Fantastic stuff - great photos and captions written by someone knowledgeable. Love it.
It's a huge pity there is no beach racing now. If you put the hillclimbs and the beach racing back into motorsport it would enable a lot more people to take part. Imagine trying to get a resource consent for either activity now....
Worth a place in your library if you are interested in the history of Tahunanui beach racing is the Mike Stephens book "The Tahunanui Beach Motor Racing Years of the Nelson Car Club 1949-1977", published in 1996. I see a couple of Christchurch book dealers offering copies on NZ Trade Me from time to time.
I might be wrong here, but I think the very first photo in post #1 of this thread might be the BCM Special of Brian Maybee ( Not sure on spelling ). If so it might be the accident that claimed his life. Im only going by the partial description alongside the phot with reference to 'special' and knowing that the car in question had a locally made transaxle which is clearly visible in the photo. When @ beach races ~ 1971 with Stuart Quertier { ex Neil Stuart/NG Smith, Stuart Special in other photos } we visited Brians Father at his home & amongst other things he showed us the wooden patterns for the transaxle in the car, I think from memory Brian built three cars in total, two of which ended up in southland during the grass track/gravel hillclimb era of motorsport.
Last edited by Jac Mac; 07-25-2011 at 01:44 AM.
Reason: Decade out, ten years is a lot to a southern Gent!
But for the tragic death of Nelson motor racing driver, Brian Mabey, the two-day programme of the Nelson Car Club on the Tahuna circuit, would have been an unqualified success. Mabey lost his life when his B. C. M. Special overturned during the fifth lap of the 12-lap provincial championship on the first day. At the same place, the western bend, a little earlier, L. Middlebrook (Morris 8) rolled his car but escaped without injury.
Yes, and they were a damn site more quickly on the scene then, than they are sometimes now. I have watched an odd fire take hold in a race car, and where are the fire marshalls. Each post round the track should have a quad bike with all the necessary gear on it for a quick response. Seems to take them ages to arrive; every second counts, and of course there are some tragic stories of formula one drivers coming to grief under their cars, with competitors stopping to render assistance. Not good enough.
Can you get some history on the Alfa, is the Ransley Riley a NZ special Whats that Dorrell driving ,and how cools the mixed field and the closeness of the crowd wonderfull
The problem with beach racing was that the turns got very cut up and some deep ruts formed which you did well to stay way from. Ron Roycroft was always very wary of rutted corners having watch a few close shaves from following other cars....he was usually 2nd or 3rd 'on the road', especially when Big George was in front of him showering him with sand....'.I ducked down to avoid it'. Once the car dug -in you had little hope of saving it, quite unlike a sealed surface. Wally Darrell used to love beach racing, absolutely suited his style of driving, all revs and sideways....no good on the tarmac.....too many 360's. By the way am I right in thinking that the BCM is competing in classic racing today. Would be a nice tribute to Mr Mabey.
I think that is a spelling mistake....should be Darrell....shouldn't it. A big coincidence if there was a Dorrell competing as well. The Tahunanui circuit was just that, a circuit, rather than a sprint up the beach for a mile or three then round a drum and back. Certainly far better from a spectator point of view. Of course all the spectators were safely behind barriers a good distance from the action......yeah right. As one caption says.......'a Morris Minor looses control and the spectators HIKE for safety!!!!!!! I see the Renault Dauphine Corvette is in there too. Got a chance to see the recreation of this machine at Teretonga this year....my God it could go....showed the old Custaxie the way. A VERY accomplished driver, no doubt about that. I had a friend who was a Renault Dauphine enthusiast. His son was demonstrating the 'handling' capabilities of the Renault one day and managed to side-swipe a tree while exiting our property....didn't do the car much good, and I dont think Father was very happy as they had just restored it!!!!! As with all swing axles, decidedly dodgy in the corners. I don't think there is too much Renault suspension in the Corvette powered car.
Yup ..The BCM -Vauxhall 6 in above image is still running and is owned by Chris Read...He also has the BCM-Consul which I sold to him many years back dismantled and missing few bits...Somewhere I have the build sheet with all the components that went into the origonal build of the car when built with Vauxhall 10 motor...it makes interesting reading seeing what went into a car in those days.
Giff Tait, well-known throughout the Nelson province as a racing driver and a principal of Nelson Winery, Redwood's Valley, was killed instantly when his powerful modified Chrysler Valiant car rolled over on the western bend of the Tahuna Beach racing circuit during the morning preparations for the racing. Seven years ago, Brian Mabey was killed on this same corner during racing. The death of Mr Tait, whose popularity extended far beyond motor racing circles, marred what otherwise was a successful meeting. The pix of the incident, taken by Warren Aston, show Mr Tait's car rolling over, in the top pic, and that below shows the extent of the damage to the vehicle.
some captions from the above pics
Colin Ryder and Arthur Holtham prepare for a motor cycle event.
Ian Jacobson (right) kept his mechanic, Leith Canning, busy both days.
Brian Lucas and Ross Hore cock their ears to listen during Brian's tuning of his Mini-Coope
Bob Thompson and Don Gilmour have a shufti to Bob's Anglia 1500
Cars move off the grid in the New Zealand beach title race
John Thomson, of Christchurch, clicked the shutter just as Brian Mabey's racing car started to roll on the western bend of the Tahuna circuit during the motor racing. Brian suffered injuries from this crash from which he died soon afterwards.
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