Not Jumpin’ Jack Flash but Edison Waters’s Bentley 4.5-litre s/c #SM3907 during the Bathurst Grand Prix weekend, March 25, 1940.
That fugly appendage on the rear of the lovely car’s expensive bodywork is a charcoal burner that produced gas to power a vehicle with a prodigious thirst at a time petrol was tightly rationed amongst the Australian populace.
Somehow, it seems wrong that some chaps were having a jolly good time back home in Oz, while others were having their balls shot off by the dreaded Hun. Having said that, John Medley points out that some of the racers were also servicemen. Most race meetings in Australia then, before the lights fully went out, raised money for the families of the war dead. I guess this one was no exception? Isn’t it a terrific view of officialdom on Mount Panorama’s pit straight?
(DHenryColl-MBisset-Wordpress)‘What do you think, Jeeves?’ (T Johns Collection)
The beast only lasted two laps of the 37-lap 150-mile handicap event won by scratch-man Alf Barrett’s Alfa Romeo 8C2300 Monza from John Snow’s Delahaye 135CS and Chas Whatmore’s Ford V8 Special. Britain’s finest ran one of its bearings.
It’s surprising how many Bentleys, very popular with Australia’s Squatocracy for their on-bush road performance and reliability, that came here competed.
Having said that, #SM3907 was primarily a roadie, imported from the UK by Tom Luxton – of the McEwans hardware chain – by that time, the car’s original Van den Plas four-seater sports coachwork had been replaced by this fetching March-designed two/three-seater body built by John Charles. Later owners included racers Ron Edgerton and Lex Davison, who famously used it as a tow-master during his Alfa Romeo P3 racing phase. See here:https://primotipo.com/2015/08/02/who-what-where-and-when/
‘No person being allowed on this road while closed for speed contests’ does seem sound advice.
(DHenryColl-MBisset-WordPress))(Turner Studios courtesy of Henley Auctions)
The prodigious torque of the Bentley’s 4.5-litre four-cylinder 175bhp @ 3500rpm – when petrol-fed – engine hauls Waters out of Hell Corner for the long drag up Mountain Straight. It’s such a shame the car failed early in the race, as it would have been very interesting to see how the car performed; doubtless, the power loss relative to a standard car was considerable.
John Medley had this to say in one of his bibles, ‘Bathurst: Cradle of Australian Motor Racing’.
‘The Edison Waters entry created a great deal of interest.’
‘Not only was it the first and only Bentley to race at Bathurst (until the modern era), but it ran on charcoal. The huge and ungainly charcoal gas producer was mounted behind the tail, the conversion having been done by National Fuel Engineers of Sydney, the fuel cost savings claimed being considerable: £1 for 150 miles as opposed to £15 or more for normal fuels. The fully equipped blower 4.5-litre Bentley (later owned by Lex Davison, Jack Jeffery and others) suffered the further indignity of having an extraordinary bundle of untidy unsilenced exhaust pipes reaching rearwards over the left mudguards “to deafen the passengers on the way to Bathurst”. The two-ton Bentley, radio playing, lasted two laps.’
Credits…
Darren Henry Collection, who bought a bulk lot of negatives on eBay containing envelopes of Bathurst images from 1938, 1939, and 1940.’ Many thanks, Darren, for posting them on Bob Williamson’s Old Motor Racing Photographs-Australia Facebook page. ‘Vintage Bentleys in Australia’ by Clare Hay, Bob Watson, Phil Schudmak and Tony Johns. Tony Johns Archive, Turner Studios, courtesy of Henley Auctions
Stan Jones and Len Lukey during their epic dice for the lead of the 1959 Australian Prix at Longford on March 2, Maserati 250F and Cooper T45 Climax FPF 2-litre.
In a fitting dose of karma, Stan finally bagged the AGP win he deserved, while Len won the Gold Star.
As you will see in this link to my ’59 AGP piece, the image above was filched from the cover of the 1960 Longford program: https://primotipo.com/2024/05/08/omg-stan-jones-and-len-lukey-longford-1959/ The WordPress AI device hasn’t managed to fuse these two pages below successfully, but here ’tis anyway.
(McNeill Art-MBisset-WordPress)(ADick-CAN)
I do have a BRM fetish, always have. The Brits’ Ferrari and all that. That nice Mr Nye has nearly finished BRM Vol 4, can’t wait.
Allan Dick posted on his Classic Auto News FB page these fabulous colour shots of Arnold Glass’s BRM P48 during the 1962 New Zealand Grand Prix weekend at Ardmore.
Australian Arnold Glass was an NZ Grand Prix regular, first bringing the ex-works/Parnell Ferrari 555 Super Squalo – #555/2 and FL9002 – to Ardmore in 1958, where he was 12th, a performance he repeated in the same car the following year. He got on very well with the ex-works/Hunt/Stillwell Maserati 250F #2516, sixth at Ardmore in 1960, reflected the bond between man and driver-friendly machine.
(ADick-CAN)Brue checking out the BRM, McLaren was third in the NZGP behind Moss and Surtees; Lotus 21 and Cooper T53 by two (ADick-CAN)
He got with the Cooper strength in 1961, finishing eighth in his Maserati-engined T45 before returning in 1962 in a BRM P48 #482. The model had impressed him in the hands of Graham Hill and Dan Gurney during their 1961 Australasian tour. He qualified #9 midfield but retired in the race. He was seventh at Wigram a fortnight later.
He was back in ’63 with the BRM, which was by then fitted with the 3.9-litre Traco modified Buick alloy V8 that had powered the Scarab RE raced by Chuck Daigh at Sandown in 1962. Glass didn’t compete as a consequence of a water skiing injury. Allan Dick wrote that ‘The car was still here at the next national meeting at Pukekohe and it was given a run — and a victory — by Ross Jensen, showing he’d lost none of his old touch, winning after an early battle with Forrest Cardon in the Lycoming.’
‘Trinkets’ returned in 1964, this time with a Lotus 27 powered by a Cosworth-built Lotus-Ford twin-cam engine, but he crashed the 1.5-litre car in practice, and that was that. More on Arnold’s BRM here:https://primotipo.com/2018/03/16/bourne-to-ballarat-brm-p48-part-2/
(BForsyth)
Andrew Miedecke, climbing the mountain in his Peter Brock, Perkins Engineering-built Holden Commodore VN during the 1991 Bathurst 1000.
Edwin Adamson’s shot of John Barber’s Lancia Lambda, on the way to winning the ten-day 1520-mile RACV Great Alpine Trial held in the high country of Victoria and New South Wales starting on March 10, 1926.
39 cars started the event, which took in Melbourne, Wangaratta, Mount Hotham, Omeo, Tallangatta, Tumut, Mount Kosziusko, Canberra, Eden, Lakes Entrance, and Mornington. Barber won from RJ ‘Herb’ Beith’s Chrysler, WA Terdich’s DFP, AW Bernadou’s Austin and JCB Hutton’s Alvis Sports. More here:https://primotipo.com/2026/06/12/1926-alpine-trial/comment-page-1/
(LangdonFamColl-HRCCTas)
The March 4, 1963, South Pacific Championship at Longford is about to start.
Winner of the 25-lap, 100-mile race, #10 Bruce McLaren, Cooper T62 Climax is on pole with Bib Stillwell, Brabham BT4 Climax and Lex Davison, Cooper T53 Climax on the outside. That’s the yellow helmet of Tony Maggs’ Bowmaker Lola Mk4 Climax and David McKay, Brabham BT4 Climax on row two, then the rest. McLaren won from Stillwell and John Youl in Cooper #5, a T55 Climax. Frontal view, WordPress has given the Olympic logo on the starter’s seat a lick of Mandarin, hopefully it doesn’t say anything rude.
Australian Tourist Trophy action at Lakeside on the November 14, 1965 weekend.
From the left it’s Frank Gardner, Mildren Maserati from pole, then Pete Geoghegan, Lotus 23B Lotus-Ford and Ken Miles’ works Shelby Cobra 427 on the outside. Then Greg Cusack’s Lotus 23, back a bit to Spencer Martin in the SV Ferrari 250LM, then the red Lola Mk1 Climax of Frank Demuth and Glyn Scott in Ann Thompson’s Lotus 15.
Let’s not get too carried away, though. Frank Gardner’s presence tells us this is a heat. The Maserati engine in the Bob Britton-built Mildren let go in the biggest possible way, about where it is now in this heat, so FG didn’t make the final.
(TRS-MBisset-WordPress)
The star of the show was Miles in the works-Shelby American Cobra #CSX3002. Despite his presence, the 83-lap 125-mile race was won by the nimble Lotus of Geoghegan from Cusack and Martin, with Bob Jane’s Jaguar E-Type fourth (below in front of Gardner in the heat).
Miles, from grid 3, gave the crowd a helluva show until lap 34 of 85 laps when the rear suspension failed. Interestingly, as Steve Holmes observed, the only other races Miles did outside the US that year were the Le Mans classic and Monza 1000kms; DNF gearbox on lap 45 in a Ford Mk2 shared with Bruce McLaren, and third in a Mark 2 again shared with Bruce.
(RBell-MBisset-WordPress)
What has always intrigued me is why Shelby/FoMoCo bothered freighting this car/driver to an event in Australia of no real consequence at all. Paul Newby answered those questions in an Australian Muscle Car feature some years back and summarised the salient points on The Nostalgia Forum in 2019.
‘There was no direct sponsorship from Shell or Ford. Shell may well have underwritten the meeting programme and the Thursday night social event, but that was it. There was no appearance fee, just freight costs to get the Cobra there and back and expenses for Ken Miles and mechanic Ron Butler. I asked QMSC Secretary David Harding whether any documentation was retained, like copies of letters or Committee Minutes, but alas, there isn’t.’
‘Harding told me that Miles and Butler were put up at the Travelodge at Kangaroo Point, like the Tasman drivers were. However Richard Croston’s Lakeside, the early years, says that the duo were accommodated at the Coronation Motel near the Brisbane River. So I didn’t mention that detail in the story.’
‘Why did Shelby agree to send Miles and the Cobra 427 Competition to Australia? I can’t answer that, but I’ll make the following observations:
1. The 427 Cobra was an obsolete race car, so there was no risk to an existing race program. Miles had graduated to the Ford GT program by then and Bob Grossman was Shelby American’s works driver in the 289 Cobra. (He raced at Nassau in December 65.)
2. With a full order book for the Cobra 427 and Mustang GT350 plus being bankrolled by Ford for the GT program, Shelby didn’t need an appearance fee nor the $$$ to offload the Cobra 427 Competition to an Aussie hotshot.’
(RBell-MBisset-WordPress)
‘John Harvey having his first open-wheeler drive on bitumen’, is a quote among quotes from Ray Bell!
Harves is at the wheel of Ron Phillip’s ex-Stillwell Brabham BT14 Lotus-Ford #FL-1-65 during the Lakeside ATT meeting on November 14, 1965. A date to pop into the diaries of John Harvey fans. Harves proved rather adept in cars of all types: https://primotipo.com/2021/01/25/harves/
The nose band of the repaired image isn’t quite right, but I’ll take it all the same (RBell)(DOverend)
In amongst dominating the 1973 Australian F2 Championship in his works Birrana 273 Hart-Ford 416B Leo Geoghegan squeezed in a pair of visits to South East Asia.
These shots are in Macau; the one below was way out-of-focus made acceptable by AI, take in the car if not the decals…
(MBisset-WordPress)
Leo was fourth in the race won by John McDonald’s Brabham BT40, from Sonny Rajah, March 712M/732, and Graeme Lawrence, Surtees TS15.
Geoghegan opened his tour at the Malaysian Grand Prix held at Batu Tiga on April 13, DNF, then went to Singapore on April 22 for Q3 and a problem-filled ninth, before taking the car back to Macau in November.
Hong Konger John MacDonald and Kiwi Graeme Lawrence were the Toppish Guns in South East Asia in this period.
(SCMP)
Kevin Bartlett, Vern Schuppan and David Brabham are the Australians who’ve won the Macau GP. Here’s KB with Glen Abbey, longtime Alec Mildren Racing mechanic, after his 1969 victory in the sub; Mildren Alfa Romeo 2.5 V8.
I don’t have a race report for this event, but the missing bit of bodywork suggests a late-race splash-and-dash for KB to get The Yellow Submarine home. Those with a better RCN Collection than mine will have the answer.
(SCMP)
It’s an all-Brabham front two rows in some ways…KB’s Mildren on pole is chockers with Brabham bits bolted onto Len Bailey’s chassis, alongside is John MacDonald’s BT10 Ford Cosworth FVA; #66 is Albert Poon’s Brabham BT30, not to forget the two Mitsubishi Colt F2-Cs of Osamu Masuko and Soohei Kato, which are Brabham BT18/21 chassis or BT 18/21 copies built by Mitsubishi.
(KDevineColl)
The ex-Peter Whitehead Cooper T38 is a favourite car of mine. I’d love to have that sucker in my garage and use it as Ian McDonald did, as an occasional fast roadie and a regularity competitor, rather than racing it, given its value.
Ron Phillips racing it above during the 1958 Australian Tourist Trophy at Bathurst, and Stan Jones in his first meeting with it in the Albert Park March, Moomba meeting in 1956. Stanley didn’t like it much and moved it on pretty smartly. Ron liked it and won the ’59 Australian TT at Lowood in it, amongst other successes.
(REdgertonColl)
The radiator is to keep VB bottles and Chiko roll packaging away from the radiator. Tom Sulman in the following Aston Martin from memory?
Phillips in the Cooper T38 Jag on the way to winning the ATT at Lowood in 1959.
Bruce Allison leads Ken Smith at Bay Park during the January 3, 1977 New Zealand Formula Pacific Championship, Ralt RT1 Ford BDA and March Ford BDA.
Allison was Q3 and second in the race behind Steve Millen’s Chevron B35. He was third in the five round series behind rising star Keke Rosberg’s Fred Opert Racing Chevron B34 and Tom Gloy’s Tui BH2.
John Leffler on a fairly rare visit to Mexico (Victoria) with his works-supported Cooper S sports sedan, Calder, August 1971.
Paul Knott’s name on the door proves just how far back that successful partnership extended. Does this car still exist? More here:https://primotipo.com/2019/03/01/cooper-s/
(RSteffanoni)
Credits…
Longford Motor Racing Association, Allan Dick-Classic Auto News, Bill Forsyth, Edwin Adamson-State Library of Victoria, Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania, Ray Bell, The Roaring Season, Darren Overend, Ron Edgerton Collection, Australian Motor Sports, South China Morning Post, Steve Elliott, Warwick Clayton, Rod Steffanoni
Jean Beatson’s shot of John Barber posing in a Lancia Lambda in 1927. He was the winner of the ten-day 1520-mile RACV Great Alpine Trial held mainly in the high country of Victoria and New South Wales starting on March 10, 1926.
39 cars started the event, which took in Melbourne, Wangaratta, Mount Hotham, Omeo, Tallangatta, Tumut, Mount Kosziusko, Canberra, Eden, Lakes Entrance, and Mornington. Barber won from RJ ‘Herb’ Beith’s Chrysler, WA Terdich’s DFP, AW Bernadou’s Austin and JCB Hutton’s Alvis Sports.
Initially I thought it was a shot of the winning car, but Rob Alsop set me straight; #26 is the 1926 winner, whereas #31 above is a LWB machine. If any Lancia Fanciers can tell me which event is depicted above, I’d love to hear from you.
Albert Valentine Turner, AV to his mates, won the first Australian Alpine Trial aboard an Itala T51 Tourer in 1921, that event, more or less continually held since, pre-dates the first, Australian Grand Prix held at Goulburn in January 1927 so its an important event in this part of the world. See here for more about AV:https://primotipo.com/2022/11/08/av-turner-itala-1924-sydney-melbourne-record/
John Barber in his Lambda First Series (B Jamieson)
The Sun News Pictorial Melbourne covered the ‘26 Alpine this way in its Friday, March 26, issue.
‘MR. J. BARBER, of Coliban Park, Elphinstone, winner of the Alpine motor trial, said yesterday that his Lancia Lambda was the first sold in Victoria, and had travelled 21,000 miles before the trial.’
‘He attended personally to the adjustment of the car before the race, and did not have it specially overhauled in any way. He has always driven it himself. Vacuum Oil Co products – Plume petrol and lubricants – were used on the trip. His electrical equipment included Bosch plugs, starter and magneto, and gave no trouble whatever.’
Nine Punctures
‘His tool kit was never opened during the trial. He had to use the jack, however. “I had nine punctures,” he said, “thanks to the extraordinary roads. Many others fared worse.”
‘Far too much, in his opinion, had been made of his hill-climbing exploit on the summit of Mt. Talbingo, when he passed the leading car at the bend with his off wheels practically over a precipice. “I had plenty of room to pass,” said Mr Barber. “There was really nothing in the incident, and when I cut the bend it looked far more dangerous to those at the finishIng point than it actually was.”
‘There are three Laucia cars at the Coliban Park merino sheep station. Barber’s sister has a Lambda saloon, while his elder brother favours a 35 Kappa. They also possess a Ford and a Fordson tractor.’
‘The secretary of the Royal Automobile Club (Mr C. J. Hodges) advises that the statement published yesterday, to the effect that the Oakland car would have won the test had it not been disqualified, was incorrect. Even if the Oakland car had not been disqualified, it would not have been the outright winner of the contest. In fairness to the car that won the context. He pointed out that it could not have been displaced from it position by any of the cars which were disqualified.’
(EAdamson-SLV)(The Argus, March 29, 1926)
‘Spark Plug’ commented on the results and made some post event observations in The Leader (Orange, NSW) on April 2, 1926. His comments are interesting, a century on, about where the automobile was at back then in the minds of Joe Public.
Salient is that, ‘Beyond question, the first matter that will excite comments from a layman is that the reliability of modern reputable makes has been vindicated.’ (35 of the 39 starters finished). There has been a most remarkable absence of major mechanical defects throughout the tests.’
‘True, there have been one or two electrical faults, which have embarrassed the driver, and in some cases, springs have broken, but as for vital defects of mechanism, these have been conspicuous by their absence. 1500 miles is in itself a sufficiently long tour to make offhand, but when the itinerary is laid out to cover the worst of gradients, and some of the roughest roads in the Commonwealth, then indeed we may describe it as an acid test.’
‘Whilst paying a tribute to all the cars that came through with flying colours, it is justifiable, in view of the prejudices which exist in some quarters, to make special allusion to the light British and Continental models.’
‘For instance, the outright winner on aggregate points was the Lancia Lambda, a comparatively light Italian product. The success of this vehicle is very interesting, by reason of the fact that it is equipped with an unusual type of front springing, consisting of individual hydraulic cylinders and coil springs fitted to each front wheel.’
‘Then too, one must not lose sight of the fast times achieved in the hill climbs, which demonstrate clearly that both American and Continental manufacturers, as well as paying attention to top gear performance, also realise that cars require from time to time, to maintain good speed in second gear, and plan their designs accordingly.’
Bill Jamieson wrote of Barber’s achievements, ‘In distant Australa, without any encouragement or even awareness from Lancia & C., the Lambda was also making its presence felt. John Barber, a Victorian grazier and motoring enthusiast, acquired one of the earliest First Series Lambdas to reach that country, and campaigned it with great success.’
‘In March, 1926, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria held an Alpine Trial over eight days, involving hill-climbs, speed, and acceleration tests on some of the roughest and most remote roads in the country. In a large field, Barber won first in formula and fastest time in every section, finishing with a virtually clean sheet. His success was used to good effect by Shields Motor Co., the local Lancia agents, in promoting the sale of the Lambda.’
Oodnadatta, South Australia 1927 (JBeatson-SLV)
Jean Beatson, the snapper who took the first shot, was a driver and mechanic of considerable repute, here she is fettling her Lambda.
(Barber Family Archive)(Barber Family Archive)(Barber Family Archive)
Amazing stuff from the Barber Family Archive via Tim Barber, with thanks to Rob Alsop.
(Barber Family Archive)
More shots from the Barber family’s archives, I’ll give you the events and dates when I have it.
(Barber Family Archive)(Barber Family Archive)(Barber Family Archive)(Barber Family Archive)
Credits…
Jean Beatson-State Library of Victoria, Edwin Adamson-State Library of Victoria, Capolavoro: The Design, Development and Production of the Lancia Lambda’ by Bill Jamieson and Barber Family Collection via Tim Barber by courtesy of Rob Alsop, The Argus
Why not start an article about Warwick Farm with a couple of pics of Leo Geoghegan at Oran Park aboard his Lotus 39 Repco circa-1968? Who is Leo speaking to in the shot below?
(B Henderson)(B Henderson)
The bulk of this batch of shots, published by Sydney photographer, Bryan Henderson, on Bob Williamson’s Australian Motor Racing Photographs Facebook page, were taken during the 1968 and 1969 Warwick Farm 100 Tasman rounds I’ve well ventilated before. But why not go again?
Frank Gardner aboard Alec Mildren’s Mildren Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 2.5 V8 – aka The Yellow Submarine – during practice for the 1969 Warwick Farm 100, won in shocking wet conditions by Jochen Rindt’s works Lotus 49B Ford DFW, the Austrian demonstrating his mesmeric wet-weather skills throughout. Rindt, ’69 Tasman:https://primotipo.com/2018/01/19/rindt-tasman-random/
FG was third behind Rindt and Derek Bell, Ferrari Dino 246T, and sixth in the series won by Chris Amon’s 246T. DNF’s at Pukekohe, Wigram and Lakeside cost Gardner while the car was unwinged/under-winged for half the series, which cost him a bit, arguably, in ultimate pace.
(B Henderson)(B Henderson)
Bob Jane and FG chew the fat during practice. I guess Bob ran his Shelby-built Mustang Trans-Am in the touring car supports.
On Tasman point, John Harvey returned to racing after his huge ’68 Easter Bathurst accident at Sandown the following week. Harves ran Jane’s Brabham BT23E Repco 830, the same machine he crashed after the breakage of a rear upright at Mount Panorama. More on the BT23E here:https://primotipo.com/2015/12/22/jack-brabham-brabham-bt23e-oran-park-1968/
(B Henderson)
Graeme Lawrence, McLaren M4A-14 Ford FVA, eighth at the Farm and equal ninth in the series with Niel Allen, McLaren M10B Chev.
While the FVAs lacked the mumbo to be competitive in dry ’69 Tasman Cup 2.5 events, Graeme won the 1969 Singapore and Selangor Grands Prix in this car while knitting together a Big Deal.
The Lawrence family, with great support from Shell, bought Amon’s Tasman-winning Dino 246T/69-0008 from Ferrari and splendidly won the 1970 Tasman series from some very quick F5000 and 2-litre machines. More on the Dino here:https://primotipo.com/2022/02/01/ferrari-dino-166-246t-take-4/
The talented Roly Levis, Brabham BT23 Ford FVA 1.6 was at Warwick Farm and in the Tasman Cup
Kiwi Gold Star Champion in 1969, ‘69 was the only year in which Levis did the whole Tasman tour; it was a seven-race, two-month commitment that year, a biggie for a privateer; he was 12th in BT23C-7, the ex-Frank Williams car raced by Piers Courage in the 1968 Euro F2 Championship.
(B Henderson)(B Henderson)
The last few shots were taken during the February 18, 1968, Warwick Farm 100 race day.
Bib Stillwell and a mechanic roll Jack Brabham’s Brabham BT23E Repco-Brabham 740 2.5 V8 onto the grid – the car Bob Jane bought for John Harvey at the end of its ’68 Tasman campaign.
Jack was seventh in the race won by Jim Clark’s Lotus 49 Ford DFW.
Frank Matich tests his new, very late to the party, Matich SR4 Repco, Bruce McLaren Style, sans bodywork – and six-point harness – at Warwick Farm on a date I’d love you to assist me with.
Sitting very close behind FM’s shoulders is RBE E41, a 4.8-litre 760 four-cam V8 being dyno-tested by its builder, John Mepstead, in Repco Brabham Engines’ test cell at Maidstone in the photograph below.
(JMepsteadColl)(RWolfe/JBondini)
‘Meppa’, much admired, respected and liked by his Repco peers, died this week on Monday, June 1. May I offer my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. He was very kind to me when I met with him and was enormously helpful with this article about the SR4, as well as with another published by Auto Action. See here:https://primotipo.com/2016/07/15/matich-sr4-repco-by-nigel-tait-and-mark-bisset/ RIP John Mepstead.
Funeral details from Rod Wolfe, ‘John Mepstead funeral details, Friday 12th June at 2.30 at Bunurong Memorial Park in the Stratus Reflection Space, live streamed. Celebration of John’s life afterwards at the Sandown Park Hotel.’
Matich, SR4, Catalina Park below, perhaps in early 1970, by which time the car/driver combo was the Australian Sports Car Champion.
(JMepsteadColl)(PHouston-MBisset-Copilot)
Peter Houston’s shot of Kevin Bartlett and Niel Allen is a fantastic Warwick Farm battle between KB’s Alec Mildren Racing Mildren Waggott TC-4V and Niel’s Peter Molly prepped 5-litre McLaren M10B Chev.
I thought the shot was a David vs. Goliath contest during the February 15, 1970, Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup round, but Lynton Hemer has set me straight.
‘The photo with KB and Niel Allen was taken at the July 1970 AJC Trophy Warwick Farm meeting during the 15-lap Racing Car support race. Niel knocked the wingtab awry during his dice with Bartlett early on.’
‘This was the race when Niel’s harmonic balancer came adrift, cutting a brake line and sending him into the back of Frank Matich later in the race. Garry Rush and KB came together at Homestead as the Mildren attempted to lap the Formula Ford. It was Bartlett’s last ride in the Submarine.’
‘At the (1970) Tasman round, Max Stewart was never more than a few car lengths back from Bartlett as they took the race for Mildren with a one/two cleansweep.’
These two shots show the car, fitted with Merv Waggott’s 2-litre TC-4V engine, were taken during KB’s victorious February 1970 Tasman round.
The bathtub monocoque designed by Len Bailey and built by Alan Mann Racing is shown below. I’ve written about one of my favourite racing cars often, here is a starting point:https://primotipo.com/2017/11/14/missed-it-by-that-much/
(PHouston-MBisset-Wordpress)(unattributed)
Two shots of Bob Jane’s Elfin 400 Repco-Brabham 620 4.4-litre V8 with the man himself at the wheel at Sandown circa-1967 and with Bevan Gibson up on that fateful day during the Bathurst Easter meeting in 1969. More here:https://primotipo.com/2018/04/06/belle-of-the-ball/
(unattributed)
Dressed like that, Frank Williams must have just arrived from Essendon Airport, his suitcase full of start and prize money amassed by Piers Courage during a very successful 1969 Tasman Cup campaign, during which he finished third overall and won the Teretonga round aboard Williams’ unique Brabham BT24 Ford DFW 2.5 V8.
There is no shortage of spectators in the Sandown Park Cup paddock on February 16. It was Amon, Rindt and Brabham in the race. Piers broke a driveshaft on lap three, so he was a DNF, but he had shown great speed and intent that Australasian summer, which was delivered in spades aboard Frank’s Brabham BT26 Ford Cosworth DFV in the ensuing Grand Prix season.
Colin Bond during the Thursday, November 9-Saturday, November 18, 1972, Dulux Rally. Photographer, James Semple, is NSW-based, so I guess it’s somewhere – a hillclimb? – up there, thoughts folks?
The reigning Dulux Champions, Bondy and George Shepheard, won in the Holden Dealer Team Holden Torana GTR XU-1, from teammates Peter Brock/Frank Kilfoyle, and Stewart McLead/Adrian Mortimer in another XU-1. More about the Dulux here:https://primotipo.com/2015/04/09/australias-cologne-capris/
(PHouston-MBisset-Wordpress)
Peter Houston has captured a very rare car/driver combination in what must have been one of Gary Campbell’s last drives? A couple of LJ XU-1s or GTRs are clearly favoured by the flaggies too!
Here the popular, generous Sydney car dealer – a big supporter of Larry Perkins before and after he got to Europe – is drowning aboard his new Lola T330 Chev HU4 during practice for the 1973 Warwick Farm 100 Tasman round on February 11 and won by Steve Thompson’s Chevron B24 Chev.
Ulf Norinder from Max Stewart and Leo Geoghegan during the early laps of the February 22, 1970 Sandown Park Cup Tasman round: Lola T190 Chev, Mildren Waggott TC-4V 2-litre and Lotus 39 Repco 830 V8 2.5.
The cars are on the blast from Dandenong Road towards the fast right-left combo of the Causeway and Dunlop Bridge. Niel Allen, McLaren M10B Chev won from Graeme Lawrence, Ferrari 246T and Norinder. Lawrence won the Tasman in the same chassis, 246T/69-0008, in which Chris Amon triumphed the year before.
And one of the Formula Vee support races below, I’ll take your advice as to competitors.
(Orange Photography)
Jeremy Browne’s rally Cooper S opposite locking its way around Collingrove in 1972 and gets no shortage of admiring glances from the punters in the process!
(Unatt-MBisset-Wordpress)
John Harvey in Bob Jane’s Bowin P8 Repco-Holden at Warwick Farm during the September 3, 1972 weekend in which he contested the two-heat Motor Show Trophy.
He was fifth in the first heat from the back of the grid, and collided with Kevin Bartlett’s Lola T300 Chev at the start of the second so didn’t finish. Matich won overall with victories in both heats, with John McCormack second and Warwick Brown third: Matich A50 Repco-Holden, Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden and McLaren M10B Chev.
Shots of P8-118-72 in its original form are rare; this photo resurrection exercise was reasonably successful. Such a small, handsome and innovative car, John Joyce!.
Harves spoke favourably about the P8 Repco-Holden to Tony McGirr for his ‘Gentleman John Harvey’ book.
‘Then the Formula 5000 car arrived. It was a Bowin car. We actually took a bit of a gamble on that. If Bob (Jane) couldn’t get what he wanted overseas, he was always happy enough to try an Australian-made product. If – always ‘if’ – he thought they were good enough. Bob was one of Garrie Cooper’s staunchest supporters. He had in the past bought a few cars from Garrie. But, Bob always wanted to win. If he thought Australian-built cars were not up to scratch, he bought whatever it took to win.’
‘The Formula 5000 car – built in Sydney – had a revolutionary suspension system. Around the traps, in racing circles, people were saying it won’t work – it can’t work. At that time, the designers of race cars were getting into technical areas that had not been explored before. Even in the Formula One McLarens, they were still experimenting with this rising-rate suspension and the variable spring rates.’
‘They had this system-or a similar system-on the front of the McLaren (M19), and it was working fairly well. Bowin – I should say John Joyce – built this Formula 5000 with these variable suspensions on both front and rear. Everyone said it was all too revolutionary and couldn’t work. Actually, it was all quite simple, and it worked extremely well, particularly off the start line. You could get really good traction with it.’
Warwick Farm September 3, 1972 meeting. Repco-Holden F5000 V8, Hewland DG300 5-speed transaxle, and look closely and you can see some of the variable rate suspension linkages (TGlenn)
‘The reason the whole deal did not work out was that Bob lost interest. We also had a crash with the car at Warwick Farm. I got a ‘ripper’ of a start. I forget the exact details of what happened to cause the accident. Somebody spun, and I got a front wheel knocked off the car. 1 slid off the track, and that was the end of my race. Essentially, that was also the end of that adventure.’
‘We did do a couple of more races with it, and we were still developing the car. The car was showing a lot of promise, but Bob lost interest. It was just as simple as that. “Forget the Formula 5000. Park it over there”. Castrol don’t want to know about it. So, we parked the Formula 5000 and got on with Touring cars.’
‘My whole open-wheeler career came to a halt, there and then. But, I must add, I wasn’t all that impressed with the Formula 5000 category. By comparison to the original Formula cars I had driven (Tasman 2.5 Brabhams), the Formula 5000s were just ‘trucks’. So, the decision was made to concentrate on Touring cars, and that is how the remainder of my career was spent.’
(KRankine/BColechin)
Start of the March 18, 1956, 48-lap, 150-mile Argus Trophy held at Albert Park during Melbourne’s annual Moomba Festival. Bryan Colechin’s images captured from Kenneth Rankine’s film show all the fun of the fair to great effect!
The three red cars are the victor, Reg Hunt’s Maserati 250F at left, second-placed Lex Davison, Ferrari 500/625 3-litre at right, and third-placed Kevin Neal, Maserati A6GCM 2.5-litre, partially obscured in between the two.
The white central seat sports-bodied car is the ex-Brabham, Cooper T40 Bristol, raced by Reg Smith, while the red car in front of Smith is the ex-Brabham Cooper T23 – then Repco-Holden powered – raced to fourth place by Tom Hawkes.
1969 JAF Japanese Grand Prix action with Aussie Glyn Scott, Bowin P3 Ford FVA having a look at Sohei Kato’s Mitsubishi Colt F2C 1.6 during the May 3 race.
It’s a battle for third place resolved in favour of the Japanese twin-cam, four-valve, fuel-injected powered Brabham/Brabham copy chassis. The race was won by Leo Geoghegan’s Lotus 39 Repco 830 2.5 V8 from Roly Levis’ Brabham BT23C Ford FVA.
Scotty’s Bowin was powered by the dominant 1.6-litre F2 engine of the era, the Ford Cosworth FVA as below in this circa-1969 trailer shot. Equally ubiquitous is the Hewland FT200 five-speed transaxle.
Allan Moffat’s two big victories in the US were in the March 21, 1975, Sebring 12 Hour classic aboard a factory BMW CSL 3.5 Batmobile shared with Brian Redman, and then later in the race, Hans Stuck and Sam Posey jumped into the car after their own failed.
Moff’s other big triumph was in the Bryar 250 Trans-Am round held at Bryar Motorsport Park on July 10, 1966. He raced that 250-mile race event solo aboard a Ford Lotus Cortina prepared by his team; that must have been icing on a big cake?
Frank Gardner on the way to winning the December 3 Hordern Trophy, the final round of the 1967 Gold Star, on debut of the Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo 2.5 V8, and below, Kevin Bartlett racing it to victory in the first round of the 1968 Gold Star at Bathurst on April 15, 1968; luvverly symmetry in that lot. KB won the Gold Star too. More here:https://primotipo.com/2021/07/25/hordern-trophy/
(PHouston-MBisset-Wordpress)
Credits…
Peter Houston, Neil Johannsen, Orange Photography, Autoweek, James Semple, John Mepstead, Bryar Motorsport Park, Kenneth Rankine’s film with individual frames made by Bryan Colechin, Tony Glenn, ‘Gentleman John Harvey’ Tony McGirr, Rodway Wolfe, Jay Bondini
The Amilcar driven by S.G Hyslop accompanied by S.O Chapman on its way to a Melbourne-Sydney light car record of 14 hours 52 minutes on the ‘Hume Highway’, 13 February 1924…
Amilcar enthusiast Andrew Whittington posted this hitherto unseen photograph on social media proving yet again the power of the medium to share very interesting information of historic significance.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported the trip on 14 February 1924.
‘Yesterday…an Amilcar of only six horsepower, driven by Mr SG Hyslop, accompanied by Mr SO Chapman, achieved the remarkable feat of travelling from Melbourne to Sydney, nominally 565 1/2 miles, in 14 hours 52 minutes, thereby reducing the light car record between the capitals by 28 minutes.’
‘Even this remarkable time would have been still further materially reduced but for two involuntary stoppages through water getting into the magneto at Paddy’s River and the creek at the foot of Razorback Mountain near Picton.’
(A Whittington)
‘The tiny car left Melbourne at 4.20 am yesterday and was making good time on a dark morning, when, near Campbellfield, it ran into a dense fog, which lasted for many miles until near the top of Pretty Sally Hill. Between Albury and Holbrook there is a stretch of road usually regarded as among the fastest on the whole course, but on this occasion long stretches of it were found to be under repair, and the speed average was effected.’
‘Sydney GPO was reached at 7.12pm, the actual time being 14 hours 52 minutes. The time of departure was certified by Mr HW Harrison, representing the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, and that at the finish by Mr L Stuart, of the Royal Automobile Club of Australia.’
‘The car itself is an absolutely standard 6 hp Amilcar chassis, with special body and a strengthened stay for the radiator.’
(A Whittington)
The photograph above is as Andrew Whittington posted it on Facebook, whereas the opening shot used is after pushing a couple of magic ChatGPT buttons; take your pick as to preference.
Andrew records the cars four cylinder capacity of 1004cc and that it ‘was bulldozed into a hole with a lot of other cars after the war’. Very sadly!
John Youl, Cooper T55 Climax jumps from grid slot four as well as Jack Brabham, Brabham BT7A Climax from pole at the start of the 1964 Lady Wigram Trophy Tasman Cup round on January 18, a superb panoramic, colour shot with the Southern Alps behind! McLaren and Hulme comprise the rest of the front row.
Geoff Smedley on changes to the rear suspension of John Youl’s Cooper T55 in 1965, ‘I modified the rear of the chassis frame by making a diaphragm to allow roll-centre adjustment and trailing arms for greater stability, which made a great improvement on the car’s handling abilities at that time.’
Colin Bond, Porsche 924 GTR, reminds Calder patrons of his rallying credentials – thrice Australian Rally Champion in 1971-72 and 1974 – with an assault on Rusty French’s Porsche 935 during the Calder Park round of the 1982 Australian GT Championship on August 1.
Pete Geoghegan, Lotus 23 Lotus-Ford, gets the jump at Warwick Farm in December 1962, from Greg Cusack’s Lola Mk1 Climax and Charlie Smith’s Lotus 11 Climax.
Brian Foley, Lotus Elite and John Schroeder, Nota on row two, and the Marden Nota, Arnold Ahrenfeld Lotus 7, and Jack Bono, Porsche 356 on row three. Many thanks, Peter Houston.
Larry Perkins copping an absolute drenching aboard Paul England’s Chevron B39 Ford BDA during the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe on January 13, 1980.
Larry was eighth in the championship won by Dave McMillan’s Ralt RT1 Ford BDA from Steve Millen’s similar car. Perkins was 12th and DNF in the two Pukekohe rounds from Q6.
Larry’s bests were a second placing in one of the Pukekohe February 2 rounds and third in one of the Manfield rounds, but generally, Paul England’s Chevron B39/B45 #39-77-02 ex-Tony Martin in South Africa was a bit off the pace despite Larry’s talents behind its wheel.
(CAN)
‘Just a fabulous looking racing car — the 250LM,’ can’t argue with Allan Dick.
‘The Ferrari was here (New Zealand) for two seasons, first with Australia’s Scuderia Veloce and Spencer Martin and then with Andy Buchanan. I think this will be the second season – 1967 – with Andy Buchanan, and it looks like Teretonga.’ More about this iconic Australian racer here:https://primotipo.com/2014/07/03/pete-geoghegan-ferrari-250lm-6321-bathurst-easter-68/
(TRS)
Allan Moffat poses with his brand new Chev Monza at Bay Park (?), New Zealand in late December 1975, how’d he do folks?
And below, Moffat in DeKon Monza chassis #1005, on debut at the IMSA Daytona final round on November 30, 1975. He qualified third but was a DNF after with engine problems.
The car was first raced in Australia on March 7, 1976, at Amaroo Park, winning both rounds of the Australian Sports Sedan Championship. More about the diverse ramge of cars Moffat raced here:https://primotipo.com/2024/09/30/allan-moffat-random/
Pete Geoghegan from Norm Beechey, Ford Mustang 302 and Holden Monaro GTS 350 during the July 26 Lakeside round of the 1970 Australian Touring Car Championship.
Beautiful pan of Tony Gaze’s 2-litre supercharged HWM Alta enroute to second place in the February 6, 1954 Lady Wigram Trophy.
Peter Whitehead was 31 seconds up the road in the Ferrari 125 he was soon to sell to Australian Dick Cobden who was to have a frustrating period of ownership with the recalcitrant 2-litre, supercharged V12! More on Tony’s 1954 summer with the car here:https://primotipo.com/2019/12/14/tony-gaze-hwm-alta-new-zealand-1954/
(W Pearson)
Beautiful colour shot – what a shit colour!? – of Bob Muir’s Bob and Marj Brown-owned, Thermax-sponsored – the Brown’s specialist glass making business – Birrana 273 Ford BDA Formula Atlantic machine during the 1975 British Formula Atlantic season, albeit I’m not sure where and when. More here:https://primotipo.com/2023/02/13/bob-muir-r-i-p/
The car(s) (273-009 and 273-006) have grown a BDA, forward-facing roll-bar support, brake ducts, single-post rear wing support and non-Birrana wheels since leaving Adelaide for ye-olde-dart.
(unattributed)
A gaggle of sports cars during the March 7, 1960 Australian Tourist Trophy at Longford: Tom Sulman, Aston Martin DB3S, Doug Whiteford, Maserati 300S and Alan Jack, Cooper T39 Climax. I’m not so sure about the red car and blue coupe coming off Long Bridge.
I’ve managed to lose the photographer’s details for these two magic panoramas, I’ll take your advice on the bikes and riders below.
(unattributed)(J Smith Archive)
John Wright’s Lola T400 Chev, trying to get away from the pursuing Formula Pacifics of Andrew Miedecke, March 763/76B Ford BDA and John Smith, Ralt RT1 Ford BDA at Oran Park, perhaps during the July 29, 1979 Gold Star round.
John Bowe won in a works-Elfin MR8 Chev from Wright, John Walker, Lola T332 Chev, then Smithy.
Master mechanic Wright won the 1978 TAA Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series in an ancient, self-prepared Bowin P4A, then stepped straight into the ex-John Leffler Lola T400 and made command of this 500bhp recalcitrant missile look easy-peasy.
It’s sad that he didn’t race on into the Formula Pacific era, doubtless dollars were the problem. What became of him?
(unattributed)
You gotta love Frank Gardner’s ability to jump between different types of cars throughout his career with equal measures of success throughout.
Above aboard the Ford Escort FVA in which he won the 1968 British Saloon Car Championship (circuit folks?), and below copping the chequered flag in a works Lola T192 Chev at the end of the Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup round on February 14, 1971. See here:https://primotipo.com/2025/06/15/warwick-farm-100-1971/
(primotipo archivio)
Later the same year he did the shakedown testing of Jackie Stewart’s works/Carl Haas Lola T260 Can-Am machine, here at Silverstone in May.
I don’t know what FG’s Lola business card said, but his roles included works-racer, chief test and development driver and one who contributed to the design of some of the cars. More here:https://primotipo.com/2022/03/21/lola-t260-chev-take-2/
(MotorSport)(autopics.com.au)
Jack Brabham being pushed onto the Sandown International grid on March 12, 1962, Cooper T55 Climax 2.7 FPF
He won the 100-mile race – the first international race meeting on the new track – from John Surtees’ Cooper T53 Climax and Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T53 Climax.
If it looks a bit odd, it’s because the car is being pushed up the Main Straightaway, to channel Mike Raymond, against the usual direction of travel, to be gridded up in front of the grandstand. That’s the paddock inside ‘Shell’ corner, behind.
(The Examiner)
The 2021-22 Australian Gold Star Champion, Joey Mawson, poses for the Launceston Examiner photographer in 2023 before going out to defend his title at Symmons Plains on February 25/26.
Mawson won the three rounds held that weekend and took the fastest lap in two of them. More about these stunning cars here:https://primotipo.com/2021/07/27/tasman-cup-2021/ Any international buyers in need of a spectacular one-make single-seater series should give Barry Rodgers at Garry Rogers Motorsport a call.
(ARG)
Another shot of Mawson and his Ligier S5000 F3 Ford at Symmons, this time on the way to winning the first race in 2022, while the shot below is during practice at Bathurst in November 2021.
(S5000)(A Howard)
The Bathurst 6-Hour winning Daimler SP250 raced by the Brothers Geoghegan – Leo and Ian/Pete blasts across the top of Mount Panorama on September 30, 1962
Ian Smith, Blanden Collection, Ross Cammick, Bob Atkin, Ron Lambert, Bob Moffett, AMR-Australian Motor Racing, Murray Beatson, Bob Harborow Collection, Darrin Field, Bob Homewood, Autosports Ltd via Michael Keyser, Wayne Pearson, John Smith Archive, Dick Simpson, Alan Howard, Classic Auto News-Allan Dick, Launceston The Examiner, Australian Racing Group, S5000 Group
Yes, yes, yes, I know I’ve done Longford to death, but there’s no such thing as too much of the good thing.
This time the catalyst is a bunch of colour photographs taken by longtime racer Noel Barnes on a trip to help look after Ron Ward’s MGA Twin-Cam #14 below, to the 1960 Longford weekend, March 5-7. The feature events were the Formula Libre Longford Trophy and Australian Tourist Trophy, in which the MGA was entered.
(N Barnes)
#12 is Gerald Tattersall’s Buchanan MG, #18 is G Watt’s MG Holden, #101 is a Triumph TR and the T-Type are unidentified.
The first shot shows the gridding of the Australian Tourist Trophy with J Wright’s Aston Martin DB3S alongside Doug Whiteford’s Maserati 300S, Harry Cape’s MGA Twin-Cam is #17.
(N Barnes)
Ray Gibbs aboard his Cooper T39 Climax, #25 is a Healey and #11 I’m not sure. Do give me a yell if you can assist.
(N Barnes-MBisset-Wordpress)
The shot above shows the start of the ATT with that unidentified TR at the rear, #12 is the MG Holden G Watt. The 24 lap, 108 mile race was won by Derek Jolly’s Lotus 15 Climax 2-litre FPF from Whiteford’s Maserati and Frank Matich’s Jaguar D-Type. See here:https://primotipo.com/2018/05/17/1960-australian-tourist-trophy/
(N Barnes)
The next shots are of our Jack’s Cooper T51 Climax. Yes, he’s necking a cuppa, and the older gent with the braces is Brabham’s Dad, Cyril Thomas Brabham- Tom.
Interesting pit panorama framed by a pair of Rice trailers, much vaunted then and now.
#92 is David Finch’s Jaguar D-Type – sixth in the ATT – the T-Type, the unidentified car referenced above. Bib Stillwell’s Cooper T51 carries his usual #6 while #31 is the Lou Abrahams/Ted Gray Tornado 2 Chev, Australia’s fastest racing car in 1957-58.
The big, booming fuel-injected Chev 283-powered weapon was an also-ran by 1960. It didn’t start the trophy race, but I’m sure it frightened the hell out of the seagulls on The Flying Mile during practice.
Gray won the 1958 Gold Star round at Longford in Tornado 2 Chev. The last occasion on which she garnered Gold Star points appears to be on October 4, 1959, when Ted placed second to Stillwell’s Cooper T51 2.2 in the NSW Road Race Championship at Bathurst, a circuit to which the brawny-legged missile was eminently suited. More on the ’58 Longford Trophy here:https://primotipo.com/2018/10/11/1958-longford-trophy/
(N Barnes)
Glyn Scott, a long way from Brisbane, lines up his Cooper T43 Climax 1.7 (sixth) while the flash of red at right is Arnold Glass’s Maserati 250F (fourth). The Cooper #19 behind Glyn isn’t listed in my material, but will be either Lynn Archer’s or Jon Leighton’s, my money is on Jon’s T45 2-litre FPF.
(N Barnes-MBisset-Wordpress)
Glass’s 250F again at left, #9 is Bill Patterson’s Cooper T51 with Scott alongside #20, while red-13 is Ern Tadgell’s Lotus 12 Climax 1.5 FPF aka Sabakat.
This shot was way out of focus. I used the built-in WordPress photo enhancement tool to make it of usable quality, but some of the numbers on the cars are now wrong/unintelligible via the process: #26, Austin Miller’s Cooper is correctly, #60 and the two Coopers in front of Scott’s #20 now have wonky-looking #13s on them. The lesson here is not to enhance out-of-focus shots of cars with numbers that are too difficult for the bot’s scanner to read. It’s such a good feel-the-vibe shot, I’ve chosen to run it anyway.
(N Barnes)
‘#3 is the Manx Norton of Eric Hinton being pushed by his father with Eric in the white helmet and back to the camera (and below). Probably a Manx 500’, wrote Peter Jones.
(N Barnes)(N Barnes)
Peter Jones, ‘Going by the megaphone on #57 Manx Norton, it’s a 350. #22, I believe is a BSA.’
(N Barnes)
Great colour of the David McKay and Ron Hodgson Jaguar 3.4s approaching the starter. Who won these encounters folks?
Credits…
Noel Barnes, photographer via his son, John Barnes, Peter Jones
Tailpiece…
(N Barnes-MBisset-Wordpress)
The Longford Trophy is underway, from little things did big Longford things grow…
In 1928, the press of the day described the 1481cc, SOHC, two-valve, Roots-supercharged Alvis FWD chassis # 6992 as the first standard front wheel drive car to reach Australia.
‘This Alvis was shipped from the Coventry works on September 3, 1928, for delivery to Harry Taylor of Advanx Tyres, Sydney, wrote later owner, Rob Gunnell, in notes he prepared about the car for John Blanden, who included the machine in his superb, ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’.
‘Harry’s brother, Russell, was also involved with Bugatti cars and sponsored the Advanx Tyre and Rubber Bugatti (T37-37104) driven at Maroubra Speedway by Charlie East.’ By late November, the Sydney press reported that the Alvis was on display in the Hay Street showroom of Biden &Roberts. More about #37104 here:https://primotipo.com/2019/04/25/alexandra-sprints-and-bugatti-t37-37104/
Shortly after Taylor’s car hit the water, another was shipped to Melbourne via Regent Motors for Albert Edwards, who competed in it, including some of the early Road Races/Australian Grands Prix at Phillip Island (1929 DNF magneto rocker arm, ‘while fighting a great duel with the ultimate winner,’ Arthur Terdich, Bugatti T37A, 1930 DNF roll, 1932 DNF).
Harry Taylor’s Alvis #6992 shortly after arrival in Sydney (Blanden Collection)
The motoring writer of Melbourne’s The Herald was fairly impressed with Edward’s car; he wrote about it in the October 29, 1928, issue. ‘The first of its type to reach Australia, and also the first front wheel driven British car to be produced as a standard model, the main advantages are ultra-low build and seating, phenomenal acceleration, the elimination of skidding and the super comfort derived from independently sprung wheels.’
‘The Alvis, however, does not appear unorthodox. The surprisingly strong chassis carries the engine well back from the radiator, and reversed so that the clutch and gearbox are close to the radiator. Bolted to the gearbox is the differential with powerful brakes close to the casing, and from this open axles go to the clever universal joints dividing the front wheels. Each of these wheels is independently sprung and is supported by four short quarter elliptic springs placed in pairs and in parallel with novel spring elip-type rebound dampers.’
‘The design of the chassis gives a very long bonnet line. Controls are of standard type and placing, though the gear lever reveals the novelty of a gate placed under its ball joint. Features are:—A four-cylinder engine of 1496 c.c. capacity (14 h.p.), a Roots-type supercharger, and a four-speed gearbox. Individual steering to each front wheel, and lever springing of the rear wheels. The maximum speed is more than 100 m.p.h.’
Back to chassis # 6992, Paul Gunnell wrote, ‘Its enormous technical innovation, excellent performance and striking appearance must have made this Alvis one of the more interesting imports of 1928. These FWD cars had already placed sixth and ninth outright at Le Mans and won the 1.5-litre class.’
‘Taylor ran the car successfully in RAC road/speed events, but as far as can be ascertained, never actually raced it- there was little opportunity in New South Wales, as Maroubra Speedway had closed and there were no road circuits in use in NSW. He used it to promote Advanx where possible and took it to New Zealand in 1930 and to his homeland, Canada, in 1932.’
‘In the mid 1930s, it was sold to Paul Burton, who competed in hillclimbs, at Penrith Speedway, and finally in the 1938 Australian Grand Prix at Bathurst, where it just failed to finish in the allotted time in 15th place (the Wiki results have him as a DNF).’
‘Burton sold the car soon after the AGP, and during the war, it passed through a number of hands, including John Crouch and Jack Jeffrey. In 1947, Clive Adams acquired it from Alec Mildren and entered it in the 1948 NSW GP at Bathurst. Unfortunately, three conrods let go on the first lap of a preliminary race after being timed at 96mph down Conrod.’
(Blanden Collection-MBisset-CoPilot)
‘The car was stripped with a view to reversing the chassis and fitting a Jeep engine; had the plan been executed, the machine would have been the first Prad Special. Instead, Clive and Jack Prior put a Ford V8-60 engine in a Bugatti chassis to make the first Prad (is this correct?.’
‘Adams sold the Alvis chassis to Bill Clark, of Chatswood, Sydney, where it remained in bits until purchased by Rob Gunnell in 1965.’ Rob wrote in the mid-1980s that he hoped the car would reappear at Bathurst to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first AGP at Bathurst in 1988.
Nathan Tasca advises that ‘Rob Alcock has owned the car for many years and is dead keen to be a part of the Australian Grand Prix centenary celebrations in 2028’, or 2027 depending upon your religion.
Albert Edwards early in the 1932 Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, and below the forlorn rolled car and tragic scene of an injured photographer having his leg stump bandaged after a trackside amputation in a wet, muddy operating theatre…
(VSCC Vic Archive)
Horrie Morgan, then owner of #FP583, described the accident in the March 2007 issue of the Alvis Club of Victoria’s Newsletter.
‘The car was eventually made ready for the 1932 A.G.P. but again misfortune struck, this time more disastrously than ever.’
Carl Junkers’ Bugatti T39, off a handicap of four minutes – the AGP was for decades a handicap event – was flagged away. ‘Junker’s start was the first phase of a terrible accident,’ The Referee reported.
‘As he pulled out from the pits, and moved towards Heaven – the corner, not the celestial region – Edwards roared up. In attempting to pass the slowly-moving machine, the Alvis went into a vicious skid, bounced off the road, crashed into a spectator, tearing his leg off – it necessitated a roadside amputation – spun over, and overthrowing driver and mechanic clear, then plunged upside down into a pool of water.’
‘It may seem strange to say of a person so terribly injured that he was lucky, but this certainly is true, insofar as it refers to the speediness with which medical attention was available. Edwards sustained a broken rib, and his mechanic, three broken ribs and a concussion.‘
Bill Thompson won the race in his Bugatti T37A.
Morgan wrote that ‘Edwards, not surprisingly, decided to give up racing, but retained the FWD for general motoring and it was re-registered in 1933 with a fixed-head coupe body.’
Advanx 1943 calendar (Powerhouse Museum)
More on the Advanx Tyre and Rubber Co Pty Ltd, established by Canadian tyre salesman/entrepreneur, Russell Taylor, and Australian Olympian, Francis ‘Frank’ Beaurepaire in 1921 here:https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/6210
(Mudgee Guardian October 27,1927)
Credits…
John Blanden Collection, Rob Gunnell’s short history of chassis 6992, The Herald October 29, 1928, Powerhouse Museum, The Mudgee Guardian October, 27, 1927, The Referee March 16, 1932, Vintage Sports Car Club of Victoria Archive via Ash Tracey
So many motor racing magazines have come and gone in Australia down the decades, only two of them really floated my boat, both long departed, Cars and Drivers and Chequered Flag. The common element in both was a capable driver on tarmac and dirt, and a gifted writer, Barry Lake.
Only three Australian specialist car racing mags proved to be long-term-stayers with shelf lives of over 20 years: Australian Motor Sports, Racing Car News and Auto Action. The latter, established in 1971, is the only one left.
Barry Lake in the cockpit of Geoff Brabham’s Bowin P6F Formula Ford having track-tested it for Chequered Flag (primotipo archive)
The key people behind Chequered Flag in its early days – when it was at its best – were publisher Gabriel Szatmary and editor Barry Lake.
The shot above is of John McCormack aboard his Elfin MR6 Leyland-Repco F5000, perhaps during the Oran Park August 4, 1974, Gold Star round. The car was a dog with the Leyland-Repco engine, which was harpooned when Repco withdrew from racing in July 1974. They would have got there with ongoing development, but the MR6 was transformed when it was fitted with Repco-Holden V8s, winning the 1975 Gold Star for Mac.
Even the ads floated my boat. I wore Levis 501s, but they never bagged me a sheila like this. And yes, she is not wearing 501s OCDers
Racing Car News and Auto Action, which competed with Chequered Flag – and had a good start on the Sydney-based publication – covered all of motorsport, whereas Chequered Flag covered only the major championships: F1, the Gold Star, Australian Touring Car Championship, Australian Rally Championship, Australian F2 Championship, etc.
While I preferred that, most anoraks wanted the lot, even if much of it was covered only in brief. The market talks, of course, so Chequered Flag had a short life, as did Lake’s Cars and Drivers, which I thought was brilliant, Australia’s answer to MotorSport. Few others did, though; it only lasted about eight issues.
I’ve moved house and am sorting out my magazine collection – giving many of them to a mate – and thought I’d scan some Chequered Flag images of covers or topics I like. In most cases, the ‘snapper isn’t identified, hence I am short on attributions in this piece.
Sports Sedans were and still are mega, although there isn’t an Australian Sports Sedan Championship these days as it doesn’t suit the Maxi Taxi Cartel who fuck over anything they perceive will get between them and a holy-dollar.
The shot above shows John McCormack’s Valiant Charger Repco-Holden being chased by Bryan Thomson’s Volksrolet and three Porsches of Pete Geoghegan, Bill Brown and Leo Geoghegan (?) and the rest.
Frank Gardner’s Lola F5000-based Chev Corvair Chev V8 – think of it as a spaceframe Lola T332 with 10-inch wide wheels – was the Sports Sedan game-changer until the rules were changed to eliminate it.
He is in front of Colin Bond’s LH Torana Repco-Holden and McCormack’s similarly powered Charger. The one below is on the exit of Dandenong Road at Sandown in 1977. More about the car here:https://primotipo.com/2020/01/31/chev-corvair-v8/
(G Eastwood)(D Burnett)
Alan Henry wrote in his Chequered Flag column, that, having won his 1975 Monaco GP F3 heat, Larry was comfortably placed second in the final behind Conny Anderson until receiving a pit signal to the advise him that Andersson had been pinged with a one-minute penalty for jumping the start, and that, therefore, Larrikins led the most prestigious F3 race of them all…Larry then crashed on the very next lap.
‘To his eternal credit, he admitted that, up until that point, he’d been concentrating so hard that he was driving accurately and precisely. Once he appreciated that the pressure had eased slightly, he lost his concentration and the Ralt hit the wall. That’s one of those mistakes that Larry will not make again!’ More here:https://primotipo.com/2023/01/28/terry-and-larry-perkins/
Alf Costanzo flat chat at Surfers Paradise in his Lola T332 Chev – under Dunlop Bridge – during the 1977 Rothmans International round.
In 1975, he re-launched his career after years in an uncompetitive Elfin Mono aboard the ex-Leo Geoghegan Birrana 274 Hart-Ford that had won the 1974 Australian F2 Championship, then immediately reinforced his pace with the Lola. Budget was still a problem, but the raw pace was clear amongst the DNFs…enter Alan Hamilton stage-left in 1978…
By the way, Alfie was a DNF busted crank at Surfers. The winner was Warwick Brown in a VDS Racing Lola T430 Chev, the sister chassis to the one in which the lovable Italian Midget won the 1980 Gold Star for Alan Hamilton. See here:https://primotipo.com/2023/01/18/1977-surfers-paradise-100/
The technical content of the articles was strong too; this one (above) by Barry Lake on the build of John Sheppard’s Laurie O’Neil-owned, Pete Geoghegan-driven Holden Monaro 350 Sports Sedan is typical.
Laurence Charles O’Neil (23/9/1925-26/8/2024) was a very successful behind-the-scenes car owner who helped the likes of Doug Whiteford, Frank Matich, Geoghegan, and others. He is shown below left with Bob Jane and Pete Geoghegan.
(I Smith)
Colin Bond and Allan Grice having a difference of opinion about real estate ownership at Amaroo Park in 1976, Holden Torana L34s.
Perennial ‘Baddie’ Grice got pinged for this helping hand during round five of the ATCC. Magic days for Tourers, I loved ’em then. Charlie O’Brien won from Allan Moffat and John Harvey: L34, GT Hardtop, L34. Fancy drivers with personalities and cars of different makes?
Stonie – John Stoneham – was there, of course; this cartoon was in the August 1975 issue.
Both Ford and Holden had pretty much licked their oil starvation problems – why CAMS didn’t just allow a cost-effective dry-sump fix is beyond me – by this stage, but it caused dramas for a year or so when Group C became the ATCC and Manufacturers Championship Formulae. More here:https://primotipo.com/2024/03/05/holden-torana-sl-r-5000-l34/
More great ads, this time from Tamron lenses.
The start of the 1974 AGP at Oran Park: from the left, fraont row Lella Lombardi, Matich A51 Repco-Holden, Warwick Brown having got the jump, Lola T332 Chev, Max Stewart’s partially obscured Lola T330 Chev, Ken Bartlett’s T332 Chev and John McCormack’s Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden and the rest L-R Garrie Cooper, Graeme Lawrence very obscured, Jomn davison even more so, and at the far right, John Leffler’s briliant Bowin P8 Hart-Ford 416B ANF2 machine.
And John Walker’s Lola T332 Repco-Holden below, OP again?? Tamron ad again.
Peter Gethin was the only F1 Championship Grand Prix winner who contested the Tasman Cup F5000 and the Rothmans/Peter Stuyvesant F5000 Internationals, wasn’t he?
It was great to see both Leffo and Grace Bros get a result when his second place in the final November 28 Phillip Island round of the 1976 Gold Star, bagged him the Australian Driver’s Championship.
Wayne Negus, on the other hand, did have a paddle after going through the wooden fence in Bob Forbes’ Holden Torana L34 after having brake failure during his 69th lap of the September 14, 1975, Sandown 250 enduro. Round two of the Australian Manufacturers’ Championship was won by Peter Brock’s L34 from six other Holdens.
Forbes’ L34 was rooted, but Negus, thankfully and luckily, lived to fight another day, emerging unhurt in this massive underwear-staining hit.
Lakeside 1975
He came, he saw, he conquered, and then he never left!
Most of the crowd around me on the Sandown pit counter on July 6, 1975 were aware of Jim Richards, having watched him and Rod Coppins finish third in the 1974 Bathurst 1000 in a virtually stock Holden Torana L34.
They were canny young mid-twenties veterans (JR was born September 2, 1947) who stroked the thing home impressively in a race of attrition won by John Goss and Kevin Bartlett in Goss’s Ford Falcon GT Hardtop (see below).
The vivid red and yellow Sidchrome Mustang 351 ‘popped’ on that dull, grey, gloomy, rainy Sandown Sunday afternoon, at the end of which the web-footed Kiwi had bagged two wins in a field that included John McCormack’s Valiant Charger Repco-Holden and Allan Moffat’s Ford Capri RS3100.
The pundits expected the Kiwi would come back to the field when he ran the mandated ten-inch wide wheels, rather than those he ran on at Sandown, but that wasn’t the case at all!
Richards was swamped by promoters with start money; they figured Richard’s Mustang took up where Moffat’s left off. Ironically, Al-Pal’s final races in the famous Boss 302 were in New Zealand that summer of ’75.
That year JR took 13 wins from 30 starts, 27 of them podiums, his name was on the lips of fans, funders and team owners alike. In the company of the day, McCormack’s Charger, the Geoghegan and Jane Monaros, Moffat’s Capri, Bryan Thomson’s VW Chev, and Jane’s Frank Gardner-driven Torana Chev, the ‘low-tech’ Murray Bunn built ’69 Boss Mustang was impressive. The’69 Boss 302 Mustang was bought off the used car lot of Colin Giltrap and Neville Crichton’s Monaco Motors Hamilton dealership.
Jim told me in mid-2025 that ‘We took it to a little shed on a farm (on Alfriston Road) because we didn’t want anyone to know what we were doing. We stripped the car completely, rewelded the body, chopped the guards out, put the flares on it, built a 351 engine, the whole lot.’
Fitted with a Borg Warner ‘box, and still with modified but standard front and rear suspension, the car was equipped with a powerful, reliable 351 Cleveland, which was topped by a pair of fuel-injected Gurney-Eagle cylinder heads, and in modifications made over the summer of 1974-75, was located well back in the chassis; the firewall was attacked accordingly..
The very well-sorted and driven car had the 1974 New Zealand Saloon Car Championship in its CV. In 1975, JR took 13 wins from 30 starts, 27 of them podiums, his name was on the lips of fans, funders and team owners alike.
CAMS held the Australian Sports Sedan Championship for the first time in 1976, Jim was fourth behind Moffat, Frank Gardner’s Chev Corvair V8 and Tony Edmondson in the ex-McCormack Charger, his best placings were a pair of seconds at Wanneroo and Adelaide. The old war-horse was fourth again in 1977, this time behind Gardner, Jane, and Garry Rogers’ ex-Geoghegan Monaro GTS350.
And the rest, four Australian Touring Car Championships, seven Bathurst crowns, and much more, is history.
Gotta be one of the sexiest Australian Formula Fords ever built? Paul Bernasconi’s Mawer, 004 Ford, yep, I know there was a follow-on chassis or two, but I don’t want to go down that path…1975 Driver to Europe, aka the Australian Formula Ford Championship winner.
(D Burnett)
Ron Tauranac listening to Paul Bernasconi at Brands Hatch during the July, 1976 British Grand Prix weekend. F3 Ralt RT1 Toyota-Novamotor. 11th in the race won by Bruno Giacomelli’s works March 763 Toyota. Geoff Brabham was 13th in another RT1; Terry Perkins was a reserve who didn’t start.
(D Burnett)
It would be great to talk to Paul if anyone has his contact details. Max Stewart ran him in his Lola T330/T400 Chevs before he went to Europe, and my memory tells me his F3 campaign never really got out of the water, with the capable mechanic/engineer running others in his car to get some dollars…
John Goss and Kevin Bartlett’s 1974 Bathurst 1000 win was a bit of a tear-jerker.
My favourite driver, Kevin Bartlett, hadn’t had an easy year with a big leg-breaking prang in his Lola T330 Chev at Pukekohe, setting him back. But it all came good in October for the duo, and magnificent preparation and planning by Goss and Grant O’Neill, his engineer/mechanic. See here:https://primotipo.com/2015/07/03/john-goss-bathurst-1000-and-australian-grand-prix-winner/
The shot below is at Oran Park, a few years later, where KB uses all the road en route to second place in the first round of the 1978 Gold Star, Brabham BT43 Chev. John McCormack’s McLaren M23 Repco-Leyland won.
Warwick Brown on the way to winning the Oran Park Rothmans Series round on February 6 1977, VDS Lola T430 Chev. Won the series too.
Vern Schuppan had a Chequered Flag column for a couple of years or so; here he is racing his Elfin MR8A-C Chev in the 1977 Riverside Can-Am round on October 16. He seemed likely to take Peter Gethin’s fourth place before pitting with body damage on lap 45 of the 60-lap, 200-mile race won by Patrick Tambay’s Haas Lola T333CS Chev.
L34 Oran Park ATCC 27/4/1975 DNF, round won by Grice’s L34
For the better part of a decade, Bob Morris provided the most consistently competitive opposition to the GMH and Ford ‘factory’ cars aboard his Ron Hodgson Holden-supported Holdens.
The cars were beautifully prepared and presented and driven with great passion, skill, finesse and mechanical skill as Morris’ best results indicate: victory in the ’76 Bathurst 1000 with John Fitzpatrick and the 1979 ATCC (A9X) and second in 1974 (L34) and 1978 (A9X) and fifth in 1977 (L34, Triumph Dolomite and Ford Capri GT V6 and 1980 (Craven Mild VB Commodore).
Key team members included Bruce Richardson, Ron Missen, Peter Molloy, Ian Maudsley and others, not to forget Ron Hodgson, a very capable racer in his day.
A9X Lakeside ATCC 25/6/1978 second behind Moffat’s XC Falcon Hardtop
Peter Finlay powers his Palliser WDF2 Ford out of Torana corner on the way to victory in the fifth round of the 1975 Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series on July 6 at Sandown Park.
I was there on that chilly day, as mentioned in the Jim Richards bit above. Finlay’s taping over half his nosecone would have been common practice for him when he campaigned this car in Europe to get the little Kent engine up to optimum water and oil temps.
Peter penned this contribution to the Ten Tenths Forum on May 12, 2012. It’s a wonderful summary of his career/life. He’s still with us and regularly contributes to social media and corrects the writings of people like me!
‘My name is Peter Finlay, and I placed third in the EFDA/European Formula Ford Championship in 1973. I returned to Australia at the end of that year as the UK and Europe looked like they were going “belly up”.
‘I raced in Australia for the next two years. In 1975, I was a member of the Grace Brothers-Levis Team and placed second (by 1 point) in the Australian FF Championship Series. After competing in the annual Bathurst 1000 in a Ford Escort, I retired and focused on home and business.’
‘In 1980, we (Peter and his wife, Gaye) purchased the Peter Wherrett Advanced Driving School and then started Peter Finlay’s International Racing Drivers’ School. Later, we became the Antipodean agents for John Kirkpatrick’s Jim Russell RDC. Later, we started a division with several FFs, which included the Mawer 004, an Elfin 600, a Van Diemen RF85 (an ex-Milldent-Malcolm Oastler/ Perry McCarthy FF 2000) and a Reynard. Later, an RF89 joined the team until the older-style cars were replaced with a pair of RF99 Zetec cars sourced from England and two RF98 Zetec, which had been built up here in that configuration. We sold the school in 2010.’
‘I returned to Hillclimbing in 1992 with the Mawer, which I progressively developed with wider wheels, slicks, a Toyota supercharger and wings. Later, a Toyota 4AG-ZE was fitted. I won the NSW State Hillclimb championship in 1994,5, and 6. In 1996, I brought out Alister Douglas-Osborn, Mike Pilbeam and the works MP 62-Vauxhall for the Australian HC titles at Bathurst and scored a very close second place to a blown VW-engined single seater. ‘
‘The following year, my wife, Gaye, and I spent a month in the UK, and I drove the new Pilbeam MP82 at Curborough and Ben Boult’s Pilbeam MP52-BDA at the 50th anniversary of the RAC British HC Championships at Shelsley Walsh in June. I then switched over to the MP82 co-driven by Ferrari aerodynamicist Willem Toet at Loton Park and Prescott, where I placed third in the under 2-litre class behind Justin Fletcher and Willem.’
‘Back in Australia, I set up a March 77B with a supercharged 2-litre Cosworth YBM for the local events. This car was not particularly successful, although I did lead the time sheets at the last AHCC in which I participated in 2002.’
‘I look back with great fondness to the FF events in which I drove in the UK in 1972 and in Europe the following year. The Palliser was eventually restored in the yellow and green Grace Bros colours and is owned by Brian Sampson in Melbourne. After motor racing, I learned to fly and reached the commercial licence standard. I flew “bank document” in Beech Barons and Piper Aerostars. I turned to catamaran sailing, and my last boat was a NACRA 5.0… a rocket ship with which I won some national championship races.’
‘I am a contributor to a leading aviation periodical in Australia with articles and photographs. My day job is usually that of an executive chauffeur carrying politicians, entertainers and captains of industry in Sydney. I also work as a driving specialist with Rick Bates Advanced Driving.’
I’m sure Peter will give me a yell to fill in the last 13 years!
The September Sandown 250 was the traditional lead-up race to the Big One at Bathurst in October. It was indicative – sometimes – of the likely result on The Mountain and usually had technical interest in the days when touring car racing bore some resemblance to touring cars, and manufacturers would often have completed their homologation changes for Sandown.
The early lap shot of the September 8, 1974 race shows Allan Moffat’s XB Ford Falcon GT Hardtop under brakes for Dandy Road from the HDT L34s of Bond/Brock or Brock/Bond, then Bob Morris’ Holden Torana LJ GTR XU-1, Murray Carter’s venerable Hardtop with another XU=1 behind.\
Moffat won from Morris/John Leffler, and Carter. The Falcon form carried over the Bathurst, where, as per the post above, Goss/Bartlett prevailed from the Forbes/Negus and Jim Richards/Rod Coppins L34s.
Australia’s most versatile racer, Colin Bond at Lakeside on the way to winning the May 18, 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship round.
He took three of the eight rounds and the title in his Holden Dealer Team Holden Torana LH SL/R 5000 L34 from Murray Carter’s privateer Ford Falcon XB GT351 Hardtop with Allan Grice and Bob Holden equal third aboard L34 and Ford Escort Twin-Cam/RS2000 respectively.
Credits…
Chequered Flag, Gary Eastwood, Diana Burnett, Mike Harding, Ron Vinnard, Ian Smith, Wikipedia
primotipo... 