8 replies to this topic

[SeaMonkey]

Just wondering if by any chance anyone might have some information about hillclimbs in Australia during the early 1960s? I'm particularly after details on a driver called John Marston, who I believe drove a works Cooper, but pretty much anything would be helpful.

[Ray Bell]

John Marston drove air-cooled cars in the fifties, holding the outright lap record at Tarrawingee at one point, from memory. Undoubtedly he hillclimbed.
I sincerely doubt it was a 'works' Cooper, but possibly an ex-works car.
Is there anything you would like to know about hillclimbs per se, or is it just about Marston? He never won the Australian Hill Climb Championship and I have very little reference to anything before 1963. By 1964 he was running a Lynx with a Ford 1340 engine and a Lynx Vincent and I note one sixth place in a NSW title event. That was at the tight Silverdale course.
Are there any specific details you want?

[Ray Bell]

Information on John Marston can be obtained from one of his good friends, John Cummins. Please email me at raybell@eisa.net.au and I can give you contact details.
Cummins lived in Victoria, as did Marston, and they both moved to NSW at the same time.

[DanTra2858]

1959/60, Huntley Hill Climb round of the NSW series, I believe that it was John Marston on one of his runs that had an accident near the Finish Line, not sure if he spun & hit bank or just went bush, the end result was that the car was out of action for the remainder of the day.

The first photo is of the Lynx Vincent returning to the pits after a practice run, the other two are the car returning to the pits while Marsden is being attended by the Ambulance men, not sure of injuries.

[plannerpower]

This site;

http://www.hillclimb...om/history.html

tells us that Marston was NSW Hillclimb Champion in 1961.

I have a vague memory of a "Marston Vincent" but I'm afraid that I can't add to that.

[Ray Bell]

A shame, really...

The original poster hasn't logged onto the forum since 2004.

[HiRich]

1959/60, Huntley Hill Climb round of the NSW series, I believe that it was John Marston on one of his runs that had an accident near the Finish Line, not sure if he spun & hit bank or just went bush, the end result was that the car was out of action for the remainder of the day.

The first photo is of the Lynx Vincent returning to the pits after a practice run, the other two are the car returning to the pits while Marsden is being attended by the Ambulance men, not sure of injuries.

I'm not so sure. I'm sure that car is Geoff McLelland's Mac-Vincent - body shape, paintwork and everything else matches the one image I have for the car, ID'ed by Graham Howard. And it doesn't match the image I saw of the Lynx-Vincent during restoration. I'm not aware of these two cars being linked in any way, and they would have been running concurrently.

[DanTra2858]

I'm not so sure. I'm sure that car is Geoff McLelland's Mac-Vincent - body shape, paintwork and everything else matches the one image I have for the car, ID'ed by Graham Howard. And it doesn't match the image I saw of the Lynx-Vincent during restoration. I'm not aware of these two cars being linked in any way, and they would have been running concurrently.

Thanks for the correction, my memory is not what it used to be but then 50 years ago is a lot to remember, I was tossing up between the two but picked the wrong one.

Is there any information available on the incident & to the injuries.

[john medley]

I second the Geoff McClelland Mac Vincent as the car in those pics -- for precisely the same reasons

Somewhere, in the remarkable NF, is another discussion re John Marston and his Lynx/ Lynxes including a discussion between Kevin Bartlett who was there on the right side of the fence and John Medley who was there but on the wrong side of the fence