89 replies to this topic

[John Lackey]

I got your letter Dick, and agree with your handwritten comments(but for the moment am saying nothing). Can you use the stuff here for next N/L?( perhaps email me to see if my address still bounces yours?)

While Allan was testing the T I had the John Lackey camera taking pics. They will appear in due course. I guess there were lots of others, but I have seen only those on this site

The T ran as mentioned by Ray, finally at Collingrove failing to even get to the starting pad. Its minders and fettlers were philosophical about that, recognizing that teething troubles were inevitable. John L is in no rush for the car to reappear, wanting to problem solve first. I asked him about running it at Albany but Ed Farrar (organizer at Albany 2009) said there was a V8 Supercar Wanneroo event that day and Albany2010 might not happen. John definitely said no GEAR meeting next week. So, no plans yet definite.

Iit didnt smell like it was on methanol. We didnt need to refuel it so I dont know, but I dont think it used methanol (perhaps could have used mixtures to address icing problem if so?). The supercharger was disconnected.

By the way, there were lots of other cars (and motor cycles)there as well

Hi All,

Here is a pic to whet your appetites. John Medley took the photo. I am driving the replica of "The Supercharged T" as it was known all those years ago. This is the first time Allan Tomlinson saw the car. Ed Farrar is looking on. More pics soon. Car was on petrol as supercharger was faulty.

John Lackey
http://img190.images...1/pa020006g.jpg

[Lee Nicolle]

And speaking (above) re methanol, I have to share an exchange I heard over the course two-way radio system early on - between which parties I can't recall, and cannot do it anywhere near close for even paraphrasing, but it went along the lines of ...

"That car (x) is using methanol ... the other one's on alcohol.."

I might have to return to my high school chemistry texts.

While engines dont run very well on pure alcohol dont drink methanol !! Methinks someone was confused

[Dick Willis]

Welcome to TNF John, we look forward to seeing more pics and learning from your account of how you "recreated" the TA.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by John Lackey
.....I am driving the replica of "The Supercharged T" as it was known all those years ago. This is the first time Allan Tomlinson saw the car. Ed Farrar is looking on.....

Nice to see you here and posting pics, John...

Our time with Allan today was very productive and in due course you'll no doubt get a copy of the DVD.

[john ruston]

Did the Delahaye turn up.Will be first time in Australia since Ian Polson took it to UK in 72.

[Ray Bell]

Or what was left of it...

This thread is remarkably light on for pictures, a shame John doesn't have the Lackey shots, I could have shown him how to post them this afternoon.

[john medley]

The ex John Snow Delahaye was at Lobethal, parked not far from the exJohn Snow MGNE and the ex John Snow MG K3. It looked a different colour to its original, and was driven not by the owner but by another. It can be seen in the ABC video mentioned in post 41 above. I am told that Ian Polson was also present.

[Ray Bell]

John, I'll call you later in the day...

When I get close I'll make arrangements with you to drop off a DVD (kindly burned by David Shaw) of our chat with Allan yesterday.

[onelung]

[John Lackey]

Or what was left of it...

This thread is remarkably light on for pictures, a shame John doesn't have the Lackey shots, I could have shown him how to post them this afternoon.

Hi,

Here are some more pics. I am trying hard to learn the posting tricks - so here goes:-



This is Benny shaking hands with Allan Tomlinson with Graeme Louk and myself looking on.



Robert Rowe is showing Allan Tomlinson the supercharger and engine - Ed Farrar is looking on, I am in the background



Allan driving the Replica of "The Supercharged T"



Just before turning out the gate onto the road at Hahndorf

Please let me know if the pics aren't there.
Best regards,
John Lackey

[john ruston]

The colour of the Delehaye when in England matched that found on the car after the original paint was found by stripping back the various layers.
May have been repainted as its been in States for past 10 years?

[onelung]

[john medley]

John Ruston
I am prepared to admit to the ravages of time on my memory and I am aware that you were undoubtedly close to the scraping down to the original paint on the "Paris"/Mongin/Snow etc Delahaye, and I believe too that by the time beekeeper Dick Bland owned and raced the Delahaye the paint had faded and pastelized, but my memory tells me that it is now painted a darker colour than way back then.

I add one more piece of evidence: the remarkable David Manson gave me the stoneguard/ windsceen protector off the Delahaye back in the Seventies and I passed it on to Ian Polson. My memory of this was that it was neither the colour I recalled on the car, nor the colour it is now, but somewhere in between. I wont tell you where the remarkable David found this fragment of history, but I hope he will leap forward onto this forum and second my suggestion

[john ruston]

Thanks for that but we all accept here that its the Ian Stanley Polson car as without him it would have never been recovered from the trailer fire!

[john medley]

I can only agree totally with that. I continue to struggle with a publisher or two re my book about John Snow and his times, I talked to John Snow lots( and I know that Ian Polson did too), and I think that a number of us cheered when that Delahaye re-emerged.

[Ray Bell]

John Lackey... a good size for pics is 700 pixels wide...

These are way too small.

[onelung]

Edited by onelung, 10 October 2009 - 22:13.

[John Lackey]

John Lackey... a good size for pics is 700 pixels wide...

These are way too small.

Hi How do I get the pixel size you require?

Many thanks,
John

[onelung]

[Ray Bell]

John, if you e-mail me (r@ybell.net) we'll go through all of that...

Love to see your pics in a reasonable size.

[David Beard]

I have the following from Mike Bennett, who attended the event…

“Here are a few pics , Car no 12 the P3 Alfa of John Shirley (ex Microsoft CEO) of Washington USA. This is the Nuvolari car from 1935. Car No 12 the oldest Alfa in existence, owed by the Alfa importer for Australia, it is a model G1 from 1920. Unique. Car no 5 An MG R type one of just a handful in the world. Car no 31 The P3 Alfa of Peter Giddings of California. Cars 7 and 16 two Bugattis type 37 sheltering under the verandah of the local school. Last picture, a sample of the wonderful bikes that took to the road. Logistically this is hard to organise, every house with access to these roads agrees to be isolated on each day and they all agreed to inconvenience. Great day out, there were some 100 cars and 35 bikes involved.”

[onelung]

[Gary Davies]

This link may be of interest to some. It has, understandably, a certain 'MG-centricness'.

[John Lackey]

John Lackey... a good size for pics is 700 pixels wide...

These are way too small.

Hi Ray,
Thanks for al the tips - I hope the pics are to size now,


By johnlackey



Best regards,
John

[john medley]

Well done JL.

Have you looked at that other thread re top speeds at Lobethal? I have tried hard to drop you in another JL effort using your mathematical skills on a project not merely worthy of your talents but undoubtedly right at the centre of your current interests.

And also, while Benny proudly set off for Show and Tell at his kindergarten today with pics of him , John Lackey, Allan Tomlinson. the Supercharged T, et al, I have been asked to write an"Oily Rag" thing. Would you like me to write some/ send to you/ joint effort?

[Graeme Louk]

Hi All,
I am new to the Nostalgia Forum and a novice on posting things so if it goes pear shaped I apologise in advance.
Bob and Carolyn Alley from Rocklin Sacramento flew San Francisco - Sydney - Adelaide and then hired a car to come to Lobethal. Bob came out with me in John Lackeys TC and also Ed Farrah in his very quick J Type. Carolyn went out with Philip Brady in the Prince Bira K3. On Monday morning after some discussion they decided that they couldn't improve on the experience and that anything else would be in the shadows so they flew home. It was that much fun. They plan to come back for a holiday in the Adelaide hills.
Carolyn produced an excellent video that has footage of Allan Tomlinson, John Lackey and The Supercharged T. It gives a number of views of the T. It is certainly worth a look.
Go to youtube then search Lobethal Vintage Races 2009
or

Regards to all,
Graeme Louk

[Gary Davies]

Hi Graeme and a warm welcome. I speak as an Adelaide Hills resident and fellow MG Car Club member with Bradey. He's a wild man. I trust Carolyn survived the experience without needing to see a shrink afterwards!

(Hi, Phil, if you're reading this. I'm ready for you on the Kimber Run, boy!!)

[Graeme Louk]

Hi Graeme and a warm welcome. I speak as an Adelaide Hills resident and fellow MG Car Club member with Bradey. He's a wild man. I trust Carolyn survived the experience without needing to see a shrink afterwards!

(Hi, Phil, if you're reading this. I'm ready for you on the Kimber Run, boy!!)

Thankyou for the welcome Gary.

Carolyn not only survived the experience but was delighted by it. Philip was very chivalrous and enquired as to her comfort whilst proceeding vigorously. He assisted the shaken lady to alight when they returned to the paddock. Carolyn nearly collapsed as her feet touched the ground but recovered quickly, turned three times on the spot like an excited schoolgirl, gave Philip a huge hug, which I must say he seemed a little bemused by, whilst talking rapidly in glowing terms of the experience. The beaming smile and tears in her eyes were of pure joy.

Thankyou Philip, you made a wonderful experience sublime.

[David Manson]

In Post #63, John Medley kindly invited me onto this forum, and called me 'remarkable' - John, I'm quite unremarkable, even aiming for unnoticeable!

In the history of the Delahaye, Messrs.Hunter and Delbridge come between Dick Bland and Ian Polson.

In the early 1970s, I was trawling the garbage-heaps of my district, when I came on a mammoth pile of stuff outside the former home of an Australian Grand Prix winner, so I naturally put everything I could fit into the family Morris Minor, and took off. Diffidently consulting the FAGP winner years later, I learned the source of some of the stuff. Including the wire screen, a very scratchy item, very faded blue on any areas that still held paint at all..

This is a Nostalgia Forum, and I'm here for Nostalgia and true history. The Nostalgic thrill, and the history, of 1939 Lobethal, for me are bound up in the vision that we were then almost as far from 'Where It Was All Happening' as could be, yet we staged a dramatic Motor Race, with never an overseas entrant.

I hope all overseas visitors were content to take a back seat - not that any of the 1939 field, except Phillips and Lea-Wright, had back seats.

[onelung]

There are a bunch of stills here, it'll give some idea of the machinery (some of it) which was circulating...

Edited by onelung, 14 November 2009 - 00:17.

[cooper997]

For those interested, I was in a newsagent (here in Melbourne) on Thursday and flicked through (UK) MG Enthusiast magazine - it has a feature on the 2009 Lobethal Carnival.

Happy new year to all.

Stephen

[Ray Bell]

That would be a seamail edition, Stephen...

Taken them a while, was there much on Tomlinson's car, or the replica thereof?

[Terry Walker]

I've worked out why the Tomlinson MG TA, when pulled down in its new owner's hands, seemed to be unremarkable inside the engine - it wasn't heavily modified at all. What Alan Tomlinson and Clem Dwyer did was the most finicky preparation - it revved higher than standard of course, but not a lot higher - the cam was fairly mild - but by careful preparation, it could hold those higher revs at full throttle for a very long time without the engine bursting. It was blueprinting, but beyond blueprinting. They worked hard on improving reliabillty as well as power. Well ahead of their time in many respects.

In a Dowerin race meeting rreport in the late 30s, the writer - a WA Sporting Car Club man - commented on the revs the engine was pulling. Not, I suspect, because they were outrageously high, but because Alan could keep the car on max revs lap after lap. An astounding feat for a production engine in the 1930s.

Last time I spoke to Alan was a couple of years ago, shortly before he went to New York. We stood, chatting, in a room full of people all taking at the tops of their voices. He is a lot taller than me, and at 92 or so he was perfectly happy to stand for an hour or more being buffeted in a crowded room, and he could hear me easily above the hubbub. A nice man, and and amazing man.

[cooper997]

Ray,

Indeed it has taken a while for the article to be published. There was a selection of cars and one with Allan Tomlinson standing next to the replica. I only flicked, so didn't take a lot in. It was just a thought earlier today that someone might be interested to know about it. I think it was their November issue.

Happy new year to all.

Stephen

[Ray Bell]

Terry, they used a torque plate when they honed the bores...

That's not unusual these days, top race engines are done that way, but I doubt that many engines at all had that treatment in the fifties, let alone the forties or the thirties. And that's the sort of thing you can't see when an engine's pulled down.

[lyntonh]

I thought it may be of interest, if not dismay, that this photo, taken today,

is at Kayannie Corner, where the road north into Lobethal leaves the Charleston-Woodside Road.

It appears that another of these inevitable roundabouts is about to destroy the original alignment.

Edited by lyntonh, 26 May 2016 - 10:23.

[Ray Bell]

It's amazing that the circuit has remained undefiled for so long, really...

But it is a bit of a pity.

[Lee Nicolle]

I thought it may be of interest, if not dismay, that this photo, taken today,

is at Kayannie Corner, where the road north into Lobethal leaves the Charleston-Woodside Road.

It appears that another of these inevitable roundabouts is about to destroy the original alignment.

As a motorist I am glad that intersection is having an upgrade. Very hard to get out of the Lobey Rd sometimes. There has been more than a few shunts there. All those hills towns are getting bigger with more traffic.

In the immediate foreground is our million dollar plus bikeway, that bikes seldom use! They continue to block traffic on the road. Part of the bikeway is the old trainline that followed the main Onkaparinga Valley Rd

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Lee Nicolle
As a motorist I am glad that intersection is having an upgrade. Very hard to get out of the Lobethal Rd sometimes. There has been more than a few shunts there.....

Ah yes, but have you considered the driving abilities of people whose purpose is to look at christmas lights?

[Lee Nicolle]

Ah yes, but have you considered the driving abilities of people whose purpose is to look at christmas lights?

Lobethal and the Onkaparinga Valley in general has a LOT more traffic these days. Xmas lights while causing traffic jams to get into Lobey just on dark is a problem ofcourse. For about 3 weeks a year!!

The accidents happening are people commuting, tourism, just normal everyday traffic. In reality the infrastructure is not [yet again] keeping up with population