Posts Tagged ‘Holinger Repco’

Peter Holinger…

Posted: November 27, 2024 in Features, Rodways Repco Recollections
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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(J Lemm)

John Lemm’s fabulous portrait of five-star racer, engineer and industrialist Peter Holinger as he awaits a run at Collingrove Hillclimb in South Australia’s Barossa Valley during 1973. His machine is a self-built Holinger Repco RB620 4.4-litre V8.

Let’s not ponder fireproof racegear and six-point harnesses in Australian hillclimbing at the time…

Peter won the Australian Hillclimb Championship in 1976 at Bathurst, 1978 at Collingrove, 1979 at Mount Cotton, Queensland and finally, 1988, at Fairbairn Park, Canberra in another Repco V8 powered – 5-litre Repco 720 – Holinger Repco.

Peter Holinger’s life and the business success is well-told here: http://holinger.com.au/the-holinger-story

Holinger aboard the car below at Lakeland, Victoria in 1976.

When Peter’s great friend and Repco colleague, Rodway Wolfe, purchased Brabham BT31-1 Repco – Jack’s 1969 Tasman machine – from Repco in 1971, Holinger stored the car for Rod and took photographs and the dimensions of it with Wolfe’s blessing, the Holinger Repco was the result.

Rod recalled, ‘He duplicated the chassis so well that years later at Morwell Hillclimb he borrowed the shock absorbers and a few bits from BT31 and won the event with some of my suspension parts.’ See here: https://primotipo.com/2015/02/26/rodways-repco-recollections-brabham-bt31-repco-jacks-69-tasman-car-episode-4/

Peter in the Holinger Repco at Lakeland, Victoria in 1976 (Auto Action)
(J Lemm)

Lemm’s perfectly focussed shot of Holinger at Collingrove ’73 with a ‘touch of the BRMs’ as the car was then configured. Lemm wrote that the single-rear-disc brake set up comprised a rotor and caliper donated by a Renault R8.

‘The 4.4-litre 620 series Repco had special camshafts made by Peter to give greater low end torque,’ wrote ex-Repco Brabham Engine Company engineer, Nigel Tait. ‘He started to make that engine not very long after we’d moved (Repco Brabham Engines) from Richmond to Maidstone. Apart from being a very clever guy, Peter was an absolutely delightful person,’ Nigel said. Everything you ever wanted to know about the RBE 620 V8: https://primotipo.com/2014/08/07/rb620-v8-building-the-1966-world-championship-winning-engine-rodways-repco-recollections-episode-2/

The very first firing of any Repco Ltd built complete engine, the 2.5-litre RB620 V8 E1 – use of the Oldsmobile F85 block in the 620 engines is duly noted – in cell four of the Repco Engine Laboratory Richmond, on its Heenan & Froude GB4 dyno, March 26, 1965. That’s Phil Irving at left with stereo-typical inch of ash on his ciggie, Bob Brown, the Repco Ltd director responsible for the Repco Engine Parts Manufacturing Group of which Repco Brabham Engines Pty Ltd was a part, Frank Hallam, RBE general manager, and Peter Holinger, then head machinist and technician. Those Webers were borrowed from Bib Stillwell up the road in Kew, the Lucas fuel injection system had not yet arrived. E1 was the only engine fitted with carbs, and not for long, all RBE V8s were Lucas injected…except an Indy Turbo R&D engine that never got closer to the track than the Maidstone dyno-house (Repco)

Holinger knew a thing or two about these engines having machined and assembled the very first 2.5-litre RB620-E1 V8 together with its designer, Phil Irving – Irving drew every single RBE620 design drawing – in February-March 1965. Indeed, Holinger was present in the Repco Engine Laboratory in Richmond when that engine was fired up for the very first time on March 26, 1965.

Peter was already hillclimbing another self built machine, the Holinger Vincent s/c during this period at Repco, and when he first went out on his own. The two shots below are both at Silverdale, NSW, in 1966 and 1969.

(K Power)
(Australian Motor Racing Annual)

The ongoing evolution of the Holinger Vincent was also typical of Peter’s subsequent two hillclimbers, the shots below are of the Holinger Repco ‘BT31’ taken at the daunting, fast, Mount Tarrengower, Maldon, Victoria in 1978. The wings are the obvious change from the earlier shots, this car copped a 5-litre Repco 720 V8 at some point too.

(J Bowring)
Rare colour shot of Peter and Holinger ‘BT31’ nose-up under power in second gear perhaps. Holden FB wagon in the background at the bottom of Tarrengower (G Williamson)

The good news is that the three Holinger hillclimbers are still with us. David Nash – a Repco colleague of Peter Holinger’s – wrote a while back that he was rebuilding engine E1 4.4 – the same engine built by Peter and Phil in 2.5-litre form in 1965 – to go back into the Holinger ‘BT31’.

The final Holinger Repco 5-litre (shots below) was rebuilt at Holinger Engineering after Peter’s death in 2009, and shifted to the premises of the Victorian Historic Racing Register in Box Hill, Melbourne, on long term display/loan in March 2017. It always warms the cockles of ‘me heart to see it…

Holinger aboard his final Holinger Repco 5-litre 720 at Morwell Hill, Victoria, circa 1988 (unattributed)
(Holinger)
(Holinger)

Etcetera…

(S Dalton Collection)

Holinger, very close to his Warrandyte home, on Templestowe hill, September 11, 1966 with Autosportsman reporting times of 54 and 53.9 seconds.

(D Willis)

Dick Willis’ amazing photograph of a posse of Australian Hillclimb Champions taken during the 1996 championship weekend, April 4-7 at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.

Left to right are Kym Rohrlach 1980/82/86/87, Stan Keen 1975/93, Peter Holinger 1976/78/79/88, Warren Brown 1984, Ivan Tighe 1964/85/91, John Davies 1992/95 and Roger Harrison 1983/94.

Arcane trivia is that – I think – the final in-period championship won by an RBE V8 anywhere in the world was Roger Harrison’s victory in the ’97 AHCC at Mount Leura, Camperdown, Victoria on October 16-19. His weapon was an ex-Alan Hamilton/Alf Costanzo Tiga FA83 Formula Pacific machine fitted with an RBE740 V8, capacity folks? Hamilton had Jim Hardman restore that car to RBE spec five or so years ago, it may have sold recently.

(Repco)

I love this Repco Brabham Engines family shot taken at the just-moved-into Maidstone premises in mid-late 1966. Back-Kevin Davies, Eric Gaynor, Tony Chamberlain, Fred Rudd, John Mepstead and Peter Holinger. Middle-Vic Mosby, Howard Ring and Norm Bence. Front-David Nash, Rod Wolfe and Don Butler.

Credits…

John Lemm, Auto Action, Repco Archive via Nigel Tait, Australian Motor Racing Annual 1970, Kerry Power, Geoff Williamson, John Bowring, Stephen Dalton

Finito…

Mount Tarrengower 2…

Posted: August 21, 2020 in Sports Racers, Who,What,Where & When...?
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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(N Henderson Collection)

MG on Mount Tarrengower, Maldon, Victoria circa 1946-1947…

Its funny what ya find sometimes, this was a random catch found sitting in front of the tello whilst searching for something else.

The photograph, from artblat.com, is part of the Nicholas Henderson Collection and thought to be Tarrengower given the preponderance of Maldon shots in the collection- further evidence cited the surrounding box-ironbark trees. We had a country drive to Castlemaine, Kyneton and Maldon inclusive of a cruise up the mountain again six months ago-Tarrengower it is i suspect.

I am no pre-war expert but the stance of the machine and its grille reek of MG, perhaps not a supercharged one mind you, so that narrows the model choice somewhat- but it’s no more than a guess, perhaps it’s Peter Vennermark’s Maserati 4CL?

Below are two more cars, one sporting and the other not- love to know what they are, bonus points for the drivers and the date of the meeting.

(N Henderson Collection)

For some of you the dress of the spectators may help give us a fix on the date, as perhaps will the model year of the most recent car built- perhaps the sedan below.

Another car (not shown) in the same batch of photos had a registration expiry date of February 1947 and was therefore indicative of the approximate timing of the photographs to the curator of artblat.com, Dr Marcus Bunyan.

(N Henderson Collection)

 

1947 postcard of the meeting that year shows the spectator car park at the bottom of Mount Tarrengower- horse and cart is a nice touch!

 

A little bit more research shows the the first pot-war event was on Easter Saturday, April 5, 1947. The climb has been pretty much in continuous use since the dawn of motoring in Australia. The ninetieth anniversary of the first event was held last year- 2019.

The climb had not been used for a couple of decades until the Vintage Sports Car Club ran an event on 29 February 1964, FTD that day went to Bill Leach in an E Type Jaguar. The club returned that October when FTD was set by no less than Lex Davison’s Cooper T62 Climax 2.5 Tasman car in 50.34 seconds. Davo was a very experienced hill climber with an Australian Championship amongst his many racing achievements, see here; https://primotipo.com/2019/03/05/mount-tarrengower-hillclimb/

I’ve never raced there competitively but I did run my Elfin Crusader Formula Vee up the hill during an Elfin Owners Club event from Bendigo to Mount Tarrengower and back in November 1993. About 40 cars did that event from Peter Brennan’s MR8C Chev F5000 ‘down’ to one or two Vees- a Gendarme up front in a fast pursuit car ensured speeds were civil but quick on 80km of public highways. What fun it was.

Jim Hawker and George Wightman aboard the awesome Chamberlain 8, Tarrengower April 1947 (The Chamberlain)

 

(Maldon Museum Archive)

A group of competitors gathered in Maldon during the Easter 1947 meeting.

Many thanks to the combination of David Zeunert, Tony Johns, Bob King and Stephen Dalton who between them provided the shots and nutted out the date and competitors.

We are not sure of the white sportscar by the kerb, then the Hugh Stuart aka Tim Joshua Frazer Nash single-seater, Jim Gullan’s Ballot Oldsmobile and at right Lex Davison’s Alfa Romeo 6C1500 s/c Spl aka the ‘Little Alfa’.

Stephen reminded me this site at 51-57 High Street is still a servo, Robert Cox Motors are the current operators.

Entry list of the Easter 1947 meeting (Ash Tracey)

 

Later 1960’s shot of a Geneer Outlaw VW, I think, gives perspective on the open nature of the tourist road and surrounding terrain (Ken Bolitho)

 

Peter Vennermark, Maserati 4CL 1.5 at Tarrengower, 24 March 1951 (Maldon Museum)

 

Lex Davison, Cooper T62 Climax, Tarrengower October 1964- Davo in collar and tie (M Williams Collection)

The climb is about 1500 metres long, the bitumen is narrow, patchy and rough at the edges- the shot above of Lex in 1964 is not that much different to now, it is a tourist road with a lookout at the top. It’s a very fast open climb, a big challenge, I notice that a chicane half way up was used last year which is a bummer in some ways but probably makes good sense.

My first visit to Mount Tarrengower was as an official with a mate in 1978. We camped overnight and took up our post about two thirds of the way up the hill on Sunday, a beautiful clear, hot day. What impressed was the speed of the more powerful cars but the dangers were great given the unguarded edges and unforgiving trees awaiting those who goofed.

During the afternoon we heard the unmistakable wail of a Porsche flat-six off the start line- it was the very impressive Dr Will Darvall’s 2.7 RS mounting another assault. The rise and fall of the engine note indicated his commitment and rapid progress until about 100 metres or so below us the throttle closed rapidly, then followed a sickening series of dull-thuds as the gorgeous car pinged from eucalypt to sheoak. I will never forget that sound.

We looked at one another and said in unison ‘He’s fucked!’ It seemed and sounded that bad. But the good doctor recovered, I know this as he was ‘me mate Big Bad Brucie’s GP in Heidelberg, but he was a sick boy for a long while. The car was rooted, but it too lived to fight another day after bulk dollars were spent on its resurrection around a new shell.

The point to be taken here is that there is no ‘good place’ to leave the road on this challenging mountain.

Maldon High Street 1934 (Maldon Museum)

 

Maldon High Street circa 1975 (Ellen Hansa-Stanyer)

 

Maldon High Street 2019, refreshingly little change over the last eighty years or so (Maldon FB)

The Central Goldfields area of Victoria is quite beautiful and so named as a consequence of the 1850’s Gold Rush which attracted massive numbers of fortune seekers from around the world.

The ‘Golden Triangle’ area marked by the towns of Ballarat, Maryborough and Bendigo yielded massive amounts of the precious commodity, Mount Tarrengower is a couple of kilometres from the tiny village of Maldon at the Triangle’s northern end- short walks around and from the village allow this wonderful history to be seen and experienced- the steam train ride is a beauty for ‘big kids’ too.

Maldon is a must visit for any Victorian international tourists list, the town was classified by the National Trust way back around 1970 so the streetscape now is little different to the way it was during that 1947 hillclimb weekend.

Peter Holinger on the line aboard the very fast Holinger Repco ‘620’ 4.4 V8 circa 1978, the dimensions of which were provided by Jack Brabham’s 1969 Tasman contender- Brabham BT31 Repco (John Bowring)

Etcetera…

 

(M Bisset)

A couple of happy-snaps of the Elfin ‘Tour To Tarrengower’ in November 1993 I mentioned.

The five red cars are Catalina, Mono, Mallala sports, Mono and Catalina, then a white and blue pair of 620s- this is in Bendigo.

Below is Pete Brennan’s MR8 F5000 and the arse of his 400 Chev at right, the big white monster is the ex-Schuppan MR8 in Can-Am dress, now owned by Bill Hemming, it is in F5000 guise. The other white sporty is a 360, a personal favourite.

(M Bisset)

Peter Brennan on the way to FTD circa 1982 in his Elva Mk8S BMW 2 litre.

(P Brennan Collection)

 

(A Tracey)

Another crop of Peter Vennermark’s Maserati and a report on that meeting below, Easter Saturday 24 March 1951- where he had an off.

Chassis #1555 was later sold to long time racer Cec Warren who alighted the machine during the March 1954 Fishermans Bend meeting for adjustments, collapsed with a heart attack and died.

 

(A Tracey Collection)

 

(D Zeunert)

Lovely photo of the vibe in the ‘modern era’, crowd and carpark in the background, 1982 with Stuart Anderson on the line, Maserati 4CM 1100, above and below.

(D Zeunert)

 

(G Thomas in L Sims Collection)

Bob King has his money on our opening car being the Lindsay Head driven Riley Austin Spl, here being driven over Skyline at Rob Roy in 1946- without its lights, it is a possibility’

Photo and other credits…

Nicholas Henderson Collection on artblat.com, Maldon Museum, Maldon Facebook, Ellen Hansa-Stanyer, Max Williams Collection, The Chamberlain, Tony Johns Collection, ‘Bentley Specials and Special Bentleys’ Ray Roberts, John Bowring, Ken Bolitho, Peter Brennan Collection, Ashley Tracey Collection via Tony Johns, George Thomas in the Leon Sims Collection, David Zeunert/Collection

Tailpiece…

Bentley in High Street, Maldon circa 2018, Tony Johns tells me it’s a 1950 Mk6 rebodied coupe. The Mount Tarrengower road and car park is well worth a visit on race weekend and a tootle up from Melbourne for the day anytime.

The many closed shops in town at the moment are a bit of a worry, I have not seen the place so depressed in all the years of regular visits since 1978.

Back to the Bentley, with a bit of assistance from John’s copy of ‘Bentley Specials and Special Bentleys’.

The car was designed by Queensland graphic designer Ian Shaw who was considerably influence by the Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic.

The chassis (#B4JO) ‘was reclaimed from an earlier touring body conversion’, seven inches were taken from the frame, the engine moved aft twelve inches and lowered- whilst the ‘X brace’ part of the chassis was removed other cross members were added to restore and enhance torsional rigidity.

Mechanical upgrades include dual boosted hydraulic brakes, Koni shocks, sixteen inch wires and a smaller than standard MkVI steering wheel.

The steel body was built to Ian’s full scale drawings by Venkat, Bodrog and Evans around one inch by one inch steel tubing and incorporates highly modified MkVI front wings, a shortened radiator shell and bonnet.

Initially a 4.25 litre Bentley motor was used, this was later replaced with an ‘S type’ 4.887 litre straight six which was blueprinted and modified by the incorporation of a higher lift cam with the head ported and fitted with larger valves.

This beautiful looking 2+2 motor car is a credit to the fine eye of its creator, it first ‘broke cover’ over the 1998 Bay to Birdwood weekend in Adelaide and is now good for 125mph which would make it a fine interstate express.

Finito…