Hi!
He had a big share in the wins of Niel Allen,
Warwick Brown and Bruce Allison, I think.
His engines made Warwick a front runner in
the tough US-F5000 Series in 1974/1975.
Did other F5000 drivers use his Chevrolets?
What did he do in the late 70s and 80s?
Peter Molloy
Started by
island
, Apr 13 2000 21:12
9 replies to this topic
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#2
Ray Bell
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Posted 13 April 2000 - 22:13
Well, there was this blonde bus driver he knew rather well...
Molloy was employed by Allen after graduating from the Minis of Brian Foley to the ANF2 and then Repco V8 Brabham of John Harvey... there is a gap there I can't recall, but soon enough he was preparing the Allen stable: Mustang, McLaren M4a, Elfin 400 then Elfin ME5, with the Lotus Elan and a Brabham Climax on the side (driven by Fred Gibson). He gained a reputation for putting together good Chevs, mostly with Bartz (is that the right spelling?) influence from the US, and when Allen gave up he eventually found his way into Pat Burke's employ to do the Brown car that had been purchased from Alan Hamilton who had bought it from Allen. Perhaps he was there doing the M4a (ex-Allen again), but I don't think so.
Brown going overseas left him to move on to Allison's employ. During the small gaps in these engagements he may have built engines for others, but I don't think so. I think it would be fair to say that his knowledge of the Chevs and any development he did with them was financed by Allen.
Then came his stint with Ron Hodgson preparing the Toranas for Bob Morris, which netted the 1979 Touring Car title, but by 1980 he was well and truly into motorcycles. He coached Wayne Gardner and prepared the bike he won the Castrol 6-hour on at Amaroo that year. Perhaps he had had other successes earlier in this race, maybe later as well, but he was right into bikes at that time. Again I lost track of him until about 1994, when he was in the Gardner touring car team doing some work for them. He told me he had been in Europe working for Benetton and learning a lot about computer science in the cars.
I don't know where he is now, but the tone of your question seems to indicate that you do. Please tell..
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Life and love are mixed with pain...
Molloy was employed by Allen after graduating from the Minis of Brian Foley to the ANF2 and then Repco V8 Brabham of John Harvey... there is a gap there I can't recall, but soon enough he was preparing the Allen stable: Mustang, McLaren M4a, Elfin 400 then Elfin ME5, with the Lotus Elan and a Brabham Climax on the side (driven by Fred Gibson). He gained a reputation for putting together good Chevs, mostly with Bartz (is that the right spelling?) influence from the US, and when Allen gave up he eventually found his way into Pat Burke's employ to do the Brown car that had been purchased from Alan Hamilton who had bought it from Allen. Perhaps he was there doing the M4a (ex-Allen again), but I don't think so.
Brown going overseas left him to move on to Allison's employ. During the small gaps in these engagements he may have built engines for others, but I don't think so. I think it would be fair to say that his knowledge of the Chevs and any development he did with them was financed by Allen.
Then came his stint with Ron Hodgson preparing the Toranas for Bob Morris, which netted the 1979 Touring Car title, but by 1980 he was well and truly into motorcycles. He coached Wayne Gardner and prepared the bike he won the Castrol 6-hour on at Amaroo that year. Perhaps he had had other successes earlier in this race, maybe later as well, but he was right into bikes at that time. Again I lost track of him until about 1994, when he was in the Gardner touring car team doing some work for them. He told me he had been in Europe working for Benetton and learning a lot about computer science in the cars.
I don't know where he is now, but the tone of your question seems to indicate that you do. Please tell..
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Life and love are mixed with pain...
#3
island
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- 289 posts
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Posted 22 May 2000 - 22:54
There is an interesting topic in a 1973
"Motoring News International" copy concerning
F5000 engines. Barry Catford wrote:" I sat
alongside Peter Molloy who told me that they
had just screwed Alan Rollinson`s Chevy
engine together and found an unbelievable
535 bhp on Merv Waggott`s dyno... Maybe
someone can enlighten me as to the reason why
Repco engines develop 500 bhp (492-502) and
can outpace the in-excess-of-510 bhp Chevies
down the chute. Maybe the engine dynos vary
altough Peter Molloy assures me that the
Waggott unit varies little from the one at
Repco. Could be that the Matich and Elfin
get their power to the track better out of
the turns and hence enter the straights faster- or is it aerodynamics?"
In another 1973 MNI issue there is an
interview with Graham McRae. He told Robin
Curtis:" My Bartz engine is producing 507 bhp, while Sam Posey`s showed 527 on the same
dyno. I am running on carburettors altough
I will be using fuel injection like Posey
next year."
Ray, you mentioned the Repco`s weight advantage and the superior torque.
What do you think of Barry Catford`s thesis?
"Motoring News International" copy concerning
F5000 engines. Barry Catford wrote:" I sat
alongside Peter Molloy who told me that they
had just screwed Alan Rollinson`s Chevy
engine together and found an unbelievable
535 bhp on Merv Waggott`s dyno... Maybe
someone can enlighten me as to the reason why
Repco engines develop 500 bhp (492-502) and
can outpace the in-excess-of-510 bhp Chevies
down the chute. Maybe the engine dynos vary
altough Peter Molloy assures me that the
Waggott unit varies little from the one at
Repco. Could be that the Matich and Elfin
get their power to the track better out of
the turns and hence enter the straights faster- or is it aerodynamics?"
In another 1973 MNI issue there is an
interview with Graham McRae. He told Robin
Curtis:" My Bartz engine is producing 507 bhp, while Sam Posey`s showed 527 on the same
dyno. I am running on carburettors altough
I will be using fuel injection like Posey
next year."
Ray, you mentioned the Repco`s weight advantage and the superior torque.
What do you think of Barry Catford`s thesis?
#4
Ray Bell
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Posted 23 May 2000 - 04:17
Well, as most people know, Barry Catford is South Australian.
It does sound like the result of better torque and perhaps lower weight. I would love to know the exact details about the weight... Repco went out for driveability, too. More than just torque, throttle response and control. I remember Gary Campbell talking about that after he drove McCormack's car, which was very much used as a "sampler" by Repco and the F5000 boys... quite a change from what took place later when McCormack was, to a degree, left out in the cold...
------------------
Life and love are mixed with pain...
It does sound like the result of better torque and perhaps lower weight. I would love to know the exact details about the weight... Repco went out for driveability, too. More than just torque, throttle response and control. I remember Gary Campbell talking about that after he drove McCormack's car, which was very much used as a "sampler" by Repco and the F5000 boys... quite a change from what took place later when McCormack was, to a degree, left out in the cold...
------------------
Life and love are mixed with pain...
#5
island
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- Joined: April 00
Member
Posted 24 May 2000 - 16:37
Ray,
Matich`s new A53 had a flat crankshaft Repco
in the 1974 Tasman races. Do you think that
this made up the Repco`s power deficit?
I mean Matich out-accelerated Gethin`s
Morand-Chevrolet towards Shell corner at
Sandown.
How do you rate Gary Campbell`s ability
behind the wheel? He ran near the front with
the T300 in some 1972 Gold Star races.
Did he stop after his 1973 Warwick Farm crash
in the T330?
Matich`s new A53 had a flat crankshaft Repco
in the 1974 Tasman races. Do you think that
this made up the Repco`s power deficit?
I mean Matich out-accelerated Gethin`s
Morand-Chevrolet towards Shell corner at
Sandown.
How do you rate Gary Campbell`s ability
behind the wheel? He ran near the front with
the T300 in some 1972 Gold Star races.
Did he stop after his 1973 Warwick Farm crash
in the T330?
#6
Ray Bell
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- Joined: December 99
Member
Posted 24 May 2000 - 18:58
The Repco race engine boys were no fools... as the 1966 and 1967 World Championships proved. Though this was mostly a different team, they did a good job with an engine that was very much underdeveloped alongside the very familiar Chev which everyone else had been working on for years.
As for Gary Campbell, one of the nicest blokes ever to set foot in the confines of a pedal box. He wasn't really a front line contender, nor did he pretend to be. But he did take the class lap record at Warwick Farm once, something that might be lost on some people.
Yes, he did retire after the T330 crash... and then his business crashed and he got into charter work with his aircraft. He crashed coming back over the coast on a flight from Sydney to Canberra... A great loss.
------------------
Life and love are mixed with pain...
As for Gary Campbell, one of the nicest blokes ever to set foot in the confines of a pedal box. He wasn't really a front line contender, nor did he pretend to be. But he did take the class lap record at Warwick Farm once, something that might be lost on some people.
Yes, he did retire after the T330 crash... and then his business crashed and he got into charter work with his aircraft. He crashed coming back over the coast on a flight from Sydney to Canberra... A great loss.
------------------
Life and love are mixed with pain...
#7
island
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- 289 posts
- Joined: April 00
Member
Posted 26 May 2000 - 07:10
Interestingly, Bob Muir bought Gary Campbell`s Lola T330 and raced it in the 1973
US series for Jones/Eisert. At Road America
Muir had a bad crash. The T330 appeared
again in the last race at Seattle. Behind
the wheel was none other than Gianclaudio
Regazzoni...
US series for Jones/Eisert. At Road America
Muir had a bad crash. The T330 appeared
again in the last race at Seattle. Behind
the wheel was none other than Gianclaudio
Regazzoni...
#8
275 GTB-4
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Posted 03 January 2006 - 13:11
Chuffed to read tonight that Peter Molloy was involved in fettling front running A Series engines for Brian Foley and Laurie Stewart in their heydays.
Footnote: saw the Campbell machine retire tonite replaying the 1972 F5000 race from AIR...my hero Mike the Bike came in second after a tyre change....magic
Footnote: saw the Campbell machine retire tonite replaying the 1972 F5000 race from AIR...my hero Mike the Bike came in second after a tyre change....magic
#9
Andrew Fellowes
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Member
Posted 03 January 2006 - 21:53
Peter Molloy was at the recent A1GP at the Creek, the story of that Travelodge incident at Longford in '68, trailer demolishing front lobby in the early hours, came up again. Looks like Molloy was in the thick of it that weekend.
#10
Ray Bell
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Posted 04 January 2006 - 03:53
Molloy was in the thick of a lot of stuff, don't worry!
He was actually in charge of preparation of all the BMC works cars for the '65 Bathurst, 275... probably 1966 too. He did a lot of work with BMC stuff with Foley and also with John Harvey.
He was essentially working with Paul Bolton in the Hillman days, went over to BMC with Foley, but there may have been something in between, then Ron Phillips paid him to do Harvey's Mini, which led to the Brabham twin cam... which he enlarged to 1860cc or something after Harvey had won the F2 title. He was still there, IIIRC, when they fitted the Repco V8 to that car, but remained in Sydney when Harvey went to Melbourne with Jane's team.
Not sure if he was actually in anyone's employ or just doing engines for whoever came along after that. But by 1969 he was full time with N E Allen Competition Pty Ltd, sticking it out there until Niel retired. The Warwick Brown and Bruce Allison connections came after that. Probably this was the time he operated independently as Peter Molloy Race Engines, but Allison employed him for more than engine work. He helped develop Allison and Brown as drivers.
Next full timer was with Ron Hodgson. But there was a gap, for sure, don't know for how long, but I don't think he was with the team when they won Bathurst in 1976. He built their A9Xs when Bob Morris won the ATCC.
And there you go... I put most of this into a post at the start of this thread!
He was actually in charge of preparation of all the BMC works cars for the '65 Bathurst, 275... probably 1966 too. He did a lot of work with BMC stuff with Foley and also with John Harvey.
He was essentially working with Paul Bolton in the Hillman days, went over to BMC with Foley, but there may have been something in between, then Ron Phillips paid him to do Harvey's Mini, which led to the Brabham twin cam... which he enlarged to 1860cc or something after Harvey had won the F2 title. He was still there, IIIRC, when they fitted the Repco V8 to that car, but remained in Sydney when Harvey went to Melbourne with Jane's team.
Not sure if he was actually in anyone's employ or just doing engines for whoever came along after that. But by 1969 he was full time with N E Allen Competition Pty Ltd, sticking it out there until Niel retired. The Warwick Brown and Bruce Allison connections came after that. Probably this was the time he operated independently as Peter Molloy Race Engines, but Allison employed him for more than engine work. He helped develop Allison and Brown as drivers.
Next full timer was with Ron Hodgson. But there was a gap, for sure, don't know for how long, but I don't think he was with the team when they won Bathurst in 1976. He built their A9Xs when Bob Morris won the ATCC.
And there you go... I put most of this into a post at the start of this thread!
