Wonderful evocative shot taken by Tony Glenn of Max Stewart’s Lola T330 Chev #HU1 during the 1973 Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup round in the final months of motor racing at the late, lamented ‘Farm circuit. Q3 and fifth in the race won by Steve Thompson’s Chevron B24 Chev.
(unattributed)
Frank Gardner raced Lola’s prototype HU1, in his capacity as the Huntingdon outfit’s development driver in the final round of the 1972 F5000 Championship at Brands Hatch on October 21, finishing third behind Brian Redman’s Chevron B24 and Graham McRae’s McRae GM1, both cars also Chevrolet powered.
FG keeps tabs on Stewart’s changes made to HU1 at Pukekohe in 1973 (B Homewood-MBisset-Wordpress)
The following day, he entered the World Championship Victory race, also at Brands, which comprised a mix of F1 and F5000 cars. FG qualified 13th of 36 cars. Although he didn’t take the start, it was another marker of the T330’s pace straight outta-the-box.
Practice, Pukekohe in 1973 (B Homewood)
Then the car was sold to Max who had the advantage of Frank’s presence throughout that Tasman summer. Frank had retired from single seaters but raced his Chev Camaro in the Tasman touring car races in order to flog the car, I think ? bought it
Max was sixth in the title chase but he was at the pointy end of qualifying in his new car right from the outset , his best finishes were third placings at Teretonga and Surfers Paradise
(C Parker-MBisset-Wordpress)
Stewart took in US L&M F5000 Championship rounds in 1973 before a broken wrist intervened, at Michigan (above) and Mid Ohio (below).
(C Parker-MBisset-Wordpress)
His best results: Riverside second in heat 2/seventh in the final, Laguna Seca fourth in heat 1, Michigan second in heat 2, fourth in the final.
(J Inwood)
Max in front of the VDS Chevron B24 Chevrolets of Peter Gethin and Teddy Pilette at Pukekohe during the 1974 Tasman Cup.
He was right on the pace throughout, finishing second in the championship behind Gethin, both of whom took two wins, Max’s were at Teretonga and Surfers Paradise
Teretonga 1974 (K Thomson)Teretonga 1974. Note the very far to the rear mount of the rear wing in fashion at the time, which was banned shortly thereafter (K Thomson)(A Radley)
John Walker, Frank Matich and Max on the front row at Adelaide International in 1974, the February 24 Adelaide 100: Lola T330 Repco-Holden, Matich A53 Repco-Holden and Lola T330 Chev. None featured in the results of the race won by Warwick Brown’s Lola T332 Chev, HU27, the first T332.
That’s Kevin Bartlett’s T332 up front, Max won this October 20, 1974 Gold Star round from KB. He won the championship too, several rounds hence, 51 points to KB’s 25.
Either, and Warwick Brown, could have won but in a race of changing fortunes, Stewart takes the chequered flag below. He back to backed it with AGP wins in 1975 at Surfers Paradise aboard a T400 Chev in conditions every bit as grisly as at Warwick Farm in the opening shot.
(Lola Heritage)
Lola Cars claim 54 victories for the T330 across three continents ‘in the day’.
(unattributed-MBisset-WordPress)
That a driver’s legs were part of a car’s progressively deformable structure in bathtub aluminium monocoques – make that all aluminium monocoques – of this period is readily shown by the first of T330 HU1s tubs in an NZ 1973 Tasman paddock…was Graeme Lawrence the first member of the Lola Limper Club?
Credits…
Tony Glenn, Bob Homewood, Chris Parker, Alan Radley, Lola Heritage, Tony Matthews, Brian Stratton, Kevin Thomson, Jack Inwood
Two six-cylinder Formula 2 cars lead the practice pack at Thruxton over the April 19, 1976 Jochen Rindt Memorial Trophy Euro F2 round weekend.
Brian Henton in the Tom Wheatcroft Racing Wheatcroft Pilbeam R26 Abarth-Holbay Tipo 260 straight-six leads Jean Pierre Jabouille, Elf Jabouille 2J Renault V6 through the chicane; the latter was a rather successful car, the former was not!
The Wheatcroft was so hopelessly slow that Henton – the 1980 European F2 Champion – didn’t start the race won by Maurizio Flammini’s works March 762 BMW M12/7.
The Abarth-developed engine was a factory design led by ex-Ferrari engineer Stefano Iacoponi. The Fiat-Abarth L6-260 was a twin-cam, four-valve, fuel-injected alloy 1986cc straight-six with a bore/stroke of 86/57mm. The engine developed a claimed 316bhp at 10,400rpm. Holbay took over development of the engine after Fiat abandoned the project.
Fitted to the Mike Pilbeam-designed Wheatcroft R26 chassis the engine had crankshaft problems, persistent reliability troubles, and handling quirks due to the top-heavy design.
While making plenty of noise, the Wheatcroft managed little more than practice/early-season appearances before Tom Wheatcroft’s team abandoned the experiment and switched to Hart 420R power.
Mike Pilbeam designed and built R23/24/26/27 Formula Atlantic and Formula Two cars for Tom Wheatcroft in 1976. The R23 F Atlantic was never made. R24 – BMW-engined F2. R26 – Abarth-Holbay 6 cyl-engined F2 (only appeared in public at Thruxton practice). R27 – Hart-engined F2, driven by Bob Evans.
(BAllison-MBisset-WordPress)
The prelude to the Wheatcoft Abarth exploration was the Lola T450 derived Lola T550 (HU2) built for Roberto Marazzi by Lola in 1977. Entered in the March 6, 1977 Silverstone International Trophy, he qualified 19th of 26 cars ‘but did not start as it blew both of its Holbay-tuned Abarth engines in the two days of practice.’
Aussie Bruce Allison was impressing in the UK at the time and jumped aboard the car at Snetterton to test T550 HU2 before a proposed entry in the April 9, 1978 Hockenheim Euro F2 round…but he bailed out of that. Alo Lawler was entered in the car at the Donington Euro F2 round that year, but he too jumped ship before the event. More about Lola’s also abortive race program with the engine here:https://www.lolaheritage.co.uk/type_numbers/t550/t550.html
Credits…
Ercole Colombo, MotorSport, Bruce Allison Collection, Mike Pilbeam-MotorSport, Lola Heritage
This century-old story has finally been told by lifelong Austin 7 enthusiast, car-builder and racer Tony Johns. Austin 7s have been around since 1922, first arriving in Australia in 1923.
Johns’ dab hand as a storyteller was first demonstrated in ‘Vintage Bentleys in Australia’, written with three colleagues.
This book relates their important role in the history of Australian motor sport compellingly, from the early days of amateur owner-drivers competing in trials and hillclimbs to Captain Arthur Waite’s victory in the 1928 Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island aboard a factory supercharged Austin 7 ahead of a classy field including Bugatti, Alvis and Amilcar.
Drawing from historical documents, including original programs, the pre-war era is well researched. The post-war special-building and club racing sections draw on drivers who participated in those events, including the author’s own experience.
Herbert Austin’s most important formative years were spent in Australia from 1882-93. He did his engineering apprenticeship in Melbourne before working for the Sydney-based Wolseley sheep-shearing machine company, an opportunity that led to Austin designing the first Wolseley car in 1891.
Johns relates that the first Austin was built in 1906 and covers the design and development of the epochal Austin Seven in 1922; the boardroom battles to get it built are fascinating.
By the time the Austin 7 became a mainstay of the 1928-35 Phillip Island Australian Grand Prix era, the 7 was already an established competitive car via its performances in the Australian hills and reliability trials that radiated from the various state capitals, on the speedways at Aspendale and Claremont, and on the firm sand of Sellicks and Gerringong beaches.
While Arthur Waite’s – the Aussie was Herbert Austin’s son-in-law – ’28 win is well known, less so is Cyril Dickason’s victory in an supercharged Ulster in 1931. Cyril got the cup, the babe, and the plaudits of the crowd, but the Victorian Light Car Club committee decided overnight that while Dickason won on handicap, the winner of the AGP was the bloke who did the fastest time, Carl Junker in a Bugatti Type 39. Johns notes that more than half the committee were Bugatti owners then and that Clarrie never handed the cup back! God bless him for telling ‘em to get-rooted or the 1931 equivalent thereof…
Like ‘Professor’ John Medley’s Bathurst and John Snow books, Johns’ manuscript is rich with marvellous industry, locational, economic, people and event tangents, the most significant of which are dealt with by way of breakouts. A decent index allows these gold nuggets to be mined.
Tony has amassed a colossal motor racing archive in a six-decade obsession. It’s reflected in stunning period material and photographs, most of which haven’t been published before. The photo content alone is worth the ridiculous, low $A99 price. Plus postage, of course.
There are some fabulous tales; Ron Uffindell features prominently in a couple of them. Driving from Adelaide to Bathurst and back and finishing the 1938 AGP at Bathurst, won by Peter Whitehead aboard ERA R10B, is impressive. Perhaps more influential on motor racing history are the secrets in the Austin 7 engine owned by Derek Jolly and given to Colin Chapman for use in his Lotus Mk3 in 1951; the brilliant machine got its Unfair Advantage with those engine tricks.
Austin 7s competed in the support races at Grand Prix meetings until 1958. The Austin 7 Club, formed in Melbourne in 1950, and the publishers of this book, still have over 400 members and have marshalled the troops down the decades to recraft the rules and keep competitor numbers up.
Johns cites the first race for vintage racing and sports cars as perhaps The Argus Trophy held at Fishermans Bend on February 2, 1956. The point being that as Formula Vee, Formula Ford and particularly Clubmans – the latter very much of the A7 owner-builder mindset – grew in popularity as entry-level categories, Austin 7s always got a run in ‘Division 3’ events and then provided a critical grid mass as Historic Racing got underway; the ’78 AGP Golden Jubilee at Phillip Island, ’76 First Amaroo All Historic and ’77 Winton meetings (organised by the Austin 7 Club) are all covered.
The story ends with the 1981 UK Raid, when five racing ‘Australian Austins’ and their owners spent a month racing the Poms on their home turf in a hard-fought series of races akin to The Ashes! The Brits thought they understood ‘their creations’ better than any other A7 racers on the planet, but they found the colonials’ ahem, interpretation of English was at the very literal end of things…
I need to declare an interest in this project, having worked with Tony, a mate of 30 years, to cut and polish his manuscript. With over 400 pages and nearly 500 photos/images, Sporting Austin Sevens in Australia – professionally written, edited, sub-edited, designed and printed – deserves a place on the bookshelves of Austin 7 enthusiasts, motor racing readers and automotive historians.
The 500 individually numbered books – there won’t be second edition – are on schedule to arrive in Melbourne in mid-November and will be mailed to purchasers then. It’s one to have and hold, love and cherish, folks, email this Austin Seven Club address to secure your copy: mailorderparts@austin7club.org
Tim Schenken on the way to winning the Australian Hillclimb Championship at Lakeland, Lilydale in Melbourne’s outer-east on March 28, 1965…
Memory tells me the White was a JAP powered home-built device constructed by a neighbour of Tim’s in Melbourne’s North Balwyn.
Brabham BT21X Ford, MRD mechanics and Tim Schenken, Brands Hatch, December 1968 (T Schenken Archive/MBisset/WordPress)
Three years later he was driving works-Brabhams before his ascent to F1 with Frank Williams/De Tomaso Ford in 1970.
This post is all about the photo above. It’s the names of the MRD mechanics I’m after for my Brabham book project. Who are they guys? I need it for the photo caption.
Schenken blitzed the UK junior formulae in 1968, winning both the British Formula Ford and MCD/Lombank British F3 Championships aboard Merlyn Mk11 and Chevron B9 Ford/Brabham BT21X Ford respectively. He didn’t even join the F3 title chase until round 9 in June!
Given Tim didn’t race his new Brabham BT21X Ford until the final ’68 MCD/Lombank round on December 27 at Brands Hatch (Tony Lanfranchi, Merlyn MK14A won from Tim) I’m thinking this Goodwood testing shot above was, perhaps, just before Brands.
Don’t let the wings fool you, Ron was playing with them in various forms to determine if they had an advantage in 100bhp-screamer-F3, or not. Interesting for some, perhaps, is that the wing set up on BT21X looks a lot like that shipped to Australia attached to BT31 Repco 830 2.5 V8, Jack’s ’69 Tasman weapon of war.
(DLuff/MBisset/WordPress)
While we are on the topic, this is MRD mechanic, David Luff’s shot of the ’69 model BT28 Ford F3 car in January 1969. Note that Tim’s BT21X was the prototype BT28 and was ultimately tagged BT28/1. Is this BT28/1? I dunno!
And yes, the cars raced with or without wings depending upon driver preference.
(T Schenken Archive)
Tim’s all togged up nicely with a collar and tie to meet his new employer during the February 16, 1969 Sandown Tasman Cup round. See here:https://primotipo.com/2026/08/23/brabham-bt31-repco-take-3-by-mark-bisset/ Sandown’s old pits were heaven on a stick for teenage enthusiasts with a capacity to jump fences! My pocket money didn’t extend to such luxuries as pit passes.
Credits…
Tim Schenken Archive, David Luff, Allen Brown’s oldracingcars.com, F2 Register Fastlane
Pedro Rodriguez blasts off Long Bridge in his 2.5-litre BRM P126 #01 V12 during the South Pacific Trophy, Tasman Cup meeting over the March 4, 1968 weekend at Longford.
Montgomery Dunn (a King Street, Sydney snapper I’ve not heard of) took this ripper shot on March 2, ‘Rodriguez in the V12 BRM before it blew up in Saturday’s supporting race.’ Graham Hill won from Jim Clark and Chris Amon: Lotus 49 Ford DFW by two, and Ferrari Dino 246T.
Len Terry’s new Grand Prix design was blooded in the 1968 Tasman Cup, where P126/01 and P126/02 were shared by Pedro, Bruce McLaren and Richard Attwood. Bruce got the better of it with a victory in the Teretonga International.
Pedro raced P126/01 at Levin DNF fuel-pickup, Wigram sixth, Teretonga DNF engine, Surfers Paradise tenth, and Sandown DNF engine. But he spent most of his time, when Tim Parnell was out of sight, looking at the 2.1-litre V8 P261, which was fully sorted, to say the least! It was the tour spare, but Pedro raced it at Pukekohe for a DNF clutch, Warwick Farm, sixth and a splendid second at Longford where he nicked the spot from Frank Gardner’s Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo 2.5 V8 in the streaming, atrocious rain on the last lap.
Barry Nelson with Allan Moffat aboard his Brabham BT16 Lotus-Ford Formula B on the Road America dummy grid on June 17, 1967.
In a very limited campaign, he finished seventh in the Central Division of the SCCA-sanctioned championship.
(BryarRacingMagazine-MBisset-Wordpress)
Moffat’s primary program was running Ford’s Lotus Cortina program. The shot above shows him winning the Bryar Motor Sport Park 250 Trans Am round outright in London-Laconia, New Hampshire, in July 1966.
I’ve already written an epic about Moff’s single-seater racing, but my discovery of AI-enhanced photographs lured me back in this direction, as it meant I could do something with Barry Nelson’s old colour shots which were potentially very good. See here:https://primotipo.com/2020/04/14/allan-moffat-single-seater-racer/
Moffat two-wheeling his Lotus-Cortina at Sandown during the November 1964 6 Hour, he and Jon Leighton were fourth (unattributed)AM racing a works-Bud Moore Mercury Cougar, circuit unknown, 1967 (unattributed)(BNelson-MBisset-Wordpress)
AM ready to rock and roll in the most salubrious of surroundings! In the lane behind Bob Jane Racing, itself behind Jane’s Chrysler/Valiant dealership at 740 Sydney Road, Brunswick, Melbourne, with the ex-Jack Brabham 1968 Tasman Cup Brabham BT23E Repco-Brabham 740 2.5 V8.
Moff was entered in round three of the Australian Drivers Championship, the Gold Star, at Sandown on September 15, 1968, but things quickly turned to custard in practice when the just rebuilt car – from John Harvey’s Easter Bathurst accident caused by component failure – lost a wheel and did enough damage to end the weekend.
(B Nelson)(BNelson-MBisset-CoPilot)
Same time, same place, same car, but this time with John Sawyer, Jane’s team manager and chief mechanic. And a VE Valiant. In both enhanced shots, the car comes up well, but the facial features are much harder for the tool when the original is lacking…
(BNelson-MBisset-Wordpress)
Jack Brabham, below, earlier in 1968 racing the same chassis, BT23E, but fitted with the first 830 Repco-Brabham V8 during the February 25 Australian Grand Prix. DNF engine after 21 of the 55 laps; Jim Clark won the race – his last GP win – in a works Lotus 49 Ford Cosworth DFW.
(RBartholamaeusColl-MBisset-Wordpress)
Moffat exits Honda, maybe, in Bob Jane’s Elfin 400 Repco-Brabham 720 4.4 V8 at Phillip Island in November 1968. It’s a little-known event, and was probably a case of Bob throwing Moffat a bone.
He’d helped Sawyer and Jane buy the Shelby Mustang, and the deal supposedly was that AM would drive the old Mustang and Bob the newie. But Bob had racing drivers up to his armpits by that stage: there was Bob himself, Harvey recovering from his huge Bathurst prang, Ian Cook racing the Brabham and Elfin, and Bevan Gibson – arguably the most promising of the lot – sniffing around too.
(Rob Bartholomaeus Coll)
‘Take the Elfin down to the Island for a race or two and have a good time at the Isle of Wight.’ Before too long, Jane and Moffat had a parting of the ways, then Moffat pulled off the KarKraft Trans Am Mustang deal, and the rest is history…
How’d he go in the Elfin at the Island, folks? Rob Bartholomaeus sent me this magazine shot a decade ago. It’s a shit shot out of the December 1968 PIARC Notes magazine, but it’s amazing how well it came up with a tickle on WordPress. I even colourised it, something I’ve said to all and sundry I’d never do, but being the President of the Australian Society of Hypocrites, I just had to have a go. A brilliant job, too. And yes, the number could be 7. Apart from anything else, I’m intrigued to see how long it takes the colour shot to ‘do the social media rounds.’
(RBartholomaeusColl-MBisset-WordPress)Engine and cockpit of the Jane 400 – ratio change in progress – probably taken during the January 26, 1969 Phillip Island meeting when the car was driven by Bevan Gibson (N Chambers)(AutoAction-MBisset-WordPress)
Moffat hadn’t finished with single-seaters just yet.
Elfin ran a Calder test day for mainly BP-contracted drivers to have a lash in the brand new Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden F5000 car at Calder on Monday, September 13, 1971.
John McCormack finished second in the Sandown Gold Star round the day before in #5711, Kevin Bartlett won it in his McLaren M10B Chev. The steerers that day included Moffat, Henk Woelders, Garry Rush, John Harvey and David McKay, wearing his journo hat.
Moff did an undisclosed number of laps, and with too tall Sandown gearing, worn tyres and fullish tanks, did a best of 44 seconds neat.
There were rumours once or twice about a Tasman F5000 drive, but, sadly, that never happened.
(AutoAction-MBisset-WordPress)
Credits…
Barry Nelson, Rob Bartholomaeus, Neville Chambers, Auto Action
Tailpiece…
Things Go Better With…
Moffat with the Sandown hardware after winning the 1970 Sandown Three Hour aboard a works Ford Falcon GTHO Phase 2. Who is the bloke in the background?
Garrie Cooper aboard Australian Racing Royalty, the ultimate Elfin 600, the car he built for himself to contest the 1970 Australian Gold Star Championship, Elfin 600D chassis #7012 powered by a 295bhp 2.5-litre Repco 830 SOHC, two valve V8
He’s in the shadows of the Wanneroo Park control tower during the May 3, 1970 Lex Davison Memorial meeting, the feature race of which was the 35-lap West Australian Road Racing Championship.
(SLWA-MBisset-WordPress)
The two raiding invaders were Elfin 600 mounted South Australians, the boss himself, Garrie Cooper, and long-time Elfin customer, the fast-rising John Walker in #6907, the first of his two 600Bs, #7018 being the other. Walker was the reigning WA Champion but had little chance of defending his title against the far quicker 2.5-litre car.
Racing Car News’ Mike Cuss wrote, ‘Both cars were magnificently prepared, and if evaluated point by point would leave many European cars we see here a long way back in second place. Detail design and standard of finish of the Elfin 600 series must be the best bar none.’
(CMunday-MBisset-WordPress)
The flag drops with Cooper on pole, Walker and Craig McAllister in the yellow Macon Ford on this side on the front row, then George Cole, Befa-Ford and Bob Ilich’s on row two
(C Munday)
Team Ilich with their heads chopped off, unfortunately; Brabham BT21B Cosworth SCB, chassis #16. Bob Ilich was a Brabham Racing Organisation mechanic during the 1964-67 glory years and returned to WA with this car, which he raced very successfully for many years. The west had a very strong local 1.5-1.6-litre scene; for most of the 1960s and 1970s, they didn’t have Gold Star rounds due to the tyranny of distance from the east coast. More about Bob here:https://primotipo.com/2026/03/28/australian-racing-random-24/
Ilich fettling his Cosworth SCB 1498cc SOHC, two-valve, twin Weber 40 DCM2 downdraught-fed engine, the 1.5-litre variant of Cosworth’s successful 1-litre F2 engine. Ford 116E block, Heron or bowl-in-crown combustion chamber, Laystall steel crank etc. The literature sez 175bhp, but that sounds like a hand-on-willy number to me? (C Munday)(SLWA)
Cooper led the race comfortably from Walker (above), the pair lapping comfortably in the 61-second bracket, about 3 seconds quicker than the locals. Cooper, Walker, McAllister and Ilich were out front, way ahead of George Cole, Befa-Ford and Bernie Zampatti’s, Zalfa, an Alfa Romeo-powered spaceframe chassis machine.
GC copped a bit of excitement on lap 2 when the right-rear of Ken Gardiner’s GR3 zipped across the ‘main-straightaway’ in front of him, ‘Shades of Barnes Wallis and his dam-busting bouncing bombs!’ as Mike Cuss wrote.
By lap 11 of 35, Cooper was lapping the tail-enders for the second time, ‘leaving a string of slower cars between him and second-placed man John Walker, who was easing the Elfin along with overheating problems.’ McAllister spun and let Ilich through into third place and that’s the way they finished: Cooper, Walker 34 laps, Ilich 33, McAllister 31 and Colin Ekert, Elfin, 29 laps.
Bernie Zampatti’s Elfin Mono-esque in appearance Zalfa, an Alfa Romeo-powered single-seater (C Munday)(C Munday-MBisset-WordPress)Gilbert Motor Bodies was the Walker family’s Adelaide auto body business. Rear wing was mounted unfashionably forward (CMunday-MBisset-WordPress)
John Walker, note the period-correct Marlboro in his gob, did well in his 600Bs, winning the Victorian Joseph Lucas/Stillwell-Davison Trophy in #6907, and finishing second behind Max Stewart’s Mildren Waggott in the one-race, 40-lap, 67-mile 1970 Australian F2 Championship at Lakeside in September aboard his new #7018.
He raced that car on into 1971, finishing fourth in the 1971 F2 championship won by Larry Perkins’ Gary Campbell-owned Elfin 600B/E, then refocused on the Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden F5000 car from late 1971. #5714 was delivered in February 1972. JW had been racing twin-cam Elfins – Mono Mk2 and two 600Bs from late 1966 – so the step up was timely and just the ticket for the new class.
(SLWA-MBisset-WordPress)Garrie Cooper gets the goodies, Bob Ilich behind (SLWA-MBisset-SLWA)
Noting that I am a hopelessly biased Elfin fan, I think the gist of the following piece I wrote a while back about the 1970 Australian Gold Star Championship was, in part, that Cooper’s – designed and built by him and his team – 600D Repco 830 V8 was the COTY (car of the year), albeit one that was under-developed and a tad unreliable, see here: https://primotipo.com/2019/07/05/oran-park-diamond-trophy-gold-star-1970/
Elfin 600 front uprights, please discuss! Alford & Alder (Triumph Herald etc) forgings on the 600, 600B and 600 Formula Ford, cast magnesium on the 600E and fabricated steel on 600C and 600D, as above…
The 600D has always been on my list of favourite Australian Racing Cars along with a Matich A53 Repco-Holden, Bowin P8 Hart-Ford 416B, Elfin 360 Repco 830 2.5, Birrana 374 Ford and the Mawer 004 Formula Ford. Hmm, if I can only have one, it’s the 600D, lucky Frank Arronis, the car’s current custodian.
Etcetera…
(SLWA-MBisset-WordPress)
Walker and Cooper on the Wanneroo dummy grid, I’ve never been to the place, it’s time to go.
(SLWA-MBisset-WordPress)
Howie Sangster took a couple of wins in his Pinocchio (Nightclub) Racing Team Lola T70 Mk2 Chev. #SL71/38 the ex-Jack Epstein machine raced by Paul Hawkins, was gussied up with some McLaren components by this stage and was dubbed the McLaren LT70 or McLola, depending upon your religion.
Howie was a busy boy that weekend, also taking victory in a scratch race for Minis in Jim Mullins’ Cooper S; who are driving the first two cars in the panorama below, folks?
(SLWA-MBisset-WordPress)Bob Ilich (SLWA)Team Ilich and Brabham BT21B Cosworth SCB. I’ll get in touch with Bob, third from the right, to put names to the faces (SLWA-MBisset-WordPress)
Cosworth SCA/SCB/SCC…
The following are the specifications of a Weber-fed 1964 Cosworth SCA F2 engine.
The SC series is a significant engine in Cosworth’s back catalogue and no doubt occupied a bullet point or three in Colin Chapman’s PowerPoint presentation to Ford’s Walter Hayes when our-Col pitched Keith Duckworth and Mike Costin’s outfit as the preferred designer/constructors of his planned 3-litre V8 Grand Prix engine in 1965-66…the Ford Cosworth DFV V8 was the result of the alliance.
Four cylinder engine, capacity 997cc bore/stroke of 81mm/48.36 mm, compression ratio of 12.5:1 giving 115 bhp minimum @ 8700 rpm and torque of 76 lb ft @ 6800 rpm.
Cylinder Head. Cast aluminium alloy; cylinders, cast iron – bored in block. Bore dia. 3.1890/3.1895
Crankcase. Cast iron (Ford 116E) – monobloc type, crankshaft forged-nitrided steel (Laystall), end play .002 – 011″, thrust taken by two half washers. Main journal dia. 2.1255/2.1360″ Conrod journal dia. 1.9370/1.9375″ Stroke 1.903/1.906″ Main bearings shells – ‘Vandervell’ lead-indium, steel backed. Cosworth Part No. F0012 Main bearing caps are special steel, housing bored .015″ o/s
Camshaft. Monikrom, run in five bearings. Driven by a train of seven gears from the crankshaft. Bearings – white metal shell type ‘Vandervell’
Valve Mechanism: Inverted piston-type tappets, running directly on the camshaft. Chill-cast iron. Valve Timing F1 – 102 deg Cosworth camshaft 1O 58 deg BTDC IC 82 deg ATDC EO 82 deg BTDC EC 58 deg ATDC Valve lift .400″ Ramp .010″
Valves. Inlet material: austenitic steel. Head dia. 1.45 “; seat angle 45 deg; stem dia 9/32”. Exhaust. Material: austenitic steel. Head dia. 1.25 “; seat angle 45 deg; stem dia 9/32″. Valve Springs. Double springs, outer variable-pitch wound. Rate 260 Ib/in. Free length 1.65”. Fitted length 1.29″ (both measured on outer). Close coils to be fitted at head end.
Connecting rods material EN.24 Length centre to centre 5.434″ End Play .002 / .006″ Bearings Trimetal (steel backed)
Pistons. Special Cosworth/Hepolite, forged in RR59, one compression, one oil control ring. Gudgeon pins: hollow taper bored. Ground o/d 13/16″ dia nominal Clearance .0002 – 0005″ Retained by flat circlips Compression Ring Material Cast iron. Plain, high radial pressure. Ring gap .019″. Oil control ring Two separate scrapers in single groove
Water Pump, Cosworth, driven from front of jackshaft
Lubrication: dry sump full-pressure system. Main bearings – pressure fed. Connecting rods – pressure fed. Gudeon pins – splash. Cylinder wall, camshaft bearings – pressure fed. Tappets – splash. Timing gears – jet and splash. Oil Pump ‘Hobourn-Eaton’ type, Cosworth designed, mounted on side of cylinder block. Oil Filter. Not supplied with engine; should be full flow with special felt cartridge, and by-pass valve blanked off.
Distributor Lucas 40731 10 deg – 1000 rpm. Rotation anti-clockwise, Firing order 1 3 4 2. Contact breaker arm spring tension 32 oz. Centrifugal advance 20 deg on crank. Contact breaker gap .010 / 012″
Carburation: Two 40 DCM2 Weber. Choke size 32mm Jetted to suit the engine whilst being tested on a dynamometer. Inlet Manifolds: Cast Aluminium alloy, machined to house ‘O’ rings for flexible mounting.
Credits…
Chris Munday, State Library of Western Australia, Racing Car News July 1970, Autocar April 16, 1965, John Marsden, John Scott-Davies
Jack Brabham, with jaw firmly set, looks for his braking and turn-in points for Shell Corner at Sandown during the February 16, 1969 Sandown Park Cup in the one-off Brabham BT31-1 Repco 830 2.5 V8.
He was third in his only Tasman Cup appearance that summer, up front was Tasman winner, Chris Amon in a works Ferrari 246T with Jochen Rindt second in a works Lotus 49B Ford DFW.
(MildrenFilms-MBisset-Wordpress)
David McKay keeps an eye on Derek Bell’s works Ferrari 246T with Jack Brabham’s Brabham BT31 Repco as the field is assembled prior to the start of the Sandown race; the horsey nature of the place is readily apparent. The angle of incidence on Jack’s wing is on the shallow side; still, it’s a fast track.
(A Ould Collection)
BRM mechanic Allan Ould, Jack Brabham and a Goodyear rep looking pretty happy with BT31-1 in the Sandown paddock.
Post Brabham, Ould built several Aztec racing cars and then had a very successful career in the retail motor trade. Can anybody put me in touch with him? I want to invite him to a catch-up of the Repco Brabham Engines crew in November.
(JBrookfield-MBisset-WordPress)
A couple of days before, having finally got their hands on the car which had been stuck on the Port Melbourne docks as a consequence of a wharfies strike, BT31-1 is being race-prepared in RBE’s Mitchell Street, Maidstone factory. That’s John Brookfield at left, Jack alongside, then RBE’s GM Frank Hallam and Michael Gasking on the right.
(R Wolfe)
Shortly thereafter, on Friday the car was taken to Calder Raceway for systems checks. Jack is focused on the job at hand, while watched by John Brookfield leaning on the back of the car, Michael Gasking in grey and John Mepstead on the right.
And below off on another lap. The session was famously brought to an end when a farmer adjoining the Keilor property cracked-the-shits with the Repco boys who were running the car after a curfew which limited the hours during which race engines could do their thing. Gotta look after the sheep, after all…
(RWolfe-MBisset-Wordpress)Brabham on the way to BT31-1 victory in the Bathurst Gold Star round over the 1969 Easter weekend (oldracephotos.com/DSimpson)
BT31-1 is the lowest-mileage works Brabham of all. It contested the Sandown Tasman event and the Bathurst Australian Driver’s Championship Gold Star round over Easter in 1969, and was won by Jack in what was his final in-period RBE-powered win in a long relationship that commenced with Repco-prepared Coventry Climax FPFs at the dawn of the 1960s.
(unatt-MBisset-Wordpress)
Bathurst Gold Star grid on April 7, 1969. Leo Geoghegan in the white Lotus 39 Repco 730 on pole, with Niel Allen’s McLaren M4A Ford FVA and Max Stewart, Mildren Waggott TC-4V 1.6 comprising the front row.
Brabham is off grid seven; his task of winning the race was made easier when Stewart and Allen had an argument about the same bit of real estate in the Dipper that took both out on the spot on the first lap. Brabham won from John Harvey, Brabham BT23E Repco 830 and Henk Woelders, Elfin 600B Lotus-Ford.
Jack focused at the start (BFrankel-MBisset-Wordpress)(Unatt-MBisset-Wordpress)
I’m not sure that Jack practised without wings, but he certainly tested bi-winged and the set-up above, which is how he raced.
Down through the Dipper above and at rest below. The Brabham-Repco relationship concluded during 1969 with meetings at Sandown Park and Bathurst in Australia and stateside at Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Racing Park.
In the latter, Peter Revson brought the business relationship to an end in the best possible way by winning the IRP 200 from strong opposition, his Brabham BT25 powered by the 4.2-litre RBE760, the four-cammer redeeming itself with a splendid win against strong opposition…
(RWolfe-MBisset-Wordpress)(Repco)
RBE engineer, Brian Heard commented on this photograph, ‘This pic is of a 830 2.5L RB engine. Constructed specifically for the Aussie Tasman series. Great little engine, using the 800 block (cast in magnesium) which was essentially the same dimensionally as the 700 series block, but had a deck height 1.190″ shorter that the 700, making it very compact.’
‘The 30 series heads were earlier than the 40 series, but were very similar except for the exhaust ports, which exited outside the V. This engine had a 55mm stroke and weighed just 250lbs, meaning that it gave a little over 1hp/lb. It begs the question: why was it not used to make a 3L F1 830? Hmmm, can’t answer that; maybe others can?’
RBE 830 Tasman 2.5-litre V8. SOHC, two-valve, Lucas fuel injection, circa 295bhp @ 9000rpm.
Credits…
Ampol, Allan Ould Collection, oldracephotos.com/Dick Simpson, Brian Heard, Bob Frankel, Mildren Films
Ken McLachlan and Dr Geoff M Faithfull, Vauxhall 30/98 #OE53, discuss track conditions of the ‘one mile, grass circular track’ laid out on Faithfull’s Inveralochy Station (farm), 20km south of Goulburn circa 1925.
Faithfull, bought OE53 new from noted Sydney Vauxhall competitor/dealer, Boyd Edkins in 1923, coming out of an E-Type Vauxhall.
Geoff, patron of the Goulburn Motor Club, offered the use of his property for motorsport – motorcycle racing primarily but with cars as well – in December 1924, the first meeting being held on January 18, 1925. The grass track was about one mile long, the same length as Calder in its original form.
The September 1926 meeting to contest the Inveralochy Cup, a straight half mile, included events for cars amongst them, K McDonald’s Buick, the R Bryce Dodge with P O’Keefe’s ‘Ford Racer’ the winner at 57 1/2 mph.
The Argus reported that visitors arrived at Inveralochy at short notice in September 1924 when the field of the RACA six-day reliability trial contested a flying half-mile contest there when the chosen roads between Goulburn and Queanbeyan were deemed unsuitable due to deep gutters.
Hope Bartlett’s Vauxhall 30/98 was quickest at 68 mph, with only 14 of the 25 cars doing better than 50 mph. ‘The grass surface would not allow the highly geared British cars to develop their greatest speed in such a short distance. AV Turner was second on an Itala and SC Ottoway third, Vauxhall. Another notable was Mrs JAS Jones, Chandler.
Into 1937 and March 1938 the venue was still in use, a large crowd watched M Johnstone exceed 100mph and win the flying quarter mile award with a two run average of 92 1/2 mph, no mention of his mount, sadly.
Faithfull died suddenly in Sydney, aged 49 on Monday July 1, 1940. His obituary in the Goulburn Evening Post noted that, ‘He was interested in motor racing, at one time and for several years, was the Goulburn Motor Club’s patron.’
The Faithfull family took up ‘Springfield’ a Crown Grant in 1827
A cursory Google search shows the property sold earlier this year for $M18, doubtless the selling agent recounted the amazing firefight between a group of four Faithfull youths and ‘notorious bushrangers, Ben Hall, Gilbert and Dunn in 1865…they provided quality resistance, over 20 rifle and revolver rounds were fired by the goodies, and ‘between thirty and forty shots by the bushrangers’.
As a result of the clash with Ben Hall and John Gilbert, the four brothers were each awarded a gold medal by the government. A sign on the property reads, ‘This post marks the place where the Faithfull Brothers encountered the bushrangers on February 6, 1865, the bushrangers firing 94 shots at them.’
The perils of an inquisitive mind and too much time on one’s hands are apparent in this piece. Trove is such a wonderfully distracting resource…
Ben Hall (ABC)
Road Racing and Ratepayers…
As John Medley explained in his piece on the growth of motor cycles and road racing, and car racing, the subject was a touchy one for ratepayers wanting to go about earning their daily bread, but Geoff Faithfull, member of the local squattocracy, stepped up to the plate on the side of the racers.
To the Editor. Goulburn Evening Penny Post, February 13, 1923
Dear Sir,
Your paper, this morning reports this morning that the Shira Council still disapproves of the Goulburn Motor Cycle Club holding their Easter carnival on the open road. As the points against road racing have been fully enumerated. perhaps one or two in favour of it will assist those who are neutral, or at any rate not openly antagonistic to it, to see the other wide.
During the war motor cyclists played a very big part indeed as dispatch riders, and machine gunners. These men had to be taught to ride a bike, and, furtber, to handle it at speed. Many men can ride a motor cycle at ordinary touring pace, but it takes no mean ability, not to mention pluck to handle a machine at high speeds on the road. On the continent and in England, this is realised and road races over closed circuits are frequently held both for cars and motor cycles. On the outbreak of war those, who had previously taken part in these tests, saw their opportunity, and in the early days we read of well known riders and drivers being with the French staff. They not only knew the roads, but they knew how to take their machines at speed, which was then necessary, along them.
If the members of a motor cycle club wish to race on the road, I feel that they should be given every encouragement. During the process, which in an expensive one for them, they are furthering experience, which may be of infinite in value, for a man who can keep a cycle in tune, and race it, is a specialist. Speeding in the presence of traffic in rightly discouraged, but here is an opportunity to warn traffic, for a short period over a given circuit, and develop the skill of the riders. It is frequently said that road racing ruins the roads. This cannot be admitted in the case of motor cycles, but were it so, then the roads must be at fault. We need roads that will stand speeds. When the country can afford them we will have them. In the meantime the same process that selected the most suitable machine will select the type of road, and the man to convey the machine along it.
There are two sides to every question, but controlled road racing is far from being an unmitigated evil.
Yours, etc.
G. M. FAITHFULL. Inveralochy.
Credits…
Goulburn Evening Penny Post,The Argus, various newspapers via Trove, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express September 23, 1910, Lithgow Mercury October 10, 1950, State Library of New South Wales, Australian Broadcasting Commission
Finito…
(unattributed)
Vauxhall 30-98 OE53 lives on in the hands of Richard Walton, who has owned it since 1996. ‘One of the few Thirsty’s with a full continuous history,’ I am told.
