Photos: The Gerard Richards Collection - Part 1

[John McKechnie]

Gerard- as you say these photos are special, but in another way. David McKinney has pointed out that in the 60s racing cars were single seaters and that saloon cars were basically just a filler.Around this time, it looks as if saloons were taken a little bit more seriously by the press, and thats why we have these pix.

[Gerard Richards]

Pleased I saved some now,plus some 1952 Mechanix Illustrated.

I agree with you. I have a small stash of about 15 Photo News mags from about 1961 to 1973 from various regions of N.Z and they are a wonderful social history of the "simpler times?" of the 60's and early 70's in N.Z. In particular they provide a fascinating pictorical insight into many aspects of motorsport in N.Z. in these regions including, club grass track racing, hillclimbs, early stock car racing, circuit racing, drag racing, motorcycle racing and power boat racing. They are real underated treasures, in the historical side of recording Kiwi's passion for motorsport and automobiles, plus many other aspects of the popular culture at the time.

[Rod Grimwood]

[QUOTE=Gerard Richards;22192]

This is Paul Fahey and Red Dawson (ex-Segedin) blasting off the line in their Mustangs.

Attachment 14622[/QUOTE Just wanted to accurately credit this photo of Paul Fahey and Red gunning there Mustangs off the line at Pukekohe in late '67. This photo was taken by Thorpe Studio's in Pukekohe. They were responsible for taking quite a number of motor racing images in the Franklin area from the mid 60's to about 1973.Many were printed in their monthly publication Franklin Photo News, which ran between those dates. These regional photo news magazines were published in many regions of New Zealand and most of them carried quite interesting segements on Motor Sport in their respective area's. The Roaring Season has illustrated a number of these pics from different parts of the country in a selection of the threads. These photo news mags are very interesting records of the grass level and international level of motor sport in N.Z. but they are now almost impossible to find.

Looking at photo to me sums it up, (please don't get this wrong) Paul Fahey the perfectionist, Look at car presentation, fit of helmet ect. "Red" the hard charger, and helmet sits on head, 'she's all good'. I loved watching Red Dawson and his hard charge on attitude, and he and Johnny Riley were favorites, but looking back now Mr Fahey was the pro. and showed the results.
PS have good look. Mr Fahey has shoulder harness, don't see anything over Mr Dawsons shoulders.

[stubuchanan]

Gerard- as you say these photos are special, but in another way. David McKinney has pointed out that in the 60s racing cars were single seaters and that saloon cars were basically just a filler.Around this time, it looks as if saloons were taken a little bit more seriously by the press, and thats why we have these pix.

Until about 1960, racing saloons were mainly "shopping cars" with a few Jaguars thrown in, but then people found that Hillman and Anglia motors could be made to go a lot faster, and in the North anyway, prewar American V8 coupes started to appear following the demise of stock car racing in Auckland. Riley, Dawson, Garth Souness, Bert Jones etc were top stock car men and others like Jack Nazer and Rod Coppins first appeared in V8 coupes. The new breed of drivers put new life into saloons racing and it became more than a supporting act.

Then overseas trends led to Mini-Coopers and Lotus Cortinas and by the mid-1960's Ford Mustangs, and suddenly everything had changed. You could buy and race a Mini-Cooper S or get one with a bit of export-import skullduggery and a trip to Australia and the sport changed quite quickly. You didn't need to be an ace mechanic - there were people you could pay to prepare your car, and motor racing was on the up. New circuits - Pukekohe, Ruapuna, Timaru, BayPark were built. They must also have been good times economically, looking back on it. With McLaren Hulme Amon racing in Europe at the top level there was plenty of publicity for the sport, and saloon car racing was usually competitive and often spectacular. Judging by some of the threads on this forum, it was great fun off the track, too!

Stu

[seaqnmac27]

The Orange Lola T332 F5000 car here awaiting the start of the 1975 NZ Grand Prix, is that of Aussie Johnnie Walker. It was slightly unusual as it was the only Lola to run the Repco V8. Walker was very competitive in this last true Tasman Championship and was contesting the outright title when he destroyed the car in a huge accident at Sandown Park, plowing into the horse railings... He was very lucky to survive, emerging only with cuts and abrasions. Also interesting in this picture is the red La Valise Lola T332 in the background of Ken Smith. Standing beside the red car are the diminutive Ken himself with Kiwi hard charging saloon racing legend Red Dawson, who were reputably great mates