The Roaring Season

GD66 wrote:That'll be the BT23 Denny drove in the 1968 NZGP, until the extremely unfortunate Brownlie crash.

Yes it is Puke 1968. I was standing on the railway as he thumped his front wheel into Brownlie coming into the corner. Never been sure if he was trying to boot him out of the way (he had been shaking his fist at Brownlie) or Brownlie shut the gate on him...but I have a very clear memory of the body panels wheels and dirt etc flying into the air further down the straight. They could both have been killed as there was still power poles on the back straight. Hulme looked very pale as he was walked to the ambulence. A very big day. Just like it was yesterday...

From time to time GD66 i put Trio at the Top on,i find the part with Greeta on this tape very sad and still do the way Denny went about it when it came to Greeta.Its always very sad losing a loved one and when its one of your kids you dont get over it ,time does not help with this some say it will but thats-bs-.when i am in Te Puke i allways stop and go into where Denny is and his boy is also there, as we all know on his head stone it tells you some of what he did in his sport the same goes when i am in auckland i stop in to view where my dad is ,and i alway stop to view where Bruce Mclaren is which is on the other side of the cemetery .but last time i was there it still does not tell you about Bruce Mclaren and what he did for motorsport ,some time back i did talk to his sister at manfeild about this maybe they have put something up now.

From Warwick Farm, 1965. This is one of Bruce Wells photos, part of the Warwick Farm collection that will be displayed on here in the near future.

What a grand photo of man and machine.

The Denny Mini.........more elbow grease has been applied. Starting to look quite respectable.
My BMC dismantler Glen, managed to find a proper set of very early hubcaps that would have been on the car when Denny bought it.
The paintwork has resisted all efforts to get a showroom shine into it, but it is looking a million times better than it did pre exhumation......
I could have just left it in the shitty state it was in, but decided that it wasnt going to do itself any favours at the festival............It has got, as the English autioneers are fond of saying.......'a great patina of age' !!!!!!

Thnaks to Gerald's generosity I have had a chance to have a good look at the Hulme Mini. My first car was a 1959 Mini and to have a good look at this car brought back plenty of memories - both good and bad. They were fairly basic cars with very little interior upholstery and this one is in that mould. Gerald has done the basics to get the car drivable but no real tarting up and I am sure that many people will wonder about this approach. I think that it is good as it is in much the same conditions as you would expect of a car that age which has been left to its own devices.

We went for a quick trip round the block and the old BMC whines and crunches were all there to remind us of its origins. There is still the original drivers seat that Denny sat his bum on - although you would want to try and use it now without some re-upholstery work being done on it.

It should provide some interest when it is driven at the Festival.