11 replies to this topic

[Porsche718]

Whilst doing some research on another topic, I noticed this interesting article in the February 27 1967 Sydney Morning Herald re: the final sale of assets of the Total Team.

For the Northern Hemispherites among you ... the drivers were Pete and Leo Geoghegan and of course Frank Matich.



My question is, was the final offer for the "Coventry Climax 2.5 litre short engine" ever accepted, or what did it sell for?

Might be still sitting on some workshop floor gathering dust. You think?

Come on Ray ... you must know this.

Cheers Steve W

[john medley]

"Bat" Byrnes (spelt thus) raced Nortons and more. His brother Roger raced at early Historic Amaroo meetings.

[GreenMachine]

The item reads (to me) as the Climax 'short engine' comes with the head.  I always thought a short engine was less head and all ancillaries - or am I confusing it with 'bottom end'?

 

So who owned the team?  If it was one or more of the drivers, I would have thought they would have the contacts to dispose of an old Climax without going to auction, especially what the auctioneer is quoted as saying about the value of one (possible complete).  Who or what was in Missenden Road?  IIRC there was a servo on the corner of Missenden and Parramatta Rds ...

[Porsche718]

GreenMachine,

 

I wonder if the engine details were given to the intrepid reporter and should have been reported as "short stroke" engine. Which may explain why the head and camshafts were with the unit.

 

This would have been more valuable, and was the engine to have only a few years earlier.

 

IIRC Repco developed the short stroke variant of the 2.5? 

 

2495 cc as opposed to 2498 cc for the long-stroke.

[Ray Bell]

You've probably got that right...

 

Though it looks like it was a regular motor sport reporter who did the column. That doesn't count, of course, if it was Clyde Hodgins.

 

The motor wouldn't have hung around for long. People at Total would have been getting phone calls soon after the column appeared if nothing else. Niel Allen might have been one of the callers.

 

As to the sale itself, it would have almost completely have been stock from the Matich side of the team. The Geoghegans owned their own cars and gear, Total funded everything for Matich save for what Laurie O'Neill funded.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Porsche718
.....Repco developed the short stroke variant of the 2.5? 
 
2495 cc as opposed to 2498 cc for the long-stroke.

Of course, Repco did it principally for Jack. I don't know whether McLaren's version was also done by Repco.

They were using the bore of the 2751cc version and a shortened stroke crank.

[brucemoxon]

You've probably got that right...

 

Though it looks like it was a regular motor sport reporter who did the column. That doesn't count, of course, if it was Clyde Hodgins.

 

 

Ah, Clyde. Inventor of the floor-mounted, close-ratio gearchange. 

 

Was it also he that queried the visiting Japanese executive about 'poofy' names? 

 

 

 

BRM

[Ray Bell]

I don't know about that...

 

However, he was the one who wrote in his Sunday column that Archie Scott-Thomas would be racing his Lola T70 at Warwick Farm.

 

We guessed that Kevin Bartlett gave him that name.

 

Steve, of course, would know it it was his column or not.

[Ray Bell]

And don't you think this part about Matich's Lakeside crash is interesting?

 

...which kept him in hospital for weeks and threatened to end his racing career.

[Porsche718]

Steve, of course, would know it it was his column or not.

 

The whole Motoring Page was simply titled "By A Special Correspondent".

 

Was Clyde "special"?

 

The main article is what appears to be a fairly well researched story on Jack Brabham and how the Repco V8 engine came into play.

 

In the article I noticed this about Jack's switch to Goodyear tyres ...

 

 

I seem to recall a "story" (urban myth?) that when initially dissatisfied with the Goodyear's performance, Jack asked Dunlop to quietly make tyres for the team without any white "Dunlop" writing.

 

Jack then had a "Goodyear" stencil made and ... hey presto ... Goodyear tyres started performing well!

 

Maybe a bit of a legend ... but then again ... it anyone was going to try something like that ... it would be "Black Jack".

[Ray Bell]

I'd say that was indeed an urban myth...

 

The Goodyear tyres had a pattern distinctively different to the Dunlops.

 

And by the end of 1965 Frank Gardner, I recall, was really handy at pointing out the differences between the Goodyears and the Dunlops to KB, and they used the Goodyears by choice. Jack had definitely been using Goodyears during the Tasman races.

[brucemoxon]

The whole Motoring Page was simply titled "By A Special Correspondent".

 

Was Clyde "special"?

 

The main article is what appears to be a fairly well researched story on Jack Brabham and how the Repco V8 engine came into play.

 

In the article I noticed this about Jack's switch to Goodyear tyres ...

 

 

I seem to recall a "story" (urban myth?) that when initially dissatisfied with the Goodyear's performance, Jack asked Dunlop to quietly make tyres for the team without any white "Dunlop" writing.

 

Jack then had a "Goodyear" stencil made and ... hey presto ... Goodyear tyres started performing well!

 

Maybe a bit of a legend ... but then again ... it anyone was going to try something like that ... it would be "Black Jack".

 

Certainly in the Group A Touring Car days, tyres were painted with opposition brands via a stencil. I saw a Dunlop being rebranded 'Pirelli' - the car in question had Pirelli stickers.

 

 

 

BRM