MATICH'S F5000's - Fantastic Article

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Terry S
.....His first race after that crash was not until the Bathurst 500 in October 1966, that is 15 months later. He ran a Cooper S, and although a comeback after such a long time out, he set the fastest lap of the race ahead of the 3 BMC "works" Cooper S', which included Mini kings Foley and Manton.

Of course you're right about the Mini racing being '66, not '65, brain fade there... and further evidence that I shouldn't post that kind of stuff when I'm away from home (and my RCN binders).

Matich's first race after the July '65 (25.7.65) crash at Lakeside was at Sandown in February '66 (27.2.66) for the debut of the Traco Olds. The Mini came in after he sold the Traco Olds and while he was awaiting the SR3's completion.

[Terry S]

Of course you're right about the Mini racing being '66, not '65, brain fade there... and further evidence that I shouldn't post that kind of stuff when I'm away from home (and my RCN binders).

Matich's first race after the July '65 (25.7.65) crash at Lakeside was at Sandown in February '66 (27.2.66) for the debut of the Traco Olds. The Mini came in after he sold the Traco Olds and while he was awaiting the SR3's completion.

Ray you are right about the first race after Lakeside crash being Feb 66 debut of Traco Olds.
I was using a range of sources (including memory) and wrongly took a paragraph from Bill Wood's Legends of Speed. Silly me to repeat anything from that book.
He was talking about Matich's crash then jumped to a few other drivers then came back to Matich with:
He says "Matich had returned to racing in a Mini Cooper at Bathurst in October 1966. It had taken him nearly 18 months to recover from the burns"
Completely overlooked the Traco Olds.

Please note the Traco Olds belonged to Laurie O'Neill and he was the one that sold it to Allen, not Matich. There was some form of blow-up between O'Neill and Matich and they went their separate ways.