Photos: 1985 Wellington Street Race Photos

[TonyG]

These were shot at Pukekohe on my way home from work when they were testing. The Chrichton car has Benson & Hedges on it so afer all these years I would have to assume they were around Benson and Hedges event time pre Xmas so before the Nissan Mobil.

[Steve Holmes]

Hey Tony, these are fantastic images! Both the Baigent and Crichton BMW's ran the 1984/85 NZ endurance series, prior to the street race. The Crichton car ran in stark black with little or no signage on it, but still looked amazing. I think the Wellington event might have been the first time it appeared in JPS colours?

[Steve Holmes]

correct, it was a Schnitzer car Particularly nasty accident, in many ways.

Thanks Conrad

[Steve Holmes]

Pit stop time for the Sytner/Morton BMW. Of all the leading contenders, this was really the only car that wasn't delayed by some sort of drama, be in mechanical or through being bitten by the track. The biggest issue the pair had was that this car wasn't fitted with power steering, which made each driving stint incredibly tiring. Morton spun towards the end of the race, which allowed the Volvo to close right up. I wonder if this spin was as a result of Morton becoming exhausted through the lack of power steering?

[jimdigris]

Great shot here of Dick Johnson in the Anderson Falcon. Johnson qualified the big Ford in 1.32:37, yet from the standing start, he completed the opening lap in 1.32:04. From there he punched in an amazing 1.31:1 on his second lap, and first flying lap, and after two tours, was already 4.5sec ahead of the second placed car!

Attachment 23511

Martin Smith photo

This is a stunning race time. To put it into perspective, in the 87 WTTC event Ludwig got pole on 1.29.42, on very sticky qualifiers in an RS500, and the fastest cars lap times in the race were in the mid 32s. Does anyone know if the track was different for the WTTC race?

[Steve Holmes]

Hi Jim, yeah the track changed on a regular basis so unfortunately lap times can't really be compared. This first year there was a tight left-hand hairpin bend off the end of the back straight which I don't think was used again.

[Steve Holmes]

Neat bit of tv coverage here showing the first 5mins or so of the race.

[jimdigris]

I'm stunned this track every passed international safety rules

[Shoreboy57]

I'm stunned this track every passed international safety rules

I think some fast talking had to happen. Robbie Lester involved I believe (Manfeild provided a lot of event staff)

[seaqnmac27]

[seaqnmac27]

[Carlo]

I think some fast talking had to happen. Robbie Lester involved I believe (Manfeild provided a lot of event staff)

It meet the requirements of the time, things have sure changed in the 29 or so years since then.
The organisers were borrowing torque wrenchs and crew members to check all the Armco bolts after the track inspectors found that the contractors had left some loose. That was just one of the many hold ups we endured before the meeting got under way but then it was all part of the fun of the occasion and everyone just mucked in to make the event happen.

[Jeff]

This is a better thread to put my Nissan / Cue series pics...
Pukekohe 1985

[jimdigris]

There sure are some variations in same car engine capacities in that entry list! Did the person entering the car state the capacity instead of what it was supposed to be under group a regs?

[crunch]

It meet the requirements of the time, things have sure changed in the 29 or so years since then.
The organisers were borrowing torque wrenchs and crew members to check all the Armco bolts after the track inspectors found that the contractors had left some loose. That was just one of the many hold ups we endured before the meeting got under way but then it was all part of the fun of the occasion and everyone just mucked in to make the event happen.

Shoreboy is right. It didn't meet the requirements of the time. We were told late afternoon that the race would not run, however Robbie Lester did a tremendous job and found the required loop hole. I just love loopholes!!

[crunch]

Thanks for the reports on the race and the interesting TV aspect. I feel much better for that!

As the Sytner/Morton team kept accurate lap charts (which was the norm, even for F1 teams years ago with a triple analogue stopwatch board - stopped, running, ready) it is almost impossible to get it wrong, just as long as the scorer presses the lever each time the car goes past. They are used to watching just their own car and it is/was very rare to miss it.

As I remember it, at Manfeild, each timer wrote the lap time on a pad so I am not sure if the above mentioned 'flip pad' system was in addition to the time keeper's or was combined? Maybe someone will know?

If combined, it was far from fool proof and even lap times could be very dubious, as in handicap racing particularly, if they failed to spot a car until it was past the finish line, that lap would be a second or two longer than normal, meaning that the next lap would then be a second or two quicker, leading to some weird 'fastest laps'! The same applied to timekeepers at other circuits of course.

As always, the timekeeper was a judge of fact, but the stewards could have accepted the Morton/Sytner pit crew's summary and compared it to the Petch charts, (I assume they were doing the same?) as it is extremely difficult to fake - especially given the time scale - as the cumulative time and the individual lap times could have been tied to the TV coverage, particularly the pit stops, which was of course filmed and broadcast live.

Hi Ray
Manfield Organisation did their usual timing system that had be proven over the previous 20 years at the Castrol 6 hour motorcycle race, and which you allude to. If you look at the photo of the hairpin I was marshalling on, and you can see Shoreboy's flag point in the background. Just to the left of Shoreboys container was another that had a timing stand erected on it that looked down the front straight to the start finish line where the 40 odd timekeepers sat. Personally; I think the BMW won, and some of that has come from information from some of those timekeepers....

[Frosty5]

Hi Ray
Manfield Organisation did their usual timing system that had be proven over the previous 20 years at the Castrol 6 hour motorcycle race, and which you allude to. If you look at the photo of the hairpin I was marshalling on, and you can see Shoreboy's flag point in the background. Just to the left of Shoreboys container was another that had a timing stand erected on it that looked down the front straight to the start finish line where the 40 odd timekeepers sat. Personally; I think the BMW won, and some of that has come from information from some of those timekeepers....

I think the evidence is overwhelming in favour of Morton/Sytner and that comes from various quarters. It made me sit down watch and re-watch videos several times and I conclude that the BMW won. The party after however, was a ripper!!!!LOL Refer post #20

[Powder]

Shoreboy is right. It didn't meet the requirements of the time. We were told late afternoon that the race would not run, however Robbie Lester did a tremendous job and found the required loop hole. I just love loopholes!!

It would take me hours to find where I read it, but I think the international race permit was revoked and the event was run as a 'domestic' race which didn't have to meet the same standards (perhaps by giving all the overseas drivers temporary NZ race licences?).

[crunch]

It would take me hours to find where I read it, but I think the international race permit was revoked and the event was run as a 'domestic' race which didn't have to meet the same standards (perhaps by giving all the overseas drivers temporary NZ race licences?).

Yep. Cant do that nowdays as an individual can only hold a competition licence from one country

[ERC]

I love the 'stories' around racing and find them fascinating and it seems that this race has more than most - and is indicative of the times.

History will show that the red tape is so much tighter now and that many so called loopholes will have been closed but with fewer colourful stories behind the later events. Although there may be hiccups now and again, they are relatively few as organisers and MSNZ know what they are doing.

Reading Maurice O'Reilly's brilliant book "A Series of Small Explosions" for example, is a classic example that a lot of the colour has now been drained out of life and I am not at all sure that it has been worth it - and the current preoccupation with one make racing hasn't helped at all.

It was still a fantastic race with a great variety of cars and one I'll always remember, even though it was from the couch. The classic racing was quite memorable too as I recall, with Roger Townsend's Escort three wheeling around the place (if that was 1985!).