The Roaring Season

There was a meeting at Puke in early 1980 - perhaps March...where GL ran it.

The only reason I recall that is that it was first, and definitely last, time I rode a push bike to a racetrack

seaqnmac27 wrote:GL raced it at least 3 times. Once maybe twice in NZ, this is after its arrival on April 20th 1979. It was then raced at the Penang GP where he finished 2nd behind Ken Smith and another which I can't remember off the top of my head. Beyond that he soon got rid of it and replaced it with the March 80a. The Chevron was on sold to Peter Haskett and Charlie Thomason.

Initially Charlie drove the car, as it was decided that he was faster than the current owner - was this Peter Haskett and the B49? Charlie drove the car for a period before purchasing the ex Oxton B34 I think. He later owned another Chevron when he was in possession of the Ralt that he bought from Kenny Smith, but I seem to think it was the B49.........sorry, its all a bit hazy, and I was only young.

It seems to be referred to as B48/9 Charlie drove Haskett owned then Haskett drove it. Performance wise Penang 2nd to Smith, Malaysia 2nd by 30s to Smith, Selangor retired 0 laps. So maybe contact Ken Smith, see if he has any information regarding the car.

That's a bit of interesting history, Ken is looking for pictures as well.
I'd also like info on the Ralt RT4 that Charlie Thomason bought of ken Smith as this is the ex Laffite Gitane car that I have owned for a number of years and that we are now back out racing. When Ken had it, it was the green Apple Car Company car. I'm not sure where it went after Thomason until I bought it off Gary Devin.
Barry Leitch

Barry wrote:That's a bit of interesting history, Ken is looking for pictures as well.
I'd also like info on the Ralt RT4 that Charlie Thomason bought of ken Smith as this is the ex Laffite Gitane car that I have owned for a number of years and that we are now back out racing. When Ken had it, it was the green Apple Car Company car. I'm not sure where it went after Thomason until I bought it off Gary Devin.
Barry Leitch

Barry I will have another look through my info.

Michael Clark wrote:There was a meeting at Puke in early 1980 - perhaps March...where GL ran it.

The only reason I recall that is that it was first, and definitely last, time I rode a push bike to a racetrack

Ok pieces fit together. I have previously said that the car did not complete a lap at the 1979 Selangor GP, therefore as in March 1980 GL had his March 80A, which was as the 76A and Chevron B48 painted in Rothmans Malaysia colours, is it at all possible it was not the Chevron you saw Michael? David McKinney in his article about entries for the January 1983 NZGP, describes the Peter Haskett/Charlie Thomason entry as being the ex Lawrence Chevron badly crashed in its only appearance, now I know from records that is incorrect, however it would have been its 3rd overseas appearance, maybe 4th or 5th overall. as for the Ralt I will keep looking.

OK, so, the Chevron was rolled at Selangor. The Ralt that Thomason and Haskett drove was the one you now have as you know, just trying to work out where it went from there. It would have been on sold in either 87 or 88.

Sorry if I wasn't clear 27 - I didn't see GL in the B49 that day in early 1980 at Puke, it was a March. When I typed that this morning, I would have sworn it was the 76B and the meeting was 1980 - but as the day has gone on, I now wonder if it was the 80A...and if it was 1981.

Or could it have been the 80A in March 1980? On balance, that is what I think I'm going with. But certainly not the Chevron - David and Milan will know for certain but I wouldn't be surprised if GL never ran the B49 in NZ - and apologies if that has already been covered.

The 80A made its debut at Pukekohe in March 1980 so that would meet with your recollection Michael. The only timeframe that makes sense for it to run in NZ would have been if there were any Pacific meets between May and September 1980 as that was the gap between the Malaysian and Selangor GPs. He took possession of the Chevron in Malaysia.

Barry wrote:That's a bit of interesting history, Ken is looking for pictures as well.
I'd also like info on the Ralt RT4 that Charlie Thomason bought of ken Smith as this is the ex Laffite Gitane car that I have owned for a number of years and that we are now back out racing. When Ken had it, it was the green Apple Car Company car. I'm not sure where it went after Thomason until I bought it off Gary Devin.
Barry Leitch

The Ralt didn't go anywhere between Charlie and Gary Devon. The Ralt was crashed in practice before the 89? GP at Pukekohe. The tub was badly damaged and the car had already been sold to Gary before the event if I remember correctly. An aircraft fabricator guy looked at repairing it, but said it was too much work

When I was repairing the car and sanding body panels the car had been painted lots of colours so I assumed that it had lots of owners or at least sponsors. I don't have any NZ issued log books for the car only the Cams one that says the owner is Bob Jane.
Barry L

Would that have been when Laffite drove it?I think most of the cars driven by Internationals were locally owned.

I think Barry L knows where the Laffite car is!

Barry wrote:When I was repairing the car and sanding body panels the car had been painted lots of colours so I assumed that it had lots of owners or at least sponsors. I don't have any NZ issued log books for the car only the Cams one that says the owner is Bob Jane.
Barry L

Hi Barry, from http://www.oldracingcars.com

Ralt RT4 [273] (Jacques Laffite): Ralt sales record says sold to [color="#0000FF"]Graham Watson/Bob Jane[/color], without delivery date. [Tub no: 81/132; Gearbox FT1486; Fuel cell: JM37174 10/81] Chassis number given in NZMA report for the car of Jacques Laffite at the 1981 AGP, [NZMA 23 Nov 81 p4]. The car of Ray Hanger at 1982 AGP is described as ‘ex Laffite 1981 AGP’ [AMSYB-82 p166] and presumed to be the car used by Hanger earlier in the Australian Gold Star series.

Mine is the 1982 Laffite car. The 81 car had light blue side pods and mine are the darker blue.
Barry L

Barry wrote:Mine is the 1982 Laffite car. The 81 car had light blue side pods and mine are the darker blue.
Barry L

Same thing Barry.

Ralt RT4 [262] (Jacques Laffite): Ralt sales record says sold to [color="#0000FF"]Graham Watson/Bob Jane,[/color] without delivery date. [Tub no: 81/118; Gearbox FT1356; Fuel cell: JM36679 5/81] Chassis number noted in NZMA report as on the car of Geoff Brabham at the AGP 1981, [NZMA 23 Nov 81 p4]. Chassis number given for Jacques Laffite’s car at 1982 AGP. Chassis number given NZMN 21 Jan 83 p16 for the car of Ken Smith at Bay Park, 2 Jan 83. A separate note by Dave McKinney says that this was the car used by Brabham 1981 AGP and Jacques Laffite 1982 AGP.

That's the one. Here is a photo from the Wigram Meeting last year by Terry Marshall.
Barry
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Here is another Terry Marshall image of my RT4. That is Damon Leitch driving at last years Wigram Revival meeting.
Barry L
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Ron Tauranac sure got that one right!

Beautiful

Hi there

In that photo with the cars on the grid, can someone shed any history on the car in the Marlboro colour scheme? Also, there was a Swift db4 at the Wigram revival meeting, it was black and white with Lonestar sponsorship. Did this car have any history in NZ?

Regards,

Simon