Geoghegan Family Cortina In New Zealand

[superroo69]

This is the car I am researching and the car that raced at the NZGP event in 1965. The car was bought from the Geoghegans by a Queensland amateur racer, by the name of Frank Melit - who was quite a handy driver and raced it for a short time, with some local success. Unfortunately, he also rolled the car... twice, once at Lakeside (which was a gentle roll over) and the second time at Lowood, which was a bit more serious. I believe that despite being entered in later events, Frank didn't race the car again. Car was eventually traded to Blair Sheppard and eventually sold to Geoff Digby, who drag raced the car quite successfully, earning National class records during his time with the car. Although there is more to tell, it will have to wait until I finish the article.
BTW... if your wondering about why it kept rolling over, Leo Geoghegan told me once that despite being a very quick car, it didn't handle anywhere as well as their GT Cortinas… something he put down to the A arm rear suspension, even after trying modify it to handle better.

Paul