Motor Racing pics - my early years, 1964-71 ; Pukekohe Racetrack ;by - Roger Dowdingl

[Roger Dowding]

Before the Mini, a Morris Minor.
Ron Brown - an Auckland Car Club guy - later became Club President and was actively involved as Clerk of the Course at Pukekohe over the years 1970's
This photo by Alan Boyle, Ron's best Mate, and a Mini racer of note - a couple " Tomato " and " Violet ", then later the Viva GT.

." George Johnson on the wheels, Ron Brown under the bonnet."



Comments from Kevin Lancaster, another ACC Guy, Alan and Ron.

Kevin
" Looks like Bill Dunster's Austin Healey 3000 and Murray Cox Hillman No.67. I see Ron' s Minor has his three driver observation stripes to qualify for full racing license. I think you had to do three meetings without incident. "

Alan Boyle
" Yes with a bit of advice from Eric Mallard and the close scrutiny of Les Rankin. "

Ron Brown
" I think this was my first race meeting. I was greeted on the practice start line by C.O.C. Les 'friendly' Rankin with words to the effect of "Brownie, get your bloody helmet on!" Later went on to become his assistant, learning a lot before gaining full coc self accreditation. "

See details from Milan about the meeting.

Sadly Eric Mallard passed away in the last day or so - Stalwart of ACC and NZIGP Association - remember going to Ellerslie to get my Tickets for the GP at the Offices. Eric would be there.

[Milan Fistonic]

I think that photo is from the March 1963 meeting as Ron had number 24 on his Minor that day.. If it is then No 67 is John Bernard's Austin A90. There were six Healeys entered but Dunster was not named as a driver of any of those In the Lawrence trailer would have have been the Lola sports car that was to be be shared by Doug and Graeme. Tony Lawrence was also there to race the family Peugeot. The car to left of Ron's looks like another A90 and if the programme is to be believed then it must be Don Hadfield's.

On another site Alan has identified the Healey as No 108 so that makes the driver R. Cullen.

[Roger Dowding]

I think that photo is from the March 1963 meeting as Ron had number 24 on his Minor that day.. If it is then No 67 is John Bernard's Austin A90. There were six Healeys entered but Dunster was not named as a driver of any of those In the Lawrence trailer would have have been the Lola sports car that was to be be shared by Doug and Graeme. Tony Lawrence was also there to race the family Peugeot. The car to left of Ron's looks like another A90 and if the programme is to be believed then it must be Don Hadfield's.

On another site Alan has identified the Healey as No 108 so that makes the driver R. Cullen.

Thanks Milan,
Alan also posted a subsequent photo of the Minor and an A90 - on the track together - must put that on here too !!

[Roger Dowding]

March 1963 meeting - as advised by Milan.
A wet meeting - Alan Boyle photo - Alan actually titled the first photo - in the paddock " Putting Wets On ".



There were a few Austin A90/95's in Motorsport at the time mainly in Trials and Rally's - Don Hadfield ACC, and Aub Highstead NSCC come to mind - and our own Kevin Hirst had one I believe - think he found one again recently.

[Kiwiminor]

That 'wet' meeting at Puke was when Jim Boyd raced a front-engined Cooper-Holden which caught fire as he crossed the S/F-line so he slowed it down and pulled onto the grass on the left, then aimed it for the inside fence before jumping-out and the car carried-on to hit the fence. If my memory serves me correctly, it was the same race which Rod Coppins had his accident on the back straight.

[Kevin Hirst]

March 1963 meeting - as advised by Milan.
A wet meeting - Alan Boyle photo - Alan actually titled the first photo - in the paddock " Putting Wets On ".



There were a few Austin A90/95's in Motorsport at the time mainly in Trials and Rally's - Don Hadfield ACC, and Aub Highstead NSCC come to mind - and our own Kevin Hirst had one I believe - think he found one again recently.

Yes, was 1956 A90, now have A95, almost ready for final paint then W.O.F. & registration but all on hold at the moment

[Milan Fistonic]

Don Hadfield actually won Race 1 that day.

[Roger Dowding]

Rex Rattenbury photos - Rex was a newspaper [ Auckland Star I think ] photographer as well as a Car Club Competitor

At Stables / Elbow corner three well known cars well two very well known one less so.

The Morrari - Garth Souness, now on wide wheels and stack pipes out the bonnet / hood.



Ford V8 Coupe - Robin Tanner



Zephyr Corvette -Rod Coppins, in its dark paint and stack pipes and bonnet scoop -

Must be the NSCC meeting as most drivers back in the day belonged to both ACC and NSCC and would enter in the name of the club running the event




Graham Woods provided the entry list - borrowed it from " Old New Zealand Motor Racing " Fb page.
Kevin Hirst in the Austin A90 did enter.

[Oldfart]

Some events back then had a restricted entry imposed by MANZ, a given number of clubs invited. As a result some of us had to belong to a few clubs.

[khyndart in CA]

Morrinsville was well represented in the Reserves with the two being from farms within a mile of town.
Terry Scott, father of Kayne and Ross Douglas, in their Mini Coopers.
Brian Innes (Not eligible for any award !) lived a bit further away in Tatuanui.

( Useful information supplied by Ken H.)

[Roger Dowding]

Some events back then had a restricted entry imposed by MANZ, a given number of clubs invited. As a result some of us had to belong to a few clubs.

Too True, Rhys,
Events were :
- Closed Club,
then
- Restricted Invitation - one or two other clubs, from memory.
then to
- Open Invitation
Events like the Bardahl Hillclimb Series run by 8 Clubs including ACC Hamilton, HCMC, NSCC, Pukekohe, Auckland University, MG and Triumph, - and the Mercury trophy Trial series - which I think was 10 to 12 clubs, the above plus Thames Valley, Te Awamutu, and Volkswagen Owners.
- Top tier was the National Events, like Gold Star Hillclimbs Trials and the Main Race meetings. and finally International events like the NZ Grand Prix and the Trans Tasman races with drivers from England, Europe Australia and even the USA.

When I first joined Northern Sports in 1967, our Governing body was Association of New Zealand Car Clubs Inc [ ANZCC ], later MANZ then MSNZ.
Remember getting my first closed club Speed Licence around 1971 - only did closed club trials before that, and you got this " Pocket Book " with all the Rules and Regulations, including requirements for the Car, - double throttle springs, increased level of seat belt requirements. - Wish I had kept it.
Still have my 1971 issue Helmet - I notice the outer fibreglass is cracked and the standard for then, NZS1971, no longer applies.
Part of my " Motorsport and Motoring " collection
Something else for " SWMBO " to deal with in the future.




By the mid late 1970's 1976 on I belonged to 2 MANZ affiliated clubs [ NSCC and Triumph for my licence ] and later 2 Classic Car clubs [ Austin Healey 1974 and the NZ Triumph TR Register 1978 ], plus had belonged to the New Zealand Grand Prix Association since 1967 to get preferential tickets and pricing for the Grand Prix and the Wills / Gold Leaf Saloon races, in October .

[Roger Dowding]

Three photos from John ( Larry ) Lawton of the Elbow.
Our own Trevor Sheffield is in the first one, leading an E-Type in
his Daimler SP250 [ Dart ] - ACC Dec 11th 1965 - a Gold Star meeting.



Ivan Segedin in the Fleetwood Mustang - probably its third meeting - first was the Gold Leaf Three Hour in October, presume was at the November NSCC meeting too !!



Roger Smith in another SP250 gets it a bit wrong



Photos borrowed with permission - posted on " Old NZ Motor Racing " Facebook page.

[Roger Dowding]

The " Orchid Special " has been in Switzerland for a number of years owned by Michael Rohrmoser and now owned by Richard ....

The car is mentioned in the Graham Vercoe book " Historic Racing Cars of New Zealand " having been built by Keith Yeats in ** 1962/63.
: " Keith Yeats, of Auckland, built up this Ford 10 -based sports car with a Buckler [ read De Joux ] fibreglass body in 1962. **
It was based on an even earlier Ford 10 Special going back to 1953 with Bruce Lawrence. It had twin SUs and an 8hp head with 7.5;1 compression ratio.
Yeats scored a number of class wins around 1963 including the Chamberlain Road Hillclimb and the Bombay Hillclimb ** Des Windsor later raced the car and it is now with Barry Suckling ".

Car raced at Pukekohe - specifically in the ACC April 1964 meeting and at the April 1966 [ reverse track ] meeting as evidenced by these Entry Lists and a photo of mine.

April 1964 Race 3 [ and 4 ] Entry list from John Hatton



April 1966 Entry list from Milan Fistonic
Keith Yeats still racing the car as in the photo



The car left of picture with Bucklers a Daimler and others in the paddock.


Richard is looking for more information and photos of the car to fully track its history.
Car has been restored /rebuilt and has it NZ Numbers CY6331 as NZ - CV6331 its Swiss registration.

An old photo of the car showing it was built in 1959-61 not 1962/63 as mentioned above.



Later 13 September 2020.

A lot more information has come to light about the car and its History form the current owner - Worth a story under the heading " NZ Specials " - will probably go onto the " Dunedin 1984 ... "thread

A more recent photo of the car - with previous owners / drivers on the side [ hard to read though ].
NZ American and European names and flags on the car.

[Kevin Hirst]

The " Orchid Special " has been in Switzerland for a number of years owned by Michael Rohrmoser and now owned by Richard ....

The car is mentioned in the Graham Vercoe book " Historic Racing Cars of New Zealand " having been built by Keith Yeats in ** 1962/63.
: " Keith Yeats, of Auckland, built up this Ford 10 -based sports car with a Buckler [ read De Joux ] fibreglass body in 1962. **
It was based on an even earlier Ford 10 Special going back to 1953 with Bruce Lawrence. It had twin SUs and an 8hp head with 7.5;1 compression ratio.
Yeats scored a number of class wins around 1963 including the Chamberlain Road Hillclimb and the Bombay Hillclimb ** Des Windsor later raced the car and it is now with Barry Suckling ".

Car raced at Pukekohe - specifically in the ACC April 1964 meeting and at the April 1966 [ reverse track ] meeting as evidenced by these Entry Lists and a photo of mine.

April 1964 Race 3 [ and 4 ] Entry list from John Hatton



April 1966 Entry list from Milan Fistonic
Keith Yeats still racing the car as in the photo



The car left of picture with Bucklers a Daimler and others in the paddock.


Richard is looking for more information and photos of the car to fully track its history.
Car has been restored /rebuilt and has it NZ Numbers CY6331 as NZ - CV6331 its Swiss registration.

An old photo of the car showing it was built in 1959-61 not 1962/63 as mentioned above.



A more recent photo of the car - with previous owners / drivers on the side [ hard to read though ].
NZ American and European names and flags on the car.

We competed against the orchid special when owned by Doug St George in the mid 90's gymkhana's & sprint's etc. I presume it was the same car

[Milan Fistonic]

We competed against the orchid special when owned by Doug St George in the mid 90's gymkhana's & sprint's etc. I presume it was the same car

Yes it was the same car. Doug St George owned the car some time after after Barry Suckling had it.

[Roger Dowding]

Kevin Hirst and Milan Fistonich, thanks for that fills in a gap in the History.

Have also established that the Original Chassis was built by Roly Levis and sold to Keith Yeats, according to Allan Dick in an article in Classic Driver Magazine. I do not have a date for the article.
It started with the Orchid then went to write about the Roycroft Ferrari and the De Joux body that went onto the car the went to the
" Orchid " - this is the Orchid comments.

[Roger Dowding]

January 1963 the first time Pukekohe was used for the New Zealand Grand Prix
Here are Trap speeds taken by Auckland Car Club on the back straight for the various fields of cars.
The McLoughlin Ruddspeed 3000 features as the the Yeats Orchid Special.

Thanks to Kelvin Brown for the images;