51 replies to this topic

[Ashley Lenton]

Having recently discovered my logging-in code after many years, I am determined to find the answer to a question (or several) that has defied throwing up answers. What happened to the 1961 Cooper Climax V8 that ran at the front in three GPs but suffered from cooling problems mostly? Why did it not appear in 1962 when Maggs had only a 4 cylinder T55 for the opening GPs? In fact, following a practice accident, he used a T55 as late as the German GP. Surely the T58 was at least good enough to use as the team spare? I realise that Cooper may have slipped down the Climax pecking order compared to previous years, but the Bowmaker Lola team were up-and-running with two V8s before Cooper -and they had a spare car. And whatever happened to the car itself? It may not have won anything but it symbolised the fight-back by the British teams, and it was driven by the reigning World Champion. There's nothing in the obvious book on these matters, and I've never seen it mentioned on this forum. Does anyone know what happened to the T58?

[Ray Bell]

On Allen Brown's site, oldracingcars.com, it's shown as being at the Mexican GP in 1962...

Fitted with a BRM V8, entered for Moises Solana it was practised by John Surtees and did not start the race. I would think it possible Surtees drove it to find out if the lack of speed the car was showing was due to the car or the driver and, if the former, to give clues about how to fix it.

Solana didn't start, according to the Wikipedia page on that race, because he was too slow.

[Ashley Lenton]

Well that is strange. Why would Parnell have been bothered with a(by now) old Cooper with a BRM engine in late 1962? Unless they'd cobbled something together to sell Solana. It still doesn't explain why Maggs had to make do with 4 cylinders for so long.

[D28]

Well that is strange. Why would Parnell have been bothered with a(by now) old Cooper with a BRM engine in late 1962? Unless they'd cobbled something together to sell Solana. It still doesn't explain why Maggs had to make do with 4 cylinders for so long.

The "obvious book"  (Cooper Cars - Doug Nye) does say that 2 T60 V/8s were completed for the team by June for Spa the 3rd round of the WC, so Maggs would have one from that date. For some reason he didn't use the new car at Reims, where McLaren won and Maggs was 8th in the T55. At the German GP he was forced into the backup car by the accident you mention, still the 4cyl T55. Hopefully the author can shed some light on your question.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Ashley Lenton
Well that is strange. Why would Parnell have been bothered with a (by now) old Cooper with a BRM engine in late 1962? Unless they'd cobbled something together to sell Solana. It still doesn't explain why Maggs had to make do with 4 cylinders for so long.

I think you're coming from the wrong angle here...

Surtees was entered in a Lotus, apparently. Unless Wikipedia don't know how to spell 'Lola'.

I would suggest that the car was sold to Solana after the '61 USGP and never returned to England. Minus engine, of course. Somewhere the Solana family money found a BRM V8 and that was installed for the Mexican GP.

As I suggested before, Surtees was probably checking the car to see if it or the driver was the slow component in the entry. Nothing to do with Bowmaker.

[Roger Clark]

I think the reasons for Tony Maggs driving a T55 in 1962 are simply a shortage of V8 engines. Climax were slow in meeting demand early in the year and the FWMV was much more expensive than the FPF. Cooper were never a high budget team, even by the standards of the time, and it seems likely that some ESSO money left with Jack Brabham. It is also likely that the 1961 FWMVs were on loan from Climax as part of their development programme and were returned to them at the end of the season.

[Roger Clark]

I think you're coming from the wrong angle here...

Surtees was entered in a Lotus, apparently. Unless Wikipedia don't know how to spell 'Lola'.

I would suggest that the car was sold to Solana after the '61 USGP and never returned to England. Minus engine, of course. Somewhere the Solana family money found a BRM V8 and that was installed for the Mexican GP.

As I suggested before, Surtees was probably checking the car to see if it or the driver was the slow component in the entry. Nothing to do with Bowmaker.

According to Motor Racing magazine, Bowmaker fitted the ex-Brabham Cooper V8 with a carburettor BRM engine for Solana.  They said that Surtees tested it at Brands Hatch before it was shipped to Mexico.

 

David McKinney's notes have the Solana car as a possible destination but also contain a possible alternative: taken to Australia by Brabham in 1962, sold to Ecurie Australie and raced by Davison and Osborne, parts eventually used for Argo sports car.  David would always emphasise that these note were work in progress, and should not be seen as definitive.

 

If the Formula 1 Register is to be believed, the Lotus that Surtees practiced but did not start, was the ex-Brabham 24, 947.  Theme Lotus also says that this car was sold to Bowmaker when Brabham had finished with it.

[Allen Brown]

This is a mystery I'd really like to solve.
 
Firstly, as background, it's important to remember that the term "T58" was not used at the time.  Cooper only invented their "T" number system in 1963, so the T58 was just the V8 Climax prototype to reporters in 1961 and 1962.
 
After Cooper used it in 1961, the next time the T58 was seen was when the Bowmaker/Reg Parnell Racing Team operation bought it and fitted a BRM V8 for Surtees to try out at Brands Hatch in October 1962 where it had reportedly been very promising.  The car was taken to the Mexican GP as a spare and hired to Solana.  Photographs of the car in Mexico would be really helpful.  The only one I have seen of it is this one, which shows it looking a lot like a T55:

 
 
What happened to it next is a real puzzle.  One clue may be that Parnell had a spare Cooper for the 1963 'Tasman' races two months later.  It's not obvious what that was, as Parnell had sold or wrecked all three cars they had taken out to the antipodes in 1962 (F1-1-61 to South Africa. F1-2-61 to Lex Davison and F1-4-61 wrecked by Salvadori).  Could it be they took the T58 as their spare and that was the car raced by Jim Palmer?  Photographs of Palmer's would be really useful.
 
There is no indication that Parnell sold any more Coopers to Australia and New Zealand during or after the 1963 season, so the Palmer Cooper must have returned to England.  It could then be the "ex-Yeoman Credit/Roy Salvadori Cooper allied to a 4.7-litre Chevrolet" that Bryan Eccles used in hillclimbs in 1963, but that sounds like an earlier car.  If the Palmer car was one of Parnell's self-built Cooper T53 copies, which is my current favoured hypothesis, then the description of Eccles' car fits better.  But if it was, where had the T58 gone?  Photographs of Eccles' car would help, and I think I have a Ted Walker picture of it somewhere which I must dig out.

[Ray Bell]

Well it's clear that my guesswork was way out...

I'd never have been surprised that the car got to the Antipodes, but most cars have a clear lineage.

In which race(s) did Palmer drive the car in question?

[Allen Brown]

Ray, mine is highly speculative as well!

 

Palmer drove that Parnell car at all the 1963 Internationals as far as I can tell.  Certainly at Pukekohe, Levin, Warwick Farm, Lakeside, Longford and Sandown Park.  The car he drove at Bathurst in April and at Sandown Park in September was a different car: the David McKay "ex-works" Cooper lowline that Amon had driven in the Internationals.  Palmer then acquired a third Cooper, the ex-Hyslop car, for the start of the 1963/64 New Zealand season.  With so many similar Coopers, I think his mount for the 1963 Internationals has been slightly overlooked.

[Ray Bell]

There are colour pics around of Palmer's '63 car, in colour, at Lakeside...

This was very early in my experience so I can't say anything for sure, but it looks like the Hyslop car to me.

But what's in a tin of paint?

[Barry Boor]

Probably paint, Ray.

[Vicuna]

Jim Palmer raced the spare Bowmaker car in early '63 - a Cooper T55. They were offered it but chose to purchase the Hyslop T53 instead.  

[Ray Bell]

The question Allen has, as I understand it, was the 'T55' really the T58?

[Ray Bell]

There's a decent pic of Palmer in the '63NZGP in Autosport, January 18 edition...

[Allen Brown]

There's a decent pic of Palmer in the '63NZGP in Autosport, January 18 edition...

 

So there is.  Page 88.  Not sure from that angle whether it's possible to distinguish a "lowline" T53 from a "slimline" T55/T58.  Anyone?

[Ray Bell]

Michael may be able to get more pics from Jim Palmer soon...

[cooper997]

What the car originally looked like from the Japanese Cooper book

As far as I can work out a combination of Phipps and Goddard photos

 

If you can translate the text then please share with all of us.

 

Stephen

Edited by cooper997, 02 January 2018 - 09:22.

[Allen Brown]

Also rather a good picture on Getty:

 

http://www.gettyimag...cense/866962554

(Jack Brabham, Cooper-Climax T55, Grand Prix of Germany, Nurburgring, 06 August 1961. )

[Roger Clark]

So there is. Page 88. Not sure from that angle whether it's possible to distinguish a "lowline" T53 from a "slimline" T55/T58. Anyone?

I thought that the T55 had a double curvature windscreen which the Palmer car doesn’t appear to have. The nose cone looks to be a different shape from the T58 but it may be that the 2.5-litre engine needed a bigger radiator.

[Allen Brown]

There will be other people who know much more about these cars than me, but looking at the way the bodywork fits around the front suspension, I'd say the car in Mexico was a T55/T58 "Slimline" and the Palmer car was a T53 "lowline".  So my clue turns out to be a red herring.  I now have no idea what happened to the T58 after Mexico. 

 

Maybe Ray is right and Solana had bought it.  But where would he have used it?

[Ray Bell]

It seems to me that there are obvious dividers in the nose opening of the T53s...

These aren't evident in the T58 nor in Palmer's NZGP mount.

[Roger Clark]

It seems to me that there are obvious dividers in the nose opening of the T53s...

These aren't evident in the T58 nor in Palmer's NZGP mount.

The dividers weren't on all T53s.

[Roger Clark]

Has the Solana car in the picture posted by Allen Brown got a radius rod in the rear suspension?  I can't think of any Coopers of that time that left the factory like that!

[Roger Clark]

What the car originally looked like from the Japanese Cooper book

As far as I can work out a combination of Phipps and Goddard photos

 

If you can translate the text then please share with all of us.

 

Stephen

Unusual to see Bruce McLaren driving the car.

[cooper997]

The McLaren photo in the Japanese Cooper book is the test day at Silverstone just days before the 1961 German GP. As far as I'm aware, most if not all, un-numbered T58 photos relate to the test. If you study that McLaren photo closely you'll see Wally Hassan second on the left, there to see how the Climax V8 went.

 

Varying roll bar heights also play a part in the T53/T55/T58 era of Coopers (in original form).

 

Stephen

[cooper997]

A great photo adorns this 1962 C&D cover. Jack has his race face already and Moss is still a little distracted. Despite the mag's issue date the photo relates to the 1961 German GP front row. Hence Jack is in the Cooper V8 - the subject of this thread.

 

 

Stephen

Edited by cooper997, 15 January 2018 - 00:18.

[cooper997]

One piece of the Cooper T58 jigsaw that we might be able to help clarify is the BRM V8 used.

 

Right near the end of DCN's BRM Vol 2 he has engine related details, so here's hoping the likely candidate is “ ‘5607’ – 1^st build April 2, 1962 –works team engine early 1962 – fitted with carburettors, sold to Rob Walker May 18, 1962 – sold to ‘Yeoman Credit’ by Walker – Tim Parnell for 1963 – retained 1964-65 – rebuilt November 3, 1965, as 1930cc ‘2 litre’V8 serial ‘6007’

 

Stephen

[cooper997]

Just going back over some notes and was reminded of a good 1961 German GP photo of the Cooper V8 appeared on the Cooper Car Company Facebook page in May 2017.

 

https://www.facebook...?type=3

 

Stephen

[cooper997]

Getty images bring up a nice selection of Cooper V8 photos from the 1961 Italian GP.

 

Hopefully this link works (the other way I had it brought up too much carnage)

 

https://www.gettyima...ort=mostpopular

 

Stephen

[Ray Bell]

They certainly are nice images, Stephen...

Not much shows in difference to the T55, just the engine cover and that ugly radiator line. I wonder why that was never cleaned up?

[cooper997]

There was obviously a combination of things at play on this car. a rushed effort to get the delayed V8 in a chassis and tested. Jack Brabham getting ready to leave Cooper, with his MRD project in the wings, etc.

 

Here's part of Wally Hassan's take on it.

 

Stephen

[cooper997]

This might actually be a worthwhile lead. Slightly obscure in an Australian motor sporting sense even by 1964 standards, with specialist titles like Autosportsman and Racing Car News covering the sport in far more detail. But this is what Motor Manual published in their August 64 issue. And not even a classified page...

 

"Up for sale – Lex Davison’s ex McLaren 1963 Tasman Cooper with a choice of 2.5 or 2.7 litre Climax engines. Also the Bowmaker Cooper raced in 1 ½ V8 form by Jack Brabham. This, too, has a choice of big Climax engines"

 

Despite it being one of David McKinney's great pet hates, here we are in 1964 and the T62 Cooper from the C T Atkins stable is being described as a Tasman Cooper. But it is the Bowmaker car reference that is of more importance to this thread.

 

Stephen

[Ray Bell]

Well, the 'Tasman' had been established after announcements mid to late-'63...

But concentrating on the other car, what have we? Davo bought a car from Bowmaker which he later remodelled against the Longford Pub walls.

The car was rebuilt, I've picked up somewhere (Allen's site?) using a spare chassis Brabham had on hand and sold on to Don Fraser.

Shall we start looking at pics of Davo's ex-Bowmaker car and the Fraser car when it reappeared with the BRM engine?

[cooper997]

As far as I recall going down the Longford crash chassis / Fraser Cooper-BRM would be going the wrong direction Ray. I have a note that Fraser had that chassis by at least September/October 1963.

 

I have family history with the T62 wreck, as described in my very earliest of posts on TNF and Mr McKinney had problems with my description from the word go. 

 

I'll need to find my relevant note again, but I believe Lex purchased up to 3 Coopers in a deal with Bowmaker. One still being in the UK. The note could be from things mentioned in Graham Howard's book.

 

Stephen

Edited by cooper997, 30 January 2018 - 11:37.

[Allen Brown]

This might actually be a worthwhile lead. Slightly obscure in an Australian motor sporting sense even by 1964 standards, with specialist titles like Autosportsman and Racing Car News covering the sport in far more detail. But this is what Motor Manual published in their August 64 issue. And not even a classified page...

 

"Up for sale – Lex Davison’s ex McLaren 1963 Tasman Cooper with a choice of 2.5 or 2.7 litre Climax engines. Also the Bowmaker Cooper raced in 1 ½ V8 form by Jack Brabham. This, too, has a choice of big Climax engines"

 

Despite it being one of David McKinney's great pet hates, here we are in 1964 and the T62 Cooper from the C T Atkins stable is being described as a Tasman Cooper. But it is the Bowmaker car reference that is of more importance to this thread.

 

Stephen

 

Fantastic!  That is a massive clue.  The description of it is very precise; that can only be the T58. 

 

Yes, we need to start looking at pictures of cars we thought we understood, but this might mean that Davison acquired the Cooper from Bowmaker but didn't actually use it.  He raced the newer T62, and this advert would be because he'd just bought a Brabham BT4.  

 

I'm thinking that I need to look again at the Don Fraser Cooper-BRM, raced by Geoff Vercoe at Mallala in October 1964 I believe.  Blanden says Fraser had that rebuilt by Elfin after Davison had put it into that pub wall, but maybe we have that wrong.  Apart from that car, I'm struggling to think of another unexplained Cooper running in Australian racing.  Unless of course it was only raced at club level, in which case I don't have the data.

 

Do we need to look at O'Sullivan's car again?  He crashed in early 1966, and used parts of that ex-Stillwell/Patterson car to build a Ford V8 sports car, yet also had a single-seater which he and Gard raced until the end of 1967.  So had he acquired a second Cooper?  O'Sullivan later bought McDonald's T70, but that wasn't until early 1967, so it does appear that O'Sullivan had a Cooper after his crash in the ex-Stillwell/Patterson car, but before he could have acquired the T70.

[Ray Bell]

Where did I get the line about Davison rebuilding the car with a spare chassis held by Brabham?

Originally posted by cooper997
As far as I recall going down the Longford crash chassis/Fraser Cooper-BRM would be going the wrong direction Ray. I have a note that Fraser had that chassis by at least September/October 1963.....

Okay, now we learn Lex had a bunch of stuff. I can see why Allen's getting excited.

Yes, Don O'Sullivan did have a couple of cars. He crashed at Warwick Farm and bought another car in the aftermath of that. I don't remember where I got that, but it wasn't from a race report, maybe Jaime Gard told me?

Of note, while checking, I see it mentioned that the first O'Sullivan Cooper was 'ex-Patterson/Stillwell'.

[Allen Brown]

Where did I get the line about Davison rebuilding the car with a spare chassis held by Brabham?

 
Several references to that.  Brabham brought two lowlines to the Antipodes in early 1961: his own car that he'd used in South Africa, and an ex-works car.  The former is almost certainly the car that appears in Cooper records as F2-17-60, but I'd be very surprised if it ever wore that chassis plate.  It was easier for the team to keep reusing the F2-5-60 and F2-8-60 carnets.

 

I can see why Allen's getting excited.

Is it that obvious?

 

Yes, Don O'Sullivan did have a couple of cars. He crashed at Warwick Farm and bought another car in the aftermath of that. I don't remember where I got that, but it wasn't from a race report, maybe Jaime Gard told me?

Of note, while checking, I see it mentioned that the first O'Sullivan Cooper was 'ex-Patterson/Stillwell'.

I don't have any references to him getting another car after Warwick Farm (13 Feb 1966) until he bought the T70 from McDonald, but I agree with you he must have done.  As you say, the car he crashed at Warwick Farm was the ex-Patterson/Stillwell "F1-5-61" which Stillwell had bought new cAugust 1961.  He cannot have bought the T70 until October 1966 at the earliest (when John McDonald raced it at Sandown), so the car O'Sullivan raced at Sandown Park 27 Feb 1966, and then at Caversham through the rest of 1966 must be a different car.  I guess I would have got my Caversham results from RCN, so there might be pictures of it in there.

 

Blanden 2nd edition implies O'Sullivan went straight from "F1-5-61" to the T70, so John may have missed this one.  Or maybe that's the wrong accident, and the sports car was not built until 1967?

 

Where's our expert on Western Australia?

[Gordon Graham]

I have some shots of the O'Sullivan Coopers taken between 65 and 67, which I posted on this forum a long time ago. I don't have exact dates but I amfairly certain of the order in which they were taken, so perhaps they might be of some help here.

1. O'Sullivan's original ex Stilwell-Patterson car, here at its debut at the 65 State championships. Crashed at Warwick Farm Feb 66 and used as basis for O'Sullivan Cooper Ford

 

2. The Cooper Ford probably around the time of its debut in 66

 

3. The replacement lowline Cooper that appeared some time around the same time as the sports car. Note the later style bodywork around the windscreen

 

4. O'Sullivan's team in probably 67, with the lowline between the T70 and the sports car, The lowline is by this time running 13 inch wheels which I always assumed were spares that came with the T70

 

5. Two shots of the lowline, also probably from 67, showing the later wheels.

 

 

One further possible source of confusion. I don't have my copy of Blanden 2 at hand, but I seem to remember that in the section on the Davison cars, it is stated that at the time part from one or more were being used to build a sports car (The Argo?) O'Sullivan also came over and obtained parts with the purpose of repairing the car damaged at Warwick Farm, though this seems unlikely to me.

 

 

[Ray Bell]

The crash at Warwick Farm would have been difficult to have repaired in a fortnight by the O'Sullivan team...

They were new to racing on the East Coast and were thousands of miles from home. Much easier to buy another car.

I note there are no fuel fillers in the sides of the bodywork of the second car...

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Gordon Graham
.....One further possible source of confusion. I don't have my copy of Blanden 2 at hand, but I seem to remember that in the section on the Davison cars, it is stated that at the time part from one or more were being used to build a sports car (The Argo?) O'Sullivan also came over and obtained parts with the purpose of repairing the car damaged at Warwick Farm, though this seems unlikely to me.

Earlier than that...

The RM1 built be Wally Mitchell incorporated bits from the two Davison wrecks, and possibly other Davison spares.

Interestingly, I came across a note in Down South today while looking for information on all of this and it commented on the name, 'RM1', suggesting that the '1' meant there were more coming, which wouldn't be good.

As it turned out, of course, no more did.

But it's a valid point to ask where the bits for the Argo originated.




.

Edited by Ray Bell, 31 January 2018 - 12:38.

[Allen Brown]

3. The replacement lowline Cooper that appeared some time around the same time as the sports car. Note the later style bodywork around the windscreen

Great pictures Gordon!

Comparing this one with this GP Library picture from Getty, it looks very similar:

https://www.gettyima...cense/647314384

 

The oddest thing is that the rollhoop has gone, but there are lines where it used to be.  Why would anyone take a rollhoop out of a car?

[Allen Brown]

One further possible source of confusion. I don't have my copy of Blanden 2 at hand, but I seem to remember that in the section on the Davison cars, it is stated that at the time part from one or more were being used to build a sports car (The Argo?) O'Sullivan also came over and obtained parts with the purpose of repairing the car damaged at Warwick Farm, though this seems unlikely to me.

Blanden's story about O'Sullivan acquiring parts from Tony Osborne's ex-Brabham/ex-Davison Cooper T53 seems very detailed, and must have come directly from Osborne.  The story is disputed, as Gibbs claimed to have kept the ex-Davison T53 chassis as well as building a new Cooper-like chassis for the Argo.  Whichever story is true, it was only parts that went to O'Sullivan.  Blanden lists "its aluminium body panels, the fuel tanks, oil tanks, firewall and other sundry bits".  The engines and gearboxes went in other directions, and the chassis either went into the Argo or was retained by Gibbs.

[Allen Brown]

Earlier than that...

The RM1 built be Wally Mitchell incorporated bits from the two Davison wrecks, and possibly other Davison spares.

Interestingly, I came across a note in Down South today while looking for information on all of this and it commented on the name, 'RM1', suggesting that the '1' meant there were more coming, which wouldn't be good.

As it turned out, of course, no more did.

But it's a valid point to ask where the bits for the Argo originated.

 

I like your thinking Ray.  Mitchell acquired the wrecks of the Brabham BT4 in which Davison was killed, and the Cooper T62 in which Rocky Tresise was killed.  I believe that he acquired all Davison's equipment, so it's possible he acquired this complete ex-Bowmaker Cooper as well.  I know nothing of Mitchell's racing apart from his outings in the MRD in 1963 and 1964.  What else did he do between 1965 and losing his life at Symmons Plains in 1967?  Any Wally Mitchell adverts that might help?

[Allen Brown]

Just checked the few pre-1967 RCN that I have, but nothing useful.  Mitchell's accident was 12 Mar 1967, after qualifying third in the RM1 for the Tasmanian Sports Car Championship.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Allen Brown
.....He cannot have bought the T70 until October 1966 at the earliest (when John McDonald raced it at Sandown).....

I have found a snippet in RCN about Patterson selling the car to O'Sullivan...

It's in the same issue as the October Sandown race report.

With regard to the Argo-Chev, I'm still trying to find definitive information on this. It's worth noting that Ray Gibbs advertised the ex-Stillwell Monaco in the same issue as the race report for Calder's August '67 meeting appears. It's at this meeting that Ian Cook got the Argo going properly after it had been something of a joke with a pathetic debut at Calder in January, '67 and not much in between.

The car was definitely well underway before Mitchell's demise, but I can't find information yet. Almost a year before, meaning in RCN about October '66, there's a mention of the car being constructed with Osborne planning to get someone else to drive it.

Graham Howard's brief note on the car in a review of sports cars in general is as follows:

Victorian Tony Osborne got the taste of Yank power in a European chassis with the ex-Stillwell Cooper Monaco Buick V8 and the car he has built should be a logical development of the now rather dated Monaco.
Chassis: Multi-tube space frame derived from low-line Cooper with revised suspension pickup points.
Engine: Chevrolet Corvette with 327 block and 283 crank. Est. 370 bhp using 58mm Webers on Traco manifold.
Gearbox: Colotti 5-speed.
Tyres: Firestone Indys, 15" on alloy wheels, 8½" front, 10" rear.
Successes: Well back in first start, January 15.

[cooper997]

Thank you to Gordon for posting his photos. I don't recall having seen them before.

 

The earliest I currently have for Don O'Sullivan running the ex Stillwell/Patterson T53 is the September 1965 Caversham meeting. It would be very handy if someone from the West or indeed holder of the programme for this meeting can tell us whether it was September 12 or 26 please?

 

The replacement chassis still remains a mystery to me as far as a source. The ex Stillwell/Patterson car was bent at the February 13, 1966 Warwick Farm meeting and Don was back in a Cooper at the Sandown round 2 weeks later. TRS has a fantastic Bruce Wells photo of the very sorry looking Cooper ([post 38) http://www.theroarin...ght=bruce wells

 

As far as I can find the O'Sullivan Cooper-Ford V8 sports car had its debut at September 25, 1966 Caversham. Mentioned to be a local chassis with Cooper suspension and gearbox. Does it still exist?

 

If some of the West Australian enthusiasts have access to WASCC 'The Visor' there might just be a snippet within telling us where the second O'Sullivan chassis came from.

 

Stephen

[Allen Brown]

 

As far as I can find the O'Sullivan Cooper-Ford V8 sports car had its debut at September 25, 1966 Caversham. Mentioned to be a local chassis with Cooper suspension and gearbox. Does it still exist?

 

 

Sold to Stan Starcavitch (sp?) in January 1968 and allegedly later destroyed in an accident.  Since then there have been stories of "the Cooper parts unused in the sports car" and "the remains of the sports car" being turned into T53s using new T53 chassis and new components.  In each case, both the vendor and purchaser of said bits are unrecorded.  

[Ray Bell]

Stan Starcevich, usually a tin-top racer and also a speedway competitor...

Stephen, gleaned from the CAMS 'coming events' list in RCN's August issue, that was on September 12. That is unchanged from the calendar published in the December '64 issue, though I can't any longer find my pocket calendar to see if it was the same. Anyway, it would be too tatty to read all this time after spending a year in my shirt pocket.

The report on the meeting says that it was O'Sullivan's first run in the car and he was duly cautious over the opening laps before being handed an easy win.

Some time ago I re-read report on one the final meetings at Caversham and I deduced from the way it was all written that O'Sullivan was 'gifted' the outright lap record (ostensibly bettering Jack Brabham's 1962 time) as the circuit was closing. That was in his Lola T70, however. The 'official' time was given as 'less than 1:20'.

[MarkBisset]

Just cycling back to an old thread chaps...

 

The shot below is of Don O'Sullivan in his new-to-him Cooper T53 Climax - as Allen Brown fairly describes it - at Sandown during the February 27, 1966 Sandown Park Cup Tasman round. DNF engine in the race won by JYS BRM P261.

 

I found some shots a month ago, this is one of them. Am wondering whether it helps you Cooper experts in determining what/which car/chassis this is? 

 

I met with Jaime Gard in Perth in early December, and have been in touch since, but he doesn't remember the type numbers of the Coopers DOS owned at 'the time': these are, I think, the ex-Stillwell/Patterson T53 that was crashed by DOS at Warwick Farm on 13/2/66 and became the Cooper Ford sportscar, the ex-Mayer/McLaren/Hill/McDonald Cooper T70 now owned by Adam Berryman in Melbourne, and the Cooper shown here.

 

One for Allen, Stephen, Ray...and others

 

The only clue as to which chassis it might be is this. Jaime raced this car in WA (the Sandown car) which he recalls as being a pig of a thing until DOS said to him, modify it to suit yourself  - DOS being 'twice as high and heavy' as Jaime. Jaime found the chassis to be badly out of true, when heated and twisted back into shape and properly wheel aligned, corner weighted etc it was 'great to drive.' The point being, this Cooper had had a decent hit at the back...not that it was alone in that regard.

 

 

Sandown racers/fans will know this spot as the blast out of Peters Corner heading up the back straight. Don is plucking third gear or thereabouts...

Edited by MarkBisset, 20 February 2024 - 04:14.