Yards And Yarns

[Oldfart]

In the What where when, I mentioned stories at Tarawera.
To start; at this particular event Jim Boyd had the Lycoming, and was regailing us all with the tale of having been stopped by a cop at Waharoa, just north of Matamata. "But officer, I was only doing 1500rpm, the previous owner told me that was 55mph, and becuase of when it was built I don't have to have a speedo."
Cop says, "well I reckon you were going too quick, but I did not get a reading"
Boyd then says, "How about you head off down the road, I will follow you, when you are doing 50, stick your arm out the window, I'll look at the revs, and I promise I won't speed again".
Cop agrees, as described, it all happens and Boydie is on his way to Tarawera. The final line is, "and the bloody thing only fires every alternate lampost down the back straight at Puke when it's flat out, dumb cop!"
In reality the language was somewhat more colourful, but I do remember forum etiquette!

[Rod Grimwood]

Bob, you got yourself into some difficult situations, must have been the company you kept. I could not imagine you being involved.

[Russ Cunningham]

Thanks AMC072. What a great site. I am a beginner against you guys when it comes to memories and knowledge. interesting how myth and facts blend over time. We certainly had some fun. Who remembers the after race parties in the pub in Levin, the name escapes me. Willow Park in Tauranga etc. etc. The modern race driver goes home and goes to bed, alone. Just never let the truth stand in the way of a good story.

THE OXFORD!

[David McKinney]

Yep, and if the Oxford was too crowded there was always the New Levin. Fond memories of both

[Grant Ellwood]

Hey Bob, I watched the Kerry Grant incident at Cabbage Tree corner, must have been 1966 or thereabouts. Think he got tripped up by Roly Levis or Dene Hollier but the memory is pretty fuzzy. I do recall the rollbar on Kerry's car was flattened.

[Rod Grimwood]

David ,can you remember the November meeting when the Beer ran short in the town ,and they resticted the number of flagons you could take away with you ,would have been the year that Kerry Grant got tipped up in the Brabham

#350 :- There you go again Bob, in the middle of it again. I could not imagine the gents of those days drinking much at all.
And me from such a sheltered upbringing until i started meeting and racing with them.

The more this happens Bob, the closer I think the book will have to be when you got 10 minutes spare.

[Grant Ellwood]

And then you had the Mungavin brothers in Levin, Lew and Rob (hopefully I got the names right), Lew worked for Sid Jensen alongside Bryan Faloon and it was hard to find two opposites, Bryan-very reserved and Lew, let it all hang out..

#350 :- There you go again Bob, in the middle of it again. I could not imagine the gents of those days drinking much at all.
And me from such a sheltered upbringing until i started meeting and racing with them.

The more this happens Bob, the closer I think the book will have to be when you got 10 minutes spare.

[Grant Ellwood]

Bryan probably would be a drifting star these days... Do you remember the Atkins brothers, Ross and Francis? Prior to racing Formula Fords they both had Anglias and drove sideways everywhere, likewise other Levin Car Club racers Malcolm Emmerson and Tony Ashdowne. Probably left someones name out of the Levin Anglia mafia.
I last saw Ross Atkins at Manfeild circa 1996, I was strapped into the Ralt about to head out to the starting grid when Ross leaned over and advised me to "be carefull out there, today is the anniversary of Faloony's death" - not quite the words of encouragement I was expecting to hear.....

Grant it annoyed me today ,had to find it ,would have been the 28th November 1964 meeting,he tripped over Rex Flowers and he ended upside down ,another strange bit of trivia that is connected I took Bryans LSD centre down for him on the Friday before that meeting ,it was one of the Ray Stone / Merv Mayo built ones and Merv finished it on the Thursday night in time for me to take down on Friday ,
Yes Lou was the outgoing Mungavin from memory, (the entertainer ),you are right about Bryan he was a quiet guy ,but he made up for it in his driving,he let it all hang out there

[Carlo]

THE OXFORD!

After the Oxford the Wahine & Rangatira were pretty good too for those of us who had to travel South on the Sunday night. Back in Lyttleton between 5.30 to 6.00am Monday and at work in Timaru by 8.00am

[Russ Cunningham]

Was it Frank Gardners mechanic that did that ,if I can find it I will pass it on here,ohh then there was the case of the World Champion and the Kiwi Mustang driver at one of the meetings ,car vs sack dunny from memory

What makes you think that the man from Mauriceville grew up to be a responsible adult? Hello Richard!

[Trevor Sheffield]

That was the quickest way around Levin in a Anglia in those days on the tyres we used,even later on with tyres with more grip you still tended to drive that way around there

Yes Bob,

Entering the sweeper at full throttle, setting the car up to drift round on a progressively falling throttle and then with a little on the brake, getting the revs exact to make a very smooth down change so as not to upset the drifting rear end, was a delight not experienced, or for that matter required these days. Sticky tyres spoiled all the fun. LOL

Cheers, Trevor.

[Trevor Sheffield]

Bob,

Just downed a whisky and i can sit here on my lean back chair and live it again, like singing in the rain.

Genuine cheers this time. Trevor.

[Trevor Sheffield]

Yes, yes Bob and another thought, or obtuse angle of thought.

The thing does not have to go round as if on rails, provided that it answers the helm. Frightens hell out of the opposition and they let you go by, or is it bye, or even bye-bye! It used to be first at, or up to the corner, was first into the corner with right of way, AND IN FRONT and winning. To hell with how tidy you got round, a race has no relationship with a time trial.

Again cheers, Trevor.

[Grant Ellwood]

Bob, my memory is not too hot, I can only recall a couple of solid offs at Levin - first (and my first concussion) was front on into the bank at Cabbage Tree in my Anglia, the engine ended up under the driver's seat. The second was sliding off the sweeper in the Begg FF and leaping the horse fence (inverted). I always found the bent bits of track "difficult".

You summed that up nicely Trevor ,the other thing that sticks in my mind was the ever increasing amount of tarmac that came into view through the drivers side window as the car leaned and the corner tightened up ,I don't think Grant will agree as I think he got see a bit too much of the tarmac one day

[Rod Grimwood]

After the Oxford the Wahine & Rangatira were pretty good too for those of us who had to travel South on the Sunday night. Back in Lyttleton between 5.30 to 6.00am Monday and at work in Timaru by 8.00am

What was the attraction on these ferry's Carl, did they have movies or just sit outside and enjoy the scenery.

[Shano]

It must have been the friendly and helpful crew.

[Rod Grimwood]

Now theres another thread "The Infamous Cook Straight Crossings" or "Trips North & South" some good, some bad, some not sure.

[Oldfart]

I have a bloody good idea what the methanol is, if you are the one on the quicklift behind Grant Clearwaters' Connaught you soon learn!

[ElCoyote]

Entertainment ,yes I can remember a couple of crossings on the Maori ,one of them had a peculiar entertainment called the dance of the wooden deck scrubber or old scrubber as it was nicknamed ,trouble was she didn't like being the centre of attraction and fled from the scene,unconfirmed reports said she may have jumped overboard in the night ,I don't know if there was any official report on her disappearance,perhaps a search of the engineers log for the crossing might show a unexplained voltage surge of the generating capacity on the night of the crossing

Until you had experienced the Tamahine you had not lived!!

[David McKinney]

I can second that!