Anderson's Farm , Albany

[Jeff]

Anderson's Farm Road at Paremoremo near Albany was used by car clubs now and again over a period of at least 20 years before being sold off in small househould blocks of land.
Interestingly the farm road itself was once the main road until the road was "straight-lined " and bypassed as this 1963 photo shows


When my dad raced there in the 70's the course was lovely and smooth



But by the time I got there in the mid-80's it was rough as hell.

Me in the same position as previous photo


These days the road is not used and is slowly fading away.
As more houses get built the road will be gone for ever.

[Jeff]

These 2 views in 1997 and 2013 show the contours of the road slowly being lost in time.


I am well aware of the fact that , depending on what event was being held there - the position of the finish line would often vary too.
I enjoyed the track - it was nice and close to home but as I said , in the 80's it was rough.
During the 80's I was lucky enough to have a co-driver ride with John Steward as he won a day / night rallysprint there.
That was a memorable ride.

[John McKechnie]

Hi Jeff- some of pix not showing up.
I raced there 72--75 in a Cooper S, what was your dads name please?
Finish line was usually at top , well past sharp right hander

[Jeff]

Hi John, I'm hoping that if you re-load the page the pics should show up.
Dad is Bruce Pearce - ran a yellow Imp for a few seasons in the late 70's with NSCC.
I also recall the finish line being up near the top and driving out onto a small side road amongst a few houses in the 80's
For a fairly basic road it sure had a few changes in elevation

[John McKechnie]

Jeff-its great now.Back then there] was the Millen brothers in the V6 buggy that had this place dialed.
I loved it simply because it was not a hill climb, but more of a bent sprint.
Early 70s , the surface was good, and going through the gate was interesting at speed.
Alex Isbey, Syd Ward-Sandringham Tyres-,David Oliver were in my class.There was a guy there in a green HQ 253 Monaro, I think Geoff Sutherland had his Charger .Many other names that were racing, I cant remember.
Thanks for posting pix and especially the aerial ones showing the original road as I never knew its history, and always thought that this was a well built road for a farm

[Ross Hollings]

Minimax, 1969 FTD 37.7 and Hill Record.........wonder how long that lasted !!!!

[Rod Grimwood]

Photo of Road is great, Start around sweeping right (then little change later) into left hander and down into paddock a bit and then fast sweeping right again and little sweep to left and then down and through gate and on up hill sweeping right to finish.

Remember Rod there in buggy, it was quick and scary stuff. Great days there, have a few skids, drive down the road to Albany Wayside and reinact it all again.

Ross, Reckon your record would have stood until Rod turned up with buggy, boy he had this place sorted, remember the day he hit 40 gallon drums and end for ended it, after Steve had asked for them to be removed at drivers brief as they considered them dangerous. Point proven. We were jacking the floor pan square under his house until his wife came down and said the kitchen cupboards had all opened. We looked around and the joist were about 2 inchs of the foundation studs in the corner where we were jacking. Let it down gently and went to plan b. This was when it changed to Orange Sand Pacer body (Yellow one was well rotated)

[Jeff]

Interestingly Ross I remember our club cars doing the course in 1985 and a winning time was generally about 38 seconds depending on where the finish was set up.
Almost every time I went there the finish was in a different place !

Minimax, 1969 FTD 37.7 and Hill Record.........wonder how long that lasted !!!!

[Jeff]

Great story about the Millen's Rod ! Haha you wouldn't think the corner of the house would lift :-) Note that there are drums lining the inside ditch in the yellowed old photo of dad's Imp ( 77 / 78 )
I always knew Anderson's Farm was Millen territory - even though I had never seen them race there , the local legends were enough.
Nice and close to home for us Albany / East Coast Bays based people too.. ( plenty of drinking and driving in those days too )
gasp of horror

Photo of Road is great, Start around sweeping right (then little change later) into left hander and down into paddock a bit and then fast sweeping right again and little sweep to left and then down and through gate and on up hill sweeping right to finish.

Remember Rod there in buggy, it was quick and scary stuff. Great days there, have a few skids, drive down the road to Albany Wayside and reinact it all again.

Ross, Reckon your record would have stood until Rod turned up with buggy, boy he had this place sorted, remember the day he hit 40 gallon drums and end for ended it, after Steve had asked for them to be removed at drivers brief as they considered them dangerous. Point proven. We were jacking the floor pan square under his house until his wife came down and said the kitchen cupboards had all opened. We looked around and the joist were about 2 inchs of the foundation studs in the corner where we were jacking. Let it down gently and went to plan b. This was when it changed to Orange Sand Pacer body (Yellow one was well rotated)

[Rod Grimwood]

Drums were on outside of corner for some reason. After flips we ran to buggy and Rod got out and looked around and remember Steve discharging drums over fence and down paddock and they were not put back. No one went near him as the look in eyes was enough. There was discussion about 'told you they were dangerous in that position'. (and a few more expletives). Ran a Humber 80 there couple of times good fun. Remember 'The Doctor', Robin Irving in his big Vauxhall Viscount with triple webers and standard wheels on hill, spectacular to watch.

[John McKechnie]

Hey Rod- do you remember the MG Magnette that failed the top corner and went over and d0000000000000000000000wn to the bottom ? ?

[Rod Grimwood]

Hey Rod- do you remember the MG Magnette that failed the top corner and went over and d0000000000000000000000wn to the bottom ? ?

Yep, Ross Durbam (Duram, Durham) sisiter was singer Judy any way. That was a neat quick car and Ross drove it to the max.

His sisiter sang 'I have loved me a man' we only met a couple of times as well. (another for TUI)

[David McKinney]

Judy Durham was a member of The Seekers and therefore Australian

It was Alison Durbin who sang I Have Loved Me a Man

[SPman]

Judy Durham was a member of The Seekers and therefore Australian

It was Alison Durbin who sang I Have Loved Me a Man

It was a cover.......and being an Aus in NZ is common enough.....didn't the drummer from AC/DC live here for some time..with his GT40.

[Rod Grimwood]

Correct David, it was along time ago and names get mingled. Yep Alison was it.

Correct SPman

The Magnette that Ross ran was a very quick tidy car and he did a lot of events in it back then.

[Rod Grimwood]

This information was sent from Whangarei Ford man Peter Bryan who these days has the Woolmark MK1 and ex Howard Collier Mk11 Escorts in his collection (both minters). Pete has done a fair bit over the years both here and overseas in his younger days being mechanic on single seaters etc. in Europe and is also a dab hand at steering as well. Maybe we can sit down and check out his 'scrapbook' and knowledge and put it up here at some time. (rumour Jill is dab hand at scones, so a Sunday maybe)

I have copied whole article and then broken down for better view.

I can remember these cars and the yellow clouds of dust.

The corner that Peter in his Anglia is negotiating is the one that had drums stuck around outside that I mentioned previously.

[Jeff]

Great stuff Rod ! Thanks to Peter and yourself for posting this.

[escorthvn]

Thanks Rod for posting photos,its a waste of good fishing time to find out how to post photos.Call in any time to look at my scrap book as I keeped allsorts for the early 70s. Jills a good cook and also knows more about BDA escorts than most woman,She had to to live with me.Pete.

[bob homewood]

I ran there in 1969/ 70 ,I owned the Hill record for quite a while ,broke my own record on three ocassions ,left it at 35.9 before I moved away to live in the South Island

[Jeff]

Great photo's Bob !
Thanks for posting. Interesting to see the condition of the roads in your particular era of competition. Love the Anglia. 35.9 is a hell of a time !
I'm unsure when Anderson's Farm ceased being used by car clubs but I'm thinking it was in the late 80's / early 90's.
I would love to know what the course record finally ended at ?