6 replies to this topic

[Ray Bell]

This question came up in conversation with Shane Cowham yesterday...

He wondered when the first Holden competed in a race. But I'm expanding that to include other forms of competition.

So in hillclimbs, in races, in rallies or trials or in sprints.

The best I've found so far is October 30, 1949 at Fishermans Bend, with Lou Molina failing to impress in a 'High Speed Trial' during the race meeting there.

The event had a Le Mans start and times cars were to beat to qualify, which Lou didn't crack. But in a handicap at the following Bend meeting, January 30 (ANA Day), 1950, he finished third.

He diced throughout that event with Max Passmore in his Terraplane coupe, which was 'Dentry tuned'. The report says that Max "...had just enough edge to hold his rival off, even though the nearside rear brake did start to catch fire as usual."

In looking for this I found that not many races were held for tin-tops in the period, occasional 'Stock Car Races' being seen in Western Australia being the exception. But even these included Sports Cars.

And utilities, too, it seems, as L Connor ran a Bedford at Mooliabeenie in late '49. Vauxhalls were everpresent, by the way, with Elliott Forbes-Robinson a regular in a Vauxhall 18 at hills and in races.

Does anyone have any further information? Maybe the first Holden to race in each state? The first to run in trials (Eldred Norman was running one in trials some time in the very early fifties)?

And who was breaking their warranty conditions to do so?




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Edited by Ray Bell, 23 November 2017 - 00:00.

[ken devine]

Aubrey Badger was probably one of the first in WA to race a Holden.He was a Holden dealer in Northam. I am not sure what year.

[Ray Bell]

I'm hoping that's the kind of information that might come out, Ken...

There was one entered for the October '51 Bathurst by R Jackson, but didn't run. Does anyone know if he ran that car at Mt Druitt that year?

No further Bathurst entries came until 1954 (bearing in mind there were no meetings there in 1953), when three were entered and two ran.

But that was three entries out of a total of twelve, a quarter of the field. Tin-tops were not yet in vogue. Four out of 16 at the Easter 1955 meeting - and one finished second to a supercharged A50.

That number remained fairly static for a few years.

[DanTra2858]

What was the Warrenty in those days, 3 months?

[Lee Nicolle]

If that. And motorsport would have voided it.

My father navigated for a local driver  in a Holden before I was born, though I feel it was about 52 and it was a low key event.  Early 60s and he organised some low key trials and paperchases as well.

I should know but what year were the reliability trials?

[Ray Bell]

Yes, the warranty would have been three months or 3,000 miles I'm sure...

The first Redex Trial was 1953 and there were Holdens in that.

I do know that Eldred Norman rallied a Holden in those early times. There is a story about two men addressing the SCC of SA one night to advise everyone that there was now a cam grinder in Adelaide. Eldred was interested and they visited his home soon afterwards.

One of the problems with competing with Holdens when they were so new was that all production of parts was needed for cars being assembled, so obtaining a camshaft for grinding (without taking it out of your engine) was something that called for the magic of Eldred Norman.

Even so, when they called he couldn't find it. "Nancy," he called, "have you seen that camshaft I got for the Holden? They're here to pick it up for grinding."

From the depths of the house Nancy Cato replied, "Is that the steel stick with the lumps on it? If that's it I was using it out the front to break up the rocks to find some gemstones."

So, from the pile of dirt in the front yard Eldred picked up the now-filthy camshaft, handed it over and said, "I reckon with a bit of extra lift and a bit more overlap my Holden will be hard to beat in trials!"

[cooper997]

A brief glimpse at the Statistics pages of Chevron's 'HOLDEN The official Racing History' doesn't help at all on this subject. It begins with the Jones/Davison/Gaze Holden entry at Monte Carlo in 1953. Admittedly that was published nearly 30 years ago and the internet and forums such as TNF have added a few more layers to research since.

 

Given MG TC were both means of entry to Australian competition and crumpet catching during this era, it's no wonder the Holden was slow to take off. So just maybe Lou Molina, on a circuit so close to one of General Motors - Holden's factory is a meaningful beginning for a form of motor sport, if nobody else can find anything earlier.

 

Here's part of the entry list for the October 1949 'High Speed Trial - Stock Cars' at the Bend - 11 months after Holden's 48/215 release.

 

Some decent names and chariots of choice in this lot alone - Tony Gaze, Stan Jones and Peter McKenna in the 1948 AGP-winning BMW 328.

 

Stephen