Lost Race Cars

[David McKinney]

I think the Kerry Pennell connection is confusion with the ex-Donovan Oldins Typhoon, which was around at about the same time and which I think Pennell bought

[Steve Holmes]

Here are some photos of the last Bagnell Sierra being built at Meidecke Motorsport in about August 89.

Hey Marty, thanks heaps for posting these pics, and for clearing up where the Bagnall car came from. Are those Wolf Racing wheels Miedecke used on his cars?

Thanks also for the Waldock Playscape RS500 pics. I don't know why, but I always thought Stone Brothers had built this car. Glad you have steered me straight on that one!

[conrod]

Hey Marty, thanks heaps for posting these pics, and for clearing up where the Bagnall car came from. Are those Wolf Racing wheels Miedecke used on his cars?

Thanks also for the Waldock Playscape RS500 pics. I don't know why, but I always thought Stone Brothers had built this car. Glad you have steered me straight on that one!

They do look like Ronal (Wolf) wheels on Bagnalls and Miedecke's cars? And of course DJR wheels on Waldocks. I think Ross Stone was at Miedecke Motorsport at the time was he not?

[Marty]

You are correct on the Stone Brothers, they were both at Medeckies at the time. Jimmy is behind the car in the first photo.
Ronal rings a bell.
The hole in the gaurd that is talked about was a trendy thing at the time. Just a hammerformed piece welded in.
I have some more photos of it being repaired at the Bathurst Tafe. They used to be the first guys you would go and see when you got there, just in case. Sadly it is no more.

[Steve Holmes]

Oh, so they worked for Miedecke, then they must have moved to DJR after that?

[Graeme Farr]

Hi Dave,

The car I owned I bought from Peter Parnell in the 70's and sold to a chap by the name of Paul Te Puna from the VCCC. Apologies Paul if I've mispelt your name. I think that this was the car that Jacque Van Vels later raced with a Kawasaki motor in the sports car class. Recall selling Jacque a trailer which on the way to his home somehow disconnected itself from the drawbar and wiped out a couple of cars in his street. Nice guy, Jacque.

Peter P. and I have been in touch recently so I'll ask him who owned it before I bought it. He's fairly elderly now and may not remember. Actually! I have no idea why I bought the blasted thing. Probably for the Armstrong shocks, or maybe I was just pissed. I'll dig out a photo and post it when I get a new scanner. The present one crapped out while I was doing a brain scan on my old girlfriend. You know? the one from Paris - cheap at half the price.

Hi Russ,

I think this was a Meridian rather than a Terrapin. It was designed and built by John Moynihan - origiannly had a Cooper S engine in Mk2 form and then a Ford engine on a Mini gearbox in Mk3 form. I owned Moynihans Mk 1 Meridian in the 70's - it was a U2 like thing but built with a supercharged Wolesley 1500 engine. I also had the Ford engine unit from the Mk3 - which I bought when fitted in Sandy Powells rallycross Mini.

Yes Jaque van Vels has the Meridian - but I am not sure how much of the original car is left! Very fast car though.

Graeme Farr

[Russ Cunningham]

Hello Graeme,

You are most likely right. I never had much of an interest in the car, just bought it for the sake of it. Will try and dig out some pics when time permits but you know what that means.

Sandy Powell! Haven't caught up with him in years and he's only up the road. Good chap, owned the Imp Stilleto with rotary power & a MK.8 Hewland. Will ring him and catch up for some serious beer tasting. Isn't that always serious?

[Graeme Farr]

Hello Graeme,

You are most likely right. I never had much of an interest in the car, just bought it for the sake of it. Will try and dig out some pics when time permits but you know what that means.

Sandy Powell! Haven't caught up with him in years and he's only up the road. Good chap, owned the Imp Stilleto with rotary power & a MK.8 Hewland. Will ring him and catch up for some serious beer tasting. Isn't that always serious?

When I bought the Mini off Sandy it was sitting under a hedge - I asked what ever happened to the ex Barry Vuyk Stilletto he had - and he pointed me to another hedge!. There is was all complete with rotary and even still had the cool Haliday wheels. A year or two later an Imp nut from Chch advertised looking for the car and I put him in touch with Sandy. But I think he just took out the Hewland and flogged it off and took the car to the dump. Sad end to a cool car.

Sandy was an amazing engineer - had a massive kiwifruit sorting machine he had built out of bits of apple machinery - and a big fibreglass keeler mould he had built a yacht from. Nice guy too - and very fast rallycross driver.

G

[Russ Cunningham]

Graeme, Did you see the BMC based coupe that Sandy had bought of a guy from Gisborne - it was under another hedge! Had a 1800 Austin/Morris rear mounted.
From what I remember not a bad effort.

Don't you just treasure guys like this.

Russ

[Marty]

Oh, so they worked for Miedecke, then they must have moved to DJR after that?

Yes, I think Ross went straight to Dicks and Jimmy did a a stint with Gardner/Longhurst on the BMW's before joining him.

[AMCO72]

Russ, another Guy in the same mould as Sandy, was Kim Austin. Cant remember much about him except that I loved his driving style and the machines he created. Think he lived down Otorahanga way. I went to a couple of hill climbs where he was participating. I do know he died some years ago and his cars are also probably under some hedge somewhere. I think he may have done the Ashley Forest sprint at some stage.....now that was great to watch, especially the downhill section. Some amazing car control, some times out of control, efforts down there. Your comment that 'dont you just treasure guys like this' is bang on. Unfortunately they just tend to get forgotten. Anyone know any more about Kim?

[markec]

Kim was very seriously into rallying,he did the Ashly more than once and I think he did the first Cadrona/Queenstown Hillclimb.The V8 rx7 was a mean machine.

[Paul Wilkinson]

Kim was very seriously into rallying,he did the Ashly more than once and I think he did the first Cadrona/Queenstown Hillclimb.The V8 rx7 was a mean machine.

Doesn't his Ashley Forest record still stand?

[jim short]

Kim and his mate were killed in a plane crashh may have been a helecopter ,He had a food place south of Taupo {2miles}

[stubuchanan]

Kim and his mate were killed in a plane crashh may have been a helecopter ,He had a food place south of Taupo {2miles}

It was a Robinson R22. Pilot and owner was Chris Barns, another rally driver I believe. January 2004.

Stu

[Oldfart]

Amongst other things Chris ran the mid engine Renault Turbo as a rally and rally sprint car.

[xu1nut]

Les Bognuda did indeed own this car during the 80's in New Plymouth . He was an insurance assessor from memory ( memory aint so good these days either now ) , pretty sure that Larry Taylor used to do the maintenance on it and that probably the last time l ever spoke to Les they were thinking about shoehorning a chevy into it . Car was painted black back then .

Ok, so going though the Sports Sedan entry lists posted by Malcolm/Powder, it would seem that Mr Waswo sold the ex McIntyre/PDL/Bartley Fiat 124 to a Les Bognuda. At least that is my assumption based on using the numbers that Robert Bartley, Waswo and Bognuda used all being 40. Does anyone have any pictures of this car from 1980-1984 either as the Waqswo car or Bugnuda. Also interesting to note is the changes in engine size.
I believe the car to have been an 1800 in Glenn McIntyres hands, thenits shown as "1608"cc in Robert Bartleys hand but this may be a misprint, I believe the engine size as an 1800 was 1808 or 1804, but then in Hoss Waswos hands its a 2litre, before becoming a 1.6 in Les Bognudas care.
Any more info?

[Habu]

Russ, another Guy in the same mould as Sandy, was Kim Austin. Cant remember much about him except that I loved his driving style and the machines he created. Think he lived down Otorahanga way. I went to a couple of hill climbs where he was participating. I do know he died some years ago and his cars are also probably under some hedge somewhere. I think he may have done the Ashley Forest sprint at some stage.....now that was great to watch, especially the downhill section. Some amazing car control, some times out of control, efforts down there. Your comment that 'dont you just treasure guys like this' is bang on. Unfortunately they just tend to get forgotten. Anyone know any more about Kim?

Kim lived in a place called Waitakaruru on the Hauraki Plains heading towards Thames. I think he first made his mark at Ashley Forest in a Chevette powered by a Rover V8 - remember him tipping it on its lid. He set the record in a Series 1 RX7 that may have been partially financed by Lance Green, who was his co-driver at times. The RX7 was a pretty good car, but Kim still drove the wheels off it - he was quite spectacular to watch. He also drove the Hickman / Murphy Starion, which was originally powered by a Rodeck? V8. He campaigned a Nissan Pulsar GTIR for a period in the early 90's, and was a stalwart of the Woolf Mufflers rally series. As already mentioned, he was killed in a helicopter accident with Chris Barnes. Chris rallied the Renault R5 as noted, and moved on to a Nissan Pulsar GTIR also - I heard a rumour that he was the first person to win a rally in this car in the world - winning the Whangerei Rally in 1991. Another guy who rallied around the same time was Greg Taylor - he ran Mazda RX7's, as did Mike Montgomery, and David Thexton. Greg Taylor owned a business called Central Roadmarking, and also raced at Bathurst a couple of times in a third Sierra RS500 with the DJR outfit. Taylor progressed to the RX7, possibly from a BDA Escort. Chris' daughter Leanne also made her mark a few years ago rallying cars. A great shame when Barnes and Austin were killed, and I heard a rumour way back in the day, that Taylor had throat cancer - hence the reason he spent a fortune on his rallying / racing, but could never substantiate this.

[jim short]

Lance Green was with Greens travel Papakura,owned by his dad Jack who also made farm machines and sold them there my wife worked there in travel in the 80s

[AMCO72]

NZ is just a fart-arsed little country, and yet we throw up an amazing array of sporting heros in all sorts of sports, and Motorsport is high on the list. Sandy and Kim are just a couple of lateral thinking guys who beaver away in their sheds concocting cars that can really do the business when it comes down to it. Coupled with a bit of spirited driving these guys become legends over night, and almost as quickly fade away. I think it is our duty here on RS to make sure that this doesn't happen. Too often motorsport has been overlooked when bouquets are being handed out, but as can be seen with what has been posted in all the forums on RS, we have a rich history of do it yourself motoring second to none. Dont worry fellas, we will not forget you.