Reg Hunt working his Maserati A6GCM-250 hard at the Bathurst Easter meeting in 1955.
He won the 26 lap Bathurst 100 feature from Ern Seeliger aboard Stan Jones’ ex-Jack Brabham Cooper T23 Bristol and Lex Davison’s HWM Jaguar, below.
(I Arnold)(I Arnold)
Clive Adams’ drove Stan Coffey’s Cooper T20 Bristol skilfully but lost an early joust for third place with Davison, spinning at Forrest’s Elbow on the run down the mountain.
By 1955 the ex-Jack Saywell Alfa Romeo P3 had passed through the hands of Julian Barrett and Bill Murray and was powered by an Alvis engine. Sold by Murray to Gordon Greig, the car was involved in a terrible accident after Greig pitted, feeling sick, on lap 16.
Gordon Greig, Alfa Romeo P3 Alvis at Hell corner above, and below, before the disaster (I Arnold)
Tony Bourke, one of Greig’s crew, jumped aboard to finish the race and promptly lost control of the car over Conrod’s final hump, spun and went backwards off the track through the crowd killing one, mortally wounding another and injuring 20. Bourke stepped from the car unhurt and was later treated for shock.
Changes were were made to eliminate spectators from this area after the Coroner’s Inquest and public and press reaction. Bourke died after a Midget crash at Westmead Speedway in 1965.
(I Arnold)(I Arnold)
Col James MG Spl s/c and Ray Fowler, MG Spl, negotiate Hell Corner in the Group B Racing Car Scratch. They were third and fourth in this 3 lapper won by Stan Jones’ Cooper 1100.
(I Arnold)
Tom Jordan’s 1949 2.5-litre Riley engined Healey Silverstone (above) ‘was raced as a factory entry by Tony Rolt in the UK in 1949, then raced by Charles Mortimer in 1950 – he wrote a book about it, Racing a Sports Car – and was then returned to the factory, bought by Queenslander Colin Leagh Murray and raced and hillclimbed by him in Queensland before being sold to Jordan who had many successes with the car,’ wrote John Medley.
Etcetera…
(I Arnold)
It’s doubtful that Lex would have listed the HWM Jaguar – an ex-Moss HWM Alta 2-litre F2 chassis – amongst his favourite cars but he and his team coaxed enough speed and reliability out of the C-Type Jaguar powered jigger to win the 1954 AGP at Southport, aided and abetted by the breakage of a chassis weld on Maybach 2 when Stan Jones seemingly had the race ‘in the bag’.
By 1955 the HWM Jag was off the ultimate pace, Hunt had reset the local bar with his Maserati and Lex would meet the challenge in early 1956 with the purchase of Tony Gaze’ Ferrari 500/625 3-litre.
(I Arnold)
October 1955…
(I Arnold)
C James MG Spl S/c from Ted Gray, Tornado Ford, Hell corner, during the 3 lap Group A Racing Car Scratch.
On the last lap Tiger Ted lost the new car coming down the mountain near Griffin’s destroying it and hospitalising himself for months. Tornado 2 Ford would emerge in due course and Tornado 2 Chev became the fastest car in the country by later 1957, read here: https://primotipo.com/2015/11/27/the-longford-trophy-1958-the-tornados-ted-gray/
(I Arnold)
Touring car racing was steadily gaining in popularity with Jack Myers easily winning the sedan car handicap in his well developed, black-roofed, yellow Holden 48-215. ‘Holden wonder-man of the mid-1950s’ as John Medley described him. Here he is alongside George Pearse’s Ford Zephyr. See here for more on Jack: https://primotipo.com/2024/05/02/jumpin-jack-myers/
(I Arnold)
Jack Robinson’s Jaguar XK120 Special.
(I Arnold)
Dr John Boorman on the rise out of Hell corner on his way up Mountain Straight, ‘off scratch in the 6 lap Sports Car Handicap made no impression at all on Shmith’s new Austin Healey 100S which did 124mph through the timed quarter while Boorman did 125,’ Medley wrote. More about this car here: https://primotipo.com/2014/08/05/gnoo-who-gnoo-blas-circuit-jaguar-xkc-type-xkc037/
Postscript: Easter Bathurst tragedy…
After publishing this article, journalist/historian Ray Bell emailed me excerpts from ’emails I sent to the sister of Gavin Larnach’, one of the Bathurst accident victims.
1. That this whole thing is surrounded by lies and cover-ups is simply disgraceful. One can readily understand Mark’s state of mind and applaud him on his pursuit of the facts.
One such fact is that this car was very unstable after it had the very heavy Alvis engine installed. Ray Wamsley told me this, he was the next owner of the car, and he said it was absolutely transformed when he fitted a GMC truck engine after the Alvis unit failed.
2. I’ve subsequently spoken a journalist of the time, about the cover-ups. He told me that he always understood it was the local member who pushed for the hushing of everything with a view to ensuring that the racing wasn’t shut down. The local member was Gus Kelly, who was a Cabinet member with some influence and had been the local member for many years, so that makes sense.
Two factors come into play here. In 1946 there was difficulty getting the racing off the ground because of police resistance. Additionally, a driver and a spectator had been killed at the Gnoo Blas race meeting in January, 1955. The fear throughout the two organising clubs would have been quite pronounced and it was just eighteen months later that the whole of motor racing in NSW had to comply with the new Speedways Act, which introduced standards for safety fencing etc.
3. What is really bugging me is John Medley’s comment thatsomeone who gave evidence wasn’t actually in the country when the crash occurred. Not so consequential if he was just giving evidence about something technical, but still it appears from John’s comment that it might matter.
Sonny Rajah negotiates the tricky Thomson Road circuit during the 1972 Singapore Grand Prix aboard his March 712M Lotus-Ford twin-cam, chassis #712M-7, the same car in which Ronnie Peterson won the 1971 European F2 Championship.
Max Stewart won that race from Vern Schuppan and Bob Muir – Aussies first to third – with Singaporean local, Sonny fourth. Stewart raced his venerable Mildren, Schuppan his March 722 and Bob Muir his Rennmax BN3, all of the cars were Lotus-Ford 1.6 powered.
Eli Solomon wrote in MotorSport that ‘Sonny Rajah had struck up a partnership with the ex-Ronnie Peterson March 712M. He was the local hero and looked the part with his long hair and Zapata moustache. But to gain admittance into a country (Singapore) where long hair was associated with drugs, he had resorted to wearing a short-hair wig! A fellow competitor once remarked: “He had brilliant car control but someone other than bullshit-artists had to take him in hand! Natural talent and character too boot.”
Signature Peterson. ‘Very fast, off-camber, downhill, made for Ronnie Peterson’, Yoshiaki Hirano said. Mallory Park non-championship (n/c) March 14: accident in heat 1, DNS heat 2. Winner Henri Pescarolo in a Frank Williams 712M FVA (C Walker)Peterson bagged first place F2 Championship points – Graham Hill won the race, as a Graded Driver he was ineligible for points – in the Jochen Rindt Memorial Trophy at Thruxton on April 12 (unattributed)
Ronnie Peterson bagged maximum points in five of the ten F2 championship rounds he contested and won the title from Carlos Reutemann’s Brabham BT30/Brabham BT36 and Dieter Quester’s March 712M BMW.
Ronnie won at Thruxton, Rouen, Mantorp Park, Tulln Langenlebarn and the GP di Roma at Vallelunga. Note that Graham Hill (Brabham BT36) won at Thruxton – a real tear-jerker for race-fans as it was Graham’s first race-win since his huge Lotus 49 Watkins Glen crash at the end of 1969 – but as a graded-driver Hill was ineligible for Euro F2 Championship points.
London Trophy weekend at Crystal Palace, May 31, 1971. Adam Potocki’s spaceframe Brabham BT30 is made ready for battle while John Cannon’s monocoque 712M is similarly fettled (J Fausel)
F2 Wind-Shift from Spaceframes to Monocoques…
This season marked a shift in F2 with Brabham’s dominance – and spaceframes’ dominance – at an end. March Engineering led the charge with their 712M, while Lotus continued with the 69 and Brabham and Tecno stuck to their successful spaceframes.
It wasn’t that cut and dried though: Alan Rollinson won the Bogota GP n/c (non-championship round) in his Brabham BT30, Graham Hill at Thruxton in his BT36 and Carlos Reutemann, BT36 at Hockenheim n/c.
Noteworthy was Carlos Reutemann’s pace in both his Brabham BT30 and BT36 all year, so too Tim Schenken’s BT36 speed throughout without actually winning a round.
It was all over at the end of ’71 in the sense that Ron Tauranac sold Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone late that year with Bernie building monocoque customer F3 and F2 cars in 1972 before pulling out of production racing car manufacture at the end of that year.
Technical interest in the era of Absolute Ford FVA dominance was provided by Tecno in 1971 who fitted in-house-prepped Ford BDA engines which bagged two-championship wins at Hockenheim and the Nurburgring, and a non-championship victory at Vallelunga for Francois Cevert.
Emerson Fittipaldi won at Madrid, Crystal Palace and Albi, and Reine Wisell at the GP de Pau n/c in monocoque Lotus 69 FVAs but Emmo was a graded driver so didn’t bag F2 championship points.
Potent partnership: Ronnie Peterson and Max Mosley at Thruxton at the start of a great season for them both in F2 and F1 (J Fausel)
The 712M in the March Pantheon…
That the 712M was a good customer car was proved by the number of drivers who won in them apart from Ronnie: Henri Pescarolo at Mallory Park n/c, Dieter Quester Monza n/c, Carlos Pace Imola n/c and Mike Beuttler the GP Madunina at Vallelunga.
Quester’s 712M was fitted with a works BMW 1.6-litre, four-valve, M12/2 engine providing the category with much-needed and ongoing technical interest, and plenty of pace: third place in the championship with five second places on top of his non-championship Monza win was a great season.
Critically, it was the start of a relationship with BMW Motorsport that was so important commercially and competitively for March from 1973, the second year of the 2-litre F2.
Dieter Quester, March 712M BMW at Hockenheim in October 1971 (R Schlegelmilch)Derek Bell and Henri Pescarolo and Frank Williams 712M FVAs at the Nurburgring in 1971 (unattributed)
‘What makes March’s 1971 F2 season all the more creditable is that no fewer than 16 drivers went on to works F1 drives, nine would win Grands Prix and two, Lauda and Fittipaldi, would become World Champions.’ March biographer, Mike Lawrence wrote.
Beyond that, the 712M wasn’t a one-hit wonder, it just gave and gave. Its aluminium monocoque provided sterling service from 1971-77 in F3, F2 and F Atlantic form; it was a ‘banker’ at a critical time in March’s history.
Mike Lawrence picks up the thread, ‘Robin was getting on with the job of designing both the new F1 car and, what in the long term was to be more significant, a monocoque for F2 and F3.’
Herd, ‘It took us three or four goes to get it right; I did the detail mechanical design, Roger Silman and Dewar Thomas who made the prototypes put in a lot of their ideas as well, and John Thompson’s operation actually built the production tubs. Apart from the fact that it worked, and was still winning races in 1977, it was very well production engineered and I think we can be pleased with it. When the car was finished, I was away at an F1 race, so Dewar simply took it up to Silverstone and did 60 laps in it, which is something one cannot imagine happening today.’
‘Apart from the sharp new body and the monocoque itself, which had the engine as a semi-stressed member supported by the detachable multi-tubular frames, the broad layout of the design was similar to the 1970 cars, although there were detail changes such as such as narrower wishbones and the use of foam-filled fuel Carl’s which were required by the new regulations.’
Ronnie sits on Niki Lauda’s tyre at Mantorp Park in August. A win for Ronnie and seventh in the first heat and DNS the second for the Austrian who raced a works-entered 712M (R Nygren)Sonny during the Calder AF2 championship round in August 1974, March 712M Lotus-Ford. 11th in the race won by Leo Geoghegan’s Birrana 274 (S Gall)
Sonny Rajah raced an ex-James Hunt F3 Lotus 59/69 by then fitted with a Lotus-Ford twin-cam in the 1971 South East Asian season for a best of second place in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Batu Tiga on September 5 behind John MacDonald’s ex-Mike Costin Brabham BT10 Lotus-Ford twin-cam.
By the commencement of the 1972 South East Asia season – the April 4 Singapore GP- Sonny was racing his new, ex-March-Peterson 712M. his strong performance in Singapore was succeeded by victory in the April 9 Malaysian GP at Batu Tiga in front of Ken Smith, Lotus 59/69, Vern Schuppan March 722 and Kevin Bartlett, Brabham BT30 – all Lotus-Ford twin-cam powered. He was third in the season-ender at Macau on December 4 behind John MacDonald’s Brabham BT36 Lotus-Ford and Max Stewart’s Elfin 600B Lotus-Ford.
Rajah on the jungle-surrounded Thomson Road track, Singapore GP weekend 1972. March 712M-7 (NAS)Rajah, March 732/712M Hart Lotus-Ford twin-cam, Amaroo Park July 21, 1974 (B Henderson)
In 1973 Sonny bought a March 732B in the UK and took in a number of British Formula Atlantic Championship rounds from late May to late July. With best results in the highly competitive championship of ninth at Silverstone in May and fourth at Mallory in July he was sharpish by the time he returned home and promptly won the September 9 Selangor Grand Prix at Batu Tiga aboard the 712M-7! Graeme Lawrence was second in his Surtees TS15 and Percy Chan was third in the March 732B raced by Rajah in the UK. He capped off a busy season with second place to John MacDonald’s Brabham BT40 at Macau in the now 732 bodied 712M (probably says Allen Brown).
Into 1974 he had time to run the March 732 bodied 712M-7 in the Malaysian GP on April 7 DNF, before shipping the car to Australia before the first Australian F2 Championship round – also a twin-cam, two-valve formula – at Hume Weir on June 16.
Sonny Rajah and Bob Jane in August 1974 (Auto Action)
The popular Singaporean born racer, Rajah contested the full eight race 1974 championship with the March, updated, as already noted, with 732 bodywork in a low-budget campaign run largely out of Paul England’s workshop in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne
It was the most competitive second-level motor racing championship ever run in Australia thanks to the support of Van Heusen Shirts, the story of how that came about is one for another time
Rajah in the Julius Marlow Shoes sponsored 732-712M from Ray Winter, Mildren Yellow Submarine Lotus-Ford and Bruce Allison, Birrana 274 Lotus-Ford at Adelaide International. Rajah ninth, Winter fourth and Allison seventh in the race won by Bob Muir, Birrana 273 and John Leffler, Bowin P8 (Auto Action)
Up front the contest was between the Birranas of Leo Geoghegan and Bob Muir, and when he got it sorted, John Leffler’s Bowin P8; all of these cars were powered by Brian Hart built ‘416-B’ Lotus-Ford 1.6-litre, DOHC, two-valve (mainly) fuel injected engines giving about 205bhp.
Rajah’s contested all eight rounds with his best third place at Symmons Plains and sixth at Hume Weir. He’s not listed in the point score because – I guess – he wasn’t a CAMS licence holder.
Leo Geoghegan won the title in his works-Birrana 274, Bob Muir’s Bob and Marj Brown owned Birrana 273 and Leffo’s ‘works’-Bowin P8.
Etcetera…
(LAT)
March 712M Brothers in Arms Niki Lauda and Dieter Quester swap notes during the Rouen-Les-Essarts June 27 weekend in 1971. Peterson won from Quester and Graham Hill’s Brabham BT36 with Niki fourth.
Niki at Mallory Park (below) at for the F2 season-opener – non-championship – Speed Championship Trophy over the March 14, 1971 weekend.
His works-March-Bosch Racing 712M-9 didn’t finish either heat. The renta-driver had plenty of top-six finishes that season and memorably duelled with Graham Hill and Peter Westbury at the Nurburgring for fourth place. In the first heat at Rouen, he almost sling-shotted past Peterson to win, dipping out on the line and finishing second by 0.1 secs…
(I Hubbard Collection)
Still at Mallory Park, Derek Bell 712M-2 and Henri Pescarolo 712M-4, below, in the Frank Williams March 712M Ford FVAs. Henri won from Gerry Birrell’s Lotus 69 and Brian Hart’s Brabham BT30.
(Ed Brunette Collection)
Tino Brambilla tests his March 712M Ferrari Dino 206 V6 at Monza in 1972. This chassis is the ex-Pescarolo 712M-4.
Tino retired his ‘Ferrari’ retired from the Monza Lottery non-championship F2 race – Gran Premio della Lotteria – won by Graham Hill from Silvio Moser and Jean Pierre-Jarier: Brabham BT38 Ford BDA, Brabham BT38 Ford BDE and March 722 Ford BDE.
(J Benak)
James Hunt in the Hesketh Racing March 712M-5 Ford BDA during the September 16, 1972 British F2 Championship race at Oulton Park. The soon-to-be F1 Star was third behind the works-March 722 Fords of Ronnie Peterson and Niki Lauda.
In several late season Euro F2 rounds in September-October he was Q3 and DNF at the Salzburgring, Q 11 and fifth at the Albi GP, Q12 and eighth at Hockenheim.
(B Henderson)
Rajah at Amaroo Park, Sydney on July 21, 1974. DNF engine in the race won by Bob Muir’s Birrana 273.
I’m intrigued by what Allen Brown (oldracingcars.com) makes of the photos in this article which show the obvious difference in ‘our car’s’ bodywork – 732 rather than 712M – but in addition the roll-bar mounts are different between the two cars. I do wonder whether the car that came to Australia by then had a 732 tub. we know Sonny raced a ‘mystery’ ‘732B’ in British Atlantic then took it back to Asia. I wonder whether the car in Oz was the 732 chassis rather than the 712M?
Credits…
National Archives of Singapore via Rewind Media via Ed Brunette, Clarke Walker, Rolle Nygren, ‘The Story of March : Four Guys and a Telephone’ Mike Lawrence, Stephen Gall, Jutta Fausel, Ed Brunette Collection, Bryan Henderson, Auto Action, Ian Hubbard Collection, Singapore Fling : Singapore GP piece in MotorSport by Eli Solomon
Tailpiece…
(J Fausel)
Ronnie during the Grand Prix de Rouen on June 27, 1971.
The Swedish Star won from Dieter Quester’s 712M BMW and Graham Hill’s Rondel Racing Brabham BT36 and Lauda’s works-712M. Graham was still a plenty-quick F2 driver in that lovely Ron Dennis prepped BT36 that year. Always loved those March wheels…
Quite a few of the photos in this article are by now US domiciled German photographer Jutta Fausel who I collaborated with in an article published in MotorSport a couple of years ago on the 1970 Israel Grand Prix, an obscure F2 race.
I really must buy her book, F2 Devotee as I am, which comes highly recommended!
One of the least known Australian Grand Prix winners is motorcyclist Frank Pratt who triumphed aboard a BMW 328 in scalding hot summer conditions at Point Cook on 1948.
So why not show a close-up of him?
There he is above and below on his Sunbeam 90 outfit with Alick Smith alongside at Phillip Island on the way to winning the Australian Grand Prix – Sidecars on February 1, 1932.
(C Pratt-SLV)(I McCartney Archive)
On his way to winning the 1948 Australian Grand Prix at Point Cook RAAF Airfield in a BMW 328 from Alf Najar MB-TB Spl and Dick Bland’s George Reed Spl (Ford V8 Spl) on Australia Day, January 26.
Penny Penglaze was not your average up-market Point Piper society-chick at all it seems, media-savvy as she clearly was…
In the immediate pre-war period she parlayed some fast laps in a Speedway Midget into a 1939 Pix article and photoshoot – the contents of which are shown here – married a soldier during 1942 and then made a bit of a hero of herself in Greece in 1946.
Penglaze was a dab hand at golf, swimming and hockey – a North Coast Women’s Hockey Association rep no less – ‘and while at Tarree High School was considered one of the athletes in the district,’ The Sun puffed, ‘Frank Arthur, one of the best judges of speedier ability, said that after gaining experience, Miss Penglaze would not be disgraced in a race against men.’
(SLNSW-A Iverson)(SLNSW-A Iverson)
Quite how she got into speedway goes unrecorded but she was quick and competent enough to set the women’s lap record at the Sydney Sports Ground in November 1939, getting down from 22.4 sec to 21 3/5 sec at a time British-Australian Ace Bill Reynolds went around in 17 9/10 sec.
When she was scheduled to race at the Olympia Speedway in Melbourne in January 1940 ‘she caused a problem for the speedway management which opposed women racing with men, fearing an outcry if there was an accident,’ The Sun reported.
Commonsense prevailed (sic), ‘After reviewing the case they decided to allow her to attempt a 1-lap record and if her performance is encouraging she will be matched in a special race with a suitable driver.’
Whether Penny actually had a run on that January 20, 1940 weekend is unclear.
(The Sun January 20, 1940)(SLNSW-A Iverson)
The Launceston Examiner piled on-board, reporting that ‘Today women are competing in sports which, only a few years ago, belonged solely to men. Quite frequently women successfully compete against men. In England women speed drivers have quite recently won several events against men drivers.’
By late November 1939 Miss Edna Ray and Miss Louise Dare were trying to knock our Penny off her Sydney Sports Ground perch.
The Sun Sydney ran the following article in the Women’s Sport section of its Sunday November 12, 1939 issue. ‘Penny Goes Fast’.
‘According to Miss Annabella Penglaze ‘Penny’ to you and me, to fly through the air with the greatest of ease is more of a thrill in a speedcar than on a trapeze.
Penny belies her name. She’s just a pocket edition two-by-two. But can she handle a car! Having only practised once on the Sports Ground track, she broke the women’s spreedcar one lap record, and is only three seconds behind the men’s best time.
Only 19 years old she has a craze for speed. Her fastest to date is 102 m.ph and that was done on a quiet road where “speedcops” were not. She has treated herself to a couple of joy rides in a plane. and wouldn’t hesitate to take up flying if finances permitted
The intricacies of Morse code are well under way-just in case she may join up with something some-day.
W. A. Reed. one of the speedear judges is most enthusiastic about Miss “Penny.” “She is a fine driver.” he said, “and I hope more women speedsters will come to light. And Mr. Reed should know. He’s one of the who’s who in speedcars.
In the meantime Miss “Penny” is letting flats, playing a little golf at Woollahra, doing a little swimming and thinking out ways and means of going a little faster with everything especially the speedcar.’
(SLNSW-A Iverson)
Proving the inherent danger of being a novice speedway racer, the Daily Telegraph reported in its February 13, 1949 issue:
Woman Race Driver In 50 m.p.h. Crash
MELBOURNE. Monday. – Mrs. Bill Reynolds, wife of the world champion midget car driver, crashed her husband’s car into the safety fence at Olympic Park at 50 miles an hour today, but was not injured.
The car skidded after taking a bend, turned over three times, and crashed into the safety fence. The car chassis was buckled, and the rear wheels torn off.
Mrs. Reynolds, who was practising for an attempt on Miss Penny Penglaze’s (N.S.W.) speed record, was strapped in the seat.
Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds were married at the Olympic Speedway last Saturday night before 16,000 people.’
By July 1942 young Penny was married to Raymond Cowan at St Marks Darling Point, he was the son of Mr & Mrs WG Cowman of Beecroft, she, the eldest daughter of Mr Alex Penglaze, of Wolseley Road, Point Piper.
(Australian Women’s Weekly May 25, 1946)
After the end of World War 2 Penglaze was one of a team of Red Cross workers carrying out rehabilitation work in Greece in 1946.
The youngest member of the Red Cross unit, was, for five weeks the station master, stoker, guard, engine driver, and despatch clerk until a weekly service was organised between Salonika and Florina. For these exploits she was award the bronze decoration of the Greek Red Cross.
I wonder what became of Penny Penglaze after that, she was certainly an impressive high-achieving type of person, any clues folks?
(SLNSW-A Iverson)
Credits…
State Library of New South Wales – ACP Magazines photographer Alec Iverson, The (Sydney) Sun November 3, 12 1939, Launceston Examiner January 24, 1940, The Muswellbrook Chronicle May 28, 1946
Tailpiece…
(SLNSW-A Iverson)
Quite why you would get your gear off for an article on your prowess behind the wheel is beyond me – and it’s a long time since I saw a copy of Pix in the local barber-shop in the 1960s – but a little bit of research shows that Pix got all the sheilas they featured to show us their bumpy-bits.
(SLNSW-A Iverson)
Yeah right, there’s more.
(SLNSW-A Iverson)
And again, different times folks!
(SLNSW-A Iverson)
Etcetera…
See the fantastic State Library of New South Wales story about the place of Pix in recording Australian life for 30 years from 1938-1968 here:
Frank Matich, Matich SR3 Oldsmobile ahead of Bud Morley, McLaren Elva Mk2 Chev during the United States Road Racing Championship round at Riverside, California on April 30, 1967
Many of you will be aware that FM contested Can-Am Challenge rounds that year whereas this race largely goes unreported
He had sold an SR3 to Marvin Webster in California and raced his own car in the Can-Am. This car was fitted with a modified 4-litre Oldsmobile F85 aluminium V8 by Webster’s crew while the other machine was powered by a customer Repco-Brabham Engines 620 4.4-litre V8.
(D Friedman)Mark Donohue on pole with George Follmer on the right, Lola T70 Mk2 Chevs, #52 Peter Revson and #71 Bud Morley in McLaren Elva Chevs. Matich on the far right five rows back (D Friedman)Mark Donohue, Lola T70 Mk2 Chev (D Friedman)
Mark Donohue won the 70 lap, 300km race in a Penske Lola T70 Mk2 Chev from Bob Bondurant and Peter Revson’s pair of Dana Chevrolet McLaren Elva Mk3 Chevs.
The pro-series was the Can-Am Cup, the USRRC was the next level down but still a national series with some topline steerers: George Follmer, Jerry Titus, Masten Gregory, Lothar Motschenbacher, Moises Solana, Scooter Patrick, Jerry Grant, and Sam Posey and Mike Goth, the latter a pair of drivers who did the Tasman in the F5000 years .
(D Friedman)
Matich qualified 13th and retired from the race with falling oil pressure after only 19 laps, not a happy weekend as they had blown an engine in the first USRRC round at Las Vegas the week before. The final race of his tour was the Laguna Seca round on May 7 with a finish this time, eighth from grid 10.
Matich from Mike Goth, Lola T70 Mk3 Chev, fifth (D Friedman)
Etcetera…
(D Friedman)
The Matich SR3 is derivative of a whole swag of sports-racers of the day but distinctively handsome all the same.
(D Friedman)
Marvin Webster calling the shots.
(D Friedman)(D Friedman)
Skip Scott’s McLaren Elva Mk3 Chev, DNF engine with Matich at the rear of this group.
(D Friedman)
Matich in front of Peter Revson’s McLaren Elva Mark 3 Chev.
(D Friedman)(D Friedman)(D Friedman)
FM had the Australian franchises for Firestone Racing Tyres and Bell Helmets, I wonder if he landed both those fish during his ‘67 trips? Yes, he went with Goodyear a bit later when it seemed the way to go…
Credits…
David Friedman Archive
Tailpieces…
(D Friedman)
How far back did Roger Penske and Mark Donohue go? About here actually.
After Roger stopped driving in 1965 he fielded a pair of Corvettes at Daytona and Sebring in 1966 before forming the partnership with Donohue. USRRC titles followed in 1967-68 with Lola T70s, and the rest, as they say, is history.
An Adelaide collector of speedcars is likely to buy Mal Ramsay’s ingenious rear-engined Birrana S74 Midget.
The collector, whose name is unknown, apparently hordes famous or unusual speedway cars. At present count, he is said to have about 15 oval track cars – mostly midgets – worth thousands of dollars.
Ramsay’s pavement track Birrana, which caused such a stir among the heavily traditional ranks of speedcar racing that rear engined cars have been banned in Australia, is being valued at $6000.
The S74 has been put on the market before it has fired its blown VW motor in anger following a letter received by Ramsay recently by Birrana patrons Bob and Marj Brown.
The Browns have moved their business overseas and have told Ramsay to sell the Birrana speedcar, as well as their Sesco-powered dirt track midget, spare Sesco motor and many other bits of gear the Brown speedway team had accumulated.
(The Browns were in mid-1975 establishing a business in the UK – Thermax – and running two Birrana 273 Ford BDAs for Bob Muir, and very occasionally, Dean Hosking, in the British Formula Atlantic Championship).
(A Ramsay)
The impending sale of the shocking green coloured revolutionary midget is almost sure to end eight months of controversy raised by it. Ramsay, fascinated by the lure of pavement speedway racing at Adelaide International Speedway, decided last year to hand in his road racing license and go speedway in the little mid-engined car he envisioned.
He planned to debut it at the Australian Grand Prix at Liverpool in January, anxious to take on AJ Foyt in a local car. However, the ultra-conservative RDA in South Australia would not clear the car to compete in the AGP because they said it had not been proved in competition yet.
That was the beginning of a line of establishment reactions against the S74 that eventually led to the Australian Speedcar Control Council banning rear engined midgets.
Their thinking was of the type that it would dominate racing, make conventional cars obsolete, increase costs exorbitantly, etc – traditional USAC thinking, in other words. The only concession made was that the S74 could continue racing for two years, then that’s it for the ‘radicals’.
What the ASCC did was to very effectively stifle the only show of imagination presented for more than twenty years. They were afraid the Birrana would overrun speedcar racing, and everyone would have to follow suit and build a ‘funny car.’
Despite problems getting the blown 1600cc VW engine to work in the initial stage of the project it showed tremendous potential when Mal took the S74 around the ½ mile AIS track in 22.7 seconds, 0.1 under Mel Kenyon’s record.
In its first race at the May Adelaide lnternational Speedway meeting, it was again impressive in gaining a second, third, and fourth from the rear of the field in three races.
The Birrana has not raced since then because of the cancellation of a number of AIS meetings in recent months, so it is unlikely now that it will ever be known just how good the S74 could have been.
Two big SU carbys feed the supercharger induction system to the big bore Volkswagen engine. Notice the beautiful detail work (M Jacobson)Wheels are four Birrana F2 ‘fronts’, IFS by wishbones clear (M Jacobson)
The Birrana looks more like a fat Formula GP midget than a full speedier. Its rounded nose and faired in tail, despite the best efforts of the RDA, still leave it looking unlike any midget ever built or raced here.
It is not, as is popularly thought, based on the monocoque chassis of the Formula Two Birrana 274. Only the front and rear suspensions are F2, and even then they are considerably beefed up to endure the rigours of speedway. Even the fact that the S74 uses full racing independent springing was probably enough to send the midget purists with their leaf springs, beam axles, and solid rear ends spinning.
The chassis is of a spaceframe construction, clothed in aluminium body panels and houses a supercharged VW engine running at 12 pounds of boost. Horsepower of the unit is unknown, being air-cooled, Mal has been unable to dyno it for fear of it overheating and blowing it up — as happened with he first motor he had in the car.
All the sophistication that made Birrana into F2 Champions on the road circuits is featured in the chassis and suspension design. Was it just too much for the other contestants? (M Jacobson)
The gearbox is a Holinger unit with a wide range of ratios available, while the brakes are 9¾ inch disc outboard-mounted all round. Wheels are the same as used on the F2 Birrana, fitted with F3 Firestone slicks.
The cockpit is even roomier than Tatnell’s Winfield Export Offy’s, with the driver nestling in a fibreglass racing seat. Although the S74 is presumed to be lighter than conventional cars. Ramsay said it has yet to be weighed because he had planned for the bulk in a lot of areas to be reduced after it had been fully sorted.
This Auto Action classifieds ad ran in the November 20, 1975 issue.
I’m not sure when it sold, but it’s still alive, I believe, in the Holmes’ family collection of Birranas in Queensland.
It’s gotta be the ultimate Group Q novelty historic machine. CAMS’ Historic Committee would choke on their chocolate-donuts when reviewing this COD application!
Credits…
Auto Action September 12, 1975, Mike Jacobson, Ann-Maree Ramsay
Once upon a time the in-crowd could pick a driver by his helmet design, Derek Bell in this case. That era spanned the 1960s-1980s and a bit. These days the helmets have more of a puke-the paint from on-high-factor about them. Drivers change them as often as they do their jocks, so one may be just getting a ‘design’ into ones head, then out she goes…
Derek shared this Ron Hodgson Holden Torana A9X 5-litre with Dieter Quester in the October 1, 1978 Bathurst 1000. They were out after 5 of the 163 laps from Q5 (Bell) after Derek experienced a steering failure and crashed. Peter Brock and Jim Richards won in a Holden Dealer Team A9X.
(Motorsport Images)
Paul Hawkins on his way to third place in the Zeltweg 500km, round 9 of the International Championship of Makes on August 25, 1968.
In front of him were the works-Porsche 908s of Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann/Kurt Ahrens. Hawkins car was his own.
In Paul other 1968 results, he and David Hobbs won the Monza 1000km in a JW Automotive GT40. The same pair were fourth in the Brands Hatch 6 Hours in a Hawkins entry, Hawkins and Ickx were third in the Nurburgring 1000km in a JW car, at Spa Hawkins/Hobbs were fourth, and at Watkins Glen second in JW entries. More on Paul here: https://primotipo.com/2020/09/25/hawkeye/
(I Smith)
A very poignant photograph of Alan Hamilton in the Sandown pitlane during the 1978 Australian Grand Prix weekend; The Fangio Meeting at which the great JMF demonstrated a Mercedes Benz W196 Grand Prix car with much brio.
The utter excitement of the sight and sound of that legendary car-driver combination was to an extent ruined by the accidents that befell Garrie Cooper and Alan Hamilton, and to a lesser extent Vern Schuppan, in the Grand Prix. See here in my Hamilton tribute: https://primotipo.com/2025/03/16/alan-hamilton-rip/
(T Wright)
Robin Pare over the top at Skyline, Baskerville, in Don Elliott’s Elfin ME5 Chev.
What a fabulous racetrack it is too. This car, with a relatively short track to wheelbase ratio was reputedly a twitchy little bugger, its bit Robin circa 1973-74.
Here are the remains of the car after a reasonably Big One at Baskerville on October 12, 1975. ‘I was only 30 metres away from the crashing, cartwheeling car with my camera tucked away securely in my bag while I was having lunch,’ photographer Bruce Smart wrote. The car still exists today.
(B Smart)(J Spinks(
Warwick Brown’s McLaren M10B Chev in the Sandown paddock in September 1973, ‘when he got back into an F5000 and did a demonstration run after his huge accident at Surfers paradise earlier in the year.’ Neil Stratton.
It was a remarkably brave thing to do, I attended the Glyn Scott Memorial Trophy Gold Star round at Surfers Paradise while on a family holiday on the Gold Coast only ? weeks before. Warwick was at that meeting hobbling around with crutches/ walking stick. No way would I have thought he’d be back in the car even for an exploratory run such a short time later. Mind over matter folks…
Peter Brock, Birrana 273 Ford #008 during the August 5 Oran Park round of the 1973 Australian F2 Championship.
Brocky finished second behind Leo Geoghegan’s works 273 in this second round of the Championship but only did the following round at Amaroo before pulling the pin; no funds and no Hart 416-B Twin-cam the reasons given if memory serves. See here: https://primotipo.com/2018/05/07/brocks-birrana/
(Auto Action)
As good as an XU-1 got…
Peter Brock in a Holden Dealer Team Holden Torana GTR XU-1 on the exit of Torana Corner at Sandown during the 250k Manchamps round on September 10, 1972.
Harry finally got around to slapping a decent coat of paint on his cars, fitted by then with the just homologated Globe alloys.
A DNF for Peter and Colin Bond. Fords reigned supreme in the traditional Bathurst warm-up event: John Goss from Fred Gibson and Murray Carter in Phase 3 GTHO’s. It all came good for Brocky on the mountain of course…
(Auto Action)
A list of all of the Coopers owned by Bib Stillwell would be interesting…
Here the T53 Climax and T49 Monaco are shown in the Mallala paddock during The Advertiser Trophy Gold Star meeting weekend on October 8, 1962.
Aussie Invaders Brian Muir and Frank Gardner on the front row of the 1972 British Grand Prix BTCC support race at Brands Hatch on July 15. Ford Capri RS2600 and Chev Camaro Z28 Mk2.
Gardner won the sixth round of the BTCC, 20 lap race from the David Brodie and David Matthews Ford Escort RS1600s. Brian Muir led the first 16 laps and sliced a big chunk off the lap record before spinning to rest on his own oil after a major engine failure on lap 17.
This Jaguar XK150 was used to test tyre compunds and tbe way they reacted to Lake Eyre salt in 1963.
Chassis T825278DN, a late 3.8S was loaned to Dunlop for tyre testing purposes for the Donald Campbell-Bluebird Proteus land speed record attempt. What became of the car folks?
Lynton Hemer catches Frank Gardner on the hop through the Warwick Farm Esses during his victorious run in the works Lola T192 Chev in February 1971. Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup race.
Tim Schenken at right with the Team Tiga Formula 3 Ralt RT1/76 Toyota chassis 16 with Eddie Jordan aboard during during a test session at Goodwood in 1978. From the left are Steve Elly Ellison, John Love, Eddy and Tim.
Jordan won the 1978 Irish Formula Atlantic Championship aboard a Marlboro Team Ireland Chevron B29 Ford BDA. EJ seems to have only done one race in this car, at the November 11, 1978 Thruxton round where he qualified ninth and finished seventh in the race won by Derek Warwick’s RT1 Toyota.
(T Schenken)
Tiga ran this chassis for Andrea de Cesaris in the British F3 Championship that year, he brought the Marlboro money via his father. Andrea got quicker as the year went on, finishing seventh in the title chase with his best results thirds at Mallory Park in May, Brands Hatch and Donington in July, and fourth placings at Paul Ricard and Silverstone in July and Donington in August.
Tim Schenken and Howden Ganley ran De Cesaris again the following year in a Team Tiga March 793 Toyota, he was second in the championship that year…behind Chico Serra in the other Team Tiga 793. Not to worry, Andrea graduated to F2 and F1 in 1980.
Back to Eddie. When his own race-career was on the decline he formed Eddie Jordan Racing which proved to be rather a successful enterprise!
Tom Sulman looking very pre-War in ‘his’ Maserati 4CM at Mount Panorama in October 1960.
Unclassified in the Craven A International won by Jack Brabham’s Cooper T51, with four Coopers behind him. More about Sulman in this feature here: https://primotipo.com/2018/04/19/tom-sulman/
Jim McKeown in the short-lived Porsche Cars Australia Porsche 911 Turbo mid-engined Sports Sedan at Calder in 1975. I’ll take your advice on the meeting date please?
Allan Moffat giving chase in his RS3100 Cologne Capri then Leo or Pete Geoghegan in the Grace Bros Porsche 911S.
CAMS could never work out what category to pop the 911 into, they chopped and changed a number of times. In this case Hammo pissed a lot of money up against the wall to build a car that was kosher one minute and daffied the next. See here: https://primotipo.com/2018/09/04/long-neck-fosters/
Peter Larner during the 1978 New Zealand Formula Pacific Championship, circuit folks? By then Paul England’s Dolphin Ford BDA – a Brabham BT36 built up by Don Baker using an Arch Motors chassis – was an old gal by then, but Pedro contested the whole series with bests of ninth at Baypark and 11th at Manfield and Wigram. The 1977 Australian F2 Champion (Elfin 700 Lotus-Ford twin-cam) deserved a better mount.
Up at the pointy end Keke Rosberg won the championship from Larry Perkins and Bobby Rahal aboard Chevron B39, Ralt RT1 and Chevron B39 respectively.
Leo Geoghegan, Lotus Elite from David Lewis Holden Grey, Gavin Youl, Porsche 356, David McKay, Ferrari 250 Pininfarina, #39 Ron Marshall, AC Bristol #30 Alan Ling, Holden and the rest at Longford in 1961, mixed GT and Touring Car race.
McKay raced the Tony Oxley owned car – chassis 1973 – which I believe is still in the same family.
And below a better shot of the ‘Ron Marshall, Yass, ex-Mary Seed AC Ace with Sydney made hardtop for Appendix K GT regulations’. Thanks to Stephen Dalton and Rob Bartholomaeus. There is a bit more about this Ace at the end of this piece here: https://primotipo.com/2022/10/02/australian-racing-random-11/
(speedwayandroadracehistory.com)(M Heeler)
What an impactful cover. The Bunbury Speedway’s first season was in 1972.
Bib Stillwell and Stan Jones in the front row of a race during the Victorian Trophy meeting at Calder over the February 25, 1962 weekend. Coopers T53 and T51 Climax.
Stan (below) didn’t start the feature event which was won by Bib from Lex Davison, Aston Martin DBR4 3-litre and Bryan Thomson, Cooper T51 Climax FPF 2.2.
Ian Smith, Tony Wright, John Spinks, Graham C Forsyth, Chevron Publishing, Auto Action, Robert Clayton, Lynton Hemer, Steve Elly Ellison via Ed Brunette, Bruce Smart, Mark Heeler, Lynn Keetelaar Collection, speedwayandroadracehistory.com via Rob Bartholomaeus
I’ve occasionally wondered exactly when Repco Ltd commenced operating in the UK, in a Repco-Brabham connection. Repco’s in-house magazine, the ‘Repco Record’ Christmas 1964 issue tells me the former Australian automotive industry colossus hung-the-shingle out at 59 St James Street, London on August 1, 1957.
The meetings Frank Hallam had in London that are of the most interest to us go unrecorded of course: Messrs Irving, Brabham and Tauranac, Laystall and Lucas spring to mind.
I suspect the primary purpose of the trip was to put-a-rocket up Phil Irving, who in Hallam’s mind, was running late with the design of RBE620, the SOHC, two valve, fuel-injected 2.5-litre Tasman Cup V8 based on the Oldsmobile F85 aluminium block. Worse to Frank, Phil and Jack were occasionally leaving-the-reservation on ‘agreed design direction.’ Said engine fired its first shot in Repco’s Richmond engine laboratory dyno on March 26, 1965.
Credits…
Repco Ltd, the Repco Record is from Rodway Wolfe’s archive
Spitfire, Alan Hamilton and a Bentley not long after Hamiltons Rolls Royce was created to take on the Rolls and Bentley franchises, ‘Laverton, Victoria on December 20, 1988’ Tony Johns advises.
Alan Douglas McKinnon Hamilton, a wonderful man, Australian Porsche importer, racer, entrepreneur and entrant died on March 3, 2025 in Melbourne. He was born on July 29, 1942.
What follows is a photograph based tribute. I was lucky enough to meet with and speak to Alan in the last five years about various articles, and sometimes just racing shite more generally…a Prince of a Bloke.
(R Rundle)
Early days aboard a 356 Coupe at Calder circa-1962
This tribute is a pot-pourri of the cars he raced but is far from all of them. It excludes machines he entered for others…of which they are a lot.
(G Chennells)
It could be Europe but its outer Melbourne. Hamilton’s 2-litre six powered 904-8 Bergspyder #007 at Templestowe Hillclimb during 1966.
‘Alan Hamilton leaving The Hole with the Porsche engine making its very distinctive and glorious bellowing sound. It always scared me a bit watching Alan because he was so quick out of The Hole that when he arrived at Barons, a sharp U-turn with trees on the outside, he was going so fast that if anything went wrong…I hated to think. But always fantastic to watch and hear.’
(B Jackson)
In the paddock at Surfers Paradise during the 1966 12-Hour meeting. Alan was sharing the car with Brique Reed.
And below during the March ‘66 Longford Tasman meeting while contesting the Australian Tourist Trophy. Hammo is turning into The Viaduct in front of Lionel Ayers’s MRC/Lotus 23B Ford and Spencer Martin aboard the Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM.
Frank Matich won in his new Elfin 400 Traco-Oldsmobile from Hamilton and Martin.
(S Fryer)(R Rundle)
Hamilton rounds up the John Kiran/Colin Bond/Max Winkless Volvo P1800 during the 1967 Surfers Paradise 12 Hour. Alan and Glyn Scott were third behind the Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM raced by Bill Brown and Greg Cusack, and the Paul Hawkins/Jackie Epstein Lola T70 Mk3 Chev.
This 906 is his first – chassis#007 – had its lid lopped off locally to accommodate Alan’s considerable length. His second 906 was tagged 007 too… That’s it below at Warwick Farm during the RAC Trophy meeting in May 1971.
(L Hemer)Longford, March 1967 aboard the first 906Peters Corner Sandown in 1967 with Neil Allen’s ex-Matich Elfin 400 Olds behind (unattributed)(oldracephotos.com/King)
Hamilton having a drive of a front-engined car for a change. The MW Motors Alfa Romeo GTA at Longford in 1968, Murray Wright was the Melbourne Alfa Romeo dealer.
(MotorSport)
Hammo taking some air during the 1968 Nurburgring 1000km. He was 28th, sharing the Porsche 911S 2-litre with Hans Dieter-Blatzheim on May 19.
Up at the front was a pair of Porsces: Jo Siffert and Vic Elford won in a 908 with local-lads Hans Herrmann and Rolf Stommelen second in a 907.
(Porsche)
Alan at Station Pier for the handover of a of carton of beer or three to the Waterside Workers Federation dogs to avoid his new Porsche 911 T/R being accidentally damaged on the downward drop onto said Pier…
MG corner at Phillip Island? (A Scott)Warwick Farm with the car dancing on its tippy-toes, lots of shots of this car are in this pose (Porsche)
Hammo in his maiden single-seater drive in his new McLaren M10B Chev at Lakeside over the June 6 weekend in 1971. Third behind Kevin Bartlett and Max Stewart.
Chassis #400-19 was Niel Allen’s spare tub which was built up into a complete car when Allen retired from racing after the end of the 1971 Tasman Cup.
(B Jackson)
Hamilton inserts himself into the McLaren’s cockpit in the Warwick Farm pits and is shown below in the very best of company dicing with John Surtees, Surtees TS8 Chev during the ‘71 AGP.
That’s Colin Bond in Frank Matich’s McLarens M10C Repco-Holden and the Graeme Lawrence’s Brabham Ford FVC. A deflating tyre cruelled Surtees chances, Frank Matich won the race from with Hamilton third and Lawrence fourth, Bondy lost Phil-pressure and retired.
Max Stewart’s fast and reliable Mildren Waggott TC-4V won the Gold Star that year with the two ex-Allen M10Bs driven by Bartlett and Hamilton in equal second-place.
(L Hemer)(J Lemm)
Hamilton at Collingrove on the way to a 33 seconds-dead run at Easter, taking FTD in the Australian Hillclimb Championship (AHC) in April 1971.
Alan had won here before, taking the 1966 title in the 904 Bergspyder. He returned to hillclimbing after losing his General Competition Licence as a result becoming an insulin dependent diabetic as a consequence of his 1978 massive Sandown accident. He won the 1981 AHC in a Porsche Special, then took it one final time at Gippsland Park, Morwell in a Lola T87/50 Buick, a device which started life as a Formula 3000 car.
(unattributed)
Hammo leading Allan Moffat and Bryan Thomson during the 1972 Sandown Tasman meeting.
The 911S 2.4-litre, ex-Brian Foley/Jim Palmer, Mustang Boss 302 and Holden Torana Chev glimpse in a mixed Improved Tourer and Sports Sedan race. Neil Stratton wrote that this was palmers first race in the car and that Moffat retired the Mustang after losing its brakes over Lukey – the rise at the top of the back straight – and hitting the Armco protecting the Marshalls.
The same pair at Calder later in the year below.
(P Husband)
On the hop at Oran Park in a 3-litre Carrera RSR in 1976. Famously the 1975 Paris Show 911 Turbo/930 prototype, long since left our shores and lives in Europe.
(Auto Action)
Allan Moffat created a crushing touring car team in 1977 by recruiting American engineer-team manager Carrroll Smith, engine builder Peter Molloy and Colin Bond.
After winning the ATCC Moffat recruited Jacky Ickx and Hamilton for the Enduros. Moffat’s 1-2 form finish has had taxi fans foaming at the mouth for decades with colulda-woulda-shouldas but The Boss prevailed, as he should have: Moffat/Ickx first, Bond/Hamilton second.
(B Atkin)
A very poignant photograph of Hammo in the Sandown pitlane during the 1978 Australian Grand Prix weekend; The Fangio Meeting at which the great JMF demonstrated a Mercedes Benz W196 Grand Prix car with much brio.
The utter excitement of the sight and sound of that legendary car-driver combination was to a large extent ruined by the accidents that befell Garrie Cooper and Alan Hamilton, and to a lesser extent Vern Schuppan, in the Grand Prix. Racing Car News summarised it thus:
Hamilton turns in to Dandenong Road not long before the crash. If the Lola T430 Chev looks a little odd, it’s because Porsche Cars Australia modified the car by removing the sportscar-type-front and replaced it with a T332 type wing which provided more bite…and looked better.
Alan lost control of the twitchy, unforgiving Lola on the fast left-hander off The Causeway then went backwards into the Dunlop Bridge breaking the car into two and breaking a leg, his pelvis and sustaining serious head injuries. While there that day I was nowhere near the accident which is in a no-spectators area on the inside of the track. The vibe of the place that day with three big-hits, and limited information flow to we punters, is something I still remember.
(B Polain)
Hammo competing in the Seaforth Tourist Trophy in 1983. Not a lot of safety for cars doing 180mph…
This 917/30 #004 was Mark Donohue’s unraced spare in 1973. Alan always had a snoop around the Zuffenhausen ‘shops on his trips to Deutschland and spotted this little baby on one of those trips. Long-since left our shores.
Hammo’s 908 Coupe following the 917/30. The 908 was, ahem, road-registered for a while in Victoria (unattributed)(unattributed)A cursory glance at the 917/30 spaceframe chassis and its driver-forward driving position shows the importance of not having a frontal impact at anything more than 30mph…(unattributed)(unattributed)
The Seaforth Racing Car parade was a fantastic event put together by Bruce Polain and a bunch of his mates at the Historic Racing Car Club of Australia in Sydney.
The street circuit was about 2.5km around the heights of Seaforth, descending to Spit Bridge with views of the inner-harbour, then winding up through the gears to the top of Spit Hill to Sydney Road, then left into the Seaforth shopping centre. Twice. Two runs during the day.
December 10, 1983 with Bob Jane’s Chev Monza and Bruce Polain’s Wylie Javelin heading out of town towards Seaforth. Any tourist who has taken a dip at Manly will have made this trip…unless you went the fun way by ferry! Shot taken from the Ethel Street overpass (unattributed)(unattributed)(T Johns)
Tony Johns, ‘Alan Hamilton driving the Porsche Factory Museum 1962 Type 804 F1 racing car.’
‘Sandown Tribute to Champions meeting February 14, 1982. A real gentleman to have worked for at Porsche all those years ago.’
‘Another photo from the same morning. The 804 and 718 RSK ex-USA and the ex-factory 908 Coupe were part of Alan’s collection. Rob Walker, Stirling Moss’ long-time patron is seated in the Spyder and Moss is chatting with Norman Hamilton (jacket and cap), the founder of Porsche in Australia.’
(D Pearce)
Alan Hamilton, Porsche 911SC during the 1987 Sea Lake Mallee Rally, perhaps with Jim Hardman alongside.
It’s not just any SC either! This car is ‘C20’ the prototype of what ultimately became the 911-964 four-wheel-drive, and along the way the competition 953 Paris-Dakar rallycars. The 3.2-litre car started life as Helmuth Bott’s brown-SC company car before morphing into a double-front wishbone machine with front and rear diffs. When it was pensioned off guess who spotted it on one of his trips to Germany in 1986?…
Hamilton on the hop at Gippsland Park Morwell on October 15, 1989 aboard his Lola T87/50 Buick 4.9 V6, another AHC victory, not the last for this chassis either.
This machine, T87/50 HU12 Cosworth V8 3-litre, was Michel Ferte’s 1987 Euro F3000 Championship car. It and another T87/50 – acquired by Bob Minogue for Formula Holden use – were purchased by Hamilton.
Paul Newby’s research (written on The Nostalgia Forum) says that the car was at one time fitted with a Ford DFL-035 3.3-litre ex-Spice Engineering Racing acquired at the 1988 Sandown WEC race attended by Hamilton, wearing his PCA hat.
(D Hardman)
Hamilton and friends – Jim Hardman constructor of the three F2/FPac cars of the same name and Porsche Cars Australia Chief Engineer/Mechanic during the Costanzo glory years is behind him – with a Cosworth V8 powered hillclimb special at Morwell, date unknown but circa 1981-82.
Spaceframe chassis with the DFV/DFL used as a stressed member, as it was intended. Nick Bennett observed that ‘I believe Alan only dove it once and scared the shit out of himself.’ Two meetings only perhaps folks: Morwell and Collingrove? More information on this car welcome.
(D Hardman)
Credits…
Ian Smith, Ron Rundle, Stephen Fryer, Geoff Chessells, Bob Atkinson, Lynton Hemer, Australian Autosportsman, Alexis Scott, Lynton Hemer, Brian Jackson, Racing Car News, Brian Stratton, Auto Action, Daryl Pearce, Peter Husband, Jarrod Bryant, David Hardman, John Lemm
Tailpiece…
(I Smith)
Ian Smith was a long time friend of Alan, I love this portrait which was taken circa-1978.
Afterthought…
1985 AGP Historic Demo Adelaide (J Lemm)
The final words go to Rob Newman.
‘Years ago, when John Walker was driving the 934 Martin Sampson had purchased from Alan Hamilton I had the privilege of preparing the car for each race in Alan’s workshop out by Sandown, so I spent some time there.’
‘Late one day Alan gave John and I a personal tour of the complex and his toys, one of which was his 917. The car was on stands without bodywork, the chassis with engine, suspension and various bits fitted including the fibreglass seat. But what caught my eye was the size of the hole in the seat where the crutch belts were fed through, it was massive, a large square cut out in the seat. I must have made comment because I clearly remember Alan, pipe in hand and with a straight face replied “That’s how big your balls need to be to drive this thing.”
Auto Action Premium is on sale in NSW today, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania on Friday, and Queensland probably Saturday, in your favourite news outlet.
This issue of ‘Premium’ is the first of an exciting features-based monthly. It’s the latest part of Auto Action’s multi-media coverage of motorsport in Australia and globally and takes the 54 year old title to another level.
Print is alive and well because it engages readers in a way websites cannot. It’s is not about clickbait or a 15-second read but rather deep immersion and perpetuity. The first issue is a 132-page example of what readers and the motorsport industry can expect from the new ‘Premium’ Auto Action monthly.
An expansive 12-page feature by me on Jim Clark’s 1965 season. Clark’s performance across many different categories that year in Formula 1, at Indianapolis, in sports cars, F2 and saloon car racing is regarded as the best individual season in history from a driver many rate as the best.
Our in-house F1 expert Reese Mautone looks at all the 2025 F1 Rookies including Jack Doohan as they prepare to take on their full time F1 drives.
Auto Action’s International F1 man Luis Vasconcelos takes a look at the season ahead and crystal balls Oscar Piastri’s potential to beome our third World Drivers’ Champion.
Supercars’ boss Tim Edwards talks about a year on the ‘Other Side of the Fence’ and how the changes to the series played out at the recent Sydney Motorsport Park round.
AA talks with the two new full time Supercar racers, Rookies Kai Allen and Cooper Murray as they fight for Supercars glory.
Shane van Gisbergen opens up about his NASCAR evolution in the world’s biggest tin-top series in an interview with Andrew Clarke. Andrew got to drive the new Corvette too, read his road-test of an icon.
Still on NASCAR, we were on the ground for the 2025 Daytona 500 and The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, a stunning quarter-mile oval.
Sprintcar driver James McFadden talks about his dominant sprintcar season including winning a third Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic and an Australian title in one season-a feat rarely done before.
Aussie Daniel Sanders talks with AA’s T W Neal and relives his stunning Dakar win.
With its soon to be realised commitment to Supercars, I investigate Toyota’s Australian racing past and reveal how its first forays into motorsport were here in Australia in 1957.
Aussie Rally driver Taylor Gill and co-driver Dan Brkic are in their second season in the ultra-competitive Junior WRC. They won the opening round of the season in the snow lands of Finland piloting a Ford Fiesta Rally3. They spoke to AA’s T W Neal about the program.
And then there’s a look at the new Aston Martin Valkyrie, a howling V12 hypercar targeting Le Mans glory… as is Ford with its return to Le Sarthe announced in the past month.
Plus, there is plenty of race coverage and ‘News Extra’ inside. Something for everyone!
Give the new mag a go, it’s traditional magazine size, so look up on the shelves not down amongst the newspapers where Auto Action inevitably got dumped!
In fact, buy two, one for yourself and one for a mate who hasn’t read us for a while. We need this thing to fire, if it doesn’t, nobody else will follow Bruce Williams’, Andrew Clarke’s and Betty Klimenko’s passionate belief in the look, feel and smell of traditional magazines…
Buy it folks and then give us some feedback on what you do and don’t like so we can evolve the mag to suit the tastes of the majority.
primotipo... 