1989 NZ Sports Sedans

[rogered]

Thanks Roger. Do you know if he started rebuilding it, or is it still as wrecked at Puke?

I dont know for sure.
I had a feeling it may have been patially rebuit but i dont know for sure?
curious now ,so i might find out.
That was a cool car,

We were parked next, to him the weekend at Puke when he had that big Off.
I have a real clear memory of it turning left and mounting the fence.
It was a pretty big crash !!!!!!

Those big saloon drivers , the likes of Osborne and co from the 70s and 80s, were legends to a young kid.
Was never going to be challanging them but was absolutly cool to be on the same grid.

[KiWinUS]

The first Merkurs raced begining the first Trans/am race 1996 at Riverside , my car A v8 powered Mac tools sponsored Roush Capri , started at the rear (Jacks car I prepared it ) with Scott Pruett driving , the head of Ford motorsport at the time Lee Morse , come to Scott & I before the race & said if there was anyway the merkurs could win , we must let them!After he left i said to Scott " are you a race car driver or not ? " ho said I hear you dont worry./ We passed the Merkurs for the lead on the front straight with Lee Morse hangin over pit wall trying to slow us down !!! He was one "HOT" MF after the race !!!
who cared we had won !!
Then Sears Pt. , we had a valve cover leak while leading , Pro Fab Chevys won , off to Mid Ohio next
I reworked the bump steer on the rear of the Merkurs . I believe they won this race . After this race I went back to nascar with Robert Yates.
Cheers
Tony

Damn this site is so absorbing.....so just quickly....the Merker was sitting in the corner of the Roush race shop when I purchased the latest TransAm Mustang bdy shell from them (early '80s ..I could check my passport of old for exact dates.) and it was this car that they ended up banning because like the Audi's of years earlier it won every race it entered. In fact Jack Roush was quite the cunning fox...he put a 4 cyl Turbo engine in his Thunderbird bodied TransAm car one week depending on what track etc...then a Supercharged V6 the next and then the V8 when needed.... Now Rodney as you know for what ever reason I never went anywhere without my camera whether or not i was competing or not....and to this day still dont! (whats that about?? I am not even a photographer!!) However the point is...I too have many hundreds of these photos that I need to "locate and Sort" and hand over to get them out there. (Would you believe I took over 5,000 at the BMW festival at Hampton....albeit only from where I am parked "on duty" at pit exit!) And a few whilst holding a reasonably brisk pace on call out! (thank the Good Lord for paddle gear shifts.....) I gave Debs from Race Control about 5,000 on a disc of a few of the meeting over the years....out of around 50,000 !.....BUT wait theres more. Back in the Group C then on to the Group A days I have a lot of video tapes that were sent direct to me thru my Aussie connections...(ok brother in law...)... and every race I entered to date up until 5 years ago which includes Wellington Nissan Mobils then Puke...All the Sprint races s thru the 70's and 80's, on to the B & H's from the early 80's, Simpson series, L K 500's, 6 hour Pukes, 3 hr Taupos, 4 hr Manfields, (yawn) and a shit load more including in car of every lap I did at Bathurst..... My point....come round and help me organise for this to make it on to this site or what ever as my kids have gone down Rugby and Cricket roads and although help me from time to time in SC, dont share the same passion....YET! I know some may be damaged but I even have great NZ Rally shot ot of Mercs, Fiats, Penti's and Ari's etc etc etc.,.so come stay a couple of years and go through them with me....and dont worry about the missus...I will tie her up!!
Regards Tony Rutherford,

[Rod Grimwood]

Steve i believe the RX7 is being rebuilt, not sure but it may be in old hands again.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks for that info guys, yeah it'd be great to see the Mazda rebuilt. It was a good looking car, and sounded fantastic.

[TonyG]

John Osborne was one lucky driver with that crash. I remember grabbing a quick look at the car impaled on the strainer post where it landed and the pedals were gone and the post was inside and up under the dash.

[Rod Grimwood]

John Osborne was one lucky driver with that crash. I remember grabbing a quick look at the car impaled on the strainer post where it landed and the pedals were gone and the post was inside and up under the dash.

Very lucky, but still got hurt badly enough. Remember what normally sits on pedals. I got offside with a couple of Officials at hospital a couple of days later when I visited John and asked him a simple question, he smiled but they just looked at me, I kind of was treated a bit different after that by them. (think they were not to sure about me)

[Terry Richardson]

Yip there was a project that made me cringe the first time i heard the sparks flying from the grinder.
from the figure, i heard, was paid for that engine, it should have had huge pull, man.

Yip that's me, Terry and I still have the car, yes it did look a bit like Bruce Manon's car for a while when it was sponsored by Piako Freighters, then I painted it white. Yes I worked for Brad Jones Racing in the mid 90's when they were Audi Sport Australia then went to McLaren in the late 90's then back to BJR when they started with V8's in 2000 and am still there.

[Steve Holmes]

Terry, do you have a photo of the Escort?

[Terry Richardson]

Hi Steve, yes I have a few over here but mostly still in NZ. Just need to find some time to scan them. Pretty busy at work at the moment doing 12-14 hour days and about to get worse when we start building three new spec cars for next year. Cheers, Terry.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Terry, I'd love to see them.

[Rod Grimwood]

Hi Terry, I had some also but can not find at moment. Will find hopefully. Good to hear you all ok. will try and contact you later on.
Cheers
Rod

[Steve Holmes]

Here are photos Terry sent me through of his Escort. What a fantastic looking car this is! Terry will no doubt fill in some of the details as soon as he gets the chance.