Murray, Wally Willmot's McBegg restoration is a great diary of a unique (although typical) Begg project and worthy of a documentary, you are the right guy to do it!!
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Great shot Ta. It would be good to get a copy off that from you for the records.
Is that the HCM disappearing out of shot in front of the spinning McBegg, Gavin ?
George wrote (quite scathingly) of a coming together with a certain D.M.
I am sure there are 2 sides to a 'racing incident', but by the look of the damage the car hit something quite solid?
Thanks for the show of confidence Amerikiwi! Didn't know I had a friend in Virginia!
I actually met the renowned Wal on Oreti Beach about 4 years ago when directing/shooting the TV show of the first Burt Munro Challenge. He had been involved with work on the replicas used on "World's Fastest Indian" and of course his work was held in high regard. I talked very briefly about my work with the Bruce McLaren Trust and hope that we would one day get the chance to talk of things McLaren. Without hijacking this thread I would say I have wanted to fulfil this hope but the McBegg idea may just be one project too many to have on the backburner. The M8A has consumed enough time (and years!) and still we haven't made the track.
Certainly looks like Wal is powering along on this restoration and I look forward to seeing it on display, racing, demonstrating or whatever it's destiny - Wal?
Yes, that is the HCM.
I am not sure if there was a coming together, or if he just lost it, was a long time ago. The car hit the horse track outer rail fence, which had thick timber along the bottom about 24" high. No damage to the fence. It was a long haul for a couple of laps.
Good news, Bob Homewood has just come up with this photo of Digby Taylor. I am amazed that he is still using those rear wheels that were past their useby date when they were thrown in the scrap at McLarens in 68.
We are on a roll now, Bob has just found another one. Was Digby quite a tall person?
He appears to sit very high in these photo's.
I don't recall DT being especially tall. Perhaps he just like sitting forward...
Here is a 'back to the begining' while the paint dries.
We have to be careful about what we read. The person who submitted this article could not tell his America from his England, or his Chev. from his Oldsmobile.
The photos were Tylers, but taken in the Colnbrook workshop of the McBegg chassis being built. you can see the 13" wheels.
In the right hand photo you can see the 'Flat Floor' extending right back under the ZF gearbox, and at this stage there is no gear shift linkage. There are metal strips instead of shock absorbers that are being used to check the supension travel.
The car is still in it's gestation period.
The chassis arrived back from the painters on Monday and the (hopefully) final assembly has begun.
Motor and box are back in, and the corners are back on with just a bit of fine fettling to be done there - cutting bolts to length and stuff like that.
Absolutely stunning and very exciting. Can't wait to see it run. The country can't have enough big V8 sports cars with the sort of heritage the McBegg has.
Stunning looking restoration Wal. Really looking forward to seeing it on track and the speed with which it has happened in a real credit to you and your helpers.
Working away on this thing and I have to keep remembering the message George had up on his workshop wall and it said.
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence
Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not: for unrewarded genius is almost a proverb
Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan “Press on” has solved, and always will solve the problems of the human race."
It keeps me going.
All of this productivity, and you still find time to keep us updated daily on the net, Wally : incredible, and much appreciated.
Maybe we forum members could club together and sort out a two-litre can of "Press On" for the blokes building the M8 for the McLaren trust : that'd have to have been on the go for ten years or so by now, glacier-like progress compared to Wal's blistering effort we see evolving before us !
Bob sent me this/these via email and with his approval I post them. W.
Wal,
I have really been looking as hard as I can for photos for you ,these photos are amongst a whole lot I was given recently ,I believe knowing where they came from they would be early
1972 ,as I have found some of the car from Puke ,Bay Park and Levin ,some of them are too faded to copy ,but it appears to me the car was in this colour scheme and the perhaps by the Bay Park Easter meeting ,the nose had changed to the deep blue ,well that's my deduction it looks like the nose might have had a repair in that time ,I can remember the car running at some of the meetings but it never ran cleanly and I have memories of it overheating ,leaking rocker covers etc letting oil onto the exhausts,which one of the photos confirm. I am pretty sure I have got the story right in spite of being told today I haven't got it right and that's not the McBegg !
Its not helped also by the fact that its not listed in the Bay Park Program ,but I never rely on that being right as I know I am not listed in some of the Bay Park meetings even though I entered on time and like wise I am missing from some of the Levin ones ,so it never makes it easy when you are chasing history Hope this is of help ,I'm trying to piece it together Best Regards Bob Homewood
As I was saying to Jenks the other day...........
+49 years
One of my heros of the day.
Great pic of you and Jenks Wal..I am sure he would be loving the Mc Begg restoration
In this mornings NZ Herald the car supplement on page 25 has a photo of Wal.
Here is a story or as they are called Thread that I have done on another Forum about Wally. I hope the Roaring Season members enjoy it:
http://forums.autosport.com/index.ph...wally+willmott
On one hand the days don't seem long enough. On the other they are a way too long.
I received the bulkheads and flooring/undertray back from the painters this morning and have now started to bond and rivet these to the chassis.
This photo just turned up yesterday from Barry Keen. He thinks that it was taken as the car exited the pits for the first time.
Barry said that George was a bit worried about cooling the motor and had made the air inlet scoop quite large. As a result he managed to scoop lots of gravel and grass.
I think that I was standing very close to that position. Hope that you stay with the green tint perspex Wal
Barry doesn't look too keen :) ....how close of a colour match do you think that photo represents?..looks pretty much like Mclaren orange..a bit lighter maybe
The colour in the last photo is amazing - I think that Brian Nicoll who is in Invercargill will remember.
I am sure that Brian told me at the time that George wanted the same hue or strength of colour as McLaren orange but in 'Begg yellow'.
I still think Brian said it was a tint colour as in Yellow Chrome or Lemon Chrome.
Wal must be in contact with Brian N.
Yeah that green always looked good on those cars. The one that I got with the body from Jay was unfortuneatly broken. Probably make a mold and get them slumped down here - but definatly green.
I was talking colour to Barry yesterday and he sticks with 'Yellow'.
I have not been in touch with Brian - but I must - it is so yellow in some photo's and orange in others.
I just don't want it close to 'McLaren Orange' (which has become a bit like 'British Racing Green' where everyone has a version).
Hi Wal,
Fantastic project, looking forward to the finished article, always have been a fan of the big sporties. Met you briefly back in the 70 - 72 AMR Days at 711 Malvern Road/Toovern Motors when I was doing "school work experience", I was cleaning sumps and sweeping floors.
This stuff is all the Mc part of the McBegg so I have taken the liberty of doing it 'as it was done in the day'.
Beautiful job. (Beautiful - is that appropriate for a hairy chested sports car?)
Well, it looks **** hot.
some nice things about you on the TNF Wal , and i can see why the quality of your work is peerless fantastic
I was told once that if you ever had to eat an elephant the best way to tackle it was just one mouthfull at a time.
The gearshift tube had to take a bit of a detour around that No.8 exhaust. I figure that George would have approached that nice and simple.
'Radiator/nose mount/air intake box' is back on, brakes are piped. Just keep on chewing.
Another pearl to the string. This one came from Georges daughter Jacqui over in Brisbane.
Barry suggested that the smoke behind the car came from wheel spin as he changed gear, I'll leave you to make up your own mind on that.
It looks like a yellowy orange again!
Is that left rear wheel tucking in a bit? The tyre patch looks quite strange.
The whole thing is not all that aesthetically pleasing at this point in its history.
In a way it looks as if those rear springs are so soft that the car is getting torque wind up.
Maybe Barry is right and that is wheel spin.
The Chevy swap almost done, Wal stepped back in the borrowed Invercargill workshop and picked up his camera.
There is an old saying in motor racing, "If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would get done."
It's a forgone that the last week will be a 'sh*t fight'.
You probably knew it would be the day you started the project, its part of the fun.
We all thrive on the pressure.
Looks like a water leak to me.
You don't appear to have lost your "touch" for building neat stuff! What a great project with which to be involved. Building something like this up correctly is a huge challenge but you appear to be up to the task. Looks like a "runner" isn't too far in the future. I'll be watching....