Kevin Bartlett awaiting suspension tweaks to his Haas/Hall Lola T330 Chev in the Laguna Seca pitlane, May 6, 1973…
He is ‘minding the shop’ in a one-off drive of Brian Redman’s F5000 ride. Brian was otherwise engaged as a member of Scuderia Ferrari’s sports car squad at Spa that weekend, and Carl Haas suggested KB as a safe, quick pair of hands to Jim Hall.
Bartlett and Hall swap notes during the weekend, KB’s mount was Lola T330 HU8, one of the fastest and best prepared F5000 cars on the planet.
This chassis was subsequently raced with great success by Ken Smith in Australasia. See the full history of the car here:https://www.oldracingcars.com/lola/t330/
The British-built Alan Smith Racing-prepped Chevy is on Webers; the L&M Champion that year was Jody Scheckter aboard a Trojan T101, which was similarly powered. See here:https://primotipo.com/2018/03/26/jodys-mclaren-m21-and-trojan-t101/
The lead group in Heat 2 are Jody Scheckter, Trojan T101 Chev, Peter Gethin, Chevron B24 and Bartlett, who is approaching back marker, Michael Brockman’s Lola T300 Chev
Scheckter won the first heat, Gethin the second and Scheckter the championship race.
KB ‘blotted his copybook, ‘…I ran out of talent as I exited the corkscrew. The damage was confined to the tub only, strangely little to the mechanical or bodywork. Enough to put an end to the effort. Not proud of bending Brian Redman’s favourite car!’
F5000 was a global category that allowed Australia’s best to compete on equal terms with the top international F5000 drivers/teams that contested the Tasman Cup.
Equally, they could take their cars to the UK/Europe or the US and take on the best there. In 1973, Frank Matich, John Walker, Max Stewart and Bob Muir also contested the US L&M F5000 Championship. None completed the championship, with Max Stewart finishing the title chase in 12th. Bob Muir impressed on occasion with a blinding qualifying pace (Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen).
Bob Muir awaiting the off on the right of his Chuck Jones/Jerry Eisert Lola T330 Chev HU4 (see the T330 chassis list referenced above) with engine builder/driver-whisperer/engineer Peter Molloy at left in the striped white top; Q12/fifth/DNF.
Frank Matich, Matich A51-005 Repco-Holden, being chased by Derek Kneller above and below, chasing later F1 driver, Brett Lunger’s Hogan Racing Lola T330 Chev. DNF (Matich) and sixth in the feature race.
FM had a woeful series with his two car Matich A51 Repco-Holdens due to oil-scavenge problems that were easily solved when they were simulated in the workshop back in Sydney…but his challenge was trashed, see here: https://primotipo.com/2015/09/11/frank-matich-matich-f5000-cars-etcetera/
JW leans on the roll bar, while disco-dacks susses the babes down the road.
John Walker, Matich A50-004 Repco-Holden did Riverside (Q17/5th/accident), Michigan (Q15/7th/8th), Mid-Ohio (Q9/8th/11th), Watkins Glen (Q17/DNF/8th) and then came home with a new Lola T330 to which he fitted his Repco-Holdens and showed us all just how much he had matured as a driver stateside; Tasman Cup round victories, an AGP win and Gold Star aboard Martin Sampson’s Lola T332 Chev in 1979 capped a marvellous career.
Etcetera…
Brian Redman trundles down the Spa pitlane in the Ferrari 312PB he shared with Jacky Ickx over the May 6 1000 km enduro weekend.
DNF gearbox oil cooler after completing 37 of the race winners Derek Bell/Mike Hailwood’s 71 laps- Gulf Research Mirage M6 Ford, wasn’t so good. #47 is the Fitzpatrick/Keller Porsche 911 RSR, DNF engine without completing a lap.
Ferrari had it all their own way during the 1972 World Championship for Makes but Matra made great strides with their cars, the MS670Bs being the star-cars of the ’73 season, winning five of the ten championship rounds, and the title, 124 points to 115. The Ickx/Redman combo won the Monza and Nurburgring 1000 km classics.
Matich A51-006 in the Laguna paddock, his ‘T-car’, Frank raced A51-005: Q11/DNF/DNF. Didn’t the Lola T330 make everything else look so passe…not that the subsequent T330-inspired A52 and A53 Matichs lacked pace.
John Gimbel, Matich A50-003 Boss Ford, during practice, DNS, no time.
This is the chassis Carroll Smith helped build for George Follmer’s use in the 1972 L&M over the Australian 1972-73 Summer. Smith sold a deal to Roy Woods Racing comprising the Matich chassis and Repco-Holden engines, but Follmer liked the Boss Fords in his Lotus 70 and Mustangs, and therefore A50-003 was so powered.
Follmer qualified third in the first, Laguna, round in 1972, then finished fifth in the first heat and DNF in the second. He was Q9 at Watkins Glen, then retired in the first heat after crashing it. Follmer then bagged the plum Penske/Porsche 917/10 Can-Am ride after Mark Donohue’s practice crash, doing the balance of the L&M rounds in a Lotus 70, not a particularly well-loved F5000 car but one with which George had won races.
More on this Matich-Carroll Smith/George Follmer/Roy Woods race program soon. The history of chassis A50-003 is here:https://www.oldracingcars.com/matich/a50/
KB did two rounds of the 1973 L&M, Laguna Seca and here at Watkins Glen, where he raced great mate, Max Stewart’s Lola T330 Chev, HU1, the very first of the breed.
Max is here exhorting his driver to go faster! I don’t recall how the Big Fella broke his arm; perhaps one of you can enlighten us? It wasn’t a great weekend: Q14, DNF heat 2 and 15th in the final. Up front, it was Scheckter from Redman and Lunger.
Credits…
Bob Moffett photographs via The Roaring Season, Ron Miller, Chris Parker Collection
Tailpiece…
Two hands for KB this time!
Finito…
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