Farewell Ross

[Michael Clark]

Ross Greenville had an aggressive form of cancer and it claimed him yesterday.

RIP Rossco

[Jeff]

What a shame

One of the few kiwi's other than McLaren , Hulme, Amon, Ganley and McRae to have a go at , amongst other things Can-Am ( in a T70 Lola if I remember rightly ) although his story never really made the news unless he crashed
He hailed from Matamata didn't he ?

RIP Ross

[GD66]

I think maybe even Morrinsville, Jeff.

[Oldfart]

That is very sad. He once told me of his memories of back flipping a can am car, very vivid. As far as I know not Matamata (where I lived for a time)

[rogered]

pretty sure morrinsville.

[khyndart in CA]

Ross was from the Morrinsville area at Ngarua which is between Morrinsville and Matamata. I remember first seeing him drive in the rain at Ardmore in 1962 where he drove a Lotus 18 FJ to a very respectable 12 th place. We followed his progress to England and were sad when he had his accident. I met up with him again in Los Angeles in 1972 and I have never laughed so hard as he and Spinner Black were trying to fit as many engine components into their jackets and coats before flying back to NZ ! I did visit with him again in 2002 at his home by the golf course at the Mount and it was great to hear his stories. He had the bent steering wheel from his 1962 Gemini on display. It was a miracle he survived that Aintree crash. He said he always drove with his shoe laces loose after that !
This write up by John Ross in the Fiji Sun in 2010 is a great description of his racing days.

(" Ross took up the sport of motor racing in 1958.
For the next four years he turned out at every opportunity to race and in 1962 took part in the last New Zealand Grand Prix at Ardmore with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren etc.
At that time he bought a Lotus 18 Formula Junior and raced it extensively. Reg Parnell, who was at that time managing the BRW Racing Team took him aside and told him that he had to go to England if he wanted to go anywhere in the sport.
Ross went to England in 1962 and the next year earned a place in the Gemini Racing Team as the number two driver in Formula Junior.
He raced at all the famous England race tracks such as Goodwood Park, Silverstone and Oulton Park but, while practicing for the Aintree 200 he broke a front suspension arm and hit a block wall at around 140 MPH.
The race car was destroyed and he was trapped inside by his leg.
The car caught fire and (this was before fireproof suits) he was being burnt to death.
He felt himself being pulled out and when he looked up from the burning car he said he saw three angels hovering above, he raised a hand and he said an angel touched it.
At that moment he knew he would live.
He could feel his skin peeling off his body and the rubber on his wrists and ankles burnt to the bone.
He spent ten and a half months in hospital, had his left leg removed below the knee and lots of plastic surgery.
When they told him his leg had to go he simply said “Take it and keep me alive”.
He took up racing again when he got out of hospital but had to pass special tests for the Royal Automobile Society so that his license could be reinstated.
He continued to race until 1966 when he went back to New Zealand.
In 1967 Ross went to the USA to drive a Lola T70 Mk2 for John Mecom.
He raced in the series with drivers like Jim Hall in the Chaparral and Parnell Jones, AJ Foyt and the Unser brothers, all Indy 500 winners.
Bruce McLaren and Denis Hulme had the McLaren team.
“The prize money was extremely good and paid down to twentieth place so you could make a good living” he says.
“The Lola was a sports car with an open cockpit and had 700 horsepower.
One was timed at over 225 MPH and they were quite fast when went well but once you got a bit out of shape the corners come up real quick” he laughs.
The Lola could wheel spin in fifth gear.
At Bridgehampton there was a drop off along the straight and the cars got airborne by around half a metre.
He says “on one lap I must have got a bit of extra wind under the car and she flew end for end backwards about 12 times.
I remember counting sky, ground, sky, ground until it came to a stop with me under it”.
The emergency crew finally rolled the car over and freed him. He slipped out and felt fine but had to go to hospital for Xrays just in case.
Colorado Plastics sponsored his next car and he went well but at the end of the season retired as he “did not want to push his luck any further”.")

Thanks for the memories Ross, I am sorry we could not have visited more often.

(Ken Hyndman )

[fullnoise68]

Excellent insight Ken, thanks for taking the time to post it on here.

[rf84]

I met Ross only once, just over two years ago, at his usual Fijian drinking place Cardo's on the waterfront at Port Denarau. Immediately I felt I had known him for years rather than minutes. The conversation flowed and he showed no reluctance to discuss even painful matters like his crash and the loss of his leg and personal matters not directly related to motor racing. His candour was quite remarkable when he did not know me "from a bar of soap".
The fact that he not only recovered from that horrendous crash but went on to be competitive in those monstrous Can Am cars is a testament to the man's courage and skill.
Another chapter in NZ's motor racing history closes.

[GD66]

Always sad to see another good soldier go, but by all accounts it sounds like Ross's was a life well lived.

[Kevin Hirst]

Always sad to see another good soldier go, but by all accounts it sounds like Ross's was a life well lived.

Used to live just down the road from the Greenville,s, and used to see & hear Ross,s cars being tested & tuned regularly on the good Waikato roads, R.I.P. Ross.