The reason is quite simple Ray...


Stan Jones was a brilliant driver.....that picture is just stunning..it blows me away totally

Stan

Ray,
Thanks for your kind comments, but no, it's not a limited budget - just limited time - easier to do a couple each night!
Also, I don't wish to dominate this thread - just hope it will encourage others to dig out their old photos and share with us........

Whether you wish to or not, Kevin, in the absence of some of those pics Terry Walker was posting from collections he's borrowed, your pics dominate the thread... and in the very best way...

I have posted most of mine in the past, up to six years ago in fact, but I might dredge some of them out again some time soon.

Personally, I am all in favour of them coming in dribs and drabs - makes any comments made on them easier to follow

And I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'm loving them. And I'm not even Australian

Some more photos taken in March, 1959 at Port Wakefield -


Alec Mildren, Cooper Climax rounding Stonyfell corner during the SA Trophy race


Jon Leighton, Lotus Mk2 spinning at Dunlop Corner


Stan Jones, in Maybach / Corvette after winning SA Trophy Race - does any one see a resemblance to Alan?

I think that's a Lotus Eleven - Chapman stopped using the Roman numerals around 1956 as it was causing confusion

Dominate away kaydee....stunning stuff....man, its like being there brilliant

[kaydee - 2007 nominee - AtlasF1 Poster - Hall of Fame ]

Thanks Charles - I had originally written Lotus Eleven on the slide (which I thought was correct) but before I posted I checked the meeting program and it said Lotus Mk 2 !!!

I winder if someone wrote "Lotus 11" and someone else decided it was "II"?

More Port Wakefield photos, this time from the October '59 Gold Star meeting.
Lining up on the grid -

Alec Mildren, #10 Cooper Climax and Keith Rilstone, #8 Zephyr Special
(Also looks like David McKay standing in the background?)


Austin Miller, #60 Miller Special and Greg McEwin, #2 MacHealey

kaydee,

Who was on the front row with Patto ( you can see the rear of his then new T51) and who won?...do u remember?

Yes it looks like David McKay..long way to go and not dive in the race.....some time in 1959 he got the Victa Industries Cooper T51....must have been after Pt Wakefield.

One can only marvel. at those guys driving F1 cars on that narrow circuit in, what to us these days, look amazingly primitive circumstances.

Stan

Stan, I don't know who was on the front row of the grid with Patto.
I've just looked up the AMS report of this meeting and that doesn't say either.
After reading the AMS report it would appear that the grid photos must have been taken at the start of the Div 1 Scratch race - which Bill Patterson won and David McKay did not participate - hence standing in background.

The Victa Cooper was definitely there for that meeting and the photo below shows it just after it was wheeled out from the rear of the transporter bus - (For some reason I don't think that the Victa deal lasted too long?)



Patto also won the main race - "The Advertiser" Trophy, followed by Rilstone, McKay and Mildren.

Thanks Kaydee,

These pics of yours contunue to delight beyond all expectations............

Yes, the Victa deal didnt last long, the car was sold almost immediately to Bib stillwell who used it during most of the 1960 season.....I have no idea why it fell thorugh and it would be an interesting side issue in itself to know how many races DM actually did in the car.

The other question that forms in my mind is..........what was Bib Stillwell doing or driving in 1959?....it seems unlike him not to have the latest and the best in that early period of his career.

Stan

Lukey was the other front-row starter in the Div I scratch race - and presumably in the Gold Star race as well
Stillwell had been racing a 2.2 Cooper-Climax (and had won at Bathurst one week before) but for some reason gave the Wakefield meeting a miss

More photos from the October '59 Port Wakefield meeting -


Keith Rilstone working on his Zephyr Special


Alec Mildren Cooper Climax #10 talking with mechanic Glen Abbey.

Thanks again, kaydee, for this brilliant stuff. The '50s atmosphere comes reeking off the computer screen........................

Two things surprise me Kaydee


Stan jones was able to win a race, in the by then, agricultural Maybach against Mildren and Lukey's Coopers.


Second, Keith Rhyilstone and his Zephyr Special was able to finish ahead of 1 year old F1 cars..

Stan

I think you need to look at the specification of that car again, Stan... and isn't it great to see it in the photo above?

A pic or 2 from the lens of Lionel Macpherson, a former racing driver who recently re-discovered some of his old pics from the 60s. They are from the 1965 6-hour race at Caversham.

Spencer Martin at the wheel, David Mackay alongside No 1. WA racing legend Don Hall (arms folded, white overalls) provided the pit crew for the Cobra. By this time drivers had to be strapped in, and a crew member had to race across the track on the driver's behalf...




First away: Spencer Martin in the LM.

There was a nice, long, piece on the Zephyr Special in a recent Vintage Racecar. It looked pretty comprehensive to me as an outsider. ray is correct about considering the spec., especially in period.

Roger Lund.

What a great variety of cars.....AC Cobra, Ferrari, Ford Cortina, Lotus 7, 356, Chrysler Valiant?, Mini......oh for those days again...what won the race?


Sterling

U.K.

1 McKay/Martin (Ferrari)
2 Ron Thorp (Cobra)
3 Vic Watson/Dave Sullivan (Hurricane V8)
4 Max McCrackan/Vin Smith (Lotus Elite)

Hmmn, should have expected results something like that, no substitute for Cubic capacity! What is a Hurricane V-8, sounds fearsome though

I am assuming that Ron Thorp did the 6 hours solo?

Sterling


U.K.

From memory, that race Ron had his first wife as co-driver...

Some photos of the "Saloon & Touring" car racing at Port Wakefield March '59 -


Clem Smith in his Repco headed Holden


George Spanos, Morris Major (temporarily?) leading Eddie Perkins in Porsche 1600 Super


Col Riches in his 1930? Dodge DD Tourer fitted with a Chrysler V8

April '58 Port Wakefield meeting -


#1 Stan Jones, 250F Maserati with #11 Len Lukey's Cooper Bristol and #5 Austin Miller in the background


Engine of Stan Jones Maserati 250F and maybe John Sawyer?


Stan Jones 250F Maserati


Stan Jones and Len Lukey

Roger, I must apologise for us all missing your post...

I don't have anything, but I'm sure somebody has. John Medley might point us to some, for one.

In the meantime, Kevin, some of this stuff is just fantastic. That one of Rilstone working on the car, I will have to make sure that Graeme Snape sees that.

More "Sedan and Touring" cars - this time at Bathurst in October '58 -


Holdens - #27 D West , #1 Leo Geoghegan, #54 J Gorman


Close up of the Geoghegan Holden


The engine bay of the Geoghegan Holden

Wouldn't that have been Leo Geoghegan?
Surely Ian was still in his Standard 10 (or was it an 8?) that year?

Yes, David you are correct - I will edit post.
Thanks, Kevin

Not wanting to appear ungracious, but the Col Riches picture on post 425 only came out as a redX here. As it is such an ususual car is it possible to re-do it?

many thanks

Roger Lund.

Did you try right click > view picture (or whatever it is?), Roger? That usually works...

Absolutely breathtaking material. I have been interested in Australian, and indeed Southern African and Far eastern racing since I first began to read the racing magazines in the 1950s - and here's all this coverage in colour. COO!!!!

DCN

Yes it is fantastic to have these photos in COLOR........... and very BREATHTAKING memories..

Interesting to see the front bodywork on the Leo Geoghegan Holden...... even down to the (aluminium I assume?) covers on the headlights.....

I'd seen a pic of this car before, but it was a small pic and hard to see much detail.....
What a wild looking unit for 1958!!

Is that some form of cold air induction on top of the bonnett???

Were there any other similarly.... aero device wise I mean..... kitted out touring cars in that era???

As always Kaydee.... great pics !!!

Interesting that Tom even removed the rear external door handles.

I believe that John French's FJ had a modified bonnet for aerodynamic reasons, although I've never seen a photo of it in that configuration.

1965 Six Hour again - colour...

Probably taken in practice.

Zephyr Special

I always had in the back of my mind that the Zephyr Special had some sort of "monocoque" chassis and in that superb pic of Kaydee's I can't really see any chassis rails as such.

Am I right in saying it had some sort chassis-less construction ?


Stan

I think that some of the more knowledgeable people will be able to describe it better but I understand that the front suspension bolts to the engine, the engine bolts to a length of pipe with the tailshaft running up the middle, the pipe bolts to the gearbox, the rear suspension bolts to the gearbox. The driver sits alongside the pipe. Or something like that!

Also, I was never aware that the Geoghegan car had a Repco head .....until now.
BTW....Thanks KD....sensational photos ....and I love the way you manage to tease us by eeking them out a couple at a time....sure keeps the interest going....

In Vintage Racecar a couple of months back there is an excellent, IMHO as it was totally new to me, and full, write-up of the Zephyr. Lots of tech stuff and old and recent photos.

Roger Lund.

Another shot of the Zephyr, Rilstone driving, Caversham.

What you have described with the driveline configuration is comonly known as a TORQUE TUBE driveline.....................

In a South Australian context, especially for the fifties, it could well be known as a 'Clisby Drive'...

The car's basic layout was copied from a Hillclimb car built by Harold Clisby using a Douglas flat twin motorcycle engine.

Eldred did, however, make everything bigger and noisier. As was his wont.

More photos from the October '58 Bathurst meeting -


Engine of Frank Matich's C Type Jaguar as entered by Leaton Motors for the 58 Australian TT


Engine of O.S.C.A. entered and driven by Alf Harvey for the 58 Australian GP

That colour's quite a bit different to the pic in the AGP book, Kevin...

Which is nearer to right? (Not that it matters, of course).

Great stuff, I hope you can keep us enthralled with this stuff for some time to come!

Interruption from a Pom, I'm afraid, but are there anywhere any more detials of this car, or even (baited breath....) any pictures?

Ray, I haven't seen the pic in the AGP book - so not too sure about the colour difference.
The OSCA pic (along with some of the others from the 58 Bathurst meeting) was taken on a roll of Ferraniacolor film which didn't seem to have the brighter hues of the Kodachrome which I normally used. However, if you look at the skin tones of the people in the OSCA photo I don't think the colour is too far off of being reasonably correct. (On the other hand some of my Kodachrome slides which are now nearing 50 years old do seem to be a little suspect regarding their original colours.)

This Pom should write to the SCC of SA and get a copy of With Casual Efficiency... very educational, and I'm fairly sure there's a photo of the Clisby car in that book.