By 1970 Lotus Components’ advertising – in August 1970 MotorSport – of the new, but ageing, Lotus 7 Series 4 has a bit of hey-man, hip-cat, cool and groovy about it…
Our Col was always up to the minute after-all.
The Seven Series 4 – aka Lotus Type 60 – caused a stir given its new body styling when unveiled at the Geneva Show in March 1970; the original 7 was released in 1958, the S2 in 1960 and the S3 in 1968.
I guess they do have a touch of the beach buggy about them but I always liked the look, rare as the S4 is in Australia.
(Lotus Cars)(Lotus Cars)(J Robinson Collection)
Check out this article about the evolution of the 7 from S3 to S4 spec written by John Robinson (above), one of the members of that small Lotus Components team way back in 1969. There are lots of other Lotus 7 articles there too. https://www.anglocanadianlotus7.ca/development-of-the-series-iv-seven/
These Lotus Components’ press releases are from the same article.
MotorSport’s caption rather put Team Lotus pace into context, ‘The Lotus 72 in the hands of Jochen Rindt has won three Grands Prix (Dutch, French, British) consecutively. Only the Dutch GP (here) proved him utterly superior, for elsewhere he has been conclusively led by 12-cylinder cars.’
Have had a fun week or so with a few back to back events, the first of which was a drive and photo-shoot of Rob Alsop’s superb, just finished restoration of a Bugatti T23 Brescia.
The article is scheduled to appear in a February magazine, shall let you know when. We did the shoot between the bays – Westernport and Port Phillip – at Arthurs Seat, Flinders and Shoreham. The shot above was taken at Flinders Golf Club looking towards Cape Schanck, Phillip Island is to the left 10k or whatever away.
(M Bisset)
Andrew and Dave Hewison do their stuff at Arthurs Seat, there were lotsa rubber-necks from countries-to-our-north around even at 10am Thursday morning…
Clutch-throttle-brake pedals have their challenges as the daily driver of a manual car. So too the right-hand brake, which operates the two-wheel only, rear brakes. Bugatti gearboxes are fantastic, the lever is alongside the brake, the brake-downchange caper takes some thought and coordination.
T23-2063 turned 100 in May, a peppy 1.5-litre, SOHC, three-valve four cylinder engine is impressive for the day.
(R Alsop)(M Bisset)
The Motors and Masterpieces car show held at the Melbourne Showgrounds last weekend is the successor to the much-admired and now dead Motorclassica.
The Showgrounds can never match the Royal Exhibition Buildings for grandeur, but critically the rent is much lower, so hopefully the thing makes a dollar and will therefore survive. We should be kissing owner/promoter Carlos Piteira on the arse with thanks for persisting but the usual array of whinging-do-fuck-all mob are railing from the sidelines, where of course they belong.
I’m not a big one for Shiny Car Shows – once every three years at Motorclassica – especially when they are largely devoid of racing cars, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Long may it continue…
(M Bisset)
The only two racing cars present were the ex-Brabham/Bob Jane-John Harvey 1968 Brabham BT23E Repco 830 2.5 V8, and ex-Tony Martin/Paul England-Peter Larner-Larry Perkins Chevron B39/45 Ford BDA 1.6. The Porsche is a tribute car.
(M Bisset)(M Bisset)
I ‘spose the ex-Rupert Steele Bentley qualifies as a racer too, see here for a piece about the car, which is coming up for sale in Donington Auction’s next sale: https://primotipo.com/2021/07/18/sir-ruperts-bentley/
(M Bisset)
The Harry Firth built ex-Gavin Bailleu/Wes Nalder/Dianne Leighton et al Triumph TR2 Special aka Ausca Triumph never looked this good in period. Creative Custom Cars in Dromana and a generous budget have done an extraordinary job.
Apart from a decade or so sitting on display in the Country Club Hotel in Longford the car has had a hard racing life, a more sedentary existence seems entirely appropriate.
Dianne Leighton in the Sandown paddock 1962 (unattributed)oopsie, Ausca TR methinks (M Bisset)(Creative Custom Cars)(M Bisset)(M Bisset)
Fifty Shades of Grey. Ferrari 550 Maranello and Aston Martin DB2-4 (M Bisset)
The Pursang Rally is an annual one-dayer orgnised by the Ferrari and Bugatti clubs.
Held last Sunday, the start was at Snapper Point, Mornington – where these shots were taken – and then proceeded down the Mornington Peninsula to St Andrews via Arthurs Seat, Boneo, Red Hill, Shoreham, Flinders and loops thereof.
A great day was had by all, the rain stopped, it’s not the go to name the owners of these cars other, perhaps, than Joe Killeja whose ownership of this sensational AC Cobra #CSX2522 is in the public domain.
(M Bisset)
The car is one of two Slalom Special/Slalom Snakes built in 1964. As the names suggests, they were factory built club competition specials fitted with a swag of desirable goodies: front and rear roll bars, Konis, American brand mag-alloy rather than wire wheels, high performance Goodyears, brake and bonnet scoops, side exhausts and bumper bars deleted. Yes, I can see bumperettes in the pic above.
Jack Quinn, the lucky prick, had command of the car for the day, the AC had promotional filming duties in the afternoon for Jack’s upcoming Rippon Lea Concours, see here: https://ripponleaconcours.com/
(M Bisset)
Ford 289 small-block Windsor with four downdraught Weber IDA’s and lots of trick internals. Quoted at 385bhp ex-factory but this baby gives plenty more.
Delahaye 135M (M Bisset)Brescia by two (M Bisset)
The largesse rolled on with Mark Johnson and Jack Quinn’s X-Mas bash in North Melbourne and Donington’s pre-event viewing of the cars of the late Ric Begg in Brunswick. See here: https://www.doningtonauctions.com.au/ Not too many alcohol free days at all in the last 10 I’m afraid…
(M Bisset)
The owner of this car sold his Cameron Millar Maserati 250F and bought this Ferrari 250TR Replica, there won’t be too many of these in Portsea this summer.
(M Bisset)
This pair of Sunbeam Specials were impressive, mind you there is about $A200k to spend on the one below after you buy the car Grant Cowie reckons…
John Lemm’s fabulous portrait of five-star racer, engineer and industrialist Peter Holinger as he awaits a run at Collingrove Hillclimb in South Australia’s Barossa Valley during 1973. His machine is a self-built Holinger Repco RB620 4.4-litre V8.
Let’s not ponder fireproof racegear and six-point harnesses in Australian hillclimbing at the time…
Peter won the Australian Hillclimb Championship in 1976 at Bathurst, 1978 at Collingrove, 1979 at Mount Cotton, Queensland and finally, 1988, at Fairbairn Park, Canberra in another Repco V8 powered – 5-litre Repco 720 – Holinger Repco.
Holinger aboard the car below at Lakeland, Victoria in 1976.
When Peter’s great friend and Repco colleague, Rodway Wolfe, purchased Brabham BT31-1 Repco – Jack’s 1969 Tasman machine – from Repco in 1971, Holinger stored the car for Rod and took photographs and the dimensions of it with Wolfe’s blessing, the Holinger Repco was the result.
Peter in the Holinger Repco at Lakeland, Victoria in 1976 (Auto Action)(J Lemm)
Lemm’s perfectly focussed shot of Holinger at Collingrove ’73 with a ‘touch of the BRMs’ as the car was then configured. Lemm wrote that the single-rear-disc brake set up comprised a rotor and caliper donated by a Renault R8.
‘The 4.4-litre 620 series Repco had special camshafts made by Peter to give greater low end torque,’ wrote ex-Repco Brabham Engine Company engineer, Nigel Tait. ‘He started to make that engine not very long after we’d moved (Repco Brabham Engines) from Richmond to Maidstone. Apart from being a very clever guy, Peter was an absolutely delightful person,’ Nigel said. Everything you ever wanted to know about the RBE 620 V8: https://primotipo.com/2014/08/07/rb620-v8-building-the-1966-world-championship-winning-engine-rodways-repco-recollections-episode-2/
The very first firing of any Repco Ltd built complete engine, the 2.5-litre RB620 V8 E1 – use of the Oldsmobile F85 block in the 620 engines is duly noted – in cell four of the Repco Engine Laboratory Richmond, on its Heenan & Froude GB4 dyno, March 26, 1965. That’s Phil Irving at left with stereo-typical inch of ash on his ciggie, Bob Brown, the Repco Ltd director responsible for the Repco Engine Parts Manufacturing Group of which Repco Brabham Engines Pty Ltd was a part, Frank Hallam, RBE general manager, and Peter Holinger, then head machinist and technician. Those Webers were borrowed from Bib Stillwell up the road in Kew, the Lucas fuel injection system had not yet arrived. E1 was the only engine fitted with carbs, and not for long, all RBE V8s were Lucas injected…except an Indy Turbo R&D engine that never got closer to the track than the Maidstone dyno-house (Repco)
Holinger knew a thing or two about these engines having machined and assembled the very first 2.5-litre RB620-E1 V8 together with its designer, Phil Irving – Irving drew every single RBE620 design drawing – in February-March 1965. Indeed, Holinger was present in the Repco Engine Laboratory in Richmond when that engine was fired up for the very first time on March 26, 1965.
Peter was already hillclimbing another self built machine, the Holinger Vincent s/c during this period at Repco, and when he first went out on his own. The two shots below are both at Silverdale, NSW, in 1966 and 1969.
(K Power)(Australian Motor Racing Annual)
The ongoing evolution of the Holinger Vincent was also typical of Peter’s subsequent two hillclimbers, the shots below are of the Holinger Repco ‘BT31’ taken at the daunting, fast, Mount Tarrengower, Maldon, Victoria in 1978. The wings are the obvious change from the earlier shots, this car copped a 5-litre Repco 720 V8 at some point too.
(J Bowring)Rare colour shot of Peter and Holinger ‘BT31’ nose-up under power in second gear perhaps. Holden FB wagon in the background at the bottom of Tarrengower (G Williamson)
The good news is that the three Holinger hillclimbers are still with us. David Nash – a Repco colleague of Peter Holinger’s – wrote a while back that he was rebuilding engine E1 4.4 – the same engine built by Peter and Phil in 2.5-litre form in 1965 – to go back into the Holinger ‘BT31’.
The final Holinger Repco 5-litre (shots below) was rebuilt at Holinger Engineering after Peter’s death in 2009, and shifted to the premises of the Victorian Historic Racing Register in Box Hill, Melbourne, on long term display/loan in March 2017. It always warms the cockles of ‘me heart to see it…
Holinger aboard his final Holinger Repco 5-litre 720 at Morwell Hill, Victoria, circa 1988 (unattributed)(Holinger)(Holinger)
Etcetera…
(S Dalton Collection)
Holinger, very close to his Warrandyte home, on Templestowe hill, September 11, 1966 with Autosportsman reporting times of 54 and 53.9 seconds.
(D Willis)
Dick Willis’ amazing photograph of a posse of Australian Hillclimb Champions taken during the 1996 championship weekend, April 4-7 at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.
Left to right are Kym Rohrlach 1980/82/86/87, Stan Keen 1975/93, Peter Holinger 1976/78/79/88, Warren Brown 1984, Ivan Tighe 1964/85/91, John Davies 1992/95 and Roger Harrison 1983/94.
Arcane trivia is that – I think – the final in-period championship won by an RBE V8 anywhere in the world was Roger Harrison’s victory in the ’97 AHCC at Mount Leura, Camperdown, Victoria on October 16-19. His weapon was an ex-Alan Hamilton/Alf Costanzo Tiga FA83 Formula Pacific machine fitted with an RBE740 V8, capacity folks? Hamilton had Jim Hardman restore that car to RBE spec five or so years ago, it may have sold recently.
(Repco)
I love this Repco Brabham Engines family shot taken at the just-moved-into Maidstone premises in mid-late 1966. Back-Kevin Davies, Eric Gaynor, Tony Chamberlain, Fred Rudd, John Mepstead and Peter Holinger. Middle-Vic Mosby, Howard Ring and Norm Bence. Front-David Nash, Rod Wolfe and Don Butler.
Credits…
John Lemm, Auto Action, Repco Archive via Nigel Tait, Australian Motor Racing Annual 1970, Kerry Power, Geoff Williamson, John Bowring, Stephen Dalton
Following its successful early-1950s World Sportscar Championship front-running Lancia D24, Grand Prix racing Lancia D50, and 1960-70’s World Rally Championship campaigns with the Fulvia HF and stunning Stratos, Lancia reverted to international sportscar racing to build its brand in 1979. Lancia Corse/Martini Racing contested the Group 5 title from 1979-82 with the Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo.
The shot above shows Riccardo Patrese on the way to winning the Brands Hatch 6 Hour on March 16, 1980. He shared the car with Walter Rohrl, second was Eddie Cheever and Michele Alboreto in another Lancia Corse entry, with Alain De Cadenet and Desire Wilson third in De Cad’s De Cadenet Lola LM Ford. To reinforce the Lancia rout, the Jolly Club Montecarlo raced by Mario Finotto and Carlo Facetti was fourth.
Eddie Cheever, second, from Desire Wilson, De Cadenet Lola LM Ford, third at Paddock Bend during the 1980 Brands race (N Forsythe)Patrese in the cockpit of chassis #1002 before the off at Brands Hatch (N Forsythe)
Group 5 was a silhouette formula for modified production cars spilt into under and over 2-litre classes. Lancia’s weapon of war was an extensively modified version of the Beta Montecarlo Coupé.
While normally aspirated in road trim, Lancia Corse sporting director Ceasare Fiorio concluded that turbo-charging the 1,425cc four-cylinder engine would give sufficient power and torque to win the 2-litre class allied with wild chassis and body modifications. As it transpired, the machines were also outright contenders.
(unattributed)(unattributed)
Engineer, Gianni Tonti was in overall control of the project. Ex-Lamborghini designer Gianpaolo Dallara built the Group 5 Stratos that won the 1976 Giro d’Italia, Fiorio was impressed with his work and therefore engaged Dallara Automobili to design and build the chassis. Carrozzeria Pininfarina designed and built the bodies.
Group 5 permitted bulk modifications, so the roof and door centre monocoque section of the donor car was retained but it was sandwiched by bespoke tubular subframes to carry the front suspension, wishbones and coil springs, and rear suspension, McPherson Struts, wishbones and engine/gearbox and ancillary components.
Pininfarina’s striking fibreglass coachwork was designed to increase downforce and featured an aggressive chin spoiler, extended wheel-arches and big rear wing. Only the car’s centre section retained any resemblance to the production car, yet it weighed 300kg less than the road car at about 810kg.
The Patrese/Hans Heyer Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo during the Nurburgring 1000km, May 1980. Led then slipped to fourth outright in the final laps with overheating, won the 2-litre class (unattributed)Watkins Glen 6 Hour, July 1980 Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbos. #33 Jolly Club Finotto/Ghinzani sixth, #32 Cheever/Alboreto second, and #31 Patrese/Heyer, first (D Balboni)
The engine development programme was supervised by Gianni Tonto at Abarth. With an engine naturally aspirated to turbo-charged capacity equivalency factor of 1.4 times, the Aurelio Lampredi designed, twin-cam, two-valve, Kugelfischer-Bosch injected engine had a capacity of 1425cc to pop in under the 2-litre limit.
Maximum output was boosted to 370bhp at 8,800rpm using a KKK-K27 turbo-charger and 1.2 bar of boost, a result slightly more than the 118bhp of the standard 2-litre Monte! The car was tested with up to 420bhp but the engines became grenades with 1.6 bar of boost.
The engine and five-speed transaxle was mounted transversely behind the driver as per the donor car and the regs. While the gearbox was cast using production moulds, the use of magnesium saved weight while Colotti internals provided a gearbox fit for purpose.
Michele Alboreto on the Daytona road course section. DNF dropped valve in the January 1981 24 Hours, the car was shared with Beppe Gabbiani and Piercarlo GhinzaniMichele Alboreto aboard the car he shared with Eddie Cheever and Carlo Facetti at Le Mans in 1981. Eighth outright and first in the 2-litre class (Getty Images)Riccardo Patrese on the way to a Brands Hatch 6 Hour class win in August 1979. Rohrl shared the car to fifth outright and first in class (unattributed)Launch of the Lancia Monte Carlo Turbo at the Pininfarina wind tunnel in December 1978 (Wiki)
Presented to the press at the Pininfarina factory in December 1978, the Montecarlo commenced testing in February 1979, initially with a 220bhp 2-litre Mirafiori normally aspirated rally engine until the 1.4-turbo was ready.
It first raced in the Silverstone 6 Hours in May (#51 below) having missed the Championship’s first two rounds. Finished in dramatic Zebra livery, Montecarlo chassis #1001 was driven by rising F1 racer Riccardo Patrese and ex-European Rally Champion and 1980/82 World Rally Champion Walter Rohrl, proving impressively quick in qualifying (seventh) but retired from the race after only four laps with a blown head gasket.
Despite continuing unreliability the team bagged sufficient points with class wins at Enna and Brands Hatch to take the World Championship of Makes Division 2 title in its debut season.
The Zebra Patrese/ Lancia Monte Carlo Turbo in the Silverstone 6-Hour pits in 1979. Q7 and DNF after 4-laps; head gasket failure after the radiator cap failed (unattributed)Lancia Corse pit action at Watkins Glen in July 1980 where the Monte Carlo Turbos finished first, second and sixth, vanquishing a squadron of Porsche 935s (French Speed Connection)
Lancia Corse made great advances with the five new cars which were built for 1980, the most significant developmental changes were in relation to tyres, suspension geometry, engine power, and weight.
Two extended sessions with Pirelli resulted in substantial changes despite the P7 Corsa radials being of the same construction and compounds. ‘Both the front and rear the overall diameter of the wheel-tyre assembly is unaltered, the front rims are now an inch smaller at 15 inches, and rears three inches larger at 19 ins. The new front tyre is narrower with a higher profile to provide a softer ride and better turn-in,’ Autosport reported. ‘The new rear is more significant, with a very low profile and greater width on the road, utilising all but 4mm of the maximum permitted 14ins of tread.’ Lancia made suspension changes to suit, with the drivers much happier with the overall balance of the car by the end of the sessions.
The engines were improved from the 380bhp delivered through a power band of 5500-8600rpm in 1979 to 410bhp arriving between 4500 and 9000rpm. In addition, a trip to the Jenny Craig Clinic reduced the ’80 cars weight to circa 770kg compared with circa 810kg of the early cars.
The Zebra livery continued but now with white/red and white/blue combinations. Although the team fared badly at Le Mans 24 – of three cars that started only the Finotto/Facetti machine finished in 19th – victories at Brands Hatch, Mugello and Watkins Glen brought the Lancia Montecarlo overall victory in the World Sportscar Championship. Patrese was the ‘winningest’ Lancia pilot, being the lead driver in each win.
The Cheever/Alboreto/Facetti car at Le Mans in 1981. Eighth outright and first in the 2-litre class with engines tuned to 400bhp spec (unattributed)Cockpit of one of the Monte Turbos at Le Mans in 1981 (R Schlegelmilch)
Having clinched victory by the penultimate Vallelunga round, Lancia missed the final event at Dijon in favour of the Giro d’Italia, in which the works cars appeared in the stunning, iconic Martini Rossi colours for the first time. First and second places ended a great year for the Montecarlo.
Lancia Corse raced with Martini livery from the start of 1981, that year the Montecarlo was equipped with twin turbo-chargers giving circa-450bhp. This was final year in which Lancia Corse used the Montecarlo as its frontline tool, they planned to enter Group C with the LC1 Barchetta in 1982. Despite that, the Monte proved good enough to secure its second World Championship with wins at the Nurburgring and Watkins Glen.
The works cars – 11 were built between 1979 and 1981 – were then sold, some were raced by privateers in 1982 in the last year of Group 5 but by then they were also-rans. See here for bulk detail: http://www.lanciabetamontecarlo.nl/Gp5/group%205+6.html
Watkins Glen pitstop for the Patrese seated, and Alboreto assisting, Lancia Beta Monte Carlo Turbo in 1981. Outright and 2-litre class winners (Belles Italiennes)
Etcetera…
(N Forsythe)
Shots of the launch function at the Pininfarina wind tunnel on December 19, 1978. Walter Rohrl is facing us at left with Cesare Florio further back.
(N Forsythe)(N Forsythe) Monte Group 5 chassis was a mix of standard’ish pressed steel monocoque and Dallara fabricated steel frames at each end (unattributed)(Pure Racing GT)
Fiorio achieved a promotional coup by signing Walter Rohrl and Gilles Villeneuve/Christian Geistdorfer to drive one of two Lancia Monte Carlo Turbos (Riccardo Patrese/Markku Alen/IIkka Kivimaki raced the other car to second place) entered in the 1979 Giro D’ Italia Automobilistico.
Both cars were set up to give about 360bhp with Villeneuve contesting only four of the races due to his Ferrari testing commitments. Rohrl/Villeneuve were first on the road aboard chassis #1002, but were later disqualified for using the motorway – failing to follow the route-book.
(unattributed)
Villeneuve ready to rock in these shots above and below, in his Ferrari overalls. Note the Momo steering wheel and stopwatches in the cockpit shot below.
(unattributed)(French Speed Connection)
The shot above shows the business end. You can see where the structural frame ends where the top of the strut mounts and the KKK-turbo is mounted. The lighter frame sections carry the other bits: oil tank, roll bar, exhaust etc.
The contemporary (Goodwood FOS) shot below completes the rear suspension picture by showing us the disc/hub/strut assembly which is located below by a barely visible boxed inverted wishbone.
Front of the Patrese/Cheever Monte Carlo during the 1981 Silverstone 6-Hour weekend. DNF crash after losing a wheel (A Fosh)(Bonhams)
The engine is shown above, it looks innocuous enough with the giant KKK-turbo out of picture. Camshafts are belt-driven, two-valves per cylinder. Fuel injection is Kugelfisher-Bosch.
(F Kraling)
Eddie Cheever about to climb aboard, and Michele Alboreto coming out of the car at Le Mans in 1981, eighth outright and first 2-litre car. This shot makes one feel as though you are there!
(rainmakerbell.com)
Kyalami 9 Hours, November 1981, Emanuelle Pirro and Michele Alboreto enroute to fourth place. The three cars in front were all Porsches, the winners, Jochen Mass and Reinhold Jost, raced a 936/80.
Credits…
Autosport, Anthony Fosh, Getty Images, Pure Racing GT, French Speed Connection, Nick Forsythe, Belles Italiennes, Bonhams, Dominic Balboni, Ferdi Kraling, rainmakerbell.com
‘Cedric Brierley was well known in Club racing until a bad crash put him out of racing for some time, leaving him with a disability which precludes the use of a normal gearbox. He has had a Lotus Elite fitted with a 1.5-litre single-cam Coventry Climax engine and Hobbs automatic gearbox and at the Southport Speed Trials he proved to be nearly as quick as the E-Type Jaguars.’ MotorSport wrote.
It was the beauty of the shot that initially captured my attention, then you start to dig…I thought there was only one Elite fitted with a Hobbs Mecha-Matic gearbox – Howard Frederick Hobbs was an Adelaide born engineer – not so…
Rupert Lloyd Thomas wrote on The Nostalgia Forum, ‘Let us try and put the achievements of Howard Hobbs in context. He built the 1015 automatic transmission and fitted it to a Lotus Elite for the 1961 season.
In November 1960, David Hobbs, Howard’s son, acquired Lotus Elite, 5649 UE, from Chequered Flag, Chiswick, London, that was to launch his international racing career. The engine of the Elite was modified by Cosworth to Stage III tune producing 108 b.h.p. and a Hobbs Mecha-Matic gearbox was fitted, specially modified for racing. Hobbs said, “Chapman was not involved in the project, but our engine was blueprinted by some young tuner by the name of Keith Duckworth.”
The Hobbs Mecha-Matic gearbox high point came at the Nurburgring on May 28, 1961, when David Hobbs, and Bill Pinckney, two Midlands lads, defeated the might of Porsche in the 1600cc sports racing class in the Nurburgring 1000 kms with their automatic Lotus Elite. Bumped up to the 1600cc class by the organisers for their non-standard gearbox, after protests from fellow competitors, they faced much more powerful opposition from Porsche. After this remarkable achievement the future of the gearbox looked set fair. A long trip to Italy for Le Quattro Ore di Pescara on August 15 was less successful. The car dropped a valve early in the race, mechanic Ben Cox remembers worrying about taking the blame for what turned out to be a material failure.
Colin Chapman was sufficiently impressed to contact Hobbs in order that Jim Clark could drive the car in the 3 Hours of Daytona on 11 February 1962. As David Hobbs fought to establish himself as a professional racing driver he had also come to the attention of the Jaguar factory, and for 1962 he took over the privateer Peter Berry-entered E-Type from Bruce McLaren for the season. He was entered in the Jaguar, 3 BXV, for the inaugural Daytona 3 hours with the Lotus sitting idle. As Hobbs tells it, “Colin Chapman rang up and asked if he could borrow the Mecha-Matic Elite for Jim Clark to race at the same event.” Clark drove the Mecha-Matic in Florida, streaking away in the class lead but retiring after 60 laps with a failed starter motor and being classified 29th.
Jim Clark later had a road-going Elite, HSH 200, fitted with a Hobbs gearbox, as did Stirling Moss. Clark said in the book ‘Jim Clark at the Wheel’, “Those who scorn automatics take note!”
(J Allington)
The Mecha-Matic Elites…
Thomas again, ‘I have found three:
The road car of Jim Clark Reg # HSH 200. This plate would have been issued in 1961 by Berwick C.C. Chassis No: EB-1659, Engine No: FWE10233 – SUPER 95 Specification. Bristol Plate No: EB-1659. Originally yellow and silver. Subsequently sold in 1962 to a George V. Simpson, who painted it dark blue, Scottish racing colours.
The Cedric Brierley car, Reg # 318 MNU.
The Stirling Moss road car Reg # HRT 163D. Body/Chassis no.1789 and was fitted with a Twin-cam engine, make unknown. Colour yellow. This is a 1966 reg no. so car may have been re-registered that year on change of specification. Car thought to be in the USA, last known owner was a Richard Richardson.
So we have a story involving David Hobbs, Keith Duckworth, Colin Chapman, Jim Clark and Stirling Moss. Duckworth later put cash into developing the ideas of Howard Hobbs, Clark and Moss bought the cars.
An intriguing footnote. About the time Duckworth was taking up the VKD transmission for racing, Howard Hobbs was still battling his old nemesis Borg-Warner in the road car game: http://archive.comme…ly-transmission ‘
Coventry Climax’ mega racing successes were begat by the Godiva Featherweight engine as you all know. Here is a great Graces Guide summary of the corporate evolution of Coventry Climax, formed in 1917: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Coventry_Climax_Engines
(Godiva Ltd)
Etcetera…
1939
Irrelevant in the context of this article but it popped up in my Google search, so why not. Shots of the two (?) semi-undressed F1 Coventry Climax FWMV Mk 6 and Mk 7 1.5-litre four-valve V8s aren’t common.
The Cams were gear, rather than chain-driven as in the case of the earlier FWMVs, as David Phipps’ London Motor Show shot taken at Earls Court in October 1965 demonstrates.
The Mk6 FWMV Coventry Climax V8 (below) made for Lotus fitted to a 33 chassis in 1965, circuit unknown. Quick visual differentiators (below) from a two-valver are the ribbed cam-covers and, depending on the crank spec of the engine concerned, and ‘conventional’ rather than crossover exhausts. Aren’t the megaphones nice…212bhp @ 10,300rpm are the numbers I have. ZF five-speed transaxle.
(MotorSport)
Credits…
MotorSport April 1963, Rupert Lloyd Thomas, James Allington, Road & Track, MotorSport Images, Godiva Ltd, Getty Images-David Phipps
Alan Jones, Surtees TS19 Ford during the US GP West at Long Beach on March 28, 1976.
What caught my eye was John Surtees’ Franger-Mobile without the ads for Durex’ finest. Too much for American sensibilities or something? The BBC cracked-it too didn’t they, refused to cover F1 that season?
Anyway, having randomly lobbed on this photo, I kept going through the amazing Getty Images archive, this Jones homage is the result.
It seemed to me rather a cohesive design from the pens of Big John and Ken Sears, but its looks flattered to deceive a bit. Sadly.
Jones, Monaco Q19 and first lap collision, DNF
Jones’ best result in 16 races with the car was a brilliant second behind James Hunt’s McLaren M23 Ford in the non-championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in March. In Grands Prix he was fourth in the season-ending Japanese GP where Hunt won the title, and bagged a pair of fifths at Zolder and Brands Hatch.
After Alan decided he would rather race in the US than saddle up again with former World Champ Surtees, his countrymen, Larry Perkins and Vern Schuppan had a crack or two in TS19s in 1977 but they didn’t like the cars much either although.
Vittorio Brambilla’s best TS19 results in 1977 almost exactly matched Jones’ the year before, but by then Jones had returned to F1 with Shadow after the horrific death of Tom Pryce during the ’77 South African Grand Prix.
AJ found the Shadow DN8 Ford much more to his liking than the TS19, bagging points in six races including a first breakthrough F1 win at the Osterreichring, and third place at Monza.
TS19 in the pits at Long Beach in March 1976, where Alan was unclassified.
The pyramid type aluminium monocoque has more than a nod to Gordon Murray’s Brabham BT42-44s but has two angles to it. Front mounted radiators, pull-rod actuation of the front spring, fuel carried centrally aft of the driver, the usual Ford Cosworth DFV-Hewland FGA400 combo, rear springs are torsion bars (?), single top-links and wide based lower wishbones and one radius rod assisting fore-aft locational duties on each side. Interesting.
Race of Champions, Brands Hatch paddock in March 1976 where the Jones boy is catching up with what’s happening in Australia, Chequered Flag was a good publication at the time.
Jones, Lola T332 Chev ahead of Peter Gethin’s VDS Chevron B37 Chev on the run down to Dandenong Road during the February 1977 Sandown Park Cup. DNF for both, Max Stewart won in his Lola T400 Chev (I Smith)
He raced at home that summer for the first time since leaving for the UK circa-1968 – after the September 1968 Sandown Three Hour in which he co-drove a Holden Monaro HK GTS327 to second place – doing all four rounds of the February 1977 Rothmans International Series.
He brained everybody with his speed in the Sid Taylor/Theodore Racing Lola T332C Chev, taking one win, jumped the start of the AGP and got pinged at Oran Park, then boofed the car during practice at Surfers. Third place overall with his raw pace riveting to watch…
A couple of classic Nurburgring shots during the July 31, 1976 German GP weekend, above aviating at the Flugplatz and below the Karussel photograph shows the attractive lines of the TS19 to good effect.
AJ was tenth from Q14 of 26 on the disastrous weekend in which Niki Lauda came close to losing his life aboard a Ferrari 312 T2.
There is that double angle tub on display, doesn’t the bodywork enhance the flow of air onto the wing? Alternative front nose being tried during practice at the Nurburgring below.
Jones on the hop at Watkins Glen in October 1978, Williams FW06 Ford and looking on-it in the damp pitlane at the Osterreichring in August 1978 below.
When Jones joined Williams for a one-car attack in 1978 it didn’t necessarily look the best of moves, but Patrick Head’s first F1 car, the FW06 proved an excellent design which was well prepared as FW had an adequate budget for the very first time. Jones made the Saudi Airlines sponsored car fizz, finishing 9 of the 16 races he started with second, fourth and fifth his best results in the US, South Africa and France respectively.
With Frank Williams and the FW06 at Long Beach during the 1979 US GP West in October below.
‘The best’ of the non-ground effect cars in 1978, the FW06 was off the pace in 1979 amongst a more competitive grid, arguably, Jones would have won the 1979 title had the FW07 appeared earlier than it did; Woulda-coulda-shoulda…
(D Phipps)
Amongst the fastest ground-effect machines of the early 1980s was the Williams FW07 Ford in its various iterations, here with Jones in front one of one of the Renaults at the Osterreichring in August 1980 where he finished second in an FW07B.
Great shots of the fully extended sliding skirts of the FW07Bs of Carlos Reutemann #28 and Jones in the Watkins Glen paddock in October 1980, and below of the tunnel support structure at Hockenheim in 1979 where AJ won.
The FW07 was first raced at Jarama in April 1979 with Clay Regazzoni taking its first race win in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July, then Jones won four of the last six races that year as the FW07 hit its straps, and took the title in 1980 with victories in Argentina, France, Britain, Canada and the US.
Overhead shot at Monza in 1979 shows the critical elements of the car: inboard front suspension offering a clear flow of air into the ground-effect tunnels, the size of which is enhanced by a very slim aluminium honeycomb chassis, and centrally mounted fuel cell. Not to forget the 3-litre Ford Cosworth DFV engine.
Jones as snug as a bug in a rug at Brands Hatch in 1980.
I can’t quite read the FW07B chassis plate, but Allen Brown’s oldracingcars.com tells me he used FW07B/7 and FW07B/8 in practice, winning the race aboard FW07B/7.
Adelaide GP meeting in November 1991 aboard the BMW M3 Evolution he raced to fourth place in the Australian Touring Car Championship. Adelaide wasn’t part of the ATCC.
Credits…
Getty Images, Ian Smith
Tailpiece…
AJ during practice for the one and only Grand Prix Masters race at Kyalami on November 11-13 2005. His mount is a Reynard/Delta 2KI Cosworth XB.
The naturally aspirated 3.5-litre 80-degree V8s were built by Nicholson-McLaren and tuned to give 650bhp @10,400rpm and 320lb/ft of torque at 7,800rpm.
Jones practiced but didn’t start the race with neck soreness, Nigel Mansell won from Emerson Fittipaldi and Riccardo Patrese.
Sorta a great idea but there is a difference between old pro-golfers having a hit and old pro-racing drivers ‘having a hit’…the story is well told here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_Masters
Roy Nockolds’ painting depicts Donald Healey on his way to setting a two-way average of 192.60mph for the flying-mile in a supercharged Austin Healey 100S Streamliner at Utah in September 1954.
The Queensland Times reported that ‘A modified Austin Healey Hundred running recently at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, in the United States, was timed officially at a mean-speed of 192.6 miles per hour over one mile.’
‘Mr Donald Healey, the British car designer and racing driver, was at the wheel. Mr Healey broke all international records for the five and ten kilometre and five and ten mile distances in class D.’
‘The Austin Healey was fitted with an extended nose and tail and a bubble-top and was supercharged to compensate for the loss of power at the high altitude (4300ft) of the Utah Flats.’
(Alamy)
Carroll Shelby, Roy Jackson Moore and Donald Healey at Utah in August 1956 alongside a 100-6 endurance car with the 200mph supercharged six-cylinder powered – by then – Streamliner behind, see here for more: https://primotipo.com/2019/06/08/austin-healey-100s-streamliner/
Below is another Nockolds Bonneville print, this time depicting Donald Healey aboard Austin Healey 100 NOJ 391 on his way to breaking various American Automobile Association records in September 1953.
(R Nockolds)
Credits…
Motor Racing, Roy Nockolds, Queensland Times October 9, 1954, Alamy
By 1957 Jack Brabham was getting the hang of this European racing caper, he was the winningest Formula 2 driver in in the winningest car that year.
Cooper’s Type 43 was powered by the brand-new 1475cc Coventry Climax twin-cam, two-valve FPF four-cylinder engine.
Coopers entered Jack in nine F2 races that year and he won five of them, most were blue-riband events too: the London Trophy at Crystal Palace, Prix de Paris, Montlhery, the Rochester Trophy at Brands and Oulton Park’s Gold Cup.
Motor Racing’s fantastic cover shot – very well-used down-the-decades and perhaps taken by Geoff Goddard – above was taken at Goodwood during the Woodcote Cup on September 28, where Jack’s teammate, Roy Salvadori triumphed in another works T43. Roy also won the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone a fortnight before, other 1957 Cooper T43 winners were George Wicken and Tony Marsh.
The Haves in 1957 used a Cooper chassis and a Climax FPF engine, the rest made do with a Climax single-cam FWA or FWB engine and another chassis.
Funnily enough Lotus’ best ‘F2 result’ for the year was Tom Dickson’s victory at Snetterton on May 19 aboard a Lotus 11 FWA during a combined F2/sportscar race. The much vaunted, light, clever, gorgeous, front-engined, and fragile F2 Lotus 12 FPF (below) flattered to deceive: its best results were a second and a third placing for Cliff Allison in the Gold Cup, and Woodcote Cup respectively.
Lotus 12 Coventry Climax FPF to be precise
Other F2 winners in ’57 were Maurice Trintignant aboard a works Ferrari Dino 156 in the Coupe Internationale de Vitesse at Reims in July and Edgar Barth’s victory in the F2 race within a race, at the GermanGrand Prix at the Nurburgring in August aboard a Porsche 500RS.
That Dino spawned a series of V6 cars, race and rally engines that were still winning well into the mid-1970s.
By mid-1959 Brabham was looking a fairly complete professional…
Jack and (the works team) Cooper had just taken their first Grand Epreuve wins at Monaco on May 10, while Motor Racing’s cover above shows Jack on the way to victory in the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone on May 2.
By then Brabham’s Cooper is a Type 51 and the engine a 2.5-litre FPF. The F2 youth of 1957 had grown into a dominant adult by 1959. It may have been a simple motor but it was oh-so-sweet.
Motor Racing magazine, as the covers note, was the official organ of the British Racing and Sports Car Club. It succeeded Iota and was published from January 1954 to February 1970…bloody good too!
Credits…
Motor Racing magazines – fantastic they are too – many thanks to Bob King
In this case the meaning is an unfortunate set of circumstances that are set in train that end up badly for the initiator and well for the recipient.
Young British up-and-comer Stephen South was looking good for 1980, he had a strong season in the 1979 European F2 Championship – sixth with one win at Hockenheim – and had been signed up as one of two Team Toleman drivers together with Derek Warwick to pilot a pair of Rory Byrne designed Toleman TG280 2-litre Hart 420Rs in the 1980 championship.
He’d done the early testing at Goodwood in early February above – see the Autosport article at the end of this piece – and it was all looking good until South was offered Alain Prost’s McLaren seat for the March 30 Long Beach Grand Prix. The little Frenchie had crashed and broken his wrist during practice for the preceding South African Grand Prix at Kyalami. It wasn’t a great call by South as McLaren were on a roll of building dog after dog Ground Effect cars: the M28/M29/M30, but the F1 siren-call was ever strong.
South, Project Four March 792 BMW during the July 29, 1979 Enna GP. Third behind Eje Elgh and Derek Daly, both also in March 792s (Autosport)
The communication between South and Toleman is unclear but it seems that Stephen tested the McLaren without first clearing it with Toleman, such consent was unlikely given the first European F2 Championship round was to be held at Thruxton on April 7, only a week later.
The upshot was that Stephen lost his ride which went to Brian Henton. Somewhat predictably, South failed to make the qualifying cut at Long Beach together with Geoff Lees and David Kennedy aboard Shadow DN11A Fords.
Brian Henton – who had finished second in the 1979 Euro F2 Championship aboard a Toleman Ralt RT2 Hart – seized the Gift from The Gods with both hands and won at Thruxton from Warwick on the way to championship victory easily from his teammate and Teo Fabi’s factory March 802 BMW.
South during practice at Long Beach in 1980, McLaren M29C (unattributed)Sears Point opening Can Am round on May 25 1980. Patrick Tambay has already gone through. South’s Lola T530 leads the similar VDS cars of Geoff Brabham #3 and Elliott Forbes-Robinson #2. Bobby Rahal’s black Prophet is behind Brabham. Tambay won from EFR and Rahal (K Oblinger)
It wasn’t a compete disaster for South at this point as he then picked up a plum-seat with Newman Racing driving one of two new Lola T530 Chevs together with Elliot Forbes Robinson in the 1980 Can-Am Challenge.
Without a lot of testing, and despite being in a field of drivers with plenty of Big Car Experience: Patrick Tambay, Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Geoff Brabham and Keke Rosberg to name a few, Stephen shone with raw pace and aggression.
He qualified third in the first two rounds at Sears Point and Mid Ohio but retired early with fuel pump and fuel pressure problems respectively. He then qualified fourth at Mosport and finished second to Tambay, on his way to the title. This was good, if Stephen could make a decent fist of it amongst this company he may get another crack at F1, he had tested well for Lotus at the end of 1979 but Chapman ultimately plumped for Elio De Angelis.
At Watkins Glen he was Q5 but collided with spinning teammate, Forbes-Robinson on lap 3 of the race. South bounced back to put his 550bhp T530 on pole at Road America, placing fifth. At Brainerd he was Q11 but didn’t start after a crash caused by a broken wheel, then the Shit Fairy arrived during the blue-riband Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières at Montreal on August 24.
With his Lola still not repaired, poor Stephen crashed very badly in practice head on aboard one of the team’s 1979 Lola T333 based Spyder NF11 Chevs, as a consequence of shocking injuries his lower left leg was amputated. End of career…
Lets not forget Stephen South, he had all the makings of a decent Grand Prix driver and would surely have ended 1980 better than it started…
(Lola Heritage)
I love this shot of a new Lola T530 Chev at Lola’s Huntingdon HQ early in 1980 before shipment to the US. The people and Austin (?) provide a sense of the size of these very biiiiig cars, the drivers were dropped into the cockpit via forklift. More about these beasts on the wonderful Lola Heritage site: https://www.lolaheritage.co.uk/type_numbers/t530/t530.html
Etcetera…
South on the way to winning the June 10 Rhein-Pokalrennen Hockenheim round of the 1979 Euro F2 Championship in a Project Four-ICI Racing March 792 BMW, his was his only F2 victory. The shot below is of Ron Dennis and Stephen with the March 792 that season.
(Auto Tradition)
The February 27, 1980 issue of Autosport ran this fantastic article by Marcus Pye about the new Toleman TG280 Hart together with Stephen South’s impressions after his first drive of the car at Thruxton.
Credits…
Autosport, Kurt Oblinger, Lola Heritage, Auto Tradition
Tailpiece…
The Autosport cover from which the first shot was filched.
Tony Johns sent me this wonderful article about the motorsport state of play in South Australia in 1954, many thanks.
Cars appears to be a magazine from The Argus stable, a Melbourne daily newspaper published from June 1846 to January 1957. Cars publisher was Larry S Cleland, anybody know of Lazza? The Sydney advertising rep was JM Sturrock of King Street, Jock Sturrock of yachting fame I wonder?
The article was written by Albert Ludgate, Chief Engineer of Lea-Francis cars from 1946. He emigrated to Australia together his family and a 1926 Lea-Francis K-Type in 1953, more of Albert later.
Etcetera…
Australian Grand Prix historians will note that at the time of publication – September 1954 – the 1937 Australian Grand Prix hadn’t been invented. That is, the fuckwit(s) who decided that the December 26, 1936 South Australian Centennial Grand Prix should be the 1937 AGP, rather than the 1936 AGP hadn’t done his/their Fake Nooooz thing.
The South Australian Government’s banning of racing on roads, quite possibly brewing for some time as Albert wrote, was probably precipitated by two deaths in bizarre circumstances during a motorcycle race at Woodside in 1949.
Albert Ludgate in the glasses, and Ken Rose tickling one of their Lea-Francis 1.5-litre midget engines in the US in 1948-49 (LFOC)
Albert Ludgate…
Ludgate’s early history I am yet to discover, but he was Chief Engineer of Lea-Francis from 1946.
By February 1953 he was in Adelaide helping prepare one of his twin-high-cam ‘Leaf’ midget racing engines which had been fitted to Victorian ace, Alf Beasley’s speedcar for an international (SA Solo Championship) meeting at Rowley Park, Adelaide on Friday February 13, 1953.
These 1496cc, four-Amal or twin SU fed, dry-sump, gear-driven cam midget engines were aimed primarily at the large American market.
Bob Shimp won some heats in his Lea-Francis engined car at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl in South California on July 18, 1949, ‘then led the semi-main until the Lea-Francis engine in his midget failed’, wrote Kevin Triplett on his triplettracehistory.blogspot.com.
‘The 91-cubic inch Lea-Francis engine, purpose built in England for midget auto-racing featured dry-sump oiling, gear-driven double camshafts, four SU carburettors (sic), with a high compression ratio to run on alcohol. Record setting British driver, Dudley Froy, Lea-Francis designer Ken Rose and chief engineer Albert Ludgate made trips to the USA in 1948 and 1949 to show and sell samples of the engine.’
‘Besides Shimp, several US midget racers (including Woody Brown in Northern California) used the four cylinder “Leaf” engine but it never became popular (less than a dozen were built) given that its 120 horsepower could not match the power of the Offenhauser four-cylinder engine and it sometimes put connecting rods through the sides of the aluminium block.’
Contemporary Australian newspaper reports say that brothers Alf and Stud Beasley had a car each powered by a float of three of these trick Lea-Francis engines, and had some success with them. It makes one wonder where those engines are now…
Alf Beasley aboard his Lea Francis powered midget at Tracey’s Speedway, Melbourne
Into 1954 Ludgate was the technical representative of Simmonds Accessories and the publicity officer of the (speedway) Racing Drivers Association, while JA Lawton & Sons also retained Albert, not to forget his writing abilities.
Ludgate and his Racing Drivers Association made quite a splash in October ’54 with their ‘Speed and Sports Motor Show’. More than 150 racing, veteran and speedway cars and bikes were amongst the exhibits in the Centennial Hall at Wayville. It was the first time in South Australia’s history that such a show had been run.
Three-quarter-midgets – TQ cars were on the march – were front and centre with Ludgate’s Simmons Nut-Ridge Special one of five TQs on display. In addition he showed a 150cc half-scale midget racer built for his six-year-old son.
Ludgate was a strong advocate of TQs and was a member a three man Racing Drivers Association specifications committee tasked with developing specifications for the class…and in due course he would make some cars.
By December 1954 Ludgate was living in Reade Park, later he bought a house in Colonel Light Gardens. He was well on the way to embedding himself within the local motorsport and automotive industries, having addressed members of the Aeronautical and Automotive Engineers about American car racing and engine development in the Kerr Grant Lecture Theatre at Adelaide University.
Capricornia 1, John Plowman’s car circa 1956 (bollyblog.blogspot.com)Capricornia 3, later the Repco Ricardian, at Port Wakefield during the March 1959 meeting. With Buchanan couture, a great looking car (v8vantage.com)
In his small Colonel Light Gardens garage, Ludgate Automotive Developments built sportscars, TQ midgets and go-karts using the Capricornia and Ricardian brandnames.
The Capricornia sportscars – the name was taken from the Tropic of Capricorn region – used a multi tubular chassis with two main side-members, a wheelbase of 91 inches and used standard or modified Holden parts, including front and rear suspension, and weighed about 715kg depending upon specifications.
The first of the series, John Plowman’s car was commenced in 1955 and completed just in time for for the 1956 Easter meeting at Port Wakefield ten months later. Fitted with an English RGS/Shattock fibreglass body, and with experienced racer/engineer, John Cummins at the wheel the car performed well. A long job list proved racing improves the breed!
Capricornia 3, Collingrove circa-1958 (S Jones)
John Bruggerman’s very successful Capricornia 3 racing car had a Holden (later Repco-Holden) grey-six fitted and used a shortened Buchanan (NH Buchanan Motor Co) body.
Ludgate’s pioneering TQs – a poor-mans introduction to speedway racing – used Austin 7 chassis, suitably bent 7 axles, and a variety of 500cc motorcycle engine driving through a gutted Austin 7 gearbox using a dog-clutch for stop and go.
In the mid-1950s John Cummin’s met Ludgate in Adelaide in his capacity as a Perkins Diesel rep. Ludgate helped ‘with a lot of input’ in the early development of the Holden grey-six cylinder engine used in his Bugatti Holden. Cummins blazed the trail in Victoria with Holden engine development, his car is said to be the second Holden-powered racing car in the state, ‘Lou Molina’s, Silvio Massola built MM Holden Special being the first’.
‘The engine gave about 65 or 75 horsepower at 3500rpm’, Cummins recalled, ‘and it wasn’t worth two-bob at 4500! We fiddled with the needles in the triple 1 3/4″ SU carries and got 116 horsepower at 4500. Almost double the original Holden power output.’
John Cummins’ Bugatti T37A Holden at Bathurst in 1961. Note the Bellamy independent front suspension so characteristic of #37332 (unattributed)(B White)
Ludgate also made Austin 7 cylinder heads for the Seven racing fraternity – think of Seven racing as the Formula Vee of the day – in the 1950s and early 1960s. The design featured sandwich construction with combustion chamber shape late-7. Enthusiasts often modified the shape to their own requirements. Ludgate built over 30 of the heads with many more built from his patterns after his death. They were used by many A7 racers in the day including Elfin’s Garrie Cooper during his formative years.
Amusingly, later, the street in which he lived was renamed Ludgate Circus which is surely indicative of the goings on at that address in the wee-small-hours and the fond regard in which Albert was held by his neighbours!
Ludgate retained his Lea-Francis for many years, using it daily to drop his son off at school and displaying it at the VSCC annual rally at Victor Harbor in 1961, by then he was described as a ‘well-known motoring personality’.
Late in his life the Australian Society of Automotive Engineers established and annually bestow the Albert Ludgate Award.
This summary of information about Albert Ludgate is the result of a days Troving and Googling, if anybody can add to the story please contact me: mark@bisset.com.au
Credits…
Cars via Tony Johns’ archive, Trove and other online research, News Adelaide, Victor Harbour Times, bollyblog.blogspot.com, v8vantage.com, triplettracehistory.blogspot.com, Lea-Francis Owners Club website, Paul Jaray on auto puzzles.com, Ron Burchett, Bruce White, Sports Cars and Specials September 1956, Tony Parkinson Collection, Steve Jones
Tailpiece…
(T Parkinson Collection)
Bill Pile or John Newmarch in the Ricardian Repco chasing Jim Goldfinch’s Austin Healey 100S at Port Wakefield circa 1959.
primotipo... 