Following on from the Mt Maunganui and Levin events in 1963, Allan didn't take any racing photos again until 1970, including the Bay Park Xmas event. This is a neat shot, capturing two of the Cambridge team cars, in Paul Fahey's new Mustang, and Rodger Anderson's BMW, speeding past in the background.
This event featured a strong line-up of big banger sedans, including the big block Australian Camaro's of Terry Allan and Bryan Thomson, plus American Joe Chamberlain. This is Chamberlain, in his '69 Camaro, which was an SCCA A Sedan/Trans-Am car, with 5 litre motor, and so was down on power compared to the larger capacity NZ and Aussie cars. Ian Rorison had bought the Camaro off Joe, and it was driven by Dennis Marwood for the next couple of seasons, then later by John Riley.
Question guys?
In NZ were the Trans Am cars aloud to run as per the way they ran in the States and were all the said makes able to race ie Javlins ect.
Where as in Australia only certain makes models got a look in.
Did many change to Webers over 4 barrel carbs and what about rear brakes and wheel width?
Yes Robert, pretty much any production car was accepted in NZ, unlike Australia where CAMS approval was required. I know Jim McKeown tried to get a Javelin accepted to race in Aus in 1972, but was turned down.
Re the fuel systems, yes this was free, as it was in Aus, quad-Webers were common, both down-draught and side-draught, but I don't think anyone in NZ ran fuel injection, at least not in the late 60s or early 70s, not on a V8. Wheel widths kept changing, I think they were out to about 14" by 1973. When Jim Richards first bought the Sidchrome Mustang to Aus in 1975 it was still fitted with 14" wide wheels, and he was given a short grace period to fit the maximum 10" wheels under Sports Sedan rules.
Oh, and yes, the Trans-Am cars from the US racing in NZ could race in their Trans-Am spec, but any of these that stayed in NZ were invariably upgraded, as the NZ rules allowed more freedoms than the Trans-Am rules, which were limited to 8" wide wheels and from 1970, a single 4-barrel.
Ta,must have been plenty of money in NZ in the late 60s and early 70s,going on the amount of V8 Trans/Am cars that were racing.
Well, NZ was flogging wool and beef flat out all over the globe, wages weren't great but stuff was cheap. Crowds were big, and engineering nous was rampant, so on top of having kiwis winning the first and last GPs of the 1960s, motor sport was just hammering. At the end of the year, the F1 cognoscenti would come down under for a cruisy summer holiday based around the Tasman series, and the Bay Park promoters, thinking outside the MANZ circle, introduced Formula A/5000 and Big Banger saloons, both of which captured the public's interest. Yep, it was all go...
Such a shame another spectator went and stuck their head in the way just as Allan was taking this photo. Could have been such a neat shot of these two exciting Aussie big block Camaro's of Terry Allan and Bryan Thomson. Despite all their power and fury, both cars struggled to match the pace of the Fahey Mustang around the tight Bay Park layout, particularly Thomson, who was laying down licorice strips exiting every corner. But the punters loved it, Bay Park was a sell-out on this day, and the organisers actually had to close the gates at just after 2.00pm to prevent more people getting in. It was a full-house.
But it was a great field of cars, including the Fahey Mustang and Chamberlain Camaro, both pictured above, the two Aussie big block Camaro's of Allan and Thomson, plus Kiwi drivers Rod Coppins (Camaro), John Riley (Mustang), Clyde Collins (Falcon), etc. Jim Palmer in the ex-Foley Porsche was also there, as was Jim Richards in the Willment Racing Escort TC, among others.
Originally Posted by Steve Holmes
Such a shame another spectator went and stuck their head in the way just as Allan was taking this photo. Could have been such a neat shot of these two exciting Aussie big block Camaro's of Terry Allan and Bryan Thomson. Despite all their power and fury, both cars struggled to match the pace of the Fahey Mustang around the tight Bay Park layout, particularly Thomson, who was laying down licorice strips exiting every corner. But the punters loved it, Bay Park was a sell-out on this day, and the organisers actually had to close the gates at just after 2.00pm to prevent more people getting in. It was a full-house.
But it was a great field of cars, including the Fahey Mustang and Chamberlain Camaro, both pictured above, the two Aussie big block Camaro's of Allan and Thomson, plus Kiwi drivers Rod Coppins (Camaro), John Riley (Mustang), Clyde Collins (Falcon), etc. Jim Palmer in the ex-Foley Porsche was also there, as was Jim Richards in the Willment Racing Escort TC, among others.
With Reg Cook in the background.
And some of the car dealers who were, to be polite, less scrupulous than the vast majority of the population, had money to stop the tax man getting his hands on.
I personally think that the Fahey Boss Mustang in the Cambridge Racing Team colours was one of the smartest cars around and still rings my bell.
Mike- absolutely .There are those who would say that I am biased, I make no excuses for being in complete agreement and that the original so startlingly clean in white. Much better than any later colours.
Hang on a minute OF, you can't have it both ways. Probably half of the drivers mentioned in this thread have been car dealers at some stage of their careers. I can recall only a small number of them ever running afoul of the law. However I would concede that a thread on the topic of dodgy dealers might not be a good move.And some of the car dealers who were, to be polite, less scrupulous than the vast majority of the population, had money to stop the tax man getting his hands on.
Stu
Bit like Australia for many years the top drivers were new and used car dealers.
Hunt,Jones,Stillwell,Mildren,Brabham,Jane,Beechey,Geoghegans ect.
I did say some.
Humblest apologies, Oldfart, you did indeed say some car dealers only.
A short time after I posted the reply, I remembered that my brother, who had been finance manager or "Loan Arranger" for several years for a franchise dealer, found himself looking for a new job after that firm retrenched or downsized.
He found a similar job with another car dealer who, if not an actual motor sport participant, had considerable connections with the sport. Brother's first and only day there was spent largely in finding out just how many illegal financial practices were going on. He chose not to go back the next day!
Stu
This is a wonderfully interesting site, in that a collection of old images can stir the memories of car dealers as some of the used to be. So lets not mention too many names in conjunction with shifty deals that occurred long ago.
I hope you are enjoying my photos some of which have never been seen by anyone but myself.
Regards to you all.
Allan
We certainly are Allan. They are bringing back a lot of memories, and inspiring a fair few to delve into the shoe boxes full of photos which we thought we had lost. Thanks.
Here is Jim Palmer in the controversial ex-Brian Foley Porsche, leading Jim Richards in the Willment Escort.
Steve, memory has faded a bit over the years but what was the controversy over the Porsche?Here is Jim Palmer in the controversial ex-Brian Foley Porsche, leading Jim Richards in the Willment Escort.
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