Cool to see yourself and family Gerard, I was at the flag marshall post at the top of Rothmans! I soon moved to the South Island, posted there by the Education Dept. My first meeting at Ruapuna where I was helping out with the dummy grid, the driver of that Escort on the front row signalled me over and asked "What the hell are you doing down here?" Who said he did not take note of who was around? JR also had a bit of a chat as Speedway in Manurewa did a bit of work on family cars, as did P & R.
In post #69, mini #90 is the Rorstan car of Gordon Edwards, ahead of Rodger Anderson in the Lexington mini. #165 is Peter Levett and #42 is Clyde Collins in the PDL mini.
In post #70, the McLaren-painted sports car #37 is the Lotus 23B of Ross West.
In post #72, #59 Garry Pedersen in the Gemco and #60 Bob Hyslop in the JRM.
I think the #91 Aussie mini is Lynn Brown.
Also, in that pic of Jim Palmer he is piloting the Rorstan Brabham, a pairing that promised much but never really fired up. Also the ex-Sager Brabham of Oxton that I referred to was a BT16 in the two pics below Graeme Lawrence's McLaren M4A. I think his Lexington Brabham was a BT18.
The ex Ken Sager Brabham that the Oxton family purchased was a BT16 although it was generally referred to as being a BT16 in period. The Oxtons only ever had the one Brabham.
There are some great memories amongst these shots - I was at many of the races, certainly just about everything I can see from Pukekohe and some of the Bay Park stuff too. As for the Rorstan Brabham - I have an idea Jimmy P got involved because of the prospect of a Repco V8 fro the chassis. Jim was already aware of the power from a FVA and after many years with FPF Climax motors behind him, I can't imagine that would have been a 'way forward' at all.
And isn't it great seeing those big sportscars - there were never more than three or four front running V8 powered cars at any one time, but they sure were impressive to a 10 year old!
Cheers for that,Michael. I had the impression Feo signed Paul Bolton when it became evident that Jimmy P wasn't going to proceed, he showed flashes of speed but seemed to fly off the road a lot and had few results. Then we all sparked up with the promise of Bryan Faloon coming onboard...what might have been...
Re the disappearing Terry Allan Camaro, a bloke called Garry Treloar who was an ex-speedway sidecar racer turned up a few years ago in Historic Touring Cars in Aussie with a dark blue Camaro on silver minilites, I always wondered if that may have been the Terry Allan car.
Hi Gerard;Originally Posted by Gerard Richards
Keith just alerted me to your request as I have been offline all day. A copy should be no problem but if you are ok with a short wait we will try to get you a decent copy as I had to do a fair bit to that one to get it to that stage. Keith is going to purchase a new scanner to do the rest of his photos and will be able to grant your request in better quality. In the mean time I will forward you a copy of what I have uploaded so you have a copy to look at in the short term.
Regards
Tony
Hi Tony
I really appreciate, you going to the trouble, to get me a higher quality scan of your pic of the grid at crowd with my father and brother at the April 1970 NZ Saloon championship round. Your photo captures the scene so well. You may be interested, on the first thread of my photos "Gerard Richards Collection Part 1", I have three pics from that meeting, all taken by my father from a similar place to yours. The April weather was so beautiful and warm. The big saloon race was spectacular and one of the powerful memories I have from our spectating spot in front of the stand by the fence on pit straight, was the bucking and back firing V8's under heavy brakes for the tight elbow bend a short distance down the road. A great day for young impressionable adolescents!
Hi Tony
I really appreciate, you going to the trouble, to get me a higher quality scan of your pic of the grid at crowd with my father and brother at the April 1970 NZ Saloon championship round. Your photo captures the scene so well. You may be interested, on the first thread of my photos "Gerard Richards Collection Part 1", I have three pics from that meeting, all taken by my father from a similar place to yours. The April weather was so beautiful and warm. The big saloon race was spectacular and one of the powerful memories I have from our spectating spot in front of the stand by the fence on pit straight, was the bucking and back firing V8's under heavy brakes for the tight elbow bend a short distance down the road. A great day for young impressionable adolescents!
Ooops, thanks for clarifying that. Will adjust names now.
Regards
Tony
Re the Treloar Camaro, it was scratched off the list of possibilities quite quickly by all accounts. There was a couple of possibilities in the drag racing and Speedway fraternity but they either dried up or the people did not want to talk about the old days so no info came forward. In the mean time his Nephew I believe still hunts.
Thanks, Tony. A fun thread.
Hi Tony. I own the Garry Rogers number 7 Torana in these photos and would be interested in a copy of any photos you have of this car.
Regards Mark
These ones from later year at Pukekohe - not much I could do with them but I will post a couple anyway because of what they are.
Would have loved this to be in focus as is what I believe would be Trevor McLeans Charger
Does anyone know who was driving the RX3 in the above photos? I suspect I have the body shell in my garage, and would like to find out some history.
Great thread and photos.
Nazer Escort is in Far South Island. Got photos from couple years back somewhere.
John, way back saw the sports car and F5000's often in 'shed' in Porana Rd. It was in front of 'Lyalls' paint shop and across road from North Shore Automatics where a 'Monaro' sat for ages. Thought It had Elfin body then and mentioned in another thread. Fridays we used to have couple beers in paint shop or 'the shed' and Bill always tried to get me into it.
Inregard to the GEMCO body, wasn't the GEMCO a modified lotus frame. Apparently gone to States.
Rod- when you saw it, it would still have had the GEMCO body on it. He still has that body.
Yes, you are right- the GEMCO was a Lotus that John Riley had. Did the motor in at Bay Park..
Was at Hampton Downs a few years ago for sale, now in USA.
The Gemco started as a Lotus single seater, 18 I believe, that Johnny then turned into a 19, had the Olds alloy engine, then some more transformations with Gary Pedersen, Glen Eden Motors to become the GEMCO.
This is John Haszard. This car was built up for Rex Findlay in 1975. John Haszard sold it to Don Grindley who raced it from late 1980 to at a guess 83 or 84.
Somewhere I have the build story. Will have a look and try and scan it.
Sean
Thanks Sean. It is indeed this car. I always remember John Haszard's car being in "Raro" colours, not this colour scheme. Don Grindley sold it to Craig Hool. It is still in a similar colour scheme as above, but is currently semi space framed. Hopefully one day it will be restored to Rex Findlay's colours.
John's association with "Raro" started in 1975 or 76 with his 4 door RX3 rally car
Johnny Riley's Lotus 18/19 Olds, Gavin Evitt pic...from Found On A Rubbish Dump 2...
The following is from this cars first meet, March 1976.
At long last, Rex Findlay appeared in his Findlay's Gold Crust Mazda RX3. Firstly we must congratulate Rex and Geoff Sutherland on the presentation of the car. The finish on the red and yellow once rolled ex rally Mazda was incredible-absolutely immaculate and very attractive. The car runs a 13B rotary motor (as in Rod Millen's rally car and Frank Radisich's March), but the rest of it is virtually all Escort, including the rocket gearbox, Atlas differential, twin can front legs etc. The suspension and general setting up of the car is the work of Peter Bruin, while the motor was prepared by Bill Rotorsport Shiells of course. It was to the teams credit that the car went so well straight off as it was only finally assembled on Thursday night. Rex clocked a 1.24.3 without trying too hard especially as the car was far too undergeared, reaching maximum revs half way along the straights.
MotorAction 19 March 1976
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
