In 1965 Evelyn Hadfield and Margaret Hough completed the Wills 6hr race in a Fiat 500. Many years later I located it in a carport with a broken windscreen and managed to buy a piece of NZ racing history. It moved on to a car collection at Karaka for many years and when I last heard of it it was in Hamilton. This Youtube clip shows the wide diversity of cars that used to appear in the Pukekohe long distance races.
Last edited by GeebeeNZ; 01-12-2013 at 09:27 PM.
I believe this is the 1966 race but it could be the 1967 one. Perhaps Milan or Stu can help. Gerald you will notice a dark coloured MG 1100/1300 in there.
Last edited by GeebeeNZ; 01-12-2013 at 09:29 PM.
GeeBee, if you look on the Rod Coppins thread, page 4, there is a photo of Rod and John Ward when they won the 1966 Wills race in a Jag. Bruce302 has one of my Shell Yearbooks from that year so he may be able to help you.Originally Posted by GeebeeNZ
There seems to be a problem with the links to these videos when I go to access them they say they are private.
Please try again I have changed them.
Graeme
Does anyone have a photo of that Jag, as well as details of the 2nd and 3rd finishers in the '66 race? I have the details of the '65 race.
"Sorry Mr K., it's not your day."
It would be great if you could post what details you have on the 65 race? I am wondering weather my dad Bruce McLean was driving one of the Lotus Cortina's in either of those years.
Thank you for the info.
Unfortunately I only have the top three finishers, not the entry list.
"Sorry Mr K., it's not your day."
Your Dad and Barry Phillips drove a Ford Zephyr (No 32) in the 1965 Wills 6-Hour. From what I wrote in my programme it would appear they qualified seventh fastest. I can find only one mention of the car in the Motorman report and that states: Barry Phillips (Zephyr) and Graham Lucas (Peugeot 403) kept up their close dice for lap after lap. The Peugeot finished in eighth place but your Dad's car is not listed in the top 15 so they must have had trouble or retired.
He was not entered in the 3-Hour race that year but in 1966 they entered a Lotus Cortina in the 3-Hour race and were first reserve for the 6-Hour event driving a Papakura Motors entered Fiat 1500. They finished third in the Lotus Cortina behind Fahey and Palmer's Mustang and Innes and Grant's Mini Cooper. That was an impressive result as Phillips had tangled with a Jaguar in the loop on the first lap and dropped to the rear of the field with damage to front and left guard.
Their 6-Hour campaign started badly when the Fiat siezed its engine on the back straight during practice. The Motorman report states 'it required an all-night repair job to make the grid the next day.'
They retired from the race just before 7 p.m., after 4 hours racing.
Last edited by Milan Fistonic; 02-09-2013 at 11:42 AM.
The only photo I have of it is from the 1966 Shell annual. Will try and scan it. 2nd and 3rd place finishers were both Alfa Romeo's, those of Jensen/Jensen and Emson/Bremner.
The 1966 race was won by Ray Archibald and Tony Shelly (Jaguar 3.8) who completed 170 laps. Second was another Jaguar 3.8 driven by Ernie Sprague and David Simpson who did 167 laps. Third went to the Alfa Romeo Guilia TI of Ray Thackwell and Ronnie Moore on 166 laps.
I'll post a photo of the Jag later.
Thank you Milan, this clears up the confusion I had around the '65 and '66 races.
"Sorry Mr K., it's not your day."
The MG 1100 in the 1966 race was entered by A. R. Johns Ltd and driven by Denis Marwood and Brian Innes.
Thanks Graeme, what magnificent foootage, absolutely brilliant, loved the shot of the Fiat 500 getting away at the back of the field.
Here is a very good shot from the 1965 Wills 6 Hour, as included in the "The Shell Book Of New Zealand Motor Racing 1966"
from Steve Elliott's collection.
Bruce302 thanks for that shot, its a good one. Although the winning Jag would have had a top speed of nearly twice the Fiats the difference in their average speed for the entire race was less than 20mph. It was not the first Fiat 500 to race. It may come as a surprise to many that Roy Harrington drove one in the 1963 race. Richard Sisler drove one in the 1964 race.
GeeBee, Glad you like it. It is as good as you can expect from most race coverage. Anything outside the top 5 get virtually no coverage.
According to the write up another Hadfield rolled his Datsun in the same race, a husband I guess.
Bruce.
Don Hadfield was Evelyn Hadfields husband and a well known competitor in many forms of motorsport. He had a roll over during night practice for the 1967 race. The car was a Datsun Bluebird and rolled when the left rear wheel dropped off the edge of the tarmac and dug into the dirt exiting the loop. Nearly all the cars were stopped at the scene as there was debris all over the track. I was asked to continue and let the flag points know there would be a delay. Arriving back at pit lane Bob Newson who owned the car, asked me had I seen Don as he was missing. The strangest thing was almost every pit crew were worried about their car, few had realised that no cars were circulating.
Last edited by Bruce Blacklock; 01-14-2013 at 01:42 PM. Reason: Correcting spelling error
That'll be Bob Newson...
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