8 replies to this topic

[ed holly]

The Sydney based HSRCA has put a wonderful tribute to the first meeting at Warwick Farm on their website. 

 

It can be found at

 

https://hsrca.com/20...t-race-meeting/

 

Written by one of Australia's foremost Motorsport historians. Peter Schell, with some wonderful photos by John Ellacott. 

[Ray Bell]

There is, of course, so much more to the story...

 

The lead-up, the decision to 'import' someone to run the show, the way the team who did were gathered together and stayed together for the whole time the circuit existed, just how wet it was, the practice session the week before to see that things were all in place, the way it instantly transformed motor racing in Australia. It does mention the sheer size of the crowd which gathered despite the atrocious weather.

[Jack-the-Lad]

So it was only 10 years old when I attended the 1970 Tasman race. Honestly I had no idea.

[Ray Bell]

A lot of development had taken place by 1970...

 

The crossings, where the circuit goes over the horse track, were redone about 1967. Prior to that they were made up of boards laid over the grass and anchored down, but new hotmix crossings made a big difference to the circuit.

 

1965 had seen the Dunlop Bridge put over the Hume Straight and the spectator area inside the straight opened up. At the same time the Shell Bridge went up in the Esses and a spectator embankment was created adjacent to it.

 

Huge steel structures were erected over the Leger stand and Grandstand to provide protection from rain, and a little from the sun, about the same time. It was this particular improvement, funded by the Totalisater Agency Board, which gave the first hint that the AJC no longer needed motor racing for the Warwick Farm Racecourse to survive and when things got tough in 1973 they had no interest in allowing racing to continue.

[MarkBisset]

 

Alec Mildren, Cooper T51 Maserati ‘passes the pits during the first practice today at the new Warwick Farm motor circuit. Mildren set the second best practice time of 1 minute 50’ sez Getty 11 December 1960 

Edited by MarkBisset, 18 December 2020 - 21:41.

[cooper997]

A celebration isn't complete without the names of those that entered the first official meeting. The passage of time means the ratio of surviving cars (most likely) outweight surviving drivers. TNF members, John Medley, Dick Willis & Ed Holly own cars that were entered.

 

Sunday, 18th December, 1960 Warwick Farm Opening Meeting.

Event 1 – Production Sports Car Race (10 laps, 22.5 miles) 12.15pm p29

26 H Binnie MGA 1588 Green 1

8 J T Mulroney MGA 1486 White 2

130 H C Cape MGA 1588 Green 3

9 D J Netting MGA 1489 Green 4

10 P Genderton MGA 1588 Blue 5

16 R S Ward MGA 1588 Red 6

81 R Orlando (Dvr G K Websdale) MGA 1588 Red 7

12 P M Meyer MGA 1588 Green 8

101 E F Laker Triumph TR3 2125 Yellow 9

71 Morgan Dist. Pty Ltd (Dvr D McKay) Morgan +4 1991 Red 10

140 R Cutler Austin Healey 100/4 2860 Red 11

22 S Miller Austin Healey 100S 2660 Green 12

15 V Profilio Austin Healey 100/4 2760 Red/Black 14

18 M Bradley Austin Healey 100/4 2880 Red 15

Event 2 – heat 1 Warwick Farm Trophy Race for racing cars up to 1500cc – with special class for Formula Junior (10 laps, 22.5 miles).1pm p31

20 G A Scott Cooper-Climax 1475 Blue 1

7 Ecurie van Diemen (Dvr) L Archer Cooper-Climax 1460 Green/Gold 2

68 J Maguire (Dvr) P Wherrett Cooper Minx 1494 Green 3

11 Ecurie Cinque (Dvr G Stewart) Stewart MG 1496s/c Blue 4

44 Howard & Sons (Dvr S Howard) MG TC 1466s/c White 5

33 B Ekins MG Special 1466s/c Green 6

26 Bayldon & Stafford Pty Ltd (Dvr B Pentecost ) MG TD 1489 Red 7

40 N F Barnes MG TC Special 1466 Blue 8

99 N B Wiltshire (Dvr T N Sulman) Maserati 1496 Red 9

100 Lynx Engineering (Dvr L Thomas) Lynx 1466s/c Blue 10

35 Lynx Engineering (Dvr J Bruderlin) Lynx 998s/c Blue 11

3 A J Myers Thunderbird 1300s/c Orange 12

8 B Machin BMC Special 1489 Red/White 14

121 J Marston Gazelle Special 1172 Green 15

62 Nota Engineering (Dvr J W Schroeder) Nota FJ 986 Blue 16

89 Nota Engineering (Dvr G Buckingham) Nota FJ 948 Blue 17

17 Auto Imports (Dvr P Samuels) Lotus FJ 997 Silver 18

22 T Corcoran Lola FJ 997 Red 19

83 P Hill Scorpian 998 Green 20

67 G B McClelland Mac-vincent 998 Green 21

30 Diablo Motors (Dvr R Mulligan Jr) Ralt GP 998 Green 22

Event 3 – Touring Car Race (10 laps, 22.5 miles) 1.40pm p33

Up to 1000cc

73 Alan Coffey Motors (Dvr P Coffey) Ford Anglia 996 White 1

44 K Bartlett Morris 1000 995 Black 2

59 Standard-Triumph Pty Ltd (Dvr R Larkin) Triumph Herald 948 Green/White 3

24 W McB March Renault Gordini 846 Grey 4

87 J Rodda Morris 1000 948 White 5

1001 – 2000cc

71 Fiat of Australia (Dvr D McKay) Fiat 1800 1995 Grey/Blue 6

32 E Hillman Fiat 1100 1089 Blue/Grey 7

14 C G Smith Morris Major 1588 Yellow 8

66 D Martin Morris Major 1598 Fawn/Grey 9

20 Gurdon Motors Pty Ltd (Dvr P B B Gurdon) Morris Major 1689 Green 10

29 K Watts Peugeot 1468 White 11

2001 -3000cc

2 Ecurie Vitesse Dvr B Muir Holden 2595 Green 12

35 R Sach Holden 2400 Green 14

81 Gosford Motors Pty Ltd (Dvr K Hibbard) Holden 2440 Red 15

83 H Gapps Holden 2440 Blue 16

54 J Gorman Holden 2440 Green 17

17 Miller & Cheney Pty Ltd (Dvr K E Miller) Holden 2447 Grey 18

27 D West Holden 2500 Red 19

50 N Beechey Holden 2560 Black 20  

72 G & J Harris Motors (Dvr J Harris) (reserve) Holden 2540 Green

(no number) B A McPhee (reserve) Holden 2400 Yellow

Over 3000cc

5 Geoghegan Motors (Dvr I Geoghegan) Jaguar 3.4 3400 Bleck 21

68 Strathfield Motors (Dvr R Hodgson) Jaguar 3.8 3800 Red 22

4 Mrs G Anderson (Dvr W Pitt) Jaguar 3.4 3400 Black 23

Event 4 – heat 2 Warwick Farm Trophy Race for racing cars over 1500cc (10 laps, 22.5 miles) 2.25pm.p35

9 Bill Patterson Motors (Dvr) G W Patterson Cooper-Climax 2496 (but ran his 2.2. T51) White/Blue 1

6 B S Stillwell Cooper-Climax 2496 Red 2

21 B S Stillwell (Dvr) Doug Whiteford Cooper-Climax 2200 Red/Yellow 3

5 J C Youl Cooper-Climax 2200 Blue 4

60 Superior Cars Pty Ltd (Dvr) A Miller Cooper-Climax 2200 Yellow 5

1 Stan Jones Motors (Dvr) S Jones Cooper-Climax 2200 Blue 6

71 Ecurie Hall (Dvr) N Hall Cooper-Climax 2180 Green 7

70 Scuderia Birchwood (Dvr) Jon Leighton Cooper-Climax 2104 Green 8

19 J Roxburgh Cooper-Climax 1960 Red/White 9

2 A G Mildren Pty Ltd (Dvr – A G Mildren Cooper-Maserati 2489 Green 10

10 Capitol Motors (Dvr) – A Glass Cooper-Maserati 2489 Green/White 11

14 J K Robinson Jaguar monoposto 3442 Red 12

28 A Rose Dalro Jaguar 3442 Green 14

4 A N Davison Aston Martin DBR1/300 2996 Green 15

56 R Orlando (Dvr W Reynolds) Orlando MG 2450 Yellow 16

Event 5 – Sports Car Race (10 laps, 22.5 miles) 3.05pm p37

Up to 1500cc

51 J Evans MG TC 1466 1

93 G Dummer MG TC 1496 Yellow 2

31 BP Sentinel Service Station (Dvr I Maudsley) MG 1466 Black 3

37 JWF Glassfibre Industries (Dvr B Leer) Milano MG 1466 Green 4

85 J & S Fibreglass Co. (Dvr J Bush) Buchanan MG 1466 White 5

88 A Strachan Lotus Climaax 1098 Silver 6

111 J Martin Lotus Climax 1097 Green 7

6 Rockhampton Car Sales (Dvr L W Agnew Lotus Eleven 1098 Blue 8

14 Scuderia Birchwood (Dvr J Leighton) Nota Climax 1098 Green 9

71 D McKay Lola Sports 1089 Red 10

63 Auto Imports (Dvr P Samuels) Berkeley 692 Red 12

77 S Martin Herald Special 948 White

95 G & J Harris Motors (Dvr H Troos) (Reserve) Nota Fiat 1089 White

Over 1500cc

99 T N Sulman Aston Martin DB3S 2911 Green 14

126 M Wright Aston Martin DB3S 2911 Green 15

5 D E Jolly Lotus Climax 1960 Green 16

87 Leaton Motors (Dvr F Matich) Lotus Climax 2492 Yellow/Black 17

86 Leaton motors (Dvr D Chivas) Jaguar D 3770 Yellow/Black 18

29 Autoland Pty Ltd (Dvr R Jane) Maserati 300S 2992 Red 19

26 H Binnie Holden S/R 2440 Red 20

54 Region Motors, Cooma (Dvr H Kwech) RM Spyder 2430 Red 21

8 C Adams Prad 2400 Red 22

82 J K Hextell Elfin 1588 23

Event 6 – Final Warwick Farm Trophy Race. 20 laps – 45 miles 3.45pm p39

Entries were - ??? (to be handwritten in… not)

 

Event 7 – Grand Touring Car Race (10 laps, 22.5 miles) 4.40pm p43

Up to 1000cc

18 B Pflock Austin A30 992 Grey/Red 1

102 A Clubb Austin A30 995 Red/White 2

58 Howard & Sons (Dvr L Howard) Austin Healey Sprite 948s/c White 3

8 C Adams Austin Healey Sprite 948s/c White 4

11 Kinsley Motors P/L (Dvr B Foley) Kinsley Sprite 997 Red/Black 5

40 E D Ansell NSU Prinz 582 Grey/Maroon 6

55 R Jennings Notso Minor 993s/c White 7

60 Team Fred (Dvr D N Finch) Triumph Herald 948s/c White 8

1001 – 1600cc

38 G B Youl Porsche 1582 Black 9

42 S Sakzewski (Dvr O Basile) Porsche 1500 Cream 10

58 K M Williams Peugeot 403 1468s/c Grey/white 11

3 Geoghegan Motors, Liverpool (Dvr Leo Geoghegan) Lotus Elite 1220 White 12

110 Gt. Southern Service Station (Dvr A Bridge) (Reserve) Peugeot 203 1468 Green

Over 1600cc

90 W Buckle Buckle 2750 Yellow 14

15 B Topen Buckle 858 Orange/Red 15

87 C Kane  Buckle 2553 White 16

16 P Williamson Buckle 2750 Maroon 17

120 J B Suttor Jaguar 3442 Green 18

7K F J Hann Jaguar 3442 Grey 19

1 Geoghegan Motors, Liverpool (Dvr I Geoghegan) GT Holden 2595 Black 20

31 J&S Fibreglass (Dvr Frank Kleinig jr) Hunter 2350 red 21

23 Marshall’s Garage (Dvr R Marshall) AC Bristol 1971 Red 22

153 Bass Hill Service Station (Dvr K Malcolm) Skoden 2440 23

88 J Bissett (reserve) Buckle 2553 White.Grey

75K Dents Auto Service (Dvr J Malcolm) (Reserve) Austin Lancer 1758 Black 

 

 

Stephen

Edited by cooper997, 18 December 2020 - 23:37.

[cooper997]

Early circuit map part of the Supp Regs, shown with then new Gold Star winner, Alec Mildren adorning the BP sponsored race programme cover.

 

cooper997 collection

 

 

Stephen

[rudi]

Here a good image of the sports car race

https://nla.gov.au/n...-137685492/view

[Ray Bell]

Derek Jolly heading Bob Jane...

 

Ironically, Jolly's car is not very far from where it sustained a huge crash several years later.