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23-09-2010, 07:41 AM
Dick Willis, HSRCA Group JKL Registrar
PO Box 280, Coffs Harbour. NSW. 2450
Ph. 02 66522099, 0427 400158, willisrg@smartchat.net.au
Greetings,
An unqualified success ! An apt description of our Wakefield Park meeting on September 18/19 last where our early MG/Austin Seven/Air Cooled feature cars attracted 30 entrants. Those eligible were then cross entered into races for the above vehicles and also into the JKL races so those keen enough could have had 15 events each including qualifying but most of the C of D cars opted to do the races only leaving the feature Regularity events to the others which still numbered 20. The exception was the redoubtable Richard Townley who did the lot ! With these additional starters the JKL races were huge with 36 entrants and I can assure you this was a sight for sore eyes in NSW where we are used to seeing much smaller JKL events where we also inherit the left overs from other classes. This time there was simply no room for the others and it was a great spectacle with the variety of shapes and sizes of cars and some very exciting races but with those distinctive MG radiator grilles making their presence felt.
Because of the large fields and the number of events please forgive me if the following account is but a brief account of the people and events of the weekend. First, the JKL races where a surprise polesitter and winner of the first race was Bill Hemming in his FW Climax powered Elfin Streamliner which he hadn't raced for some four years, must be a problem having so many Elfins to choose from but I hope we see some more of this combination in the near future. Runnerup both times was David Gleen in the familiar Anderson Holden who then went on to win the second Saturday race. Making a return after an absence for most of this year having a comprehensive rebuild of the Repco Holden engine in his Jewitt GT was Paul Armstrong who placed third in both of the Saturday races and claimed an outstanding victory in the final JKL race of the weekend in the process posting the fastest JKL lap of the meeting in 1.14.6103. John Medley too had a great weekend with the Nota BMC FJ being close to the front in all his races with a 4th, 2nd and a third and also cracking the 1.15 barrier for his first time. There was action aplenty with some great individual dices right throughout the field in all these races which had spectators right on their toes not knowing which section of the races to focus on, the leaders or further down the pack.
The Sunday morning handicap was the opportunity for those who don't usually feature in the winners circle to take their turn at the front and so Chris Farrell from Wangaratta with his neat supercharged TC Special crossed the line first ahead of Henry walker in the invited M supercharged Nalla Holden who was in turn a whisker ahead of Ian Motley from SA in his Austin Seven Special and John Murn in the Decca Major. The backmarkers found the going through the traffic too difficult, the best being Bill Hemming in 8th posting a sub 1.15 lap on the way. By the time of the last JKL race the number of finishers was down to 21 with some mechanical attrition accounting for quite a few but many who were also contesting the MG/A7/Air cooled races were holding up quite well with perhaps a shortage of fuel being their greatest handicap.
The 12 starters who contested the MG/A7/Air cooled races found themselves involved in some close racing particularly at the front of the pack with Terry White having a 1st, 3rd and 4th, Percy Hunter a 2nd, 4th, 5th and finally a win. Bob Boast in the Gold Cigar MG ( which incidentally I owned for a time about 20 years ago ) had a third and two victories emerging as the quickest of this group with a best lap of 1.17.5995. No doubt its 1498cc's methanol fuelled motor coupled with some heady driving gave it the upper hand. By the time of the last race for this group the starters were down to five, many feeling they had well and truly achieved their money's worth.
The Regularity group featured some interesting and diverse starters such as 6 Austin Seven Specials, Terry Perkins' air cooled Scarab Triumph, Ron Townley's Lago Talbot, Ross Kelly from Qld's lovely MG NB, John Lackey's replica Tomlinson MG TA, Mike Nedelko reunited with PRAD 5 which he raced in the early sixties and of course the inevitable group of MG Specials. My personal weekend's racing was one to forget with the Stewart MG being towed in four times and not finishing a single event with a variety of issues from ignition coil failure and battery failure to fuel blockages, all very embarrassing and frustrating considering the amount of pre event testing I had done. Nevertheless it attracted a lot of attention in the pits due to its unique build and provided a few moments of exhilaration on the track with its immense acceleration.
I wish to thank the HSRCA for their assistance in organising this great event, subsidising it with reduced entry fees, providing so many races and a complimentary marquee for the featured cars which, adjacent to the scrutineering area was quite a spectacle. On the downside I was disappointed that quite a few of the interesting T Type specials which were featured in 2007 did not attend and that there seems to be no interest in this type of event from the MG car clubs who were notified well in advance but nevertheless I am sure there were no complaints from those who did attend.
After all this, what effect has it had on our JKL pointscore, on this occasion calculated on the results of the first Saturday race.
In Group L Racing last years winner David Gleen is just in first place with 20 points from John Medley on 19.
In Group L Sports John Murn is in the lead on 14 points from myself, Peter Yeomans and Bill Hemming all on 10.
In Group JK, despite being unable to attend Wakefield through illness, is Paul Kenny, 20.
With Eastern Creek still to come there still remains some opportunities for others to come to the fore so that we can have some new names on the Cobden, Longford and Sulman Trophies.
The weekend prior to Wakefield was the scene for the tenth Speed on Tweed at Murwillumbah. Now you may remember from previous years my whinging about the way they arrange their classes as, being a speed event C of D's are not required and for instance, anyone who claims to have a pre 1960 car is accepted in that class, irrespective of whether it is or not. This year pre 60 entries were well down on previous years with just 16 and my suspicion is that competitors with “proper” cars are simply not interested in a free-for-all situation. My letters to the organisers on this subject met with no response so it seems they are not interested in changing the current situation.
Make no mistake, Speed on Tweed is a really great event extremely well patronised by spectators but I would hate to see it degenerate into a modern car event whereas in its formative years under the guidance of Roger Ealand, the emphasis was on the earlier cars which spectators would not normally be able to see and competitors came from all over the Eastern states to participate. Anyway, enough of my rant, winner of the prewar class was Barry Smith in his Ford V8 Special with a time of 53.4804, post war pre '60 class under 1500cc's was won by Peter Quayle in his 1956/61 ( !!! ) Jolus Minx in 51.6382 and the over 1500 class by Lou Molina Jnr. with an excellent 48.7183 in his Formula Vee tyred, 1800cc TC Special, see what I mean ? I ran the Whatmore Jag cautiously coming last in the class but having a trouble free weekend, unlike the one that was to follow. A highlight for me was seeing John Sheppard's Maybach 2 Recreation in action in the Flat Cap Masters (Regularity) class, it is really a superb piece of work by John, correct down to the last detail, it has a C of D and is for sale at what I believe is a most reasonable price, I certainly hope it finds a new home soon and becomes a regular competitor in JKL. In case you are interested John's phone number is 03 9379 7898.
While we are on cars for sale etc. I can report that both the Dick Vermulen cars which have recently been advertised, both here and elsewhere, have found new owners, Henry 1st, which was also raced for many years by Brian Sellick, has gone to Phillip Gray in Melbourne. Henry 7th, the familiar maroon car raced so successfully by Dick has gone to Peter Trapnell of Queensland so we hope to see them both in our JKL events soon. We will miss Dick's presence and flamboyance in the future as we did this year at Speed on Tweed. In South Australia we understand the Repco Ricardian of Tony Parkinson has changed hands and also new to SA is the Buchanan Zephyr from Western Australia which has been bought by Andrew Box. Readers will remember this is the car which was mentioned in these newsletters a few months ago being based on PRAD no2, the V860 special. Readers traced it to being for sale in Western Australia, if anyone knows of any competition history for it in its present Buchanan bodied, Zephyr engined format, please let me know. Just on the market is the MG TC Special of the late Graham Smith, it has a C of D and mostly South Australian history, the price is most reasonable and Graham's brother, Bruce Smith of Sportsparts is handling the sale, he can be contacted on 02 9875 1144. Still for sale and it beats me why someone hasn't bought it, is John Scott's Milano MG, it has a very trick 1500cc XPAG engine with some very good gear inside it and the car will accommodate very tall drivers, John's phone number is 0433 405649.
Also on Milanos readers will recall my Milano GT which was owned and raced for many years by the late Ken Mitchell, its subsequent owners are trying to tap the UK market where a couple of these cars have previously been sold and are asking 52,000 pounds for it, I sold it for $1700 in 1966, another opportunity missed ! At Speed on Tweed Paul Manton allowed me to sit in his Valiant powered Milano GT, the Valano, and I just couldn't believe how compact it felt inside, something I had forgotten about with the passage of time. Another car I owned for a time was the Jaguar XK120 sports which was raced for many years by Mal Biddlecombe, imagine my surprise when I saw it up for auction at Quail Lodge in the USA recently. With a pre sale estimate of US$60-90,000 it apparently failed to find a new owner.
FOR SALE; Standard Vanguard engine, condition unknown, cheap, buyer to collect, Dick Willis, contact details above.
Has anyone had any experience with Blockley tyres, please contact me if you have.
I had a rather special event on August 15th, my 100th Grafton Hillclimb. Readers will know that I have been a huge fan of this venue and the Grafton Sporting Car Club having competed at their opening meeting in April 1965 with the Milano GT179 mentioned earlier in this newsletter. Since then I have competed there regularly except for a break in the 1970's and in recent years have scarcely missed any of the 5 climbs per year they conduct. In total I have competed there in 21 different cars from an MGA, the slowest, to a Cheetah Mk 6, the quickest which also won FTD a few times. This time I ran the Gladiator being somewhat similar to the Milano, fibreglass bodied, Holden powered and on the old layout did an almost identical time to that I did some 45 years ago, 34.75 secs. The club put on a very impressive commemoration including a special booklet, a cake and some speeches so I felt really honored to have achieved that special landmark.
Attached to this newsletter, Ian McDonald has given me a report on the Winton “Festival of Speed” on the long Winton circuit which from all reports seems to have been a very successful meeting even in spite of the weather. Unfortunately I couldn't attend as it was on the same weekend as the above Grafton Hillclimb.
Also attached for your information is a proposal from the CAMS Historic Commission to revise the specifications of Group Jb/Kb specials.
Coming up on November 5/6/7 is the annual Sandown meeting, “Return of the Thunder”
which always attracts a good JKL entry, earlybird entries close on October 4th.
With the Wakefield Park meeting now behind us we turn our attention to the next HSRCA event, the 2010 Tasman Revival at Eastern Creek on November 26/27/28 where as well as the Tasman period cars, JKL cars will also be in the spotlight. Some interesting cars have already entered such as the Peter Greenfield Alfa Romeo 8C-36 as seen at Phillip Island and NZ earlier this year, the Peter Giddings Maserati 250F, Ernie Nagamatsu's Old Yeller Mk2 also seen at the last Tasman and in NZ, plus some good cars from NSW, Vic, SA and WA. Entries close at the end of October so we are looking forward to a large JKL entry again, as we had at Wakefield, free from the left overs from other classes. Help us to achieve this.
Dick Willis.
PO Box 280, Coffs Harbour. NSW. 2450
Ph. 02 66522099, 0427 400158, willisrg@smartchat.net.au
Greetings,
An unqualified success ! An apt description of our Wakefield Park meeting on September 18/19 last where our early MG/Austin Seven/Air Cooled feature cars attracted 30 entrants. Those eligible were then cross entered into races for the above vehicles and also into the JKL races so those keen enough could have had 15 events each including qualifying but most of the C of D cars opted to do the races only leaving the feature Regularity events to the others which still numbered 20. The exception was the redoubtable Richard Townley who did the lot ! With these additional starters the JKL races were huge with 36 entrants and I can assure you this was a sight for sore eyes in NSW where we are used to seeing much smaller JKL events where we also inherit the left overs from other classes. This time there was simply no room for the others and it was a great spectacle with the variety of shapes and sizes of cars and some very exciting races but with those distinctive MG radiator grilles making their presence felt.
Because of the large fields and the number of events please forgive me if the following account is but a brief account of the people and events of the weekend. First, the JKL races where a surprise polesitter and winner of the first race was Bill Hemming in his FW Climax powered Elfin Streamliner which he hadn't raced for some four years, must be a problem having so many Elfins to choose from but I hope we see some more of this combination in the near future. Runnerup both times was David Gleen in the familiar Anderson Holden who then went on to win the second Saturday race. Making a return after an absence for most of this year having a comprehensive rebuild of the Repco Holden engine in his Jewitt GT was Paul Armstrong who placed third in both of the Saturday races and claimed an outstanding victory in the final JKL race of the weekend in the process posting the fastest JKL lap of the meeting in 1.14.6103. John Medley too had a great weekend with the Nota BMC FJ being close to the front in all his races with a 4th, 2nd and a third and also cracking the 1.15 barrier for his first time. There was action aplenty with some great individual dices right throughout the field in all these races which had spectators right on their toes not knowing which section of the races to focus on, the leaders or further down the pack.
The Sunday morning handicap was the opportunity for those who don't usually feature in the winners circle to take their turn at the front and so Chris Farrell from Wangaratta with his neat supercharged TC Special crossed the line first ahead of Henry walker in the invited M supercharged Nalla Holden who was in turn a whisker ahead of Ian Motley from SA in his Austin Seven Special and John Murn in the Decca Major. The backmarkers found the going through the traffic too difficult, the best being Bill Hemming in 8th posting a sub 1.15 lap on the way. By the time of the last JKL race the number of finishers was down to 21 with some mechanical attrition accounting for quite a few but many who were also contesting the MG/A7/Air cooled races were holding up quite well with perhaps a shortage of fuel being their greatest handicap.
The 12 starters who contested the MG/A7/Air cooled races found themselves involved in some close racing particularly at the front of the pack with Terry White having a 1st, 3rd and 4th, Percy Hunter a 2nd, 4th, 5th and finally a win. Bob Boast in the Gold Cigar MG ( which incidentally I owned for a time about 20 years ago ) had a third and two victories emerging as the quickest of this group with a best lap of 1.17.5995. No doubt its 1498cc's methanol fuelled motor coupled with some heady driving gave it the upper hand. By the time of the last race for this group the starters were down to five, many feeling they had well and truly achieved their money's worth.
The Regularity group featured some interesting and diverse starters such as 6 Austin Seven Specials, Terry Perkins' air cooled Scarab Triumph, Ron Townley's Lago Talbot, Ross Kelly from Qld's lovely MG NB, John Lackey's replica Tomlinson MG TA, Mike Nedelko reunited with PRAD 5 which he raced in the early sixties and of course the inevitable group of MG Specials. My personal weekend's racing was one to forget with the Stewart MG being towed in four times and not finishing a single event with a variety of issues from ignition coil failure and battery failure to fuel blockages, all very embarrassing and frustrating considering the amount of pre event testing I had done. Nevertheless it attracted a lot of attention in the pits due to its unique build and provided a few moments of exhilaration on the track with its immense acceleration.
I wish to thank the HSRCA for their assistance in organising this great event, subsidising it with reduced entry fees, providing so many races and a complimentary marquee for the featured cars which, adjacent to the scrutineering area was quite a spectacle. On the downside I was disappointed that quite a few of the interesting T Type specials which were featured in 2007 did not attend and that there seems to be no interest in this type of event from the MG car clubs who were notified well in advance but nevertheless I am sure there were no complaints from those who did attend.
After all this, what effect has it had on our JKL pointscore, on this occasion calculated on the results of the first Saturday race.
In Group L Racing last years winner David Gleen is just in first place with 20 points from John Medley on 19.
In Group L Sports John Murn is in the lead on 14 points from myself, Peter Yeomans and Bill Hemming all on 10.
In Group JK, despite being unable to attend Wakefield through illness, is Paul Kenny, 20.
With Eastern Creek still to come there still remains some opportunities for others to come to the fore so that we can have some new names on the Cobden, Longford and Sulman Trophies.
The weekend prior to Wakefield was the scene for the tenth Speed on Tweed at Murwillumbah. Now you may remember from previous years my whinging about the way they arrange their classes as, being a speed event C of D's are not required and for instance, anyone who claims to have a pre 1960 car is accepted in that class, irrespective of whether it is or not. This year pre 60 entries were well down on previous years with just 16 and my suspicion is that competitors with “proper” cars are simply not interested in a free-for-all situation. My letters to the organisers on this subject met with no response so it seems they are not interested in changing the current situation.
Make no mistake, Speed on Tweed is a really great event extremely well patronised by spectators but I would hate to see it degenerate into a modern car event whereas in its formative years under the guidance of Roger Ealand, the emphasis was on the earlier cars which spectators would not normally be able to see and competitors came from all over the Eastern states to participate. Anyway, enough of my rant, winner of the prewar class was Barry Smith in his Ford V8 Special with a time of 53.4804, post war pre '60 class under 1500cc's was won by Peter Quayle in his 1956/61 ( !!! ) Jolus Minx in 51.6382 and the over 1500 class by Lou Molina Jnr. with an excellent 48.7183 in his Formula Vee tyred, 1800cc TC Special, see what I mean ? I ran the Whatmore Jag cautiously coming last in the class but having a trouble free weekend, unlike the one that was to follow. A highlight for me was seeing John Sheppard's Maybach 2 Recreation in action in the Flat Cap Masters (Regularity) class, it is really a superb piece of work by John, correct down to the last detail, it has a C of D and is for sale at what I believe is a most reasonable price, I certainly hope it finds a new home soon and becomes a regular competitor in JKL. In case you are interested John's phone number is 03 9379 7898.
While we are on cars for sale etc. I can report that both the Dick Vermulen cars which have recently been advertised, both here and elsewhere, have found new owners, Henry 1st, which was also raced for many years by Brian Sellick, has gone to Phillip Gray in Melbourne. Henry 7th, the familiar maroon car raced so successfully by Dick has gone to Peter Trapnell of Queensland so we hope to see them both in our JKL events soon. We will miss Dick's presence and flamboyance in the future as we did this year at Speed on Tweed. In South Australia we understand the Repco Ricardian of Tony Parkinson has changed hands and also new to SA is the Buchanan Zephyr from Western Australia which has been bought by Andrew Box. Readers will remember this is the car which was mentioned in these newsletters a few months ago being based on PRAD no2, the V860 special. Readers traced it to being for sale in Western Australia, if anyone knows of any competition history for it in its present Buchanan bodied, Zephyr engined format, please let me know. Just on the market is the MG TC Special of the late Graham Smith, it has a C of D and mostly South Australian history, the price is most reasonable and Graham's brother, Bruce Smith of Sportsparts is handling the sale, he can be contacted on 02 9875 1144. Still for sale and it beats me why someone hasn't bought it, is John Scott's Milano MG, it has a very trick 1500cc XPAG engine with some very good gear inside it and the car will accommodate very tall drivers, John's phone number is 0433 405649.
Also on Milanos readers will recall my Milano GT which was owned and raced for many years by the late Ken Mitchell, its subsequent owners are trying to tap the UK market where a couple of these cars have previously been sold and are asking 52,000 pounds for it, I sold it for $1700 in 1966, another opportunity missed ! At Speed on Tweed Paul Manton allowed me to sit in his Valiant powered Milano GT, the Valano, and I just couldn't believe how compact it felt inside, something I had forgotten about with the passage of time. Another car I owned for a time was the Jaguar XK120 sports which was raced for many years by Mal Biddlecombe, imagine my surprise when I saw it up for auction at Quail Lodge in the USA recently. With a pre sale estimate of US$60-90,000 it apparently failed to find a new owner.
FOR SALE; Standard Vanguard engine, condition unknown, cheap, buyer to collect, Dick Willis, contact details above.
Has anyone had any experience with Blockley tyres, please contact me if you have.
I had a rather special event on August 15th, my 100th Grafton Hillclimb. Readers will know that I have been a huge fan of this venue and the Grafton Sporting Car Club having competed at their opening meeting in April 1965 with the Milano GT179 mentioned earlier in this newsletter. Since then I have competed there regularly except for a break in the 1970's and in recent years have scarcely missed any of the 5 climbs per year they conduct. In total I have competed there in 21 different cars from an MGA, the slowest, to a Cheetah Mk 6, the quickest which also won FTD a few times. This time I ran the Gladiator being somewhat similar to the Milano, fibreglass bodied, Holden powered and on the old layout did an almost identical time to that I did some 45 years ago, 34.75 secs. The club put on a very impressive commemoration including a special booklet, a cake and some speeches so I felt really honored to have achieved that special landmark.
Attached to this newsletter, Ian McDonald has given me a report on the Winton “Festival of Speed” on the long Winton circuit which from all reports seems to have been a very successful meeting even in spite of the weather. Unfortunately I couldn't attend as it was on the same weekend as the above Grafton Hillclimb.
Also attached for your information is a proposal from the CAMS Historic Commission to revise the specifications of Group Jb/Kb specials.
Coming up on November 5/6/7 is the annual Sandown meeting, “Return of the Thunder”
which always attracts a good JKL entry, earlybird entries close on October 4th.
With the Wakefield Park meeting now behind us we turn our attention to the next HSRCA event, the 2010 Tasman Revival at Eastern Creek on November 26/27/28 where as well as the Tasman period cars, JKL cars will also be in the spotlight. Some interesting cars have already entered such as the Peter Greenfield Alfa Romeo 8C-36 as seen at Phillip Island and NZ earlier this year, the Peter Giddings Maserati 250F, Ernie Nagamatsu's Old Yeller Mk2 also seen at the last Tasman and in NZ, plus some good cars from NSW, Vic, SA and WA. Entries close at the end of October so we are looking forward to a large JKL entry again, as we had at Wakefield, free from the left overs from other classes. Help us to achieve this.
Dick Willis.