77 replies to this topic

[bob433]

Matich SR3 photo taken at the left hander exiting the esses and heading towards the Northern Crossing.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by 275 GTB-4
Ellrosso...there would have been a gallery of hundreds of race fans on the embankment behind the boy...the cropping and angle makes a lovely composition (well done John! ;-) but Frank may not be just waving to the boy...

John's photos are the colour ones that I posted, not the one with the boy...

[Paul Newby]

Frank Matich was a legendary racer and engineer.

I was always thought he had an interesting career trajectory - yes he did race both sports cars and single seaters at the same time. However he came to prominence with sports cars - Jaguar D Type, Lotus 15 and 19 - then single seaters Elfin Junior and Brabham Climax where he made his mark in the Tasman series - then back to sports cars with the Elfin Traco, Matich SR3 and SR4, so good that they changed the rules - then back to single seaters with F5000 McLaren M10B and the Matich A50 family.

I first met Frank at a HSRCA dinner in honour of Ron Tauranac ten years ago. I was seated at the same table of Frank, and through the influence of TNF, he knew who I was. I was chuffed. The last time I saw him was at the Tasman Revival in 2008 where I was in the Legends tent. I somehow knew, from my work in export grants with Austrade, that he had a technology company called Armacel, in which he had developed a patented food pallet from low cost foam material. We talked 'shop' for a bit - how Austrade had assisted his business, which was nice.

A clever and innovative engineer, plus a truly great racing driver. Frank Matich will be remembered.

[Ray Bell]

I don't think any rules were changed because of his sports cars in Australia...

Frank claimed that the Can-Am rules were changed to keep the SR4 out (banning pure race engines) but that doesn't hold water and I never heard of it in period.

[Ray Bell]

And another pic from Ken's unknown donor:



That looks like a 'first lap through Homestead' shot with Glyn Scott and Bob Muir not too far behind in the 23Bs.

[rasimmo]

This car is still the best looking car to come out of Australia.
.

I`ll second that.

[GMACKIE]

Bob Britton deserves some credid for that car, perhaps.

[ellrosso]

Yes, terrific looking car - good photo too! Tom Floyd did a track test of it in the first SCW I ever bought - he wrote it as a letter to his mother back in NZ which was a bit left field. What an impact that car had on Australian racing back in the day..... Here is another angle from the same day - speed blur but the back is sharp. Still gives a good impression of the shape.

Edited by ellrosso, 19 May 2015 - 05:25.

[eldougo]

A very large turn out to Celebrate His Life today in Sydney...double click to enlarge

Edited by eldougo, 19 May 2015 - 06:50.

[ReWind]

For a few days I thought the mystery of Matich’s birth date has been solved because after his passing it was given as 25 February 1935 (for instance here). But now I read that it was 25 January 1935.
A new riddle? Can anybody clarify?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by eldougo
A very large turn out to Celebrate His Life today in Sydney...double click to enlarge

I got some pics at the wake... eldouglas' included...

Some of us, an elite few you might say, went on to the Terry Hills Tavern. It was just like the old days, like crashing in on a Matich family event. Except it was the new generation Matichs and a few grandchildren too.

There wasn't much display of tears, but there was a lot of love for a man they admit had his flaws. Realism at its best. Kim relating that Frank sacked her when she was a kid and never ever employed her again, even though the others went on more or less always working in one of the family businesses or other, and grandchildren too.

I'll post pics when I get a chance...

And does it clarify anything to know Frank had his last birthday party on the January long weekend?

Niel Allen had a select few words to say, a competitor Frank respected. There was a film clip from Peter Windsor made especially for the occasion and another message from Jackie Stewart. Max Stahl, after his euology, spent quite some time reading apology messages. A shame that nobody had checked out the microphone position and the sound system setup generally before it all began.

[E1pix]

Thanks for the report, Ray.

[group7]

thought this a nice photo..Frank & family with mechanic, Riverside Can-Am 1967.click the box at bottom right of photo to manipulate it. found it while searching for info on the settember Matich SR3 from the same year.

 

https://revslib.stan...log/yt736kh1065

 

Mike (group7)

Edited by group7, 06 June 2015 - 20:24.

[Ray Bell]

Wow!

That looks like a very young Bob Britton standing on the right... here he is at the funeral:

[Ray Bell]

Other funeral pics:

Frank's last head mechanic... from the F5000 era...



Derek Kneller. He succeeded in that office...



Peter Mabey, who followed...



Bruce Richardson.

For those who aren't aware of Frank's lineage of head mechanics, Bruce followed Geoff Smedley while Geoff came in after Jacques Sapir had a brief stint after Bruce had left Frank following a long stint - 1960 to 1964.

Family was a major part of Frank's life...

Kris, shown with his daughter...



Kim...



Katrina...



and Lee... with one of her beautiful daughters...



Linda, Kris' wife, is shown here with Deniene...



Deniene was a long-term tyre salesperson for Frank and very close to the whole family. She and Peter...



...hammed it up a bit, they were good friends back in the day.

Graham Matich...



...was Frank's brother and helped Frank until Longford in '65.

There had to be another TNF representative there, eldougo!



Representing the many photographers who've spent hours trackside capturing the many dominant Matich performances on film were:



Bill Forsyth and...



...Ray Berghouse.

One fierce former opponent was there, Niel Allen:



Niel deprived Frank of a major win at Pukekohe, it must be remembered.

Another F5000 driver, but not in the front running group when Frank was around, Warwick Brown:



Don Holland was there...



...and the man I'm told is the ultimate Motor Racing Tragic, still working on race cars at 84, still with clear memory and great stories from his time keeping one or two top drivers at the top, Ray Eldershaw:





.

Edited by Ray Bell, 11 June 2015 - 23:35.

[DanTra2858]

Well done Ray, the faces of our youthful hero,s.

[Ray Bell]

It could have been much better!

If only we'd got Bruce Richardson telling his stories of the old days. The Leaton Motors bus, the sheep at Coolac...

[Ian G]

Well done Ray, the faces of our youthful hero,s.

Yeah,i can't believe thats Neil Allen,i thought his photo on 'Cafe' was a poor one.

 

 http://www.speedcafe.../01/niel-allen/

[Ray Bell]

Indeed, that is a poor one...

But he's far from photogenic these days, it's a pure tragedy that someone who's been as lucid and capable of telling how it was for them back in the day is now becoming a mere shadow of his former self.

He was very keen to do a short piece at the funeral, he did it well. There are glimmers of the way he could explain himself in the quotes in that item you linked, but there are also some glaring errors.

[Leo D]

I think this recent interview with Derek Kneller is appropraite for this thread.

 

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=PNLEO2NoAjA

Edited by Leo D, 09 June 2015 - 13:01.

[Wirra]

ref: http://www.smh.com.a...20150726-gijh9e

 

Racing driver Frank Matich sought mechanical perfection

Date

July 26, 2015

 

Frank Matich 1936–2015

 

Frank Matich was considered by many to be Australia's finest all-round race driver. In a career spanning two decades from the mid-'50s, he took several Australian Sports Car, GT and Gold Star titles, two Australian Grands Prix and the 1970 New Zealand Grand Prix.

 

Yet, although Matich consistently held his own against the best internationals, the coveted Tasman Cup always eluded him and, despite constant pressure, he resisted going overseas in favour of staying with his family.

 

Frank Matich was born on January 25, 1935 and grew up on a chicken farm near Engadine. He became an apprentice in diesel, automotive and aircraft engineering and soon found employment with a Tempe sports car dealer, where he specialised in tuning Austin Healeys. With a reputation as the man to see to buy a good used sports car in Sydney, he progressed to the sales department of Leaton Motors, Rockdale.

 

His racing career began in the mid-1950s, in an MGTC he bought as a wreck and rebuilt. He spent time at the Mt Druitt circuit, thrashing around with other TC owners, until he could afford an Austin Healey 100/4.

 

In 1956, Matich married Joan Breese, who was constantly by his side supporting him.

 

Matich's first Bathurst race was the 1958 Easter meeting, but his Healey overheated and retired when he was in third place. Then he started on the third row of the 38-car Australian Tourist Trophy grid and finished fourth.

 

In 1960 Leaton Motors bought Matich a Lotus 15 with a 2.5-litre Climax engine and he won many sports car races and titles in it, attracting attention from a rapidly growing fan base, along with prospective sponsors.

 

He'd expanded his driving interests, too, taking the Lotus 15 to Lowood in a bold challenge for the 1960 AGP. He lost, but his reputation and satisfaction were recovered soon after, when he beat Doug Whiteford's Maserati to win the Australian Tourist Trophy at Phillip Island.

 

In 1962, under a generous new Total Oil contract, Matich acquired a Lotus 19 reportedly raced by Stirling Moss in the US. The car arrived in Australia with great expectations and, after a thorough overhaul, the combination became a legendary force in Australian motor racing, winning all its races and setting lap records everywhere.

 

Yet Matich didn't have to be in a big-banger – in 1962 he accepted an invitation from Garrie Cooper to help introduce three of his new Elfins at Catalina Park. He had wins on the one day in a trio of Elfins – an 1100 Formula Junior, a Clubman and a 1500 – then wound up the day by taking his Lotus 19 to a new outright lap record.

 

He also drove small machinery in the Bathurst Great Race – in 1963 a Renault R8 with George Murray and 1966 he co-drove a Cooper S, setting a new lap record while making up time after losing a wheel.

 

Stirling Moss was among the first to recognise that Matich was special and his meticulous preparation and attention to detail – noting and recording the minutest details, especially tyre pressures and their influence in suspension set-up – earned him a reputation among the world's best.

 

It also earned him a place in the internationally renowned GPDA (the Grand Prix Drivers Association), in which Matich is still the only member who never drove in Formula One, or even in Europe, such was the respect his colleagues had for him.

 

Added to Matich's obvious driving ability was his passionate devotion to mechanical perfection: if it wasn't accurate he wouldn't drive it, as one writer put it. From the early days of improving the Model A Ford on the family farm and the MGTC at Mt Druitt, he would inevitably gravitate to designing his own cars.

 

Then a mishap involving his mechanic during a brake testing session at Warwick Farm in 1964 saw the 19 go backwards into the pit fence, which almost wrote it off. Rather than scrapping the car, however, Matich saw it as an opportunity to further his construction ambitions. Importing a replacement chassis and body from the UK with support from Total, Matich and his team built the Lotus 19b.

 

The face of racing in Australia was changing again: Outright lap records, something Matich had always chased, fell to him at circuit after circuit. But a crash at Lakeside in 1965, while he was practising in two cars – the Brabham and the 19b – almost brought everything undone. A jammed throttle at high speed sent the Lotus into the Armco barrier, rupturing the fuel tank and splashing Matich with fuel, which ignited. Businessman Bobby O'Neill stepped forward and dragged him free.

 

Over six months recuperation led to Matich's departure from the Total fold, but he used the time productively, returning to racing in a Cooper S, and turning his mind to a big sports car replacement.

 

With backing from Sydney businessman Laurie O'Neil, Matich took up an offer from Garrie Cooper, designing a sports car chassis for Elfin to build, incorporating left-over 19b parts and powered by a 4.5-litre Traco-Oldsmobile V8.

 

This car gave Matich his second Tourist Trophy in 1966 at Longford. A year later he had his own car, the Matich SR3, also Olds V8-powered, in time to win a third ATT at Surfers, then he won again at Mallala in 1968.

 

The face of racing in Australia was changing again: now Matich's fans and admirers saw in him a successor to Jack Brabham. But instead of aiming at Europe, Matich took the SR3 to the US and the hugely popular and powerful CanAm series, then dominated by Bruce McLaren. Matich enjoyed moderate success on the track, but more importantly, Firestone signed him to a test program in Australia.

 

With this backing, and a string of lap records around Australia, Matich prepared his latest creation, the Matich SR4, with its mighty 5-litre Repco V8, to attack the newly established Australian Sports Car Championship series.

 

The introduction of F5000 at the end of that year opened new opportunities and year's end saw Matich in a McLaren M10, which soon after became more a Matich than a McLaren, thanks to his persistent quest for improvement and perfection.

 

It was followed by an M10B, which saw him take out the Australian Grand Prix in 1970. In 1971 he won the race again, in another car of his own design, the Matich A50. But not before taking the McLaren to victory in the USA as well, and the NZ GP that same year.

 

But in 1973 Joan fell ill and Frank curtailed his racing. He suffered a serious electric shock in his boat in 1974, and started the last three Tasman Cup races of that year against doctors' orders.

 

He still found front row grid positions and placed, but decided to retire from racing and manage his many business interests – cars, tyres, safety helmets, promotional clothing, building materials and finally solar power-generating mirrors.

 

In 2001, Joan's death, from lung cancer, hit Frank hard, then he developed diabetes and suffered major problems when a knee replacement operation went wrong.

 

Through this, however, he had the support and love of his family, most of whom were there when he celebrated his 80th birthday this year.

He is survived by his children Kris, Kym, Katrina and Lee and their families.

 

C. Max Stahl

Edited by Wirra, 29 July 2015 - 08:34.

[JoyDiv]

Arghh...I've just seen this post....can't believe the bad news

 

One of the fastest drivers of his era

 

Rest in peace Frank 

[SJ Lambert]

 

[E1pix]

Very cool, SJ!

[Leo D]

I found this short Movietone Clip from Surfers Paradise circa 1969.

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=7IOmdNw7gxY

 

I note the high wing configuration had already been abandond on the SR-4, but was stll running on the Don O'Sullivan SR-3.

[275 GTB-4]

I'm sure Frank wouldn't mind the diversion...but I wonder who the mechanic was who left Lotus!

[SJ Lambert]

Chapman reckoned there was no rift & that Les Wybrott had already tendered his resignation as he wanted to do less travelling, Bob Dance was offered a position with another team and GT mechanic Trevor Seaman also decided to take a job elsewhere!

Edited by SJ Lambert, 15 September 2015 - 02:48.

[Ray Bell]

It wouldn't have been like that if the headline had related to Frank's team...

The classic was when he circulated with a plug lead off at Longford in 1963 because he knew his pit bay was devoid of crew members who'd prepared the car and then resigned the night before.