Beach Racing At Tahunanui Nelson 1960s

[bry3500]

Peter Leversedge

[bry3500]

"Along with many other organisations and people, the Nelson Car Club suffered from the heavy rain. It did not have to cancel its meeting, but the beach circuit at Tahuna was little more than a slush field. Windscreen wipers were a necessity and any driver in an open car got soaked each race. Cars, of course, suffered, the unluckiest driver being W. Darrell who had all sorts of troubles to overcome with his machine."

[bry3500]

more pics

[Oldfart]

Love the "mechanic/driver" in white overalls, fag hanging out of the mouth, helmet on and those bloody horrible KayDee sandals as "racing boots" in the second to last photo!

[bry3500]

1960

[bry3500]

Neil Stuart

[bry3500]

3 more

[thunder427]

3 more

.....Bill Harris was unable to 'race' on a Saturday as he was a man who stood by his religious beliefs as a Seventh Day Adventist but when he raced you watched,because he was. Very good, it was often touted 'it was good Bill didn't race on Saturdays......MJ

[bry3500]

what was the history of Happy Bill's Tipo B ..was this the car that Brian Tracey raced?

[stirlingmac]

Wow how did I miss this thread...I grew up in Nelson and as a kid spent hours rereading through my Nana's collection of Nelson Photo News magazines which is where most of these great photos came from. My Dad was a beach racer and president of Nelson Car Club and I still have his 50's era club grille badge on my car. He has a copy of Mike's book and it's a great read. Back as a hairy arse 16 year old one New Years holiday in the 80's I drove my car around the old beach circuit...and was pulled up by the cops. I explained I was reliving my old mans racing tales and surprisingly the cop lamented the end of the racing and told me to be careful and not to hit anyone !!! I can't imagine that happening now..

[bry3500]

Nelson Photo news is now available on line..http://www.nelsoncitycouncil.co.nz/n...unched-online/. There is lots of great articles from Slot car Racing, go carts, stock cars, rallying etc..When I left Wanganui as an 8 year old we stopped off in Nelson for the Christmas holidays on the way to CHCH..it was my first taste of car racing 'in the flesh" and I was gob smacked and hooked.I can still remember vividly a lot of the cars including John Millers Dauphine Chev ....heady stuff for a little tacker back then

Wow how did I miss this thread...I grew up in Nelson and as a kid spent hours rereading through my Nana's collection of Nelson Photo News magazines which is where most of these great photos came from. My Dad was a beach racer and president of Nelson Car Club and I still have his 50's era club grille badge on my car. He has a copy of Mike's book and it's a great read. Back as a hairy arse 16 year old one New Years holiday in the 80's I drove my car around the old beach circuit...and was pulled up by the cops. I explained I was reliving my old mans racing tales and surprisingly the cop lamented the end of the racing and told me to be careful and not to hit anyone !!! I can't imagine that happening now..

[stirlingmac]

Thanks for the tip...had a look, lots, of pics of my family on there.

[David McKinney]

what was the history of Happy Bill's Tipo B ..was this the car that Brian Tracey raced?

No, the other one

50005: Les Moore, Ron Roycroft, Dave Cadlwell, Johnny Mansel, Brian Tracey
50006: John McMillan, Ernie Sprague (briefly), Bill Harris

Both now long gone, of course. 50005 with John Shirley in USA, 50006 with Umberto Rossi, Italy

[bry3500]

Thanks David - couldn't get a better answer than that

No, the other one

50005: Les Moore, Ron Roycroft, Dave Cadlwell, Johnny Mansel, Brian Tracey
50006: John McMillan, Ernie Sprague (briefly), Bill Harris

Both now long gone, of course. 50005 with John Shirley in USA, 50006 with Umberto Rossi, Italy

[Chris Read]

I might be wrong here, but I think the very first photo in post #1 of this thread might be the BCM Special of Brian Maybee ( Not sure on spelling ). If so it might be the accident that claimed his life. Im only going by the partial description alongside the phot with reference to 'special' and knowing that the car in question had a locally made transaxle which is clearly visible in the photo. When @ beach races ~ 1971 with Stuart Quertier { ex Neil Stuart/NG Smith, Stuart Special in other photos } we visited Brians Father at his home & amongst other things he showed us the wooden patterns for the transaxle in the car, I think from memory Brian built three cars in total, two of which ended up in southland during the grass track/gravel hillclimb era of motorsport.

In reply to this and post #28 and #34, like others I cant see how I missed this thread. The photo is the Brian Mabey car which I have owned and raced for 40 yrs. The first car Brian made in the early 50's had an Austin motor and wire wheels (photo #1). This became the No 2 car with the Vauxhall 10 motor and raced around 1955. It went to Southland in the main with various owners and also raced at Wigram (photo #2). This car was modified to a Consul motor and a different front body. This is how it finished its racing (photo#3). I acquired it as a box of bits from Winston ??- (used to work at AutoCourt Dunedin).
'Tweaks' (is that Lynsday Marr ?) did give me the list (photo#4) of components of the #2 car via John Nobles but I did not get the car from 'Tweaks'. The list is interesting. The last car Brian built was the Vauxhall 6 cyl motor and the later 1 3/4 ' triple SU's came off Earnie Spragues Zephyr. This is the car in which Mabey was killed. and car I have had for all these years (photo#5). The family did not want to have much to do with the tragedy even though I tried for may years to make contact.
Finally I visited Brian's daughter with the car and the photo #6 is his grand daughter sitting in the car. I have spoken with Brian's brother and he remembers the cars well but his wife who lives near her daughter in Wellington prefers to leave things as they are. While I respect this, I did say to his daughter that Brian was an influence in NZ motor racing engineering in the 50's that should not be forgotten. Even though she was only a few months old when he died she now appreciates what her father achieved in those few short years and I am glad we made contact some 50 yrs on. Chris Read - Arrowtown.

[bry3500]

Great post Chris...thanks

In reply to this and post #28 and #34, like others I cant see how I missed this thread. The photo is the Brian Maybe car which I have owned and raced for 40 yrs. The first car Brian made in the early 50's had an Austin motor and wire wheels (photo #1). This became the No 2 car with the Vauxhall 10 motor and raced around 1955. It went to Southland in the main with various owners and also raced at Wigram (photo #2). This car was modified to a Consul motor and a different front body. This is how it finished its racing (photo#3). I acquired it as a box of bits from Winston ??- (used to work at AutoCourt Dunedin).
'Tweaks' (is that Lynsday Marr ?) did give me the list (photo#4) of components of the #2 car via John Nobles but I did not get the car from 'Tweaks'. The list is interesting. The last car Brian built was the Vauxhall 6 cyl motor and the later 1 3/4 ' triple SU's came off Earnie Spragues Zephyr. This is the car in which Mabey was killed. and car I have had for all these years (photo#5). The family did not want to have much to do with the tragedy even though I tried for may years to make contact.
Finally I visited Brian's daughter with the car and the photo #6 is his grand daughter sitting in the car. I have spoken with Brian's brother and he remembers the cars well but his wife who lives near her daughter in Wellington prefers to leave things as they are. While I respect this, I did say to his daughter that Brian was an influence in NZ motor racing engineering in the 50's that should not be forgotten. Even though she was only a few months old when he died she now appreciates what her father achieved in those few short years and I am glad we made contact some 50 yrs on. Chris Read - Arrowtown.

[Oldfart]

Heres something I researched for the Peugeot Club magazine last year.

This month it’s the one built and raced for a number of years by Bob Nicoll who was in Nelson at that time. Bob has now moved to New Plymouth and I spent a fascinating hour or more talking with him and about his exploits.

The car turned up in his yard outside the workshop, and sat there for a while until some enthusiasts turned up and told him that 203s were being raced in Europe and he should do the same. Lead a horse to water – it will likely drink, and so life began anew.

The first steps were to strip it out a bit, and then he bought a brand new pair of 175 Strombergs, blended some “chunks” of exhaust tube into the blanking plate side of the engine with “bog” and a steel plate; one stage down! Bob replaced the 2 by 6 volt batteries with a 12 volt in the boot and also bolted a “lump of pig iron” to keep it company, he reckoned this made a big difference. Then he had a modified camshaft made up and “let the race begin”. The car was run in almost anything the Nelson and Canterbury Car Clubs ran from the Tahunanui Beach races to Wigram, Ruapuna, night trials, grass track, hillclimbs, etc, etc.

It ran this way for about 2 years, with various minor changes each event until it was decided that it could be taken a lot further. First step was to “cut off the roof and channel” it. Bob did explain this, but I fail to quite understand how it was done. In the end he had a 203 that was lower than a Mini! The back end was cut off from immediately behind the rear wheel arch and had a flat panel that went up to where the leading edge of the boot would have been. All the window glass was the same as original and there was 6 months of solid work to achieve it. He said it took “lots of weight out”. Looking carefully at photos I believe that the height was taken from below the window line as the wheel arches reach almost to the bottom of the windows RN.

By now it was quicker in almost any event than most minis. It now had 13” wheels and 2” wider than original. A few “discussions” took place with scrutineers over the 3 stud wheels and this, along with gearbox ratios lead to him grafting a Ford gearbox and back axle into the car. It still used the coils (there was no car to support leaf springs), and a set of radius rods on the top of the axle, and an A frame from the bottom running forward, as the torque tube location was now not possible.

Sometime around 1968 the car no longer appears in many results although around this time it had a 504 motor. It was known to be as fast as a very well modified Valiant Group 5 car, and the fantastically quick A40 of Pat Pascoe. Perhaps the “burnt orange” in colour bodywork and a very fine example of the abilities of the South Island special builder’s art did the trick.

The family last knew of the car somewhere near Cust, and would really like to find it for old time’s sake. In a way it lives on, as it appears in the film shown at the WOW museum motorsport section in Nelson.

[Oldfart]

These belong with previous post!

[woody]

Lyndsay Marr (tweaks) is a good old Kaikorai boy from Dunedin. Is Lyndsay on this site Chris?

[bry3500]

wow - it would be great to unearth that again - it would be nice to think its in a barn or shed somewhere

Heres something I researched for the Peugeot Club magazine last year.

This month it’s the one built and raced for a number of years by Bob Nicoll who was in Nelson at that time. Bob has now moved to New Plymouth and I spent a fascinating hour or more talking with him and about his exploits.

The car turned up in his yard outside the workshop, and sat there for a while until some enthusiasts turned up and told him that 203s were being raced in Europe and he should do the same. Lead a horse to water – it will likely drink, and so life began anew.

The first steps were to strip it out a bit, and then he bought a brand new pair of 175 Strombergs, blended some “chunks” of exhaust tube into the blanking plate side of the engine with “bog” and a steel plate; one stage down! Bob replaced the 2 by 6 volt batteries with a 12 volt in the boot and also bolted a “lump of pig iron” to keep it company, he reckoned this made a big difference. Then he had a modified camshaft made up and “let the race begin”. The car was run in almost anything the Nelson and Canterbury Car Clubs ran from the Tahunanui Beach races to Wigram, Ruapuna, night trials, grass track, hillclimbs, etc, etc.

It ran this way for about 2 years, with various minor changes each event until it was decided that it could be taken a lot further. First step was to “cut off the roof and channel” it. Bob did explain this, but I fail to quite understand how it was done. In the end he had a 203 that was lower than a Mini! The back end was cut off from immediately behind the rear wheel arch and had a flat panel that went up to where the leading edge of the boot would have been. All the window glass was the same as original and there was 6 months of solid work to achieve it. He said it took “lots of weight out”. Looking carefully at photos I believe that the height was taken from below the window line as the wheel arches reach almost to the bottom of the windows RN.

By now it was quicker in almost any event than most minis. It now had 13” wheels and 2” wider than original. A few “discussions” took place with scrutineers over the 3 stud wheels and this, along with gearbox ratios lead to him grafting a Ford gearbox and back axle into the car. It still used the coils (there was no car to support leaf springs), and a set of radius rods on the top of the axle, and an A frame from the bottom running forward, as the torque tube location was now not possible.

Sometime around 1968 the car no longer appears in many results although around this time it had a 504 motor. It was known to be as fast as a very well modified Valiant Group 5 car, and the fantastically quick A40 of Pat Pascoe. Perhaps the “burnt orange” in colour bodywork and a very fine example of the abilities of the South Island special builder’s art did the trick.

The family last knew of the car somewhere near Cust, and would really like to find it for old time’s sake. In a way it lives on, as it appears in the film shown at the WOW museum motorsport section in Nelson.