot fierce rivals, the two cars passing and repassing before Whiteford won the event.
Jones then raced the car at Bathurst in October 1951, winning a 3 lap scratch race but finishing second to Whiteford’s Talbot-Lago in the 50 lap handicap. The following week Jones again finished second to Whiteford at Woodside, a road circuit in the Onkaparinga Valley of the Adelaide Hills.
Stan’s Maybach chasing Ron Tauranac’s Ralt Jap through Parramatta Park, Sydney on 28 January 1952. You can see the energy being expended by the drivers in getting everything from the two, dissimilar cars (unattributed)
He adapted to the car quickly, and well, having progressed from a low powered road going TC to one of the fastest cars in the country in less than three years, his money allowed it but he still had to extract all the car had to offer, which he did from the start.
He next raced the car at the Ballarat Airstrip in rural Victoria, winning both the Victorian and Ballarat Trophies from Lex Davison’s aristocratic pre-war Grand Prix Alfa Romeo P3.
Maybach 1 at rest. Rob Roy Hillclimb early 1950s (unattributed)
As Stan became used to the car he became quicker and quicker, it was a considerable step up for him in terms of the performance of his preceding cars. He was the favourite to win the AGP at Bathurst in 1952 but excessive tyre wear resulted in a victory for Whitefords’ Lago.
Stan finished second having stopped six times to replace rear tyres, the six-ply touring tyres used on the 16 inch wheels, running hotter than four-ply racing tyres. The racing Pirellis on order had failed to arrive on time, it’s interesting to reflect on supply-lines in those far off days between Australia and Europe.
Maybach at Bathurst, October 1951, exiting Hell Corner and heading up Mountain Straight (Malcolm Preston)
The car won three Victorian Trophies – the big race on the Victorian calendar – two at Fishermans Bend, another airfield circuit in Melbourne’s inner West, the first was in 1952 at Ballarat Airfield, the car beating Whiteford with specially made four-ply tyres for Maybach.
In 1952 Stan also raced a newly acquired Cooper Mk 4 Jap 1100, successfully on both the circuits and the hills.
On New Years weekend 1953 the new Port Wakefield circuit opened with Jones taking another win. He had been unbeaten in all but a couple of minor handicap races since the 1952 AGP, the sensation of the weekend was the blowout of a tyre on Davison’s Alfa and the multiple rollover which followed.
Lex was a lucky boy as only days later Davo, Jones and Tony Gaze set off to Europe to compete in the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally. The racers were competitive, finishing sixty-fourth, at one stage having been in the top ten amongst much faster cars in a field of 440 far more experienced teams in a Repco prepared Holden 48-215.
Graham Howard describes this as ‘one of the great feats of Australian motoring, this trio clean-sheeted from Glasgow to Monaco and then finished 64th after minimal reconnaissance, in the final elimination, with Jones working stopwatches while sitting sideways across the front bench seat so he could use his feet to brace Davison behind the wheel’.
Jones/Davison/Gaze Holden FX,somewhere in Europe…Monte Carlo Rally 1953 (unattributed)
Stan led the 1953 AGP at Albert Park…
Its inaugural meeting, by lap ten he was ahead of Whiteford by thirty seconds, by lap fourteen he and Whiteford had lapped the field, which was indicative of both their pace and dearth of outright contenders in Australian racing at the time.
The Maybach needed fuel and a replacement water pump drive belt. Jones then had to vacate the cockpit when he was splashed by methanol, sluiced with water he rejoined the race only for clutch failure to end a brave run, Doug Whiteford won in his Lago Talbot.
Some compensation for Jones was fastest lap at 2 mins 03 seconds, an average of 91.46mph. Imagine that Victorians who can remember the ‘circuit’ in its pre-modern era format.
L>R front row: Davison HWM Jag, Jones Maybach, Whiteford Lago Talbot, start of the 1953 AGP at Albert Park, its first meeting. Cec Warren #6 Maser 4CLT, Frank Kleinig #7 Kleinig Hudson, W Hayes #10 Ford V8 Spl and a smoking Ted Gray #11 Alta Ford V8 (Peter D’Abbs)Profile of Maybach 2 during the ’53 race (unattributed)The tension on the faces of his team is palpable as Jones fires up the engine after the monumental job in rebuilding it onernight. 10.30AM Sunday January 9 1954, Shorter Bros workshop in Auckland. Team is Don Busche, Dean in tie!, Bib Stillwell and Jack Joyce (Malcolm Preston)
New Zealand Grand Prix victory 1954…
Stan was said to be hard on his cars, but he also had poor luck. Everything finally came together for Jones and Maybach with a win in the first NZGP at Ardmore in 1954.
He beat a class field which included Ken Wharton in the BRM P15 V16, Peter Whitehead’s Ferrari 125, Horace Gould and Jack Brabham in Cooper Bristols and Lex Davison and Tony Gaze, both driving HWMs.
It was a triumph over adversity as the car threw a rod in practice, punching a sizeable hole in the crankcase and damaging a cylinder bore. Dean ‘phoned Australia for spares which could not be delivered in time. Undeterred, the team comprising Dean, Otto Stone, Jack Joyce, Bib Stillwell and Don Busch scoured town, patched the crankcase and machined both a GMC rod whose weight was carefully matched to the original, and a new cylinder liner.
The engine was running by 10.30AM on Sunday morning, with Stan catching some beauty sleep to be race-ready. The event’s duration was 2 hours and 45 minutes, the patched Maybach and Jones doing justice to the ingenuity and resilience of their small team.
The spoils of victory for Jones, winner of the 1954 NZGP. Close up shot showing the quality of fabrication and build of the car. Maybach 1 in its ultimate form (KE Niven & Co)Stan, Maybach 2 and Charlie Dean, venue unrecorded, but early 1954. Big drums were by Patons Brakes, a Repco Subsidiary, big ‘Lago’ SU’s, exhaust not fitted in this shot (Unattributed)
Maybach 2…
When they returned from NZ the team began work on a new monoposto.
The chassis was similar in layout to Maybach 1 but adapted for the narrower and lower body. The rear axle was of ‘speedway type’ which allowed a lower propshaft and the easier changing of gear ratios. Front suspension used Chev upper control arms. The new rear axle was attached to quarter elliptic springs but with revised control arms, a Panhard rod with Monroe Wylie tubular shocks used. Les Tepper built the chassis, Brian Burnett and Bob Baker the body. Great attention was paid to reducing weight, aluminium was used for the body, as a consequence the cars’ weight was reduced from 19.5 to 16cwt.
The engine was rebuilt with a capacity increase to 4250cc by increasing the bore to 91mm. Power was 257bhp @ 5200rpm and torque 288lb ft @ 3000rpm. The compression ratio was 11:1 and the 110 octane fuel was an intoxicating brew of 60% methanol, 20% benzol and 20% av-gas. The fuel tank fabricated by Burnett held 25 gallons.
The same brakes were used with the addition of air scoops to the front backing plates and a dual master cylinder supplied by Repco subsidiary, Patons Brakes. Peugeot rack and pinion steering replaced the earlier Jeep cam and roller setup.
The first race for Maybach 2 was the Victorian Trophy at Fishermans Bend in March 1954 which Jones duly won, lapping the entire field with Brabham’s Cooper T23 Bristol three miles behind!
Jones victorious Maybach 2 in the Victorian Trophy at Fishermans Bend, an airfield circuit in Melbourne’s inner industrial west. March 1954 (VHRR Archive)
Further preparation for the AGP was the Bathurst 100 at Easter.
18,000 spectators attended the event, one of the ‘most successful meetings ever stage at the circuit’ according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Jones won a preliminary race on the Saturday but broke the gearbox in a handicap event late in the day. W Clark’s HRG won the handicap ‘100’ from Brabham’s Cooper Bristol and Stan. Jones won a 3 lap scratch race in the morning during which Maybach was timed at 132.6 mph over the flying quarter-mile. Not a bad reward for the mechanic who drove back to Melbourne overnight to collect a spare ‘box!
Maybach 2 was also raced at Altona twice, and again at Fishermans Bend in October in the lead up to the AGP, achieving success in the first of the two Altona meetings in May. He lost to Brabham’s Cooper T23 Bristol in the handicap at Altona in June and had gearbox failure at Fishermans Bend in October.
Demonstrating his versatility as a driver, Stan competed in the 1954 Redex Round Australia Trial in the Repco ‘prepped Holden FJ navigated by CAMS co-founder, Don Thomson, finishing equal fifth.
He also continued to compete in the Cooper with at least three wins on the circuits and again success in the hills, including lowering the Rob Roy record which had stood for three years.
Stan Jones drives Maybach 2 onto the main straight at Southport 1954 AGP, early in the race. A road course and a very rough one at that. These are now well paved roads can still be driven (Malcolm Preston)
1954 AGP…
The 1954 AGP was held on public roads at Southport on the Gold Coast not far from Surfers Paradise.
The roads were bumpy, were recently sealed, having loose gravel shoulders, some humps and two defined ‘no-passing’! sections. The crcuit was 5.7 miles long with a race distance of 155 miles or 27 laps. It promised to be a tough event.
Jones lead from the start, initially from Davison’s HWM Jag and Brabham’s Cooper. Malcolm Preston in his fantastic book ‘From Maybach to Holden’ records ‘…Jones was reportedly maintaining a furious pace and consistently lifting all four wheels off the ground over one of the humps…On lap 14, whilst negotiating the S bends the Maybach ran onto the gravel. As Jones endeavoured to steer the car back onto the road it spun and careered backwards into the roadside trees at an estimated 100mph…passing between two large trees, one tree caught the side of the engine, ripping the carburettors and front suspension from the car, whilst the body containing Jones continued a little further on its side. Jones emerged uninjured from the wreckage apart from a small cut on his lip’.
Their are mixed accounts as to the cause of the accident, those sympathetic to Repco suggest that failure of a front suspension frame weld did not occur and that Stan made a driving error. Graham Howard in his book, ‘The History of The Australian Grand Prix’ concludes, drawing on contemporary sources, that a weld failure caused the accident.
Brian Burnett who built the chassis at Repco ‘explained that the two main chassis rails, of 4 inch 16g chrome molybdenum alloy steel, passed through holes in the diaphragm-type front crossmember and were completely electrically welded into position. These welds crystallised and cracked, and in the course of the Grand Prix one chassis tube eventually broke away and touched the ground. It was a problem as simple, as enormous, as unfamiliarity with new materials and techniques,’ Howards book says.
Jones was tight lipped at the time, and it was a gentler age when journalism did not go hard at a large corporate such as Repco. From Stan’s perspective it made no sense to bite the hand which fed him and be forthcoming in a manner damaging to Repco.
The race continued and was won by Davison’s HWM, the first of his four AGP wins, from Curly Brydon and Ken Richardson in MG Spl and Ford V8 Spl respectively.
Brian Burnett, Maybach’s body builder, Preston records, told Jones at the team debrief at the Chevron Hotel that ‘he had driven too fast and recklessly’, Jones responded by flooring him with one punch! Out of character for a bloke who was generally the life of the party and a favourite with the ‘babes’, but perhaps reflecting Jones’ view that the destroyed car was not his fault.
Jones was awarded the ‘Australian Driver of The Year’ in 1954 for his NZGP, Victorian Trophy, Bathurst 100 and Victorian Hillclimb Championship wins.
Maybach 2 on the trailer for the trip back to Melbourne. The car was destroyed by the voyage backwards through the Southport trees at high speed Main frame members clear, front suspension torn from the car. Mechanical failure or driver error? (‘History of The AGP’ G Howard)
Maybach 3…
Shortly after returning from Southport, Charlie Dean hired Phil Irving, already a famous engineer for his work on Vincent motorcycles, and later the designer of the Repco Brabham RB620 Series V8 which won Jack Brabham’s 1966 World Drivers/Manufacturers Championships.
Whilst Maybach 3 was being built, Stan bought Jack Brabham’s ‘Redex Special’ Cooper T23 Bristol when Jack left for the UK, his businesses continuing to prosper and funding some wonderful cars.
At Fishermans Bend in February he qualified the Cooper on pole but finished third behind Davison’s HWM and Hunt’s Maserati. He ran the car again in the Argus Trophy at Albert Park in March finishing second to the Hunt’s Maser and the Whiteford Lago.
He also raced the Cooper 1100 and a Cooper T38 Jaguar in sports car events, winning in the latter at Fishermans Bend in February and also racing it on the hills.
Jones added a Cooper T38 Jag to his stable winning in it on both the circuits and in hillclimbs (motorsportarchive.com)
Early in 1955 construction of the new Maybach commenced.
To lower the bodywork the engine was canted at 60-degrees, offsetting the engine and driveshaft to the right allowing a driving position left of centre. New rear axle housings and steel gearbox housings were built to Irving’s design.
The remaining stock of 110mm stroke cranks were cracked, so a 100mm one was used. With a 90mm bore the engine capacity was 3800cc. The special SU carbs could not be readily replaced so six Stromberg side-draft carbs were used, the engine developing 240bhp @ 5000rpm.
A similar suspension layout to Maybach 2 was used. Brakes were made from flat plate steel rolled into circles and then welded at the ends, the drums were machined internally and externally for attachment to the hubs. Brian Burnett again built the body which was inspired by the contemporary Mercedes Benz W196 GP car.
The car was finished in April 1955 and entered for the Bathurst 100 at Easter.
It was timed at 145mph but had severe handling problems causing a spectacular spin and finishing second to Hunt’s Maserati A6GCM. The car also had a severe flat spot so was not run in the ‘100’, Stan winning the Group B Scratch race in his Cooper 1100.
It was found that the front cross member was flexing under braking, affecting the steering. Irving rectified the flatspot by devising a fuel injection system using the Stromberg throttle bodies, part throttle flow was regulated by a Lucas ignition distributor, with fuel delivered by an aircraft fuel pump; when dynoed the engine produced 250bhp.
Dean tested the car at Templestowe Hillclimb and Jones won the A.M.R.C Trophy at Altona, Melbourne in May from Ern Seeliger’s Cooper Bristol.
Jones raced the Cooper Bristol at Mount Druitt, western Sydney in August, losing a wheel in practice but winning the preliminary race only to have the car’s chassis snap in the 50 mile main race, fortunately bringing it to a halt without hurting himself.
Start of the race with Hunt’s Maser A6GCM and Stan in Maybach 3 alongside, front row. Jack Brabham and Doug Whiteford are on the second row in Cooper T40 Bristol ‘Bobtail’ and Lago-Talbot (Malcolm Preston)
1955 Australian Grand Prix, Port Wakefield, South Australia…
The car was fully rebuilt prior to the October 10 race and run in a preliminary event at Fishermans Bend the week before, Jones, whilst second to Hunt was happy with the car’s performance.
Jack Brabham was racing a Cooper Bristol T40 he built himself (to race in the 1955 British GP) and although hitherto fairly unreliable, he won the race from Hunt, who had led in his Maser A6GCM before breaking a rocker, and Jones whose clutch failed. Doug Whiteford was third in his Lago.
Stan competing at Gnoo Blas, Orange in the South Pacific Championship. Maybach DNF with a broken conrod in the race won by Hunt’s Maser 250F from the Brabham and Neal Cooper Bristols (Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club)
Maybach was next raced at Gnoo Blas, Orange, in January 1956 in the South Pacific Road Racing Championship meeting. Hunt took the lead by a small margin, Jones was second having lapped the field, then Brabham a distant third. On lap 23 the Maybach broke a conrod, locking the wheels and sending the car spinning down the road, Hunt won from Brabham.
Upon examination, the block and crank were badly damaged, there was little of Dean’s original cache of spares left and in any event the more modern cars from Europe, readily available at a price, meant it was increasingly difficult to develop the Maybach to the required levels of competitiveness.
After all those years Dean and Stan decided the cars elite racing days were over.
Stan Jones applying some gentle correction to his Maserati 250F #2520, AGP Caversham, WA 1957 (David Van Dal)
Maserati 250F…
Maybach 3 was never really competitive and Reg Hunt upped-the-local-ante when he imported an ex-works Maserati A6GCM in late 1954. Lex Davison followed suit with his ex-Ascari/Gaze Ferrari Tipo 500/625 3-litre. Stan, having the resources, invested £10,000 to acquire a Maserati 250F, chassis #2520 and a spare 3-litre 300S engine.
Stan despatched Charlie to Modena to do the deal. 2520 was built in late 1955 to 1956 spec and used by Frolian Gonzalez and Pablo Gulle in the 1956 Argentinian and Buenos Aires GPs respectively, (DNF and eighth) before being shipped to Melbourne, arriving on the SS Neptunia on April 22 1956.
In a 1981 issue of MotorSport Alan Jones describes his joy in ‘unwrapping the car’ at Port Melbourne but also his disappointment as a 9-year old that the car was a Maserati, real Italian racing cars being Ferraris…
In any event, Stan had the ‘ducks guts’, the most competitive customer Grand Prix car of the period, a tool with which he would demonstrate his mastery over the following three years.
Jones raced the car for the first time at Port Wakefield, coming second in the wet to Stillwell’s D-Type in the SA Trophy. He raced the car again in September at Bathurst winning both the three lap curtain raiser and NSW Road Racing Championship later in the day, setting a lap record in the process.
Jones’ 250F in the foreground and Owen Bailey’s ex-Whiteford/Chiron six-plug Lago-Talbot @ rear of the Albert Park Paddock, AGP 1956. The uoung mechanic in the brown overalls is noted Australian engineer/fettler Ian Tate (Rob Bailey Collection)
Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park 1956…
Melbourne hosted the Olympic Games in 1956. The AGP at Albert Park that November is still regarded as one of the greatest ever, certainly the best to that point in the race’s long history. It is the event which changed the face of motorsport in Australia, such was the calibre and competitiveness of the entry and scale of the event.
The meeting was a double-header featuring the Australian Tourist Trophy for sportscars on the first weekend and the AGP the following one, with support races of course, the AGP is still famous for those!
The overseas entry was headed by the factory Maserati team which brought five cars, three 250Fs and two 300S sports cars for Stirling Moss and Jean Behra. They based themselves at the Esplanade Hotel nearby in St Kilda, (still there, the ‘Espy is a great pub and band venue) the cars themselves were housed in Maserati driver and local Holden dealer Reg Hunt’s premises on the Nepean Highway in Elsternwick, close to the circuit.
Moss heads out to practice the spare 250F…three chassis came to Oz, two of the latest spec cars with offset driveline, lower seating position and revised bodywork, and this earlier car. Hunt tested it in practice and Brabham was entered to race it but ran his Cooper T39 Climax instead (unattributed)
So close that the 300S were driven to and from the track, adding to the cosmopolitan atmosphere. The large local Italian community, many of whom migrated post-war turned out in force to support the big red cars.
Other Maserati 250Fs were entered by Ken Wharton, Stan and Reg Hunt with Kevin Neal in Hunt’s old A6GCM. Ferraris were entered for Peter Whitehead and Reg Parnell: 555 Super Squalos’ with 860 Monza 3.5-litre four cylinder engines.
The strong field would test the local talent who were in cars of more or less equal performance to the vistors: Jones and Hunt in their 250Fs, Davison in his venerable 3-litre Ferrari Tipo 500, Whiteford’s Lago was long in the tooth but he ran his 12-plug T26C as did Owen Bailey in Doug’s old, successful car.
Jean Behra, Stirling Moss and cuppa tea! Albert Park pits AGP 1956 (unattributed)
Moss disappeared into the distance from Behra with local interest centred on the battle of the Melbourne drivers: Jones, Hunt and Davison. Moss initially led Behra, Whitehead, Parnell, Davison, Hunt, Neal and Jones. Bailey’s half shaft failed on the line. Jones was fast early, passing Hunt, with Wharton, Parnell and Davison dropping back.
Rain started to fall with the Jones/ Hunt dice continuing until Jones eased with smoke coming from under the Maser’s long bonnet. Post-race this was found to be a broken crankcase breather pipe leaking onto the exhaust. Rain started to fall heavily with 10 laps to go, Neal crashing the A6GCM into a tree and breaking both of his legs and those of the official he collected in the process. Moss won by nearly a lap from Behra, Whitehead, Hunt, Jones, Parnell and Davison.
The duel between Hunt and Jones was the first and last in similar cars, Hunt shortly thereafter retired from racing, neither Stillwell nor Glass were as competitive in the car subsequently.
Jones continued to also compete in rallies finishing second in the Experts Trial and getting hopelessly bogged in the wastes of North Queensland in the Mobilgas Trial co-driven by Lou Molina, legendary Melbourne racer, restauranteur and raconteur.
Jones and Hunt during their spirited early AGP race 250F dice. Such a shame Hunt retired shortly thereafter, the battles between Jones, Hunt, Davison and Ted Gray in the Tornado Chev would have been mega. The other ‘maybe’ would have been Doug Whiteford in an ex-factory 250F rather than the ex-factory 300S he bought from the Maserati team immediately after the meeting…Bob Jane bought the other 300S and sadly all three 250F’s left the country (unattributed)
1957 Australian Gold Star Series…
Stan shipped the Maserati to NZ for the Grand Prix at Ardmore in January hoping to repeat his earlier success, the race included internationals Reg Parnell, Peter Whitehead and Jack Brabham. Stan qualified well and in a tough 240 mile race of 3 hours 7 minutes, finished third in a typically gritty drive from Parnell and Whitehead in Ferrari Super Squalo 555s.
The Maserati also gave Stan a lot of unreliability grief, his fortunes in it changed when Otto Stone took over its preparation after the 1957 AGP held in searing 104 degree heat at Caversham in WA.
Jones was initially awarded victory after a stunning drive, but on a lap count back two days later, Davison got the win albeit with Bill Patterson as his co-driver. Tough-nut Stan drove the distance on his own. Alec Mildren also thought he (Mildren) had won the race.
Stan Jones in practice, AGP Caversham WA 1957. Superb David Van Dal shot makes the car look very long and low – Maserati 250F. Davison’s year 1957, winning the AGP, Gold Star and Victorian Trophy in his Ferrari Tipo 500 (David Van Dal)
Lex Davison won five rounds of the championship that year winning the Gold Star from Tom Hawkes’ Cooper T23 Holden and Stan. Jones only Gold Star win for the year was in Queensland, winning the Lowood Trophy in August. At Bathurst a UJ broke, at Lowood a spur gear, and back at Bathurst the clutch failed.
Stan entered the Maser in the Victorian Trophy meetings, over two consecutive weekends at Albert Park in March, winning a preliminary event from the Davison Ferrari 500/625 and Brabham’s F2 Cooper T41 Climax, but his engine let go in a big way in the 100 mile Trophy race whilst chasing and catching Davison in the lead. A conrod broke, carving the block in half after setting fastest race lap on this big-balls circuit. Davison won from Brabham and Hawkes.
Stan’s businesses continued to expand, he was awarded a Holden franchise, Stan Jones Motors was located at 408 Victoria Street, Richmond/Abbotsford. Many of his fellow ‘elite racers’ were also motor-traders including Bib Stillwell, Lex Davison, Bill Patterson, Alec Mildren, Arnold Glass, Stan Coffey and Reg Hunt.
Wet practice session for the Maser, Victorian Trophy at Albert Park in March 1957 (Rodway Wolfe Collection)
Australian Gold Star Champion 1958…
Stan won at the Victorian Tourist Trophy meeting at Fishermans Bend in February 1958 from Arnold Glass in a Ferrari Super Squalo and Doug Whiteford in an ex-works Maserati 300S sports car acquired from the Maserati team after the 1956 AGP.
In a consistent year with the now well prepared and reliable Maserati, Stan also won the final round of the championship, the Phillip Island Trophy race and scored second places at Gnoo-Blas, (Orange NSW), Longford and Lowood, Queensland. He won the title from Alec Mildren and Len Lukey in Coopers T43 Climax and T23 Bristol respectively.
Jones leads Ted Gray across the top of Mount Panorama, AGP 1958. Maser 250F from Tornado Chev (Alan Stewart Collection)
Davo took the AGP at Bathurst in October 1958 in a thriller of a race, Jones led for the first 17 laps with Davo in close company until the 250F clutch failed, and several laps later the engine. Ern Seeliger finished second in Maybach 4 (see below for specifications) with Tom Hawkes third in his Cooper T23 Bristol.
Start of the 1958 GP’s preliminary race: Ted Gray’s Tornado from Davison # 12 Ferrari Tipo 500/625 and Stan (Bernie Rubens)
In a year of relative consistency Stan amassed enough points to win the CAMS coveted Gold Star for Australian Champion driver of the year.
It was a fitting reward for one who had contributed so much to the sport and been a drawcard from the moment he first stepped into Maybach 1.
Grid of the 1958 AGP Mount Panorama, Bathurst. Front row L>R Davison #12 Ferrari Tipo 500/625, Tom Clark Ferrari 555 Super Squalo, Ted Gray blue Tornado, row 2 L>R, Alec Mildren Cooper T43 Climax, Merv Neil Cooper T45 Climax and Curley Brydon Ferrari Chev, Tornado red clad crew well to the fore. (David Van Dal)Jones, Hell Corner, Bathurst AGP 1958, this shot taken from the inside of the corner, the following one from the outside. These shots show the truly challenging nature of the place in the 1950s in 250bhp plus GP cars (Ed Holly Collection)Jones wheels his 250F into Hell Corner Bathurst 1958 AGP (Bernie Rubens)
The Australian Grand Prix win he had strived for for so long was finally his with a victory on the power circuit of Longford in Tasmania 1959.
Stan’s 250F was at its peak, lovingly and skilfully prepared by Otto Stone, Stan beat Len Lukey’s Cooper T43 Climax at just the right moment. The day of the front engined GP car was over in Australia, a bit later than in Europe.
Stan was fortunate that there were no 2.5-litre Coventry Climax engined Coopers in Australia at that stage. Lukey’s little 2-litre did not quite have the ‘mumbo’ to do the job on Longford’s long straights, but if anyone deserved some luck Stan certainly did!
Stan being pushed to the start in front of Arnold Glass in the ex-Hunt/Stillwell 250F. Otto Stone beside Stan, fair haired Sawyer pushing Maser’s pert rear…(Walkem Family/Ellis French)
Jones led from the start followed by Lukey and Whiteford, Whiteford’s Maser 300S did not survive the landing off the railway line spraying copious amounts of oil over Lukey.
Ellis French shot as the flag has dropped catches all the ‘fun of the fair’ of country Tasmania in much simpler times…Jones from Lukey, Glass and Whiteford in the 300S. Blue coloured sports car at rear is Ron Phillips’ Cooper T38 Jag. Formula Libre event (Ellis French)
The lap record was taken by Jones, Lukey and Glass. Lukey lead for six laps, Jones regained the lead, tapping Lukey’s Cooper up the chuff whilst going past the Prince of Wales Hotel. Glass made a bid for the lead, getting right up to Jones, but had to use the escape road at Mountford Corner, his brakes locking. He recovered, joining the circuit still in third in front of Mildren’s Cooper.
Jones worked his away back to the front again, and built a small lead over Lukey, winning by 2.2 seconds from Lukey, with Glass 2.5 minutes behind them and Mildren 39 seconds behind Glass. Ted Gray’s Tornado, the other outright contender had troubles in the qualifying heats, he ran a bearing in the fabulous Lou Abrahams built Chev V8 engined Australian special on lap 4.
Amazing shot of Jones and Lukey ‘yumping’ their cars over the railway line towards Tannery Corner on the outskirts of Longford township (Charles Rice)Stan Jones and Len Lukey in their epic 1959 AGP Longford dice, the cars touched here on lap 9 (oldracephotos-ed steet)
Stan contested the Gold Star Series again in 1959, winning at Port Wakefield in Maybach 4. The car, still owned by Jones, was modified by Stan’s friend Ern Seeliger by fitment of a Chev Corvette 283cid V8, de Dion rear suspension, a 30 gallon fuel tank and less weight. The dry-sumped Chev was fitted with 2 four barrel Carter carbs and developed 274bhp at 6000rpm and 300ft.lbs of torque. The last victory for the car was that race at Port Wakefield, in March, in back to back wins with his AGP triumph.
Stan in Maybach 4 Chev alongside Alec Mildren’s Cooper T43 Climax. Stan won the Gold Star round at Port Wakefield in March 1959, mixing drives in the Maser and Maybach that year. Relative size of the ‘old and new’ apparent, Mildren’s Cooper is tiny in comparison! (Kaydee)
The 1959 Gold Star Series was very long at twelve rounds, Len Lukey winning it in Coopers T23 and T43 Climax from Alec Mildren in Coopers T43 and T45 Climax, and Stan.
Alan and Stan Jones, Phillip Island circa 1959. Car is Maybach 4 Chev, still owned by Stan but modified by fitment of the Corvette V8, fettled and mainly raced by Jones’ mate Ern Seeliger. PI track surface not quite what it is today…(Fan.one)
Coopers…
The Maserati 250F was advertised for sale at £4500 (selling some years later for circa £2000), Maybach 4 was pressed into service at the AGP held in 1960 at Lowood, Queensland in June. The Chev engine failed after four laps, Alec Mildren took a fantastic win by less than a second after a race long dice with Lex Davison’s Aston DBR4/300.
Mildren’s car was a clever combination of Cooper T51 chassis and Maserati 250S engine taken out to 2.9 litres, deservedly, he finally won the Gold Star that year and then retired, forming a race team and over the following decade putting far more back into the sport than he ever took from it.
The mid-engined way forward was clear. Stan’s new Cooper T51 2.2 Climax arrived in time for the NZ Grand Prix at Ardmore in early January 1960. Stan’s practice times were fifth quickest of a grid which included Stirling Moss, David Piper, Denny Hulme and Len Lukey, all driving Coopers.
Jones finished fourth behind Brabham and McLaren in works Cooper T51 and T45 Climax 2.5s, and Stillwell, like Stan in a new Cooper T51 but 2.2 Climax engined.
Stan contested the Craven A International at Bathurst in October 1960. He retired the car in a lap one accident, the race was won by Jack Brabham’s T51.
Merv Bunyan photo50,000 people turned up to see Jack Brabham win the Craven A International at Bathurst in 1960. Front row L>R Jones, Mildren, Brabham. The red car on row two is Stillwell, the yellow behind is Austin Miller, the white one behind him Patterson..all in Cooper T51 Climax. The Glass 250F is clear, third row outside (Australian Motor Racing Museum)
Grand Prix Racing changed from a 2.5 to 1.5 litre Formula in 1961 but many internationals contested our summer races…bringing 2.5-litre ex-GP cars, the ‘Tasman Series’ was still three years away. Stirling Moss, Innes Ireland, Dan Gurney, Graham Hill, Ron Flockhart as well as our Jack raced in Australia that summer.
Stan missed the opening Gold Star round at Warwick Farm but was the fastest of the locals, making a particularly big impact on Dan Gurney at the Victorian Trophy meeting held at Ballarat Airfield in mid February. He was fourth, bested only by Gurney and Hill in their BRM P48s and Ron Flockhart’s Cooper T51 Climax 2.5. Jones led home the locals Stillwell, Mildren, Glass and Miller all in Cooper T51’s.
The oldracingcars.com commentary of the 1961 season asserts that Jones was the quickest of the Australians at the start of ’61 but only won later in the year at Lakeside in July.
At the Longford Trophy in March he had a DNF on lap four, the race won by Roy Salvadori’s Cooper T51 Climax. At the Queensland Centenary Road Racing Championships at Lowood in June he finished third behind Bill Patterson and Mildren, both Cooper T51 mounted.
In April he contested the Craven-A Gold Star event at Bathurst finishing second to Patterson’s winning Cooper T51. Pattos’ Cooper and the four cars behind Jones 2.3 Climax, all 2.5-litres in capacity or bigger.
Stan in his Cooper T51 Climax alongside Bib Stillwell in Aston DBR4/300. Stans’ BRDC badge proudly displayed on the Coopers side. Longford practice, March 1961 (Ron Lambert Collection)
But for Stan difficult times had begun…
In 1961 there was a credit squeeze in Australia as the Menzies Government tightened monetary policy to control inflation with the usual brutally fast consequences of an instant drop in consumer demand, cars included.
Sales on Jones’ multiple sites dropped and continued to decrease as consumers kept their wallets in their pockets or could not obtain consumer credit, which was nowhere near as sophisticated or as common as it is today. Superior Motors was sold in 1960. If you were highly geared, as Stan’s businesses were, you were in trouble, his assets were progressively sold as his cashflow could not keep up with creditors demands.
Jones initially raced on and won the Lakeside Libre Race in the Cooper in July, ahead of Arnold Glass’ Cooper T51 Maser and the Lotus 18 Ford FJ of Bruce Coventry.
He didn’t start the 1961 AGP at Mallala, South Australia, the race was won by Lex Davison in a Cooper T51 borrowed from Bib Stillwell. David Mckay was penalised for a jumped start and lost a race many believe he should have won, Davos’ AGP luck was legendary!
The Gold Star was won by Patterson from Davison, with Jones equal third with Bib Stillwell despite not competing at most rounds and having his mind on much bigger issues, his financial survival.
That unfortunately was the end of Jones’ racing career, he simply no longer had the financial means to compete, the fastest Australian at the start of 1961 was effectively retired twelve months later.
Stan Jones, John Sawyer and Otto Stone with the Cooper, Calder 1962. A drive of the car at this stage was no doubt some relief from the financial issues Jones was dealing with (autopics)
Jones retained the Cooper, racing it at local Calder, Victoria, events several times into 1962. Whilst for sale, the 250F had not sold, Stan ran the car in an historic demonstration event at Sandown in November 1963, which seems to have been his last competition outing. By 1965 the car was sold and running in historic events in the UK.
Stan was ‘a player’, his marriage to Alma ended in divorce. Stan gained custody of Alan and moved to The Boulevard in Ivanhoe, a more salubrious address than Yongala Street, Balwyn. By the mid-1960s all of Stan’s businesses had been sold and he was struggling to find an income; all of this tumultuous for Alan, by then in his late teens.
Stan and Jack McDonald in Maybach 1, mid 1960s in the Calder or Sandown paddocks. Fit and well at this point pre-strokes (Graham Thompson Collection)
Jones suffered two debilitating strokes in the mid-1960s. Alan, after an initial trip in 1967, moved to the UK to pursue a racing career in 1969, Stan moved there to live with Alan and Beverley, AJ’s first wife.
He died in a London hospital in March 1973 just short of his fiftieth birthday. He was a shadow of his former self but a family friend who visited the Jones family in London spoke on the ‘blogosphere’ of Stan using two walking sticks but still looking dapper and smart.
Sad as this was, he would have been proud of Alan as 1973 was his breakthrough year in the UK. He had been competing in F3 for several years, winning a lot of races in a GRD 373 in 1973 and finally broke free of F3, getting his first F1 drive in the Harry Stiller owned Hesketh in 1975.
Champion Racers both, Stan and Alan…and in elite company with Antonio and Alberto Ascari.
Stan Jones Cooper T51 Climax Bathurst Gold Star, March 1961 (John Ellacott)
Where Does Stan Jones rate in the pantheon of local Australian drivers of the period?…
It’s much harder to rate the drivers of the period as they raced mainly cars of different performance. It isn’t like today when drivers come through controlled junior formulae and into controlled senior formulae including F1! telemetry and the like making the job of picking who is fastest easier.
The competitor set includes Doug Whiteford, Lex Davison, Jack Brabham, (whom I have excluded from this analysis given he went overseas) Reg Hunt, Ted Gray, Alec Mildren and Len Lukey. Guys like Bib Stillwell peaked later and David McKay wasn’t in single seaters until the very end of Stan’s career so lets say that is the ‘elite group’, based either on results or speed – Ted Gray an example of the latter.
Whilst their is some chatter about the merits of Jones on the blogosphere, of more relevance are contemporary reports of those there in the day, assessing the drivers of the day in the context of the day.
Australian Motorsport Yearbook 1958/9 refers to Jones ‘two most important overseas appearances have done more to put Australia on the map than many other drivers’. His ‘finest achievement must still be driving an Australian Special against International drivers in works cars in the first NZ International GP.’ ‘On the results of these experiences (the other being the Monte Carlo Rally) Jones should then have spent one season overseas; his potential as a racing driver, was superior, at the time to Jack Brabham’.
This did not happen primarily due to his family and business commitments so ‘..it is therefore not surprising that when he has recently driven against overseas drivers, he has been unable to match their skill…’
‘It has been suggested Stan is a car killer. This is not true. Jones is the first to admit that when he began motor racing he had little knowledge of what went on under the bonnet, but on the credit side he has the ability to give the mechanics details of incorrect symptoms…’
‘It must be admitted Jones is a hard driver…This determination to win has been one of the most important factors contributing to Jones’ success…his record shows he has rarely been unplaced when completing a race.’
‘Jones has been a complete all rounder…He is not temperamental and like many similar drivers his easy friendliness off the track is only matched by his determination once a race has started.’
Stans adaptability is mentioned above, that was not unique at the time as circuit events were not as common as now so drivers with the means had to be prepared to travel interstate and to do trials, rallies and hillclimbs to get their ‘racing fix’.
Jones had the financial means to race, but so too did the competitor set above, who were all sucessful businessmen/racers with the wherewithal to match their skill.
As the oldracingcars.com analysis earlier states, Stan was the quickest local driver in 1961…Dan Gurney stating after racing against him at Ballarat Airfield, ‘wow he is some driver that Stan Jones’. He successfully made the change from front to mid-engined cars, he was as adept in his Cooper Climax as Maybach 4, both entirely different beasts raced successfully in the same year.
Ray Bell, noted Australian motor racing journalist and Racing Car News contributor talks about Jones on ‘The Nostalgia Forum’ as ‘..the dominant figure of his day. He probably won the 1957 AGP at Caversham denied by poor lap-charting by the organisers. He stood out amongst drivers of the fifties, Brabham shot off to the UK to really make an impact’. ‘At Albert Park in 1956 only two drivers took Golf Links Bend flat, Moss and Jones’
Was he our fastest of the period? Probably.
It’s a pity Whiteford bought a 300S rather than a 250F from the visiting Maserati factory team after the 1956 Albert Park GP, equally it’s a shame Hunt retired, those battles would have been interesting and perhaps conclusive.
Was he the best in the period? Possibly.
Perhaps mechanical sympathy, important at the time was a slight negative.
Lex Davison is the other ‘best’ contender and an honorable mention should be made of Hunt who really wasn’t around long enough in outright cars to call it, he definitely had a car advantage when the A6GCM arrived, raising the bar and forcing others to buy Red Cars.
The final word goes to John Medley, another racer/enthusiast/historian of the period also writing on ‘TNForum’. He said of Stan, ‘He was an impressive operator, a determined and at times exuberant driver and usually with good equipment. Alan Jones was not the only goer in the Jones family. Stan was a serious goer full of fire and brimstone.’
Jones returns to the pits, final victory in Maybach 4 Chev, Port Wakefield, SA Gold Star round March 1959 (Kevin Drage)
Etcetera…
Charlie Dean…
Repco PR shot of Charlie Dean circa 1972 (Malcolm Preston)
The importance of the Research & Development ‘Skunkworks’ Dean created at Repco post-war is important to recognise.
Its existence and focus on development by racing attracted an incredible number of talented engineers who graduated from the ‘Repco University’ and achieved much within Repco, or more often outside it.
Repco engineering alumnus include Ivan Tighe, Paul England, Peter Holinger, Nigel Tait, Michael Gasking, George Wade, Don Halpin, Frank Duggan, John Brookfield, John Judd, John Mepstead, David Nash, Ian Stockings, Ken Syme, Brian and Norm Wilson and many others. Phil Irving is not on this list as he was already of world renown when he joined Repco.
This unit within the company led to the Coventry Climax FPF maintenance program in the early 1960s, this and the capabilities of the engineers made possible taking on the Jack Brabham request to design and build the 1966-67 World Championship winning RB620 and 740 Series of engines, a program supported and sponsored by Dean, by that time a Repco Board member.
Board membership was a considerable achievement in Dean’s career as Repco were for many years an Australian Stock Exchange Top 200 company. Even though by then he wore a suit, by thought, word and deed he was a racer to his core and a fine engineer to boot.
As a Repco Director he retired compulsorily at 60 in 1973, then doing a variety of engineering projects, and some property refurbishment work. He died suddenly in 1984 after suffering a fatal blood clot following surgery after a fall moving a concrete slab at his home.
To my knowledge his story has not been fully told but it is well covered in Malcolm Preston’s great book referred to in the bibliography.
Charlie Dean, Maybach 1, Rob Roy 1948 (George Thomas)
Etcetera…
Tony Gaze, Lex Davison and Stan Jones with their Holden, Monaco quayside, Monte Carlo Rally 1953 (unattributed)1958 AGP, Mount Panorama, Bathurst…Stan in his 250F from Ted Gray’s Tornado Chev and Davison in the Ferrari 500/625, first lap. Hell Corner from the inside, beginning the run up the mountain…(Peter Wherrett Collection)Jones and 250F at Phillip Island circa 1959 (Peter D’Abbs)Ern Seeliger and Stan after the latter won the 1953 Victorian Trophy at Fishermans Band in Maybach 1 prepared by Ernie (The Age)
Bibliography…
Barry Green ‘Glory Days’, Malcolm Preston ‘Maybach to Holden’, Graham Howard ‘History of The Australian Grand Prix’, ‘Australian Motorsport Yearbook 1958/9’, ‘The Nostalgia Forum’
Photo Credits…
David Van Dal, John Ellacott, Ron Lambert, oldracephotos.com, Rodway Wolfe Collection, Merv Bunyan Collection, Bernie Rubens, John Ellacott, Charles Rice, Ellis French, B Dunstan, Ed Steet, Walkem Family, KE Niven & Co, Peter Wherrett Collection, Australian Motor Racing Museum, Rob Bailey Collection, Kevin Drage, Dacre Stubbs Collection, motorsportarchive.com, Graham Thompson Collection, Ray Eldershaw Collection, Alan Stewart Collection, Ed Holly Collection, fan.one, George Thomas, VHRR Archive, Pter D’Abbs, Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania, The Age
Tailpiece…
(HRCCTas)
Happy Stan, no doubt a relieved Stan, in the Longford paddock post 1959 AGP win, Maserati 250F…
Mildren ‘LHD’ GTA, Kevin Bartlett, Lakeside, Queensland 1966 (J Stanley)
Kevin Bartlett explores and exploits the laws of physics in the Alec Mildren Racing Alfa Romeo GTA , Lakeside, Queensland, Australia circa 1966…
Some years later American F5000 driver, Sam Posey while competing in the Tasman Series and observing KB’s Lola at close quarters described Bartlett as the ‘master of opposite lock’. It was an aspect of his driving which worked for him and we spectators throughout his career regardless of the cars he drove – sedans, sports cars or single seaters.
Team Mildren Warwick Farm 1966, not 1967 I think…big professional team 60’s Style! Cars are Mildren LHD GTA, TZ2 and the Brabham BT2/6 Ford raced by Bartlett at that stage. WF Tasman Meeting 13 February 1966 (Allegerita)
Alec Mildren Racing and Kevin Bartlett…
AMR was one of Australia’s first professional teams, the basis of the team was formed around a nucleus of talented people who fettled Alec Mildren’s cars during his own single seater campaigns. He won the Australian Gold Star Championship and Australian Grand Prix in a Cooper T51 Maserati in 1960.
Shortly thereafter Mildren retired from driving to concentrate on his business interests which primarily involved the retail car trade. He was the first Alfa Romeo dealer/distributor in New South Wales and his race team employed great drivers including Frank Gardner, Kevin Bartlett and Max Stewart.
Mildren’s passion was single-seaters but the team also raced Alfas, notably two GTAs, a TZ2 and later 105 Series coupes of various capacities in Series Production events as those grew in stature in the late 1960s.
Alec Mildren Racing and the laid back nature of the Tasman series circa 1967. Bartlett is sitting on the wheel of his Brabham BT11A Climax 2.5 Tasman car. The Alfa is the prototype TZ2 referred to in the shot above. The smiley chap at right rear is young Fred Gibson, then racing a Lotus Elan 26R. Warwick Farm, New South Wales (P Windsor)
Kevin Bartlett started racing in his mother’s Morris Minor and very quickly the young mechanic made a name for himself as a fast driver with strong mechnical knowledge and sympathy. By 1965 he was driving an Elfin Imp FJ owned by the McGuire family and an Austin Healey Sprite and TVR for others. He recalls that ‘Alec and Glenn Abbey (Mildren’s engineer/mechanic) were always on the lookout for talent, Ralph Sach and Charles Smith who drove for them at the time were getting older and I performed well against them in cars with much less capacity. They also took into account that I could drive different types of cars and do as well as I could’.
‘ I got to race the Alfas’ and then the little Brabham BT2/6 which was powered by a pushrod Ford engine, and in mid-1965 the Mildren Maserati, which was the first really powerful car I drove, racing it at Lowood and then winning the 1965 Victorian Sportscar Championship in it at Sandown’.
The Mildren Maserati was built by Bob Britton of Rennmax Engineering, essentially a Lotus 19 clone, it used some of the running gear from Alec Mildren’s 1960 Gold Star Championship winning Cooper T51 Maserati, particularly the gearbox and 2.9-litre 250S Maser engine.
KB made his presence felt in that ’65 Victorian championship race beating Bib Stillwell’s Cooper Monaco Buick V8 and Spencer Martin’s Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM amongst others. He had well and truly arrived…
Bartlett in ‘LHD’ entering the Viaduct at Longford leading Allan Moffat’s Lotus Cortina in March 1966 (E French)
Mildren GTAs…
There were two, first a LHD and later a RHD car, Bartlett drove both in their competitive heyday and both ended up racing in Western Australia.
Bartlett at it again…Leger Corner , Warwick Farm 1966 ‘RHD’ Mildren GTA (autopics)The Autodelta factory, Milan circa 1967, car is a GTA Stradale – road spec GTA (Pinterest)
Autodelta…
The original step-front Alfa Giulia Sprint GT was penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone and has to be one of the most beautifully balanced, delicate designs of the 1960s.
Autodelta was the factory Alfa racing subsidiary formed by famed ex-Ferrari engineer, Carlo Chiti, and Ludovico Chizzola in 1963 after the closure of ATS, the Grand Prix team formed by ex-Ferrari staff after a purge by the Commendatore in 1961. In 1964 Alfa acquired Autodelta and moved it to Milan, near its HQ.
The Giulia sedan was race developed and did well in Australia winning the Sandown 6 Hour in 1964, but it was too heavy against the Lotus Cortinas so development started on the Giulia Sprint GT coupe in 1964.
This ‘GTA’ was built to compete in sedan racing globally, in Group 2 under FIA rules, which boomed in the 60s. On 18 February 1965 the first Giulia Sprint GTA was unveiled at the Autosalon in Amsterdam, it was followed by the GTA Junior 1300 in 1968 and later the 1750/2000 GTAm.
Interior of Australian owned GTA Stradale (M Bisset)
GTA 1600 Tipo 105.32 specifications…
The car featured lightweight bodies utilising Peraluman 25, a light alloy comprising aluminium, magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc. The superstructure remained steel, including the sill panels. The roof, bonnet, boot lid, rear inner support panel and spare wheel well, dash, parcel shelf support panels and rear seat support were all made from P25. The lightening continued with minimal sound deadening, Perspex side and rear windows on Corsa (race) cars. The GTA lost 205kg compared to the Giulia Sprint GT, for a total weight of 820kg.
Alfa had to build 1000 cars to qualify for the FIA’s Group 2 Touring Car regulations, the Stradale (road) version helped, being built on Alfa’s normal, Arese production line. Race prepared cars were taken after completion at Arese, to Autodelta, the exact specifications of each car was built customer order.
The car’s engine was a twin-plug, highly tuned version of Alfa’s famous DOHC engine. The head was ported and polished, higher compression pistons, high lift cams and lightened flywheel were fitted. All reciprocating parts were balanced, increasing power to in excess of 175bhp. An oil cooler and deeper sump aided reliability.
The engine/bay of the ‘RHD Mildren GTA’ as restored, Philip Island 2013 (Flickr)
A limited slip diff and sliding-block rear axle locating system was fitted. The standard five-speed gearbox had a greater range of ratio choices, similarly the diff ratio was to choice from homologated alternatives. The front suspension was modified with adjustable top arms to allow negative camber to driver’s choice.
The cars were immediately and immensely successful winning the first round of the European Touring Car Challenge in March 1966. Andrea de Adamich won the Division 2 Drivers Title and Alfa the European Manufacturers title. In the US, Jochen Rindt won the SCCA Trans American Sedan Championship race at Sebring, many championships followed throughout the world. The GTAm won Alfa’s last championship for the 105, the ETCC Manufacturers Championship in 1971, the cars were competitive for a long time with ongoing development.
Arnaldo Tonti, Autodela mechanic attributed the success of the car in Octane magazine to ‘… a perfect balance between a very good chassis, with a very low centre of gravity, and a very strong, powerful and reliable engine. The Autodelta sliding block for the rear suspension was a work of art lowering the car and making it quicker and more stable through the corners and giving its characteristic raised front wheel. The engines were capable of 6800/7000rpm…’
Bruce Wells’ shot of Kevin Bartlett at Warwick Farm in 1966, in LHD Mildren GTA
In Australia Mildren’s LHD car landed in mid-1965…
The car was raced in the Sandown 6 Hour race in November 1965 by Alfa factory driver Roberto Businello and Ralph Sach. Businello tested the car at Balacco before it was shipped to Australia, it was a trick-GTA, very light having the aluminium floor relatively few had.
It led at Sandown until lap 99, with victory going to Bartlett and Gardner in the Mildren Giulia Super Ti which was also victorious the year before.
Businello in the GTA, Sandown 6 Hour 1965 (cooper997collection)
Gardner and Bartlett then raced it in supporting events during the 1966 Tasman Series, Gardner winning outright at Warwick Farm and Sandown with Bartlett first in class at Longford.
‘It was a pleasant car to drive, KB recalled recently. We ran the car at Bathurst, had a win there against Bob Janes’ Mustang on that power circuit. I preferred the LHD car (to the RHD car) as it had the right-hand change which was what I was most familiar with given the sports-car and single-seaters I was racing. There was not much difference in the performance of the two cars, although the LHD was a semi-works spec car. We could knock off the big cars at Warwick Farm but it was much harder at Sandown and the like’.
‘The under 1600cc closest competitors to the GTA were the Mini Coopers who were giving away capacity to us, they were great handling and very quick with the right guys such as Brian Foley and Peter Manton at the wheel. The LHD was sold as it was getting a little long in the tooth in terms of miles, Alec sold it to a guy named Stephenson in WA.’
Kevin Bartlett coming off Long Bridge, Longford in early 1966 (E French)
Used mainly in State level events the car also contested the one-race Australian Touring Car Championship in 1966. Held at the Easter Bathurst meeting, Bartlett did well to finish third to the big V8s of Pete Geoghegan and Norm Beechey aboard Ford Mustang and Chevy Nova respectively. Run over 20 laps – 75 miles – of Mount Panorama, what the GTA lacked in top speed up and down the mountain was largely made up across the top and under brakes.
KB was victorious at Warwick Farm in May and that month also won the Queensland Production Touring Car Championship at Surfers Paradise. He took a race win at Lowood, Queensland in June before the car was sold to Frank Cecchele, a Perth Alfa dealer and raced for him by Gordon Stephenson. It was rolled at Caversham in 1967.
Wonderful, evocative Caversham shot in 1968. Stephenson in the ‘LHD Mildren GTA’, gridding up with Kitz Kohout and Jeff Dunkerton in Porsche 911S and Mini Cooper S respectively, the rest of the field are moving forward and out of shot. This was the last year for Caversham before it was closed for racing (P Boxsell)
‘LHD’ competed regularly in WA state events and the annual 6 Hour race held at Caversham ; ’67 DNF Stephenson, ’68 DNF Stephenson, and at Wanneroo Park ’69 DNF Stephenson/ Cooper, ’70 seventh Ricciardello/Zampatti, ’71 DNF and finally in 1972 fourth outright and first in the 1600 class for Ricciardello/Cooper.
The car was all but destroyed at Mt Brown Hillclimb, from the remains, Ricciardello built a V8 engined sports sedan, initially Ford 302, and later Chev 350 powered. Cooper bought the ‘RHD’ Mildren Alfa, which he later owned in partnership with Ricciardello. Current ownership is unknown.
‘LHD’ in 1966 at Mount Brown hillclimb out of York where it was in later years all but written off, this was the end of the car in its original form (Allegerita)LHD at Caversham in 1967 when raced by Gordon Stephenson (Allegerita)Brian Foley’s Cooper S chasing Frank Gardner’s new ‘RHD’ Mildren GTA at Warwick Farm in early 1967. Foley acquired the car six years later. This shot a wonderful example of oversteer and understeer respectively! (B Wells)RHD in the Surfers Paradise 12 Hours in 1967. DNF, KB driving with Doug Chivas, KB has passed the Munyard/Crawford/Calvert Holden 48-215!, at rear the winning Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM of Bill Brown/Greg Cusack approaches (R Bell)
The Mildren RHD GTA, chassis # 752 561…
The LHD chassis number is lost in the mists of time, but RHD was built in July 1965 and first raced by Gardner at Warwick Farm in December 1966. He then raced the car in numerous ’67 Tasman supporting events, winning at Warwick Farm and Longford. Bartlett then took the car over and had wins at Bathurst and Surfers Paradise.
Bartlett again contested the ATCC, this time a one race event held at Lakeside, another power circuit in 1967. Pete Geoghegan’s Mustang won again, this time second and third places were secured by the Cooper S’ of Brian Foley and Peter Manton.
The car was sold to John French in Queensland in 1968 who raced the car and continued to develop it until it was bought by Brian Foley in 1972.
Bartlett fourth in the 1967 ATCC held at Lakeside, Pete Geoghegan was victorious in the one race event (Graham Howard History of the ATCC)Racing Car News ad for the sale of the RHD GTA, March 1968 edition. The Brabham Intercontinental is a Brabham BT11A Climax, the prices are right! (Racing Car News)The Mildren RHD GTA was further developed by John French in terms of wheel/tyres, roll bar and engine (unattributed)
Foley had raced an Alfa GTAm in 1971 in the ATCC and in 1972 as a sports sedan.He converted the car from LHD to RHD and fitted with an Alfa Tipo 33 2.5 litre V8 into the engine bay which had previously housed the 2-litre, twin-plug DOHC, Lucas injected four cylinder engine fitted by the factory.
The T33 V8 was left-over from Mildren’s Brabham and Mildren ‘Yellow Submarine’ single seater program raced by Gardner and Bartlett. I will write about the GTAm separately. The GTAm was a pork-chop compared with the GTA, as it lacked the earlier cars aluminium panels, it was around 200kg heavier.
Foley, a Sydney Alfa dealer reasoned that a more competitive 1973 mount would be a lightened and modified GTA, so off to Bowin Designs in Brookvale, Sydney the car went for major surgery by John Joyce to its suspension, structure, brakes, engine mounting etc. When completed, the car was powered by a 16-valve 2-litre Alfa engine developing 225bhp and weighed 636kg.
GTA Lwt at Oran Park circa 1973 with Foley watching the action at far right (unattributed)Brian Foley in the RHD Mildren GTA – now further developed and lightened by Bowin Designs – and raced as a Sports Sedan in 1973. It’s very easy to confuse this car with Foley’s GTAm which raced in the same livery, and was converted from LHD to RHD when the Tipo 33 2.5 V8 was fitted. The eight injection trumpets protruding through a hole in the bonnet is an easy way to pick the two cars apart (autopics)
The car was fast but V8s were coming into the category in increasing numbers, so after a prang at Oran Park in late 1973 the car was sold to Peter Brown in Canberra. Foley essentially retired from racing after a fine career.
Brown, an Alfa racer from way back, fitted a Mazda Rotary engine then sold it to Neville Cooper in Western Australia, where all exotic Alfas seem to end up! The ‘LHD’ Mildren GTA having been damaged too much in race accidents to continue. A Ford V8 was fitted, then the car was sold to Peter Gillon who raced it for two years before being acquired by Ricciardello and Cooper in partnership.
It was raced very successfully including a win by Cooper in the 1979 Wanneroo 300km race, the car was always competitive in WA Sports Sedan competition during this period.
Ultimately the much raced GTA was acquired by a Sydney enthusiast who had owned GTAs before and was aware of the car’s provenance, a long restoration followed, the car is now a regular entry in historic events across Australia.
For the Sake of Completeness…
It appears there were two other GTAs which raced in Australia in period. The ‘MW Motors GTA’ was raced by Syd Fisher and Frank Porter for MW who were the Victorian Alfa distributor and Melbourne dealer. Sold to Mario Marasco, he raced the car as a Sports Sedan and wrote it off at Hume Weir, it is presumed lost.
The ‘Gulson RHD GTA’ chassis #75247 was restored from a fire-wreck in Western Australia, Vin Sharp, long time Alfisti and owner of the ex-Foley GTAm last had contact with the owner in Scotland about ten years ago.
The MW Motors GTA in the Longford paddock 1968, Alan Hamilton raced it that weekend. It reappeared, restored in 2019 after a ‘barn find’ (P Drury)Frank Porter driving the MW Motors GTA at Sandown, Melbourne for a successful challenge on a 12 hour national record attempt in 1968 (Allegerita)Copy of the first page of the long homologation papers for the GTA (Allegerita)
Etcetera…
Autodelta factory 1965, GTAs and a Giulia Super Ti on the line. Completed cars were delivered from Alfa’s Arese production line and then modified to customer order (Pinterest)Alfa’s test track at Balacco, circa 1966. TZ2s and GTAs, drivers unknown (Pinterest)
Etcetera ‘LHD’…
Roberto Businello in Pit Straight Sandown in November 1965. The car led the Sandown 6 Hour for 2.5 hours, retiring at 99 laps (Allegerita)The start at Longford 1966. Pete Geoghegan Mustang, Bartlett in ‘LHD’ and Allan Moffat in the Lotus Cortina (E French)‘LHD’ at Caversham, WA 1967 (Allegerita)
Etcetera ‘RHD’…
Kevin Bartlett in ‘RHD’, Warwick Farm 1966 (Roderick MacKenzie)‘RHD’ in Mildren ownership, the old Sandown Paddock circa 1967 (Flickr)John French at Lakeside early in his ownership in 1968 (unattributed)John French in ‘RHD’, Lakeside 1970 sandwiched by two Torana GTR XU1s, Dick Johnson in his formative Holden days on the nearside (Alfa Bulletin Board)Brian Foley in ‘RHD’, Oran Park 1973. This is post the Bowin modifications, car has later single headlight 1.6 Junior front clip rather than early Stepfront. Very easy to confuse the car with the ex-Foley GTAm which by this stage was in Perth (Dale Harvey)‘RHD’ in Neville Cooper’s hands, WA (Wells/Neville Cooper)
Special thanks to Kevin Bartlett
For his recollections of the two cars
Sources and Photo Credits…
The Nostalgia Forum, Alfa Bulletin Board, John Stanley, autopics, Bruce Wells Collection, The Roaring Season, Howard/Wilson ‘History of The ATCC’, peterwindsor.com, Paul Boxsell, Roderick MacKenzie, Neville Cooper Collection, Yen Yoshikawa cutaway, Dale Harvey, Ellis French, Ray Bell, ‘Allegerita’ by Tony Adriaensens, Vin Sharp, Perry Drury
primotipo... 