17 replies to this topic

[Terry Walker]

Sifting through the files I accumulated writing Fast Tracks, I came across material about the abortive race meeting to be held at Forbes Aerodrome on March 8, 1959. Supplied to me by Graham Howard. It didn't make the cut for the book as there was no actual races, just timed laps, 3 runs.

It was run by the Central West Car Club, and the Apex Club of Forbes.

For the record, the results (times not in order of FTD):

P Bloom, Austin A95, 1:36.5, - , -
J Lyon, VW, 1:35.15, 1:28.5, 1:27.85+1 sec
R Campbell, VW, 1:20.1, 1:20, 1:18.05
J Wright, Morris Minor, 1:40.4, 1:33.4, 1:32.9
M Hogan, Morris Minor, 1:38.9, 1:34.5, 1:35.1
H van Schiak, Simca, 1:25.5, 1:18.05, 1:16.4
J van Schiak, Simca, 1:28.5, 1:21.35, 1:19.9
J Neville, Simca, 1:25, 1:20.2, 1:18.95
C van Schiak, Morris Major, 1:25.8, 1:23.75, 1:20.4
F Rowe, Simca, 1:22.8, 1:19.8, 1:20
E Creese, Peugeot, 1:25.7, 1:20.4, 1:20
M Hockey, MGY, 1:37.2, 1:27.4, -
K Miller, Holden, 1:22.7, 1:20.2, 1:16.5+1 sec
A Probert, Holden, 1:24.2, 1:21.1, -
W Whiteley, Holden, 1:25.3, 1:31.5, -
R McLeod, MGA, 1:18.4, 1:15.5, 1:13.8
R McMurray, MG TF, 1:25, 1:21.9, 1:20.25
H Cape, Jag XK120, 1:19.8, 1:18, 1:15
W Tym, Jag XK120, 1:17.5, 1:14.65, 1:16,1
J Myers, Jag XK 120, 1:20.95, -, -
A Threlfo, Lancia, -, 1:17.4, -
B McPherson, BSA, 1:16.5, 1:13.7, 1:12.8
R Speet, Peugeot, 1:23.9, 1:19.9, -
G Griffith, Peugeot, 1:34.9, illegible, illegible
D Riddiford, VW Spl, 1:34.9, 1:21.5, 19.75 (illegible comment in handwriting)
H Jones, Holden Spl, 1:14.4, 1:11.4, 1:07.8
D Lapham, Holden Spl, 1:09.3, 1:08.4 -
B Keegan, Ford Spl, 1:16.4 - , -
M Hockey, Jag XK 120, 1:21.6, - , -
A Head, Jag XK 120, 1:20.56

FTD H Jones, Holden Spl, 1:07.8

The airstrip was in arrowhead shape, a triangle, with a fourth landing strip running from the apex of the triangle down at right angles through the centre of the opposite side.

[Terry Walker]

Sorry about the double post, my modem was running very slowly and I got impatient and pressed the send button twice!

[Terry Walker]

Modern space photo of circuit. The bitumen runway to the south of the old east-west runway is new. The dirt triangle and north-south dirt runway still survive just north of the new strip.

[terry mcgrath]

terry,
this would be one of the more interesting bits I have seen for a while containing XK stuff
M Hockey, Jag XK 120, 1:21.6, - , - never seen this name before associated with an XK
A Head, Jag XK 120, 1:20.56 never seen this name before associated with an XK
H Cape, Jag XK120, 1:19.8, 1:18, 1:15 XK120 FHC 669012 a car that I once owned and ran in early york flying 50's
W Tym, Jag XK120, 1:17.5, 1:14.65, 1:16,1 XK120 roadster 660372
J Myers, Jag XK 120, 1:20.95, -, - this may not have been a standard XK120 but one of the specials

I would love to get a copy of the original timimg sheet of whatever format it is in
regards terry

[Team Result]

H. Cape Would that be Harry Cape? IIRC, he was still racing in the '70s in a Triumph (GT6?).

[terry mcgrath]

H. Cape Would that be Harry Cape? IIRC, he was still racing in the '70s in a Triumph (GT6?).

one and the same he did a couple of small books on his exploits
terry

[Ray Bell]

Perhaps one of the locals gave Jack Myers a drive of their XK to encourage him to turn up and give the event some publicity?

A couple of other thoughts... The 'Griffith' would have been one of the enthusiastic Peugeot owners from Young, a group that includes Robert Baker; 'Speet' is a very uncommon name, only six phone book listings in NSW. However, 'Spies', pronounced 'Spees' was a Peugeot specialist in Grenfell, wonder if that's an error.

Mick Miller, the Peugeot man from Parkes (only 33kms away) might know more about these things.

And a question. Was it intended to be a race meeting? Seems that you are saying that, Terry... and what stopped it from being such? Not the dreaded Speedways Act of 1957?

[Terry Walker]

Hi, Ray. I thought you'd spot this. The photocopy of the cover of the programme which I have is too grotty to scan and post, but it's a proper printed job, with the Central West Car Club Logo centre, and it reads:

The Central West Car Club Parkes
and
The Apex Club of Forbes
presents
Car Racing
at Forbes Aerodrome.

[Logo]

Sunday March 8 1959
8 Races Commencing at 11. am
Held under the International Sporting Code
of the FIA and the National Competition
Rules of CAMS

CAMS permit 12N59

Distance of the circuit 1 1/4 miles

Official Programme 2/-

Well, there weren't 8 races, there were three goes at timed laps, so possibly there weren't enough starters, or the absence of miles of railway sleeper fencing brought it undone. I don't know. That's all the info I have, but I think a failed race meeting fits the evidence.

As an afterthought, Speet might have been one of the Orange Speets, as in Speets Bend. The results sheet is typed, and the name unambiguous.

Edited by Terry Walker, 19 July 2009 - 02:22.

[2Bob]

As an afterthought, Speet might have been one of the Orange Speets, as in Speets Bend. The results sheet is typed, and the name unambiguous.

There is also a Speet Pl in Orange

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Terry Walker
.....possibly there weren't enough starters, or the absence of miles of railway sleeper fencing brought it undone. I don't know. That's all the info I have, but I think a failed race meeting fits the evidence.

As an afterthought, Speet might have been one of the Orange Speets, as in Speets Bend. The results sheet is typed, and the name unambiguous.

Yes, that sounds logical...

But Terry, please, forget ever mentioning 'railway sleeper fencing.' The Act required planks of 2" thickness with not more than something like half an inch between planks. Railway sleepers are much thicker than that and weren't used anywhere for fencing (as in the main face of the fence), but it's true that some of the plank fencing had railway sleepers for posts. Some flag marshal points were made of sleepers.

[colinctoo]

As an afterthought, Speet might have been one of the Orange Speets, as in Speets Bend. The results sheet is typed, and the name unambiguous.

If my memory serves, there was a Ron Speet in Orange and involved in things motoring about that time. I can't recall any details, but I did find online a group photograph of some RAAF aircrew which includes a Ron Speet of Orange ( http://cas.awm.gov.a...otograph/OG2847 ) who would have been about the right age.

Some of the names on the entry list are, obviously, well known, but many probably aren't - at the risk of telling people stuff they already know, here are some that I recall - apologies in advance for whatever I get wrong ...

The van Schaik family (not Schiak as in the entry list) ...

H van Schaik, Simca - this would have been Henry's Simca Aronde - white with a burgundy side flash, and an Oxenford head
J van Schaik, Simca - possibly the same car, shared with his brother?
C van Schaik, Morris Major - Charlie was another brother (think I have a photograph somewhere of this car running at Gnoo Blas)

D Riddiford, VW Spl - Dale Riddiford - at this stage it was probably just a VW floorpan with the body removed - over the years it eventually became the Lobo Jones hill climb car

H Jones, Holden Spl - the well know Forbes driver Henry Jones, a hard pedaller of many Holdens over the years

D Lapham, Holden Spl - Don was a well known Orange garage proprieter with a fondness for Triumph cars

B Keegan, Ford Spl - Brian Keegan was a panel beater from Orange (still is in fact, though he's officially retired). His father, Ted Keegan, did the bodywork for many of George Reed's cars. The Ford special may have been what became the Volante Ford - I seem to recall Brian running it at about the same time in a dirt hillclimb on the Pilbeam's property near Orange, before he put the bodywork on it.

Colin Connaughton

[colinctoo]

... some more details, courtesy of Max Preen from Orange ...

Ron Speet's family owned the Canobolas Hotel in Orange

J Lyon, VW - would have been Joe Lyon, from Orange, who subsequently bought Brian Foley's Farina A40 race car

R Campbell, VW - Ross Campbell, also from Orange, had a black Beetle with a white side flash - a very smart car at the time!


Colin Connaughton

[john medley]

... some more details, courtesy of Max Preen from Orange ...

Ron Speet's family owned the Canobolas Hotel in Orange

J Lyon, VW - would have been Joe Lyon, from Orange, who subsequently bought Brian Foley's Farina A40 race car

R Campbell, VW - Ross Campbell, also from Orange, had a black Beetle with a white side flash - a very smart car at the time!


Colin Connaughton

Phillip Bloom later ran the Dixon Riley, Dale Riddiford (who I went to school with)these days lives on Griffins Mount on Mt Panorama, and I wonder if that is very tall Ross Mc Murray( friend of Frank Cuttell's) in a TF? The motorcycle engined car was the Hairylegs 500, BSA powered I think, previously run by John Marston

An interesting find, Terry. Thanks

[PhilipSpeet]

... some more details, courtesy of Max Preen from Orange ...

Ron Speet's family owned the Canobolas Hotel in Orange

J Lyon, VW - would have been Joe Lyon, from Orange, who subsequently bought Brian Foley's Farina A40 race car

R Campbell, VW - Ross Campbell, also from Orange, had a black Beetle with a white side flash - a very smart car at the time!


Colin Connaughton

Hi everyone

I am the son of Ron Speet and actually remember going to Forbes for this event. Dad and Mum actually enjoyed their motor sport, winning many events.

During WW2, Dad was a co-pilot on B24 Liberator bombers, and the photo on the War Memorial is of his crew, captained by the late Ken Bowman of Craboon near Dunedoo.

Mum and Dad lived in Orange for many years: Dad from 1939 to 1988 when he passed away, and Mum from 1948 to 2006. In 1939, the family moved from the Hotel Koscuisko to Orange where my Grandfather, PMA Speet, became the manager of the Hotel Canobolas, a Tooheys managed hotel, with Dad his assistant from 1938 to 1960. Unfortunately, they never owned the Hotel. One of the few great things about living in a hotel as a child was that most of the drivers and their crews stayed at the Hotel and I was lucky enough to be introduced to many of them.

They, among others, were the movers in getting the Gnoo Blas circuit up and running. Dad was the President of the Orange Light Car Club and Mum the Secretary. For those days Gnoo Blas was a pretty successful road circuit, but Mount Panorama was more successful because it was closer to Sydney, and, in those days, while people would travel to Bathurst, they would not travel the extra 35 miles to Orange. Speets Bend is named after Dad, and is sign posted as are the other parts of the circuit. I remember seeing [Sir] Jack Brabham racing there several times, and the first Australian Touring Car Championship event was held at Gnoo Blas as well as many South Pacific Championships events.

Dad was instrumental in starting the track at Towac Park Raceway, a short circuit within a horse race track.

Unfortunately, both tracks ended their lives through interference.

I new most of the people from Orange mentioned here: Don Lapham, Brian Keegan, the van Schaiks, George Griffith. If memory serves me well, the XK120 that Jack Myers drove was the car owned by Bill Kelly who is still in Orange, and George Griffith drove Dad's Peugeot 203.

Philip Speet

[Brian Lear]

Just re-discovered this post.

The race meeting at Forbes Aerodrome never took place as such....

The Parkes Champion Post of 9th March 1959 reports
CAR RACES ABANDONED - TRACK A QUAGMIRE.
Central West Car Club officials abandoned a car race meeting
at Forbes yesterday because heavy rain on Saturday night
had made parts of the track a quagmire and it was considered unsafe.

At 10 am stewards of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport - the
body controlling the event - inspected the track and declared it unsafe.

The race meeting was abandoned, but officials held less exciting time trials
instead on usable portions of the track


Brian Lear
Australia.

[terry mcgrath]

I would still love to get further details on the cars below two we know the details of, but certainly 2 of the names are a real mystery and whilst we have published our XK120 book (see below) we are continuing to collect updated information
terry

terry,
this would be one of the more interesting bits I have seen for a while containing XK stuff
M Hockey, Jag XK 120, 1:21.6, - , - never seen this name before associated with an XK
A Head, Jag XK 120, 1:20.56 never seen this name before associated with an XK
H Cape, Jag XK120, 1:19.8, 1:18, 1:15 XK120 FHC 669012 a car that I once owned and ran in early york flying 50's
W Tym, Jag XK120, 1:17.5, 1:14.65, 1:16,1 XK120 roadster 660372
J Myers, Jag XK 120, 1:20.95, -, - this may not have been a standard XK120 but one of the specials

I would love to get a copy of the original timimg sheet of whatever format it is in
regards terry

The XK120 book will be available on March 15th and in fact of the print run of 600 half have already been accounted for
Sample Pages at http://www.jtpublications.com.au/book/


QUOTE (terry mcgrath @ Oct 26 2009, 14:41)
Coming Soon
The long awaited for, second edition of the book "the Jaguar XK in
Australia" is in fact 1/3 of a 3 volume trilogly.
This just on 500 page, large size format 335 x 247mm (13"x 10"), full colour book covers
the histories of some almost 1000 XK120's in Africa, Asia, Australia/NZ and
South America.
It contains almost 1,100 photos of which only 25 appear in the original volume.

Sample Pages at http://www.jtpublications.com.au/book/
Visit: www.jtpublications.com.au for full details

[/IMG]


tmcgrath@bigpond.com

[Ray Bell]

Welcome in, Philip...

I would imagine that Terry McGrath is very happy you posted that information about the XK120 Jack Myers drove.

Though I never went to Gnoo Blas, I did go to Towac and I always wondered why it failed. Perhaps you could give some more detail?

[PhilipSpeet]

Thank you for your welcome, Ray. Was that 3 1/2 years ago?!

 

There is a very good book on Gnoo Blas which I found at Orange library in Nov 13 while I was researching my family history. It is written by Denis Gregory, formerly of the CWD, now retired. Denis also drove at the track in those embryonic days. The book does give an acccount of the issues of the track, brought on by the member for Bathurst and Chief Secretary of the NSW Government in the late 40's and 50's. A vary meddlesome politician who ensured the demise of Gnoo Blas.

 

Philip