The Roaring Season

Awww, Sean, thanks for the thought.
Thats a minter HG
Back in 1972 I worked with a lady- Mrs Pretty- who had a 308 auto just like this.

John, saw this at the Lakeside Classic on Sunday, thought of you for some reason

That sounds enticing to someone planning to visit the US again next year...

Though it's a bit earlier in the year than I'd like to be there.

Ray Bell wrote:Maybe now the car's fixed Steve can fix the name at the head of the thread?

What date is the F5000 50th on?

Ray it is at La Guna Seca Rolex August 2018. 2 weekends with Re-Union the 1st and Rolex the 2nd.

Save the best till last-

A HUGE thanks to Angus Fogg for his side.-
Picking up car- stripping the smashed front, pulling the engine out, delivering the stranded auto to LG Panelbeaters, motor to Marsh.
Later-Collecting said rip roaring, ready to go motor and not so stranded limo from Lex , and reuniting aforementioned mechanical items in his workshop and delivering to me as a running, driving car for the final assembly..............saved me a ton of running round ,I know that he definitely looked after me, as i am sure his bill did not reflect the amount of work this took .


It was a thoroughly professional effort on the whole project and sure as hell hope it doesnt happen again !!!!!!

Ray- F-5000 Grand Prix is January 21st weekend at Taupo- are you coming to visit us?

Maybe now the car's fixed Steve can fix the name at the head of the thread?

What date is the F5000 50th on?

Mark- thanks for the offer, but Windscreenman Barry already has a new one here ready to go.

I have a spare front screen

Rod-
Huge thanks for you arranging and taking care of the Surgeon that was needed, also grille, bonnet moulding and rf indicator lamp

Lex Greer at LG Panel and Paint, Manukau, for his Traction machine,and skills to make it better than it looks...and also to let a Ford be in his Lions Den and not have a Commodore sticker slapped on it

Also thanks to Cam Crawford donating a steel XAGT right front guard from his XA Coupe parts. There is now a Chillex racing sticker solely occupying the advertising boot space of the XU1 Torana.

Not forgetting Mark Powell for giving correct dimensions for badges- hes been watching this car since I first started building it.
Front and rear bumpers came from Invercargill,
chassis rail, inner guard and radiator support panel from Inglewood
These cars may be tough, but its tougher being the owner trying to find replacement panels when the time comes.
If it was a Camaro or Mustang, no probs- get new,clean replacement part from local supplier- Dale ,for instance. Aussie cars- no way ,everything is old and usually rusty
Bonnet I got 2 years ago, same as the lower valance panel.
Front screen still to be replaced, rear bumper seen on the car is also to be replaced.
Rare Spares had rear side lamps, rear honeycombes, badges and driving light rings for the grille.
Front air dam, being plastic, just need gluing back together

Marsh personally groomed the 633 horses living under the bonnet at the same time

khyndart in CA wrote:Sorry to see the damage to a fine looking machine.
What happened and was Rod G driving at the time ?

Yep he was. Loved it until final 10 metres.
PM me some time for catch up Ken. Hope to be going to 50 year anniversary F5000 La Guna 2018.

John's XA Falcon Coupe today.
Well done lads, it looks better than new. May it always look this grand.

Don't worry lads it could have been worse. Even the great ones have their moments.
Dale Earnhardt after rolling at Pocono track in the mid 1980s.

Sorry to see the damage to a fine looking machine.
What happened and was Rod G driving at the time ?

Sad that it involved a non-series car. Feel sorry for Grimmie too. He won't be feeling too good about it.

It merely emphasises the importance of the Series convenors controlling the invitation to their grids. If a race organiser accepts a series into a meeting, that is an Invitation series only, then it has to be to series rules.

If the organisers don't want to lose that control, then they don't invite the series, but run an open class instead. It might be tough on out of towners or those only racing a couple of times a year, not having a race at a specific meeting, but that is the decision an organiser must make. We have seen some very small grids in the past which isn't good for organisers or spectators.

Where a series only has a few cars, (an uneconomic grid) then they have to decide to be part of a meeting and maybe pay a higher entry fee, or share the track. Thankfully, this class is still growing, thanks mainly to John's efforts.

On a separate note, this is why we allow fibreglass panels... You never know when you are going to get dinged. I know John is now frantically trying to source panels, but racing rarer cars carries a risk and finding panels for some of the cars out there, is nigh on impossible. Forget any perceived weight advantage, it is minimal in the overall scheme of things and negated in handicap races anyway.

their chassis machine is busy for more than one month....checked yesterday.

Needs to go to 'The Best Damn Body Shop in Town'......... theres some serious bodywork damage there.

Yep, Rod has said he will make this happen-thanks mate.
we all really feel for him on this his first run with us

Ouch.....bad luck John and not the way you wanted to end a great festival for and your group. It can be fixed. Cheers, Bruce

It can happen to any one John , it is fixable dont be hard on yr self , just a bit of back burner stuff & $$$ elcchhhh