Think Mr Williams (racing Ray) did the act of dissapearing off back straight and driving back around road to gate, in later years.
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Think Mr Williams (racing Ray) did the act of dissapearing off back straight and driving back around road to gate, in later years.
So they leave the gate open as an emergency run off?
Dont recall this being mentioned at any drivers briefing.
Cant see them shifting tyre bundles just because the famous Ray Williams cant stop in time.
I dont recall ever seeing this emergency exit, anybody else-apart from these guys- ever see it?
Man, the Police would have a field day ticketing people on a wet day .
How would they do it-slap it on the screen as they enter the road? Or catch them on the way back?
This was way before the days of the tyre barrier, in fact could have been reason why it was introduced. And it was wet.
There was a rubbish dump down in the bottom of valley, some one may be able to confirm this as well as it was a common stopping place.
Now you have sand and then tyres.
I was never going quick enough to get that far Bob.
Hi David. Yes front engined. Seemed very fast to an 18 year old! The Kombi front end bolted straight on to the chassis. I was told at the time and this is probably only a couple of years after the event, that the car had pulled 150 mph down the straight, the Kombi brakes had hauled it down to about 100 mph then faded completely. The car then leapt the creek and the fence and ended up on the road. I put Goodyear G800 tyres on it, installed a handbrake with no cables and went to the local garage. They didn't want to drive it, so I did.
I made a great flourish of pulling on the handbrake and stepping on the brakes and the car stopped in a shower of dust. They didn't seem to spot that all four wheels had locked up on the gravel. He then said "where's the sun visor?". I said "where's the windscreen?"
In the end a compromise was found with a piece of green sticky tape on the little Perspex wind deflector about two feet lower than my line of sight! Those were the days. I'll see if I can find a photo in my old albums.
Yes I was being a bit hard with that one as you were not around then that was Ken Kayes Mini with the Ford engine in it ,that he built in Tokoroa ,Tim was involved with it ,that's why I mentioned it ,I think in that photo there is myself ,West Marshall and Laurie Durrand ? ,the person with his back to the camera I thought might have been Tim but it could be Ken Kaye,That was the day before practice for the 1965 NZIGP meeting at Pukekohe ,I gave the guys a hand and they used my workshop at home and stayed with me that week end,unforunately although the thing flew .Ken blew the motor big time and that was the end of it ,I am not sure what happened to the car ,but I believe the engine bits were dumped
Attachment 14815
Here at last is a real abandoned lost race car worthy of this title .It has been mentioned earlier on this thread.This is the Team Cambridge Monaro, driven by Rod Coppins in 1969 practice at Pukekohe, and Bay Park. Raced by Grady Thomson 1970 , and equaled outright lap record on large circuit. Also driven in practice Baypark and Pukekohe by John Riley 1972 when owned by Jim Carlisle. Last raced in 1975 by George Bunce. Found like this in Otara 15 years ago.I got it stripped body shell off trademe this year. was mentioned recently in Classic Car Driver and NZV8. Now saved and will be racing at Hampton Downs 2014.
Hard to imagine this is the car Motorman featured as a tailpiece-"Spinner said she was a flyer , wonder if he would mind me parking it in the hanger"
Wow, amazing photo John, and it actually deteriorated quite a bit more between when this photo was taken and when you got the car. Poor old thing has had a pretty tough time the last 25 years!
Attachment 14854
Ok one that was lost. From the 1973 Shell Annual. This is the one and only race of Malcolm Coffey in the Ex Jack Nazer Ford Escort at Levin 1973
I think that by having Hardtop Smurff at HD next weekend, I kept my committment that I made last year when the Aussies were here.
This Monaro is easier , trust me- Steve H is calling in so will get him to work.
I seem to recall Austin won the 1988 Northland Rally, the following year his car caught fire and was gutted. Think he had Placemakers sponsorship in the 1990 season, he may have won the Woolf Mufflers Top Half Rally Series that year or in 89. Must have been 92 or 93 he campaigned the GTiR.
Barns was indeed the first person in the world to win a rally with the GTiR - it even scored a mention in the British magazine Autosport! He actually won 4 rallies that season, and took maximum Woolf Mufflers Top Half Rally Series points in the final round, the NZFP Tokoroa Rally, which was also the final round of the NZ Rally Championship. He came second by 4 seconds to Brian Stokes in his Sierra Cosworth.
Taylor I think had a BDA Escort prior to running the RX7 - the Mazda appeared at the beginning of the season with a really nice paintjob that moved Rob Scott to comment in his Pacenotes column that he "must have roadmarked the Assembly of God churches' carpark to afford it". Taylor went on to purchase Allport's Mazda 323, and then the Lancia that Sundstrum used to win Group N in the 1992 Rally of New Zealand. Plus he owed the ex Graeme Barker Mazda RX7 that had been fitted with a X-trac 4WD system and a Sierra Cosworth Turbo motor.
Thexton was another driver to run a Pulsar GTiR - I think it was the only one to run a X-trac gearbox. It was later sold to Geoff Argile who had a lot more sucess with it....
Ken Douglas used $80,000 of his own money to import both a road going car, and a spare bodyshell, along with a couple of engines and almost 200 engineering drawings of the modifications required to convert to a Group A racer.
To quote Modern MOTOR magazine October 1986, "Ken's name may not mean much to reader's outside Victoria yet - but believe us that will change soon".
Most of the Sierra's seemed to be Rouse kit-cars, but the Petch car was ex-Wolf (they had a LOT of scrutineering problems at their first race meeting - Franceivic said they turned up at the racetrack to do some testing and discovered a race meeting was going on! - the old European Group A regs v Oz Group A rules).
I think one or two of the later B&H Sierra's may have been Wolf as well? And of course Moffat's cars were Eggenburger cars.
Lastly, I was reading that the DJR Sierra that Taylor and Kayne Scott drove at Bathurst in 1991? had been sold (to Taylor? at the time), so what has happened to it? How many did DJR actually build altogether - must have been at least 6, as there were two sold to Mike Gravatt/Trackstar at the end of 1988, and Ray Lintott also bought one in about 1990. How many survive?
this si in reply to post No 415
Your comment about the Graeme Barker RX7 having a sierra cosworth turbo engine contrasts with Jamies version where it has a Cosworth GAA v6. I wonder which is correct? or was an engine change done?
I recall seeing it on tv doing the Ashley Forest Sprint, and the tv commentator said it was fitted with the V6 from the old Paul Fahey Capri. But there were at least 3 of those motors in NZ by that time.
Photo taken 26/1/1963 at Teretonga New Zealand, either race No 3 or 8. This photo hangs in a quiet corner and I thought to be the only one.. The car was taken to Uk during year 2000 and appeared in CLASSIC & SPORTS CAR magazine January 2001 page 230
under the heading TO SELL YOUR CAR---HISTORIC-RACING-HILLCLIMB.....LLOYD SPECIAL 1955, SIMILAR COOPER, beautifully built. New Zealand Record Holder. also includes a photo and a Price with Trailer UK $ 8.950 = NZ$ a lot JIMPY
I have Chassis number 71. Built to and maintains original Mk 1 features (10" wheels, drum brakes etc). The car was built by Donald Conway of Edendale around 1999. I understand Ross Cameron of Dunedin still owns one. Geoff, Whangarei
Sorry, should have said Terrapin 71. I thought the reply would attach itself to the box. Geoff
I have been looking for a Terrapin for years, anyone know of one available?
Isnt funny how you can get things so wrong...! (I have never lived in Wellington....) I bought the body which was the latest thing from Jack Roush in the USA.. I got my good friend Lynsay Willis from Rotorua to build me a spaceframe chassis for it....and I had all the latest and greatest engine stuff done in the States along with the last two close ratio gearboxs to come out of the Super T10 factory just before it burnt to the ground....(leaving a major problem for GH's Corvettes which ran these gearboxes for a long period of time..) The car had a Speedway engineering quick change diff in the rear. This car was almost completed when personal reasons forced me to stop and sell it to my buddy George Shewiery. George actually ran the car for this time at Wellington street race. May have been the same year I did the Group A race in a Toyota with champion Sports Sedan driver Brian Friend. The collection of all the engine parts, heads etc, and gearbox was to be organised for pick up before I was to fly with my wife to be a guest of Jack Roush and pick up the Mustang body. The slowness of the Yanks that were doing my special cylinder heads forced me to put back my flight to the East Coast by one day. I was pretty pissed off but didn't wanna leave without my heads. What occurred next sends shudders down my back. Those Yanks that were so slow that I had to re schedule my flight saved my life! The plane we were to fly back to the West Coast..(LA's John Wayne airport )...on crashed on take off killing everyone on board! Crazy! Another little snippet of interest is that a week or so later on board the flight back home to NZ via Hawaii for a weeks rest was none other than Randell Edgell and his wife Janice. They had been there to sort out the purchase of a Jack Roush Merker XR4i which I had seen in a corner of one of Jack's shops. This is the car Kayne Scott pedalled for the ever popular Mark Petch... To my knowledge Mike Oldhan still has the car....(I will ask him when I next see him)...I have so many snippets of interest to share on this site I better start recalling. Thats another day. Kindest regards, Tony Rutherford.
With stories like this , I think Lost Race Car Drivers would also make a good thread.
Terrapins are great clubbie cars. Robust, with enough ground clearance to do hillclimbs and relatively easy to get bits for. Sometimes I think I would rather have one of those than my FF which is really too low for hillclimbs.
There must be a few more Terrapins hiding in sheds-there have been a few raced here over the years.
Last time i saw this car was at manfeild 2003 a very fast car, it had a nissan v6 turbo on this day .the oil hoses only had radiator hose clips to hold them on and they would come off from time to time.I did take a number of photos of this car,the sound it made on fill sing down the front of manfeild a very nice car.The only thing i did not like was the way the roll cage was made,the front part came up and a cross the front windscreen and down the other side.The driver was from wellington,looking at the wheels they had four wheel nuts on the front and five on the back. My view was at that time the tow vehicle was a gold falcon ute reg number of what i can see from the photos was 2BADD
Hey there guys, I recently heard of an interesting car that Bill Leckie apparently first started out in. Word has it that he built the car himself, a Hillman Imp powered by a Coventry Climax engine thru a hewland rearend. I would think that would have been quite a clever combo for back then. Any pictures or info on this.
Hi George there are quite a few pics of it in a thread called RIP which was started when it was rather erroneously suggested that Bill had died. It has become a thread now for others who have passed. This is a shot of it from I believe the 1975 GP meet at Pukekohe. There are better ones on that thread.
Attachment 17904
I might have already posted this one on here, but does anyone know what happened to the Bill Leckie V8 Capri? Bill last raced it in the 1977 season, as pictured (photo supplied by Milan Fistonic) before it was outlawed with the MSNZ maximum 2 litre rule for 1978. I did speak to Bill about it a few years ago, and he told me he removed the McLaren running gear from it, plus the rear axle and gearbox, and traded the body and all the molds for a V8 Bedford van, to a guy who had a backyard car wreckers yard. I can't remember where Bill said the wreckers yard was, could have been in Papatoetoe? The guy who got it told Bill he was going to get it up and running again, but it hasn't been seen since.
Attachment 17907
On one of my trips to friends in the early 80s I saw the Capri parked on the side of the road to the east of Huntly past a wreakers yard. I will look at google and try to give the name of the road. The wreakers yard I believe is now no more.
Oh wow, thanks Bruce! Thats really interesting. Although it doesn't sound too good for the Capri. What shape was it in? Was it complete or just the body?
Tahuna Road, must of been late 1984 when I met Lynne. Still sign written but stupid of me I didn't stop and have a nosey. It was still white.
Is that Jim Richards driving the Capri? After Bill's accident JR drove the car while Bill recovered as I understand the car itself was not badly damaged.
Really wracking the grey matter at the moment Steve. It was on a trailer but thats about it. Would of been 5 to 8 ks back from the main road. Someone will remember the wreakers yard. It was parked at the entrance to a farm on the left side heading away from the main road further on from the wreakers yard. I should of stopped.
Thanks Bruce, great info. Good memory! Hope some more light can be shed.
If ever any of you are going to Fiji you might ask Bill himself. He spends a lot of time in Fiji where he runs a charter boat out of Port Denarau. When not out on his boat you will often find him at a bar at Port Denarau called "Cardo's" with Ross Grenville and some other ex NZ racers.