New Zealand ShellSport Saloon Series 1978 - 1985

[Carlo]

Carlo, thanks for posting these. Whats the history on the Escort?

Built and run by Fred Bailey then run by John Armstrong (Lombard Finance) and Allan Farr (Auto Performance) brought the car off Army in 1981 and has run it ever since, Shellsport, OSCA, South Island Endurance Series, put it away for a few years then has brought it out again to run in Classic events. I have been known to have to odd run in it too as that particular photo shows.

Timaru was a bit of a hotbed as far as Shellsport went, Kevin Ryan with Big Bertha which a I assisted him with, Warren Burt with a selection of Corollas and Starlets, Wayne Murdoch and the Avenger along with Faraway and the Escort.

Currently there are a few more cars or replica cars around the district, plus Grant Aitken has his car sitting above his office and John Gobbe has found and brought up somewhere around 11 -12 old Shellsport cars and is restoring all of them.

It sure was great highly contested racing with no quarter either given or expected

[kiwi285]

Here is a couple of Shellsport cars that I have had a bit to do with that are still racing in current South Island Classic meetings.

Love that Mk II Escort - great to see these cars have survived and are now running again in classic events.

[nigel watts]

[shellsport]

Here is a couple of Shellsport cars that I have had a bit to do with that are still racing in current South Island Classic meetings.

Looks a bit like the Ex Cooky , then Kevin Ryan 160j with different colours , rear flares and sinage

[Carlo]

Yes the 160J has the flare kit that Kevin fitted, FYI they are a copy of the flares that Warren Burt had on the Starlet. Keven ran the car with Scope signage, there is a shot of it in the excellent shellsport clip on this website

[Nigel Barclay]

Gidday Carl, tell A Farr to put back in SULCO tools colours, looked great. cheers Nigel

[beowulf]

Is there any film of thes in action? or is it all locked away by TVNZ with Tony Palmer dribbling nonsense, sorry commentating

I was talking to Murray Deaker at a function for the launch of the Jackie Stewart book. He is not interested in motor sport as such, but has a tremendous respect for the sport and what it has achieved internationally, and its coaching of the young and talented. One of the things he said was that we need to be training a young presenter to help promote the sport nationally. He wondered why Tony Palmer had given up because he considered he had done a good job and liked his enthusiasm. An interesting conversation with a very interesting bloke. And what he said made a lot of sense.

[Rod Grimwood]

Hello Carl, is the Escort that McNaughton ran still around.

[seaqnmac27]

My apologies Rod and to anyone I may have offended.

[Rod Grimwood]

No apology needed, he was excitable, but ate motorsport as much as he could, only time i can remember him not saying much was when he went for ride one day that works most times. He would have made a great politician with some of his statements.
All good

[Steve Holmes]

How many known survivors are there from this series? I know a few ended up being raced in the early years of the SS2000 series in the '90s, but now I expect people are gaining an appreciation for their ShellSport history.

[Steve Holmes]

Nigel, again, those are great shots! They were good looking race cars. This would be right towards the end of the ShellSport era. Does anyone have info on these cars, or where they might be today?

[Carlo]

Now that Warren Burt is semi retired he may just get enough time to complete some of his ideas which include rebuilding his old Imp race car and building up replicas of his Shellsport Corollas and Starlets

Steve Parker also of Timaru has Cookies old Sanyo Sunny and it is currently going through the rebuild process. Still remember crouched in the back of that car complete with a gas welding plant welding up the cracks in the rear floor pan where the tramp rods were pulling away from the body and welding body washers over the cracks to strengthen the much repaired area as he drove up to the start line for the final run at Ashley Forest. I got out of the car in the final minute of the countdown. Reg went on and won that run and with it the event.

[Steve Holmes]

Cool story Carlo and great info on those cars. Can you keep us posted on progress of some of these cars? Would be great to see them reappearing again.

[Rod Grimwood]

KIWI285 Do you have email adress for info on Shellsport Cars.

[kiwi285]

KIWI285 Do you have email adress for info on Shellsport Cars.

email address is mikeandkathyfeisst@orcon.net.nz

[TonyG]

A couple of these may be in the wrong caregory. Just let me know and I will move them.

[TonyG]

Any ideas on what happened to Jim Stones Gedore sponsored Escort 1300 ?

[Hart1598]

I have it, Auto Trader car, ran by Roy Harrington, I got it in 2004

[Kevin Hirst]

I have it, Auto Trader car, ran by Roy Harrington, I got it in 2004

If that is you Rex, will we be likely to see it on track soon