1960s Tasman Revival Meeting - Eastern Creek, Sydney 1st - 3rd December 2006
Living the dream
The inaugural Tasman Cup Revival Race featured a capacity field of 1960s open-wheelers, many of which had competed in the events of the era. After an unforgettable dice throughout the entire 15 laps, including a number of lead changes, John Smith scored a narrow win, only 0.2 seconds ahead of Spencer Martin. Smith’s winning Lotus 49 Cosworth, part of the Dawson-Damer collection, had originally contested the 1969 Tasman Cup in the hands of then world champion Graham Hill. Martin’s Brabham Alfa BT23D, recently restored to pristine condition by owner Paul Moxham, had previously been part of the Mildren Racing Team and contested the Tasman Series in 1968 when driven by Frank Gardner, and again in 1969 with Australian champion Kevin Bartlett in the seat. Martin himself had also competed in the Tasman Series in 1966 and 1967. In third place was the Brabham BT23C of American visitor Phil Harris. Feedback from spectators and enthusiastic media reports confirm the 2006 Tasman Revival to have been a raging success. A collection of magazine articles on the event is included in a downloadable file below. Included are reports from English Motorsport, English Classic & Sportscar, USA-based Vintage Racecar and Vintage Motorsport, Japanese Classic Car, Australian Classic Car, Auto-Action, Motorsport News and Racer magazine, along with our Club magazine “The Oily Rag”. Tasman Dreaming – Fifteen laps and thirty-five years of history The full-face Arai helmet is unbuckled and the balaclava removed with one hand as the other hand flicks off the battery switch in the Brabham. I am back at my pit garage, biggest race of my life over and I am still trying to figure out why I don’t remember a thing about racing around Eastern Creek’s 3.93km circuit of hills, turns and long straight. I really don’t, outside of flashes of the first scene of Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix movie with race exhausts blaring in front of my face and thoughts of book titles flashing – “When the Flag Drops,” When the engine Roars,” “It was Fun,” “Lost causes of Motoring,” and “Nowhere to Hide.” I did fourteen laps (being lapped once at least) and lived all of thirty-five years of motor racing history during those thirty minutes.
The author’s Brabham BT18 with Graeme Lawrence looking over and explaining how to take the first corner flat out [Photo Fiona Michels] EC opened its landscaped hills to us with clear skies on a typically beautiful day in Sydney but temperatures were beginning to soar and forehead creases were becoming evident. Aussie hospitality was at its very best and there was little need for the “she’ll be right, mate” remark that always gets me worried (It got John Macdonald and Angus Lamont worried in the 70s when they were racing a Formula 5000 car that had been procured from Max Stewart and which had a fractured brake disc). I was mindful of the need to get my Brabham BT18 prepped before I began my walkabout to look for fodder for Snakes & Devil’s, my book on racing in Asia. Avgas at 50 bucks per twenty-litre can and batteries charged before I felt comfortable enough to unload my Nikon and notepad and head out. The 3.93km circuit of hills and its long straight beckoned. With temperatures starting to soar well past 40 Celsius and rubber beginning to bubble on the tarmac, I never did finish my fist race and after just three laps the temperature gauge was firmly planted off the scale and no amount of nursing could get it to show any signs of cooling off. And since I had little intention of returning to the pits with an 180bhp block of molten metal I called it a day and pulled in on the penultimate lap while others left a trail of steam and coolant on the track. Kevin “KB” Bartlett, advised me to bleed the radiator, something we had taken care of earlier. Nothing to do with bleeding radiators, mate! The heat would have consumed everything thrown at it anyway. Paddock number 134 was a hive of activity with a stream of visitors, most who had raced in Asia and who were over to give advice, drop some photos or programs over or just come over to chat. For a while it appeared that we were back at Shah Alam for the Selangor Grand Prix, or the Singapore Grand Prix in the 1970s. Jan Bussell (Macao Grand Prix winner 1968 and 1971) came along on my invitation, eager to find his old Brabham BT15 (now called a BT16 and run in Penrite Oil colours). Brain Foley swung by with some material and it wasn’t long before Chris Reed showed up (owner of Lou de Marco’s 1968 Johore Grand Prix winning car) followed by Vaughn Stibbard (Henkie Iriawan’s Elfin 300B and one of the Pallisers), Vern Schuppan (1973 Singapore Grand Prix winner), Malcolm Ramsay (Birrana Cars and once owner of the Ian Ross Elfin 600 Repco which he ran in Singapore/Malaysia in 1969 and which the press referred to as a Formula One car) and Ron Tauranac (the RT in RALT and once owner of Brabham). Frank Gardner came, ferried along in a golf cart by Macao-resident Neville McKay. Kevin Bartlett swung by in his high-speed single-seater golf-cart and Graeme Lawrence dropped by as well. Even Ken Nelson was there, with the same Mini he raced in Southeast Asia in the 60s!
Ian Ross’s Elfin 600C Repco V8 with Ian, Malcolm Ramsay and the author. For the 1969 season, Garrie Cooper returned to Singapore in this very Elfin 600C (#6908) – with 2.5-litre Repco 830 V8 engine, backed by BP and BOAC and with the intention of running in Singapore and Malaysia followed by the JAF Japan GP at Mount Fuji (with Tony Maw attending as team manager). The BOAC deal was arranged by Tony Maw in Kuala Lumpur while Cooper had the BP backing. [Photo Fiona Michels] I would have been equally happy to set up a table with food and drink and spend the day talking to all the visitors who were keen to help with my book on racing in Asia. Of the 400 or so entries for the Tasman Revival weekend, no less than 5% of the cars had once raced in Asia. Jan Bussell had his family over and seemed to have enjoyed the weekend, his greatest joy being to show his Brabham (BT15 chassis FJB2) to the family. If there were once person who could be credited with having raced at top level in Asia for the longest period, it would have to be Jan. Jan first ran at the Macao Grand Prix of 1958 in a Berkeley, having been encouraged by Phil Caroline. Jan was still at it in the 70s, running the Rothmans March 732, his list of cars included the Fribus Special, a Cooper monoposto, a Ferrari Monza, the aforementioned Brabham BT15, a McLaren M4 and a Palliser in between. Jan also ran Kuala Lumpur-based Torque Shop, a sanctuary for competitors in need of help during race weekends.
I know you, says Ken to Jan Bussell! Ken Smith reacquaints himself with Jan Bussell. Smith has use of Bussell's Torque Shop Garage for Lotus 59/69 during the early 1970s when he first raced in Southeast Asia. Saturday began with a wet front. Great! Fresh engine, new track, wrong gear ratios, a fractured gear selector fork and rain. That’s so much one can worry about that it soon becomes meaningless so while Rick Michels pulled out the Hewland Mk5 gearbox to try to get me a higher top gear and fix the selector problems, I went on another stroll. The Kiwi contingent had the ex-Hulme Yardley McLaren M23 F1 car (which I had first seen at Teretonga in February 2006), and there was a well-presented orange McLaren M4A F2 car, which I had seen Ken Smith get into. Diminutive Ken, blocks on the pedals so he could reach them…still racing after 49 seasons. Ken Smith, the same guy who won three times in Penang and who, with Graeme Lawrence, was a frequent visitor to Asia during that golden age of racing in the 70s and right into the early 80s. Racing at the Creek…
The Tasman Revival grid before one of the races. The author’s BT18 was so far back that he could see the cars move off before hearing their engines roar. [Photo courtesy Andrew Fellowes] Eastern Creek is a technical track. With EC, the long straight ends with a near flat out left-hander where the non-winged single-seater starts to lift a bit. Little time then to appreciate Ken Smith passing me in the McLaren M4A or Ian Ross sliding off in the Elfin 600 Repco with a jammed throttle. With top gear now out of action my lap times would rapidly begin to skyrocket and it was time to enjoy the race instead. With the corner of my eye I spied Ian “Whiskers” Ross standing alone by his Elfin 600 Repco and thought how the Singapore press lapped up Garrie Cooper’s (who created Elfin Sports Cars) arrival in Singapore with what everyone said was a Formula One car in 1969 (thanks to Jack Brabham’s World Championship win with a V8 Repco engine, of course). Malcolm Ramsay eventually bought the car from Harpers in Hong Kong. In those fleeting seconds between corners 3 and 4, I recalled Malcolm telling me about the problems he had had with that Repco, never being able to rev over 6000rpm (max 8000-8500rpm). They finally figured that it was due to a dirty fuel filter in the metering unit. The din of the flat-plane crank Repco V8 made Malcolm deaf for over 4 days! I downshift a ratio and watch Ken Smith pull away with ease. Go Kenny! Three times winner of the Penang Circuit Races! The E&O Hotel in Penang named dishes after Graeme Lawrence and John Macdonald in 1976. I wondered if Ken had been featured. The orange M4C shrinks into the distance. I picture Jan Bussell in his orange McLaren M4 as well – the colours of his Torque Shop. Jan’s McLaren caught fire at the 1972 Singapore Grand Prix (the marshals had a dud extinguisher on hand and the story goes that they ran a fire hose across the track to douse the car!). Mind you, 1972 and 1973 weren’t the best of years for the Singapore GP, with two significant deaths that effectively made it torture for the organizers to continue using the old Upper Thomson Road circuit. Not good to think such things while racing so I changed the subject and thought how glad I was to have spent the day with Jan and his lovely wife Lynn in Sydney on the Wednesday before the race weekend, even though he had been fined and docked his licence for three months for speeding to pick me at the railway station. I picture a photo Jan gave me of the John Macdonald Rondel BT36 sans bodywork at Torque Shop in KL, the car turned on its side. The photo was dated the Saturday of the Shah Alam race weekend in April 1972. The engine had seized due to an incorrect oil pressure take-off from the wrong side of the filter. The pressure gauge read decent pressure but there was no oil getting into the engine. Turning the engine on its side was a quick way to get to the bottom end. Angus Lamont told me that he’d heard that Jan was going ballistic as well, trying to get his new McLaren working. That same Rondel BT36 was a mere 20 yards from my own paddock area, now with my friend Andrew Fellows but no longer with the Rondel nose and now sporting Graham Hill’s name on the car.
The Andrew Fellowes BT36-2 sans Rondel nose when Eddie Marcelo owned it in the Philippines [Photo Eddie Marcelo collection]
The Brabham BT36 (chassis No. 2) exits the pit lane, closely followed by the ex-John Green/Steve Millen Chevron B20 Atlantic I brake hard for a sharp right-hander, the neutral handling Brabham in no way pushed to the limit. I am pussyfooting the car in my biggest race ever! A red car muscles past. I know this car well. Gosh, I’ve finally raced against the 1968 Singapore Grand Prix winning car, the Elfin 600 Prototype that Garrie Cooper brought down that year and won with. The car was subsequently sold to Indonesian Henkie Iriawan before going to Tony Maw and finally to Paul Hamilton. Paul was instrumental in getting me the Tasman entry for the BT18 and friends Rick Michels and Roger Munns ensured the Brabham made it from Invercargill to Sydney. Barely able to contain myself, I wasn’t sure which was more exciting; racing or watching these lovely machines past me as if I were stationary.
Left to right: Rick Michels, Frank Gardner, Neville McKay and myself. Frank was patron of the Tasman Revival and lived up to his reputation as a first rate storyteller. [Photo Fiona Michels] I realise I have difficulty selecting a couple of gears and so it’s cruise mode and slow, deliberate changes. Another Brabham roars by. Typical Brabham colours - green with gold stripe. The BT23C-1 was yet another ex-Singapore car with Peter Addison driving (for Brian Wilson). My friend Rodney Seow in Singapore owned this ex-Brabham car. The correspondence that Rodney had with Motor Racing Developments on setting up the car and parts purchased makes for interesting reading. That BT23C never actually raced in Asia but who really cares!
Mike Truter sits on the Brian Wilson BT23C-1 just before passing the author a stack of old Malaysian and Singapore race programs.
Then: Elfin 600 Prototype that Garrie Cooper used to win the Singapore Grand Prix of 1968 – before it arrived in Singapore! Garrie Cooper revealed his first tube-framed Elfin 600 prototype (# 6801) in early 1968. Some saw it as a retrogressive step from the Elfin Mono that already existed yet its versatility far surpassed expectations. The car was setup for racing in Southeast Asia and within two weeks of its first test, had been freighted to Kuala Lumpur for the Selangor Circuit Races on 6th April 1968. [Photo Paul Hamilton collection]
Now: The Elfin 600 Prototype. Paul Hamilton in conversation with Ray Bell With the fresh twin cam engine giving loads of grunt and far easier to drive than the earlier Cosworth hand-grenade I had in F3 specification on the BT18, there was never a need to manhandle the car. Still, four or so laps to go and no overheating, brakes fine, driver enjoying himself amid the shame being a back marker…I soon drift back into my Tasman dream – this time in the paddock as I stand next to two Penrite Oil cars – the ex-Bussell BT15 (which Jan purchased from Kiwi Howden Ganley) and an attractive Lola Climax. Was this the Chan Lye Choon Lola that raced in Johore and Singapore? Indeed it was – chassis BR24 FWE 9533 sports 1220 Climax. Here I was staring at that same Lola, now in black/red livery. Chan Lye Choon had specially imported it into Singapore and raced it in green with white stripes for the 1961 2nd Coronation Johore Grand Prix (which he won). Its subsequent history escapes me at this point however.
The ex-Chan Lye Choon Lola Climax now in Penrite Oils colours. Chan Lye Choon had specially imported it into Singapore and raced it in green with white stripes for the 1961 2nd Coronation Johore Grand Prix (which Chan won). I am still trying to look purposeful in the Brabham, knowing that it’ll be over soon but I am still lost in thought and now meander my way past a couple of Chevron Atlantic cars, catch a glimpse of Steve Millen’s Chevron B20 in the pit garage (it too raced in Malaysia, under the Schollum Racing banner) and head for a very stationary Chevron B8, the Max Bruninghausen car. I have the very story to wind Max up but his sick Chevron holds me back. Max had raced an Alfa TZ in Macao (3rd at the Macao Grand Prix of 1968) and I forget to ask if the B8 had as well. I head a little further down and come across a very attractive looking coupe – a 1966 Porsche 906 Carrera 6, the ex-Sonauto-Porsche France car. The front nose looks familiar – just like the Richard Wong Racing Organisation 906-007 Spyder that Richard acquired from Alan Hamilton in 1969 and which Teddy Yip eventually acquired in 1970.
The ex-John Green/Steve “Mad Dog” Millen/Ian Gray Chevron B20 first raced in Singapore at the Gap Hill Climb in January 1973. Suddenly there are flags waving all around – yellow/orange flags, just as I had begun to chat with Peter Mohr about his Chevron B34, the ex-Albert Poon car that Albert ran in 1977, the second year of the Rothmans International Grand Prix Trophy Series (which began in 1976 and was won by Graeme Lawrence) and the first year the Malaysian Grand Prix had attained International status. I am brought abruptly back into the race. Oily surface ahead, better focus on keeping my Brabham on the tarmac. Coming into turns 11 and 12 there are cars parked to the side, no major altercation visible but these cars appeared to be out of the race nonetheless. The checkered flag beckons and I lift off after, glad I don’t have to take turn 1 at full bore another time because it’s littered in gravel and I can’t see a decent line. The marshals wave as we do our cool down lap, and I am momentarily taken back to racing in a Caterham in Zuhai in Southern China. The marshals at the Zuhai International Circuit seem to disappear the minute the race ends and to hell with the drivers. The cool down lap means I don’t have to tax the Brabham’s Mk5 box anymore and damn if I can understand these things but the ratios slip in clean and precise, like a hot knife into butter. No rest for the wicked and it’s straight back into the paddock, a quick change and start packing the car for the return journey to New Zealand (where it resides) before I can head off to get some meetings arranged in Adelaide with Vern Schuppan and Malcolm Ramsay, and further meetings in Sydney with journalist Ray Bell and editor Max Stahl and with some of the other chaps that raced in Asia.
Malcolm Ramsay recounting to Vern Schuppan how he went deaf for fours days after driving the Elfin 600 Repco. Malcolm’s Birrana Cars were a force to reckon with in Asia. The ultimate lap record for the Singapore Grand Prix belongs to a Birrana [Birrana 273-007 - Fastest Lap set by Leo Geoghegan 1:54.9 at 94.71 mph). The Birrana 273 was a Tony Alcock-designed car.
Other
competitors in the historic event were – Among the interesting cars brought from overseas to contest some of the supporting events were the ex-Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 004 of John Dimmer (USA), the Talbot Lago of Peter Giddings (USA), the famous American sports car special “Old Yeller II” of Ernie Nagamatsu and, from New Zealand, the ex-Denny Hulme McLaren M23 of Phil Mauger. Also in attendance to compete in Brian Caldersmith’s Lotus Elite was the renowned British sports and touring car champion Sir John Whitmore. During the three days of the meeting 52 events were contested. The major trophy winners were – Frank Gardner Trophy
(Group L sports) – Keith Simpson (1960 Lola Mk 1) Copyright Eli Solomon, Hong Kong 2006 |
