Memories from the 60's

Hi all,

My name is Mike Feisst and I have been attending motorsport events since the second NZIGP at Ardmore. In my short life I have seen hundreds of motorsport events right up until a month ago. I have to admit that I seem to be stuck in the 60's and 70's as far as excitement goes in motorsport. In the days before professionalism came along everybody seemed to get along and the racing was fantastic. As you can probably guess I now mainly attend historic events in NZ and a few in Australia.

I remember as a teenager going to the Tasman event at Warwick Farm and Sandown Park (during my OE in 1967) and being able to get right into the pits. I was sitting on the rear tire of Jim Clarks Lotus 33 watching the mechanics working on his car, when he walked in. Jim sat down beside me and we spent about 20 minutes talking about the Tasman series and the prospects for the up coming F1 season. Could you imagine that now ?

The saloon car races were the stuff of legends for us and the crowd really enjoyed the dicing and paint scraping on track. I was lucky enough to be at Pukekohe (old track) when Ivan Segedin raced the Fleetwood Motors Mustang and the speed difference over the Lotus Cortina's seemed vast. Apart from the Mustangs and Camaro's we seemed to have a whole pack on T/c Escorts. Some of the original cars are still around but there must still be quite a few unaccounted for at present. Does anyone have any info on ther whereabounts of these ?

I was lucy enough to have a 35mm camera and attended events in this time period using coloured film and have a collection of about 370 photos from then. Steve has used some to illustrate his articles on race series from that period and it is great to see the cars in some of their original colours.

Mainly for my own benefit last year, I started creating a list of all the historic circuit race cars that I was aware of. I have enjoyed the interaction with other motorsport fans in locating these cars. The current list has about 1150 entries in it and I am sure that there are stacks still around that I am not aware of. To me it is amazing the number of cars still in existence. How about listing off cars that you are aware of so that we can get such a list more up to date.

Please join in and help Steve to make this website a great historic motporsport assets for all to use and advance our individual knowledge and the cause in general.

Cheers
Mike Feisst

Really hard one there when I sit down and think for me to seperate the really memorable ones ,they were all so good .Moss's drive in the wet Ardmore that was a good one ,the Pat Hoare V12 Ferrari,what sticks in my mind was that you could actually hear the induction noise roar as it came towards you ,especially if it was in a confined space and the high winged single seaters that raced at the late 60's Pukekohe GP's with the drivers levelling the wings off as they went down the back straight
Saloon Cars ,the meetings that stick in my mind was the first time when all the Auckland V8 Coupe guys went down to Levin and the last Allcomer Season 1966/67 .Sports cars the Elfin 400

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Originally Posted by kiwi285

Mainly for my own benefit last year, I started creating a list of all the historic circuit race cars that I was aware of. I have enjoyed the interaction with other motorsport fans in locating these cars. The current list has about 1150 entries in it and I am sure that there are stacks still around that I am not aware of. To me it is amazing the number of cars still in existence. How about listing off cars that you are aware of so that we can get such a list more up to date.

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Quite an undertaking!
Are you talking only single-seaters, or saloons and sportscars as well? FF? FV?

Hi Bob,

Do you still have the BDG Escort in your care ?

Cheers Mike

Mike,
If you mean the space frame Mk 2 Escort based car ,yes I do have it
Bob

Robbie Francevic Galaxie
Rod Coppins Mustang
Paul fahey Mustang
Frank Bryan Mustang
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Nigel, those are stunning photos! Thanks for posting them. I can't wait to see more. Please feel free to add to any of the threads here, or if you like you can start your own thread on any subject, including your own photo collection.

That looks like the 1968 season. Great pics, Nigel, thanks.

I think it was the 1966 season as I went over to Oz in November '67
If I remember correctly Robbie's Galaxie was only allowed a couple of practice laps and wasn't allowed to race for some reason.

GD66 is on the money, its the 1967/68 season. Fahey is running his Mustang for a second season, having raced it in the final Allcomer season in 1966/67. Coppins is in the ex-Pete Geoghegan Mustang that whooped all the Allcomers at the NZIGP meeting at Puke in early 66, Bryans Mustang is near new, having been built at Shelby's in 67, and the Francevic Fairlane may not have raced due to mechanical issues. It suffered quite badly from overheating throughout its very brief career.

Again Nigel, great pics!

Steve,
Refresh my mind on this one ,was there not some dramas with the acceptance or homologation on the Francevic car in the beginning ,I can sort of remember some dramas going on

Yeah you've jolted my memory there Bob. I'll see if I can find out more.....

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Originally Posted by bob homewood

Steve,
Refresh my mind on this one ,was there not some dramas with the acceptance or homologation on the Francevic car in the beginning ,I can sort of remember some dramas going on

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Absolutely, Robbie had to fight all the blazers in MANZ due to the car not being homologated, or Robbie not being able to produce the documentation. Officialdom carried on as if the world drivers championship was at stake, not even letting the car practice at first. It was almost like they were getting back at him for winning the championship the previous season in that non PC Custaxie.
If you have the magazines of the day I am sure the full story will be in them.

Thanks ,thats sort of how I remember it,just could not remember the exact details ,wasn't there something with that mentioned practice session where it could practice but not actually race ,or did it practice and then they decided it was not going to race another case of creating hurdles you don't need

Good memories guys, you're spot on. Here is what the Motorman review of the event had to say: "There was considerable controversy over the non-acceptance of Robbie Francevic's 7 litre Ford Fairlane. Whether or not New Zealand was right in adopting Group 5 virtually to the letter is a matter of question, but not so was the official information that the Fairlane was not homologated at the time of the meeting. Therefore, both MANZ and the organisers were quite right in disallowing the Fairlane to start in the championship event."

Sounds like a typical motor racing scenario where everyone has forgotten who pays the bills; the punters. You'd think they could have allowed the car to race for no points.

As a side note, the Mustangs of Fahey, Coppins, and Dawson were all excluded from the results for having illegal mudguard modifications. This was the first championship race in NZ for the newly introduced Group 5 regs.

Another occasion when 'we' tried to be grander than we were, not content with killing off the All Comers which drew the crowds, the powers that be had to adopt an International Gp5 formula rather than attempting to adopt a NZ class that would have suited our enviroment (and budgets).
Donn Anderson appeared to toe the establishment line in his writings back then, where as Allan Dick was a bit more forthright. Sometimes when applying for press/photographer passes at Pukekohe and supplying stuff to Autonews and NZ Hot Rod that were both seen as anti-establishment things could get interesting. I remember one time at the NZGP office Ron Frost refusing me a pass because of the magazines I was supplying, thankfully good old Margaret sorted out a pass for me on the sly. Such were things in the Empire at the time!

We could devote a whole thread to those scenarios when they have killed Cock Robbin over the past years ,actually in my book the rot set in, in 1967 when they canned the Allcomers ,how many other classes ,many of them healthy have they killed off since then ,and how many people have gone away to play elsewhere,its not just about money either a hell of a lot of people over the years have invested hours of time into building cars that have been ruled obsolete by the stroke of a pen

Incredible how many guys seemed able to build up or import a US "pony car" to race here yet MANZ seemed determined to kill it off and follow Europe. The huge crowds these cars pulled in (along with Formula A/5000) hasn't been seen in NZ other than the heyday of Aussie V8 rounds at Pukekohe and the Hampton Downs McLaren Festival.

Of course declining numbers were inevitable to a degree with increased competition for the sporting dollar but in my opinion they really hastened it with their 4200cc class joke. It would be interesting to hear some points of view from others who are/were older than me and knew what went on at MANZ and NZIGP. I know Peter Hanna seemed to be in constant conflict with them.

Case in point: Alan Boyle's Coke Viva GT. I ran into the man in 1995 and he was convinced that the Ford peddlers considered the car a real threat. MANZ rule changes rendered it uncompetitive, robbing the punters of a change of colour over the thousands of Ford Escorts that made up the fields then.

He still had the car, sitting unused. How mighty would it be to have this car out racing again? Very mighty in my view.

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How much of this controversy in the day stemmed from the blind allegiance of Mr Frost and cronies in power that 'real' race cars did not have fenders and that anything from the US was vulgar and tainted by professionalism. Would have loved to have seen the look on their faces when Lotus turned up in GLTL colours in '68.

Cheers
Lee

I picked up a copy of Classic Driver today and it says the Boyle "Coke" Viva has been bought my Mike Johns (former Targa man) for restoration and a return to the track. Good news.

Yes, its been restored to its red and white livery and is basically ready for action, or very close to it.

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Hi Shano, Here is an original photo of the Viva from the period. Mike John has sent me some photos of it since being repainted, but I cannot locate them at the moment. Yes was great to see some opposition to the Escorts.

Same applied to Roy Harrington in the bright yellow Imp against all of the Mini brigade.

Looks like Alan Boyle at the front of the car chatting to Jack Inwood.

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Here are a couple of photos of my pride and joy from 8 years ago. It is an Almac kitset with a Graham Berry chassis, 351 Cleveland ( good for 300 odd bhp), Supra 5 speed box and Wilwoods all round. Those lake pipes gave it a great sound. First engine run in the car attrached 20 odd people from around the neighbourhood who helped us celebrate. I completed it in two years and had two years of fun before passing it on.

It is currently in Wanganui have the front end rebuilt after the previous owner stuffed it into a bank and the insurance company sold it to recover their costs.

Good spotting, who is the bird walking past the rear guard.

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Originally Posted by GD66

Looks like Alan Boyle at the front of the car chatting to Jack Inwood.

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Not sure, but she's got a couple of the boys' attention. Notice Fahey's Escort looks to be sitting about 3" lower than the Viva.

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Here are the photos of the 'Coke' Viva as it is now courtesy of Mike John - ready to roll. Fantastic

A great looking car all right. Can't wait to hear its unique howl.

Great to see these classics restored or kept in original condition, Puke 2010 McLaren Festival.

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Originally Posted by Lee Tracey

How much of this controversy in the day stemmed from the blind allegiance of Mr Frost and cronies in power that 'real' race cars did not have fenders and that anything from the US was vulgar and tainted by professionalism. Would have loved to have seen the look on their faces when Lotus turned up in GLTL colours in '68.

Cheers
Lee

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Hey, I think you are being a little unfair to Ron Frost. He bought us the Tasman series, we saw Jim Clark, Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Graham Hill etc etc. Imagine seeing the current F1 drivers out here for a series! They also through the Tasman series enabled Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon, Denny Hulme, Gus Hyslop, George Lawton, Tony Shelly to have a crack in Europe. We raced against the best in the world and it taught us to foot it with them. Saloon car racing throughout the world at that time was not accepted as being serious racing. It was only when some of the Formula one drivers started playing "silly buggers" in production saloons that it became accepted.
Hindsight is wonderful.

Well said, sir!

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This is the front end treatment of The Francevic Fairlane ,it ran at the Pukekohe meeting when the Aussie lightweight Minis came across ,they took everything extra off it to try and save some weight to coax a bit more speed out of it ,frankly I don't think it looked very nice

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The Bryan Marshall chopped top A40 Farina from the same era ,Bryan put a Ford motor in it for that same Pukekohe meeting I owned this car for a short time just after this meeting

bob
Was this farina built in Wellington and did it have a 1650 pushrod motor?

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Originally Posted by fastback

bob
Was this farina built in Wellington and did it have a 1650 pushrod motor?

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No Bryan Marshall first raced it with the BMC A series engine in it ,then it got the chopped top look this was done at Owairaka Motors where Bryan worked ,with the other Brian who was involved in building the Custaxie ,after the All comers finished from memory Bryan put the Ford motor into the it,the body shell lay around after that for a while . I brought it with the intention of puting a FPF Climax engine I had rebuilt from sundry bits ( ,that is a thread of its own ) and a Fiat 2300 gearbox,running it as a GT in the sports car races,nobody accepted that as a good idea .but after a couple of "road tests " and witnessing the amount of flex in the body ,I decided I might have been brave but not stupid ,common sense prevailed and it was sold as bits ,out of interest I owned the Climax motor and box for quite a few years afterwards and by the time I sold them they had appreciated quite a bit in value ,which goes against the norm