The Roaring Season

the first race 'Car' I remember was a Sidecar, Cemetery Circuit. last year was my 54th boxing day meeting am lucky enough to watch it from the best seat in the house, the commentary box.

Ruapuna, mid 1960s. Can't remember exactly but that first car race I recall someone rolled their Cortina but we went to the adjoining speedway more frequently and preferred it as there were heaps of races (Saturday night Speedway night), many incidents, wonderful smell, bikes, midgets, TQs, sidecars, etc. Last time to that speedway was the weekend the stockcar saloons were first/only time (?) raced there a couple of years prior to Woodford Glen opening. First and only time to Woodford Glen was when it was a stage in the 1974 Canta Rally, and that was my first rally as a co-driver. Who remembers that rally which started at midnight with the opening stage at Ruapuna race track?

First race track I drove on was Manfield 1974 (Mini Cooper) during the Inter University Games when motor sport was one of the contributing events.

[quote="Michael Clark"]Not sure about car but my first ever race meeting was the Wills Six Hour in late 1965 when I would have been seven. I can certainly recall the Mk2 Jags - in which case Shelley strikes again![/quote]

We were there Michael and I had quite a few years on you - just turned 18.

Would have been Speedway at Western Springs in the early 60's with my Father - In 1960 turned 13 late in that year
..He loved the Bikes so used to go when the UK riders came for a series.

First Race meeting sitting / standing outside Pukekohe for the 1964 Wills Six Hour with again my Father.

First Meeting I actually attended was in 1965 the Wills Six Hour Production Saloon Car Race / Gold Leaf Three Hour Challenge Race for Modified Cars.
Went with a Mate who had a car - was my last month or so of School
Didn't drive, he did, in his Morris Minor sidevalve, but did have my drivers licence by then. gained the month before my 18th Birthday - a bit late I thought, wanted it when 16 or so - as we did in the day 1963-65 ..

Favourite Car at that meeting was this.

[attachment=0]Pukekohe 1965 #6 Gold Leaf 3 hour Fleetwood Mustang #2, v2, CCI12102015 (2) (591x383).jpg[/attachment]

and not an Austin - Healey - that came later !

First racing Driver - not from a Magazine I knew about was good neighbour Allan Woolf - who lived a couple of houses up our street and had the Ford 8 - this is before Allan and Coleen moved to Green Bay

[quote="928"]i first went to a speedway race at taita track in lower hutt on my 5 th birthday 1948 to be precise. next i remember is motor bikes at wanganui, then speedway at western springs. first car race meeting was ardmore when prince bira raced, they are all down to my mother who was a huge motor race fan. that dates me.[/quote]

Born in Wanganui, the bikes were as big as Guy Fawkes night

Coincidentally, I've just been writing about the V16 BRM, and the noise it made, this afternoon.

I saw/heard Tom Wheatcroft demonstrating his museum car at Donington in June 1983

The last Grand prix at Ardmore in 1962 won by Stirling Moss, unfortunately a few months later he had his nasty accident at Goodwood that made him retire from racing.

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And a Small Tribute

[quote="nigel watts"]The first race my dad took me to was the 1954 NZGP at Ardmore. I'll never forget the scream of that BRM.[/quote]

lest we forget [video=youtube;fZMPDCNyQxE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZMPDCNyQxE[/video]

The first race my dad took me to was the 1954 NZGP at Ardmore. I'll never forget the scream of that BRM.

i first went to a speedway race at taita track in lower hutt on my 5 th birthday 1948 to be precise. next i remember is motor bikes at wanganui, then speedway at western springs. first car race meeting was ardmore when prince bira raced, they are all down to my mother who was a huge motor race fan. that dates me.

Ahem. Cough cough. A bit older than some of you...

Gamston, north Nottinghamshire (UK) 1951. ERA's probably - encouraged by dad. I remember the journey out there in the back of the firm's Ford van that dad had borrowed, sitting on a folding wooden chair!

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Obviously, Bob Gerard and Reg Parnell covered their bases.

[attachment=1]151_0806_072 Gamston.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=0]150_0612_Tempest.JPG[/attachment]
...and some wonder why they brought in the MoT/WoF systems?

I had been going to the Speedway at Western Springs since late 1954 but the first time I saw Grand Prix type cars was at Ardmore on the 8th of January 1955. The car that made the greatest impression on me, as a 12-year-old, was Bira's Blue and Yellow Maserati 250F. That's when the bug bit and I never recovered.

Programme from the first speedway meeting I saw
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Programme from the first car race meeting I saw
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Kiwiminor, we must have been at the same NZGP at Ardmore Jan. 1959.
Dad had parked the car and we we ran to see a preliminary race in progress and the first car I remember coming by was Brian Tracey in the ex-Moore/Roycroft/Mansel Alfa Romeo Tipo B / Alfa 2905cc 8cyl s/c.
I have been hooked ever since !

Ken H.

Ardmore in the late-50s when some of the G.P. cars took off from the grid in a preliminary race. Names such as Shelby, Harry Schell, etc

[quote="chaindrive"]Nelson beach races------Still love those cars today.Stuart cars,Darrell ACE III,Leversedge etc etc.[/quote]

My first trip to Nelson was 1964, it left such a vivid impression and is why I started the Tahunanui thread
here.

My first trip to Nelson was 1964. It etched my memory as well, which is why I started the Tahunanui thread here.

1963 Wills six hour saloon car race. The journey getting there from Edgecumbe in a less than perfect 1950s Ford Popular was almost as exciting as the race, with fuel pump problems from Rotorua to Hamilton but fixed at the Motordrome in Te Rapa. The one car in the race that I lusted after was the Cortina GT driven by the late Kerry Grant.

Ron Roycroft BP Special Ferrari in the street opposite our house in Invercargill!

Angus Hislop Cooper in the streets of Havelock North