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Is this a Ralph Watson car? Not sure at all, but others will know.
Probably one of the first events I organised in NZ, along with MGCC President Derek Prior (on the radio) was a series of sprint meetings at Pukekohe. I had been less than impressed with MGCC hill-climb meetings, where hours were wasted, running cables for electronic timing and/or telephones. Unlike a serious championship where timing to 1000th of a second might be crucial, club events weren't as critical, nor was there a real need for a telephone system.
I worked out that we could run two sprints at a time at Pukekohe using about a quarter of the track and using a 3-2-1 countdown over radio, and stop watches at the finish, setting cars off at about 10 or 15 second intervals, then after the finish line, they'd slow down and join the queue for the next one, before queuing up again for part 1. After a short lunch-break, we ran the cars in the opposite direction, giving us 4 circuits. A laptop and a printer meant results issued immediately afterwards. I think we had 600 runs through by 3pm.
When AHCC handed over Otaua hillclimb to MGCC, I ran the same system there. Radios and results issued immediately. Remember that in those days, results for hill-climbs were usually printed the week after.
This is Harley Norager in his MG BV8 and the first to break the ERC Speedbar at Manfeild and Pukekohe! The car is now owned and raced by Dave Mallin. We started the sprint part 1 from pit lane, so the exit was the current pit lane entry and the sprint finished some way after the hairpin. The second sprint started before railway and used the old, short link to the club circuit and back to the main track, finishing before what is normally pit exit.
Morgan and Triumph V8 regulars with young Bill Hewson (Alfa) far left.
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