Yards And Yarns

[John McKechnie]

Heres a good road trip in Japan-

http://www.driven.co.nz/news/lifestyle/f1-cars-in-the-mountains-it-could-only-be-japan/?ref=NZHNetwork.

[John H]

Re the Stanton crash that day. We were standing on the outside of the track at the end of the straight where this happened. The Stanton rode over the back of the beautiful little Cooper of Young and we all had a clear view of the underside of the Stanton as it flew in the air. It crashed and rolled down in right hand side of the track against the pine logs placed there. All of the spectators were on the left hand side say about 5-6 deep. The crowd marshal had been having a problem trying to hold the crowd back up to that point.
After this accident we were very happy to be further back. It could so easily have been a 1955 Lemans type result. Very fortunate.
Matich pulled up on the side of the track to take a look as he must have seen it in his mirrors then drove away. I have a photo somewhere the Young Cooper that had slammed into the fence. Clear memory. Was it only held on that track for 2 years? Not sure.

[GD66]

Yes, two years : at the end of 1962 and '63.
Rough pic from '63.

[woody]

[khyndart in CA]

Was this another Stanton crash as the ambulance is from Timaru ?

Ken H

[John H]

The photo I have of the Mount crash seems to have different damage to this photo? So perhaps you are correct with a different time and place?

[woody]

Ken, It was a Waimate accident with the Stanton Corvette.

[khyndart in CA]

Thanks Woody,
The Stanton Corvette Special certainly had a hard life.



Ken H

[John McKechnie]

Ken- pm me your email address- my old computer burnt out and all addresses lost.
I have a nice colouful Boss Andy sticker you can have a look at

[Roger Dowding]

Ken, It was a Waimate accident with the Stanton Corvette.

Woody, looks like a very early version of the Stanton Corvette, it had quite a few body changes over the years.
looked like this at one stage

This is at the 1968 NZ Grand Prix meeting in January - Geoff Mardon driving that day

[woody]

I think the Waimate photo was the Mk 1 version.

[Milan Fistonic]

Re the Stanton crash that day. We were standing on the outside of the track at the end of the straight where this happened. The Stanton rode over the back of the beautiful little Cooper of Young and we all had a clear view of the underside of the Stanton as it flew in the air. It crashed and rolled down in right hand side of the track against the pine logs placed there. All of the spectators were on the left hand side say about 5-6 deep. The crowd marshal had been having a problem trying to hold the crowd back up to that point.
After this accident we were very happy to be further back. It could so easily have been a 1955 Lemans type result. Very fortunate.
Matich pulled up on the side of the track to take a look as he must have seen it in his mirrors then drove away. I have a photo somewhere the Young Cooper that had slammed into the fence. Clear memory. Was it only held on that track for 2 years? Not sure.

I must have been standing alongside you that day. It happened right in front of us and there was I with a camera in my hand and too shocked to take a shot. I got a photo of the Stanton being taken away dangling from the back of a tow truck but the photo is still packed away somewhere following my shift.

[John McKechnie]

#668- The Stanton is a beautiful work of art., love the road registration.

[GD66]

For some ridiculous reason race vehicles had to be registered for a couple of years, check out Graham Lacy's Manx Norton at Wanganui 1968.
We carried ours on the inside of the fairing...

[John H]

Thanks Milan. I also have a photo of it dangling from the tow truck but mostly blocked by your girlfriends huge sun hat!! Hows that... over 50 years ago and our memory is still sharp Chrs

[rf84]

Race cars and bikes that competed on closed public roads had to be registered. There was a category called "Class A" that covered vehicles and machinery that were used infrequently on public roads eg tractors and other farm machinery that had to travel on roads to get from one farm to another, trucks that were used seasonally to cart fruit etc.
Racing cars and bikes were Class A, sub category E. I still have a couple of old stickers here and would post photos if I knew how.
The cost was $1-30 in 1973-$1 for the 2 metal plates and 30 cents for the actual rego.
The rules around using race cars on the road were very loose-there was a clause that said a vehicle registered EA could be driven on public roads "for the purposes of testing or servicing". The boundaries seemed to have been pushed at times-Jim Birkett crashed the JBS now owned by Garry Simkin on the Ngauranga Gorge on his way to or from a hillclimb and I have photos of the Cooper I owned parked on the side of what is now the Hutt Motorway by the original owner Bob Gibbons.
As late as about 15 years ago, Colin Waite and Allan Woolf were the only ones who could run an out-and-out race car at a HB Car Club hillclimb at Pukeora because the Cooper Imp was registered EA and the organisers had obtained the wrong kind of road closure. Further, the little Cooper had a "daylight Warrant Of Fitness", another quaint anachronism that probably does not exist any more. Not only was Allan able to do the hillclimb, after each run he drove the car on State Highway 5 back to the start line! I always kick myself that I did not get a photo but on one trip back to the start line there was a big stock truck and trailer closely following Allan. Allan gave a perfect hand signal and turned right to get back into the venue. The diminutive Cooper looked positively miniscule in front of the huge truck.

[Roger Dowding]

rf84

" Racing cars and bikes were Class A, sub category E. I still have a couple of old stickers here and would post photos if I knew how.".
If you scan the stickers to your PC assuming you have one you can then - resize them as they have to be less than 185mb then should be able to upload. It took me a while to get it, the first time I emailed Steve Holmes to get a picture posted, so maybe thry that if you have trouble, cheers .

PS love the info about the Rego and WoF's .. remember seeing a racing Anglia with the rego plate bolted to the floor on the passenger side ..

[Roger Dowding]

Austin Gypsy - a poor mans Landrover !!.. taken in 1963 approx,

When the bridge opened in 1959, I walked it with my parents, well we walked to the middle from the city side and back down, my Great Aunts lived in Sarsfield Street.
The Harbour toll was paid in cash for many years, unsure of the cost but by the time they removed tolls it cost 20 cents and you could pay cash or use a ticket, like this. Never did get the refund for the 80 cents.

[Roger Dowding]

Chris Watson, regular competitor in this car - appeared at some AHCC Otaua Hillclimbs and many other Classic type events, also a founding member of the group that put Hampton Downs together, Chris ran a workshop in Glenfield at some stage.
here from the 10th November 1986 issue of the " Auckland Star ", a now defunct paper, are pictures of his accident at Manfield - presume the MG Classic meeting;

Off the edge of the track

the rollover - Ambulance close by.

inverted the picture - very scary Chris was only shaken, do not know what happened to the car !.**
Later 2020 - the car was rebuilt the damage not huge ..
Chris is still involved in Motorsport ..

The car was a favourite of mine, having run a TR4A, in earlier years

here is the car in better times ; Otaua Hillclimb

[Roger Dowding]

This is a great thread guys, loving the stories!

[ATTACH]1009[/ATTACH]

The Carlos Neate Prince GT 6 in the picture is the Topic and Front Page [ Cover Photo ] of the latest Edition of NZ Classic Driver.
Off to get my copy ...today or tomorrow.

Cheers