The Roaring Season

Don't forget Richie Stanaway and Earl Bamber as well. May they all have success.

Shano & Spgeti,
That is a great point and I am proud you have put it on my thread.
I feel it needs a thread all on its own.

I was just writing about a "dopey kid from Kiwitahi" who arrived in England and started knocking on doors.
I do not think that would work today !

(Ken Hyndman )

Absolutely brilliant Ken! I'm really enjoying this. Keep the pics and stories coming.

The Trojan Company owned by Peter Agg since 1960 took over Elva Cars in 1962. Bruce McLaren worked with Elva to develop his McLaren-Elva Mk 1A for the 1965 season.
This was the beginning of a partnership that lasted until 1972.
I have listed all the cars that were McLarens built by Trojan. Without that partnership there would have been very few McLarens from that era.
It is a joy to see them at many of todays historic car races.



(Note the M6GT. More on that later )



(listings as per Charlie Agg. 2011) )

(Ken Hyndman )

October 1972.
I went to the Trojan Racing workshop on my first day working there. The M21 F2 race car that Jody Scheckter had driven at Oulton Park a few weeks prior, was in the midst of being dismantled so as to form the basis of a new F5000 car. The main body/ tub was a McLaren M22 and the the suspension / steering was from the M 21.



M 21 tub on left, M22 tub on the right. ( Scheckter cockpit cover in foreground


(Ken Hyndman photo )

Ken I would LOVE to add one more thing hope you don't mind , I was talking to my eldest girl to night about the big OE ... India Rose Ann Sprague , is my big baby[ oldest] 14 yrs old , she is a really beautiful young lady ..any way we got talking about London etc....I mentioned about people I meet at Aston Martin........ I mentioned to her I was sent to Knighstbridge behind Harrods [BIG SHOP].. beside Hyde Park ... to a rather flash place .....as the DB5 was not starting [common fault , Austin mini electric pumps].... I arrived & this guy came out , I got talking , he said h a kiwi boy" yep I said .............he mentioned...". my name is Tony [Anthony] Snowdon" I did not realise he was [or is] .. married to Princess Margaret at that time .. THE QUEENS SISTER} lol I thought OK sooooooooo ... then he offered a glass of wine after I gave the pumps a tap click click click & away it started]...an English mid day tipple thing over there... then .. he mentioned [true story] please come back any time for a wine [NOT BEER].......I later found out our royal photographer liked young men lol ............. I never went back .......... Ok now back to Johnny, Craig, the two Scotts , Mitch , Brendon ,even Brett............ Craig Coleman etc etc I know a few of them personally ... some raced by the seat of their pants , & got recognised...[driver to Europe etc] some had big backings..some did not .... regardless they never had the ......comparison to The Three.... of .... the full package ........ driving is driving .........

Oct. 1972. Trojan Racing workshop.
The Trojan F5000 (T101X) car was first drawn up by a likeable young designer, Paul Rawlinson. He had also been a mechanic and he was easy to talk to and I was sorry when he left Trojan. Paul had the design that was a M21 ahead of the engine and a M22 F5000 behind. The T101X had concave surface nose section like a Porsche 917/10 Can Am car for added down-force. It had a full width nose with NASA type ducts for cooling the front brakes. This was to be powered by an Alan Smith tuned 5.0 litre Chevrolet engine. I thought it looked pretty neat and you can see it being put together in my photo.
( note in the background is the inverted M10B tub for Warwick Brown as I was told but that does not seem to match the records of the car .. I need help on that one, please )



(Ken Hyndman photo )

Jan. 1973.
This is how the first Trojan F 5000 car # T 101/ 1, looked when advertised before Ron Tauranac arrived in the design department. (Driven by Keith Holland )


_________________________________________________________________________________
Dec. 2011
This is the same car # T 101/ 1 as advertised. ( That would have been a nice investment at the time )




(Ken Hyndman)

I know that is Warwick Brown's M 10B tub in the background and I took this photo October 1972 but to read the history of M 10B 400-19 gets very confusing as noted by this Oldracingcars.com entry.
"McLaren M10B 400-19

Spare chassis supplied to Neil Allen. According to Trojan records, it was numbered 400-19 and delivered 28 Jul 1970. The car does not appear to have had a chassis number and is believed to have shared the number '400-02'. Built up as complete car by Allen and Peter Malloy and, after Allen's retirement, advertised 31 Mar to 7 May 1971 - Allan Hamilton: Australian Gold Star 1971 - Pat Burke Racing for Warwick Brown Tasman 1972. Also March, April, May, Aug, Oct, Nov, Dec 1972 (Brown gets T300 Jan 1973); Trojan Racing for Bob Muir Tasman 1973; Team Target for Warwick Brown (Aus) Gold Star from Oct 1973. Suspension and other parts used for Bryan Thomson 's VW Sports Sedan which debuted at Calder in January 1974. The M10B tub was later rebuilt into a complete car and went via Peter Bick, Paul Trevethan and George Parlby to Llynden Riethmuller.

Note that the Formula 1 Register books record 400-19 as being the replacement M10B used by Keith Holland 1971-72 (from R3 Brands onwards, replacing car crashed at R1 Mallory). See 400-06(B) above.

After Riethmuller's death in July 2010, both this car and 400-02 were acquired from Riethmuller's family by Alan Hamilton in May 2011. However, one of the cars, presumably 400-19, was described as "an unpainted tub with a enough bits to complete the car less a transmission".
Alan Hamilton (Australia) 2013 "

I have found these sources have good information on the F 5000 cars produced by Trojan.

http://www.oldracingcars.com/trojan/t101/

plus this excellent book of that era.( " Formula 5000 in Europe" By Wolfgang Klopfe )
Especially the chapter by Paul Rawlinson. (In Google you can read a lot of this on-line )
The front cover has a great picture of Keith Holland in the Trojan T 101 / 1

Enjoy.
(Ken Hyndman )

Ken,
old racing cars.com was an great site ruined by people copying the photos i understand. anyone could send information it to be added and was openly encouraged to do so to correct errors and improve the details. I know of a few errors regarding some of the F1 and F5000 cars so I tend to regard it as an information site to get people started on the right track. i understand that the owner of the site has just about given up in despair I bet you wished you had bought Keith hollands car for 5 grand i know i wish i had bought T70 lola in bits less engine for UKP 750 that i saw advertised. ah dreams, wonderful things

928
Thanks for that info on the ORC site. It did get me started on the right track.
As for wishing I had money at the time, around Trojan there were all sorts of tubs, panels, wheels, engines etc. in different areas when I left in 1973. But at 38 pound a week it was tough to even buy tires for my Morris Minor !.
I used to help a guy after work to try and get the sand out of the engine and car so he could get it to run. He was an oil engineer and had brought this car back from Saudi Arabia. I did not get it running for him before I left. Did not think it was anything special until I read about it later. It was a 1956 Ferrari 410 Superamerica which today is valued at about 3 Million Dollars !
( I did not get on that engineer's Christmas list !)

(Ken Hyndman )

928 wrote:I bet you wished you had bought Keith hollands car for 5 grand i know i wish i had bought T70 lola in bits less engine for UKP 750 that i saw advertised. ah dreams, wonderful things

UKP 750 would have been about half the price of a new Capri 1600 in '72, say $25-30k in today's money, so 5 grand then equiv $70-90k today?

At 38 pounds a week I could have saved enough to buy the Trojan after three years and paying no taxes, but I would not have eaten or slept except in the car, I would still need an engine for it and still no tires on the Morrie !

(Ken Hyndman )

March 1973. Trojan Racing.
Introduction of the T 101 / 4 for Bob Evans to drive for the Alan McKechnie (Not related to our John !) Team.
Note the difference in the radiator area compared to the original T 101. This was due to the input of Ron Tauranac who had now joined the Trojan design team.
Bob Evans was a good driver and would go on to drive for Team Lotus in Formula One.
( this was another of my photos signed by Stirling Moss !)
(This also shows my Morris Minor (983 ELD) with the worn tires ! )
(A few well known people rode in this Morrie between the race shop and our headquarters including Patrick Head )





( Ken Hyndman )

David Purley drove this Trojan a few years later at the Brighton Speed Trials.
He was a good man known for his efforts trying to rescue Roger Williamson at Zandvoort in 1973.
This short video gives an idea of how life was as a F 5000 team prepares for races in England in 1975.
(Again note the work conditions !)

[video=youtube;3FQ_wBHfEzg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FQ_wBHfEzg[/video]

(Ken Hyndman )

Ken,
your shot above of Purley if we go from left to right do we have Mike Earle, Mike Wilds, just over Purleys left shoulder, and David
just a guess

928
Did you get to play whole You Tube video and note the work and weather conditions ?
Yes, that is Mike Earle on the left. I can't remember what Mike Wilds looked like. Sorry.

(Ken )

Ken,
yes I have seen the video before. New all three that I mentioned

Ken is that your morris minor in the back ground ?? beaut piks thanks mate ...re the weekly wages & the price of Trojan= law of relativity