Images From My Past - Nigel Watts Collection

[Howard Wood]

Nigel,

Your photo of the deCadenet car at Le Mans 1976 way back in post #25 must have been taken on Sunday afternoon because the NZ flag on the tear off headlight covers have been removed.

The car (and deCad's 1977 car) had a strong NZ connection as it was built by John Anderson, ex Dunedin, McLaren Indy team etc, now retired to Motueka and myself in deCad's mews garage central London (and the DFV engine was a John Nicholson built unit). We had put the four Southern Cross stars beside the Union Jacks on the headlights just prior to the start.

Not the fastest car there by a country mile but one by one all the Renaults and most of the Porsches fell out and we had a completely trouble free run all race, no unsheduled stops all 24 hours.

[AMCO72]

Looks like Bruce Melville in the Riley Elf in posts 114 onwards. If so, the same Brucie went on to be Foggys chief mechanic in his early days. He also drove an Elf. Apart from eventually winning the championship.....could have....should have.....then victory, their claim to fame then was Jim Beam consumption. Have a photo of the car at Baypark with 9 bottles sitting on the roof......EMPTY. Whew, fun days.

[nigel watts]

Nigel,

Your photo of the deCadenet car at Le Mans 1976 way back in post #25 must have been taken on Sunday afternoon because the NZ flag on the tear off headlight covers have been removed.

The car (and deCad's 1977 car) had a strong NZ connection as it was built by John Anderson, ex Dunedin, McLaren Indy team etc, now retired to Motueka and myself in deCad's mews garage central London (and the DFV engine was a John Nicholson built unit). We had put the four Southern Cross stars beside the Union Jacks on the headlights just prior to the start.

Not the fastest car there by a country mile but one by one all the Renaults and most of the Porsches fell out and we had a completely trouble free run all race, no unsheduled stops all 24 hours.

Howard, I'm almost certain that that particular shot was taken close to 4.00PM on the Sunday. It was an very impressive result especially considering the vast resources and budgets of the high profile teams. Now I know why - the Kiwi connection made all the difference.

[Howard Wood]

Nigel,

I can clearly remember walking down the pits pre race, looking at everyone else's set ups, especially the Renaults. We had deCad's old Transit van, John's and my tool box and that was about it!

Were you there in '77? Our '77 car was a much better and faster car as we had done a lot of wind tunnel testing and the DFV was to full Grand Prix specs. Funnily enough despite their resources the Renaults all failed at the same and for the same fault as the year before and the Porsches went down like flies. The leading Bath/ Ickx/ Haywood Porsche 936 had terminal engine issues and they pitted with about 20 minutes to go and stayed in to release the car for one final lap with a few minutes to go, such was their lead. The rules in place at the time were that only cars which crossed the finish line under their own power within 4 minutes after the 4.00pm finish were classified. They had miscalculated and the Bath car smoked it's way over the start finish line a few seconds before 4.00pm and had to do another lap!

The thing made it around again but it was touch and go and was the only factory Porsche to finish. Unfortunately Chris Craft had snotted our car into the wall during some brief localised rain right at dawn on Sunday morning and we spent nearly an hour repairing it, finishing 5th and only 90 seconds behind the 3rd place privateer Porsche. Apart from the accident the car ran as faultlessly as the '76 car but was a lot quicker. Bugger!

[Steve Holmes]

Guys, this is amazing!

[nigel watts]

Yes I went to Le Mans in 76 and 77

[Steve Holmes]

This is just such a great thread Nigel, and your skills as a photographer are really impressive!

I know I sound like a scratched record, but I just love those early Formula Atlantic cars. Too bad I didn't appreciate them at the time.

[nigel watts]

Thanks Steve - I'm enjoying reliving the memories myself.
There are so many brilliant threads on this forum

[nigel watts]

Absolutely magic photos Nigel - keep them coming. They are reviving some great memories.

Do you have any idea who was racing the Mini with Garry Keith Motors sponsorship. I remember Sel Melville from Hamilton raced Mini's for a while but can't remember what his sponsorship was.

Thanks kiwi285.
Unfortunately I know practically nothing about who drove what. I was mostly out on the track rather than in the pits so didn't get to have a nosey around

[Lee Tracey]

Mike the Name on the front of the GK Mini being Audas I seem to recall there being a Greg(?) Audas who raced the Minis. Assume this could be your answer.

Cheers
Lee

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