Photos: The Peter Mellor Collection - Part 1

[Steve Holmes]

Boy these two guys sure had some battles!

[Cooper997]

Pete, great photo of Manton and Foley at battle. They were certainly very competitive with each other during those days. This will be the July ATCC meeting, but quite likely the 10 lap Heat where the pair of them cleared out from the rest of the field.

What I'm interested to know was any of these great photos shown or published in period? Also, what are the earliest meeting that you photographed at?

Stephen

[mid-year]

Hi Stephen,I will post another similar shot at the same spot but I am almost sure this was during the actual ATCC but you may be able to comment with your excellent knowledge on this period.A lot of these were previously posted on a thread about the 1964 ATCC some time back on T.R.S. Steve will be starting a couple of new threads soon featuring some great shots of Lakeside around the same time period. All these were colour slides taken with a quality camera and thus Ray has painstakingly converted them to digital and at the same time has done some colour enhancement as after half a century a lot of them are starting to deteriorate.Prior to this most of our shots were done with a budget box brownie in black and white prints and are therefore not suitable for posting.
I believe we are all lucky to have such a good forum to share our photos and knowledge.

Regards Pete.

PS Our photos have only been shown here.

[Cooper997]

Pete, because of my interest in Minis and Cooper racing cars I can often lay my hands on the period reports and sometimes race programmes to help ID things.

The latest photo is definitely a different time of the day at the very least, going by shadows. So not the same race as the Manton & Foley photo. But the 'lake' looks a bit greener and flaggies are different in this latest photo. So I wouldn't completely rule out November 1964.

Ray has obviously done a great job to convert all these colour slides, but don't be too dismissive of the box brownie shots. There's often some great nuggets to be found by enthusiasts/historians who weren't there taking the photo. Regardless of the quality. Afterall, as life often proves we are our own biggest critics. But those box brownie shots may be the only known photos of some competitors too.

Did you and Ray visit Lowood also?

Stephen

[Steve Holmes]

Another superb shot of the Beechey Mustang in 1965.

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[Steve Holmes]

This is a superb shot of the Lakeside pit and grandstand areas, near the front straight. Note the enclosed Geoghegan race car trailer in the foreground.

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[Steve Holmes]

I love this shot of Pete Geoghegan's Mustang in the pits, in its later guise with Castrol sponsorship. Note the nicely flared wheel arches, which appeared on the car later in its time with Geoghegan. Note also the beautiful megaphone exhaust dropping out behind the front wheel. All eight cylinders spent their used gases through this one pipe. This would be early 1967, before he switched to his new '67 model GTA for the ATCC.

Whose is the Mini alongside? Is it Don Holland?

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[Robert Bailey]

fantastic,i've scene it that close up in that format ,awesome.

[Ellis]

[quote="Steve Holmes"]I love this shot of Pete Geoghegan's Mustang in the pits, in its later guise with Castrol sponsorship. Note the nicely flared wheel arches, which appeared on the car later in its time with Geoghegan. Note also the beautiful megaphone exhaust dropping out behind the front wheel. All eight cylinders spent their used gases through this one pipe. This would be early 1967, before he switched to his new '67 model GTA for the ATCC.

Whose is the Mini alongside? Is it Don Holland?


I took that pic in 1967 at Longford...Its Bob Holdens Lwt Mini

[Dale Harvey]

I think you will find there were two megaphones not one. Side by side. I am pretty sure Bo Seton made that system. It was a 180 degree system (similar to GT 40) with the primary pipes crossing at the back of the sump.
Dale.

[Robert Bailey]

in its mode there,what were the wheel widths?

[Steve Holmes]

I have a magazine article on this car when it was in Castrol livery, as pictured in 1967, and its driving me crazy that I can't find it. Pretty sure it was Wheels magazine. Anyway, the Mustang raced on 15" x 7" wheels from the time it first appeared in 1965, but I wonder if its actually got 8" wide wheels in 1967 in this picture, hence the flaring. His new '67 Mustang GTA which replaced this car mid-way through 1967 wore 15" x 8" wheels.

[Steve Holmes]

I love this shot of Pete Geoghegan's Mustang in the pits, in its later guise with Castrol sponsorship. Note the nicely flared wheel arches, which appeared on the car later in its time with Geoghegan. Note also the beautiful megaphone exhaust dropping out behind the front wheel. All eight cylinders spent their used gases through this one pipe. This would be early 1967, before he switched to his new '67 model GTA for the ATCC.

Whose is the Mini alongside? Is it Don Holland?


I took that pic in 1967 at Longford...Its Bob Holdens Lwt Mini

Thanks Ellis, its a beautiful photo. Do you recall what month this was taken?

[Ellis]

Thanks Ellis, its a beautiful photo. Do you recall what month this was taken?

March....Longford was Long weekend early in March


Bob Holden had 2 Mini's at the meeting , one normal one lightweight both in Castrol colours

[Steve Holmes]

This is an absolute gem! What better way to attract customers and sell more Neptune product than to have Peter Manton's Cooper S out on display!

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[mid-year]

This was the Service-Station site on the corner of Hamilton and Newman roads at Wavell Heights ( just around the corner from my parents house ) which is a northern Brisbane suburb,where the Neptune team would be based on their trips to Lakeside.They would typically arrive on a Friday and unload the cars for display on the fore-court for the enthusiats who came from miles away to get a first hand look.The Servo would stay open until late that night (trading had to cease at 6.00pm in those days) before the cars were locked away prior to taking them up to Lakeside early Saturday morning for scrutineering and practice. The team could also avail them selves of the workshop facilities for repairs etc. As a sign of the times that site is now a child minding centre and the Mobil opposition over the road is a medical centre(sigh),I took a shot from a similar position as a comparison but had to do it at 6.00am Sunday to simulate the much lighter traffic at that time

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[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Pete, GREAT story! I love then-and-now photos, even though they're often a bit sad.

[Steve Holmes]

This is a beauty. This one is by Jeff Neild, and captures John Goss in his GT-HO Phase III spearing off the end of the Surfers Paradise front straight, in typical Phase III Series Production pose. Chasing is, I think, Fred Gibson in one of the factory Phase IIIs, judging by the yellow windscreen banner and spot-light covers (on Moffats sister car these were usually silver), while in behind is John French in the purple Bryan Burt Phase III.

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[Steve Holmes]

More GT-HO Phase III's. This is the car Des West raced in 1971 and '72 to Series Production rules. This photo was taken in 1972, but prior to Bathurst, as it still wears its factory 14" wheels (pre-Globe's). At Bathurst in 1971, West drove the car solo, and finished well down in 20th, after qualifying 12th, while in '72, again driving solo, he failed to reach the finish after qualifying 10th. Where is this car now?

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[Steve Holmes]

Des West again, just before the start of the Bathurst race, 1972. Note the car has sprouted a side exhaust here. Who is the bloke walking away from the car with the video camera? He is also pictured in the above photo.

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