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| Rob on Australian Racing Random … |
| Happy 100th Jack… |… on Lakeside Tasman Meeting, 12 Fe… | |
| Rob on Harry Galloway’s Racing… |
Louise Collins susses husband Peter’s fabulous Ferrari 335S in advance of the start of the ’57 Mille Miglia…
It was a victorious race for Ferrari but otherwise disastrous on every level given ‘Fon de Portago’s accident and it’s consequences, click here for an article about both this race and the big Ferrari;
Credit…
Mondadori Portfolio
Tailpiece…
Stan muscling his big Maserati 250F around Longford in 1959 en-route to his one and only Australian Grand Prix win…
The win was timely, he was monstered all the way by Len Lukey’s Cooper T43 2-litre, the way of the future of course. ‘Twas the last AGP win for a front engined car, mind you Lex Davison came within metres of winning in an Aston Martin DBR4 at Lowood, Queensland in 1960.
Stan’s was a well deserved victory, he and his team, led by Otto Stone had a car which was consistently and reliably fast. Perhaps his driving now had a more measured approach to match the fire and pace which was never in doubt. The Stan Jones story is an interesting one, click here to read it; https://primotipo.com/2014/12/26/stan-jones-australian-and-new-zealand-grand-prix-and-gold-star-winner/
Jones gave his Gold Star defence a red hot go in 1959 having won the title in 1958, he raced four cars in his quest.
He didn’t race in the season opening event in Orange, NSW. Jack Brabham won in a Cooper T51, but he wheeled out his Maybach for Fishermans Bend’s Victoria Trophy on 22 February. He finished second to Alec Mildren’s Cooper T43.
Stan hadn’t raced the Maybach for years but had retained it. His friend and fellow racer Ern Seeliger evolved the car by replacing the Maybach engines which had been at the core of Maybach’s 1-3 with a Chev Corvette 283cid V8. The car also had a de Dion rear end and other clever modifications.
He swapped back into the Maser, winning the AGP at Longford on 2 March.
He switched back to the Maybach for the SA Trophy at Port Wakefield on March 28, winning the race. Crazily, the next round of the title was at Bathurst on 30 March, two days later. Very hard for contestants to make that trip from SA to Central NSW now, let alone with the road system of 1959!
Stan flew to Bathurst to drive the Maser. Whilst he won his heat he had engine dramas in the final and failed to finish, victory was taken by Kiwi Ross Jensen in another Maserati 250F.
He used the Maybach again at Lowood on June 14, he was third, then swapped back to the Maser for the next round, again at Lowood on 30 August, hitting a strawbale and failed to finish.
The reasons for the choice of car at each meeting would be interesting to know but are probably a function of vehicle availability and suitability. Which was the primary and which was the secondary factor meeting to meeting no doubt varies…
Mid-engined inevitability was clear though despite none of the Australian Cooper exponents being able to secure a full 2.5-litre FPF Coventry Climax engine…yet. The ‘mechanical mice’, as Lex Davison christened the Coopers, were only going to get quicker.
Whilst his fellow competitors were back at Port Wakefield for the 12 October meeting Stan was doing a deal with Bib Stillwell to buy his Cooper T51 2.2 FPF, chassis ‘F2-20-59’, the first of several T51’s Stan raced.
He soon got the hang of the car, after all he had been an air-cooled Cooper exponent earlier in the decade, finishing second to Len Lukey’s Cooper at Caversham, WA.
The final rounds of Australia’s longest ever Gold Star series were Phillip Island’s Westernport Cup and Phillip Island Trophy races on 22 November and 13 December respectively.
Jones brought his ‘roster of cars’ to four for the year when he drove Ern Tadgell’s Sabakat (Lotus 12 Climax) after damaging his Cooper in a collision with Lukey. The Cooper was too badly damaged to start, as was Lukey’s, but Stan, very sportingly was lent the Sabakat by Tadgell.
Lukey won the 1959 title from Alec Mildren by two points with Jones a distant third. Mildren’s time would come in 1960 with fabulous AGP and Gold Star wins in a new Cooper T51 Maserati he and his team built over the summer.
Sadly it was the last full-blown Gold Star campaign for Jones, economic pressures from 1960 meant he did a few title rounds but was not a serious title contender, although still a tough competitor in any individual race he entered.
Photo Credits…
Pat Smith/Oldracephotos; http://www.oldracephotos.com/content/home/, Dave Sullivan Album, Kevin Drage
Tailpiece…
Finito…
Billy Vukovich leading the Indy 500 in his Kurtis Kraft Offy, he won the race from the similar cars of Art Cross and Sam Hanks…
Vukovich dipped out on victory in 1952 with a steering gear failure several laps from the end, in ’53 he led from lap 1 and 195 of the 200 laps in total. The event was run in searing heat which required the use of 16 relief drivers, Billy drove the race himself in a tough, gritty display.
32 of the starters used the DOHC 4 cylinder Meyer-Drake ‘Offy’, the other engine the famous Novi V8, finally Kurtis Kraft supplied 22 of the 33 chassis which contested the race.
Credits…
Max Staub, Racing One
Vukovich rejoins the race after a pitstop, Kurtis Kraft, Indy 1953 (Racing One)
John Watson, Penske PC4 Ford, Austrian GP August 1976. Watson and Penske’s first GP wins.
Given the junk ‘Tilke Tele Circuits’ on which the circus races too much these days the old tracks, not that the ‘Red Bull Ring’, goes back as far as Monza or Spa, are important for their own sake as great ‘theatres’ but also to remind us of the heritage for which we are all responsible.
I’m not suggesting F1’s Venture Capital Fund owners, CVC give a ‘Rats Toss’ about heritage mind you.
Pastor Maldonado, Lotus E23 Mercedes, Austrian GP June 2015. Pastor was 7th in the race won by Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes F1 W06. (reddit.com)
Etcetera…
It was Tilke’s work to shorten the fast, long Osterreichring, used for the Austrian GP from 1970-1987 to the shorter A1-Ring used for the race from 1997-2003 aka Red Bull Ring now. The Styrian Mountains setting to start with was so good even he couldn’t bugger the thing up completely in its transformation to the modern age…
Photo Credit…reddit.com
That Brian Redman had replaced Peter Revson for the Monaco ’72 weekend didn’t seem to make much difference to the presence of the fairer sex in the McLaren Team’s pit…
Revvie was contesting the Indy 500, Redman did a great job in the unfamiliar M19A Ford qualifying it 10th and finishing 5th, Jean-Pierre Beltoise took the win in his BRM in streaming wet conditions.
Revson’s Indy started well, he qualified 2nd but only lasted 23 laps before gearbox failure, Mark Donohue won in Roger Penske’s McLaren M16B Offy, so not an altogether bad weekend for McLaren.
Redman during dry practice on Saturday. McLaren M19A Ford, rising rate suspension front linkages clear (Brian Watson)
Credits…
Rainer Schlegelmilch, Brian Watson
Tailpiece: ‘I could get used to this F1 caper?!’ In fact its not what BR wanted at all…
I re-read Mark Donohue’s excellent biography not so long ago. He refers to his Lola F5000 as a ‘little car’ which made me laugh!
I’ve never seen F5000s as anything other than big-cars but I ‘spose it’s all relative. When your frames of reference include McLaren M16 Offy Indycars and Porsche 917/30 Can-Am racers they are…
There is nothing small and subtle about Can-Am cars, everything is BIIIGG!
They were built for 200 mile races, GP distance. The engines, 7-litres and up, the chassis had to be big and strong to carry the engine and its fuel, they used a lotta fuel! The dimensions were unrestricted, with bodies large to provide downforce. Big engines, lots of power and torque needs a big gearbox and driveshafts, the shot above of a 1968 McLaren M8A in all its naked glory illustrates the point.
Denny Hulme took the 1968 Can-Am Cup from teammate McLaren with three wins to Bruce’s one in six races.
M8A’ s vital statistics…
7-litre/427 cid McLaren modified aluminium block Chev ZL-1 engine. Bore and stroke 108mm x 95mm, pushrod OHV, Vertex magneto, Lucas fuel injection with the package giving circa 620bhp @ 7000rpm. Hewland LG500 four speed transaxle.
Monocoque chassis of rivetted and bonded aluminium with fabricated steel bulkheads. The Chev engine was a stressed member of the chassis. Wheelbase 94 inches, front and rear tracks 57.5 and 54.5 inches, length 153 inches and height to the top of the roll bar 36 inches. Weight circa 1350 pounds.
Rear suspension comprised single top link, reversed lower wishbones, twin radius rods, coil spring/damper units and adjustable roll-bars. Front was by unequal length wishbones, coil spring/damper units, adjustable roll-bars.
Brakes are Lockheed calipers outboard front and rear, McLaren cast magnesium wheels of 15 inches diameter and up to 11 inches wide and 15 inches and up to 16 inches wide at the rear…Big, like everything else!…
Credits…
‘Cars in Profile No8 McLaren M8 Series’ by David Hodges, Pete Lyons, Jabby Crombac and Nigel Beresford Collection via ‘kayemod’ TNF, tamsoldracecarsite.net
Finito…
Alan Moffat finesses his big, powerful ‘works’ HO Falcon around the tight, technically demanding confines of Sydney’s Warwick Farm February 15 1970…
This will be a support race for the ‘Warwick Farm 100’ F5000 Tasman series round, am intrigued to know who won this ‘Series Production’ encounter. Perhaps a Holden Torana GTR-XU1, WF more suited to the nimble but powerful 3 litre/186cid Holden 6 than the 5.7 litre/351 cid V8 ‘Big Henry’?
Moffat won the ‘South Pacific Touring Car Championship’ series conducted over the four Australian Tasman events but i wonder if he won this round?
Photo Credit…
Doug Eagar
(Alan Fearnley)
Teammates Rudi Caracciola and Manfred von Brauchitsch #10 battle for the lead roaring by the ‘Hotel Beau Rivage’ in their Mercedes Benz W125…
This image is Alan Fearnley’s ‘Battle of Beau Rivage’ from his book ‘The Classic Car Paintings’ and ‘depicts a dramatic battle amidst the architectural wonderment of the principality pre-war’, von Brauchitsch won the race against team orders. Caratch won the European title in 1937, both he and Bernd Rosemeyer, Auto Union mounted, won 4 races apiece but Rudi had the larger points haul.
Manfred’s nickname was ‘The Unlucky Bird’, when he had this chance for a race victory he was not going to let it slip away. He said later in life that Alfred Neubauer, Mercedes famous team manager did not have much to do with him afterwards for the rest of his career. It was one of the few races Caracciola lost to another Mercedes that year.
The Mercedes W125 was Fearnley’s favourite machine ‘it seems to embody all the visual impact that a Grand Prix car should have’, his painting is a superb, dramatic work.
Check out my article on the Mercedes W125;
Mercedes Benz W125: 1937’s Dominant GP car and Rudy Uhlenhaut…
Credit…
Alan Fearnley
(David Lawson)
Lotus stand at the ’69 Racing Car Show, sports-racer Type 47 and F3 Type 59 to the fore…
Both models are Loti i always had a hankering for, there were several 47’s which raced for years in Australia in a variety of classes and a 59 won the Australian Drivers Championship, the ‘Gold Star’ in 1970.
Emerson Fittipaldi contesting the 1969 Guards Int Trophy at Brands Hatch on 1 Sept 1969. His Jim Russell Lotus 59 Ford was 3rd to Reine Wisell Chevron B15 Ford and Tim Schenken BT28 Ford, all racing in F1 in 1971- Emerson and Reine for GLT Lotus, Tim for Brabham (unattributed)
Back to the UK in 1969, the works ‘Gold Leaf Team Lotus’ 59’s were raced by American Roy Pike and Brit Mo Nunn (later Ensign F1 designer/supremo) with Aussie Dave Walker in a ‘Lotus Components’ entry (the constructor of Lotus customer racing cars).
Emerson Fittipaldi raced a Jim Russell Lotus 59 entry winning the 1969 British championship and making his GP debut at Brands Hatch in 1970.
Dave Walker in the GLTL Lotus 59 during the 1970 Monaco F3 GP, 9 May. He is threading his 8th placed car thru typical Monaco carnage. Tony Trimmer won in a Brabham BT28 Ford, Walker dominated F3 in 1971 including a GLTL Lotus 69 Ford Monaco F3 GP win (Simon Lewis)
The Oliver/Miles GLTL Lotus 47 is depicted ahead of the Bonnier/Sten Axelsson Lola T70 Mk3 Chev 6th and winning Ickx/Redman Ford GT40, Brands 6 Hour, 7 April 1968, the day of Jim Clark’s death (Michael Turner)
The 47 was raced in the 1968 Brands Hatch 6 Hours in GLTL colors by Jackie Oliver and John Miles finishing in tenth place in the race won by the Ickx/Redman Ford GT40.
In 1969 the works team raced the Lotus 62 with the GM derived Vauxhall/Lotus LV220 DOHC 4 valve engine, the 47 powered by the venerable Ford/Lotus twin-cam, a Hewland FT200 gearbox used in place of the standard Renault unit.
Whilst the 62 looked a bit like the 47 it shared a few body panels only; its spaceframe chassis was bespoke (2 built) and engines as noted above totally different.
John Miles Lotus 47. ‘Silverstone Players Trophy’ meeting 27 April 1968 (Simon Lewis)
Lotus 47 cutaway; backbone chassis, front suspension upper and lower wishbones and coil spring/damper units. Rear suspension top link, lower wishbone and radius rods. Engine Ford/Lotus twin cam 2 valve, power depending on spec from 160-190bhp. Gearbox Hewland FT200 5 speed , Brakes ventilated disc all round (unattributed)
Lotus 47 engine, gearbox and suspension detail (B Hayton)
Geoghegan’s Sporty Cars 47…
It was inevitable that the Geoghegan brothers would import a Lotus 47 to Australia albeit the cars didn’t fit neatly into our sportscar class structure where the majority of races were short sprints rather than the longer events for which the cars were really designed.
(C Haigh)
The point is illustrated by Leo’s challenge in keeping up with the Lotus 23B Ford at Lakeside above circa 1968, whilst the gorgeous silhouette of the car is shown in the shot below at Hell Corner, Bathurst where he is trying to hold off his old Elan 26R being driven by Niel Allen.
(C Haigh)
(C Haigh)
The last two shots are at Lakeside, the one above is Leo and the 23B lapping slower machines- get in touch if you can identify the cars/drivers.
(C Haigh)
Photo Credits…
David Lawson, Simon Lewis, Chris Haigh
Finito…
The first use of a car by Santa to deliver gifts, 1896?! Make and model unknown, Benz my guess…
I hope wherever you live you have an enjoyable festive season with family and friends.
In Australia it’s our Summer Holidays so the whole joint closes down for a few weeks. We have the comatose excitement of cricket and lots of fun in the sun, which is great.
I’m off to Margaret River on the West Australian Coast; it’s a long flight from Melbourne across the big wide, dry continent and then a three hour drive drive from Perth. But you overseas folk should have it on your ‘must visit when I go to Oz’ list given it’s mix of wineries and food scene, coastal scenery and drivers roads, massive caves and beaches. Sure, there are a few sharks but the West Australian Great Whites are discerning diners, they seem to mainly eat lawyers!
I will continue to post over the coming weeks but the emphasis will be ‘quickies’ rather than features.
Even though 40% of the stuff I write about is Australian my ‘biggest market’ is France; other top-10 countries in order of size are Australia, US, UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Czech Republic, Spain and Brazil. So, our little community is truly global, thank you all so much for reading the thing wherever you live.
I continue to enjoy writing it so will stick with the eclectic approach which is a function of the photos I find being the inspiration for an article.
Which brings me to some ‘thank-you’s’ for the year especially the photographers who have been so helpful and supportive; John Ellacott, Dick Simpson, Lindsay Ross, Rod MacKenzie and David Blanch in Australia, John Holmes ‘The Roaring Season’ ‘across the ditch’ in NZ and The Cahier Archive and Louis Klemantaski Collection for the more International stuff.
A foundation of the magazine is the Repco story and Peter Brennan’s restorations, many thanks to Rodway Wolfe and Peter for allowing me to write about these topics and the material they provide.
Stephen Dalton both contributed articles and is hugely helpful with his extensive library and advice on correcting the occasional boo-boo.
John Medley’s Chamberlain article and ongoing support and encouragement has been fantastic as is Pat Ryan’s enthusiastic fizz; both these guys have a wealth of Pre-War Oz knowledge which is not my strength. To my surprise i have written much more about older stuff rather than play to my personal strengths which is 1960 to the present but it’s simply more fun to research and write about what you don’t know rather than what yer do!
Autosport’s ‘The Nostalgia Forum’ is a good place to lose yourself for weeks, check it out. Its content rich for research especially on the obscure; the expertise especially on Australian Stuff of regular contributors Ray Bell, John Medley, Stephen Dalton, Kevin Drage and the Oz photographers above has added great depth and the perceptions of ‘those there at the time’.
Most of all, thankyou for reading it!
I am active on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram so if you need a ‘daily fix’ pop Mark Bisset and primotipo.com into the relevant search engines and the names should pop up. Of these FB is the best as there is often dialogue about the posts which is often interesting.
Finally, I get asked all the time ‘wot cars would you like the most’, my contribution to this endless enthusiast debate is as follows, it’s not around the cars I would invest in just the stuff I would have to own and race! Sadly i’m not Nick Mason so none of the purchases are imminent! Am very interested to know the lists of others.
1. 1931 Alfa 8C2300 Corto Sports/Road
.Who needs a Bugatti when you can have a Jano Alfa? Any ‘Monza’ series Alfa would do. In fact anything designed by Jano would be nice!
Click here for Alfa Monza article;
Antonio Brivio: Targa Florio 1933: Alfa Romeo 8C2300 ‘Monza’…
1932 Mille Miglia, Nuvolari/Guidotti Alfa 8C2300 DNF accident. Borzacchini/Bignami won in another 8C2300 Spider (unattributed)
2. 1955 Jaguar XK D Type Sports/Road
.So hard to chose between all the 50′ sporties; Maser 300S, Aston’s DB3S and DBR1, Ferrari 335S and TR
Click here for D Type article;
Le Mans 1957 ‘D Type Jaguar’ Rout: Ron Flockhart Racer and Aviator…
Frank Gardner, Jag D Type, Mount Druitt, Sydney 1958. It all looks ‘pretty chilled’ dunnit, from this ‘clubby scene’ sprung some world class drivers of whom FG was one (John Ellacott)
3. 1957 Maserati 250F F1
.’Nuff said ‘the’ quintessential front-engined GP car? Lancia D50 my next choice, not as pretty as the Maser but much more ‘edgy’.
Click here for 250F article;
Fangio in his 250F chasing Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins Lancia Ferrari 801’s, German GP 1957. A famous, Fangio win (unattributed)
4. 1965 Ford GT40 Sports/Road
.So hard to choose between 1960’s Lola T70, Fazz P4/512S, Chap 2F and various Porsche’s!
Ford GT40 Mk1 ‘1075’ on the way to the second of its two Le Mans wins in 1969 for Ickx/Oliver, Rodriguez/Lucien Bianchi won in the same chassis the year before (Getty)
5. 1965/7 Lotus 39 Repco Tasman
.The ex-Clark Coventry Climax FPF engined chassis fitted with Repco ‘740 Series’ Repco 2.5 litre V8 to me the best looking 60’s single-seater of all, with apologies to Dan’s Eagle T1G!
Leo Geoghegan in his Lotus 39 Repco in the Surfers Paradise Tasman form-up area in February 1968. Brabham’s BT23E Repco alongside, Clark’s Lotus 49 DFW and Rodriguez BRM P126 to the rear. Clark won the race.Article on the 39 in the ‘pipeline’ @ present (unattributed)
6. 1970 McLaren M8D Chev CanAm
.Bruce’ last masterpiece and sadly the car in which he died.
Click here for M8D article;
Peter Gethin from teammate Denny Hulme, both in M8D Chev’s and Chris Amon in the March 707 Chev in the distance, Laguna Seca? (unattributed)
7. 1970 Ferrari 312B F1
.Fellow ‘class of 1970′ Lotus 72 more edgy but just love that whole series of Flat-12 engined Fazz’.
Click here for 312B article;
Ignazio Giunti, Ferrari 312B, Spa 1970. 4th and best placed of the Ferrari’s in the epic contest between Pedro Rodriguez BRM P153 and Chris Amon’s March 701 Ford. Sadly a lost talent, he died in a pointless accident in the Buenos Aires 1000Km race the following January (unattributed)
8. 1973/5 Lola T330/2 Chev F5000
.Grew up loving these beasts, T330/2 one of the most successful racing cars ever
Click here for the first of a series of article on the T330;
Lella’s Lola…Peter Brennan’s Restoration of the Ex-Lella Lombardi Lola T330 Chev ‘HU18’…Episode # 1
Aussie Kevin Bartlett with the style for which he was renowned. Here subbing for Brian Redman in the Haas/Hall Lola T330 Chev @ the 1973 Laguna Seca L&M US F5000 Championship round DNF . Article on this in the pipeline (unattributed)
9. 1990 Ferrari 640 F1
.Anything more recent too ugly and complex.
Click here for 640 article;
Nigel Mansell wins the 1989 Brazilian GP in the Ferrari 640 3.5 V12. John Barnard designed and innovative in terms of its semi-auto’box (unattributed)
10. 1992 McLaren F1 Road
.My token road car but surely the greatest ever?! Anything by Gordon Murray will do as well.
Credit…
Time Life Pictures, The Cahier Archive, John Ellacott, Getty Images
Tailpiece: Merry Christmas!…
primotipo... 