Originally Posted by
Rod Grimwood
Yep I grew up admiring the Bear and Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon and still do. But i have reservations about Denny Hulme a little after the 86 Mobil at Puke, I got the snarl and fix it from him before the race and we were way down the field and never going to be a threat to anyone. We were driving a Commodore (NZ Built) and without all the fancy engine bits they did not like heat, would run nice temp at 6500 but you nudge up to 7000 and up went the gauge, so I pulled the bottom of the grill out of its mounts and angled it back a fraction to give it a little more air, and it was sweet. As I said before we were not a threat (about 4 plus seconds) off the big boys. sitting on the grid and Denny walks up and suggests i put the grill in properly or he will protest. I just could not believe it, so yep we put it back and as soon as the 5 minute board went up it happened to slip out again and was tapped in position so it did not come right out. If we had the big gear and budget i could understand, but we were just there for the experience and had a ball. Ironically during the race i got to braking at end of back straight after just starting my second stint and haveing been told the brakes feel funny, when yep they were funny like not there, I look up and here is Mr Hulme in the gold Commodore turning into hairpin and i think "neat now i am going to take out the best known driver in NZ" thank god I could spin the car and went right around the back of him. That would not have been a good look and I reckon he would have been more grumpy.