Photos: The John Metford Collection

[duncan fox]

Thought it looked like an M16C, then, saw the V8 and thought...naaah...why would someone do that.

We bought it from a guy Ron Rickard in SanDiego it had a 302 chevy in it then, bad installation looked like it had been done with a knife and fork. So why not? we had formula Libre and the engine was available..........The combo was fantastic solid, heavy, stable car and fast. Aaron Lewis ran it at Indy in this format and said he'd never driven anything like it or with anywhere near the power.
Rickard got it from Chuck Haines at CanAm Cars who bought it and another from Jerry Karl who qualified our car at Indy in 81 with a Chevy. JerryKarl bought it from Salt Walther who had purchased it from the team.

[Andrew Metford]

Now a couple from the glory days of Wings and Wheels at Whenuapai Air Force Base, an event sorely missed by many.

#48 - Mercedes BB
#230 - Lotus 23 ( real or replica? )
#232 - Ford Cortina MK2
171 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

172 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

Tony Roberts again, accelerating hard
179 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

[Andrew Metford]

Back to Pukekohe

Pinepac racing, and the Anderson brothers, before both cars got butchered in the search of outright speed.
173 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

Owen Evans, winner of the Nissan Mobil 500 Wellington Street Race in 1993 - not sure if this photo is before of after
174 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

175 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

Owen Evans - Porsche 964
Carl Hansen - Triumph TR8
Tony Roberts - 1970 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 454
John Warring - Porsche 911
Bill Fulford - Porsche 964
Derek Atkinson - Morgan +8
Ray Williams - 1983 Porsche 930 Turbo
Stuart McCondach? - Ferrari 308
Dean Fulford - Porsche 911
Chris Watson - Triumph TR8
?? - Datsun 260 Z
Don Kay? - Porsche 911
176 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

Robin Chadwick - 1962 Riley 1.5 Robin used to drive the car up from Hawera, race, and drive back home again.
177 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

Colin Waite - 1958 Stanguellini Formula Junior 1100cc
178 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

[Alan Hyndman]

Back to Pukekohe

Owen Evans - Porsche 964
Carl Hansen - Triumph TR8
Tony Roberts - 1970 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 454
John Warring - Porsche 911
Bill Fulford - Porsche 964
Derek Atkinson - Morgan +8
Ray Williams - 1983 Porsche 930 Turbo
Stuart McCondach? - Ferrari 308
Dean Fulford - Porsche 911
?? - Triumph TR8
?? - Datsun 260 Z
Don Kay? - Porsche 911
176 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

I'm confident in saying that's HRC's Chris Watson in the second TR (which, I think, ultimately suffered a roll at Whenuapai).

[928]

We bought it from a guy Ron Rickard in SanDiego it had a 302 chevy in it then, bad installation looked like it had been done with a knife and fork. So why not? we had formula Libre and the engine was available..........The combo was fantastic solid, heavy, stable car and fast. Aaron Lewis ran it at Indy in this format and said he'd never driven anything like it or with anywhere near the power.
Rickard got it from Chuck Haines at CanAm Cars who bought it and another from Jerry Karl who qualified our car at Indy in 81 with a Chevy. JerryKarl bought it from Salt Walther who had purchased it from the team.

Thanks Duncan, I heard a rumour that there was an M16 in Christchurch and wondered if this was it.

[duncan fox]

Thanks Duncan, I heard a rumour that there was an M16 in Christchurch and wondered if this was it.

you heard correctly 928, it is 16-4 an ex Penske car, the tub was refurbished and the project came to a halt. I believe it is either going or already gone to Walter Goodwin in Indy for completion. its been here for probably 15 years

[duncan fox]

Photo 169 and 176 are very familiar and memory envoking, The Corvette is how Tony Roberts and myself got to know each other. Tony arrived down my driveway in Bucklands Beach driving the ugliest custom corvette I had ever seen . He wanted to find out how to make it go fast and handle for under a 100 dollars. Mate, I said you don't have the money to do what I want to do to it, so we joined forces and have been scheming together ever since. The cars construction actually began with a bit of friendly banter with Alan Cattle , who helped me occasionally with my fibre glass 308 GTB Ferrari. I was in his shop one day and he and several other fine persons were working on fitting some huge brakes on Stu McCondachs 308. I stupidly asked how much they were worth and to my horror was advised that they were close on $40K. To which I replied I could build a Corvette for that , that would blow its doors off. Alan years later confided in me that he agreed with me but couldn't at the time. And so the Corvette became a reality. Built on a shoestring Tony even sold his birthday present barbeque to buy the Holley carb we needed. The car was a winner from the word go. The first American sportscar to break into the TACCOC scene. We beat the Porkers up on a regular basis. Every race was filmed from almost the same spot in the stands that the photo was taken. We studied the tapes to find our strengths and weaknesses and worked only on minor mods. 10K per year budget resulted in 2 T&C Championships 42 wins from 56 or so starts only a couple of dnf's. Owen and Bill threw a fortune at their Lighting Direct program and still we kept in front. Only when racing Ray put the big turbos on did we realise the end was near The Corvette started out doing 1.14's and we developed it to down to 1.05 dead just with gear ratio changes aero and other minor work. Didn't touch the engine for 3 seasons.
Of course Tonys a bloody good driver as well ...that helped. My wife called it the FRC.

[928]

thanks duncan, so rumours do come true. i don't suppose you know who had it and where they based. TIA