New Zealand Hillclimbs

[bob homewood]

Thought it might be best to start a new thread for this subject ,there must be heaps of photos etc out there ,as it was a important part of New Zealand Motorsport in our ealier days before the coming of permanent race tracks The Gold Star Hillclimb championship was very hotly contested in earlier years

[RogerH]

Some earlier hillclimb photos - the start at Chamberlain Road :



George Bunce (I think) :



The Lycoming (Jim Boyd) :

[bob homewood]

Roger,
The Chev Coupe is George Dixon,some time ago I showed him this photo and we indentified it from the Licence plate and the mirrors which he remembers fitting,its Top Corner at Chamberlain Road ,he had the results but we couldn't put a exact date to it

[RogerH]

Thanks Bob - I wasn't too sure - at least I got the George bit right

[RogerH]

A more recent photo of me having an "off" at Kellyville a few year back - mainly damage to the ego :

[RogerH]

Dennis Phillips in the Mark Petch owned Katipo MJ70A F5000. Photo courtesy of Milan Fistonic from TNF.

[Steve Holmes]

A more recent photo of me having an "off" at Kellyville a few year back - mainly damage to the ego :

Neat photo Roger, but ouch! How did you end up out there? Just as well you missed those rocks, they look a bit lethal.

[RogerH]

Neat photo Roger, but ouch! How did you end up out there? Just as well you missed those rocks, they look a bit lethal.

You know how it is - last run of the day and only 1.3 seconds to set fastest time in class .........
The car got very sideways on a relatively high speed corner and I hit some gravel so it was a choice of an almost sheer drop on one side and bank and rocks on the other - I chose the bank. The front right wheel hit the rocks but no body damage and an easy repair.

[Steve Holmes]

Yeah I would have chosen the bank and rocks too Roger! Neat car by the way. Is it a Stanguellini or Volpini? What is its history? How about creating a thread about it? Would love to know more.

[bob homewood]

Ok this is a photo of a Coupe at a early Chamberlain Road Hill climb it gives I think a great oveview of how the Hill was and the nature of the surrounding country side in those days
I am sorry I cant identify the car driver or exact date in this photo,any ideas ?

[bob homewood]

This photo of John Mansel in the paddock at Chamberlain road is again from the early Chamberlain Road days and possibly is the same day as the Coupe photo

[Chris Kitzen]

Got any at Bright Rd Bob?

[bob homewood]

I am going out on a bit of a limb here and identifying Ken Sager perhaps from his jacket,once again its from those early Chamberlain Road years ,incidentally have a good look at the tyre patterens from back then

[bob homewood]

Got any at Bright Rd Bob?

Chris ,no sorry I don't have any I can think of ,have heaps of myself over years on different hills but I'm a bit modest on that one

[pallmall]

The 34 Coupe could be Ross Jensen, I think he was still hillclimbing it when he had the Healey.

[Rod Grimwood]

Put them up Bob, seen a good one of the Anglia with attitude at Chamberlain but can not find it. Just post them and we will try and guess who it may be.

[RogerH]

Yeah I would have chosen the bank and rocks too Roger! Neat car by the way. Is it a Stanguellini or Volpini? What is its history? How about creating a thread about it? Would love to know more.

It is actually a 1959 Taraschi FJ built by Berardo Taraschi in Teramo, Italy. He built about 60 race cars but many were bike engined sports cars that ran in the likes of the Mille Miglia in the late 1940s and early 1950s. There were around 20 of the FJ cars made and about 6 are currently active worldwide. Mine raced mainly in the US at the likes of Watkins Glen, Sebring etc and it didn't have any notable drivers except for Kirk White who was a US Ferrari distributor and Brock Yates who originated the Cannonball Run and was involved with "Car and Driver" from memory. Brock contacted me a couple of years ago and wanted to buy the car back - he said it was his favourite race car although it had made him deaf in the right ear with the megaphone exhaust.
I have another single seater with a lot more history (currently with Bob Homewood getting it's engine tweaked) so I may put together a thread on it sometime.
Link to the Taraschi site : http://www.squadrataraschi.it/

[RogerH]

A couple of photos taken (I think) at Chamberlain Road :

Jim Boyd in the HWM


John Curtis in the A40 Special with the Barden? alongside

[Steve Holmes]

It is actually a 1959 Taraschi FJ built by Berardo Taraschi in Teramo, Italy. He built about 60 race cars but many were bike engined sports cars that ran in the likes of the Mille Miglia in the late 1940s and early 1950s. There were around 20 of the FJ cars made and about 6 are currently active worldwide. Mine raced mainly in the US at the likes of Watkins Glen, Sebring etc and it didn't have any notable drivers except for Kirk White who was a US Ferrari distributor and Brock Yates who originated the Cannonball Run and was involved with "Car and Driver" from memory. Brock contacted me a couple of years ago and wanted to buy the car back - he said it was his favourite race car although it had made him deaf in the right ear with the megaphone exhaust.
I have another single seater with a lot more history (currently with Bob Homewood getting it's engine tweaked) so I may put together a thread on it sometime.
Link to the Taraschi site : http://www.squadrataraschi.it/

Thanks Roger, that is interesting. Those Italian cottage industry race car manufacturers certainly made some beautiful cars. Its interesting Brock Yates had the car. Do you know if he had it when it was still a period race car, or was it something he owned for historic racing? He has owned for many years the Duffy Livingston 'Eliminator' T-bucket bodied hot rod road racer that Livingston had quite some success with in the '50s against the Ferrari's and Maserati's etc. He actually wrote a book on this car, and has been a prominent motoring/motorsport journalist for many years.

[RogerH]

Thanks Roger, that is interesting. Those Italian cottage industry race car manufacturers certainly made some beautiful cars. Its interesting Brock Yates had the car. Do you know if he had it when it was still a period race car, or was it something he owned for historic racing? He has owned for many years the Duffy Livingston 'Eliminator' T-bucket bodied hot rod road racer that Livingston had quite some success with in the '50s against the Ferrari's and Maserati's etc. He actually wrote a book on this car, and has been a prominent motoring/motorsport journalist for many years.

Brock Yates owned it pretty much in period. I have records of him racing it in 1962 at Watkins Glen, Redding and Dunkirk (the US version). He advertised it for sale in "Road and Track" in June 1963 as "Taraschi F-Jr.One of the most beautiful, most competitive front engine Juniors in the nation. Fresh engine with all latest modifications. Goodyears, spares. Reasonably priced". He also wrote a column for "Competition Press" called "Brockbusters" and he mentioned racing the Taraschi in the 12 October 1963 edition.