NEW CLASS / SERIES; Historic Sports Sedans. formation meeting.20/04/13 ACC

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, I'm surprised the Bartley Cortina has survived? Thats good to know. Does Robert Bartley still own it?

[Steve Holmes]

Well Jac Mac with the example of the 2 DJR mustangs if you look back to the photo of the JPS car back in Aus you will see the white car there as well because he had 2, so there is only 1 replica of each car but yes there will only be allowed 1 replica of any car and that will be on a first come basis. Being a Ford nut I would love to see a rep of the Clyde Collins Cortina, Boss 302 engine and all !!!

I'd heard a few years ago Clyde and his son were building a replica of this car, but I'm not sure how far it progressed, and if its still happening.

[CUSTAXIE50]

Wow, I'm surprised the Bartley Cortina has survived? Thats good to know. Does Robert Bartley still own it?

Thinking back it may have been Robert Bartley himself who said somewhere on the net that it is still around and in someones shed.Bruce Robert from Palmy also raced this car at one time,i will go and ask him who he sold the car too, he may know where it is today. I did see a photo of the car sometime back with the left back of the car pushed right in may be still like that today, will see what i can come up with and get back.

[camaroman slp]

Clyde Collins replica i think there is a very good replica being built by the owner of Franklin boat builders who owns and races the Fordina that is black that Clyde Collins built some years back.I have seen a photo of the car in the build and all looks very good.

[George Sheweiry]

It is with regret that with only 3 entries (George Sheweiry, Dennis Running, Roger Davis) for Pukekohe for NZHSS that we have canned the 2nd round of the new series. Graham Addis had concerns over the new barriers siting that if his car was to come off it would be totaled by the new barriers and also didnt think it would be below pukes draconian noise levels, Robert Jack also after being fined for 2 db over was not going to go back. A few days after the inaugural race meeting at HD I emailed the 18 other people who said they wouldn't be at the first meeting but would be running at the next or as soon as they could and asked them if they would be at round 2. I got 2 replies both saying they were busy on that day. Others I talked to also indicated that part of the reason they wer'nt running was because of the db limit that they seem to be able to pass at HD but not at puke and also the barriers and the chicane. Oh dear Puke, how does a race track survive without race cars?? So while I regret that people who wanted the new class don't seem to be bothered to use it. I feel I need to point out that my promise to get these cars a class up and running and to have the required number of cars for the first round was achieved and that was important to me as I am a man of my word. It is up to the others who gave me their word, to get their cars to the track and keep this going!! It would be sad after the effort that was put in for it to fall over. I have never been able to understand why people just casually agree to do things that they have no intention of doing. Disappointing really. George.

[Grant Ellwood]

George, you are just at the beginning of great class revival, all credit to you. When TransAm died up here in USA in the 70s the cars seemed to slip away into obscurity but now we are seeing good fields hacking a track again at vintage events.

[Rod Grimwood]

Wait For HD again George, i believe the boys will start turning up and understand why some will not run at Puke anymore. They have stuffed the track and turned it into a concrete wrecking machine. The noise will always be bigger (better) between 2 lines of concrete.

Never promised/committed but things are happening (slowly) but happening. Only to fill the field and wait for rain. Lotto and will be there next week.

Cheers George, on the day it will happen.

[Shoreboy57]

Sorry to hear this George. Sad that Puke has, on multiple fronts discouraged some to race 3, but totally understandable. Shows why HD remains so damned important for motorsport.

You've seen the passion on the Roaring Season for NZHSS and it was there for round 1 at HD. I don't believe that has gone. Are there opportunities for the RS community to help you get this class off the ground?

[George Sheweiry]

Well Shoreboy57 I guess if any body on RS knows any of the people on the previous lists I put up on here then perhaps they could put a rocket under them, but then I fail to see how they couldn't even get 1 car to the track when I got "3" and also helped my son and daughter with their cars. Anyway too late for R2 but if we don't get a 10 car field or larger for R3 then f---em I have a car for every V8 class running out there so I will just put my efforts into that. This bullshit wont interfere with my racing and they can just play with whatever it is they are playing with at the moment!!!

[CUSTAXIE50]

Well Shoreboy57 I guess if any body on RS knows any of the people on the previous lists I put up on here then perhaps they could put a rocket under them, but then I fail to see how they couldn't even get 1 car to the track when I got "3" and also helped my son and daughter with their cars. Anyway too late for R2 but if we don't get a 10 car field or larger for R3 then f---em I have a car for every V8 class running out there so I will just put my efforts into that. This bullshit wont interfere with my racing and they can just play with whatever it is they are playing with at the moment!!!

Keep the faith George those bastards may still have that cup over there at this time,but i still have faith the boys will get it next time so keep the faith boy.I understand why the hell would anyone want to put there car around that track that PUKE is today.

[John McKechnie]

I have an update from Barry Algie, whom as most know does not have a computer, so I pass on info to you all.
The Monaro was missing part of the floor , right from day one. This piece goes at the back of the floor and goes up steeply toward the boot area. ,Goes on the tunnel and extends two feet to the left and to the right. I allready gave him the front of a donor to get his tow ute going, and I had this piece attached on another donor body laying around. he has been meaning to get this piece for a long time,, Told him I was cleaning up and throwing all this stuff out on Monday, so he came around this afternoon with hack saw, , hammer and chisel.( He also has finally got his road car going). Took about 2 hours but he now has it and can finally finish the floor. Still waiting for his tyres to arrive. Needs $900 for a radiator, $400 for a battery ( aeroplane one). The front fibreglass clip was buggered from sitting in the weather for 20 years and needed major work. He removed the offending upper piece, took a fibre glass copy of a Monaro one then glassed that into place. Not a slacker, just takes time to get there. Making no promises or commitments, just will be there when its ready, as its been a long time off duty.

[rogered]

I have an update from Barry Algie, whom as most know does not have a computer, so I pass on info to you all.
The Monaro was missing part of the floor , right from day one. This piece goes at the back of the floor and goes up steeply toward the boot area. ,Goes on the tunnel and extends two feet to the left and to the right. I allready gave him the front of a donor to get his tow ute going, and I had this piece attached on another donor body laying around. he has been meaning to get this piece for a long time,, Told him I was cleaning up and throwing all this stuff out on Monday, so he came around this afternoon with hack saw, , hammer and chisel.( He also has finally got his road car going). Took about 2 hours but he now has it and can finally finish the floor. Still waiting for his tyres to arrive. Needs $900 for a radiator, $400 for a battery ( aeroplane one). The front fibreglass clip was buggered from sitting in the weather for 20 years and needed major work. He removed the offending upper piece, took a fibre glass copy of a Monaro one then glassed that into place. Not a slacker, just takes time to get there. Making no promises or commitments, just will be there when its ready, as its been a long time off duty.

pm you john

[bob homewood]

A bit like myself John ,when I get there I will get there ,it all takes time ,it all takes money ,a few years ago it was the only thing I had to worry about ,but not these days ,I'm not a slacker either

[John McKechnie]

Good on yer Bob, you dont need to give any explanation, youve earned your wings many times over.
I will be naughty here- I wished Barry a very Happy Birthday- as it was on Thursday.
And no, birthday prezzies dont extend to radiators or aeroplane batteries.

[Grant Sprague]

You only need to look at a tractor parked under a tree [tyrs,brakes,hoses,pipe,radiators,clutches , sticky valves , stale fuel , rusted pumps, chassis & body rust. mind you your cars might be in a shed , but time & nature take a toll, I am not making excuses here for any one .
You all remember when 20 or 30 yrs ago you had fire in yr belly most of you won lots of races even championships , we dream of the glory days still.
But on a better note the ones here that do have the time & $$$$$ to restore their cars & get them out there will be very cool to see, & yes George good on you for doing what you are doing , you might just pull it off.
As for Puke, I still remember after a race I lined my car up for my trailor did a 1/5 spin to straighten it up on grass , a short grey haired guy [ex hitler ] from a past life dragged me up the com box , I thought I had committed murder or close to it , an other time my car was 2 inches over the line for a scratch race after winning two more short people with badges decided to dismantle yet an other point lead , this only ever happened there , same people same place., other tracks they would just push you back a little , but these people just keep pushing us away & some

[Jac Mac]

Well Jac Mac with the example of the 2 DJR mustangs if you look back to the photo of the JPS car back in Aus you will see the white car there as well because he had 2, so there is only 1 replica of each car but yes there will only be allowed 1 replica of any car and that will be on a first come basis. Being a Ford nut I would love to see a rep of the Clyde Collins Cortina, Boss 302 engine and all !!!

[color="#0000FF"]Sorry for late reply George, been away from PC for a few days.... gotcha on the single replica rule clarafication.. not really for me , but others who might wish to do so..
On that note for anyone doing a replica of Clyde Collins Cortina, It never had a full Boss 302 engine that I am aware of, only a Boss Block with Windsor heads & IIRC stroked to 326 cu in ( pretty sure that motor was ex Red Dawson). That motor went to Frank Ryan/Bryan Taylor for the Capri Build. Clyde then fitted the SB Chev and then sold to John Beattie? from ChCh who then sold it to Bruce Bellis who ultimately fitted the Weslake 4v head Chev ( See info on this motor detailed elswhere by Paul Kirk). IIRC during John Beatties ownership the car was maintained by Alec Dickie via A(Alec) J(John) Automotive. Hope I have that right, Paul will no doubt correct me if he reads this![/color]

[Gary Goulding]

From my experience is Australia, don't make it to anal about what had what on it in what bloody year.
You will end up like us over here. Only about 4 cars logged book real historic Group U Sports Sedans in the entire country.
Blokes just give up because people want to go on with crap about what went were.
Just get them on the track as we over here have hardly any on the track.
I have one sitting in the shed & have to race it in normal races at the moment.
Just my thoughts.
Gary Goulding

Without wanting to bombard you with stuff you probably don't want to have to worry about at this early stage George, one of the issues you may find with Historic Sports Sedans is that one car will have raced for several seasons, being updated as it went. This is fairly unique to Sports Sedan type vehicles, as they could be constantly chopped and changed around to keep pace, unlike other categories. So depending on how anal you want to be about the cars being period correct, you might want to consider owners pin-point a period in their cars history, and present it to that point in time. This is what the Historic Australian Group C and A touring car category does. They require the cars be presented, both mechanically and aesthetically to a specific year, and even a specific race if possible.

A good case in point is the Wayne Huxford V8 Capri. That car first appeared in 1979, fitted with a 5 litre Morand Chevy from David Oxtons Begg F5000, full floor pan, and relatively mild flares. It was continuously developed throughout the 1980s and kept being updated until about 1997, to keep pace with the new Trans-Am tube-frame cars that were predominant by that stage. By 1997, about the only thing left from the car that debuted in 1979 was the roof! Therefore, if you have a cut-off date as per your earlier post of 1980, then Huxfords Capri would fit, because it first raced in 1979. But on the other hand, only the roof remains from the car as it raced in 1979.

[Steve Holmes]

Yes I agree Gary, there is definitely a fear when creating these sorts of classes to go too far in either direction, rather than achieving a happy medium. While expecting cars to be 100% as they were in a specific year is taking things too far, on the other hand I wouldn't want to see a car that was continuously developed for another 10 years beyond the cut-off date be allowed to race in its more modern guise. I'd rather it was returned, in large, to an earlier period in its history that fits within the cut-off date.

[Jizim]

It is with regret that with only 3 entries (George Sheweiry, Dennis Running, Roger Davis) for Pukekohe for NZHSS that we have canned the 2nd round of the new series. Graham Addis had concerns over the new barriers siting that if his car was to come off it would be totaled by the new barriers and also didnt think it would be below pukes draconian noise levels, Robert Jack also after being fined for 2 db over was not going to go back. A few days after the inaugural race meeting at HD I emailed the 18 other people who said they wouldn't be at the first meeting but would be running at the next or as soon as they could and asked them if they would be at round 2. I got 2 replies both saying they were busy on that day. Others I talked to also indicated that part of the reason they wer'nt running was because of the db limit that they seem to be able to pass at HD but not at puke and also the barriers and the chicane. Oh dear Puke, how does a race track survive without race cars?? So while I regret that people who wanted the new class don't seem to be bothered to use it. I feel I need to point out that my promise to get these cars a class up and running and to have the required number of cars for the first round was achieved and that was important to me as I am a man of my word. It is up to the others who gave me their word, to get their cars to the track and keep this going!! It would be sad after the effort that was put in for it to fall over. I have never been able to understand why people just casually agree to do things that they have no intention of doing. Disappointing really. George.

Damn I hate reading this George...after you put your heart and soul into it.......Personally can't think why people are so scared of Puke in its new form after all I cant remember any of the drivers with those concerns ever coming off and hitting the banks of "Rothmans" as we knew it....(and I think this is the only area that would be of concern?) I didn't think by what I have read through here that all the drivers would be racing 10/10ths. The track is not any narrower than it was..in fact turn one is wider. I have done quite a few laps now of the new set up and hey once you know where to turn into the new part it's sweet..( although in saying that I did love the long back straight beforehand). Word has it that there is banter of moving two sets of tyres.... (yup thats all)...for a couple of meetings a year and not including the new turns 5, 6 and 7. Now I will wait with baited breath and see who turns up for your 3rd meeting at Hampton and see whether it really was a Puke problem or not. Just saying....Stick with it George..you got too many fans now mate. Sincerely, Tony Rutherford.

[George Sheweiry]

Hey thanks guys for the kind comments but the real losers here are all those neat old cars and the enthusiasts who remember them and were looking forward to seeing them. As I said it doesn't make any difference to my racing as I will be running my Trans am Camaro in modified this weekend but you would have thought those with cars for NZHSS would have taken advantage of someone who would stick their neck out for them. Dilligaf seems to pop into mind.lol