1960’s
TASMAN REVIVAL DAY 3
Sunday 3rd December,
2006 - Eastern Creek International Raceway
Today, all who made the journey
to the 1960's Tasman Revival meeting were struck with a taste of the
mid to late 1960's as the paddock area of Eastern Creek was transformed
to represent the 1960's style paddock - albeit with modern style marquee's.
The Tasman Experience marquee
offered spectators the chance to walk back in time and experience
the 1964-1969 International Tasman Series. Hay bails were laid throughout
with video screens showing footage on loan from the ABC, and a great
insight to the Series in the fold-out signage boards of the many circuits
used during the Tasman Series.
There were also other exhibits
including our friends from Vintage Racecar Journal stand, Leo Geoghegan's
Photo display, coffee stall, and some fantastic cars. Guido Belgiorno-Nettis
displayed his fabulous Ferrari 206 Dino, Nigel Tait brought both the
1966 World Championship Winning Brabham Repco BT19 and the unbeatable
Matich SR4, and there was also an Alec Mildren Racing Brabham, and
Matich sports car on show.
Vintage Racecar also provided
the photo exhibition in the Horseley Room, which had some photo's
amended by 
the great Kevin Bartlett!
The rain absolutely poured down
during the morning. At about 8am (an hour before commencement of racing)
the Clerk of Course announced a wet track. First out was the Group
S race, which was re-scheduled due to the late finish on Saturday
night. Steve Sheppard and Geoff Byrne didn't make it one racing lap
after coming together at turn nine (which incidentally had a name
change for the day to Creek Corner).
To get into the spirit some (including
yours truly) wore period dress, but the 'period commentators' also
got into the swing of things re-naming the corner's to remember the
great corners of tracks used during the Tasman Series. Most were named
after corners at Warwick Farm (after all, it was a NSW meeting), Sandown
and Longford. Corner's such as Pub Corner, Homestead, Hume Straight
and Lukey Heights (there was though of also calling the Lukey Heights
corner, which was Corporate Hill, Rothmans Rise, ut the thought was
we would have to include a saying - tobacco intake will cause harm
to your body).
Sports Racing Cars
The extremely wet conditions seemed
to slow the Mallock U2 of Nev McKay, who so far this weekend has been
so dominant. Stewart Mahony (Bolwell Mk4) and Ian Pope (Lolita Clubman)
had a thrilling dice in the wet and it was hard to tell the winner
as they passed the finish line side-by-side, but the results confirm
Mahony the victor. The tail-end battle was fiercely fought, but I'm
sure it wasn't for who could get the wooden spoon!. Peter Cohen narrowly
won the battle in the HRB Ford Clubman from the Lotus Super 7 of Maurice
Blackwood.
Racing Cars Division
2
A very exciting race in drying
conditions for the Racing Cars Division 2 event. All weekend we have
seen so much close action from all the categories, particularly at
the front of the fields. This event was no exception as Tom Tweedie
came to terms with the Lola T60 Formula 2 car and won the five lap
event. But it wasn't without strong competition from the Formula Junior
entrants, mainly Englishman Jonathon Williamson (Lotus 22) and Victorian
Peter Strauss (Brabham BT6). The three left the field behind, and
in another photo finish Strauss just came second from Williamson.
The brace of Formula Vee’s
did likewise about half a lap back. This time the hard-fought battle
was for three, a Venom, Nimbus and Elfin Hallmark. Terrific battle,
which saw the Nota Formula Vee of Terry Freckelton narrowly run away
about a second in front of the previous three of Wilkins, Humphrey
and Reeks respectively.
Tasman Revival Warm-up
Race
A taster of what's to come later
with 36 Tasman era cars taking to the track for a 5 lap warm-up race.
The conditions had since dried
the circuit for racing. We also saw the return of Spencer Martin,
who had qualified the ex. Bartlett Brabham BT23D Alfa - named the
yellow submarine in its day (owned by Paul Moxham), but didn't race
on Saturday - one would think two-times the Australian Gold Star Champion
wouldn't need the practice anyway!
The race was quick and furious
as the as the front three opened a minor gap on the rest of the field,
but particularly on the dice for fourth and fifth between New Zealander
Robin Wootton (Brabham BT18) and Ken Bedggood (Penrite Oils Brabham
BT16) who both had one of the battles of the race finishing in that
order.
Martin finished in third behind
another overseas visitor Phil Harris (Brabham BT23C) and the powerful
ex. works Lotus 49 Cosworth DFV of John Smith, although Spencer Martin
clocked the fastest lap - 1:39.
They might have been battling
in 20th or so place, but the driving and dicing from this next trio
was worth watching trackside and mentioning here. Ed Holly narrowly
beat the Lotus 35 of Carolyn Dimmer (this car was originally an F2
car before a 2.5 litre Climax replaced the 1 litre in '67) and the
Brabham BT11A of Peter Harburg. A great mid-field dice in the earlier,
less powerful of the Tasman cars.
Tasman Revival Driver's
Parade
Just before the driver's parade
took place we saw two cars on track that we hadn't seen all weekend.
Due to difficulty beyond the HSRCA’ s control two containers
were being held for over a week some 2 kilometres off Botany Bay.
These two containers held some extremely important Tasman cars from
the UK inside. News came through during Sunday morning that the containers
had just been unloaded, and one was on its way to the track! This
was the news that so many were waiting to hear. The container that
arrived was a 20 footer with two cars, which were quickly unloaded,
checked, and the owners took them out for a few laps practice. They
were the Formula One Lotus 18 of John Elliot and the Brabham BT14
of Roger Newman.
The driver's parade soon took
place. They were the likes of Tasman Revival meeting Patron Frank
Gardner OAM, and others who were transported around in a large Cavalcade
of Morgan's. There was also a parade of Tasman era cars, which saw
some driver's back in the driver's seat of cars they competed in,
including Mal Brewster who drove the Rennmax BN2 for the first time
in nearly 30 years in the parade. Another car we saw out in the parade
was Aaron Lewis' Eagle T2G Indy car.
I should also take this moment
to mention some of the other legend's of our sport who were there
across the weekend, including Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan, Colin
Bond, Bob Brittain and John Goss. Cummo mentioned that of all the
aging legends and friends of his, almost all have thinning gray hair,
bar one - Colin Bond.
A brief break for lunch, then
the cars in the Tasman Cup event took to the track and formed in their
positions on the grid. Here a photo shoot, and then some minutes later
the Australian National Anthem was played. The cars then went on another
warm-up lap, allowing late comers such as Spencer Martin to form in
the correct grid place.
The prize on offer - no cash,
but a chance to hold up the original Tasman Cup trophy. This trophy
was commissioned by one Geoffrey Sykes, who sourced the timber base
from New Zealand and the Gold cup from Australian mines.
Tasman
Cup Revival Race - 15 laps
The highly anticipated race was
about to begin. The revs rose, spectators stood, or moved to the edge
of their seats, the heart pumped at a million miles an hour - the
Australian Flag fell. Martin got off to an absolute flyer, and led
into turn one at the end of Hume Straight. Over the top of the turn
three rise and down into homestead it was the Dawson-Damer Lotus 49B
of John Smith out in front, leading the field of 40 starters, eleven
would eventually fail to finish. Both Elliot and Newman, whose cars
arrived only hours before the race from the UK failed to finish among
those eleven cars.
At the end of the first flying
lap in this history making Tasman Cup Revival race the leader was
Smith, followed by Martin, then the Brabham BT18 of Harris. Over the
coming laps we would see the continued dicing and lead changes between
Smith and Martin, which kept all eyes fixed on the action. Behind
them a battle commenced for third between Harris and the Elfin 600B
of Herb Neal and the McLaren M4A of Lindsay O'Donnell. Neal and O'Donnell
then lost a bit of ground to Harris and continued in their own battle
with the likes of Peter Addison (Brabham BT23C) and Bob Cracknell
(Elfin 600B Twin Cam) in their shadows for the remainder of the race.
Ken Bedggood (Brabham BT16) was also in the thick of things at the
pointy end running with Neal and O'Donnell till retiring as they entered
the final lap.
The leaders were still battling
hard with Martin in the lead from Smith, who was starting to mount
a challenge to re-gain first place, which he did during the second
last lap. Martin fought hard on the heals of the Lotus 49, even gaining
some of the 49's tyre rubber on his nose cone. All these efforts didn't
quite come off as Smith crossed the finish line 3 tenths of a second
ahead of Martin to claim the 2006 Tasman Cup.
Top 5 results as follows:
1. John Smith in Adelicia Dawson-Damer’s
1968 Lotus 49B
2. Spencer Martin in Paul Moxham’s 1967 Brabham BT23D Alfa
3. Phil Harris – 1967 Brabham BT23C
4. Herb Neal – 1969 Elfin 600B
5. Lindsay O’Donnell – 1969 McLaren M4A
The top three cars made there
way around to the podium, where after some minutes with crew and spectators
they were escorted to the podium where Kevin Bartlett made the presentations.
Racing Cars Division
2
This 8 lap race turned into the
battle of the Formula Junior's of Williamson and Strauss toward the
end when Tweedie's Formula 2 Lola T60 retired with two laps to do.
Good to see the Cooper T59 of David Reid finish third behind Williamson
and Strauss, although some distance back.
Marque Sports Cars
After receiving the post-applied
one minute penalty board in the morning race the battle continued
raging between Brett Morse and Spud Spruyt. Until that is, Morse had
a moment and found himself way back in the field. This time Spruyt
had the lead all to himself, and won a convinvcing race. Stuart Littlemore
was also by himself in his Morgan Plus 8.
The battle was on for the minor
place on the podium as the big Shelby American GT350 of George Nittis
had plenty of straight line power (confirming the theory there's no
replacement for cubic displacement) in a battle royale with Jason
Lea (Datsun 2000) and Laurie Sellars (Marcos GT). Sellars had an earlier
battle on his hand with the MG BGT MkII of Peter Whitten, before managing
to drive off in the distance and into the battle in front.
Formula One tribute
parade
The Tasman Revival meeting was
blessed to have such a magnificent array of period Formula One cars,
most of which were out there racing. But some chose just to complete
these awesome parade laps. One for instance was another of the Adelicia
Dawson-Damer owned Lotus 79. This car also runs the most successful
Formula One engine ever - the Cosworth DFV V-8, but also can claim
the title to be the first of the ground-effects Formula One cars.
The titanium side-skits are lowered and locked in by the crew just
before the car enters the circuit, and then raised again as the car
returns to the pits. An amazing car - sounds good too!
Other cars in the
parade were John Dimmer's Tyrell 004, which uses the same powerplant,
the Dawson-Damer Lotus 49, which was driven in the parade by Dan Collins,
who was to drive the Classic Team Lotus Lotus 49, which unfortunately
never made it to the track. John Elliot, whose car did make it took
part, as did the Brabham BT24 Repco of Brian Wilson (Sir Jack's 1967
Championship car), and the Repco Brabham BT19, which was driven by
caretaker Nigel Tait. Guido Belgiorno-Nettis also took the Ferrari
156GP out for a quick spin.
Vintage Racing RACE
SIX
The final event to be covered
for the weekend was for Group J, K & L. The eight lap race was
won (but not by too much) by Keith Simpson in the Penrite Oils Lola
Mk1. Greg Neal kept a reasonable gap between his Plymouth Special
and Graeme Vaughan's Lotus 11 Replica who finished in that order.
The battle for the race though
was between two visiting overseas driver's. Peter Gidding's chose
to bring his stunningly prepared (as are all his cars) 1952 Lago Talbot
T26 GP, and Brian Caldersmith handed the wheel of his immaculate Lotus
Type 14 Elite to Sir John Whitmore (Sir John was to drive his own
Elite, but that was lso in the second container). The positions rarely
changed, but there was nothing in the battle as the little under-powered
Elite managed to hold on to the mighty quick Lago Talbot.
The 2006 1960's Tasman Revival
meeting was a huge success. With some of the best historic racing
seen in Australia for quite some year's, a great chance to revive
old friendships, extend the truth of period stories, and to see some
fabulous racing cars from across the world try to mix it with the
best of the Australian's!
2007 promises to be special -
stay tuned for more, and please have a Happy Christmas.
