The Roaring Season

rogered wrote:Yip there was a project that made me cringe the first time i heard the sparks flying from the grinder.
from the figure, i heard, was paid for that engine, it should have had huge pull, man.

TonyG wrote:John Osborne was one lucky driver with that crash. I remember grabbing a quick look at the car impaled on the strainer post where it landed and the pedals were gone and the post was inside and up under the dash.

Jizim wrote:Damn this site is so absorbing.....so just quickly....the Merker was sitting in the corner of the Roush race shop when I purchased the latest TransAm Mustang bdy shell from them (early '80s ..I could check my passport of old for exact dates.) and it was this car that they ended up banning because like the Audi's of years earlier it won every race it entered. In fact Jack Roush was quite the cunning fox...he put a 4 cyl Turbo engine in his Thunderbird bodied TransAm car one week depending on what track etc...then a Supercharged V6 the next and then the V8 when needed.... Now Rodney as you know for what ever reason I never went anywhere without my camera whether or not i was competing or not....and to this day still dont! (whats that about?? I am not even a photographer!!) However the point is...I too have many hundreds of these photos that I need to "locate and Sort" and hand over to get them out there. (Would you believe I took over 5,000 at the BMW festival at Hampton....albeit only from where I am parked "on duty" at pit exit!) And a few whilst holding a reasonably brisk pace on call out! (thank the Good Lord for paddle gear shifts.....) I gave Debs from Race Control about 5,000 on a disc of a few of the meeting over the years....out of around 50,000 !.....BUT wait theres more. Back in the Group C then on to the Group A days I have a lot of video tapes that were sent direct to me thru my Aussie connections...(ok brother in law...)... and every race I entered to date up until 5 years ago which includes Wellington Nissan Mobils then Puke...All the Sprint races s thru the 70's and 80's, on to the B & H's from the early 80's, Simpson series, L K 500's, 6 hour Pukes, 3 hr Taupos, 4 hr Manfields, (yawn) and a shit load more including in car of every lap I did at Bathurst..... My point....come round and help me organise for this to make it on to this site or what ever as my kids have gone down Rugby and Cricket roads and although help me from time to time in SC, dont share the same passion....YET! I know some may be damaged but I even have great NZ Rally shot ot of Mercs, Fiats, Penti's and Ari's etc etc etc.,.so come stay a couple of years and go through them with me....and dont worry about the missus...I will tie her up!!
Regards Tony Rutherford,

Steve Holmes wrote:Thanks Roger. Do you know if he started rebuilding it, or is it still as wrecked at Puke?

Steve Holmes wrote:Roger, didn't Russell Due have the Osborne RX7 at one stage? Does he still have it?

rogered wrote:So did it ever come back to NZ after Bathurst?

conrod wrote:yes it does, someone decided it would look better with a Sierra nose on it (I kid you not!) and grafted one on after Bruce sold it. A friend of mine owns it, and has restored the front back to original. All there, but needs restoration, might be for sale soon.



yes correct, the Gary Croft car was the Eggenberger XR4Ti converted into an RS500. Mark Petch told me he had so many spares when he bought the RS500 (Peanut Slab) car from Walter Wolf, they used some to convert the Eggenberger car.

I would be grateful for any pics anyone might have of this car, in whatever shape or form it happened to be, and there were a few!

I too am interested to find what happened to the Rouse car, it seems to have vanished. BTW, the Eggenberger car was LHD, and the Rouse car RHD.


This is the Eggenberger car as it sits today:



We are about to begin work converting it back into its original Gp.A spec, here it is at Puke in Jan 1987:




Conrad Timms