First Competition Car

[Rod Grimwood]

I had some photos given to me a while back, and the guy said "i got some real old stuff in there". On the back of photos is 1967. Well this was one of the first cars Steve Millen built and hillclimbed a few times before him and Rod finished the Hillman Cob. Steve sold it to a mate of mine Dave Wigg and he ran a few times and then it came into my hands. The photo behind the Chev on the hill at puke (in primer paint) is when we decided to do some "demon tweaks' notice the front brake air scoops and double roll bars etc. and as can be seen in other photos, the welded rear doors, widened wheels with state of the art F100 Firestones. It had a grunter engine with head and cam etc and twin sidedraughts. it went alright for it's day and age. Ran this car at few hillclimbs, Chamberlain Rd, Ridge Road, Andersons Farm. Club curcuit Puke.

It ended up painted "Burnt Orange' the colour of fast cars back then.

Well that was my first competion car and alot of fun back then.

what did you guy's and gals start in.

[Rod Grimwood]

Know come on, been a few look, so go and find those photos (i was lucky because some one else had some) and lets see how it all started and in what. If no photos how about sharing your first experience at motorsport and in what and how it went.

[Steve Holmes]

This is a great idea! I'm sure it'll be a winner Rod. I started in Karts, I'll track down some photos.

I love your old car, especially the wide wheels and purple paint. You must have been popular with the ladies around town cruising in that.

[AMCO72]

Rods first 'competition' car was of fairly humble origins and mine was even more so. Having been bought up during the war, and lived through the tough economic times thereafter, cars of any sort were thin on the ground, and sports cars even more so. I have related in Yards & Yarns [post 82] my adventures with the 8 hp Singer that in 1958 I dug out of a garage on Mt Pleasant where it had been resting for 10 years. This was my first car, and the machine I had my first experience at a 'speed event'. The word 'speed' here is relevant as the old 1928 Singer could barley struggle up to 45 mph, but the impression of speed was certainly there. The Singer had quite a sophisticated engine design....overhead camshaft...just one, and magneto ignition.....real Brooklands stuff. It was a design that lead to the 9hp Singer Le Mans, a car that had quite an illustrious sporting history. My old 8hp however had very few sporting pretensions, but I was keen to show my mate Stacey, who owned a 1934 Austin 7, who was boss. We used to take the cars down to McCormacks bay road at the bottom of Mt Pleasant. It was part of the original road leading to the seaside town of Sumner but was bypassed when the causeway across the estuary was constructed. Anyway it provided a traffic free course on which to test cars, and we weren't the only ones to do it. I was absolutely certain that the 8hp Singer would beat the 7hp Austin with it's puny little engine that you almost had to get a magnifying glass to see it. But no. Either Stacey was a better driver than I was, or the Austin was more 'streamlined' but I could never get the better of him. He must have sneaked some Avgas into the tank while I wasn't looking!! At one stage I treated the Singer to an engine 'recondition'.....4 tubes of Holts Piston Seal, to see if I could up the horsepower a bit. All to no avail. At 45 mph the Singer was going down that slippery slope to oblivion....an engine blow-up, and smoke was issuing from parts of the transmission that it shouldn't be, and me hanging on, with the accelerator through the fire-wall in an effort to keep up. So that was my first 'motorsport' event which should have put me off competition for ever. But the bug had bitten, and I went on to own all sorts of sports cars, good and bad, all faster than the Singer, but not necessarily more exciting, and none ever gave me the feeling again that I was heading for disaster, as the Singer did. The sports car craze ended with the Jaguar XK 120 C, which boy oh boy do I wish I had today.

[AMCO72]

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Since posting the above thread, my computer skills have improved a LITTLE bit. I wrote about my first 'competition' car in this thread, and in Yards and Yarns way back on post 82, 7/7/11. I wasnt able in those far off days to post a picture.....well here she is, 1928 Singer 8 hp....OHC, magneto ignition......real Brooklands stuff. Remember in those days not many cars had over-head-valves let alone over-head-cam. so she was quite advanced. Didnt seem to translate into horsepower though, as in my 'drag races' with my mate Stacey and his Austin 7, he could always beat me.....strange.
This engine with a bit more capacity ended up in the very pretty 1935 Singer LeMans, a car that was supposed to compete in sales, and on the track with the MG's of the time, but never did. A friend at Lincoln had Singer at the same time as I had my MG TC, and to be perfectly honest I prefered the Singer. They were a rare car in NZ compared to the MG though, and this was sometimes reflected in the price one paid so may have put off all but the genuine enthusiast.
The bloke in the picture contemplating the remains is me at 19. I should have been studying for UE, instead of thinking about old cars. Glad I did though, or I may have turned into a University dick-head!!!!!!!

By the way this post started by Rod Grimwood never took off. I think it deserves to.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread Gerald, I think its such a fantastic thread, and would love to see more people posting, as a good number of those on here do, or did, race at some stage in their lives. I started racing Karts as a teenager, not very interesting I'm afraid!

[AMCO72]

Notice also the rear of a brand new Skoda Octavia poking out of the garage behind the Singer. I think it was an Octavia....students of Skodas will be able to correct me on that one. This was definately NOT a competion car, and us kids always puzzled at the strange angles the rear wheels took when cornering.....positive camber we now know.

Our neighbours, the Ealands, drove before this machine, a monsterous Hudson Super 6 sedan which wouldnt even fit into the small roadside garage and the doors were always left open, allowing us cheaky buggers to get in and sit behind the wheel from time to time. I think Mr Ealand may have come into some money, not from Golden Kiwi or Tats, but from selling some of the gold fillings in his teeth, of which he had plenty, gold that is. He didnt, to our knowledge have a regular job, and spent all of his time building a large motor boat on his front lawn, which he eventually sailed off into the sunset never to be heard of again. Can still remember the boats name...'Teremoana'

[Rod Grimwood]

Hey, thought it would be good to resurrect this thread, come on you guys, lets have the 'real oil' on what got you going.

[Roger Dowding]

Seen before but my 3rd car second Mini, unmodified apart from the 4.5 inch Dunlop reverse rim Cooper wheels, needed to be reversed to fit over the drum brakes, Coopers had Disc's. here at Woodhill for a Grass Sprint with Northern Sports Car Club in 1971 [ Tom Grace's farm - well known in NSCC circles, both the farm and the farmer Tom ].

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My first Mini was more modified but only did trials with NSCC, it had twin carbs modified exhaust - Massey Ferguson Tractor Muffler [ fitted by Rob Williams of " Brutus " Allard and V8 Coupe fame ] and Jolly widened front wheels. looked good went OK, as in not much faster.

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[Roger Dowding]

Hey, thought it would be good to resurrect this thread, come on you guys, lets have the 'real oil' on what got you going.

Rod, my piece above, loved cars and racing while still at school, attended Pukekohe in my last years of school .. 1965 ..

[khyndart in CA]

My Mum would only allow one of us to compete and so my brother John gave "it a go" in 1969 with a quick little modified Mini that I can not remember the specs for as I was just allowed to "touch the sides" while the real preparation was done by others. I almost lost that position when I was towing it one time on the Motorway behind my Anglia and the trailer got the speed wobbles and it scared the heck out of me !
He competed at various hill climbs including Hora Hora and handicap races at Baypark.
While I was in OZ he traded that in for the "Little Green Monster" that was even quicker but in Nov. 1970 at Pukekohe he ran out of room at the Esses and he rolled and in his haste to exit he dove out the rear window area and ran right into the middle of the track !
After that the Hyndman racing effort sadly came to and end.
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Start at Hora Hora.
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( A rookie at Baypark as shown by the 3 black stripes )

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The next Mini. The "Little green Monster". All set to go racing.
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Pukekohe. Nov. 1970. Handicap race. Starting next to Rod Millen. The last race for the Hyndman Mini.
p.s. Could Peter Sundberg have been the mechanic for Rod Millen's Hillman ?


( Ken Hyndman photos )

[khyndart in CA]

Milan,
Would you have the programme for this day / events at Pukekohe ?. (October or November 1970 )
It would really be appreciated.
Thanks,

(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

Milon,
Would you have the programme for this day / events at Pukekohe ?. (October or November 1970 )
It would really be appreciated.

(Ken Hyndman )

[Milan Fistonic]

Ken

At the November 15 1970 meeting your brother competed in two races.

Race 1

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and Race 12

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This is the Motorman report of race 12.

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[Milan Fistonic]

He also competed in two races at the October 4 1970 meeting.

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[Roger Dowding]

Milan, your archives are amazing, thanks. Ken H will be please too!! his request.

I see the name Wayne McMath in a 999 Cooper S, as an entrant, It was his mate Mike .....?? who was hit by the errant wheel off a Triumph Saloon 2000 or 2.5 at the club circuit, I see too that Peter Levet is Imp powered, before he got into a Mini in the mid 1970's.

[khyndart in CA]

Milan,
This is truly appreciated and I can't thank you enough. I was still in Sydney during the October meet and the November event was not a great moment for us ! So to see your comprehensive results is, as Roger states, very pleasing.

( I hate to be greedy but what were the previous comments on the Monaro from the "Motorman" report ?
Is it the Spinner Black Monaro that John McKechnie is restoring ?)


(Ken Hyndman )

[Milan Fistonic]

It was the Jim Richards Monaro that he raced in the 8-lap Dunlop Saloon Feature instead of the Carney Escort. He'd run the Monaro in the Standard Production race earlier in the meeting when he finished second behind Robbie Francevic's Falcon GTHO. Spinner Black was third driving a GTHO. Bill Minty and Cliff Everson were also in Monaros.