Australian enthusiast/historian Gerard Murnane wrote in a wonderful exchange on Facebook with fellow enthusiasts – the medium at its best – ‘Jack Gallivan made at least six twin-cam Gallivan 8-valve heads for Model-T Fords, crossflow with huge 2-inch valves from a Hispano Suiza and hemispherical chambers with huge porting. If you looked through the inlet of the head you could see the light on the exhaust side. One of these rare heads is on a racer here in Australia.’
‘Jack was in the US Navy in the early-mid 1920s, the rumour is that he used Navy parts to build the engines and did-time for it.’
‘The patterns were originally made by Joe Jagersberger of Rajo Ford speed equipment fame. Joe didn’t build the first Rajo twin-cam until after he sold the patterns to Jack, and he built his heads and engines.’
‘Drive towers for both Gallivan and Rajo are different designs. Later the patterns were again sold, to Joe Lencki, who built a much stronger head and special Ford-T based cylinder block which was raced at Indianapolis in 1935 (Louis Tomei aboard a Miller Lencki). A Lencki block also survives in Australia, one of possibly three in existence.’
Colin Wade‘s Gallivan Special with plenty of fans in Australia Louis Tomei and Frank Del Roy at Indianapolis in their Burd Piston Ring Special – Miller Lencki – in 1935. Q32/28th DNF valve trouble after 47 of 200 laps (indycar.com)Wade Gallivan Special (M Bradley)
On the Model-T cranks, ‘Billet cranks were available back then in at least two different stroke sizes for normal and 1500cc capacity. The Lencki block had five main-bearings with two-inch journals and still fitted a standard T-head and sump pattern etc.’
Neil Worthing asked the question, ‘Was a single T-Model part used?’ Gerard Murnane, ‘In the Gallivan, initially a Model-T sump, block, transmission cover, modified rear axle and tailshaft, axles and springs and modified chassis. In the Lencki, not a lot used.’
‘Model-T chassis and running gear were cheap in the 1920’s-30s and most speed equipment was made to bolt onto standard-T stuff.’ Lencki still used the basic sump, head, block, timing bolt on dimensions in their equipment, but a different transmission connection.’
‘The wheel hub pattern for a Model-T was still used in speedway cars up to the knock-on wheels era. The dimension of the ball end of a Model-T tailshaft tube was also possibly used into the 1970s and later.’
The BMC Australia entered Austin 1800S Mk2 – SMO 227G – that competed in the November 24-December 17 1968 London-Sydney Marathon in the hands of Evan Green, ‘Gelignite Jack’ Murray and George Shepheard in Ulverstone, Tasmania shortly after the event.
They finished 21st with 332 lost points, the winners, Andrew Cowan, Colin Malkin and Brian Coyle lost 50 in their Rootes Motor Group Hillman Hunter, while the best of the Austin 1800s, second placed Paddy Hopkirk, Tony Nash and Alec Poole lost 56 penalty points.
Grant Brooks posted these photographs on the Old Motor Racing Photographs – Australia Facebook page and wrote, ‘My father, had to pick it up in Hobart and drive it to Ulverstone, (300km from Tasmania’s capital in the south, north to the coast) I was the lucky passenger. Here it’s shown outside Dangerfields BMC garage in Ulverstone. Dad did his apprenticeship with them and continued as a mechanic until they closed the workshop.’
‘The man in the suit is John Dangerfield, the dealer’s son, the mechanic is a dude from the servo over the road.’
(H Brooks)
‘It went well, I can still see the look on the face of a V8 Valiant driver as we passed him selecting top-gear!’
‘There was a hand-pump on the back parcel-shelf to adjust the hydrolastic suspension, a seat sideways mounted in the rear, with the whole interior painted black except for the gauges.’
Can anyone assist with life-journey of this machine after BMC had finished with it?
See the links at the end of this article for a couple of other pieces on the London-Sydney. There have been quite a few shots of cars from this event posted on social media over the years, I must scoop them up and pop them in one place to make them easily searchable.
(H Brooks)
The power of the internet never ceases to amaze me. Several hours after uploading this post, enthusiast/historian Laurie Mason got in touch to share these rare colour photographs of car #31 at Wirrealpa Station, a 400,000 acre sheep and cattle farm 570km north of Adelaide in South Australia’s northern Flinders Ranges on December 16, 1968; the events second last day.
Laurie Mason, ‘the second shows the car being repaired after a rear wheel bearing seized ending their run for a top finish. This photo was taken halfway across Wirrealpa. Warren and Barbara took us to the exact spot in 2021 when we were doing the recycle for the 2022 Perth-Sydney Marathon. The last is Gelignite Jack and Evan Green in discussion with BMC mechanics at the repair site.’
(W Fargher)
Etcetera…
Long after this article was posted, enthusiast Luke Manton uploaded these photographs below of the Marathon Austin 1800s being built, and before the London start, on social media – Bob Williamson’s Australian Motor Racing Photographs Facebook page – from memory.
(L Manton Collection)
Given that, I’ve ratted Mark Oastler’s excellent Shannon’s piece referenced above on the preparation of the cars; ratted means pinched and paraphrased. Here goes…
The ‘68 London-Sydney Marathon was thin on technical rules, you could run almost any vehicle you wanted, as long as it had four wheels and only two were driven. Vital parts like the bodyshell and engine block were tagged, so if you had to change them, you were out. There was a maximum height limit so the cars fitted in the hold of the P&O SS Chusan when the field was shipped from Bombay to Fremantle.
BMC’s Competition Department in Abingdon committed to building seven Austin 1800s for the Marathon. These cars would incorporate all that BMC had learned from its arduous East African Safari and Acropolis campaigns plus hundreds of hours of destructive testing in the UK.
The four official factory cars and their service car all featured UK rego plates starting with the letters SMO and were to be driven by the some of the sport’s biggest names from Britain, Scandanavia and Australia: SMO 223G Service car, SMO 225G Rauno Aaltonen/Henry Liddon/Paul Easter, SMO 226G Paddy Hopkirk/Tony Nash/Alec Poole , SMO 227G Evan Green/’Gelignite’ Jack Murray/ George Shepheard , SMO 974G Tony Fall/Mike Wood/Brian Culcheth
The other two factory prepared cars were comprised defence personnel teams representing the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. They were semi-works cars not built to the same peak specs as the ‘SMO’ cars.
The Australian connection came about through Evan Green’s activities with BMC Australia, which had included overseeing the multi-car Mini Cooper S works team winning 1966 Bathurst 500 and his own rally competition in BMC products. His crew consisted of race and rally veteran Jack ‘Gelignite ‘Murray and ace navigator/mechanic George Shepheard.
(L Manton Collection)
The Marathon cars were based on the new sportier Mk2 1800S. Starting with bare ‘shells, weight was reduced by some of the window glass being replaced with Perspex and the doors, bonnet and boot panels were skinned in aluminium. The sump guard was also made from lighter materials.
The bodyshells were beefed up in critical areas including two skins of floor metal and the boots were filled with twin fuel tanks holding 26 gallons (118 litres), each with their own aluminium filler in each rear guard. These extra tanks took up so much space that two spare wheels could be carried on the roof.
The Hydrolastic suspension had larger front actuators also fitted to the rear to cope with heavier loads on rough roads. Front and rear anti-roll bars improved higher speed handling and stability along with Koni adjustable shocks.
The 4.4:1 ratio rack and pinion steering was sharpened up with a drop to 3.25:1. This increased the turning effort, which is why bus-sized steering wheels (16-inch diameter) were specified to improve leverage.
A stout ‘roo bar’ and powerful driving lights were mounted up front. Thick rubber mud flaps were fitted at each corner to shroud 13-inch Minilite magnesium wheels shod with an assortment of Dunlop rally tyres.
The engines were not highly tuned, as reliability was paramount for such a long-distance event. The capacity was increased to 1894cc (some say 1846cc), and a standard MGB camshaft grind was used. The heads were reworked to improve gas flow, entering through 1800S inlet manifolds equipped with dual 1.75-inch SU carbs and exiting through special exhaust systems that tucked well away. This mild tuning produced a reliable 100 bhp, not much given the car’s hefty weight plus all the extra equipment and three-man crew.
Lightened flywheels and rugged competition clutches were fitted, with the standard gearbox ratios matched to a typically short 4.1:1 final drive ratio for improved acceleration.
The interiors incorporated a special rear seat convertible to a makeshift bed. The cabins featured roll cages, rally seats with four-point harnesses, extra switch panels, Halda Twinmaster navigation units and 100 mph (160km/h) speedometers. Given that the finished cars – with full tanks and three crewmen on board – were claimed to weigh close to 2,000 kgs, it gives you some idea why the 100 mph speedos could be considered optimistic.
Evan Green recalled that the highest top speed he saw during the Marathon was only 90 mph (145 km/h) which occurred when descending the steep Lataban Pass in Afghanistan.
Evan Green impressed many with his Austin 1800’s leech-like grip in the loose stuff and its tank-tough construction. These works cars were superbly designed and built for the harshest treatment that long distance rallying could dish out.
(L Manton Collection)
The BMC crews before the London start above, and Evan Green, Jack Murray and Miss World below.
(L Manton Collection)(L Manton Collection)
Graham Hill is amongst the onlookers at the start, under the Australian flag. And who knows where below!
(L Manton Collection)
Credits…
Howard Brooks photographs via his son Grant Brooks, Wikipedia, Shannons, Mini & British Lifestyle, Warren Fargher and Laurie Mason, Luke Manton Collection
One of FM’s finest moments (above) was his victory in the November 21, 1971 Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm aboard the brand-spanking-new Matich A50 Repco-Holden F5000 (001/002) built just across town in Sydney, at Brookvale on the northern beaches.
Up close and personal at Peters/Torana corner, Sandown during the April 16, 1972 Victoria Trophy Gold Star round. FM won in A50-001/002 from Bob Muir and John McCormack, Lola T300 and Elfin MR5 (AMC)A50-001/002 on the grid at Warwick Farm, perhaps the Hordern Trophy Gold Star weekend on November 5, 1972. Matich popped the Gold Star in his pocket on that occasion. Note the multiple top pick-up points for the upper radius rod (AMC)John Walker, Matich A50-004 Repco-Holden being chased by Garrie Cooper, Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden during the ’72 Sam Hordern Trophy race at the Farm. A DNF for JW (battery) and troubled tenth and last for the Elfin boss (AMC)
The three A50s built were raced with great success from 1971-73 by FM and by Adelaide’s John Walker (004) who used their machines in Gold Star, Tasman Cup, and in JW’s case the 1973 US L&M Championship. Roy Woods bought (A50-003) one, on Carroll Smith’s recommendation, for George Follmer to race in the 1972 US L&M fitted with Al Bartz prepared Boss Ford engines. That program was interrupted by an early season crash and George’s appointment as driver of Team Penske’s Can-Am Porsche 917/10 after Mark Donohue’s bad Road Atlanta accident in July.
Matich, Matich A50 Repco-Holden, Warwick Brown, McLaren M10B Chev, Gary Campbell, Lola T300 Chev, the almost completely obscured Max Stewart, Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden and John Walker, Matich A50 Repco-Holden and an F2 car during the Hordern Trophy, Warwick Farm Gold Star round won by FM on November 5, 1972 (AMC)(AMC)
Of course, Matich’s plan to take on the Americans was hatched via his sportscar program. The shot above shows FM at Sandown during the 1967 Tasman round weekend aboard his new spaceframe-chassis SR3 Oldsmobile V8.
Behind him is Niel Allen in FM’s year old Elfin 400 Oldsmobile upon which the design of the SR3 was based. Some say the frame, fabricated by Bob Britton at Rennmax Engineering, was a tube-for-tube replica, with a few extra thrown in to strengthen areas Matich felt lacked torsional rigidity in Garrie Cooper’s Elfin design, four of which were built.
By the time Matich and his small team left Sydney to contest the 1967 Can-Am Cup he had sold the car above, SR3-1 to Marvin Webster, and another, SR3-2, to Kent Price, both Californians. Matich raced Price’s car at Road America and Elkhart Lake, and his own car SR3-3 for the rest of the series. SR3-2 and SR3-3 were fitted with 4.4-litre Repco-Brabham 620 V8s (SOHC, two-valve, fuel-injected).
AMC)(AMC)
The photographs above are of one of the SR3s – perhaps SR3-1 which was sold to Marvin Webster sans engine and transaxle – on the tarmac at Mascot Airport, Sydney being loaded onto a pallet and Qantas Boeing 707 before it’s trip to California in June 1967.
Laguna Seca Can-Am mid-field bunch on October 15, 1967. Skip Scott, McLaren M1C Chev (DNF) Matich in SR3-3 Repco (Q13 DNF oil leak), Chris Amon Ferrari 350 Can-Am (fifth) and a Lola T70. Bruce McLaren’s McLaren M6A Chev won (AMC)Race shop out back of Matich’s BP Servo on Eastern Valley Way, Castle Cove, Sydney. That’s the SR4 on the left, SR3-3 is in the middle, by that time probably owned by West Australian Don O’Sullivan and maintained by his friend/mechanic/engineer Jaime Gard in Sydney throughout 1969. The frame of SR4B-7 is at the rear. That looks like a Waggott TC-4V engine swinging in the breeze, we can date the shot by knowing when the Waggott replaced the original Lotus-Ford twin-cam originally fitted to this chassis…or is it a twin-cam? Two fuel cells sitting on the high storage rack (AMC)
While Matich had a hard time of it in the US, the intensive, highly competitive series ensured the team had developed the chassis of SR3-3 to a fine pitch before they returned to Sydney.
David McKay (Scuderia Veloce) bought one of the Ferrari 350 Can-Ams (#0858) raced by Chris Amon and Jonathan Williams in the later stages of the ‘67 Can-Am. Amon and Matich faced off in the sportscar support races at Surfers Paradise, Warwick Farm and Sandown in the Summer of ‘68 Australian Tasman rounds. Frank won each of the encounters, sprint races, unlike the 200 mile Can-Am events.
When Amon returned to Europe Bill Brown took over the Scuderia Veloce car but he was no match for Matich with McKay selling the 350 Can-Am to Australian international Paul Hawkins late in the year. See here for the lowdown on those cars: https://primotipo.com/2015/04/02/ferrari-p4canam-350-0858/
SR4 with no shortage of admirers at Warwick Farm in 1969 (AMC) (AMC)
Frank and his team set to work on their planned 1968 Can-Am weapon, the Matich SR4 which was to be powered by a 5-litre four-cam, four-valve Repco-Brabham 760 V8. Ultimately both the builds of the car and engine ran late, the machine didn’t appear until 1969. Even using the ‘tiddler’ 4.8-litre 760 the machine crucified the local opposition that year in winning the Australian Sportscar Championship. It raced on into early 1970 by which time it was fitted with a 569bhp 5-litre 760 engine built by John Mepstead who was seconded from Repco to Matich to look after the engines.
SR4 was then set aside – it could have won Australian Sportscar Championships for years – and was then sold by Matich to Repco in a prid-pro-quo deal that ensured Matich would focus his attention on his McLaren M10B Repco-Holden F5000 project; FM was Repco’s test driver and received works Repco-Holden engines for the balance of his racing career. That customer engine program, led by Malcolm Preston and Phil Irving, designer of the 1966 F1 Championship winning Repco-Brabham RB620 V8, was Repco’s key racing priority.
Matich aboard the SR4 in hi-winged spec at Warwick Farm, RAC Trophy, first Australian Sportscar Championship heat in 1969. He won the May 4 race. High wings were banned by the FIA/CSI during the May 18, 1969 Monaco GP weekend, a fortnight later (AMC)This relatively rare body off shot shows Matich aboard the SR4 in 1969. 4.8-litre Repco-Brabham 760 V8 and beefy spaceframe chassis. Originally fitted with a 5-speed ZF transaxle, later in the year a Hewland LG replaced it (AMC)
The Repco-Holden F5000programmes early successes were secured by Matich using a McLaren M10B, victory in the 1970 Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm was the first big win.
When the M10B chassis was damaged beyond economic repair in a private practice incident at Oran Park in June 1971 Frank decided his team should rebuild the tub rather than buy a replacement from Trojan Cars to provide them with the experience of making an aluminium monocoque before embarking on the build of what became the Matich A50s.
While Matich had great success in the A50: the 1971 AGP, 1972 Gold Star Series and two Tasman Cup round wins in 1972-73, the car ultimately fell short of Graham McRae’s machines which won the 1972 (Leda GM1 Chev) and 1973 (McRae GM1 Chev) Tasmans, not to forget the oh-so-talented Kiwis’ successes in US and European F5000 events.
The Matich A51 Repco-Holdens, 005 and 006, in the pits at Riverside in April 1973, DNF (C Parker Collection)(C Parker Collection)
Matich made an all-out assault on the US L&M F5000 Championship in 1973 comprising a two car team, flat-plane crank circa 515bhp Repco-Holden engines, mechanics led by Derek Kneller and locally based on-ground support.
The two A51s were evolutions of the A50 at a time the worlds best F5000s were the McRae GM1 and Lola T300. THE F5000 of 1973 was the Lola T330, variants of which were the greatest ever F5000 and central seat 5-litre Can-Am cars.
The downfall of the ambitious program was oil-scavenging problems with the hitherto bullet-proof Repco-Holden V8s. The constant radius, high speed corners of American circuits were cited as the cause of the issue which was identified and rectified later in the season when one of the A51s was sent back to the Repco Engine Development Company’s Maidstone headquarters. There the engines were tested replicating the effects of these types of corners, and changes to the units scavenging were made.
Interesting is that John Walker had no such problem with the Repco-Holden engines fitted to his very competitive car throughout that same series. That suggests, perhaps, that the problems may have been due to differences in the oil system tanks/plumbing between the A50 and A51 chassis.
Lella Lombardi aboard A51-005 Repco-Holden during the Australian GP weekend at Oran Park in 1974. DNF oil pump (AMC)FM during his dominant run – for 43 laps – at Surfers Paradise in September 1973. Glyn Scott Memorial Trophy Gold Star round won by John McCormack’s Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden. A52-006 Repco-Holden (AMC)
Influenced by the speed of the Lola T330s stateside, FM and the team quickly converted A51#006 into a side-radiator design designated A52, with changes to the suspension, and the wheelbase using a longer T330 bell-housing.
The car was a rocket at the Surfers Paradise Gold Star round on September 2, 1973. Up there on the Gold Coast on a family holiday I watched Matich piss-orf into the distance until the beautiful exhaust note of the flat-plane-crank 5-litre V8 instantly ceased. The engine’s fierce high-frequency vibrations simply shook the gizzards of the lightweight Varley racing battery to bits…an expensive lesson.
Matich in front of Bruce Allison’s Bowin P6 Hart-Ford ANF2 car – not Bruce’s favourite machine! – at Surfers. Bruce was fourth and second F2 behind Leo Geoghegan’s Birrana 273 Hart-Ford. Again Glyn Scott Memorial Trophy (AMC)Wonderful profile shot of FM and A53-007 at Adelaide International during the February 24, 1974 Tasman round, fourth (AMC)
The A52 lost its life in a testing accident while being driven by Bob Muir, who had shown stunning pace aboard a Lola T330 Chev in the L&M, at Warwick Farm shortly thereafter. Equipe Matich then built up the last of six identical monocoque tubs made by the team and the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation – #007 – into the A53, a further refinement of the A52 and intended as FM’s 1974 Tasman and L&M weapon of war.
A boating accident which gave Frank a near fatal electrical shock, and his wife Joan’s illness were catalysts for Matich’s retirement from racing at the end of the ’74 Tasman. Bob Muir raced the car at Oran Park (Q15/DNF fuel pump), and Matich at Surfers (Q4/third), Sandown (Q2/DNF water pump) and Adelaide (Q2/fourth; there was no shortage of pace.
To have seen the A53 battle the American T332 Chevs later in the year would have been something to watch, with the benefit of the character building visit and experiences the year before…
Credits…
Australian Muscle Car, Chris Parker Collection
Tailpiece…
John Goss from Vern Schuppan through Dandenong Road at Sandown in the later stages of 1976 AGP. Matich A53 Repco-Holden and Elfin MR8 Chev. What a thriller it was! (AMC)
While Matich retired, the cars raced on, most notably in the hands of talented sports and touring car driver/mechanic/engineer John Goss.
‘Gossy’ bought A53-007 from Matich in mid-1974 and later A51-005, he converted the latter to A53 spec and generally preferred that car. He took to the brutish 5-litre roller-skates like a duck to water winning a couple of Tasman rounds. While John had the pace to take a Gold Star he never seemed to have the reliability, maybe given the challenges of also preparing and racing Ford touring cars. But it all came good good at Sandown on September 12, 1976 when he beat Vern Schuppan’s works-Elfin MR8 Chev home in a nail-biter of an Australian Grand Prix finish.
Goss out of A53-005 and taking the plaudits of the Sandown grandstand crowd. Note the lack of an airbox, and radiator location ducting changes compared with the A53 in its original form during the ’74 Tasman (AMC)
There were still plenty of sportscar and sports-sedan wins for Repco-Holden F5000 V8s but it was the last hurrah for a Matich chassis, the first of which, Frank argued – and I agree – began with his highly modified Lotus 19 Climax in 1962.
Evocative shot of Jack Phillips’ Ford V8 Special ascending Rob Roy hill in the Christmas Hills, 50km east of Melbourne
This car was one of the fastest and most successful racers in Australia – where handicap events then were standard fare – in the immediate pre and post-War period. Built by Phillips and Ted Parsons, his riding mechanic and partner in a Wangaratta Ford dealership, I’ve written about the combo before: https://primotipo.com/2023/03/07/jack-phillips-ted-parsons-ford-v8/
I’d love to know the date of the meeting and how Jack went? Before the January 13, 1939 Black Friday fires it seems?
(B King Collection)
Phillips/Parsons (above and below) on the way to a win in the South Australian Hundred on formidable Lobethal in 1940.
Jack Brabham on his way to winning the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix on the Circuito da Boavista, Oporto on August 14. Cooper T53 Climax, Bruce McLaren was second in the other team T53 while Jim Clark was third in a Lotus 18 Climax.
He won his second drivers world championship that day – round seven of nine qualifying rounds – while Cooper bagged their second manufacturer’s championship too. Jack would collect another F1 title or two, Cooper did not. Sadly.
When flicking through old mags the ads are often as interesting as the editorial material.
At that stage ‘yerd be taking your Lotus 7 with the A-series I guess, the release of Ford’s 105E rather shifted the balance of course, especially once Messrs Duckworth and Costin did their thing thereon.
Yes, yes I’m not a Kiwi but I like them, they are Our Bro’s across The Ditch after all. I know S.F.A. about their rich racing history, my interest goes way beyond our shared ‘Tasman Internationals’ history too.
There are a load of photographs doing the rounds on NZ’s racing social media sites, so it seems smart to capture and share some of them rather than lose them in the bowels of Facebook. The potential for cockups is great as I don’t have the same depth of knowledge – such as it is – as I do of Australian material, but just drop me a note on mark@bisset.com.au and I’ll fix up any boo-boos.
There is no order to all of this, so apologies to all you OCD-ADHD-On The Spectrum mob.
The more you look, the more you see of the shot above: from the left it’s Bill Hannah, Angus Hyslop’s mechanic with the big hat seated under the umbrella, to his left standing up with the peaked cap is Owen Steel, in the middle Jackie Stewart is talking to Kerry Grant, with Spencer Martin a little further to the right.
Stewart, Levin 1967. A non-championship round that year, the Levin International was won by Jim Clark’s Lotus 33 Climax FWMV 2-litre from Stewart’s 2.1-litre BRM P261 (R Cunningham)
This series of photographs were taken during the 1965 Tasman Cup, featuring Bruce’s new Cooper T79 Climax. The shot above shows Wally Willmott on the left and Pop McLaren in the Trilby during the Lady Wigram Trophy weekend where Jim and Bruce finished 1-2.
While Bruce won the Tasman in 1964 with his Cooper T70 Climax, the 1965 victor was Jim Clark, here in discussion with his mechanic, Ray Parsons, with their Lotus 32B Climax. Jimmy took four wins: Levin, Teretonga, Warwick Farm and Lakeside, and Bruce one win at Longford – the Australian Grand Prix – to finish the series second.
(M Waters)
The merriment is perhaps around getting Bruce’s new Firestones – he had just signed with them – to work with suspension geometry designed for Dunlops. It any of you Kiwis can explain exactly what changes were made I’d love to hear from you…
Wally Willmott, Bruce Harre, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark, Tyler Alexander and Colin Beanland gathered around the Cooper T79, probably Wigram, 1965.
Why isn’t Jimmy ready to boogie? David Oxton remembers that “Graham Hill, Clark, Frank Gardner and Bruce flew direct from the South African GP in time for an unofficial testing session on the Wednesday. For some reason Jim didn’t take part in that, so that could be an explanation.” An alternative is offered by Milan Fistonic, “If it’s Wigram McLaren and Clark ran in different heats, so McLaren could be getting ready to go out in heat 1 while Clark still had time to suit up for heat 2.” Aren’t first-hand recollections gold, even 60 years later!
Peter Whitehead’s Ferrari 125 in the Wigram paddock, 1955. He won the race from Tony Gaze’s HWM Alta and Ken Wharton’s BRM P15 V16. This car was sold at the end of the summer, to Australian, Dick Cobden. More about Whitehead and the Ferrari here: https://primotipo.com/2023/12/13/peter-whitehead-ferrari-new-zealand/
I’ll be faarked how it complied with those regs with THAT engine, THOSE strengthening members and fabricated wishbones DEVOID of fixed bodywork and all. Holy Moses. But maybe it was all in evening up the show for the local poverty-pack against the well-homologated Mustang, Camaro et al. Do tell taxi-experts. Hmm, lets think…In the back of my brain this car was pranged twice at Adelaide International, the second hit was fatal. Perhaps after the first one it morphed into a Sports Sedan, in which case the modifications make perfect sense. One for you Taxi Experts.
It was a mega-car too, I’ll never forgot the sight of Mal Ramsay wrestling the thing around Shell Corner at Sandown (as below) bellowing its F5000 roar during the very first car race meeting I ever attended, the 1972 AGP meeting. With a little more development from the Birrana Cars boys it could really have been a good thing, what a crowd-pleaser it was all the same.
(G Richards Collection)
Chris Amon, Ferrari 246T on the cover of May 1968 Motor Manual. Ya gotta hand it to them, their coverage of the January-February Tasman Cup must have been considered, coz it sure wasn’t timely.
Amon won two of the seven rounds in the little Dino, he was bested by Jim Clark’s works-Lotus 49 Ford DFW. Chris went one better in 1969, taking four wins and the championship in 246T/69 #008. Ferrari then sold that car to Graeme Lawrence who repeated the achievement against a field of F5000/Tasman 2.5/2-litre cars in 1970. Lawrence won at Levin only, but his speed and consistency throughout was enough to beat the quickest F5000, Frank Matich’s McLaren M10A/B Chev which took two wins and placed second overall. More on the Dino 246T here: https://primotipo.com/2018/05/01/wings-n-dino-things/
(HEII)
1956 NZ GP grid, a 100 lap, 186 miles race of the Ardmore Airfield circuit won by Stirling Moss’ #7 Maserati 250F from the 3-litre Ferrari 500/625s of Tony Gaze #4 and Peter Whitehead on the front row.
#19 is Ron Roycroft’s Bugatti T35A Jaguar 3.4 (sixth), #6 is Peter Whitehead’s Cooper T38 Jaguar that was raced to sixth place when Reg’s works-Aston Martin DP155 lunched an engine in practice, while #22 is Tom Clark’s Maserati 8CM 3-litre (eighth). #39 is either David McKay or Tom Sulman’s Aston Martin DB3S and #10, Norman Hamilton’s Porsche 550 Spyder awaiting pilot Frank Kleinig (ninth).
Roberto Moreno, Ralt RT4 BDA on pole before the start of the 1982 New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe, January 9, 1982.
Steve Millen #7 and David Oxton in #18, RT4s as well. Moreno won the first heat from Millen, Millen won the second from Moreno while Roberto won overall.
(D Bull)(D Bull)(S Taylor)
Jim Clark, Lotus 49 Ford DFW 2.5 at Teretonga in 1968, Bruce McLaren won the Teretonga International from Jimthat January 27th in a works-BRM P126 2.5 V12.
Bruce didn’t run a car that summer, the deal came about as a result of McLaren’s use of customer BRM V12s during the 1967 Grand Prix season. It would be interesting to know (a) What Bruce thought of the 3-litre V12 (b) What Bruce thought of Len Terry’s P126 chassis and (c) What Bruce thought of the 2.5-litre variant of the V12. If anybody has a contemporary magazine article that covers any of that lot, I’d love to hear from you!
(J Inwood)
Aussie Terry Allan, Chev Camaro SS at Baypark during Easter in 1970.
Allan was the first bloke to race a Camaro in Australia, at Calder in May 1967. Fitted when delivered with a 327 cid V8, the machine was fitted with a worked 396 before it left the states for Oz. What became of it folks?
The Repco Research Maybach 1 success in the 1954 New Zealand GP at Ardmore is a real triumph over adversity effort told in this piece here;
When the car threw a rod and punched a hole in the block, “Charlie Dean phoned Australia for parts, but they couldn’t be landed in Auckland in time. Nothing daunted, the crew started scouring the city for makeshifts. They got a GMC conrod from Ray Vincent, a machine shop made up a new cylinder-liner – B Johnsons as above – while patches were fabricated for the crankcase,” related Naomi Tait.
Peter Donaldson related that his father, “Dawson Donaldson was dressed to go to the GP ball on Friday night but left mum standing at the front door in her ball-gown to head to Johnsons to work all night making parts including a new conrod.” In a tragic sidebar, “Dad was killed during an event in the Ostrich Farm Road hillclimb in December 1958 racing the Austin 7 Ulster that had been Bruce McLaren’s first car.”
“All Friday afternoon and night the crew toiled in Shorter’s garage while Jones slept in preparation for the race he might not run. At 10.40 in the morning the miracle happened. The motor was turned over, coughed and sprang into life. It was test run for a few minutes, hurriedly taken out to Ardmore, and the finishing tuning done on the course. And this was the car that won the race.”
Lex Davison’s ex-Moss/Gaze HWM, by then fitted with a Jaguar 3.4-litre XK engine with C-Type head, below, in the Ardmore paddock.
It wasn’t the quickest or most reliable of Davo’s cars, but it did deliver his first Australian Grand Prix at Southport Queensland a few months hence. Jones gift-wrapped the win after the chassis of his nearly-new Maybach 2 broke during the race giving Stanley the wildest of Gold Coast rides but luckily not killing, or badly injuring him. See more here: https://primotipo.com/2018/03/01/1954-australian-grand-prix-southport-qld/
(B Ferrabee Collection)(M Fistonic)
Start of the 1963 Mount Maunganui sportscar race Frank Matich, Lotus 19 Climax. John Riley, Lola Mk1 Climax and Garry Bremer, Jaguar D-Type on the front row.
Frank Matich, Lotus 19 Climax and again below (A Boyle)(M Fistonic)
(unattributed)
(HEII)
Chris Amon and David Oxton did swapsies with this March 701-3 Ford DFW 2.5 – Mario Andretti’s STP 1970 F1 car – and the Lotus 70 Ford 5-litre F5000 machine shown below at Levin during the 1971 Tasman Cup. STP’s Vince Granatelli is steering the car.
Steel Brothers, the Christchurch based NZ Lotus agents organised a deal for David Oxton to race the car – chassis #70-02 was the car raced by Dave Walker in the November 1971 Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm – but Chris wasn’t happy with the March, he was third in it at Levin, so STP bought Oxton’s Lotus.
In that he was Q9/ninth at Pukekohe, Q6/fifth at Wigram, missed Teretonga, then Q4/second at Warwick Farm and Q12/fourth at Sandown. Chris then flew to France to meet his new commitments with Matra, and John Cannon raced the Lotus in the final round Tasman round at Surfers paradise to Q6/seventh.
(HEII)
David Oxton’s races with the Lotus 70 yielded Q11/DNF half shaft at Puke, and Q10/seventh at Teretonga, maybe David could let us know the respective merits of both cars!?
Credits…
Bob Homewood, Gerard Richards, David Bull, Sean Taylor, Russ Cunningham, Jack Inwood, Naomi Tait Collection, Ross Cammick, Alan Boyle, Brian Ferrabee Collection
Tailpiece…
(N Tait Collection)
Jochen being bolted into his Lotus 49B Ford at Levin, January 11, 1969.
He boofed chassis R9 in the race – won by Chris Amon’s works-Ferrari 246T – so Colin Chapman flew another car, chassis R10 out the following week, and in which the staggeringly-quick Austrian took his first Team Lotus victory, in the Lady Wigram Trophy on January 18, 1969. See more here: https://primotipo.com/2018/01/19/rindt-tasman-random/
Emilio Materassi and mechanic (above and below) on the way to winning the 3.5-4.5-litre class of the 1920 Coppa della Consuma aboard a Fiat 20-30 HP. Up front it was Fiat as well, Paolo Niccolini won the event in a Fiat 120 HP.
This amazing hillclimb event centred on the village of Consuma, 35km east of Florence, was first held in 1902 and has existed with a few hiccoughs along the way to the present, as an historic meeting since 1990.
(coppadellaconsuma.com)(coppdellaconsuma.com)
It’s said that the alpine pass was created by the Consumi family who were forced into political exile in Florence in 1482 and ten years later founded the town around an ancient spring and a church dedicated to San Domenico di Guzman.
In more modern times, the opening of the Baccelli road transformed the area into a popular holiday resort for poets, writers, journalists, entertainers and racing motorists, via the good graces of the Automobile Club of Florence.
Tazio Nuvolari, Alfa Romeo 6C1750 GS in 1930 (coppadellaconsuma.com)1952 winner Piero Palmer, crosses the line in his Ferrari 225 Vignale (coppadellaconsuma.com)
Over many years the hillclimb race hairpins have witnessed heroic deeds and victories by some of the greats including Vincenzo Lancia, Fiat in 1904, Antonio Ascari, Fiat in 1919, Tazio Nuvolari, Alfa Romeo in 1931 and Ludovico Scarfiotti, OSCA S1550 in 1959.
Into the 1960s the event became a round of the European Hillclimb Championship with up to 80,000 spectators lining the roads, but the Automobile Club of Florence shifted its energy to growing Mugello as the closure of the road between Florence and Casentino became increasingly untenable. The last in-period Coppa della Consuma was held in 1964 and was won by Edward Govoni’s Maserati Type 60, he completed the 12.5km course in 6 min 54.170 sec.
Credits…
Pirelli Archive, coppadellaconsuma.com
Tailpiece…
(The Cary Collection)
Prince Domenico Cerami Rosso focuses on the job at hand – winning the 2-litre class of the Coppa della Consume in 1930 – while his mechanic is very much enjoying the ride, Maserati 26B MM 2-litre supercharged straight-eight.
‘Michael Turner painting of Raymond Mays at Shelsley Walsh in 1949 with his famous 2-litre ERA R4D‘…
Mays was the King of Shelsley Walsh from the 1920s to the late 1940s, taking numerous FTDs and outright records in this period. He was ERA’s founding force ‘which was the first commercial racing car maker in Great Britain in 1934 and the rock upon which Britain’s current billion dollar racing car industry is built,’ wrote Simon Lewis. Mays won the first two British Hillclimb Championships in 1947-48 aboard R4D.
Ray Mays at Donington during the April 9, 1938 Empire Trophy meeting, the first time this chassis appeared in ‘D-specification’ .
Of the rest of the articles within the April 1962 issue of Motor Racing I rather liked the coverage of Stirling Moss’ dominance of the Warwick Farm 100.
Credits…
Motor Racing April 1962, ERA Facebook Group, Adam Ferrington, Adam Wragg and Vlad Shnur Collections
Tailpiece…
(A Wragg Collection)
While R4D features on the cover of the 1939 South African Grand Prix programme, it didn’t race.
Gigi Villoresi won the 18 lap race held on the 11 mile Prince George Circuit around East London aboard a Maserati 6CM, but the 15 starters included four ERAs: Roy Hesketh in R3A was fourth, Earl Howe R8B, fifth, while Peter Aitken raced R11B to seventh, with Peter Whitehead the only ERA DNF, he blew a piston on R10B. Perhaps the car was a little tired after its extensive tour of Australia – inclusive of an AGP win at Bathurst – throughout 1938.
Jo Siffert’s night-time Porsche 917 pitstop at Daytona made more dramatic by the exposure used by photographer Dave Friedman…
You can see Seppi’s distinctive helmet in the murk to the left of the car as Brian Redman gets ready to rejoin the race.
It was not to be Siffert’s race, the first in which the dominance of the 917 generally and John Wyer entered cars specifically was displayed in the Sports Car Championship that year. The Ferrari 512S (Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella/Mario Andretti) took a Sebring victory in March but otherwise it was a Porsche year, what the 4.5-5 litre flat-12 917 didn’t win, the 3 litre flat-8 908 did on courses for which it was designed.
Siffert/Redman led the race until after the three-hour mark. Not long after a driver change to Redman, Brian came into the pits with a punctured tyre, worse was the brake-pipe broken by the rotating tyre tread. It took a critical 17 minutes to make the car good. The pair’s day of drama wasn’t over yet though. They lost an hour to replace the clutch, and later still had another stop to ‘straighten the Porsche after a wall-scraping episode.’
Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Kinnunen won the race in the sister John Wyer entry, 45 laps ahead of Siffert/Redman with the Andretti/Merzario/Ickx Ferrari 512S three more laps in arrears, third.
Seppi in the 917 cockpit with old school Bell Magnum helmet and chinstrap (D Friedman)(MotorSport)
I love the variety of cars in these events putting aside the performance differential arguments and issues. The Siffert/Redman cat-amongst-the-pigeons 917 amidst the Fleming/Johnson/Fleming Fiat 124 Coupe and Wonder/Cuomo Ford GT40.
And below in the midst of the Waldron/Lanier/Barros MGB and Clutton/Tatum Ferrari 275 GTB/C. Eyes on your mirrors folks…
(MotorSport)(MotorSport)
Seppi again, this time in front of the Patterson/Sanford Porsche 911T.
Bibliography…
Automobile Year 18, Team Dan, MotorSport, Dave Friedman Archive
Tailpiece…
(MotorSport)
‘I’m leavin’ on a jet plane…that’s Daytona Beach International Airport behind. DC9.
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