Jump to content


Photo

Jim Palmer


  • Please log in to reply
23 replies to this topic

#1 HistoryFan

HistoryFan
  • Member

  • 7,825 posts
  • Joined: November 07

Posted 14 October 2011 - 14:54

He had good results in Tasman Serie in the 60s. Why doesn't he get the chance in F1 like other drivers from Australia and New Zealand in these days?

What happened with him?

Advertisement

#2 Allen Brown

Allen Brown
  • Member

  • 5,538 posts
  • Joined: December 00

Posted 14 October 2011 - 15:26

Eyesight problem wasn't it? Didn't he have trouble getting a licence at one point?

#3 David McKinney

David McKinney
  • Member

  • 14,156 posts
  • Joined: November 00

Posted 14 October 2011 - 15:52

That was the crux of the problem. He never had any trouble in NZ - or in Australia until, IIRC, around 1966. He continued to race saloons and sportscars in both countries after that, but single-seaters only in NZ

The refusal of the Australians to allow him to race single-seaters was in spite racing for more than a dozen years without an accident that I can recall, or causing one. I'm sure the fact that he'd just broken the Bathurst lap record had nothing to do with it

#4 Ray Bell

Ray Bell
  • Member

  • 80,052 posts
  • Joined: December 99

Posted 14 October 2011 - 20:57

The CAMS had a rule that monocular vision excluded anyone from obtaining an Australian licence...

He had no problem until that time because he raced on his NZ licence. But when David McKay wanted him to contest the Gold Star for Scuderia Veloce, he had to obtain an Australian licence and this was denied him. There was no distinction between openwheelers or any other class, by the way.

I doubt that this had any impact on his chances to go F1, however. Does anyone know what rules applied there?

#5 David McKinney

David McKinney
  • Member

  • 14,156 posts
  • Joined: November 00

Posted 14 October 2011 - 21:45

Palmer apparently had (has) a "lazy" eye - not, as many believed, a glass eye

Don't know how that fits with a definition of "monocular vision"

As for your last sentence - the question has been discussed on TNF before

http://forums.autosp...showtopic=69620

#6 Catalina Park

Catalina Park
  • Member

  • 6,768 posts
  • Joined: July 01

Posted 15 October 2011 - 01:14

Maybe if he had raced for a Victorian team instead of a Sydney team it would have been different? :drunk:

#7 wenoopy

wenoopy
  • Member

  • 648 posts
  • Joined: January 09

Posted 15 October 2011 - 04:10

Maybe if he had raced for a Victorian team instead of a Sydney team it would have been different? :drunk:


You are not suggesting, for one moment, that anyone might have been adjusting the "tilt" mechanism on the playing field, surely.

Is nothing sacred?

Stu


#8 HistoryFan

HistoryFan
  • Member

  • 7,825 posts
  • Joined: November 07

Posted 15 October 2011 - 07:51

Thank you for the answers!

Same question I can ask for Leo Geoghegan

#9 seldo

seldo
  • Member

  • 2,592 posts
  • Joined: June 06

Posted 15 October 2011 - 08:18

Palmer apparently had (has) a "lazy" eye - not, as many believed, a glass eye

Don't know how that fits with a definition of "monocular vision"

As for your last sentence - the question has been discussed on TNF before

http://forums.autosp...showtopic=69620

I don't believe you are correct David. I had some dealings with him at the time including some assistance in the pits, and I am certain that he had definite monocular vision.

#10 ReWind

ReWind
  • Member

  • 3,394 posts
  • Joined: October 03

Posted 15 October 2011 - 08:25

Here is what the man himself has to say about the subject.

(Something the thread starter could easily have found if he had cared to use Google to answer his own question. It took me less than a minute using "Jim Palmer" & "racing driver".)

Edited by ReWind, 15 October 2011 - 12:10.


#11 Michael Clark

Michael Clark
  • Member

  • 285 posts
  • Joined: November 05

Posted 19 October 2011 - 04:21

From the time I attended my first NZGP as an 8.5 yr old, I heard 'Jimmy Palmer always wins because he has the best car'. The year was 1967 and by then he had already won three Gold Stars and had won the prestigious trophy for being first local driver home in the NZGP perhaps three times as well. I am sure the words I heard were being uttered all around Pukekohe, and indeed New Zealand - no doubt Jim heard them.

He pretty much retired from open-wheeler racing when he sold his McLaren M4A after his fourth Gold Star, and from motor racing generally, following his brief time in saloons. Being a naturally shy sort of chap, he was happy to fly under the radar - raise his family and run his business.

While researching something else about the so called 'golden age' of NZ motor racing, it dawned on me a decade or so ago that simply having the best car doesn't count for a lot if you can't drive - and all one need do is look at the relative performances of Jim and the Australians who came here with broadly similar machinery - they were really the better comparison than the locals. On that score Jim achieved fantastic results - not just in NZ but significantly also in Australia.

I've written a few articles about Jim now for NZ Classic Car and he has become a friend - that aside I have aimed to put his performances in perspective, afterall - it wasn't his fault no one in NZ could ever get anywhere near him. Sure it would have been interesting if Roly Levis or Graham McRae had been armed with decent 2.5-litre Climax powered cars during the 60s, or if Graeme Lawrence and Roly had run their FVA powered cars, and Laurence Brownlie for that matter, against the Palmer F2 McLaren - so that we could have had a measure of they performed against him - but it never happened.

The season spent with the ex-Jim Clark Lotus 32B highlights just how good Jim Palmer was. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he would not have disgraced an F1 grid but he turned down the chance for the Driver to Europe scheme and I doubt he spends time wondering 'what if?' - unlike some others.

Best of all he is a top bloke and if there is a 'straighter' used car dealer around then I'd be amazed.

#12 Lola5000

Lola5000
  • Member

  • 1,664 posts
  • Joined: August 08

Posted 30 October 2011 - 11:27

As a side note Jims ex Foley Porsche 911 is very much alive in Victoria being restored,this car had a long history.
Foley,Palmer,Hamilton and Reg Mort.

#13 layabout

layabout
  • Member

  • 176 posts
  • Joined: May 09

Posted 21 November 2012 - 04:44

He had good results in Tasman Serie in the 60s. Why doesn't he get the chance in F1 like other drivers from Australia and New Zealand in these days?

What happened with him?


L-R: Jim & Judy Palmer, Michael Clark & friend at Pukekohe, July 2012....

Posted Image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

#14 layabout

layabout
  • Member

  • 176 posts
  • Joined: May 09

Posted 18 December 2012 - 04:52

Here's Jim Palmer in 2011 at the (NZFMR) Amon Festival at Hampton Downs in the same Brabham BT22 he raced @45 years ago:

Posted Image



#15 wsp77

wsp77
  • Member

  • 75 posts
  • Joined: January 06

Posted 19 August 2014 - 14:56

L-R: Jim & Judy Palmer, Michael Clark & friend at Pukekohe, July 2012....

jimjudypalmermchg.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I also see Howden Ganley in the photo   ;)  



#16 MarkBisset

MarkBisset
  • Member

  • 889 posts
  • Joined: September 15

Posted 02 January 2024 - 03:20

IMG-2147.jpg

 

 

A couple of nice shots of Jim Palmer in the ex-Clark Team Lotus 1965 Tasman Cup winning Lotus 32B Climax #32-FL-8

 

It's the 1966 Sandown Park Tasman round where Jim was fourth. He was a splendid fourth in the Tasman too, behind the Stewart and Hill BRM P261s and Jim's Lotus 39 Climax. He also won the NZ Gold Star with it in 1966.  

 

https://primotipo.co...w-zealand-1965/
 

IMG-2141.jpg

 

The shot above is on the blast away from Peters/Torana with 'Lexs' dam and the Corrigan Road carpark in the background

 

Photos - State Library of New South Wales

 

Aussie Greg Cusack bought the car off the Palmers and raced it to fourth in the '67 Gold Star - one win at Symmons Plains.

 

Decades later part of Classic Team Lotus after owner/restorer John Dawson-Damer did a deal on another Lotus, 79 perhaps?


Edited by MarkBisset, 02 January 2024 - 03:45.


#17 cooper997

cooper997
  • Member

  • 3,855 posts
  • Joined: December 08

Posted 03 January 2024 - 01:30

Sunday February 27, 1966 LCCA Sandown Tasman Meeting (7th round).

Event 2 Qualifying Heat ANF 2.5litre Cars Exide International Cup Race 6 laps 12.30pm p23

1 Team Lotus Lotus 39 Climax Green J Clark Scot 2495

8 J Palmer Lotus 32B Climax Green/Yellow Driver NZ 2495

Event 7 Exide International Cup Race

The 7th Heat of the Tasman Championship

(for ANF 2.5 and Aust 1.5 Racing Cars) 52 laps 3pm p37

1 Team Lotus Lotus 39 Climax Green J Clark Scot 2495

8 J Palmer Lotus 32B Climax Green/Yellow Driver NZ 2495

 

Mark you meant to type 1966 Gold Star? 32B swapped for 79/5

 

And before JD-D, spent time in an upstairs storage area in bits at John Roxburgh's Datsun dealership, when Tony Johns worked for him.

 

 

Stephen


Edited by cooper997, 03 January 2024 - 01:31.


#18 Ray Bell

Ray Bell
  • Member

  • 80,052 posts
  • Joined: December 99

Posted 03 January 2024 - 13:26

And after Cusack...

 

With Mel McEwin for a lesson in how to depreciate. It retained the Brabham-style suspension fitted by Bruce Burr in the Cusack era, I suspect that remained with it until D-D took it back to original.

 

The odd thing was that Burry, as Cusack's appointed buyer, had determined to buy this car because he believed that the 32B and the 39 were the cars which wandered about the least.on the Flying Mile at Longford. So alter the suspension to be the same as the cars which wandered more?



#19 Michael Clark

Michael Clark
  • Member

  • 285 posts
  • Joined: November 05

Posted 05 January 2024 - 04:50

Today is Jim's 82nd birthday - I sent him this thread with my birthday greetings this morning.

 

He loved that 32B and had his best 'Tasman' with it.



Advertisement

#20 ellrosso

ellrosso
  • Member

  • 1,616 posts
  • Joined: May 07

Posted 05 January 2024 - 05:09

Not forgetting its Tassy stint with the Sternbergs of course before Roxburgh owned it........ my favourite racing car back then.

1140-H-Lo32-68-TNF.jpg



#21 bradbury west

bradbury west
  • Member

  • 6,096 posts
  • Joined: June 02

Posted 05 January 2024 - 08:55

It is interesting to see a SAAB 96, presumably V4 engined, in the paddock back in 1968. Were many sold over there in period?

Thanks for posting the shot in any case.

Roger Lund



#22 Ray Bell

Ray Bell
  • Member

  • 80,052 posts
  • Joined: December 99

Posted 05 January 2024 - 10:35

Undoubtedly V4-engined, Roger...

 

There was a rash of activity around them for a short time, but I doubt that they sold more than several hundred Australia-wide.

 

And yes, Lindsay, I forgot David Sternberg in that line. It was a quick thing in the local racing in Tassie.



#23 cooper997

cooper997
  • Member

  • 3,855 posts
  • Joined: December 08

Posted 06 January 2024 - 09:44

Saturday & Monday March 5 & 7 1966 (P – d1 & d2) Longford - 4th South Pacific Meeting - final round of Tasman & AGP for Motor Cycles

Sat, Event 6 The Examiner Racing Car Scratch Race 10 laps 2.50pm p17

1 Team Lotus Jim Clark Lotus Type 39 2493 Int

11 Jim Palmer Jim Palmer Lotus 32B Climax 2495 Int

Mon, Event 4 Fourth South Pacific Championship – final round of the Tasman Cup 27 laps 2.30pm p18-19

1 Team Lotus Jim Clark Lotus Type 39 2493 Int

11 Jim Palmer Jim Palmer Lotus 32B Climax 2495 Int

 

 

Stephen



#24 cooper997

cooper997
  • Member

  • 3,855 posts
  • Joined: December 08

Posted 07 January 2024 - 07:02

From the driver profile pages in the March 1963 Sandown International programme.

 

1963-Sandown-Int-profile-TNF.jpg

 

Noting the arrow pointing from the Tony Shelley information is a mistake. That's 21yo Jim in the lowest photo.

 

 

Stephen


Edited by cooper997, 07 January 2024 - 07:05.