Graeme ‘Lugsy’ Adams (24 September 1941-24 September 2013) is one of many talented mechanics who jumped the fence from the paddock onto the grid. He quickly graduated from a self-built Holden Torana GTR XU-1 Group C tourer to the equally home-grown Adams GA01.
Adams worked for the very best of Australian outfits in F5000 from 1969 including Niel Allen Racing, Frank Matich’s Repco sponsored team and Warwick Brown’s team where he worked again with Peter Molloy, one of the country’s most gifted mechanics-cum engineer-cum Driver Whisperer. He worked on McLaren, Matich and Lola chassis and therefore knew his way round these machines better than most.
He acquired and built a 3.3-litre, two-OHV, straight-six Holden Torana GTR XU-1 racing the machine to some Australian Touring Car Championship points in 1974 and a great fifth place at the 1974 Bathurst 1000, sharing his car with Bob Stevens, in a real smell-of-an-oily rag operation.
Turning his mind to Formula 5000 – Australia premier single-seater category for both our summer internationals and domestic Australian Drivers Championship, the Gold Star – Lugs considered his options and decided to build his own car.
He set to work on the car in an office within his workshop, progressing the project as customer commitments allowed. The machine was Lola T400-esque in appearance and in the overall look of the aluminium monocoque chassis.
The uprights are Lola, so too the steering rack, while the top bodywork section is Matich, as used on the A50-53 series of cars. The transaxle is of course the good ‘ole Hewland DG300 five-speeder and the engine a fuel injected Chev of Adams’ own assembly.
Graeme finally completed the car, extricating it from the office by knocking down a wall, and entered all four of the 1978 Rothmans International rounds, racing the car at two, the Surfers Paradise 100 and Oran Park 100 in February 1978.
Garry Simkin, friend of Graham and for many years a salaried mechanic/technician member of Racing Team VDS picks up the story. “Money was really tight, in the shots below he is getting a push-start at Surfers as he hadn’t fitted starter motor yet. His initial tyre setup (below) for exploratory laps comprised three wets and a dry! I have a funny feeling that Count Rudy Van der Straten may have bought a set of tyres for him.”
“I remember Lugs telling me that he thought he was going ok, really fast, when WB (Warwick Brown) passed him on the outside of the corner onto the main straight with one wheel in the dirt and waving to him. ‘The bastard!’ Lugs said with a laugh.”
He was Q23 and completed 31 of the 40 laps of the Surfers race won by Brown’s VDS Lola T333/332C Chev. The new car completed too few laps to be classified.
Things were pretty tough in his home race at Oran Park, where again he qualified 23rd, and this time retired the car with a thrown oil pump belt after completing only 12 laps. Bown won that race too, and the championship from Vern Schuppan’s Elfin MR8B-C Chev and Bruce Allison, Chevron B37 Chev.
Those were the only occasions the car raced, “Then Lugs crashed it badly into a concrete pylon at Oran Park. He didn’t ever repair it, with the engine and gearbox sold over time.”
“Graham Bristol was working for Lugs and eventually bought the remains of the car. Up Lake Macquarie way he is working steadily on the GA01. I’m helping him piece together a DG300 and he’s built an injected engine and is keen to get it up and running.”
So treat this article as WIP, I shall report further about this valiant attempt at F5000 on an FF budget, in due course.
Etcetera…
Simkin, “That’s Graeme in the black singlet looking longingly at the VDS 332 (T333/T332C HU2) outside his workshop in Silverwater, where we assembled the car in 1978. On the far right of the shot is Herve, Count VDS’s son.”
“I love this one, it’s Graeme at a Sandown historic meeting in the mid-1980s when WB had a run in his old Lola T332 HU27. This was the Pat Burke owned car prepared by Peter Molloy, John Wright and Phil Harris with me and Michael Truman as gopher that won the 1975 Tasman Cup at Sandown. It was the first and only time an Aussie won that title.”
“All of my shots taken with my trusty Minolta 101B.”
Credits…
Neil Stratton, autopics.com.au, David Cratchley, Bob Quinlan Collection, Arn Betteridge, eldougo, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Garry Simkin
Tailpieces…
A few words from Graeme at Surfers Paradise in 1969 when he was working with Frank Matich, here shown with Don O’Sullivan who had just acquired a Matich SR3 Repco from Matich; https://youtu.be/nxQILr8mgUE
A racer in approach and mindset to his core, Graeme Adams all set for battle at Surfers Paradise in February 1978.
Finito…
primotipo... 