1694 replies to this topic

[Ray Bell]

Don Smith would have been in as many different cars as anyone...

He ran Datsun 1600s and Holdens of a number of different types as well as Fords. A very competent co-driver in endurance events, not one to do anything outlandish, but to get on with the job and keep the car in one piece.

[Lee Nicolle]

Both Warren and Don were very competent racers who raced a variety of equipment with distinction.
And my condolences to their respective familys.

[Ellis French]

Tasmanian R "Dicky" Crawford passed away yesterday.....1916-2012

He is probably the last of the old original brigade who started their racing careers on the airstrip circuits in Tas.
He built his first racing car in 1933 at the age of 17.
He raced well into his 70's .
He also raced speed boats.
Inducted into the Tasmanian Motoring Hall of Fame in 1996

[Geoff Smedley]

Tasmanian R "Dicky" Crawford passed away yesterday.....1916-2012

He is probably the last of the old original brigade who started their racing careers on the airstrip circuits in Tas.
He built his first racing car in 1933 at the age of 17.
He raced well into his 70's .
He also raced speed boats.
Inducted into the Tasmanian Motoring Hall of Fame in 1996

Thanks for the memories Dick and thanks for sharing my world all those years ago and the memories are mine to keep. Farewell old friend!

[Ray Bell]

Ninety-six... an incredible man...

A gift to our sport, he will be sorely missed. It was his great privilege to live through better times than we know, undoubtedly his disappointment to see how far things got off the rails.

[austmcreg]

Ninety-six... an incredible man...
A gift to our sport, he will be sorely missed. It was his great privilege to live through better times than we know, undoubtedly his disappointment to see how far things got off the rails.

So true, Ray.
His passing is not unexpected, but still difficult to believe. Dick is remembered by many of us who frequented Tasmanian meetings in 1960s and 70s as a fairly eccentric chain smoker who raced purely for fun in his various JMW and similar devices with 246cc Yamaha twin engines, and later a formula vee, but in earlier years he was a fairly quick driver who had benefitted from his long friendship with Don Gorringe. Don could afford some fairly good cars, including the MM Holden and the ex Scuderia Veloce /Geoghegan Lola Climax - it was his mate Crawford who maintained these cars, tuned them and drove them to several successes. Crawford was apparently quite a bit faster than Gorringe in the Lola.

In Tasmania in the 1950s and early 1960s, Dick Crawford was regarded, along with Jack Barker, as being one of the best tuners in the state, and many competition cars from Hobart benefitted from his breathing upon them.

Dick Crawford was a larger than life prescence in Tasmanian racing for a very long time, and his passing leaves only Mick Watt left of that band of amateurs who got road racing up and running in Tasmanian after WW2.

I have fond memories of, on many occasions, being signalled by Dick to give his vee a push start in the pits at Baskerville, because he was usually on his own and would rope in whoever was nearby to assist with unloading and starting.

Vale Dickie.

Rob Saward

[Terry Walker]

Johnny Motteram, Western Australia post-war round the houses veteran, speedway and just about every other sort of racer, died on the 11th of August aged 82.

[Haine Kane]

2 sad news :

Juliette SLAUGHTER 1945-2012

Fernand TSAROPOULOS aka "Lee Banner"

RIP

Edited by Haine Kane, 16 September 2012 - 12:14.

[Twin Window]

Today I learned that my friend and former colleague David Loring has passed away.

Such a sad loss; David was a top bloke, as anyone who knew him will testify.

You'll be greatly missed fella. The man who educated me re the ADL.

[E1pix]

Oh No, the longtime Formula Ford driver?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Wirra
Very pleased to say both Dave and Owen assisted with my 250 GTO project.....

If you're on the net while you're in England, Peter, and if you open this thread and see this post...

I think this will nearly bring a tear to your eye:























Owen Wuillemin and David Levy in happier days.

Norm Smith found this pic in a pile of 'missing' photos the other day, he simply had to show it to me. I simply had to copy it. And post it in memory of a great bloke...

That's the Owen I remember so well.

Edited by Ray Bell, 18 September 2012 - 03:35.

[RA Historian]

Oh No, the longtime Formula Ford driver?

I am afraid so. See Gordon Kirby's remembrance at:

http://www.gordonkir...t_is_no353.html

Tom

[E1pix]

Thank You, Tom. A friend confirmed this, really sad news.

Thanks too for posting Gordon's article.

[Marc Sproule]

I found out about David's passing early yesterday morning--Monday--but it wasn't until today that I could bring myself to read GK's superb remembrance.

It was through my friendship with GK that I met DL. For that I will be forever grateful. We quickly became friends, he was a delight to be around--on or off the track.

Although she got to meet him only once, when she was young, my daughter--who is now in her 30s--immedately liked GK's funny friend.

When I informed her of the sad news yesterday she put it very bluntly...."that really sucks".

Indeed it does.

But what would have been worse was never to have met and enjoyed this fine man.

I will miss him

[Falcadore]

Two-time Australian Hillclimb champion died John Davies a month ago. 20 years plus he spent working on committees at the MG Car Club including about five years as President. So often a competitor his time spent commentating at Mount Cotton was between projects. Most recently his Bolwell Nagari. Couldn't help thinking that standing in the commentary box at Morgan Park at the MGCCQs annual race meeting three weeks ago I felt... lonely. Miss you John.

[Lemnpiper]

On a local call in racing show here in Richmond it was announced that Cecil Gordon who started 449 races in Winston Cup from 1969-1985 had passed away this morning at the age of 71.

His best finish was a 2nd place at Dover in 1975 (7 laps down to winner David Pearson) and was a regular presence on the circuit from 1969 to 1983 with a one off for the Sacks team at Richmond in the spring of 1985.

Even though never a star he was a compentant competitor who was often among the best of the "independants" who raced in that era.

Paul

Edited by Lemnpiper, 20 September 2012 - 01:22.

[gm914]

RIP Cecil Gordon

[Lee Nicolle]

My father Dud Nicolle passed away on Sat 29/9.Aged 92. He was a very good motorcycle endurance trials rider in the late 40s to mid 50s as well as occasionally scrambles and a trip to Sellicks Beach where he was a little out of his comfort zone. He also competed in car trials as a navigator and sometime co driver.
He was disabled from birth with a stiff right leg which later in life caused him some real problems as the rest of his back and body succumbed to compenesating for the severe limp.
He was a Sand and Metal conracter plus earthmover. As well as a vingeron and general small farmer.
He was born, grew up and lived in Happy Valley SA all his life and in recent years has been very active in keeping the areas name as well as being a local historian.
In recent years he has been a active member of the veteran motorcycle club here in SA of which he thouroughly enjoyed.And reconnected with blokes he competed against as well as others from the era.
He was also a very good district cricketer, as a medium pace bowler and close in fields man.
Survived by partner Wendy, plus sons Lee and Cleve and daughter Bernice.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

My condolences to you and the rest of the family and friends, Lee.

[Catalina Park]

Sorry about your loss, Lee.

[Ray Bell]

92 puts him into the 'Grand Old Man' levels...

Please accept my condolences, Lee, and believe that I have the utmost respect for someone who clung so long to that vital thread.

[seldo]

Sincere condolances Lee. 92 is a great innings and it sounds as if he lived it well.

[275 GTB-4]

Very sad Lee...but a man you can be proud of...best wishes getting through a difficult time...Cheers, Mick

[arttidesco]

Condolences to you, your family and your Dad's friends, Lee.

[austmcreg]

The Hobart Sporting Car Club newsletter "The Sporting Motorist" for September notes the passing (exact date unknown) of Brian Mahoney (1921-2012), who was a regular competitor in Tasmania from about 1956 with his own JAP 8-80 twin engined "JAP Special' and from 1958 with a Mk V Cooper powered by a Vincent engine, later supercharged. In 1960 he bought a Don Gorringe - built Repco Holden engined open wheeler which was a front runner in Tasmania (while it ran, anyway) until the Coopers made it obsolete.

The same issued carried a story on R.H.(Dick) Crawford, and gave his birth and death dates as 2/11/1916 and 31/8/2012.

Rob Saward

[ReWind]

The same issued carried a story on R.H.(Dick) Crawford, and gave his birth and death dates as 2/11/1916 and 31/8/2012.

These dates have long been put online here.
According to his obituary his initials were not R.H. because his full name was Richard Maxwell Anderson Crawford.

[Lee Nicolle]

Condolences to you, your family and your Dad's friends, Lee.

Thankyou guys. Much appreciated.

[E1pix]

Add my condolences to the above, Lee. He lived a long life but it's never long enough.

RIP.

[DanTra2858]

I have just been notifed of the Passing of Bob Kennedy, who's Funeral was last Wednesday, Bob was well known for his exploits in Triumph Sport Cars. RIP

[Ray Bell]

Bob was a great bloke...

He had a lot of fun playing with his Triumphs, didn't care too much whether he was first or last as long as he played the game.

[ReWind]

Strange how rare complete life dates of deceased antipodeans are.

At present regarding Bob Kennedy.

Similarly with John Davies, John Stranger, Don Wright, Tim Garratt, Alan Munday, Graham Slater, Matt Harrison, Warren Blomfield, Lloyd Hirst, Bob Curran, Ken Mitchell, John Brooks, Norm Bice, Mal Simpson, Stace Hopper, Eric Barnes, Ron Haylen, Kevin Shearer, Ted Jordan, Dave Brown, John Budgen, Phil Ornstien, Vic Hodson, John Youl, Bob Annear, Llynden Riethmuller, George Reed, Brian Tracey, Austin Tauranac, Dorothy Smith, Bert Flood, Ian Fergusson, Noel Goodwin, Neil Marsden, Johnny Riley, Jack Bono, Bill Ford, Bill Shiells, Barry Sharp, Pete Kerr, Anthony Trevean, Alan Barrow, Ken Ward (since 2006).

[Lee Nicolle]

I am sorry to announce that Bill Wigzell died last night. He was a very long time and very succesful oval track competitor in SA and most of the country. He was 82 years old.
Probably best known for his exploits in both the Fisher Ford L88 powered 'Suddenly' Super Modified no 88 and the Alec Rowe midgets in the late 60s until the early 80s which really made him a legend. But he started racing solos in the late 40s. According to Speed Cafe he competed at the first and last Rowley Pk events! I saw the final night where he starred in both the then current Sprinter then later brought out Suddenly. First a couple of laps with Glen Dix riding shotgun on the nerfs with the chequer, then he dropped off Glen and proceeded with several full bore laps very crossed up laps with the left front hiking 6" plus.
He raced up until the late 80s, then helped son Terry and late his grandsons with V8 Dirt Modifieds and recently Wingless Sprints where Todd [in 88 what else] is current Aust 1.
In recent years Murray Bridge Speedways opening Sprint Car show is the Bill Wigzell cup and always is well contested.
Bill was a salesman at South Rd Marine for many years until he retired and still worked part time after to raise a few dollars for Terrys racing. He lived at Cherry Gardens in the Adelaide Hills.
He was a fellow member of the Veteran Motorcycle Competitors Club with my father, who also died recently.

[raceannouncer2003]

Ron Curties passed away on Tuesday, November 13. He was the starter at the Abbotsford, British Columbia races in the 50s, and the starter at Westwood when it opened in 1959. He was president of the Sports Car Club of BC in the 60s. More info here:

http://www.gvmps.org.../RonCurties.pdf

http://befastpast.bl...urties-rip.html

Vince H.

[275 GTB-4]

Tom Galbraith, proprietor of Motorlab here in Unley SA passed away Saturday 27th Oct 2012.

Tom and the Motorlab team (his wife Raelene and several others raced cars he had prepared) were big on the Mini scene back in the day - whenever when we took our cars in his office wall was still littered with curled photos of race Minis.

Our thoughts are with Raelene and his family and staff.

Vale

http://www.colsoft.c...es/image014.gif

http://www.colsoft.c...es/image004.jpg

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 20 November 2012 - 21:30.

[Lee Nicolle]

Tom Galbraith, proprietor of Motorlab here in Unley SA passed away Saturday 27th Oct 2012.

Tom and the Motorlab team (his wife Raelene and several others raced cars he had prepared) were big on the Mini scene back in the day - whenever when we took our cars in his office wall was still littered with curled photos of race Minis.

Our thoughts are with Raelene and his family and staff.

Vale

http://www.colsoft.c...es/image014.gif

http://www.colsoft.c...es/image004.jpg

Both of those cars are Bob Collinson, aka 2bob on this forum. Motorlab have sponsored Jim Doig for a very long time. His car is well known as the Motorlab Asp.
My condolences to his family and friends.

[Lee Nicolle]

For those interested Bill Wigzells funeral is 10 30 am Friday 23/11 at Murray Bridge Speedway. I expect it will be well attended.

[AnnieOz]

Further Sad news from SA. On Monday Ian Ashford was killed in a motorbike accident in the Adelaide Hills. Ian had run very successfully on the Saturday in the TAD, scoring 2 handicap wins. He laughed with me saying that he had worked out who and how much the bribe was to win the handicaps.
Our sincere condolences to Ian's family and to Wayne Hocking and family who made up the TAD racing team.
His enthusiasm and great sense of humour will be sadly missed in the Mallala pits.

[Lee Nicolle]

Further Sad news from SA. On Monday Ian Ashford was killed in a motorbike accident in the Adelaide Hills. Ian had run very successfully on the Saturday in the TAD, scoring 2 handicap wins. He laughed with me saying that he had worked out who and how much the bribe was to win the handicaps.
Our sincere condolences to Ian's family and to Wayne Hocking and family who made up the TAD racing team.
His enthusiasm and great sense of humour will be sadly missed in the Mallala pits.

Very sad. I saw the aftermath on the news of that accident. And watched one of those handicap races on Saturday.
Again my condolences to family and friends.

[GMACKIE]

More sad news, I'm afraid.....Des Wall has passed away. RIP, mate.

[Catalina Park]

Oh no! That is very sad news.

[Lee Nicolle]

That is very sad. I raced against him several times and he was a good honest and fair competitor. I last saw him at Mallala in June. My sincere condolences to his family and friends. Far too young, and a man who seemed to be enjoying himself with his collection of classic racecars and his sons efforts on his way up the ladder. And only 3 years older than me.

[DanTra2858]

Another Gentleman of our sport, RIP Des.

[Catalina Park]

Tony Greig had died today.
Tony was very well known as a great cricket player and later on as a commentator but also competed on 4 wheels.

[raceannouncer2003]

Bob Yeakel has passed away in Bend, Oregon at the age of 91. Apparently Bob had been playing golf, came home, said he wasn't feeling well, and fell asleep. Bob raced Porsches in the Northwest in the late 50s and early 60s. Here is a link:

http://www.racingspo...Yeakel-USA.html

In 1961, Bob owned and drove what I believe was the ex-Emil Pardee Porsche 718 RSK #018 (anyone know where that car is now?)

Here are a couple of photos from Martin Rudow's 2005 reunion at Pacific Raceways, Kent, Washington. The first photo shows Bob, on the left, with former Lotus XI driver Ron Lee. The second shows Bob with a laughing Jerry Grant, while George Keck looks on from the left of the photo. Ron and Jerry are also no longer with us.



I also found this link. Please click on the photo:

http://www.facebook....4...4901&type=1

Vince H.

[E1pix]

Beautiful tribute.

RIP

[Ray Bell]

Earlier today I was advised that Loch Townsend had passed away in January...

Loch was well known in the sport in the fifties and sixties. He was a key man with the ARDC and also was a photographer and/or cinematographer, in which capacity he worked for Alec Mildren filming his racing activities in the sixties. He is survived by his wife, for whose sake, I gather, he moved into a nursing home last year.

[Ray Bell]

The loss of Graham Howard early today cuts a tie of a personal nature for me...

Graham gave me my first break in writing for a magazine and was keen to see me succeed in motor sport journalism. That was in his days with Yaffa, and the article I wrote for him led directly to Max Stahl asking me to do some work for Racing Car News.

He also gave me my first taste of driving a competition car, letting me loose in the Lotus 6 at a Warwick Farm AARC Club Practice Day. That's not strictly true, actually, as I had driven the AMRD Lotus 18 at Oran Park prior to that for a few short and high-priced laps. I remember him telling me of the Lotus that it was the ultimate constant speed machine, but to me it was pretty accelerative and I had a great time putting just a little more wear on it's skinny Michelin XAS tyres.

As a keen historian and someone with a wealth of knowledge about the sport in the fifties and sixties in particular, Graham will be sorely missed. It was he who commenced the work that led to the production in 1986 of The Official 50-race History of the Australian Grand Prix. But, as with many who seek perfection, he was never going to get it finished on his own and several people, including myself, were called upon to help bring it to completion.

Best known today for his long-standing connection with Auto Action and his Historical column in that, Graham has lived on the western side of the Blue Mountains for over a decade. His wife of many years, Maria, and their children now have to continue their lives without his physical presence, but I suspect that his influence on them will never wane and if the youngsters grow up with his attributes they will be very worthy members of whatever part of society they grace.

That Auto Action column he's put forth for over thirty years has only just lost his byline, ironically to someone who employed him back in the sixties, Max Stahl.

I'm not sure how old Graham was, but it was way too young to fall victim to the cancer that has taken him. He was one of those people who, when one wanted to know or recall something about a particular phase of the sport, you might think was indispensable. Unfortunately he has become one who has proved he was not.

To Maria and his family I offer my sincere condolences. Our own life experiences confirm within us the pain you are feeling.

[David McKinney]

I'm very sorry to hear this, though I knew it was only a matter of time

Correct me if I'm wrong, Ray, but didn't he do a column on car movements in RCN? I'm sure that's where I first saw his name

In this digital age, he was always most helpful to me personally with various aspects of Australian racing and car history

A good friend who, sadly, I never met

[seldo]

That is very sad. Graham was a real gentleman who always made time to have an enthusiastic chat about anything to do with motor-sport and was very generous with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the industry and its history.
Too young...

[Ray Bell]

Not sure about car movements, David...

But he was an employee of Max's at RCN for a couple of years in the sixties. Prior to the Rob Luck era.

Graham was interested in the sport at all levels, but he really shone and knowing what was going on in the 'Division 2' stuff at places like Hume Weir, Oran Park and so on. He moved easily among people such as Brian Rawlings and Team Party House and second-string Formula Ford entrants, taking note of what they were doing with their cars.

Of course, this was often conveyed in his commentary on the circuit PA, or perhaps on ABC radio or TV, but a lot was merely stored away as precious knowledge.