The Bruce Wells Collection - Lakeside

[mid-year]

Hi Steve,yes. But it must be a shot taken mid-week during practice as it does not have the masking tape applied to the front bodywork to protect the paint from stone damage.

Regards Pete.

[Steve Holmes]

Yeah thats a good point Pete, I hadn't noticed that.

[Dale Harvey]

If you look more closely at the photos of the 250LM in the earlier posts (8, 10 & maybe 15) you will notice that the lower rear bodywork is missing. That does nothing for the beauty of the car!
Dale.

[mid-year]

That is quite noticeable after you pointed it out Dale,obviously it may have had a removable lower rear valance .The rear was damaged after an off in practice and I guess it was taken off as repairs were not able to be affected.
Pete.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Dale, yeah its really noticeable in Post 10.

[superroo69]

Wish there were more from this event, but sadly only six. Here is Graham Hill in the 4wd Ferguson P99. The Peugeot 203 is from one of the supporting races, driven by Martin Faithful.

As for the Tasman race start shot, I don't have any reference material to work from, so feel free to dive in and help here, but I'm going to say thats John Youl in the Cooper Climax leading the field away, chased by the Cooper of Bruce McLaren. Then, of the two Lolas in third and fourth, my guess would be Tony Maggs in the #3 car, and John Surtees in the #4 car. I'm only saying that because I am sure Maggs had a yellow helmet. Can anyone here confirm or deny?

Attachment 7186

In relation to the Tasman race, you are correct in that #15 is John Youl (Cooper Climax), #10 is Bruce McLaren (Cooper Climax), #3 is Tony Maggs (Lola) and #2 (not #4 - as there was no #4 in the race) is John Surtees (Lola). For your interest, here is the entry list for the race:

[superroo69]

Now, moving right along, and we're back at Lakeside for the 1965 TT. The Ken Miles 427 competition Cobra was the star attraction at this event, and a big drawcard, and, naturally, Bruce captured plenty of photos of it.

The first shot shows Ralph Sach in the pretty little Mildren Maserati. Kevin Bartlett also drove this car in 1965. Following are a couple of stunning shots of Ken Miles wringing the neck of the Cobra, while the last shot shows (I think) Bartlett in the Alec Mildren Racing Alfa.

Attachment 7189

According to the programme, Bartlett was driving the Alfa GTA #1, whilst the Giulia Ti Super #2 (pictured), was to be driven by R. Bussinello. Hope this helps.

[superroo69]

One of the other interesting cars in the background of the Tourist Trophy event, was Wal Donnelly's Turner Ford, now owned by Ian Barbarri.

[Steve Holmes]

Superroo, hey thanks so much for posting this info, its really great to be able to fill in some of the gaps and correctly ID these pics.

[Steve Holmes]

I'm curious to know what that 4wd Ferguson was like off the line. Did it make better getaways than the traditional 2wd cars?

[mid-year]

From memory it teemed down with rain mid-way thru the race and the Ferguson did not to appear to slow much at all compared to the conventional rear drive only cars

[Oldfart]

I'm curious to know what that 4wd Ferguson was like off the line. Did it make better getaways than the traditional 2wd cars?

It was pretty quick off the line here too. From where I stood it seemed to have to do a fair bit of work to miss some of the cars in front which baulked a bit! By the first few 100 yards it had all evened out.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks for the info guys. Aerodynamics were an unknown at the time, especially downforce, which I guess is why the Ferguson was created in the first place, as cars relied heavily on mechanical grip. I wonder why they built it as a front-engined car.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Steve Holmes
OK, a few single seaters, and I think the #76 Brabham might be that of John Harvey? Can anyone confirm? Either way, a very pretty little car, and its shown again in the second photo, chasing Leo Geoghegans Lotus. Any guesses as to the car on left of shot?

Attachment 7198

Attachment 7199

Yes, it's Harvey in his first openwheeler drive...

The car to the left is Cusack in his Brabham.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Steve Holmes
OK, moving right along, and the Spencer Martin Ferrari appears a few times here, including where its about to be passed (or lapped?) by Geoghegan. The rearward shot of this car I absolutely love!

Attachment 7208

Attachment 7209

Being lapped... he finished three laps behind IIRC.

Spencer damaged the rear panel tyre testing, along with other bodywork which was repaired for the meeting. It was late for official practice as a result.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Steve Holmes
Here we have... a shot of the Ron Thorpe Cobra, which is interesting, because this car doesn't appear in the photos above of the sports car races, which makes me wonder if it had a failure in practice and didn't race.....

Attachment 7214

Maybe... but I don't recall seeing the car there at all and there's no mention of the car in either race report - RCN or AMS.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by mid-year
Attachment 8254

I could spend time on this and probably tell you when it was, but Spencer did race that car there in March and July before the November ATT meeting. Ordinarily I'd say July, because there's no water in the lake, but it's hard to be that sure. It might have been a dry summer.

Anyway, the absolute proof it's not the November ATT meeting is that the stone-guard foam and tape was applied at Lowood in October and didn't come off for the rest of the year.