RA Vanguard

[Steve Holmes]

I think the two guys on the right are probably just spectators. The guy next to them is how I remember Jack Brewer, and it may be Les Moore on the far left

Amazing!

[David McKinney]

Even if there's no guarantee of their reliability

[Carlo]

Another point re RA Vanguard : story, or just urban legend, that Les Moore altered the rear suspension in some way which could have been a factor in his fatal crash at Saltwater Creek, Timaru. Was this a grass, sand, or loose surfaced track? I also believe there used to be an airfield at Saltwater Creek in the '50's.

Stu Buchanan

As an aside to the RA story, Saltwater Creek at the southern end of Timaru was the origonal airport and was used for racing once the new airport at levels was constructed. The origonal airport building upon whos steps Sir kingsford Smith was welcolmed when he first flew into the district then became the South Canterbury Car Clubs clubrooms and subsequently was transported out to Timaru Motor Raceway in 1967 when the race circuit was becoming established where it served for many years as the clubrooms and race control building only recently being demolished to make way for the current control tower block. During the process of transportation I was just one of the many who walked most of the route armed with very long Manuka stakes that were used to lift power and telephone lines above the roof height of the building along the way.

[Nodiff]

"He (Moore) was a speedway man and his idea of getting around bends was about hanging it out on the corners, whereas Hec's suspension wouldn't do that.... so it tucked a wheel under and somersaulted, killing Les.
Stu

Thanks for you input Stu, I too had heard Jacks theory about the suspension mods, however the low pivot configuration that Hec employed doesn't lend itself to "Tucking a wheel under" The car has that same arrangement now and that characteristic is not evident. It does however have a decided tendency to rear wheel bump steer. Hard rear suspension does tend to overcome this but with the rear end softened up I hazard to guess just where the steering may tend to go. In long discussions with Ralph Watson, while I was rebuilding the rear end, I mentioned to him the potential to bump steer, he believed that the car always had this tendency, given the suspension pick-up points (of what is effectively a wishbone), being on different planes. I have letter from him with typical Ralph Watson diagrams and calculations attesting to this tendency. His suggestion was to keep it hard with minimum deflection. What Les Moore may have done to change the arrangement can only be guessed at. Certainly the wheel tucking effect would have involved serious re-engineering

[stubuchanan]

Thanks for the Saltwater Creek info, Carlo. Several years ago I read in a book about the Aerial Topdressing industry in NZ that there had been an airfield at Saltwater Ck - closed about 1960 or so. I wondered if this might have been the motor racing venue but drew a blank on all inquiries. Nice to know I guessed right after all! One of quite a few grass-track airfield venues up and down the country at the time.

Nodiff - In the same NZ Classic Car story that mentioned the Les Moore modifications there is a post-accident photo of the rear of the car which doesn't look significantly different to a Ralph Watson photo from 1953. The R.H. trailing link or wishbone may have been damaged, and the tubular frame the shocks are attached to is different but looks as if they would have had exactly the same geometry. Fascinating stuff!

Stu

[Roger Dowding]

A lot of the RA Vanguard History is here on thread #1038.

Steve Holmes - should the two threads be merged ??.

Nordiff
Stu Buchanan
David McKinney [ RIP David ]
all contributed to the thread.

As mentioned there is an extensive article on RA cars in the booklet ;
" New Zealand Classic Car - Limited Edition Collector' series #5 ".

Worth a read.