Ahh, the joy of being young! How many seasons did you run the Atlantic and the ShellSport car side by side Steve? Were you getting good sponsorship money to run both cars?
Ahh, the joy of being young! How many seasons did you run the Atlantic and the ShellSport car side by side Steve? Were you getting good sponsorship money to run both cars?
Steve this was a great read what you got up to in between gaps, might have been short re what you did but you did very well , I often think of those times so much fun & excitement , Thinking of shellsport never went there ,was keen to see Europe etc , [shell sport ]the SI guys I remember about when we did GTX were Allen Farr [Escort ] a good friend he also did GTX in fiat 124 ], Wayne Murdock [Nissan like yours] Grant Aiken [Nissan ] ummmm......who else oh yep Kevin Ryan [escort] I sent him pistons & Rods from UK for his bda,, that's an other story on its own . .You remember your lap times as we do means you still have the fire in yr belly.. .& that is very healthy...........Oh and one more thing you speak highly of yr old team , yr wife & yr Dad........... that says it all you are blessed & have humility .......Talk soon Grant
Steve, only the one year with both the Shellsport and the Pacific. I think , back then in 1976 with the Shellsport car only, I had a contract with Shell Oil NZ for all my fuel, oil etc etc and about $5,000 in sponsorship. I think I had it structured were I only got paid if I placed; so much for 1st, so much for 2nd etc.Originally Posted by Steve Holmes
I was lucky enough to win both Shellsport championships I competed in back to back, so with the following;
1. Shell contract
2. Sponsorship
3. prize money (Fortunately this did add up nicely)
you only LOST a smaller amount of money! Ha Ha, the joys of motor racing.
With the Pacific in 1977, I think I had about the same, $5,000 from The Eastern Tool Co plus another $2000 from Fletcher Brownbuilt and of course my contract with Shell. Lots of people did things for me for love. Without those people you wouldn't be able to do it. The pacific was a wrong move for lots of reasons and I had everything financed to get into it. It took years to pay everything off after I could not afford to continue.
The physical injuries were not the reason I stopped, it was just money. When i was released from hospital I couldn't walk and had crutches and special inserts in my shoes to control my shattered heels. ( What was the side of my right foot is now the bottom) However the biggest thing was i could not put any pressure on the brake pedal. I was using both feet in the braking area..................was as weak as a kitten and in no state to be driving a Pacific. I was also taking some very big risks out of sheer determination.
It was a good thing to park the car at that time.
Grant, Thanks for your kind words. Dad and me met up with Alan Farr at the Waimate 50 last year. Dad had a big battle with him at Baypark in the 124 coupes for the GTX championship. I think we were wondering what was going to be said, (that old NI vrs SI thing) however everybody was just wonderful as Dad had been especially invited to be reunited with one of his old racing XU1's. He got the royal treatment, including parade laps and television and newspaper interviews. Now that is a great event!
I have just had a friend ring me and say that John Gobbe passed away yesterday. John was the person behind trying to get Shell Sport restarted. He also owned several old Shell Sport cars. I hope the class continues.
That is very sad news. Yea he was trying to get Shell Sport back in classics. As you say lets hope it continues to develop.
RIP John
Hi Spinner that is a blow. I new John well and it was only a few months ago that that I was talking to him.
R I P John old mate,
Jamie A
Hope this is on topic..just sharing a trademe find...any pics of these being used
Slideshow of photos from John's funeral https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f1jsS_IXXM
PM for you Grimme
They used them at Cricket matches as well....think it was the one day comp...for about 5 years. I remember vividly in my youth a nubile young lady draped in nothing but one of these running across the Basin Reserve, with the gentle Wellington breeze not only blowing int behind her like Batmans cape, but also enhancing other areas of anatomy....Hope this is on topic..just sharing a trademe find
Hi All; after the very sad news of John's departure; does anyone have a progress report on the resurrection of the Shellsport class, and where John's collection of cars went?
I hope (will be) at HD next weekend and catch up with people on this.
I have had a bit of a shake up over the last 4 months with 2 major modifications 1 major rebuild and have just this day got home from another 3 days in the tune up centre and hopefully this is the last major tune up. I now have to run in the gear slowly and once settled will be back at full rev's.
See you then.
Last edited by Rod Grimwood; 01-10-2015 at 04:10 AM.
Take care Rod. Slow run in is best.
Hi All! I'm jay and new to the roaring season. I have been given the chance along with Mike Bamber to help keep the Resurection of the shellsport class going after Johns passing. Although you may not hear much from us we would gladly add you too our Email list if you want to be informed of whats happening. send your interests to jaytownshend126@gmail.com
We have just had a really fun weekend at the Enzed Classic in Timaru over the 13th - 15th of feb with a few well known shellsport cars. One off the ex cook/Aitken 120ys, an ex stuart lush 1200 coupe, the ex Cook "big bertha" and Noddys old Avenger. The Avenger actually set the fastest lap of the weekend in the class but had Gearbox issues as half the field did. (Bloody fast Avenger!) We had 12 entrys in total so numbers were up and down all weekend due to the weak gearbox issues. But it was still a heap of fun. I'll leave a link here to a youtube video for a bit of footage taken from the bank by Lyn hattons wife Sharon. This race was set up as a rolling start and run in memory of John Gobbe. A trophy was given to the winning shellsport car and driver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3cJ...ature=youtu.be
Although you don't see much off the genuine shellsport cars in this race they are actually a force to be rekond with when theyre going well. Another car that was there for the weekend was the allan farr escort but in this race he had a bent steering arm which he hurridly fixed for the final race....and then beat me :-)
Last edited by Jay; 02-19-2015 at 09:58 AM.
Jay, whats happened to john gobbes stash of cars?
Paul
Most of them were sold prior to him falling off his perch. The ex warren steel bluebird went to Steve Keene in Ashburton who is hoping to have it driving before Christmas this year. The Aitken 120y was sold to Lyn hatton (Ran at timaru in the weekend just been.) The ex Bill Leckie Lancer was probably scrapped unfortunately. It was in a bit of a sad state but some bits were there and it definitely had the number plate. We tried to get in touch with his family regarding these sorts of things and memorabilia but had no joy. The only other car I know of is the escort he was building himself and that is now listed on trade me for a rather large sum of money for not a lot of car. This was to be a replica of the later Rutherford car. It was sold very cheap to a local automotive shop who are now selling it on. The Marina was sold on trade me shortly after he died.
Thanks jay, I spoke with john just after he bought the f5000 katipo that he was getting rebuilt, he said he also had the ex reg cook mini, any one know what happened to both of these cars.
also jay, there was a honda civic that ran in shellsport, I think it ran rexona sponsorship, with possibly a female driver, it was on trademe for sale a few years ago, it had alot of factory gear in it.
The Civic Mrs Parnell from Paraparamu (north of Wellington) drove it. Hubby built it etc.
Jay you say, "The Avenger actually set the fastest lap of the weekend in the class but had Gearbox issues as half the field did. (Bloody fast Avenger!) We had 12 entrys in total so numbers were up and down all weekend due to the weak gearbox issues."
This is a problem with the old 4 speed gear we all used way back then. I actually went to a Celica 5 speed back in late 80s to stop this when ran in Sports Sedans 2Lt. I would not use this in historic shellsport, but would like to use a Sierra box as this saves changing diffs for different tracks and last abit longer.
Maybe something to be addressed,
Then we can really start a good old fight and use something found in corner of garage under some other bits. LOL
Noddy fitted a Rocket box when he built up the Avenger, suspect that it still has the original box and internals as until now I can not recall it ever giving any issues, guess the used by date has finally arrived. Allan Farr's Escort likewise has a Rocket box and aside from the occasional replacement of bearings, syncro cones, detent blocks & springs it lasted until better than 30 years and it was only of recent times that a new gear kit was fitted.
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