Posts Tagged ‘Gnoo Blas’

Gnoo Blas 5…

Posted: June 4, 2021 in Sports Racers
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5
(GBCCC)

Bob Jane belting down Mental Straight, his 3-litre straight-six Maserati 300S howling with delight at a high-speed gallop through the Gnoo Blas, New South Wales countryside in October 1959.

What strikes at first-glance is the extreme narrowness of the road.

Man these cars are a hard one to toss as winner in a line-up of the sexiest fifties sports-racers? Lord knows, in that decade there were more contenders than in most. I’ll try and not let my sixties bias intervene in this little jolly.

By October ’59 the Brunswick-brawler had been racing his ex-works #3059 for a year. He was starting to get the hang of it – Lex Davison’s gybes about moving his boat further into Albert Park Lake to ensure his families safety from the ravages of Jano’s driving were at an end.

We’ve done Bob’s 300S before, no point making you suffer again; https://primotipo.com/2015/05/15/bob-jane-maserati-300s-albert-park-1958/ Gee-whizz, there is this masterpiece on Gnoo Blas too, a bit of a mess, she’s clearly grown like topsy over time but in a most un-savoury kinda-way; https://primotipo.com/2014/08/05/gnoo-who-gnoo-blas-circuit-jaguar-xkc-type-xkc037/

I’ve been to Orange three or four times along the journey but never done a dedicated Gnoo Blas walk – I really must do it. The place has a mystique about it, and is significant in the pantheon of Australian tracks, not least as the first to host an international meeting – the 1955 South Pacific Championship. See here for that one; https://primotipo.com/2020/04/09/1955-south-pacific-championship-gnoo-blas/

(GBCCC)

Bill Murray’s Alfa Romeo Tipo B Alvis leads a bunch of cars during the October ’54 meeting – I’ll take your advice on the following pair.

Murray was timed over the flying-quarter-mile at 134.4mph during this meeting.

Chassis 5002 was raced by Murray to third in the 1952 AGP at Bathurst. First imported to Australia by John Snow for Jack Saywell to race in the ’39 AGP at Lobethal, its race history is a chequered one for another time.

In simple terms, the ex-Scuderia Ferrari Alfa’s engine rebuild was botched in Sydney immediately pre-war. Enroute to Italy for a rebuild, the ship carrying the valuable 2.9-litre straight-eight gurgled to the bottom of an ocean, perhaps after a submarine torpedo attack.

The car raced on post-war, fitted with an Alvis-six , GMC truck engine and Chev V8 before being rescued by Doug Jarvis. He restored it in Adelaide before sale to the UK in the mid-sixties, and multiple owners since.

There is a bit about the car here; https://primotipo.com/2018/12/11/coorong-speed-records/

(GBCCC)

Another pugnacious little dude was Stan Jones.

The path of Australian racing history was changed at Gnoo Blas in 1956.

I’ve had an engine run-a-bearing in a race, which wasn’t impactful in the Formula Vee. Oh-fuck, whatever it is I can’t afford it was my 22-year old thought!

I imagine a rod breaking was more of a Nagasaki-near-the-crutch moment for Stanley when Maybach 3’s lovely SOHC, injected Maybach straight-six grenaded at warp-speed – well over 6,000rpm.

Instantly the car spat him down the road at high speed on its own Mobiloil.

Stan hung onto the car, which evolved into Maybach 4 Chev in Ern Seeliger’s delicate hands. Stan won in it too.

But it was the end of the Maybach Troika which had been so effective since 1951 – Charlie Dean and Repco Research, Maybachs 1,2 and 3, and Jones had been one of the major forces in Formula Libre.

Jones was keen on attractive Italians, he soon had a red Maserati 250F in his Yongala Road, Balwyn garage.

All of the promise was finally delivered with some help from Otto Stone, who prepared the car and seemed to calm Stan down a bit. He became a bit more of a percentage driver, ‘to finish first, ‘yer first have to finish’ and that kinda stuff.

The ’58 Gold Star and ’59 AGP fell to the Jones Boy and his 250F, see here; https://primotipo.com/2014/12/26/stan-jones-australian-and-new-zealand-grand-prix-and-gold-star-winner/

Make no mistake, that phase started at Gnoo Blas with a mighty-blow-up.

Credits…

Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club

Tailpiece…

(GBCCC)

Bert The Builder’s Bridge at Gnoo Blas.

You really would have to ensure your eight-year old didn’t drop his Choc-Wedge or Coke at an inopportune moment.

Commonsense suggests the bridge would not have been used during competition. Mind you, commonsense is an uncommon commodity.

Finito…

Ian Mountain, IKM Peugeot Spl, Gnoo Blas…

Posted: November 19, 2020 in Fotos, Obscurities, Who,What,Where & When...?
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18

Ian Mountain and his mates with his self-built, very clever IKM Peugeot Special on the AGP grid at Southport on Queensland’s Gold Coast, November 7, 1954.

Ian gives the photographer a big grin, it’s none other than champion racer Reg Hunt, who is sharing his previously unpublished shots with us via his friend and confidant, Melbourne enthusiast/historian David Zeunert.

The young Montclair Avenue, Gardenvale (now Brighton) engineer first came to prominence racing the MYF (Mountain Young Ford) Special he built together with fellow Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology civil engineering student, Bruce Young.

In the finest traditions of the day, this Ford 4.2 litre V8 two-seater provided day to day transport and a multi-purpose racer including a mount for the 1952 AGP at Mount Panorama. Up front Doug Whiteford won in his Talbot-Lago T26C, while Ian retired after 24 of the 38 laps.

Ian awaits the off in the MYF Ford Spl at Rob Roy circa 1952 (L Hatch)

 

IKM Spl. Chassis, engine and suspension detail as per text (AMS)

Despite his training, Ian was up to his armpits in all things automotive. He was employed as a Peugeot salesman by Canada Cycle and Motor Co in Latrobe Street, Melbourne. It was to them he turned for components for his next car, the IKM (Ian Keith Mountain) Peugeot Special.

The machine’s chassis was of typical ladder frame type, longerons were of 16 gauge 2 3/4 inches diameter steel tube with four cross members – one at the front, one behind the engine then two at the back, in front of and behind the final drive unit.

Front suspension used Peugeot 203 transverse front springs and stub axles with fabricated top wishbones and telescopic shocks. Steering was 203 rack and pinion, as was the steering wheel.

Rear suspension was de Dion. The bowed tube picked up the hub-carriers and a 1946 Ford V8 diff housing mounted on the frame. This had specially cast side-plates with Dodge pot-type universal joints at each end of the driveshafts. Semi-elliptic springs, radius rods and telescopic shocks completed the package.

The hydraulic brakes use MG TC backplates and shoes with Alfin drums. The wheels were Holden FJ ‘laced’ onto ‘TC hubs- 5 inches x15 in front and 5.5 x 15 at the back, whilst the heart of the matter was a modified 203 crossflow engine.

IKM engine and front suspension. Peugeot suspension and steering components with fabricated top wishbones, MG TC/Alfin brakes. Peugeot engine 1490cc- 80.5mm bore and 73mm stroke, big Wade blower and SU carb (AMS)

 

IKM ally fuel tank and rear suspension detail- de Dion tube, radius rod and shock mount (AMS)

The standard Peugeot four-cylinder OHV 1290cc unit was bored to 1490cc using custom made Rolloy pistons and sleeves. A big Wade R020 blower fed by a 55mm SU carb giving about 6 pounds of boost was mounted on a frame ahead of the front suspension and chain-driven from the front of the crank. Extractors were fabricated, a Scintilla Vertex magneto gave the sparks, Peugeot provided a competition fuel pump and exhaust valves. Inlets and valve springs were standard but the valve gear was lightened and polished as were the rods and crankshaft before balancing. The compression ratio was 6:1.

The engine was mounted to the left in the frame to allow a driveline left of centre and therefore a nice, low seating position. An MG TC gearbox mated to the bellhousing easily, 22 gallons of fuel were carried in a rear mounted tank.

Neil Coleman’s ‘shop in North Melbourne built the light aluminium body with the light, low purposeful car beautifully built and finished. IKM weighed 9cwt, had a wheelbase of 7′ 6″, front track of 4′ 2″ and a rear track of 4’, ‘so the car is not really a small one, belying its looks’ AMS reported.

After testing in the quiet(!) of the Geelong Road Ian ran the machine at the Beveridge and Templestowe Hillclimbs in chassis form, and then at Fisherman’s Bend with its body fitted. He finished two races despite fuel feed problems caused by shortcomings in the manifold design.

Ian married Laurel Duguid in the Scotch College Chapel at Hawthorn on November 2, 1954 then the couple set off for Southport and the 1954 AGP, what a honeymoon! Lex Davison won in his HWM Jaguar with the IKM retiring after 11 laps. Ian’s radiator drain tap was opened slightly by vibration of the body panels which allowed the water to escape, the travails of new cars.

Peugeot 203 and IKM Spl ready for the long Melbourne-Gold Coast November 1954 AGP trip, Gardenvale to Southport is 1,725km each way (L Hatch)

 

Ian looking around for his crew at Gnoo Blas, long, low lines of the innovative IKM Pug clear (K Devine)

After a relaxing Port Phillip Bay Christmas/New Year the newlyweds set off from Melbourne for the South Pacific Trophy at Gnoo Blas, Orange, New South Wales over the January 31, 1955 weekend.

Australia’s first FIA listed international meeting featured the Ferrari 500/625s of Peter Whitehead and Tony Gaze, Jack Brabham’s Cooper T23 Bristol, Dick Cobden’s Ferrari 125 and Bira’s Maserati 250F and Osca V12 amongst others.

Two cars in Connaghan’s Corner after the right-hand Mrs Mutton’s Corner and then the downhill The Dip. Ian has lost adhesion and left the circuit on the outside, his crashed car is visible with officials well away on the left as, perhaps, the South Pacific Trophy takes place. Superb, rare angle of this section of this road circuit whilst noting the sad scene Reg Hunt reveals

 

Sadly, oil which spewed from Bira’s Osca V12 probably led to the awful accident which cost 25 year old Ian and a young spectator in a prohibited area their lives on the fast, downhill run out of Connaghan’s Corner, see here for a feature on this meeting; https://primotipo.com/2020/04/09/1955-south-pacific-championship-gnoo-blas/

Reg Hunt’s Maserati A6GCM 2.5 litre was entered for the meeting but necessary spares were late arriving from Italy so he prowled the circuit with his camera instead.

Laurel remarried in 1960, the IKM remains passed to Ian’s brother Ken who later sold them to Harry Firth. Ian Tate, who admired the car in the day, later acquired it and is in the gradual process of restoration.

Path of the car clear through the fence from the previous shot from up the hill towards Connaghan’s Corner.

Whilst components off the crashed machine have been placed on the wreck and in the cockpit the barbed wire fence, wrapped around IKM Spl, which provided some of Ian’s fatal wounds is clear. When the worst happened on those tracks in those days, lady luck either was, or was not present. Unseen by Ian that day sadly

Stunning, most significant photographs, many thanks Reg, David.

Credits…

Australian Motor Sports, December 1954, ‘Ian Mountain: Potential Unfulfilled’ Paul Watson, Reg Hunt photographs via David Zeunert Archive, Ken Devine Collection, Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club

Tailpiece…

Finito…

1955 South Pacific Championship, Gnoo Blas…

Posted: April 9, 2020 in Features
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19

Dick Cobden’s Ferrari 125 being pushed through the Gnoo Blas paddock- that’s lanky, slim Jack Brabham with helmet on behind (F Pearse)

The natural or established order of Australian motor racing was shaken up and greatly changed by events over the summer of 1955…

The Ardmore, New Zealand Grand Prix in January was won by Prince Bira’s Maserati 250F from Peter Whitehead and Tony Gaze in their matching Ferrari 500/625 3 litre, four cylinder hybrids, Jack Brabham’s Cooper T23 Bristol and Reg Hunt’s new Maserati 250F engined A6GCM, fifth.

Other Australians who made the trip but failed to finish were Stan Coffey, Cooper T20 Bristol, Lex Davison, HWM Jaguar and Dick Cobden in the Ferrari 125 V12 s/c he acquired from Peter Whitehead after the NZ GP the year before.

Lex Davison being chased by Bira and Tony Gaze at Ardmore, 1955 NZ GP. HWM Jaguar, Maserati 250F and Ferrari 500/625 (thechicaneblog.com)

(CAN)

A group of the front running cars at Ardmore in ‘Phil Neill’s showroom a day or two before the race.’

Bira’s 250F and Gaze Ferrari 500 in front with Whitehead’s #2 similar 500, #3 is Reg Hunt’s Maserati A6GCM, #77 Lex Davison’s HWM Jaguar, #9 George Palmer’s Mercury powered Palmer Spl, #6 Cobden’s Ferrari 125 and hidden, unfortunately, in the corner Bira’s ‘second-string’ Maserati 4CLT Osca V12 with a Ford Consul providing marvellous context!

Tony Gaze warms up his 3 litre Ferrari four with plenty of admiring Kiwis by the Dunedin wharves, Ferrari 500/625, January 1955. Reg Parnell’s Aston Martin DP155 is behind and then an Aston Martin DB3S (unattributed)

By the end of the Ardmore weekend, Brabham, buoyed by his speed and his mind filled with ambition, ideas of opportunity and success paid bonuses from trade suppliers in the UK by the visiting RAC’s Dean Delamont- had determined to sell his Cooper and chance his luck in the UK.

Dick Cobden, another of the fast-men in Australia- his dices with Brabham during 1954 had drawn fans to meetings from far and wide, also planned a racing holiday in England in between continuing his stockbroking career in a London brokers office.

‘He was accompanied by mechanic Fred Pearse and the fascinating, frustrating Ferrari (125), and enjoyed some mobile spectating…Cobden hoped to collect the D-Type he had ordered, but long delays led to him cancelling the order, and the overseas trip was effectively his farewell to motor racing’ Graham Howard wrote.

Fred Pearse attending to Cobden’s Ferrari 125 (F Pearse)

Pat Ratliff and Tony Gaze with Gaze’s Ferrari 500/625- the oh-so-famous ex-Alberto Ascari 1952 and 1953 World Championship winning chassis- one of the ‘winningest’ if not the most, GP cars ever (F Pearse)

But first the travelling circus headed by sea to Sydney and then by road west to the Gnoo Blas road circuit at Orange for the ‘South Pacific Championship’ international held on 31 January. Bira, Whitehead and Gaze then planned to race their cars in South Africa.

Whilst Brabham and Cobden contested Gnoo Blas, Hunt and Davison, Lex the winner of the 1954 Southport AGP did not- Hunt was short of some critical parts for his A6GCM whilst Lex did not make the trip.

Hunt’s pace had always been apparent in Australia and in the year he raced a Cooper 500 in the UK and Europe- with the purchase of  the A6GCM he vaulted over the top of everyone in Australia- the speed of car and driver was THE combination of 1955.

Whilst Lex’ HWM Jag was fast, it wasn’t fast enough nor, despite ongoing development was it sufficiently reliable, it did of course hold together at Southport some months before, the 1954 AGP win was the first of Lex’ four victories in Australia’s premier event.

Davison no doubt showed more than passing interest in his good mate Gaze’s Ferrari 500 in the early months of 1955- a purchase he would consummate later in the summer of 1955-1956 and as a consequence set the standard- along with the local 250F’s of Hunt and Jones and Ted Gray’s bellowing V8 Tornado 2 Ford/Chev in the coming years.

Gaze #4 and Whitehead Ferrari’s getting a tickle- car behind is Bira’s Maserati 250F and at the rear the Broadbent/Haig Hurst Bentley (F Pearse)

In Orange the ‘star cars’ were garaged in a workshop where several of these photographs were taken. The images by Fred Pearse, kindly circulated on social media by Peter Reynell who cared for Fred in his final years, take ones breath away.

Bob Pritchett makes mention in his AMS report of the race, of the OSCA being looked after at Lapham’s Garage in Orange, Mr Lapham was the Chairman of the Orange ‘Cherry Blossom Car Racing Committee’ which staged the event along with the Australian Sporting Car Club. Laphams is most likely the venue of the garage shots.

Tony Gaze Ferrari 500 (F Pearse)

Ratliff and Gaze (F Pearse)

Thirty-nine cars entered the 100 mile South Pacific Championship, there were also events for sport and touring cars, a purse of two-thousand five hundred pounds was offered for the feature race, very good money at the time.

The entry included Kiwis Fred Zambucka in the Maserati 8CM he raced in the ’54 AGP and John McMillan’s Alfa Romeo Tipo B- both pre-war machines which were at that stage a little too long in the tooth to be a threat, the race was a scratch event, even if, in a nod to the past, handicap placings would also be awarded.

Jack Murray, Allard Cadillac, Ted Gray aboard Tornado 1 Ford was fitted with the Lou Abrahams developed fuel injection setup for the first time. Tom Sulman had rebuilt his Maserati 4CM after a blow up at Gnoo Blas’ last meeting with parts flown specially from Italy to Sydney. Curly Brydon’s supercharged MG T single-seater special was one of the fastest in the country. Albury’s Jack Seaton entered a Maserati, Jack Robinson his Jaguar Special and Stan Jones had Maybach, a Cooper JAP and his Lancia GT entered- in the end Stan raced only the Lancia .

A special practice session was laid on before breakfast on the Sunday for the benefit of Bira, Gaze and Whitehead but it wasn’t of much benefit to the member of the Thai Royal Family when his Maserati 250F threw a rod after only 3 laps of practice, the car had done some miles in New Zealand, was rather tatty and overdue for a rebuild- this was the precursor to the tragedy which followed involving Iain Mountain and his very clever Mountain Peugeot Special the following day.

Practice itself started after breakfast and continued with breaks through until 5.30pm. No appearances were made by Hunt, Zambucka, Davison, the Jones Cooper 1100, James Barclay Special, the Moy MG Magnette Holden or the Peek MG Q Type.

Both Gordon Greig and Sydney’s Bill Reynolds appeared at the wheel of the Alfa Tipo B Alvis which Greig had only just acquired from Ash Marshall. Cobden’s Ferrari was spewing oil out of its breathers, Gaze’s had clutch and magneto problems and Bira’s crew had work to do on the exotic V12 OSCA’s oil scavenge pumps, so there would be no shortage of midnight oil poured in Lapham’s workshops.

Alf Harvey, ex-Bira Maserati 4CLT Osca V12 aka Osca V12 from Dick Cobden’s Ferrari 125 at Gnoo Blas during the 1956 South Pacific Trophy – Can’t find a shot of Bira in the car the year before (Gnoo Blas)

The ill fated Ian Mountain aboard his neat Peugeot Special, Sulman’s Maserati behind (K Devine)

Brabham’s Cooper T23 Bristol

Raceday started at 10.20 am with the ‘KLG Handicap’ for closed cars under 1100cc won by R Long’s Fiat 1100. The 5 lapper for Sports and Closed cars was taken by Jack Myers Holden, was he the ‘King of The Holdens’ at that stage?

Bira’s spare car was his OSCA V12- a marriage of a 4.5 litre, circa 300 bhp OSCA V12 with his old Maserati 4CLT/48 chassis, as noted earlier his crew had been trying to adequately prepare the car the evening before the race.

In the preliminary 5 lap ‘Gnoo-Blas Handicap for Racing Cars’ event it too suffered a major mechanical failure- a scavenge pump, the motor dumped its oil all over the road with Iain Mountain, who was following closely, lost control on the oil, left the road and crashed through a barbed wire fence at Connaghans Corner killing himself and 26 year old Ballan, Victoria, spectator James Young. Several spectators were injured, two of them were admitted to hospital- all were standing in restricted areas.

The MotorSport account is the one above, the Australian Motor Sports report of the race attributes the accident to driver error ‘Ian had been cautious about the corner on which he came to grief and it could be that he was off line to avoid stones thrown up by Curly Brydon’s car, which he was chasing; Curly actually saw him behind, and slowed down, having discussed the corner with Ian and knowing how he felt about it…’

Whatever the case it was a tragic motor racing incident, the ‘lotsa-money superb preparation of car’ Bira days were long gone. Poor Mountain, 26, had only married four months prior to the 1954 AGP weekend at Southport and had only been racing the beautifully built car from its first appearance at Fishermans Bend in early 1954.

Jack Robinson’s Jaguar Special won the race in which Mountain died, the South Pacific Championship for Closed Cars and another similarly titled 14 lap 50 mile race were won by Les Cosh’ Aston Martin DB2 and Bill Kelly’s Jaguar XK120 respectively.

South Pacific Championship…

The main event was delayed by 50 minutes for obvious reasons, with some indecision about the grid- it was to be 4-3-4, then decided to be 3-2-3 given the narrow road and ended up being 3-2-4. What follows is a summary of the AMS race report.

As the flag quivered before dropping, Jack Murray shot his Allard Cadillac between Gaze and Whitehead and led the field out of sight of the hill crest; Gaze somehow managed to get his clutch operational enough for the getaway and almost as soon as the last sound of the last cars had died, Jack Brabham flashed past the pits, his Cooper Bristol a good fifty yards ahead of Whitehead’s Ferrari, then Murray, Gaze, Cobden, and MacMillan in close quarters.

Gaze was past Murray in the next lap, but Cobden’s Ferrari was smoking and retired after 2 laps at Muttons Corner with a cylinder full of water and a bent rod which was shades of the last Orange meeting.

Brabham (K Devine)

Murray, Allard Cadillac (K Devine)

Tom Sulman, Maserati 4CM

Brabham’s lead was shortlived, it was not many laps before Whitehead was past the Cooper Bristol- but he drew away slowly indeed and, on the fast sweep and slow right angle corner, Brabham was very visibly fastest of any car in the race, drifting the sweep beautifully with all four wheels leaning outwards, braking late and going through Muttons Corner as clean as a knife…

Gaze, hampered by not having a fully operational clutch and only one effective magneto, was not as happy as he could have been.

For some laps there was a good duel between MacMillan in the Alfa Tipo B and Greig in the Alfa Tipo B Alvis, the two red cars looking very impressive as they came around in close company. Jack Robinson and Joe Murray went at it for most of the race, the Jaguar just ahead until towards the finish when he stopped briefly at the pits and lost two laps.

Curly Brydon, always quick and neat, kept hard on Tom Sulman’s hammer, and Bill Wilcox went very well in his green Ford Special until it went bad over a space of 3 laps or so and he retired. Noel Barnes had the ex-Ron Ward MG Special sounding very sweet and healthy even though he was lapped several times by the faster cars.

Finally, the sun well down on the Western horizon, Peter came around grinning and without his crash hat and we knew the race was finished. As Brabham was less than a minute behind at the end he naturally won the handicap, Peter had fastest lap in 2:21.

Peter Whitehead Ferrari 500/625, won from Brabham, Cooper T23 Bristol, Gaze, Ferrari 500/625, Jack Murray Allard Cadillac, Tom Sulman Maserati, Curly Brydon MG Spl, G Greig Alfa Tipo B Alvis

Whitehead’s top speed was 149 mph, Gaze 147, Brabham 136, Sulman 110 and Brydon’s 115mph.

Cobden about to go out, Sulman readies his Maserati (K Devine)

One of the Ferrari 500s at Laphams (F Pearse)

Snippets by AMS’ Bob Pritchett…

‘The 3 litre motors of Gaze and Whitehead have a bore and stroke of 104 x 90 mm and the inlet valve is open for, wait for it, 330 degrees of the revolution…I saw Gaze’s motor stripped later; the valves are simply tremendous, and the pistons are like outsized salmon tins with bumps on them, rods like a short length of RSJ and the five bearing crankshaft a beautiful piece of work’.

Big Muvvas: Weber sand cast 58 DCO’s (F Pearse)

Hunt didn’t race but was present in person ‘…With no Maserati, marooned in Melbourne with a broken back plate. He tried to borrow one of Bira’s spares but received the rather discouraging reply, that he could have them all and the car for 4000 sterling. Slightly different to the Australian approach- Tony Gaze did the race with a magneto coil out of Cobden’s Ferrari for instance.’

Bira’s Maserati 250F (F Pearse)

‘I reaped some sort of macabre delight out of watching the Clerk of Course Daimler steaming around festooned with advertising matter during the wrangle about slogans on cars which resulted in Coffey’s dramatic retirement on the (start)line, masking tape all over Murray’s Allard Cadillac, funny little blobs of green paint on Brabham’s Cooper Bristol and such.’

Stan Coffey’s Cooper Bristol, after a stoush with CAMS about advertising he did not take the start, I see Clive Adams prepared the car. Cobden Ferrari 125 at rear (K Devine)

Etcetera…

(K Devine)

Jack Robinson being push-started in his Jag Special whilst alongside Tom Sulman fettles his Maserati, photo below of Robinson’s Jag XK engine.

(K Devine)

#2 Whitehead, Ferrari 500 #4 Gaze’s similar car and #1 Bira’s 250F (F Pearse)

Tom Sulman, Maserati 4CM

Bibliography…

MotorSport May 2006 article by Jim Scaysbrook, Australian Motor Sports February 1955 race report by Bob Pritchett

Photo Credits…

Fred Pearse Collection, Ken Devine Collection, Stephen Dalton Collection, Allan Dick’s ‘Classic Auto News’, Australian Motor Heritage Foundation, Russell Hawthorn, Doug Chivas Collection

(D Chivas)

Postscript…

Brabham left for the UK in mid-March 1955 after a function held at Jack’s parents home in Hurstville attended by over 100 guests including the Mayor and Mayoress- at that stage he was expected to be away for six months.

It turned out to be rather longer than that of course, the great Australian finally retired from Grand Prix racing at the end of 1970 having been a front runner that season inclusive of one GP win which but for poor luck should have been three- competive to the very end of his long career.

He couldn’t stay away from racing for too long though, by August 1971 he was back in the seat of the Jack Brabham Ford sponsored Bowin P4X Formula Ford and won the ‘Race of Champions’ at Calder from Frank Matich, Kevin Bartlett, Bib Stillwell, Alan Hamilton, Allan Moffat and others.

I think it was his last ever real ‘race win’, 1978 Sandown demo with JM Fangio duly noted?…

(R Hawthorn)

Tailpiece: Smorgasbord of ‘Big Red Cars’…

Whitehead, Cobden, Gaze and Bira, not that his 250F was red (F Pearse)

Finito…

Boys Just Wanna Have Fun…

Posted: August 10, 2018 in Fotos, Who,What,Where & When...?
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7

(P Ansell)

It does all get a bit serious these days doesn’t it!?

Here Jim McGuire and Alan Tatham are enjoying their Cooper Mk4 Norton at Gnoo Blas, circa 1957…

Aren’t these an amazing group of colour photographs of a race meeting at the popular, relatively shortlived Orange, NSW circuit. Such vivid images of race meetings in Oz at the time are not exactly plentiful.

These shots were posted on Bob Williamson’s Old Motor Racing Photographs – Australia Facebook page by Paul Ansell and immediately provoked a response from a swag of enthusiasts contributing information about the car and that day.

McGuire works, Tatham poses for the babes, as drivers do (P Ansell)

Australian Ace Kevin Bartlett recognised his ‘blue Morris Minor Series 2 fitted with a fibreglass top…’, that’s KB in blue standing beside the door of the car in the background. In fact Jim McGuire and his wife Carmen aided and abetted the careers of several drivers including KB, who raced the Elfin Imp for them in the mid-sixties and Peter Wherrett- the latter raced this very Cooper Mk4 with a Hillman Minx four-cylinder engine installed in the early sixties.

Here the Cooper is fitted with a Norton Manx engine. The red car over the back in the first photo is the Profilio MG Spl which still exists in historic racing as indeed does the Cooper Minx- restored by David Kerr a couple of decades ago.

By the time McGuire acquired the car, chassis # ’10/54/50′ was already a veteran of the 1954 Australian Grand Prix, Charlie Swinburne raced it, Manx Norton powered, to tenth place. Its thought when first imported to Australia the car was originally supplied to Les Taylor in Queensland fitted with a JAP 1100 motor.

Later raced by Queensland’s Ray Lewis as the ‘LPS Cooper Norton’ (Lewis/Bill Pitt/Charlie Swinburne) during 1953, Jim McGuire bought it from Tony Crick of Wellington, NSW, initially racing the machine with Tatham at the wheel.

Barry Collerson in the Cooper Minx leads an Elfin Catalina at Oran Park circa 1961 (Alan Stewart)

Later, in 1959 or early 1960, Jim mated a Hillman Minx 1500 engine and VW gearbox to the frame, the car in this form contested the 1960 Australian Grand Prix at Lowood.

The photo below shows Tatham aboard the Cooper Mk4 Hillman together with the #37 D Russell MG TD, #49 N Barnes MG TC s/c. I’m mystified by a couple of the cars but it appears to be the great Tornado 2 Chev down the back, by that stage driven and owned by Mel McEwin.

(F Pearse)

Up front a thriller of an AGP was won by Alec Mildren’s Cooper T51 Maserati by a whisker from Lex Davison’s Aston Martin DBR4/250, the little Cooper retired with an undisclosed ailment. Not so long after Lowood Tatham ceased to drive the car but it raced on, still owned by Jim at Strathpine, Tarrawingee, Hume Weir, Oran Park and Warwick Farm driven by Peter Wherrett and Barry Collerson.

Peter Wherrett, Cooper Minx, Warwick Farm May 1961 (P Wherrett)

Both Sydneysiders were talented coming-men of the day with Collerson racing an ex-Doug Whiteford GP Talbot-Lago in Australia before chasing the  FJ circuit in Europe for a couple of years. He has written a book too- i must buy ‘Mount Druitt to Monza’, been meaning to for ages.

Wherrett is incredibly prominent in the memories of several generations of us for his racing, his ‘Racing Car News’, for many years THE Australian motor racing monthly bible- race reports, ‘Peter Wherrett Advanced Driving’ school and ‘Torque’ the seminal, defining, brilliant ABC television motoring program of the mid-seventies. The genre popularised by Jeremy Clarkson much later started with Wherrett and a team at the ABC. Remember PW’s track test of Warwick Brown’s Lola T332 Chev?, it just blew my tiny, teenaged mind!

The Cooper Minx later fell into the tender, loving hands of David Kerr who restored and raced it extensively in historic racing with John Herman the last reported owner.

Lets Get Physical! Little Barry Collerson trying to stay aboard the Cooper Minx at Warwick Farm in August 1962. Note the different, later fibreglass nosecone in this shot (P Wherrett)

Credits…

Paul Ansell- photos. Dick Willis, Kevin Bartlett, Greg Smith, ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden, Fred Pearse Collection, Alan Stewart Collection and Peter Wherrett Collection on aussieroadracing.homestead.com

Etcetera: Cooper Minx, circa 1961, perhaps at the McGuire’s home in Sydney- Peter Wherrett Collection photos…

Water radiator neatly integrated given air-cooled engines originally fitted

Front transverse leaf suspension as standard Cooper Mk4

Rear suspension and wheels appear as standard Cooper Mk4

Hillman Minx 1500 four fed by a couple of downdraft Strombergs, transaxle is modified 4 speed VW

Tailpiece: Gnoo Blas officialdom, Cooper Mk4 unwell…

Never seen so many crisply laundered white overalls! Tatham in Cooper Mk4 Norton. Bucolic Gnoo Blas (P Ansell)

Finito…