Photos from New Zealand tracks, pits and paddocks
#1
Posted 27 May 2009 - 11:08
Advertisement
#2
Posted 27 May 2009 - 12:22
Some photos don't fit in the "hills" and "forgotten drivers" threads so I thought I would start with these two:
The RA Special looked totally out of place among the rest of the field for the 1954 Dunedin race. More like a 1957 or so Cooper. Does someone have a photo of that car in action?
NZ Magazine articles in recent years have led to confusion by wrongly using photos of its later 1960's reincarnation in the earlier context. But the 1954 car had no real impact on the racing scene. Had Hec Green lost interest, or was he more keen on the construction than the racing and development?
#3
Posted 27 May 2009 - 14:14
Green then started work on his next RA but then got diverted into working as Tom Clark's mechanic. When Clark retired after the 1959 season work resumed, and the new car appeared in 1960
#6
Posted 28 May 2009 - 08:30
RL
#7
Posted 28 May 2009 - 08:59
Specially-cast block, with Hec Green's own twin-cam head and camshafts. Only the crankshaft and conrods, which were Standard Vanguard, the SU carburettors and the twin-ignition system were not Green-built.
#8
Posted 28 May 2009 - 09:58
The engine in the RA is an engine that Hec and Jack built them self based on a 4 cyl Vangard. I understand that in its last version they made every thing except the crankWhat engine is in the RA, please?
RL
#11
Posted 28 May 2009 - 11:30
#12
Posted 28 May 2009 - 11:42
#13
Posted 28 May 2009 - 12:05
#14
Posted 28 May 2009 - 12:13
Many thanks. Bearing in mind the Vanguard bits were for/from a Ferguson tractor they should have been robust enough. Do we have an idea of hp as the period TR2 churned out something in the region of 100bhp on twin SUs, or the revs he used?. The TR used to peak at around 4500/4750 IIRC.It's an RA... Specially-cast block, with Hec Green's own twin-cam head and camshafts. Only the crankshaft and conrods, which were Standard Vanguard, the SU carburettors and the twin-ignition system were not Green-built.
Was the Vanguard engine a popular and/or just a cheap and available appropriately sized wet-liner unit? ISTR that the Citroen Special I saw in 2001 at Ruapuna had one too. ISTR it had broken its crank...........certainly hors de combat. It was one of those run-what-u-brung events. Got some film of it here somewhere.
What gearbox did Green use?
The Hec Green tc heads etc seem really pioneering when you consider Triumph's own much later efforts with the "Sabrina" engine
Roger Lund
Edited by bradbury west, 28 May 2009 - 12:14.
#15
Posted 28 May 2009 - 14:12
Don't think I've ever seen hp figures for the RA engine, but 180bhp was claimed for the supercharged Vanguard engine he used in an earlier car. No idea of rpm. I'll have a look, but I'm not optimistic
The gearbox was also an RA design
Thunder,
You're forgiven
#16
Posted 28 May 2009 - 14:50
Many thanks. Bearing in mind the Vanguard bits were for/from a Ferguson tractor they should have been robust enough. Do we have an idea of hp as the period TR2 churned out something in the region of 100bhp on twin SUs, or the revs he used?. The TR used to peak at around 4500/4750 IIRC.
Was the Vanguard engine a popular and/or just a cheap and available appropriately sized wet-liner unit? ISTR that the Citroen Special I saw in 2001 at Ruapuna had one too. ISTR it had broken its crank...........certainly hors de combat. It was one of those run-what-u-brung events. Got some film of it here somewhere.
What gearbox did Green use?
The Hec Green tc heads etc seem really pioneering when you consider Triumph's own much later efforts with the "Sabrina" engine
Roger Lund
I'm not ENTIRELY sure that the Vanguard DID in fact evolve from the Ferguson engine. It MAY have been the other way round.
The Vanguard AND the Twin-cam Jaguar engines both had in their genes, a relationship to pre-WW2 Standard engines, esp in the crank-bearing areas. In fact, for reasons of economy, engine rebuilders in the 'know' would often order two sets of Vanguard big end bearings to make one set of Jaguar big end bearings...they were identical in every respect. They would obviously not use the left-over shells. Although quite weighty, the Vanguard WAS a very robust unit, especially for a 3 main bearing long stroke crank. For its time it was well designed and well executed especially when you consider that Mercedes were still using the retrograde 'thick-wall' type bearings and others such as Ford and Chevrolet still used direct metalled bearings...well into the 1950's..
During my time at Glacier Bearings NZ Ltd, we were approached by a number of people asking for assistance on various and sometimes, quite odd, engine design or modification issues.
#17
Posted 28 May 2009 - 21:03
I'm not ENTIRELY sure that the Vanguard DID in fact evolve from the Ferguson engine. It MAY have been the other way round.
The first post war Ferguson Tractors used a Continental Engine interim ,then according to the Ferguson records they switched to the Standard engine,so that would mean the Vanguard came first ,a bit OT but we used to put Ferguson cams into Vanguard engines for marine use ,they had a lot more torque
Bob
#19
Posted 28 May 2009 - 22:45
The Vanguard engine was a very tough and for its day quite modern. A bloke I knew had a Vanguard Vignale [about59 or 60] which had the SUs, half decent exhaust etc. He tidied up the engine with a port job, raised compression, reground cam etc and it would run to about 5500 and scared the hell out of 179s and slant 6s and it would do an indicated 105 mph easy. it probably would have been quicker but the overdrive didnt switch on at that time.
Our Spacemaster ute was quicker than an FJ or E series Vauxhall and at its most overloaded had 2 1/2 ton of grapes on the ute and trailer and pulled it up some quite steep hills! It was also used as a tractor for harrowing etc, was bloody amazing what it did.
Advertisement
#20
Posted 29 May 2009 - 14:00
Edited by thunder427, 30 May 2009 - 11:41.
#21
Posted 31 May 2009 - 04:18
Many thanks. Bearing in mind the Vanguard bits were for/from a Ferguson tractor they should have been robust enough. Do we have an idea of hp as the period TR2 churned out something in the region of 100bhp on twin SUs, or the revs he used?. The TR used to peak at around 4500/4750 IIRC.
Was the Vanguard engine a popular and/or just a cheap and available appropriately sized wet-liner unit? ISTR that the Citroen Special I saw in 2001 at Ruapuna had one too. ISTR it had broken its crank...........certainly hors de combat. It was one of those run-what-u-brung events. Got some film of it here somewhere.
What gearbox did Green use?
The Hec Green tc heads etc seem really pioneering when you consider Triumph's own much later efforts with the "Sabrina" engine
Roger Lund
#22
Posted 31 May 2009 - 04:29
Dont know if I am doing it right but hopefully you may get a photo of Hec Green at Wigram in 1953 a similar picture but of his earlier 1951 RA Vanguard Kelvin Brown
#25
Posted 31 May 2009 - 10:58
Edited by Peter Leversedge, 31 May 2009 - 11:00.
#26
Posted 31 May 2009 - 11:56
One million cases of Nobilos to the US this year.
#27
Posted 01 June 2009 - 01:32
I had the chance to race the 260M Zephyr for a Ruapuna meeting while it was in Mike Sephten's ownership. It was a neat experience. I found it quite different to drive from the cars I had been used to. I could not "hang the tail out" and and bring it back like I could in my dirt track type car
#28
Posted 01 June 2009 - 04:53
Don't know what revs Hec used on the Vanguard special, but with his earlier RA Vanguard, contemporary press clippings quoted him as having no hesitation in using 6 to 7000 in sprints and short races. It was supercharged to 16 psi on methanol, engine mods amounted to only cross drilled crank, lightened flywheel, altered cam timing, and sodium filled valves were found necessary to stop detonation. I am presently near the end of an extended rebuild of the car which still retains its original Green built 3 speed transaxle.
Richard
#30
Posted 01 June 2009 - 08:22
#31
Posted 01 June 2009 - 10:59
Milan
What year would this be ,Nov 1960 ?
Bob
This looks to be the State Hwy 63/Alma St corner which was only on the longer 1.5 mile circuit used from 1962 onward.
Presumably Rutherford(Ron) but which year ....
#34
Posted 02 June 2009 - 10:19
David, have the tyres been doctored? They almost seem to be slicks!
Call me picky, David, if you want, but I don't think this is November 1961.
Car appears to be on starting grid, but background hills and trees are same as in Milan's photo. The Nov 11, 1961 race was won by Pat Hoare, running the V6 Ferrari with a 'nostril nose' (for I think the only time), and that race started in the main street, with the starter waving his flag from the top of a painter's scaffold from the look if it. 'Classic Driver' had photos of the 1961 start in an article some issues back.
I think your photo has to be at least a year later.
#35
Posted 02 June 2009 - 10:53
Must have labelled it wrong - I wasn't even at the 1961 meeting
Rutherford was No.4 in November 1961, when the car was still the RA Zephyr, but also in November 1962, by which time it had become the 260M Zephyr Special. And that's when I took the photo
Good to see people are on the ball
#37
Posted 12 February 2010 - 11:14
Duncan Mackenzie's single-cam Cooper-Climax T41 - driver is the tall bloke in the middle, with pit crew Ross McLauchlan (left) and Dick Butters. Duncan's father and girlfriend on the pit-counter
Car in the foreground is David Evans's Cooper-Climax T43
Photo from RJB
Edited by David McKinney, 12 February 2010 - 11:15.
#38
Posted 23 April 2010 - 09:30
Here a a few random photos from an old collection I was recently given to scan, other photos are on the NZ Saloon thread and the F5000 thread.
Jim Boyd. Lycoming Spl on the old Pukekohe loop.
The Ross Baker Heron Daimler sportscar.
Ken Smith Lotus (20B?)
Johnny Riley in the replica Lotus 19 with Olds power.
Jim Boyd Cambridge Lola T70
Graeme Harvey Elfin
Dennis Marwood Rorison Eisert F5000
Leo Geoghegan Lotus 39 Repco at BayPark Dec 1968
#39
Posted 23 April 2010 - 11:54
Advertisement
#40
Posted 23 April 2010 - 15:12
Roger Lund
#41
Posted 24 April 2010 - 04:01
#42
Posted 24 April 2010 - 06:21
RL
Edited by bradbury west, 27 April 2010 - 20:22.
#43
Posted 25 April 2010 - 11:54
#44
Posted 25 April 2010 - 16:03
RL
PS perhaps the Customs did not want Mr Nader encroaching into NZ.
#45
Posted 25 April 2010 - 16:56
#46
Posted 26 April 2010 - 06:25
#47
Posted 26 April 2010 - 07:50
Yes, Peter HughesIs that Peter Hughes you're talking about, David ? I seem to recall that being a pretty nifty-looking installation. And Tim Bailey had a Brabham with a Fiat engine around about that time as well, seemed to under-perform a bit, but worth a go. Good on them for attempting something a little different.
Bailey of course worked for (or was) a Fiat dealer, which I guess was his motivation. I think it was economics in Hughes's case
#48
Posted 26 April 2010 - 09:16
The Fiat engine in the Bailey car was actually not too bad power wise ,it just had a terrible appetite for bearings ,no matter what you did, the combination of the Fiat oil feed set up to the bearings and the oil pan used were also of no help to the problem,invariably when the Pellow Bros raced the car we ended up replacing the bearings overnite between practice and race day.Yes, Peter Hughes
Bailey of course worked for (or was) a Fiat dealer, which I guess was his motivation. I think it was economics in Hughes's case
I also had the privileage in that era of working on the Daimler V8 engine in the Heron with its eight Amal carburetors and all the linkages you had to set up and adjust ,that motor in my estimation never had the power touted for it
Both cars from a mechanics point were character building to say the least
#49
Posted 27 April 2010 - 20:33
Some wonderful photos in this thread, Ken Smith Lotus (20B?)
Thinking of transporters etc, whose would the Rothmans trailer be?
Roger Lund
#50
Posted 27 April 2010 - 21:50
I have no idea but I like the towcar, a FJ Holden uteThinking of transporters etc, whose would the Rothmans trailer be?
Roger Lund