For old times sake 2 - Chamberlain Road , Bombay 2014

[Jeff]

I'm starting from the dead end of Chamberlain Rd ( the eastern end ) and driving west down into the valley and up the other side to the infamous "top corner" and on to the straight where the finish would have been.
Although much altered , the road would still be great fun at speed.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9szGree1tXY

[Rod Grimwood]

I'm starting from the dead end of Chamberlain Rd ( the eastern end ) and driving west down into the valley and up the other side to the infamous "top corner" and on to the straight where the finish would have been.
Although much altered , the road would still be great fun at speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9szGree1tXY


Bit different to what I remember, this has lot of straights (did not have them back then). Old days Seemed to be from lock to lock from bridge all the way up back then, and top corner turned right just about back on it's self.
Time sure changes things.

[Ross Hollings]

Same here,hard to pick it up,no bridge etc,dam sure that top corner was tighter than that !!!! Well done Jeff, good bit of fun.Now what about Cossey,s Farm !! Ross H

[stubuchanan]

Same here,hard to pick it up,no bridge etc,dam sure that top corner was tighter than that !!!! Well done Jeff, good bit of fun.Now what about Cossey,s Farm !! Ross H

http://s6.postimg.org/uvobrpey9/Chamberlain_Rd_Challenger_Sp.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

Looks as if they have "straight-lined" much of the hill, judging from this mid-60's photo.

It doesn't look at all like it did.

Stu Buchanan

[Ross Hollings]

Mini Max ,Myself driving, have not seen that one before,good photo . used to get big crowds in those days,will print a result list for a Gold Star event,some good names there. Hillclimbs used to get regular reports and results in the newspapers .The Motorman did a sterling job reporting also.RH

[Steve Holmes]

I hope you don't mind Jeff, I just embedded that video into your opening post.

[Ross Hollings]

Sorry,not me {Ross Hollings] , Never had fancy googles like that,did have a similar helmet ,looks like John Pettit.,who i bought the car from. RH

[Jeff]

Thanks Steve - I did originally try to do it myself
I hope you don't mind Jeff, I just embedded that video into your opening post.

[Jeff]

Thanks for these great photo's Stu.
As you say the road is almost unrecognisable. I'm amazed by the smooth , fine gravel surface of both this photo and the ones of Ross at Cossey's Farm in the 60's.
I don't ever remember Cossey's being smooth - was really rocky during the 80's.
Did the car clubs have gravel dumped and the roads graded prior to these events or was this just how the roads were ??
I must say the Mini Max looks like SO much fun. Did these cars ever do double duty as TQ midgets in the 60's ?
I remember there being a few similar rear engined cars in the late 60's.

[Ross Hollings]

Some good questions there ........As regards surface,sometimes the council could be helpful in doing a bit of grader work but the best surfaces came,especially at Chamberlain Rd from an early shower on the sunday day of racing and it would get progressively smoother if the sun came out.,very much like a sealed road.Times i was at Cossey,s it was quite smooth.The Minimax was built as a far as i know for hillclimbs/sprints etc and not sure if it was used in speedway events.The Firth specials ,designed by Murray Firth were used at speedway but were banned as the way they went around the Springs was totally different to a TQ miget,how they went in and out of corners and they considered them too dangerous to race against.Yes the Max was a lot of fun and quick,considering it ran on mini cooper s rims on the back and 8inch tractor tyres on the front,was a bit tricky on sealed hillclimbs and the club circuit at Puke....lots of understeer.....good memories though.

[Ross Hollings]

Results from a Bombay hillclimb,1969 and Pukekohe Pollock Rd.2324823249