2 replies to this topic

[island]

Hi!
When did he get that nickname? His best times
were in the late sixties (1968,1969 Gold Star
Champion), I believe. In F5000 he had not
that good results. Bad equipment or did his
driving style not suit the 5000s?
He ran that unique Brabham BT43 in the late
70s. A good choice? Who knows more?

[Ray Bell]

I believe he got the nickname during his time in the Lynx-BMC Formula Junior. Perhaps he revved it a bit hard, but more to the point was the fact that it was a convenient rhyming word..
He certainly did suit F5000, if anyone did, he did. The day he threw the Lola at the wall at Oran Park (as mentioned in Toby Lee thread) he was at his best.
Kevin was a master of getting a car to do what he wanted, something not everyone could manage in the rear-heavy F5000. The BT43 had its problems, I think, not that they were much spoken of. Unlike the McLaren M23-Leyland, it had a lot of weight jacked into the back of it.
The biggest change to his career with F5000 was that he ran his own show, rather than driving for Alec Mildren and his team. Most F5000 runners didn't have enough money, either. He was one of that class, and you can't make up for everything with ability.

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[Ray Bell]

Direct from Kevin:

First time I knew of it was in the late fifties, when I started racing the Morris Minor. It was at Bathurst and Keith Regan a course announcer, a carry over from the Mt Druitt days, and announcer for the ARDC at Catalina also, used the rhyming term, it stuck.

Nothing to do with how hard he flogged his engines at all...