The Roaring Season

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Thanks for your comments, and camaroman for starting a thread. LVB would not have expected that we would be talking and remembering him on an internet site. In fact I know he would have been humbled by this. I have tried to upload a photo but not sure that this has happened. It was one that was on display at his funeral which summed him up pretty well. They were pushing the Mustang along in the pits, Lawrence was having a passing chat to another racer, cig in hand and a couple of pretty women pushing the car. Legend!!!

Outstanding contribution photo , certainly At levels, That old familiar water tank on the skyline, Is that Bruce Bellis, driver of the x Clyde Collins Cortina chev approaching LVB ? "independent motors" , was that a Peter Kockis, Geraldine connection ?

I will ask her if she would mind putting up some photos. Was talking about LVB today with another mate Chris Shamy. We were discussing LVB had a brief taste of drag racing in Ron Colletts alcohol dragster, this was after the Arbuckles Camaro I think. Chris raced with Ron then another mate of ours Greg Taylor raced it and crashed it big time up at Meremere. He ended up with a broken neck and some other pretty good injuries from that, but Greg was no stranger to danger. He had done a couple of insane car jumps at Ruapuna before all this. Just caught up with him a couple of weeks ago too. He now lives in Oz. anyway where this story was going, was that LVB had hooked up with Ron Collett and was to drive the new dragster as the other one had been written off by GT. unfortunately, I think LVB only did a handful of runs, at best. One of his experiences was going all the way to Auckland in Rons Leyland Comet bus only to be rained out and as far as I know, didn't get in a run. That was painful as the bus only did about 80 ks, and , I stand to be corrected, but it didn't stop along the way for pit stops because of its terminal velocity being a bit naf. I you wanted to pee, the door was opened and you just had to unload. No wonder windshield washers are mandatory these days😉

Great photo I remember Laurence having some photos of his cars on his office wall in Sydenham about the time of the first earth quake in Chistchurch.

Could his Daughter Charlotte try and put some of these photos on this site or ask someone else to help her keep the great memories of her great dad continuing cheers

Thanks for your comments, and camaroman for starting a thread. LVB would not have expected that we would be talking and remembering him on an internet site. In fact I know he would have been humbled by this. I have tried to upload a photo but not sure that this has happened. It was one that was on display at his funeral which summed him up pretty well. They were pushing the Mustang along in the pits, Lawrence was having a passing chat to another racer, cig in hand and a couple of pretty women pushing the car. Legend!!!

Thanks Mike Fitzgerald for the great story cherishing the moments that touch our hearts It seems life can be full of unfortunate changes but lots of wonderful memories.

Thank you Fitzy...... this was good to read...we seem to go through life & drift in other directions so to hear about Lawrence & a few of the old boys is a wake up call but well knowing we cant be every where & making contact as much as we would like ... I had a phone call from Allan Farr yesterday...... a good timaru boy..we go back to the teen years a great circle , we chat about twice a year & its just like when we were boys ......although Allan is a little older we had some fantastic fun ....his call was about an other friend that past away the rest was about car racing & pinto 2.0 engines , an hour past very quickly ........so we must enjoy the NOW moment ...go and have some fun guys ... Grant

For the last few years, Lawrence was buying and selling a few cars here and there. He would still come out to the car racing and was still so passionate and knowledgeable especially about the classics at the Scope meeting. Another mate of ours has a big American camper and LVB would come out and occupy the Captains chair in the camper, at the hairpin at Ruapuna in total comfort.
I had known him for over 30 years. I never raced against LVB as I was a bit younger and later getting going, but raced against one of the cars he had previously had some success with being the ex Dickie Victor / Chev in OSCA. Funny thing is that the current owner of that car also has my old Capri. Tony Mann of Dunedin has restored both cars and they have never looked so good. Lawrence was impressed.
Sadly LVB had had some challenging health issues especially over the past 10 years or so, but just like in racing he would bounce back from what would of seemed the impossible. I last time I saw Him he came round home for Bathurst last year. Osso was also here and these 2 good old boys had a good old catch up and LVB lasted for the whole race and managed to get a Heineken or 2 down. Much better than the previous year which he only made it for a couple of hours. He had a bloody colourful life,was pretty connected, but with all the Mustangs, Camaros and the history, it was his daughter Charlotte that was the top of the list. Sadly missed Mike Fitzgerald.

Fantastic photo of mgv v8 ex Trever Crowe
It just shows what Laurence got up to in the early years of racing
Moorhose mucle cars sold it about 3 years ago to a new well known Christchurch owner driver its often seen at the PDL Scope Classic its now painted black & still unrestored this car has so such a history & charm.
Im glad its well cared for by its current owner & not scrapped like so many others were .

I met Lawrence Bruce about five years ago when I was researching the article I wrote about Trevor Crowe's MGV. Lawrence had owned that car briefly and here's what I wrote about him and it: 'Lawrence Bruce then bought the car, painted red by then, and ran it at the Nelson beach races in 1972. “I nearly won” he says “I was leading (Peter) Leversedge by half the straight and the motor seized. It had been boiling for 3 or 4 laps because the radiator fins were clogged with sand. As I went into a corner the back wheels locked so I just declutched and coasted off the track. I thought the motor was buggered but when it had cooled down it started right up and ran sweet as ever”.' Lawrence was very helpful in providing information for my article and let me copy some old photos, one of which I've tried to upload here. If I've succeeded, you'll see it shows Lawrence (face obscured) backing the MGV off the trailer at Tahunanui in 1972.

We would love to see some pics of the Victor chev in Gary Jenkins hands he said he had some photos of it

PM sent re uploading pics.

have pics but cant seem to upload them

no he wasnt woody, his first wife was karen

no they are not related

Greg Ghost wrote:A good guy absolutely loved his motor sport [ATTACH=CONFIG]27927[/ATTACH]

Does any one know what Lawrence was up to during the last ten years or so , reason I ask is I had lost track of him over the years & was often on my mind like so many of you that were around the same tracks ....... ps looks like Kevin Ryan,s BDA escort in back ground , ... might be wrong .. have a fantastic weekend .. Grant ........

hbdunedin, Is ross Brown and Margaret related to you? Louise Was Margaret's younger sister.

have one pic of the victor (lvb"s middle name as well lol) but have to reduce its size to upload first

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yes he had the victor after the arbuckles sponsered camaro, the mustang pictured above he owned a couple of times over the years. the second time he got it he added some big get fu-k-d flairs, he got my old man (has brother in law at the time) to do them. paint red and motormarket across the top of front screen. back in 70's,when blue like in pics, he took me round levels in it,i was only a kid, ill never forget it tho, no way!would never be able to do that now days at the end of the last race.