The most important modification for the Gravel day was a Sheet of Plywood
fixed to the underside, that went full lenfth of the tub.
The most important modification for the Gravel day was a Sheet of Plywood
fixed to the underside, that went full lenfth of the tub.
Photos from 1980-81 Season......
David Oxton - RT4 - pukekohe march '81
Graeme Lawrence -March 80A from the same meeting.
Does anyone know Who & what the Sleepyhead #5 in the background is.
Cheers
Martin Smith.
It's the Cuda JR5, isn't it?
David ,yes I have just been scratching my head on the year,was that when Adrian Reynard came out and drove it ?
Adrian Reynard drove it in 1981 ,but at Pukekohe only ,from memory they had some sort of problem,gearbox ? at Manfield in practice and didn't take any further part in the meeting .I am sure that is when it ran the Sleepyhead signage and also when the side pods were changed ?
Wow great memories and history in those shots.
What happened to the Cuda ?
Last of my Pacific shots that I have saved.
Hopefully a clearer shot of Davy Jones
Lt Mike Thackwell, Rt David Brabham
Chris Kniefel
Mike Greenfield
What hapened to the car is it got used as a hill climb car at Rotorua!Originally Posted by Steve Holmes
We sold the car to Reg Cook who did the North Island races of the 1978 International series, and I guess some Gold Star rounds prior, then it sat unused in his shop for quite a while before Tom Donovan bought it. I see it is described as a 77B as used by Donovan and this is one of the issues for historians trying to trace March history as updates were easy to do with the car then often passed off as something newer. March themselves were as much to blame as anyone, our car chassis 742-U1 being the pre production mule was probably built up from one of March's damaged tub exchange trade ins, used to test and jig for the 1974 series cars then given a new identity and sold on.
And, no I didn't have any March connections, they were only interested in people with money! We bought the car through Dave Price racing in the UK where it had been used by stunt driver Val Musetti who had a pair of Marches which he ran variously in Atlantic, F2 and even F5000 guise with a 3litre Ford V6 and interchanged parts and possibly even chassis plates between them. So even being sure of its history was uncertain in 1976.
Despite its doubtful parentage it went quite well, the biggest issue we had was that our car and the Moduses of John Nicholson and Phil Sharp were late arriving in NZ because the ship broke down en-route then Graeme Lawrence the distributor of the Goodyear control tyre had also had delivery issues so we were only able to pre-race test on the old Goodyear G44s that had come with the car. It went really well on those but when we bolted on the NZ control tyre for round one at Bay Park it was a different car and it took until round 3 at Manfield to sort the setup.
Ok, this is the last of my photos I promise!
After running the March in 1977 we were offered the opportunity to develop a new Atlantic car for Lyncar. At the time Lyncar were a race car fabrication/ maching/ preparation operation but owner Martin Slater wanted to break into the manufacturing side. He had already built a number of one offs including an Atlantic car with which NZer John Nicholson had won the British Atlantic championship.
He had a completely new car drawn up by a former McLaren draftsman whose name escapes me now and John Anderson and I built the prototype, jigs, moulds etc. Unlike the March, Ralt etc opposition the car was quite a complicated design with inboard rocker suspension front and rear. In fact it was so complicated (and the detail design work was still being done as we were building it) that the project ran horribly over time. The original plan was to thoroughly test in the UK and then run a full "works" operation in NZ for Jan '78 but in reality we only ran a short shakedown test at Goodwood before shipping the car to NZ. Photo 3 is at Goodwood with Martin Slater on the right, John A at rear and the designer left, trying to identify the brake issue we had all day.
At the end of the first real day's testing at Puke late Dec, with no major issues, we bolted on a fresh set of tyres to scrub them in. Coming up to the braking point for the first time at the chicane on top of the hill (now thankfully gone), the left front tyre split from the rim sending the car careering along the bank to end up in photo 5. Needless to say, neither the car nor I were involved in the '78 series!
Last edited by Howard Wood; 08-21-2011 at 11:36 PM. Reason: Martin Slater on the right in photo.
Funny, I always imagined that car was red
Then I remembered a second car was completed, and contested the 1979 series. Maybe that's where I'm getting the red from
Incidentally, the earlier Lyncar models had MS prefixes, no doubt in honour of Martin Slater, but the later car was the LA78. Are those initials a clue to the designer's name?
LA = Lyncar Atlantic I think. The designer is not fondly remembered by Martin either as unknown to any of us, he was up to no good with Martin's wife at the time which possibly explains the lateness of the detail drawings!
As the car was under NZ customs bond, there bring no intent to sell the car here but to campaign it in US/ Canada, the remains were swept into a box and re exported. I guess Martin figured the accident was simply error on my part as they built a new car with what little was left to exactly the same design. This car, which as you correctly recall was red was sent to US/Canada on a sales mission where it was tested by all the front running teams.
Unfortunately it was a couple of seconds off the pace with everyone who tried it so there were no takers until exactly the same front wheel failure happened with Price Cobb at the wheel. Fortunately no damage to car or driver but it did mean a change to the wheel design by Martin. The car was then sent out to NZ for me to drive in the '79 NZ series. The less said about that the better.
Without getting too technical, the car suffered from poor turn in and low speed exit traction which, partially with hindsight, was due to its narrow track. That was the trend for production F3 and Atlantic cars of the period in order to tuck the wheels and bulky suspension behind the full width nose. This car with its delta front wing over a chisel nose and inboard suspension could have run a wider track without compromising straight line speed exactly as is the trend today. Unfortunately, although we knew this, the complicated design made quick modifications impossible. There is much to be said for the Ron Tauranac bolt on brackets which are easy to change!
Last edited by Howard Wood; 08-21-2011 at 11:37 PM.
Thanks Howard, the reason I asked if you were connected to March was because you said the car was a pre-production mule. I thought maybe you were the first to test and race it, but obviously that wasn't the case. So this must be the car Photosmith has posted above in the Odlins green colour? Does it still exist?
The Lyncar is a good looking car. The narrow track is quite visible in some of those shots you've posted. Interesting front wing. I guess you couldn't adjust its angle in any way? Did Lyncar design and manufacture its own wheels?
I'm loving these stories Howard, even if some of the results weren't what you wanted at the time, the stories are just as fascinating and enjoyable to read.
Thanks Steve, I was unsure how much detail to include, technical detail is not riveting to everyone.
Yes, the wheels were centre locks to their own design. Pattern making and casting alloy for race cars (and other applications) was one of Lyncar's specialties.
The front wing, and a rear wing (but not the one in the photo which is alloy) were delta shaped and female moulded using a technique I developed. I laid up a wafer thin fibreglass skin in the mould then poured 2 pot foam into the cavity which made an accurate, rigid and incredibly light wing section. The front wing was adjustable for angle while the 'glass rear one was a two piece with both sections adjustable.
Howard, the more info the better! You got to experience something most motorsport enthusiasts didn't so your stories are fascinating.
How cool is that, you designed the wings on that car. How did the front wing adjust? It may just be the angle of the photos you attached but it looks fixed to the nose. Did it actually sit above the nose? How did the straight line speed of this car compare with the competition? The clean shape and narrow track must have helped with this? Although I'm guessing if it suffered traction problems exiting corners this would have masked straight line performance?
GP 1982
Memory says either Charlie O'Brien or Dave McMillan (citizen but notusual #) but hey we all know what the memory is worth
Cheers
Lee
Steve Millen
Roberto Moreno
Whoever is not in the above post
Cheers
Lee
Action? at the Hairpin
Cheers
Lee
Cheers
Lee
Cheers
Lee
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
