New Zealand ShellSport Saloon Series 1978 - 1985

[Steve Holmes]

Great first post there Ian! Would love to see some photos of your car.

[bob homewood]

Is this the car that Clive Newman ? Had for a while ?

I have a Datsun 1200 coupe which I believe was build by Rod Collingwood for the 1980/81 Shellsport series. I purchased the car in 1989 from Peter O'leary of Carterton, and raced it in the early SS2000 series for a class win. The car has remained in use (now treated as a classic) and has just had a birthday with a new engine and tlc getting ready for Chc Festival of speed in Feb 2012. Always good to go to Chc as there are so many people that remember the car and come over for a look and a chat

[shellsport]

Fabulous close racing, remember well Tony Marsh in the beautiful Black 1200 coupe, was that the ex Cook/Grant Aitken car? Vaguely recall and I think its shown in one of Nigels pics an Avenger cannot remember who was driving it. Think it was from the South though.

Hi , most likely Noddy Murdoch in his Avenger .

[shellsport]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2562[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2563[/ATTACH]

Here is a couple of Shellsport cars that I have had a bit to do with that are still racing in current South Island Classic meetings.

Looks a bit like the Ex Cooky , then Kevin Ryan 160j with different colours , rear flares and sinage

[Carlo]

Yes the 160J has the flare kit that Kevin fitted, FYI they are a copy of the flares that Warren Burt had on the Starlet. Keven ran the car with Scope signage, there is a shot of it in the excellent shellsport clip on this website

[BMCBOY]

Here's a few from the archives - I have a lot of mainly Black and White shots from this era if anyone is looking for anything in particular

[kiwi285]

Some really great shots there. Keep them coming.

[Steve Holmes]

I second what Mike said. ShellSport pics are always welcome. Fantastic looking race cars.

[GeebeeNZ]

I remember being surprised many years ago to find out that some of the top Shell Sport Datsuns were not in fact owned by the drivers but by a gentleman named Fran Judge.Can anyone confirm this and what was Fran Judges involvment. Was he behind the sponsorship of cars from companies such as Statesman Shirts.

[PhotoSmith]

30 Years ago...........Baypark Labour Weekend Meeting.

[David McKinney]

I remember being surprised many years ago to find out that some of the top Shell Sport Datsuns were not in fact owned by the drivers but by a gentleman named Fran Judge.Can anyone confirm this and what was Fran Judges involvment. Was he behind the sponsorship of cars from companies such as Statesman Shirts.

Don't think I knew that, but Cran Judge was involved earlier, with Paul Fahey and/or Grant Walker in the Cologne Capri era, if I remember correctly (which I do with decreasing reliability these days!)

[bob homewood]

Don't think I knew that, but Cran Judge was involved earlier, with Paul Fahey and/or Grant Walker in the Cologne Capri era, if I remember correctly (which I do with decreasing reliability these days!)

Yes and Kevin McNamara that I can remember ,will have to think a bit more on that one,A.C Gill was that another of Crans businesses ?

[David McKinney]

I think it might have been - but you're pushing now

[Rod Grimwood]

Yes it was Bob. He also ran Burrows in the Datsun and then the RX7. Fran was involved with a few cars back then.

[Steve Holmes]

30 Years ago...........Baypark Labour Weekend Meeting.

Thats a neat photo!

[Ian.Maskell]

Yes - I gather Clive had it for a while but not sure of duration.

[bob homewood]

[quote="Ian.Maskell"]Yes - I gather Clive had it for a while but not sure of duration.[/QUO

That car was originally built by Max Crawford in Dunedin ,When Max decided to go to the States Rod brought it of Max,in turn when Rod came north for the Shellsport series ,I looked after the car and helped him at all the meetings up here,when the car was sold to Clive Newman ,I carried on with the tuning etc
Here is the link to what Max has done
http://www.crawfordcomposites.com/daytmaxpr.htm

[Ian.Maskell]

Will put together phots and post

[Ian.Maskell]

Im not sure how many cars were built the same way as mine. I was given the impression some years ago, the car stretched the rules but really have no idea. part of the story I have is that the car was a little late getting on the grid for 1980. In any case in building the car, the car body was inzipped at the junction of the floor pan and the sides, and the floor pan lifted 2 inches (50mm) to effectively lower the RL of the roof by 2 inches. The suspension top positions have been "turreted" and the tunnel enlarged to acommodate the drive shaft and exhaust. As with most cars the motor was set back the 12 inches but I changed the fire wall to create more room to improve access for mgearbox removal. I will post some phots to show some detals of the car if anyone is interested. Equally, I would be interested if there are any other survivors (being still raced) from this era.

[Rod Grimwood]

Post as many photos as you have Ian it is all interesting. PS. You never stretch the rules, you just interpret them differently.