1969 Andrew Formula Ford

Hi All,
I am a new member here drawn in by the amazing collection of Australian motorsport photos.

I found my way here researching a car my father, Brian Andrew, built in 1969, the Andrew Formula Ford.
The final chequered flag flew for my father about 13 years ago so he is not providing much assistance in my research.

It was assigned the build plate of AFFR 69/4 and my father raced it in the inaugural Formula Ford race at Sandown in 1969.

After that I am not sure if it raced again in Australia and am still searching through the collection of slides and other memorabilia that my mother has kept.

In 1970, to the best of my knowledge, the car was sold to Richard Pierce who took the car to New Zealand where it was raced for one or two seasons then on sold.
After that I believe it was raced in Hill climbs for another year or two before being mothballed and disassembled.

The car is currently owned by Russ Cunningham in New Zealand and is still disassembled missing the engine/gearbox and a few key parts such as the rear uprights.

Unfortunately the Australian Formula Ford id plate is no longer on the car.

I have recently been in touch with Russ and he has been very helpful.

I am trying to complete the history of the car as I hope to one day buy it and bring it back to Australia to restore it and race it as a Historic Formula Ford.

Here is a pic of it back in 1969, but I'll try to find a better copy of it.

Thanks
Jake

Edited by JakeA, 21 November 2011 - 12:27.

Ah! The ex-McKinney Andrew-Ford!

I didn't realise Russ still had the car - I sold it to him about 25 years ago

It did most of its NZ FF racing as a Brabham (which is why I bought it). The story was that a couple of former Brabham employees (including your father?) built it in Australia, and it went to NZ pretty soon afterwards

The name Pierce certainly rings a loud bell, though I have it spelt Pearse. He raced it, still as the Andrew, in 1973 and 1974

I can't without a bit of digging recall who raced it as a Brabham, but he was presumably responsible for rebodying it. The last person I recall using it in competition, probably only in local hillclimbs, was Wayne (or Dale?) Palleson of Hastings. What I got from him was the chassis, wishbones and possibly springs, a Brabham (or copy?) body and also a Titan body - and not a lot else

And no, I didn't think to photograph it. I discovered pretty quickly it had never seen the Brabham factory - guess that's why it was so cheap

Hey David,

The car was built by my father alone in a neighbors garage near his parents place in Ascot Vale, Victoria.
My father was never a Brabham employee (he did do a stint with the Chequered Flag in the UK) but I think the original bodywork was produced from a mold taken from a Brabham.
According to my uncle my father built 5 or 6 of the chassis's though there seems to be no trace of any other cars (maybe they all became brabhams ). My father also told Russ he built 5 or 6 cars but he was quite ill with cancer at the time he spoke with Russ.

If you wouldn't mind digging up a bit of history for me it would be most appreciated. It is obviously the car that my father built but proving it to make it eligible for historic racing can be a bit harder.

It seems I need to be able to trace the ownership through the years and provide information or stat decs to prove it.

Did/does NZ run a logbook system like CAMS does in Australia?

Unfortunately google hasn't been as helpful dredging up NZ historical race info and photo's as it has Australian information.

No, there was no racing log-book system

Racing-cars did however have to be taxed, and there was an associated log-book that passed from owner to owner. I may even have had it when I had the car. I think there may have been only one owner between Pearse and Palleson (who I now think might have been Darryl, by the way)

I'll see what I can find, but it won't be for a few days

Hi Jake

As it happens I have been doing some research into this period of racing and magazine reports of the day confirm that your father, in addition to Sandown on 9 Nov 1969, raced this car at Phillip Island on 23 Nov and Winton on 7 Dec. These were combined racing car events, not exclusive FF races. I suspect your photo could be from the Phillip Is meeting as the car number was 43 for that meeting and it "sort of" looks like PI to me. However, the more I look at the photo I think it could be Winton! Unfortunately I don't have a programme from Winton so I don't know what number he ran there (he was number 14 at Sandown).

Good luck with the search for more info and photos. I'm sure there will be quite a few more like me who will be very interested in hearing more.

Cheers Glenn

David,
No rush, I appreciate your help. Proving the car is the right one to qualify for historic racing can be one of the hardest parts with old race cars.

Glenn,
Thanks for that. I will post up a list of any info I find.
I would be glad to help out anyone else who might be looking for old race car photo's or info.

Cheers
Jake

I have started going through some of my dads old stuff, I wasn't sure where to post it so I thought I would mention it in here.
I have found a few programs, Philip Island 23/11/69 (photocopy), Winton 6/10/68, and a Piarc one for Event 68/298 which I am guessing is in 1968 but does not have a date on it.
I have also found a few from the late 80's.

David,
Don't suppose you have had time to look for the logbook?

Regards
Jake

Misunderstanding, Jake. I said I may have had the log-book when I had the car, but certainly don't have it now. I may have passed it on to Russ with the car, or it's not impossible to believe that, having realised the car wasn't a Brabham, I binned the paperwork

What I offered to do was check through programmes and race reports to see if I could find anything. That's not a five-minute job, but I might find a window in the next two or three weeks

No worries David,
I did misread your other post, Russ doesn't have the logbook though, I asked him about that.

It would be great if you could check through the programmes, no rush, I understand how big a job it is.

Thanks again

Jake

The Goodwin, Waugh and Moon cars were all converted from real Brabhams. I think the Milroy car was too, but the Thompson name doesn't ring any bells at all

Frank Miles - that's the other name I remember

Thanks Malcolm

MalcolmC,
Thanks so much for the information. I really appreciate it.
It would seem the car was quite successful which is nice to know. I am curious to know who decided to call it a Brabham and then sold it as one to David.

So it appears the history of owners is:
Brian Andrew
Michael Pearse
Frank Miles
Then the Palleson Brothers (Darryl and Wayne)

It also appears it may have been raced as late as 1979

David,
Do you remember who you bought it off?

Thanks again to all that have assisted.
Regards
Jake

I think Miles and the Pallesons campaigned it as a Brabham

I'm pretty sure it was Darryl P I bought it from