43 replies to this topic

[fines]

I have the info that Leo Geoghegan entered the 1973 Japanese GP (May 3) with a Birrana, but did not appear. My question is now: which car would that have been? An ANF2? Type designation 273? Which engine and engine type? Any reason as to why he didn't appear (he raced there the four previous years)?

[David McKinney]

ANF2 had a big resurgence in 1973, thanks I think to a big-money sponsor for the national series. Might have been Van Heusen shirts. Whether the formula was still 1600cc or up to two litres by then I cannot recall - we'll have to wait for the Australians to wake up to tell us! Likewise they should be able to say whether it would have run a Lotus twincam, or Cosworth FVA/FVC, or Waggott.
Geoghegan drove Birrana 273 c/no 007 in the 1973 Singapore GP, and this is probably the one he intended to race in Japan. Back in Australia the car was raced by Tony Stewart, then sold at the end of the year to Don Ubergang. By that time Geoghegan had a new 273 of his own, whose number I do not know. In 1974 he raced a 274, c/no 015.

[fines]

Thanks David!

[leegle]

1600cc and restricted to two valves per cylinder so that the FVA and BDA engines would not dominate. The interesting thing about Leo Geoghegan coming back to the secondary formula was that he was to win the F2 Championship years after he was the winner of the Gold Star. But he sure did show the young guys how to do it that year and the next.;)

[fines]

David, could the Don Ubergang car per chance be the one raced by Enno Buesselmann in the AGP of 1973?

[Milan Fistonic]

Michael

Leo Geoghegan's Birrana was fitted with a Brian Hart modified Ford Twin Cam.

No, Eubergang's 273 could not have been the Beusselmann car as they were both entered in round 5 of the 1973 F2 Championship at Symmons Plains. Beusselmann's car was owned by Bob and Marj Brown. It appeared on the scene just after Peter Brock had sold his 273 but Ray Bell says that Brock sold the car to some guy in Perth.

There seems to be some doubt about whether Eubergang actually started the 1973 Australian GP. In the AGP book the authors state that Racing Car News had Eubergang in 12th on the grid but there is no other reference to him in the text or results. They omitted him from their grid line-up.

It was the following year that Van Heusen sponsored the series. The fields were not that large in 1973 - only four cars started round six at Adelaide.

[fines]

Thanks Milan, the AGP book was where I came in on this one. So is it "Beusselmann" or "Buesselmann"? "Ubergang" or "Eubergang"

[Milan Fistonic]

Originally posted by fines
So is it "Beusselmann" or "Buesselmann"? "Ubergang" or "Eubergang"

Good question.

The AGP book and the 1973 RCN mags had "Buesselmann" and "Uebergang" while the Australian Competition Yearbook has "Beusselmann" and "Eubergang".

Where's Barry Lake when you need him?

When I was looking up the names in the 1973 RCNs I found a track test of Geoghegan's Birrana by Peter Collins. In it there is the info that two new 273s were built for the Asian races (Malaysia and Singapore). Geoghegan drove one and Malcolm Ramsay (one of the Birrana bosses, along with Tony Alcock) the other. As David says, the Geoghegan car went to Tony Stewart when they got back to Australia and Leo took over the car Ramsay drove in Asia.

In that edition of RCN there is the announcement that Barry Lake has been appointed Assistant Editor replacing Ray Bell who had chosen to leave RCN to become a freelance writer.

[David McKinney]

Usual spellings were Ubergang and Buesselmann. Presumably they were originally Übergang and Büsselmann, which would make Uebergang and Buesselmann legitimate variations for countries whose typewriters did not have ümlauts. But not Eubergang or Beusselmann.
Buesselmann's car was 009, Fines, and Ubergang's 007.

[fines]

Thanks David and Milan, and yes, that would've been my guess: an umlaut mix-up.

[Ray Bell]

Let's just spread this long-neglected thread a bit to cover all Birranas...

They were nice little cars, and yes, I did say that the ex-Brock car was sold to 'some guy in Perth'... that guy was Bernie Zampatti.

Bernie also had the ex-Muir Minos, which it seems Colin wrote off... but that's another story.

So there were only a few Birranas... see if I get this right:

F71... One car only, now owned by Paul Hamilton. He should certainly come in on this conversation as he raced against all of these cars. FF car with a tube frame, naturally. Raced initially by John Goss, then to David Mingay. Right, Paul? And it was built in Sydney, IIRC.

272... Very light monocoque car, only one built, raced by Leo Geoghegan and Malcolm Ramsay, with the partnership now in full swing. Sold to Brock when the 273 came on stream.

273... Full width nose gave these their distinguishing shape, I don't think they had an engine cover. How many built?

274... Update for 1974, Full width nose gave these their distinguishing shape, bulbous tail over the engine too. I think there were more of these, and some of the 273s were updated with new panels to look the same.

374... Lighter version for ANF3, which was for production based engines up to 1300cc. Sweetest of them all in my view.

Were there others?

Oh, and for those who have been trying to PM me about this... please use e.mail... r@ybell.net

[cosworth bdg]

Originally posted by leegle
1600cc and restricted to two valves per cylinder so that the FVA and BDA engines would not dominate. The interesting thing about Leo Geoghegan coming back to the secondary formula was that he was to win the F2 Championship years after he was the winner of the Gold Star. But he sure did show the young guys how to do it that year and the next.;)

You are correct in what you say, Leo was brilliant as a driver and person. A real human being in the true sense............

[Bruce R Moxon]

Originally posted by cosworth bdg
You are correct in what you say, Leo was brilliant as a driver and person. A real human being in the true sense............

Still a pretty good person - unless I've missed some news since the Tasman Revival, where he was looking pretty well.


Bruce Moxo

[cosworth bdg]

With myself, being his last mechanic/engineer in the AF2 championship years ,i still have a lot of admiration for his driving skills and as a human being..........

[David McKinney]

I believe 20 Birranas were built altogether, specifically four FF cars, the 272, five 273s, five 274s, three 374s and one each 376 and A78

[eldougo]

Below is Richard Stiegler,s car at a track test at Amaroo 1975..( with a engine cover)

[Ray Bell]

Jolting the memory there, David...

I'd forgotten about those later FFs... Richard Carter had one of those, I find F72 and F73 designations... as I recall, the later cars were 2" longer than the first.

[Paul Hamilton]

The first Birrana was the F71 Formula Ford built by Tony Alcock in Sydney for John Goss to drive. It was Chassis no AA711. I bought it in a VERY tired state in around 1992 but worked on it only intermitently until my retirement from the full time banking world in 1999 when I completed the rebuild. Bart Mawer drove it in a very successful return to the track at Oran Park in January 2001 when he took out a new historic FF lap record. I drove it occasionally thereafter when my Elfin 600 was out of action and Lyn Brown used it for his very successful return to competition in 2004. I sold it to Christopher Fry in Toowoomba in 2005 as I needed the workshop space for my OM project. It is a very sweet little car to drive but 'little ' is the operative word as it is much shorter and narrower than the later 3 F72 Birrana Formula Fords and it is a VERY tight fit for most people to get into.

Alltogether there were 21 Birranas built and Ray has summarised the type list pretty well.

F71 1 Formula Ford
272 1 Formula 2
F72 3 Formula Ford
273 5 Formula 2
374 3 Formula 3
274 5 Formula 2
S74 1 Speedway
376 1 Formula 3
A78 1 Formula Atlantic/Pacific/ Mondiale

[Ray Bell]

I'm struggling with the type designations for the FFs, Paul...

I originally had 'F71' for your car (I thought you said you still had it, just shows I wasn't paying attention), but changed it to F72 later when I found various RCN references to it as F72 and the later cars as F73s.

What was the lineage of that first car then?

I see names like Shiel, Witenden and so on and I'm not sure any more!

[Paul Hamilton]

Ray, the Birrana was listed in the original log book which I acquired with it as a Type F71 with chassis no AA711 although it had no chassis plate until I put one on it recording those numbers. The owners before I bought it in 1991 were :
1971 - Mas Du Clos Engineering (Tony Alcock and driven for McLead Ford by John Goss)
1972 - David Mingay
1972/75 John Allery
1975 - Russell Norden
1975/77 - Terry Sheil
1977/79 - Gerry Wittenden
1979/81 - Ian Grant
1981/84 - John Edmonds
1984/86 - Jim Hunter
1986 - F Pugliese
1986/88 - Stephen Paxton
1988/91 - Vicki Paxton
1991 - Warwick Marks

The F72s were originally owned by Steve Dewhurst (003), Jon Davison (004) and Andrew Miedecke (005). John (hoarder) Holmes now has 004 and 003 is the car currently driven by Nick McDonald but I don't know where Andrew's car is.

[cosworth bdg]

Originally posted by David McKinney
ANF2 had a big resurgence in 1973, thanks I think to a big-money sponsor for the national series. Might have been Van Heusen shirts. Whether the formula was still 1600cc or up to two litres by then I cannot recall - we'll have to wait for the Australians to wake up to tell us! Likewise they should be able to say whether it would have run a Lotus twincam, or Cosworth FVA/FVC, or Waggott.
Geoghegan drove Birrana 273 c/no 007 in the 1973 Singapore GP, and this is probably the one he intended to race in Japan. Back in Australia the car was raced by Tony Stewart, then sold at the end of the year to Don Ubergang. By that time Geoghegan had a new 273 of his own, whose number I do not know. In 1974 he raced a 274, c/no 015.

Birrana 273 c/no 007 was built for the Singapore GP of which i went with the team to that event ,it was also built to take a 4V/TC Waggot E/N 008, ex M. Ramsay Elfin 600 ,ex R Harrison 600 Repco & now the Ian Ross 600 Repco, unfortunately the team changed plans and the Waggot never ended up in the car. The engine sat in my shed for nearly 10 years, & i still have all original dyno sheets for it... The chassis ended up with Bob Creasy of WA who ran it for several seasons as an AF2 car. Cheers. P. N.

[Ray Bell]

Well, that's all new information thanks to Peter and Paul...

I've re-edited my post back to F71, thanks Paul. And it's 'Witenden', by the way, only one 't'.

Doesn't seeing Nicky Nomirrors' name in there remind you of the struggle he had to get the right car to win the championship? And Terry Shiel's name reminds us of what a great guy he was and how hard he tried.


Now... to address the two cars I never knew about... the 376 and the A78, both built after Tony's death, what were they? Or whose were they?

[Paul Hamilton]

The 376 was essentially simply a 374 built in 1976/77 for Newcastle based Bill Stoddart initially with a Holden Gemini engine for then new (and much disliked!!!) new single cam ANF2. I don't know anything of its subsequent history but I don't think it ever achieved much.

The A78 was essentially an updated 273 style car fitted with a Formula Atlantic BDD engine and was built for what would probably have been Malcolm Ramsay's last trip up to the SE Asian races in about 1978. I don't know just where it ran or how it went and I don't think it ever raced in Australia but it is said to be quite a tidy, well put together car and could probably be regarded as the ultimate Birrana as I expect it would have incorporated a few updates on the very similar 273 based cars run in UK Formula Atlantic events by Bob Muir for the Bob and Marj Brown team. It has been owned for many years by John Holmes but, as with the rest of his collection, has never seen much if any use in recent times. The 273 was generally regarded as a better car than the 274 which replaced it which is why the A78 was something of a design reversion.

[cosworth bdg]

Paul , the A78 was never raced in australia, it was only ever built for the S/E Asian series only ,and when it came back ,the engine was sold to Bob Creasey, with the gearbox going elsewhere. The engine was a brand new Swindon BDD at build , like wise the gearbox was a new unit at build. Regards, Peter N.

[cosworth bdg]

And i have a load of photo's in build of the car [A78 ] and also of the car in Penang and K.L and also of the car @ the australian air force base @ Penang............

[Ray Bell]

Thanks, Paul, I certainly remember the Bill Stoddart car...

So F3/F2sc cars were raced by:

David Booth, Richard Stiegler, Bill Stoddart, Paul King, Jim Evans...

The Evans car, if my brain is functioning correctly, became the Stiegler car. But that means I have only come up with three cars, because I'm sure Booth wasn't a first owner.

[cosworth bdg]

Ray, the ex Paul King car realy doe's not exist as a Genuine Birrana after its monumental shunt in the 1970's, it was totally destroyed. Cheers P .N

[Ray Bell]

Was that the crash it had at Amaroo?

[cosworth bdg]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Was that the crash it had at Amaroo?

Ray, i am pretty sure it was.........Cheers .P.N'

[SJ Lambert]

And i have a load of photo's in build of the car [A78 ] and also of the car in Penang and K.L and also of the car @ the australian air force base @ Penang............

Nice!

[SJ Lambert]

Does anyone have a spare Birrana cloth badge/patch?

[Ray Bell]

Have you tried Malcolm Ramsay?

[timbo]

Some photo's of Birrana's from various times and circuits.

 

Car 3 has been Ross Hodgson in historics, although the car has been in various colours, problably depending on the era.

 

Car 81, Terry Harris perhaps, this time at Oran Park.

 

At Historic Mallala, 2008. One of the Miller clan?

Edited by timbo, 29 October 2016 - 05:02.

[MarkBisset]

Birrana article may be of interest

 

https://primotipo.co...3-singapore-gp/

 

m

[SJ Lambert]

Jolting the memory there, David...

I'd forgotten about those later FFs... Richard Carter had one of those, I find F72 and F73 designations... as I recall, the later cars were 2" longer than the first.

Photo by Gavin Fry, at Sandown.

[TerryS]

Some photo's of Birrana's from various times and circuits.
 
Car 3 has been Ross Hodgson in historics, although the car has been in various colours, problably depending on the era.

That red car behind the white Birrana. Is it a Lola T70 coupe?

I wasn't sure if there was one in Australia.

[ellrosso]

Couple of shots of Leo G plus a few other notable Birranna photos. The Symmons F2 round in 1973 was quite a good race with Bob Skelton giving Leo a good run for most of the race from memory. The old man took this shot of the start.

[Librules]

That red car behind the white Birrana. Is it a Lola T70 coupe?

I wasn't sure if there was one in Australia.

 

I recalled seeing a couple at the Phillip Island Historics a few years ago but couldn't remember the details.   Having checked through some old programmes,  I found 2004 to be the year - Wayne Park was driving Rob Sherrard's red T70 Mk3B (possibly the one in the above pic).    Rob had a few great cars from that time on including the mighty Sauber-Mercedes Le Mans car.   The other one entered was a white example for Duncan Dayton of the US.  According to the programme the car had an interesting history (SL-73-134),  having been owned originally by Sid Taylor and driven by himself,  Denny Hulme and Frank Gardner amongst others in period.    David Piper bought it in 1970 and then sold it for use as a camera car for the movie 'Le Mans'.

[MarkBisset]

Photo by Gavin Fry, at Sandown.

[MarkBisset]

Significant car in FF lore -F73 first raced and built for Andy Miedecke, he raced it with Grace Bros support in '74 with Paul Bernasconi in the Mawer- a great jigger too. Ric Carter won the DTE in it and later still it gave Gary Brabham his FF start- lost track of who owns it now?

[Ray Bell]

And isn't that Richard Carter behind Gossy at Amaroo?

Did the Geoff Brabham car get repaired after Ray Winter's mighty shunt in it at Lakeside?

[Lee Nicolle]

 

Photo by Gavin Fry, at Sandown.

Do you think the oil tank is high enough! The return pump will be working overtime.

[Ray Bell]

That's not an oil tank, Lee...

Something to do with radiator filling.

[MarkBisset]

ANF2 1975 with a bit of Birrana action:

https://primotipo.co...-gets-the-jump/

Mark