Posts Tagged ‘Derek Kneller’

Monaro, Matich and McLarens…

Posted: June 13, 2020 in Features
Tags: , , , , , , ,
7

‘Yerd reckon Matich would be able to blow it off wouldn’t you?…

A GTS sure, powered by the little ‘253’ V8 maybe, steel wheels with Belmont/Kingswood hubcaps, lordy. Not to forget the ultimate ‘woggerisation accessory’, without putting too fine a point on it- a black vinyl roof. Yuck, vomitous yuck in fact.

I threatened to leave the house when the old man advised the family over Joan’s finest casserole and ‘smashed spuds that he was getting a vinyl roof affixed to the turret of his metallic mauve/purple HQ Premier- it sounds a toxic colour, it was anything but- sadly, he proceeded as planned. Upon return to Chez Pete & Joan- to copious abuse from my brother and i, he then asked when I would be removing myself from the premises, at fifteen this was not a commitment i felt was legally binding upon my goodself let alone enforceable on his part. To add insult to injury the Ford Fairmont GXL which replaced the ‘haitch-queue’ was similarly equipped- the useless shit one remembers stimulated by a snap.

Matich had a great Lady Wigram Trophy weekend in 1970- he popped his McLaren M10A Chev on pole for the Tasman Cup feature, in front of his similarly mounted arch-rival Graham McRae, and won the race ahead of American Ron Grable in another M10A then Max Stewart’s speedy Mildren Waggott TC-4V.

FM won two 1970 rounds, he took the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe the week before Wigram. He was quick everywhere too- on pole at Pukekohe, Surfers Paradise and Sandown but did not have the consistency of Graeme Lawrence, who, whilst only winning one round took the series with the ‘clockwork reliability’ of the same Ferrari Dino 246T Chris Amon used to win in 1969.

This and the shot below are at Wigram 1970- alongside the hangars here and airborne at The Loop below (E Sarginson)

 

(E Sarginson)

Frank, perhaps fatally, elected to miss the final Kiwi round at Teretonga to get back to Australia to properly prepare for the Australian rounds- specifically to rebuild his (the reports say) only Chev engine which by then had done over 1000 race miles, given he fell five points short of the Kiwi’s total, 1970 could be considered the Matich Tasman which ‘got away’.

’Racing Car News’ reported that the spankers Repco-Holden V8 engine had run on the Maidstone dyno on 24 January and ‘If everything checks out satisfactorily the engine will go straight into the car for the Australian rounds’ That was fanciful or PR bullshit given a 5 litre Holden never been run then, engine ‘RM1’, the first wasn’t tested until February 1970, let alone be offered up to the M10A chassis at this point.

FM never did bag a Tasman Cup despite being one of the quickest guys on track in both his 2.5 litre and 5 litre Tasman sorties. Matich was shy of McRae by four points in 1971, the closest he ever came in a ‘fair fight’ with McRae, both were aboard well developed M10Bs- each racer had five point scoring finishes in the seven rounds that summer, it was a very close run thing.

Back to our vinyl roof, the fellow in the Munro is catching some footage on the Wigram Trophy warm up lap for the local evening teev broadcast, i love the shot, not so much the car’s roof ‘trimmings’ however.

Hey dad, look what I found- Kris and Frank Matich mit brand-spankers yellow painted McLaren M10A Chev at Warwick Farm on or about 13 August 1969. FM’s scooter is a Lambretta- weren’t they distributed by Trojan, manufacturers of McLaren customer racing cars in the UK- did FM bag the local distribution rights?

Frank was a bit shitty with Bruce McLaren after he ordered this car only to find the new M10B was just around the corner.

Derek Kneller packed the car, chassis M10A ‘300-10’  into the plane in the UK and then followed it out to Australia where he, Peter Mabey and Frank modified it to pretty much M10B spec. Derek had built Peter Gethin’s M10B, the first, at McLarens so he had a pretty good idea what the differences in specifications were, and then Frank did enough test laps around Warwick Farm and ‘demo laps’ elsewhere for him to be right on the Tasman Cup pace despite being out of single-seaters for four years.

In the best of company, Warwick Farm 100 grid 14 February 1965. Jim Clark, Lotus 32B, Graham Hill, Brabham BT11A and Matich in last years, but continually developed Brabham BT7A on pole, all 2.5 Climax FPF powered. Clark won from Brabham’s BT11A (on row 2) and Matich. Twelve months later the Matich ‘later sportscar period’ commenced with the Elfin 400 Oldsmobile aka ‘Traco Olds’ (D Williams)

 

(L Hemer)

 

(L Hemer)

 

(L Hemer)

Lynton Hemer was present at Warwick Farm- Hume Straight on the first weekend Rothmans Team Matich ran the M10A, 6 September 1969.

At team HQ in Castle Cove a Traco built Chevrolet engine using 48IDA Webers was fitted- the Repco Holden F5000 program was to come but it’s still a wee-while away, as we have already covered, the rear engine cover cum wing was fabricated by newbee Derek Kneller who would remain with Matich right to the very end of FM’s racing in mid-1974.

The eagle eyed will pick the Hewland LG600 gearbox is being run at this earliest of stages, the machine being raced outta the box, I dare say the job list after this weekend of racing was one of the lengthy ones for which Frank was famous.

Warwick Farm, September 1969- the white roundel has not yet been applied, the SR4 is aft of the McLaren. Beautifully strong ‘full monocoque’ aluminum chassis is very directly related to Bruce and Robin Herd’s 1968 F1 M7A Ford Cosworth GP winning design- it is an adaption thereof (J Bondini)

That big whoofin’ LG600 was deployed well however, after it was removed from the McLaren it was fitted into the back of the SR4 sportscar FM used to toast the competition during the 1969 Australian Sportscar Championship- intended for the 1968 Can-Am both car and engine were hopelessly late so the car remained in Australia instead- the Hewland replaced the ZF transaxle fitted to the SR4, it’s limiting aspect was the degree of difficulty in changing gear ratios, not that the 4.8 litre Repco ‘760’ quad-cam, 32-valve V8 which powered the Sydney built beastie was lacking in torque.

Derek recalls driving, without an Oz drivers licence, the Matich truck to Melbourne together with Tony Williams, a couple of months after his arrival for a meeting at Calder at which both the SR4 and M10A ran- the sportscar was in the truck with the single-seater on a trailer, the next few shots are of that meeting.

(D Kneller)

 

(J Bondini)

Frank at left and Garrie Cooper on the right being interviewed by Ian Wells on that Calder weekend- love to know who the suited gent is on the left?

Derek is leaning on the roll bar, giving the young lass, as we say in polite society, all the attention appropriate, Tony Williams is the other mechanic.

Note that FM is still a Firestone man but his race tyre distribution business was soon to switch to Goodyear to better position himself for the future- that announcement was made just before the Hordern Trophy meeting at Warwick Farm in early December. The race and sporting tyre business was to operate from new premises in Military Road, Cremorne in addition to the existing garage/workshop in Eastern Valley Way, Castle Cove. Note too the McLaren’s wing has changed, more than likely it is a McLaren part and that the engine is still on Webers, not Lucas injection which will be installed before the car crossed the ditch for the first Tasman round at Levin on 3 January 1970.

Oh yes- the car is now two-tone blue, dark at the top an a bit lighter below, the nose of the car has been re-profiled too, it’s not as attractive as the original but doubtless the Heuers proved its on-track superiority.

The element i have not picked up on yet is the ‘pitched battle’ being waged by warring parties about the new Australian National F1 to commence from 1 January 1970.

The choices were to continue with ANF2.5 (highly unlikely) change to 2 litre ‘racing engines’ or go Formula A/5000- this article covers all of these issues- and the design and development of the Repco Holden F5000 engine exhaustively and exhaustingly; https://primotipo.com/2018/05/03/repco-holden-f5000-v8/

Matich had a big set of balls in ordering the McLaren when he did as F5000 was not the ANF1 choice at that time- nor was it necessarily the likely outcome when his bank he telegraphically-transferred plenty of ‘Oxford Scholars’ to Trojan Industries- in fact, as the article linked above relates the CAMS announced 2 litre as the future path before doing a back-flip two months later when they then announced a ‘Maccas burger with the lot’ solution of 2 litre/2.5 ‘Tasman’/F5000 with 1970 a ‘phase-in and out period’.

The ever forceful FM played his part in applying pressure to the regulators by backing up his words with actions- to wit, one Formula 5000 racing car in Australia. Note that i have not forgotten Jim Abbott’s Brabham BT23D Oldsmobile ‘F5000 demo car’, a chassis which had been Alec Mildren’s Gold Star winning machine in Kevin Bartlett’s hands, Alfa Romeo 2.5 V8 powered in 1968. Whilst this machine was arguably Australia’s first F5000, lets not forget the Geoff Smedley/Austin Miller Cooper T51 Chev of 1961, without doubt Matich’ was the first ‘real one’ if ‘real one’ is defined as factory bespoke for the class.

My ‘Racing Car News’ collection is incomplete for 1969, but what i think is/was going on in the Calder photos above is that FM did some demo laps during this race meeting (the car is sans number) to demonstrate to the Victorian punters the speed and ‘blood and thunder’ of these big cars.

Ian Wells then ‘interviewed’ drivers Matich and driver/constructor Cooper about their views as to which category they thought was the way to go- as many of you know at that time Elfin had a great, newish race winning design- the 600 which was mighty quick fitted with a Repco Brabham 2.5 V8 or Lotus-Ford twin-cam (or anything else for that matter) so Garrie’s answer to the question is intriguing to ponder!- anybody hear them speak?

(D Kneller)

Amaroo, October 1969, Derek again fettling the demanding temptress.

The rear wing appears the same as that fitted at Calder but the guys are trying to get more front bite- note the very F1 1968’ish chin-wing/winglet and aluminium strips fitted to the leading edge of the front radiator vented outlet- I wonder if that DG300 is fitted yet- she is still on Webers too.

Matich took the car to Sandown on 9 November and easily won a ten lap Formula Libre event from Maurie Quincey’s Elfin 600B Ford F2 car wowing the crowds with the noise and impact of the car and times in the 1:8 second bracket but Frank predicted fours and fives during the Tasman round in the New Year- his estimations proved correct.

(L Hemer)

Roll forward to the Warwick Farm Tasman round over the February 1970 weekend- and who should be back in one of his favourite spots on the approach to Creek Corner but none other than our friend Lynton Hemer.

Note the ABC TV outside broadcast van and marshalls cars in the background- the Peugeot 404 was then a most worthy new car and long before their status as the most worthy ‘Tree-Huggers’ vehicle of choice in the eighties and beyond.

This shot is indicative of ‘300-10’ chassis’ 1970 Tasman mode- note the injected Chev fitted. Kevin Bartlett took a great win that weekend in Alec Mildren’s 2 litre Waggott TC-4V engined Mildren Yellow submarine- the competition for the most ever laps around the Farm would be a toss of the coin between Matich (DNF rear upright), Bartlett and Leo Geoghegan?

Things moved pretty quickly, as ever for Matich from this point.

He and Niel Allen could not race their McLarens in the 1970 Gold Star as F5000s were ineligible that year, the title was for 2 litre and 2.5 litre cars.

Frank already had support from Repco for his SR4 program in terms of provision of a 5 litre for 1970 ‘760’ series engine- John Mepstead built the most powerful of all Repco V8s over the summer of 1969-1970- this ‘big bertha’ gave 558bhp @ 7500rpm in Repco’s Maidstone test-cells.

The SR4 sadly had only a short race life as Matich’ primary Repco program from 1970 was that of works tester/driver of their new Holden-Repco F5000 V8 designed by Phil Irving, assisted by Brian Heard. As part of the reorganisation of priorities Repco acquired the SR4 from Matich, the car became a museum exhibit despite having the pace to win the next several Australian Sportscar Championships!

Frank shipped the M10A to Singapore in March 1970 but slipped off the daunting Thomson Road circuit during a Singapore GP support race, so was unable to contest the GP which was won by Graeme Lawrence’s Ferrari Dino 246T.

A new M10B was soon on its way to Australia, chassis ‘400-10’ was the first of many cars to be fitted with Repco Holden engines. The M10A was repaired around a replacement tub, fitted with a Repco Holden engine then sold and raced by Don O’Sullivan as a second Rothmans Team Matich entry in the 1971 Tasman Series. Don crashed the car badly at Teretonga, twisting the chassis badly, surviving parts were later used in the Jaime Gard designed O’Sullivan financed ‘Gardos Repco’ F5000 car- see here for that story inclusive of photographs not in this piece; https://primotipo.com/2017/11/30/dons-party-f5000-party/

Matich and M10A Chev in the Thomson Road paddock during the 1970 Singapore GP weekend (E Solomon)

 

Matich and Allen post prang- Niel’s M10B Chev does not look so flash whereas Matich’ car at right looks perfect from this angle at least! Warwick Farm July 1970 (K Matich)

The McLaren M10B arrived in Australia and was soon fitted with its new Repco Holden engine- the story of this motors design and development is told in the first article linked above.

After many practice laps at Warwick Farm the M10B Holden made its race debut at Warwick Farm on the 12 July weekend but the original chassis’ life was very short as it was smote a savage blow in a close encounter with Niel Allen’s similar car in a somewhat bizarre accident during that Australian Touring Car Championship meeting, the race won by Jim McKeown’s Porsche 911S.

The 15 lap F Libre/ racing car event had a great entry including the Mildren duo of Bartlett and Stewart aboard 2 litre Waggott TC-4V powered Mildrens, KB was in sparkling form having raced in USAC events in the US for several months, John Harvey was in Bob Jane’s Brabham BT23E Repco and Leo Geoghegan in his soon to be 1970 Gold Star winner, Lotus 59B Waggott.

The race commenced with five fantastic laps, Bartlett, Allen, Matich, Harvey and Geoghegan raced nose to tail this was ruined when Bartlett and Garry Rush (Bowin P4A) collided- it was a racing accident but the stupidity of including Formula Fords within a grid of far quicker cars was not lost on the organisers…

So Allen led, after KB was eliminated he but was soon passed by Matich- as Niel made a run at FM into Creek Corner the harmonic balancer on his Peter Molloy Chevy engine broke, shearing a rear brake line, unable to haul the heavy Big Mac up Allen ran into the side of the other M10B creasing the aluminium monocoque badly.

A replacement tub was soon on the way from the UK to ensure not too much time was lost in the important process of developing car and engine prior to the AGP and Tasman Series beyond.

M10A Goodies for sale- the fact that two Chevs are being offered for sale rather suggests that FM had a 1970 Tasman Cup spare motor as one would have expected of a well funded front runner- that being the case why did he not contest Teretonga i wonder?

 

(R Wolfe)

Amaroo Park test of the just rebuilt McLaren M10B fitted with a very early Repco Holden V8.

All hands were on deck this particular day, perhaps before the 13 September 1970 meeting, Ian Messner recalls- Kneller, Peter Mabey walking past the car with that great talent and character Graeme ‘Lugsy’ Adams working on it- Lugs was soon to be a Holden Torana XU1 racer before progressing to the build and driving of his own F5000 ‘Adams’ five or so years hence.

In what racer/journalist and later broadcaster Peter Wherrett described as a ‘Demo Run’ Matich demolished two 1.5 twin-cam engined Rennmax’ raced by Ray Winter and Erol Richardson in a 10 lapper- all important race preparation prior to the AGP at Warwick Farm.

The team travelled to Melbourne in the interim, bolting the latest Repco Holden engine into the car and demolished another F Libre field during the 18 October meeting, on this occasion Bob Jane was second in his McLaren M6B Repco sporty with Ken Hasting’s third in the ex-Bob Jane Racing Elfin 400B, Ford V8 engined i think.

The happy Matich and Repco (blatant bias again hereby declared) ending to this story is that despite not being able to compete in the Gold Star series in 1970 Matich scored a great 22 November AGP win from Niel Allen’s M10B Chev and Graeme Lawrence’s Ferrari Dino 246T.

I’ve now strayed from the M10A intent of this piece, make sure you suss the Gardos link above for more on the M10A- to pick up the McLaren/Matich story to mid-1974 from this point click on this link to an article which covers all of the Matich F5000 years 1969 to 1974; https://primotipo.com/2015/09/11/frank-matich-matich-f5000-cars-etcetera/

Matich slices thru the Warwick Farm Esses during his victorious 1970 AGP run- McLaren M10B Repco (R McDonald)

Etcetera…

David Atkinson, Matich M10A Chev ‘Racing Car News’ post Tasman Cup March 1970 cover

 

Trick Goodyear slicks displayed in advance of the 1971 season in this Matich Xmas ad placed in the December 1970 RCN issue

(L Hemer)

After I uploaded the article Lynton got in touch with some more photos of the July 1970 Warwick Farm meeting- the Repco-Holden engine’s race debut and Niel Allen’s involuntary assault on Frank race.

The Esses shot above shows KB leading in the Mildren Yellow Submarine from Allen who has clearly given KB or something or someone else a tap- his right front wing is damaged enough, to make him easier prey to the pursuing Matich. The shot below shoes the two M10Bs- same place with Repco-Holden in front of Peter Molloy-Chev!

(L Hemer)

The shot below is a bit more poignant- it’s Garrie Cooper, Elfin 600D Repco 2.5 from a very smokey Glynn Scott, Elfin 600B Waggott TC-4V, the popular Queenslander is not too far from a pit stop or a DNF- sadly he died a fortnight later at Lakeside, 26 July 1970.

(L Hemer)

The photograph below shows one of the Bowin P4A Formula Fords- not sure if it is Garry Rush, staying wide in The Esses as the big boys come through. Max Stewart is ahead of Frank Matich- 2 litre Mildren Waggott and M10B Repco-Holden.

(L Hemer)

 

(L Hemer)

This Esses joust is between two new cars- John Harvey’s Bob Britton/Rennmax built, Bob Jane owned Jane Repco V8 and Leo Geoghegan’s Lotus 59B Waggott TC-4V 2 litre.

Credits…

Bill Pottinger Collection, Euan Sarginson, Getty Images, Lynton Hemer, Derek Kneller, Jay Bondini, Dennis Williams, Rodway Wolfe, Kim Matich, Eli Solomon, Rory McDonald Collection, oldracingcars.com, Racing Car News

Tailpiece…

(J Bondini Collection)

Matich and the M10A Chev on the 1970 Warwick Farm, Tasman Cup meeting promotional poster.

Finito…

 

Australia’s Mr and Mrs Motorsport…

Posted: November 2, 2018 in Features
Tags: , , , , , , ,
16

Carroll Smith, Frank and Joan Matich (NAA)

Frank and Joan Matich confer during the Warwick Farm Tasman meeting, February 11 to 13 1972…

The ’72 Tasman wasn’t the series the Matich’s expected after the debut win of the Matich A50 Repco at the Farm in November 1971- the brand new machine built closeby won the Australian Grand Prix only days after it’s completion, and looked the goods for the Summer Internationals.

Whilst Matich and his team worked their magic in Brookvale, Kiwi Graham McRae was casting a spell or two in Poole whilst Frank Gardner and Bob Marston were indulging in some F5000 sorcery of their own over at Huntingdon- the cars alluded to are the Leda LT27 aka McRae GM1 and Lola T300.

Mind you, things came good for Frank and Joan at home- Warwick Farm is not too far from the Matich HQ in Brookvale (they moved to Military Road, Cremorne on Sydney’s leafy North Shore circa August 1972) FM was quickest in unofficial practice, qualified on pole on Saturday afternoon and won the race, leading throughout from start to flagfall.

This article is superfluous really, I’ve done Matich and his career pretty well to death, several long pieces inclusive of an 11,000 word monster on his F5000 cars- at the end of this article are links to that piece and a couple of others of potential interest.

But then I came upon this swag of photographs of the Warwick Farm weekend which were too good to ignore. I’ve no idea of the publication for which they were intended or indeed if they ever were published. The shots are from the National Archives of Australia, the photographer uncredited. The series of photos are headed ‘Australia’s Mr and Mrs Motor Sport Sets a Fast Pace’. I’ve other photos of this weekend but I decided to maintain the original intent of whoever commissioned them, keep them together and focus on ‘Team Matich’.

Frank Matich, Matich A50 Repco, Pit Straight, Warwick Farm February 1972 (NAA)

Is ‘Mr and Mrs Motorsport’ apt or a bit of PR Bullshit?…

Its a fair observation I suspect.

Frank was already racing his first competition car, an MG TC when he met Joan, ‘her parents thought the sound of the MG arriving was a plane as they lived at Mascot’ Frank recalled, in fact Joan could be said to be FM’s first sponsor as she lent him 140 pounds to rebuild the TC’s engine not long after they first started going out!

Joan went to many of the test sessions and race meetings down the decades, helped schmooze the sponsors and assisted to run the business which was not insubstantial by 1972. There was the race team chasing national titles, the production of racing cars (sportscars -several SR3 and SR4’s and six F5000’s) Firestone, and then later Goodyear race tyre and Bell Helmets importation and distribution and properties to manage, both domestic and business. Lets not forget the demands of four kids too. (Kris born circa 1958, Kim 1960, Lea 1962 and Katrina 1963)

Frank and Joan were not Mr and Mrs Motorsport in the way that Fred and Christine Gibson and Garth and Leanne Tander were in the sense that both were drivers but I think the ‘Mr and Mrs Motorsport’ label is a fair one.

Joan and Kris Matich- Kris went on to race Van Diemens in Formula Ford in the eighties

1972 Tasman Series Top Guns…

McRae, the reigning champion, Matich, Gardner, Mike Hailwood (Surtees TS8 Chev) and David Hobbs (McLaren M22) were perhaps the dudes most likely to fight for the Tasman Cup but Kevin Bartlett, hamstrung only by the age of his McLaren M10B Chev and 1970 champ Graeme Lawrence, like FG Lola T300 mounted would also be ‘thereabouts’. Then came Teddy Pilette, McLaren M10B Chev, Garrie Cooper, John McCormack and Max Stewart in Elfin MR5 Repco’s- all relative newcomers to F5000, and the rest.

In New Zealand it was all McRae- he started on pole in the first three rounds, won at Levin and Wigram, whilst Gardner took the NZ GP at Pukekohe a race in which Graeme Lawrence and Bryan Faloon had an awful accident killing Bryan and outing Graeme for months.

Derek Kneller pointing, how was it Frank? Ken Symes of Repco in the blue suit FM’s boys in the natty, very American STP togs. Note open top section of ‘bathtub’ aluminium monocoque chassis A50 ‘001/002’ (NAA)

FG boofed his Lola at Levin when the engine suddenly cut out on a high speed corner and he clobbered the fence. Gardner, a very ‘safe driver’ must have had more prangs in the 7 months to January 1972 than at any other time in his career- he wrote off the prototype T300P (akaT242P) at Snetterton in a collision with Brian Redman’s McLaren M18 Chev, when FG on pole and Brian off grid 2 had a territorial dispute, on 30 August 1971.

The quite significant in the history of F5000 cars, seminal, defining chassis T242P/T300P was rooted, destroyed.

Lola quickly built up a replacement car for Frank, ‘HU1’, the first production T300 which Gardner raced to a debut win at Hockenheim in front of Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus 56B Pratt & Whitney on 12 September. He took the car to another victory at Oulton and with a second place at the season ending Brands late September round nabbed the 1971 European F5000 Championship. He had been a winner in a Lola T192 earlier in the season prior to the T242/300 race debut, it wasn’t all down to the new car by any stretch.

‘HU1’ was then shipped to Australia in time for the AGP at the Farm, FG crashed it in practice, again the car was re-tubbed before shipping to NZ- only to be boofed again in an accident not of his making at Levin.

He would reappear at Surfers with the repaired car but the chances of the wily veteran winning the series were gone. A shame really as he ‘retired’ from single-seaters after the Sandown round selling the T300 to Sydney F2 pilot Gary Campbell. I say retired as he did a ‘Nellie Melba’ and contested the final round of the 1972 Euro F5000 Championship late in the year to ‘race test’ the prototype Lola T330- ‘HU1’ which became famous in Max Stewart’s hands and is of course still in Australia. A long digression!

Kevin Bartlett took a top win in the final NZ round at Teretonga, driving with a blend of speed and sure-footedness on a wet, difficult track which caught out pole-man Hailwood and McRae. David Hobbs tangled suspension with Matich.

Matich had a shocker of a time in NZ.

He qualified 5th/2nd/5th/2nd- a second at Levin and fourth and fastest lap at Teretonga his best with DNF’s at the NZ GP with engine failure- a broken conrod and a distant 12th at Wigram having only completed 34 laps- KB spun and FM hit him on the way through. Frank pitted and returned 3 laps later completing a further 13 laps before retirement. The sergent.com race report notes ‘…showing the sort of form, had fate not intervened, that would certainly have given him some Tasman points.

A50 left front suspension assembly- top link and swept back locating arm, lower wishbone, coil spring and Koni double-adjustable alloy bodied shocks, adjustable roll bar, big ventilated discs and four-pot Lockheed calipers (NAA)

 

All was not well in the Matich camp either.

A race team needs stability at the top, Peter Mabey had been the Matich Chief Mechanic since the SR3 period (at least), it was intended that Derek Kneller who arrived with FM’s first McLaren M10A in August 1969, (he had been building cars at McLaren Cars in 1968/9 including the first M10A raced by Peter Gethin) would replace Mabey but Peter decided to stay on to build the monocoque A50, as he wanted that experience and the two worked together well through the repair of FM’s McLaren M10B. The team rebuilt the cars aluminium monocoque rather than buy a repalcement from Trojan, to get some experience of this form of construction in advance of the build of the A50 in 1971.

After the ’71 AGP victory Kneller headed back to the UK, he was homesick, so went home to a gig with Team Surtees. Mabey stayed on but finally cried enough- and left the team after the Levin round having got tired of shouldering the load with other mechanics not pulling their weight the final straw.

Matich did Wigram and Teretonga with the other mechanics and called Derek in the UK, who agreed to return to Australia to assist. ‘I had planned and organised with Frank…to come back to Oz in the middle of the year (1972)…I arrived in Sydney on the Monday after Surfers, Joan picked me up from the airport, I went straight to Brookvale and started work on Frank’s joblist for the car’.

Normally there was a two week gap between the last NZ round at Teretonga and the first Australian one at Surfers Paradise but there was only one week in 1972 making the five day shipment of cars marginal so a group of teams hired a plane to freight the cars by air into Coolangatta, closeby to Surfers.

Derek and Scott McNaughton fitting the drink system- windscreen washer system complete with an electric pump and switch on the instrument panel. neat! (NAA)

Matich had plenty of success at the abrasive Surfers Paradise track over the years, he plonked the A50 on pole at the challenging power circuit and finished third behind McRae and Gardner- FG’s car was re-tubbed and he was back in the game. Kneller notes that the A50 rear suspension geometry was altered with a lighter rear subframe, and raced that way on the Gold Coast.

At the meetings end Frank and Joan jetted from Coolangatta back to Mascot in Sydney, with the A50 trucked back to Brookvale overnight- the team had no spare car, at the time the first customer A50 for George Follmer (Roy Woods Racing) was coming together in a corner of the Matich ‘shop with Carroll Smith assisting.

Kneller set to work preparing the A50 for the ‘Farm.

‘The rear suspension geometry was altered again after Surfers- the rear roll centre was raised…It was at this time the car was given the A50 ‘002’ moniker but it was ‘001’, the same tub, the bodywork was painted in STP colours and the roll bar chrome plated, it appeared different which was a bit of gamesmanship and kept the sponsors happy but it was, and still is the same tub which Bryan Sala now owns. This caused lots of historic (eligibility) grief in later years.’

For the sake of completeness and clarity ‘The same chassis (‘001′) was used for the rest of the 1972 Tasman Series and the 1973 Tasman, at its end it was put on axle stands at the Brookvale factory’ and is very clear photos in the article referred to earlier whilst the two A51’s were built up in advance of their 1973 US L&M Series tour.

A fresh Repco Holden V8 was popped into the rear of the A50 to replace the unit used at Surfers in addition to all of the usual pre-race checks- aided this time by operating from the teams home base rather than the garages used in other cities on tour.

A50 in the Brookvale workshop in the week prior to Warwick Farm. Repco Holden 5 litre Lucas injected V8 giving circa 480 bhp at this point in its development. 1973/4 flat plane crank Repcos the ultimate spec gave circa 520 bhp. Hewland DG300 5 speed transaxle, inboard disc brakes. Rear suspension, Matich designed- Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation cast magnesium uprights, single top link, lower parallel links, radius rods, coil spring/Koni dampers, adjustable roll bar with Aeroquip fittings throughout (NAA)

 

I’ve always thought Matich and McRae were a couple of peas from the same pod…

Both were from engineering backgrounds, Matich was apprenticed as a Diesel Engineer, McRae completed an Engineering Degree- both knew their way around racing cars from a drivers perspective and also as car conceptor, designer, builder, tester and fettlers. This is a very potent combination to build fast cars, or take what isn’t quick and change it and then keep changing it until the butt-cheeks and stopwatch confirm the steeds speed.

By the time both fellas had success at an international level they were not malleable youths- but rather battle hardened older racers who had cut deals to get where they wanted, with firm, battle-inspired opinions , which meant they were not naturally attractive to team managers after fast but perhaps more obedient youths.

Both proved their pace against the worlds best- lets not forget Matich’s speed against the F1 elite in his two Tasman 2.5 seasons in 1964/5 before his Elfin 400/Matich SR3/4 sportscar phase. He raced with Clark for much of a race at Lakeside and popped his Brabham BT7A, by then not the very latest bit of kit in 1965, on pole at Warwick Farm in front of Clark, Graham Hill, Brabham, McLaren, Phil Hill, Frank Gardner and the rest…

A50 Brookvale, FM at right. Note bathtub aluminium tub- 6 tubs were built, all the same design, 3 by Matich and 3 by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation at Fishermans Bend, Melbourne- 3 A50, 2 A51’s one of which became an A52, and 1 A53. Note the way the lower suspension wishbone picks up, in part on the A-frame forward of the tub (NAA)

McRae beat the best in the F5000 world in Europe and the US- taking the 1972 US L&M Series in his self-built Leda LT27/GM1 and three Tasmans on the trot from 1971-1973.

Both had F1 offers, in FM’s case he had family and a business in Australia which was a barrier- unfortunately in McRae’s case his only F1 start was with Frank Williams Iso Ford in the 1973 British GP when he didn’t survive the first lap carnage wrought by McLaren’s new cub, Jody Scheckter’s mega first lap M23 Ford lose. McRae wasn’t involved in the shunt but the car’s throttle slides were filled with sand which prevented him taking the restart.

At their respective ‘right peaks’- say 1965 for Matich, (born 1935) and 1971/2 for McRae, (born 1940) both were surely good or better F1 material had they arrived at about those times aboard a halfway decent bit of kit!?

Matich and Bartlett before the off. Matich A50 Repco and McLaren M10B Chev. Just to the left of KB’s helmet is Frank Gardner’s silver Bell Magnum- his Lola T300 is on row 2 (NAA)

Meanwhile back in Sydney the 1972 ‘Warwick Farm 100’ beckoned…

Matich, Bartlett, Gardner and Max Stewart were probably the Warwick Farm aces in this race with perhaps Max to be discounted, his time in F5000 would arrive bigtime shortly, but he wasn’t going to win this race in his Elfin MR5.

Frank did pretty much all of his testing at the ‘Farm, he knew every blade of grass in ‘Gods Acre of Motor Racing’ and so it proved over that February 1972 weekend. The changes the team made to the car gave him the edge and additional confidence he needed, he was comfortably ahead of the field in unofficial practice.

On Saturday he was again the class of the grid popping the A50 on pole by 5/10 second from Kevin Bartlett’s McLaren M10B Chev, Frank Gardner Lola T300 Chev, the similarly mounted Bob Muir, Max Stewart Elfin MR5 Repco, McRae Leda GM1 Chev, who only did 12 laps of the slippery track.

Only the first few laps in the earlier Saturday session were dry, otherwise the track was wet or damp- a light drizzle greeted the drivers at noon as they set out for what would normally be the session in which the quickest times were set with cars by then having chassis’ nicely tweaked for the track.

Teddy Pilette McLaren M10B Chev, David Hobbs McLaren M22 Chev, John McCormack Elfin MR5 Repco and Warwick Brown McLaren M10 B Chev and the rest comprised the balance of the grid. Mike Hailwood had a shocker of a time, he missed much of practice when a tyre deflated, then in a discretionary session to test the car he muffed his entry onto The Causeway and clipped the fence breaking a wheel and causing some suspension damage. His boys had a long night ahead but did make the grid.

The Northern Crossing, formerly a series of temporary road patches laid across the top of the Warwick Farm horse racing track had neen replaced with permanent hotmix- a bump leading onto the crossing and a layer of silt across it made the going tough for the drivers, both Bob Muir and Max Stewart had spins during the day.

Pre-race build up- watching the TV feed of an earlier race. Derek ‘Frank’s gold race suit was given to him by Goodyear, they gave him a new set of race overalls every year, unalloyed Hinchman but for 1972 it was the ‘Fypro’ gold set’ (NAA)

 

Yerv got a hole in your sock Dad! Make sure you win but be careful all the same- FM and Kris Matich as Frank suits up (NAA)

 

Kneller belts Matich up so to speak- note the nickel or chrome plated roll bar- the cause of some consternation deacdes later in the ‘A50-002’ debate. There was no ‘002’ but rather a bit of gamesmanship by Matich! (NAA)

 

Lift off- FM gets the jump, he was never headed. Best view afforded by Max Stewart’s truck-top! (NAA)

Jack Brabham was present over the weekend and started the race at 1.30 pm- Matich led from pole winning the 45 lap, 100 mile race from European F5000 Champion Frank Gardner by 18 seconds and Kevin Bartlett another 30 seconds up the road.

FM started strongly, as did Bartlett who looked for a moment to have gotten off the line best,  and opened up a 2.5 second lead from Bartlett, Gardner, Stewart, Muir and McCormack- the latter made a blinder of a start from row 5 using the grass verge.

Matich widened the gap but the order up front remained the same with much of the race interest surrounding Mike Hailwood and his repaired Surtees TS8 who worked his way up from the back of the field- he was sixth on lap 6 passing Hobbs on lap 2, McCormack on lap 4 and Stewart on lap 5.

Pit board advising all is in hand, ease. STP sponsorship just for the Tasman, gone for the Gold Star Series which FM won convincingly in 1972 (NAA)

By lap 10 Matich was 15 seconds in front and at this early stage the race was looking like a repeat of his AGP effort in November. Bartlett was still in second ahead of Gardner in a nice tussle with a 10 second gap back to Muir, McRae with Michael The Cycle right up their clackers. In a ripper drive Hailwood passed McRae under brakes and then got Bob Muir on lap 12- by then FM up front was lapping the 2 litre Waggotts/BDA’s.

Gardner finally got past KB on lap 12 (or 13 depending upon your source), then came Hailwood, McRae ‘never really at home at the Farm’, Muir, McCormack, Pilette, Hobbs, Brown and Tony Stewart’s Mildren Waggott.

John McCormack Elfin MR5 Repco from Hailwood’s Surtees TS8 Chev, Pit Straight (NAA)

By lap 30 Matich eased the pace a smidge with only Gardner, Bartlett, Hailwood and McRae on the same lap- by lap 35 Hailwood could not catch Bartlett and succumbed to a challenge from McRae after he lost both second (early in the race) and fourth gears in his Hewland DG300 transaxle.

In the final four laps there were no changes so Matich won- setting a new record average speed for the race of 94.85 mph with second placeman Gardner setting a new lap record of 1:24.0 to take six-tenths off the mark set by Matich in November. KB was third 30 seconds behind Gardner, then McRae and Hailwood

John McCormack was 6th in his Elfin MR5 Repco, Mac was still in his formative F5000 phase but would soon be a force, then Teddy Pilette 7th in his VDS Racing M10B with Tony Stewart the best of the 2 litre cars in Max Stewart’s Milden Waggott- the car in which Max had won the 1971 Gold Star, then F5000 newcomer and later 1975 Tasman Champion Warwick Brown in his ex-Hamilton McLaren M10B Chev with American visitor David McConnell 10th in a GRD 272 Ford BDA 2 litre.

The quintessential WF victory shot, chequered flag car not quite perfectly in shot and crowded grandstand (NAA)

 

The win was just the fillip Matich needed, he carried the speed he had shown at Warwick Farm both to Melbourne at Sandown’s AGP the following weekend and at Adelaide International a fortnight later.

From pole at Sandown he led until lap 5 when an oil scavenge pump failed putting the A50 out, McRae took the win, and in Adelaide he started from pole but on this occasion had gearbox failure with David Hobbs taking the win in a McLaren M22 Chev.

(NAA)

No doubt a Rothmans executive handing over the goodies above as race sponsor, with the distinctive form of Brabham JA at right- he won an international race or three at Warwick Farm.

To the victor go the spoils- the much respected Australian Automobile Racing Club Chief, Geoff Sykes at right, and in the photo below Derek Kneller receives a trophy, perhaps, for the Chief Mechanic of the winning car.

Credits…

oldracingcars.com, ‘The Canberra Times’ 14 February 1972, National Archives of Australia, Derek Kneller, Alan Wood 1972 WF100 race report in March 1972 ‘Racing Car News’

Other Related Links…

Matich and his F5000 cars; https://primotipo.com/2015/09/11/frank-matich-matich-f5000-cars-etcetera/

Repco Holden F5000 engine; https://primotipo.com/2018/05/03/repco-holden-f5000-v8/

Graham McRae and his F5000 cars; https://primotipo.com/2018/09/06/amons-talon-mcraes-gm2/

Etcetera…

(NAA)

Ampol gets a fair crack of the whip in all these shots. Simpson race-boots common at the time at elite levels- FM’s Adidas jobbies are Nomex.

(NAA)

Looks like Derek Kneller at left taking a snap with his iPhone.

Never found the A50 the prettiest of F5000’s, functional and effective may be better descriptors. And successful. Both A50 ‘001’ and Bartlett’s very equally successful ex-Niel Allen M10B still extant and happily in Oz with Bryan Sala and Alan Hamilton respectively.

Debrief (NAA)

Nice shot of the top, or in part lack thereof, of the bathtub monocoque. Note steel structural element between each ally mono pontoon to which the dash is bolted- it contains the usual array of Smiths instruments. Bell Star helmet de-riguer at the time, FM the importer for Oz. The day I bought my first Bell Star circa 1975 from Ken Nancarrow at ‘Racegear’ in Ralston Street, South Yarra (Melbourne) is etched in my memory- remember him? Wonderful fella- you could never get outta the joint in less than an hour by the time he exhausted you with all of his on-point race gossip.

(NAA)

FM usually wore ‘Hinchman’ suits at this stage, remember the classic cream Hinchman of the era with vertical ‘race stripes’ on the left breast with prominent Goodyear embroidered badge? Always aspired to a set of those.

(NAA)

 

Nah, it’s not gunna rain, the weather comes from the direction of Liverpool.

Cockpit cowling (between Carroll Smith and FM) pretty much the same all the way through the A50-A53 models inclusive of the side-radiator A52 and A53.

I didn’t know who ‘Goodyear Cap Man’ was until reader/mate David Rees/Ray Bell identified him. Derek Kneller clarified the talented American engineer/mechanic/author’s (i’ve got two of his books purchased 20 years ago- ‘Tune To Win’ and ‘Prepare To Win’ from memory) role, which was to build up the A50 ‘003’ for Roy Woods Racing, a car initially raced by ace-racer George Follmer.

(NAA)

By the looks of it the boys are playing around with the steering rack- Matich very mechanically capable to say the least. Both he and McRae were very much in the Colin Chapman, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Derek Bennett, Garrie Cooper, Dan Gurney, Jim Hall, Frank Gardner, Howden Ganley, Larry Perkins mould of oh-so-capable, muck-in and geddit done types of driver/mechanic/engineer. A breed which no longer exists at elite level.

The A50 was an expression of the F5000 state of the art as Team Matich- FM, Kneller, Mabey and one or two others saw it in 1971. There was no ‘designer’ as such but rather draftsman who put onto paper the conceptual design of the car which was led strongly by the chief.

Tailpiece: ‘It sounds ok, great actually Ken’: Repco’s Ken Symes warms his liddl’ 5 litre baby up…

(NAA)

Repco-Holden F5000 V8 a simply glorious engine to listen to, unmuffled as they were for a few years yet.

Finito…