The Roaring Season

Have received more entry lists, results and Programme covers from Myles Hicks - showing the Ruddspeed 3000 / Austin 4000 at events.

Matamata Street Races 1965.
Programme Cover



Entry List - Sports Car Race The Leathers / McLoughlin car - now with Pat Mcloughlin is the Austin 4000 powered car.
lap 1 was Tenth and it finished Fourth
Bill Dunster in second place



Lap Times and Placings - handwritten note re the Trophy's.



Auckland Car Club " Hillclimb @ Bombay " - would be Chamberlain Road and a couple of Austin Healey's are featured.
Date of meeting not known.
Results List ; Times and Placings.
The Leathers car is shown as 2912 cc so the Ruddspeed 3000 engine
an R Cammick in another Austin Healey - Is that BMC BOY - seems he would have been too young ??

It is in fact Rick Cammick - Ross' older cousin who now lives in Fiji. just found this out - had seen the photo before though [ copied below - from Milan Fistonic

My old Neighbour from New Lynn Alan Woolf in his Ford 8.. so image is 1961



Car Race #27 - shown again. Same event ? It was at Chamberlain Road - Car has the early 1956-61 plates on



Rick Cammick in his 100 Six at Golf Road - MG Car Club Hillclimb in Titirangi -Golf Road now a sealed road has been for many years and yes by the Golf Course - photo from BMC BOY Ross.

Started the story as got the entry list for a Race at the Auckland Car Club December 1964 meeting with a 4000cc Austin Healey entered.

The Programme cover
[ now TRS site is working again ].



The full page with the entry list

Nigel Watts comment on his thread about TRs uploading same thing in the post above #870 - the second image shows as attached images - yet didn't seem to load up when I tried so just added the post with idea of editing it later, and there it is ..

Was going to add this too !!.

The entry list that started the whole Ruddspeed story - from Graham Woods, Myles Hicks posted the whole page of the programme.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]64127[/ATTACH]

Thats all the Ruddspeed for the moment.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]64128[/ATTACH]

Many thanks to Ross Cammick, Myles Hicks for the Ruddspeed story and photo's, and to Graham Woods for the original image [ above ] and the Ardmore and Pukekohe Sports Car Race entry lists, already posted.
Finally to Milan Fistonic thanks for your images and programme's too..

Do have another photo of Rick Cammick [ Ross' cousin ] in his 100 Six at the Golf Road Hillclimb with Auckland Car Club .. I was living in New Lynn at the time and didn't realise - even though Alan Woolf would have been heading off form a few doors up in his Ford 8..

This by Milan Fistonic from BMC BOYS archives.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]64129[/ATTACH]

That distance from 110 Seabrook Avenue ([ my house ] Alan Woolf was at 116 I think ) to Golf Road is only .....
3 km or ....
5 minutes to the bottom of Golf Road on Portage Road by the Golf Course - would imagine that they used the first Golf Course part of the road - as housing further up.

*** see Milan's comments next post .. nearer the top of the road, near Stottholm Road

The images have vanished - will try again in a new post Grrr ...

The MG Car Club Hillclimb was not at the Golf Course end of Golf Road. Going up Golf Road from Portage Road, the venue was Crum's clay pit on the left at the top of the hill just past the shops by Stottholm Road. That's my photo of Rick in the Healey.

Milan Fistonic wrote:The MG Car Club Hillclimb was not at the Golf Course end of Golf Road. Going up Golf Road from Portage Road, the venue was Crum's clay pit on the left at the top of the hill just past the shops by Stottholm Road. That's my photo of Rick in the Healey.

Milan thanks, for that yes your photo which Ross Ricks cousin sent to me.. always like to acknowledge sources of photos etc..
Also thanks also about where the event was .. that would be where the new housing occurred later - in the late 1970's .. means it was even closer to where I lived.
Do you know the date[s] of the event. around 1960 - 61 by the number plates..

And now my attachments to post #871 have gone .. grrr..

Did we establish for sure that the 4000 engine is an Austin engine (truck or Shereline) yet?

I note that the programme above shows it to be 3993cc while most sources seem to have the big Austins at 3995cc.

Ray Bell wrote:Did we establish for sure that the 4000 engine is an Austin engine (truck or Shereline) yet?

I note that the programme above shows it to be 3993cc while most sources seem to have the big Austins at 3995cc.

Ray, according to Myles Hicks - who now has the car, it was the car [so Shearline A125/A135 - I am not an expert on Big Austins ] version of the 4 litre - capacity details at motor race meeting were from the entry forms and deciphering the entrants handwriting then the potential for typos..
The engine got sold to a guy with a Jensen 541 - who liked the idea of a modified version of the engine at 4200cc and other mods.
as BMC BOY mentioned " about the only one who would want that " Boat Anchor ".
- I would have thought the 3000 could have been modified a bit more and kept competitive.
The result at Matamata was that the Bill Dunster 3000 came second and the 4000cc 4th.. or maybe Dunster was the better driver !!

There's every likelihood that the extra weight (probably over 100lbs of it) in the front end hobbled the handling...

Remember the Ross Bond experience with the alloy head.

Roger Dowding wrote:Nigel Watts comment on his thread about TRs uploading same thing in the post above #870 - the second image shows as attached images - yet didn't seem to load up when I tried so just added the post with idea of editing it later, and there it is ..

Was going to add this too !!.

The entry list that started the whole Ruddspeed story - from Graham Woods, Myles Hicks posted the whole page of the programme.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]64127[/ATTACH]

Thats all the Ruddspeed for the moment.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]64128[/ATTACH]

Many thanks to Ross Cammick, Myles Hicks for the Ruddspeed story and photo's, and to Graham Woods for the original image [ above ] and the Ardmore and Pukekohe Sports Car Race entry lists, already posted.
Finally to Milan Fistonic thanks for your images and programme's too..

Do have another photo of Rick Cammick [ Ross' cousin ] in his 100 Six at the Golf Road Hillclimb with Auckland Car Club .. I was living in New Lynn at the time and didn't realise - even though Alan Woolf would have been heading off form a few doors up in his Ford 8..

This by Milan Fistonic from BMC BOYS archives.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]64129[/ATTACH]

That distance from 110 Seabrook Avenue ([ my house ] Alan Woolf was at 116 I think ) to Golf Road is only .....
3 km or ....
5 minutes to the bottom of Golf Road on Portage Road by the Golf Course - would imagine that they used the first Golf Course part of the road - as housing further up.

*** see Milan's comments next post .. nearer the top of the road, near Stottholm Road

The images have vanished - will try again in a new post Grrr ...

The images ;

The entry list that started the search ! from Graham Woods - Myles Hick also posted a copy.



Shifting along



the other R Cammick - Milan Fistonic photo Ross Cammick archives - Rick Cammick at Golf Road, Green Bay /Titirangi, West Auckland around 1961 ..
Milan knows more :
Posted before ... oops ! Rick Cammick


Another of Milan's photos at Golf Road - that I meant to post Rick Cammick's car



including this ; post 872 quote :

" The MG Car Club Hillclimb was not at the Golf Course end of Golf Road. Going up Golf Road from Portage Road, the venue was Crum's clay pit on the left at the top of the hill just past the shops by Stottholm Road. That's my photo of Rick in the Healey. "

275,725 views when I first looked today - Thanks for the interest in a One Marque thread.

Russell Leathers must have done a few North Island meetings in the car
Here he is on the entry list at Ohakea 1961 - thanks once again to Graham Woods
[ - will send this to Myles Hicks in case he doesn't have it. ]
Three other Healeys in the race all 100's Four cylinder - unsure if any were 100S
Ivy Stephensen in a Buckler and Rod Coppins in a Jaguar 3500 cc - presume an XK of some description, or did he have a C or D-type ??.
Lots of well known 1960's and earlier Drivers there ..
Must see if Graham Woods has the results for this event.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]64346[/ATTACH]

Because this event was not a championship round, single-seater entries were so light they were combined with the sports cars. A scratch race and two handicaps were run but as the event number is not on the attached entry list I do not know which race is shown.

In the first handicap race the winner was Tony Shelly in his 2-litre Cooper with the first sports car being T Register's Morgan second and Cavanagh's 1500 Special third. Leathers, Doug Lawrence (Cooper), Rod Coppins (XK120), Alwyn Marshall (Buckler) were the next finishers.

The second handicap race saw Bob Blackburn's Lotus 7 take the honours from the single-seaters of Boyd (HWM) and Grimshaw-Jones (Cooper Bristol). Sports cars filled the next three places with Colin Ngan (Cooper) ahead of Ivy Stephenson (Buckler) and Register's Morgan. Jack Malcolm was 7th in the Cooper-Holden while Tony Shelly, after starting from the back mark, could only make it to 10th.

The engines - the Austin 4000 beside the AH 3000 - Myles Hicks photo from when they got the engines out of the two cars the Healey and the A90.

This is for you Ray Bell. ***

Huge difference in size and as we know weight.



New comment from Myles Hicks ;
" She was a whopper! It’s unbelievable that it fitted in. They only bent the bulkhead flange down a little and put the smallest notch in the upper from cross member.
It was identified as a Sheerline motor, and yes the same as the Jensen 541 but the 541R had a different head. "
Sheerline was designated A110 originally and then A125 with the larger engine;
" A110: 3,460 cc (211.1 cu in)
A125: 3,995 cc (243.8 cu in)
6-cylinder overhead-valve "

This from Wikipaedia - there will be other / better sources ;
" The Austin Sheerline is a large luxury car produced by Austin in the United Kingdom from 1947 to 1954.

The Sheerline was designed by Austin during the Second World War, but volume production did not begin until 1947 because of the commitment to war production. It was a luxurious car in the style of the contemporary Rolls-Royce or Bentley but at a much lower price, around two-thirds that of the equivalent Rolls-Royce but still the price of five or six small Austins. There were about 8,000 built but it is now becoming quite rare.

The first cars,[1] designated A110, had a 3,460 cc straight-six overhead valve engine but this was soon[2] increased to 3,995 cc with 125 bhp (93 kW) and the designation then became A125. Initially only a Saloon version on a 9-foot-11¼-inch (3 metres) wheelbase chassis was made, but this was joined by a Limousine version in late 1949[3] on a stretched 11 ft (3.3 metres) chassis also used for a hearse and an ambulance. At 37 hundredweight (1,850 kg) for the saloon and 2 tons (2,000 kg) for the limousine this was a heavy car, and to maintain performance a low final drive ratio of 4.55:1 with 16-inch tyres was fitted. Suspension was by coil springs at the front and half-elliptic leaf springs at the rear. The saloon version had a top speed of 82 mph (132 km/h).

Production ceased in 1954 and Austin's luxury offering was limited to the A135 [ Austin Princess ] "

This from an Austin Memories site ;

" Design of the Sheerline began in 1942, Leonard Lord wanted a traditional British look, the vehicle was amined at giving a luxurious car in the vogue of a Rolls-Royce or Bentley with vertical grille, large and impressive headlights; distinctive knife-edge styling with separate but flowing wings and traditionally mounted side lights. The interior also needed to give a feel of opulence with walnut veneer, leather upholstery and luxury carpets.

This all came to fruition in 1947 when the Austin A110 Sheerline was annoounced. But only 12 were actually made when a decision was made to increase the engine size from 3460 cc to 3993 The model which was produced at Longbridge remained in production till 1954. It could also be purchased in chassis form as a Hearse or Ambulance. The year before 1946 Vanden Plas a coach building company who were based in Kingsbury London had been bought by the Austin Motor Company. So when the Sheerline was launched as a A125 the Vandan Plas version was called the Austin A135 Princess Mk I using the same chassis and running gear as the Sheerline it had a streamline body with the headlamps blending into the wings."

" Model (A110)
Date when launched 1947
Total produced 12
Engine
3,460cc Power RAC rating 26.9hp.
Length 15ft 11.5ins Width 6ft 1ins Height 5ft 7ins
Wheelbase 9ft 11.3ins Track front 4ft 10ins rear 5ft 0ins
Price ex Works Aug 1947 £1277 "

" Model A125 Sheerline

Date when launched 1947 Discontinued in 1954

Total produced 11,605 including chassis for use with other bodies
Engine 3995cc 130bhp at 3,700 rpm Max torque 150 lbs/ft at 2,000 rpm
Length 15ft 11.5ins Width 6ft 1ins Height 5ft 7ins
Wheelbase 9ft 11.3ins Track front 4ft 10ins rear 5ft 0ins

Price ex Works September 1948 £1277 Suitcases £21

Colours in 1948 for A125 & A135 . . Metallic Grey with Grey upholstery.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Portland Grey with Beige upholstery.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Black with Beige upholstery.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Or to Order "

As Ray Bell mentioned engine described as 3993 cc and 3995 cc - even in the same article.




As mentioned the Jensen 541 and 541 R both used the A125 Motor;

" "

" The Jensen 541 is an automobile which was produced by Jensen Motors from 1954 to 1959. It was first exhibited at the London Motor Show in October 1953,[4] and production started in 1954.

The 541 used fibreglass bodywork mounted on a steel chassis and was fitted with a straight-six engine, three SU carburettor version of the 4-litre Austin engine and four speed transmission with optional Laycock de Normanville overdrive.

The body consisted of three major mouldings and the entire front was rear hinged and could be raised for engine access. The doors were aluminium. Suspension was independent at the front using coil springs with a Panhard rod located rigid axle and leaf springs at the rear. A choice of wire spoked or steel disc wheels with centre lock fitting was offered.[3] At first the car had servo assisted 11 in (279 mm) drum brakes but from 1956, the newly introduced 541 Deluxe version featured Dunlop disc brakes both front and rear—the first British four seater thus equipped.

It was also a luxurious car with the well equipped interior featuring leather seats as standard. The individual seats in front separated by a high transmission tunnel and the rear seats had a small centre armrest and could also be tilted forwards to increase luggage space. Standard colours (1955) were black, ivory, imperial crimson, moonbeam grey, Boticelli blue, deep green and Tampico beige.[3]

By employing lightweight materials, Jensen managed to make the car significantly lighter than their contemporary Interceptor model, with a dry weight of 1,220 kg (2,690 lb) as against the older design's 1,370 kg (3,020 lb).[4] Performance benefitted.

In 1957 the 541 R was introduced, and in 1960 the 541 S arrived with wider bodywork and revised grill styling. Production of the Jensen 541 ended in 1959 and the 541 S early 1963 when the range was replaced by the C-V8. "

When the Austin Healey Car Club ran our Hill Climb at Otaua in the 1980's a coupleof Jensens turned up to spectate. One was owned by a Mate of Reg Whittaker who was the " Man on the Ground " in Otaua, being a Waiuku Boy born and bred, and a local schoolteacher,was living in Bothwell Park Road which is the next road over from Maioro Rd.
As has been mentioned Reg organised the " toilet " for the day, not a portaloo, but a genuine " Longdrop " .. don't think OSH would permit such things today.

Those Jensens ;.



The CV8



The Longdrop by Reg of Waiuku - R.O.W - known as that and it was his initials to Reginald Orton Whittaker.
Chris Watson in his TR5 races past.



As an aside ; A group of Healeyites all past and some present members of the Austin Healey Car Club of New Zealand Inc - were at Manfield for the Classic Races last weekend.

This was sent to me by BMC BOY



Left to right;
BMC BOY Ross, Standing ; Chris White [ former racer ] Reg of Waiuku, Frank Karl AH 3000 and F5000 Racer, Barry Moon former Ford Escort and Austin Healey Racer. - drinking Orange Juice too !!.

Ross - Thanks for the photo. Great to see some Old mates.. Think I am one of the oldest though, at 72, Chris is 70, You are way younger, not sure about Frank and Reg, Barry about my age !! If he is not my apologies.
No doubt You and Barry would have caught up with John McKechnie and others. !!

The Austin Healey connection - the SCW magazine on the right - has a Road Test of an early AH 3000 - the test is in 1961 of a car owned by a Cambodian Diplomat - apparently there were no AH 3000's in Australia at the time.
Milan Fistonic posted the Magazine Cover many months ago on this thread.
There are about a dozen 1961 - 64 SCW's .. The writings are very old fashioned and the SCW help pages on tuning and modifying cars is interesting - the 1961 version of Google or other web - surfing .. Write a letter wait a couple of months for a reply in the Magazine,
The New Zealand correspondent for SCW was a Grant Howard who had a column every month - they too are worth a read. - could go on the Dunedin thread - for South Island events, or Pukekohe - for the Northern Races.

The Road test and another by an American Magazine " Sports car Illustrated will follow soon, once ;
1, I get my Camera back
2, Am home to use my scanner.
It is complicated, I am in Auckland very briefly,[ so can't collect those magazines ERC ]
Camera at Te Poi,
and
Scanner at Omokoroa.

The TRS connection the Magazines came from BMC BOY - in the box that they are lying in.

On the thread about a set of photos on the 1965 Hillclimb at Station Road, Fordell, was this comment by " 225sloper " and a series of photos ;
" Found these photos in a old Photo News dated 1965 of the Wanganui Car Club at one of their hillclimbs. . . . .Bruce Lester in his Healey Sprite who won the event with a 46.5 sec run. ".

The Sprite ;





Wanganui Photo News archives had the photos - Hillclimb event not a Trial - as noted in the comments on the photos.

The Registration Plate " CF1100 " is not current but may have been requested as the Sprite was probably an early 1098cc Mark 11 ..
The Lester family were / are a well known Motorsport Family in the Manuwatu / Taranaki area. Presume Bruce is part of the family, another competitor was his brother John in a Mini.

The Mini .. thanks again for the post .. 225sloper..

281,281 .. love sequences .. the number of view as at now 6;10 on 8th December 2019..

and a picture A-H of course ..



The car is /was a Ruddspeed and I am hoping for more information for a story on it - Yes it is in the USA .. but all part of ;
" Healey-istory "

Car was owned by a great American friend - Bill Bolton, from Corvallis Oregon ..

Thanks for that photo, Roger...



It really puts the mockers (sp?) on anyone who tries to tell us that the C-series is derived from the truck engine, and it really emphasises the size and apparent weight differences.

Gauging what you can from the picture, it must be about four inches longer in the block and a couple of inches higher. Both are endowed with the heavy lower-block skirting, and it's obvious that the camshafts are on different sides. Didn't we establish that the C-series was a design from the Morris drawing rooms?

Ray Bell, your comment.

" Didn't we establish that the C-series was a design from the Morris drawing rooms? "

Got my hands smacked [ not on TRS I might add ] for saying that the Austin A40 Devon and Somerset engine was the first version of the "B " series, I still believe the concept was, even if the block is not the same.

so keeping away from that.

However you are probably right.

I understand Austin did and A and B series, Morris the C. Austin had the big four Morris had a Wolseley Six, Riley had stopped the big-ish 4s..

An " A ".



and A " C " ...



Sorry haven't got a " B " ..

but do have a Truck engine well 2/3rds of one the AH 100 2660 cc which precedes the A B and C engines..

I don't know what the differences in overall specs were between the A40 and B-series, but the B-series was a way more robust engine which probably 'learned' from the mistakes of the A40 unit...

There's no doubt that BMC (or the ADO) didn't really plan for the B-series to go as big as it did. Nor the A-series, for that matter, which finished up larger than the A40 unit anyway. Siamesed bores became the norm, as you will recall.

The A40 had a bore of 65.5mm and an 89mm stroke, the first of the B-series had the same, then went to a 73.025mm bore and the stroke was the same as the A40. That's 8mm less metal between the bores if they were on the same cylinder spacing. But they weren't but I don't know how much the castings grew. A note on Wikipedia says they were both longer and wider, and the head was too.

I don't see any connection between the Wolseley six and the later C-series. It was probably a 'work in progress' at the time of the merger.

Thanks for " your inputs " Ray Bell,as Ken H says.

I need to do some more looking as there was a 6 cylinder engine of around 2.4 litres at one stage was used in Australia [ used in the Freeways and maybe other vehicles ], but I don't know its origins at the moment.
The Big Wolseleys 6/80's and Rileys RM's of the early 50;s became a different style of car by mid 50's with the Riley Pathfinder and the Wolseley 6/90 - pre the " Farina " styled era, by which time it was the " C " series motor, 2639 cc and 2912 cc.

Have some work to do.

Cheers

Roger D