The Japanese zaibatsu (conglomerates) were exhorted by their government to build and export cars post-war after the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The Mitsubishi Corporation was happy to oblige their political masters.
The enormous transnational had a dalliance with automobiles in the early twentieth century, but they got serious with the Mitsubishi 500 – a design which drew on their wartime aircraft manufacture – which was mass-produced with the vision of becoming a ‘national car’ in 1959.
(Tetsuaki Makita)
The lure of competition was great so the company contested the 1962 Macau Grand Prix to showcase their engineering capabilities, the little cars finished 1-2-3-4 in a support race, taking the under 750cc class.
Mitsubishi raised the bar when they developed a 90bhp competition variant (cam, carbs, head/valve modifications) of the 1-litre R28 engine which was fitted into the first of a number of Brabham/Brabham copy chassis, the first car was called the 1966 Colt F3A.
In the 1960s the Japanese Grand Prix was held for Group 7 sportscars, some of which were built by local giants such as Prince/Nissan and Toyota. At the same Mount Fuji circuit meetings there were support events for other categories, including single-seaters – the blue riband of these was the J.A.F. (Japan Auto Federation) Japanese GPs – it was on these races that Mitsubishi focussed.
In later decades Mitsubishi’s competition history was celebrated with a series of calendars and posters which stimulated this article.
Ken Yamamoto’s painting depicts the Osamu Mochizuki-Osamu Masuko one-two battle aboard 1.6-litre pushrod R46 circa-160bhp engined Colt F2As in the 1967 JAF Japanese GP
The company led in domestic single-seater racing, while Honda took on the world in F1. Drivers such as Osamu Mochizuki, Tetsu Ikuzawa – the very first of the Japanese internationals who competed in F3 and F2 in Europe – Osamu Masuko, Kuniomi Nagamatsu and others competed against European and Australasian drivers, proving their ability at international level.
Single-seater engine developments spilled over into a rally program which commenced in Japan in 1965, but kicked up a couple of gears when Mitsubishi decided to enter Australia’s Southern Cross Rally off the back of a gruelling testing program to ensure the suitability of the Colt 800 (first launched in November 1965) for the country’s tough roads and vast climatic extremes.
Australian rally-driver, Doug Stewart – later appointed a Director of Ralliart along with Andrew Cowan – conducted the ‘destruction testing’ of two cars in the outback/alps and was so impressed he convinced Mitsubishi to rally the Colts in the Australian Rally Championship (from 1968) competition. Colin Bond, later Australian Rally/Touring Car Champion, also drove and helped prepare the cars.
Colt 1000F depicted during the October 1967 Southern Cross Rally. Colin Bond/Brian Hope fourth placed car (Akira Yokoyama)
Mitsubishi’s website records that, “Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Automotive Division considered his (Stewart’s) advice and concluded that rally participation would effectively promote road car sales and raise brand awareness.”
“They decided to contest the 1967 Southern Cross Rally with two Colt 1000Fs, pitting themselves against vehicles with much larger engines using high reliability and durability as their main assets. Colin Bond was fourth outright, also winning the small engine capacity class, while Stewart finished third in class. The foundations for what is referred to as ‘Mitsubishi Motors in Rallying’ were laid at that time.”
“1985 calendar illustration starting with the Mitsubishi 500 in 1962, Colt 1000, Colt F2, Colt F2000 – the 1971 Japanese GP winner – the Starion” (Dennis Brown)
Mitsubishi’s R39 1.6-litre (from 1968) and R39B 2-litre (1971) twin-cam, four-valve, fuel injected race engines won the 1971 Japanese Grand Prix in Colt F2000 chassis when Kuniomi Nagamatsu triumphed over Osamu Masuko in a great Colt F2D (F2000) 1-2 in an international field of depth.
Just as it seemed the company was poised as a possible engine supplier in the new 2-litre European F2 Championship which commenced in 1972, the company turned 180-degrees away from single-seaters into touring car racing and the forests and deserts where its competition focus has largely remained. From a cost-effective brand-building perspective with production-car spinoffs, it was doubtless the right call.
(Akira Yokoyama)
Mitsubishi’s first international rally win was in the 1972 Southern Cross Rally, the winning crew of the Colt Galant was Andrew Cowan and navigator John Bryson. The company won three more of the Oz internationals and two Safari Rallies between 1973-77. Their first Safari win was taken by a privately entered Colt driven by Joginder Singh. Lancer Turbo and Lancer Evolutions programmes followed.
It’s a bummer not to be able to read the detail of these posters found on-line, but I thought them worth sharing all the same.
Credits…
mit-cardesign-t.com – Dennis Brown, Tetsuaki Makita, Ken Yamamoto, Akira Yokoyama, rally-japan.jp
Another page from the 1985 calendar (Dennis Brown)
In the process of researching this story the only technician I have uncovered as involved in the race and rally programs is a man named Iwao Kimata, “a former Nissan rally driver, who was hired to help Mitsubishi learn about rally racing step by step” according to rally-japan.jp.
If any Japanese readers now the names of the key engineers/technicians/mechanics involved in Mitsubishi’s mid-1960s race and rally programmes, please get in touch with me on mark@bisset.com.au. I am keen to record such folks names and if possible communicate with them.
Peter Macrow, clad in fireproof woollen brown jumper, on his way to victory in the Riverina Gold Cup aboard his Brian Shead built Cheetah Mk3 Ford at Hume Weir on September 3, 1967.
It was his third Riverina Gold Cup on-the-trot! He won from a 17 car field varying in performance from future prominent Clubman and Tourer competitor Tom Naughton’s MG TC and equally capable single-seater driver/engineers Ivan Tighe, Lynx and Peter Larner, Lotus.
Shead first competed in his road-going Austin A40 in 1960, progressing to his own Cooper influenced Cheetah Mk1 in 1962. Brian regularly diced with Peter who was then racing the ex-Garrie Cooper, Cooper Austin. The evolved Cheetah Mk2 followed and all new spaceframe Mk3 in 1963.
Macrow was so impressed by the Mk3 he convinced Shead to sell it and help with its development. Brian picks up the story, “I succumbed to pressure from Macrow and sold him the car less engine, and assisted in installation of a pushrod Ford 1100cc engine. I retired from racing and helped with the running of the car and its preparation. Peter raced it extensively with considerable success in Victoria and New South Wales.”
“We continually upgraded the specifications of the car until it was running 7″ and 9″ wide wheels with disc brakes all around and fitment of a Lotus twin-cam engine. The Macrow/Cheetah combination became most successful at Hume Weir and Winton.”
Shead returned to racing when he built his first production cars, the Mk4, which was also raced successfully by Macrow, more on that here; https://primotipo.com/2021/11/16/cheetah-mk4/
The first Pingelly Speed Classic was held on a 2.5-mile round-the-houses course in the West Australian town 160km south-east of Perth on January 30, 1939.
The five event programme consisted of the handicap Great Southern Speed Classic, run concurrently with a scratch race, two five lap handicaps – one each for racing and sports cars – and a four lap handicap and relay race for stock (standard production) cars.
(K Devine Collection)
The Clem Dwyer Plymouth Special and Duncan Ord Bugatti T57T take the chequered flag during the inaugural Great Southern Speed Classic on a fabulous Wellington Street panorama.
The very successful Plymouth, powered by a side-valve straight-six was based on a damaged sedan which was heavily lightened and modified, whereas Ord’s blue-blood 3.3-litre straight-eight twin-cam Bugatti (chassis 57264, originally 57222) was an ex-Lord Howe machine. It was the race debut of the Plymouth and first Australian event for the Bugatti which had arrived from France not long before.
Alan Tomlinson MG TA Spl S/c won from Bill Smallman, MG TA with Roy Sojan third in his Chrysler Special ‘Silverwings’. Duncan Ord was fourth.
(K Devine Collection)
The round-the-houses racing tradition – unique to Western Australia and the envy of the other states – commenced when the good-burghers of Albany decided on a Back To Albany Festival in 1936. With that, three entrepreneurs of the West Australian Sporting Car Club – Eric Armstrong, Clem Dwyer and J Warburton – motored down from Perth and successfully pitched the notion of a Monaco style street race around their fair city to the Council.
The race became the highlight of the festival and spawned similar races at Applecross, Bunbury, Dowerin, Narrogin – at which the 1951 Australian Grand Prix was held – Pingelly and others until the gruesome 1955 Le Mans disaster frightened local councils and led to a clampdown on racing on public roads. Not that they eliminated it completely, the WASCC had a tremendous relationship with the WA cops and ran events in a variety of places right into the 1960s.
(K Devine Collection)(P Narducci Collection)
Two shots of Bill Smallwood’s MG TA Spl during the 1939 race. Smallwood and Clem Dwyer had been Tomlinson’s pit-crew in a staggering win for the young West Australian in the Australian Grand Prix held on the daunting Lobethal road circuit three weeks before.
Clem Dwyer aboard the Bartlett Special in 1939. He bought this machine, built around an 1100cc twin-cam Salmson engine on a trip to the UK. Modified with Brooklands in mind, it was fitted with a Cozette supercharger and was said to be good for 120mph.
Raced at Lake Perkolilli, he gave Ossie Cranston’s Ford V8 Spl a run for his money in 1936, but the car never achieved the success hoped, the demands of the Brooklands bowl and round-the-houses West Australian tracks being quite different.
Unattributed and unknown, perhaps Jack Nelson, Ballot Ford V8 Spl
(W Duffy Collection)
Bob Lee won the five-lap handicap aboard this Riley Brooklands in 1939, and went one better as shown here in 1940, when he won the Great Southern Flying Fifty – the race had been increased from 5 to 10 laps, 25 to 50 miles.
(K Devine Collection)
During the 1940 race. “Park Street Hospital Hill with the old nurses home in the background behind the chook-yard” quipped Jennie Narducci. It’s Harley Hammond in the Marquette Special from Barry Ranford’s Ranford Special. In a long successful career through until 1958, the latter built four specials.
The 1940 programme comprised five events: a 10 lap Tourist Trophy for under 1500cc stock machines, a 5 lap handicap for racing cars, 4 lapper for stock cars plus the 15 lap classic.
(unattributed)
Harry Squires MG PB Spl S/c – looks more like a T-Type to me?
(unattributed)
The intersection of Park and Parade Streets with Jack Nelson’s Ballot Ford V8 Spl in shot, 1940.
The bones of this car – #15 – were those of the ex-Jules Goux, Cooper brothers Ballot 2LS which met its death at Phillip Island in 1935. Les Cramp had just acquired the car and was killed. This machine raced on well into the 1950s – with no Ballot left – before Mick Geneve died at its wheel, by then Chev powered, at Caversham in 1959. A tribute car exists.
This local footbridge lasted into the 1960s, while one of the local ‘cockies tells us there are two Gilchrist sheep feeders “built by the dozen on a site between the present police station and Shire Office.” Love the power of FB! (K Devine Collection)
Harley Hammond again aboard the Marquette Special. The serving RAAF man did well in this immediate pre-war period with this attractive Buick 3.5-litre sidevalve six-cylinder powered special; Marquette was a shortlived Buick sub-brand.
He won the Great Southern Speed Classic in 1941 – the last race meeting in Australia before the lights went out – and the Patriotic Grand Prix held on the Applecross round-the-houses course 10km from the Perth CBD, several months before.
In fact the November 11, 1940 Applecross races were to have been the final event but the Pingelly organisers slipped in one final meeting on the Australia Day weekend, January 27 with funds raised from the five event programme for cars and ‘bikes in aid of the British Air Raid Relief Fund.
Credits…
Ken Devine Collection, Peter Narducci Collection, Eddy Ring Collection, Warren Duffy Collection, ‘Around The Houses’ Terry Walker
Sydney enthusiast/photographer/journalist Peter Bakalor posted these evocative photographs of the 1970 and 1971 Australian Grands Prix on social media in recent days. He covered the meetings for Autosport magazine.
Frank Matich won the November 22, 1970 event in his newish McLaren M10B Repco-Holden F5000 machine from Niel Allen’s similar Chev engined McLaren, and Graeme Lawrence’s 1969-70 Tasman Cup winning Ferrari Dino 246T 2.4-litre V6. The first shot is, I suspect, FM getting the jump on Lawrence at the start, the other car in shot that of Allen’s McLaren M10B Chev.
The two Alec Mildren Yellow cars are #6, Max Stewart’s tenth place Mildren Waggott TC-4V and Kevin Bartlett’s Mildren Chev- DNF. You can see KB beside his car – with Glenn Abbey alongside – and Leo Geoghegan with the Castrol patch on his overalls. #2 is Allen’s M10B Chev with Niel getting last minute instructions from Peter Molloy at right, they were second. 1970 Gold Star champion, Geoghegan’s immaculate white Lotus is next, he was fourth. Up the back is Ian Fergusson’s green Bowin P3A Ford twin-cam 1.6, 11th.
(P Bakalor)
Frank Matich before the off. It was the first big-win for the Repco-Holden F5000 program based on the then new locally built General Motors Holden 308 V8. Derek Kneller is looking hopefully at the engine!, with ace mechanic, handy-steerer and Adams F5000 constructor Graeme ‘Lugsy’ Adams with his arms crossed. In the distance is Len Goodwin’s Pat Burke Racing McLaren M4A Ford FVC, this ex-Piers Courage/Niel Allen car is about to pitch Warwick Brown to prominence. The shot below is post-win with The Australian motoring editor, Mike Kable in the blue jacket behind.
(P Bakalor)(P Bakalor)
Lynton Hemer identifies this shot as the start of the Series Production event with Colin Bond, #54 Holden Torana GTR XU-1, then Bob Forbes and Don Holland in similar cars, John Harvey in Bob Jane’s Holden Monaro GTS 350 and Leo Geoghegan’s Valiant Pacer.
(P Bakalor)
In the Improved Touring race Jim McKeown’s Porsche 911S gets the jump from Brian Foley’s similar car, Allan Moffat’s Ford Mustang Trans-Am, with Pete Geoghegan’s white Mustang also just in sight.
Twelve months later, the AGP was again held at the Farm, with the star attraction John Surtees appearance (below) at the wheel of one of his own cars, a Surtees TS8 Chev F5000 car that Mike Hailwood would race in the 1972 Tasman Cup.
(P Bakalor)
The TS8 was Surtees 1971 F5000 design based heavily on the 1970 TS7 F1 car. Eight were built, with the monocoque chassis, wheels, suspension and brakes all using TS7 jigs/patterns. Mike Hailwood did the best of the drivers with his car(s) in Europe, only persistent engine problems perhaps getting in the way of the European title won instead by Frank Gardner’s Lolas: T192 and T300. For more details on the cars click here; https://www.oldracingcars.com/surtees/ts8/
(P Bakalor)(P Bakalor)
Matich again won the AGP, this time in a car of his own design and construction. The Matich A50 Repco-Holden was only days old when it took its debut win! Kevin Bartlett was second and Alan Hamilton third, both in ex-Allen McLaren M10B Chevs. Graeme Lawrence was fourth in a Brabham BT30 Ford FVC 1.8 and Max Stewart – who had just won the Gold star – was fifth in his Mildren Waggott TC-4V. Surtees was 14th after two pitstops for punctures in his first visit to Australia since contesting the NZ and Australian Internationals with a Lola Mk4 Climax in 1963.
(P Bakalor)
Nose jobs. Surtees TS8, Ian Cook, Devione LC2 Ford twin-cam, Alan Hamilton’s McLaren M10B Chev then the orange nose of Warwick Brown’s McLaren M4A Ford FVC, then two Elfin 600B/E Ford twin-cams: Clive Millis’ light yellow one at left and Henk Woelders’ white with blue stripe car on the right.
Credits…
Peter Bakalor, Bob Williamson’s ‘Old Motor Racing Photographs – Australia’ on Facebook, oldracingcars.com
Tailpieces…
(P Bakalor)
Graham McRae telling John Smailes how it is in the Warwick Farm paddock during the 1971 Tasman, McLaren M10B Chev. He must be reporting for the ABC with a suit on!
He had a blinder of a series, winning three of the seven rounds, but not here where Frank Gardner’s works-Lola T192 Chev prevailed. It was the first of three Tasmans on the trot for the oh-so-talented Kiwi driver/engineer.
P Bakalor)
Equipe Allen in natty, matching team attire! A steamy Sydney 1971 Tasman qualifying day with safety boots well to the fore. Peter Molloy and M10B front and centre. Love the nifty Bell bag.
Niel won two of the seven Tasman rounds at Levin and Teretonga, and finished third overall behind McRae and Matich. With a little more luck in Australia he could have won, but he retired from racing instead.
Barney Dentry and unknown passenger aboard the Dentry modified Riley 9 Brooklands, giving the Bill Thompson Bugatti T37A a wide berth at Heaven Corner, Phillip Island 100, January 1, 1934. The Bugatti is about to spin, possibly distracted by the Riley’s change in trajectory, DNF valve, Barney was third (Dentry Family)
Melburnians Gordon Henry Scott ‘Barney’ and Bess Dentry were stalwarts of Australian motor racing from 1925 until the outbreak of World War 2 when the perils of both parents of two young boys (Charlie born 1929 and John 1933) racing together as driver and co-pilot-cum-mechanic became all too clear and untenable.
Bess and Barney Dentry reunited with Riley Brooklands during the 1978 Phillip Island 50 Year AGP celebrations (Dentry Family)Bess and Barney with their ever-evolving Riley at Wirlinga, Albury in March 1938 (John Blanden claims Victor Harbor 1936) (Dentry Family)
Barney, a returned soldier, built a special he named St Omer about 1920 vintage as his first car. He assembled the machine during his courting Bess Wheeler days incorporating various components including an 1100cc air-cooled 10hp Precision cyclical engine. The Senechal that followed as a roadie was progressively modified into a competitive racer.
Beanpole Barney and Ted Major during the Victorian Light Car Club’s 1928 100 Miles Road Race – aka 1928 AGP – at Phillip Island, Senechal (Dentry Family)“A Riley Specialist. This is George Dentry, one of the best known and most successful competition drivers in Victoria. He has the fastest Riley in Australia. But he is not satisfied, he is working on a supercharger of his own design” (The Referee, March 13, 1931)Barney, Senechal, on Wheelers Hill c-1927. Now an outer east Melbourne suburb of the same name – this road and hill is now a six-lane arterial (Dentry Family)
Wildwood Hillclimb and the 50-Mile Championship on the Aspendale Speedway, and Flinders Hillclimb in 1925 were the the car’s first events; with first/FTD, second place and first in the 1100cc class and second outright the results. Bess won the ladies event at Flinders.
Outings at Aspendale in 1926 and Wheelers Hill in 1927 and 1928 were followed by an entry in the 100 Miles Road Race – later appropriated by the Victorian Light Car Club as an Australian Grand Prix, the first AGP having being run at Goulburn Racecourse in 1927 – at Phillip Island in March 1928. Bess was heavily pregnant with first son Charles at the time so Barney was co-driven by Ted Major to first in class and fifth overall. Captain Arthur Waite was victorious in his diminutive, quick and robust Austin 7 s/c.
Robert Marie Georges Senechal (5/5 1892 – 30/7 1985) was a French aviation pioneer, racing driver, industrialist and winner of the first RAC British Grand Prix at Brooklands in 1926 aboard a Delage.
At the end of the war, the heavily decorated Senechal directed the sale of French Government owned surplus stocks of cars and trucks, together with Pierre Delage, son of Delage founder Pierre Louis Delage. Senechal then evolved the Eclair cycle-car manufacturer, in which he was an investor, into carmaker ‘Cyclecars Robert Senechal’ in Courbevoie, Paris in 1921.
Robert Senechal aboard one of his cars (BNF)
While continuing to race successfully – 1923 Champion of France, twice Bol d’Or winner, Spa 24-hour victor etc – he did a deal with Chenard & Walcker to produce his cars. 5000 were built in their Gennevilliers, Paris factory until 1929 when Senechal left the business to establish a successful Chenard & Walcker, Delage and Bugatti dealership in Paris.
By the 1924 Paris show the product range comprised cyclecars of 972cc and 1100cc in capacity, such power units provided by outside specialists, Ruby (mainly) Trains and Chapuis-Dornier. By 1928 the company built Chenard & Walcker voiturettes of 1100 and 1500cc capacity.
Barney’s notes on the specifications of his car are as follows: “1100cc ohv engine (which perhaps implies the car was originally fitted with a 972cc Ruby manufactured engine) first used at Wildwood in 1925. The car first used a fabric body, later a metal body and later still was fitted with a hood. Bore/stroke 58x100mm, max rpm 4900, 7:1 compression ratio, wet-cone clutch, three-speed and reverse gearbox, open tail shaft, no-diff. CWP straight-tooth, ratio 4:1 and Barney made a 4.25:1 unit for Aspendale. Rear brakes only were six-inch drums with a five-inch transmission brake. Steering was rack and pinion 1:1 ratio. Carburettor was a 30mm Solex with Bosch 60 electrics.”
Dentry Senechal engine bay circa 1924 (Dentry Family)“Barney’s section of Duponts” c-1924 (Dentry Family)
During his Senechal phase, Barney was employed by LF Dupont Pty Ltd at 26 Toorak Road, South Yarra, the agents for Senechal, Chenard & Walcker and Calcott, “a sturdy little English car.”
The Senechal became a regular drawcard at Aspendale throughout 1929, the speedway had by then had its concrete surface replaced “with the original white granite”, no doubt to create more action for the punters. Six meetings yielded 4 first, 2 second, 2 third and 1 fourth placing.
Barney and Bess contested an AGP for the first time together in 1929 when they were second in class and sixth overall in the 206 mile, 3 hour 51 mins race at Phillip Island won by Arthur Terdich’s Bugatti T37A. After 10 laps the Dentrys were in a group of six cars contesting the lead, John Blanden wrote that “The best cornering was shown by Arthur Terdich who was now well clear in the lead, and by Barney Dentry who was driving the Senechal superbly, aided by his wife as mechanic.” The Great Southern Advocate reported that “Thousands of women showed great interest in the race, and greatly admired Mrs Dentry for accompanying her husband throughout in his Senechal car.”
Demonstrating its versatility – this GP car was road-registered throughout its life – the couple entered the November 1929 Herald Rally and Reliability Trial where it was first in Class-B.
With purchase of a Riley Brooklands it was time to sell the faithful Senechal, Barney’s The Car November 15, 1929 ad invited “you speedsters and all who appreciate a first-class car, here’s the chance of a lifetime, get in touch with Barney today” at 22 Rankin’s Road, Newmarket. Do get in touch with me if you know what became of this significant car.
Barney and Bess aboard their Riley 9 Brooklands during the 1930 AGP weekend at Phillip Island. Somehow the photographer has managed to make the small Riley look like a big-banger! Shot is probably in the garage area behind the Isle of Wight Hotel in Cowes (R Brownrigg Collection)
For the balance of their racing careers the couple mainly – speedway midgets duly noted – raced this Riley 9 Brooklands, chassis number 8062, competing in the Australian Grand Prix almost every year until 1938.
The pair were seventh outright and first in class B (1100cc) in 1930, where Jack Edwards was eighth outright and second in class B aboard their old-faithful Senechal. Four Brooklands Rileys were entered with the Dentry car expected to be, and was, the quickest, but they also had dramas. While running second, Barney was rammed by Harold Drake-Richmond’s Bugatti T37 in the heavy dust, then – still second outright – the Dentrys pitted with valve troubles, costing them five laps.
In 1931 the pair were fourth outright and again first in class B off a handicap of 11 minutes, with only the five Bugattis behind the Riley at the start. Carl Junker’s Bugatti T39 won from Cyril Dickason’s Austin 7 and Howard Drake-Richmond’s Bugatti T37.
In 1932 they were tenth, last of the finishers off a handicap of six minutes, with only the Bugattis of Carl Junker and winner Bill Thompson behind them at the start. It was the first AGP appearance with Barney’s slinky aluminium body. Dentry modified the body of the Riley by replacement of the fabric standard coachwork with a light, slipper-type aluminium body which placed Bess more behind, rather than beside Barney. Initially stub exhausts were used but these were replaced by a tuned length pipe which exited atop the passenger-side rear wheel.
The Riley factory was so impressed with his performances they gave him one one of only six very special Ulster engines free of charge,” wrote Blanden. Unfortunately Barney had problems with enormous oil-feed problems. “Despite having obtained a response from England as to a likely cure to the problem it was not successful and he had a number of pitstops in an endeavour to lessen the trouble. Even with those, Barney and his wife still finished tenth.” wrote Blanden.
Come 1933 they missed the race as Bess was ill, in fact it appears she was pregnant. “My wife has been my mechanic for eight years. When she drops out of the race, both the car and I do likewise,” Barney told the Barrier Miner.
“As a combination we do fairly well, but without her I would lose a certain amount of confidence. She is very cool and thinks hard during the race. I do nothing but keep the car on the road and get all I can out of the engine. Her job takes concentration, an alert brain and quick decisions. And she does it really well.”
Bess picks up the thread, “We have only had one accident, when we ran into a fence at Nar-nar-goon. I was thrown out but not hurt. It had no effect on my nerve, thankfully. A mechanic never looks ahead during a race. I watch the other cars, and touch my husband on the shoulder when one is overtaking us. With the left hand I work the fuel pump and I cast frequent glances at the gauges.”
“Along the track we have friends stationed, and I watch for their signals. The first 30-miles of this long race are the worst. Sometimes I wonder how I will manage to last the remaining 170. But the miles and minutes move so fast, there is so much to do and think about, that the end comes quickly.”
The handicapper had well and truly caught up with the Dentrys years before. In 1934, of 20 AGP starters, only three competitors had tougher handicaps: Cec Warren’s MG J2, Arthur Terdich’s Bugatti T37A and scratch-man Bill Thompson, MG K3. The Dentrys were unclassified, doing 29 of the 31 laps, but lost 14 1/2 minutes pitting to rectify a loose bonnet on their 20th lap. Bob Lea-Wright won aboard a Singer 9 from the flying Bill Thompson’s MG K3, and Jack Clements’ MG J2.
Later in the year, in a stellar field, the Dentrys led the field in the 230-Mile Victorian Centenary Grand Prix – the longest race held in Australia to that point – with three laps to go, but the usually reliable Riley had fuel-air feed problems which lost them much time and again precluded the pair from taking their long-awaited first big-win. Mick Smith and Lin Terry won aboard a Ford V8.
1935 AGP collage – note the Dentry family at top left (The Referee)
For the last of the Phillip Island AGPs in April 1935 the bar was raised again, the Dentrys and Bill Williamson’s Riley Imp had handicaps of 8 minutes 47 sec with only Thompson’s MG K3 off scratch behind them. In a strong result they were fifth in the race won by Les Murphy’s MG P-Type, despite losing four minutes with a dead engine and taking to the Gentle Anne escape road.
Ron McCallum puts some of Dentry Riley reliability down to the fitment of a taller-geared back end from a Rugby. “He just welded the pinion to the Riley tailshaft. This would have saved him a lot of revs, aiding his incredible AGP reliability,” Ron said.
In May 1935 Dentry thrilled the Phillip Island crowds during the Jubilee meeting, “One of the most consistent of Victoria’s racing motorists, was the unluckiest man on the track. Although he recorded fastest time, and fastest lap with his Riley in the two events in which he competed, his handicap in each case was too great to allow him to reap the rewards of his superior skill and speed.”
In the 50 Mile Handicap he was second to Alf Barrett’s Morris Cowley Spl, it was Barrett’s first race at the Island, “driving with superb judgement and cornering in a manner to earn the envy of veteran racers.” The Argus reported. It was very much a portent of what was to come from the wealthy, gifted Victorian who came to be regarded as one of Australia’s greats aboard an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza immediately pre and post-war.
Riley on the hop at Victor Harbor in December 1936, 1936 AGP. The aluminium body was styled and made by Barney (Dentry Family)
On Boxing Day 1936 the South Australian Centenary Grand Prix was held, a race later appropriated as an AGP. The Dentrys were again fifth in this contest run on a rectangular 7.8-mile public road course between Victor Harbour and Port Elliott on SA’s Fleurieu Peninsula. Les Murphy won again in his MG P-Type. That year the Riley was said to be equipped with an ex-George Eyston 1935 factory motor, but as John Medley wryly observed, the car “was perhaps never as quick as the handicappers expected.” Better was to come in the support Olympic 50-mile Handicap though, when the fast Dentry duo finally took the chequered flag from Lord Waleran in John Snow’s MG K3 and Les Burrows’ Hudson Eight Spl.
The first road-race in Victoria – the publicists of the day somehow forgot that Phillip Island is part of Victoria, separated from the mainland by only about 750 metres! – was the Benalla Centenary 100 mile race held on the outskirts of the north-eastern Victorian town in April. After a neck and neck struggle with Les Murphy’s P-type in front of a crowd of 20000 people, Barney and Bess had seemingly won, got the garland and the plaudits of the crowd but then lost the race after a lap-counting error. It was far from the first or last lap-counting squabble in Australian major events, Vin Maloney won in an MG Magna from the Dentrys.
The happy couple at Benalla in 1936, another big-win opportunity which eluded the Riley duo (Dentry Family)
No AGP was held during 1937, but 1938 was a biggee with the opening of Mount Panorama, Bathurst. Prominent Brit Peter Whitehead spent the better part of a year in Australia mixing duties for the family W & J Whitehead woollen mill enterprise and racing his ERA B-Type, R10B. Whitehead disappeared into the distance off scratch, winning by 1.5-minutes from Les Burrows. The Dentrys were 16th and last of the finishers off a handicap of 12-minutes, eight cars started behind them in the 30 car field.
And that, it seems was the end of the Dentry’s racing career. By then Charles Dentry would have been 8/9 and younger brother John 4/5 years old so the sensible thing to do was to quit while they were ahead. Ron McCallum recalls a race accident as the catalyst for retirement, but I can’t find an accident in which the couple were involved at this stage.
(John Mole Collection)
By 1939 the Dentry business premises were located at 2 Peel Street, Windsor (above) on St Kilda Junction, where he positioned himself as a specialist Riley, MG and sportscar repairer.
Retirement from racing wasn’t a catalyst for sale of the Brooklands Riley which was retained until 1946, then sold to Ken Wylie. The car later passed through the hands of Bill Clymer and Bill Blewett before being acquired by Ron Brownrigg in 1964. He restored it amidst his own business commitments, the car first appeared at Phillip Island in 2005.
Barney’s services were much in demand given his success as a driver and motor engineer. Both the Senechal and Riley were continually modified throughout their lives, the Riley was Cozette-supercharged for a while when used it in Aspendale Speedway competition. One example of his skills being deployed post-war was the mechanical work turning the Lex Davison owned Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 ‘Little Alfa’ into its current monoposto specifications way back when.
‘St Omer’ at Hampton, Port Phillip Bay in 1948 (Dentry Family)
The couple lived at 3 Villeroy Street, Hampton from 1925, then 69 Holyrood Street, Hampton from 1937 to 1957 and finally at number 19 Coronet Grove, Beaumaris where Bess lived after Barney’s death in 1987, aged 88. Bess died in 2000, are either of the sons still with us?
Living bayside, during 1946-48 Barney built a motor-yacht the couple named ‘St Omer’ to a US design. Initially powered by an Essex four-cylinder car engine, later a JAP marine engine enabled a top-whack, need-for-speed 24mph.
The boat was sold to release capital to build new business premises on the southwest corner of Bay Road and George Street, Sandringham in 1957. Barney operated that motor service and repair operation until 1972 when he retired and sold the building, which still exists as a tyre sales business.
AGP 1931 collage, that’s Barney at the far left (The Referee)
Let’s not forget Barney and Bess Dentry, very competitive stalwarts of Australian motorsport in the pre-war era. Until doing my research I’d not realised just how much at the pointy-end they usually raced, with only luck and the handicapper between them and greater success.
I’m happy to add to this article if any of you can help flesh out the story.
Etcetera…
(Dentry Family)
Barney Dentry and Bess Wheeler at Hampton Beach in 1924.
(Dentry Family)
The Dentry Senechal in its final form circa 1924. The diminutive machine is fitted with aluminium body, siren, ‘guards, hood, spare wheel and luggage carrier in the tail. “Total weight 8 1/2 CWT, 7 CWT in racing trim.”
(Dentry Family)
Barney perhaps giving some lucky bloke a joyride in the Dentry Riley circa 1932. Riley 9 Brooklands. Chassis 8062 was variously described in-period as a Brooklands Riley, Ulster Riley and Dentry Riley, all of which are correct depending upon the specs at the time.
(Dentry Family)
Rear of the Riley after being rammed by Harold Drake-Richmond’s Bugatti at Phillip Island on New Years Day 1934.
(Dentry Family)
Barney wrote on the reverse of this photo, “Assorted patterns I made for the St Omer car (GD Special) the St Omer launch. Note the mag alloy Riley diff using for the Ulster, special oil pumps and special gearbox units etc.”
(J Runciman Collection)
Barney, Bess, Charles and John Dentry at Phillip Island.
(J Runciman Collection)Dentry Family)
The Bay Road Sandringham workshop built by Barney Dentry in 1957, in more recent times, and fondly remembered by older Melbourne bayside resident/enthusiasts.
(D Trunfull Collection)
The Riley connection was there until the end, this sign was on the wall of the Bay Road garage well after the time of the premises’ sale.
Credits…
Tony Johns Collection, Jim Runciman Collection, Motorsport Memorial, Sandringham & District Historical Society via a David Zeunert tip-off, Barrier Miner March 11, 1933, Ron McCallum discussion with Bob King, BNF-Bibliotheque National de France, Ron Brownrigg Collection, John Medley in ‘The Australian Grand Prix:Fifty Year History’, ‘History of Australian Grand Prix 1928-1939’ John Blanden, Rob Bartholomaeus, John Mole Collection, David Trunfull Collection
Tailpiece…
(Dentry Family)
Bess Dentry aboard the Senechal with its brand new aluminium body, circa 1924.
Seems to be the point Roger Bailey (or is it Bruce Wilson?) is making to Chris Amon before he takes to the Wigram circuit in January 1968…
The Ferrari lads popped a fresh engine into Chris’ Dino on Friday night so it may well be the thrust of the exchange! Terry Marshall took this wonderful shot, it was a good meeting for Chris, he was second to Jim Clark’s Lotus 49 in The Lady Wigram Trophy on Sunday, while Denny Hulme was third in an F2 Brabham BT23 Ford FVA. The shot below shows Clark’s fag-packet Gold Leaf Team Lotus, Lotus 49 Ford DFW – GLTL making its race debut and taking its maiden win – in front of Chris’ Ferrari.
(sergent.com)
I’ve done these Tasman Dinos to death in various articles so won’t prattle on again, click on the links below for more on these jewels of machines.
Terry Marshall commented about the weekend, “I was stationed at Wigram (an RNZAF airbase) doing my military service and could hear Amon and Clark howling around in practice while I was learning how to survive an atomic attack by lying down behind any brick or concrete wall that was handy. Makes me laugh just thinking about it!”
(I Peak)
The photos above, and at the end are by Ian Peak the following weekend in the Teretonga paddock. Oh to have been there?! Chris was fourth behind Bruce McLaren’s works BRM P126 V12, Clark’s Lotus 49 Ford DFW and Frank Gardner’s Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo V8.
Whitehead is shown here in the cockpit of his ERA during the abortive – and aborted – Parramatta Park, Sydney meeting in 1938 (B King Collection)
English international, Peter Whitehead spent quite a bit of time in Australia during 1938 on business. One hat he wore was as a member of the W&J Whitehead family, Bradford based, wool textiles business, the other was as the driver of his much smaller motor racing enterprise.
As you will appreciate from the articles, Whitehead was in Australia long enough, and travelled broadly enough, for his views to be fully formed on the state of motorsport play at that time.
(B King Collection)Blurry and ‘Hatless’ Whitehead during the Australian Hillclimb Championship meeting at Rob Roy in June 1938. He did FTD and set the course record at 31.46 seconds on the still unsealed course which opened a year earlier (L Sims Collection)
Peter Whitehead was spot on with his observations really.
Picking up his points in the order they were made, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) was formed in 1953 to manage, organise and regulate (sic) the sport on a national basis. Perhaps without World War 2 a more focused governing body would have replaced the Australian Automobile Association earlier.
Handicap racing continued throughout Australia well into the 1950s. We had a relatively small number of racing cars spread over a vast continent. Handicaps ensured everybody had a chance of victory, by this means, competitors were prepared to travel vast distances by road, rail or coastal ships to race.
Then the only Australian racers who competed ‘regularly’ on bitumen roads were the West Australians on their Round the Houses road courses in various country towns. Allan Tomlinson’s stunning Lobethal AGP win in 1939 is in part credited to his skill on such surfaces relative to the east coast based competitors, aboard his MG TA Spl s/c. See here; https://primotipo.com/2020/12/04/tomlinsons-1939-lobethal-australian-grand-prix/
A series of races to attract international competitors did eventually happen, formally with the Tasman Cup – seven/eight races in NZ and Australia in January-February each year – in 1964, and informally with a series of international races for the better part of a decade before that. Peter Whitehead returned and raced a couple of Ferraris here during that period. See here; https://primotipo.com/2020/10/10/squalo-squadron/
The bad-blood, combative relationship between the New South Wales Police and the racing community lasted well into the 1950s and is a story in itself.
This piece was written by Kenneth Maxwell earlier in the trip and was published in the June-July issue of The Car.
The Yarra Falls building site in 1918. Melburnians will note the roofline of the Convent of the Good Shepherd on the north side of Johnston Street, that building is still there on the wonderful Collingwood Children’s Farm site; a visit to rural Australia in inner Melbourne is worth a trip for any international tourist. The Falls site was redeveloped, keeping many of the original buildings, for business and residential use several decades ago (Picture Victoria)
Etcetera…
The Whiteheads were customers of Australian wool from the earliest of times. The contents of an article in The Argus (Melbourne) appealed to the economist in me. The piece reported on the business trip of Henry Whitehead, a relative of Peter Whitehead, in January 1920 who is described as having interests in “three of the largest of the great Yorkshire textile works.”
Whitehead’s visit was as a director/advisor of Yarra Falls Spinning Co Pty. Ltd. at 80-110 Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford – on the shores of the Yarra River in Melbourne where wool was scoured/cleaned – and he commented that “Although Australia is the greatest wool producer in the world she could not have competed with England before the war in the marketing in Australia of goods manufactured out of her own raw materials…But times have changed, and today Australia has the opportunity of making more of her own goods, and particularly of making up her own raw materials.”
Funnily enough, a century on, we are still better at shearing sheep and digging holes in the ground (mining) than manufacturing, that is, value adding to the raw materials we export to others.
Henry Whitehead spoke of the need for immigration of skilled labour to aid growth of the industry and encourage further British investment.
The Yarra Falls Spinning Company was then capitalised at £200,000, “the great bulk of which is Australian money.” The other directors, with the exception of Whitehead, were Australian, the factory was commenced in 1918 and employed 200 in 1920. The only limiting factor in expanding the business right then beyond relatively simple wool scouring and combing, to the production of worsted cloth (for clothing) was the difficulty of getting specialised weaving plant and equipment made, and imported from the UK.
So, Peter Whitehead would have been busy, apart from his racing…
Credits…
The Car, December 1938 via the Bob King Collection, Leon Sims Collection, Ted Hood, The Argus January 1, 1920, Picture Victoria
Tailpiece…
(T Hood)
Peter Whitehead fettles his ERA #R10B in frigid Canberra weather in June 1938. He was taking part in annual speed record attempts in the national capital, weird though that seems.
Mind you, there was a round the houses taxi race in Canberra not so many years ago, the Canberra 400 from 2000-2002.
Mark Skaife, Holden VX Commodore V8 Supercar en-route to winning the 2002 Canberra 400, Parliament House in the background (unattributed)
Phillips-Parsons airborne on the Wirlinga road circuit (cars4starters.com.au)
The Jack Phillips – Ted Parsons 1934 Ford V8 was Australia’s fastest of the breed pre-war. Here the machine is aviating on the Wirlinga road circuit – 10km northeast of Albury – on the Kings Birthday weekend in June 1940. The duo are on what was then called Orphanage Lane (now St Johns Road), the two crests which allowed the cars to take to the sky were near Corrys Road, Thurgoona, many thanks John Medley and Ray Bell.
The car was one of the most successful of all Australian racing cars in the immediate lead up to the conflict, placing sixth and third in the 1938 and 1939 Australian Grands Prix at Bathurst and Lobethal respectively. “In Victoria for the 1937-38 season, the Phillips Ford was awarded ‘The Car Trophy’ for the most successful competitor,” John Medley wrote.
The duo also won the Interstate Grand Prix/Albury and Interstate Cup on the Albury-Wirlinga road course in 1938-39 and the South Australian 100 at Lobethal in January 1940. On the same day the pair finished second to Les Burrows’ Hudson Terraplane Special in the Lobethal 50.
Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men? Phillips/Parsons on the way to winning the South Australian 100 on New Years Day 1940 at Lobethal (unattributed)
As the lights were progressively turned down throughout 1940, the Phillips/Parsons pair were ninth in the Easter Bathurst 150 mile race won by Alf Barrett’s Alfa Romeo Monza. The car’s final meeting before being put on display for much of the conflict in their Wangaratta Motors Ford dealership was the 75 mile Albury and Interstate Cup Race on June 17, 1940. It was the final meeting on this road course and Barrett set the all-time lap record at 2 minutes 52 seconds but broke an axle and retired from the race. Harry James’ Terraplane won in a steady performance from John Crouch’s Alfa Romeo 8C2300 Le Mans with Phillips/Parsons third.
A great shot but whereizzit? Note the Victorian rego-plate and ‘tuned-length’ exhaust which will have aided driver and passenger comfort in longer races by dispensing with fumes and noise well-aft of the conducteurs. Quality of the body and standard of presentation impressive (cars4starters.com.au)
Based on a fire-damaged ‘34 sedan with over 20,000 miles on the clock, the car was modified in the partner’s Wangaratta, Victoria Ford dealership by fitment of a special, swoopy, lighter body. Engine enhancements included twin Winfield carburettors, Scintilla magneto, modified heads and free-flowing exhausts.
Timed at 115mph in top gear, it did 80 in second – at a then heady 6000rpm – using the 3.5:1 rear axle ratio. It was a paragon of solid reliability too, not suffering the overheating afflictions of so many modified Ford flatties.
The masked avengers on the Victor Harbor – Port Elliott road circuit during the 1936 South Australian Centenary Grand Prix, well protected from road detritus and here are using all of the available real estate. DNF after completing 21 of the 32 laps (B King Collection)
John Medley observed the car’s strengths, “The Phillips Ford simply soldiered on in prewar races on dirt and gravel roads, built tough to last to the finish. It continued to race postwar particularly in Victoria and South Australia where it was raced by South Australian Granton Harrison, by which time the newer breed of generally smaller and lighter V8 Specials could out-pace it.”
“Still it had been the mould in which the later V8s were shaped. In the postwar period, with T-Series MGs, Ford V8 specials were the backbone of Australian road racing.”
The Phillips/Parsons Ford was destroyed when it was crashed into a bridge, the remains were scrapped. Ted Parsons Jnr and his son Rob recreated the car between 2008-2014, the car took its bow at Winton in 2014.
Likely lads, who is the chap at left and where was the shot taken? (B King Collection)
Historian, Rob Bartholomaeus has worked out, by looking at his photographic archive, that a rebuild involving lightening and lowering the car and replacing the ’34 grille with a 1935 unit and a change in colour scheme from the one above, to the diagonal stripes shown in most of the other shots was made in late 1938 rather than 1937 as documented elsewhere. It seems the car started with underbody exhausts, then evolved to the side exhausts as above which were retained after the car was modified and repainted.
(B King Collection)
As noted above, the car’s last pre-war meeting was at Wirlinga in 1940. Bob King has this photograph in his collection, the caption on the back lists the racer as Bill Sinclair and the place, Oakleigh in 1942. I can find no Trove reference to this meeting at what is now a southern suburb of Melbourne. It appears as though the car is running the same number/roundel combination from Wirlinga, quite probably untouched. If anybody has information about the event do get in touch.
(unattributed)
It’s not clear when Granton Harrison bought the machine but he added to its tally of Australian Grands Prix entries, racing it at Point Cook to Melbourne’s west in 1948, where he placed fourth, and in 1950 at Nuriootpa in South Australia’s Barossa Valley where he was 11th in the race won by Doug Whiteford’s Ford V8 Special ‘Black Bess’, Bess was inspired by the Ossie Cranston and Phillips/Parsons Ford V8s.
The shot above is of Granton contesting the South Australian 100 at Lobethal on New Years Day, 1948. A good day for him too, he was second behind Jim Gullan’s Ballot Oldsmobile Special – and did fastest race time in the handicap event – continuing this car’s reputation for competitive reliability.
Back to the sequence of owners. Stephen Dalton has Granton advertising the car for sale in the February 1948 issue of Australian Motor Sports, with Jack O’Dea running it at Rob Roy in January 1949, perhaps Jack ran it as a borrow/view to purchase. As we can see Granton raced on for a couple of years after that, if anyone can help with the ownership sequence, do get in touch.
Ted (Edwin) Parsons wearing Warren Safety Helmet, goggles, white overalls – the pocket of which had the Ford V8 symbol embroidered – wearing a leather kidney belt. “To look your best under the overalls it was common for Ted to wear a white shirt and tie,” Ted’s son Rob Parsons wrote. Wirlinga 1939 perhaps, chap behind unknown (Parsons Family Collection)
Etcetera: The Warren Safety Aviation Helmet…
WT Warren invented the Warren Safety Helmet in 1912. The spring-equipped pilot safety helmet, made of leather and cork with vented ear collars was padded with horse hair and designed to minimise head injuries, the major cause of aero accident deaths at the time. The helmet was part of RAF listed kit issue from 1920-24.
Later models incorporated an ear audio piece and a breathing mask. By the time Phillips and Parsons used them they had been pensioned off by the RAF. Curtis and Taut & Co made the helmets under licence, the inscription in Parsons’ helmet, retained by the family, reads ‘No 2 Tuatz & Co Patent 17855 Aviators Safety Helmet. Maker Tautz & Co, Hunting Military and Multifit Tailors, 12 Grafton St, New Bond St, London.’
Phillips and Parsons with their distinctive Warren helmets after winning at Wirlinga in 1938 (J Dallinger)
Rob Parsons explained further, “While the helmet was obsolete for aircraft, they were used by Phillips and Parsons from 1935-39. With a lack of sporting regulations, these cars lacked the safety features of safety belts which were not considered a benefit for car racing. Drivers had a steering wheel and the co-driver a grab handle to hold onto. It would be common in rollovers to duck-down and brace yourself, perhaps to be trapped or otherwise flung free of the car, all with grave consequences.”
“Ted Parsons first introduction to motor racing was at the Benalla Airstrip circuit, perhaps a likely place to find such a helmet. On the back page of his photo album, he list drivers who died racing during his involvement, a reminder of the sport’s dangers. He retired from racing after the war to pursue golf and film-making.”
“Jack and Ted wore leather face shields to protect themselves from their own flying stones and other track debris, an idea adapted from the oxygen flying mask. The leather was painted white to match the colour of the car, aviation goggles protected their eyes,” Parsons wrote.
(Der Spiegel)
WT Warren tests his new helmet – as one does – by headbutting the wall of William Ewen’s Hendon flying school, where Warren was a trainee, in 1912.
What follows is the German-English translation from an article in Der Spiegel.
“In a 1912 issue of Flight magazine, British inventor WT Warren’s invention, a protective flight helmet is demonstrated. The image is often erroneously reported to be a football helmet.”
‘The wall against which the helmet carrier ran belongs to the flying school of William Hugh Ewen. The owner (middle) and and his chief pilot LWF Turner (left) are behind. The Lord in the foreground is his student Mr WT Warren. And, no, he has not failed the flight test and is just reacting to his anger.” Clearly the German hilarity is lost in translation.
“Dated 1912, Mr Warren is a tinkerer. He introduced his latest invention to experienced pilots: a protective helmet ‘that will attract considerable attention’, Flight magazine wrote. Warren’s leather cap was padded with horsehair: A system of steel springs should intercept any impact, thus reducing the risk of injury. Head injuries were the leading cause of death in flight accidents.”
Credits…
‘John Snow:Classic Motor Racer’ John Medley, State Library of Western Australia, cars4starters.com.au, Bob King Collection, ‘The Warren Safety Aviation Helmet’ by Rob Parsons in the July 2021 issue of ‘The Light Shaft’ – Austin 7 Club magazine, Parsons Family Collection via austin7club.org, John Dallinger, Der Spiegel
Tailpiece…
(SLWA)
I’m cheating a bit, this 1934 Ford is a V8 ute rather than a sedan, but you get the jist of it.
The Phillips-Parsons racer was not too far removed from a roadie, rather than an out-and-out bespoke racer, reliant as it was on the standard chassis, axles wheel to wheel, differential and gearbox.
The ute is singing for its supper, doing a meat delivery in country Western Australia in 1937.
“Carl Junker, winner of the fastest time prize at the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island is the most modest man in the motor world. He had so little confidence in himself that it was only the repeated urgings of Terdich (Arthur Terdich, winner of the ’29 AGP) that caused him to enter.
This was his first big race, as he has previously competed in nothing more exciting than hillclimbs, but was formerly a motor cyclist of ability, and is a dirt track fan. Junker’s Bugatti, formerly the property of Sid Cox the NSW motorist, has a guaranteed speed of 115 miles per hour.”
“G McFarlane, winner of the Australian Outboards Championship in Melbourne on Albert Park Lake, is an Adelaide University student, who is in his second season with hydroplanes.”
He raced a boat called Tilmerie, and won the open class title in two heats and a final. At the end of the carnival, in a special speed test, he broke the Australian record averaging slightly over 45mph, beating the existing record of 42mph. McFarlane took the O’Donohue Shield for the championship, and held it for the ensuing 12 months.
“He is following in the footsteps of his father, GH McFarlane, who began outboarding in 1900, and was one of the pioneers of hydro-planing in South Australia. GH competed in several Australian championships with Millawa, and won the Albert Cup in New South Wales with Maltric, and successfully defended the cup in South Australia in 1929. Young McFarlane and his father built the boat in which he won the title on their station (farm) at Brinkley on the River Murray.”
TheReferee April 1, 1931Carl Junker in the Phillip Island winning Bugatti T39 #4607 in Melbourne after the 1931 win (B King Collection)
The 31′ AGP is somewhat controversial even after all these years. The Labour Day weekend, Monday March 23 race, 30 1/2 laps of the 6 1/2 mile rectangular sandy-gravel course, 200 miles in all, was held as a handicap.
“The system of handicapping to be adopted will be an allowance in time, based on the capacity of the engine, plus the knowledge of the speed of each car, and skill of the driver.” The West Australian record on February 12, 1931. “The data obtained by the promoters from the previous car races held on this course will, it is claimed, enable the handicappers to allot starts in accordance with the speed capabilities of each contestant, thus ensuring a better, fairer and more interesting race.”
Handicap racing was common in Australia until the early 1950s as we had relatively few racing cars of vastly differing performance spread over a huge area. Handicapping encouraged a come-what-you-brung ethos as the handicapping system meant everybody got a fair go, whether you raced a Bugatti or an Austin 7. In a perfect world, with the handicappers prognostications spot on – impossible of course – the field would all be bunched up together, mechanical mayhem permitting in the last lap or so of the race.
Cyril Dickason, Austin 7 Ulster, with onboard mechanic James Long won the race on handicap, received the plaudits of the crowd and were given the winners trophy. The early Tuesday morning newspapers reported the win in unequivocal fashion, then the event organisers, the Victorian Light Car Club changed the results and awarded the race to the Carl Junker/Reg Nutt Bugatti T39, which had done the fastest time.
Why?
(D Zeunert Collection)
About 5,000 spectators made the trip to Phillip Island to watch the race. Not many you may think, but back then the trip involved a train from Flinders Street Station in Melbourne to Frankston, then another on a branch line to Stony Point, on the shore of Westernport Bay. A shortish ferry ride took you, and perhaps your car if you were one of the fortunate few to own one, to Cowes on the Island. Then one had a walk of a mile or so, or more depending on where you watched the race on the course.
In an absorbing contest – 19 cars entered but only 13 started in a sign of ‘Depression times – Carl Junker’s1496cc straight-eight Bugatti T39, “Off a handicap of 10 minutes, gave a wonderfully consistent performance, and finished the long journey – 31 times around the course – in 2hr 54min 50.25sec. That was the fastest time, and by recording it Junker won the principal prize of 100 pounds. In a supercharged Austin Seven of 748cc CR Dickason (off 30 min) achieved second fastest time (3hr 2min 24.5sec). His handling of such a small machine, particularly on the bad corners, was keenly admired. He lost a minute or so through having to stop twice for minor adjustments. Third on time was the veteran, Harold Drake-Richmond (Bugatti T37 1496cc) off 10min, his figures being 3hr 3min 19.25sec.”
Dickason and May in Austin 7s start their first lap while the heavy metal awaits their turn. From the right; #15 Hope Bartlett and #14 Arthur Terdich, both in AGP winning Bugatti T37A’s off scratch. #20 is Jack Clement’s ex-AV Turner/G Meredith 1927 AGP winning car. #12 is Harold Drake-Richmond’s Bugatti T37, and then #9 is Bill Lowe’s Lombard AL3 (J Sherwood Collection via T Davis)Front runner, Hope Bartlett, Bugatti T37A s/c #37358 from Cyril Dickason’s Austin 7 Ulster s/c, he has just passed him, Heaven Corner (J Sherwood Collection via T Davis)
“On the handicaps Dickason won comfortably, passing the finishing line for the last time a lap and a half ahead of Junker. Junker and Hope Bartlett were having a thrilling tussle, in the 30th lap, for second when Bartlett, driving a supercharged four-cylinder Bugatti, had mechanical trouble and was obliged to stop…”
The Iron Cross for stupidity went to Bartlett – arguably the most experienced and best credentialed of the drivers who started – who had the race shot to bits in the same Bugatti T37A in which Bill Thompson won the year before, but kept going faster still while well in the lead. Somewhat inevitably, the the supercharged-four blew and with it went Hope’s chance to join the AGP Roll of Honour where he surely belongs.
(Austin 7 Club)
All good so far. At the end of the race Dickason was acclaimed the winner of the AGP, received the plaudits of the crowd, probably copped a peck on the cheek from Miss Phillip Island and was handed the AGP trophy for winning the race on handicap. He was formally feted as the 1931 Australian Grand Prix winner, with the Tuesday morning Melbourne Sun – the day after the race – proclaiming as such above.
The 1931 AGP Trophy is the big one in the middle of the third row from the top in Cyril Dickason’s collection. There’s no doubt they gonged him as the winner, the question is why the same mob then took it away. Clearly though, Dickason gave them the 1931 equivalent of ‘Go and Get Rooted’ when the blue-blazer commanders of the VLCC asked for that nice trophy back, he hung onto it (Austin 7 Club)
Then, 24 hours later, the fix was on, the Victorian Light Car Club committee had met, and announced Junker as the victor, the AGP winner. Dickason’s wife recorded in a November 6, 1982 letter to assist Birdwood Mill historians with photo details of the image below, “C.R Dickason, in Supercharged Austin 7, passing G Dentry. He won the Grand Prix but the following day the Victorian Light Car Club altered the rules and awarded the race to C Junker in a Bugatti.”
Certainly the Melbourne Sun, published on the Tuesday morning after the race, before the VLCC gave the rules a tickle, published an article which records, “Driving magnificently and making a non-stop run, C.R. Dickason, in a supercharged Austin Seven, off 30 minutes handicap, won the fourth 200 mile Australian Grand Prix, run here today.”
So, in the very early hours of Tuesday morning, when The Sun‘s presses rolled in Flinders Street, Melbourne, the winner of the AGP was Cyril Dickason. That he was presented with the award post-race is supported by the fact that the AGP Trophy remained in his collection. He never gave it back, even if the VLCC was stupid enough to ask for it’s return…
Dickason’s mechanic, James Long thanks Barney Dentry – with wife Bess alongside – for making room, Riley Brooklands (fourth) (Austin 7 Club)
The VLCC committee in 1931 comprised AJ Terdich, H Drake-Richmond, AW Bernadou, OF Tough, AC Tye, A Carlton, F Walch, G Weiss, JW Condon, WJ Middleton and G Wright. At least three, and probably more of these fellas were/had been Bugatti owners/racers. I wonder how many of the establishment car club, VLCC committeemen were Austin 7 owners? Clubs are often terrible things when it comes to governance, who knows what went on and why in the hallowed, dark timber, panelled halls of the VLCC’s Fitzroy premises.
“I mean olde-bean, an ‘Orstin 7 won in 1928, ruddy-hell we can’t have another of those plebian roller-skates beating our French racing aristocrats! Besides, the Austins are grubby-factory cars, ours are amateur entries which are much more worthy and in the spirit of the race. And look, I know Carl Junker is only a Heidelberg butcher and didn’t go to Scotch (College) or Grammar (Melbourne) let alone live in Toorak or South Yarra but he is a protestant stout-chap, has plenty of money, and goodness – happy-hockey sticks – the main thing is he’s driving a Bugatti and that’s what we want winning OUR RACE not a ruddy-Austin…blah-blah, wank-toss-jerk see you at the Club this evening old-China…”
Well OK, maybe I’ve overdone it a bit. We Skips like to think of ourselves as an egalitarian lot and in relative terms compared to some other parts of the world that’s correct. But back then, your family, address, school, clubs, religion and of course bank balance all mattered. A lot. Why did the LCCV seemingly steal that AGP from Dickason and Austin and give it to Junker and Bugatti?
Two of my close mates are on opposite sides of this argument. Austin 7/Bentley historian/author/racer Tony Johns swings one way and Bugatti historian/author/racer Bob King the other. Getting hold of a copy of the supplementary regulations for this race meeting would resolve the good-natured banter about this long ago AGP. That is, hopefully that document makes clear the basis on which the winner of the AGP was to be awarded, on a scratch or handicap basis. In short, we want to know if CR Dickason and Austin were shafted, or otherwise.
Austin Distributors ad which appeared in the Melbourne Truth on 28 March 1931. By that stage Austin Distributors Pty. Ltd, and their lawyers would have been aware the VLCC had reallocated the spoils of victory, so there is a commendable ‘up yours’ element to this piece of corporate communication. By the 1970s the Truth‘s raison d’être had evolved into a compelling mix of titties and lies (Austin 7 Club)
Etcetera…
(Dickason Collection, Austin 7 Club)
Credits…
The Referee, Sydney, April 1, 1931, Bob King Collection, Tony Johns Collection via The Nostalgia Forum, John Sherwood Collection via Tony Davis, Austin 7 Club, Harold Paynting via Ann Dickason Collection, David Zeunert Collection
Tailpiece…
(B King Collection)
Carl Junker (right) and mechanic, Mr E Lauder, having a cuppa before the start of the Phillip Island 100 on New Years Day 1934. The Persil white overalls would not have looked quite so perfect a couple of hours later. It’s a Bugatti T39 again, but this time chassis #4604. Blow the shot up and suss the characters in the crowd, wonderful.
Everything you need to know about 37 year-old Bob Muir’s skill behind the wheel is demonstrated in this shot of the grid at the start of the III Gran Premio di Mugello Euro F2 round in July 1976.
The red spec on the front row is Muiro’s Derek Kneller prepared Chevron B35 Ford BDA. Such are the dimensions of his wedding-tackle and blinding, god-given speed he has plonked a privateer Chevron with Ford BDA engine ahead of almost all the factory cars, the four Renault-Gordini V6 powered Elf 2Js (Jean-Pierre Jabouille alongside him on pole, and Michel Leclere) and Martini Mk19s (Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay). Then the works-March BMWs (Maurizio Flammini and Alex Ribeiro) and the rest including future/current GP drivers, Keke Rosberg, Vittorio Brambilla, Giancarlo Martini, Hans Binder, Ingo Hoffman and Harald Ertl. Bob’s Ford BDA was the pick of the engines in 1972 but the pecking order on this grid was Renault-Gordini V6, BMW M12/7, Hart 420R then the BDA. Jabouille won from Arnoux and Tambay. Muir was 16th.
In a different time, after tumbling out of the right womb, the likes of Bob Muir would have been funded through Karts by Daddy, funded through Formula Ford and F3 by Daddy, then picked up by one of the F1 Feeder Capital Vulture outfits (still part funded by Daddy, investment to this point circa $A6-8million) and into Grand Prix racing. And yes, I know he is not alone.
But Bob was old school, his formative years, indeed most of his years, were self funded by his motor dealership, so his appearances were usually sporadic and subject to availability of the-readies. I suspect his first real paid drive was with Bob and Marj Brown, in Australian F2 in 1974 and British Formula Atlantic in 1975 with a pair of Birrana 273s. The Browns funded this short Chevron campaign too, then it was back to Australia, where taxis beckoned.
Griffin helmeted Muir in front of Giorgio Francia’s Chevron B35 BMW. Bob had never raced at Mugello before, let alone visited Italy. It seems he rather liked the place (MotorSport)Meet the fam. Bob and Judy Muir, with Jason and Danielle at Mascot Airport, Sydney in April 1972 with third place booty from the Singapore Grand Prix. Australians 1-3 in this race; Max Stewart, Mildren Ford, Vern Schuppan, March 722 Ford and then Bob’s borrowed or leased Rennmax BN3 FordBob early in the year, 1973 US L&M Championship campaign at Riverside. Legendary engineer/mechanic/driver mentor Peter Molloy at left, John Wright in the middle? Lola T330 Chev (Muir Family Collection)
R.I.P Bob Muir, November 29, 1939-February 12, 2023, thanks so much for some wonderful memories, what a steerer…
The Muirs Sports Cars entry ahead of Teddy Pilette during the 1971 Tasman Cup Warwick Farm 100, Mildren ‘Yellow Submarine’ Waggott 2-litre TC-4V from McLaren M10B Chev. This is the battle for fifth place, resolved in Teddy’s favour. Frank Gardner won in a works-Lola T192 Chev from Chris Amon, Lotus 70 Ford and Kevin Bartlett, Mildren Chev (oldracephotos.com/D Simpson)
Credits…
MotorSport Images, Getty Images, oldracephotos.com/Dick Simpson, Muir Family Collection, Tony Glenn, oldracingcars.com, Alan Cox, Derek Kneller, oldracingcars.com
Bob about to take to Oran Park for the first time in the brand new Matich A53 Repco-Holden, Saturday February 2, 1974 (D Kneller)
Etcetera…
As is so often the case the article grows like topsy after the initial posting, in this case thanks to a long discussion with legendary engineer/mechanic Derek Kneller in the UK this morning, February 15.
“Bob was a bloody good driver, really good, he could sort a car too. He went very well in the Lola T330 Chev that he ran in the 1973 L &M (US F5000 Championship). I was over there that season running Frank’s two Matich A51 Repcos. Peter Molloy was over there for a while when Bob first arrived, and he soon hooked up with Jerry Eisert and Chuck Jones. The car was always well prepared but as the season went on they were cobbling together engines. They had a really smart rig but the engines weren’t too good, I remember Bob finishing a heat at Watkins Glen second with the thing running on only seven-cylinders.”
In an amazing run of raw pace despite the tight budget, Bob qualified fourth at Michigan International on May 20 for third in his heat and DNF final. Off to Mid Ohio for Q3 and DNS heat and final, and then to the demanding Watkins Glen, a circuit on which he hadn’t competed before. Q2 behind Jody Scheckter and ahead of Brett Lunger, Brian Redman, Peter Gethin, Mark Donohue, Tony Adamowicz, David Hobbs, Kevin Bartlett, John Walker, Vern Schuppan and Frank Matich was really something. He was fifth in his heat at Road America after qualifying poorly, DNF in the final then missed the last few rounds, out of money. While 23 year old Jody Scheckter was the L&M young star of the series, the older find was 34 years young Bob Muir.
“Bob was unlucky to destroy the A52 (Matich A52 Repco-Holden F5000 car) in later 1973 at Warwick Farm in testing, but there was no question of who we were going to turn to when Frank decided he couldn’t do the race distance at Oran Park.”
“What’s it doing Bob?” Muir and crew in the Oran Park paddock, Matich A53 Repco-Holden (D Kneller)
“The car (Matich A53 Repco-Holden) was brand new, Frank had done a few sessions and we’d attended to a few things, then Bob did three or so laps to get the feel of the thing but the oil pump drive-belt came off and that damaged the engine. We had that changed by late evening and were allowed to do some laps at about 8pm, Bob was quickly down to times in the low 40s but had to start the race from the back of the grid as he hadn’t done a flyer before the oil pump problem.”
“In the race he was soon up to eighth or ninth, doing fast, consistent times before getting stuck behind Gethin or Oxton, then the fuel pump overheated so he was out. Repco had relocated the fuel pump and we hadn’t done enough testing laps to know it needed a heat-shield. Bob did some practice laps at Surfers but FM felt he was ok to do that race, and the final two at Sandown and Adelaide International.”
“I went back to the UK in late 1974 after we had wound down Frank’s (Matich) racing business in Sydney when he retired, then worked outside racing, I didn’t realise Bob contested the British Formula Atlantic Championship in 1975.”
After some fast drives in a borrowed Rennmax early in the 1974 Australian F2 Championship, Muir was engaged by Adelaide couple, Bob and Marj Brown to drive their pair of Birrana 273 Hart-Ford 416-B 1.6-litre cars. Bob finished second in a very tight, thrilling title-chase with works-Birrana driver Leo Geoghegan who raced their latest 274 model.
Muir, Birrana 273-009 Ford BDA, Mallory Park August 24, 1975, DNF fuel surge. Jim Crawford’s Chevron B29 won
The Browns decided to expand their specialist glass-making business to the UK in 1975. Taking the Birranas with them to contest the British Formula Atlantic Championship would be an ideal way to create interest in the new venture. Bob was the driver with his family of four relocating to Bishop Auckland (in Durham, the very north of England not too far from the border with Scotland) where the equipe was based. Dean Hosking, a young Adelaide driver who had raced a Formula 3 Birrana 374 Toyota for John Blander in 1974 and did very well also went along to drive one of the cars. Importantly, Tony Alcock, the design-partner in Birrana Cars, came along to engineer the cars, he was at a loose-end when Tony and Malcolm Ramsay, his business partner, decided to cease volume production of Birranas in Adelaide at the end of 1974.
Dean picks up the threads, “Bob’s business had developed the technology to make the type of glass that enabled one to see inside hot domestic ovens. He sold the company to Pilkington Glass and was subject to the usual ten year non-compete clause. So he approached the UK Government with the idea of setting up over there, that’s why the factory was in Bishop Auckland, the incentives were provided there in an area employment opportunities were needed.”
British Formula Atlantic was at its peak then, grids of 20 cars fought for two championships in 1975, the John Player British Formula Atlantic Championship and the Southern Organs British Formula Atlantic Championship. Tony Brise and Gunnar Nilsson went head to head, Brise won the former and Ted Wenz the latter with Nilsson second. Other big hitters that year included Brian Henton, Danny Sullivan, Jim Crawford, John Nicholson, Ray Mallock and Brett Riley.
Bob Muir and Tony Alcock entered 14 of the 21 rounds with the two year old Birrana for bests a pair of third placings at Silverstone and Oulton Park. In an impressive first UK season, Muir’s raw speed was again demonstrated with six top-five qualifying performances, two on the front row, one alongside Jim Crawford’s Chevron B29 at Mallory in August, and another beside the similarly mounted Gunnar Nilsson at Oulton in October. “He led a race at Mallory until the subframe broke (June 15), that was pretty impressive,” recalls Dean. While he was fifth in his first outing at Mallory Park in March, generally the little equipe got better results from late May after they had dialled the car in to the circuits and tyres.
“The deals were that Tony and I were paid, not a lot in my case, but enough to live on, to prepare the cars and me to have an occasional drive. Bob traded in cars of course! He had some friends in the London motor trade, that’s how he supported his family while he was over there.”
Muir, Minos Ford BDA at Thruxton during the 1976 BARC 200. DNF in the race won by Maurizio Flammini’s works-March 762 BMW (MotorSport)
“The first time I drove one of the cars was at Silverstone (April 13). I could certainly feel the extra 70bhp of the BDA compared with the 135bhp Corolla motor in the 374 but soon got used to that after a few laps. In fact I got to the far side of the circuit and was pondering what was the right gear for that corner and somebody went past me – Zot – clearly it wasn’t third!” Dean quipped. Bob qualified 15th that weekend in 273-009, and Dean 18th in 273-006, both cars retired, so not a good weekend.
“Tony Brise was head and shoulders above everybody else, I was convinced he would be the next British world champion. I thought Richard Morgan was impressive up close too. Ted Wenz not so much. But we held our own in cars that were two years old. I wouldn’t have missed the experience for the world, but I wasn’t getting the drives I expected, money was perhaps a little tighter than Bob Brown may have hoped.”
It appears that Dean’s final race was at Snetterton on June 29. “Bob was great to be with, easy-going, a typical Sydney good-time guy! There was no prima-donna stuff, one one occasion we swopped cars as mine had the setup he was after. I came back and drove both contemporary cars for John Blanden, an ASP 340C Clubman, and some of his historic cars. I’ve always remained close to the scene with my involvement in the Sporting Car Club of South Australia and so on.”
At the end of 1975 Alcock took the fateful decision to join Hill Grand Prix, “I knew Tony well, he was with Matich for a while and came with us to the US when we did a couple of L&M races in the McLaren M10C Repco-Holden in early 1971. We lived close together in Sydney and saw one another quite a lot socially, both wives were Brits.” Kneller recalled affectionately.
“When Bob got in touch with me to help finish off the Minos Ford F2 car after Tony left – in essence it was a 273 rebodied and fitted with 295bhp Cosworth Ford BDX engine – it required assembly and finishing off, the hard stuff had already been done by Tony and Bob. I moved up to Bishop Auckland in this period and lived with Bob and Judy.”
“We took the car behind our little van to Thruxton (April 19) for the second round of the European F2 Championship. Bob was doing quite well in practice despite the fact that the car hadn’t turned a wheel before, 15th quickest time or thereabouts, but he only completed a lap in the race before the distributor drive failed.”
“We next set off for France to run in the Pau Grand Prix (June 7). What became clear in practice was that the Minos was flexing a lot when forced to change direction quickly, a problem not apparent at Thruxton. The Birranas had a chassis comprising an aluminium monocoque front and centre section and a tubular steel A-frame to which the engine was attached. It was built for 200bhp twin-cams not a 295bhp 2-litre BDX, the thing was twisting in the middle with the greater forces applied to it. I got some bits and pieces to brace the frame to the tub, including some radius rods Ron Dennis offered, but time ran out and we didn’t qualify.”
Derek Kneller’s shot of the Brown’s new Chevron B35 Ford (#35-76-10) after he had completed its assembly at Bolton in June 1976. B35 alongside’s owner? Chassis number of the half finished car please…? (D Kneller)
“The next thing I knew was Bob Muir asking me to go down to Bolton to assemble a new Chevron B35! Bob and Marj thought, stuff-it we need a new car.”
Derek Bennett himself helped me get the thing together, then off we set for Rouen (June 27). What should have been a good weekend quickly turned to tears, every time Bob applied the brakes at the bottom of the hill the car’s front wheels wanted to come off. The car assembly process at Chevrons involved going to the spares department to get the bits and pieces as you needed to attach to the chassis. The front suspension corners were complete sub-assemblies, all I had to do was bolt the wishbones, already attached to the upright assembly to the chassis. But left-hand hubs had gone onto right hand uprights, and vice-versa, so the wheels were trying to come undone under braking loads. What should have been an easy fix couldn’t be done in the paddock as none of the Chevron runners had the necessary parts.”
“We got the bits we needed out from England, then headed straight for Mugello which was held a fortnight later (July 11). We had heaps of time so Bob finally did lots of laps, getting himself and the car really dialled in. Don’t forget that when he got to the UK he didn’t know the circuits and the same applied in Europe of course. We had problems with the metering units of two engines, they weren’t getting the lubrication they needed from the Avgas we used.”
“We had great support from Swindons as we were the only ones running Ford engines. We needed another engine for the race so Bob Brown hired a plane, and he flew down with a Swindon works engine and one of their mechanics to look after it. When Bob put the car on the front row alongside Jabouille it was unbelievable. Our little team against the might of France complete with factory 320bhp Renault-Gordini V6s. Incredible really.”
Dicing with Alex Ribeiro’s fourth placed works-March 762 BMW early in the Mugello GP, Chevron B35 Ford BDX (MotorSport)
“Muiro led from the start of the 30 car grid, for about two laps our immaculate – Muir was fanatical about presentation – little red car led the field then he fell back a bit with clutch problems. The Aeroquip hydraulics line from stores was a fraction too short and vibrated loose, but he still ran sixth for a long while without a clutch, then slipped to ninth and eventually finished sixteenth. It was such a shame, without that who knows where he would have come.”
“And that was it. The Browns decided they had had enough and sold the Chevron. I’m not sure what became of the Minos, we sold it to a bloke from Scotland who ran it in the British Group 8 series for a while. Bob and Judy returned to Australia, I kept in touch with both of them, Judy too after they divorced, I last saw her at Frank’s (Matich) funeral in 2015. We kept in touch with Tony Alcock’s wife as well. After the plane crash (that killed most of Graham Hill’s team) she lived with her mother in Sussex for a while, she is still alive. The funny thing is, that light plane ride that Bob Brown took with the BDX from Bristol to Florence whetted his interest in flying, he and Marj took that up as another expensive hobby after they were finished with car racing!”
Three fabulous Muir Family Mugello happy-snaps, probably taken by Bob Brown as Derek Kneller is pushing the car in one shot and shirtless in another. Chevron B35 Ford BDX, the car on pole is Jean-Pierre Jabouille’s Elf 2J Renault
Tailpiece…
(T Glenn)
Super-sub. Bob Muir settles himself into Frank Matich’s brand new Matich A53 Repco-Holden at Oran Park just prior to the Tasman Cup round that in February 1974.
Matich had electrocuted himself in a near-fatal boating accident days before, FM ‘threw the keys’ to Bob after practicing the car and realising he wasn’t sufficiently well for the OP round, Q15/DNF. Frank was well enough to contest the remaining three Australian races – in which he was, as usual, very fast – his final races as events transpired.
The roll call is Peter Hughes in the white T-shirt, Lugsy Adams in yellow, then Grant O’Neill with the builders-cleavage, his woolly head obscuring Derek Kneller who is working on the left-front, all members of Frank Matich Racing. These are the machinists/fabricators/welders/mechanics who built A53-007, the very best of the Matich F5000 breed.
When I first posted an article incorporating this shot four years ago I captioned it on the basis that the fully-optioned, rather attractive young lady tending to Bob’s black helmet was his wife, a reasonable guess I thought. Not too long after, Bob’s ex-wife commented on social media that the blonde in question wasn’t her at all. There ya-go, my case rests, Muir met another of the tests of an elite level driver, the occasional away-game on the home front…’jokin of course.
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