Teddy Mayer and Bruce McLaren, McLaren M7C Ford fifth, at Monaco on 18 May 1969, the hi-wings disappeared overnight. Hill G won in a Lotus 49B Ford (R Schlegelmilch)
McLaren ‘owned’ the color papaya and having created brand recognition many marketers can only dream about walked away from the distinctive orange hue…
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing broke through in the 1967 Can-Am Series where Bruce and Denny crushed the opposition with the fabulous M6A Chev, a joint McLaren and Robin Herd design collaboration.
Bruce and his M14A Ford before the ‘Race of Champions’ at Brands Hatch, 22 March 1970, DNF after an accident, Jackie Stewart won in a March 701 Ford (Fox)
Bruce at Las Vegas in 1967, McLaren M6A Chev, it may be a blur but you knew what it was because of the colour, right! John Surtees won in a Lola T70 Mk3B Chev, both McLaren’s DNF with engine failure (Getty)
Modern marketing started in the US. In trying to create cut through or pop on then new colour telly the McLaren hierarchy, Teddy Mayer in particular is credited with choosing the distinctive shade which defined the marque until the Yardley McLaren era of 1972.
Denny Hulme, Kyalami 1972, on the way to a South African GP win in the ‘Yardley’ McLaren M19A Ford (unattributed)
The M6A gave its sponsors a fair crack of the whip, the 1967 colour stuck and was subsequently adopted on the factory Can-Am, F1, F2, F5000 and Indycars until the early seventies.
The photo below is of more significance than I first realised, my friend Derek Kneller recalls. ‘I joined McLarens as a fabricator having worked in the experimental department of Hawker Siddeley on the P1127 (Hawker Harrier vertical take off fighter) on 26 March 1968. One of my first tasks was to prepare this car for its first tests with the ‘ally big block 7-litre Chev. I worked through the weekend with Wally Willmott and and Gary Knutson to get the car ready. We essentially hacked the back off the M6 and grafted the rear of the proposed 1968 M8 onto the car.’
‘The photo shows, left to right, Denny, Gary Knutson partially obscured, Teddy Mayer, Phil Kerr and Bruce. Wally is in the blue shirt and Jo Marquhart to the right in the suit with overcoat. They are supervising the mule M6A/2 at Goodwood on 24 April 1968. Gary Knutson and Colin Beanland built the engine at Al Bartz’ shop in Los Angeles, it’s losing oil which is the reason for the concerned faces.’ George Begg, McLaren confidante and Kiwi racer/car builder took the photo.
The papaya M6 rather contrasts with the dull, rolling Sussex hills in the background and the flash pit-counter in the foreground!
(G Begg)
David Hodges records in his Profile Publications article on the McLaren M8, that after this chassis was used in these tests and later aerodynamic work, it was returned to M6 specification and then sold.
Jody Scheckter’s works McLaren M21 Ford BDF F2 car during the BARC 200 Euro F2 Championship round at Thruxton, 3 April 1972. Jody DNF with overheating, race won by Ronnie Peterson’s March 722 Ford BDF (M Hewitt)Andrea De Adamich’s McLaren M14D Alfa Romeo at Mont Tremblant Canada in 1970. DNF engine in the race won by Ickx’ Ferrari 312B (R Schlegelmilch)
Until Yardley’s arrival on the side of the M19 a swag of sponsors logos sat comfortably on McLarens against the gorgeous, distinctive from afar, shade.
#5 Denny Hulme and Peter Revson’s McLaren M20 Chevs at Donnybrooke, Minnesota , 17 September 1972 (A Upitis)
Lotus, the leader in so many aspects of racing showed the power of wholistic F1 brandingof a racing car with the fag packet livery Gold Leaf Team Lotus, Lotus 49s which first appeared in the Wigram, New Zealand round of the Tasman Series on 20 January 1968. Jim Clark raced – just – in the early months of the year in the ‘modern advertising era’.
Jim Clark in the Teretonga paddock, Lotus 49 DFW, his GLTL Lotus freshly painted car finished second to Bruce’s works BRM P126, painted traditional green! 27 January 1968 (I Peak)
Of course the Americans had refined the art (advertising on racing cars) for 50 years before the rest of the world caught up, or regressed, depending upon your view of it. You cannot imagine Cadbury abandoning purple yet McLaren walked away from a signature colour which defined their cars in a most distinctive way. I’m not suggesting Bruce and the boys had as much brand equity in papaya as Cadbury in purple but you get my drift.
Ferrari of course are the prime example of a marque who ‘own red’. Their sponsors have always obtained the coverage sought against a red background rather than Ferrari adopting the packaging of their corporate partner of the season or decade!
Denny Hulme on his way to winning the 1968 Canadian GP at Mont Tremblant, Bruce was second in a great day for the team. McLaren M7A Ford (unattributed)Peter Revson, Indy qualifying 17 May 1972, McLaren M16B Offy. Peter started from grid 2 but DNF with ‘box failure after five laps. Mark Donohue won in Roger Penske’s customer M16B (B D’Olivo)Hulme’s McLaren M20 Chev at Donnybrooke in 1972, Francois Cevert won in an ex-works M8F, both McLarens DNF with popped Chevys (A Upitis)
In more recent times papaya has staged a comeback appearing on the McLaren F1 GTR LeMans car, occasionally as an F1 testing colour and as a favoured choice on its exotic road cars…
Pedro de la Rosa and Mika Hakkinen in early 1997 testing of their McLaren MP4/12 Mercedes at Jerez, they raced in boring silver of course (reddit.com)McLaren M20 Chev in 1972, almost a Can-Am signature, the staggered injection trumpets used from 1970 (Getty)
Credits…
Rainer Schlegelmilch, Alvis Upitis, Getty Images, Fox Photos, Bob D’Olivo, Michael Cooper, reddit.com, George Begg, Ian Peak Collection/The Roaring Season, Duncan Fox, Derek Kneller, David Hodges ‘The McLaren M8 Series’
Tailpieces…
(M Cooper)
McLaren F1 GTR set against the Dunlop Bridge at Le Mans in 1996.
(R Schlegelmilch)
Victorious papaya blur, Bruce on his way to a win at Spa in 1968, McLaren M7A Ford. While the model may be in doubt, the marque is not…
Frank Matich’s 5 litre, quad cam, 580bhp Repco V8 powered sports racer ‘SR4’ was one of Australia’s most powerful and the most successful sports-racer car ever built…
Here Frank charges the big bellowing racer across the top of Mount Panorama during the 1969 Easter Bathurst meeting. The circuit is wild now, it would have been staggering to guide this missile around the circuit then, its surface and safety features, note the proximity of eucalypts on the tracks edge, not quite what they are now!
Paddock shot of SR4, Calder 1969, some of the competition were more recent than this group! (Ian Pope)
Introduction…
Built for the 1968 CanAm series, both the chassis and engine were late so Matich didn’t ever follow up his exploratory 1967 CanAm part-season in his 4.4 litre Repco powered SR3, instead belting the local opposition into oblivion with the SR4 in 1969.
First raced at Warwick Farm on 1 December 1968, Matich won the 3 round 1969 Australian Sportscar Championship with a perfect score; wins at Warwick Farm, Surfers Paradise and Sandown, in 2nd place was West Australian Don O’Sullivan in Frank’s old SR3 Repco. In between he raced in front of thrilled crowds who were drawn to see the fastest car in Australia regardless of category.
Matich leads the pack at Warwick Farm, date unknown 1969, SR4 Repco (Tait Collection)
‘The car was last raced about May 1970 at Warwick Farm, Frank was second to Niel Allen’s Elfin ME5 Chev, he drove the car gently as the engine had a vibration which a subsequent tear down at Repco revealed was the front of the crank cracking’ recalls Derek Kneller, an ex Matich engineer/mechanic from 1969-74. ‘The car was kept under a dust sheet in the Artarmon (Sydney) workshop until after the Tasman Series in 1971 when FM asked us to clean it up, it hadn’t been used for 8 months, we delivered it by trailer, still with the engine fitted, to Repco in Maidstone, Melbourne’.
SR4 was then used as a display piece, never to be raced again until the ‘modern era’ when it was restored by its owner, former Repco engineer Nigel Tait who has had a connection with the car since its construction. This bulk of this article is by Nigel, the photos are mainly from his vast archive of shots of this wonderful, very significant Australian racing car.
This piece is a biggie and comprises numerous parts;
.Historical context for the building of SR4; the earlier SR3 (3 chassis) in particular a summary of its 1967 CanAm program
.Biography of Nigel Tait
.Nigel’s story of the cars design, construction, specifications, race record and restoration
.SR4 specifications
.Etcetera; SR4 related snippets
.How competitive would SR4 have been in the ’68 CanAm had it crossed the Pacific as originally intended, this section designed to stimulate discussion amongst Australian enthusiasts of the period!
.Matich Cars; list of all cars built by FM’s business
Early shot of SR4 when still fitted with a ZF ‘box, LG Hewland fitted later in the year, suspension and engine as per text (Repco)
Frank Matich and Matich Cars…
Matich was one of Australia’s drivers who was as quick as the best in the world during the early sixties Tasman 2.5 Formula when the locals went head to head with the internationals in near enough to identical cars.
Frank then focused on sportscars from 1966 to 1969, as we shall see.
In 1969 Matich returned to single-seaters, F5000 and again proved to be the equal of if not better than the best in the world winning races in Australasia and the US before retiring at the end of the ’74 Tasman Series.
In addition, his team designed and built world class sports and F5000 cars from late 1966 to early 1974. His cars won races after that, John Goss took an exciting 1976 Australian Grand Prix win at Sandown in an A51/3 Repco chassis for example.
A list of the cars Team Matich built is at the end of this article.
I have written some pieces about Frank before, rather than than provide background again click on these links, the best quick career summary is this one, sadly an obituary;
The latter article about the Elfin 400 is the most important in the context of the Matich SR4, the 400 evolved into the Matich SR3, the SR3 to the SR4…
Matich awaits the start of practice, Road America, 3 September 1967. SR3 Repco (Friedman)
Matich SR3…
The first Matich SR3 Traco Olds was built in late 1966 to replace the Elfin 400 Traco Olds upon which it was based. According to some close observers, including at least one of FM’s mechanics the SR3 chassis was ‘tube for tube’ identical to the Elfin 400 albeit strengthened with the learnings of racing the car from the start of ’66 until it was sold to Niel Allen later that year.
The aerodynamics of the SR3 were entirely different to Garrie Cooper’s 400 design and are a function of the 400’s shortcomings and FM’s ongoing absorption of global design and aerodynamic/styling trends. The 400’s ‘aero’ deficiencies are examined in detail in my Elfin 400 article above.
FM a happy-chappy in the Road America paddock, 1967 (Friedman)
This section is not a detailed article about the 3 SR3’s FM’s team built but rather a summary to provide context about the SR4’s build.
The first CanAm Series was won by John Surtees in a Lola T70 Chev in 1966 but there had been professional sportscar races on America’s West Coast back into the 1950’s.
During the 1.5 litre F1 years (1961-65) big brutal ‘Group 7’ sportscars powered by ever increasing in size ‘stock block’ American V8’s thrilled crowds with their speed on both sides of the Atlantic. The best of the worlds drivers contested the races, rich prize money the reward for success in events of 200 miles, GP length, duration.
Frank Matich had ample opportunity to hear first hand during the Tasman Series about the US scene from Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Bruce Mclaren, Phil Hill and Jack Brabham all of whom contested CanAm races, not least Bruce who had also been building Cooper based cars and McLaren/Elvas to contest the races for years.
Matich determined to contest the 1967 CanAm to test his mettle against the best in the world knowing their was little point being ‘king of the kids’ in Oz. The reality is that whilst the domestic single-seater Gold Star competition had some depth, in sportscars their was little at all.
Naked SR3 Repco in the Road America paddock, 1967. Spaceframe chassis RBE ‘620 Series’ 4.4 litre, SOHC, Lucas injected, 400bhp V8 (Friedman)
Repco were also finally selling their engines to customers (as against providing works engines to Brabham with which Jack had contested the ’66 Tasman and won the ’66 F1 World Title) so Frank figured the 4.4 litre, sohc, ‘620 Series’ 400bhp V8 would be a much more competitive proposition than the highly stressed aluminium, pushrod Olds V8 engines he used in the Elfin 400/Traco Olds and his first SR3.
It was a big ask.
McLaren had persevered with the lightweight aluminium Oldsmobile engines until 1966 when he fitted 6 litre cast-iron Chevs to his spaceframe McLaren M1B. His 1967 M6A, a joint design effort between Bruce and Robin Herd were stunning, simple, monocoque cars superbly driven by Bruce and Denny Hulme to 5 wins from 6 races with Bruce taking the drivers and McLaren the manufacturers titles. The ‘Bruce and Denny Show’ rolled on thru to the end of ’71 when Porsche finally ended the party.
Matich raced two SR3 chassis in a limited campaign in the ‘Non Works McLaren’ class!
As a warm-up Matich won the RAC Trophy at Warwick Farm on May 4 and the ‘Australian Tourist Trophy’ at Surfers Paradise on 21 May 1967 from Alan Hamilton’s Porsche 906 and Glynn Scott’s Lotus 23B Ford. The SR3 was Olds powered.
Matich SR3 Repco leads a group of cars, John Cannon in a McLaren M1B Chev the car behind him, Road America 1967. FM retired with a stone thru his radiator on lap 15, Denny Hulme won in a McLaren M6A Chev (Friedman)
The 1967 CanAm started at Road America, Wisconsin on 3 September and finished with the sixth and last round at Las Vegas on 12 November, the well oiled McLaren Team crushed the opposition winning all but the final round which ’66 champion John Surtees took in a Lola T70 Chev.
McLaren deservedly won the title from Hulme despite Denny winning 3 rounds (Road America, Bridghampton, Mosport) and Bruce 2 (Laguna Seca, Riverside).
Matich and his small team contested the Road America, Bridghampton, Laguna Seca and Riverside rounds. Fundamentally the car, sweet handling as it was, was outgunned. Its 400bhp Repco having way too little grunt and lacked the reliability for these Grand Prix length sprints of 200 miles.
At Road America the SR3 qualified on 2:22, 18th to McLarens pole of 2:12.6, retiring on lap 15 with a radiator holed by a stone. In the glorious Hamptons in New York on 17 September he qualified 15th 1:33.49 to Hulme’s 1:29.85, but again DNF this time with fuel starvation.
Frank’s team missed the Mosport, Canada round on 23 September which Hulme’s M6A won.
In California for a couple of races FM gridded 13th at Laguna Seca on 1:05.07 to McLarens blistering pole of 1:02.69, a race Bruce won. Interestingly the Ferrari P4/350 CanAm (a P4 lightened, modified and increased in capacity) did their first ’67 event, Amon finished 5th but qualified behind Matich in 16th on 1:05.77.
Matich and Amon, the latter in in David McKays Ferrari P4/350 CanAm had some sensational scraps that Australian summer in the sportscar races which supported the Tasman Series rounds with the Repco powered car demonstrably quicker than the exotic, long distance derived V12 powered Ferrari.
Matich, wife Joan his mechanics, Peter Mabey at left and Firestone technicians on the Riverside pit apron, CanAm 29 October 1967, John Surtees Lola T70 Mk3B Chev behind. Bruce won the race, Matich crashed and Surtees DNF with ‘rear end’ problems (unattributed)
Still in California, at Riverside on 29 October McLaren won, Hulme was on pole with 1:39.30, Matich 20th on 1:45 and Amon 15th on 1:44.40. Frank crashed out on lap 20. With that the team decamped back to Oz to prepare for the Tasman Series encounters with Amon, with Matich winning each of these battles. Click here for an article on the Ferrari P4/CanAm 350 ‘0858’ inclusive of the Matich/Amon battles;
Jack Brabham, Brabham BT19 Repco and a very young Nigel Tait at the Sandown Tasman meeting, the second race outing for the first ‘RB620’ engine, 2.5 litres in Tasman spec, 27 February 1966. The young engineer had just graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and has ‘landed on his feet at Repco Brabham Engines. Tait maintains this car for Repco all these years later. One of a kind BT19 is Jack’s 1966 championship winning mount (Australian Post)
Nigel Tait…
Having qualified in Mechanical and Automotive Engineering at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Nigel commenced work at Repco in 1966 as an Engineering Cadet. His first placement, you can be lucky!, was in the engine laboratory in Richmond where the Repco Brabham engines were built and tested. He helped to plan and implement the move of the Repco Brabham project to another plant, in Maidstone, this involved manufacture of shadow boards for the new machine tools being installed for further manufacture of the racing engines.
He progressed to assist the head engine builder (Michael Gasking) with assembly, dynamometer running of the engines and worked on BT19 (Jack’s ’66 championship winning chassis) when it was being prepared for the ‘620 Series’ 2.5 litre Tasman V8 for Jack Brabham to use at the ’66 Sandown Tasman meeting. He also worked with other project engineers on test and development of the range of engine components being manufactured at the various engine parts manufacturing factories of the Repco empire for fitment to the race engines.
These project engineering tasks continued for some years and included a 4 month transfer to England to work in some of the companies to which Repco was licensed.
By the mid 70’s Nigel was running the engine laboratory in Richmond, which had become the Repco Engine Technical Centre. In conjunction with the University of Melbourne he supervised a major Federal Government contract for the testing and evaluation of diesel and petrol engines running on alcohol fuel mixtures. He also spent some years as chief engineer of the engine parts plant at Richmond before returning to the engine laboratory, which became his base as Chief Engineer of Repco’s Engine Parts Divison.
He was closely involved with original equipment product development and sales to local car companies and travelled throughout Australia and New Zealand extensively giving product knowledge lectures and writing technical articles. He made a significant contribution to the engine component design sections in the Repco Engine Service Manual (later to be reissued as the ACL Engine Manual).
The division was sold to a management buyout group in 1986 and became ACL (Automotive Components Limited). Nigel was one of the 9 in the buyout group and continued in the role of chief engineer until his retirement in 2005.
The Matich SR4: One of Australia’s most famous and successful racing cars. Here Matich slices the car, with typical pinpoint accuracy into Warwick Farm’s Esses, 4 May 1969. Interesting in an historic context, hi-wings were banned during the Monaco GP weekend of 18 May…
Overview..
Frank Matich had already won the Australian Sports Car Championship four times by the time he commenced work on the SR4; he won in a Lotus 19 in 1964, Elfin 400/Traco Olds in 1966 and in the Matich SR3 in 1967/8.
He had competed in the USA in 1967 as recounted earlier. His dominance of sports car racing in Australia was legendary and led to the catchphrase: ‘Doing a Matich’. (Pole position, winning, fastest lap time and lap record). Frank’s record with the SR4 is impressive. He raced at Bathurst, Calder Park, Catalina Park, Sandown, Surfers Paradise and Warwick Farm.
SR4 took nineteen starts for 15 wins, one second with eight outright lap records and winner of the 1969 Sports car Championship.
SR4 Owners..
Rothmans Team Matich (1968-1970), Repco (1970-1986) Automotive Components Limited (1986-2005) and Nigel Tait (from 2005)
SR4 in Repco’s Maidstone, Melbourne workshop in 1971, great shot of the nose/spoiler assy and carefully ducted, both ‘in and out’ of radiator, suspension as per text. Note front lights mandated by Oz rules (Jay Bondini)
Build, sponsorship and first ownership..
It’s not certain who actually owned the SR4 as built. It was constructed at Frank Matich’s workshop in Sydney and as far as I know largely funded with sponsorship from Rothmans (tobacco) and perhaps others. The engines belonged to Repco.
Some time after the first logbook was issued from CAMS it was mislaid and Frank wrote to apply for another, stating ownership as ‘Rothmans Team Matich’. In his book ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden wrote that ownership transferred to Rothmans while the car was still in competition, that’s the period from December 1968 to January 1970. It’s also known that Rothmans made a practice of owning the cars that Matich raced under their sponsorship.
The car was retired in early 1970 so that Frank could concentrate on F5000. Repco wanted the car to use as an advertising tool and in return, it is my understanding, that an arrangement was made for the car to be transferred to Repco’s ownership in return for ongoing supply of engines and sponsorship for F5000, these being made at the old Repco Brabham plant in Maidstone. (That’s where I started work for Repco in 1966 as a cadet engineer). This division was renamed Repco Engine Development Company (REDCo) under General Manager Malcolm Preston.
Frank Hallam, Repco Brabham’s General Manager, and incidentally my first boss, had by then been transferred to Repco Research, and one day acidly described to me his life out there as ‘a career careering between obstacles’. He wasn’t happy about being put out to pasture.
Shot as above after delivery to Repco in Maidstone, Melbourne. Note wing spec then, it would be interesting to know which meetings it competer in this spec, noting changes were ongoing apart from those mandated by the FIA from the ’69 Monaco GP weekend, hi-wings banned from then (Jay Bondini)
Anyway, the car was sent down from Sydney to Repco in late 1970 (I was working for Repco in England at the time so can’t be sure of dates) and was first placed at the Repco Apprentice Centre in North Melbourne. Then it was sent to Maidstone to rest, for some years, in a room next to the REDC0 drawing office. It was in a forlorn state with an empty engine and at the time of little interest to Repco or anyone really.
Anyway once REDCo had closed down after F5000 had finished (at least for Repco) I had the car and all of the Repco Brabham/REDCo drawings and files and other hardware transferred to our Richmond engine laboratory that I supervised. Another division of Repco was to occupy the Maidstone building but not the two engine dynamometer cells, which I was to run, not very successfully as it turned out, on a commercial basis.
By that time Don Halpin had transferred from the Maidstone plant of Repco Engine Parts to our Richmond laboratory and he undertook a cosmetic restoration of the car so that Repco could use it for trade displays and shows etc. It was not a running vehicle at this stage since there was no engine, only a few parts to make it look OK.
Various divisions of Repco used the car for displays as intended and the car also spent quite some years on public display at the Birdwood Museum in the Adelaide Hills, and then the Auto Museum in Launceston, Tasmania.
BP advertisement photo is pit straight, Sandown Park, Melbourne (BP)
From Repco to ACL..
During the early 80’s Repco underwent considerable change in its upper management and ownership. (You could read ‘corporate raiders’!). By about 1985 Repco had sold off some of its manufacturing divisions, Repco Research, the Brake and Clutch Division and the machinery manufacturing division and it became clear that manufacturing was of no interest to the Board. Clearly the factories manufacturing engine parts in Melbourne, Brisbane and Launceston were next to be offloaded. Indeed while the Repco Board instructed the Divisional General Manager of this division to advise his staff that it was not for sale, it on the other hand instructed him to find a buyer!
So in August 1986 a management buyout team comprising 8 of its senior staff (including myself), and our Divisional General Manager, purchased the whole division from Repco. At a price of $A28 million and with very little equity and huge borrowing, the team pulled off what was the largest management buyout of its type in the country’s history. There were almost 1,000 employees spread over 5 states. My role was to continue as chief engineer.
The new company adopted a name that was actually one of Repco’s 1960’s takeover targets, ACL, and the new company became ‘Automotive Components Limited’. (Repco had no need to use this name and allowed its use by us).
All of the assets of the then Repco Engine Division were transferred to the new company, these included the Repco Brabham BT19 and all associated drawings, items and trailer and also the Matich SR4 which was still in its cosmetically restored state. So the Matich became the property of ACL from August 1986. ACL continued to display the car publicly including the museum in Launceston and other venues.
SR4 in the Birdwood Museum, Adelaide Hills, at this stage the ‘cosmetic’ restoration had been done by Don Halpin as per text, car not ‘a runner’ (The Roaring Season)
Niel Allen’s ex-Matich Elfin 400 Chev (named Traco Olds by Matich) ahead of FM’s SR4 and Bevan Gibson’s ill-fated Elfin 400 Repco, sadly Bevan died during this race, Easter, Bathurst 1969. This event is reported in full in the Elfin 400 article, a link for which is at this articles outset (Dick Simpson)
An engine was found..
Towards the mid to late 90’s with the growth of interest in historic racing there were numerous approaches made to ACL to buy it. These were made direct to the Board or sometimes to myself, and always we advised that the car was not for sale, but would be restored once an engine could be located.
Luckily that did happen. Aaron Lewis, who is prominent in historic racing circles and the owner of some magnificent cars, advised me that Les Wright of Sydney had a 4.2 litre Repco Brabham engine in his Brabham Buick. CAMS had advised that this was not the way the car was originally raced and that Les would need to remove the engine and obtain the correct Buick engine to obtain a CAMS permit to race the car. On behalf of ACL I bought the engine for $30,000. Les ran it on the floor and it worked pretty well so was transported to Melbourne. This was circa 2000.
At last we had an engine and I was able to have the car brought back to life. Jim Hardman (ex F3 racer, mechanic, engineer and builder of the superb Hardman F2 cars of 1980) undertook this restoration, which was essentially to make it mobile, look good and be safe for display and demonstration running. This work was undertaken by Jim at his rented area within Heckrath Engineering in Cheltenham and paid for by ACL.
I sent the body to Richmond TAFE who had offered to spray it. It turned out to be a very poor job where even the colour was wrong and I had to engage a panel beater near us at Maidstone (Houdini) to do it again. More about the colour later.
Once in running condition at Heckraths Jim Hardman became the first person to drive the car for over 30 years. Albeit this was in Bricker Road, Cheltenham on a quiet weekend morning, a quick blast lest the local police took interest! More ‘legal’ trials were held at Calder in outer Melbourne, with Jim doing most of the driving though I squeezed myself into it several times.
Subsequently the car was displayed many times from around 2002 to 2005, at Motorclassica, the Australian Grand Prix, various circuits and trade shows and even at a Repco function.
Jim made up a seat for me and I took it to several meetings at Eastern Creek, Winton, Phillip Island etc and we also used it as a display vehicle for our numerous company functions. When Jim drove it at Phillip Island it dropped valves in both heads (probably stones down the intakes) and we had to undertake a fairly extensive rebuild. (Not having wire screens on the inlet trumpets was a bad mistake, as others have also learned).
Repco engine assy area, Maidstone factory, Melbourne in early 1968, the engine towards the front is a 3 litre ‘860’ F1 engine, behind are ‘760s’, capacities unknown (Repco)
Engines..
The whereabouts of the original 5 litre ‘760 Series’ engine used when Frank Matich raced the car is unknown. I doubt that it came back to Repco. There is some suggestion that it resides somewhere as the base of a coffee table and I hold out hope that one day this engine might come to light, if only as an important part of the car’s history for the next generation.
4.2 litre: I’ve already explained how we came by the 4.2 litre engine ex Les Wright. The 4.2 litre ‘760 Series’ quad cam engines were made only for Indianapolis for Jack Brabham and for Peter Revson. I think there may only have been two or perhaps three, the records are not clear. The engine in the ex Revson BT25 of Aaron Lewis is undoubtedly the one from that car. Sir Jack Brabham told me that one of his engines used in his 1968 BT25 Indy car that he lent to Goodyear ‘disappeared’ and I have a feeling that the engine I have might be this one.
It is as original though as a result of the dropped valve at Phillip Island one of the bores had to be honed slightly oversize to remove some marking and hence the piston and rings in this cylinder are a little larger. Otherwise the engine is as run by Les and still has the same cams etc. It runs on Avgas. I use 50 cc of two stroke oil per 20 litres of Avgas for lubrication of the metering unit.
Its output would be around 550 BHP at about 8,000 RPM but I have never pushed it beyond 6,500 RPM. I have rebuilt it a second time just as a check and little work was needed.
Peter Reilly assembling an ‘860’ 3 litre F1 engine valve train assy, the engines problem area!, refer to the text, beautiful workmanship clear. ‘860’ the only gear driven cam engine, ’20 and 40′ Series driven by chain (Repco)
5 litre: Some years ago I discovered that I had enough parts from which to commence build of a 5 litre ‘760 Series’ engine. I had a block of the right type (to take the Cooper rings rather than head gaskets). Crankshaft Rebuilders made sleeves and a crankshaft, rods were made by Argo, pistons by Special Pistons Services and the heads that I had were completely rebuilt at Head Stud Developments. Luckily I had the gear casings all of the gears (the quad cam engines have gears, not chains) and a spare sump of the right type with integral oil pressure and scavenge pumps.
Build of this engine took me about 2 years including the time for manufacture of the parts by Crankshaft Rebuilders. A much larger than original torsional vibration damper was made for me by Tuffbond in Sydney. Minimizing crankshaft torsional vibration protects the valve gear and camshafts etc. as well as being better for the crankshaft itself.
Actually the engines used by Frank were of 4.8 litre capacity, the bores being reduced slightly to overcome sleeve cracking due to being too thin. I have made my engine to true 5 litre capacity with the steel sleeves and was able this way to utilize off the shelf ring sizes. Also I had the rods made to 6” length which enabled the use of much shorter and lighter pistons in keeping with modern engine design practice.
The result is a very nice engine with noticeably more torque. Though I have not had it on a dyno it would no doubt see around 600 BHP, though as with the 4.2 I do not use any more than 6,500 at which point the cams are in and there is plenty for me!
The 5 litre encountered what I thought was a mild overheat at Geelong* in 2014 so I have rebuilt this over 2015/6. There was no bore damage but the crankshaft needed grinding and otherwise the engine is in good condition and ready now for further use.
*Note: I have learn’t that apart from needing a better bleed for the cooling system (now done) I have let the engine rev too slowly upon first start up. The water pump speed is only half engine revs so now I run the engine at 2,000 RPM from any cold start to make sure the coolant is flowing properly.
Reverting to the 4.2 litre engine in Aaron Lewis’ BT25, it is currently in build and it would be nice to see it running. (at the time of uploading this article Aaron has run the car at Eastern Creek, Sydney) At this stage the two quad cam Repco Brabham engines (and now Aaron’s) that I have for the SR4 are the only Repco quad cams that run, anywhere.
I have nearly enough parts to commence a third engine build but this would have to be with a block that uses head gaskets and these would need to be re-torqued thus would need either a dynamometer run or engine removal from car after first run. Or with luck I’ll find another Cooper ring type block.
Sale from ACL to Nigel Tait..
I was still hard at work as ACL’s Chief Engineer up until my retirement in July 2005. Consequently outings with the car and indeed also the BT19, were rare and had to fit in with my work rather than being at my will.
With retirement imminent it became obvious that with no one else at ACL interested in the two cars we’d have to consider their future. Repco had a first option to buy BT19 and it was decided to sell this back to them around June 2005, for $1.3M. I had been looking after it since it was bought from Jack Brabham in 1970. Repco asked if I would continue to be its carer/minder, which I do to this day.
The Matich was to be sold and my bid was the highest, thus securing for me a car that i’d been looking after virtually since its acquisition by Repco. I paid my company $160,000 for it and the various spares and display material and engines, (including the 3 litre quad cam ‘850’ diagonal port engine). I also purchased the trailer that was made for us by MRT Trailers, for $10,000.
Spaceframe chassis back at Jim Hardman’s shop after sand blasting and stove-enamelling (Tait)
As earlier mentioned the first restoration by Don Halpin was to allow the car to be on static display.The second, once we had the engine from Les Wright, was by Jim Hardman and resulted in the car’s first outing in 30 years.
Once I had purchased the car in 2005 Jim advised that we should undertake a complete bare frame restoration and rebuild. Jim still had the facility at Heckrath’s and i was able to devote some time to the menial tasks such dismantling, cleaning the frame ready for spraying and running around getting parts etc as needed.
Chassis, big and butch to take the big Repco’s power and torque, quoted weights of ’68 McLaren M8A and Matich SR4 similar. Given the Repco engine was way lighter than the ally’ block Chevy of the M8A, the difference in weights is a bit of a mystery as Tait quotes the Matich bare frame at 38Kg (Tait)
Hardman replaced all of the aluminum skins, undertray, all firewalls etc and repaired and strengthened the frame as needed. In fact there was no real problem with the frame, one part of the outrigger on one side had partially cracked and the bar that was the top mounting for the seat belt upper harness was too small. Everything else was terrific. A great testament to its builder, Henry Nehrybecki. I photographed all stages of the restoration and rebuild which took exactly 6 weeks from the May Winton meeting to being ready for Speed on Tweed later that year.
Wishbone front suspension, coil spring/Armstrong damper and ventilated front discs, steering rack also in situ, Matich designed, CAC cast (Tait)
Big radiator in place, 3 pot calipers are Girling (Tait)
Front suspension, radiator and ducting detail, quality of workmanship clear (Tait)
Heart of the matter in place as is Hewland LG600 ‘box, car first raced with a ZF. Rear suspension period typical; single upper link, lower inverted wishbone, coil spring/dampers (then Koni now Armstrong) and twin radius t rods for fore and aft location. Note big oil reservoir and beefy rear chassis diaphragm above ‘box (Tait)
And now the body (Tait)
Proud custodian Nigel Tait with SR4. Jim Hardman an outstanding race mechanic/engineer and car builder ‘in period’ and now a restorer of similar calibre (Tait)
The view of FM’s SR4 derriere all the other drivers saw (Tait)
Australian Champion driver John Bowe aboard SR4 at Calder (Tait)
Multiple Australian Champion John Bowe expressed interest in doing a track test for ‘Unique Cars’ magazine.This was shortly after our 2006 rebuild. He planned on a run at Calder for this but that day could not be scheduled as intended. Instead John’s first drive of the car ended up on the road circuit at Murwillumbah’s Speed on Tweed. Organised by Roger Ealand, who so sadly we have just lost, this event ran for several years and in fact culminated in its final event with a stage of the Repco Rally being held also on the same circuit, but at night.
John drove the car for its 4 or 5 runs but even after the first he requested some suspension changes, which had an immediate effect. Subsequently John’s planned track drive at Calder came off and he drove numerous laps following a camera car and some at speed. A successful day and John loved the car. His only request was for the height of front and rear to be changed to change the undertray height to be higher at the back to improve downforce.
My Licence.
I have a level 2S licence. In my earlier days of racing it was the equivalent of a Level 1, but some 25 years ago I lost one eye resulting from an infection during a skiing holiday in New Zealand. That’s one reason why my driving is limited to display regularity and super sprint etc but the other reason is quite pragmatic; there are few drivers around, and I’m not one of them, who could handle this car to its full potential. With over 600 BHP and a weight of just 625kg the car commands great respect.
Start of the fateful race which took Bevan Gibson’s life, Easter, Bathurst 1969. Gibson in Bob Jane’s red #6 Elfin 400 Repco, Niel Allen #2 alongside in his Elfin 400 Chev and Matich to the right in the hi-winged SR4 (Wayne McKay)
Contact with Frank Matich..
I took the car to Eastern Creek in Sydney on several occasions in the years before and after its bare frame restoration in 2006.
Frank was at some of these meetings and was delighted to see and hear it in action. He was full of praise for the standard of the restoration and for my efforts in bringing it back to life. We spent quite some time discussing technical aspects of the car and he noted that someone had replaced the Koni shock absorbers with Armstrongs, a pity he said because he set the Konis with very little bump and mostly rebound, something that I can’t do with the Armstrongs. Frank was apologetic that somehow his people had done a cleanup in his factory and had discarded many spares including patterns and wheels etc that he would have given me. These were good conversations and it was fun also to meet his daughter Katrina and his granddaughter Paige and to have photos of all with the car. He said that he was glad the car was in good hands.
Unfortunately relations deteriorated somewhat in Frank’s latter years when he claimed that he had not sold the car to Repco and wanted it returned! This after a period of over 30 years since Repco’s acquisition during which there had been no communication from or to Frank and with the car having been through two changes of ownership.
Subsequently Frank’s attention was drawn to the reference in John Blanden’s book stating that ‘It initially ran with Rothmans signage and subsequently Rothmans acquired ownership of the car’.
There was no further communication on this issue. It was disappointing but didn’t diminish my admiration for Frank as a brilliant driver and one of the great legends of Australian motor sport. To this day I can recall the car running at Sandown and steaming into Peter’s corner (I was an official there) with all brakes locked up, tyres smoking when the throttle had apparently stuck. That was a great era.
Matich ‘locks em up’, a stuck throttle the cause, on Sandown’s pit straight just before Peters/Torana corner in 1969 (Tait Collection)
Henry Nehrybecki..
Henry was the builder of the car, at least the chassis and suspension and no doubt he had a team of helpers. Indeed I’ve heard that some of the time during the build Henry was not well and Bobby Britton (of Rennmax Engineering) may also have been involved.
I had numerous discussions with Henry in the early days after we got the car going and took it to Eastern Creek. He was thrilled the car was back in action after being out of circulation for 30 years. A small coincidence is that Henry’s granddaughter Gabrielle lives in Melbourne and is in the same friendship group as my daughter and her friends.
Derek Kneller; ‘Henry drew and fabricated the chassis, the conceptual design of which was Frank’s and his, Bob Britton was also involved. The chassis was then transferred to Franks facility, the Castle Cove BP Garage in Eastern Valley Way, which comprised a ‘servo’, the race ‘shop and Firestone racing tyre warehouse. It was in late ’69 that FM switched from testing and selling Firestones to Goodyear’.
John Mepstead and Matich ponder the SR4’s brakes in the Sandown paddock after its big brake lock-up. Mepstead an ex-Repco mechanic/engineer hired by FM to look after the car in ’69 (Tait Collection)
‘Peter Mabey assembled SR4 at Castle Cove, he had been with FM for some years including the SR3 race program in the ‘States. After that Peter looked after the Servo side of the business before returning to the race side of things on the F5000 program with me. SR4 was maintained and race prepared in 1969 by Tony Williams and John Mepstead on the chassis and engine respectively’.
Others to drive the Matich SR4..
Apart from Frank there have been no others to drive it in any competition except John Bowe and Laurie Bennett. We will not count my many demonstration drives, super sprints and regularity events and even in the Top Gear event at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
As earlier mentioned John drove it at Speed on Tweed just after its 3rd restoration. Laurie drove it at Mallala in one Super Sprint. His Elfin 600 had expired and I let him take it out. Effectively he won this having started last on the grid and passed all of the others by the last lap, while being stuck in 2nd gear.
Bill Hemming and David Hardman (Jim’s son) also enjoyed some practice laps at Mallala and Winton respectively. Also Brian Sampson who would have loved to own the car took it for a few laps at Winton after the third restoration. He really enjoyed it however we had a problem with a badly set up throttle mechanism which made it difficult to drive.
On the Calder dummy grid in 1969, #34 an Elfin Streamliner (Ian Pope)
The body was made in Sydney by JWF Fibreglass. It was not intended to be this way. The plan was for it to be made from aluminum and they went a long way towards completing this but the task became too hard and too slow. What had been made was used as a mould for the fiberglass body. This was one of the reasons the car didn’t go to the 1968/9 CanAm, the other was that Repco was late with the engine.
When we restored it at ACL it was strengthened with some extra layers internally as it was very flimsy and cracked in many areas. It’s a little heavier but still OK.
I’ve mentioned earlier the colour. After the debacle of the Richmond TAFE attempt we’d lost the original colour since every panel was by now the odd purple colour, so there was no colour match possible. Houdini Panels suggested an off the shelf colour common to a road car of the time and as it looked more vibrant and could be retouched more easily I chose this.
It appears there were two bodies, or at least two rear sections. When the car raced at the Easter Bathurst meeting Frank had the very high wing and it was attached to the rear hubs by uprights that went through holes in the body. After Bathurst the car reverted to low wing, no wing and various iterations in-between, but always body mounted. The wing on the car now is about 300mm above the rear deck and I am not sure if the car competed in this way or if the wing was experimental in the latter stages of the car’s life with Frank.
Just last December (2015) I found another rear body section for the car. It came to light in an outer suburban junk yard along with the body from Colin Hyams’ T190 Lola F5000. How these came to be at this property is something we’ll never know. Anyway I bought the Matich rear body (for much more than it is worth), as it is definitely the one Frank used at Bathurst, with the holes for the wing supports and is the original dark blue. It still has the Repco and other stickers on it. I don’t intend to use this but it would fit straight on still having the original brackets.
Chassis number..
The chassis was number 07. When I decided to have a brass plate made I asked Henry if he knew what the chassis number was and he advised it was number 1 so I had the plate made this way. He was probably referring to the fact that it appears another chassis was made, very similar to mine, but never actually made into a car. So Henry was thinking about SR4 chassis of which mine was the first. I suppose I could re-engrave the plate on my car.
SR4 in the Surfers Paradise paddock, note the car is now fitted with a Hewland LG500 ‘box rather than the ZF in the earlier rear shot (Tait Collection)
Gearbox..
The car was made with a ZF. It seems the side plates of this gearbox were not strong enough and also the 4 speed Hewland LG500 that replaced it was more common at the time and ratio changes were easier. There is a reverse but to set up the adjustment to get this compromises engagement of the forward gears so it does not go into reverse at all. I don’t have any spare ratios. The only places 4th gear is used is at Eastern Creek, Calder, briefly, the back straight at Pukekohe, NZ and the Grand Prix circuit at Albert Park. Also Sandown and Phillip Island. Given a good straight the car would reach 200 mph.
Derek Kneller; ‘I helped fit the Hewland LG gearbox to SR4. We were converting Frank’s F5000 M10A McLaren to M10B spec, i built the first of these at McLaren’s before leaving the UK for Oz. A DG300 Hewland was fitted to the M10A, the LG was popped from the M10A into SR4. Henry Nehrbecki fabricated a new rear cross-frame with a bellhousing designed by us and cast by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Melbourne, we made a pattern which we could adapt for a Chev or the Repco. The change in ‘box was around November 1969’.
Tyres..
Very early in the piece Kris Matich (of Goodyear in Sydney) tried to find tyres of the original size as raced by Frank but these were no longer available. I have used Avons, supplied by Russell Stuckey and they are F5000 fronts (with treads cut by Russell) and a sports car category treaded tyre imported from Japan. The sizes are: Front: 10.5/23/15 Rear: 15/26/15
These are a little smaller in outer diameter than raced by Frank and we have set the suspension up to suit. Any difference in ratio is of no consequence.
FM after winning the ASSC round at Surfers Paradise on 18 May 1969, time for a new set of raceboots Frank! Note air reliefs atop SR4 RHS guard (Tait Collection)
Roll bar..
The roll bar height is too low for me since my seat was made for me to sit further away from the pedals. It was marginal in height for Frank. For my purposes it is OK but will need to be rebuilt in accordance with CAMS standards in due course. I think this will require a bare frame exercise.
Brakes..
These are as raced but I have slightly softer pads for quicker warm up. John Bowe felt that these might be too soft for serious racing.
Fuel tank..
The car was raced with a large bladder tank in the left pod. This was not serviceable, Jim Hardman made an aluminium tank of about 30 litres capacity and foam filled it. The car uses about 1 litre per kilometre so a larger tank would be needed for any serious racing.
Ignition..
A Lucas Opus system was on the 4.2 engine ex Les Wright though most likely Frank raced with a Bosch twin point distributor. The Opus modules are no longer serviceable. John Heckrath made up a special distributor so the Bosch module could be hidden inside the Opus unit and this worked well. There was some initial hilarity when it was discovered that the donor distributor from a V6 Holden had the wrong number of teeth for a V8! (The timing was only ever right for the first few degrees of engine rotation and had to be retimed numerous times until the oversight was discovered). More recently Performance Ignition made up a Scorcher system and this now works perfectly albeit is not as the car was raced.
Cam covers..
The car raced with cam covers designated ‘REPCO’. I built my 5 litre engine accordingly but the 4.2 litre engine, being ex Jack Brabham Indy, had ‘REPCO BRABHAM’ cast onto the top. I’ve chosen to leave it this way, i have spares of both types. (An early photo shows the car with Repco Brabham cam covers and also shows the ZF gearbox).
CAMS Certificate of Description (Australias more rigorous equivalent of FIA historic racing certification)..
For what I do with the car a C.O.D. is not needed but I was persuaded that it would be a good idea to have this so the car could be documented as raced, for future reference. A C.O.D. was obtained in 2015. It is # 0.040.03.02.
New Zealand
I have taken the car to New Zealand twice, both times to Hampton Downs, and on the first occasion to Pukekohe as well. I was included in the demonstration events on each occasion and had plenty of track time with F5000’s and other sports cars. This was especially so at the most recent of the visits to Hampton Downs where there were so few of the big sports cars entered they needed me to make up numbers, at least in the practice, qualifying and even on the warm up lap of every race! The two events were to celebrate Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme respectively.
Importantly the Matich ran very well and was popular with the locals.
Future..
My plan is to continue with displays and demonstrations, regularity and Super Sprints as much as possible given my other passion, snow skiing. This sidelines me for most of the winter months in our small apartment at Mount Buller. I hold out hope that I can get the roll bar rebuilt soon, the 5 litre should go back in later this year and it would be nice to make another trip to New Zealand.
My longer term mission is to see the car in the hands of someone with the necessary technical ability, driving skill and passion to continue to present the car, whether racing or not, in the manner that reflects the great legacy for its terrific driver, Frank Matich and Repco for its amazing engines.
Nigel Tait June 2016
This card, and the shot just below was produced by Repco and handed out at race-meetings trade shows and the like in period (Tait)
Matich SR4 specifications…
Engine: Repco Brabham quad cam. Repco designed and manufactured ‘700 Series’ aluminium crankcase/block cast at Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, Fishermans Bend, Melbourne.
Four valve per cylinder, DOHC, gear driven, ’60 Series’ aluminum heads designed by Repco and cast at Castalloy in Adelaide.
Lucas mechanical fuel injection system with metering unit driven from the same jackshaft which describes the distributor Port mounted Lucas injectors running at 100psi. Throttle slides for engine control.
Ignition: car was originally raced with a Bosch twin-point distributor, later Lucas Opus and now Scorcher with reluctor in the distributor
Lubrication: pressure and scavenge pumps in the sump interconnected with short shaft, driven from the crank. Oil tank external
Crankshaft made by Crankshaft Rebuilders, Forged pistons by Special Pistons Services, Connecting rods made by Argo, NSW.
Capacity: 4.2 litre ‘Indy’ version Bore: 96mm Stroke 71.9mm
Capacity: 4.8 litre as raced by Matich in 1969: Bore 96.5mm, Stroke 82mm
Suspension: Front; Lower wishbone, upper camber arms with radius rod. Rear; Reversed lower wishbone with upper camber arm and upper and lower radius rods. Shock absorbers: now Armstrong but raced originally with double-adjustable Koni’s
Steering: Matich manufactured rack and pinion, cast by CAC. Uprights: Matich design and manufactured, steel fabrications
Brakes: Girling, 3 pots per wheel
Wheels: Matich design cast magnesium, front 10.5 by 15”, rear 17” by 15”
Tyres: Avon, front 10.5” by 23” by 15”. Rear 15” by 26” by 15”
Track: front 57”, rear 60”, wheelbase 90”
Body: Fibreglass, manufactured by JWF in Sydney.
How competitive would the SR4 Repco have been in the 1968 Can Am Series?…
In ’67 the dominant McLaren M6A weighed 590Kg/1300lbs and was powered by a 6 litre 530bhp Chevy, the ’68 M8A by a 7 litre 620bhp alloy block Chev, the car weighed circa 1350lbs.
On the face of it FM’s ‘760 Series’ 5 litre, 4 valve, DOHC Repco V8 toting about 580 bhp, the car quoted at 1361lbs would have been ‘in the hunt’. Certainly in relative terms SR4 would have been more competitive than the ‘620 Series’ 4.4 litre, 2 valve, SOHC 400bhp powered SR3 was in 1967.
Whilst the Repco V8 was giving away some power to the Chev, the car similar in weight to M8A, the Matich was potentially a better handling car than M8A given the distribution of the weight. The Repco alloy V8 weighed about 380lbs, the Chev lump circa 550lbs. There was no question about the handling of the Matich cars; ask Chris Amon who’s beautiful handling P4/CanAm 350 Fazz V12 was beaten by Matich in SR3 soundly on every occasion they met during the Australian Tasman rounds in the summer of ’68.
The engines had to last the 200 miles of a CanAm event of course, the Repco ‘860 Series’ F1 engines having major problems in 1968, mainly valve gear related. RBE Project Engineer Norman Wilson’s account of the engine problems in F1 in 1968 is as follows; ‘On a visit to Cosworth after the 860 engine problems Cosworth partner, Mike Costin, said that he realised what our problem was with the valve gear, that it was torsional vibration’.
‘This is where the project started to get unravelled. Frank (Hallam, GM of Repco Brabham Emgines) had sort of admitted the problem but at the time i think Frank had just about left, and Charlie Dean who replaced him wouldn’t understand that the problem was a torsional vibration problem. It was wrecking the cam followers. And the solution to the problem was fairly simple. All we had to do was modify the cam drive like the Cosworth Ford DFV engine and we could have fixed it’.
‘What happens is at certain speeds the front of the camshaft will tend to go a little bit like a tuning fork and as it rotates this front of the crankshaft oscillates back and forth and this oscillation is transferred up through the timing gears. It was making two of the camshafts do the same thing. So when the cam lobes were going around they were ruining the cam followers. The Cosworth has a little spring gizmo in the first timing gear to absorb this so it is not transmitted through the whole system. And Frank realised we needed something like this and we were working on doing that when Charlie Dean arrived on the scene and said it was a lubrication problem.’ This was after the end of the 1968 F1 season mind you, Hallam resigned after Deans arrival, after that disastrous season.
The ‘760 Series’ 4.2 litre, 4 valve, DOHC Repco V8 Indy variant with the same block and heads as the 5 litre finished the Indy 500 in 1969, Peter Revson’s Brabham BT25 finished 5th in the race won by Andretti’s Hawk Ford. Critically, Peter Revson took the only international win for a ’60 Series’ engine when we won the Indianapolis Raceway Park road event in his Brabham BT25 Repco on 27 July 1969.
None of these engines were fitted with the torsional vibration damper or spring gizmo to which Wilson refers. Its said the the bigger ‘760’ engines were simply not revved as hard as their F1 liddl’ ‘860’ brother thereby avoiding the oscillation rev range which was problematic.
For Australian enthusiasts a great ‘mighta been’ is how FM would have gone against the mighty papaya ‘Big Macs’ in 1968?…
Would the SR4 have been quick? You betcha, much faster than SR3. Would the ‘760 Series’ engine have finished 200 mile races? Yes again if the similar Indy variant results in ’69 are a guide. Could SR4 have achieved CanAm podiums in ’68?, probably yes.
Could he have won a race? Maybe, if the planets were aligned noting that year the ‘dynamic duo’ didn’t win two rounds; John Cannon took a great victory in the wet in an old M1B McLaren at Laguna and Mark Donohue at Bridghampton in the Penske M6B when both Bruce and Denny had major engine failures. Could FM have prevailed at these events? Sure, SR4 was quick enough to knock both car/driver combinations off.
‘If yer Aunty had balls she’d be yer Uncle’ of course, ifs, buts and maybes mean nothing in motor racing, as in life. The chassis was late. The engine was late. FM didn’t contest the ’68 CanAm and as a result we were all deprived of seeing Matich take on Bruce, Denny and the rest of the CanAm circus all of whom he knew and respected well.
So Frank raced the car in Oz in ’69, crushed the local opposition and then moved into F5000 supported by Repco…
Rothmans brochure featuring both the old, SR4 Repco and the new, McLaren M10A Chev F5000 in 1969 (Tony Johns via Nigel Tait)
The obvious question is, having missed the ’68 series why didn’t the car contest the 1969 CanAm instead of being ‘King of The Kids’ in Oz?..
The answer is simple, the Repco Brabham engine program was over, Jack raced a Cosworth DFV in F1 in 1969, the final races in that partnership the Indy races in 1969.
The Repco board decided to close down Repco Brabham Engines Pty. Ltd, there is no certainty Repco would have committed to F1 in 1969 even had Jack wanted them to. Cost was a big issue for Repco throughout 1968, the failure of the engines that year made it easier to withdraw, particularly given the sort of investment which would have been needed to match the reliability and power of the Ford Cosworth DFV. Its impotant to remember that Rindt put ‘860 Series’ F1 powered Brabhams on pole twice in ’68. The 3 litre ‘860’ Repco was potent! With further development there is no reason the ‘860’ F1 engine could not have won races, it proved its speed in Rindts hands in ’68 if not its reliabilty. And every Tom, Dick and Harry raced DFV’s in ’68; McLaren, Lotus and Ken Tyrrell’s Matra International team, pole amongst that lot was an achievement, the Ferrari’s also quick that year.
So, whilst Repco were happy to provide Matich with an engine, they would not back an assault in the US with the resources required. Matich employed ex-Repco engineer John Mepstead to look after SR4 during ’69, he wasn’t provided by Repco. Matich didn’t have the funds to race in the US and had already acquired an M10A Chev McLaren F5000 car in advance, well in advance of CAMS decision to agree the next ANF1 as F5000. 2 litre F2 was the alternative.
There was some ‘dogs bollocks’ from the Matich camp at the time about ‘multi-valve’ engines not being legal in the ’69 CanAm which is rubbish, obfuscation. Count the number of Ferrari’s alone which ran that year, the last time i looked they weren’t powered by pushrod OHV V8’s.
Repco’s commercial interests were best served, they quite rightly believed, by building an F5000 variant of the 5 litre Holden V8 to participate in this rapidly growing category. The engine was an immediate success, Matich won the 1970 Australian Grand Prix in a McLaren M10C Repco that November.
There was not the funds to race an SR4 ‘Stateside, customer F5000 engines were a better commercial proposition for Repco and so an interesting and immensely successful, Repco Brabham Engines Pty. Ltd. chapter of Repco history ended, with a big, quad cam 5 litre bang mind you!
As an aside the last championship won by an RBE engine was Henry Michell’s victory in the 1974 Australian Sportscar Championship aboard an Elfin 360 powered by an ex-Tasman RBE ‘730 Series’ 2.5 litre V8…
The SR4’s 1969 Australian Competitor Set…
The sinfully sexy, wedgy, state of the art, but oh-so-twitchy Elfin ME5 Chev of Niel Allen at Warwick Farm in 1969, below.
Garrie Cooper’s latest big car had a nice, stiff aluminium monocoque chassis but the short wheelbase device, even with Allen at the wheel, very much Matich’s equal in F5000 was never a winning car and with only 480bhp was ‘gutless’ compared to Matich’s 580! Never thought i would say that about a 5 litre injected Chev!
(oldracephotos.com)
Bob Jane below in the sensational McLaren M6 Repco at Hume Weir in 1969, le patron at the wheel of the car raced mainly by John Harvey including the Australian Sportscar Championship in 1971/2. Also Repco powered but ‘only’ an SOHC 5 litre ‘740 Series’ V8, Harvey was very much an ace but the car not on the same page as Matich’s beastie. Its time would come…but only after SR4 was popped away as a museum piece within months of its championship win.
(oldracephotos.com)
Don O’Sullivan in the hi-winged Matich SR3 ‘3’ Repco slicing into Warwick Farm’s Esses in early 1969. Behind him is Niel Allen in the ex-Matich Elfin 400/Traco Olds, now 5 litre Chev engined car. The chassis of the SR3 was either identical to or very, very similar to Cooper’s Elfin 400 design.
(oldracephotos.com/Dick Simpson)
Matich Cars: The Chassis List…
Matich listed ‘his cars’ by chassis number as below. After discussion with Frank Matich, Darryl Duff who owned one of the SR3’s at the time in the early eighties prepared a document listing ‘Franks’ sportscars. A truncated summary of it is set out below. To that I have added Matich’s single-seaters, all F5000’s the source, Derek Kneller, his engineer/mechanic throughout the entire F5000 period;
Matich in SR3 ‘3’ Repco ‘620 Series 4.4 litre V8, the last one built, at Warwick Farm in 1968, this is the chassis with which he belted Chris Amon in the ’68 Tasman support rounds, Amon in David McKays/Scuderia Veloce Ferrari P4/Can Am 350 (Dick Simpson)
1.Sports Cars: All of multi-tubular spaceframe construction
#1 Lotus 19B Climax: (the second of FM’s 19’s, highly modified with many Brabham bits and ultimately destroyed in FM’s big ’65 Lakeside shunt)
#2 Elfin 400 Olds: (aka ‘Traco Olds’ first raced Sandown early ’66, still exists)
#3 SR3 (1) Olds/Repco (still exists) Built with 5 litre Traco/Olds, ZF 5 DS-25 ‘box
First race Warwick Farm early ’67, won ’67 Victorian (Sandown) and NSW (Catalina Park) sportscar championships and Australian Tourist Trophy at Surfers Paradise. To Marvin Webster, California, sans engine in June 1967. Tony Settember raced the car for Webster.
#4 SR3 (2) Repco (still exists) RBE ‘620 Series’ 4.4 litre V8 # ‘RB620E22’, from late 1969 Traco/Olds 5 litre from ex-SR3 (1), ZF DS25 ‘box
Built, sold and exported to Kent Price, California US, first raced 3 September 1967, Road America, Elkhart Lake by Matich. Its only US race. Returned to Oz, it was sold on Price’s behalf, by Matich to Malcolm Bailey in 1969. Bailey fitted the ex-Elfin 400/Traco Olds/ SR3 (1) V8 from Niel Allen to the car.
First race by Matich, 17 September 1967 Bridghampton, raced in Oz later in ’67. Won RAC Trophy and Australian Tourist Trophy at Warwick Farm and Mallala respectively in 1968. This is the chassis which beat Amon’s Ferrari P4/CanAm 350 throughout the ’68 Tasman support races. Sold to Don O’Sullivan late in ’68
#6 SR4 Repco: (still exists, ’68 intended CanAm contender, late, only raced ’69 in Oz, won ASSC that year)
#7 SR4B Ford/Lotus twin-cam (still exists, customer car built for John Wood)
Matich A51 Repco on the Watkins Glen pit row in 1973 (D Kneller)
2.F5000’s: All aluminium monocoques
Note The Matich Team reskinned their McLaren M10B Repco tub after its Oran Park 1971 practice shunt, their first monocoque experience. Six virtually identical tubs were built by Matich/Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation and built up as follows;
#8 A50 Repco Chassis # ‘001/002’ (1971 AGP and 1972 Gold Star winner, still exists)
#9 A50 Ford # ‘003’ (exported to the US, bits incorporated in sportscar) 1972
#10 A50 Repco # ‘004’ (customer car, John Walker ’73 US L&M later to Jon Davison, still exists)
#11 A51 Repco # ‘005’ (US ’73 L&M Series sold to J Goss, converted to A53 spec, ’76 AGP winner, still exists)
#12 A51/52 Repco # ‘006’ (US L&M Series as A51 converted to A52 spec back at Brookvale in time for the Surfers Gold Star round that September, destroyed in a Warwick Farm testing accident shortly thereafter driven by Bob Muir, scrapped)
#13 A53 Repco # ‘007’ (’74 Tasman car sold to J Goss after FM retirement, still exists)
On the basis of the above the Matich Team built 11 cars; the list above less the Lotus 19B and Elfin 400 which were built in Cheshunt, London and Edwardstown, Adelaide respectively.
FM’s logic of including the Lotus and Elfin as ‘his cars’ is not spelt out in Duff’s document but I suspect FM’s thinking was that he modified the cars to such an extent that they were more ‘Matich’ than Lotus/Elfin which may be true of the Lotus but ‘praps not the Elfin… Both these cars are covered in my ‘Elfin 400’ article the link of which is early in this article.
In Period Race Footage…
SR3.
SR4.
Shot below by Dale Harvey and is at Catalina Park in the Blue Mountains, not Warwick Farm.
Etcetera…
Racing Car News June 1968 (Dalton)
Racing Car News cover July 1968 (Dalton)
1970 shot of FM in natty check strides, Vicki Fry and journalist and later motor racing publisher, Chevron Group founder Ray Berghouse. Hewland box missing, nice shot of suspension detail (Ray Berghouse)
Special Thanks…
To Nigel Tait for entrusting me with his manuscript
Derek Kneller for his recollections of the 1969/70 period at Team Matich
Credits…
Nigel Tait Collection, Dick Simpson, oldracephotos.com, Repco Ltd, Dave Friedman Collection, Ian Pope, Jay Bondini, The Roaring Season, Derek Kneller, Dale Harvey, Peter Ellenbogen, Stephen Dalton Collection, Ray Berghouse
Tailpiece: Matich is his local ‘backyard’, aboard the SR4 Repco, Warwick Farm’s Esses, now ‘Bell Star’ equipped, 1970…
Tony Brooks (head obscuring the roundel) and John Wyer (in brown) looking for an Aston rear axle malady during the 26 May 1957 race weekend…
Brooks had a happy weekend, he and Noel Cunningham-Reid won the race in their Aston Martin DBR1 from the much more powerful Ferrari 335S of Peter Collins and Olivier Gendebien and the similar 315S of Mike Hawthorn and Maurice Trintignant.
Part on the 1957 start line-up with plenty of Mercedes 300SL’s to the fore..too many names and cars to list! (Klemantaski)
Noel Cunningham-Reid in the winning Aston DBR1, he held and built on the lead created by Tony Brooks (Klementaski)
Credit…
Klemantaski Collection
Tailpiece…
Reserve driver, Maurice Trintignant tries out the Collins/Gendebien Ferrari 335S during practice, Nurburgring 1000Km 1957 (Klemantaski)
Evocative Jesse Alexander pre-start shot of the Mario Andretti/Lucien Bianchi Ford GT Mk2 and a young Ford fan…
The American, Italian/Belgian combo survived 97 laps before retiring with head gasket failure of their 6982cc pushrod V8.
Andretti was the ‘young gun’. He won the USAC Championship in 1965 and had plenty of wins too in 1966, but had limited sportscar experience, Le Mans, was his first GT40 race! Bianchi was the opposite, vastly experienced in such cars with three straight Tour de France victories from 1957-9 and a Sebring 12 Hour win with Jo Bonnier in 1962 to his credit.
The pair started 12th and steadily worked their way up the field, but luck was not on their side, retiring in the eighth hour.
They hit it off though, Holman & Moody paired them together again in a MkIV in 1967.
Pre race preparation, Hawkins/Donohue Ford Mk2 in the foreground, the #6 Andretti/Bianchi car clear…a military operation! (Dave Friedman)
The GTs’ famously failed to win in the previous two years but Ford made no mistakes in 1966, no less than thirteen of the powerful cars, both GT40’s and Mark 2’s started with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon victorious in a Shelby American entered Mk2.
They ‘beat’ Ken Miles and Denny Hulme in the ‘infamous form finish’ in another Shelby Mk2.
(Ford Motorsports Archive)
Gridding up pre start, above.
#2 is the victorious McLaren/Amon Mk2, #3 Gurney/Grant Mk2 (DNF), #4 Hawkins/Donohue Mk2 (DNF), and the rest. Captures the moment doesn’t it?
(unattributed)
Le Mans ’66 start, look at that crowd.
#3 Dan Gurney, #4 Paul Hawkins, from grid slot 11!- what a blinder from the race start from the Aussie, #1 Ken Miles, the yellow car alongside is John Whitmore, #2 Bruce McLaren in the winning car- all Ford Mk2, you can just see the tail of the Bucknum Mk2, from 9th on the grid! and the rest.
(Automobile Year 14)
Every man and his dog have used this photograph in online and more traditional media down the decades! I first saw it in Automobile Year- I should check to see who the photographer is- such a marvellous action shot.
Graham Hill squirts his Alan Mann Racing Ford Mk2 off the line leaving the NART Pedro Rodriguez/Richie Ginther Ferrari P2/3 ‘Spyder’ on the line…’slippery diff functioning well.
In a race of incredible attrition amongst the front-runners only three of the thirteen Ford GT’s which started finished and only two Ferrari GT’s of 14 which set off at 4pm were running 24 hours later. The Hill/Brian Muir Mk2 retired on lap 110 with front suspension damage and the Ginther/Rodriguez car on lap 151 with gearbox failure.
(Ford Motorsport)
A Shelby-American mechanic checks a new disc before fitment to the Gurney/Grant Mk2 hub assembly.
The beautiful standard of fabrication and workmanship of the front upright and suspension assembly clear in this shot. Front suspension comprises double wishbones, coil spring/damper units and adjustable sway bar. Steering arm also in shot, knock off nut etc.
(unattributed)
Almost to the finish…the Shelby American cars of McLaren on the left, Miles on the right, at about this point Miles backs off allowing McLaren/Amon to take the win.
The absolute detail of the finish has several versions but the sequence as follows seems to be generally accepted.
At the race halfway mark four GT Mk2’s comprised the lead group. By 9 am only three Mk2’s were left of the ? which started- all the GT40’s had retired. Ford Director of Racing Leo Beebe was not happy as Ken Miles and Dan Gurney had been dicing for the lead- against team orders- the Gurney/Grant car was the last of the Mk2’s to retire just before 9 with head-gasket failure.
(unattributed)
It was at this point that Beebe decided upon a ‘dead heat’ between his two lead cars. This, it was thought, would stop the competition between the remaining cars and emphasise the win as one for the car rather than the driver.
The organising club, the ACO told him that a dead-heat would not be possible as the McLaren/Amon car, which started from grid slot 2, would have covered a greater distance than the Miles/Hulme car which started from pole- a difference according to the club of 8 and 20 metres depending upon the account.
But, assuming the cars were still running at 4 pm, Beebe decided to push ahead with his plan and instructed Miles to ease his pace at the last pit stop- the Miles/Hulme car led at that point, to allow McLaren to catch up.
Just before 4 pm it started to drizzle again. Ken Miles whilst pissed off, wants no part of it of the contrived finish, so eases gently before the flag in the photo above, or Bruce surged, depending upon the account, allowing Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon /McLaren to take the win.
Miles was dead in a Ford J car testing accident at Riverside, California within two months. The great British American the lead development driver of the GT40 program was in the view of many the more deserving of the drivers to win the race- but there are many layers to this race finish. Beebe’s successful attempt to get his cars to the finish and over the line first is understandable, to say the least, given the failures of the GT40 and Mark2’s at Le Mans in 1964 and 1965.
In terms of ‘deserving drivers’ lets not forget Bruce did a huge amount of the initial GT40 testing for JW Automotive way back in 1964 and subsequently, not to forget that he raced the cars at Le Mans in 1964, (GT40 with Phil Hill DNF gearbox on lap 192) 1965, (Mk2 with Miles DNF gearbox on lap 45) 1966 and 1967 (MK4 4th with Donohue).
Photo Credits…
Jesse Alexander, Ford Motorsport Archive, Automobile Year
Tailpieces…
Andretti and friends before the off (Jesse Alexander)
Mk2 business end, Daytona 1967. Note 2 roll bars to counteract the forces on the bankings (Automobile Year)
Victoria Morris’ swoopy Kieft De Soto at rest in Piper Street, Kyneton, Victoria on a very balmy Anzac Day 25 April 2016…
Everything was going nicely until Victoria shattered the peace and quiet of our long, languid ‘Mr Carsisi’ middle-eastern lunch. Thoroughly recommended by the way.
We were out to atone for minor, alleged misdemeanors on my part. Me ‘an the little sabre-toothed tigress were just knocking back the second pinot and tucking into tasty mains as a big, loudish V8 ‘snap, crackle ‘n popped’ its way down quiet Piper Street in the beautiful Macedon Ranges village, 90 Km north of Melbourne.
I couldn’t help myself of course, I just had to see what it was there and then!
Too slow to see the driver exit the slinky light green beast, I was quick enough to beat the swarm of ‘rubber-necks’ soon checking out this ‘one of a kind’ car. Patrizia was not a ‘happy camper’, the photo and drool session took a good 40 minutes.
This article is long on photos, all of the ‘touristy shots’ are of Piper Street, Kyneton and its immediate surrounds unless otherwise stated.
Campaspe River, Kyneton
The delicacy of the Kieft’s styling is deceptive I reckon…
It looks lithe and ‘Coventry Climax FWA’ light but totes a big, heavy cast iron De Soto 4.5 litre V8 and has the performance to match. I have spotted the car once or twice at race meetings before, what was great was to see it being used on the road, no doubt driven with considerable brio too!
Bill Morris, Terry Cornelius and Greg Snape and the Kieft De Soto in Terry’s Corowa workshop in April 2009 (The Border Mail)
The Kieft is an intensely interesting project. It was the realisation of the dream of its late owner, historic racer Bill Morris and two talented Australian artisans who brought it to life,body builder Terry Cornelius and mechanic/engineer Greg Snape, who did the rest inclusive of project management. Cornelius’ business is in Corowa on the mighty Murray River and Snape’s in Yass, in New South Wales Southern Tablelands.
Greg Snape picks up the Kieft story and Morris’ passion for two rather special cars…
‘The Erwin Goldschmidt De Soto engined sportscar was built alongside the Grand Prix car in early 1954’. Goldschmidt was a wealthy insurance broker and champion owner/driver in early/mid-fifties American racing’.
The Grand Prix car is the Kieft ‘GP1’, the chassis’ of which was completed in 1954 but was never completed and raced due to the ‘stillborn’ nature of the Coventry Climax 2.5 litre FPE V8 engine intended to power it.
Nearly 50 years later the car was completed with its correct engine by the Morris/Snape team in the UK in 2002.
Kieft GP1; Coventry Climax ‘Godiva’ FPE 2.5 litre, DOHC, 2 valve, twin plug V8 fed by 4 Weber DCNL carbs. On methanol the engine produces circa 260bhp @ 8500rpm. Gearbox is an Armstrong Siddeley ‘pre-selector’ type with specially made close ratios, AP racing clutch (Bisset)
Greg; ‘I had a business in Deniliquin, NSW which I was getting bored with and decided to sell it to move to the UK to get a job in F1 for a change of scene and pace. I rang John Diamond (the late owner of Penrite Oil in Melbourne) to get a reference, told him what I planned to do, he told me historic racer/engineer Bill Morris was in his office and handed the phone over! He had lots of contacts, offered to help me and after I sent him my CV said you will always have job with me if all else fails in the UK’
The GP car was designed by Gordon Bedson, the chassis a ‘semi spaceframe’ that is, not fully triangulated but with deep side elements tapering towards the front to clear the wide engine. A thin tube structure carries the body. Here Greg Snape races ‘GP1’ at a dry! (is it a pretty car or what?) Winton Historic Meeting in May 2007 (Bisset)
‘So, I packed up the wife and kids and off we went, from Deniliquin to Oxfordshire in late 1996. I worked for Bill for a few months, then did a season with Alan Docking Racing’s F3 team as Mark Webber’s #2 mechanic in 1997. I returned to Bill for a couple of years in 1998, then went to the JSM Alfa 147 BTCC Team in 2001 as #1 mechanic on Tim Harvey’s car and finally the Castrol Hyundai WRC team in 2002 as #1 transmission tech’
Kieft GP1 Climax; Front suspension comprises unequal length upper and lower tubular wishbones, coil springs, Spax shocks and a roll bar. Hubs are ‘wartime’ Ford V8 to which new fabricated steering arms were bolted. Rack and pinion steering mechanism and wood-rim wheel are of Kieft manufacture. Rear suspension is independent by upper and lower unequal length wishbones, transverse leaf spring and Spax shocks. The diff is a proprietary ENV unit as fitted to Jags in period mounted in the original magnesium Kieft housing incorporating a ZF ‘slippery mechanism. Winton paddock 2007 (Bisset)
‘Bill ended up with the Kieft F1 car and bitsvia a friendship he had with Gordon Chapman who he had known for years via their mutual ERA ownership. Unfortunately Gordon died. Bill tried to sell all the bits on behalf of Guy’s widow Jeanie but eventually decided to take it on himself. He asked me to work on the project, the deal was that I spent half my time rebuilding pre-selector gearboxes for Bill’s clients and half the time building up the Kieft F1 car, it’s a whole fabulous story for another time’.
Radical for its day, Dunlop disc brakes as used on the Jag XKC were specified. Wheels are new cast magnesium to the original Dunlop patterns, 5/5.5 inches wide front/rear and 16 inches in diameter. Lago Talbot T26C alongside the Kieft GP1, Winton May 2007 (Bisset)
‘Throughout the process of building the Kieft GP car we were in regular touch with Cyril (Kieft) who was both helpful and really keen to see the finished car. During this process he told Bill about the sportscar.
Essentially the car was built in the UK, sent to the US where it was hillclimbed and damaged. It was rebuilt but then stolen in the 1980’s and an insurance payout made. It was all said to be a bit ‘suss’ but over the years even though some people claimed to know where components were Bill couldn’t track anything down nor has anyone ever claimed to have the remnants of the car’.
‘So Bill decided to build a ‘reconstruction’ of the Kieft De Soto using components from the spare original chassis he bought with the F1 project’.
‘Kieft built three sets of parts for the GP cars in period and two chassis. The first car is the one we know and love (‘GP1′) the second incomplete chassis comprising the main structural tubes with magnesium front bulkhead attached was hanging on rafters in Bills workshop and ultimately sold together with GP1 when Bill auctioned it.’
(T Page)
Coventry Climax FWE 2.5 litre V8
‘We used the components that came with the second GP car chassis to recreate the sporty.
Really the sports car chassis was completely different to the F1 car but the suspension bits; hubs and uprights, magnesium diff housing were the same. The F1 car has Dunlop disc brakes, the same components which went on the Jag C Type, it stops incredibly well, the brakes on the sportscar are drums, a 13 inch standard Girling size on the front and 12inch Jag components on the back’.
(The Border Mail)
The original bodies of both GP1 and sportscar were built by EW Humphries Ltd in Wolverhampton, the sportscar then fitted out at Kieft’s Derry Street, Wolverhampton works, painted white and exported to the US. Here Terry Cornelius (above) checks his reference material in his Corowa workshop during the cars build.
‘The sportscar was installed with a De Soto ‘Fiedome’ 4.5 litre V8, a Jaguar ‘Moss’ gearbox with close ratios, and same as the GP car, an ENV rear axle in a Kieft housing’.
‘The chassis wasn’t straight forward other than the two main frame longeronsbut Duncan Rabagliati of the GP Library had some original photos which were invaluable. Whilst the F1 car was in Australia in 2006/7 I stripped it down and made a jig which, with the photos, allowed us to get the chassis and suspension pick-up points and therefore the geometry spot-on. We knew that it would be great as the F1 car handled so sweetly and progressively’.
Original Kieft chassis frame main tubes clear clear as is ‘Superleggera’ construction method, what else does Cornelius have in his Corowa shop? (The Border Mail)
‘Terry Cornelius did a sensational job with the body which was all done by looking at photos and building accordingly. Its easy to say but much harder to do! Bills health at this stage was holding up pretty well, he eventually died from a degenerative disease which gradually destroyed his central nervous system’.
‘Bill and his wife had a place at Lancefield in country Victoria as well as in the UK, they lived 6 months in each, so he was able to help with direction of the project. Funnily enough, in a tragic kind of a way, when he saw the body for the last time before going back to the UK where he died, he ‘looked at’ the body largely by feel. He said to Terry,‘I think the body will crack here’, near an intersection of curves at the front of the rear wing, sure enough that’s exactly what happened 12 months later! Terry has chosen not to repair the crack as a tribute to Bill’s great knowledge of all things automotive.’
De Soto 276cid V8, ‘Moss’ box and bellhousing ready for installation in the car. Note beautifully fabricated extractors and single 2 barrel Rochester carb (Peter Delaney)
The heart of a car is its engine of course. Goldschmidt specified and provided a new 276 cid/4.5 litre, cast iron OHV V8 from De Soto’s new for 1952 ‘Firedome’family sedan for Kieft to fit his new car. It was De Soto’s first such engine since 1931. The oversquare 3.5/3.344 inch bore/stroke engine, fitted with hemispherical combustion chamber cylinder heads was ‘state of the art’, an ‘engine with high performance characteristics’ as Motor Trend magazine put it.
Modern though it was, in production form developing circa 160bhp, it was heavy ‘the engine weighs a ton, I don’t know how much but I reckon the heads alone weigh as much as an A-Series BMC engine!’ quips Greg.
The relatively lightweight ‘Small Block’ Chev and Ford V8’s with their thin-wall casting techniques changed the world of motor racing but they were still a few years away in 1954. But there were plenty of sportscars in the burgeoning US scene using a range of heavy but powerful V8’s that pushed Ferrari and Maserati to build cars with progressively bigger engines throughout the 1950’s.
Degree of difficulty in building the body from little reference material clear, note the light tubes to which the hand formed and rolled aluminium sheets are attached (Cornelius)
Lots of compound curves, workmanship superb (Cornelius)
‘The engine fitted is a 276cid De Soto Firedome exactly the same as the original car before it left the UK. Its been only lightly modified as was the case with the original, we needed to go that way to be eligible for FIA papers and Bill and Victoria wanted a car they could use on both road and track’.
‘It has a set of fabricated extractors, been bored out 40 thou, has 11:1 compression ratio and a mild high lift cam. High comp pistons, light rods, oil pump and oversize valves are from ‘Hemi Hot Heads’ in the US.’
‘Fed by a 2 barrell Rochester carb it develops around 350bhp at only 4800rpm, not high but its under-carbed, the thing has heaps of torque, its got a big, fat torque curve from 2000-4500rpm, bags of grunt and it doesn’t weigh much’.
Terry Cornelius left and Greg Snape proudly show off their superb creativity and workmanship, KD-S nearly complete early in 2009 (Cornelius)
Greg Snape samples the Kieft De Soto’s power upon its race debut at Winton Historics in May 2009 (unattributed)
‘I phoned Bill one night not long before he passed away, started it up and gave it a few revs over the phone.Victoria said he looked as happy as a kid in a sweet shop! Unfortunately whilst Cyril saw and sat in the F1 car he didn’t get to see the De Soto Kieft either’.
‘Bill passed away just before Terry and I finished the car about a week before its race debut at Historic Winton in 2009. Victoria was keen to fulfil Bill’s dream to reunite the two Kiefts at the Goodwood Revival in the UK, she shipped the car to the UK and I raced it at Donington Park and at the Goodwood Revival Meeting in September 2009′.
Snape contests the ‘Freddie March Memorial Trophy’ in 2009, KDS looks beautifully balanced and putting its power down nicely on turn-in (unattributed)
‘Its really quick in a straight line, capable of 150mphand clocked at 132mph at Goodwood but the suspension needed more sorting. No big deal just spring/shock settings, the sort of stuff which would have been got right if the car was to be a racer rather than a roadie which occasionally does a meeting. It holds the road well. The brakes aren’t as good as the discs on the F1 car and also needed sorting in terms of balance and pad material, I think we were probably off its potential by around 5 seconds a lap.’
Snape in the Kieft, Eastern Creek, New South Wales (Bruce Moxon)
‘When the car came back to Australia we ran it at an HSRCA meeting at Eastern Creek, out to Sydney’s west.
It was a stinking hot weekend and the car started overheating after a few laps, it was a case of keeping an eye on the gauges and driving it accordingly’.
When I looked at the Kieft in Kyneton I was struck by the high standard of finish for a one-off, the leather seats were made by Greg’s wife Glenda. It has a full set of matching Smiths instruments for example. ‘Bill was apprenticed to Smiths originally so knew exactly what instruments were needed for the period inclusive of the lovely chronometric tach.’
‘For most of the project he was well enough to have lots of input into all of this detail stuff. The overall result is sensational to look at and even better to drive!, something which Victoria does often’, including regular drives from Lancefield to Kyneton as she did on the day I was lucky enough to see and hear the car…
Kieft Cars…
Click on this link for a great summary of the creativity of Cyril Kieft;
Larry Perkins amidst the Le Mans forest finished 4th in the ’88 classic in this Jaguar XJR-9 V12…
The 7 litre car was co-driven by Kevin Cogan and Derek Daly finishing 11 laps behind the winning sister car of Johnny Dumfries, Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace.
A story about the amazingly talented driver/engineer ‘Larrikins’ international career inclusive of F3, F1, F Pac and the occasional sportscar race is one for another time…
Somehow I think the local boyos aren’t getting excited about the rear of Andre Hechard’s D.B-Panhard HBR?…
This shot was taken in Brescia during the 1956 Mille Miglia which was won by Eugenio Castellotti’s Ferrari 290MM Scaglietti . Hechard’s Sports 750 class car DNF, no details of the lady sadly…
Jim had a great weekend, he knocked off the V8’s and won the ‘AJC Trophy’ round 5 of the 1970 Australian Touring Car Championship on 12 July…
Allan Moffat’s Trans-Am Mustang was on pole but he spun on the first corner taking out Pete Geoghegan’s Mustang and Brian Foley’s 911S, McKeown took the win. Outright contender, Norm Beechey’s Holden Monaro lost a rear wheel, Bob Jane’s Mustang was second and Bill Brown, 911S finished third-fast, robust, reliable beasts 911’s…
Foley in the WF paddock, ATCC round 1970 (Rolling Road)
The ex-factory specification of these cars is infinitely variable to special order and in summary comprises…
Engine; six cylinder, horizontally opposed ‘boxer’, SOHC two valve, 2247cc. Compression ratio 10.3:1, three 46IDA Weber carbs, Marelli distributor, bigger valves and polished inlet and exhaust ports giving circa 240bhp @ 8000rpm.
Five speed gearbox with ‘slippery’ diff, external oil pump, cooler and vast array of ratio choices The body was lightened by deletion of bumper over-riders, rubber locks, simplified interior, wings widened and the front bumpers were made of fibreglass.
Wheels; 7 and 9 inches front and rear in width, 15 inches diameter.
For those with an interest in these cars attached is a link which shows you the factory options for both the 1970 911 and 914-6 and later 3 litre Carreras, wallet size the only limiting factor;
Brian Foley on the way to third place during the 26 July 1970 Lakeside Australian Touring Car Championship round- Norn Beehey won in his Holden Monaro GTS350 and Bob Jane was send in his Shelby built Ford Mustang. Hasn’t Dick Simpson caught the car superbly, Foley dancing the car right on its toes.
At the opening championship round at Calder (below) in March Foley and McKeown had a fantastic tussle for second place which was resolved in Brian’s favour- up front Allan Moffat’s not quite twelve months old KarKraft/Bud Moore Ford Mustang Trans-Am took the win. Bob Jane was fourth, then Bill Brown’s 911S fifth and Bill Fanning’s Lotus Cortina Mk1 sixth.
Brian Foley in the right-left wiggle off Calder’s back straight (J Lemm)
Foley from McKeown in the battle for second place- onto the back straight (R Davies)
Foley, McKeown Calder dice from the rear heading into front straight (R Davies)
Lynton Hemer (below) catching Foley on the hop and committed coming down The Dipper at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, Easter 1970- ATCC round.
Beechey won this encounter from the Pete Geoghegan and Bob Jane Mustangs.
(L Hemer)
This is a beauty, its twelve months hence- the June 1971 ATCC round at Mallala- the South Australian Touring Car Championship race which was won by Bob Jane’s big, booming seven litre Chev Camaro ZL1 from Pete Geoghegan’s and Allan Moffat’s Mustangs.
Foley and McKeown were still at it but by this stage Brian was racing an ex-works 2 litre Alfa Romeo GTAm whilst McKeown was still running his 911S. Foley made the change to the Italian coupe as he had opened an Alfa Romeo Dealership in Sydney- KcKeown was fourth and Foley fifth.
(J Lemm)
Recently the ex-Foley 911S/T, both the Foley and McKeown cars were fitted with factory S/T kit of goodies has been restored by Melbourne’s Ian Henderson.
These shots are of the cars appearance at Phillip Island in March 2016. Use of the period Chesterfield Racing transporter is a nice touch!
(Bisset)
(Bisset)
(Bisset)
(Bisset)
(Bisset)
Credit…
The Rolling Road, Dick Simpson, Nigel Watts, Mike Jacobson of Spyder Automobiles for the information on ex-factory parts, John Lemm, Robert Davies
Tailpieces: McKeown and Brian Foley in 911S’ doing the wheel lifting 911 thing, Energol Corner, Oran Park 1970…
(Nigel Watts)
McKeown at the 1970 Bathurst ATCC round, fourth in the race won by Beechey’s Holden HT Monaro GTS350.
(Dick Simpson)
McKeown and Brian Foley in 911S’ doing the wheel lifting 911 thing, Energol Corner, Oran Park 1970.
The little girl seems lost amongst the flurry of pre-race preparation in JW Automotive’s workshop near Le Mans 0n 29 September 1968…
It was not to be a happy race for the pictured car #11, chassis ‘1076’ driven by Aussie Touring Car and Sportscar star Brian Muir and Jackie Oliver. Brian tipped the car into the ‘kitty litter’ on lap 1, and managed to dig himself out but in the process fried the cars clutch, causing its retirement after completing 15 laps.
Teddy Pilette watches Muir digging his Ford out of the sand, the VDS entered Alfa T33/2 failed to finish with driveshaft failure on lap 104 (unattributed)
JW Automotive entered three GT40’s; ‘1074’ for Paul Hawkins and David Hobbs, ‘1075’ for Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi and the aforementioned ill-fated ‘1076’…
It was to be a great race for the team despite the poor start, Rodriguez/Bianchi won the classic by 5 laps from the Porsche 907 of Rico Steinemann and Dieter Spoerry. The Hawkins/Hobbs car retired on lap 107 with engine failure.
JW 1968 Le Mans lineup; #9 the winning ‘1075’ of Rodriguez/Bianchi, #10 Hawkins/Hobbs and #11 Muir/Ickx (unattributed)
Brian Muir gets away closest to the pits in GT40 #11 determined to make up lost ground…#14 Masten Gregory/Charlie Kolb Ferrari 250LM DNF , this NART entered chassis the car in which Masten won in 1965 co-driving with Jochen Rindt, #30 Andre de Cortanze/Jean Vinatier Alpine A220 Renault 8th, #3 Henry Greder/Umberto Maglioli Chev Corvette DNF and #60 Willy Meier/Jean de Mortemart Porsche 911T DNF (Schlegelmilch)
All the fun of the fair, Le Mans 1968 (Getty)
(Getty)
Plenty of pommes frites (Getty)
Lucien Bianchi (below) in the victorious Ford GT40 ‘1075’this chassis became one of the greats of the event winning it again in 1969 driven by Jackie Ickx and Jaclie Oliver who had rather better luck than the year before!
In 1968 JW also won the Brands 6 Hour, Spa 1000Km (Ickx/Oliver in ‘1075’), Monza 1000Km (Hawkins/Hobbs in ‘1074’ and Watkins Glen 6 Hour (Ickx/Bianchi in ‘1075’) in addition to Le Mans winning for Ford the Manufacturers Championship.
At the 1969 years end the wonderful Ford GT’s from a ‘factory perspective’ competed no more having won Le Mans from 1966 to 1969, fitting results from one of the all time sports/racer greats.
Bianchi in the winning Ford GT (Schlegelmilch)
A Porsche 907 chasing 2 Alfa T33/2’s and below Rogriguez/Bianch aboard the winning JW GT40 (Getty)
Rodriguez, Bianchi and well earned Moet (Getty)
Etcetera…
John Wyer (left) confers with his timekeeper during the race (Getty)
The gendarmes start to prepare for the traditional 4 pm finish (Getty)
Credits…
GP Library, Rainer Schlegelmilch
Tailpiece: ‘More friggin’ sand than Bondi Beach, Sydneysider Brian Muir is thinkin’ to himself?…
Bob Jane leading his champion driver, Spencer Martin onto the Hume Weir dummy grid for his first race in ‘Bob’s baby’, his Elfin 400 Repco 4.4 V8, June Queens Birthday weekend 1967…
Martin was by then the reigning national Gold Star Champion. In fact he was half way through a year in which he won his second title on the trot, and then having achieved his motor racing aims retired from the sport at elite level’.
#85 in the background is the ex-Bib Stillwell, Tony Osborne owned Cooper Monaco Olds V8 driven by Ian Cook.
The inspiration for this article are a number of great shots of the Hume Weir circuit near the mighty Murray River and border of New South Wales and Victoria. The circuit, closed in 1977 won’t be on the radar of international enthusiasts although Jack Brabham and Roy Salvadori raced there during the Australian International races in the summer of ’61.
Brabham 1961, Cooper T53 Climax (C McQuellin)
Jack Brabham wins the ‘Craven A International’ in his Cooper T53 Climax in March 1961, love the ‘Fergy’ in the background, Hume Weir (unattributed)
JB post one of his wins with booty, ours is a parched brown land (C McQuellin)
I knew the circuit, i just missed racing there, it was closed by 1979 when in bought my first Formula Vee, was built in a disused quarry which provided construction stone and gravel material to build the Hume Dam, particularly its retaining wall. Although a Victorian i am a Thredbo skier, a legacy of 9 years working in Sydney and for years summer and winter have driven from Melbourne along the stretch of road from Ebden to Tallangatta with Lake Hume to my left. From Khancoban where the Alpine Way starts is a phenomenal drive to Thredbo Village. This drive, in fact the whole journey from Albury through Corryong, Khancoban, Geehi and Dead Horse Gap to Thredbo is one of Australia’s great drives.
Watch the ‘coppers’ though they police it furiously, the area near Scammells Lookout, a must stop, is an area to stick to the limits in particular!
For years i have driven for miles with Hume Dam on my left and wondered about the Hume Weir project and researched it, some old shots i found are too good not to share.
So, this masterpiece comprises a piece about the building of the Hume Dam, the birth of its Hume Weir Circuit ‘love-child’, the history and some shots of the circuit and a bit about Bob Jane’s Elfin 400 the photos of which at Hume Weir inspired the article.
For my international friends, the ‘where the hell is he talking about?’ question is addressed by the map below, ‘Hume Weir Circuit’ is in red, the road to Thredbo is also there.
1960’s aerial shot of Hume Weir circuit, dam and dam wall. At the bottom of the shot is ‘Scrub Corner’, the tightest hairpin in the country, then heading ‘up’ is the ‘Back Straight’ into the combination of corners called ‘The Loop’, then left (going down the page again) into ‘The Esses’ past the pit entry and onto the ‘Front Straight’, the start/finish line is at the start of which (Dallinger)
Dean Street, Albury 1920’s (Dallinger)
Australia is the driest continent on the planet, as a consequence there have been some major infrastructure projects since Federation in 1901 to provide water for irrigation of crops and/or power. The Hume Dam is one, on much bigger scales are the Ord River Scheme in WA and most impressively and significantly the post-war Snowy Mountains Scheme in NSW.
Travelling the roads mentioned above gives some insights into the ‘Snowy the scale of this nation building post-war project, its one of the civil engineering wonders of the world, can only be experienced on the ground, its un-Australian not to experience it at some point in your life!
Explorers Hume and Hovell trekked through the area in 1824, Albury was first settled by Europeans in the 1840’s.
As early as 1863, it was clear that water management was needed to ease the boom and bust flows of the rivers. Lochs and weirs were advocated but when representatives of the three colonies impacted, NSW, Victoria and South Australia met in Melbourne, the talks came to nothing. Not much different to today really, when the Premiers meet. Difficulties with border customs, bridge and punt tolls, along with self interest made necessary compromises between the parties impossible.
Albury/Bethanga Bridge construction 1920’s (Dallinger)
After Federation (when the colonies joined to form a country) in 1901 a more global view of national priorities was capable of being made and after consideration of 25 sites the present one was chosen.
The factual material which follows is a truncated version of a paper by Joe Wooding for the ‘Albury & District Historical Society’ on construction of Hume Dam.
To build a reservoir, lots of land is needed, in this case, prime river frontage. 15,582 acres in NSW and 87,268 in Victoria. Not everyone was pleased with the compensation offered, the lawyers were happy though as the courts were ‘chockers’ with disputes for over a decade.
Construction commenced in November 1919, soon tent cities sprang up on both sides of the river. More permanent buildings were soon erected. On the Victorian side, the hamlet of Mitta Junction, became known as Ebden Weir and the site for operations.The higher ground in NSW was called Hume Weir, started from nothing. In 1920, the title Hume Weir was officially bestowed on the whole project in honour of the explorer.
Relatively early works, 1920’s (Dallinger)
Massive amounts of infrastructure were needed. I must admit to always being amazed at what was built with the equipment available in earlier times. (noting the Pyramids scale of achievement!)
A metalled road from the main road at Wirlinga, now Old Sydney Road was built to the site. A Hume Weir rail siding was established from which vast amounts of stores, equipment and cement were conveyed to the NSW work site by a fleet of 10 solid rubber tyred Thornycroft motor lorries. In Victoria, a branch from the Wodonga to Cudgewa rail line was laid to Mitta Junction. A road bridge to link the two villages spanned the Murray just below the work site.
Two quarries were established. The one in Victoria provided earth fill and clay for the embankment and later the site for the Hume Weir circuit. Originally, 2 steam locos were used to haul trucks along the earthen bank, 8 were added later. The rail tracks were constantly re-laid as the bank grew. Two steam grab cranes were used in early excavation work at the quarry. Two ‘navvies’ were deployed, steam cranes which ran on the rail system. Much of this equipment was brought from Nagambie and Eildon. Over 500 horses were used to haul monkey-tailed scoops and drays.
Horses still had a role despite modern construction techniques of the day (Dallinger)
In NSW the stone quarry is on Hawksview Hill. Four steam locos and numerous trucks were brought from Burrinjuck. The rail system was extensive, rails ran to and from the quarry and the Bethanga Bridge site. Rail was also used inside the coffer dam to service the spillway foundation excavations.
Steam power was widely used, some of the machinery was extraordinary. In NSW two huge cement mixers capable of producing 900 cubic yards per day were operated. The crusher was a 30 ton Hadfield made in Sheffield, England. It was unloaded at the weir rail siding and with great difficulty, transported to the quarry by 2 large steam traction engines.
(unattributed)
A flying fox spanned the river from east to west with a large steel cable 400m long. The cables were attached in such a way allowing coverage of almost the entire work site. 300 tons of concrete blocks were used as ballast on the mobile pylon. A trolley was attached to the cable, enabling loads of up to 10 tons to be placed almost anywhere on the work site. The Bucyrus steam shovel was capable of lifting 3½ cubic yards and the only machine on site using caterpillar tracks.
(Dallinger)
‘The process of using crushed rock rather than smooth river gravel and adding large rock individually, produces ‘cyclopean concrete’. A 750mm wide concave rubberized conveyor belt carried the concrete, which could be retrieved at any point, by concrete shutes, for placement at the work site. Belts were pressure cleaned for their return journey. The huge rocks, some weighing up to 10 tons, called ‘plums,’ were cleaned with a high pressure hose before being individually craned into the wet concrete. Some were completely buried, but many were left half exposed to ‘key in’ the next batch of concrete. Steel reinforcing was only used near the top of the spillway. The structure is about 17% rock. At its base, the wall is 32m thick and double that if you take in the dissipater wall’.
Dam wall 1927, looking at the Murray upstream (unattributed)
‘As well as road works in the villages, other amenities were provided. Residences, barracks, stores, recreation halls, a post office and police presence were established. Electricity was installed for lighting only and turned off at 11pm. A Church of England was transported in. A casualty ward, a doctor with a phone and car were provided. Dances and pictures, obviously silent, as ‘talkies’ were not seen in Albury until 1928. The school had 66 pupils in 1921. The baker, milkman, greengrocer and butcher called regularly as did the ice man. Sport attracted many of course’.
Dam wall work progression (unattributed)
Manual labour was harsh with a 48 hour week, later reduced to 44 hours. Picks, shovels and
bare hands were often the only method of filling drays. Returned soldiers from the Great War
were given preference for employment, followed by married men. Estimated numbers of
workmen employed varies greatly with about 1000 cited. At the peak of construction around 1927, numbers given were Victoria 355, NSW 650, Bethanga Bridge 89. With a large workforce and dangerous working conditions, accidents were a reality, with total fatalities estimated at 6-9 people.
The Weir was officially opened by the Governor-General, Lord Gowrie, on November 21 1936
‘by closing an electric valve control circuit which released the water through two giant needle valves…the greatest irrigation work in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the most important in the world. It cost £5,550,000 to construct, and is located nine miles from Albury’ The Albury Banner’ said.
Dam opening ceremony in 1936 (Dallinger)
In 1957, the Power Station was completed with 2 turbines now capable of producing 58 Mw which is not large in the electricity industry. As a comparison, Albury’s peak demand for summe of 2013 was 110 Mw.
The 1960s saw a large increase in the weir’s pondage necessitating additional works on the
dam. One aspect was to open the old stone quarry and supply thousands of tons of granite to
stabilize the clay bank of the earthen wall.
Wirlinga…
Hume Weir wasn’t the first circuit in the Albury area, Wirlinga was.
A public roads layout of 6.79K, roughly rectangular shape using Thurgoona, St Johns and Bowna Roads as well as the Riverina Highway was used. 14km from the centre of Albury, the track was used several times before WW2. Rather than get lost in that tangent now, tempting though it is, we will come back to Wirlinga another time.
Car #22 is Alf Barrett’s Morris Bullnose Spl. #3 Tim Joshua’s Frazer Nash TT Replica, #4 Hope Bartlett’s MG Q Type, #6 Jack Phillips winning Ford V8 Spl, Wirlinga 1938 (Dallinger)
The 150 mile ‘Interstate Grand Prix’ (called the ‘Albury Grand Prix’ in the Sydney Morning Herald report of the 1939 race) was run on 19 March 1938. The ‘Albury and Interstate Gold Cup’ was run on 12 June 1939. Both handicap races were won by local Wangaratta boy, Jack Phillips Ford V8 Spl. The track wasn’t used post war.
The lower pic shows Les Murphy in the O’Dea MG P Type from Colin Dunne’s similar car and George Bonser’s Terraplane Spl, help wanted in relation to the cars in the upper shot Wirlinga 1938 (Dallinger)
‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 13 June 1939
Typically parched Australian summer, 1970’s. Hume Weir wall middle right and Great Dividing Range clear (unattributed)
Hume Weir Circuit…
Hume Weir was enormously popular in the immediate area, in fact depending upon the year the locals were served by Tarrawingee, Winton outside Benalla and the ‘Weir.
When the circuit was leased from the Hume Dam authority by the Albury and District Car Club the members initially established an unsurfaced layout which was first raced on 2 November 1959. It was lengthened to 1.1 miles during the year, first used sealed for the Christmas meeting on December 12 1959.
Cars race at one of the earlier meetings on the original dirt layout, Hume Weir 1959 (unattributed)
The financial support of Gold Star champion Len Lukey’s and his ‘Lukey Mufflers’ business allowed the amenities to be improved sufficiently to hold the 1961 international event. The ‘weir only got the gig, historian Stephen Dalton records as negotiations with PIARC to use Phillip Island fell over.
The 1961 program comprised an ambitious 21 events held on the Sunday and Monday 12 and 13 March, they were mainly short races with the feature ‘Craven A International’s 20 lappers on each day.
The meeting was contested by Brabham, Salvadori, Bib Stillwell, Bill Patterson, Austin Miller and Jon Leighton. It wasn’t a big field; Moss had long since left the country, as had the BRM drivers Hill, Gurney and Ron Flockhart and his Cooper.
This shot shows the two sections of the track separated by a narrow strip of concrete, March 1961 meeting perhaps (unattributed)
Brabham.
The Internationals that summer were raced at Warwick Farm, Ballarat Airfield in Victoria and Longford and won by Moss Lotus 18 Climax, Gurney BRM P48 and Roy Salvadori’s Cooper T51 Climax respectively.
The Longford meeting was on March 5, Brabham and Salvadori travelled back to Melbourne from Tasmania, the Coopers were towed up the Hume Highway, the main Melbourne/Sydney artery to contest the ‘Craven A Internatioanals’ at Hume Weir on 12 and 13 March. No doubt it gave Jack an opportunity to catch up with his family in Sydney.
Brabham’s Cooper T53 Climax out front of its Albury digs, Gabriel Motors. (Border Mail)
It was all fairly casual, Jack’s car was accompanied by his mechanic and a driver for the towcar, an FC Holden Station Wagon which was maintained at a local Esso servo/workshop.
Brabham’s Cooper T53 during his victorious March 1961 weekend (unattributed)
Jack won the race on the Sunday by just 0.9 sec from Patterson, the reigning Gold Star champion and Bib Stillwell’s Cooper T51’s in his T53.’The last 3 laps saw the leaders in the esses together and the crowd was wild with excitement as it was still anybody’s race but Jack Brabham showed championship form and held off the challenge to win’ said the Border Mails report.
(Border Mail)
Austin Miller’s distinctive yellow Cooper T51 Climax perhaps chasing Jon Leighton’s Cooper T45 and Roy Salvadori’s T51 during the Sunday race in which they were 4/5/6th (unattributed)
Roy Salvadori sussing the size of the cheque- ‘Can you make it in pounds sterling matey?’ (C McQuellin)
Brabham, Cooper T53 Climax (unattributed)
Brabham from Salvadori- Cooper T53 from T51 (unattributed)
Salvadori, Cooper T51 (unattributed)
On Monday ‘Brabham streeted the field in the international cup race and set a lap record of 51.2 seconds, a time equated to 147kmh’. ‘Twas again a Cooper 1-3, JB winning from Stillwell and Jon Leighton in Cooper T51 and T45 respectively.
With that both internationals jumped on a plane for the UK, their first event the Lombank Trophy at Snetterton which Jack won in his Cooper T53, Roy was 5th in a similar car.
Brabham T53 just in front of Patterson T51 in Sunday’s race closing stages (unattributed)
(Border Mail)
The short nature of the circuit perhaps mitigated against its use for championship events having said that it hosted a round of the Australian F2 Championship from 1973-76…
Later multiple Gold Star winner Alfredo Costanzo set the all-time lap record in a Birrana 274 Hart 1.6 F2 car on 15 June 1975, in 1976 the circuit also held a round of the Australian Sports Car Championship, fundamentally though it is a circuit which is fondly remembered by club racers of both bikes and cars and spectators of course.
The circuit was essentially ‘killed-off’ by CAMS with ever increasing and more difficult safety requirements which the owner/promoters couldn’t afford. There was a section where the cars passed each other separated by a concrete wall which was of particular concern.
The last race meeting was held on 27 March 1977 although the track was used as part of the Alpine Rally which was run out of Bright, not too far away. Every now and again a ‘comp sec’ of a car club convinced CAMS to issue a permit for a ‘sprint event’ but essentially another circuit was lost, a real shame as the usual causes; noise in a built up area or urban encroachment which simply made the entreaties of property developers irresistible to circuit owners didn’t apply in this rural area.
(Dallinger)
The photo above nicely juxtaposes the Dam with the circuit which is clear to see above the dam wall in the middle of the picture, plenty of water about in this shot! At present it is as dry as!
Larry Perkins in the ‘boonies’ at ‘Scrub Corner’ on 28 December 1969 early in his career, car is characteristically a Perkins Vee. He is looking for a marshall to help him back to terra firma.
He was in F1 in a private Ensign nee Boro in 1975. This is early days tho, his early break was to get one of Bib Stillwell’s Elfin 600FF seats in 1971 taking the ‘Driver to Europe’ series. He stayed in Oz for ’72 and raced an Elfin 600B/E Ford to win the national F2 title. He then took Garrie Cooper’s first Elfin 620FF to the Formula Ford Festival at Snetterton at the end of the year, contesting the Festival with a few other Aussies and then stayed in the UK. F3 in 1973 and the rest is history…
Brock.
Peter Brock ahead of Lynn Brown’s Cooper S, these are ‘Sports Sedans’, anything goes sedans with Brock and Brown two of the sports finest pracitioners of the art. Brocky is young and made his Holden ‘Red’ 6 cylinder engined A30 sing, his performances in it resulted in Harry Firth, fine judge of talent picking him up as a Holden Dealer Team driver. Brock took his first Bathurst win in 1972.
‘Peter Perfect’ only did one fullish season in single-seaters in this ex-works Birrana 272 Ford, its the very first of Tony Alcock’s monocoque cars. A good car but it didn’t have a Hart Ford engine, and the competition was hot in 1973-5 in F2, Brocky quickly went back to Holdens. A great pity, a natural driver of great smoothness, finesse and throttle control; oh to have seen Brock in a Repco Holden engined F5000 in the 1970’s!
Hansford.
(P Hall)
Greg Hansford blasts onto the main straight 1977. Kawasaki KR750 water-cooled 2 stroke.
Beechey.
(Bowdens)
Beechey changed from Holden to Ford running this ex-works Series Production Ford Falcon GTHO Ph3 with some cash from Ford in 1972. Here he is in April, DNF with clutch failure. Ford apparently then changed their minds wanting Norm to return the car and money they paid him, Norm telling them unsurprisingly to ‘jam it’.
Bartlett.
(Bruce Wells)
Kevin Bartlett in polo-shirt at the wheel of the works Lynx BMC, the Curl-Curl kid was on his way! Lotus 20 behind i think. Year anyone?
Bikes.
(John Small)
Jim Budd and Roger Hayes Team Avon Kawasaki’s lead the 1 hour production race at the ‘weir in November 1977. Third is Jeff Parkin and then Alan Hales both on Suzuki’s. Hot work in the heat.
Jane.
(oldracephotos.com)
Bob giving his factory Shelby built Mustang Trans-Am plenty during the 1970 Christmas ‘Weir meeting. His new Chevy Camaro 427 cannot be too far away, Norm Beechey took the 1970 ATCC in his Holden Monaro GTS350 but Jano won it in 1971/2 in the same car with a 427 in ’71 and ‘tiddly’ 350 small block in 1972.
(Dick Simpson)
Bob was back with another new toy in 1971, one of his finest, the John Sheppard built Holden Torana into which was slotted one of the 4.4 litre SOHC ‘620 Series’ Repco V8’s once fitted to the Elfin 400 pictured below. CAMS didn’t allow it to compete with the wing for long, check out the Vees in the Weir ‘form up’ or dummy grid area in the background. This car was mainly raced by John Harvey, in ’71 Bob focused on the Camaro and winning the ATCC. The car is still around albeit Chev engined and in need of restoration.
(oldracephotos.com)
Bob Jane didn’t race his Elfin 400 too much, it was mainly driven by his drivers; Spencer Martin, Ian Cook and Bevan Gibson.
Here in early 1968 at Hume Weir Jane is ahead of a Lotus 11, Meyers Manx beach buggy! and, is it an Elva Courier. These big Elfins are sensational cars, i wrote a long article about them a while back, click here to read it;
It’s interesting to see racing cars in the context of their day to gauge the impact they had on people, how ‘other worldly’ and fast they looked. Seeing them at historic race meetings is not the way the populace saw them at the time.
This shot does that in spades and the fair citizens of Conmurra Avenue, Edwardstown, an Adelaide suburb had seen plenty of cars leave the Elfin factory in their street. This one clearly captured their attention all the same.
That WOW! factor we all still experience at the sight of something really special, mind you, these days it’s usually the ‘WOW! Ugly as a Hatful of Arseholes’ impact rather than ‘WOW! Beautiful’. Such is the impact of cad-cam and the aerodynamicists ‘art’ on free flowing curvaceous forms.
The Mini 850 and Holden ‘EH’ on the typically Aussie outer suburban street nicely juxtapose the body of Elfins first ‘big-banger’ sports car with contemporary ‘roadies’ of the day.
WOW! indeed.
Elfin built four Elfin 400’s, all with different engines, the first completed was the Frank Matich Elfin 400/ Traco Olds featured in the article link above.
This car is about to be delivered to Bob Jane Racing in Melbourne in early 1967 in time for the sports car events which were a part of each years Tasman rounds.
It’s the first 4.4litre Repco ‘620 Series’ V8 fitted to a car, the engine developed in parallel with the 1966 Championship winning 3 litre variant of the same engine, victorious in Jack Brabhams hands that year.
In fact it is the first customer Repco engine sold, the first fitted to a sports car and the first fitted to a car built in Australia, Brabhams were built in the UK. So, significant in Repco’s’ history.
The SOHC 2 valve, Olds block, Lucas injected engine produced around 400bhp@8000rpm, enough in Australia, but not elsewhere in the world at the time, where big Chevs were dominant. In 1965/66 the Lola T70 was the ‘ducks guts’ in Group 7 sports car racing but the McLaren M6A appeared in 1967, from that moment the record books were attacked by the McLaren steamroller until the end of 1971 when Porsche ‘rained on their parade’ with the 917/10 and 917/30 turbo’ cars.
As stated above this car was raced by Jane himself, Ian Cook and Bevan Gibson. Unfortunately it was the car in which Bevan flipped on Conrod Straight, Bathurst at the Easter 1969 meeting, killing the promising young driver instantly.
Frank Matich was dominant in his range of sports cars in Australia into 1967, pickings at championship level were slim when FM was present. Matich’s Elfin 400 Traco Olds delivered its promise and his own SR3’s were almost identical in terms of chassis to the Elfin 400 if not the body.
The ex-Jane 400 is now restored and owned by Elfins’ Bill Hemming.
Hamilton Porsche 906 Spyder, Spencer Martin Elfin 400 Repco and Bevan Gibson Lotus 15 Climax, Hume Weir, Queens Birthday weekend 1967. Somewhat poignant shot given Bevan is to die in the car beside him 2 years later. Gibson made the families Lotus 15 Climax absolutely sing, it was his drives in this old car which earned him the Bob Jane drive (Bryan Liersch)
Bibliography…
Joe Wooding ‘Albury & District Historical Society’ paper on construction of Hume Weir
‘Elfin Sports and Racing Cars’ John Blanden and Barry Catford, Elfin Sports Cars Facebook page
(P Hawthorn)
Photo Credits…
Bryan Liersch, Bob Mills Collection, Dick Simpson, John Small, oldracephotos.com, Bowdens, Bruce Wells Collection, Robert Davies, Bowdens, Christopher McQuellin, Phil Hall, Terry Kelly Collection, Pat Hawthorn Collection
John J Dallinger’s stunning collection of Albury photographs
Tailpieces: Family, fun day out at the Weir…
(unattributed)
Terry Kelly, Ryleford, Hume Weir circa 1960 (T Kelly)
primotipo... 