Stu-he ran the Team Lexington Escort.
Stu-he ran the Team Lexington Escort.
He had one race in the Rothmans Cooper in 1966/67, then did a few clubbies in Anglias over the next couple of seasons, and a national season with an Escort Twincam in 1968/69. He then made a comeback in rallying a few years later
Two replies in under 15 minutes!! - thanks John and David!!
I should have known most of that. The little grey cells must have been taking some down time.
Stu
Fantastic pics, many I have never seen before. Thank you all so much
It's dads 75th birthday in October and we are putting together a big collage of both racing and non-racing events throughout his life, so we are looking for all/any pics that are either car related or show him with any of his fellow competitors over the years.
We have a good sized photo collection back in NZ which I will be going through and scanning when I visit in late September (and we will be sure to post some of the best ones here), but we know we are missing pics of some of the cars he raced over the years.
Cars that he raced that come to mind are (I think the years are right or at least close!):
Open Wheel Cars:
Lotus 22
HCM Special (Built from the Lotus 22)
McLaren M4A (Usually #9)
McLaren M10A (Cambridge, We believe chopped up and turned into a sportscar)
McLaren M10B (Bright Orange, Ex Matich, now restored in Australia in Match livery)
March 722 with Repco V8 engine (Metallic Blue, original bodywork)
March 722 with Mazda 13B engine (Bright Red, updated to 76/77 bodywork)
Late 80's domestic FP series a couple of races in Paul's Ralt RT4 at Baypark and maybe Pukekohe or Manfield
Saloon Cars:
V8 Coupe
Zephyr
Humber 80 (Jag engine, usually number 191, Bright Red)
Fastback Anglia (White)
FVA or FVC Escort (White, HCM on the side)
Saloon racing early 70's Monaro (Maybe 2, 1 orange, 1 red)
Saloon racing early 70's Torana XU1
B&H Datsun 1200 with Mark Petch (White)
B&H Fiat 125T (Yellow of course! and I think missing rear bumper)
B&H Charger (Dark green co-driven by Pat??)
Bathurst 71? GTHO Falcon with Trevor Mein (SP) Did not start due to bad weather reducing grid size
Bathurst 77 Mazda RX3 Coupe (Light Blue) with Bill Shiells
Bathurst 78 Mazda RX3 Coupe (Bright Yellow)
B&H/Club racing Mazda RX2 coupe (Mazda Brown with Big Yellow Stripe, Track & Street with Bill Shiells)
B&H/Club racing Mazda RX2 coupe (Red with big white stripes, Track & Street with Bill Shiells and Robbie Francevic)
Saloon racing 80's Toyota Trueno with Paul (Blue, Reidrubber)
Saloon racing early 80's Trimuph Dolomite (Dark green, but not sure if he ever actually raced it as it was unreliable)
Saloon racing 80's 1275GT Mini with Bill Shiells , Dave Saunders and Robyn
Saloon racing 80's Saab 900 Aerodeck (Silver)
There are probably a few more i've missed. I'll talk to the rest of the family and see if we can get a complete list together.
Last edited by Chris Radisich; 08-15-2013 at 07:16 PM.
Before the Zephyr was a Ford V8 coupé
Forgot about that one David, thanks. I remember Dad telling me about it, but as far as I know we've never found any pics of his V8 coupe anywhere.
Did the March 722 not have the Repco out of the McLatich stuffed in the back before the Mazda?
That brings back more memories Michael. Yes, before the Mazda the March did have a V8 in it, and it had the original 72 March bodywork which was narrow with small front wings, and was painted metallic blue (might have been metallic green before that), with small radiator pods on each side. I forget if he ever made it into any races with the V8 in it. I rmember it sitting around forever in his racecar workshop at the back of the service station in Henderson for quite a while like that.
He later updated the bodywork to probably 76 or 77 which included the rounded sidepods and rounded nose and painted it all red when he put the Mazda in it.
Interestingly the first ever single seater that my brother Paul drove was the March with the Mazda in it. He sneaked into the seat during a test day at Baypark one day at no more than 12 or 13.
Motorman January 1971- page 20 has a great half page pic of Graeme Lawrence and Frank with trophies waving to the crowd after 3rd round 1970/71 Gold Star Championship.
Someone could scan, copy and post.
[QUOTE=Steve Holmes;31949]........one of Frank when he and Paul shared a Toyota in production car racing in the early 80s, when Paul was still a teenager..........
1981 B&H at Pukekohe, also 2012 Leadfoot Hillclimb.
B&H Photos Frank in full face, and Bill in open.
Wow, these are great!
Great pics, thanks.
It was actually the same car HM5462 in those photos that dad and Bill raced together for a number of years. It started out in it's original Mazda orange, the later was painted red and white, and at that time when the rules were relaxed a bit in B&H racing, a second RX2 painted the same was added to the team and driven by various drivers.
Track and Street was the name of 3 auto accessory shops dad started in malls in Auckland, based upon ideas gained in the auto accessory shops in Australia.
Eventually that RX2 was turned into more of a club car complete with factory close ratio gearbox, LSD, one of Bills finest factory peripheral port engines and some nice firm suspension. It was even raced at Western Springs a couple of times in the Auckland Car Club events there. Once retired from racing it actually became my road car for a while. It was a pretty mean street machine at the time...The local V8 boys never saw that one coming, but they sure saw it leaving!
The Trueno was a very fast light car. It had a twin cam 1600 motor in it (I forget if it was 16 valve, but I don't think it was) with all kinds of great gear and good suspension in standard form, which made it a good choice under the regs for production racing in those days. I'm not even sure where dad found that car as it was never a production model or imported into NZ in volume.
It's funny how things work out sometimes. Paul and I had driven in the series the year before both making our car racing debut together in a Mazda 323 and were due to run together again in 81, while Frank was to run the Trueno with someone else (I think it might have been Bill Shiells) but something happened and Paul (fortunately) stepped into the Toyota with dad.
The car was fast, but of course lacked horsepower against the Falcons and Commodores and front running Toyota Celicas of the day, but at Manfield the lighter weight made the car very competitive and Frank and Paul raced near the front all day. Paul at one point late in the race put in a giant killing stint to race side by side with Leo Leonard and actually take the lead for a short time before having to pit for gas (the only problem with the Trueno was it had a very small fuel tank).
From that giant killing performance came an offer from Dave McMillen through Gary Pedersen to get Paul into Daves Ralt RT1 for the upcoming NZ Grand Prix at Pukekohe. The only problem was the car had a factory Datsun engine in it looked after by Reg Cook, and it run a bearing in practice and they were unable to get it rebuilt for race day, so Paul did not get to start his first NZ Grand Prix that weekend.
Paul did get some track time in the RT1 though, and enough to know it was what he wanted to do, so a lot of talking went on across the international series and a deal was finally put together to buy the Mike Rosen RT4 at the end of the International Series. Some old (well used, and all we could afford) BDA engines were sourced from Robbie Fransevic, and the rest as they say is history.
Pretty amazing that with almost no car experience at all (his racing background was motorcross, and he never raced karts) he went straight to the top level of NZ motorsport. Formula Ford was considered , but the cost of running the Formula Pacific car was not that much more than a Formula Ford, and money was very limited, so it was decided to take the plunge straight into Formula Pacific as the deal Mike Rosen offered in the end was too good really to be true, and in reality probably not much more than we would have spent on a Formula Ford.
The black and yellow Mazda RX2 is a current project dad has been working on. He put it together for the hillclimb at Rod Millens place. I think i'll try to sneak it out for a fun day when I'm visiting NZ later in the year!
Last edited by Chris Radisich; 08-16-2013 at 12:54 PM.
A question- Nov 14 1970 Frank was at NSCC Dunlop meeting, Pukekohe in Cambridge McLaren M10A. He was practicing, but had to stop because his young son fell off the fence and broke his arm. Which son was that?
Last edited by John McKechnie; 08-16-2013 at 08:54 PM.
That was Paul.
Paul was always breaking something, especially in his motorcross career. Racing bikes with guys like Graeme Standring someone was always wearing a cast. By the time Pauls motorcross ended at 17 he had broken everything including his back in a motocross career ending crash at the first Western Springs Supercross event. It was that back injury that plagued him through his car racing career, and was really aggravated by a startline crash in the BTCC, and the basis of what ultimately made him call time on his full time racing career recently. His size was always an issue in motocross, especially as he used to race both 125cc and 250cc bikes on the same day.
I still have memories of Paul stuck at home with a broken leg one time from a motocross accident with a full leg cast, but still jumping on one of our minibikes and pulling slow, long wheelstands up and down our long driveway trailing his leg and cast.
Looking for a great Formula 5000 Project? Check this one out
Chris, I remember that toyota well , was one out of the box , gave Gary & Leo a run for thier money, was a super little car a great choice, I think we meet down at the bottom of Queen Street & along to the right , did you use to pump gas in that servo on the l/h side ??. My father sold Frank a hot mk 2 engine years gone by they wheeled & dealed, Ernie bought the Anglia off Frank that Gary raced , can also remember Frank coming down to Tauranga to help muster funds from us car dealers to support Paul UK motor racing that would have been early 80,s I gues , you will be proud of the history behind yr name , as for you not getting that drive at Bay Park , you were a little like me at the wrong end of the peck order lol. You will be happy to know I buy AEGIS products off your family business, & hey great piks enjoy my freind , Kind Regards Grant ps hows is yr uncle Tony , have bought a few cars off him in the past , sharp as a tack is Tony
Chris you mentioned the Western Springs night, they were great fun. funny seeing circuit cars skidding around on oval, and some went alright as well.
I was in my Cooper S on the grid behind Neville Crichton in his green HQ Monaro that night.
The usual suspects were there getting in practice the night before a hill climb at Ridge Road.
[QUOTE=Chris Radisich;32427]
.......a deal was finally put together to buy the Mike Rosen RT4 at the end of the International Series.....
From the Pukekohe meeting at the end of march 1982, Pauls first F/pacific race (?) car still in the colours run by Mike Rosen.
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