The Roaring Season

Steve Holmes wrote:Nice shot here of the Bruce Bellis V8 Cortina, possibly at the same event as that pictured above. This car was built by Clyde Collins for OSCA, in which it was quite dominant. Note here the flares, fitted by Robin Officer for Bellis, and using the same molds as the flares that first appeared on the PDL Mustang, then later the Nazer Victor, and ex-Rod Coppins/Bruce Jenner etc Camaro.

The Cortina was later owned by Steve Vigurs, who stripped it to build his MkIV Cortina OSCA racer.

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I don't recall Steve ever having a MkIV Cortina. His first OSCA car was the ex Bob Slade Capri V8 to which Steve fitted a Chev replacing the Ford V8, then this MKIII Cortina which was raced for a short time until contributing parts for his self built Mitsubishi Celeste-Buick V6 (later Chev V8), which was in turn replaced by the ex Clyde Collins owned and Avon Hyde driven Commodore-Chev.

From memory, this particular Cortina Mk III was owned and raced by in turn Clyde Collins (Boss Ford V8), and then Bruce Bellis followed by Tony Newton with a 5 litre Morand Chev V8, then Steve Vigurs with a 5.7 litre Chev V8.

I could be wrong but the 2 Mark IV Sports sedans were McIntyre/McElrea and Kennard

Steve Holmes wrote:Begg FM5. I could be wrong but I believe this is the second FM5 built, which Allan McCully constructed at the PDL workshops and in which he made several improvements over the original Begg/McLean built FM5. This car had a taller air-box, and was raced by both McCully and Graham Baker. Also, was it not actually just named an FM5, with the Begg name dropped?

So if I'm correct who is driving the car here? From my understanding, only these two men raced the car before it went to Australia in 1976.

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Saw a picture of this car the other day, will check who it was.

Gary Love??

Check air box on this car. Lindsay O'Donnell at Wigram.

This is also similar pink to what Bakers car was. (remember PDL mustang same colour) and note PDL signs on side.

Also looking at photo of Southplant car ( McCully ? thought his car was yellow) the nose cone is dislodged on right hand side which is distorting the front.

seaqnmac27 wrote:Saw a picture of this car the other day, will check who it was.

Gary Love??

It is Baker, found a pic from Jan 75, wil post as soon as my scanner behaves.

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Anybody know what the #51 car is in the background ?

seaqnmac27 wrote:I could be wrong but the 2 Mark IV Sports sedans were McIntyre/McElrea and Kennard

Correct, The Jac Mac built car spent most of it's life with Rod McElrea who replaced the Ford engine with a Chev, and then from memory went to the NI and was raced by Barry Search.

The Rob Kennard built car was fairly unique at the time in having a Ford V8 engine that could genuinely match the Chevys. After Rob, it was raced for several years by Kim Buckley.

bigbanger wrote:I don't recall Steve ever having a MkIV Cortina. His first OSCA car was the ex Bob Slade Capri V8 to which Steve fitted a Chev replacing the Ford V8, then this MKIII Cortina which was raced for a short time until contributing parts for his self built Mitsubishi Celeste-Buick V6 (later Chev V8), which was in turn replaced by the ex Clyde Collins owned and Avon Hyde driven Commodore-Chev.

From memory, this particular Cortina Mk III was owned and raced by in turn Clyde Collins (Boss Ford V8), and then Bruce Bellis followed by Tony Newton with a 5 litre Morand Chev V8, then Steve Vigurs with a 5.7 litre Chev V8.

Sorry, I screwed up. I had it in my head for some reason that Steve Vigurs briefly raced the MkIV Cortina that Rod McElrea raced for several seasons in OSCA. Don't know where I got that from, but thanks for correcting me.

Steve Holmes wrote:Sorry, I screwed up. I had it in my head for some reason that Steve Vigurs briefly raced the MkIV Cortina that Rod McElrea raced for several seasons in OSCA. Don't know where I got that from, but thanks for correcting me.

[color="#0000FF"]McElrea co-drove Vigurs Capri in Southern 200 race, may have 'borrowed' it for other events

I sold the MKIV less motor to Rod, he used the Boss 302 from his old ex Fahey etc Mustang for a couple of meets before swapping to the 'other' breed..[/color]

Thanks for that Jac. Did you build the MkIV Cortina for yourself or for a customer? I always thought that was a good looking race car. Its more of a challenge making a 4-door car look sporty than it is a 2-door, but that Cortina always looked good to me. Who created the flares for it? Where is this car now?

Some early NZ racing Mustangs. First up is the Paul Fahey car. This must be from its first season in NZ, as the front wheel openings are heavily radiused. Fahey wasn't allowed to run the openings like this in Group 5. In fact, I think he and at least one other Mustang driver was disqualified from an early event in the 1968 season for the openings not being standard.

Red Dawsons Mustang pictured here, this being the ex-Ivan Segedin car. Dawson only raced this car for one season, and struggled throughout.

Rod Coppins' Mustang. This is the ex-Pete Geoghegan car which won the 1966 ATCC at Bathurst, plus numerous other races, before it was sold to Coppins in 1967. He then ran it in the '67 ATCC race at Lakeside, finishing 7th. He campaigned it throughout the 1967/68 NZ season, but usually wasn't as quick as Fahey. He took it back to Australia in 1968 for the ATCC at Warwick Farm, qualifying 17th, and getting a dnf in the race. Partway through the 1968/69 season he sold the car to John Riley.

Johnnie Walkers Lola T332, chilling out on the grass at Manfeild, bodywork removed.

Steve Holmes wrote:Thanks for that Jac. Did you build the MkIV Cortina for yourself or for a customer? I always thought that was a good looking race car. Its more of a challenge making a 4-door car look sporty than it is a 2-door, but that Cortina always looked good to me. Who created the flares for it? Where is this car now?

There is a Terry Marshall shot of a start at Ruapuna with Jac on the front row (well I am assuming its Jac) in the original colour scheme of the MkIV Cortina, it would be from memory 1980, I don't remember which copy of New Zealand Classic Car its in.

Found it, but my scanner still doesn't work. New Zealand Classic Car Issue 177, article about the Ian Munt Capri part 2, 5 cars visible and clearly identifiable are the Cortina, Dave Baker in PDL 1, Munt, Gary Jenkins and Rod McElrea in his Mustang, its from Ruapuna

Thanks Sean, I think I know the pic you're referring to.

This is a really nice shot of the Clyde Collins A40 at Levin. This car was a real work of art, as were many of the Allcomers by this stage.

Brett has this one marked as being Levin. Lawrence leads what I think is Graham Baker (as opposed to Allan McCully).

21 is Alan McCully, Baker competed as #13 in 75 and #67 in 76. This would also be 1974.