Trident Palliser, what’s in a name ?

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I have noticed there is a bit of confusion over the history of what is now regarded as the Trident Palliser, before my memory fails me completely I will relate my memories. I have also had to rely in some cases to the comments of Robin Curtis.

I decided I wanted to be a racing driver at the age of 23 and purchased a Palliser WDF2 from Donald Wood in 1975.



I won my first meeting at Manfeild ($100 prize money !!) in the car and although it was a good car it felt heavy. I stripped the Palliser, weighed the chassis and decided to build something lighter and better. A bit like a Ray. The Ray was a popular car at the time and I think a few chassis were based on them.

Like most aspiring F1 drivers of the day I had no cash, unfortunately I also had little/none of the skills required to complete the job ! But I was effectively in the same boat as everyone else, I think that was what aspiring F1 drivers did in those days.

With some square tube, a flat bed, a hacksaw, files, g clamps, ruler and a home made in-line fluxer I started work on my first chassis. I knew I wanted something lighter and at least as strong/rigid.



At the end of the project I had learnt to weld, to a certain standard(!!), and had a car that finished 4th in the FF championship 76/77 (from memory) behind Eric Morgan, Norm Lankshear and Grant Campbell.



I knew I needed something better and I had spent some time with Donald Wood. So I started another chassis, this time with mostly round tube. I found this chassis a lot more intricate to build, I also put in an extended engine spacer along with wider front and narrower rear track, I introduced more antidive and a different top link. I also tried to stiffen the chassis without introducing too much weight.

The first meeting (at Manfeild ?) I had a few problems, as Grant Campbell has great pleasure relating – he sent his brother Ron around to my pits(stable) as he was a bit worried I may be competition for him, but Ron found me hacksawing some tubes out of the chassis to accommodate my feet ! As we all know from seat fitting etc, sitting in the garage in a car is very different to driving at race speed, well at any speed really.

I don’t think I completed that season 77/78, that may be the year I lent the car to Alan and Grant won the championship.



The following season 78/79 the car won many races, it was pretty much unbeatable in the wet and won Wigram by 9 seconds. We finished the championship 2= with Jeff Pascoe, behind championship winner Mike Finch.



Although I cannot remember what happened to these cars, I do have a copy of an advertisement where they were both offered for sale, the square tubed one for $2900 and the round tubed one for $4900. The cars would have been sold in 1979.



I sold the Palliser in the mid 80’s to a much underrated racing driver and entrepreneur, who still owns it, not far from where I’m sitting at the moment.

The square tubed car was advertised on Trademe recently.

The round tubed car was raced very successfully by Alan McCoy, Bruce McCoy and more recently by the famous and ever improving Phil Fowkes.

The naming of the car as a Trident has confused me, I have looked back through all of my Motor Action clippings and can find no mention during my ownership of a Trident, only a Palliser. In fact I have a logbook dated 1976 for a Ray with a photo of my car but the last entry was in 77 so maybe that was for the square tubed car.

So maybe it was one of the later owners who renamed it, I think I would have continued to use the Palliser logbook, because it was easier than reregistering a new car.

It did need renaming as it is quite definitely not a Palliser WDF2, the Palliser WDF2 sits in a nearby barn.