The Roaring Season

Morning . Have looked at these pages thay take me back to BRILANT time in NZ motor racing having been invovled in building a lot of the motors from 1987 till the demise, it was neet to be with and a working with some of the best drivers of that era?? A fun time JAMIE A

Thanks Bob

Sorekiwi wrote:I'll see if Steve remembers the chassis number and ask him where the car went.

The Pope cars had gone by the time I got there in 1994, Steve ran a guy by the name of Bert Hart in a Ralt in 1993, as well as doing a very limited season himself in a new American built chassis, the Raven. A very cool car with a lot of new (at the time) ideas. Unfortunately there was no budget for testing and development, so the car didnt realise its potential.

Thats a pretty car, too bad it was never developed to its full potential.

Jos Verstappen at Timaru 1993

One of the best and nice with it Jamie

faminz wrote:Heres a couple of pics from Manfeild in the day..

top photo
manfeild dummy grid 1983 i think #7 is Cristian danner #9 i think is graham 'pee wee' Watson(i bought a ralt off him a few years later).#14 i think is Hubert phipps in the Tiga,#4 is allen berg followed by grant campbell and #5 in background is paul radisich.there were also the likes of dave mcmillan(RT4),kenny(RT4),David oxton(RT4),eric Morgan(RT1 ralt),norm hunter(RT4),steve cameron(chevron),Mike Rosen(RT4),Charlie Obrien(RT4),Tom Donovan (march 77B),Tony batcheler in the ex robbie hyslop heavlly modified March 74b.

With Nico Rosberg winning in China, Terry Marshall has allowed me to post this stunning photo of Keke, jumping through the Pukekohe chicanes.

Found this video of the 1975 Players Challenge Cup Series in Canada.

[video=vimeo;13903876]http://vimeo.com/13903876[/video]

Cheers
Lee

A couple of shots of Modus Pacifics. My narrow rear suspension example in black. Then the same car painted White with Robbie Francevics yellow car. my cars throttles jammed at Timaru and the car ended up 3ft shorter.

Steve have a look at #42 on this site. After it regrew its 3 feet. It was a project, but we all had some fun with it travelling around keeping the front boys company on the ferry and the pubs etc.

Good photos Rod! It was a bit of a shame about the throttle jamming accident. The car was just starting to come good. When we freshened the engine it made a big difference to it. It got 3rd the meeting before at Ruapuna (is that spelt correctly) where we discovered after the race that the brake balance bar was on full rears. No wonder it wouldn't stop, but I did get the fastest time down the straight at 159mph. I changed the gearing for that entry corner and was just starting to learn about these cars. When I went to Timaru with the brake thing sorted, I was thinking I was really going to get a result in this car. Was right on lap record pace, then it was all over...... Hospital, couldn't walk, no money etc, you no the drill. My girlfriend who is now my wife always did the time keeping and was always very accurate with the official timing. She had apparently just said to my crew, "This is going to be a quick lap" (She did splits) when it was suddenly curtailed. When the car was rebuilt with a locally made tub I really should not have been allowed to race. I couldn't push the brake pedal, or even walk properly. I was using both feet on the brake pedal but was as weak as a kitten. The injuries to my right foot was not good. What was once the side of my foot is now the bottom of it. So, I hope you guys did have some fun and enjoyment from the car!

Alot of fun and games were had by all Steve. It was a pretty little car. On South Islands trips it was not uncommon to wake up beside the car in the trailer, as it did not snore or bring netballers back for a drink etc.

Steve I still remember that day at Timaru like it was yesterday, we were waiting for you to arrive back at the workshop and you didn't come. We had worked out that something had happened but we did not know what until the crew arrived in later in the day with the news.

Carlo wrote:Steve I still remember that day at Timaru like it was yesterday, we were waiting for you to arrive back at the workshop and you didn't come. We had worked out that something had happened but we did not know what until the crew arrived in later in the day with the news.

they were good days carl..when i was starting out myself steve was one of my heroes from the shellsport days in the awesome little datsun and especially with the modus in early pacific,then it was all over and i remember well my disapointment after the big shunt.....still rod mcelrea was still about so not all was lost ......!!!!!!!!!!...

HAY RICh you are showing your AGE?? Yes it was A grate time to be involved in NZ motor Sport Jamie A

Carlo wrote:Steve I still remember that day at Timaru like it was yesterday, we were waiting for you to arrive back at the workshop and you didn't come. We had worked out that something had happened but we did not know what until the crew arrived in later in the day with the news.

Well of course i wish I had returned! But thanks for waiting at the workshop, that was very kind. Regards, Steve.

richard lester wrote:they were good days carl..when i was starting out myself steve was one of my heroes from the shellsport days in the awesome little datsun and especially with the modus in early pacific,then it was all over and i remember well my disapointment after the big shunt.....still rod mcelrea was still about so not all was lost ......!!!!!!!!!!...

That's nice to hear. Every now and then you meet someone that remembers those days. even though my racing career was very short, we all had a lot of fun. There are some people who think I could have gone on to good things, but we all know just how hard it is to get anywhere. the one thing that may have changed things was that I could have bought Jimmy's Sidchrome Mustang and run it in Australia. My crew at the time said they would all move with me to Aussie to do this. As Jimmy said I would not have won, but I may well have got noticed as a young driver.The choice was the pacific or the Mustang.

jamie wrote:HAY RICh you are showing your AGE?? Yes it was A grate time to be involved in NZ motor Sport Jamie A

you are right jamie,i have hit the five oh ...!!,which sort of means you are fossil....they were the best days and i was so fortunate to grow up at manfeild with dad and mum running the joint and before that they were both involved with levin...got to meet all the international drivers and also the locals and it was bloody hard to have an outright favourite as we had so many good peddlers who were all by and large good buggers as well....i used to pick a lot of the drivers up from the airport and learned so much chatting with these guys that i was eventually able to utilise during my days racing and running teams......gold.

Now theres another thread "The Lesters" Competitor dealings, your dealings with them, promo's etc.
Be interesting as your family have put a bit into the sport and Motorsport in NZ are depted.

Remember one of first meetings Manfield sleeping at Chateau De Stables. Alright when it blew from north, but when it went south oh boy. (and yes we did pay)

Rod Grimwood wrote:Now theres another thread "The Lesters" Competitor dealings, your dealings with them, promo's etc.
Be interesting as your family have put a bit into the sport and Motorsport in NZ are depted.

Remember one of first meetings Manfield sleeping at Chateau De Stables. Alright when it blew from north, but when it went south oh boy. (and yes we did pay)

crikey yes rod,when those osca boys turned up.....when petchy almost got kicked out for abusing the gate keepers...and when kenny went ferral when a gate keeper touched dorothy...when the farmer who owned the land behind the back straight blocked the drain and back flooded the track on a race weekend cause the noise pissed him off...rob and wendy loved those days and the characters that came along..etc etc....but thats not for this thread...