“Rorstan Motor Racing” was a partnership of Ian Rorison, a quarry owner and operator of a truck fleet, and Feo Stanton, a Tauranga car dealer. The two had a big part in the operation of Bay Park Raceway. They combined to enter cars in the late 60’s Tasman Series.

The records show they did not achieve very much, mainly because of running old and ill prepared cars with abysmal reliability. Several of their cars had interesting but confusing stories which is what I have attempted to cover here. The post is long because I have attempted to solve the myths and inaccuracies that have been this team’s history. I have concentrated on Tasman race results because they are readily available, and ignored Gold star, and Tasman race heats and preliminaries.

It is presented in 3 parts because it was too long for the forum rules.

Brabham BT7A Climax:

The team’s first car was a Brabham BT7A Climax which had already done 3 Tasman Series when Rorstan bought it.

This car, BT 7A chassis # IC-2-63, was new for Jack Brabham for the 1964 Tasman Series, in which he competed in 6 rounds. It was a sister car to Frank Matich’s, his chassis # being IC-1-63. Brabham sold it to Jim Palmer, who competed in 7 rounds of 1965 Tasman Series, plus some NZ Gold Star races. Palmer then sold it to Andy Buchanan who did 5 rounds of 1966 Tasman Series, plus some NZ Gold Star races. It was then bought by Rorstan for the 1967 Tasman Series.

Feo Stanton was a good friend of Denny Hulme. When Hulme had troubles in his car in practice for the 1967 NZ GP then Stanton lent him the BT7A for the race. He lasted 50 laps of the 57, and then retired with a broken stub axle. A foreboding of things to come.

Rorstan then recruited Australian Paul Bolton to drive the BT7A in the remaining 1967 Tasman Series races.

Bolton had done some touring car racing in the early 1960’s in NSW, including 2 Bathurst enduros. His first single seater was a Rennmax Hillman. He then bought Brabham BT6 F2 1100cc chassis FJ-15-63. It was ex Youl/Cusack. By end of 1966 he held 1100cc class lap records at Warwick Farm and Oran Park. The Australian Road Racing Mechanics Club in their awards for 1966 voted Bolton as one of the nine “Best Drivers in Australia for 1966”.
http://www.oldracephotos.com/shop/in...lton&x=18&y=11

It is interesting that Graham Howard’s normally reliable book “50 year history of the AGP” notes in the index that Bolton competed in the 66 and 67 AGP, yet I cannot find mention of this in the rest of the book.

This forum’s GD66 has since described Bolton as “showed flashes of speed but seemed to fly off the road a lot and had few results” which is common in assessments of him. Whilst it is true he retired regularly, in hindsight he was running old equipment which may not have been correctly maintained, and some of crashes could possibly be due to equipment failures.
Bolton failed to qualify for his first race for the team, the 1967 Wigram round, and then had DNF’s at Teretonga and Warwick Farm rounds.

At 1967 Sandown Tasman Race Bolton had done a very fast practice lap before he spun in the esses and wrecked the Brabham against the armco.

Bolton also drove BT7A at Catalina Park, Oran Park and Warwick Farm during 1967. See photos.
The team also had the BT11B available after the 67 Tasman, but continued to use the BT7A because as Graham Howard noted at the time it was some 60 pounds lighter. The BT 11B had been equipped for GPs with bigger tanks, brakes etc.

In November 1967 at a NZ Gold Star Race at Levin, Bolton inverted the BT7A on himself and incurred a fractured collarbone and shoulder. It appears a brake pad welded to a disc. This appears to have been the last race of the BT7A.

What happened to the car then is a mystery. Both Palmer and Buchanan as previous drivers have expressed interest in finding it but have been unsuccessful. It seems it may have been cannibalised to repair the team’s next Brabham.