Motor Racing pics - my early years, 1964-71 ; Pukekohe Racetrack ;by - Roger Dowdingl

[Roger Dowding]

More from December 1966 meeting.

The Lycoming

Jaguar XK120 David Silcock ?

Very poor photo but could it be David Oxtons Lola Ford as mentioned in " David Oxton Magic Memories " article in the
" Auckland Car Club 75th Anniversary 1932 to 2007 " Book, which features photos from Ross Cammick and Milan Fistonich, from TRS amongst others.

[khyndart in CA]

Roger,
Sorry that I am arriving a bit late but here is some input from the 1965 Wills 6 hour race and the 3 hour Challenge race where the Fleetwood Motors Mustang first appeared driven by Ivan Segedin and Dennis Simmons. 2 weeks later on October 23rd my sister got married (50 years ago ) and Dennis was at her wedding. I spent most of the afternoon following Dennis around asking Mustang questions etc..I think he was glad to get away from me pestering him..it was like I was talking to God !
Anyway here is some programme input.

( Ken Hyndman )

[Milan Fistonic]

There were races for Modified Production Sports Cars, Sports and Sports-Racing Cars and combined events for both classes. They were a 30-minute race and a handicap race.

[BMCBOY]

[quote="khyndart in CA"]Roger,
Sorry that I am arriving a bit late but here is some input from the 1965 Wills 6 hour race and the 3 hour Challenge race where the Fleetwood Motors Mustang first appeared driven by Ivan Segedin and Dennis Simmons.

Here's a photo taken by Peter Bruin of the start of the 3 hr Challenge.
The Fleetwood Mustang nose up as usual and Bill Dunster driving the Healey 3000 that I have owned since 1973

[khyndart in CA]

[quote="Roger Dowding"]Lotus Anglia Frank Radisich

Roger,
Even though the "bread van" Anglias were quicker I think the Hyndman Anglia in 1969 was a better looking vehicle.
It spent quite a bit of time at Pukekohe and it also transported a few Waikato lassies safely home !

( Ken Hyndman with some useless input )

[Roger Dowding]

Lotus Anglia Frank Radisich

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31150[/ATTACH]


Roger,
Even though the "bread van" Anglias were quicker I think the Hyndman Anglia in 1969 was a better looking vehicle.
It spent quite a bit of time at Pukekohe and it also transported a few Waikato lassies safely home !
[ATTACH=CONFIG]31148[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31149[/ATTACH]


( Ken Hyndman with some useless input )

Ken, brilliant, I had my Driving Lessons in an Anglia and got my licence in the same car August 1965, Have the old book licence which is a reissue as it went through the washing machine and had to be replaced in about 1971

The paper licence that replaced the book licence has still not expired " a licence for life " we were told, however have had multiple card sized licences since, including as shown here.
Never did get a refund on the unused portion of the paper licence.

[duncan fox]

Ill Pm you , meanwhile is this the car we are talking about? I went to buy this of Laurie in the early seventies to replace Gp Deuce but I walked away because it was quite rusty. Thats why I was so amazed to see it in Puhanui Rd .I talked at length with the guy who restored it. It was definatly Lauries 32.
In this shot at Seagrove its a light colour not the Maroon his trucks were. Another thought comes to mind here , who in their right mind breaks a 32 Ford roadster up for parts ? Even Pink Panther was ressurected after Eddie had crashed it .Something not right here. I love a mystery ........

OK.....heres the oil on the Powell 32.

I was correct in my recollection of Lauries car being light green it was never Maroon Im reliably told. It was also looked at by my longtime 32 Ford owner friend Warren Fairhurst when Laurie was trying to sell it. He confirms it was light green also, as rusty as all hell but was equally surprised later to have seen it restored by Paul Grace in Auckland. (not the Hot Rod mag editor who also owned a 32 roadster at the time) I knew the name was a double up , just not Lauries. It was later exported to the US.

[Roger Dowding]

Roger,
Sorry that I am arriving a bit late but here is some input from the 1965 Wills 6 hour race and the 3 hour Challenge race where the Fleetwood Motors Mustang first appeared driven by Ivan Segedin and Dennis Simmons.

Here's a photo taken by Peter Bruin of the start of the 3 hr Challenge.
The Fleetwood Mustang nose up as usual and Bill Dunster driving the Healey 3000 that I have owned since 1973


[ATTACH=CONFIG]31147[/ATTACH]

Ross, a great field Sports cars Saloon and the Fleetwood.

Ken and Milan, thanks for the programme details

cheers

Roger

[khyndart in CA]

For those who are interested here is a little bit from a previous post I put together about the day at Pukekohe in October 1965


http://www.theroaringseason.com/showthread.php?1642-My-Time-At-Trojan-Works-London-By-Ken-Hyndman/page7&highlight=hyndman


( Ken Hyndman )

[Roger Dowding]

The Police get the best view

From the Club Circuit meeting
Damage caused by an errant wheel from a Triumph 2000

A Blurry Morrari

Single seaters and Sports dummy grid, Club circuit meeting

[Ray Bell]

The open-wheeler, No 4, looks a bit U2-ish...

Any details on these cars?

[Trevor Sheffield]

Roger,
Sorry that I am arriving a bit late but here is some input from the 1965 Wills 6 hour race and the 3 hour Challenge race where the Fleetwood Motors Mustang first appeared driven by Ivan Segedin and Dennis Simmons.

Here's a photo taken by Peter Bruin of the start of the 3 hr Challenge.
The Fleetwood Mustang nose up as usual and Bill Dunster driving the Healey 3000 that I have owned since 1973


[ATTACH=CONFIG]31147[/ATTACH]

The fourth car in the line up is my Daimler SP250, which finished in third place overall heading the Mustang into fourth place. My partner driver was my friend the sadly now late Bill Kelly. Our participation was a shoestring affair and the SP250 served as daily personal, business and family transport and certainly did not arrive on a trailer. We won the 1,601 - 3,000 cc class.

I vividly recall my very amateur pit crew, brandishing a “slow down” signal with shaken fists during the final laps, with them having in mind the class win. However I was thinking about the the extra money for third place and pressed on accordingly and got past the Mustang. LOL

[Roger Dowding]

The open-wheeler, No 4, looks a bit U2-ish...

Any details on these cars?

Ray the open wheelers, yes - when I posted this photo on another thread, there was info from others, was a mixed field of Formula V, sports cars [ U2 -ish ] and Formula Fords / Juniors.
Will dig the info out and repost.

Have found the info - see a new post just now cheers Ray.

[Roger Dowding]

The Police get the best view
[ATTACH=CONFIG]31158[/ATTACH]
From the Club Circuit meeting
Damage caused by an errant wheel from a Triumph 2000
[ATTACH=CONFIG]31159[/ATTACH]
A Blurry Morrari
[ATTACH=CONFIG]31160[/ATTACH]
Single seaters and Sports dummy grid, Club circuit meeting
[ATTACH=CONFIG]31161[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31162[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31163[/ATTACH]

notes on the back say
- U2, Ford #4, Brabham -Fiat #61, Formula Vee #3, with Mini Special alongside, another F-Vee behind.

And this from TRS member rf84
- Barney Pellow in the Brabham, ? in the U2 (fairly distinctive alloy wheels should identify it), the "Mini special" is an MER-possibly Doug Cross? The F Vee behind the MER (and in the large photo) looks very much like a McQueen Vee (Auckland built car based closely on an Australian "Elfin" design).

And this from Milan Fistonich
- The U2 looks like the one my mate raced in the mid-sixties. He sold it to Graeme Morley. It was built by Graham McRae and was unusual in that it had independent rear suspension.

Edit: Morley is listed as competing at the Club Circuit on August 18 1968 so it must be his car.

This from Ross Hollings edited ;
- Minimax on back of grid with Ken Flashman in the ex Peter Bruin Cooper Vincent.

[GD66]

The MER looks like the one pedalled by Les Riesterer himself. And I think the #77 Mini with the big grille hammering away beside the Mustang in the short circuit pic may be Ted Thompson's Ford-engined weapon.

[Roger Dowding]

The MER looks like the one pedalled by Les Riesterer himself. And I think the #77 Mini with the big grille hammering away beside the Mustang in the short circuit pic may be Ted Thompson's Ford-engined weapon.

GD66, yes the Lotus-Ford Mini made the by the man from Kumeu, i have a photo of it sitting on the grass, with 13 inch fronts and 10 inch rear wheels. I posted it on minis and Imps, will repost here

[GeebeeNZ]

Re Post #82 and #84 Having owned a few Fiat 500s over the years, including the Abarth one that I still have, I decided to track down the Willls 6 hr Fiat 500. A registration check showed its last owner was a person in BeachHaven. A drive past revealed it was in a carport with a broken windscreen. A small amount of money changed hands and I owned a Fiat 500 with a racing history. Sadly it was too rusty to put back on the road cheaply and I eventually sold it to another collector. In #84 Lotus Cortina No 16 is the car belonging to Captain Ian Bradley. Ian raced it in that race with Robbie Francevic. Sadly my friend Ian passed away suddenly a few months ago but not before telling us the story of how a Navy Captain managed to use his connections to buy a Lotus Cortina in the UK and get it brought to NZ. Not forgetting that those were days of import restrictions and tight control on Overseas funds.
Graeme

[Trevor Sheffield]

OK.....heres the oil on the Powell 32.

I was correct in my recollection of Lauries car being light green it was never Maroon Im reliably told. It was also looked at by my longtime 32 Ford owner friend Warren Fairhurst when Laurie was trying to sell it. He confirms it was light green also, as rusty as all hell but was equally surprised later to have seen it restored by Paul Grace in Auckland. (not the Hot Rod mag editor who also owned a 32 roadster at the time) I knew the name was a double up , just not Lauries. It was later exported to the US.

Duncan,

I had been anxiously awaiting your PM so that an argument would not take place here. This site is used by several as an historical reference so that accuracy is important. It is therefore unfortunate that You have been very unreliably delivered used oil and therefore badly informed.

I can't recall the colour of the car when it raced at Seagrove, however later I was intimate with the “B4” for a period of say twenty years and am certainly not colour blind. I can feel the old car in my bones at this instant, LOL. I have also checked with several friends of like age who also knew Laurie and the car very well and in close exact detail. What is more although the car was last in a sadly well used state, none of us recall it being, "as rusty as hell". Unfortunately Laurie's son Terry is also no longer with us.

You may have been told that the light green rusty as hell car you came across had been owned by Laurie Powell, but if your “reliable” informant said “it was never maroon”, you have been badly lead widely astray.

Please as requested earlier, send me a PM so that we can discuss this further by phone. If you are located outside of Auckland City, I have free calling and can call you at no cost. Incidentally, I am listed in the Auckland phone directory.

Sincerely, Trevor.

[stubuchanan]

The fourth car in the line up is my Daimler SP250, which finished in third place overall heading the Mustang into fourth place. My partner driver was my friend the sadly now late Bill Kelly. Our participation was a shoestring affair and the SP250 served as daily personal, business and family transport and certainly did not arrive on a trailer. We won the 1,601 - 3,000 cc class.

I vividly recall my very amateur pit crew, brandishing a “slow down” signal with shaken fists during the final laps, with them having in mind the class win. However I was thinking about the the extra money for third place and pressed on accordingly and got past the Mustang. LOL

I recently had some 8mm movie film I took of the Gold Leaf 3 Hours converted to DVD format. Not in any way stunning footage, but a record of the day. From the film it looked as if the Mustang and the Oxton(Dave?) Daimler slightly jumped the start, or that the Dunster/Conway Healey was slow getting away, and in the photo above neither of the second-row Daimlers had moved. Not that it would be critical in a 3 hour race. This was an interesting race, the eventual winning Mini-Cooper 1293 of Mullins/Neilson coming round 4th at the end of lap 1 (after starting half-way down the grid - which was in engine capacity order like Le Mans ) and 3rd the next time round, and passing Franicevic's Lotus Cortina for 2nd about lap 10. At this stage the Mustang had a 50 second lead!
Brake troubles intervened later, and I wonder if they had already caused some worry, judging by the activity around the car in this shot from just before the grid formed up.

[Roger Dowding]

GD66, yes the Lotus-Ford Mini made the by the man from Kumeu, i have a photo of it sitting on the grass, with 13 inch fronts and 10 inch rear wheels. I posted it on minis and Imps, will repost here

Here is the car, described as the Lotus-Ford Mini, or any variation of the three names, only ever saw it once at this quickfire Televised club circuit meeting in 1968, same meeting as the single seater photos, Ted Thomson was an Engineer of some note, and I believe was deaf [ others may be able to confirm ], grafting a Lotus Twincam onto a Mini gearbox final drive was some feat.

The club circuit part of Pukekohe was deceptive as I found out in the 1978 NSCC Motorsport Day, a five event motoring day, in a Triumph GT6 Coupe
[ Gymkhana, Trial part 1, Club Circuit Sprint, Trial part 2, and Hillclimb at Cosseys Farm ], got wide at the top of the loop off the track and on the grass which was cambered, kept going 'til I got back on the seal again. No pictures though sigh !!! .