Hi Tunny7,Looking at the results of the 1973 Heatway, division 3 was the only division that all three Toyotas finished. Carter didnt start div one and Pinkerton didnt start div three.Love to have your car in my garage beside our Woolmark Escort. Peter.
That would be 3 of the best Pete
Lovin' your scrapbook Rod.
That's a terrrific looking car, that Corolla. I remember when my father got one (not to race) after a long succession of English cars - Morrie Occy, Vivas, 1100s and I could not believe how refined it was. It had this marvellous thing called a heater and it actually produced hot air.
Thanks Peter, I doubt there are too many people around who wouldn't live to be the owner if that Escort, it's a great car.Originally Posted by escorthvn
Sorry, some errors in the last post. Should read 'who wouldn't love to be the owner of that Escort'. Must start checking before hitting the button.
Tunny, just hit "edit post" at bottom of your post and you can change it. Only you can edit your post.
cheers
PS I have to do it all the time.
Last edited by Rod Grimwood; 01-11-2013 at 02:27 AM.
That cover shot is actually our car (GG43)
No, Colin wasn't from Palmy. We were all Wellington lads, though about that time Colin was a sales rep and would have covered the Manawatu area
No, different year, different car - an ornery Corolla 1300. Ian put it over a bank somewhere north of Gisborne, putting co-driver Steve Lachman (the car's owner) in hospital. I was in a team back-up car that year, and we asked Clerk of the Course Murray Thompson if I could take over. Rather to our surprise he said yes. We got as far as the next major stop - Napier or Hastings - when someone protested us. At the ensuing stewards' enquiry we were winning our defence, because of the fact that we had the CofC's OK, until someone asked if I'd signed the indemnity form. Um - no. So we were out
Steve - Derek Etherington was your Dad's co-driver in the first Silver Fern, in a Simca 1000, as I recall, and possibly in later (Torana) events as well
Apologies for three posts in a row
Not a very good photo, but perhaps Carlo could identify the inconsiderately parked car that nearly put us off a bridge in the 1973 Heatway - I think on the Moonshine Road towards Upper Hutt
Apologies again
I'd forgotten there were two photos of the incident
So; which one of these three Corolla's was the one Vallis Peet owned, or was that another TOYOTA NZ car? I did a bit of rallying in that car in the early 90's
See my post #95...
My memory is that Vallis's car was one of the three original Levins, but don't remember which
Richard Bean from Levin had another (or the same...)
Think Vallis ended up with Colins car, still thinking about the other car on the bridge, could it be the Dyer Bros?
For the 1973 Heatway the Toyota Levins were Taylor #5,Pinkerton #17,Carter #25, with Brownlie #26 in a 1293cc SL Corolla.Peter.
I hope nobody minds to much, this is the car that i started rallying in. I don't have a photo scanned of it as a rally car. I used it in the Castrol GTX series, and someone suggested I try a rally (probably Dad) I asked a school friend to navigate for me and we did a Woodhill rally. We had a lot of fun and I surprised myself and finished in the top 10. This car was standard, and I then bought a write off from an insurance company to build another car. I was circuit racing at this time as well and Neville Bailey built this second car. Dad had bought the ex Metha works 180B from Datsun NZ, (the one we sold to Paddy) and I put the spare 5 speed gearbox from that car in this one. Arthur McWatt built the roll cage.
I used it in the Marlboro series in the SI, where we went pretty good, but it always had an electrical issue or broke the alternator bracket at the wrong time. It was always 1595cc as some of the Datsun 1600 boys started putting 1800cc engines in theirs at this time. The last photo is of it as I used it in the 1975 Heatway. It was in the top 10 on the first few stages and then the lights went out! And we also got stuck behind Evan Green,....................and so the stories continue.
I had forgotten just how much fun rallying was, and had a blast in Carlo's escort at Waimate. It is so much more social than circuit racing were you are trying to win a championship and tempers can fly. I always look back fondly on the battle of the navigators. Trying to needle the opposition about let us through we are catching you.......................... I remember my mates, John & Grant in the Mazda, asking us what time we did for some stage or other. While the navigators were discussing the times, we said their time wasn't too bad. Grant agreed and then told us that they had also stopped to change a puncture...................................................I never did get to find out the truth. You just could never tell with those two. Always joking around! My navigator, Graham decided once that a certain well known escort driver was holding us up. he told me he was going to tell them to let us in front. I said you better not, but he was already gone to speak with his opposite number. He got a very cool reception and was told that no way would we ever catch them. It worked as next stage, 3rd corner we find them upside down. We did laugh, however maybe it was a bit naughty of Graham to wind them up like that. The general good natured geeing up of the crews is in stock contrast to the crews in circuit racing sometimes wanting to punch each others lights out.
Last edited by Steve Emson; 11-24-2012 at 10:10 PM.
Oh, the other Datsun 1600 in the earlier post was a different car again. This was a car that had a tow bar on it and was used to pick up motorcycles with a little trailer. it had a 4 speed box and was pretty unremarkable. It morphed into a car that I used with Peter Richardson in a Motorgard Rally. It was going very well (Lots of works teams in this event) 14th overall on the first day. We pulled a tyre off the rim flat out in 4th gear in a tarmac stage, and were very lucky not to have a big crash. We drove it out on the flat and the diff failed not long afterwards. John Woolf kept telling me to get a Mazda, Graham McGregor bought an ex works escort, and told me to get one...........................................After driving Carlo's escort, I should have done just that.
Last edited by Steve Emson; 11-24-2012 at 10:34 PM.
I was relying on memory when I posted. I should know who was with Carter...
May fading memory was that it was someone called Rabbidge, but you'd know better than I would
Carl?
From the 1973 Heatway Rally review booklet, edited by David Hall:
"It was impossible that Moonshine would not catch someone out for it is a tricky bit of road. The Escort of Carl Rabbidge rolled down a bank and into a stream but was later towed out with little damage. Ian Pinkerton put on a fantastic show of driving when he came onto a bridge whose entrance was already blocked by Tim Dyer in his Cortina. How he got by is one of those things about rallying. In doing so he damaged his suspension."
The event programme lists Car No. 103 as Cortina 1600GT driven by P.Dyer & G.Dyer.
Last edited by Powder; 11-25-2012 at 09:09 AM.
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