primotipo…

Yes, there is such a place, and a good deal of carnage seems to have befallen this Nar Nar Goon race competitor…

It is a small hamlet of a little over one thousand people 65km east of Melbourne in Gippsland- the name is an Aboriginal expression meaning ‘native bear’ or ‘water rat’ the degree of certainty implied is hardly reassuring on a government website!

The Light Car Club ‘ran a surprisingly successful race meeting on a nine furlong grass track at Nar Nar Goon, 40 miles from Melbourne on Sunday 23 November 1947’ MotorSport reported in its February 1948 issue. It covered both this meeting and the 1947 Australian Hillclimb Championship won by Arthur Wylie’s Ford A Model Special ‘Wyliecar’ at Rob Roy, 75km from Nar Nar Goon on 2 November.

 

Owing to doubtful weather, practically no publicity was given to the Nar Nar Goon meeting, but about 3000 spectators turned up to see thirty competitors. At that time, the local population would have been tiny in an area focussed on timber growing, felling and milling. Ideal for motor racing really- out of harms way and the scrutiny of officialdom!

I’m not suggesting the LCCA were ‘hackers’ in any way at all- they were for decades, lets say 70 or so years, one of the continuously premier motor racing clubs in Australia. At one time or other they owned or operated venues such as Rob Roy, Albert Park, Sandown, Balcombe, Ballarat Airfield and others, including the little known Nar Nar Goon.

It isn’t clear to me how many meetings were run at the villages racecourse but cursory research shows LCCA/Junior Car Club/Light Junior Car Club competitions dated back to at least April 1932 when it appears the owner of the course, a Mr Coombes, first gave consent for cars to use his horse racing facility. By November 1933 a range of cars from the pedestrian to Brescia Bugatti’s were being put to the test.

On the wet grass many of the 1947 entrants had incidents during the time trials which preceded the races, ‘spinning with great abandon on one corner in particular’. No damage occurred and by race-time the track had dried out.

‘It was decided to run (love the organisation on the fly, can you imagine that today?) four handicaps, each of two or three heats and a final. At first four competitors were on track at a time, but it was found six was safe, so some events were run with six starters. Finishes were close and spectators were treated to eighteen 5 lap events.

‘The LCCA prides itself on organisation, at this meeting the average period between finishing one race and starting the next was less than five minutes’. Happy days indeed.

The LCCA should rightly be proud of its history of race organisation, I can attest to it as a competitor and spectator during the ‘glory years’ which all came crashing down as a consequence of the financially crippling burden of the two World Endurance Championship events the club ran very unsuccessfully in 1984 and 1985.

Sandown lived on of course thanks to the tenacity and entrepreneurship of racer Jon Davison but the LCCA sadly, was no more. A story for another time, not one I really want to tell when I think about it!

Etcetera…

The car above is Les Jenning’s MG Magna L-Type contesting a handicap during the Easter Monday meeting in 1934- 1087cc six, four speed non-synchro box, less than 600 built in 1933 and 1934.

He achieved some great results with this car in the Australian GP- finishing third outright and setting fastest time behind Bill Thompson’s Riley and Harold Drake-Richmond’s Bugatti in the 1933 AGP at Phillip Island. The following year he was fourth outright and set second fastest time behind Thompson’s MG K3 and in 1935 he was third outright and again set second fastest time to Thompson’s MG K3.

Before he raced the MG he ran a Morris Cowley in the 1928 race supported by his employers, Lanes Motors (who were still Morris dealers in the sixties, my Dads Morris 1100 was supplied by them) but he failed to finish as he did also in 1930 and 1931 in Morrises.

‘The Car’ 16 April 1934 issue covered the meeting above and brings the flavour of the times to life, ‘Houdaille’ wrote that ‘The track was in excellent condition for cornering, albeit exceedingly dusty. The great rolling clouds must have been a nightmare to following drivers, but it thrilled the spectators tremendously.

The sight of the leader hurling his car into a corner and tearing up a walloping cloud of multi-coloured dust brought acclamation from the men and shrieks from the ladies. These gurgles and shrieks grew or decreased in intensity according to the ferocity with which other begrimed and determined pilots flung their machines at the leader.’

‘ How those racing behind managed to see the corners through the soupy pall astonished everyone. Their guiding sense must be naturally developed, for surely their eyes could have been of little use. Their were no accidents, which proves the ability of the drivers, to fly blind.’

‘It is not the intention of the article to detail events but rather give some impression of an enjoyable programme. The test trials were pursued with remarkable vigour, for it be known that no man shall exceed his test time by more than ten-percent lest he incur the displeasure of the organising committee which could mean disqualification should he win a race.’

‘Competitors drove all manner of makes, powers and vintages of cars. Posh MG’s sang around. Bugattis, some quite venerable in years, boomed along at high speeds. George Pocket, of course, brought the deceptive Ford A of his. That very long, very snaky and most odouriferous Ballot of Fred Bray’s did the fifteenth-shall act many times…’

And so the report went on- a good time was had by all. The article pronounced the end of Victorian Junior Car Club meetings at the venue but clearly satisfactory arrangements were entered into by them or other club(s) later.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography…

MotorSport magazine February 1948, Trove, Leon Sims Collection, Bob King Collection, Arthur Wylie Collection, ‘Half a Century of Speed’ Barry Lake, John O Sherwood Collection, ‘The Car’ 16 April 1934 via Bob King

Tailpiece…

Competitor names and cars folks? The leading car is the one which come to grief in the opening shot.

Finito…