MotorSport Legends Issue 10

MotorSport Legends T H E M A G A Z I N E T H AT B R I N G S Y O U R M O T O R S P O R T M E M O R I E S B A C K T O L I F E www.motorsportlegends.com.au

AUD $6.95 NZ $8.50

Full Report: Phillip Island Festival of Motor Sport

Allan Grice: The last true privateer to win the Bathurst 1000

BRABHAM DYNASTY Three generations of motor racing success

Colin Bond: Racing the Matich McLaren Formula 5000 Quarterly magazine ISSN 1835-5544

May/Jul 2010 $6.95 Volume #3 Issue #10

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T H E M A G A Z I N E T H AT B R I N G S Y O U R M O T O R S P O R T M E M O R I E S B A C K T O L I F E

Contents Editorial Should the recent Phillip Island Classic have been called the Jack Brabham Festival?

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News Who did what on the historic and nostalgia motorsport scene.

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Brabham Dynasty 10-22 Respected journalist Mark Fogarty pays homage to one of Australian motorsport’s great families.

Historic Racer 23-30 Welcome to the fourth edition of our historic racing section, which includes coverage of the Phillip Island Classic and the Bruce McLaren Festival.

Webb of Intrigue 31 Mick tells us a lesson he learnt in the early days – engine building is not a path to become a millionaire.

Gricey 32-39 Allan Grice was the last of the true privateers to win the Bathurst 1000 in 1986, but to prove it was no fluke he did it again in a factory Commodore in 1990. This is his story.

Techno files 40-42 In the first of our new technical features for historic racing cars we take a close look at brakes and clutches.

Trade Talk 44-46 What ‘goodies’ are available to purchase for your historic racer.

Memory lane 49-50 Colin Bond recalls driving a McLaren M10B in the Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm in 1971.

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Contributors in this issue Mark Fogarty Foges has been covering motorsport as a journalist for more years than he cares to admit. For this issue he had a casual chat with three generations of the Brabham family. Turn to page 10 to see the classic article that resulted from Foges’ interesting interview.

John Doig Our staff photographer has been at it again in this issue. This year Doigy got to stand in the bright sunshine and the rain at Phillip Island to bring you a great array of images. We promise you that he didn’t get too wet or sunburnt in the process.

Mick Webb In his popular column Mick tells of his days building engines for a true Aussie legend – Frank Gardner. Webb recalls that he learnt an important lesson about how much it really costs to produce a competitive racing engine.

T H E M A G A Z I N E T H AT B R I N G S Y O U R M O T O R S P O R T M E M O R I E S B A C K T O L I F E

Managing Editor Allan Edwards Pole Position Productions Address: PO Box 225 Keilor, Victoria, 3036 Phone: (03) 9331 2608 Fax: (03) 8080 6473 Email: admin@motorsportlegends.com.au Website: www.motorsportlegends.com.au Staff Journalist Briar Gunther Sub-editor Mark Cooper Artist/Design House Natalie Delarey Raamen Pty Ltd (03) 9873 8282 Contributors Glenis Lindley, Mark Fogarty, Darren House, Mark Cooper, Tony Whitlock and Mick Webb.

Photographers Autopics.com.au, Elod Gunther, Natalie Delarey, Andrew Hall, Craig Miles and John Doig.

Advertising Manager Jennifer Gamble Phone: 0431 451470 Email: advertising@ motorsportlegends.com.au Material in Motorsport Legends is protected by copyright laws and may not be reporoduced in any format.

Motorsport Legends will consider unsolicited articles and pictures; however, no responsibility will be taken for their return. While all efforts are taken to verify information in Motorsport Legends is factual, no responsibility will be taken for any material which is later found to be false or misleading.

The opinions of the contributors are not always those of the publishers.

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CLASSIC

Lines Welcome to issue 10 of Motorsport Legends magazine. Motorsport Legends includes motor racing nostalgia and historic motorsport events

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never thought I would say this, but in my opinion, the Kiwis have got it right and we could actually take a leaf out of their book.

Naming historic events after the country’s motor racing heroes is a great idea. The recent McLaren Festival was a very well run series of events. With the first weekend held at the new Hampton Downs circuit in January and then the second leg ran the following weekend at Pukekohe, the series was a fantastic tribute to Kiwi motor racing legend Bruce McLaren.

I really liked the idea of dedicating the meets to one legend. The number of cars that McLaren had a connection to that turned up to compete was amazing.

Next year’s series will pay homage to

another Kiwi legend, Chris Amon.

I can tell you that I am already looking forward to the 2011 event and I will do my best to make sure that I am there.

Our own major historic meet at Phillip Island a couple of months later was also a great event, but I couldn’t help but think how great it would be if that event had have been called the Jack Brabham Festival.

I know we have had events that have paid homage to Sir Jack and his cars in the past, but I just think that actually naming the event after a different legend each year is a nice touch.

The following year’s Phillip Island could be, for example, the Alan Jones Festival or the Ron Tauranac Festival, the Vern Schuppan Festival and so on… any way,

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it’s food for thought!

What the McLaren name is to New Zealand, Brabham is to Australia, and it’s great that the Brabham moniker has continued in motor sport after Sir Jack.

His three sons, Geoff, David (both LeMans winners) and Gary have all raced and now Geoff’s son Matthew is making a name for himself in Formula Ford.

In this issue of Motorsport Legends Mark Fogarty has featured the Brabham dynasty, we hope you enjoy the casual chats that have given a great insight into this very competitive family.

Until next time drive safely both on the race track and the road.

Cheers, – Allan Edwards, Managing Editor

THE BEST OF

MotorSport Legends

Volume One BRINGING YOUR MOTOR SPORT MEMORIES BACK TO LIFE

HISTORIC NEWS STORY BY BRIAR GUNTHER

WILLIAMS F1 AUCTIONED

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1979 Frank Williams Formula One that Australian Alan Jones drove in his World Championship-winning year was one of the star lots in a Sotheby’s Australia auction held in April.

Jones debuted the FW07/04 in July 1979 winning the

German Grand Prix and a month later the Austrian Grand Prix.

He used it to set the fastest lap and win the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix and won the opening round of the 1980 Formula One season at Argentina in it.

The car featured superior aerodynamics with a small

front wing and longer sidepods and was used as a development car until it was involved in a crash.

Chassis FW07/04 was rebuilt after the crash as a display model, reportedly touring the Middle East, and fitted with a dummy unit Cosworth engine for display purposes.

It was housed at Western Australia’s prestigious York Motor Museum for two decades before moving to

Peter Briggs’ motor museum in Fremantle and is up for sale exactly three decades after Jones won the World Championship.

The auction, held on April 18 in Brighton, Victoria, marked the relaunch of Sotheby’s Australia’s Collectors’ Motor Cars Department.

Other cars of interest which were up for auction included the ex-John Goss 1975 XB Falcon GT hardtop which Allan Moffat used to win the Adelaide round of the Australian Touring Car Championship in June 1976 and a 1967 Brabham BT21 which Frank Williams ran in F3.

ML

STORY BY BRIAR GUNTHER

MOFFAT JOINS FPV

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our-time Bathurst winner and Australian Touring Car Champion, Allan Moffat, has signed on as the official ambassador for Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV).

Moffat has a long history with the Ford brand, which started in the late ’60s as a factory team driver and culminated with the famous one-two form finish with

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Colin Bond at Bathurst in 1977.

He will represent FPV at major events and in new programs throughout 2010, as Ford’s performance arm steps up its activities in the new decade.

FPV General Manager, Rod Barrett, was delighted to welcome Moffat on board.

“Allan brings with him an unrivalled Ford heritage and

enormous credibility with the history of performance Fords in Australia, and that has an obvious connect with our brand and our customers,” he said.

“But more than that, Allan has a real feel for performance cars and what performance enthusiasts value, and that adds further to his role as FPV’s roving Ambassador.”

Moffat acknowledged that Ford was such a big part of his history.

“It is fantastic to be joining FPV in 2010,” he said.

“FPV’s products are fabulous, our racing cars didn’t perform or handle as well as these cars do so I am proud to represent FPV in Australia, and look forward to working with Rod and his team.”

Moffat’s son, James, has followed in his father’s footsteps and races a Falcon in the V8 ML Supercars Fujitsu Series.

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HISTORIC NEWS STORY BY BRIAR GUNTHER

2010 TOURING CAR MASTERS

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utobarn will proudly present this year’s Touring Car Masters series, which continues to grow in popularity.

The company is reputedly Australia’s largest franchise

retailer of quality automotive aftermarket accessories and spare parts.

Autobarn Motorsport Director, Paul Burfitt, said the company was extremely excited to embark on a multi-year agreement with

the Touring Car Masters.

“We see the series as a great fit with our market. The series is hugely popular and has been growing rapidly,” he said.

“It’s a great, highly professional category and we have some exciting plans for 2010 and beyond.”

Touring Car Masters Chairman of the Board, Chris Stillwell, was glad to have Autobarn on board.

“This is a very natural fit all round with Autobarn and the Touring Car Masters both growing from similar core principles and a shared market of motoring enthusiasts,” he said.

“The category has gone from strength to strength in only a few short years

and we are confident that with Autobarn as presenting sponsor the popularity and profile of the series will continue to soar.”

A 36-strong field entered the opening round of the championship at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide in March.

Reigning champion, Gavin Bullas, won the first race in his Ford Boss Mustang while Andrew Miedecke won the other two in a Chevrolet Camaro SS. In other Touring Car Masters developments, the category has expanded its parameters to include cars up to 1976, meaning cars like the Toyota Celica, Ford MkII Escort and the Holden SLR 5000 can now be entered. ML

HISTORICS A PART OF CARnival

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bout 20,000 motoring enthusiasts are expected to descend on the twin Murray River towns of Echuca and Moama over the New South Wales Labor Day weekend for the inaugural CARnival.

Billed as a national motoring festival and organised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), CARnival takes place from October 1-4.

The event is designed to appeal to all motoring enthusiasts, irrespective of the age or type of their vehicles and whether their interest lies in passive or competitive activities.

It celebrates grassroots motoring and motorsport and puts the fun back into vehicle ownership and use.

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Local businesses and traders have quickly rallied behind CARnival and given provisional support to a proposed street stage in the Echuca CBD that could see up to 150 vehicles from historic touring and sports cars to current supercars compete over a timed 1.2km stage.

An automotive film, photo and art festival is planned along with an automobilia and garagenalia swap meet, show and shine and the Champions Challenge, a series of events for up to eight motor racing heroes competing on a variety of courses and surfaces in identical vehicles.

Other activities include motorkhanas on five different bitumen and grass surfaces, a 400 metre sprint and go to whoa at Echuca

Airport, a rally and an off road course.

Organisers also hope to stage a wheel change competition among some of the Victorian V8 Supercar teams which will be making their way to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 which takes place the following weekend.

Most CARnival events are free to the public and inexpensively priced for entrants.

An entry fee structure allows enthusiasts to participate in CARnival on a pay as you go basis, with the entry fee capped at $195 to take part in all of the competitive events.

A much cheaper entry cost applies to people participating in the core, non-competitive CARnival activities.

STORY BY BRIAR GUNTHER

Up to two people can drive the same vehicle and there is no limit to the number of activities a competitor can take part in.

All entrants will receive a special CARnival showbag including event merchandise, gifts and special offers from local businesses.

Organisers hope 2000 cars will take part in this year’s event and hope the annual event will attract 5000 entries in the future.

CARnival coincides with the annual Port of Echuca Steam Festival and EchucaMoama Tourism is working with organisers of both events to develop a wide range of activities for the whole family from food and wine tasting to street theatre and a music concert.

For more information visit www.camscarnival.com.au ML

THE DIZANE '1939' ALFA ROMEO "ALA SPESSA"

Gerard Miller 356 Torrens Road Kilkenny, S.A. 5009 Entry via Gate 2/5 Goodall Ave

The Dizane Alfa "ala spessa" or "broad wing" is a re-creation of the car that won the 1939 Tobruk-Tripoli race with modifications for the 1940 Mille Miglia.

Phone: (08) 8268 7303 Fax: (08) 8268 5712 Email: marqrest@iimetro.com.au

The car was built as a tribute to Nereo Dizane, a car lover and collector, especially of competition cars.

Anna Dizane completed the building of the vehicle with the help and guidance of Lou Russo, a long time friend and Nereo's mechanic for many years. Lou rebuilt all the mechanicals, including the fuel injection system with reference to original patent drawings.

Marque Restoration & Motor Repair of Adelaide, South Australia was entrusted to build the body. Gerard Miller, the proprietor drafted the plans from the few photos available of the original. One of these pictures was of the light tubular frame taken in the Touring factory during construction of their famous "Superleggera" method bodies.

The steel tubular frame allowed the panel fabrication without the need for a buck.

Great care was taken to replicate the floors, inner guards and gearbox cover prior to the exterior skin being lovingly coaxed into shape by the body shop crew headed by Nathan.

Day 1

Completed Frame

All parts were built by Marque Restoration & Motor Repair in house, including windscreen pillars, hinges, grille, mouldings, fuel tank and seats.

Anna and Lou visited regularly to follow progress and provide input for some of the finer points.

The Standox 2K paint was carefully applied in Marque's paint shop prior to polishing and final assembly.

Interior Floor

Panel Fabrication

Completed Panels

Fuel Injected Motor Fitted

The completed car body (see top photo) and chassis were transported to Melbourne for Lou to complete the mechanical assembly.

Copyright Š 2010 Marque Restoration & Motor Repair.

Gerard and Lou inspecting the fitted motor

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY GLENIS LINDLEY

Sir Jack readies himself for battle during the 1968 Tasman Series at Warwick Farm.

Sir Jack in the Cooper Climax at Hume Weir in 1961.

THE BRABHAM D Three generations of racing Brabhams talk with Mark Fogarty about the family legend and legacy

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ons following in the wheel tracks of their famous fathers have become common in motor racing, with some families now boasting thirdgeneration drivers.

They’re not always super-scions, and few bloodlines have established racing dynasties, but several offspring have made names for themselves and more seem to be taking the paternal path than ever.

In Formula 1, Damon Hill became world champion just like his late father Graham and Jacques Villeneuve also won the crown long after the death of his charismatic dad Gilles.

Nico Rosberg is the latest second-generation driver in F1, hoping to emulate or exceed the feats of his world champion father Keke. The sons of former titleholders Jodie Scheckter, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell race with less distinction.

In IndyCar, the Andrettis are the first family of American racing, with Mario – also an F1 champion – followed by Michael and now Marco. Then there are the Unsers, the Foyts and Graham Rahal, son of Indy 500 and CART champion Bobby.

In Australia, the late great Lex Davison’s legacy is two generations of drivers. Two of his sons, Jon – the former 10

MotorSportLegends

Sandown promoter – and Richard, were prominent singleseater racers in the 1970s and early ’80s, while three of his grandsons are among the new generation of young guns.

Richard has a pair of progeny in V8 Supercars – HRT’s Will and SBR’s Alex – and their cousin James (Jon’s son) is on the verge of an IndyCar career.

Along with the Andrettis, the Davos are one of the few established houses in racing.

But perhaps the greatest motorsport dynasty is the Brabhams, entering its third-generation of drivers from two branches of the family tree.

Sir John Arthur – “Call me Jack” – Brabham is a living legend and an Australian sporting treasure.

His achievements – three F1 world titles and his unique status as the only driver to win the crown in a car of his own construction – rank him as one of the nation’s greats, arguably on a par with Sir Donald Bradman and Rod Laver.

Sir Jack’s legacy is two sons who have attained greatness of their own in international racing and the prospect of two – and possibly three – grandsons maintaining the family name at the highest level in the future.

Two of the Brabham boys, Geoff and David, carved championship and blue ribbon race-winning careers in

M DYNASTY Europe and the United States, while middle son Gary reached the heights of F1 and Indycar (if only flirtingly in each case).

Geoff and David both achieved the peak of their careers at Le Mans, each winning the 24 Hours sports car endurance classic with Peugeot – albeit, 16 years apart.

Geoff Brabham was something of a pioneer among secondgeneration drivers. Although sons-of racers were an accepted norm in the USA in the mid-1970s, in Europe they were an oddity at that time and his famous surname was a hindrance.

But in the US, his heritage counted and he found ready acceptance, successfully rising through Super Vee and Formula Atlantic to Can-Am, which then propelled him to Indycars and IMSA, which he dominated in the ’80s.

Long retired, Geoff is now guiding his son Matthew, who is contesting the Australian Formula Ford championship after displaying the familiar family steel and grit in karting.

By the time David arrived on the scene in the UK in the late ’80s, racing nepotism had already been pioneered by Damon Hill and he earned acceptance in his own right by winning the prestigious British Formula 3 championship – a traditional nursery series for F1 drivers – in 1989.

His two stints in F1 with Brabham in 1991 and Simtek in 1994 were dead-end efforts with under-resourced teams, but they laid the foundation for his enduring sports car career.

David, always something of a late bloomer, last year captured the Le Mans 24 Hours trophy and the American Le

PHOTOGRAPHS BY AUTOPICS.COM.AU, ANDREW HALL & JOHN DOIG/TORQUE PHOTOS

Mans Series crown, confirming his status as the world’s most versatile sports car racer.

His eldest son Sam is a budding karter in the UK and his other heir Finn is waiting in the wings.

Sir Jack is the proud patriarch, gaining immense satisfaction from Geoff and David excelling in their own rights and now keeping a grandfatherly eye on the progress of his grandsons, Matthew and Sam. At 84, Australia’s motor racing knight of the realm is still active and incisive, retaining the dry wit and devilish twinkle in his eye that characterised his “Black Jack” days in F1.

He survived an era when many of his peers perished and his only lasting racing-related disability is that he has required hearing aids for the best part of half his life.

He retired from F1 at the end of the 1970 season, not because he was uncompetitive or too old at 44 – in fact, he won a race and contended for the championship – but family pressure to quit while he was still alive.

In recent years, Sir Jack has battled a kidney complaint, undergoing dialysis treatment three times a week.

Otherwise, he is remarkably robust and involved, attending commemorative events on a regular basis with his second wife, the ever-attentive Lady Margaret.

Following last year’s 50th anniversary celebrations of his first world championship, we sat down with Sir Jack to discuss the ❯ emerging Brabham dynasty.

MotorSportLegends

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THE BRABHAMS

An impromptu family gathering at the Homebush V8 round, 2009.

THREE GENERATIONS OF RACING MARK FOGARTY: Sir Jack, Matthew is the third generation

JB: Yeah. And so was David. David was a natural, too. He

to go racing, so there’s a Brabham dynasty being established.

Back when Geoff, and later David, got interested in racing, how difficult was it for you? Would you have preferred that they didn’t go racing?

JACK BRABHAM: I’m afraid we didn’t have much choice because they wanted to do it and there was no way we could stop them. If I’d had my way, I wouldn’t have let my three boys race, but once they decided they want to do it, well, I’d help them do it. And the same applies to Matthew, really.

Matthew’s obviously got the talent and we can’t step in his way.

He’s got to go.

hasn’t done too bad for himself.

MF: Geoff was the first, so when he made it clear he wanted to

race, did you try to dissuade him or did you encourage him?

MF: I’ll get to David later. What did you do initially to help

Geoff? Or did you say “You’re on your own, mate”?

JB: Well, we sponsored him for his first few years. He started

with a Formula Ford and then we bought a Formula 2 car.

He won the Australian Formula 2 championship and then I decided we’d take him to England. So we took him to England and he finished second to Nelson Piquet in the British Formula 3 championship that year. But we ran into a snag there because England wasn’t ready for a racing driver’s son to come into it and there was a lot of resistance to Geoffrey. Luckily, we decided to take him to America and, of course, he never looked back.

JB: Well, I’d actually retired and left England in the hope

they wouldn’t get interested in motor racing. I didn’t want it [chuckles]. They came out to Australia and we bought a farm, and the boys were all enthusiastic about the farm. It didn’t last long because I had a Ford agency up in Sydney (Jack Brabham Ford at Bankstown) and we were running a Formula Ford at the time, with somebody else driving (Bob Skelton?). It wasn’t long before Geoffie spied that and started tapping me on the shoulder that he wanted to have a go in it. We took him out to Warwick Farm and he went extremely well.

MF: You saw that America would be a better career path?

JB: Yeah. We got him as far as America and from there on he

did it all by himself.

MF: You must be very proud of what he’s achieved…

JB: Absolutely.

MF: …in Indycars, IMSA and then Le Mans 24 Hours, just to

name a few.

JB: Fantastic – absolutely fantastic.

MF: People often talk about racing being in the genes of MF: And then Gary came along.

JB: Now, Gary, unfortunately, wasn’t a natural and we took him

second-generation drivers. Do you think that’s right or do you think it’s more about their exposure to racing through their fathers?

JB: I’m sure there’s some makeup in the family. You know, like some gene or something or other because it happens too often now. There are a lot of racing drivers who have their sons in it now and it’s the thing to do. And there’s no doubt it’s in the the family makeup, if you like, and they just step into it as if they’ve been doing it all the time.

to England too early. I had him in a Formula Ford here and he went pretty well in that, but when we went to England, we put him in the Formula Ford 2000 and he wasn’t ready for it.

So it took two or three years over there for him to come good, but then eventually he won the (inaugural) British F3000 Championship (in 1989). So we got him there in the end, but he didn’t get there as quick as the other two.

MF: Was Geoff a natural?

MF: What about David, then? When he expressed interest in

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Geoff succesfully raced Super Tourers in Australia in the ’90s.

Sir Jack leads Roy Salvadori and Bib Stillwell at Hume Weir, 1961.

David scored a class win at Le Mans with Aston Martin.

Xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxx

racing, did you think “Oh no, not again”?

JB: Well, that was my reaction with all of them for a while, but luckily all three of them sorted themselves out fairly quickly and they proved that they could do it, so we had to help them as much as we could. Well, now we’ve got it all over again with Matthew.

JB: Unbelievably proud, yeah. It couldn’t be much better than

having two boys both win Le Mans. That’s fantastic, it really is.

GEOFF BRABHAM: He was there when I won, weren’t you, Dad? JB: Yeah, I was at the race when Geoffrey won there and, actually, we had David there as well. He won the GT class. So MF: Is it exciting to have your grandson racing? at the end of the race I had the two of them up there on the JB: It’s fantastic. What Matthew’s done so far, I reckon, is podium. Fantastic – absolutely fantastic. Couldn’t believe it.

MF: You did the Le Mans 24 Hours at least once, I remember incredible. And there’s no doubt he’s going to go a long way.

– 1970 in a Matra-Simca.

MF: So when the boys were racing, were you a nervous racing GB: Yeah, yeah, he did, because I remember I went there, too. father or pretty relaxed?

He drove the noisiest car I’ve ever heard in my life. Actually, I JB: I was for a while, for the first few races, but after they’d think that car did his ears in more than any other car.

JB: Yeah, I was there in 1970 with Matra. We also did five established they could drive and look after themselves, it was other races with Matra that year, winning the Paris 1000km a lot easier. It was pretty hard to accept at the start that I had race at Montlhéry (with Francois Cevert in an MS660). three boys that were going to go into motor racing, but those GB: How many times did you race at Le Mans, Dad? three boys did a fantastic job, really, and I was a very proud JB: Four times. The first year we raced there was with Cooper father, I can assure you. and we won the class. And then the second year we went there, MF: David made it to Formula 1, although not with a top again in a Cooper, we finished up third in the class because we team, but do you think Geoff should have got to Formula 1? had a problem during the night when my co-driver lost one of JB: Well, we tried to get him into Formula 1, actually, but we the carburettors off the car and he had to walk back to the pits. ran into a resistance in England because Geoffrey was really the Anyway, we finished third in the (sports car) championship first son of a racing driver to come along and it wasn’t really and then the third time I went to Le Mans was the best race accepted. They said “Well, just because your father can drive, it I’ve ever had there. Fantastic! I was driving an Aston Martin doesn’t mean to say you can”, so we had to contend with that with Stirling Moss. And Stirling started off and was way out attitude. Luckily, we decided to go to America instead and, of in front, and when it was coming up to my turn to get in the course, when we got there, the attitude was just so different. car, I got all my gear on and got up on the pit counter and was They welcomed him with open arms. It was just so different. waiting for him to come in. But he never came around. He threw a rod going down the [Mulsanne] straight on that lap MF: You achieved so much in your racing career, but Geoff and that he was coming in, so I never got in it. I went across the David equally have achieved a lot, both capped by winning the road [to the aerodrome beside the track], got in my aeroplane, Le Mans 24 Hours. Does that make you proud, particularly as flew back to England and watched it on television. That was ❯ that was something that you didn’t win? the best race I ever had there! [Laughs] MotorSportLegends

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THE BRABHAMS

MF: So you can appreciate how difficult it is to win the Le

JB: I did, but it was too late. It was far too late. Actually, my

Mans 24 Hours?

JB: It’s fantastic to win there, it really is. It wasn’t my cup of tea, really. I only went there the four times and the fourth time was with Matra in 1970, and we were going very well, but while I was asleep, at 3 o’clock in the morning, the co-driver (Henri Pescarolo) blew the engine up, so that was the end of that.

ears got destroyed, really, on the speedways in my first seven years of racing. We only had a little crash helmet that sat on top of your head and there were no ear plugs back then. The noise used to come back off the walls and after one night at the speedway I couldn’t hear anything for the rest of the week. It was terrible.

MF: 2009 was the 50th anniversary of your first world championship. Obviously, that was a very big achievement, but you went on to win the following year’s world championship and then, of course, you won the title again in ’66 and your car won in ’67. So which of those do you regard as your greatest achievement?

JB: That first title in ’59 was the hardest achievement, if you like. I’d run with Coopers for a couple of years beforehand and really got to know them, and I was really steering the Formula 1 car in the direction that we needed to go (rear-engined). The big snag we had was we didn’t have a gearbox in those days to suit a rear-engined car. So we had to sort of make one.

After running in a couple of grand prix in ’58, we realised that there was some potential in the car, which only had a two-litre engine. So we got Coventry Climax to make a 2.5-litre engine, which was fantastic, it really worked. So I went across to Paris to try and get something done about the gearbox with the people who made the gearboxes for Citroën. They said “Well, yes, we can make a gearbox for you, but it will take about 18 months”. We wanted it next week, so that wasn’t any good.

Luckily, they let me go down into the foundry and I met the

MF: Geoff said the Matra was very loud.

JB: Very noisy, yeah. It didn’t help my hearing.

MF: You had a special helmet with sort of ears on it for some of

the races in the Matra, didn’t you?

Three generations of the great Australian Motorsport Dynasty.

14

MotorSportLegends

foreman, who turned out to be a bit of racing nut. And so that made a big difference. They had about two or three hundred cores all lined up, ready to pour gearboxes the next morning, and I talked him into letting me modify some cores. So I spent the rest of the day with a hack saw blade, putting ribs in and putting metal where I wanted on the case, and we had them back on our floor in England and machined in three weeks.

If we hadn’t have got those ‘boxes, we wouldn’t have won in 1959. The gearbox really made the difference for us.

MF: It was that important?

JB: Absolutely. That’s why Moss never ever got there. Moss

had a (famous) mechanic by the name of Al Francis, who had some deal with some Italian gearbox people. And they were using that gearbox and their gearbox wasn’t as good as ours.

aluminium block that we’d start with. In America, I found the Oldsmobile block, so I came out and went to see Repco here and talked to them about the engine. I said “Make me an engine” and I told them what I thought we could do with the Oldsmobile block, to do it quickly, and we had that engine in 12 months. It’s history that the Repco-Brabham V8 was very successful.

MF: It made it an all-Australian victory in ’66 – you, the car and the engine.

JB: And the people we had working for us were nearly all Australians or New Zealanders, so it was really an Anzac effort.

The Repco engine turned out even better than I thought it would; it was fantastic, really.

MF: Just to clarify, Jack, you still think ’59 was a bigger

achievement as a driver?

MF: So you actually rate winning the championship in ’59

JB: Well, I think the big achievement in ’59 was the car. We

ahead of ’66 in your own car?

developed a rear-engined car that was capable of winning grands prix and changed the sport, really, and that was achieved between ’58 and ’59. And the key was Coventry Climax making the 2.5-litre engine for us. But ’66 was a big personal achievement, yes.

JB: Well, ’59 and ’60 were good with Cooper, and the 2.5-litre

formula was good. We’d have kept going with it, but they changed the formula, unfortunately, at the end of ’60 to 1.5 litres. We were out of business – we didn’t have a 1.5-litre engine - and that’s why nothing really happened for us until ’66. We never got in the winner’s circle at all, really. But for ’66, we got 18 months warning that the three-litre formula was coming. We still didn’t have an engine, but I got the idea of how we could actually make one. So I went to Japan and America and everywhere, looking for someone with an

MF: Were you at your peak as a driver in ‘66/67?

JB: I think I was probably driving as good as ever then. I

won the championship in ’66 and I should have won in ’67 because I was leading the championship right through. But, ❯ unfortunately, one of my mechanics found some cam

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15

THE BRABHAMS

followers that were cast iron. What happened is I brought a new batch of cam followers over from Geneva and in that batch there was a couple of cast iron cam followers and somehow or other, they got into my engine for the USA Grand Prix. I never scored any points in that race because the engine blew up, so Denny [Hulme] won instead of me.

MF: How disappointing was it to see the Brabham F1 team

decline and then disappear altogether?

JB: Disaster. Absolute bloody disaster. Bernie Ecclestone sold it to the Middlebridge Group. Well, he sold it twice before that, actually. Anyway the Middlebridge people had it and David drove for them one year (1990), and I went and tried to help, but I just couldn’t get on with the designer. Bloke was a nut case. I couldn’t get anywhere with him at all, so I had to go away and leave it. But it was an absolute disaster.

MF: So it was very sad for you?

JB: Terrible. Bernie really had control of the name. Although

he sold the team to Middlebridge, he kept control of the name and I bought it back when Middlebridge sold it. I’d bought the name back with Bernie’s okay. Just recently, we had some German people register the name and so we’ve been fighting that in court. We actually won the first round in court and it

Sir Jack hustles the Repco Brabham at Warwick Farm in 1967.

looked like everything was fine, but, unfortunately, the other people have put in an appeal.

MF: You obviously want to fight to keep the name.

JB: I’ve had to fight to try and keep the name, but now it’s

going to cost real money.

GB: David’s handling that because he’s over there.

FATHERS AND SONS Geoff and Matthew talk about father and son relationships in the Brabham family

T

I just wanted to do it myself and follow in his footsteps. But definitely, it was a lot more helpful and lot easier to get into it, having such experienced racers in my family to guide me along the way. But I think any kid, if he works hard enough at it, could get into racing the same way I did. For me, I saw how exciting it was – such a great atmosphere and it’s fast – and it’s just really what I wanted to do.

he next Brabham on the international stage is likely to be Geoff’s son Matthew, whose declared ambition is to make it all the way to F1.

A karting prodigy who won four State titles, Matt – as he prefers to be known – has switched to car racing fulltime this year, competing in the Australian Formula Ford championship – the traditional first step up the steep racing ladder for young guns.

The American-born, Gold Coast-based 16-year-old has been inducted into the CAMS Rising Star development program with support from the Australian Motor Sport Foundation.

He is driving for Minda Motorsports in the FF series, which in its 30-year history has launched so many of Australia’s leading local and international drivers including Mark Webber, and in a fitting historical link with his grandfather, one of his sponsors is Repco.

stories - like his races and how dangerous it was back then.

How he didn’t get killed I don’t know, but it definitely sounded like they had an awesome time back then, driving the old cars and going to all those great racetracks. So, yeah, I definitely wanted to follow in their footsteps and get in on the action.

MARK FOGARTY: Matthew, it’s obviously pretty cool that not

MF: Have you always been interested in racing or did it come

only is your dad a former champion racing driver, but your grand dad as well. So was it inevitable that you were going to race?

MATTHEW BRABHAM: Well, not really. I wasn’t pushed into anything from my family. Dad just put it in front of my eyes and I saw it, and I just wanted to do it ever since then. I’d had, as a little kid, as much exposure as any other kid, so it wasn’t so much that he influenced me and pushed me into it, 16

MotorSportLegends

MF: As well as seeing what your dad was doing, did you grow

up listening to the stories of the old days from Jack as well?

MB: Definitely. All Dad’s stories and all Jack’s very interesting

later?

MB: Ever since I got to the age where I could realise actually

what they’ve achieved and what going on in the whole industry that’s when I really got interested. When I first started driving my go-kart was really when I got really interested and said “Yeah, I want to do this” and just got into it from there.

MF: Of course, being a Brabham cuts both ways. Obviously,

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Geoff’s eyes show the steely Brabham determination.

Geoff leads Paul Morris in the Diet Coke Super Tourers.

Geoff’s Australian forays also included a stint in NASCAR.

Xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxx

it helps, but it makes you a bit of a target, too, doesn’t it?

MB: I’m not sure other people think about it, but I don’t really take it into account for anything. I’m still a normal person – I don’t really think about it too much when I’m driving or anything. I don’t feel that people go after me because my name’s Brabham or I don’t feel that people expect me to go really, really well because my name’s Brabham. I’m my own person. They’re part of my family, but they’re not me.

MF: So you don’t feel the pressure of having to live up to the

name?

MB: No, not at all. Nope.

MF: Geoff, you’re pretty realistic bloke, so how do you think

Matthew’s coping so far?

GEOFF BRABHAM: Good. The name was never an issue for me and it’s just something we don’t really talk about that much. And I never really talked about it with my Dad when I started racing.

It just seems like more of an issue for other people than it does for us. We just like to go racing because that’s what we wanted to do. Everything else was not really that important to us.

GB: I was just lucky that when he retired and we all came

back here to Australia, he had a Ford dealership here already (at Bankstown in Sydney’s southwest) and they were actually running a Formula Ford. It took me quite a long time, but eventually I managed to talk him into just letting me have a drive one day. I was on his case all the time, just to let me go out when they were testing and have a drive. So eventually he did and the next year I just did a couple of races and it sort of grew from there. I actually got hooked up with Grace Bros (NSW department store chain taken over by Myer) and I did the whole season in Formula Ford with the Grace BrosLevi’s team. And then the next year, the Australian Formula 2 Championship, which I won, and then I went overseas. But in the very beginning, it would have been quite difficult for me if Dad hadn’t had the Formula Ford through the dealership.

MF: You grew up while Jack was still racing, so were you a

racing kid? Did you hang out at the Grands Prix?

GB: Definitely. I used to go to all the races when I wasn’t at

school and, in fact, at the end there, my mother rarely went. It was just me and my Dad who used to go, and I went to every single race I could possibly do. I loved it.

MF: Were you always going to follow Jack into racing or was it

something you had to weigh up?

MF: It must give the family a great sense of pride to have

GB: Probably not for me because when I started, I don’t think

created a motorsport dynasty?

GB: People say “Well, you’re destined to do it”, but I don’t there were too many second-generation drivers and I almost felt like I was doing something that not too many people were think anyone’s destined to do anything. It’s just that you’re exposed to it as you grow up. I suppose in some ways, doing. I mean, it had happened in the past, but it wasn’t a regardless whether you want to or not, that does have an effect normal thing like it is today. And I definitely got resistance from Dad. He wasn’t that keen on it in the beginning, but once on you. And so you either turn away and go in exactly the he realised that I wanted to do it because I wanted to do it, not opposite direction, like a lot of sons do, or you go with it. It’s just turned out that Gary, David, myself and then Matthew, we because of anything else, then he tried to help me as much as all wanted give it a go. he possibly could.

MF: Was he involved in helping you right from the start?

MF: You’ve had a very successful career, but any regrets about ❯ MotorSportLegends

19

THE BRABHAMS

not getting to Formula 1?

GB: Well, at the time, yeah, because when I was running Formula 3, a lot of the guys that I was racing against ended up in Formula 1 and I didn’t feel they were any better than I was. I won a couple of races, but I was doing it on my own, so it was quite difficult, whereas some of the other guys were coming in and driving for works teams and had all the sponsorship. I was doing it with just one other person. And I was pretty naive back then and wet behind the ears, and looking back on it, I probably didn’t have too much of a chance, really. I did well, I could win the odd race here and there, but I couldn’t put a an eight or nine race win streak together, which you almost needed to do if you didn’t have real sponsorship. I wasn’t able to do that, so it just didn’t happen. That’s the way it goes.

MF: You were competitive in Indycars and you dominated IMSA, but I’d imagine that winning the Le Mans 24 Hours was your crowning achievement?

GB: If you’re just going to say, okay, a race win, yeah, it’s pretty hard to go past that. But the fact that I drove 10 times in the Indy 500 is a big achievement for me.

Maybe it doesn’t mean much to anyone else, but that was a big achievement for me. And then obviously the championships I won - the Can-Am championship and the IMSA championships, and being inducted to the North American Motorsport Hall of Fame –there are lots of things that make me really proud of what I’ve done. It’s not just one thing.

MF: Did you get a buzz out of David winning Le Mans last year?

GB: Yes, I did, because it was so eerily similar to me - the

last time they were there (Peugeot), I won and I just had this feeling in my stomach that he was going to win it. But if you say that beforehand, you look like an idiot. I just had a feeling that everything was too parallel, you know? So it was great.

And it finally got him off my back because he’s convinced to this day that they got us muddled up the first time. Dave was actually chasing that drive and when I rang him up and told him I was going to do it, there was this deathly silence at the other end of the phone. He’s convinced to this day that Jean Todt (then boss of Peugeot Sport, later head of Ferrari F1 and now president of the FIA) got the names muddled up. So there’s been a bit of a family fight going on ever since. But, no, it’s fantastic that he got in and he finally won. He’s been going there so many times and I kept telling him that class wins don’t mean anything, you’ve got to win it outright, so finally he’s done that.

MF: David’s had not only a very long career, but so diverse as well. He’s become probably one of the best sports car drivers in the world.

GB: For sure and a bit a bit similar to me, too. I ran singleseaters just about all the time in the first part of my career and then the second part, I ended up in sports cars and did really well in those, too. Our careers have actually been quite similar.

‘BABY BRABS’ STILL GOING STRONG

David Brabham discusses fatherly influence as his own son catches the racing bug

A

s the last of the Brabham boys to enter racing, David had the benefit of hindsight to make his way in international racing.

Although the most removed from his father’s glory days on the track, “Baby Brabs” possibly gained the most from the family name, arriving on the scene when secondgeneration drivers were no longer viewed with suspicion by F1 teams.

His brothers’ hard lessons also taught him how to leverage his heritage under the auspices of Jack to get drives good enough to showcase his potential.

Even so, after winning the 1989 British F3 championship and Macau Grand Prix – traditional indicators of the right F1 stuff – a big name with a small budget still didn’t amount to much.

David was prematurely promoted to F1 three races into the 1990 F1 season by the Brabham team, which was by then in its death throes after changes of ownership and mismanagement.

MARK FOGARTY: David, was it a given that you were always

going to become a racing driver?

20

MotorSportLegends

DAVID BRABHAM: No, not really. When Dad retired, I was five so I never really saw any of his racing – in Formula 1, anyway. And then we moved back to Australia and, as a kid, I was more into soccer. Geoffrey started racing and I went to a couple of races at Oran Park or Amaroo and stuff like that, but I never really sat and watched the races. I was just playing with my mate, who would come along and we’d slide down the hill in a piece of cardboard box or something. I showed no interest all the way up until I left school and knew nothing about racing, really.

MF: The whole family thing must have had some sort of

influence. So what suddenly made you decide to give it a go?

DB: Well, I went to an agricultural boarding school and we

had a farm, so I was going to work on the farm. That’s kind of where I was headed. And I left school, went working on the farm and then I went to the States for three months to watch Geoff race in Indycars. It was his first year in Indycars in 1982 and that was probably the first time I went “Oh right, what is this? This is racing?” Really, it was the first time I was

David raced for Peugeot at Le Mans in 2009...

able to absorb what was going on, and I was really interested in how the cars worked and I spent a lot of time with the engineer or designer going “How’s that work, what does that do?” All of a sudden, it was like “Wow!” While I was at Rick Galles’s workshop, I saw a go-kart sitting there - it was a racing kart. Now, I’m 16-and-a-half and I never even knew people raced go-karts. So that kind of shows how removed I was from racing. Dad never ever pushed us into racing. In fact, the opposite, I would say. Just didn’t want us to get involved.

But, he put us on a farm, and we drove farm vehicles and motorbikes flat out, sideways, so we knew how to drive. And so when I got in a go-kart for the first time, I kind of knew what to do.

MF: When you made the decision that you wanted to try

racing, how helpful was Jack?

DB: Well, when I came back from the States and said to Dad

“I’d like to have a go in a go-kart”, he just thought “Oh, God, not again” and he wasn’t particularly helpful, I would say. So I convinced my next-door neighbour that we should go and buy a go-kart. He was working on his family’s farm and I was working on ours, and we went to school together – a guy called Terry Gutler - and we just went and bought a secondhand kart. Actually, our first time at a kart track was when we went to the New South Wales country titles in Griffith and both of us were like “Oh, check this out!” I mean, we’d never seen anything like it. I’d never seen it on TV or anything. So that inspired us to go and buy a go-kart. I always remember the first day I went testing in it. Terry and I were putting the kart in the back of the ute and all the things we thought we needed, not really knowing what the hell we were doing. Dad was actually there and Dad wasn’t always at home, and I got the impression Dad wasn’t coming, so I was heading off with my mate and that was it. And just as we were about to leave, Dad wanders over and says “I think I better come withya”. So he came with us and he was watching us. He found a piece of plastic from a number plate that had broken and he put it on the track. Then he said “Right, when you get to that, turn, so that gets your apex”, teaching us a little bit about apexes.

We did a lot of laps and because I’d driven since I was eight or nine, I knew how to drive and just picked it up really quickly.

MF: And where was this?

DB: Griffith, at the local kart track. It was about three hours

... and won in the same team that brother Geoff did 16 years earlier.

away, so that was ‘local’. So we drove up there in the ute, all three of us, and then I started to do some kart racing. And then Dad said “Are you serious about this?” and I said “Well, yeah, I really enjoy it”. I was doing well, I think, for what I had, so he said “Well, let’s go and get a new kart” because I started with a second-hand kart. So he bought us a new kart and engine, and then I did about 18 months of karting. But I started quite late, so I had to get out of karts fairly quickly. I was going to do another year of karting and we’d had it all organised. We had the chassis and an engine – Ken Mitchell, I think, was doing our engines at the time.

MF: When you were growing up, your dad was retired, so

did it take a while for it to dawn on you how significant his achievements had been? Or was that already obvious to you?

DB: No, it wasn’t obvious to me as a kid. I mean, whenever Dad went anywhere, everyone recognised him. Not so much now, but certainly back then. He was doing ads on TV for Goodyear and all that sort of thing, and he was a familiar face.

And I always found it weird, you know, that people would look at him and say “That’s Jack Brabham”. I wouldn’t say I was comfortable with it and it’s only when you get older that you realise the significance of what he achieved. But, certainly, as a kid, you didn’t appreciate it.

MF: And I guess the Brabham name was a dual-edged sword.

It obviously helped you progress in racing, but it also raised expectations.

DB: It helped, absolutely. I always remember the first Laser race at Oran Park. We saw a copy of the press release and it read “David Brabham finished a creditable... ” and all they had to do was fill in the gap. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing when I had my first Laser race – no idea what to do at all, how to do the tuning on the car or anything. But yeah, at the end of the day, it’s all about establishing who you are. And it took a while before the “son of” thing dropped a bit and it was more about me. It takes a while, but Dad achieved quite a lot and ❯ MotorSportLegends

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THE BRABHAMS

David with sons Sam and Finn.

David backed up his Le Mans GT1 class win with another in 2008.

David readies himself for another stint in the Aston.

it’s a very talkable subject, so it obviously still comes up.

Formula 1 car and it wasn’t quick enough. It was that simple.

MF: Was he involved at all when, having won the British

MF: How difficult was it for you to keep going after your teammate Roland Ratzenber’s death at Imola?

DB: You just do. I took the unusual decision to race - unusual because most people would pull out in those situations. It was a small team. It affected us a lot, obviously. Lisa was there pregnant with Sam. There were a lot of emotions going on.

They asked me did I want to race or not, “It’s entirely up to you”? Part of me didn’t want to, but there was part of me that did because, you know, if I could’ve sat down with Roland, he would have said “What are you doing? Get your arse out there.

You’re a racer – go and race”. And so I said to the team “Look, let me do the warm-up and see how that pans out”. So I did the warm-up and for some reason we were 16th or something - we were never that high - and I came into the pits, got out of the car and the whole team just lifted. All of sudden, you could just sense the team going from feeling so horrible to some sort of optimism. So I chose to race for them more than myself.

Formula 3 title, you got into the Brabham F1 team?

DB: No. Nothing. It was nearly 20 years since he’d owned the team and he had no relationship with the latest owners.

The way it came about was that I’d won the British F3 championship and won the Macau GP, and I got signed up

by Middlebridge Racing to do F3000 in a Lola TickfordCosworth. Then I got a phone call out of the blue from the team and they said “Look, we’ve just bought Brabham F1 team and we’d like you to go to Phoenix for the USA Grand Prix”. I said “That’s this weekend - I’m not ready, I’ve not tested the car and I’m not fit enough”. I just knew it wasn’t going to work.

So I said no. I don’t know how many people would say no to an F1 drive, but for me it just didn’t make sense to go over and do that. It was too big a thing for me, so I stuck to the F3000 program. We got our new cars – they were on the ground and we were ready to test the next day – and then they walked in and said “David, we’d like to have a chat with you”. So I went upstairs and they said “Look, we’re going to close the F3000 team down, but we’d like you to be in F1”. I didn’t really have an option at that point, so I took the F1 deal and then they changed their minds. I was going to be with Damon Hill as my teammate and they changed their mind about it three or four weeks later. But I was already signed by then with Brabham. It would have been better for me to have done F3000 that year and not F1. I still had a lot to learn and I walked into Brabham when they were at their most shambolic, I suppose, in terms of the car that they had. Then they ran out of money halfway through the year, so it was just not a very good situation to walk into.

MF: Simtek was obviously difficult, too.

DB: Yeah, Simtek was a small team with no money - the same

sort of thing. It was the first time Nick Wirth had designed a 22

MotorSportLegends

MF: A bit of a dynasty is starting to develop because now your

nephew, young Matthew here, is starting out in car racing.

DB: So is Sam. MF: Do you want to be a racing driver as well, Sam? SAM BRABHAM: Yeah, I’d like to be.

MF: You’re doing karts?

SB: I’m starting to.

MF: How’s he doing, dad?

DB: He’s doing well. He started late – later than Matthew – and

he’s only done four races in MiniMax. He’s won three novice cups. He’s not off his Ps yet, but each time he goes out he really takes big chunks out of where he was last time. He’s just progressing at the moment, so he’s doing a good job. ML

HISTORIC RACER

MotorSport Legends T H E M A G A Z I N E T H AT B R I N G S Y O U R M O T O R S P O R T M E M O R I E S B A C K T O L I F E

F1s ROAR AT ISLAND Formula One classics join the show at Festival of Motor Sport

Bruce McLaren honoured at Kiwi fortnight of car racing heaven

STORY BY BRIAN REED PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHERYL REID STORY BY BRIAR GUNTHER; PHOTOGRAPHS BY BY JOHN DOIG AND ELOD GUNTHER

The ex-Moffatt Sierra was one of a burgeoning Group A and C touring car field.

Under three litre Group N Touring Cars was a standout category with close tussles all weekend.

Darryl Hansen came off worst in a tussle with Harry Bargwanna and John Bowe.

Alvis 12/50 of Mark Burns uses a little extra room out of Honda.

Take Rod Hadfield, a Packard chassis, a 27 litre V12 and you end up with the Warman Special.

David Berthon in his Alfa G1 Roadster.

ANOTHER CLASSIC CLASSIC Eight Formula One cars, a full field of Formula 5000s and the all-conquering Nissan GT-R Godzillas were all part the 540 cars participating in the Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motor Sport, held from March 19-21.

A

massive number of 584 cars had entered the event but because many of the historic fields exceeded the maximum allowable Phillip Island track density, ‘only’ 540 cars were allowed to compete.

‘Sell out’ grids included Group Sa and Sb Production Sports Cars for vehicles built from 1941-1969, Group Sc Production Sports Cars from 19701977, Under 3.0-litre Touring Cars and Over 3.0 litre Touring Cars.

Eight Formula One cars from the 1950s to the 1980s joined two 2.6 litre Cosworth V8-powered Indianapolis cars for Group Q and R open wheelers and for the first time there was a full grid of

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HistoricRacer

V8-engined Formula 5000 cars.

The 30-odd Formula 5000 entries screaming down the front straight at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit was a sight to behold.

Ken Smith put his Exide Batteries Lola T430 on pole for race one after qualifying with a time of 1:31.8732 with Christopher Hyde in the Lonestar Lush Motorsport McRae GM1 sharing the front row of the grid.

It was Hyde who won the first race and Smith finished second, but Smith went on to win the other two Formula 5000 races over the weekend.

Hyde DNFed the second race, allowing Tony Richards in a Lola T332 to finish

behind Smith but by the end of the final race Hyde had worked his way up to third place.

The Formula 5000 headed to the Australian Grand Prix a week later, where Hyde and Smith were again neck and neck.

Hyde won both of the Albert Park races with Smith finishing them in second.

Some of the most notorious tin-tops in Australian motorsport – the Nissan Skyline GT-R ‘Godzillas’ – took on the cream of the Group A and Group C categories and for the most part won.

New South Welshmen Terry Ashwood and Rod Markland entered twin 2.6 litre turbocharged four wheel drive Godzillas

PHILLIP ISLAND 2010

Guido Belgiorno-Nettis was dominant in Group Q/R.

Legends were kept busy at the autograph tent in the expo.

under the Nissan Heritage Motorsport banner at the Phillip Island Classic.

Ashwood went on to win the first two races ahead of cars like the Ford Sierra, Holden Commodore, BMW M3 and Jaguar XJS but DNFed the third before working his way up to finish fourth in the final race.

An interesting story lies behind the Alfetta Tipo 159 appearing for two track demonstrations at this year’s Phillip Island Classic to recognise the beginning of Australian celebrations of Alfa Romeo’s 100th anniversary.

The 450 horsepower supercharged straight-eight cylinder Alfa Romeo, which took Juan Manuel Fangio to the first of his five World Championships in 1951, almost didn’t make it to our shores after the car’s regular museum driver, Chief Mechanic Maurizio Monti, cancelled his trip to Australia at short notice for personal reasons.

So highly does Alfa’s Automobiliso Storico museum in Arese, Italy, regard the Tipo 159 that the crew of 20 transport specialists were not allowed to load the $20 million Grand Prix car on

Terry Ashwood took two wins in Group A/C Touring Cars.

Geoff Calvert inadvertantly meets up with Peter Landan during Saturday’s Group Q/R race.

to the aircraft bound for Australia until Monti arrived to supervise.

A replacement museum test driver and mechanic were later tasked to take over Monti and arrived on the Friday morning of the event to prepare the Alfetta for its track demonstrations.

The 9500rpm Alfetta was originally designed in the late 1930s to go toe-totoe with the new W165 Mercedes-Benz 1.5 litre Silver Arrow.

However more than a decade later after World War II, the 425HP Tipo 158 was still sufficiently advanced to dominate the opening season of the Formula One World Championship in 1950, winning every one of the 11 races that year in the hands of Giuseppe Farina and Fangio, with Farina crowned F1’s first World Champion in the sport’s modern era.

Fangio responded by winning the 1951 title in the revised Alfetta 159 fitted with a more powerful 450HP supercharged engine, which combined with a racing weight of around 710kg, gave the Alfetta a top speed of more than 190 miles per hour (306km/h).

The Fangio 159 was one of about 60 Alfa Romeos that participated along with the Concours-winning 1921 G1.

Owned by Australian Alfa importer Neville Crichton and driven in regularity events at Phillip Island by Sydney journalist David Berthon, the G1 is reputedly the oldest known running Alfa Romeo in the world.

This year marked the 21st anniversary since the Victorian Historic Racing Register (VHRR) began organising the Island Classic which the VACC supports.

Triple World Champion, Sir Jack Brabham, 2010 event Patron Kevin Bartlett, Jim Richards, Allan Moffat, Bob Jane, John Bowe, Colin Bond and Alfie Costanzo were just some of the many famous names who attended the event.

“This is the greatest line-up of famous Australian drivers ever assembled at an historic race meeting,” Ian Tate from the Victorian Historic Racing Register (VHRR) said in the lead up to the weekend.

“We are not twisting any arms, they all want to come because they have either experienced or heard about what a fabulous weekend it is.”

HistoricRacer

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STORY BY TONY WHITLOCK PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALLAN EDWARDS, CRAIG MILES AND TONY WHITLOCK STORY BY BRIAN REED PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHERYL REID

The McLaren signature colour was everywhere including on the M1B of Roger Wills.

KIWI HERO HONOURED McLaren Festival shines brightly at the new standard of New Zealand race tracks

T

here is always a good reason to go to New Zealand in January and when there’s motorsport involved there can’t be a bigger event than a tribute to that country’s iconic Bruce McLaren.

Combine that with the opening of what is New Zealand’s showcase race track and there are the ingredients for a wonderful and memorable time. In January this year over two weekends hundreds of competitors assembled from around the globe to celebrate the life of Bruce McLaren. It is very nearly 40 years since he died on June 2, 1970 in a testing accident at Goodwood on board his latest version of his Can-Am weapon, the M8D. While the event was a tribute to Bruce’s life it was also the 50th anniversary of Bruce McLaren’s first F1 GP win at the US GP, in Sebring, Florida that he won on December 12, 1959, the day his teammate Brabham clinched his first F1 title. Just 22 years of age at the time of his win, Bruce became the youngest driver to ever win a Formula One GP – a record held in 26

HistoricRacer

Chris Hyde and Ken Smith continued their healthy rivalry in the F5000 races.

Bruce’s name for over 40 years until Fernando Alonso took the mantle in 2003 in Hungary.

As a tribute to the man who left a legacy of a great Formula One team, as well as many hundreds of wonderful racing cars, it truly was a stunning success. The Hampton Downs track is not completely finished but the elements that are set a new benchmark

for New Zealand motorsport. Over the three days of the opening weekend at Hampton Downs (the festival moved to Pukekohe over the last weekend in January) possibly as many as 30,000 people attended. There were well over the claimed 10,000 there on the Sunday but likely for insurance or other reasons that number was written down.

The racing was strongest amongst the

BRUCE McLAREN

MCLAREN ORIGINALS REUNITED

Tim Rush, McLaren M22, heads Bruce Leeson, M10B.

HYDE DID PIP SMITH FOR POLE BUT WAS SHADED IN ALL THE RACES. very large fields of F5000 with 68-yearold Ken Smith driving his ex-VDS Lola T430 to four wins from four starts at both events. He won the eight races and put himself back in contention for his second F5000 title after he had stepped down from an earlier round to build up a new engine for his car. As well as winning each race, the super-veteran Smith also set the quickest race lap in three of the four races at Hampton Downs, even bettering his 2009-10 title rival Chris Hyde’s pole time, of 1:02.94 sec in the third race, setting a new category track record 1:02.27 sec. The 2007-08 F5000 series winner Hyde in his McRae GM1 did pip Smith for pole position but was shaded in all the races at both tracks.

Amongst the many hundreds of racing cars there were the 1976 M26-01 driven

by James Hunt, the 1973 M23-01 raced so successfully by Denny Hulme and the 1972 M16B Indianapolis car put on the front row that year by Peter Revson while the sister car was driven by Mark Donohue to the first of Penske Racing’s 15 Indy 500 wins the same year.

The entire weekend of racing and displays at both events provided a fairytale finish to the inaugural Festival of New Zealand Motor Racing at the new Hampton Downs motor racing circuit.

Next year it will be Chris Amon and his racing life that will be celebrated and honoured at this wonderful tribute to a great driver’s career.

This correspondent will make sure he is ringside to see first-hand all the wonderful cars he drove and meet just some of those who raced and worked beside him.

Present at Hampton Downs were some of the actual people who built and prepared these fabulous cars.

The eight men featured in the photograph below were not the only McLaren originals at Hampton Downs but they were the only ones we could get in the one spot at the one time.

These eight men were all at McLaren in the early days helping to build racing cars and a reputation as one of the strongest brands in F1 today. They are standing behind a McLaren with a unique and very different history to most cars. Now owned and raced by Aucklander Barry Kirk-Burnnand, the 1969 M12 (Chassis 6008) was brought to New Zealand by Hampton Downs co-owner Tony Roberts. He had tracked down the car to a Japanese restaurant where it had been in an air-conditioned case mounted on the wall for 28 years. Still in great condition.

Here is a brief background on these men: Jim Stone is known of

course as one half of Stone Brothers Racing but joined McLaren in January of 1969 working mostly on the orange Can-Am cars until December of 1972.

Cary Taylor joined McLaren in ‘68. He worked on the CanAm cars for Denny and Bruce.

Mike Barney was a Cooper man in the days when Jack Brabham won his pair of titles in 1959 and ‘60. Barney joined McLaren in 1963 and spent many seasons on the F1 trail.

Howden Ganley joined McLaren in 1964 as a mechanic working on the M1 sports car and being on the team when Bruce won the McLaren team’s first F1 race at Monaco in ‘66. Also worked on Pete Revson’s Can-Am car.

Eoin Young joined Bruce as his secretary in 1961. He joined McLaren in 1962 as a founding director of the team. He went on to become responsible for PR and sponsorhip for McLaren and many of their leading sponsors including Gulf Oil and Reynolds Aluminum. He

was the ghost-writer of McLaren’s column From the Cockpit.

Ray Rowe was at the McLaren Festival in his first visit to New Zealand as he has been working with McLaren for over 45 years. He joined Bruce in 1965 as mechanic/ jack of all trades. He remained with McLaren in various roles and is still there working in the gearbox department.

Phil Kerr was with Bruce McLaren growing up and racing in Auckland.

He went with Bruce to the UK in the late ‘50s and was soon working for Jack Brabham. When Denny Hulme won the World Championship in 1967 Kerr joined his friend in moving to McLaren to take up the post of Joint Managing Director where he stayed seeing Can-Am and F1 titles won before returning to NZ in 1976.

Kevin Stone joined McLaren in 1973 and spent three years in F1 looking after Peter Revson, Denny Hulme and Emerson Fittipaldi.

He came back to NZ after a few years in the US working on F5000 and Can-Am cars.

Some of the men who helped forge the McLaren dynasty pose with a little of their handiwork (from left to right): Jim Stone, Cary Taylor, Mike Barney, Howden Ganley, Eion Young, Ray Rowe, Phil Kerr and Kevin Stone.

❯ HistoricRacer

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BRUCE McLAREN

WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET THE BUILDER? At the McLaren Festival at Hampton Downs there was a wonderful moment when a very significant piece of Bruce McLaren’s history took to the track back in New Zealand possibly for the first time Experienced heads at work on the T70 ‘box

there since 1966. The 2.5-litre Cooper T70-Climax built late in 1963 by Wally Willmott and Bruce McLaren at Cooper’s

workshop, is largely regarded as the first McLaren racing car built. Although carrying the Cooper car company brand it is really a McLaren, even if not in name. It was now back on a New Zealand track that it was built to compete on 46 years ago. Bruce McLaren did win the NZ GP and the Tasman Series in this car. He was still working and driving for Cooper in F1 but took on the Tasman Series as his first own venture run under the entry as Bruce McLaren Racing Pty Ltd, now known simply as Team McLaren.

Described as the Slimline Cooper it was built by Bruce to win the New Zealand Grand Prix and the inaugural Tasman Series of 1964. He did both and cemented his future as the founder of what is still today a powerhouse

in F1. McLaren showed with this car that he knew what was needed to win. Lighter and slimmer than the other cars brought to race in the summer months in the new eight race series it was not a Cooper entry as they were not interested in racing down under. The Cooper family, Charles and John did help McLaren with the building of the car allowing them to use some of the F1 car components to build it. But it was Bruce’s show with Timmy Mayer driving the second T70. In a tragic crash Timmy died at Longford although his older brother decided to turn his back on US law to continue his involvement with McLaren. Fast forward to Hampton Downs and the T70 and Adam Berryman had completed the rebuilding of

the car that his father had started back in 1971, after his father had found the car at the back of a butcher’s shop in Perth. The car is now beautifully restored and in a condition that shows great Howden Ganley and Wally Wilmot.

love and acknowledgement of the importance of this car. Richard Berryman is reputed to have paid the

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HistoricRacer

sum of $500 for it back in the ‘70s. Stored for many years, lovingly restored and is now conservatively estimated to have a value of over $500,000.

Moments after a 30 minute conversation with Wally Willmott about his Begg Formula Ford, this correspondent walked out the front of the pit garage and into pit lane only to see the Slimline with the gearbox removed and the diff casing opened. Clearly there were problems and I inquired whether Adam Berryman “wanted to meet the builder?” and a positive response had me back in the tent searching out Wally.

Brought back to the scene of the crime, introductions made, problem surveyed and Willmott arrives at the

conclusion “You need to speak to Ray Rowe and Mike Barney!” Both had worked at Coopers in 1959 and some time later both went to work at McLaren. Ray Rowe is in fact still working there on gearboxes for the F1 team.

Hastily Berryman and myself went searching for these two motor racing stalwarts and found, they returned to survey the damage to the Slimline. Their verdict was to stay with the Jack Knight gearbox and not to attempt

any quick fix but to get the correct crown wheel and pinion to repair properly.

Rowe and Barney had travelled from the UK to pay homage to the man and family who obviously made a large impact on their lives. Ray Rowe said of the McLaren Festival “It was so wonderful to see so many great cars still running and obviously being so well cared for. It was well worthwhile to come all this way to see the festival.”

This McLaren developed ‘slimline’ Cooper T70 was the inaugral Tasman series winner in ‘64.

As shown in a photograph here, while Berryman and a friend Andrew McCarthy listening to Rowe and Barney descibing the fix needed I was standing next to another from the era, Howden Ganley. He of course drove in F1, but just as importantly, for this story anyway worked as a mechanic with McLaren from 1964.

“I put a Hewland in that (the T70). Bruce (McLaren) asked me to go down and see Mike Hewland who was using a new casting for his HD5 gearbox,” Ganley said.

It was a truly wonderful moment to see all these Cooper and McLaren originals back together and still showing the care and passion they had for a car they built nearly a lifetime ago.

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WEBB OF

Intrigue Mick Webb remembers the good times and the hard work of building engines for Frank Gardner’s Chev Corvair.

I

’ve had lots of highs in my motorsport career and no doubt one of my major personal highs was being asked by Frank Gardner to build engines for his legendary Chevrolet Corvair.

It was a very exciting time as Frank was a motorsport icon both in Australia and internationally and had been extraordinarily successful in so many categories. On the other hand, I was only young and hadn’t long been out working for myself building race engines.

Frank was probably the scariest person I have worked for, in the sense that he really kept you wondering what he was going to say next. He was so witty; his humour so dry and he fixed me up a couple of times. His jokes were absolutely sensational. But Frank also knew when to be serious, and he was very serious about his racing and driving.

When he built the mighty little

Corvair, Frank had a couple of engines from different engine builders in Sydney, which had failed. He approached me when he came down to Melbourne to work with Bob Jane at Calder Park.

In those days, the car package was put together by John Anderson, who moved to America in 1980. Those of you who follow current motorsport will know he was made the Numero Uno man of the USF1 Team, which has unfortunately failed in its bid to compete in the 2010 Formula One World Championship.

It was a big challenge to rebuild a fuelinjected 302 Chevrolet engine. There were lots of things on it that Frank had acquired from the United Kingdom, such as a trick intake manifold that used a slide plate rather than butterflies.

The engine performed very, very well on the dyno and went fantastically in the car. Frank was a straight-up winner and if you look at the Corvair’s record, it won heaps of races and we won the Australian Sports Sedan Championship Frank Gardner in the Corvair at Oran Park in 1976.

a couple of times.

When thinking about that engine, I always remember that I’d heard all of the old, big-gun engine builders in Sydney were charging $2500-$3000 labour to build a race engine. So I charged $2000 labour for Frank’s first engine and I was fairly stoked at that because I thought at that that rate, I was going to retire at the end of the year.

After about three or four months of running that engine, I got a phone call from Frank asking me to pick up another engine. It was the same deal – the engine had been put together by someone else and it had a problem, so Frank gave it to me to fix up.

I got back to work and I was just about doing hand-stands thinking about the $2000 labour I was again going to charge when Dad asked me what I was so excited about.

I said I have another engine from Frank Gardner. Dad replied “Come into the office, I want to show you something”. He went to the cabinet, opened the bottom draw and pulled out a job card. Being young and keen, I had checked and rechecked everything and Dad had kept a record of all the time I had spent on the first engine.

“I calculated the hourly rate that you got,” he said. “You got $4.35 an hour.”

Hence I didn’t retire at the end of that year and I am still working today putting race engines together.

– Mick Webb MotorSportLegends

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STORY BY GLENIS LINDLEY PHOTOGRAPHS BY GLENIS LINDLEY AND AUTOPICS.COM.AU

THE MAN IN T

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MotorSportLegends

Xxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx.

Pastry Cook, Politician and Popular Driver – this is the story of Gricey!

THE HAT

Racing car drivers and politicians aren’t the usual mix as they don’t appear to have much in common, although throughout history, some have stepped across that unlikely line from the wild side to the sheltered side. In Australian motor racing folklore, the name Allan Grice springs to mind, while Finland’s former rally ace Ari Vatanen, recently linked to FIA Presidential aspirations, made a name for himself as a Member of the European Parliament. ❯ MotorSportLegends

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ALLAN GRICE

Grice steps out of the High Tech Craven Mild transporter at Amaroo Park in 1977.

Collecting some silverware at Surfers Paradise.

Grice took out the 1984 GT Championship in the ex-Bob Jane Monza.

Gricey’s second Bathurst victory came in 1990 with Win Percy.

A

s a touring car peddler Allan Grice mixed it with the big boys, but never quite attained the same hero-worship status as Peter Brock or Allan Moffat. ‘Gricey’ was however, certainly better known as a popular racing car personality than a politician, despite spending almost a decade as the Gold Coast Member for Broadwater. My first ‘official’ meeting with the man with his trademark Akubra hat and droopy moustache (or ginger beard depending on the era), was around 1977 at Amaroo Park when visiting his home with Harry Firth, then team manager at MHDT. Gricey lived just a stone’s throw from the now defunct circuit with his wife Christine and Sam, an adorable labrador. His beloved dog was a well-known visitor 34

MotorSportLegends

in the racing paddock, even wearing his own pit pass to race meetings. The fact that this colourful character (the ‘master’ that is, not the dog) with his reputation as a rough and tough, often fiery competitor and no stranger to controversy, had such a soft side when it came to his ‘best mate’, impressed this fellow dedicated dog-lover immensely. I became a converted Grice fan!

The career of Allan Grice, the racing driver, kicked off rather late in life as Gricey was a pastry cook in the family bakery business at Maitland. Working extra jobs as taxi and delivery truck drivers helped fund his early motor racing ventures, which commenced at Warwick Farm in 1964, racing an MG TC. A wide variety of cars followed, even extending to Asia racing a 2.5 Coventry Climax Brabham. Having won the first

Malaysian GP round, he was leading in the second round before a puncture deprived him of victory, then again in Singapore he was leading before gearbox failure allowed Gary Cooper to steal the show. Grice’s motivation and ambitions were directed towards Australia’s premier ‘tin-top’ class, although he also attracted attention when he took the wheel of the late Frank Gardner’s pride and joy - his mind-blowing, radical, mid-engined Chevrolet Corvair. This controversial, formidable ‘beast’, which boasted a fivelitre engine, gave Gardner 41 wins from 49 starts, earning him the Australian Sports Sedan Championship in 1977.

After Gardner’s retirement, he recruited Grice to do his driving. This opened more doors for Grice and marked the beginning of Gardner’s illustrious career as team manager.

Grice with Re-Car teammates Ron Wanless, Garry Rogers and Alan Browne at Bathurst ’82.

Never one to be intimidated by any car or driver, and far more used to playing the role-reversal model, Gricey soon tamed this highly modified monster. Gricey, as Gardner had done before him, swept the opposition away, ceremoniously carving up the field which included big name stars like Bob Jane, Jim Richards and Moffat. He steered the Corvair to a Championship in 1978, then repeated the feat in ’79. Gardner raced under John Player sponsorship, but the livery was changed to Craven Mild (those were the days when tobacco advertising wasn’t outlawed!) fitting in with Grice’s existing touring car sponsorship. Sadly, the Corvair’s total domination of the category triggered a rule change by CAMS, forcing the demise of this awesome machine. Sadly it was stripped of its running gear with the body shell

ending up in a rubbish tip.

Grice’s former team eventually evolved into the JPS-sponsored outfit running a works BMW under Gardner’s control.

According to Grice, “The BMW 320 Turbo that Frank built was the most dangerous car I ever had to drive!”

Having become rather fond of the fast, furious and frantic Sports Sedan category Gricey returned to the winner’s circle when Sport Sedans morphed into the Australian GT Championship in 1984. Driving the Alan Browneowned, ex-Bob Jane Monza, Grice secured pole in every round, recorded the fastest race lap in five rounds, and almost achieved the magic perfect score had it not been for loss of fuel pressure (when leading) at Calder. Nevertheless, Gricey demoralised his opposition, winning five from six rounds, and as a backhander at his critics, his emphatic

wins came with a lack of Grice-like incidents which had punctuated the earlier part of his career.

“My grandmother could win in a car like this, “ he exclaimed with his typical brand of Grice humour.

Although he raced this category alongside touring cars, the latter played the biggest part of Gricey’s career, where he’s best remembered as an extremely fast driver, but one not adverse to driving on the ragged edge.

His raw speed saw him become the first driver to record a 100mph lap around Bathurst in a Group C car in 1982. A feat which he then repeated in 1986 during the Group A era.

Mounting differences of opinion between Gardner and Grice, two head-strong characters, caused a notparticularly-friendly split, with Grice left out of a drive and saw Richards ❯ MotorSportLegends

35

Grice and Bailey celebrate their 1986 Bathurst victory.

Grice and early mentor Frank Gardner chat to ’76 Bathurst Winner Bob Morris.

Fast, but scary, commented Gricey of the BMW Sport Sedan, in action here at Lakeside during the 1980 ASSC.

Grice hounds the Perkins/ Mezera Commodore through The Dipper at Bathurst 1990.

drafted in as replacement. After some soul-searching, his association with ReCar Racing put Gricey on the comeback trail, which led to him re-uniting with Les Small and his new Roadways operation.

Having built up a bit of a reputation as a ‘bad boy’ during the ’70s, some unkind critics also suggested Gricey slotted into the ‘quick-then-crash’ category. It must be remembered however that this fiercely determined, no-nonsense individual also endured some heart-wrenching disappointments, as most of his racing life was spent as a struggling privateer.

Mechanical breakdowns, unreliable machinery, lack of funding and some impetuous, over-ambitious driving by this colourful, yet respected drawcard, hindered his progress up the ladder, and it was also an era when it was difficult to step out of Peter Brock’s shadow !

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It was only in the latter years, that this man who didn’t hold with authority, worked his way to the top, earning factory drives with some of the best teams.

In 1974 he raced the first Holden Torana SLR 5000 (for Craven Mild Racing), but there was the odd crash or two, plus some new car teething troubles to overcome. A classic example occurred in 1975 when Colin Bond won the Australian Touring Car Championship in his L34. Grice perhaps could have taken the honours that year had a mechanic not put the car’s thermostat in the glove box rather than in the engine during one round. Grice was officially excluded from the round, losing vital points - although his mechanic maintained the missing thermostat didn’t alter the Torana’s performance.

A maturing Grice took second at the

1978 Bathurst 1000, behind Brock in a similar Torana A9X, and many more podium places followed. However, nothing really clicked into place until 1986. Gricey’s enthusiastic dreams were realised when, together with Graeme Bailey, his Commodore took the chequered flag at Bathurst, becoming the first privateer victory since Brock’s win in 1975.

Grice was clearly in a class of his own that year. Having previously raced in Europe, he’d mentally toughened up and matured into a more thinking, confident driver. Although his littleknown co-driver, and the car’s owner Bailey, was more of a ‘hobby-racer’, he too had been overseas with Grice and had become the competent back-up man necessary to win Bathurst in those days. It was also Bailey’s moral support (and big, thick cheque book), along ❯

ALLAN GRICE

Akubra, moustache and cheeky grin - all trademark Allan Grice OAM.

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ALLAN GRICE

Percy and Grice make a driver change at Bathurst 1991.

with the expertise of long-time Grice car builder and team manager Les Small, which made this privateer entry so successful.

Not that they were expected to win - far from it.

“My mother was the only one who tipped me to win,” declared Grice with a grin.

That was the year of a record number of high-profile factory teams and generous sponsorship deals. Bailey and Grice faced the might of the more fancied Mobil Holden Dealer Team, Peter Jackson Nissan Skylines, JPS Team BMW, Schnitzer BMW, Dick Johnson Racing and the Volvo Dealer Team, with the best drivers in the business, including some internationally renowned stars.

The VK Commodore Roadways Racing Services ‘Chickadee’ (Bailey’s 38

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chicken firm) was well-financed, sturdily-built and surprisingly-fast.

From the start Gricey suspected they had more than a fighting chance of victory. With renewed strength of character and determination to succeed, Grice drove all but 26 laps of the race, crossing the finish line with much jubilation and fist waving. Against all odds, long awaited James-Hardie 1000 glory was his!

“Importantly, we kicked the factory’s arse,” Grice was reported as saying, while also quietly thinking, “Anytime I have an equal car, I can win.”

Although his next Bathurst victory (then Tooheys 1000) didn’t come until 1990, as defending champion in 1987, he again gave it his best shot.

With Bailey retired, Grice teamed up with top international, British hotshot Win Percy, in the Bob Jane T-Marts

Commodore, sporting Chickadee sponsorship. Some bad luck in the form of a broken axle deprived them of possible victory, as they were comfortably sitting in second place at the time of the mishap, and prospects were looking good up until that point.

Grice and Percy were again teamed together for the 1990 Tooheys 1000, but this time under entirely different circumstances. The Holden Racing Team was now under Tom Walkinshaw’s control and run by Percy, as team manager and lead driver.

Having raced together as Nissan works drivers in Europe, Percy insisted on Grice as his Bathurst co-driver, going against his bosses’ wishes.

Despite being under-dogs to the allconquering Sierra pack and awesome Nissan GT-R, their Commodore came up trumps, with Grice taking control

Bailey developed into a more than competent backup, helping Gricey to his first Bathurst win in 1986.

Grice with the ex-Jane Monza, became almost unbeatable in the 1984 GT Championship.

Gricey certainly deserves his spot amongst these legends of the sport.

after Percy was troubled with a shoulder injury. He drove a perfectly-judged race to claim another underdog victory, and an extremely popular one with Holden fans.

“I had a point to prove, and I did,” declared an elated Grice after justifying Percy’s faith in his ability.

Although they paired together in 1991 and ‘92, they couldn’t capture that glorious moment again (although their second in ‘91 almost snared them another Mount Panorama triumph).

The ‘Popular Pom’ returned for several more attempts, while the veteran, a Gold Coast resident since 1987, and active National Party MP, drove for other teams like Dick Johnson’s Shell Racing and Peter Jackson Racing, before quietly retiring from the limelight in 1997, aged 55.

For ‘Service to Motor Racing’, in

The ‘Chickadee’ propelled Grice into folklore after the underdogs pulled off a major upset victory at Bathurst.

1988, Grice was awarded an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia), one of the many memorable happenings during his interesting career. He’s raced Oldsmobile and Pontiac in NASCAR at the Coca Cola 600 Cup races at Charlotte in 1987 and 1989; raced NASCAR on the Gold Coast as Indy support; won the 1991 James Hardie 12-Hour at Bathurst, and raced at Spa and Le Mans. In recent years, and with politics behind him, Gricey was in his element racing V8 Utes, where his ‘tearaway tendencies’ were used to advantage. His choice of vehicle was surprisingly not Holden, rather a Ford Falcon, for a best place finish of sixth outright in 2002.

“It’s just superb racing, and the fans love it.

“In all my years of racing I’ve never driven in a category that is so

competitive, nor so much fun,” stated the touring car legend.

In so-called ‘retirement’, Gricey leased his ute to promising young Gold Coaster Matt Kingsley, and played a strong support role in this capacity, overseeing the running of the team.

Grice is now happy occupying his spare time playing golf, while also pursuing diverse business interests involving considerable trading with China, while in March this year, this versatile and extremely experienced competitor willingly accepted an invitation to participate in the Legends Ute support feature race as part of Adelaide’s Clipsal 500.

“Once you catch the motor racing ‘bug’ it’s difficult to shake it out of your system, and difficult to step away,” said this acclaimed hard-charger and dual ML Bathurst 1000 winner.

MotorSportLegends

39

STORY BY MARK COOPER PHOTOGRAPHS BY NATALIE DELAREY STORY BY BRIAN REED PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHERYL REID

BRAKING DOWN THE RULEBOOK What you can and can’t do with your historic racer’s brake system

T

he historic racing movement has done much to preserve and promote the heritage of motor racing in this country over many years now, but with tight regulations governing all aspects of historic motor racing vehicles how do we get the maximum possible competitiveness out of our own car?

The major rule of thumb when it comes to historic regulations is keeping the car’s condition, both externally and mechanically, on a par with how they were raced in their heyday. The major mechanical components must be of the same or comparative standards as when the car was originally raced, so how can the cunning historic racer seek to gain an advantage over his competition?

Brakes are a prime example. Generally speaking, as rules do vary between

historic categories, the braking system must be of the same type that was fitted when the car was originally competing.

Discs and calipers, for example, must be of the same make, size and type as originally fitted. Solid discs cannot be replaced with ventilated or cross-drilled modern units, nor can you go out with a fist full of cash and bolt the latest sixpiston calipers on to the front of your Group Sb sports car – even if it did have discs ‘back in the day’.

So it seems at first that we are pretty restricted by the regulations when it comes to eking out a little extra stopping power, and therefore a quicker lap time.

There are however, a few small areas where we can generate a little more performance from our historic racecar’s braking system.

On the majority of historic classes brake

lines are unrestricted so changing to braided lines will give you a small, reasonably inexpensive performance gain. Apart from being more resistant to damage from stones and other debris a braided line does not ‘bulge’ as much when heavy braking force is applied, meaning more of the pedal pressure you apply is transmitted to the braking surface.

This gives slightly better pedal feel and brake response.

If we add into the equation some quality racing

QFM PERFORMANCE Disc Brake Pads HPX - Heavy duty street braking A1RM - Extra heavy duty street braking and light track work Contact QFM direct for your nearest stockist Queensland Friction Materials P/L Phone: (07) 5596 1099 Email: qfmsales@onthenet.com.au

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BRAKE SPECIAL

MASTERS SETS OWN RULE

Keeping brakes at their optimum by machining rotors is one area allowed under historic racing rules.

brake fluid, we can reduce brake fade and the chance of boiling the brake fluid under prolonged heavy braking. However you do need to be a little careful when choosing fluid as you generally have a choice of mineral, semi-synthetic or fully synthetic variants. While all should be compatible with most if not all hydraulic systems some of the synthetic fluids are quite hydroscopic, meaning they absorb moisture from the atmosphere quite readily, and need to be flushed more regularly than mineral based fluids. This is especially important considering some historic cars are used quite infrequently.

You also need to check with your brake expert when choosing a new brake fluid as not all will mix together happily, so you may need to flush your entire system before changing fluid type.

In some historic classes it is permitted to exchange mechanical actuated systems for hydraulic and it is also generally acceptable to convert your system to a

tandem or dual master cylinder set-up.

In most classes it is also allowed to fit brake cooling ducts to reduce brake temperatures, though in most cases there are requirements regarding the location and size of any ducting.

The biggest area where we can attempt to increase our braking performance is undoubtedly pad construction and material. There have been solid advances in brake pad construction techniques and materials since your favourite historic racer first set foot on the racetrack and this is where we can pick up our biggest gain as pad material is generally unrestricted in most classes. The prevalence of carbon/kevlar compounds and the use of ceramic insulating layers between the friction surface and the backing material now gives us much better performance, longer life and far better consistency than was previously available. For those with drum brakes carbon/kevlar based brake shoes are

The Touring Car Masters class moved away from historic racing regulations in some part due to the restrictions on components such as brakes.

The horsepower that is being developed by the leading contenders in the class is now well above what was achievable in the 1970s when the cars were originally running, so a definite advantage of the move outside the historic rules is the extra freedom given to components such as brakes. These cars now run, in the most part, modern brake rotors, which are grooved but not cross-drilled. They also run 4 piston calipers, and those cars that originally had drum brakes at the rear are allowed to replace them with discs. The Touring Car Masters rulebook also allows for a number of other minor upgrades to the braking system such as driver adjustable proportioning valves.

also available.

So, how do we choose the correct pad or shoe compound? Well snooping around your competitor’s cars is a good start, but failing that it does come down to a number of variables - car weight, disc material and size, caliper type and of course driver preference all get thrown into the equation. The only real way to know is to try many compounds until you find the one you are most comfortable with. ML

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CLUTCH SPECIAL

STORY BY BRIAN REED PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHERYL REID STORY BY MARK COOPER PHOTOGRAPHS BY NATALIE DELAREY

ENGAGE POWER C Selecting the right clutch for your historic race car

lutches are obviously vital for transferring the power from your car to the ground, but if you’re restoring your first Historic Racer how do you go about selecting the right clutch assembly?

Individual class rules in the CAMS Manual don’t specifically mention that much on clutches, so where do we start? Obviously we are dictated by the engine/gearbox combination and what is available for your car. And what you select needs to be dependent on the torque output of your engine.

Back when your historic racer was a state-of–the-art piece of kit your choices were limited compared to modern times, and organic based clutches may well have been all that was available.

Now we have a much broader range of material options, all with slightly differing friction, heat control and wear characteristics. You must take into account though, that exotic materials such as carbon and carbon/kevlar are more than frowned upon in historic circles – turn up with a 7 plate, 5” carbon clutch in your 1970s open-wheeler and you might politely be asked to turn around and go home.

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What is commonly referred to as an organic clutch is generally a compound of several materials with metal fibres woven through. They are designed for easy engagement, long life and high tolerance to heat. Unlike some other materials they will generally return to full operation after being overheated. As they are the most resistant to overheating damage and due to the good wear characteristics they are still the most common choice for original equipment in most road cars.

Sintered iron clutches are designed to operate under much harsher conditions than an organic clutch. They can withstand a much higher heat level, but with this comes a much harsher engagement – that on/off feel that is particularly prevalent in many racing vehicles. This harsh engagement may also facilitate the need for a special flywheel surface. You always need to think of clutch and flywheel as a complete package when contemplating a purchase.

Ceramic clutches have similar characteristics to more exotic materials like carbon and carbon/kevlar in that they have a very high tolerance to temperature making them less prone to

overheating. They do however have a less harsh engagement than similar clutches designed for racing conditions. They can also wear your flywheel quite quickly in comparison to other clutch materials.

So, if you’re not confused yet take into account that you can also have clutches with different materials on opposing sides, primarily to allow for a smooth engagement on one side while still having a high friction surface to allow for good bite on the other. Usually these types of clutches are ceramic and organic on opposing surfaces.

So, what do we choose? Discuss at length with your engine builder and a clutch specialist, and have a good think about the car and the type of driving you will be doing. If it is a purpose built racing car the harsh engagement of something like a sintered iron clutch will be fine – at least once you’re used to the pedal feel. If on the other hand your Group Sb car is driven to and from the track you’re more likely to want something a little easier on the engagement and more practical for driving, especially in the queue on the way home from the Phillip ML Island Classic.

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHS SUPPLIED BY ALBIN

CHANGING COGS

The differences between synchromesh and dog engagement racing gearboxes

M

ost of us have heard the term ‘dog box’. Some of us who own race driven vehicles may even have used a dog-engaged or close-ratio gearbox of some sort. But what is inside that box of cogs and how does it work? What are the benefits and how does one treat such a part to ensure it keeps on operating correctly?

There are essentially two types of gear engagement -- synchro and dog engagement. We should point out here that the gear engagement type has nothing to do with gear strength or the type of ‘cut’ on the gears. Straight cut or spur gears are often referred to as dog-boxes incorrectly. We should make it clear that the cut of the driven gear... whether it be straight or helical (on a helix or angle) is a separate characteristic of the gearbox and does not effect the engagement of the gears (gear selection).

For those of us involved in historic racing, gearset replacement is common practice and in most cases a necessity in order to achieve more time within specific RPM ranges (close ratio) and as a means to build more reliability into the car through better design and materials.

Early OEM style gearboxes also often 44

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had horrendous synchro engagement that made gear selection slow and at times impossible at certain engine speeds.

Most modern cars are fitted with a synchronised gearbox from factory. In a synchromesh gearbox, to correctly match the speed of the gear to that of the shaft as the gear is engaged, a collar initially applies a force to a cone-shaped brass clutch attached to the gear, which brings the speeds to match prior to the collar locking into place. The collar is prevented from bridging the locking rings when the speeds are mismatched by synchro rings (also called blocker rings or baulk rings). The synchro rings have a sloping engagement so as long as they drag rotationally, they hold the dog clutch out of engagement. The brass clutch ring gradually causes parts to spin at the same speed. When they do spin the same speed, there is no more force on the sloping surfaces of the synchro rings, and the dog clutch is allowed to fall in to engagement. In a modern gearbox, the action of all of these components is so smooth and fast it is hardly noticed.

The modern cone system was developed

by Porsche and introduced in the 1952 Porsche 356; cone synchronisers were called ‘Porsche-type’ for many years

after this. In the early 1950s only the second-third shift was synchromesh in most cars, requiring only a single synchro and a simple linkage; drivers’ manuals in cars suggested that if the driver needed to shift from second to first, it was best to come to a complete stop then shift into first and start up again. With continuing sophistication of mechanical development, however, full synchromesh transmissions with three speeds, then four speeds, and then five speeds, became universal by the 1980s. Reverse gear, however, is usually not synchromesh, as there is only one reverse gear in the normal automotive transmission and changing gears into reverse while moving is not required.

Synchromesh engagement is best done with slow movement of the gearstick.

It may also be noted that synchromesh gear engagement is best done at lower engine speeds. Gear engagement with synchromesh also requires a short amount of time to take place, it is not instantaneous. This all differs completely from dog-engagement where gear selection is instantaneous, at any engine speed and must be actioned quickly for proper gear selection.

The main limitations of synchromesh

TRADE TALK

gearboxes are slow shifting at very high RPM (eg 9000rpm) and slow gear selection when rapidly decelerating - for example when selecting first gear for a hairpin - as well as the need to use the clutch. Synchromesh gearboxes are therefore not well suited to racing applications in general.

For successful shifting with a dog engagement gearset, the driver needs to have an understanding of how the dog mechanism operates.

Gear engagement is facilitated by what could be plainly described as numerous large teeth (dogs) that mate into openings machined into another surface, that often being the driven gear.

Unlike the synchro engagement, the two rotating gears are operating at different speeds (unless the revs have been matched) and there is no synchronising mechanism to assist in bringing them up to a synchronised (equal) speed.

The number of dogs and the size of the openings determine the window of opportunity that the dogs have to engage on the shift event. It is for this reason that often smaller numbers of dogs offering a better shift quality, although with increased noise on the shift.

If the dogs do not line up to facilitate a gear engagement, the faces of each opposing surface (dogs) will clash and over time can and will wear. The level of wear will depend on the speed of the dogs and the force applied.

“Proper” gear selection to minimise clashing of dogs is achieved by fully moving the dog ring as rapidly as possible from one gear to the next, preferably with the engine’s driving load

the throttle sufficiently to allow the dog ring to be pulled out of engagement.

The driver will then experience the dog ring engaging with the next gear and the throttle can be re-applied. With practice this can be done in milliseconds and the driver will soon learn to move the gear lever faster than he can move his foot off and back on to the throttle. Therefore the effective method is to apply load to the gear lever with your hand and then lift the throttle foot off and back on to the pedal as fast as physically possible.

In removing the throttle, the loaded gear lever will almost involuntarily shift to the next gear before the throttle is re-applied.

One other method of shifting is to load the gear lever with your hand, stay flat on the throttle and dab the clutch to release the dog ring but clutch abuse in this removed until the shift is completed. situation may be an issue.

(The opposite is true of a synchromesh On downshifts, blipping the throttle just gearbox as used in passenger cars, where before engagement is advisable as this will slow movement helps). aid engagement and match the revs with Remember there will be no dog wear the speed of the car on deceleration and when the dogs are fully engaged (car is make the downshifts as late as possible in in-gear). The damage can only take place the braking area at a speed that is close when initiating contact during a shift, to the lowest speed required to negotiate (mis-shifting) therefore this event must the corner. be made as short as possible. If a driver Typically, you will experience the car moves the gear lever slowly, or if the jumping out of gear and becoming linkage is poorly secured, dog wear will difficult to get into gear if you have some occur in various degrees. Lightweight and dog wear. secure gear linkages will assist with gear The dogs that hold the car in a selection and reduced dog wear. particular gear have worn to the point Unfortunately dog wear is inevitable to where they no longer can maintain some degree, but shift “style” amongst engagement when power is applied or in other things will have a bearing on the some cases, when the car is decelerating amount of wear experienced.

The best method of changing gears with For more information visit www.albins.

ML a ‘dog box’ involves the driver releasing com.au or call (03) 53358022.

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Offer valid until 31/12/2010

TRADE TALK

STORY BY BRIAN REED PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHERYL REID

QFM LEADS THE WAY

Q

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NATALIE DELAREY

ueensland Friction Materials Pty Ltd is a Queensland based disc brake pad manufacturing company, which was established in Nerang in 1989.

The emphasis at QFM has been to develop high quality friction material at

competitive prices. A wide range of disc pads to suit passenger vehicle, taxi, and performance applications is available.

Sales Manager for QFM Greg Thornton said HPX and A1RM are the two most popular performance formulations the company manufactures.

HPX is recommended for heavy-duty street braking, it has good wear life, low dust and is kind to rotors.

A1RM is for the performance enthusiast who requires heavy-duty street braking and also engages in some light track work. The performance characteristics of A1RM can produce more dust and rotor wear than HPX. The popularity of QFM brake pads has steadily grown, and now many leading brake specialists in Australia are ďŹ tting and selling the QFM product. ML

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STORY AS TOLD TO DARREN HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHS SUPPLIED BY AUTOPICS.COM.AU

RALLY ACE TAKES ON AGP The day Bondy took on the best Formula 5000 had to offer

T COLIN BOND MCLAREN M10B 1971 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX WARWICK FARM

owards the end of 1971, Frank Matich asked me what I was doing the following year. In those days it was either stay with Holden and run with the Holden Dealer Team or maybe look at what Frank was oering. Frank said he wanted to go to America and do the Formula 5000 L&M Series and asked if I would be interested. I thought ‘Yeah, that sounds pretty good’.

Frank was building a car for himself, which was a Matich (A50 Repco) and he still had the McLaren (M10B Repco) that he raced previously, which he wanted me to run in the Australian Grand Prix that year at Warwick Farm.

Prior to that event I had only driven the car on the short circuit at Warwick Farm, and we also had taken it up to Surfers Paradise and did one race up there against Formula Vees and Formula 2s or something. It was one of those funny sorts of races.

So we got to the Grand Prix and the ďŹ rst practice session was run in the rain.

We only had one set of wets already mounted on wheels so Frank said, “I will go out ďŹ rst, put a time down, come in and we’ll take the wheels o my car and put them on your car and you can go out and do a timeâ€?.

At that stage I hadn’t driven a Formula 5000 in the wet at all and I thought �

1/26 Burgess Rd Bayswater Nth Vic 3153

COLIN BOND

to myself ‘I am going to be 10 seconds off the pace’. Anyway, Frank came in, we put the tyres on my car and I went out.

With a Formula 5000 in the dry, the earlier you got the power on, the faster you went and you learnt that. But in the wet it was a different story and I was driving it like a rally car. I was arriving at every corner all locked up and out of control, and then getting a gear and going around the corner thinking, ‘My Godfather, I am buggered if I know how the regular guys drive them any faster because I certainly can’t’. I had no idea.

When I came back into the pits I was on pole by about three seconds! I was amazed more than anyone else by the fact that I was so much faster than everyone else in the wet, but it was only because I was stupid – I just didn’t know.

I was always convinced in my own mind that I was going to be too slow. As it turned out it was a great drive but I don’t know if I could have done it again.

The track did dry out, thank Christ, and I was sixth on the grid in the end.

Frank was up the front and there were quite a few good guys around us, of course. (John) Surtees was there, so too Frank Gardner, KB (Kevin Bartlett), Alan Hamilton and Graeme Lawrence might have been there in his little Ferrari, so there was a lot of good cars at that particular meeting.

We started the race and were going quite well until the harmonic balancer came off, taking the oil pump drive with it and so I stopped.

After that we were supposed to go to New Zealand to do the Tasman series with Frank but then he let me know

When Frank Matich constructed his own F5000 chassis Colin Bond took the drive in his McLaren for the 1971 AGP at Warwick Farm.

that he had already sold the car to Frank Radisich (father of ex-V8 Supercar driver, Paul Radisich).

They were going to build another Matich and still go to the L&M Series but I thought, ‘Well, if I am not going to do the Tasman Series I couldn’t see myself going across to America with only one drive in the cars’, so I turned around and went back to Holden.

It was one of the things in hindsight that could have been good, I don’t know.

I really enjoyed driving the cars, they were fantastic motor cars.

Although the McLaren was worlds away from the Torana XU-1 I had been driving, it wasn’t a problem because I had my own open-wheeler early in my career, a supercharged Lynx Puegeot.

I think the McLaren was a great motor car and a very safe motor car. It had a sort of roundish shape, which was quite a strong design.

In hindsight, Formula 5000s probably

Matich and the M10B at Surfers Paradise during the 1971 Tasman Series.

were a little bit dangerous in their day but only because your feet were ahead of the front axle. Now in Formula One they have moved the seat backward so your feet are behind the front axle and the cars today are of course much stronger being made of carbon fibre.

The main thing I am happy about now is my legs still work. A lot of the guys who ML ran Lolas have got the ‘Lola Limp’.

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V8X 2005