Great photo's Rod - thank for posting them.
Great photo's Rod - thank for posting them.
Whats the history on that purple Viva? Looks like the one that was around 15 or so years ago raced by one of the Heslin brothers. It was silver then. At the other Heslin was racing the ex-Ryan/Hyde etc V8 Capri, which I suspect is the blue car pictured earlier in this thread?
This was built by fellow Kaiata resident JT Thorby (NI) with a little 3.5 alloy in it , I Remember him racing at Wigram circa 83 under the " Destitute Racing " banner in a striking lime green / black livery , he had his helmet painted to match ...... and his hair as well . I Remember John Harcourt telling me he was still washing the dye from the balaclava years later he got off JT after he quit racing , a right character he is as i,m sure a few OSCA members here will verify . Cheers , Bazza .
Last edited by shellsport; 12-08-2012 at 08:21 AM.
"Destitute Racing" ! I think they came north at one stage but cant remember if i saw them at Puke or Baypark. Ran a couple of cars from memory. I keep thinking one was a Ford Consul for some reason.
Shellsport, is this the same handsome fella on the left with Herbie. I remember JT at Taupo back in those original days of of the big marque and 'Destitute Racing' with a safety pin through his ear along with the dayglo hair, and that was way before anyone had piercing as a optional extra. He is a clever bugger as well as a character.
Jenny Mossman raced the Consul after JT, and was a very quick and tidy driver.
More of a case of John Thorby coming South. John ran the Ford Consul 315 with the Holden six for a few years in the NI, then moved to the HB Viva with the V8 (not sure who originally built it). Around 1985? John moved to Chch and ran the Viva V8 in OSCA with some engineering help from John Harcourt who knew a thing or two about Rover/Olds/Buick alloy V8 engines. When John T gave racing away, the Viva sat in John Harcourt's Prebbleton workshop for some time. I had left NZ before the car went to anybody else, but when John Thorby ran it it did not have the big box flares pictured, they must have been a later addition.
This little Chevron beauty ran with the OSCA class cars and what a great performance with its little 2Ltr against the huge horse power Nissans but it out handled them and was a picture to watch go around the outside in the esse's (where no one pass's) awesome.
There were the usual "specials' as Ruapuna and South are famous for.
Avon Hyde with his little black Austin Special, (5) this goes quicker than it is meant too, and Avon seems to have the late brake points down to a tee, great to watch and leads alot of bigger machinery home.
Some photos of the "Specials"
More 'Specials'
There were also the mandatory McLarens, this being one of my favorite little cars.
Mr Mauger had the big car out for a run, no doubt this will be one of the centre stage cars at Hampton in January. Love that sound.
And this one that Mr Mauger drove too and from home in, and gave a little squirt after practice, quick and impressive. Especially under hard braking when the boot turns into a big rear air dam.
Yes, those are exhausts under the front guards, and that does say McLaren on the guard.
Sports Car History
Formula Ford History, another of Mr Begg's babies.
Can anyone fill me in on the background info of Stan Redmans Lola T333CS? Weren't the T333s built for the SCCA's new second generation Can-Am series? Obviously these were essentially F5000s with sports car bodies on top in the early years. Is this what Stans car started out as?
There were some beautiful Jaguars there and some with history.