Photos: The Bill Pottinger Collection - Part 1

[Grant Sprague]

Wooow , Bill thank you for such detailed pics of my big Bro, & Steve for posting these . These pics are about the 3rd year of owner ship of this fun car, Gary would have been about 18 yrs old here. You can see it has the new mini lites , Ernie took pride in reducing weight on all his cars , he taught us its the cheapest subtitute for HP , when the car arrived from the NI Ernie had contacts in UK & got some better go fast bits , had castings made for bell housuing , diff housing , tail shaft housing [Alloy], alloy skins etc all made locally in Timaru, I think the diff housing might have been lotus I tried to take it all in a a kid , never had a roll cage too heavy lol , untill later in this pic Mum kept on at Dad to have saftey for Gary , you can see a cage in pic it was mad of the lightest strongest I think called drian [dranium]??metal for air crafts??. Bill I was talking to Roly [Levis] yesterday he is going to get on to the roaring season to check out some pics etc you have taken , he is flying out to Aussie as I am typing to stay with oldest daughter Vivian to get some warmer weather , he is very keen to get into roaring season....... Kind Regards Grant

[Carlo]

If I remember correctly Grant those were the first set of alloy panels that Brian Livingston produced. We did have a pretty clever bunch of apprentices across the various branches of the motor trade in Timaru those days.

[Grant Sprague]

Carlo , also Barry Turner , he did the panels on some of the other cars plus my Merlin Scanz car I bought off Browny he & Livy are artists & Ash Palmer making those tools with Ernie to change brake pads at B& H races in lightening speed not to mention the quick lift jacks when all others used hydraulic pump jacks , they might not have had alway the fastest cars in a straight line but made up for it with physics etc , Yes we had the backing of Timaru all were were a part of the team .....

[Carlo]

Grant, some of the fuel churns or copies of them are still doing the job today in the South Island endurance series today

Team Timaru, totally united when out of town and fighting like buggery to prove who was best when at home. Still happens today and is I believe, why we still have so many from the region who excel at the various disciplines within our sport

[Grant Sprague]

Carlos , this was an other story , I was with Dad when he was in the old shed in King Street when he was playing about with the internal breathing tubes in the large churns readying for a B & H .. to get the fuel in & out as quick a possible , he also devised a swirling fin inside to speed the fuel flow [not sure if he continued with that fin.the churn [as you know] was that big it took one large dump of fuel & vanished into the fuel tank in seconds , while the Auck boys were using factory made funnels etc ....... by the time they pitted & out , an other 1/5 lap was made up ???on some others . My very good friend Kevin Bann [Kelford Cams] Chch is looking after that same churn if you would like to borrow it not a prob...... I have sooooooo many stories lol ??

[Steve Holmes]

More saloon car action, from the Loop, at Wigram, 1970. First up is Paul Fahey, in typical pose in the FVA Escort, his favourite race car, leading Red Dawson in the Shelby Mustang.

[Steve Holmes]

Here is John Riley, in the ex-Paul Fahey Mustang, leading Gary Sprague in the Escort twin-cam

[Grant Sprague]

Have to grin , if you look closely you will see the rear of bonnets up at the back a bit to get air flow out as quick as possible , a lot of people have forgotten about this over the years ,make a big difference over a period of laps ???........some of you would have seen yr bonnets try & blow off 3/4 way down back straight of Puke with the air trapped in engine bay , especially alloy & fibre glass ones .........have a great day guys Grant

[Shoreboy57]

More saloon car action, from the Loop, at Wigram, 1970. First up is Paul Fahey, in typical pose in the FVA Escort, his favourite race car, leading Red Dawson in the Shelby Mustang.

As a fan, my favourite too. Would love to see it run at HD in January

[John McKechnie]

Have to grin , if you look closely you will see the rear of bonnets up at the back a bit to get air flow out as quick as possible , a lot of people have forgotten about this over the years ,make a big difference over a period of laps ???........some of you would have seen yr bonnets try & blow off 3/4 way down back straight of Puke with the air trapped in engine bay , especially alloy & fibre glass ones .........have a great day guys Grant

Grant- no grins allowed now, its different. I had a scrutineer come to me at HD as the rear of the bonnet was up a small amount on one side.
They want the bonnets dead flush so no oil, flames etc will come backward onto the windscreen.

[Oldfart]

Grant- no grins allowed now, its different. I had a scrutineer come to me at HD as the rear of the bonnet was up a small amount on one side.
They want the bonnets dead flush so no oil, flames etc will come backward onto the windscreen.

And would the factory gap prevent those?

[John McKechnie]

I tried that old line about factory finish, but alas no.
Have to modify things to really snug it down if I want to run again.
Look at pic 131 0n my thread Newspaper Reporter to see Grants lopsided bonnet grin on the Monaro.

[Grant Sprague]

Yep relate to your words .......... lol

Grant- no grins allowed now, its different. I had a scrutineer come to me at HD as the rear of the bonnet was up a small amount on one side.
They want the bonnets dead flush so no oil, flames etc will come backward onto the windscreen.

[Rod Grimwood]

On Anglias and Escort had 2 pieces of garden hose for each bonnet pin, one just right for flush sit and once scrutineered back to pit slip it off and on went longer ones to hold back of bonnet up, amazing as Grant says you run with flush ones down Puke and bonnet bulge and trying to leap off, sit back up and neat. Another thing i did was put a very little alloy lip along the back of bonnet and it formed a vortex between bonnet and screen, you could see heat flying out and over screen. Downfall was when you had a leak or major, screen was covered in crap. Ran bonnet down in wet. Lots of tricks back then ah Grant.

[Grant Sprague]

Rod , Air [WIND] is a very powerful element , alot of people learn from its energy, there is a real science there.
As for the bonnets & pins , my last car had a fibre glass bonnet the rear pins were long ????? , any way you would think the bonnet would tear in half the way it use to climb up [Pkue 250k was recorded], goes to show the force of the air brake??. Hey Rod are you the same Rod we use to kick about with in the earlier days , taupo etc etc . Any way have a great week end my friend ..... Grant

[Rod Grimwood]

Rod , Air [WIND] is a very powerful element , alot of people learn from its energy, there is a real science there.
As for the bonnets & pins , my last car had a fibre glass bonnet the rear pins were long ????? , any way you would think the bonnet would tear in half the way it use to climb up [Pkue 250k was recorded], goes to show the force of the air brake??. Hey Rod are you the same Rod we use to kick about with in the earlier days , taupo etc etc . Any way have a great week end my friend ..... Grant

Yep same one Grant, same Mo different colour and not much hair left, still got my old Escort (with long back pins) in room out back mate.
Great days at Taupo and Bay Park will catch up some time.

[Rod Grimwood]

Front pin with height hose still fitted, and rear pin with hose removed, but notice rear pin a lot longer. Short hose went on to sit bonnet in flush position for scrutineering with spacer between bonnet and pin, Then longer piece fitted to hold bonnet up tight on pin.

[Grant Sprague]

Ha ha Good one Rod , I had the same colour hose [different Lengths as well lol]......... Yea mate thought it was you , we use to have a blast . I am now married with 3 girls........ Now a good boy lol ??. But really miss the racing . I go down to Rotorua with a few mates do the go carts etc that makes me feel better , I get a hard time as apparently I seen to get the best carts just cant win lol. I do have a red car that blows my cob webs out [zo6] plus got a screaming eagle on the way so that will helps also , my girls not very happy about that , so getting my bike licence might be a fad but time is marching on , what about you mate what have you been up to. I remember your escort you are one of the ole boys like me we had so much fun , but still serious . Yep I would love to catch up ......... keep in touch . Grant

[John McKechnie]

Grant- sounds like you may be getting ready to have a mid-life crisis and get a HMC , Sports Sedan or SS2000

[Rod Grimwood]

Hard case Grant I got 2 girls, must have been all that water we drank. I am hopeing to get my car back together soon and do some classic events. I will certainly be in touch and have a catch up at some time. It's been a couple of years.
Cheers mate