33 replies to this topic

[Stephen W]

As part of the research I am doing into the British Sprint Championship I have noticed one car in the 80's that I find somewhat intriguing.

During the 1984, '85 & '86 seasons Jonathan Toulmin was driving an Elfin 600B fitted with a 1.6 Ford Twin Cam. He occasionally shared the car with Erwin Lyndsay. Considering the car dated from the 60s it was quiet competetive. However.....

How had this Aussie Racing Car managed to work its way over to Britain?

Anyone any idea what the chassis number was?

Ta!

[David McKinney]

The only UK Elfin 600B I know of for sure is the car raced by Phoebe Rolt in historic events in the 1990s.
C/no was 7018, which makes it ex-Johnny Walker.
Dennis Welch had an Elfin a tad earlier, though I don't know whether this was the same car, another example of the same model, or something else entirely

[Ray Bell]

I'm not really on the pace with this... but isn't it 'Denis' Welch?

But I feel sure there was possibly a car that went to South Africa that could have gone on to England. The Hengkie Iriawan car (fitted with an FVA originally) is, IIRC, 'missing'... this all being somewhat distant memory from when I wrote the story about the model for the Fast That's Past series.

The 'expert' in the field is Paul Hamilton, of course. He keeps (or is it 'kept'?) a register of 600s and still owns the original car himself.

When he went to England shortly after the death of his wife, his plan was to find and buy the Iriawan car (with its history making it the only car of its era that could compete using an FVA engine) if he could find it (so it must be in England, no?) and to buy a Ferrari Dino 246 if he couldn't find it.

I don't know if he still has the Dino, but I feel sure he probably has.

Anyway, FWIW, here's the story on the model:

IN AN ERA of smaller and sleeker monocoques, the tube-framed Elfin 600 not only refreshed the fields of Australian racing, but sold well and lingered at the front line into the seventies.


GARRIE COOPER had persevered with the Elfin Mono, bringing out a Mk 2 to overcome the deficiencies of the Mk 1, but in April, 1968, he surprised everyone by reverting to a space-frame for his new car, the Elfin 600.

This logical step should be seen in concert with what had happened in front line racing in Australia since the introduction of the Mono.

Brabhams were the leading cars, it has to be said. And they were tube-framed, and the frames were much the same from European F3 through to Tasman cars, and not that different for F1, either. Frank
Gardner had shown the way by bringing the F2-based Climax-powered car out for the 1967 Tasman series.

Significant manufacturing savings were to be had with such a wide range of applications of what was essentially the same chassis, and there were other benefits.

Like the ease of varying tankage, plumbing, changing suspension geometry (tyre sizes were changing at the time), and simply changing engines.

Unafraid of appearing to go backwards (his Monos were doing some winning, after all, particularly at Calder), Cooper jigged up the first 600 and put it on the track for the first time at Calder, home of 1.5 racing by virtue of the Lucas-Davison series and its successors.

On March 23, 1968 the car took third place on its debut. It was promptly fitted with a 1600 twin cam engine and sent to Kuala Lumpur, where it broke its gearbox while leading.

This was to set in train another significant change, but not until after the car won the Singapore GP, a major win for the marque Elfin. It was then sold to Hengkie Iriawan, who was to do some more winning with it, and was to become one of a number of repeat customers for the 600 model.

The change created by the gearbox failure was Garrie’s determination that all ‘works’ F2/1.5 cars would be fitted with a Hewland FT200 in lieu of the Mk 5 that had been fitted in the past. That first car soon had the box changed, and most customers were encouraged to spend the extra money.

So the Elfin 600 was listed as a production model with A, B and C variants. It had a space frame chassis with the water running forward to the radiator in the top left main tube, returning in the bottom right tube, while the top right tube performed the function of ventilating the crankcase to the oil tank in the 600B.

Suspension at the rear was very similar to the last of the monos, using the same uprights until they ran out of stock and were replaced by one with an extra mounting for the AR brake caliper.

Conventional for the time, it had a reversed bottom wishbone, and leading arms, with a single link at the top and a conventional sway bar. Armstrong dampers mounted coil springs.

At the front it followed the normal pattern as well, conventional layout being very much a trademark of this Elfin. A wide-based bottom wishbone and an upper link with trailing arm attached the ball-jointed Triumph Herald uprights to the chassis, with the ubiquitous Armstrong and coil controlling movement, again aided by a sway bar with sliding adjustment.

The Herald uprights were fitted with an alloy caliper mount for the alloy brake calipers, and also had a fabricated brace that went from the caliper bolts to the back of the stub axle, itself an Elfin component, the other end of which carried the cast alloy Elfin hubs and the 10.5” discs.

At the rear of the chassis the top crossmember was removable to facilitate engine and gearbox changing, but after the tenth chassis, only those belonging to Cooper himself were to enjoy this feature.

So we look at the cataloguing of the the A, B and C models. The 600A was intended for 1100cc cars, at that time called ANF2 (1.5s were called ANF1.5, 2.5s ANF1), and was a base model (with smaller wheels iron calipers, non-adjustable dampers) that never saw the light of day.

The 600B was the model that became very popular, running at the head of the field in ANF1.5 and the new 1.6-litre category when this came in.

The 600C listing showed where Cooper intended going with the model, for it was listed to take Repco V8 and Climax engines. It would feature larger fuel tanks and top-of-the-range fittings in all areas, wheel sizes up to 15 x 12.5 being quoted.

There were to be, naturally enough, running changes. The eleventh car in line, coincidentally a

Formula Ford, carried an all-new front body which gave more of a straight line from the top of the radiator inlet to the windscreen, which was minimalised with this body.

Additionally, there were fiberglass side panels that came in tighter around the pedals and gave more vent room for the radiator. Prior to this the tanks were the side panels, but the smaller tankage requirement for FF meant side panels had to be made, so they went on all subsequent cars.

The numbering system changed for FFs, too. Previously the numbering had been the year followed by a two-digit number for the sequence in the series. FFs had a three-digit number after the year.

By the time the first 600C was built, Garrie introduced fabricated steel front uprights. This car was fitted with a Repco V8, but others had a Climax 2.5 (John McCormack) and a Cosworth FVA (this was the replacement Hengkie Iriawan bought).

With the Repco V8, they were the only Australian designed and built car to mount an all-Australian challenge in 2.5 form.

The 600D was a model designation showing that there were changes, and these centred around a new layout for the rear of the chassis on the second Repco-powered version Garrie raced. It was later to revert to a more normal frame as he changed it back to a twin-cam, and he ran this car with a full width “Tyrrell” nose, copied also on the Jack Bono 600B.

The last designation in the line, apart from the FF, was the 600E. Mostly cars carrying this specification were upgraded 600Bs, but at least one was built fresh for Bill Patterson Motors when they ran the car for Henk Woelders.

There was new geometry at the front and cast magnesium uprights to differentiate these cars from the others.

What really makes the 600 stand out is its commercial success. No fewer than 44 cars were built, possibly 45, which makes it the largest volume of one model race car ever built in Australia.

They were successful, too. They won titles in 1.5 form, Garrie sharing the 1.5 title of their first year with Max Stewart, then in 1.6-litre form the championships of 1971 and 1972 went to Henk Woelders and Larry Perkins respectively.

In Gold Star competition there were some heady displays, even though the Repco V8 was no longer the preferred gear by the time these cars were so fitted. Cooper won a round at Mallala, which seemed to really suit them, while McCormack had a pole there in 1970 and took out the outright lap record in the race. What’s more, the Elfin 600C of McCormack is in the books as the fastest ever Repco V8-powered car around the Warwick Farm circuit, lapping in 1:27.6.

In Formula Ford the cars endured a long time. The first car went to Bib Stillwell, and his two-car team wiped the board for the first two years of the series, while wins kept on coming for years afterwards.

Of those built, it’s interesting that only one is known to have been destroyed. That was the Glynn Scott car, which went under the Armco at Lakeside very early in its life as Glynn was really enjoying the Waggott power and a fine chassis. The Iriawan 600c, however, is listed as ‘present whereabouts unknown.’

So it was a car that really achieved its purpose. Cooper’s first-class spares service and other backup helped owners all over the country to win races week after week.

Among those winners we would have to list Bruce Allison, Gary Campbell (another to go Waggott at one stage), Clive Millis, John Walker, Malcolm Ramsay, Jack Bono, Maurie Quincey, Ivan Tighe, Vern Hamilton, Tony Maw and Don Eubergang. In F3 there was Bob Minogue who became almost unbeatable in one.

It was exported, too, in Formula Ford form as well as the more potent models. One overseas buyer was Teddy Yip, who bought one principally for others to drive for him, one such driver being Allan Moffat. That car now resides in a museum in Macao.

So the path Cooper followed was the right one. A chassis that would allow flexibility in fitment of engines – even though the Repco V8s demanded some changes in the C version, but not as radical as was done with the 600D – and could be developed for a number of categories concurrently.

That it achieved successes in every category it entered shows the soundness of the design. For it to have done so well right off the jig, filling third at Calder and taking that Singapore GP within weeks underscores that thought.

For its continued success, all Cooper needed to do was keep on applying himself to the task. He obviously did this well.

Of course, they abound today in Group O and other Historic categories, still holding their own against imported cars.

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
I'm not really on the pace with this... but isn't it 'Denis' Welch?

Quite so
Aplogies to all concerned

[Coogar]

Jonathan Toulmin brought the Elfin to Craigantlet some time during the 80s and I recall asking him how an Australian car had found its way to the UK hills...
If memory serves he told me that he, or possibly his co-pilot had 'found' the car in either Singapore or Malaysia in a less than perfect state.
It's just possible that the HSA's excellent 'Speedscene' magazine has more detail. I think there was something written on the Elfin in period.........

[Brian Lear]

As David McKinney suggested the car in question is # 7018 the car currently owned by Stuart and Phoebe Rolt.

Its ownership history as listed in "The Elfin Register" is
July 1970 Original owner John Walker (South Australia)
1972 to 1976 Harvey Simon (??)
1976 to ?? Erwin Linsay (UK) (Spelling?)
?? to 1987 Jonathon Toulmin (UK)
1987 to 1989 Jeremy Boucley (UK)
1989 to 1993 Denis Welch (UK)
1993 to Current Stuart and Phoebe Rolt (UK and France)
The car is currently fitted with non original front body.

Additional information or spelling corrections appreciated.

Brian Lear
Australia

[Ray Bell]

Was Harvey Simon in the Far East, Brian?

[Brian Lear]

Not sure Ray.

I have a letter here "somewhere" from Phoebe Rolt dating back some five or six years in which
she related the cars history - according to what Denis Welch told her.
Anyone have contact with Denis?

Brian Lear
Australia

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Brian Lear
As David McKinney suggested the car in question is # 7018 the car currently owned by Stuart and Phoebe Rolt.

Its ownership history as listed in "The Elfin Register" is
July 1970 Original owner John Walker (South Australia)
1972 to 1976 Harvey Simon (??)
1976 to ?? Erwin Linsay (UK) (Spelling?)
?? to 1987 Jonathon Toulmin (UK)
1987 to 1989 Jeremy Boucley (UK)
1989 to 1993 Denis Welch (UK)
1993 to Current Stuart and Phoebe Rolt (UK and France)
The car is currently fitted with non original front body.

Additional information or spelling corrections appreciated.

Brian Lear
Australia

Brian, names of UK Hillclimb/Sprinters are:

Erwin Lyndsay
Jonathan Toulmin
Jeremy Bouckley

Also if you check out www.britishsprint.org you will be able to chart the Sprint Championship career of the Elfin.

Thanks for the Chassis details, the above site will soon be updated with this info.

Steve

[David McKinney]

It all fits together then.
I seem to remember that someone (Phoebe Rolt?) told me the car had come from Asia, and had been a sprint car in the UK.
And, yes, Harvey Simon raced an Elfin in Asia in 1972 and 1973.

[Ray Bell]

But still no sign of Hamilton's Quar... err... Hengke Iriawan's car?

[Mac Lark]

Slightly off topic but last year when I visited Eastern Creek for their September 'classic meeting', it seems as if most Elfin 600s in Australia had turned up.

My they're a smart piece of kit.

Effective too..

[supersimon]

i raced #7018 from 1971-1973 while i worked and lived in malaysia and sarawak, i won the 1972 selangor grand prix with this car. i purchased the car from john walker in 1971, any questions? contact me!! harvey simon

[Paul Hamilton]

Good to hear from you, Simon. I have had a long standing Elfin involvement having owned and competed in the prototype Elfin 600 (s/n 6801) since 1973.

I came across your car in 1984 during a visit to the UK when it was owned by Jonathan Toulmin and was being used in British sprint championship events. I had read magazine reports of the cars appearances in Jonathan's hands and looked him up during the course of my visit. The car was then mechanically substantially original and still used a well tuned Lotus twin cam engine with an FT200 transmission but had no original body panels. It had been acquired in rather poor condition in the late 70's in Malaysia by some RAF personnel stationed there and, together with a collection of other old racing car bits and pieces, transported back to the UK by RAF transport aircraft when the collectors had finished their Malaysian tours of duty. I seem to recall that the man involved in that exercise was Lyndsay Erwin who is listed as the owner immediately previous to Jonathan.

I had some further contact with the car when it was owned by Denis Welch who wanted to restore it to its correct original appearance for use in British historic events. I arranged supply for Denis of a set of original body panels from Elfin Sports Cars but delivery was unfortunately precluded by the liquidation of the company. By the time things were operational again in the hands of the new owners Denis had lost interest in the project and passed the car on. Subsequent owners do not appear to have shown the same interest in restoring it which is quite a shame as I beleive a correct original 600 in the hands of someone as competent as Denis would have been a bit of an eye opener in the UK. We have seen something like that recently when Victorian Laurie Bennett has run his Formula Ford 600 with some success in several British events but it would be nice to see a good twin cam powered 600B performing against similar types of car from the period in historic events. As Ray Bell has pointed out in earlier postings on this thread any good well driven 600B was at least the equal of contemporary Brabhams or Loti here in Australia in the late '60s and early '70s.

I would be most interested to hear more detail of your experiences when driving the car in SE Asian events during the '70s. It had certainly been a very successful car in Australia when driven here by John Walker and from your post it would appear you may have continued its successful run. Please tell us more about that.

[supersimon]

i raced #7018 in the phillapines , malaysia, macau and singapore. winning the 1972 selangor grand prix and both the 1972 and 1973 penang hillclimbs and a srong 2nd place in the 1973 penang grand prix behind ken smith. i replaced the engine with a fresh brian hart 1600cc twin cam i purchased from vern schuppan in 1973, retaining the globe fuel injection. i also raced gokarts, was running 3rd behind hengkie and percy chen at ipoh in 1972 when hengie iriawan hit a tree and was killed. at the time i lived in kuching, sarawak, the car was kept tn kula lumpar, i was flying a helicopter for a uk flying medical mission and became involved with the plight of the indigenous people of sarawak (the ibans) who were being badly mistreated by the malaysian goverment, because of this i was expelled from the country with only a 24 hour notice!! i had to leave #7018 in kula lumpar under control of percy chen, this happened in 1974. percy was to ship the car to me in the states, he never did!!i i still feel to this day that #7018 is still my car, i have the bill of sale from john walker, but it seems the car is in good hands, so that is ok with me. was good friends with albert poon, jan bussell, sonny rajah and max stewart who stoped by
my mothers home in los angeles, ca to say hello for me while i was still overseas, what happened to max? keep me posted harvey simon

[supersimon]

correction!! KULA LUMUR, STRONG STOPPED

[Paul Hamilton]

It certainly sounds like you did the Elfin justice when you had it, Harvey, and you seem to have had a generally pretty adventurous time in Malaysia. I expect you could still claim legal title to the car although at this point in time it may be a little hard to enforce that!! It would be interesting indeed to get the full story of how Erwin Lyndsay accumulated the various bits and pieces which he is reputed to have shipped back to the UK via RAF Transport Command !!

Although I never travelled north to compete in SE Asia, the people you mention were well known to me as most of them came down to Oz at various times to run in our F2 championship events which were pretty hotly contested back in the early to mid '70s. I understand that Albert Poon is still alive an well as he was considering coming down to our Tasman Revival meeting here in Sydney last year. Jan Bussell now lives in Sydney and did come along to that event. Although its a year or so since I have seen him I understand that Sonny Rajah lives in Perth. Kenny Smith is still actively competing in NZ and visits us here in Oz pretty regularly - most recently last December when he did a sterling job driving an M4A McLaren in the Tasman Revival race at Eastern Creek. He started from pit lane and finished 5th in a very high quality field of more than 40 cars. Max, unfortunately, died back in the mid 70's in a pretty catastrophic crash in his F5000 Lola at Calder near Melbourne.

If you do any travelling these days it would be good to see you here in Australia and I am sure there would still be some familiar faces around at some of our historic race meetings. We have a follow up Tasman Revival meeting planned in Sydney in December 2008 and, if its anything like last year, it will be a major reunion for people with memories of racing in that era in this part of the world.

[Angus Lamont]

A slight correction, John Macdonald won the 1973 Penang Grand Prix in a Brabham BT40.

[supersimon]

ok, will the 1972 penang grand prix work?

[Angus Lamont]

It certainly will, and I applaud your work in Malaysia. We need more people like you in the world.

[Robert Bailey]

great thread.

[Ray Bell]

Especially great that it dragged an American Elfin owner into the forum...

Welcome Harvey, I would also like to hear more about your experiences with the Elfin. And whatever other racing you have done.

[supersimon]

ANGUS: thanks for your comment on Malaysia.

PAUL & RAY: thanks for info on Max, he was truly a great guy!! Im in the process of restoring my 1983 ISMA Camel Light Spice prototype, just finished rebuilding the engine (Mazda 12a peripheral port rotary). Hope to do some historic races next year!!

I also have a 1979 ISMA GTU tube frame Mazda RX-7 that had a Mazda 13b bridgeported engine, but last year we put a 215 cid buick V/8 (same as a repco)? with a 4speed auto, i plan on using it for autocrossing and hill climbs, but still working out the bugs

I raced both above cars in ISMA between 1980 and 1984, winning the Columbus , Ohio street race in 1983 with the Spice. I also did some circle track racing with a super late model with a 358cid Chev., but that is a another story.

Im giving serious thought to come down for the Tasman Reunion in Dec. 2008, would the Spice be able to run there?


Thanks Again ; Harvey

[Ray Bell]

Not likely... classes here end about 1973, Paul can confirm that...

It's a fabulous event, even to spectate. What about you drag Lee and his Devin out, he'd be able to run. Just search out 'Devin' on this forum to see what I'm talking about.

Oh, I'm fairly sure the Repco engines of 1965/66 used the Olds block. Later engines had Repco's own castings.

[Paul Hamilton]

Harvey,

Our various groups for historic racing here in Australia go well beyond the 1973 date Ray has suggested and we include sports racers up to the mid '80s. We like to look at individual details before signing off on cars without an Australian competition history just to ensure that we are not landed with anything incompatible with existing fields but I expect that your Spice should be eligible to compete here if it remains in its original specification. It would certainly 'spice' up our events and I for one would love to have you bring it down here.

Although events for all types of historic race car are included on the programme the Tasman Revival meeting is geared predominantly to the '60's period in which the Tasman Series reached its greatest heights. The main feature event caters for cars from the '60s with a Tasman Championship history or of a type which contested the series in those days. We had more than 40 of them on the grid last year notwithstanding a shipping delay which precluded the appearance of 5 cars coming from Europe. The race was won by John Smith driving the Lotus 49 which Graham Hill used in the 1969 Tasman Series with former Australian National Gold Star Champion, Spencer Martin, second driving the ex Mildren Team Brabham Alfa V8. They had a good race long battle which I understand was quite exciting to watch although I was rather too busy in my own Elfin 600 to see anything of that.

The meeting does also cater for cars from other periods and, over the 3/4 days of the event, your Spice would certainly get plenty of track time and would, I expect, attract quite a lot of interest down here. As Ray says, however, even as a spectator, it would be well worth a visit. I am sure you would find some familiar (if a little more aged!!) faces wandering around with a good range of supporting social functions to provide opportunities to catch up with them. There will be plenty of Elfin 600s running around and we could probably arrange to slot you into one for a few laps of nostalgia.

I will send you a brochure on the event by Email. Please let me know if you would like more details.

[cosworth bdg]

Originally posted by Robert Bailey
great thread.

Agree, really great thread, brings back a lot of memories of the races in South East Asia, they were really the " DAYS" in this area of the world.

[cosworth bdg]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Not likely... classes here end about 1973, Paul can confirm that...



Oh, I'm fairly sure the Repco engines of 1965/66 used the Olds block. Later engines had Repco's own castings.

Ray, The era you are talking about only used the " OLDS" cylinder block...

[Angus Lamont]

Hi Simon,

Perhaps you would be kind enough to clear up the confusion regarding the winners of the 1972 Malaysian and Selangor GP's for me. According to Wikipedia you won the Malaysian GP in 1972 and Sonny Rajah won it in 1973. This is incorrect as John Macdonald won the Malaysian GP in 1973. I had always thought that you and Sonny Rajah won one race each in 1972 (Sonny the Easter meeting and you won the Autumn meeting). As Sonny claims that he won the Malaysian GP in 1972 that would mean that you won the Selangor GP. Is this correct?

Because the organisers had a habit of swaping the names of the races there is some confusion.

I would appreciate it if you could clarify matters.

Thank you

[supersimon]

ANGUS: you are 100% correct, Sonny won the 1972 Malaysian GP, and I won the 1972 Selangor GP. I had a e-mail exchange with Sonny just 2 days ago, he is restoring some of his race cars to do historic racing!! He is now living in Perth.

[Stephen W]

The above is Jonathan Toulmin in the Elfin competing in the Longton & District Motor Club sprint at Oulton Park in 1983.

[supersimon]

Stephen W: First time I have seen picture of 7018 since it left Malaysia!! the bodywork and wings sure have changed, but the car looks great!! Thanks Again

[Angus Lamont]

Harvey: Thanks very much for clarifying my query. I've changed the Wikipedia entry accordingly. Sorry for getting your surname and forename mixed up last time!

[giffo]

supersimon ANGUS: you are 100% correct, Sonny won the 1972 Malaysian GP, and I won the 1972 Selangor GP. I had a e-mail exchange with Sonny just 2 days ago, he is restoring some of his race cars to do historic racing!! He is now living in Perth.

OT I know but...

Good Ol' Sonny. Yes he still is about and helping out in the historic circles. He regularly comes along to meetings & has been very helpful with instruction on set-up and driving with my self & my brother with our cars. He is currently restoring his Lotus 23. A great bloke to have around.

http://img525.images...nggppenavk9.jpg

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Stephen W


The above is Jonathan Toulmin in the Elfin competing in the Longton & District Motor Club sprint at Oulton Park in 1983.

Doesn't look much like any Elfin 600 I ever saw!