MotorSport Legends Issue 23

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

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#23 Aug-Oct 2013

M A G A Z I N E

ty u a e b ly t s a e b Jim Richards’

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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 Please tell me it’s true ...

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News 6 Who did what on the historic and nostalgia motorsport scenes.

Jim Richards’ XC Falcon 8-14 It may not have been the prettiest car on the race track, but Richo’s XC Falcon sports sedan certainly got the job done.

Andrew Miedecke 16-22 His name may not be as familiar as Peter Brock, Allan Moffat or Dick Johnson, but ‘mad’ Andy, as TV commentator Mike Raymond used to call him, certainly knew how to get a race car around a track in the fastest possible time.

Historic Racer 25-28 The full story behind Craig Lowndes’ re-run of the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally in a restored FX Holden.

Webb of Intrigue 29 Mick’s not scared to tell it how it happened.

In this issue he recounts his experiences with our cover story car, Jim Richards’ XC Falcon sports sedan.

Parnelli Jones 30-37 This is the legend of an innovative race car that could have revolutionised motor racing as we know it. It’s also the story of the incredibly talented man who drove it.

Mario Andretti (part 2) 38-43 Mario Andretti was a true racer. He drove everything from Speedway to Formula One and IndyCar. And he didn’t just compete; he won championships in almost every category he raced.

Reg Hunt 44-49 A master of the Maserati in the 1950s, Reg Hunt’s contribution to Australian motor racing history makes for some great reading.

CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE Mark Fogarty Foges has met some interesting people and written plenty of great yarns during 40 years following the sport, but his interview with Indy legend Parnelli Jones and the story of one of the most innovative racing cars in history is surely our senior scribe’s best.

Darren House Darren was a photographer when Richo was racing his XC Falcon sports sedan. Luckily, he has since learnt to write, so he can share his enthusiasm for the car with all of us. Meanwhile, part two of his chat with Mario Andretti is every bit as good as the first.

Glenis Lindley Yep, Glenis has been busy again!

This issue she tells the story of Craig Lowndes’ re-enactment of the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally in a fully restored FX Holden. She has also caught up with Andrew Miedecke and the pair’s trip down memory lane is well worth a read.

In fact, we’re confident you’ll enjoy the fruits of all of her labour.

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 Sub Editor Melissa McCormick Graphic Design Craig Fryers (CDF Design) Contributors Glenis Lindley, Darren House, Mark Fogarty, Richard Batchelor and Mick Webb Photographers Autopics.com.au John Doig/Torque Photos Glenis Lindley Darren House Advertising Manager Jennifer Gamble Phone: 0431 451 470 Email: advertising@ motorsportlegends.com.au Distributors Integrated Publication Solutions 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 the 23rd edition of Motorsport Legends magazine.

Motorsport Legends includes motor racing nostalgia and historic events.

P

lease tell me it’s true. The rumour doing the rounds in the historics scene is that Formula One cars could make a return to the streets

of Adelaide!

No need to panic Melburnians, the Australian Grand Prix is still firmly entrenched at Albert Park on the 2014 World Formula One Championship.

It’s a historics sprint meeting that is rumoured for the streets of Adelaide next year. Details are still sketchy and whether the full old grand prix circuit or the shortened V8 Supercar Clipsal 500 version is used is still not totally clear.

There is, however, whispers that some Formula One machines from days gone by could be brought into the country especially for the meeting. The Australian Grand Prix events held around the streets of Adelaide were truly some of the best race meetings held in Australia.

I’m actually Melbourne born and bred, but I am the first to admit that my home city doesn’t get behind its grands prix the way that the whole city of Adelaide used to.

AGPs in Adelaide were more than just car races; they were motorsport festivals. The V8 Supercars Clipsal 500 has recaptured some of that flavour, but, in my opinion, a Goodwoodstyle historics festival would be just awesome.

Motorsport Legends understands

that the event will be held over two days either just before, or just after the Clipsal 500, and that the meeting will include both a hillclimb (obviously somewhere outside of Adelaide) and a circuit sprint.

That’s about all we know at the moment, but keep your eye on our website – motorsportlegends.com.au – and make sure you pick up issue #24 of MSL in early November as we’ll pass on more details as they become available.

In this issue of Motorsport Legends we remember Jim Richards’ XC Falcon Sports Sedan, we catch up with an Indy great, Parnelli Jones, we talk to Australia’s own ‘mad’ Andy Miedecke, we recall the career of Reg Hunt, relive Craig Lowndes’ Monte Carlo experience and round out MSL’s great interview with motorsport’s Mr Versatile, Mario Andretti.

There’s certainly plenty of great nostalgic reading to keep you busy.

Until next time, drive safely on and off the race track, Cheers, – Allan Edwards, Managing Editor

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NEWS

MACAU TURNS ON THE MAGIC One of the world’s greatest race venues, Macau is celebrating 60 years of motor racing this November and Aussies are encouraged to take the trip.

The Sydney Town Hall held an exhibition of the upcoming festivities in May, featuring three Australianbased racing cars of different vintages.

An invitation-only presentation was hosted by former Macau winners, Vern Schuppan and Kevin Bartlett.

Bartlett’s victory at Macau was his first international Grand Prix victory. “So it reigns as the moment meaning the most significant race of my career up to that point,” he said. “In fact, maybe it hasn’t been

surpassed by any other wins.”

‘KB’ admits the racetrack was daunting for a first timer.

“There was very little in the way of safety at Macau back

then; bamboo barriers only there to hold spectators away from the track edge. Light poles between track and sea-wall. Best to not make

any errors was the concern.”

The Macau Grand Prix’s birth in 1954 revolved around a group of local automotive enthusiasts who held a “motorised treasure hunt”. Since 2005, it has been the final round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

The two-weekend program will include plenty of track action such as the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix, FIA World Touring Car Championship and the 47th running of the Macau Motorcycle GP. Organisers have also planned a food festival and fireworks display.

For interested travellers, visit the Macau Government Tourist Office at www. macautourism.gov.mo or call (02) 9264 1488. MSL

NEW!

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MCM ADDS GRID STARS

The Mercedes-Benz-powered W196 open-wheeler, which assisted Juan Manuel Fangio to his second World Drivers’ Championship win in 1954, was auctioned last month.

The auction was held at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, July 12 but speculation on its worth as “one of the most expensive cars ever sold” began as soon as it was announced for sale early (March) this year.

Silver Arrows drivers Lewis Hamilton and Sir Stirling Moss were at Silverstone before the auction and compared the old race car to Hamilton’s latest.

“Taking a look at Lewis’s car today, there’s no way would I get in it, but then he said the same thing

about mine! He asked where the seatbelts were – we didn’t wear seatbelts!”

The car Bonhams is to sell – the 2.5-litre straight-eight single-seater, chassis number 00006/54 – won the ‘54 German and Swiss grands prix; the first successive victories achieved by the factory MercedesBenz team in its post-war racing comeback.

Other racing greats for auction included the 1955 Maserati 300S Sports-Racing Spider that finished third in the ’55 Sebring 12-Hours, a ’66 Ferrari 500 Superfast that is one of only six right-hand drive models and the ’65 Ferrari 330GT 2+2 Coupé bought by John Lennon the day he passed his driving test.

PHOTO BY STEVE ETHERINGTON/MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS

BENZ STARS COMPARE STEEDS

Organisers of this year’s Muscle Car Masters event intend to recreate the glory days of local racing with a gathering of former “Great Race machines”.

Owners of genuine cars – covering the Series Production, Group C, Group A, Super Touring and V8 Supercar eras – in period livery are invited to line up for the ‘Bathurst Grid Spectacular’ at Sydney Motorsport Park, September 1.

“Many long-time race fans have fond memories of the traditional Bathurst pre-race spectacle of the 1970s and ‘80s,” said Glenn Matthews, CEO of the Australian Racing Drivers’ Club at Sydney Motorsport Park.

“This was a time of pipe bands, baton-twirlers, corny mascots, best-presented car awards and grand marshals

commanding drivers to ‘start their engines’.

“So we’re bringing this spectacle back to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Great Race at Bathurst, the 1963 Armstrong 500, and the 75th anniversary of the Mount Panorama circuit’s opening.”

The assembly will be on track for an hour of demonstration laps between the morning and afternoon racing sessions, “joined by some of the legends who drove them”.

Off-track area has been allotted for display of the cars for fans throughout the day.

More information on the 2013 Australian Muscle Car Masters, including the full line-up of race categories and road car anniversaries, can be found at www.musclecarmasters.com.au. MSL

The car that invented the ‘clubman’ genre of sports cars still sets the standard as the original and the best, with a range of models, factory built in England to comply with Australian Design Rules.

For Australian roads the Caterham range starts with the versatile Roadsport models for ‘road or track’ use, at surprisingly affordable prices. The ‘flagship’ CSR model with its F1-style in-board front suspension and fully independent rear suspension provides equal versatility, with improved ride comfort and even better traction.

Or there is the very nimble Superlight model, for those looking for a more dedicated ‘track use’ road car.

Every Caterham offers an undiluted driving experience and all are custom built exactly to customer’s individual requirements. It’s a bit like a Formula 1 car, when you come to think of it.

For more information on Caterham in Australia, please visit www.caterhamcars. com.au or contact Chris van Wyk at the following address:

FORMULA 1 AND CATERHAM SEVEN The Caterham Seven: The original and still the best

Caterham Cars Australia Level 1, 362 Swan Street, Richmond, Victoria 3121 Telephone: 03 9329 0344 Email: chris@caterhamcars.com.au

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RICHARDS’ XC FALCON STORY BY DARREN HOUSE / PHOTOGRAPHS BY AUTOPICS

THE KIWI & THE BEAST

1975 was a watershed year for Australian motorsport, and mainly for one reason – the emergence of Kiwi racer, Jim Richards.

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im’s arrival signalled bad news for Australia’s established stars who quickly realised they would have to share victories, purses and appearance money with the unassuming New Zealander.

Australians had seen the New Zealander’s potential the previous October, after he finished third in the Hardie Ferodo 1000 sharing an under-funded Torana L34 with countryman, Rod Coppins. As the 1975 Sports Sedan season unfolded, we soon discovered what he could do with an unsophisticated, outdated and

underfunded Ford Mustang.

The combination was far more competitive against more complex machinery than it had a right be, but there was more bad news for locals ahead. ‘JR’ was already planning a smarter and faster car – a twodoor Ford.

“We knew eventually we would need a new car because the Mustang wasn’t going to be good enough, so we started building the car just after we moved to Australia and it took 18 months to complete”, Jim told Motor Sport Legends.

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RICHARDS’ XC FALCON

Above: Richards’ “more sophisticated” Ford Falcon at Calder Park, 1979.

Jim chose to base the new car on a Falcon coupe because it was an Australian car and no one was running one. And, as Jim puts it, “We were Ford guys in those days.”

Consequently, Jim sought assistance from Ford via the company’s motorsport chief at the time, Peter Gillitzer, and a young Geoff Polites, who later became Ford Australia CEO. “They gave me a body shell and stamped some aluminium panels – they pressed a bootlid, a bonnet and doors for us, which didn’t work out brilliantly

because they tore,” remembered Jim. “To give the doors some strength, we filled them with two-pack foam so that the door became more of a solid member.”

All of these components were shipped to New Zealand, where engineer, Murray Bunn – who had also built the Sidchrome Mustang – began construction of the car in the workshop of his engine re-conditioning business in Papakura, South Auckland.

Just as the Mustang had been owned by Sidchrome, the Falcon too was financed and owned by someone

Crossing the finish at Calder 1978

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Support from the likes of Bob Jane helped the ‘Big M Falcon’ team make ends meet... “but only just”. Here, at Amaroo in 1980.

other than the driver – Jerry Clayton, a motor car dealer in Auckland. Jerry had previously purchased the Mustang from Sidchrome Tools and allowed Jim to bring it to Australia.

Clearly, the new car was to be more sophisticated than the Mustang, which remained very conventional in terms of layout and equipment.

“The Mustang was very standard. It had a 9-inch diff and standard front suspension with heavier springs in it basically. The Mustang wasn’t as sophisticated as a Touring Car Masters car is now”, said Jim. “The Falcon was a lot more sophisticated. It had the engine in the middle of the car in accordance with the Australian Sports Sedan regulations. We didn’t have the room to run a roll cage down the side of the car because the engine was back in the cabin. There was just enough room for me and a seat – or half a seat – it was really just jammed in there. We also ran

a Hewland DG300 transaxle with no diff in it as a gearbox, and it transmitted the power to a LG500 two-speed Indycar diff.

The Falcon also exhibited a very low stance. “The reason the car looked so low is that Murray built it on a plate and the sills were 3.5-inches off the ground, so he set the sills up and (then) built the space

frame that housed the engine, gearbox and diff,” explained Jim. Keen to source components that would allow the Falcon to compete with increasingly exotic machinery, Jim and Murray embarked on an American buying trip. Once in the US, the pair headed straight to Dan Gurney’s All American Racers organisation.

Right: Cramped cockpit with just enough room for Jim and mid-mounted engine using 2-valve Gurney Wesake heads.

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RICHARDS’ XC FALCON

“We wanted to run the (2-valve) Gurney Weslake heads, which we had on the Mustang, and so we decided to have a look through the big parts place that he had,” said Jim. “Dan ran Ford-engined cars in CanAm sports cars, plus he ran Indycars. We ended up sourcing nearly all of our components from All American Racers and we got to look around his spare parts place and found all sorts of unbelievable things.

“We found new 3-valve Weslake heads but they had never run them because the class had petered out.

“We found aluminium blocks and front and rear uprights, so we ran Gurney Eagle front uprights and McLaren rear uprights on the Falcon – they just happened to suit our purpose. We also bought the LG500 two-speed gearbox/ diff unit, which came from a big roadster Indycar. It had a gear for starting and a gear for racing. We used the first and second gears as two different diff ratios.

You could move the lever and it popped it into a different gear, which gave it a different gear diff ratio.”

The sales representative wouldn’t sell Jim the 3-valve heads, though he did suggest the pair try to convince Dan to part with a set.

“We told Dan what we were doing and we probably had three-quarters of an hour in his office talking to him about the 3-valve heads. They had never been

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raced but they had been tested, and they had an overheating issue, but Murray thought he could suss that out. Dan didn’t want a lot of money for them but it was still out of our budget, so we didn’t end up getting the heads, but it was really great to be able to sit in Dan Gurney’s office and talk to him for 45 minutes. We were just a couple of young guys from New Zealand; it was really good.”

Clearly, the Falcon was a very different beast to drive.

“It was a lot faster and did everything better than the Mustang. (In fact,) the Matich F5000 I drove at the same time didn’t do anything more spectacularly than the Falcon. It was faster but you didn’t notice it. But when we raced the Falcon, we had no budget at all. In those days I was getting $1200 a meeting from Big M, but you couldn’t run it for that.

It was a lot better than nothing but we couldn’t develop the car. We ran it with the springs it came with, the shocks it came with, and I just drove it. Potentially, it would have been a lot better but those were the circumstances.”

Despite the meagre sponsorship funds, Big M’s return was enormous, with the

“WE ENDED UP SOURCING NEARLY ALL OF OUR COMPONENTS FROM ALL AMERICAN RACERS…”

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car becoming universally known as the as the Big M Falcon.

“In those days, sponsorship was hard to get. Some guys had it but we were an unknown quantity in a way. In the first year of the Sidchrome Mustang over here, we had $30,000 from Sidchrome Tools. When we got the Falcon, we didn’t have that but we got appearance money.

We would get $2000-$3000-$4000 to appear, so we got our money that way.”

Later, Bob Jane T-Marts signed on to the team.

“They were fantastic. I knew Bob Jane and Alan Coleman; they gave us the sponsorship and we also had some sponsorship from Allbrells at some stage, and other bits and pieces, so we managed to make ends meet, but only just.”

Bob Jane even owned that car at one stage. “The guys who owned it in New Zealand decided that they had had enough of racing and they put it up for sale, so they took it from me and put it in Peter Janson’s warehouse because they knew if they had kept the car with me, I’d have kept racing it,” explained Jim. “Then, if I found a buyer, I had to

send them the money. So Bob asked me: ‘What’s happening with your car?’ I said: ‘I can’t drive it because the guys want to sell it.’ He asked how much they wanted for it. I can’t remember what it was, but he bought it. He said: ‘Take it back and keep racing it’. Later, when we re-sold it, we gave the money back to Bob.” When Jim parted company with the car, the Sports Sedans category was in decline; its rapid rise to star attraction all but over.

“When I first came over in 1975, they were almost bigger than Touring Cars because you had Bob Jane, Pete Geoghegan, Allan Moffat, John McCormack, Bryan Thomson – all guns. Bob ran the Marlboro $100,000 sports sedan series at Calder – four race meetings – and I won that one year without winning a race. You didn’t get $100,000; that was the prize money over the whole four meetings, but for winning the series I ended up with a brand new Monaro, a caravan, a boat and a trip to Singapore.

Of course, we were broke so I never even picked them up, I just sold them. I got a little bit of cash as well.

“Then the (Frank Gardner) Corvair came along and it won everything. They were good days, but things change.”

Gardner’s Corvair had few serious rivals but Jim and his Falcon provided the Chevrolet with its toughest competition.

“Had we had the amount of money to spend on the car that Gricey had, our car would have been better than his because it had a 6-litre engine against the Corvair’s 5-litre. The Falcon’s weight distribution wasn’t as good but it was close.

“We won once or twice against Frank and again when Gricey (Allan Grice) took over the driving. We tied for points in the 1978 championship and Gricey won it on a count back, but we beat him fair and square a few times, as he did us.

“One of the good wins we had occurred at Calder Park. Gricey and I both had Bridgestone contracts and Goodyear had a slightly quicker tyre, but neither of us ran them because we had the Bridgestone deals. My deal with Bridgestone wasn’t anywhere near as encumbering as Gricey’s was. Bridgestone said to me, MotorSportLegends

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RICHARDS’ XC FALCON

“If the tyre isn’t good enough for you to win with, we don’t mind you using an alternative, so at this meeting I decided to run Goodyear rear tyres.

“I thought I would pull a swifty on (team owner) Frank and Gricey by spraying black satin paint over the Goodyear logo. Then I made a Bridgestone stencil, laid it on the tyre and sprayed a white Bridgestone logo on the tyres, the same as a regular Bridgestone tyre.

“We were Gricey’s toughest competition so Frank was always looking around, making sure everything was alright. He didn’t take that much notice but then we got quickest time and won the race, so he came walking down the pit road and said, ‘Gee, you’re going well today young fella,” and he looked around. All of a sudden he said, ‘What’s going on here?’, and I told him about the Goodyear tyres. He said, ‘You bastards’, with a smirk on his face.”

Jim has other fond memories of racing the Falcon.

“Some Lakeside races were great. We

did a fair amount of match racing with Moffat in his Monza, Jane in his Monza and McCormack in his Charger – four cars in the race, three races of five laps each with grid positions changing all the time. In the day it was more about the promotion than the quantity of the cars in the field. We were getting paid a fee to do it and it was paying costs. But I remember the car was fantastic to drive, really, really good. Some of the races we came second to Gricey but they were as good a race as I had ever had. Really good.”

The Falcon’s body was sold to Tony Hubbard, while the engine went to Craig Halsted, who was building a De Tomaso Pantera for Kevin Bartlett.

Unfortunately, Tony’s biggest moment in the car probably came as an unwilling participant in a big start-line crash in the 1983 Australian GT Championship race at Adelaide International Raceway when Bob Jane’s Monza, driven by Peter Brock, suddenly turned hard left in front of the field. The Falcon rose high into the air before coming to rest on its side on

“‘GEE, YOU’RE GOING WELL TODAY YOUNG FELLA…’ I TOLD HIM ABOUT THE GOODYEAR TYRES. HE SAID, ‘YOU BASTARDS!’” 14

top of a pile of mangled cars.

Upon selling the Falcon to Hubbard, it looked like Jim’s racing career had come to a screaming halt.

“My cousin and I had a Bob Jane T-Mart (outlet) at that stage, so we were earning a living but as far as racing went, that was a time when I probably was going to stop.

“I had no plans. I’d driven with Brocky in three Bathursts and I thought, ‘Oh well, I will concentrate on the business and just get a drive at the endurance races.’ That is when Frank Gardener started his own BMW team and made me an offer to drive for him.” (Jim was involved in the same Adelaide incident as Tony Hubbard, driving a turbo BMW for Gardner).

Jim believes the Falcon played a big role in bringing him to the attention of Gardner, who effectively saved Jim’s career and propelled him to superstar status.

“I think (it played a big part) because we raced against Frank (with the Mustang) when he drove Bob Jane’s Torana 302 Chev, and then later with Gricey in the Corvair.

“Through the relationship we built by always being at the same meetings as him, I think he noticed that I was doing pretty well and I wasn’t a bad young guy, so I think that is where (the offer to drive) came from.” MSL

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ANDREW MIEDECKE

MAN OF MANY TALENTS His first love was for open-wheeler cars but Andrew Miedecke has shown talent behind the wheel of various racing cars, including Utes, Porsches and local Tintops STORY & PHOTOGRAPHS BY GLENIS LINDLEY

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s one of the front-runners in the popular Touring Car Masters category, Andrew Miedecke again finds himself doing battle with former rivals like Jim Richards, John Bowe, and Glenn Seton (on occasions during 2012).

Winding the clock back a few decades, Miedecke was best known as a Touring Car driver of considerable note, who ran his own team at one stage. He also partnered high-profile stars like Peter Brock and Allan Moffat.

While most motorsport fans associate the name Miedecke with Port Macquarie (NSW), where he has proudly owned and run a major car dealership for over 30 years, he’s

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Above: Miedecke shakes down his Cenovis Porsche

actually from Tasmania. Although Melbourne-born, Andrew grew up in Launceston. Unsurprisingly, regular visits to the famed Longford Circuit with his father were high on the agenda.

The young motor racing enthusiast was also known to wag school to watch famous drivers such as Jack Brabham

and Stirling Moss race on that iconic track. Miedecke’s fascination with racing extended to working in the Longford timing box as a 15 year-old, before entering racing himself in 1974.

Heading to the ‘big smoke’, one of Miedecke’s early jobs was selling used cars on Sydney’s famous Parramatta Road, while also dabbling in buying and renovating terrace houses in Balmain.

“I’d asked my mother for some money to go motor racing. She wisely said no, but offered to lend me money for the deposit on a house.

“One thing led to another and soon I had enough money to buy a brand new Formula Ford,” explained Andrew.

Claiming second in the Australian Formula Ford Championship in �

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ANDREW MIEDECKE

his first year of competition was the stepping-stone to more serious openwheel success.

There were numerous victories driving Formula 2 for the high-profile Grace Bros team in 1975 and 1976, before international competition beckoned in the 1977 Peter Stuyvesant Championship.

Racing extended from the UK (British F3) to the Macau Grand Prix (Formula Atlantic), where he recorded a solid third in 1977. This was followed by wins and podium places in Malaysia and Australia in the late 70s. His spectacular career was on track for even greater results until a Formula Pacific accident in 1979 in New Zealand, where he sustained serious injuries, resulting in a ‘rest from racing’.

“I broke both legs below the knee – one in about 20 pieces.

“My legs were fully plastered from foot to groin, but there were no pins or plates. I was on oxygen for a couple of weeks, and after about three weeks they had me walking again to stimulate bone

The Grace Bros sponsored F2 Rennmax BN7 at Oran Park, 1975

growth. No problems since, but I lost nearly four centimetres in height.”

Miedecke then reasoned: “I’m never going to be a Formula One driver, so I better go out and find a real job.”

What better way to continue his love affair with cars – only this time with a difference – by establishing a dealership,

“I’M NEVER GOING TO BE A FORMULA ONE DRIVER SO I BETTER GO OUT AND FIND A REAL JOB.”

Andrew Miedecke Motors, in 1980.

But his passion for racing remained.

After competing in NZ Formula Pacific at Baypark Raceway, he was tagged ‘Mad Andy’. The Aussie found himself up against Kiwi star Steve Millen, with much wheel banging and dicing for the front running, while the crowd wildly cheered their antics.

“This was sensationalised by the Auckland newspapers, but the reality was, Steve didn’t like me beating him,” he explained.

Then there were a few more headline

Miedecke’s Ralt RT4, here at Oran Park in ’82, helped him finish third that year in the Australian Drivers’ Championship.

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Miedecke and Colin Bond in Porsche 956T cars, at the final round of the World Sports Car Championship at Sandown in 1984.

crashes. “Not always my fault... I ran out of talent sometimes – and equipment sometimes,” he suggested.

Miedecke turned his car into a “canoe” in a huge Macau crash, while at Pukekohe (NZ) he went upside-down, taking the “R” out of CASTROL on a giant billboard.

‘Mad Andy’ tells his story...

“Good friend Alan Docking, the legendary UK-based Aussie, owned a (then) unloved Chevron B48, which lay around for months in NZ, after being crashed

by Huub Rothengatter, until I did a deal to repair it for use in the Asian Series.

“There wasn’t time for testing however, so it was loaded onto the boat with help from sponsor ASCL (Australian Straights Container Line), bound for Macau, one of the world’s great road racing circuits.

“In the first couple of laps an overflow hose flicked into the cam belt, taking the edge off the engine. Then, when I was trying too hard at the Esses, I clipped the inside wall, breaking a steering arm. As a ‘passenger’, I was cannoning between the walls at 200 kilomtres per hour! Bits flying off the disintegrating car, in all directions.

“The Chevron canoe stopped in the middle of the track, fire extinguisher venting, three wheels, gearbox and all the bodywork torn off. I then noticed the local flaggie was no longer standing there.

“As the top of the Macau circuit is similar to Skyline (Bathurst) – rock face one side, a wall and big cliff on the other, and fearful of other cars tearing

around the corner and smashing into me, I quickly jumped from the wreckage and leapt the wall. I realised mid-air that I was jumping over a cliff, and fortunately stuck my arm out and grabbed the top of the wall, saving the embarrassment of surviving the crash only to hurt myself running away from it.

“Once I gathered my wits, I never found the flaggie. I assumed he fell off the wall in fear (or shock) when he saw the accident happening.

“The NZ crash was different! Paul Radisich was in the number one car and I was in Graham Watson’s second car; a pretty tired old girl spannered by Les Laidlaw – who’d prepared my own Ralt in previous years. After removing most of the wing however, I put it on pole for the first race at Pukekohe.

“I’ve always liked Puke – it’s a man’s

track; very fast and requiring big balls.

I always went well at this track, apart from when I broke both legs there!

“There was a bit of an issue with Davey Jones. I didn’t like this young smart-arse Yank and he didn’t appreciate getting knocked off by some Aussie he’d never heard of – driving a scrappy old Ralt.

“Cutting a long story short, after some hammer and tongs racing, I went for the brakes near Railway, but the car seemed to accelerate. Next thing I was airborne, turning upside down in mid air before spearing through the Castrol hoarding. I was stuck, suspended through the sign, front wheels over the railway track with fuel pouring out.

Eventually I freed myself and walked back to the pits – all this of course adding to my ‘Mad Andy’ reputation. �

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ANDREW MIEDECKE

“A jammed throttle (caused by a wayward stone) was the culprit. Fortunately for relationships with the owner, it was still there after the accident, but the car became instantly more tired.”

By 1981 Miedecke was ready to take the bit between the teeth again in a brand-new Ralt RT4, competing in the National Panasonic Championship.

Qualifying on pole, then clinching eight race wins from 16 was a tremendous effort. Victories included the Malaysian GP (1981 and ’82).

“That was the best car I ever had,” declared Miedecke, who continued to impress in single-seaters until the end of 1984.

Feeling it was time to move on in his quest to become a professional driver, he switched to racing sports cars – namely Porsche 956 and 962.

“I had Playboy money; Greg “Pee Wee” Siddle had Bob Jane, and the last round

Above & below: Miedecke admits the Cenovissponsored EB Falcon outfit “was a low-budget effort” in comparison to other Bathurst campaigns.

of the 1984 World Endurance Championship was heading to Sandown.

“John Fitzpatrick had some very fast Porsches and a good bloke called Colin Bond drove with me, achieving a relatively good result,” said Miedecke.

Soon came the time to enter the next era – Touring Cars, as that’s where the big money was. NZ called, with Miedecke hiring a weary old Ford Sierra XR, owned by a group of businessmen, for the long-distance races.

Andrew Bagnell was involved; Aussie Michael Hall put up some money; Lyall Williamson ran the team and Paul Cruickshank was the mechanic, but the car wasn’t very competitive.

On the plane home, Bo Seton walked down the aisle for a chat, suggesting that friend Don Smith (who raced with

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Bo for many years) had imported some Andy Rouse Sierra racing car kits. A deal was soon hatched: Miedecke owned this Sierra, and Don ran it with sponsorship from OXO, while Les Laidlaw initially looked after the mechanical side prior to the Stone brothers’ involvement.

“The rest, as they say, is history,” declared Miedecke.

Another frightening and fiery crash happened at Lakeside in 1989.

“Brocky and I were racing really hard when I clipped a lapped car, ending up in the fence. They didn’t stop the race, and Glenn Seton unavoidably crashed into me. They still didn’t stop the race – then Murray Carter hit us, totally incinerated my car,” recalled Miedecke.

“Around this time I decided I was trying to do too much – dealerships, kids and a Queensland-based team.”

So, thanks to his friendship with motorsport identity, Alan Gow, the Peter Brock/Mobil era commenced in 1990, with Andrew enjoying the luxury of racing for another team – not funding his own, with far less stress attached.

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The Morgan Plus 4 illustrated (Note options include Metallic Paint, Stainless steel wire wheels and overriders)

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ANDREW MIEDECKE

“I knew the team revolved around Peter, but I was promised good equipment too. Things began well, but that didn’t last long enough.”

When Brock returned to the Holden fold (after the Sierra demise), Miedecke, as a Ford dealer, was left stranded.

Ford star Allan Moffat came to the rescue, although the Cenovissponsored EB Falcon was a low-budget effort by comparison.

“First year was the carburettor car, hopelessly underpowered. Then Allan bought an engine from Dick (Johnson) – similar story.

“I shared with the likes of Charlie O’Brien and international, Jeff Allam, and got along well with Moffat, remaining there for a couple of years.”

There were other Bathurst attempts with Paul Romano and Dougal McDougal, but the highlight was leading the race for a few hours in 1987, and the podium place (third) with Mark Larkham in 1997.

With Touring Car involvement winding down, Andrew had turned to Targa Tasmania and tarmac rallying.

“We drove a De Tomaso Pantera, winning many stages in the inaugural 1992 event.

“It was rather difficult to drive and eventually broke down with electrical problems, probably costing us victory,” said Miedecke.

But in 1994, with navigator Alan Taylor, a civil engineer mate in only his second ever motorsport event – driving a 1988 Porsche 944 ‘Turbo

Left & top left: Miedecke’s career included events in Targa Tasmania. Above: Pepsi sponsored the Miedecke/McDougal VX Commodore.

Cup’ (built to run in European events), they claimed victory: A good feeling after their epic battle against factorysupported Mazdas and Toyota... And the timing system, but that’s another story!

“I did quite a few Targas, always running at the front but mostly recorded class wins or non-finishes because of various problems.”

In 2000, American muscle cars (NASCAR) grabbed his attention too, culminating in championship titles in 2001 and ’02 in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, for good friends Bob and Sharon Middleton’s Whiteline Racing team.

Carrera Cup was also on the agenda.

“But my heart wasn’t in it as my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer that year (2003), which made it extremely tough,” said Miedecke.

In 2010, the Middletons tendered support again, offering Andrew a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS, where he’s working on beating his old sparring partners in the Touring Car Masters.

“I’m thoroughly enjoying racing against people I’ve raced with for years

“I ENJOYED EVERYTHING I’VE EVER DRIVEN. I’M NOT AT ALL DISSATISFIED WITH WHAT I’VE ACHIEVED.” 22

- it’s over 30 against John (Bowe)!

“I like the rest of the guys in the category too. They’re enthusiastic and we all love the era. I particularly love American V8s – a lot of horsepower for the money. It’s a great category for us at the end of our careers.”

Miedecke is currently also planning more Targa outings with his 1970 V8 Capri Perana – the same car that won Targa High Country (Vic) in 2010.

He’d previously lent the powerful Capri to son George, an up-andcoming racing driver with overseas, Ute and Dunlop Development Series experience, to drive in 2012 Targa Wrest Point rally.

There were only two instructions: Don’t crash and don’t come second.

Something went drastically astray, and George managed to plunge his father’s prize possession over a cliff, landing in the sea off Tasmania in spectacular fashion. End of race!

But that didn’t curb any enthusiasm on their part. With both Andrew and George sharing passion for motorsport, it will ensure the name ‘Miedecke’ continues for many years.

“Single-seaters were always the love, but I enjoyed everything I’ve ever driven. I’m not at all dissatisfied with what I’ve achieved. I don’t think it was too bad an effort,” Miedecke summed up. MSL

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HISTORIC

RACER

STORY BY GLENIS LINDLEY / PHOTOGRAPHS SUPPLIED BY GARY POOLE and CRAIG LOWNDES

HOLDEN MAKES MONTE CARLO HISTORY

New-generation racers rekindle memories of Holden heroes at famous Monte Carlo Rally “We made it, and crossing the finishing ramp at 3.30am in the morning was one of the proudest moments in my career,” declared Craig Lowndes, backed up by Richard Davison and Gary Poole.

It’s ‘run and done’, as they say, and there were some very happy Australians who made the journey to Monte Carlo earlier this year for the re-enactment of a special event that happened 60 years ago.

Just briefly, back then three prominent motor sporting

identities of that era – Lex Davison, Stan Jones and Tony Gaze – created history by entering a Holden FX (48-215) in the prestigious Historic Monte Carlo Rally and, against many odds, they managed to finish.

Gaze, acclaimed WWII Spitfire pilot and motor racing enthusiast, was the only surviving member of the original crew. He was also patron of the 2013 event, driving with them in spirit.

Today’s new-generation trio, V8 Supercar star Craig Lowndes, Lex’s son Richard

Davison (father of V8 drivers Will and Alex) and Gary Poole, proud owner of the replica Holden, experienced their own modern-day exciting adventure. They also finished the gruelling rally, whereas around 60 fellow competitors, from 314 starters in a variety of classic cars, suffered the indignity of a DNF – through mechanical breakdowns, crashes or withdrawals.

The old “Humpy Holden” was never built with rallying in mind, and with its skinny tyres, drum brakes and

vacuum wipers, this amazing vehicle battled atrocious snow and treacherous icy conditions. Considering Lowndes had never driven that model Holden before, and is far more at home at break-neck speeds on race tracks than ‘skating on ice’, their achievement is even more memorable.

The re-enactment began in Melbourne with the car being shipped to Britain for the rally commencement in Scotland on January 26th.

“After many years of talking, planning and a painstaking ‘labour of love’ restoration, seeing the car off made this event very real,” declared Poole.

“Back then, it was an amazing effort for Lex (Davison), Stan (father of 1980 F1 champion Alan Jones) and Tony to be so competitive in one of the first ever produced-in-Australia Holdens – in almost standard trim.

“I’m delighted to be able to pay tribute to their achievement 60 years ago,” said Lowndes.

Left: A picture of concentration: Craig Lowndes prudently navigates the icy conditions.

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HISTORICRACER

In keeping with tradition, the intrepid trio set off from Glasgow (one of four host cities) facing a journey of around 3200 kilometres, crossing the snow-capped French Alps to descend into Monte Carlo on February 1st.

Davison was given the honour of taking the wheel for the first stage (as his father did in 1953) with the boys sharing driving duties throughout the six-day event.

“After scrutineering of the 100 or so classic cars, which began at 8am, we started as the first car over the ramp at 14.00 and arrived at the Dover Ferry at 3.30am (January 27th).

“We caught a few hours sleep there and in Calais, before the first control, where we checked in on time (14.00).” explained Poole.

It was an intense, non-stop day and night driving affair – not exactly a ‘Sunday drive’ – with subsequent check points including Reims and Champagnole, then to the French town of Valence.

This section covering 2040 kilometres is called the ‘concentration leg’, where they had to meet set times to control points en route. There were also 15 Regularity zones and transport stages.

“The Regularity Zone speed isn’t known until the time card is handed out (always varied, and no more than 50 km/h). With timing down to a 10th of a second and several secret time checks, with point penalties... It was all very complicated.

“Craig’s biggest problem was that he kept wanting to go too fast. We actually had to put him in the back seat once, as he was trying too hard, “ Poole explained with a chuckle.

However, Craig and Richard told a slightly different story, suggesting it was Gary (the 26

most experienced Holden FX driver of the three, having 30 years racing early Holdens and a hillclimb championship to his name) who needed to slow down on a particularly treacherous mountain stage.

Craig was very calm and quiet in the back seat, but he later explained: “I had one hand on the harness buckle, the other on the door handle and my escape path was planned for when we disappeared over the edge... I was ready to bail,” admitted Craig.

“We all laughed about it later, but not at the time,” agreed Richard.

With roads open to the public, police had radar traps set up – adding to the interest. Along the way, Richard kindly donated some euros to the police ‘slush fund’, and when he tried to explain his ‘racing lines’ – his explanation for cutting corners – to the French Gendarme (who had absolutely no sense of humour), his co-drivers were reduced to much laughter.

“We somehow managed to find 90 Euro ($120) to pay for my indiscretion, and I wasn’t

given a ticket,“ explained Richard.

There were other minor incidences, as their questionable maps (or the crew’s inability to decipher them correctly) often led to spectators having to point them in the right direction.

All part of the fun!

While there weren’t any really dramatic or scary

moments, Poole said: “ We were very much aware of oncoming traffic after a major head-on between a rally car and van. Another rally competitor ran off a cliff into trees just a few cars in front of us.”

In Craig’s words: “There was no time for croissants, or to admire beautiful little French villages. Most times

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Above: Outside Rue de Carnot in 1953 and again in 2013 (above right).

Left: Checkpoint at Valence, France.

Below: Checking the official time card.

Bottom left: Craig in Prague prior to the Monte Carlo Rally.

Bottom right: Car owner Gary Poole checks results.

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historicracer

it was pitch black, snowing, with road conditions like I’ve never experienced before, and snow constantly covered our headlights.

“We also came face-to-face with a snow plough when belting around a corner.

“Cars were going everywhere. There was even a Swedish car wedged in a snow bank. We figured that if they got all crossed up, growing up in conditions like this, then Team Australia was doing pretty well.”

The “old girl” proved remarkably reliable, but persistent wheel bearing problems were an ongoing issue.

“Finding bearings for a Holden of that era in France was near impossible, so we used some bush ingenuity and creative repair skills.

“On the whole it went well, the engine gave us plenty of

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Left: (L to R) Gary, Craig and Richard at the presentation dinner. Above: The FX was awarded for the oldest classic vehicle to complete the rally.

power, although the drum brakes started to fade off on steep downhill twisty sections,” said Poole.

In Monte Carlo, each official finisher was awarded a special commemorative medallion.

“I had dad’s (Lex) medal

and wore the new and old side by side at the Award’s Dinner,” said Richard proudly.

For the record, Gerard Brianti and Sebastien Chol in a 1970 Alpine Renault A110 1600S recorded victory, while the Aussies finished in position 251; fifth in Class.

They were awarded a cup from the Auto Club de Monaco – their 1951 Holden being the oldest classic vehicle to successfully complete the 2013 Rallye Monte Carlo Historique.

What an achievement – an experience of a lifetime!

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WEBB OF

Intrigue Before he became ‘The Master’, Jim Richards was one of the real battlers in an era of grass roots racing

M

y association with The Master – Jim Richards – really started with looking after the Cleveland engine in his Falcon coupe sports sedan.

I don’t take the accolades for putting it together initially – that was done

by Murray Bunn and Jim, (Jim is a mechanic) in New Zealand, but I do take the accolades for keeping it going for so long because it was a real battler’s deal.

It was grass roots motor racing the way Jim did it.

It was certainly a different time. I remember when going to Wanaroo Park (Barbagallo Raceway) in Western Australia. Jim had the Falcon trailered from Melbourne to Port Augusta, then the car and trailer were put on the train to Kalgoorlie, and then they were picked up and driven to the track. The same was done on the way home.

I was a struggling little up-and-coming mechanic back then you might say, and Jim asked me if I would help – you can see the Mick Webb Performance Engines logo across the front spoiler. Jim would pay for all of the parts and I performed a full engine maintenance program over the years.

Even in those days the Gurney Weslake heads were old and we had head gasket problems. We had to keep whizzing the heads off and fitting super sealing rings and things like that.

We had the engine set up with a slide

throttle-body injection and the throttle response was sensational. It was similar to the throttle-body that I fitted to Frank Gardner’s Corvair when I did the engines for that car during that same era.

The engine’s bottom-end was pretty good – in fact, the majority of the engine was pretty good. The only issues involved the cylinder heads and head gasket sealing. Aluminium softens as the years go by and that was the problem, plus we didn’t have the quality of head gasket that we have today. That was a long while ago and head gasket technology has increased tenfold. We had a composite style head gasket to seal the water and then we had Cooper gas-filled O-rings around the bores. It was claimed they could be used over and over again and I can assure you we did, but there were only so many times they could be clamped up. It was just one of those things that let us down occasionally.

Working on the engine brought me down on one occasion, too. I remember taking the engine apart during an

all-nighter at Amaroo Park because it had detonated and burnt a piston. It was as cold as buggery, so Jim had a bonfire going beside the car to keep us warm. It was a mid-engined Falcon and because I had been kneeling inside the car for a long time, my legs had become numb, and when I got out of the car, I overbalanced and fell into the bonfire. Of course it had nothing to do with the 14 beers we had while working… Jim still laughs about it and it’s the reason I now have crook knees.

Back then we didn’t have the money to develop the Falcon, but Jim has never been a driver who wanted a lot of set-up change. Jim adjusts so quickly he does the same times regardless of how the car is set up. There are a few blokes in that league – Colin Bond is another one exactly the same – Bondy could drive anything. It wouldn’t make any difference half the time if you put the brake pedal over on the left hand side of the car, they would still drive the same times. They are just so good.

– Mick Webb

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PARNELLI JONES

PARNELLI’S VINTAGE WHINE As modern motorsport scrambles to adopt innovative engine technologies, Mark Fogarty reminisces with American legend Parnelli Jones about almost winning the Indianapolis 500 in an unconventionally powered car that could have revolutionised racing.

STORY BY MARK FOGARTY / PHOTOGRAPHS BY FORD MOTOR COMPANY ARCHIVES and INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

I

t was the race that could have changed everything. Had Parnelli Jones won the 1967 Indianapolis 500, whooosh might have replaced yeeeow as the signature sound of “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing”.

Just 12 kilometres were the difference between an historic victory and an historical footnote.

Jones dominated the race in his gas turbine-powered STP-Paxton until a gearbox bearing failure ended his revolutionary romp three laps from the finish.

But for the proverbial low-cost part snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the charismatic Californian would’ve driven into history as the first winner of the Indy 500 – or any race, for that matter – not propelled by an internal combustion engine.

If the controversial ‘jet car’ had completed its whispering waltz 46 years ago, racing might be very different now.

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Above & opposite page: Parnelli Jones at the 1967 Indianapolis 500 in his gas turbine-powered STP-Paxton.

He dominated the race but broke down three laps from what would have been his second Indianapolis 500 victory, his first being in 1963.

Even against the entrenched resistance that eventually outlawed turbines and any other alternative powerplants at Indy and the rest of the racing world, success in the 500 would have legitimised – if not popularised – unconventional engines.

Already rejected by the motor industry

as unsuitable for road cars, gas turbines probably wouldn’t have had a future beyond oval racing; performing best at near-constant speeds. But the end of the piston engine’s hegemony at one of the biggest and best-known races in the world may have encouraged and accelerated the development in racing of other types – diesels, Wankel rotaries, even steam and electric – decades before the current urgency for motor sport to explore more efficient motors.

We’ll never know how profound a turbine-powered victory at Indy would have been, but it is interesting to reflect on the missed opportunity now that the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) – organiser of the Le Mans 24 Hours and World Endurance Championship – is actively promoting the participation of alternative engine technologies. Le Mans and Indianapolis share a legacy of engine innovation. �

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PARNELLI JONES

The ACO’s latter day engine emancipation has seen diesel-powered cars dominate the outright battle at La Sarthe since 2006, but oil-burners also contested the twice-around-the-clock classic in 1949/50.

Diesels go back to 1931 at Indy, culminating in Cummins’ turbocharged compression ignition entry winning the pole in 1952.

The jet age in aviation inspired interest in the possible application of gas turbines in cars and, inevitably, racing in the 1950s and early ’60s.

In a forerunner to today’s ‘Garage 56’ experimental entry, Le Mans offered a prize for the first turbinepowered car to complete 3600km over 24 hours – an average speed of 150km/h. British carmaker Rover and F1 team BRM co-developed a turbine mid-engined open-cockpit sports racer that competed in the 1963 enduro as an unofficial competitor, bearing the number 00.

The Rover-BRM’s single compressor turbine was rated by the organisers as the equivalent of a 2.0-litre piston engine and permitted twice the usual fuel allowance. Driven by BRM’s F1 stars Graham Hill and Richie Ginther, it exceeded the distance and average speed targets and, although unclassified, finished a creditable eighth on the road.

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A heavily revised closed-coupe version ran as an official entrant in 1965, running in the 2.0-litre prototype class and restricted to the same amount of fuel as its conventionally-powered rivals. Shared by Hill and Jackie Stewart, it survived engine damage to finish seventh in class and 10th overall.

The gas turbine’s last hurrah at Le Mans was in 1968, when a pair of American-built Howlett TXs (Turbine eXperimental) competed. Built to the

FIA’s Group 6 sports-prototype regulations, the closed-cockpit gullwing machines were powered by gas turbines designed for military helicopter use.

Both failed to finish, but the Howlett earned the distinction of being the only turbine-powered car ever to win races, scoring four victories in SCCA National Championship events.

But it was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that gas turbines posed the greatest threat to the establishment.

Jones and his STP ‘pyjama crew’, with team boss Andy Granatelli (second from left)

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Above: (L to R) Team owner JC Agajanian with AK Miller, Bobby Unser and Parnelli Jones, all winners of their respective classes at Pike’s Peak in 1963.

Far left: Action stations at the ’67 Indy 500 pitstop; fuelling the turbine beast (pictured left).

The potential of the emerging jet engine technology at the famed 4km ‘Brickyard’ was first recognised in the mid-’50s, and turbine-powered cars were entered in the 1962 and ’66 Indy 500s.

Although they failed to qualify, turbine power caught the imagination of Andy Granatelli, the larger-than-life boss of STP Oil Treatment. When he was offered the design for a Pratt & Whitney gas turbine-powered racer, Granatelli – a born promoter – saw the promotional and racing-winning possibilities, and funded the revolutionary racer for the ’67 Memorial Day classic.

The result was the STP-Paxton Turbocar, which featured a sidemounted turbine engine, futuristic body shape and four-wheel drive.

Parnelli Jones, winner of the 1963 Indy 500 and already well on his way to become an American racing legend, was hired to drive it, clearly signalling that Granatelli’s graduation from the soul stirring-but-temperamental Novi was much more than a publicity gambit.

Quickly dubbed the “Whooshmobile” and “Silent Sam”, the Turbocar was the centre of controversy and complaints all the way through practice and qualifying.

When Jones failed to set track records, accusations flew that he was sandbagging.

Jones, now 79 and the oldest living

500 winner, still scoffs at the suggestions that he held back, especially after qualifying on the outside of the second row in sixth spot.

“What happened with the car, because it had a lot of torque, it accelerated really well across the short straightaways and out onto the long straightaways, but about halfway down, it would quit accelerating,” he recalls.

“So here you got Foyt and Andretti and Gurney and all the top guys out there running 10-15 per cent nitro in their methanol and carrying light loads of fuel, and when I got to the end of the straightway, they’d drive right by me.

“They assumed that I was backing off, which I wasn’t. I could put a higher gear in the car, make it run farther down the straightaway, which we did, however we couldn’t run as fast over a lap because it didn’t have the horsepower. It had torque, but not the horsepower.”

In the race, though, it was a different story and right from the start, Jones and the Turbocar ran rings around the opposition.

“They took the 10-15 per cent nitro out of their fuel, they added on 75 gallons of fuel that we were carrying then and they didn’t have the torque to carry that much fuel,” he said. “It didn’t bother my car much, so they didn’t have enough to get back by me. And I figured that was probably what was going to happen because I’d driven a car with 75 gallons of fuel and I knew how it would affect them.

“So I was having a lot of fun because of the fact that they were sending me sandbags in the mail because all the press was making a big deal out of it and everything else. I was kidding all the other guys, saying: ‘Well, let me know how fast you guys are gonna run raceday because I want to know where to set the screw’.

“Nobody gave the car any real credit for how well it handled. It was a fourwheel drive car, so when they dropped the green flag, starting on the outside, I just stuck it up in the grey and drove around everyone but (pole-winner) Mario. And perfect timing, I caught �

“IT WAS A REAL HEARTBREAKER – AND I BLAME MYSELF, MORE THAN ANYTHING… IT WAS ALMOST LIKE A DRAGSTER… IF I’D TAKEN IT JUST A LITTLE EASIER GOING OUT OF THE PITS, IT WOULD’VE WON HANDS-DOWN.” MotorSportLegends

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PARNELLI JONES

Above left: Winning the 1963 Indy 500 in his car nicknamed ‘Calhoun’, despite spewing out oil many laps from the finish line. Above right: 1965 Indy 500 winner Jim Clark leads A.J. Foyt and Jones, who went on to finish second ahead of Mario Andretti.

him across the short straightaway, passed him underneath coming out of two, and within less than a half a lap, I was leading the race.

“So then they were really convinced I’d been sandbagging. But I hadn’t been.

I had no reason to do that. But I did run damn near as fast in the race as I qualified.”

Jones was leading easily when the race was stopped after 17 laps due to rain, which persisted and postponed the remainder of the event until the following day. At the resumption, he picked off where he left off, extending his lead to more than a lap over AJ Foyt.

Towards the end, a spate of crashes resulted in the field circulating slowly under a caution for more than an hour while the track was cleared of wrecks and debris.

Within moments of the restart on the 197th of 200 laps, Jones’ fluorescent pink machine slowed and, much to the dismay of Granatelli and the STP crew, coasted into the pits in neutral.

After leading for 172 laps, one of the bravest and most innovative efforts in the history of motorsport was brought underdone with just three laps to go by the failure of a $6 transmission bearing.

Classified sixth on 196 laps completed, Jones acknowledges that the near-miss was devastating while admitting that the race-ending breakage was probably his fault.

“It was a real heartbreaker – and I blame 34

myself, more than anything,” he said. “The car had a tremendous amount of torque and it was almost like a dragster going out of the pits. If I’d taken it just a little easier going out of the pits, it would’ve won hands-down.

“It had a quick-change rear end in it and we had a little trouble with that early in the month of May. In the quick change gears, they had a bearing that holds the gears and one of those bearings separated.”

Jones also revealed that the radical racer exceeded the expectations he had after his initial test at Phoenix International Raceway, a 1.6 km low-banked oval.

“Andy paid me a lot of money to drive that car, but I wouldn’t have driven if it I didn’t think I had a great opportunity to run it up front,” Jones said. “But when I came to the Speedway, I didn’t think it would be nearly as good as it was. I ran at about the same speed at Phoenix as I did in my regular car, so it didn’t impress me as something that was going to set the world on fire.”

There was so much resistance to the ‘jet car’ among the reactionary racing fraternity – especially the other team owners, fearing they would have to invest in a costly switch to turbine engines – that Jones doesn’t think attitudes would have changed even if he’d won the ’67 Indy.

“Not at all,” he said. “First of all, why would the racing fraternity regulate themselves out of business? Why would

we want white-collar Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce (aviation engine) people coming here to manage our racing? If turbines were in road cars, it might have made a difference, but the turbine engine doesn’t work well with the automobile.

“It works in oval track racing, but that’s about all, when you can have a consistent throttle. As a matter of fact, that turbine car had a three-second throttle lag and when you backed off at the end of the straightaway, it was still accelerating. You had to use the brakes to cut it out.”

Jones’ career in Indy racing was spectacular but brief. Although he went on to success in Trans-Am and off-road racing, underlining the versatility that ranks him among the all-time American greats, he never raced Indycars again after his almost historic interlude with the STP-Paxton Turbocar.

“Right before it quit, I was thinking ‘You know, winning again wasn’t going to be as great as it was the first time’,” he explained. “So I kinda thought about that later after the race was over.

Obviously, when the car quit, I cried like everybody else, but I thought, ‘You know, if winning wasn’t going to be that great, what the hell are you doing it for?’

“Anyway, my business was taking off the ground and I had sacrificed my early life. I love kids and kinda changed my whole life at that time. I got married and I started my family. I didn’t retire,

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27/6/13 5:34:24 PM

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27/6/13 5:34:26 PM

Jones in his Bud Moore prepared Mustang Boss 302, 1970

The DOHC Ford-powered Lola T70 Can Am at Indianapolis, 1967

I just quit running open-cockpit cars and I won the Trans-Am championship after that and ran stock cars and Baja off-road – just kinda did things that were fun for me – and tried to take it less serious.

“And, again, my businesses (tyre stores, regional racing tyre distribution and parts supply) was expanding pretty fast and I enjoyed that part of it, too, so it just kinda helped suck me out of the deal. I’ve never to this day said I quit or I retired. I just said I don’t do it anymore.”

Despite the implementation of performance-sapping restrictions, Granatelli returned to Indy in ’68 with

an even more formidable line-up of gas turbine-powered cars, enlisting the creative genius of Lotus’s Colin Chapman.

A trio of wedge-shaped 4WD Lotus 56s were run in STP’s trademark day-glo pink for Graham Hill – who would go on to win his second F1 world title later that year – Joe Leonard and Art Pollard.

Although brought back to the pistonengined field, Leonard – who was driving for Jones’ Indycar team and was on loan to STP/Lotus – won the pole and was leading when his car’s fuel pump failed with just a handful of laps remaining.

After two close calls, Indycar rendered

gas turbines uncompetitive with further air intake restrictions in 1969 before banning them outright.

Ironically, Granatelli’s dream of winning the Indy 500 was realised in ’69 when Mario Andretti triumphed against the odds in the STP HawkFord – a completely conventional and aging design that outlasted rather than outran the opposition. MSL Mark Fogarty is motorsport writer for Fairfax Media and editor-at-large of Auto Action magazine. Foges has been covering racing for more than four decades.

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MSL23 p30-37 Parnelli Jones.indd 37

26/06/2013 1:50:44 PM MotorSportLegends 37

27/6/13 5:34:31 PM

MARIO ANDRETTI

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SUPER MARIO In Part 2 of our exclusive interview with Mario Andretti, the racing great tells Motorsport Legend’s Darren House about winning the Indianapolis 500, his toughest opponent, and surviving a triple backflip at 360km/h.

STORY BY DARREN HOUSE / PHOTOGRAPHS BY FORD MOTOR COMPANY ARCHIVES and GLENIS LINDLEY

Y

ou brought some uniquely American racing techniques to F1.

In road racing you set up a car by having everything square, but in oval racing, because you only turn one way, you apply cross weight and stagger on the car. That was something thing that I did in Formula 1. Every circuit has a couple of corners that you can throw away, and some key corners where – if you get it right – you can really gain a lot of time. That is what I would set up for. I would work with my rear stagger and cross weights, but the cross weight was not something that you could determine by putting the car on the scales and saying: “Okay, we are going to do 30lbs across the back”. I had to do it by feel, so during practise I would come in and I would ask Colin (Chapman) to do what I wanted and he would put it on the scales and say, “Oh it’s all wrong” and I would say, ‘No, no, no, don’t touch it!’ (laughs). And it worked for me. I think I had an advantage in that respect.

You won the Indy 500 in 1969.

That was a very unlikely race (for me to win) because the car that I was driving was not the car that we intended to race.

Our main effort was with a four-wheel drive Lotus; a very technically-advanced car with some good aerodynamic pieces on it. But it was under-designed and we started having some suspension failures. I was setting some records in

practise and the right rear wheel just sheared off and I crashed heavily. There was a fire and it destroyed the car.

The team ran three cars – two with Colin Chapman and one with me and STP – and they decided to withdraw all three cars. I was left with the car that we had started the season with but at least I had just come away from a win in California with that car. We only �

Right: Mario Andretti with son, Michael in 2000.

Mario says racing with family members was a highlight in his career.

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MARIO ANDRETTI

Mario holding the winner’s trophy for the NASCAR Grand National Daytona 500 Race in 1967. He drove the #11 Ford for the Holman-Moody Team.

had one day to practise and I put it on the front row. In the race I was competitive and although I had overheating problems, the thing stayed together and I went on to win it.

It was strange, because the years before, especially in 1966, 67, I had so much of an advantage with the car. I was on pole but then I had mechanical issues. Had I finished those races, those could have been two of my easiest wins anywhere. But ’69 was such an unlikely situation because I had so many problems in practise and here we go and win it. You just don’t know.

There were times later on, like in 1987, where I dominated that whole month. I was quickest every day of practise that I was on the track. I was quickest in qualifying and I led almost every lap in the race, but with 23 laps to go a valve spring broke, so go figure.

Do you go in thinking victory is almost certain, or do you have nagging doubts about reliability?

The reliability factor was always in the back of your mind, especially in those days. Nowadays, the engines are only run at about 95 per cent of 40

their potential because of the rules.

Formula 1 is the same way because they are limited in the revs. In those days we extracted every ounce out of the engines, so it was different. Going into this particular race, my engineer was Adrian Newey – who of course now is with Red Bull in Formula 1 – and even then I considered him to be the best ever. I felt so, so confident that I figured, ‘today, they have to beat me’, I knew I had them all covered, and I did. I had a one-lap lead with 23 laps to go.

The engine mechanics are always screaming at you, “keep the revs down, keep the revs down”, so I thought, ‘Okay, now I have a big lead, I am keeping the revs down’, and that’s what did me in (laughs). The engine designer, Mario Illien (Ilmor Engineering), said that I was running a rev range with bad harmonics – in other words, if I had have run 600 revs more, the chances are I would have gone to the end and won the damn thing.

Who is the toughest driver you have raced against?

Each decade there were one or two drivers who were a big thorn in my side

– it was never just one individual – and it’s the usual suspects, the ones who did all the winning. When I broke into Indy Cars, AJ Foyt was the yardstick and when I broke into Formula 1, there was Jackie Stewart, but along the way there was always somebody else. The biggest satisfaction that I derived came in the first two Formula 1 races that I won – Jackie Stewart finished second, and I thought it couldn’t be any better than that because I considered him to be the best at the time. And it was the same thing with Foyt. That is how you measure yourself. But as you go on, there are many others that come along.

At that top level, there is a lot of talent that you have to deal with.

You drove for Paul Newman. What was he like?

Paul Newman was an incredible human being, from every standpoint. As the team owner, he was so incredibly supportive and passionate about the sport. A lot of people would think he had just a superficial involvement (but) it was nothing like that. It was the opposite. I take some credit for bringing him into sport at that level, and I spent

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Above: Mario with cigarloving Carl Haas... The relationship included Newman/Hass Racing’s first win.

Above right: Mario, Tony Cochrane and then Queensland Premier, Robert Borbidge at Gold Coast Indy 300, 1997.

Right: Mario from above, in the Brawner Hawk Indy car at Indianapolis, 1965.

the last 12 years of my career driving for him, so we developed a friendship that was so precious to me. I have nothing but really good things to say about him.

Every memory is a good one. He was a good, good man.

How did you bring him into indy car?

He was an owner in the CanAm series and he had wanted me to drive for him, even when I was driving Formula 1, but I could never find the time. By the early ’80s, CanAm had pretty much gone by the wayside (so) when I came out of Formula 1, I thought he could be a great team owner in Indy Cars. I had also developed a friendship with Carl Haas, who was the Lola importer in the United States. He was also in the CanAm series and I figured maybe I could marry those two guys because that would make a formidable team, and I was able to accomplish that. That was great for me because from that point on, until the end of my career, I won 18 Indy Car races for them.

You raced against many family members…

That was one of the best moments of

my career because I raced against both of my sons, Michael and Jeff, and my nephew, John. I also had Michael with me in the Newman Haas team, and we had so many podiums together. We started on the front row 10 or 12 times, which was an incredible experience.

One year in Milwaukee, it was an all Andretti podium – Michael won, John came second and I finished third.

I’m guessing there were no favours?

I remember very clearly the very first time that Michael made a competitive pass on me. We were at the grand prix in New York, at the Meadowlands. It was a street race, he was in great form and he really forced the pass through a hairpin. We touched wheels a bit and I was somewhat upset, and then all of a sudden I said: “Oh gosh, that’s my boy” (laughs). It was sort of a double-edged sword but I was happy for him. �

Holman Moody Honker Can Am car, piloted

by Mario in 1967

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MARIO ANDRETTI

Then, in 1986 in Portland, Oregon, we had the closest finish ever – 0.007sec and I won, but Michael should have won. He had fuel pick-up problems on the last lap and I nudged him at the finish by about three inches (laughs).

He was pissed off about it but he came around after a while because it was Father’s Day and he said: “Oh well, happy Father’s Day”.

The thing that was good about us being teammates was that we were totally honest with one another. Not all my teammates were like that. It was good for my career, because I felt I was measuring myself up against the best.

Michael was a really good driver; as good as I have ever raced against.

Was it hard to come to the realisation that you needed to stop racing?

That was really tough. I love driving and I didn’t want to stop but I knew that it had to come to an end and the decision had to be made. My biggest fear was to overstay – I have seen some of my colleagues stay too long and become uncompetitive. I figure when you retire, that is what you are remembered for and I didn’t want to do that. I was fortunate to have stretched my career until age 54 but I felt I was competitive.

I didn’t win a race in my last year but I won a race the year before, and I still felt that I had something in me, but I didn’t want to test it to that point.

“‘OKAY, THIS IS MY LAST RACE’, SO I JUST TRIED TO STAY IN DENIAL BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT TO BE THAT DEPRESSED.” Were your last few laps at Laguna Seca emotional, or did you think of it only after you stopped?

It was a very emotional weekend for me because I didn’t want to be thinking, ‘Okay, this is my last race’, so I just tried to stay in denial because I didn’t want to be that depressed. But the decision was made. Even my wife said, “Why didn’t we discuss it?” and I probably should have, but I didn’t. I just wanted to make that decision myself, and then I had second thoughts – I really did. When I stepped out of the cockpit, I felt that maybe I shouldn’t have (retired) but as more time went on, the happier I was with the decision because the memories of my career are totally positive. And the good thing was, I was able to race another three times at Le Mans, which was good, and now I drive the two-seater car (promotional Indy Car).

To be successful at the elite level, you have to be very selfish. How did that affect family life?

You had to have a lot of support around you and I have been very fortunate with my wife (Dee Ann), she was as solid as a rock. She was very unselfish and she knew this was the only way that I could be happy. I was the selfish one; I

was satisfying myself with my career.

We sacrificed vacations – all the travels we’ve done around the world have been in conjunction with races, and I never heard any nagging from her. Stability of family life was very important to me.

Did your career cost you time with your kids?

Yes. I spent as much time (with them) as I could – I had them travelling with me all over the world at different times and so we did the best we could to keep it all together, and we did. When Michael was just a young lad, about six or seven years of age, the school teacher asked him, “What does your dad do for a living?” and he said: “He goes to the airport and makes bread”. The reason he said that was because he used to ask me, “Hey Dad, what are you doing, where are you going?” I replied: “I’m going to the airport, I got to go make the bread (laughs)”.

Being a dare devil, how is life in retirement?

There was a time when I had to condition myself to that fact that I don’t have to be so disciplined on the night before the race. Many times when I was racing, the night before you had to leave

Mario and wife Dee Ann celebrate victory at the Indy 500 race in 1969 42

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Above: 1967 Daytona 500-winning Mercury.

Above right: Mario, as time-keeper, watches son Michael smoke ’em at Nazareth.

Left: Mario behind Paul Tracy’s victory of the London Champ Car Trophy.

Right: Ford racing stalwarts, John Cowley and Jacque Passino with Mario at Indianapolis, ’69.

a party at 8 o’clock when everybody was beginning to have fun, and I thought someday I won’t have to do that. When it came to that point, I wished I didn’t have to stay at the parties (laughs), so there was a lot of readjustment from me. I drove for so many years and I became so used to things – life took shape and then it changed so dramatically. It took me a while to get used to it.

In 2003, at age 63, you returned to the Indianapolis International Speedway and came close to losing your life.

One of Michael’s drivers, Tony Kaanan, suffered a hairline fracture of the wrist in the race before Indy practise was about to start and so there was a question as to whether he could qualify the car – there was no question that he could race it because he had three weeks recovery time, and so my son, Michael, was wrestling with the idea of who would he get to qualify the car.

My daughter (Barbra) said casually to Michael, “Why don’t you have Dad to do it?” Michael then looked over to me and said, “Dad, what do you think,” and I said, “Well, if we do a proper test and

evaluation, certainly I’ll do it.”

There was an open test and I felt right in my zone immediately. After just two runs I was right up to speed and everything felt normal – I have done so many miles at Indy. We learned a lot and at the end of the day, when I slip streamed, I was quickest at somewhere around the 227mph (365km/h) range, and so I wanted to go out and put a big lap on the board by getting a good tow. On the last run I went behind Kenny Brack, and going into Turn One he exploded the engine and crashed very heavily. I was only a second or two behind him and when I arrived on the scene, there was (debris) all over the place. A chunk of the safe wall, the energy absorbing walls that had just been installed, was right in the middle of the racetrack and I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll hit it, it will be no big thing’ because it is like styrofoam (but) when I hit it, it just launched the car – I did three flips backwards. According to the telemetry, I was doing 222mph (357km/h), so I started flying like an F16. It didn’t look very good from where I was watching it, but I got real lucky – we landed on the wheels and I only had a few bumps here and there.

Do you get time to think about what’s happening during those backflips?

The only thing you are thinking is, ‘I wonder if it is really going to hurt when you finally hit something, (laughs) because I knew it was going to land somewhere – I just didn’t know where. But it happens in a nanosecond – everything happens so quickly, but I thought I could really be hurt on this one.

What were your immediate thoughts when the car came to a rest and you were okay?

You thank the man upstairs (laughs).

I am religious enough to do that.

Something like that is strictly luck – it could have gone a different way – it could have slammed me against the wall – so many things could have happened differently but they didn’t, so it’s one of those things where you think you have dodged another bullet.

I dodged quite a few of them in my life. I take nothing for granted. I know how fortunate I have been. I figured maybe this is the one, but it wasn’t.

Very fortunate. MSL MotorSportLegends

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27/6/13 1:15:51 PM

reg hunt

Unsung hero

Expatriate Englishman, Reg Hunt’s contribution to Australia’s motor racing history is vast.

Story by Richard Batchelor / photographs from the hunt family collection

R

eg Hunt’s home near Albert Park is an appropriate setting as he dominated the track during the mid-1950s in his Maserati F1 cars. Reg can recall a stellar motorsport career which ended over 57 years ago.

Reg was born in Manchester, England in 1923 and lived there prior to moving to Australia in 1949. Reg’s family had a car and motorcycle business and his grandfather had raced at Brooklands.

In England, Reg competed in mud trials on both two and four wheels. He scored many wins in a car he developed with a supercharged Ford Ten engine and pre-selector gear box. On one trial in the Peak District, Reg and his co-driver were the only team out of 100 entrants to complete the course.

Reflecting on his trials experiences, Reg says, “it taught you an awful lot about driving.”

After settling in Australia, Reg joined

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the Light Car Club and met Stan Jones, a rugged character who would become his fiercest rival. Jones suggested Reg enter his road car in a trial, warning the new chum not to drive too fast on the unmade roads. With his UK trials experience Reg simply drove flat out, at one point passing a surprised Jones and going on to score his maiden win in Australia.

Meanwhile Reg was building up a race car from parts he had brought with him from England, including a J.A.Prestwick (J.A.P.) 500cc engine. At the Rob Roy hillclimb Reg lowered the 500cc class record by 10 seconds. However, more J.A.P. powered cars soon appeared so Reg consulted the legendary Vincent motorcycle designer Phil Irving. Reg bought a Vincent Black Lightning bike for its 1000cc engine and installed this in his race car. According to Reg, “it left all the 500cc cars for dead but soon their drivers started installing 1100cc J.A.P. twin-cylinder engines”. Irving

enlarged the Black Lightning engine to 1100cc and Reg persuaded him to add a supercharger. The car performed superbly and maintained its advantage over the J.A.P. powered cars.

Reg contested the 1953 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in an Allard J2 sports car. The race was won by Doug Whiteford’s Lago-Talbot, with Reg finishing tenth out of the 18 finishers with his gearbox stuck in second gear.

In 1954 Reg bought a new 500cc Cooper-Norton and raced in Formula 3 in the UK and Europe. At Brands Hatch he won a 500cc event ahead of the future dual world F1 champion Graham Hill. Years later Hill told him, “You cost me 100 pounds” as he had backed himself to win.

Reg also finished fifth in a big race at the Nurburgring and had his final win in the car at Orleans, France. He sold the Cooper at the end of the season and looked for a race car to take back to Australia. �

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reg hunt

Maserati was prepared to sell him the A6GCM which Fangio had driven to victory, in 2.0-litre form, in the 1953 Italian Grand Prix, but now fitted with a 2.5 -litre engine from the current 250F grand prix car.

In early 1955 Reg gave the car its debut in the New Zealand Grand Prix.

The front row of the grid comprised B. Bira in a Maserati 250F, Hunt in the A6GCM, Peter Whitehead (Ferrari 625/750) – all three having recorded 1m31s laps – and Tony Gaze’s Ferrari 625/750 (1m32s).

Bira cleared away for a comfortable victory from Whitehead and Gaze, while Hunt, who had held third place in the early laps, faded to fifth due to brake problems. After the race Reg consulted PBR, who replaced his steel brake drums, which had warped, with cast iron items which never gave any more trouble (PBR did the same later with Reg’s 250F Maserati).

At Albert Park’s Moomba meeting in March, 1955 Hunt’s Maserati won two preliminary races but while leading the main event the diff failed, after he had

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“organisers wanted a close race so they made me start with two wheels in the dirt…” set a new lap record of 2m04s.

A subsequent race at Bathurst featured some gamesmanship. Hunt recalled, “I was on pole with Lex Davison beside me in his 3.0-litre Ferrari. The organisers wanted a close race so they made me start with two wheels in the dirt. As a protest I pointed my front wheels at Lex. Of course when the race started I straightened the wheels and eventually passed Lex and won but the organisers gave him the trophy. Mid-way through the race they had changed it from a scratch race to a handicap!”

Hunt and the A6GCM were favourites to win the ’55 Australian GP at Port Wakefield. His main opposition was Stan Jones in the new Maybach Mk.3, Doug Whiteford’s new 4.5-litre twin-plug Lago-Talbot and Cooper works driver Jack Brabham in his mid-engined Cooper-Bristol.

Stan Jones took an early lead but

Hunt soon took over, followed by Jones, Brabham, Tom Hawkes (Cooper-Bristol), Whiteford and another 17 cars.

After four laps Reg had cleared away to a 23 second lead but a broken cam follower put the car onto five cylinders; Brabham secured the win by four seconds from Hunt, with Whiteford third.

At the end of 1955 Reg sold the A6GCM to Kevin Neal and again visited the Maserati factory where he tested and obtained a 250F. According to Barry Green in his book Glory Days – Albert Park 1953-58, Hunt recorded lap times at Modena better than the two leading Italian drivers Musso and Castellotti.

The car arrived at the Melbourne docks two days before Reg was due to race it at Gnoo Blas, Orange, in the middle of a wharf strike. Reg persuaded the union boss to unload the car quickly and promised 12 cases of Victoria �

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reg hunt

Bitter if it was unloaded without a scratch. He watched as the 250F was unloaded and heard a wharfie shout: “Be careful mate, there’s a drink in this.” The new car won on debut.

Motor magazine revisited the daunting Gnoo Blas circuit in 2005.

“Only by seeing it can you appreciate the challenge of riding this monster, unfenced and girt by trees, over crests and broken edges and a bridge barely six metres wide. Only by driving down the 2.4km Hospital Straight can you appreciate the courage to nail a flying eighth mile at 162mph (261km/h). Reg Hunt did that – in 1956 – in a Maserati.”

Reg described the 250F as “easy to drive, beautiful, with good manners and very predictable.” At 261km/h down Hospital Straight it would need to be!

At the Moomba meeting at Albert Park in March, 1956 Reg’s main opposition was Lex Davison in his Ferrari. Reg dominated the meeting, setting a new lap record of 1m58s; six seconds faster than his record in the A6GCM. Later that year Stan Jones acquired a Maserati 250F, a newer version to Hunt’s.

For the 1956 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park the Maserati factory entered Stirling Moss and Jean Behra in the latest low-line 250F models and another Hunt number one at Orange, NSW in the Maserati 250F.

48

MotorSportLegends

250F was entered for British ace Ken Wharton. Two 3.5-litre Ferrari Super Squalos were fielded by Englishmen Reg Parnell and Peter Whitehead, winner of the 1938 AGP and 1951 Le Mans 24 Hours. The Maserati team was housed at Hunt’s Elsternwick premises, indicating his close association with the company.

The weekend before the AGP a short support race was held at the Australian Tourist Trophy meeting. Whitehead’s Ferrari was on pole, alongside Hunt and Jones in his new 250F. Reg had heard that Jones planned to squeeze him into Hunt takes the Bathurst 100 trophy for his win in 1955.

the barriers after the start. He recalls, “My father said to just let him go but Jones swerved and lost control of his car, and hit a tree about 80 metres after the start.” Jones’s car was repaired in time for the AGP. The stage was set for a showdown between Hunt and Jones – the urbane expatriate Englishman and the tough Aussie charger. Lex Davison was also expected to do well in his Ferrari.

They were not expected to trouble the overseas stars but there was kudos for the first local to finish. They did better

than expected. Moss (on pole), Behra and Whitehead shared the front row of the 3-2-3 grid. Wharton and Davison were on the second row, with Hunt, Parnell and Neal on the third. Jones and Doug Whiteford (Lago Talbot) were on the fourth row, followed by another eight cars.

Watched by a crowd of over 110,000, Moss, Behra and Whitehead quickly established the first three positions they would hold to the finish of the 402km event. Behind the leading trio a furious dogfight commenced between Hunt and Jones which saw them clear away from the other overseas and local stars.

In his excellent history of the AGP John Blanden described this battle: “First Hunt, and then Jones, asserted themselves; by lap five Jones was neatly astern of Hunt, after two very fast laps each some two seconds faster than Hunt, and it was no surprise to see Jones leading next lap, with Hunt – no surprise either – calmly taking up station a few lengths back. They continued this way for another 35 laps, both driving with a concentrated

ferocity which was almost tangible – no errors, no let-up, certainly no smiles...

There was trouble brewing for Jones, as his Maserati started to smoke from under the bonnet and on lap 40 he eased off; straight away Hunt was through, putting in three very impressive laps in 1:56s.� (In comparison the race winner Moss was lapping for most of the event in the 1:54 to 1:57 range. Moss also set the race’s fastest lap of 1:52.2).

Jones’s problems proved to be only a broken oil breather pipe but he was unable to regain contact with Hunt and they crossed the finish line in fourth and fifth places, having seen off overseas stars Wharton (who retired from the event) and Reg Parnell.

Lex Davison and Doug Whiteford finished seventh and eighth in the race, which had been marred by two showers of rain; the second of which resulted in Kevin Neal crashing heavily in his Maserati. Reg recalls that Neal “was lucky not to be decapitated by the steel cable lining the track�. Attitudes to safety were different then and fatalities were common. Reg says today: “It was a

concern but you didn’t worry about it.�

I asked Reg who he rated as the most talented drivers in his day. “Doug Whiteford was the best of the locals but I also rated Jack Brabham, Lex Davison, Stan Jones and Curly Brydon. Of the overseas drivers I believe Jimmy Clark was the best ever, with Fangio a close second. Moss was also very good but I rate Graham Hill ahead of him due to his two world championships and wins at Indianapolis and Le Mans.�

Reg retired from racing after his brilliant drive at Albert Park, leaving fans to recall an extremely fast and determined driver who never pranged, or even spun, his cars and whose professional approach raised the bar in local motorsport.

Reg’s business skills were already finely honed and he was to become the largest Holden distributor in Australia.

He also ran a vast used car operation at several locations.

In 1998 Reg sold his car businesses and at 90 he remains highly involved in his family’s property development activities. MSL

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49

TRADE TALK

DAYCO REDOES ENGINE BELT The new belt design from Dayco takes W form Dayco has developed a new engine belt design which improves on the already successful Poly-Rib version released over 25 years ago.

A ‘W-shaped’ rib design has been incorporated to ensure engine belt stability and accuracy over a longer service life, -imperative to silent, responsive and economical performance of modern day engines and their ever increasing auxiliary systems - according to Dayco.

Dayco has engineered each W Profile Poly-Rib engine belt application based on the general characteristics of each application’s drive system. No single engine belt design will work with every application, hence why there are many issues that are created

by replacing engine belts that are not application specific in their design, says Dayco.

The new engine belt design has been developed and tested to deal with common aftermarket application issues such as squeal caused by relative slip between the engine belt and a pulley, squeak caused by a momentary slip and chirp caused by relative misalignment by pulleys in a drive system.

Dayco says the new design was two years in the making, representing a considerable research and development investment.

Dayco distributes products Australia-wide. Visit dayco.comau for details. MSL

BENDIX BRAKES FOR SPORTS & PERFORMANCE Bendix says you can put your foot down with confidence, and that applies to drivers of sports and performance cars The brake specialists claim friction stability, low fade and high friction performance are all characteristics of the advanced disc brake pads, which are developed for the performance car enthusiast where response to a driving style on the limit is required.

The new brake pads feature a unique nitrile rubber coated shim for reduced noise and vibration damping, producing quieter performance braking.

The innovative technology features a thin layer of nitrile rubber on both sides of the 50

Carbon Steel shim, providing a greater level of friction for improved stopping performance and smoother, quieter braking.

The advanced unique rubber to metal composite materials have been engineered for noise damping in disc brakes and combine a number of valuable properties including vibration insulation, compressibility and excellent adhesion.

The Nitrile Rubber composite is excellent for applications with demanding insulation for vibration and noise, retaining its integrity

even when subjected to high pressure and temperature, meaning you can brake harder for longer.

Bendix Street, Road & Track Disc Brake Pads are available from Bendix stockists throughout Australia. MSL

MotorSportLegends

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DISC BRAKE PADS

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PERFORMANCE

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Consistent braking...

From the first stop until last

THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARD IN BRAKING Bendix Street Road Track brake pads are designed to suit sports and performance car enthusiasts for high speed driving applications. They have been developed by one of the world’s leading high performance friction material manufacturers incorporating the latest technology and extensively tested under extreme conditions. The rear of the pad also features Bendix Noise Reducing Shims for quieter braking performance and minimal vibration.

Street Road Track adjusts to your driving style, so you don’t have to adjust to the style of your brakes. They deliver consistently brilliant braking, with high tolerance, low fade, long wear and high friction in all sorts of conditions.

Freecall The Bendix Brake Advice Centre:

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When the heat’s on, STREET ROAD TRACK keeps delivering

HIGH FRICTION Performance brakes that respond to your driving style.

Bendix SRT delivers: • The confidence to handle busy, unpredictable driving on the STREET where conditions can change in an instant.

• The reliability to negotiate mountains with your foot consistently on the brake or cruising the open ROAD with long intervals between braking.

• Lap after lap of hot, hard, last second braking at the TRACK.

Put your foot down with confidence

Choose your perfect braking solution online at www.bendix.com.au, or scan the code on the right to find out more!

Bendix is a trademark of Honeywell International Inc. *Bendix brake components are appropriate for the purpose intended and if installed by qualified staff, to the vehicle manufacturer’s specifications, can be used in logbook servicing.

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CAR SALES • RESTORATION • ACCIDENT SERVICE • SPARE PARTS Although our reputation for “Concours” quality restoration is widely known, there’s much more to us than just trophy winning cars. Our Restoration Department also handles Accident Damage and Classic Car Insurance repairs from all over Australia.

We know that you want the damage repaired as if it never happened.

With the latest paint technology and our Low Bake Spray Facilities we can carry out a quality repair. Our tradesmen are skilled in Steel & Aluminum Repairs and Fabrication and all facets of Fiberglass repairs.

So take advantage of our experience – no jobs are too large or small.

OUR CLASSIC CAR SHOWROOM HAS OVER 50 CARS FOR SALE Please talk to us if you are considering selling or buying a Classic Sports Car.

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