Photos: The Bruce Wells Collection - The Drivers

[Ray Bell]

Nor in the AMS report...

I can't find any mention of Thorp at a Lakeside meeting back over the previous year, either.

[Steve Holmes]

Steve there is no mention at all of Ron Thorp in the RCN report on this meeting.

I asked Dan Bowden about this when I was first going through Bruce's photos, as although there were photos of the Cobra at Lakeside, there was no mention of the car having raced. It was Dan who told me the car had been disqualified, as the detail on the Bowdens Own website mentions:

[font="]Nov 14th, Lakeside, DNS; Thorp travelled 1000km (620 Miles) North to Queensland for the Australian Tourist Trophy race, which was run at Lakeside International Raceway on Nov 14th. This was the event that Shelby sent over Ken Miles, Ron Butler and the factory 427 CSX 3002 to run in the race.

[/font][font="]Thorp, who was very keen to race against the "works" Cobra, ran into trouble with some over zealous scrutineers who picked up that his wheels were ¼ of an inch proud of the guards. They offered Thorpe a solution of taping some wooden coat hangers to extend the guards. But Thorp gave them his thoughts on it and then went out and qualified the car. In the first race he was waiting on the starting grid when the chief scrutineer approached him and said it was ok for him to race with the guards as they were, but he would not be listed in the official results. He told them told them to shove it, drove off the grid, packed up the car and watched the race instead. He never raced at Lakeside Raceway again. this was the only tme that two Shelby Cobra's were on a track in Australia together.[/font]

[khyndart in CA]

This all makes for a jolly good read at this site.

http://www.bowdensown.com.au/collection/ron-thorps-1964-ac-shelby-cobra

(Ken H)

[John McKechnie]

Steve- is that definitely wheels or tyres ?

[Steve Holmes]

Steve- is that definitely wheels or tyres ?

My thoughts would be that it was the tyres John.

[Terry S]

Steve there is no mention at all of Ron Thorp in the RCN report on this meeting.

In this 1966 photo of the Cobra it appears to rear guards have been extended/flared compared with photo above.

Possibly as result of Lakeside incident

http://autopics.com.au/66406-thorpe-cobra-v8-warwick-farm-1966-photographer-lance-ruting/

[Dale Harvey]

Yes, they were extended when he put Halibrand wheels on it. They were of course wider.
Dale.

[Terry S]

Yes, they were extended when he put Halibrand wheels on it. They were of course wider.
Dale.

Dale, it seems to me the rear guard extensions may have been done in two stages.

There is the initial crude version, showing top as reasonably flat.

Then in December 1965 more fancy guards were fitted to cover the Halibrand wheels. These look more like those on the Cobra 427. There is a photo on the Bowden site linked above that shows there being fitted.

[Ray Bell]

I suspect nothing was done prior to the fitment of the Halibrands...

I phoned Ron today and discussed this with him. The story on the Bowden site is essentially correct (though they've got the meeting date wrong, it was a fortnight later than that), Ron watched as they used a plumbob to check the tyres were within the bodywork. Only about 3/16" of ballooning sidewall wasn't, all the tread was, Ron felt it was pretty lame of them, then to be told he could tape the wooden coathangers to the guards topped it all off. He ignored, them, practised, lined up on the grid and was then told he wouldn't be in the results so he parked the car.

Later he had a good alloy man put a slice of extra width into the rears so the Halibrands would fit the rear with a bit of stretching to the fronts.

As we talked about his time with the car, which began with the 1965 Warwick Farm International meeting, he reminded me of how much time he spent at hillclimbs.

He told me of driving the car to Melbourne (Ron was in Wollongong, just south of Sydney, at the time) for the Australian Hillclimb Championship at the new Lakeland course. He asked on his arrival what class he could run in, being told he could run as a Sports Racing car, as a Sports Car (production based) or as a Racing Car.

"Good," he said, "I'll run in all three!" After winning his class in each category, and getting three times as many runs as anyone else, he loaded their gear back into the boot and drove back to Wollongong.

[Ray Bell]

Just for the record...

[Steve Holmes]

I suspect nothing was done prior to the fitment of the Halibrands...

I phoned Ron today and discussed this with him. The story on the Bowden site is essentially correct (though they've got the meeting date wrong, it was a fortnight later than that), Ron watched as they used a plumbob to check the tyres were within the bodywork. Only about 3/16" of ballooning sidewall wasn't, all the tread was, Ron felt it was pretty lame of them, then to be told he could tape the wooden coathangers to the guards topped it all off. He ignored, them, practised, lined up on the grid and was then told he wouldn't be in the results so he parked the car.

Later he had a good alloy man put a slice of extra width into the rears so the Halibrands would fit the rear with a bit of stretching to the fronts.

As we talked about his time with the car, which began with the 1965 Warwick Farm International meeting, he reminded me of how much time he spent at hillclimbs.

He told me of driving the car to Melbourne (Ron was in Wollongong, just south of Sydney, at the time) for the Australian Hillclimb Championship at the new Lakeland course. He asked on his arrival what class he could run in, being told he could run as a Sports Racing car, as a Sports Car (production based) or as a Racing Car.

"Good," he said, "I'll run in all three!" After winning his class in each category, and getting three times as many runs as anyone else, he loaded their gear back into the boot and drove back to Wollongong.

Fantastic story Ray. Thanks for posting. This is Ron competing at another hillclimb in 1967. The wider wheels and extended wheel arches are visible here.

[Ray Bell]

King Edward Park...

What a great setting that was, and the hospital patients looked down on it all.

[Terry S]

Just for the record...

Just for the record, this is heat 2 for the 1965 ATT.

Competitors are :
Pete Geoghegan......Lotus 23
Ken Miles......Cobra 427
Frank Gardner......Mildren Maserati
Greg Cusack......Lotus 23
Spencer Martin......Ferrari LM250
Glyn Scott......Lotus XV
Frank Demuth Lola Mk 1
Denis Geary......Lotus 23
and I think the last car is Bob Salter's Elfin Streamliner

[Ray Bell]

That's right, Frank Gardner's only race start in the Mildren Maserati...

I remember it just like yesterday. It has less than a lap of life to go at this point, though it did roll all the way to the Karussell after the crankshaft broke.

[Steve Holmes]

He sure looks young here.

[Ray Bell]

He would have just turned 80 now...

That photo is from January or February 1963 when he was twenty five and a half.

[Steve Holmes]

[Terry S]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]46564[/ATTACH]

This is definitely Graham Hill. It is probably from 1963 Australian InternatIonal Series when he drove the 4WD Fergusson P99

[Steve Holmes]

[SPman]

A young Jim Palmer.