Is there any interest in old UK stuff?

[screwdriver]

I was flicking through my massive pile of mainly club, race programmes (ranging from Pre-war Donington to recent Hampton Downs) and came across a pic of Brett Riley and another of Graham McRae. There may well be entry/driver details of cars now in NZ as well as drivers.

Without restricting things to an NZ connection, are others willing to either contribute snippets, pics etc or are just interested, or do we just leave it to overseas based message boards and keep this board Kiwi?

Over to you.

[Steve Holmes]

Yes, most definitely include everything international. This is an international forum, with international members and subject matter, as on the banner above: "International Bench Racing Community For Historic Motor Racing And Motorsport History. So please go ahead.

[PaulieG]

Definitely keen to see uk pics and programmes etc especially formula junior and f3 between 1961 and 1964 as my lotus 20 was racing over there then. Came to NZ in 65. Keith st John was last owner. Malcolm templeton (Ireland) first owner. Still trying to find in between owner.

[Grant Ellwood]

Peter Ransom (Wellington) had a Lotus 20, David McKinney would know if there is any connection I'm sure.

[woody]

Screwdriver, Do you have any programmes for sale?

[screwdriver]

Hi Woody. Yes! Lots of spare club racing programmes of Mallory Park, Cadwell, Croft, Donington (postwar) including the re-opening of Donington May 1977.

Phew, is it really 35 years since that fraught meeting, when the local ramblers objected to the reopening and at the 11th hour, it had to be run as a "Trial" with no single seaters. The local Lotus dealers (Else of Codnor) who sponsored the meeting, probably fell over soon after as crowds were minimal as the word had got around that the meeting had been stopped. It wasn't until the Friday afternoon that the organising club's solicitors managed to get an all clear and that was because one of the NSCC board members was a solicitor - and I think he may even have despatched an underling to London to sort it. A bit hazy about those details.

I have personal pics of Colin Chapman & Tom Wheatcroft (of course!) as there was a race for Lotuses only, won by Brian Cocks, Lotus 23, who had borrowed the oil cooler from my road car!

Suggest you might want to look at the race programme covers website, which is fantastic and growing daily.

http://www.progcovers.com/motor/index.html

I am overseas in a few days so won't be doing much on here for a while.

I also have some prewar ERA Club newsletters and various bits and pieces of early BRM literature.

[David McKinney]

Peter Ransom (Wellington) had a Lotus 20, David McKinney would know if there is any connection I'm sure.

It was a 22 - ex Levis, Grant etc

[PaulieG]

Thanks Amerikiwi, We have been through the NZ drivers, its just a matter of finding the owner/driver between mid 1962 and all 1963, in the UK. The programmes may be more helpful than anything.

[screwdriver]

The Junior entry from May 22nd 1961 Mallory Park. The problem is that is it is quite a messy process scanning and uploading to this web site, as the image size restrictions mean a lot of fluffing around with the original image.

*Are you reading this Steve? Auto resizing would be a great help.

RogerH may well be interested in the first 3 entries, but note also Major Arthur Mallock racing his U2. Is the Emeryson by any chance the one that Tony Ollisoff (ex Nigel Russell) now owns? Probably not, as the listed one in the programme presumably had a Ford engine.

The reserve "Chris Summers", in later years, was a regular in the Cooper Chevrolet, which ran in the Formula Libre race, traditionally the last race on the programme. Thinking back, that was almost the forerunner of F5000.

Also entered in the meeting is Tony Lanfranchi, erroneously typed in as an Alva, Dick Crosfield in an MGA and the famous "Tatty Turner", a crowd favourite during the early sixties plus our own family favourite, David Hobbs in the Elite.

It was only when I was doing some research on another specific Lotus Elite that I realised that the maximum grid on the 1.35 mile circuit was only 14 cars!

In later years when I was able to get myself there without using a bus or when Dad had the firm's van, I would park myself on the hairpin exit, just about all afternoon (paddock in the morning), the cars coming round quickly enough not to be a problem, as you saw them entering and leaving the hairpin. No catch fencing of course and you could almost lean over and touch the cars as they came past.

How I wish I had a modern long lensed SLR camera, instead of Dad's old Leica, with not even a rangefinder, as my photo collection would have been so much better. That is progress.

[screwdriver]

Unfortunately, model numbers weren't always listed and I haven't been through the pile, but one nearest the top, there is a Lotus 22 in 1962, (Mallory again) driven by an "M. De-dy", running as car number 92, but plenty of Lotus 20s...

[thunder427]

..saw the heading,'Is there any interest in old UK stuff'......and I thought,I wonder what our David Mckinney is doing !!!! ???????????? ...... /MJ

[stubuchanan]

Unfortunately, model numbers weren't always listed and I haven't been through the pile, but one nearest the top, there is a Lotus 22 in 1962, (Mallory again) driven by an "M. De-dy", running as car number 92, but plenty of Lotus 20s...

That could well be one Mike De Udy, I think. I would have to do a bit of "magazine-crunching" and looking-up to find out more about him after 50 years.

Stu Buchanan

[screwdriver]

Sounds right! Probably rang his entry through late. A curse of the age was relying on a genuine "Answerphone", which in those days were on a 3 year lease at about 15 quid a month and were the size of a full sized reel to reel tape recorder - which of course is what they were. Bearing in mind I was at school until the following year and my first wage was four pounds ten shillings a week, that hire fee was quite expensive - and that club had a full time secretary until about 1974/75.

[markec]

[Michael De'Udy]

That could well be one Mike De Udy, I think. I would have to do a bit of "magazine-crunching" and looking-up to find out more about him after 50 years.

Stu Buchanan

Hi Michael has written a book all about his racing career and life, go to blurb.com sports section called Living in the Fast Lane.

[Oldfart]

I have just looked at the preview on the site above. This is a book I am looking forward to getting.