Practice was wet on Saturday......all at Creek Corner.

There's something I like about a photograph of a racing car in the rain.

Frank Gardner


John Surtess


Alan Hamilton


Alf Costanzo


John Harvey




Bob Muir


Frank Gardner



There are some quality issues with the photos, caused by me rushing home after practice,
processing the films in the oldies' laundry, & not washing them properly.

The result is a rash of annoying hypo stains, which held these shots back until these days of Photoshop,
which has allowed me to tidy up some of the better "images". (as we're now meant to call them!!)

Excellent reminders of that day, Lynton...

No problems with the quality now. And in that second one of Harvey it really looks like he's seriously getting into it.

Great shots as always Lynton, don't suppose you have more Elfin Monos on film for the Mono thread? - ALf's that you've captured would likely have been the most advanced aero package ever presented on a Mono??

James

I'm also wondering if he has any of Colin Bond...

Colin was the star of that practice session, after all!

Great photos Lynton. You probably rushed the development, so you could then go and dry yourself.

Seeing these photos I can't help but look at the sculpted creations for ridding the spent gases. Works of art some.

Stephen

What was the story of Gardner on race day... I don't even see him listed as a starter?

According to the AGP book Gardner suffered a stuck throttle at the end of the pit straight and the car hit some water pipes putting it out of action.

Nasty water pipes, those...

Just at driver's head height!

Ray - I wonder if it was a stockpile of stormwater pipes rather than the horse track watering pipe attached to the rails. There was quite a bit of plant and equipment located in that area - ridiculous by today's standards.

Let's see how we decipher it...



There were waterpipes on the horse rails... I suspect these were the ones involved. The photo above is from well around Paddock Bend, not somewhere you'd finish up if you had a throttle stick open.

Sensational photos! - so raw, and really displaying the relatively agricultural nature of these cars - just a man and the bare necessities of going as fast as possible. Fantastic!

Gary Campbell


Graeme Lawrence


Frank Matich


Muir/Harvey


Frank M again ....about to...


Go Off...


Kevin Bartlett

I think I see what you're getting at....

Aw shucks - Thanks Lynton - where do you keep finding these? I have none of my own... (ex-wife binned them all..)

Lynton, fantastic pics; thanks for sharing with us
...any of Colin Bond ?

From what I can see from my negs, Colin Bond didn't risk it in the wet session.

He features in the later dry session I photographed in the esses.

More later...

Pit shot of Bond with McLaren. Larry Perkins in shot also

.

The story is that Bond was the sensation of the wet session posting the quickest times by far. Unless that was in the later session....

I was there and I remember Bondy being fastest in the wet also. I also remember him talking to someone about changing the shock settings for the wet and Frank's crew getting upset with him for touching things.

Dale.

Last one at Creek in the first session...
Bob Muir


And then to the esses for the second practice...
Alan Hamilton & Jack Bono


Colin Hyams, Warwick Brown, John Harvey & Bob Muir


Frank Matich


Don O'Sullivan


Max Stewart


John Harvey, Bob Muir


Don O'Sullivan, John Surtees


Alf Costanzo & my first picture of Colin Bond

No, Bond didn't risk it in the wet session at all...

He just reckoned it was 'rally weather' and was over a second faster than anyone else.

[quote name='lyntonh' date='Jul 5 2011, 22:09' post='5146467']
Colin Hyams, Warwick Brown, John Harvey & Bob Muir


More magic photos Lynton!
But you missed naming the 2nd guy hidden in the queue with 2 broad stripes on his lid....?

Warwick Brown in the Pat Burke McLaren M4A

I think he means Gary Campbell.

Oh, that second car...

And I was sure I'd read the caption to see that WB wasn't mentioned

I've just had my glasses renewed, too

Indeed it was the Provincial Motors proprietor...

Gary was having a great time in those days, really enjoying his motor racing.

Don O'Sullivan....head on


Max Stewart & Terry Quartly


Bob Muir


Frank Matich.....nice and tight


Colin Bond




John McCormack & Graeme Lawrence


Ian Cook & Max Stewart


Colin Bond


Graeme Lawrence


John Surtees


John McCormack & ?

Max Stewart and Clive Millis... or is that a '16' which would make it Henk Woelders (right colours)?



I think that's Chris Farrell, but it could also be Ian Fergusson.

Warwick Farm was a perfect track for a F5000 vs 2-litre battle. It always seemed to reward a committed driver in a lesser powered device. Very few could hope to stay with Matich there though.

You are correct one only has to look at the movement in the rear tyres to see the most committed drivers, simply amazing how much tyre movement there was in those days.

I don't know, Dan...

Going by what you've said, indications would be that Colin Hyams was a bit of a goer.

I spent ages last night trying to figure the names on those two, especially the second one.

The AGP 1971 Wikipedia page says Quartly in 18, but we all know about wiki....the car looks like an Elfin 600, so Quartly is wrong according to the wiki list.
The first name to pop into my head was Clive Millis.

The second car is difficult, with Fergusson being my guess, but any pictures I've found of him show a different car.
(The other thing is Ferguson/Fergusson)

The wiki link is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Australian_Grand_Prix

One of you more knowledgable chaps may care to correct it, if necessary.

Oh yeah, that's easily fixed...

Don't use Wikipedia!

16 was Henk Woelders

18 was Clive Millis

23 was Chris Farrell

25 was Ian Fergusson

My reservation about the latter two is that I don't recall Fergusson (yes, double 's') having wings that large or contrasting that much with his car colour. The car was a mid-green. Farrell, however, probably had a purple car and wings could have been anything. It would be nice if his brother in law looked in and checked it out for us.

I note now that the AGP book lists Farrell as not practising, though he's on the grid. In RCN he's not listed on the grid at all.

Quartly's car was black.

[quote name='Ray Bell' date='Jul 7 2011, 01:45' post='5149137']
Oh yeah, that's easily fixed...

"Don't use Wikipedia!"

I'd love not to....the idea of anybody altering historical data in the public domain, without peer review before release is ridiculous.

If you use the resource before all the errors are corrected, bad luck.

Frankly I see the concept as dumb, & a typical poorly thought-out product of the computer age.

I guess that's why I started this topic. To have photos, correct captions, discussion, & accurate anecdotes about the event will hopefully allow a future researcher
(at whatever level) to gain a reasonably accurate picture of the story, & allow them to view the discussion which helped the participants arrive at the truth.

The more I post on TNF the more I prefer to avoid long topics like "Personal Aussie Photos", because they
become unwieldy & difficult to search.

I reckon discreet topics on specific events or issues is the way to go.

My use of Wikipedia was cautious, mainly as a reminder tool, because I had little else,
& I prefer to caption photos if I can (it makes me sound like I know what I am talking about)
but you will notice that my instincts told me some of the details were wrong.

I saw Frank Gardner have his accident at Warwick Farm in the Lola T300 - he went straight ahead from the Pit Straight into the horse railing at Paddock, jarring his feet a little. Reluctantly years later he told me the throttle stuck open on his Alan Smith Chev caused by heat from the engine expanding and jamming the throttle slides. Interesting fact, Frank holds the lap record at Warwick Farm, 1:24:00, source Wikipedia!

Another Wikipedia error!

Frank Matich holds the record, 1:23.3... November 5, 1972.

Who needs Wikipedia when we have RAY around.

We are on our way back to Sydney and it hard to get a signal for the computer in the NULLARBOR.

GREAT photos Lynton i was on the bridge with my friend Fred Chessell TRYING to get good pics which turned out ok unlike yours.

Lynton, they are excellent photos - I have sent you a PM. If anyone has any further pics of Gary Campbell in the Elfin (or of LP, Leo G, Damon Beck or Barry Johnston in later years in the car), I sure would appreciate seeing them
Thanks also Wirra for the photos that you have given me.

Are you sure? Looks like Johnny Walker Matich in a later year to me. Am I looking at the wrong picture?

Are you sure? Looks like Johnny Walker Matich in a later year to me. Am I looking at the wrong picture?

I'm as yet to finish my photo scans, so while that happens, here's that 1971 AGP video that most on here have no doubt already seen.

Dear old Norman knew nothing about Motor Racing, so Graham Howard was critical in the commentary.

Unfortunately, the ABC insisted on having their own man in the box, probably for production reasons,
but to have the race described in terms of "they come past now, it's cars 1, 6, 8 & 11 followed by cars 8 & 9" etc etc
was quite frustrating at the time, & still raises the hackles somewhat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cey7YfSOG0

It was a similar when the ABC covered a Melb. Golf Tornament around the same time, "its downhill with the wind behind so he shouldn't have any trouble getting the putt to the hole" was one of the clangers.

Thanks for the photos.

Hi All;
I saw a DVD of old races at The Farm a couple of weeks ago.
It must have been in the earlier days because the race commentator was the horse racing commentator from the ABC.
( His name may have been Bert Oliver I believe.)
Anyway coming round Ledger on the last lap the only thing the bloke did not say was the driver went for the whip!!
A bit of a hoot looking back on it.
Memories again!!
Cheers.
Roger.

The Race........

Frank Matich clear of the field already on the first lap...John Harvey's front wheel just in the shot


Bob Muir, John Surtees, John McCormack, Colin Bond & Don O'Sullivan


John Harvey & Max Stewart


Colin Bond ...past John McCormack


Kevin Bartlett, Alan Hamilton & John Surtees


Harvey & Stewart


Bartlett & Surtees...both in tight


I love this shot...Surtees, Hamilton, Bond & Graeme Lawrence


John Harvey


John Harvey


Bartlett, Surtees, Hamilton & Bond


Surtees slowing...on the way to the pits

The rest of the race...

(I've added an edit on the first shot to include Eldougo's comment in post #48 on 24 7 11 which now has no photo with it,
because I've been moving photos away from Imageshack & slipped up by deleting the original photo!!)
(Any comments showing the photo in the original post, link to the image host)

Harvey & Henk Woelders with the great Lance Ruting in his shorts getting REALLY close up.


Matich


KB


Max Stewart


Gary Campbell


Surtees..with his side number blown off


Matich ....Last lap


Victory lap


Surtees


Bartlett


Hamilton


And, even though the photo is poor...my favourite driver of the time... Max Stewart

An interesting study...

Full of fuel on the first lap, obviously, and that would appear to be causing some understeer. The last lap... seems to me Frank was putting in a bit of a blinder to show he could do it. He and Peter Brock were keen on doing that sort of thing.

I remember once at Point M when he did so in the SR3, Bob and I could both tell (without resorting to watches at all) that the final lap had been his quickest.

The Improved Touring Cars practising at the same meeting....in the Esses.

Graeme Blanchard


Brian Foley


Norm Beechey


Ian Geoghegan


Bob Jane


Dennis Marwood


Bill Fanning


Ian Geoghegan

[quote name='lyntonh' date='Jul 18 2011, 14:33' post='5175474']
The rest of the race...
Harvey & Henk Woelders
...The great Lance Ruting in his shorts getting REALLY close up.

Great photos Lyntonh

More tourers at the AGP meeting 1971

Mike Stillwell


Bill Fanning


Dennis Marwood


Norm Beechey


Bob Jane


Bob Jane & Bill Fanning


Ian Geoghegan

As usual Lynton - more sensational photos - you never cease to amaze me. You seem to be able to pluck a batch of previously unseen photos from thin air .
I thought it was interesting to note the seemingly huge disparity of the track dimensions on the 2 comparable Camaros of Jane and Marwood