Archive for the ‘Fotos’ Category

Aston Martin Ulster…

Posted: October 21, 2019 in Fotos, Sports Racers
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1

(B Young)

The Bob Young Aston Martin Ulster, Fred Hamilton Triumph TR2 and John Youl’s Porsche 356 at Baskerville in May 1958…

I know none of us get prints anymore but why can’t the ‘chemical compound’ of the photographic process today get this kind of sharp but soft and ‘true’ colours- if you get my drift? It is a beautiful shot of bucolic Australia contrasted by the bright and dull colours of the cars.

That’s the Mick Watt built Prefect Special driven by Ralph King on row 2, now and for many decades owned by Ian Tate, alongside Robin Bessant in the ex-Warwick Hine MG TC.

Geoff Smedley picks up the Aston Martin thread, ‘I had my eye on that Aston, it was brought to Tasmania by an English guy who was an Engineer who had joined Comalco in Georgetown. The owner frequently visited our family engineering business as much of Comalco’s work was done there, and of course i fell in love with the Ulster. I had been promised first offer on the car but within months it went to Bob Young which was sad as it was far too valuable to be treated like it was but that is history!’

Customer cars were built after the success of the team 1 1/2 cars in the 1934 Ulster Tourist Trophy- first to third place class victory won Aston Martin the Team Prize.

The Faulkner/Clarke 8th placed Aston Martin Ulster at Le Mans in 1935. Winner the Hindmarsh/Fontes Lagonda Rapide M45

 

1935 Ulster TT- Charles Brackenbury Aston Martin 1 1/2 leads the Tim-Rose Richards Ulster- 4th and 11th in the race won by Freddie Dixon, Riley TT Sprite (LAT)

Released at the October 1934 London Olympia motor show as ‘a replica of the three team cars which ran so successfully in the 1934 TT’, the machines were built on the shorter of the two Mk2 Aston Martin ladder frame chassis.

With a weight of 940kg, two-seater body and a tuned SOHC, 2-valve, twin-SU fed four cylinder 1481cc, circa 85bhp engine and Laycock four speed gearbox the cars were ‘guaranteed to reach 100mph’.

They weren’t light in comparison to the contemporary competition- Riley, MG Magnette and Frazer Nash ‘but the cars had stamina and handling which won respect of enthusiasts all over the world’ wrote Inman Hunter.

The slinky little machines were (an expensive) 750 pounds in 1934-1935, the period in which the twenty-one customer cars were built. There were initially the 3 ‘Team Cars’ and a further 7 built in 1934-5. Evidently all of the cars are extant- I am intrigued to know the history of this one before and after its time in Australia.

Etcetera…

 

Clarke/Faulkner Aston Martin 1 1/2 during the 1936 Mille Miglia, DNF in the race won by the Brivio/Ongaro Alfa Romeo 8C2900A. The only British car amongst the Italians! In fact the only foreign car amongst the Italian hordes…

Credits…

Bob Young Collection, Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania, Geoff Smedley, ‘Aston Martin 1913-1947’ Inman Hunter

Finito…

Marr Dock…

Posted: October 19, 2019 in F1, Fotos, Obscurities
Tags: , , , ,
5
(CAN)

Nup. But Leslie Marr’s Connaught B Type Jaguar at the Dunedin Wharves, New Zealand during the ‘Fourth Dunedin Road Race’ meeting on 28 January 1956…

Marr is now 97 years old, (born 14 August 1922), I wonder if this image could make its way to his door the artist would paint this scene? Perfect world is an impressionist work without the fellas in front of the car and with the cranes at full height.

Isn’t it an extraordinary photo? Drink it all in.

You just cannot compare the race photography of today with, say, pre-1970. The topography in which we race and therefore the environment in which the ‘snappers have to work is just so different; a statement of the obvious, one of my strengths.

I wrote about this meeting in the context of an article on Aston Martin DP155 and the growth of Kiwi racing post-war not so long ago, so lets not go over old ground; https://primotipo.com/2019/09/05/the-gp-aston-martin-dp155/

The car alongside is Peter Whitehead’s Ferrari 500/750S, his buddy Tony Gaze won in his identical car from Reg Parnell, Aston Martin DP155 and Syd Jensen’s Cooper Mk9 Norton. Leslie ‘cracked the shits’ over the nature of the course, especially the 100 metres or so gravel section, so he did a lap to collect his start money and retired thereafter- a pity as he performed so well on that tour.

Love the ‘hatted’ gent aft of the Connaught. The bloke at far right looks like a driver but I have no idea who, the dude in black with his back to us could be Leslie?, just guessing. Do get in touch if you can fill us in a bit more Kiwis. Unbelievable.

(GP Library)

Connaught B-Type…

Leslie enters the Goodwood paddock in ‘B3’ during 1955, I can’t see a race entry for him at Goodwood so perhaps he is testing prior to the July British GP meeting, Q19 and DNF brakes in the race won by Stirling Moss, Mercedes W196. This chassis is in normal Alta engined specification at this stage.

Connaught B-Type cockpit during 1955 British GP weekend. It looks like Ken McAlpine’s car fitted with ‘slipper’ or ‘Syracuse’ body.

The standard of presentation and finish of these cars is outstanding, ‘tool room’ quality in the vernacular of the day. Big array of instruments, pre-selector change quadrant and natty tartan seat cushion grab the eye.

B Type Connaught laid bare (J Ross)

Rodney Clarke and one of his mechanics prove both the bulk and light weight of the aluminium Streamliner body. I wonder what the difference in top speed of the cars so equipped was relative to the normal open-wheel configuration?

This amazing body was the result of studies in Connaught’s own wind tunnel- this Ford V8 powered facility was the very first owned by an F1 Team. Visually, light-weight Dunlop wheels set off a very attractive, edgy looking machine.

The Alta DOHC, twin-cam, two-valve 2470cc engine was good for about 240bhp @ 6400rpm as prepared by Mike Oliver at Connaughts Send HQ, but not reliably so. The engine variously used SU and Connaught fuel injection, both were problematic, in the end Webers were the solution.

The chassis of the B Type was a simple twin-tube arrangement with twin wishbones and coil springs up front and de Dion rear located by a radius rod on each side, a compound lateral linkage with torsion bars provided the spring mechanism. A Wilson type five speed pre-selector box, also used in the A Type was fitted.

’B1’ made its debut at Goodwood on Easter Monday 1955 with Tony Rolt at the wheel- this chassis’ most famous victory was in young Tony Brooks hands, he won the Syracuse GP in front of the works Maserati 250F’s of Musso, Schell and Villoresi, on home turf in October 1955. It was the first all British GP win since Segrave’s San Sebastián Sunbeam win in 1924.

Seven Type B’s were built, what a lovely thing to own.

Alta engine as per text (J Ross)
(J Ross)

Leslie Marr, admirers, and his Connaught, then with its normal body, during the 1954 Aintree 200 meeting.

Etcetera…

(T Adams)

A couple of photographs of Marr during the Lady Wigram Trophy weekend on the airfield circuit. The colour photograph truly is Rocking Horse Shit in terms of rarity whereas the Godfrey Paape shot is the best action shot of the car I’ve seen. Leslie was out of grid slot 2 and finished third behind the Peter Whitehead and Tony Gaze Ferrari 500/625 3 litre machines, 21 January 1956.

(G Paape)
Cockpit shot with floor, seat and exhaust secondaries and pipes removed. Access difficulty given the body obvious

Marr’s Streamliner clearly caught the eye of the Australia Motor Sports Editor at Ardmore, here on the cover of the February 1956 issue of the much respected magazine.

Credits…

Classic Auto News, LC Cresswell, Theo Page, John Ross Archive, Godfrey Paape, Tony Adams

Tailpiece…

B Type cutaway, car shown fitted with ‘slipper’ body (T Page)

Finito…

Things Go Better With…

Posted: October 14, 2019 in F1, Fotos
Tags: , , , , ,
3

image

(Klemantaski)

Coke! and it seems Giuseppe Farina agrees…

He is in the Monza pits all ready to ‘load up’, exact date and meeting uncertain but the Pirelli overalls suggests maybe his 1950 Alfa Romeo 158 Alfetta championship season or ‘praps the year after.

All correspondence entered into…

(unattributed)

And here in the Silverstone pits aboard his Alfa Romeo 158 ‘Alfetta’ during the 1950 British Grand Prix weekend- the very first round of the inaugural FIA’s World Championship for Drivers in the fourth year of Formula 1.

Farina won three of the seven rounds- at Silverstone, Bremgarten and Monza in his works Alfa Romeo from teammate JM Fangio who also won three rounds, but fell three points short of the Italians total of 30 points.

The Indy 500, one of the seven rounds back them, was won by Johnnie Parsons in a Kurtis Kraft Offenhauser.

Credit…

Klemantaski Collection

image

(Klemantaski)

Finito…

 

 

Voddy Kharkov…

Posted: October 2, 2019 in F1, Fotos, Obscurities
Tags: , , , , ,
0

Catchy name for a martini?

The cutaway is a conceptual illustration of the 1958 Russian Kharkov Type 6…

The car was positioned as a potential F1 competitor, in the specification above it would have been an evolution of the Type 6 record-breaker shown below.

As depicted the machine is of ‘advanced paradigm specification’ for the day- powered by a DOHC, twin plug, fuel injected six with rear mounted transaxle in unit with de Dion, coil spring/shock rear suspension and twin wishbones up the front. The body is a nod at the Mercedes W196 Streamliner, the chassis is advanced too- two solid lower longitudinal members but multi-tubular spaceframe in design. Drum brakes were to be used by the look of it.

The car broke cover as shown in the article and photograph below published in ‘Sports Illustrated’ and other newspapers in early 1958.

The ‘1956 Type 6 Monoposto Record Car’ was driven in land speed record attempts by the cars designer/builder Vladimir Nikitin, also variously first-named Konstantin and Vassili.

The cars specification incorporated a Pobeda Agregate (a large Russian car of the forties to seventies) four cylinder, two-valve, single and later two-stage ‘Popieda M20’ supercharged 1970cc (79x100mm bore/stroke) engine which produced circa 200bhp @ 6000rpm. Fitted with a three speed gearbox, all up weight was about 1000kg.

The potent little package achieved a two-way average top speed of 280.156 km/h on 10 December 1953 using the Simpheropol-Djankoy public road in Crimea.

Sports Illustrated February 1958

 

Nikitin centre-stage on this page of the Khadi34 website

Vladimir Konstantinovich Nikitin (1911-1992) was an engineer who developed the successful Kharkov 3 record breaker, the ‘6’ was a development of the earlier car- these were only two of an amazing man’s many creations.

In 1953 Nikitin was one of the founders of the Laboratory of High Speed Automobiles (LSA KhADI), its purpose was to ‘create the fastest cars in the world’. It appears the Kharkov 6 was developed outside this enterprise which begs the question of where it was built- probably the Kharkov Road Engineering Institute. Click here for the achievements of LSA KhADI; http://khadi34.blogspot.com/search?q=nikitin

There was some talk of an F1 car in 1958 but whether that was Russian hype or newspaper ‘puff’ is unclear- nonetheless ‘The Daily Express’ brought the President of the Moscow Automobile Club to the 1958 Silverstone International Trophy meeting- i wonder what the man thought of the racing?

Nikitin’s take on an F1 car would have been interesting, and to a large extent his perspective was a very informed one.

The story of thirteen of Auto Union’s racers making their way from Zwickau to Russia during the autumn of 1945 is reasonably well known. They ended up at the ‘NAMI’ Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Engines Institute, with most then ‘spread to the winds’ to factories and institutions for further research.

During the 1980’s and 1990’s when Russian Americans Paul and Barbara Karassik were pursuing the missing AU’s in Russia- they were ultimately successful in acquiring the remains of several cars, who should they meet via a chain of coincidences (or brilliant patient detective work) but Nikitin.

He explained that two or three of the Auto Unions had been through his hands at a Technical Institute in Kharkov. Eventually, having won Nikitin’s trust over a number of visits the engineer told them about the two or three Auto Unions he had become familiar with at the Kharkov Institute. Several visits later he admitted he knew where there was another car- in the corner of an old brickworks was an unsalvageable body but a complete chassis, engine, gearbox and many suspension parts all of which the Karassiks acquired via a convoluted process.

Nikitin featured in a Russian film about ‘young people captured by speed and Russia’s oldest racing driver’. Check it out here, my Russian is not too flash but I still enjoyed it..https://www.net-film.eu/film-7575/

One might have thought that Nikitin, with his public success may have been lauded in mother Russia but what the Karassic’s came upon was a man much decorated for his achievements but living in penury…

 

Kharkov Type 6

Etcetera…

Nikitin, khADI 7 in 1967 (Getty)

 

Credits…

The Nostalgia Forum especially contributors Tom West, ‘Flicker’, Marc Ceulemans, Mike Lawrence

Tailpieces…

(Khadi34)

Nikitin and colleagues around KhADI 7, a helicopter engined machine which exceeded 400km/h in an airport close to Kharkiv in 1968- his next project upped the ante by the use of an aircraft engine from a MIG 19, the only limiting factor was the lack of tyres and a track in the USSR long enough, invitations from the US to run there were unsuccessful…

I have no idea at all but it does have a touch of the Auto Unions about it does it not?!

Finito…

Currumbin Hillclimb, Gold Coast…

Posted: September 30, 2019 in Fotos, Obscurities, Who,What,Where & When...?
Tags: , , , , ,
10
(J Wright)

Competitors assemble for a Queensland Motor Sport Club Currumbin Hillclimb, Monday 12 June 1961…

Most east coasters have holidayed on Queensland’s Gold Coast, visited the Currumbin Bird/Wildlife Sanctuary and no doubt had a surf on the beach close by. Currumbin is 20km from Surfers Paradise and a dropkick from Tweed Heads – the Queensland/New South Wales border.

This photograph has proved a bit of a mystery though.

I popped up an article on Lakeside circuit up last week but was uncertain about the photograph above given the wise owls of The Nostalgia Forum could not reach a consensus on where it was, a very rare occurrence I might add. I then uploaded the photograph onto the primotipo and Old Australian Motor Racing Photographs – Australia Facebook pages, the Lakeside article is here; https://primotipo.com/2019/09/23/lakeside-early-days/

After four or five days and 8,027 FB hits/views Quentin Miles is the winner with photographic evidence to back up his nomination of place – Currumbin.

Porsche 356 on full assault. Note the corner marshal in safety overalls and the sea in the distance (B Miles)
(B Miles)

Racer/restorer Dick Willis believes the roads used were created for a housing estate and that the Gold Coast club got some events in before the influx of residents precluded further motorsport use. Brian Lear’s records show events were run in December 1958, 1960 and 1962. Stephen Dalton’s discoveries indicate the strip of bitumen used was 750 yards in length with Ivan Tighe the record-holder in 1959, he did a time of 47.5 seconds in his Vincent Special.

In Quentin’s case his father Bill attended a meeting and took these shots, its not the first time I have used the late Bill’s great material.

Several folks have identified the red Rice-trailer in the opening shot as Autoland – one of Bob Jane’s enterprises – contained therein is Bob’s voluptuous Maserati 300S. It’s a long way from Melbourne to Currumbin to contest a club ‘climb though. My theory is that Bob would have been racing not too far away, at Lowood and did the Currumbin event whilst in the ‘hood.

Roll forward to June 2020 and Andrew Lake, a Queensland MG Car Club member emailed to advise the meeting was the 12 June 1961 Queensland Hillclimb Championship. ‘As identified it is Bob Jane’s trailer…he competed in the event in his Maserati 300S and also his Jaguar sedan…Stan Jones did FTD with a time of 45.22 seconds in his Cooper T51 Climax.’

Some further work by Stephen Dalton established that Stan contested the Lowood Gold Star round – the Queensland Road Racing Championship – the day before, Bill Patterson won from Alec Mildren and then Stan, all driving Cooper T51s.

Roll forward again, this time to January 2024, and the bunch of photos taken by Peter Button’s grandfather shown below. Pauline Burrows Booth recalled, “I remember the climb well, going to watch the hillclimbs was very exciting. The hill was Currumbin Hill, on the east side that wasn’t allowed to be built on as it was a dangerous slip area.”

‘The street was on the crest, Crest Drive – it wound around the top of Currumbin Hill to the Shell Museum corner corner to Millars Drive – winding down to Millars Drive and past the now Currumbin Wildlife Hospital. The other side of the hill, Alpha Drive, we used to ride down with our go carts-billy carts

Anyway, many thanks to Quentin and his late father Bill, Stephen, Dick, Brian, Terry, Andrew, Peter Buttons and those who responded to his FB post, a team effort indeed!

Etcetera…

(T McGrath)

Terry McGrath tells us there was a hillclimb closeby on the Gold Coast at Burleigh Heads or Waters held on a short stretch of road with times of between 50 and 56 seconds recorded. The Dick Hamilton Jaguar XK120 is shown in full flight on 30 December 1956.

(P Button)

This bunch of shots at the ‘Currumbin Heights Hill Climb’ were spotted by Doug Grant on the Old Gold Coast Facebook page in January 2024.

They were posted by Peter Button whose “Grandad was a keen amateur racer at the time.”

(P Button Collection)

Dick Willis, “The Glynn Scott (Cooper T23 replica) Repco Holden driver by Roy Morris, now raced by Victorian, Nick McDonald.”

(P Button)

The shots above and below are of Glynn Scott’s ex-Alec Mildren Cooper T43 Climax.

(B James)
(P Button)

“Crest Drive looking across Miller’s Drive to where the wildlife hospital is now and the park across the road with the old water pipe running through it. Blamey Drive is running up and over the hill…” Glenn Bycroft.

(P Button)

Ivan Tighe, perhaps, on his Vincent Formula 500.

(P Button)

Andrew Lake advises hillclimbs were held on the Gold Coast as follows;

Burleigh Heads

01/01/1956, 22/04/1956, 17/06/1956, 30/12/1956, 21/04/1957

Terranora

29/12/1957

Currumbin

28/12/1958, 15/11/1959, 27/12/1959, 14/08/1960, 26/12/1960, 12/06/1961

Credits…

Quentin Miles and the late Bill Miles, John Wright, Stephen Dalton, Dick Willis, Brian Lear, The Nostalgia Forum, Terry McGrath, Andrew Lake, Peter Button Collection, Bruce James

Tailpiece…

Wolseley 1500 attacking the downhill right-hander, tyres mark the apex (B Miles)

Finito…

Longford 1965…

Posted: September 27, 2019 in F1, Fotos
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
10

(R Dalwood)

Frank Matich, Brabham BT7A Climax leads Jim Clark’s works Lotus 32B Climax into Pub Corner at Longford in March 1965. A take-your-breath-away shot, composition and execution by Reg Dalwood is something special…

I suspect this is lap 2 with the leading trio of McLaren, Brabham and Hill further up the road. Behind Jim are Bib Stillwell and Frank Gardner in Brabham BT11As, Jim Palmer in a BT7A and then at the rear of the group is Phil Hill, Cooper T70 Climax.

Bruce McLaren won this race, the Australian Grand Prix in his Cooper T79 Climax from Brabham’s BT11A and Phil Hill in the other Bruce McLaren Motor Racing entry – the updated T70 Cooper driven by Bruce and the late Tim Mayer in 1964.

(HAGP)

Bruce wheels his Cooper T79 around Warwick Farm in 1965 hiking his inside right wheel.

These Cooper T70/79 cars are acknowledged now as the ‘first McLarens’ designed and built as they were at Coopers by Bruce and mechanic/technician Wally Willmott. The story of them is here; https://primotipo.com/2016/11/18/tim-mayer-what-might-have-been/

Ron McKinnon gives McLaren and Clark a ride in the sponsors Spitty at the end of the race (B Short)

Hill at left, white car McLaren with Jack and Jim in the next row of two (B Short)

McLaren started the race from pole with Brabham, Graham Hill, Clark, Gardner and Matich behind.

Very sadly, this was the race in which Rocky Tresise died after losing control of the Ecurie Australie Cooper T62 Climax. As most of you know, this was a double disaster for the Davison family as Lex died of a heart attack at Sandown whilst practicing his Brabham BT4 the weekend prior. The Rocky story is here; https://primotipo.com/2016/05/20/bruce-lex-and-rockys-cooper-t62-climax/

I’ve a feature brewing on this race so won’t go into all the detail just now, but rather make use of some of the many images of this AGP floating around on the internet, too many for one article.

In some ways Longford 1965 marked ‘the end of the beginning’ of the Tasman Series in that 1965 was the last year of the dominance of the long-lived Coventry Climax FPF engine.

The world championship winning engines of 1959-60 had pretty much ruled supreme in Australia from 1959 through to the end of Formula Libre in December 1963, and to the commencement of the Tasman 2.5 Formula from 1 January 1964.

In 1966 the BRM V8s made their successful Tasman debut and at the end of the series – Sandown and Longford – the first of the Repco RB620 2.5 V8’s took their bow in Jack’s BT19.

(B Short)

Two nut-brown Aussie summer kids, and the equally well-tanned Oz Lotus works mechanic Ray Parsons push Jim Clark’s Lotus 32B Climax through the Longford paddock.

The Clark/Lotus combo were the class of 1965. Jim’s four of seven Tasman round victories was a precursor to a season which included an Indianapolis 500 win aboard a Lotus 38 Ford, and his second world title in Chapman’s Lotus 33 Climax. Not a bad year really!

Click here for an article on the 1965 Tasman Series; https://primotipo.com/2017/11/02/levin-international-new-zealand-1965/

(K Drage)

Kevin Drage’s shot of the front row of the Longford grid; McLaren, Cooper T79 Climax, Brabham and Hill both in Brabham BT11A Climax’.

KD has an amusing anecdote about Bib Stillwell, Matich’s big rival, and his reaction to FM’s speed that weekend.

“One story I remember from this meeting is Bib’s frustration in not being able to match Frank Matich’s lap times during practice. I was helping Gerry Brown to pit crew for Bib at this meeting, and Bib was even wondering if Frank had slotted in the 2.7 engine from his (Cooper Monaco) sportscar into the Brabham, just for practice to give everyone a bit of a stir up. He even asked me to see if I could manage to go over to the Matich pits to checkout the engine number.”

(unattributed)

Matich during the parade lap at Warwick Farm before the 1965 Tasman round.

FM started the Warwick Farm 100 from pole – in front of Hill, Clark, Brabham, McLaren and Gardner, which rather puts the Sydneysider’s pace into context. He led most of the first lap, ultimately finishing third behind Clark and Brabham.

(oldracephotos.com.au)

Brabham in the Longford paddock getting his BT11A race ready.

Ron and Jack’s Intercontinental Brabhams were supreme racing cars in conception, design and execution. Drivers of the BT4, BT7A and BT11A of varying ability won plenty of motor races in these cars right through towards the end of the sixties. Click here for a piece on them; https://primotipo.com/2018/07/20/matich-stillwell-brabhams-warwick-farm-sydney-december-1963/

Clark in the Longford paddock, Lotus 32B Climax

Credits…

Reg Dalwood on the Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania website, oldracingcars.com.au, Kevin Drage, Ben Short, HAGP- ‘History of The Australian Grand Prix’ Graham Howard and others, Stephen Dalton Collection, Perry Drury, Ian Smith Collection

Etcetera…

(oldracephotos.com/JEllis)

Brabham, Hill and Clark enter the circuit, the crowd big enough for raceday. Looking back down the road 500 metres or so are the distinctive big pine trees of Mountford Corner. Brabham BT11A by two, and Lotus 32B.

(oldracephotos.com.au)

It may not have been the latest bit of kit, but, continuously modified by Matich and his team his year old car was well and truly as quick as the latest BT11A or anything else on the grid.

Small crowd above suggests ‘IC-1-63’ is being pushed onto the track for practice or the preliminary on Saturday. Graham Matich is steering, it’s Geoff Smedley with his head down at left, who is the other fella I wonder?

(B Short)

The Touring Car grid ready to start, Le Mans style with the ignition key handed from mechanic to driver, can anybody help with car/driver ID.

Check out the crowd above the pits, access bridge and all the fun of the fair.

(I Smith Collection)

The intense concentration is there but otherwise Jack looks relaxed in the cockpit, key to feeling what the BT11A is doing of course.

Shot is taken from atop The Viaduct, a classic shot from this locale. This one has been executed beautifully and shows both Brabham’s form as well as the lines and simple, period-typical suspension of this oh-so-successful series of Intercontinental Brabhams.

All of the shots of this car in the article are a different hue of green, I wonder which is closest to the real McCoy?

Tailpiece…

It’s a butt shot isn’t it.

From the left is the beautifully formed derrière of the lady, such a shame to miss out on the rest of her with a thoughtless crop. Then there is the rear of the FC Holden Wagon and the old bloke standing behind it.

The racer is Jack’s Brabham BT11A Climax ‘IC-5-64’ resting in the paddock after it’s hard won second place.

And finally the rear of an EJ Holden Panel Van.

Atmospheric isn’t it?

(P Drury)

Same scene, same time, same place, while Perry Drury was taking this shot, Ben Short was standing opposite him taking the one above. Jack’s Brabham, Jim’s Lotus and the EJ Wagon…

Finito…

Norm, Jim and Pete…

Posted: September 26, 2019 in Fotos, Touring Cars
Tags: , , , , , ,
8

(HRCCT)

Norm Beechey and Jim McKeown at Symmons Plains in February 1968…

Both the Chev Nova and injected Lotus Cortina Mk2 were top-liners in 1968 albeit the one race Australian Touring Car Championship was won again that year by Pete Geoghegan’s Ford Mustang from Darrell King, Morris Cooper S and Alan Hamilton’s just arrived in the country Porsche 911S/T. It was Geoghegan’s fourth of five ATCC titles.

The 34 lap event was held at Warwick Farm on 8 September, by that stage Norm had replaced the Nova with a Chev Camaro- he retired with mechanical dramas after 11 laps whilst Jim’s race was over after only 2- axle failure the cause.

(L Ruting)

Photographs of the Camaro SS are not plentiful as it raced for only a short period- four meetings (Warwick Farm twice, Calder and Catalina) from July to September 1968 inclusive of the ATCC race where he qualified on the second row- the car was an ‘in between’.

The Nova raced from Easter 1966 and the Holden Monaro’s with which he became synonomous in the latter stages of his career date from October 1968, the Camaro fitted in between.

The photo above is during the first lap of the 1968 ATCC race with Pete up front, then Norm and the Bob Jane Mustang.

See this piece on the 1969 ATCC; https://primotipo.com/2018/02/01/1969-australian-touring-car-championship/ , and on 1970; https://primotipo.com/2018/04/01/variety-is-the-spice/

Beechey trying to pursuade the Nova to turn in, Paul Fahey and Red Dawson in Mustangs, Rod Coppins in Chev Camaro at Baypark, NZ 1968 (T Marshall)

Etcetera…

(M Rogers)

Beechey and John French, Nova and Cooper S on the Surfers Paradise grid in 1967.

Credit…

Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania, Lance Ruting, Rod MacKenzie, Steve Holmes- The Roaring Season, Terry Marshall, Mervin Rogers

Tailpiece: Beechey and Geoghegan at Catalina Park 18 August 1968…

(R MacKenzie)

Classic Ford/GM, Geoghegan/Beechey battle. Who won?

Finito…

Bag ’em up Bobby…

Posted: September 18, 2019 in Fotos, Sports Racers
Tags: , , , , ,
2

(T Watts)

4.4 litres of Repco-Brabham V8 grunt trumps 2 litres of Porsche flat-6 off the line at least, maybe not…

Bob Jane’s Elfin 400 and Alan Hamilton’s Porsche 906 on the front row of the Longford grid in March 1967.

Bob Jane won the Saturday race from Noel Hurd’s Globe Products Elfin 400 Ford and Hamilton whereas in the Monday event Bob won from Wally Mitchell’s RM1 Chev and Glynn Scott’s Lotus 23B Ford. Noel Hurd and Alan Hamilton were DNF’s, the latter running out of fuel on the last lap.

‘Tasmanian enthusiasts would recognise the Gorringe pedestrian bridge, the same bridge that now allows pedestrian access to Baskerville…’ Grant Twining noted.

I’ve written features about both these cars, so initially thought I would pop the photos into the existing articles but they are too good to ‘lose’ by so doing.

They are sourced from the ‘Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania’ Facebook page which I raid every now and again- so far Grant has not cracked the shits about me doing that- do suss the page if you are a Facebooker, if not you are missing out.

In terms of articles the Elfin 400 is here; https://primotipo.com/2015/05/28/elfin-400traco-olds-frank-matich-niel-allen-and-garrie-cooper/. Bob’s Elfin 400 here; https://primotipo.com/2018/04/06/belle-of-the-ball/, and Hamilton’s Porsche 906 and other cars here; https://primotipo.com/2015/08/20/alan-hamilton-his-porsche-9048-and-two-906s/

(T Watts)

Jane nose up and under power past the Longford pits.

Such a brutally pretty thing, but the aerodynamics of the 400’s were never fully resolved, this car, as many of you know, took flight over the Conrod Humps at Bathurst during the Easter 1969 meeting killing Bevan Gibson in the process.

To that very point Rob Bartholomaeus reminded me Noel Hurd was a non-starter in the Monday Longford sportscar race after a hair-raising off at around 140mph induced by the Elfin 400’s aero package. He was ok, and the car was not badly damaged but the nose was changed thereafter.

Bob’s eyes will be looking up the rise towards the Water Tower to the tracks left before pursuading his beast into the fast right hander at the top of the hill and plunge towards The Viaduct. Click here for a ‘Lap of Longford’ piece; https://primotipo.com/2018/07/05/longford-lap/

The shot of Alan below is taken on the same stretch. If the car looks a bit odd its because Australia’s Porsche importer has chopped the Coupe roof off to create a Spyder given he was and is a big, tall unit and wanted to be comfy.

(T Watts)

Longford was a demanding circuit in any car but particularly so in a fast, powerful one given the inherent nature of the layout with its culverts, trees, bridge supports, Esk River (scuba divers were always at the ready in dinghies afloat) light poles and other similar immovable objects, the circuit width and its undulations or bumps.

Jane and Hamilton raced most of their cars here- sports and touring cars and in Bob’s case his Elfin Mono single-seater ANF1.5. For Hamilton it was the race debut of the 906- a daunting place for any cars first meeting however well sorted the ex-factory Porsche package undoubtedly was!

Jane raced his Elfin 400 at Longford in 1967 and Ian Cook took the wheel in 1968- Alan raced the 906 here in 1967 only. The ‘ring in’ is the photo below of Alan at Symmons Plains in 1967, its probably the ‘Tasmanian Sportscar Championship’ meeting the week after Longford on 12 March.

Click here for an article on that tragic event, Hamilton’s well-used engine (it had been in the 904-8 he had just stepped out of before fitment to the 906) had a con-rod break so he did not finish; https://primotipo.com/2018/07/17/1967-tasmanian-sportscar-championship/

(HRCCT)

Credits…

Tim Watts, Dennis Cooper, Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania, Rob Bartholomaeus

Tailpiece…

(D Cooper)

The Longford Shell tent in 1968.

Jim McKeown’s Lotus Cortina Mk2 alongside the Bob Jane Racing 400 raced at this meeting by Victorian Ian Cook. The class of the field in that, final Longford year was Chris Amon who set the outright lap record in David McKay’s Scuderia Veloce Ferrari Can-Am 350 machine. Here tis; https://primotipo.com/2015/04/02/ferrari-p4canam-350-0858/

Note the aluminium spoiler above the radiator outlet in a quest for more downforce. 1968 was ‘the year of the wing in F1’ remember, mind you, by this stage Jim Hall and the crew from Rattlesnake Raceway in Texas had provided plenty of Chaparral mobile ‘tutorials’ on what could be applied aerodynamically to Group 7 cars like the Elfin to assist in keeping them on terra firma.

Finito…

Wet ‘n Soggy…

Posted: September 8, 2019 in F1, Fotos
Tags: , , ,
0

Jim Clark’s Lotus 49 Ford DFW 2.5 on the downhill plunge towards The Viaduct…

Its not the sharpest of images but an interesting one given the ‘different angle’ and Stephen Dalton’s narrative which goes with it.

‘Its Monday March 4 1968, Longford- playing in the rain on his 32nd birthday. After a few laps of mucky weather he is possibly wishing he could whip through the Mountford property gates and have a nice warm cuppa and some birthday cake’ with Ron MacKinnon, the President of the Longford Motor Racing Association.

‘The photo is coming down the hill from the Water Tower to The Viaduct- they are literally the gates to Ron MacKinnon’s Mountford (pastoral) property’ Stephen adds.

I wrote a feature about this race weekend a while back, the highlights of which were perhaps Chris Amon’s exploits in David McKay’s ex-works Scuderia Veloce Ferrari P4/350 Can-Am machine and Piers Courage’s win in the South Pacific Trophy, the very last motor race ever held at Longford in a European F2 McLaren M4A Ford FVA. Click here to read it;

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

Credit…

Stephen Dalton

Tailpiece: The start…

Finito…

Waimate’s Aston Martin DBR4/250…

Posted: September 2, 2019 in F1, Fotos, Obscurities
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
1

(CAN)

Lionel Bulcraig, Aston Martin DBR4/250 3 litre, eighth and last runner in the ‘Waimate 50’ New Zealand Gold Star round on 21 February 1963…

I popped this image up on Facebook a while back and was never satisfied that the car or driver was correctly identified. I strayed onto Allan Dick’s ‘Classic Auto News’ page and got the answer. He wrote, ‘Having made very good sportscars and won Le Mans (in 1959 with the DBR1), Aston Martin toyed with the idea of getting into Formula 1- but they arrived late in the 2.5 litre formula and were swamped by the rear-engined revolution of 1959.’

Aston Martin pulled the plug on the works F1 program but happily sold cars to Lex Davison and Bib Stillwell in Australia- as i wrote a while back Lex came within a car length of winning the 1960 Australian Grand Prix at Lowood, Queensland in his- Alec Mildren’s Cooper T51 Maserati just got home in front after a titanic race long arm wrestle.

See here for that encounter; https://primotipo.com/2018/06/08/mildrens-unfair-advantage/ and this one about Lex and Bib’s Aston passion; https://primotipo.com/2015/09/22/aston-martin-db4gt-zagato-2vev-lex-davison-and-bib-stillwell/

‘Stillwell brought his (chassis number DBR4/250 ‘3’) to New Zealand in 1962 for the last GP at Ardmore then sold it to Kawakawa Car Sales owner Lionel Bulcraig. He raced the car infrequently, this is him at Waimate in 1963 where he was the last running finisher in eighth. Its a rare photograph of a rare car’ Allan concludes.

Indeed it is, mystery solved!

(Ardmore)

Bib Stillwell above in the Aston DBR4/250 during the 1962 NZ GP at Ardmore on the occasion of Stirling Moss’ wet-weather Lotus 21 Climax 2.5 racing masterclass.

He lapped the field in the shortened 50 lap race- John Surtees did unlap himself on the penultimate lap with soggy Bib tenth, six laps in arrears and no doubt wishing he was aboard one of his Coopers.

Click here for an article on Moss’s Lotus 21; https://primotipo.com/2016/04/08/ole-935/

(CAN)

Waimate is a town on the east coast of the South Island 45 km from Timaru, the street circuit was in the local town precinct and 2.25 Km in length.

During that summer of 1963 Bulcraig contested the NZ GP at Pukekohe for Q12 of 17 and DNF in the race won by John Surtees’ Lola Mk4 Climax 2.7 FPF. He DNF at Wigram from mid-grid after colliding with Jim Palmer’s Lotus 20B Ford. He missed the next, Teretonga, round but raced at Waimate for eighth having started from row 2- Palmer won that day.

(CAN)

Several other shots of the 1963 Waimate 50 below.

Tony Shelly, Cooper T45 Climax 2 litre, #27 Ken Sager Lotus 20 Ford, behind him in #20 is John Histed, Lola Mk2 Ford with Arthur Moffat in the Lotus 15 Climax. #44 is Doug Lawrence, Lola Mk1 Ford, #1 is David Young, Cooper T65 Ford FJ.

Allan Dick advises further back is #2 Frank Turpie, Lotus 20 Ford with Barry Cottle’s Lola Mk1 Climax. Cooper T51 Climax #9 is Bill Thomasen, whilst the red car at the rear is Bulcraig’s Aston Martin.

Missing from this wonderful shot is the front row- Jim Palmer, Lotus 20B Ford- the winner, Roly Levis, Cooper T52 Ford and Maurice Stanton, Stanton-Corvette V8.

(CAN)

Tony Shelly has run out of road below, Cooper T45 Climax.

He overshot the corner into the short leg of the main straight. The hay-bales and water-filled drums separated the cars ‘coming and going’ up and down the main street.

(CAN)

Another section of the track with N Cleland’s unidentified mount ahead of WR Baker in a Cooper Norton- it looks like a lot of fun if somewhat perilous!

(CAN)

Credits…

Allan Dick- CAN- ‘Classic Auto News’, Ardmore, NZ Classic Driver

Tailpiece: Len Gilbert, Cooper Bristol, Waimate 1960…

(NZ Classic Driver)

Love this shot of Gilbert’s Cooper Mk 2 Bristol ‘sports’ which rather captures the spirit of the time and place rather well. Len is coming out of Queen Street during the February 1960 meeting.

He was sixth in the race won by John Mansel’s Maserati 250F.

Finito…

Older Entries
Newer Entries