The Jim Richards Thread

[Steve Holmes]

How about a dedicated thread to one of New Zealand's greatest racing drivers, Jim Richards. JR has reached the very top levels of the sport in NZ and Australia, most notably in touring/saloon cars, having won the NZ Saloon Car Championship, Australian Touring Car Championship, Bathurst, plus numerous other championships and race wins in both circuit racing, rallying, speedway, etc. But he has also been racing, every year to the best of my knowledge, for the best part of 50 years.

So lets have a thread where everyone can post their own photos and stories about JR. I'll start with this shot I snapped recently as Gordon McIsaac's Vintage Speedway Museum in Auckland, of his racing helmet, beautifully preserved as it was used in the late 1960s/early '70s.

[Milan Fistonic]

JR the rally driver.

[Oldfart]

Well deserved thread! Met him first as a very young mechanic servicing my Mum's car at Speedway motors in Manurewa. Mr nice even then

[kiwi285]

Certainly one of the greatest NZ drivers and up there with the big four who seem to get all of the international recognition. This is my earliest photo of one of his cars.

[kiwi285]

Certainly one of the greatest NZ drivers and up there with the big four who seem to get all of the international recognition. This is my earliest photo of one of his cars.

[/LEFT]

[BMCBOY]

A few photos I have in my collection (not all taken by me) of different cars Jim Richards drove.

[BMCBOY]

[khyndart in CA]

I found this in the Sandy Myhre book " 50 yrs On Track"
What is the area where this event is taking place where Jim is leading away in his Anglia ?










(Ken Hyndman )

[Oldfart]

Ken, that looks like Paritutu New Plymouth

[khyndart in CA]

Jim Richards in action in the "Sidchrome" Hillman Imp.
Entering the Elbow Corner at Pukekohe battling with the Minis of Barry Phillips, Reg Cook and Rod Collingwood.
These battles were fun to watch.

(Terry Marshall photo )
Jim Richards in the Imp working hard ahead of the Escort of Don Halliday. (Possibly at Baypark ) Perhaps Halliday is working harder !

( Terry Marshall photo )






(Ken Hyndman )

[GD66]

Yes, entering the last corner at Bay Park. And +1 for Paritutu above

[Ray Bell]

It's well known that Jim's first appearance in Australia was at Bathurst in 1974...

That was a tough year for that race. The Torana L34s were new, their semi-dry sump setups were messy and only partially proven, the race was only in its second year as a 1000km event and then it rained. No, it poured!

Rain wasn't new. It had rained in '72 and Brock had come through, but this was different. To top it off, there was an agenda in place in the HDT that would cost Brock any chance of finishing, while Bond's HDT car would have multiple problems which kept it well back in the field.

As everyone knows, preparation is the big thing in motor sport. After Moffat's early problems with a car that was - I would have to say - not well thought out in the preparation stages we were left with the cars of Bob Forbes/Wayne Negus and John Goss/Kevin Bartlett battling it out for the win.

Goss had been fighting to get fitness for the XA for two seasons ("The American campaign in the Pacific was cheap by comparison...") and done lots of testing at Amaroo prior to this event. Negus was almost a new boy on the block, but he was working for the HDT and was able to keep up a supply of the 'good bits' as Forbes went about detailed preparation such as is rarely seen.

Two years earlier, Negus had been a visitor from Western Australia in an XU-1 shared with Neville Grigsby. He had been running just behind the leaders when he locked a wheel under brakes on the slick track at Murrays and put it into the fence. He was, however, still held in high regard by some for his performance prior to making that error as he also had a good background. The son of the anti-Death Duties campaigner, Senator Sid Negus, he'd been around the circuits since his birth and had even raced his father's old Plymouth Special.

I gather the Richards/Coppins car had a couple of problems. They were forced to change tyre brands late in the race when it got really wet, but it seems that Coppins was also somewhat slower than Jim and thus as the end drew near they were four laps or so off the pace. They finished in third, five laps down, but I've no doubt Jim was being careful as the next car was still two laps behind them at the finish.

All the same, Jim was not yet a 'household word' in Australia and wouldn't become so until he brought the Mustang here.