7 replies to this topic

[island]

Hi!
His home circuit, I think. Three Tasman
wins from 1971-1973. Doubling the field after
36 of 84 laps in 1974. Why was he so fast
there? Did the spectators actually cheer for
him? Who attended these races and recalls
the atmosphere?

[Ray Bell]

The message here is that I wouldn't have a clue. I've never been to NZ and dislike one-mile circuits. From what I hear it was narrow as well... you might get an answer from a fellow Kiwi... sorry.
Man, you must stay up late!

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[island]

Just read a nice "Cassius" story in a back
copy of British weekly "Motoring News"
concerning McRae`s 1974 Wigram Tasman pole
position:

"He said he would start from the back of the
grid for 1000 dollars and would start five
seconds further back for another 1000 dollars!"

In the race two valve springs broke and McRae`s GM2 retired after 29 laps. He was
17 seconds in front...

[Ray Bell]

Missed out on a lot in that race, he did. He started from pole, a rolling start was something of a quirky NZ thing that year, had to give best to Gethin for a while, then hit the front with McCormack a safe distance behind. The interesting thing is that Wigram was the NZ GP that year, one of the few times the race wasn't held at Pukekohe. McCormack won it for the second year in a row in the Elfin MR5.

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[island]

Ray,
I managed to get the March 1973 RCN copy
with your Warwick Farm report.
Well, a few more questions...
Did McRae`s GM1 have an advantage on the
straights compared with Thompson`s B24 ?
And did the superior traction of the "World`s
fastest washing machine" show only in the
real slow corners or everywhere ?
By the way, what was the "Gardner Path" ?

[Ray Bell]

In a wet race like that, any advantage on the straights is usually bought in the previous corner. Simply, I don't know. Sorry, miss the point about the washing machine...
I think I wrote something like "he followed the Gardner path.." about someone who spun, or otherwise ran off the road... once again, sorry, can't remember now, but Frank Gardner must have taken a trip off the road somewhere that was unusual and (I've looked it up, it was Posey) now he had someone else emulate him. I'll work on it..

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[island]

Ray,
"Servis" the sponsor of Thompson`s Chevron B24 built washing machines. I read that
"World´s fastest..." bit in a magazine.

[Ray Bell]

I was walking up to knock on someone's door yesterday thinking about your 'washing machine' question and it all came back to me - Servis, as in Wilkins Servis, was indeed painted across the front of the car.
Maybe the 'Gardner Path' related to an incident in the Brabham F2/Tasman car - there's a photo somewhere of it off the road with a yellow flag attached to it somewhere round the engine bay. Everyone would have remembered in those days, lost to us now, maybe Barry can recall (there is a pic in RCN, as I say, but this computer takes so long to do anything I won't waste the time right now).

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Life and love are mixed with pain...