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Cicada Australian F5000 car?

Started by Gokart Mozart , Feb 21 2006 02:50

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5 replies to this topic

#1 Gokart Mozart

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Joined: August 04

Posted 21 February 2006 - 02:50

I was just looking over Allen Brown's lovely site - www.oldracingcars.com , and I noticed that a Cicada chassis raced in the Australian F5000 Championchip from 1975-1979.

Was this entry one of the 2(?) Cicada Indycars that were made in Plymouth, Wisconsin by Dan Murphy and Harvey Wiesse? I've read on here that it may have been built by Don Fraser in Oz, but I wanted to clarify, as I'm not sure Cicada is the most common race car name in the world!

I ask this because the Indycar effort only lasted from '73-'75 and I've been looking to find where the reminants of the team ended up... :wave:

Respectfully Yours,

Jacques N. Dresang
UEMSI Motorwerks
www.angelfire.com/wi/haase00

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#2 Ray Bell

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Joined: December 99

Posted 21 February 2006 - 02:54

Cicada was the name used by Adelaide's Don Fraser for the cars he built...

The first of these that I recall had the 2.5 BRM engine from Arnold Glass' car after it was displaced by the Buick unit from the Scarab.

I think there may have been another car in between, but when the Cicada F5000 came along I have to tell you, it was no gem. A real home workshop car, undoubtedly the result of Don's meagre resources and lack of time.

Don did nice work, however, making crankshafts IIRC...

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#3 Allen Brown

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Posted 21 February 2006 - 09:53

Hi Jacques

As Ray has already said, they are completely different concerns. The US Cicada included a Formula B car a few years before the Indy effort. The F5000 Cicada in Australia was the fourth Fraser-built Cicada IIRC.

Allen

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#4 Gokart Mozart

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223 posts
Joined: August 04

Posted 21 February 2006 - 17:47

Dear Allen and Ray,

Thank you both for clearing up this matter for me. As for the Formula B Cicada here in the states, the last time I talked to my friend that used to stop by the Cicada shop, he said that they had three FB cars, I shall track down the major players from Cicada (US) so we can get a full tally on this. :up: