MotorSport Legends Issue 24

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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David Bowden’s

John Surtees’ amazing story

Charlie O’Brien Quiet achiever

JAMES HUNT vs NIKI LAUDA

1976 WORLD F1 CHAMPIONSHIP EPIC DRAMA RELIVED IN RUSH MOVIE MSL24 p01 Cover.indd 1

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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 Get your hands on the RUSH DVD ...

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

Racing Car Heaven 8-14 David Bowden has an impressive collection of Australian motor racing cars. MSL’s Glenis Lindley was blown away when she visited his magic garage.

John Surtees 16-22 The only man to win both the F1 and the 500cc motorcycle championships, Surtees’ story is a fascinating one as our new scribe Tom Howard reports in part one of this two-part feature.

Historic Racer 25-28 The full report on the 2013 Muscle Car Masters. This event continues to grow and is now a ‘must visit’ for any race fan.

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

In this issue he vents about the poor treatment of the Touring Car Masters category at the 2013 Bathurst 1000.

50 years of McLaren 30-36 Motor racing owes much to this Kiwi talent. Bruce McLaren was not only a great racing driver, but the cars that adorned his name became legendary in their own right.

This year marks 50 years since the first one roared to life.

James Hunt vs Niki Lauda 37-43 James Hunt was a wild child of F1 in the 1970s. The story of his epic battle with Niki Lauda for the 1976 World Formula One Championship will go down in history as one of the greatest. It has now been immortalised on screen in the movie RUSH. Charlie O’Brien 44-49 You could be forgiven for thinking that big Charlie was a gentle giant, but on the race track he was as fiece a competitor as you could meet.

CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE Glenis Lindley Glenis was awestruck when she visited David Bowden’s fine collection of Australian touring car history, which, as she reports, includes some of the most famous racing cars in this country. She also tells the story of how quiet achiever Charlie O’Brien reached his racing ambitions.

John Doig Doigy gets to stand in the bright sunshine and the rain at race tracks around the country to bring you a great array of images. In this issue he has delivered with some stunning shots from the 2013 Muscle Car Masters. We promise you that he didn’t get too sunburnt in the process.

Mick Webb Mick’s column has become a muchloved part of MSL, as he recalls his favourite memories from the many years he’s spent in Australian motorsport. He’s still upsetting the establishment even today, and he was far from impressed with the ‘powers that be’ at the recent Touring Car Masters support races to the 2013 Bathurst 1000.

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, Tom Howard, Garry O’Brien 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 24th edition of Motorsport Legends magazine.

Motorsport Legends includes motor racing nostalgia and historic events.

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t’s funny when two totally different personalities just click together. The James Hunt and Murray Walker combination was that perfect case. They were two completely different characters and, due to budget constraints, used to be forced to share a single microphone to commentate on the BBC’s coverage of the World Formula One Championship.

Murray with his enthusiasm would hog the microphone and yet somehow, James managed to prise the mic’ from Murray at exactly the right moment to give some perfect, or maybe not so perfect, comment. No one really knows how this combination worked, yet somehow it just did.

Both the BBC and ITV have tried different commentators since Murray retired and James passed away, but no combination of callers have ever captured that same magic that James and Murray created.

I was having a discussion the other day with someone who only ever knew James Hunt as a commentator and

didn’t realise he was a race driver with a unique story and style of his own in the mid ’70s.

The recently released RUSH movie is the tale of the epic battle between Hunt and Niki Lauda for the 1976 World Formula One Championship.

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Thinking about it, it is a great story to develop a movie plot around. And I believe the movie’s director, Ron Howard of Happy Days fame, has done a great job to tell the epic story.

Those of you who missed RUSH at the cinemas should make sure you get a chance to see it when it comes out on DVD. Motorsport Legends has been informed that Hopscotch Films will release the DVD early in 2014. We have included a feature on James Hunt and the RUSH film in this issue, which starts on page 37.

We also visited David Bowden’s amazing collection of historic Australian touring cars, and over the next two issues we pay homage to the only man to win the World Formula One Championship and the World 500cc Motorcycle Championship, John Surtees.

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

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NEWS

TRANS TASMAN CHALLENGE STORY BY GARRY O’BRIEN PHOTOS BY DEWI JONES

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t has happened in the Rugby, it has happened in Truck Racing, and there is the likelihood that international rivalry between Australia and New Zealand could become more prevalent in historic muscle car racing following a toe-inthe-water exercise known as the Trans Tasman Challenge.

The innovation to spark the friendly rivalry between the two countries centres around two-door American muscle cars from around 1965 through to 1973, which includes such cars as Chev Camaros, Ford Mustangs, and the odd Pontiac Trans Am and AMC Javelin among others.

The concept came together as a result of a chance meeting between Dale Mathers and Ian Woodwood who are members of their respective Historic Muscle Car and Australian Trans Am groups, at an American historic meeting a couple of years ago.

More category members gathered at the 2011 Muscle Car Masters historic race meeting in Sydney and as a result a group of the Aussies trekked to New Zealand’s Hampton Downs race circuit in January the follow year.

The two groups competed at the McLaren Festival over two weekends in early 2012 and revisited the following year for the Denny Hulme Festival meetings that ran on back-to-back weekends in January.

After that, a contingent of the Kiwis came over to Australia in July to run two meetings: one at Queensland Raceway and then a couple of weeks later another at Lakeside Park.

The Aussie leg was an outstanding success with around 25 cars at QR and the track capacity more than met at Lakeside. In typical historic fashion, the events were run more in the spirit of fun and good times rather than the cut-throat business of winning at all costs.

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Challenge from across the pond: John English’s Chev Camaro among a strong field of muscle cars including Ian Woodward’s Pontiac Firebird and Craig Stacey’s AMC Javelin.

Shane Wilson’s Mustang stayed in tbe lead group throughout the meeting.

Co-conspirator in the formation of the Trans Tasman Challenge, New Zealander Dale Mathers keeps his Mustang out front.

place to align the cars more closely over a period of time.

Currently the local Aussie cars run a controlled alloy head on their standard bore and stroke engines with 200mm runners, with no fettling or polishing.

The compression ratio is a maximum of 11.0 to 1 which allows for 98 octane pump fuel, fed through a 750 four barrel Holley carburettor.

The NZ cars can run any engine size, including big blocks, compression is free as are the heads and valves. They can run multiple carburettor setups and the manifolds are free but the cars are heavier.

Both groups can run straight cut gears if they so desire. The track and wheelbase are controlled across both

categories and both use 15x8 alloy wheels. The local cars have a controlled four-spot caliper front and rear while the HMC standard is free in that area.

ATA cars mostly keep the interior trim in place as well as the two front seats but not side windows while HMC entries keep theirs but shed most other interior trimmings.

While the Aussies are keen to continue at Hampton Downs in 2015, the New Zealanders are looking to return here as a group in 2016 but individuals may opt to return earlier.

One of the most attractive aspects of this unique package is that entrants in Group N Historic Touring Cars, which fit the criteria, can compete without changing their cars at all. MSL

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CATERHAM LAUNCHES ASIAN MOTORSPORT ARM Caterham has launched Caterham Motorsport Asia with a view to replicating its European one-make racing ‘ladder’ in the Far East.

Based in Malaysia, Caterham Motorsport Asia will be headed up

by Campbell Tupling and will initially introduce the acclaimed Supersport series to the region, with further championships also being considered for roll-out in future, including Caterham’s kart series for 13-16 year olds.

Caterham Group Chairman, Tony Fernandes (pictured), identified South East Asia as the single-most important growth market for the brand as it continues to expand its international reach and product range.

The Caterham Motorsport family of single-make championships is both famously accessible and affordable as well as being renowned for some of the closest, most exciting racing on the domestic spectrum.

In the UK, the Caterham racing ladder comprises series for Superlight R300, Supersport, Tracksport and Roadsport plus Caterham’s grassroots Academy, which has created hundreds of new racing drivers since its inception in 1995.

While Caterham Motorsport Asia will focus initially on the 140bhp, 1.6-litre Ford Sigma-powered Supersport category in Malaysia alone, Tupling hopes for a range of championships across several countries, mirroring the operation in Europe.

Tupling said: “The core philosophy of Caterham has always been about making a thrilling driving experience accessible to all.

“With Caterham’s road car range expanding rapidly in the coming years, it makes sense to also cater to the growing Asian appetite for motorsport so that a new audience can be awoken to affordable thrills on both road and track.”

The Supersport championship will be a 10-round series, held over five race weekends at Malaysian Grand Prix circuit, Sepang International.

Limited modifications will ensure a truly level playing field and professional team support, including factory-trained mechanics, will also be available to participants.

Please visit www.caterham.com/ motorsportasia or email Campbell.

Tupling@caterham.com for more information. MSL

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DAVID BOWDEN

BOWDEN’S GOL

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OLDEN GARAGE Bowden’s glorious Golden Era Garage is a race fan’s dream.

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

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f ever the opportunity arises for you to visit David Bowden’s car collection on the Sunshine Coast – grab it. Most motoring enthusiasts would be happy if they could afford to own (or restore) just one classic or muscle car in their lifetime – imagine owning several sheds full of such iconic treasures.

Many of us have heard the name David Bowden and those familiar with Targa Tasmania will know of his son, Dan’s shared commitment to cars and motorsport. Dan has competed in the tarmac rally on four occasions, in a 1956 Porsche Carrera 356 and 996 twin turbo, while David’s younger son Chris also embraces the family passion and has competed twice, in a Falcon Sprint and Mazda MX5.

David’s supportive wife of over 40 years, Pauline, also shares his love of cars. “We are all so proud of what David has put together.” Her pride and joy is an

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DAVID BOWDEN

Top: The Greens Tuf Falcon is now owned by the Bowdens but on loan to the DJR museum in Queensland. Left: Dick Johnson and John French Tru-Blu Falcon, star of the 1981 James Hardie 1000.

Above: Kevin Bartlett’s Chev Camaro Z28.

immaculate blue 1959 Porsche 356 with personalised plates ‘BLU BRD’, while one of her husband’s roads cars is a Bentley, appropriately plated ‘GENTLY’.

David’s fascination with cars began when he “cut his teeth on tyres”, inheriting this love from his father Frank, who was Nambour’s General Motors Holden dealer during the World War II. Not surprisingly he became a mechanic but a little unexpectedly David developed a strong feeling for Fords – not Holdens.

However these days there are many different manufacturers welcomed into the Bowden fold.

As a young mechanic, building street hot rods was an early challenge and he confesses to still having a soft spot for this style of exotic machinery. A 1932 Ford Special, which he built as an 10

enthusiastic 19-year-old, sits proudly on display in one of his sheds.

However his first step into buying and collecting famous cars of historical significance came around four decades ago with an XA Falcon GTHO Phase IV, originally built for Allan Moffat, and one of only four manufactured by Ford.

Arguably, this is probably the most celebrated Falcon in Ford folklore – but was deemed too fast to race. These prototypes were earmarked as Ford’s secret weapon to combat archrival Holden’s on-track Bathurst efforts but were discontinued because of the outcry against a vehicle believed to be dangerous.

There were three ‘Brambles Red’ and one ‘Calypso Green’ cars produced and as luck would have it, David discovered one

in captivity owned by Queensland rally driver Keith Goodall. Before long a deal was hatched and David became the very proud owner of this car, which served as his own personal road car.

“I loved the concept and got serious about restoring it to mint condition.

That triggered my passion for this type of collectable and I wondered where all the other famous cars from Australian motor racing history were,” he explained.

Having set the wheels in motion, this self-made man with tremendous vision was on a mission. He had progressed to becoming a car wholesaler, dealer and property developer, with business interests including Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney. It wasn’t cars however, but commodities trading which earned him the money to pursue his

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Top: ‘Coca-Cola’ Mustang at Sandown ’70, the first of several DNFs for the problem-prone factory Ford.

Above: Blue Oval boys: Colin Bond with Allan Moffat – both Falcons are a part of Bowden’s collection.

Right: Moffat Mustang, also part of the collection.

passion of buying famous race cars from that past golden era.

As an impressionable young man full of ambitious ideas, in Sydney he’d met well-known Parramatta Road car dealer and racing car champion Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan who fired up David’s passion for racing cars and helped kindle his desire to preserve a small part of motoring history. Having attended a race meeting at Warwick Farm, he was ‘hooked’ and soon became a familiar figure in Geoghegan’s pit crew. One thing led to another and he formed long-standing friendships with other top drivers of that era, including Allan Moffat.

With a strong desire to restore and preserve some of the rare thundering muscle cars that helped create Australia’s

touring car heritage, David set about expanding his collection.

“I’m the first to admit that it (collecting cars) became an obsession.

There were all these other famous drivers: Norm Beechey, Bob Jane, Peter Brock, Dick Johnson – naming but a few – and their cars were just discarded along the way, or left to rust in someone’s garage.

“Even Moffat’s Super Falcon – just the body, not the engine – went to the tip, so I got hold of Geoghegan’s ’71 car, and set about resorting it,” he explained.

“I figured that the major manufacturers of the day (Holden and Ford) didn’t really have hearts. They came and went in motor racing, and didn’t seem to care about the cars or the people who raced them,” said David as he undertook

his own personal crusade.

It’s by Invitation Only to this superb, tropical rainforest retreat in the Hinterland but there are special Open Days put aside for car clubs and customers of exclusive Bowden’s Own Premium Car Care products. Open Day invitations come with three of the big car care kits.

Since David’s retirement around 10 years ago, initiated by Parkinson‘s Disease, his own private office has been extended considerably. Covering several large rooms, here is one of the most comprehensive collection of motor racing memorabilia imaginable.

Engines are lined up alongside the collection of cars, which includes one of his favourites: a 1955 Mercedes- Benz Gullwing 300SL, once owned by the late MotorSportLegends

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DAVID BOWDEN

Top: Brock at Bathurst, ’79 in the winning HDT A9X, and his 1987 VL, both now part of the Bowden collection.

Above: Bowden’s Own car care products range is extensive and high quality.

Right: David Bowden admits a strong favour for Ford race cars, including this John French Falcon.

businessman Ian Cocks. This immaculate car featured on the front cover of ‘Cars Today’ in 1956.

David fell in love with this style of car and vowed one day to obtain a Gullwing for his collection, little knowing that he would end up with the very same sports coupe. The Gullwing issue of the magazine is carefully preserved too, catalogued amongst an amazing collection of magazines and books, and his special, extensive library from his trading days.

The walls are covered with autographed posters, prints and paintings; there are shirts and driving suits once worn by prominent legends including Brock, Moffat and Geoghegan; model cars, trophies, wheels and other

prized possessions too numerous to mention.

When asked to name some of the other famous cars, he remarked: “That’s like being asked if you have a favourite child.” He says “most cars here hold special memories” but admits “There are some that I just love.”

In no particular order his favourites include Moffat’s ‘Coca-Cola’ 1969 Trans Am Boss Mustang, made available when Moffat reluctantly needed to part with his beloved factory-built Mustang and he approached Bowden, knowing that it would be in good hands.

Geoghegan’s 1970 XY ‘Super Falcon’, the Bathurst winner in 1972; earned when Pete defeated Moffat by just 6/10ths of a second after a monumental

“THERE WERE SOME UNBELIEVABLE BATHURST BATTLES BETWEEN MOFFAT’S MUSTANG, PETE’S MUSTANG OR HIS SUPER FALCON AND BOB JANE’S CAMARO…” 12

duel over the closing laps, and Dick Johnson’s 1989 Ford Sierra RS500 – the car which gave him an emphatic Bathurst win (with John Bowe) and the ATCC in the same year – are also treasured Blue Oval models.

Of the Holdens, the favourite is Peter Brock’s Torana A9X, Bathurst winner in 1979 by six laps.

We enquired about David’s Ford GT40, which had been in his collection for many years, but he revealed a little hesitantly that he sold it last year, replacing it with a stunning BMW M1 Procar. This is a rare sports car indeed; originally from the one-make series which supported European Formula One races from 1979 to 1981.

F1 stars were pitted against ‘name’ drivers including Walkinshaw, Eggenberger, Schnitzer, earning the right to compete after their practice performances for races. The thrilling battles were crowd pleasers, with Niki Lauda grabbing the 1980 championship, and Nelson Piquet in ’81 (with our own Alan

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1989 and ’88 Bathurstwinning Sierra RS500s.

Famous XA Falcon Phase IV, driven by David Bowden at Speed on Tweed in 2004.

Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan’s famous ’65 Mustang and Norm Beechey’s Neptune Racing Chev Nova.

The Procar Championship BMW M1 on show at Bowden’s.

Jones, runner-up).

Bowden’s car is chassis #77, built by F1 legend Ron Dennis, and ‘discovered’ by son Chris. When it’s fully restored, plans are to run in selected historic events.

Another rare car, this time from the local scene, is the late Len Lukey’s awesome 1963 four-door Galaxie, also raced in Australia by the late Lex Davison, and occasionally by Beechey.

However, this car wasn’t allowed to race here with the same specs as cars raced in the UK due to CAMS regulations.

There’re also some very prestigious Porsche models – one from Porsche creator, Dr Ferdinand Porsche’s

personal stable, a 1971 911s – alongside a famous example from Australian history, the orange 1968 ex-Alan Hamilton giant-killer 911T/R. With 70 cars in the Bowden collection, sadly more can’t be discussed here in detail. Most are on display, but there are a few that David owns, including the Greens Tuf Falcon, which are currently in other venues like the Dick Johnson Racing – Race Complex and Museum at Stapylton (Queensland).

When I asked David if his was the biggest/best private collection in Australia, he modestly replied: “Lindsay Fox probably has a bigger collection but

mine is more representative of historic cars from the past glory days of touring car racing.

“All of my cars are maintained by two full-time mechanics, and are in race trim – ready to be driven.”

This is a little luxury enjoyed by the Bowdens and David, with a gleam in his eyes added: “Not so long ago I drove Dick’s Tru-Blu Falcon at Lakeside.”

And yes, David once raced himself – mainly at Lakeside on club days.

His overall collection, which includes hundreds of tyres, wheels, spare parts and specialised tools, plus a few engines for good measure, is reportedly insured for around $25m.

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DAVID BOWDEN

From time to time, selected vehicles can be seen at racetracks and events such as Adelaide’s Clipsal 500, Phillip Island, Sandown, Queensland Raceway, Lakeside, the popular Muscle Car Masters (Eastern Creek) meeting and at special displays.

These famous memories were the star attraction as Legends support category on the Gold Coast in 2009/10, where past heroes including the likes of Johnson, Jim Richards, Kevin Bartlett, John French, Bob Morris, Moffat, Colin Bond, Tony Longhurst, and Charlie O’Brien jumped at the chance to be reunited with their old race cars.

This magnificent collection, the result of David’s passionate pursuit, is an enormous undertaking on its own but the boys have branched out into other ventures as well.

Dan’s emerged as a result of David wanting the very best protection to help preserve these priceless treasures.

“The American car care products we were using began damaging the paintwork (from salt in the car wash along with other harmful additives)

so we approached a local chemist for suitable, higher quality products, specially formulated for people as particular about their cars as us,” explained David.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Bowden’s Own car care range came of age in 2002 and today it’s a thriving business, popular with all serious car enthusiasts owning race or road cars.

Bowden’s Own products are available at stores such as Autobarn and Supercheap

Auto, and other leading independent outlets throughout Australia.

Dan also has amazing knowledge of the mean machines his father has so passionately preserved, and is familiar with the enthralling histories that come with these vehicles. Chris has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to historic vehicles, plus a keen sense of marketing which takes him to various parts of the globe searching for cars worthy of adding to the Bowden collection.

Chris has established Ecurie Investments, which is all about car-sourcing, sales, restoration and research, but especially about investing money into things that make the customer happy.

Down the track there are plans to open this complex to the public on a more regular basis.

“There are so many fond memories... I especially enjoyed the ripper races of the Improved Production Tourers (1965’72)... And there were some unbelievable Bathurst battles. That era was better by a country mile than anything you see today – although a lot of people won’t agree with me!” MSL

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JOHN SURTEES

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THE CROSS OVER KING

Part One of our profile on John Surtees: the only man to conquer two wheels and four STORY BY TOM HOWARD / PHOTOGRAPHS BY GARY HAWKINS; LAT PHOTOGRAPHY

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e’s achieved a level of greatness unlikely to ever be repeated in motorsport. John Surtees remains the only man to win world championships on two wheels and four, and will go down as one of motor racing’s fastest.

But possibly the most astounding fact about this feat is it happened by pure chance.

Born a son of a British Sidecar champion and World War II motorcycle dispatch rider, it was invertible that he would have petrol in his veins and racing was never too far away either. His father John snr, an accomplished motorcyclist in his own

right, trained dispatch riders during the war and it was this that sparked an interest in two wheels in a young Surtees. But even he could never have predicted the heights and the very depths his involvement in motorsport would bring.

Once the war ended the Surtees family moved from his father’s place of work at Catterick in North Yorkshire back to the family home in South East England, not too far from Brands Hatch. John jnr would assist in the family business of preparing motorcycles for customers and racing machines for his father, who continued to race all over the country.

It was at a meeting at Trent Park

in London where Surtees made his auspicious motor racing debut, at the tender age of 14.

Surtees’ father was due to take part in a sidecar speed trial but his passenger failed to appear, so John jnr stepped into the breach. The pair won the event but were immediately disqualified on the grounds that John jnr was under age.

Just months earlier he rode a bike for the first time around the spectator paths at Brands Hatch. He became instantly hooked and this led to his first competitive race aged 15 at a grass track meeting in Luton which didn’t go according to plan.

He said, “I think the thing I learned MotorSportLegends

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JOHN SURTEES

Top left: Surtees and boss Enzo Ferrari. Right: On the top step at the ’64 German GP. Above: 1964 Mexican GP. Surtees, driving the Ferrari 158, becomes the only man to win World Championships on motorbikes and in a car.

the most was how to fall off. It was very wet and I must have fallen off at every corner. Afterwards my father said “I think the bike is a bit too big for you lad”, so we went back and we managed to get hold of a little Triumph road bike. I paid for it with my money earned from work and I was given a shed to keep it in and prepare it for races.”

After several grass track outings, Surtees decided to step things up a notch by entering himself and his Triumph into the first-ever road race held at Brands Hatch in 1950. The meeting saw him come up against a young Bernie Ecclestone, who enjoys the fame and glamour surroundings of F1 today as the sports supremo.

“It went quite well and I got to the 18

final of the 250cc race. For a moment I took the lead, but the only problem was when I took the lead I wasn’t with my bike. It had started raining and at the bottom of Paddock Hill bend I overdid it. The bike went one way and I went the other.”

After leaving school early, he embarked upon an engineering apprenticeship with popular motorcycle manufacturer Vincent. It was here his racing career really took off following the purchase of a development bike which he then prepared and raced independently.

“My father and I had to persuade Mr Vincent to let us have the bike cheaply,” he said. “At the time I was only being paid a small sum a week and was living off Welsh rarebit at a

local cafe. Money was very tight at the time. I built the bike up in my own time and went racing.”

It wasn’t long before the teenager was beginning to turn heads. In August 1950, John with the aid of his mother, drove and transported his Vincent to Aberdare Park in Wales where a young Surtees claimed his maiden win.

“It was real family affair. My mother would drive the truck and I used to sleep in the back with the bike. We won the race and after that most places we took the bike we won at.”

A British championship race at Thruxton the following year catapulted him onto the scene after pushing world champion Geoff Duke hard before an untimely crash. The

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Left: Surtees at the 1960 Monaco GP in a Lotus 18-Climax leads Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T53Climax past the pits.

Below: At Zandvoort ’64, Surtees leads Peter Arundell in the Lotus 25 Climax.

performance earned him the title ‘the man who made Geoff Duke hurry’. He entered his first world championship race at the Ulster GP the following year, finishing in 11th position.

This was enough to grab Norton’s attention and he joined their works team. After beating Duke in three consecutive races in 1954 he embarked upon his first full world championship season.

“Most riders had come across me when I joined the world championship but there was a general prejudice because I had won everything on the short circuits but not achieved on the big grand prix tracks.”

But the Norton struggled against its Italian counterparts. After a campaign which brought then British champion

Surtees three podium finishes and his maiden grand prix victory at Ulster, he signed with leading Italian manufacturer MV Agusta for the 1956 season.

The pair gelled immediately and they soon became a formidable force in motorcycle racing. In his first season he lifted the 500cc world title with three grand prix wins including the coveted Isle of Man TT. “In some ways I would have liked to have stayed with Norton and won

world championships with them but they weren’t too adventurous at the time. I was going to go to BMW but then MV Agusta came calling.

“MV Agusta had a tough time when I joined them, as they lost their best rider to a crash in the Isle of Man and their next best rider was killed in the following race. They had never had any success, so in a way I had to develop my world championship career around a team who were rebuilding

“MV AGUSTA HAD A TOUGH TIME WHEN I JOINED THEM, AS THEY LOST THEIR BEST RIDER TO A CRASH IN THE ISLE OF MAN AND THEIR NEXT BEST RIDER WAS KILLED IN THE FOLLOWING RACE…” MotorSportLegends

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JOHN SURTEES

Surtees TS9 Ford at the 1971 Dutch Grand Prix

themselves. It was interesting working with them and over the years we made the bike very good.”

More success followed after a difficult ’57 season as he dominated the world championship for the next three years, winning all six world titles for 350cc and 500cc machinery. It was an unprecedented record that saw the Brit win an astonishing 32 of 39 races entered, including another five TT victories.

In doing so he became the first man to win three consecutive Isle of Man TT events; an achievement which seemed to wash over him at the time.

He also achieved all of this while still serving his apprenticeship.

“The Isle of Man requires a different mentality of racing. It requires rhythm. The important thing is to be consistent and it is not a place to treat with disrespect. I didn’t find a difficulty with that. The tension all came in the lead up to the event and when I won it, all I did was do what I set out to do. It was a bit of an anti-climax.

When I won the race the next most important thing was the next one.”

While admitting it was arguably the best time of his career, it certainly wasn’t stress free or financially secure

“I NEVER THOUGHT OF CAR RACING BEFORE. IN MANY WAYS MY NATURAL CAREER WOULD TO HAVE DONE ANOTHER FIVE OR SIX YEARS ON BIKES.”

despite the astronomical risks he was taking.

“I have to say looking back on it, it was a very satisfying time to be racing.

However, money was important back then and possibly more than today because there was a stage in the early days where if I didn’t win the race I couldn’t afford to go to the next one.”

But by the mid-point of 1960 his career took a sensational shift, which would be unthinkable today, when a contract dispute arose at MV Agusta.

Surtees had been continuing to race in other non-world championship races on his own Norton. The management was not pleased and issued an ultimatum. Keen not to break his contract with the firm, Surtees took heed of this but instead of racing in other bike events he switched to compete on four wheels.

“Apart from racing the MVs I kept racing two Norton bikes. In the Italian newspapers the headlines said, “Surtees doesn’t need an MV to win”, as I was winning the races at home on the Nortons. MV told me I could only race for them, but I loved my racing, so I felt this wasn’t fair.

“I never thought of car racing before.

In many ways my natural career would to have done another five or six years on bikes. Reg Parnell (Cooper F1 Racing boss), Tony Vandervell (Vanwall F1 Racing boss) and Mike Hawthorn all tried to persuade me to go racing cars.

“I didn’t want to break my contract so to keep racing I went to cars as it

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didn’t say I couldn’t in my contract, so I thought why not.”

In fact while he was riding to a seventh world title on two wheels, he took part in four Formula One Grand Prix events for Lotus, beginning with a debut appearance at arguably the most difficult of venues, Monaco. The deal arose after he secured pole in his very first car race at Goodwood and finished second to Jim Clark in a Ken Tyrrell-run Formula Junior.

“Ken got the RAC to watch me race and approve me a car race licence so I said ok. I went off to Goodwood, saw the car and the circuit for the first time and it didn’t clash with any motorcycle events. I managed to put it on pole and had a great dice with Jim Clark in the Lotus. I nearly got by him but I forgot I was on four wheels and I used too much grass on one of the corners.”

The distinctive Lotus F1 boss Colin Chapman was suitably impressed and he arranged a test for John in one of his Lotus 19 F1 machines at Silverstone.

Surtees (TS10 Ford) at the 1972 British Formula Two Championship, Oulton Park.

“We all met at Silverstone and I did a few laps in the car, and I was faster than their driver Innes Ireland. But I rather blotted my copybook by crashing at Stowe Corner, which sent Innes in a rage about giving cars to amateurs.

However, Colin Chapman came up to me and offered me a drive and I said I can’t have a contract as I’m a motorcyclist but in the end we agreed that I raced for them when I was available.”

And so his F1 career began at Monaco with a retirement but he had already ruffled a few feathers in the F1 paddock.

He said: “Monaco was an eye-opener. We had a horrendous time with gearboxes. The biggest difference between car driving techniques and motorcycle techniques was slow corners. I had a big learning curve to deal with. The biggest worry was

1963 German GP. Surtees leads in his Ferrari 156 ahead of Jim Clark’s Lotus 25-Climax.

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JOHN SURTEES

making sure the gears in the car were working on the narrow streets.

“Some people were very against me coming into Formula One. I wouldn’t have minded if I wasn’t quick, but I was just as fast as the majority of the drivers from the start which didn’t go down that well. There were quite a few pressures.”

A second place in the British Grand Prix followed and he came agonisingly close to earning Lotus’ first-ever Grand Prix win on the streets of Porto in Portugal.

“I put it on pole and I had the race basically in my pocket with a 20-second lead but a series of circumstances came up which was partly my fault. We were leaking oil and when I came up to Stirling Moss I pulled out at too shallow an angle. I braked too late and I clipped the radiator. It lost Lotus their first Grand Prix win and lost me my first win in only my second race which would have set a record which would stand today.” MSL

Above: A regular at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Surtees is seen here on a Norton at the 2013 event.

Below left: John surrounded by supporters at the ’13 Henry Surtees Foundation Karting event at Mercedes World, Brooklands. Right: On the 1970 Surtees TS7.

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RACER

STORY BY GARRY O’BRIEN; PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN DOIG/TORQUE PHOTOS

MUSCLE CAR MASTERS ATTRACTS BIG CROWD AND GRIDS Bathurst Grid Spectacular and thundering F5000 open-wheelers add to the atmosphere of yet another magnificent Muscle Car masters event for Father’s Day

F

or Sydney-siders and those residing in the surrounding areas, Father’s Day on the first weekend of September holds special meaning. Old and new dads with a motor racing persuasion can indulge their whim by attending the Muscle Car Masters.

This year marked the ninth occasion that the extravaganza at Sydney Motorsport Park (previously known as Eastern Creek) brought the past to the present and attracted thousands who generally don’t go to car racing events on a regular basis.

The organisers strive to keep the event fresh, mixing the racing categories from year to year, and ensuring that the display of great cars from the past is varied as well.

The centrepiece of the 2013 event was the Bathurst Grid Spectacular that was billed as half-time entertainment but it was more than that. The thundering five-litre stockblock V8 powered Formula 5000 open-wheelers have

Allen Boughen’s Mercury Comet maintained a position in the lead group for all Nb races.

been participating biennially, but due to creation of the 2013/14 Formula 5000 Australia Cup, backed up from last year.

Touring Car Masters, the modified and modernised (in engine and running gear respects) muscle cars are a permanent fixture on the program, in much the same manner as the Historic Touring Cars or Group N which are many cases, more aligned to what ran in the

1960s and 1970s.

There are very few cars in the two aforementioned categories that were actually raced in those years; not so Heritage Touring Cars. The Group C and Group A cars that represent the eras of 1972 to 1984 and 1985 to 1992 are the real deal – cars that raced in those periods and on track again.

The invited category for this year and making their debut were the Group S

Sports Cars. In basic terms they are the productionbased sports car equivalent to Historic Touring Cars and roughly fall into the same sub-groups of Sa, Sb and Sc as Group N’s similar periods of Na, Nb and Nc. Just as important as the many great cars on hand, were the legendary drivers in attendance. Names like Allan Moffat, Fred Gibson, Leo Geoghegan, Harry Firth, Kevin Bartlett, John Goss, MotorSportLegends

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HRT Walkinshaw Commodore, driven

by Gary Collins and Norman Mogg.

NZ-based Ken Smith in his Lola T332 finished second in the Formula 5000 Trophy Race.

Rusty French led all Group S races in his De Tomaso Pantera but was given a 5sec penalty for a jump start in the Trophy Race.

Allan Grice, Jim and Steve Richards, and Neil Crompton went to the point of writer’s cramp signing autographs as well taking part in the Legends Dinner held on the Saturday night.

Traditionally the Bathurst 1000s, and 500s that preceded the move to metric, featured a pageant of a colourful pre-race build-up. This was recreated as the Muscle Car

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Masters celebrated the 75th anniversary of Mt Panorama and the 50th anniversary of the Armstrong 500 with the hour-long Grid Spectacular.

The 65-odd cars, all of which had competed at the Great Race, assembled on the SMP grid, headed up by the Blacktown City Pipe Band with all the pomp and ceremony of the day. On a negative note, the grid started at the start/finish line

The winning Holden EH in the 50th Anniversary Race, driven by Ben Wilkinson.

and worked its way all the way to the top of the circuit.

Logically organisers wanted to have this grid further down the straight, in front of the grandstand, but officialdom would not have it.

Still it was an impressive sight even if those in the stand and on top of the pits strained their eyes to see the back half of the line-up. Cars included the winning Holden of the 1986 and 1997 races,

the Allan Grice/Graeme Bailey and Larry Perkins/ Russell Ingall Commodores respectively, plus ‘Godzilla’, the Nissan Skyline GTR that Mark Skaife and Jim Richards drove to victory in 1992.

The oldest car was a Studebaker Commander that was a frontrunner in the 1967 race, while the newest car raced in 2012 in the colours of Pepsi and shared by Greg Murphy and the late Allan Simonsen,

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This ex-Skaife/Richards HR31 Skyline was one of the ex-racers to line up in the Grid Spectacular.

although it was presented in previous paint scheme of Jack Daniels.

Some other classic Bathurst cars on the spectacular grid included the only automatic Ford Falcon GT to have raced in the Hardie Ferodo 500 which finished ninth outright in 1969 and second in class E and a Holden Dealer Racing Team HK GTS 327 that raced there the previous year.

Frank Binding’s Army

Reserve Falcon XD of 1980 and 1981 not only joined in but was competing in the Heritage Touring Car races, as well as a couple of JPS BMWs but not so the Tony Longhurst’s BMW M3 in its B&H colour scheme.

There were three Holden Toranas on the grid, headed

by Allan Grice’s first XU-1, the Cessnock Motors entry of 40 years ago shared with Keith Murray, and two hot

mustard Valiant Chargers – a Series Production E38 from Bathurst 1971 steered then

by Brian ‘Brisque’ Reed and Graham Ritter, and a Group C Charger, driven to eleventh in 1973 by Brian Ovenden and Max McGinley.

No Bathurst grid would be complete without a Dick Johnson car or two. On this occasion it was one of his Greens-Tuf Ford Mustang of 1985, the second car that he

and Larry Perkins practiced but did not take the start.

Among the collection amassed was the only HQ Holden to contest the Bathurst classic, the black Muirs-sponsored machine driven by Bob Stevens and Ron Dickson in 1973 and 1974 driven by Bob Stevens and Ron Dickson, and Garry Wilmington’s XC Falcon hardtop from 1978.

There was the first HSV Commodore, the Aussie-built Walkinshaw entered for Larry Perkins and Denny Hulme and later taken over by Tom Walkinshaw.

And no Bathurst grid before 1993 would be complete without the class cars. Toyota was the mainstay for many years and two works Corollas from the 1980s – the 1988 class-winning Corolla and an earlier Toyota Team Australia Corolla.

The Muscle Car Masters always celebrates marque Left: Bill Trengrove’s Mustang; just one among the nearly 50-strong grid for the Group Nb races.

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milestones. In 2013 it was the 40th for the ’73 Ford Falcon GT and VJ Valiant Charger, and the 25th of the VL Holden Commodore SS Group A. Marking the 50th Anniversary of the EH Holden S4 went a bit further though.

The organisers put together an all-EH race for the Historic Touring Cars, attracting 16 of the venerable Holdens, which Ben Wilkinson won.

But back in among the rest of the enormous Group Nb field of almost 50 cars, they were outpaced by several Fords like Bill Trengrove’s Mustang and the Lotus Cortina of Scott Fleming.

It was just a pity that both struck problems in their trophy race which finished behind a safety car with Bill’s son Brent in another Mustang declared the winner over the Allan Boughen Mercury Comet and Max Ullrich in another Mustang.

Fords also dominated the over 3.5-litre Group Nc; none more so than David Wall in an actual car from the era, the ex-Ian Geoghegan Ford Mustang GTA. The V8

Supercar driver never looked like being troubled as he accounted for the Mustang of Mick Donaher, Michael Anderson (Falcon GT) and the Mustangs of John Harrison and Darryl Hansen.

It was quite a contrast in the under 3.5-litre Group Nc where it was Holden versus Mazda. Andrew Williams (Torana XU-1) saw off the challenges of the RX2s of Jason Humble, Bill Attard, Phil Woodbury and Wayne Rogerson. Woodbury’s race finished with a jammed fourth gear and Rogerson lost a spot to the Craig Allan Torana.

The Group A & C Trophy Race was named in honour of the late Jason Richards who competed at many Muscle Car Masters in one of Paul Stubber’s A9X Toranas.

Group A cars dominated the ‘Racing for Jason’ feature which was taken out by Terry Lawlor in the ex-Caltex Ford Sierra ahead of Rod Markland’s ex-GIO Nissan Skyline GTR and the ex-Green Tufs Mustang of Bill Pye. Best of the earlier cars was Adam Workman’s Nissan

Bluebird (fourth) just in front of Ed Singleton’s ex-STP Holden Commodore.

While the two groups of Heritage Touring Cars competed together, they also had separate trophy events.

Predictably the four-wheel drive of the Nissan Skyline GTR saw Markland take the early Group A event lead over Pye before Lawlor nailed them both. David Towe’s BMW M3 finished fourth ahead of Craig Neilson (Mitsubishi Starion) and the pair of former Holden Racing Team Walkinshaw Commodores driven by Gary Collins and Norm Mogg.

Holdens filled the top three spots in Group C after polesitter Workman slipped up on the first lap. Singleton won from Shaun Tunny (A9X Torana) and Collins. Frank Binding’s Ford Falcon was next, ahead of the recovering Workman.

John Bowe didn’t have things all his own way in the round of the Touring Car Masters, his Mustang won the first race but was beaten

by Bill Pye (Porsche 911) in the second and Andrew

Miedecke’s Chev Camaro in the third.

Rusty French led all the Group S races in his De Tomaso Pantera but was pinged five seconds in the last which gave the trophy feature to James Flett in his Datsun 260Z ahead of the indecently quick MG Midget of Damien Meyer.

But if there was anything to rival the Grid Spectacular it has to have been the rolling starts from the Formula 5000s. Not even the track commentators uttered a word when the open-wheelers thundered past. The 1974 Tasman Series winning Chevron B24/28, now driven

by Tom Tweedie was a clear winner. The veteran Kiwi Ken Smith (Lola T332) was next best as countryman Clark Proctor (March 73A) and Aussie Richard Davison (T332) both broke engines.

If all that was not enough for the race goer, there were Heritage Hot Laps to keep an eye out for plus of course, the sideshow of model cars, books and other memorabilia to keep you salivating for next year.

Nissan Skyline GTR, driven by Rod Markland (pictured), and Andrew Workman’s Bluebird represented the Japanese brand’s racing heritage in the Group A & C races.

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WEBB OF

Intrigue Rotten old Fairlanes, drifting wankers and time wasters... V8 Supercars organisers seem to forget that some of us come miles to watch the TCM

B

athurst 2013 had some great moments, but for Touring Car Masters teams, it also had some very ordinary ones. We were scheduled for three seven-lap races but due to Safety Car incidents, the first race we got around one and a half laps of competition, the second race we got two laps and we finally had a seven-lap race in the third event.

We are all conscious that races are time certain and I admit some of the TCM drivers need to have a good hard look at themselves in relation to driving standards, but V8 Supercars still had time to have rotten old Fairlanes with blowers on them doing burnouts and wankers drifting down the front straight in between races.

People come to the car racing to watch car racing, they don’t come to the car racing to watch the Holden Utes slide merchants do donuts and waste time.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a drag racing fan and it is fantastic to have a great looking drag car there. Victor Bray does a sensational job with his cars but they had lots of other cars there just wasting time and filling the place with smoke.

The Super Cheap Auto 1000 is not a drag race meeting nor it is not a car show meeting, the people are there to be entertained by car racing.

Unfortunately, the organisers seem to forget that some people have come from miles away to watch the Touring Car Masters, along with other support

Top: Seton’s bent Falcon after a crash that blocked the track with Andrew Miedecke’s Camaro. Above: Eddie Alelnica on his way to winning race two at Bathurst in his Falcon XB Coupe.

categories. I think the muscle cars of Australia have a much bigger following than V8 Supercars realises, look at the attendance of the Muscle Car Masters, which is more than a V8S event. Most of the spectators who came up to our garages were more annoyed than the competitors that there was so little racing.

V8 Supercars think they are the pinnacle of Australian motorsport but let’s face it: most of the Bathurst 1000 was a terrible spectacle. Sure, the last 25 laps were absolutely sensational – nobody could deny that – it was one of the greatest Bathurst finishes we have

ever seen – but what about the other 136 laps – they were just a procession.

Nobody knew what the order was, or what was going on because nowadays all the teams are all running different fuel strategies.

Until recently V8 Supercars refused to acknowledge the history of Australian Touring Car racing – they seemed happy to believe popular tin-top racing began in 1993 with the advent of their category though they latched onto the long-fought ‘Holden-Ford battle’ to promote their series. After the success of Touring Car Masters they began linking themselves to the cars of the past, though after their treatment of our category at Bathurst this year, I can’t help thinking this new found respect has simply been lip service. Perhaps the significant sanctioning fees our category pays to V8 Supercars for the privilege of entertaining their spectators may have something to do with their new-found love of muscle cars.

In addition to that cost, it’s very expensive to run one of our cars at Mount Panorama, and of course the paying public also spend a lot of their hard-earned money over the weekend.

V8S has got to lift its game and show the fans and competitors the respect they deserve. Let the Camaros, Mustangs, Chargers, Falcons and Monaros RACE! Congratulations to FPR and all the boys for a fantastic job. Great to see Ford on top!

– Mick Webb MotorSportLegends

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MCLAREN

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Emerson Fittipaldi in the FordCosworth powered McLaren at the 1974 British Grand Prix, Brands Hatch.

THE MACHINES McLAREN BUILT 50 Years of McLaren: Motorsport Legends reflects on two of its greatest machines STORY BY TOM HOWARD / PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF FORD U.S ARCHIVES

F

ew would have predicted that a New Zealander thousands of miles from home would go on to create one of Formula One’s most successful teams.

But that vision belonged to Bruce McLaren and 182 grand prix wins, eight Constructors’ Titles and 12 Drivers’ Championships later, his name today still looms large in Formula One – more than 50 years since his voyage to Great Britain armed with a plan to design, create and drive the world’s best racing machines.

This year McLaren celebrates its 50th anniversary and what better way to commemorate the milestone by taking a look at two of its creations that put the name McLaren on the motorsport map.

The team’s origins emanate from New Zealand when Auckland-born race driver Bruce McLaren first grabbed the attention of the motor racing fraternity.

Piloting a Cooper Climax, McLaren finished second behind Jack Brabham at the 1958 New Zealand Grand Prix at Ardmore. His performance caught the attention of the race winner and the second-place finish also saw McLaren claim the New Zealand International Grand Prix Association’s ‘Driver to Europe’ scholarship. This prize and rapport with Brabham would ignite his motor racing career.

McLaren, who arrived in the UK virtually on his own, joined the Cooper works team and enjoyed seven years with the marque. The spell saw him claim grand prix wins at Sebring,

James Hunt in 1976 at the United States GP, Watkins Glen NY. MotorSportLegends

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MCLAREN

Emerson Fittipaldi celebrates on the podium after winning the US GP in 1974.

Buenos Aires and the jewel in the crown Monaco in 1962. McLaren also came close to winning the Formula One World Championship in 1960.

But the following year, the son of a car mechanic, aged just 26 decided to embark on a new challenge by forming his own team based in a Surrey warehouse in the UK, with the aid of American entrepreneur Teddy Mayer.

Bruce continued to race for Cooper up until 1965 but when the following season came along he was sat in his very own McLaren M2B Formula One car.

Often mistakenly labelled McLaren’s first F1 car, the M7 put Bruce’s team on the map as a Formula One race winner. Designers Robin Herd and Gordon Coppuck, who were drafted in

by McLaren, put pen to paper during the winter of 1967 and in the end they

McLAREN M7 CONSTRUCTED

1968 ENGINE

Ford Cosworth DFV V8 mid-mounted CHASSIS

Aluminium alloy & magnesium alloy monocoque TRANSMISSION

Hewland 5-speed manual YEARS OF SERVICE

1968-1971 RACES

22 WINS

4 TITLES

0 (2nd in 1968 Constructors’ Championship) 32

came up with the M7.

Its predecessors the M2 and M4 had been let down by engines and a lack of power but this was rectified with Cosworth’s new DFV (double four-valve) unit. The engine made its debut exclusively with Lotus and won its maiden race in 1967, but by 1968 it became available to purchase and McLaren was quick to secure five units. At the time it cost the team a cool £7500, which would be considered peanuts today.

The design loosely followed the Lotus 25 with a three-quarter length bathtubtype chassis made from lightweight aluminium. It was topped off by glass fibre bodywork and painted orange, which would become the team’s official colour.

McLaren’s hard work and move to DFV units was to pay off as the car piloted by Bruce won on its racing debut in the Daily Mail Race of Champions held at Brands Hatch. It won again at another non-championship event at Silverstone a month later, with fellow Kiwi Denny Hulme behind the wheel.

When the F1 season approached there was a level of optimism surrounding the team but powerhouses Lotus and Ferrari remained the teams to beat. In the opening round of the 1968 season Hulme managed to guide the car to second in Spain behind Graham Hill’s Lotus, while Bruce endured back-to-back retirements in the first two races.

But round three at Spa would become an iconic day for the team as it recorded

its first Grand Prix victory. After early leaders John Surtees in the Honda and Chris Amon in a Ferrari had dropped out, Hulme became involved in a scrap for the lead. However, a driveshaft failure ended Hulme’s race which in turn handed McLaren a shot at glory.

McLaren was left fighting the BRM cars of Pedro Rodriguez and Piers Courage, and Jacky Ickx Ferrari for second, while the Matra of Jackie Stewart had a commanding lead.

McLaren eventually dropped his three challengers and was convinced he had finished second but little did he know, Stewart had run out of fuel and was forced to pit on the penultimate lap.

The stop gifted the team its maiden win and McLaren became only the second driver (following Jack Brabham) to win a Formula One round in a car bearing his name.

The rise in performance of Firestone and Dunlop tyres for Matra and Ferrari plus the introduction of full-blown wings to increase downforce on the

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James Hunt at speed in his McLaren Ford at the 1976 Belgium Grand Prix.

Lotus saw the McLaren team lose pace.

It tried to adopt wings but they didn’t work as well on the M7 compared to its rivals.

A new Goodyear G9 tyre gave the team increased performance towards the end of the season and this helped Hulme to victory at the Italian Grand Prix. He repeated the feat in Canada in the next race with Bruce coming home in second for the team’s first ever 1-2 finish. The result helped secure second spot in the Constructors’ Championship.

Four variants of the M7 were produced since 1968 but in three years of racing it could only muster one more victory, with Hulme winning the 1969 Mexican Grand Prix. It may only have won four races but the M7 firmly put McLaren on the map.

While the M7 had shown to the world a McLaren could win Formula One races, the team had to wait until 1974 and the M23 for its first world title.

Founder Bruce McLaren’s death from

a testing accident in 1970 rocked the team but with Teddy Mayer now at the helm, its members regrouped to produce the M23 which will go down as one of McLaren’s masterpieces.

By the mid-1970s Formula One technology had moved on with much more focus on aerodynamics. Wings had evolved to become a must-have feature.

The M23 owed itself largely to the Coppuck-designed M16 Indycar, which won three Indy 500 titles. The all-aluminium, wedge-shaped chassis was developed chiefly to weigh half a ton but its party piece was a special Cosworth DFV engine, tuned by Nicholson Engines to produce 490 horsepower.

Coppuck felt the car was ahead of its time: “The best F1 car for three years.

Yes, it was a good design but it also benefitted from a lot of good development. The chassis changed very little but we did a great deal of suspension work to keep it competitive. The chassis

was much stiffer than those of our rivals’ cars but it was pretty flexible by modern standards.”

The car made its debut in 1973 but it wasn’t successful from the outset.

McLAREN M23 CONSTRUCTED

1973 ENGINE

Ford Cosworth DFV V8 mid-mounted CHASSIS

All aluminium TRANSMISSION

Hewland 5/6-speed manual YEARS OF SERVICE

1973-1977 RACES

83 WINS

16 TITLES

Drivers’ Championship: 1974 (Emerson Fittipaldi), 1976 (James Hunt), Constructors’ Championship: 1974 MotorSportLegends

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MCLAREN

Its first victory came halfway through the season when Hulme capitalised upon problems for Lotus duo Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson to win the Swedish Grand Prix. American Peter Revson recorded two more wins for the car at Silverstone and Mosport to earn the team third in the Constructors’ Championship.

However, the following season would go down in history. World champion Emerson Fittipaldi joined the team from Lotus and a series of tweaks were made to the M23. The car was made wider following the trend used by Lotus; the rear wing was brought forward significantly and three wheelbase variations were used throughout the season to aid drive and downforce.

The changes were an overnight success with Hulme winning the first race of the season at Argentina but it would prove to be Fittipaldi’s year. The Brazilian went on to claim victories in Brazil, Belgium and Canada while also recording four more podium finishes to win his second world title and McLaren’s first constructors’ crown.

Fittipaldi remained at the team for the next season but he and the McLaren M23 couldn’t match Niki Lauda and his Ferrari 312. Fittipaldi finished second in the championship behind Lauda with two victories, while team mate Jochen Mass picked up another victory for the car in Spain.

The Brazilian’s departure to his brother’s Copersucar team saw British

Denny Hulme in a McLaren M7 at Brands Hatch in 1969.

driver James Hunt join the outfit for 1976. The fourth variation of the M23, the M23D, coupled with Hunt proved to be a formidable combination.

The season, which has been brought back to life through Ron Howard’s blockbuster movie Rush, was a story of a rivalry between Hunt and McLaren, and Lauda and Ferrari. It would prove to be an eventful year with the M23 disqualified for being too wide from a victorious Spanish GP in the hands of Hunt, before being reinstated later in the year. The disqualification prompted a mid-season rebuild of the car.

Aided by Lauda’s almost career and life threatening crash at the Nurburgring, Hunt won five races in the Austrian’s absence but the title came down to the final round at Fuji. Treacherous condi-

tions forced Lauda, still recovering from horrific burns, to retire stating it was too dangerous to race. Hunt continued and finished third which was just enough to win the world title but McLaren just missed out on the constructors’ crown.

The M23 continued on to race in 1977 but its best years had passed. However, with 16 victories, two drivers’ titles and one constructor crown in five years, it proved to be the starting block of McLaren’s Formula One dominance.

While Bruce McLaren, who tragically lost his life in a testing accident driving one of his own machines at Goodwood, only witnessed three years of his team taking on the world’s best, he would certainly be proud today to see how his vision has turned into a Formula One phenomenon. MSL

Bruce McLaren at the Mexican Grand Prix in 1966 in a M2B-Ford.

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RUSH MOVIE

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

James Hunt, the 1970s British racing icon, lived more in his 45 years than many manage in 90. With Ron Howard’s new film, Rush, focusing on the 1976 on-track battle with rival Niki Lauda, we take a look at the decadent and tragic life of Formula One’s most colourful character STORY & PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE INTERVIEW HUB

H

e was the wildest man in the history of Formula One racing. He looked more like a movie star than a race car driver.

He slept with several thousand women and drank and drugged his way through life with the kind of élan that only Errol Flynn could match. He also became world F1 champion by finishing third in the final race of the 1976 season in a massive downpour that made the Tokyo course so frighteningly dangerous to

drive that it forced his rival – Niki Lauda – to withdraw after two laps.

James Hunt had the kind of lust for life that only a very few men can ever know. He was a golden god of the race track who faced down death with a hearty disdain and would occasionally entice women into bed by saying: “This could be my last race.” But Hunt rarely needed a line when it came to satisfying his massive sexual appetite. Women flocked to him with the kind of frenzy more commonly reserved for rock stars.

Tall, blonde and irreverent, Hunt was a carnal carnivore who blazed his way through life at maximum speed. He was always on the limit, as the saying goes amongst race car drivers, and indulged in sex, drugs and alcohol with reckless abandon. Dead at 45 of a massive heart attack in 1993, Hunt fled from earth with the kind of suddenness that often takes heroes to their final resting place.

Better to burn out than fade away, as Neil Young would say. Definitely.

Hunt’s life and his epic 1976 battle

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RUSH MOVIE

Above: Daniel Bruhl chats with director, Ron Howard. Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth (above right) brilliantly plays ‘wild child’ James Hunt.

with Niki Lauda are the subject of a highly anticipated new film – Rush – directed by Ron Howard. It’s the first feature film about Formula One racing since John Frankenheimer’s epic 1965 movie, Grand Prix. Starring Chris Hemsworth as Hunt and Daniel Bruhl (Inglorious Basterds, Goodbye Lenin) as Lauda, Rush will go a long way to adding to the legend of the wild Englishman.

On the occasion of the 71st running of the Monaco Grand Prix, by far the most glamorous race on the Formula One circuit, it is only fitting that we examine the life of a man whose off-track cocksmanship overshadowed his actual work inside the cockpit.

Today’s F1 drivers have little in common with the generation of drivers from the 60s and 70s. It was an era where drivers regularly hurtled to their death in a grisly mash of twisted metal, severed limbs and crushed bodies. They 38

were true gladiators whose chariots were akin to lightly armoured coffins that offered little protection in the event of a crash. Hunt himself had to drag fellow race car driver Ronnie Peterson out of his burning car when track marshals were too afraid to do so. (Peterson later died in hospital as a result of medical negligence.) Jochen Rindt even won the 1970 championship posthumously after being killed prior to the end of that season.

Whereas Hunt and the F1 drivers of his era entered each race with a very legitimate risk of dying, today’s cars offer near-perfect protection against paying the ultimate price for practicing one’s craft.

Brazil’s Ayrton Senna – generally acknowledged as the greatest F1 driver of all time, and who won the Monaco Grand Prix an astonishing five times in a row, six times overall – was the last

man to die in a race when a carbon fibre suspension fragment pierced his helmet in 1994. Since then, there have been bad crashes and some serious injuries, but death is hardly the spectre it once was for men like Hunt.

Perhaps that’s why Hunt was a true hero for his willingness to stare down the grim reaper and treat life more like an absurd spectacle. Just compare his devil-may-care personality with the robotic personae of modern day drivers.

Germany’s Michael Schumacher probably set the tone with his scripted and monotonous behaviour. His machine-like manner and racing style defined a new era in motor racing, and the current crop of F1 pilots are glorified PR flaks who shill for their various sponsors and always make sure to thank the team and the mechanics and the sponsors and everyone else imaginable.

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The movie RUSH highights Hunt’s charm which attracted many female fans, helping to serve his sexual appetite while off the track

Whenever today’s drivers address journalists, they tend to behave more like choir-boys – with the exception of Mark Webber who earlier this year suggested that Red Bull and Sebastien Vettel had effectively cheated him out of a victory. By way of contrast to today’s highly predictable and programmed drivers’ conferences, James Hunt would show up barefoot, smoking a cigarette and generally laughing or making harsh comments about slow drivers.

Ironically, the one driver active today whose penchant for the nightlife and drinking has tended towards the excessive – Kimi Raikkonen – is also known as the “Iceman” for his generally taciturn and ultra-cool behaviour whenever he is in the vicinity of a race track or wherever a TV camera is liable to be nearby. And the rest of the drivers are so corporatised, reified and sterilised as to be virtually indistinguishable from each other.

In Hunt’s day, the individual driver still mattered. Not so much in terms of determining the outcome of the race – usually the best car would win, something which is much truer today – but with respect to defining a sense of

“THERE HAVE BEEN BAD CRASHES AND SOME SERIOUS INJURIES, BUT DEATH IS HARDLY THE SPECTRE IT ONCE WAS FOR MEN LIKE HUNT” the man behind the wheel.

What can anyone say of Sebastien Vettel, the reigning three-time F1 champion? Vettel comes across as a spoiled schoolboy whose gestures and statements are much more in tune with a video-game geek shrieking every time he squeezes the joystick.

Hunt was a man whose sexuality was reflected not only in the way he drove a car but in the way he lived every moment away from the track.

With two weeks to prepare for the final and deciding race of the 1976 season, Hunt installed himself in the Tokyo Hilton Hotel and proceeded to “entertain” a never-ending parade (estimated at nearly three dozen in total) of British Airways stewardesses.

Hunt would relax on a sofa in the hotel lobby waiting for them to check in as part of their regular 24-hour stopovers at the Hilton, and then invite them

to join him for what he affectionately called “celebrations”.

His playboy image preceded him, of course, and it was often said by women who knew him that his 6’1” frame, long blonde hair, chiselled good looks and natural charm were so completely disarming that it was almost impossible to refuse to go to bed with him even if they knew it was merely a one-night stand and that he had a steady stream of willing female sex partners lined up in the hotel room hallway outside.

Together with his friend Barry Sheene, world motorcycle champion that year, Hunt engaged in a “roundthe-clock alcohol, cannabis and cocaine” binge (according to Hunt biographer Tom Rubython) while indulging in every manner of sexual pleasure with his adoring stewardess fans.

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RUSH MOVIE

The 1976 season was a duel between Lauda and his Ferrari and Hunt’s McLaren but while Lauda was recovering from his life-threatening crash at the German GP, Hunt managed to score several victories and eventually the world title. Above: ‘the real’ Lauda. Right: Chris Hemsworth plays James Hunt in RUSH.

fully in keeping with Hunt’s orgiastic preparations for the race.

This all took place with the decisive championship race approaching, but so great were Hunt’s appetites and racing talents that he never felt that his off-track licentiousness did anything to interfere with his on-track command of his race car.

When it came to the race itself, the torrential rains threatened the event with cancellation, which could have given the title to Lauda who was leading up to that point. But race organisers were determined that the show would go on, especially with an estimated worldwide television audience of 30 million (a record for that era) waiting to see whether Hunt or Lauda would come out ahead.

Hunt was lucky to have a ride that season. His previous team, Hesketh Racing, had folded when the owner, the flamboyant Lord Hesketh, ran out of money after three seasons. But Hunt was fortunate when Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi left the Marlboro McLaren team, opening up a spot for 40

Hunt who had turned down Lotus, believing that its team owner Colin Chapman’s cars were notoriously unsafe (many people would blame Chapman for Jochen Rindt’s death several years earlier).

The ’76 season was essentially a duel between Niki Lauda, the defending champion driving for Ferrari, and Hunt in the McLaren M23. In the opening race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, Hunt won the pole position and looked very fast.

Even though Hunt ultimately crashed out of the race, he had served notice that he would very likely contend for the championship. Midway through the season, however, Lauda nearly died in a fiery crash at the German Grand Prix at the old and notoriously dangerous Nürburgring course. He was badly burned and went into a coma – at one point a priest delivered the last rites to him – but he miraculously survived and returned to race again six weeks later while Hunt scored several victories in his absence and had eroded Lauda’s lead to three points by the final race in Japan.

(Though some people claim that

Lauda’s accident had effectively gifted the ’76 world title to Hunt, it is worth noting that both men, either by injury or mechanical failure, failed to finish five races apiece – ED).

On race day in Tokyo, the rain was so heavy that visibility was less than 100 metres and during the warm-up lap many drivers had difficulty seeing due to the rooster-tails of water that the cars in front of them were throwing up into their visors.

Both Hunt and Lauda thought that the race should be postponed until the rains let up, but the organisers felt the pressure of the worldwide TV audience that knew that the championship was hanging in the balance.

Hunt himself would comment after the race was over: “I thought it was pathetic that they made us drive.

Having said that, if there had been two cars out there, the second would have been mine.”

Lauda, having become intimately aware of his own mortality owing to his near-fatal crash in Germany, decided that it wasn’t worth risking his life this

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time out and pulled off the course after only two laps declaring that it “was too dangerous to drive when you can barely see the track in front of you”.

But Hunt and 20 other drivers stayed out and raced to the finish. Hunt led for most of the race but on lap 62 while running comfortably in second – he only needed to finish third to win the championship – the rain had stopped and as a result the dry track destroyed Hunt’s rain tyres. With eight laps remaining, his left front tyre blew out and he had to pit, causing him to sink to sixth place. But he quickly caught up and passed the fourth and fifth place cars on a single corner and crossed the finish line as world champion. But when he pulled into the pits he had no idea that he had won the title and started screaming at his pit crew because there had been delays in changing his tyres during that late pit shop. It was at that point that McLaren team manager Teddy Mayer motioned to Hunt to take off his helmet.

After he did so, Mayer informed him that he had won the championship.

It was the most thrilling climax in the history of Formula One racing, and Hunt became an instant superstar. He thrived on the attention and acclaim and had finally delivered on the promise he showed as a young British driver who was so famously fast albeit reckless that he earned the nickname “Hunt the Shunt” for his many crashes.

Away from the race track, Hunt’s private life was a mixture of controlled chaos. Despite his insatiable sexual needs, Hunt was sufficiently smitten with sensationally beautiful British model Suzy Miller that he married her in 1974. But his innermost doubts about tying himself down caused him to go on a drinking binge before his wedding and he arrived at the ceremony barely able to stand up.

Miller would grow tired of Hunt’s chronically unfaithful ways and later left him to marry another even more famous drinker, Richard Burton, who was in the process of divorcing Elizabeth Taylor in 1976. Miller complained that Hunt was so dismissive of their marriage that she would call

him at hotel rooms around the world and he would answer the phone while having sex with one of his countless companions of the moment.

Interestingly, Hunt and Burton were completely open about the “transfer” of Suzy from one man’s bed to the other’s.

When Mrs Hunt informed James that she was planning on going to New York to be with Burton, Hunt simply replied: “Okay, off you go!” When Richard Burton supposedly offered $1 million to pay for Hunt’s divorce settlement with Suzy so that Burton could marry her as soon as possible, Hunt turned the money down, reportedly telling the legendary actor: “Relax, Richard. You’ve done me a wonderful turn by taking on the most alarming expense account in the country.”

This kind of ironic nature was typical of James Hunt. Nothing really mattered that much in life – especially when it came to women. He was aware of his irresistible appeal, so much so that he never felt it necessary to apologise or feel guilty about his manic sexual adventures even while supposedly in MotorSportLegends

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‘The real’ James Hunt after a hard night.

James Hunt with one of his many lady friends.

Daniel Bruhl portraying Niki Lauda (left) and (right) the real deal.

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love with his various wives or long-term girlfriends.

Racing legend Stirling Moss, who regularly partied with Hunt in Monte Carlo whenever they met up, said: “If you looked like James Hunt, what would you have done?”

During his racing heyday, Hunt’s flamboyance was a welcome part of life on the Formula One circuit. He was loved by almost everyone in racing, including Max Mosley, a co-founder of the March racing team in 1969 and long-time president of FIA, the Formula One governing body, until his own brush with extra-marital sex (an orgy with several high-class hookers in London) led to his eventual resignation.

Mosley had this to say about his good friend James Hunt: “Yes, he was totally wild, but I never knew him to do anything ungentlemanly. I always feel slightly guilty telling the story of the time he and I went to the Marlboro party in Rio, and he wanted to stop off to see a friend of his on the way, at a very plush flat. And the friend produced a piece of polished marble and laid out three lines of white powder. And James turned to me and said, ‘You don’t want yours, do you Max?’ And I said no. So he had mine as well.”

If ever a man marched to his own drumbeat, it was Hunt. He would retire from racing at the relatively young age

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of 31 when he stepped out of his car at the Monaco GP after two disappointing seasons at McLaren and told reporters: “It isn’t worth racing when the best your car can do is 10th place.”

He would go on to work as a race analyst alongside BBC broadcast legend Murray Walker for 11 years and was notorious for making highly critical comments about drivers and anything else that aroused his ire. Hunt spoke his mind and would doubtless have been fired after one race were he to be commenting in today’s politically correct context.

In the final years of his life, having spent most of his fortune or lost it in various bad business ventures, Hunt was living a quiet life. He had been sober, supposedly, for several years, and had begun to curb his sexual wanderlust. But friends noticed that much of the life force had drained out of his system after having packed so much into his first four decades.

Hunt had lost custody of his two children from his marriage to Susan Lomax (who he officially divorced in

1990) and had been suffering from depression for over a year until he met an attractive Fine Arts student, Helen Dyson, who was working as a waitress at a restaurant where Hunt first laid eyes on her. She helped him escape the abyss he had been spiralling down towards in the late 80s. With her help, he gave up drinking and smoking and had even begun to take up cycling as a way back to a healthy lifestyle.

In June 1993, while staying at a house in St Tropez, Hunt spent the entire day and early evening playing billiards with close friend Mike Dennet. Sometime after midnight,

experiencing chest pains, he called a physician friend back in London and then in the middle of their conversation said that he was feeling better and apologised for having roused him out of bed.

The following morning, Dennet was wondering how Hunt was feeling and went upstairs to check on his friend.

He found Hunt lying face down dead on the bedroom floor.

The coroner’s report revealed that Hunt had died of a massive heart attack. But if any man deserved a quick death, it was certainly James Hunt. MSL

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23/10/13 1:20:03 PM

CHARLIE O’BRIEN

Charlie O’Brien with John French (left) in 2010.

CHARLIE ACHIEVING HIS DREAM From beating top-flight drivers while still on his P-plates to exploring the boundaries of several categories, Charlie O’Brien has enjoyed a victorious and varied race career STORY & PHOTOGRAPHS BY GLENIS LINDLEY

W

hile some of his contemporaries like Jim Richards, John Bowe and Andrew Miedecke have chosen to race in Touring Car Masters, former touring car racer Charlie O’Brien has elected to compete in the more rigourous, rough-and-tumble Ute Series.

The Gold Coaster, now enjoying his “retirement relaxation” years, has a proven track record when it comes to versatility, having raced in many different categories ranging from Super Tourers and V8s (1974-’04) to openwheelers (Formula Atlantic 1981-’84), NASCAR and Auscar (1991-’95, Production GT (for Mazda, 1993-’94), Carrera Cup (2003-’05) and Utes, with

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the odd HQ Holden 3-Hour event too.

In 1998, he also competed at Targa Tasmania.

“It feels like I’ve raced everything that ever existed – a lot of cars over a lot of decades,” he beamed.

Unlike most budding racing car drivers these days, O’Brien didn’t kick off in karts but he did drive his first car as a six or seven-year-old. From 1976 to 2003 (until Rick Kelly spoiled the party) he held the record as the youngest winner, at 21 years, of an Australian Touring Car Championship race, achieved at Amaroo Park.

O’Brien grew up on a sprawling dairy farm, part of a vast 4000-acre property once owned by his great grandparents and handed down through the generations. This incorporated several of

today’s outer Gold Coast suburbs around where Movie World is now located.

Machinery and driving were a fact of life from an early age but what stood him apart from the other kids was his desire to race cars – not to become a farmer, a fireman, a policeman or a train driver. “I used to watch Bathurst on black and white TV, and dream that one day I’d get to race there,” he said.

By 1975, he’d sampled Bathurst, recording a disappointing DNF after engine failure. Then he was ‘discovered’ by the manager of the Marlboro Holden Dealer Team, Harry Firth, and drafted into the team for 1976. O’Brien’s fourth place on the mountain with Wayne Negus was a dream come true.

“Being in the same team as Colin

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CHARLIE O’BRIEN

The ex-Johnson Zupps car that O’Brien purchased early in his career.

Bathurst 1978, O’Brien shares the No.15 MDHT car with John Harvey.

Above: With Ron Harrop in 1977. Right: Sharing a happy moment with Peter Brock at Surfers Paradise.

Bond and John Harvey was so exciting.

Then joining MDHT full time in 1977 was the best thing that had ever happened to me,” declared O’Brien.

It all began after a visit to Lakeside International Raceway (then a popular circuit on the outskirts of Brisbane) as a nine-year-old when he decided racing was what he wanted to do when he grew up.

“I saw Pete Geoghegan’s Mustang, and I was never interested in school again. Then when I started racing myself and met Pete and later Leo (his brother), you might say I was pretty stoked.”

O’Brien’s motorsport career didn’t begin with touring cars. His first competitive race was at Surfers Paradise Speedway as a 13-year-old, followed by 46

some fun rallying when he was 17.

Then when ambitions began to become a little more serious, somewhere along the line he bought one of Dick Johnson’s cars.

“It was a little yellow Torana XUI with Zupps down the side. I wish I still had it,” remarked O’Brien.

Before long he had created a suitable impression. However O’Brien discovered the hard way that funding his own team, making all the countless arrangements and numerous decisions, plus arranging sponsorship (at one stage he ran under O’Brien’s Transport) was a time-consuming, costly exercise, but it was a necessary means to an end.

“I managed to win a race or two on the local scene at Surfers Paradise International Raceway in 1974, then at

Lakeside I claimed a more prestigious event, the Lakeside 500, against Allan Grice and Peter Brock.

“Beating top drivers like that was a fairytale weekend – still on my P plates and all,” he recalled proudly.

In the 1974 Rothman’s 300 Manufacturers Challenge (at Surfers), O’Brien made the podium with third place, wrapping up an encouraging start to his touring car career.

“Soon after that Harry (Firth) began taking an interest in my career – even getting his crew to give me a hand,” said O’Brien.

A drive in an ATCC round at Surfers in 1975 was the natural progression, with his history-making victory at Amaroo Park next year an added bonus.

This helped seal the privateer’s success,

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Bathurst 1977, Battle of the Toranas: O’Brien/Harrop duel with Forbes/Bartlett. O’Brien and Harrop eventually finished fifth in the MHDT car.

Above: Charlie O’Brien receives a few tips from Harry Firth (Speed Week 1976, Surfers Paradise).

Right: O’Brien, Harvey and Negus at Bathurst 1977.

netting him fourth in the championship that year (although he didn’t compete in every round), and his prized seat at the MHDT. “It was all good fun, and inspired me to greater challenges.”

O’Brien’s official debut with the factory team was at Bathurst in 1976 but by 1977 some internal rumblings (and cost-cutting restrictions) had crept into the Holden camp, which was struggling against Ford’s dominant two-car Moffat Ford Dealers Team with its more substantial budget.

Allan Moffat clinched the ATCC title that year and they staged the now-famous 1-2 Bathurst finish with Colin Bond, who had switched allegiance from Holden to Ford for 1977. O’Brien finished a creditable and consistent fifth in the James-Hardie

1000 at Mount Panorama the same year, with a new co-driver Ron Harrop in a MHDT LX Torana SLR 5000.

With Firth in his final year at MHDT, his replacement as team manager for 1978 would be John Sheppard, and one of the first things Sheppard did was to bring Peter Brock back into the team on a full-time basis. This decision paid dividends, as Brock won the 1978 ATCC in a Torana, and with co-driver Jim Richards, recorded pole and went on the take victory at Bathurst. By contrast, John Harvey/O’Brien finished a lowly 19th after mechanical troubles.

However Harvey and O’Brien emerged triumphant in their LX Torana SS5000 A9X at Oran Park, for the prestigious Rothmans 500 endurance race.

The following year, Brock (again with back-up from Richards) recorded another Bathurst pole, set a new lap record on the final lap and won by a historic, dominant six laps.

O’Brien wasn’t part of the team by then but was driving for a top privateer team, Roadways/Gown-Hindhaugh, where he and Garth Wigston claimed eighth at Bathurst. The following year the pair secured a fifth place on the mountain.

During his touring car career, which spanned over two decades and continued sporadically until 1997, O’Brien drove for prominent teams including Peter Brock’s Mobil outfit, Dick Johnson, Benson & Hedges Racing, Tony Longhurst’s Castrol Ford, Allan Moffat’s Sierra with Gary MotorSportLegends

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CHARLIE O’BRIEN On the podium at Oran Park,1978. John Sheppard, O’Brien and John Harvey.

Above: The HRT boys; O’Brien, Negus, Harry Firth, Harvey and Harrop. Right: O’Brien’s 1981 Amaroo Park round finished in a ball of fire and smoke.

Brabham, the Cenovis Falcon with Andrew Miedecke (and in Miedecke’s own team) and the Peter Williamson Toyota Celica.

Although he never quite made the Bathurst podium in his 20 touring car starts, there were many consistent top ten results there, plus drives in Carrera Cup, V8 Ute Series and the Bathurst 12 Hour.

In 1992, he and co-drivers Garry Waldon and Mark Gibbs dominated the 12-Hour, earning outright victory in a Mazda RX-7 while in 1987 O’Brien won the New Zealand Touring Car National Series in a BMW 635 CSi. “As a kid, I always dreamed that I’d end up winning,” he reflected.

Always ready to get behind the wheel, he had plenty of fun exploring the 48

boundaries of all the other categories, while some of O’Brien’s best motor racing memories stem back to his NASCAR and Formula Atlantic days.

“I met lots of people, who I feel are still friends today.

“But I’ll always remember that phone call just prior to Christmas (1976) offering me a factory drive at HDT,” he added.

After his exciting few years racing Porsche Carrera Cup, the time came to hang up his helmet but not before a third place outright at the Australian Grand Prix support race in Melbourne in 2005. Then an invitation came to compete in the ‘10 Years of Legends’ race, at Adelaide’s Clipsal 500 in 2010.

“That pumped me up. Being back behind the wheel again was great,”

admitted O’Brien, who wasted little time planning his comeback; this time in the V8 Ute Series. That year, he capped off a successful season with two victories in the final event at Homebush, Sydney, also clinching the Ute Series round win.

O’Brien was also one of the privileged drivers to be invited to participate in ‘a trip down memory lane’ at the Legends support event for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 in 2010. Joining the likes of Allan Moffat, Colin Bond, Dick Johnson, Kevin Bartlett, Tony Longhurst and many of his old mates from the touring car days was an added incentive to continue racing.

While most drivers love the challenge of Bathurst, O’Brien rates Phillip Island as his favourite racetrack.

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“It’s just a shame it took the life of an irreplaceable best mate Gregg (Hansford). I still miss him.”

Away from the world of motor racing, O’Brien has two sons Chris (22 years) and Clay (21) who both enjoy the sport, but as Charlie admits: “I was somewhat selfish. I continued to race instead of doing what Richard Davison did for his sons, Will and Alex.”

O’Brien is a keen golfer but also had to devote time to his business interests which included trucking and an even bigger, time consuming challenge: property development. His first major undertaking was 33 Villas in 1999, at Sanctuary Cove, while the second project was a little closer to home and his heart. This involved a small parcel of the original property, which had been rezoned for development.

“Coincidentally it was named ‘Lakeside’ way back around 1900, well before the racetrack. My greatgrandfather liked collecting land,“ said O’Brien proudly.

The Lakeside Country Club, begun in 2000, allowed for 105 Villas plus a nine-hole golf course to be built beside the Coombabah Lakes. Two years later,

Charlie O’Brien with Allan Moffat in more recent times.

in a fitting reminder of the property’s important heritage, O’Brien’s Steakhouse and Bar was opened to the public and remained a popular eating place for the local community until 2007.

The opening of that restaurant was a very significant occasion for his family, as his mother Jesse O’Brien and her sister, Dorothy Proud (and some of the original family owners, who have since passed away) were in attendance, and able to see the new housing estate, golf course and fancy restaurant come of age.

It’s not every motor racing driver

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that has this claim to fame but one of Charlie’s relatives, Joe Proud, was a former Mayor of Southport in the 30s and 40s.

When asked if there were any bad memories from his motor racing days, O’Brien replied: “No, none really. A number of lost opportunities would be the only thing. The experiences I had and the friends I made are worth more than any aggravation.”

There were no major crashes during his career but race fans will recall seeing his car catch fire at Amaroo Park; a slight indiscretion through The Dipper (at Bathurst), and seeing him on crutches once. Charlie filled us in on that one: “Yes, I crashed the Citizen Watches Commodore in 1981. The following weekend I was taking delivery of my new Ralt RT4 in Malaysia for the Shah Alam Grand Prix. So, broken foot or not, I was going!”

O’Brien reflects on his fulfilling career: “I still love driving but chasing money to feed one’s ego is a little tiresome, so maybe I’ll settle for some more travel and continue to enjoy life.

“But I always had a lot of fun racing.” MSL

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TRADE TALK

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