20 replies to this topic

[Leo D]

Reading through the Waggott thread on this forum, I noticed mention of a Waggott being fitted to a Matich sports car.

My sketchy memory of this car was that it was the Matich SR4-B. A dimensionally smaller car overall than it’s big Repco powered big brother the SR4.

I cannot recall if I actually saw it run, but I was aware of its existence.

Can anyone maybe fill in some gaps for me?

I assumed that it was to be available as a customer car?
Perhaps as a competitor to the Elfin 300?
I assumed that the car was commissioned by someone to be built by Frank Matich?
Was it owned by Colin Hyams at one time?
I thought that it had a 1.5 ltr Twin Cam Ford as a power plant?

I’m sure I’ve seen a picture of this car referred to as a Matich SR5, but to my knowledge there was never a Matich SR5. Can somebody shed some light on this??

I’d be interested to know where the car is now, and what form it is in

[Ray Bell]

Bill O'Gorman was the original owner...

I think Colin Hyams got it, and I also saw 'SR5' as its designation somewhere. But it was the SR4b.

[BT 35-8]

Re. the Matich SR4B/SR5.

Car was built to the order of John Wood in Melbourne as a 1500cc Ford twin-cam car , sponsor was John's car co. Jaywood Motors , car then went to Colin Hyams who had Tony Farrell and assoc. rebuild car with a 2.0 litre Waggott and altered bodywork , at this time the car was renamed the SR5 , also changed it to side radiators in the doors and altered nose , car then went to Bill O'Gorman from Adelaide , he ran it quite sucessfully for a few years in the Aust. Sports car Championship and other races , I can't remember if the engine had a major blow up in O'Gormans hands or the next owner , however the engine remains apparently ended up being built into a single cylinder speedway bike eng. as the blow up had carved the block etc in half so I was informed.
All this if from memory now , so suspect, I think the car went to Ranald Maclurkin in Melb. then up to Sydney for Steve Webb then John Muddle , with the two last owners the car had a Turbo BMW .

It ended up with a Melb. chap Tony Moodie who had just started work on the rebuild at Lolita Auto Dev. in Sydney when I purchased car from him and spent the next 5 years restoring it back to SR4B specs, complete with signwriting etc. car was sold some years ago to Alan Morrin in Sydney who ran it for a few years before he had a large accident in it at Oran pk. historic meeting , car was finished and on display at the Tasman Revival meeting last Dec. at Eastern Creek.

Bryan Miller.

[Ray Bell]

Just shows how flawed my memory is!

Thanks Bryan for correcting me there and the information generally. I guess the big media splash that O'Gorman had when he got the car overrode all the prior knowledge of it.

So was it really an attempt by Frank to get into production?

[BT 35-8]

Ray,

No production ever planned , I spoke to Frank when he drove the car at Wakefield in a demonstartion , he had been convinced to build the car , however it took a long time to build , and he didn't really wish to go into manufacture status , although a little later he sort of did with the F5000s A50s.
The car really was/is an SR4 chassis with smaller eng. and gearbox [ FT200] they split the SR4 body across the front to shorten it , very easy to see where they did it when I rebuilt the car .

Yes , the media at the time didn't really spell out it was a rebuild , hence I supose the new SR5 name.

Bryan.

[cosworth bdg]

The remains of the O'GORMAN 4V/TC are now in the ex L.Geoghegan Lotus 59 B, the also ex J. Holmes owned car... This is only a side line to this post by the way..

[Leo D]

Originally posted by BT 35-8


The car really was/is an SR4 chassis with smaller eng. and gearbox [ FT200] they split the SR4 body across the front to shorten it , very easy to see where they did it when I rebuilt the car .


Bryan.

Bryan,

Thanks for the info.

When you talk about splitting the body across the front to shorten it, do you mean the front of rear body work, if that makes sense, to fit the Ford/Hewland combo?

This would have meant that the wheelbase of this car would have been shorter than the SR4?

I remember the SR4 had the spare wheel mounted over the gearbox, and slightly sticking out behind the rear bodywork, but I think the spare wheel rule was changed by the time that the SR4-B was built?

You also mentioned in another reply that the car was at the Tasman Revival meeting. Do you know if the car is going to run at any events?

(Edit) The Jaywood Motors also sounds familiar. Did David Robertson drive the car for them?
From memory Jaywood Motors had some connection with his Capri sports sedan, but that might just be my memory playing tricks on me again.

[BT 35-8]

Leo,

No the main body mod. was at the front where the SR4 had a longer nose , I had to borrow the SR4 mould , produce a panel and then remove about 12 '' from the front so the SR4B had a shorter nose .
The car had been raced by myself for quite a few years then by Alan Morrin the current owner , I presume he will be out racing again soon , the car had only just been finished at the Tasman meeting .

David Robertson had a supercharged Elfin 300 that may have had something to do with Jaywood sponsorship wise , I really don't know.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by BT 35-8
.....David Robertson had a supercharged Elfin 300 that may have had something to do with Jaywood sponsorship wise , I really don't know.

Supercharged?

At what time, Bryan?

[normbeechey]

I checked my magazine archive and Jaywood Motors was involved with the Elfin 300 that David Robertson drove.

The Elfin had a supercharger when it was driven by Robertson (I'm surprised too). It still ran in the under 1500cc class as obviously there was no equivalency formula in those days for turbocharged cars .

[Ray Bell]

Oh, but there was...

It was always 1.4 times the capacity, and this dates back to perhaps the early sixties, perhaps earlier. Someone will know exactly when, it will be in the CAMS manuals.

Which makes me wonder about Bryan Thomson's supercharged 2.4 Cooper (was it 2.4?) at Warwick Farm. What year was that? I wondered at the time why it didn't run in the main race (at the International meeting), if it was 1964 that would be explained.

That engine went into the Mallala, obviously, and was around for a long time. What class did the programmes of the day say it was in?

[normbeechey]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
What class did the programmes of the day say it was in?

Are you still referring to the Elfin? In early to mid 1969 it was listed in race report as being in the under 1500cc class. I don't have many race reports after that date easily at hand, but Robertson raced the car at least until the end of 1970 (according to 'Australian Auto Sports'), so it is possible the supercharger was added later.

Although in a Robertson Capri Sports Sedan article (late 1970) the Elfin 300 was still referred to as being in the under 1500cc class.

My race programs are not easily at hand either, unfortunately.

[Ray Bell]

Yes, the Elfin...

There's no doubt in the world that the 1.4 equivalency formula was in well before that. It was in place well before the announcement of the 3-litre F1, I remember that because that actually had a 2:1 equivalency, as we all know, and I often commented on the fact.

[normbeechey]

I'm not actually doubting your claim there was a equivalency formula .

I'm just trying to make sense of when the car ran with the supercharger, given the formula you say existed, it could not have had the supercharger in its early days and still be running in the under 1500cc class as regularly reported circa early/mid 1969.

[Ray Bell]

Perhaps, then, the supercharger was fitted when the class changed to 2.5 litres?

Just guessing, but I think that was with the close of the 2.5 racing car formula.

[Leo D]

Were there once 3 capacity classes?
up to 1100cc
1100cc - 1500cc
1500cc - 5000cc


This was then changed to just 2 capacity classes?
Or am I off track here ?

The mention of the supercharged Elfin 300 is interesting, similarly the 2ltr Coventry Climax powered Elfin previously mentioned in another thread.

Bryan,
Was there any particular reason for the SR4-B to have a shorter nose?

[normbeechey]

Leo D, I have an interesting semi-overhead photo of the little Matich, in my scrapbook (I think) . Frank Matich was testing the car at Warwick Farm [pre-delivery testing?] . I think the article was from Sports Car World or similar.

When I get chance I'll see if I can find it and e-mail the article to you, if you like? But I can't do it for a couple of days though.

[Ray Bell]

From memory, Leo...

Classes were 1100cc, 1500cc and I don't know up to about 1970/71.

They changed to 1300cc, 1600cc, 2500cc and over 2500cc at that time.

I can't imagine that there was no official class break higher than 1500cc up to that point, and going to John Medley's Bathurst book I find that there's a 2000cc division in some sports car races in the mid-sixties. The NSW Sports Car Championship race of 1964 also has a division at 3000cc, as did the ten-lapper in 1967 and the main sports car race in 1968 and all the sports car races of 1969 and 1970, including (how is this?) the Sports Sedan races. And the 10-lapper in 1971.

Then it changes in 1972... 1300cc, 1600cc, 2500cc and 5000cc.

Actually, I think the outright limit of 5000cc came in much earlier. Maybe 1967 or so?

[normbeechey]

According to John Medley's fabulous book 'Bathurst: Cradle of Australian Motor Racing' , the sports cars at Mount Panorama in Easter 1969 were classified in classes up to 1500 CC , 1501 to 3000 CC and over 3000 CC.

In 1970 the classes were listed as up to 1100 CC, 1101 to 1500 CC, 1501 to 2000 CC , 2001 to 3000 CC and over 3000 CC.

It seemed to change slightly every year there after.

[Leo D]

As we're talking about capacity sizes here, can I throw something else in to the mix?

SR-4B, SR-4, SR-3..... My understanding is that the SR part stands for Sports Racing, those being the relevant rules to which the cars were built.

Was "Sports Racing" different to "Sports Cars" in terms of a category, or was it the same thing?

I've also heard of Division 1,2 & 3 when it comes to Sports Car Racing of that era. I'm wondering if this was another way of describing the classes other than on capacity sizes?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by normbeechey
According to John Medley's fabulous book 'Bathurst: Cradle of Australian Motor Racing' , the sports cars at Mount Panorama in Easter 1969 were classified in classes up to 1500 CC , 1501 to 3000 CC and over 3000 CC.

In 1970 the classes were listed as up to 1100 CC, 1101 to 1500 CC, 1501 to 2000 CC , 2001 to 3000 CC and over 3000 CC.

It seemed to change slightly every year there after.

CAMS' categories were stable over those years, just changing some time in the sixties with the introduction of an outright 5-litre limit and changing completely in 1972. I think you'll find that the 1972 class breaks still apply.

There was no compulsion for organisers to have all categories within their races. That is, they didn't need to provide class awards for all classes, just those they chose. It was common to combine classes when there were too few entries in one such class.

'Sports Racing' as a class distinguished cars from modified or even unmodified production sports cars. They still had to have nominal road equipment, lights, horn, starter motor, reverse gear and, until about 1968, a spare wheel. But they were clearly built as race cars, lightweight construction, bigger wheels on the rear than the front, that sort of thing.

'Division 1, 2 or 3' was merely a method by which organisers could separate cars of known performance to provide two things:

a. Closer racing with fields made up of similar performance cars whether they be production based or 'sports racing'.

b. Safer racing by eliminating slow cars from races in which the fastest cars competed.