BayPark Oct 4th 1969
Graham McRae in the Begg FM2 passes the scene where poor Barry Thomasen had had his accident in the Brabham-Climax.
The car did not seem to be too badly damaged from where we stood across the track.
(Ken Hyndman )
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 05-15-2014 at 03:37 PM.
At the time it was known that IC/1/63 was a chassis built in Australia for Matich/Total and this was the car sold to Red Dawson.Originally Posted by GD66
Last edited by Kwaussie; 05-16-2014 at 12:49 PM.
Frankly that is a lot of nonsense.
Matich went to England for several months to work with Tauranac on this car which was the prototype of the BT7A series.
Here are a couple of pics from Steve Elliott's collection, the captions are Red Dawson on pole for the first international meeting at Bay Park Raceway. The second pic is the same race start. No other dates given.
December 30th, 1967. Red off the line alongside Frank Radisich in the Lotus 22, Laurence Brownlie and Vince Anderson on the second row and Jim Palmer with his hand in the air in the M4A. This may have been a heat race as Palmer won the main race by 8 seconds from Laurence Brownlie.
Last edited by GD66; 05-18-2014 at 08:27 AM.
This must have been the opening meeting for the NEW Baypark track? i know they tried to open earlier but bad weather cancelled that event(so im told) at 8 years old i wasn't there, LOL
Dale M
The first meeting held was on December 3rd, 1967. There was a big issue with the seal, I understood at the time that they had economised and used cold mix and the tyres were tearing it up : Palmer's M4A smashed its mirrors with flying seal. They fixed it up pretty smartly and the Dec 30th international with Norm Beechey as the star attraction was a blinder, as you can see from the pics above there was a ripping crowd in.
Not quite. Inaugural meeting was rained off on 18 November. It was re-run on December 3, but according to Donn Anderson in Motorman only as a 'closed to club members' event. Apparently MANZ weren't being very helpful to the upstarts from the Mount, but a number of new members were 'found' and reasonable fields ensued!
The same Motorman issue mentions Paul Bolton's Levin accident in the Rorstan 2.5 Brabham, caused by a brake-pad becoming welded to the disc and describes the car as a write-off. Bolton wasn't too happy either, with broken collar-bone and shoulder.
Also mentioned the Feo Stanton had three 2.5 4-cyl Climax engines for sale and two Hewland HD5 gearboxes with plenty of spares.
stu
Last edited by stubuchanan; 05-18-2014 at 10:40 AM. Reason: Clarification
Steve some of those photos of mine are that early meeting. Cement dust just about everywhere.
Which Steve are you referring to Oldfart?
Our guiding light and owner of the site.
I was just wondering Oldfart as I have got some other photos of that meeting as well which Bruce may be able to post for me.
As you say, the car does not look too badly damaged from across the track
Surely someone must know what actually happened to this very well known car?
And NOT just what is in ORC.
I have an article from Auotonews vol 3, number 18 April13 1970 page 10. which may be relevent here-
BIll Thomasen had an older high-line Cooper less engine and installed a 2 litre unit in place of the 2.5. When Thomasen took delivery of the Brabham (now owned by Bryan Faloon) this Cooper was sold.
Does this give a link from Thomasen to Faloon or is this another Brabham?
No John, that is an earlier Brabham, BT4 (IC-3-62) that Bill raced.
Originally Bib Stillwell, then to Thomasen for NZ rounds of 65 Tasman, then Jim Boyd for NZ rounds of 67 Tasman, then to Bryan Faloon for NZ rounds of 68 Tasman. Understood to now be in OZ.
The car in question here is the ex Matich BT 7A (IC-1-63), that Thomasen bought for his son Barry
December 3rd 1967 was also the opening meeting for the Timaru Motor Raceway as it too had been postponed from the previous week because of a downpour which had flooded the infield area of the circuit. Red was the star attraction with the Mustang staying over for the week and keeping many entertained. The racing between he and Gary Sprague in the Anglia set the tone for meetings to follow.
I was at that meeting as an enthusiastic spectator. At a later date I was told, or read, that Red was enticed to that meeting by substantial appearance money. However the cheque was never cashed. When Red was approached about what had happened to the cheque he replied that he had such a good time at Levels that he had framed the cheque and it was hanging on his wall. Whether that is true or just urban legend I have no idea, but I took it as gospel at the time.
From Historic Racing Cars of New Zealand book page 40... car was purchased by Barry Thomasen but he crashed the car at Bay Park in October 1969........ the car was destroyed. Bits of the car were used as parts for other cars, some finding their way to Australia. Roger Munns got the back end for his BT22.
Roger Munns gets an acknowledgement for the GV book so some weight should be placed with the comments.
Last edited by Kwaussie; 05-20-2014 at 10:27 AM.
To be fair, I think you have to remember that Vercoe's books were written around 1990, 20 years after the events, and there is some evidence that he was sometimes 'winging it' when he didn't have the full story. I hadn't seen Khyndart's photo before, and I have to agree that the car doesn't look a complete write-off.
The 2.5 Climax-engined cars were getting a bit long in the tooth by 1969/70, slower than the FVA 1.6's and some 1.5 twin-cams on most tracks, and Bill Thomasen would have had no great incentive to repair the car at that time. Maybe it was just dismantled, at some later stage.
Stu
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