teams, mechanics and crews

[paul lancaster]

Time to honour some of the folk, who without them, drivers wouldn't have won championships, or made a name for themselves.
Coming from timaru, nz, we have got some great local guys, who have worked for all sorts of teams.
Wayne Murdoch, fast peddler himself, but also an excellent mechanlc.
Alan Dunn, former racer, turned car builder, has worked in the U.S., Australia, and lots of other nz teams.
Jody Wilson, who has a fine reputation, worked for the Andy knight team for a long time, helping build and sort their super tourer, now helping Martin short, Brent Collins nzv8 new generation cars, he's not long been back from the U.S., to the saltlake flats, where he spannered Craig Gilbert to a new landspeed record, 387kph, which Craig told me, data showed it was wheelspinning at 300kph.
Eric Johnston from ashburton, also well known for building a fine v8,

Tell us your story's, either on the track, or off it, some of the road trips teams have made, or havnt.

[rf84]

From Hawkes Bay.
Steele Therkleson who worked for Carroll Shelby and to whom Shelby attributed a large amount of credit for their Le Mans victory. In later years he ran a very successful car restoration business in California.
Garry Simkin and Phil Harris. Phil worked for Graeme Lawrence on the M4A, F5000 etc before moving to Oz where he worked for Alec Mildren and then Pat Burke Racing on Warwick Brown's F5000. When Garry moved to Australia he also went to Pat Burke's then the pair went to the US and ended up with VDS. I'm sure Garry will fill in some more details.
Darryl and Wayne Palleson-Murray Taylor racing (UK)
Malcolm Webb-Dick Bennett's West Surrey Racing.
Alistair Caldwell-McLaren.
Alan Curry (originally from Scotland) but now residing in a retirement home in Havelock North-Borders Reivers. He was working with them on the 'D'Type Jags at Le Mans.
Bill Hanna-went with Dennis Hulme and Angus Hyslop to UK.
Craig Sant

[paul lancaster]

That's a good memory you have rf84, I think it's only right that these guys are mentioned, behind every good or great driver, there is a good mechanic, and a good team.

[Barry]

Don't forget max Rutherford in New Plymouth, Jackie Stewarts right hand man after working for Brabham.

[rf84]

Dick Bennetts himself
The Schollum brothers
Steve Horne
Roger Hill
Kevin Ingram
The Porteous brothers (Dale and Roger) and Leo Wybrott (all from Hastings). All 3 worked for both Lotus and Dale and Leo also worked for McLaren.
Alan McCall (builder of the Tui cars and designer of at least 1 Tecno F1 car)
John Nicholson (along with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon designed, built and raced their own F1 cars).

[paul lancaster]

I was lucky enough to meet Dick Bennett's at levels 2 yrs ago, he said he's had something like 16 f1 drivers pass through his team

[928]

Dick Bennetts himself
The Schollum brothers
Steve Horne
Roger Hill
Kevin Ingram
The Porteous brothers (Dale and Roger) and Leo Wybrott (all from Hastings). All 3 worked for both Lotus and Dale and Leo also worked for McLaren.
Alan McCall (builder of the Tui cars and designer of at least 1 Tecno F1 car)
John Nicholson (along with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon designed, built and raced their own F1 cars).

John Nicholson did not design and build his own car. the Lyncar was designed and built by Martin Slater, for JN

[Grant Ellwood]

Dick Bennetts himself
The Schollum brothers
Steve Horne
Roger Hill
Kevin Ingram
The Porteous brothers (Dale and Roger) and Leo Wybrott (all from Hastings). All 3 worked for both Lotus and Dale and Leo also worked for McLaren.
Alan McCall (builder of the Tui cars and designer of at least 1 Tecno F1 car)
John Nicholson (along with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon designed, built and raced their own F1 cars).

Regarding Alan McCall, I have one of his Formula Supervee Tuis in my shop now, originally designed for Formula Atlantic then adapted for Supervee which was really taking off in USA back in the early '70s. The monocoque is beautifully built and I'm hoping this car ends up in New Zealand. Haven't much more info as the Tui has just arrived and I'm just starting to research its history.

[Kiwiboss]

From Hawkes Bay.
Steele Therkleson who worked for Carroll Shelby and to whom Shelby attributed a large amount of credit for their Le Mans victory. In later years he ran a very successful car restoration business in California.
Garry Simkin and Phil Harris. Phil worked for Graeme Lawrence on the M4A, F5000 etc before moving to Oz where he worked for Alec Mildren and then Pat Burke Racing on Warwick Brown's F5000. When Garry moved to Australia he also went to Pat Burke's then the pair went to the US and ended up with VDS. I'm sure Garry will fill in some more details.
Darryl and Wayne Palleson-Murray Taylor racing (UK)
Malcolm Webb-Dick Bennett's West Surrey Racing.
Alistair Caldwell-McLaren.
Alan Curry (originally from Scotland) but now residing in a retirement home in Havelock North-Borders Reivers. He was working with them on the 'D'Type Jags at Le Mans.
Bill Hanna-went with Dennis Hulme and Angus Hyslop to UK.
Craig Sant

My American mate out of Southern California reckons us Kiwis are the Gypsy's of the world, he says were friggen everywhere, LOL and he means that kindly!! he still doesn't believe we only have 4.5 M(he's been down a few times and now has a Kiwi wife) reckons more like 40M, LOL and he says if everyone came back at once were'd have no were to put them all!! A few years back he went up though China(via NZ and Australia) to do the Mongolian express as the train stops at his ancestors old home town somewhere in the Ukraine!! he gets put in with the only 2 other white people on the train, yeap you guess it, they're from Dunedin!!

I had the pleasure to visit Steele several times the last few years of his life in California, amazing guy and achieve greatness in the auto world especially with Shelby Automobiles!! his nickname was "Stainless Steel" and built the engines in both the McLaren/Amon and then Gurney/Foyt GT40's that won Le Mans, that's how good he was. I had the pleasure to be invite by Steele to a Shelby Reunion in Gardena and went along with him one time, it was fun!! he always had a luv for NZ but had been in the US for so long it was home and couldn't come back even though he quite often talked about it. RIP Steele.

Dale M

[Oldfart]

Alex Bell (Surtees and a lot of others)
Bill Robinson
Phil Sharp
Grant Clearwater
all in Kerikeri (and there are others

[rf84]

Oldfart. Next time you are talking to Alex Bell ask him what happened to the U2 and Lotus 41 he once owned.

[Oldfart]

Oldfart. Next time you are talking to Alex Bell ask him what happened to the U2 and Lotus 41 he once owned.

I have just spoken with him, and he gave me a run down on the 41 which was actually a 41Bbrought out here as a test car. Alex bought it from MacLean(?) in Napier (who had crashed a Tiger Moth) and then turned into a Formula Ford. Alex put a new body on it after a biff or two, put the side rads on (and a new chassis) sold it to Kevin Ingram who won the Champs in it, Bruce Turnbull helped him rebuild it into the car which is around. Probably the only bit still around from the original car is the (illegal) gearbox.
Bruce Turnbull also got the U2 and it wound up with someone in broadcasting who apparently still has it.

[woody]

Paul, Is Pete Wilson the same man that was Peter Knight,s mechanic?

[Grant Sprague]

Woody , Peter Wilson [Pumkin] worked on Peter Knights Snr Boat , there were a few peters working , admin, , & racing must be a bit confusing ................. in that time & mostly from Chch & Timaru . Hope you did not mind me answering this question as Paul might not be here for a few hrs of days ............. cheers Grant

[paul lancaster]

Yip, your right there woody, Pete's nickname was pumpkin, he was a close friend of Paul Jones, who was my step-father.Pete's son Jody Wilson is also a top mechanic, and worked on Andy knights rides for years, and now looks after Craig Gilbert, and of late the 2 new generation nzv8 camrys run by the tony Richards team.
Pumpkin n jonesy were best of mates, and I remember some big sessions on Sunday nights after race day, lol.

[rf84]

Thanks for that Oldfart. It confirms what I suspected. The Lotus 41 was imported by Roger and Dale Porteous after their first stint at Team Lotus. It had a standard 1500 pre-crossflow Ford in it. It sat in the Ford dealership in Hastings for years before going into storage in a fertiliser factory. Glen McLeod (one of the McLeods of DePelichet McLeod a big stock and station company) bought it but before he could drive it he was very seriously injured when a Tiger Moth he was a passenger in crashed while practising for an air show. He was crippled and from then on he only ever drove an MGB automatic. I looked him up in Vancouver in 1988 where he was a minister in a Baptist church. Glen sold it to Alex who converted it into a Formula Ford. It got pretty punch drunk and the final straw came when Alex "lost it" coming over the hill at Puke and was T-boned. The remains went to Kevin who built a new car using the bits. If I am right it formed the basis of the Keram (currently for sale on Trademe).
Wonder who it is that has the U2? Any ideas Jamie?

[Oldfart]

Thanks for that Oldfart. It confirms what I suspected. The Lotus 41 was imported by Roger and Dale Porteous after their first stint at Team Lotus. It had a standard 1500 pre-crossflow Ford in it. It sat in the Ford dealership in Hastings for years before going into storage in a fertiliser factory. Glen McLeod (one of the McLeods of DePelichet McLeod a big stock and station company) bought it but before he could drive it he was very seriously injured when a Tiger Moth he was a passenger in crashed while practising for an air show. He was crippled and from then on he only ever drove an MGB automatic. I looked him up in Vancouver in 1988 where he was a minister in a Baptist church. Glen sold it to Alex who converted it into a Formula Ford. It got pretty punch drunk and the final straw came when Alex "lost it" coming over the hill at Puke and was T-boned. The remains went to Kevin who built a new car using the bits. If I am right it formed the basis of the Keram Currently for sale on Trademe).
Wonder who it is that has the U2? Any ideas Jamie?

Alex told me that when he bought it for $10K, it had a twincam, which he sold off to a friend with a rally car. I believe you are right on the button with the Keram (if that's what it's called). 10 was a fair bit in that time, he let go of a pristine Viva GT to get it. Alex did the deal with the wife while Glen was still in hospital, the story is a long but good one.

[fullnoise68]

Not taking anything away from any of the guys mentioned already, those that were fortunate enough to listen to Denny Hulmes' mechanic Carey Taylor ( not sure if spelt correctly) at this years NZFMR in the paviliion, I`m sure were as impressed as I was at his vivid memory and being able to hear just some of the very interesting times with Denny through all the highs and lows of his peak years. Very much a number 8 wire kiwi mentality against the odds scenario, and it`d be great to hear more from him.

[Michael Clark]

Welcome to TRS John A - I have just forwarded that photo to Cookie - it might encourage him...

[John A]

Welcome to TRS John A - I have just forwarded that photo to Cookie - it might encourage him...

Thanks Michael. Here is another that he might like. That is Cookie in the middle at the back and another Kiwi Warwick Orr third from right and JA front left.This was the Ibec Hesketh LeMans team.