(NAA)
The heavies before the start of the AJC Trophy at Warwick Farm, fifth round of the Australian Touring Car Championship, on July 12, 1970.
Allan Moffat, Mustang Trans-Am, Jim McKeown, 911S, Pete Geoghegan, Mustang, you can just see Brian Foley’s 911S then Bob Jane’s Mustang Shelby Trans-Am on the dummy grid.
Moffat’s Trans-Am started from pole but he lost it in the first corner causing mayhem – Moffat, Geoghegan and Foley were out on the spot. McKeown led, Norm Beechey was up to second but then he lost a wheel gifting second to Bob Jane. It was the first ATCC round win for Porsche. https://primotipo.com/2016/05/11/jim-mckeown-porsche-911s-warwick-farm-1970/
The power of the internet continues to amaze, in this case Facebook. The two shots above and below are the earliest I have seen of Frank Matich.
They show his ‘road-registered family car, the Healey 100/4 with LJC Motors bored out 3-litre engine at Huntley’s Hill in 1957’ for the Australian Sports Car Club Wollongong Hillclimb Championship..
‘First Healey bored out to 3-litres. Had a job with the distributor driveshaft. After that the only Healey to offer any opposition was Frank Bennett and that did not last long. Five records in five starts was not real bad’ is the note FM wrote to his friend Alan Cummine, to whom we are indebted for these shots.
Matich’ career is covered in this piece; https://primotipo.com/2015/09/11/frank-matich-matich-f5000-cars-etcetera/
(A Cummine)
(Examiner)
We have lift-off. John Bowe and Alfie Costanzo smoke their Goodyears off the line at Symmons Plains at the start of the Gold Star race in 1980.
JB won the race in his Elfin MR8 Chev from Alf’s Lola T430 Chev. Costanzo set a lap record of 50.16 seconds that weekend which stood for forty years until it was broken by Thomas Randle’s Ligier JS3 Ford S5000 on January 25, 2021. He did a 49.864 second lap in the S5000 opener before winning the John McCormack Trophy, Gold Star event.
It was a great, gutsy race win, the 24 year old below had his last chemotherapy treatment for testicular cancer on New Years Day.
A bit on John Bowe here; https://primotipo.com/2016/06/10/elfin-light-aircraft/
Thomas Randle delighted with his Symmons Gold Star win (S5000)
Randle’s Ligier JS3 Ford on the way to victory at Symmons- crowd limited to 5,000 given Covid restrictions. A magic weekend, was lucky enough to be there, these jiggers are magnificent, spectacular cars (Auto Action)
(S Griffiths)
Bob Jane had exquisite taste in racing cars didn’t he? I’ve said it many times. Here are his recently purchased Jaguar D Type and new E Lightweight.
Calder, Australia Day meeting, 26 January 1964. I wonder what the black single-seater is? See this piece on Bob’s various cars; https://primotipo.com/2020/01/03/jano/
(J Manhire)
Can ‘yer grab my helmet Alec- I gotta go. Kevin Bartlett talks to his headless team-chief at Wigram in 1968, it was the first Tasman Cup KB did in full, both Kiwi and Oz races.
That Brabham BT11A Climax was one of his favourite cars, he did pretty well that summer in what was by then an old car amongst all the multi-cylinder exotica. See here; https://primotipo.com/2018/04/27/kbs-first-bathurst-100mph-lap/
(unattributed)
Otto Stone, MG K3 during the January 2, 1950 AGP at Nuriootpa, South Australia.
As adept behind the wheel as he was twidding the tools, he retired from the race after only completing one lap, with engine problems. Nine years later Otto prepared the Maserati 250F Stan Jones raced to AGP victory at Longford.
1950 AGP article here; https://primotipo.com/2015/07/10/1950-australian-grand-prix-nuriootpa-south-australia/
(C Bottomley)
Marvellous shot of a Holden 48-215 in Bourke Street, Melbourne in 1959.
The post-office building stands, albeit as a retail emporium these days but the rest of the buildings in view copped the kiss-of-death from Whelan the Wrecker or one of Des Whelan’s mates. I wonder if YH-495 is extant? See here for a piece on Holden’s formative years; https://primotipo.com/2018/12/06/general-motors-holden-formative/
Triumph TR2 (B Young)
Grant Twining wrote in the marvellous Historic Racing Car Club of Tasmania’s FB page that ‘The 1956 Mercury Trial (The Mercury is Hobart’s local rag) was a big thing at the time. The Second World War was still in recent memory and Australia was just starting to recover economically from the austere post war years. In little old Tasmania, the well publicised ‘Mercury Trial’ was a significant event and eagerly followed by the public. Bob Young was on hand to capture these images in Salamanca Place’ dockside in Hobart.
All of which is fine and dandy but I’m buggered if I can find any details of the event – not even a piece in the sponsors product! It may be others out there are more patient than I. Do get in touch if you glean some deatails on the events duration, route and winner. Bob Young’s Tassie colour shots I’ve used many times before and just too good to ignore despite a paucity of information.
Humber (B Young)
I wonder if the Salamanca stage of the trial is a speed test or speed and braking? Note all the kegs of something nice. In the fifties this stretch is now filled with lots of wonderful cars, restaurants and places of fun. It is to the left in this mid-sixties shot of Constitution Dock looking towards Hobart CBD. The boats are possibly from a not long finished Sydney-Hobart.
(B Short)
(NAA)
I had one of these when I was 18. The car, the Capri.
I had two in my student years actually, a 1600 GT and 3-litre GT V6, the little fella was much the nicer car to drive. I never had an accessory as cute as the one above in either car, sadly. Must have been my Brut 33.
Speaking of which, Moffat’s Cologne Capri was a Capri of a quite different type. Robert Davies’ shot of the car upon debut during the Sandown Tasman meeting in February 1975 is the best shot ever taken of the car. Lacked torque amongst all the big hairy V8 Gorillas but it was yet another of Marve’s imports which so enriched our grids.
Cologne Capris here; https://primotipo.com/2015/04/09/australias-cologne-capris/
(R Davies)
(Porsche)
Porsche’s PR machine has always blown me away. They do stuff in such an interesting kind of way.
When they put the 919 Hybrid away after several years of sterling service- a few Le Mans and WEC wins they enlisted Mark Webber and Marc Lieb to drive two of the cars 25km from Porker HQ in Weissach to their Museum in Zuffenhausen.
Milking plenty of teev, ‘paper and online coverage. Nice. The shot below is Webber’s 919 at Le Mans in 2014, check out this article; https://primotipo.com/2019/07/18/le-mans-arty-farty/
(Getty Images)
Walker with a couple of lovelies on the 1971 Zandvoort F3 grid, Lotus 69 Ford (J Ranger)
Its fifty years ago that one of Australia’s shooting stars had one of the most sensational F3 seasons ever- Dave Walker in his works Gold Leaf Team Lotus, Lotus 69 Ford-Novamotor during 1971.
In addition to winning everything in F3- he also had several F1 drives most notably aboard the incredibly sophisticated, complex, Pratt & Whitney gas-turbine powered, 4WD Lotus 56B.
Who knows, perhaps with some decent test miles under his belt he may have taken a podium finish during the wet Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. The shot below of the 56B is during dry practice.
Stay tuned for a feature on David Walker.
(T Carwithe)
Dave with Lotus Team Manager Peter Warr at Mallory Park during 1971. Walker was the the most successful of the Gold Leaf Lotus drivers that season. Emerson Fittipaldi and Reine Wisell didn’t win a GP, the first time in about a decade Lotus hadn’t won a championship round. Walker’s ascent to the F! team in 1972 was in part to placate British Tobacco.
The eagle-eyed will have noticed the A.I.R.O transporter behind Warr and Walker. The Australian International Racing Organisation was the rather flash name for the smell of an oily rag operation which ran two Australians in F3- Alan Jones and Brian McGuire.
(N Snowdon)
A.I.R.O. driver Alan Jones at it hammer and tongs with another up-and-comer, James Hunt at Brands Hatch during 1971. Brabham BT28 and March 713M.
Hunt the Shunt jumped out of F3 and into GP racing with Alexander Hesketh’s team in 1973, Jonesy was a year or so after him but no less successful!
Brian McGuire aboard his Williams FW04 Ford during the April 1976 BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone.
Q18 and DNF lost oil/black-flagged in the race won by James Hunt’s McLaren M23 Ford.
The self made Aussie, a mate of Alan Jones, hailed from East Melbourne. He set off for England to race in 1966, paying his own way by dealing in cars and later caravans. He jumped from F3 to F5000 becoming a front-runner in the 1975 Shellsport F5000 Championship racing the ex-Bob Evans 1974 British F5000 Championship winning Lola T332 Chev.
He progressed to an F1 Williams FW04 Ford (aka McGuire BM1). He won a Shellsport 5000 European Championship race in the wet from pole at Thruxton in September 1976 – the first ever win for a Williams. It was in this car he crashed to his death, taking a flaggie with him, after component failure in practice for a Shellsport International Championship race at Brands Hatch on August 29, 1977 .
McGuire, Williams FW04 and crew in the Silverstone pitlane in April 1976 (peter.bryan.org.nz)
(NAA)
Soap-box race at Albany, West Australia in 1970.
It’s a shame that bloody Volvo buggered up a great shot.
What was the seventies Oz Volvo joke? ‘Wots the difference between a Volvo and a Porcupine? Answer- the pricks are on the outside of the Porcupine. Boom-boom. More billy-carts; https://primotipo.com/2019/02/10/spitty/
(J Barnes)
Some shots from Elsmore Hillclimb, east of Inverell in New South Wales.
The first shot shows John French’ Holden 48-215 at the far left, then the white RAWGS sportscar , the beautiful blue JWF Milano and the Barnes MG TC Spl at far right- thanks to Dick Willis for the IDs. The photographs below are from the carpark looking back up the hill.
(J Barnes)
(A Purcell)
A packed crowd at Oran Park for the start of the
From left, John Leffler’s Bowin P8 Hart-Ford ANF2 car alongside Phil Moore, Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden. On row 2 car 8 is John Goss in his just acquired Matich A53 Repco-Holden and on the right John McCormack in the other Ansett Team Elfin car- an MR6 Repco-Leyland.
There were two heats, Max Stewart won both is his Lola T330 Chev- this group are the back couple of rows in one of them. Max won the Gold Star that season.
1974 Australian Grand Prix at Oran Park; https://primotipo.com/2021/01/15/1974-australian-gp-oran-park/
(P Weaver)
Here is the car John Goss raced at Oran Park in the hands of its creator Frank Matich at Sandown Park during the February Tasman Cup meeting. Repco’s Ken Symes and Matich’ chief mechanic Derek Kneller pushing.
The Matich A53 Repco-Holden was the smallest, last and best of the six Matich F5000 cars, it is a great shame FM did not return to the US that year as planned. His boating accident and Joan Matich’ illness meant the time had come to retire.
Goss did well with the car winning the 1976 AGP at Sandown in an A51 updated to A53 specifications. See here for a feature on the Matich F5000 cars; https://primotipo.com/2015/09/11/frank-matich-matich-f5000-cars-etcetera/
Above is Lella Lombardi in the same chassis Goss used to win the AGP at Sandown in 1976, A51 ‘005’.
When Goss used it, the car was converted to side-radiator A53 specifications similar to the shot of FM above. Lella is shown at Sandown’s Dandenong Road during the 1974 Victoria Trophy Gold Star round prior to contesting that years AGP at Oran Park, see here; 1974 Australian Grand Prix at Oran Park; https://primotipo.com/2021/01/15/1974-australian-gp-oran-park/
Reg Hunt, Maserati 250F during his successful March 1956, Moomba meeting.
He won both the 50-mile Albert Park Cup and 150-mile Argus Trophy feature from Lex Davison’s just acquired ex-Gaze Ferrari 500/625, Tom Hawkes’ ex-Brabham/Jones Cooper T23 Bristol, Bib Stillwell’s Jaguar D Type and others.
By the end of the year he had been the fastest resident in the AGP, also at Albert Park and retired from racing. His ‘reign at the top’ extended from the arrival of his A6GCM Maserati 2.5-litre in early 1954 to the end of 1956.
Feature on Reg Hunt; https://primotipo.com/2014/07/19/reg-hunt-australian-ace-of-the-1950s/
(J Fitzpatrick)
Who said Jean Shrimpton was the first to wear a miniskirt in Oz?
Leggy-lass, as we say in polite society, and a chap with quite questionable clothing taste, and Austin Healey 100 outside the Broadbeach Hotel on Queensland’s Gold Coast in 1957.
Have always thought the Goldie a good place to fly over, the Queensland white-shoe brigade got better with their developments as they went progressively north.
Michael Andretti had a shocker of an F1 season with McLaren in 1993.
It was never going to be easy with the incredibly gifted and well established Ayrton Senna in the other car. The class was new to Mario’s boy. So too the tracks and the culture of F1. Stupidly, he continued to live in the US rather than camp somewhere close to McLaren in the Thames Valley. See here; https://primotipo.com/2015/02/06/michael-andretti-and-f1/
Indycar was mighty competitive as well. To come back after a season away and win the first race of the season at Surfers Paradise in Malcolm Oastler’s brand new Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 941 Ford Cosworth XB V8- his first Indycar design, was quite a feat.
Emerson Fittipaldi was second in the new Penske PC23 while Mario Andretti was third aboard his Lola T94/00 Ford in his final season- it was the great all-rounders final podium.
(unattributed)
Credits…
National Archives Australia, Auto Action, Stan Griffiths, Bob Young, Ben Short, Robert Davies, Getty Images, Janathan Ranger, Tony Carwithe, Nigel Snowden, MotorSport, peter.bryan.org.nz, John Barnes, Clive Bottomley, National Archives of Australia, Jim Fitzpatrick
Tailpiece…
(LAT)
Vern Schuppan, Mirage GR8 Ford on the way to third place at Le Mans in 1975.
He shared the car with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx won in another Mirage.
Finito…
primotipo... 