Northern Sports Car Club - the early years.

[John McKechnie]

I found that when I ran my quite warm 1275 Cooper S at Cossey's it was near impossible to get traction at the start and recording a decent time was therefore hopeless. I somehow recall cow dung on the concrete.

Yep, I found the same with my Cooper S,, a lot of wheel spin.Too bad if you had a big cam, I can remember a yellow racing Mini Cooper 998- Sandringham Service Station on the side...Sid Ward?. At flat Andersons Farm , he absolutely flew, here, just couldnt get the revs right...high revs, then it would bog, rev then bog,,,sad.and cow dung was in abundance- but , hey, it was a farm.No road closures.And I dont think the gate posts were ever intentionally widened.

[Roger Dowding]

Bob Homewood who competed on the day posted these pages from The Club's magazine " Club Torque ".;
The article and results.




Some pictures ;
a few well known names and cars ;




I has only just joined NSCC in February, when I purchased my first car a 1960 Mini, so unsure if I was there or not.

[Roger Dowding]

Bob Homewood who competed on the day posted these pages from The Club's magazine " Club Torque ".;
The article and results.




Some pictures ;
a few well known names and cars ;




I has only just joined NSCC in February, when I purchased my first car a 1960 Mini, so unsure if I was there or not.

Reposting these articles and photos from " Club Torque " of the first Hill Climb at Cosseys Farm, Drury with a photo of " Tomato " one of the cars that achieved FTD .. at 1.minute 1.2 [ 61.2 seconds ] see that later on [ later events ] Ross Hollings in Mini-Max did 54 seconds at some stage.

Here is " Tomato " - with Alan Boyle and a few trophies !!.

[Trevor Sheffield]

Reposting these articles and photos from " Club Torque " of the first Hill Climb at Cosseys Farm, Drury with a photo of " Tomato " one of the cars that achieved FTD .. at 1.minute 1.2 [ 61.2 seconds ] see that later on [ later events ] Ross Hollings in Mini-Max did 54 seconds at some stage.

Here is " Tomato " - with Alan Boyle and a few trophies !!.

The FTD times were in directly proportion to the amount off cow dung on the staring pad (concrete cowshed entrance) and whether it was dry or wet. Comparison between meetings are highly suspect. I recall on one occasion waiting for what appeared to be hours trying to get traction when driving my 1275 Mini Cooper. Shit of a day for FWD. LOL

[Roger Dowding]

The FTD times were in directly proportion to the amount off cow dung on the staring pad (concrete cowshed entrance) and whether it was dry or wet. Comparison between meetings are highly suspect. I recall on one occasion waiting for what appeared to be hours trying to get traction when driving my 1275 Mini Cooper. Shit of a day for FWD. LOL

Thanks Trevor, remember it well, start uphill, in the Cow Dung then onto the loose metal .. first time for me was in an 850cc Mini in 1971 - next a Mark 3 Sprite '75-76 , then a Triumph GT6 76 - 78, and finally the Triumph TR4A 1978 and in the 1979/80 " Bardahl " series ..

The Track ; posted before - showing the " Cow Dung " start, those sharp turns and there was a big " yump " by the gate near the top. Photo from a Newspaper article, which I still have - it has yellowed over the years [ 1967 - 2018 ].

[Trevor Sheffield]

As I recall, one of. the Cossey family owned a Riley Brooklands replica and I think later an E type, but was seldom seen within the car club fraternity. He did not compete in the hillclimb except for maybe once.

At the time I was no longer part of the NSCC committee so was not in contact with the Cosseys and this aspect always intrigued me. I had the feeling of a Woolf in sheep's clothing hiding from view.

[Trevor Sheffield]

Exactly, it was not a place for sissies. LOL

[bob homewood]

Exactly, it was not a place for sissies. LOL

You are right Trevor ,it took some hard dedication to keep the foot flat there

[Roger Dowding]

You are right Trevor ,it took some hard dedication to keep the foot flat there

Bob thanks again for the articles and photos from " Club Torque ",
I remember when I competed in my 850cc standard Mini, except for the wider wheels, the start was steep and I overrevved as I scrambled from the start, lots of wheelspin and not much traction, before slamming that long gearlever down into second, and yes Trevor the cowdung was prevalent, they did try to wash down the concrete start. Wonder what my times were in the Mini,?? very slow I would say.

[Oldfart]

Bob thanks again for the articles and photos from " Club Torque ",
I remember when I competed in my 850cc standard Mini, except for the wider wheels, the start was steep and I overrevved as I scrambled from the start, lots of wheelspin and not much traction, before slamming that long gearlever down into second, and yes Trevor the cowdung was prevalent, they did try to wash down the concrete start. Wonder what my times were in the Mini,?? very slow I would say.

Might have been slow (don't know) but you were there doing it, and the national body encouraged club events, yada yada.

[Trevor Sheffield]

Might have been slow (don't know) but you were there doing it, and the national body encouraged club events, yada yada.

Having been on hand as a member of the NSCC executive I can assure you that the national body was and has always been obstructive and arranging events was hard yacka. However at the time they were unable to tap into the commercial sector which rules at present. Money talks. LOL

[Roger Dowding]

Not at Cosseys, but an NSCC event at Mangere Town Centre, back in the day when no shops were open on Sunday and a lot of sport was played in supermarket / shopping centre carparks, this is 1974, just before the roll bar [ by Reg Cook ] was put into the Sprite so I could do sprints / Hill Climbs and other events, already used in trialls and very close to the ground

Ross Hollings was there too in a Cooper [ mini ]

Photo by Dennis Green, who took a huge number of photos at Northern Sports Car Club events in the 1970's , he should have lots more, must follow that up..

[Ross Hollings]

Hi Roger,The finish was a straight over a series of yumps,have a photo somewhere all crossed up going for it.The 90 degree turn through the fence posts was fun.!!
The Mangere thing would have been my trusty little 850 Mini,which did circuit,grass track hillclimbs,never let me down.Was full race,extractor and twin carbs,!!

[Roger Dowding]

The article by NZ Herald 1967 the event was March 1967 - as noted in Bob Homewood's " Club Torque " article


Rob Williams Ford V8 Coupe.


The course

[Roger Dowding]

Map and a view of the area


Close up of the road where the track was


the start road, where we waited to run is at the corner of Appleby Road and Drury Hills Road, nervous piddle in the hedge before the run.
Cossey Road is a small No Exit road back from the corner running from Appleby Road.

Does anybody have an old Lands and Survey Dept map of the area, would have had many back in the day as was seriously into Car Trialling at the time and had to have the correct edition for the map reading section - especially if John Crombie was the plotter.

[Roger Dowding]

Route Book and Regulations for the events - front cover who owned the Mazda HK6998 ??

The Officials

The Drivers, note 28 entries but only 23 turned up and only 18 went on from the Gymkhana, Rob Williams in Brutus was also a DNF

Gymkhana test and regs

Trial ASRs and Route instructions - Part One

Trial Part one continued and part of the Sprint regs.

More of the Sprint Regs, Trial Part 2 and the Hill Climb to follow, plus the results.
Imagine co-ordinating an event like this today nearly 40 years on.

[Noo Noo]

Route Book and Regulations for the events - front cover who owned the Mazda HK6998 ??

The Officials

The Drivers, note 28 entries but only 23 turned up and only 18 went on from the Gymkhana, Rob Williams in Brutus was also a DNF

Gymkhana test and regs

Trial ASRs and Route instructions - Part One

Trial Part one continued and part of the Sprint regs.

More of the Sprint Regs, Trial Part 2 and the Hill Climb to follow, plus the results.
Imagine co-ordinating an event like this today nearly 40 years on.

Roger
On the driver list, no.28 is Warick Ashton. We had a mate of that name in our little group in the Wellington Car Club in the early '70s. He ran a Fiat 850 Sport in the '73 Heatway, then bought a Fiat 127 to do more rallying. Around the mid 70s he moved to Auckland and we've never heard of or from him since. Did you know him?. I'm wondering if it is the same guy. The 903 cc Fiat fits.

David Hunter

[Roger Dowding]

Roger
On the driver list, no.28 is Warick Ashton. We had a mate of that name in our little group in the Wellington Car Club in the early '70s. He ran a Fiat 850 Sport in the '73 Heatway, then bought a Fiat 127 to do more rallying. Around the mid 70s he moved to Auckland and we've never heard of or from him since. Did you know him?. I'm wondering if it is the same guy. The 903 cc Fiat fits.

David Hunter

Warwick only did the Gymkhana in the Fiat, I probably did know him, The car being 903cc would have been an 850 Coupe.

[Roger Dowding]

Sprint regs and track plan

The Trial part 2







The Hillclimb


ASR's and Results to follow - no pictures though, does anyone have some.

[Roger Dowding]

Supplementary Regs

results


Times and results - Peter Levet did 57.75 in the Hill Climb and took the overall win.



Trial Explanation of check and time - I am sure that a lot of the roads have changed but could be the basis of a Retro Event, using as much of the old roads as possible.



That is all from the event ;