April 2004 - Constructors Car Club

April 2004
I SPARE· PARTS I
On the Cover:
Morgan Plus 8 Replica
See page 11
The Magazine of the
Constructors Car Club Inc
April 2004
Opinions expressed in this
magazine are not
necessarily those of the
Constructors Car Club (Inc).
Issue 3 Volume 17
Club Officials
In this Issue
President:
Jon Loar
Secretary:
Dave Clout
Club Captain:
Brian Worboys
Treasurer:
Steve Strain
Club Meetings
The Constructors Car Club Inc
meets at 7.30pm on the second
Tuesday of each month at The
Vintage Car Club, 3 Halford Place,
Petone (Eastern end of Jackson
Street).
Prospective members or others
interested in building their own
cars are welcome to attend. (The
club does request a donation of
$2 towards running the meeting.)
Meetings generally include a
guest speaker or demonstration
followed by general discussion
and supper.
The Club Magazine "Spare Parts"
is produced monthly from February to December each year. Contributions and advertisements are
welcomed.
Contact the Editor on Phone
(04) 904 3385.
Coming Events .............................................................................
Meeting Minutes - 9 March 2004 ....................................................
President's Report ............................................................................
Letters Received .............................................................................
For Sale
.............................................................................
Members Projects - 3 x 2 ................................................................
Members Projects - Lamborghini Replica ......................................
New members
.............................................................................
Monthly Quiz Cars ...........................................................................
Morgan Plus 8 Replica ....................................................................
It's Finished!
.............................................................................
Morgan Plus 8 .............................................................................
The LJR - Part 1 .............................................................................
CCC Technical Committee Minutes ................................................
JWF Milano
.............................................................................
CommercialAdvertisers Supplement ..............................................
Do we really "Dare to be Different" ................................................
May Madness at Manfeild ...............................................................
Porsche World Roadshow ................................................................
Ankle Biter's Column ......................................................................
Clubsport and Kitcar Activities ........................................................
Letter to the Editor ...........................................................................
You don't know how lucky you are ..................................................
Motorkhana Results .........................................................................
Hamilton National Motor Show ......................................................
New Sabre released at National Motor Show.................................
The 1172nd Psalm ...........................................................................
Italy 15
.............................................................................
Skitenite
.............................................................................
Cut-off date for contributions for the next magazine is
Tuesday 27 April 2004
Editor
Ross Bridson
Phone: (04) 904 3385
e-mail:
[email protected]
Club Correspondence to:
The Secretary
Constructors Car Club
POBox38573
Wellington Mail Centre
Wellington 6332
Typesetting and graphics
layout by:
NS Services
Silverstream, Upper Hutt
Ph & Fax: (04) 970-5036
e-mail:[email protected]
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Tuesday 13April-AGM
Tonight is the big night, the AGM. We will also have
an interesting little vehicle. We may also have
another club car along, weather dependent.
Do any members have any ideas or special motoring
places that they want to see added to coming events?
Give your suggestions to a committee member or speak
up at the next meeting. We are always looking for fresh
ideas.
Saturday 1 May - Manfeild Corporate Day.
George should be doing his B-B-Q again. Please
confirm if coming as entrant or flag marshal to Wendy
ASAP.
Next committee meeting
Tuesday 20 April,
Wendy's, Standen Street, Karori.
7.30pm
'Editoria{
"Time,distanceafld anul11berof other factors have prornptedme to end my terrn as Editor olthe Club
magazine effective from this Anrual General Meetil'lg; In doing so it b~ngs to.a close for me avery
interestingand.satisfying year helping withthE!preparation anddevelopmentof the ·magazine, and although
I cannot directly claim the credit for the wonderful new look magazine I do take some ·satisfaction in
knowing that the changes have taken place during my term as Editor.However,1 cannot step down
without first thanking allthosepeoplewho have made this possible and who have assisted me overthe
past year. Inparticularspecialthanks is' due. to. Graham . Derby for. his E!xpertise and. being willing to
attempt the changE!;Oavei13eazer for his inspiration and tireless enthusiasm, PatrickHarlow for beingthe
hub of the club and loving it, and Matthew Cooley for his cover artistry; Plus a special thanks is due to
every oneofyouinfheclllbwho have generously contribi..tted to the magaiine by way of articles over the
past year. The magazine could not exist without you."
The (jooe{ News ane{ the 13ae{ News
The good news is that there has been a excellent amount of contributions for the magazine lately.
The bad news is that the following articles have been held over and will be included in the May
Magazine or as soon as possible:
•
•
The LJR - A Typical New Zealand Special: Part 2
The True Cost of Scratch building a Replica
•
•
Who's Who
President's Cup Points
ThankYou DaveBeazer
Hi Dave,
Good to catch up aUhe wedding and a jolly nice day it was too!
Thanks again for such a superb job with the McLaren Tribute in your March Newsletter - many
compliments have also been·rnadefrom visitors reading it here in the office. So please pass on our
thanks to all concerned, I know how much work is involved andyour new magazine is superb. You are
all to be congratulated.
I have just noticed one "big" error, particularly in the advert - our website is www.bruce-mclaren.com
What you have with just mclaren.com is the other entry to the McLaren International website. (corrected
-Ed)
Regards,
Jan McLaren
Bruce McLaren Trust
2
Spare Parts
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President: Jon Loar
Secretary: Dave Clout
Apologies:
Lesley Walker, Andrew Weeks,
Andy Lovell, Glenn Murray, Ian
Price, Alan Price, Rob Milne, Dave
Bertelsen, Jack Hadley.
Visitors:
Darren Love - has an Almac Cobra
- joined the club a few days later.
Andrew Smith - invited to come
along, has a Cobra.
Brendan King - introduced himself
as being the speaker for the night,
has been along before. Brendan
joined the club on the night.
Previous Minutes:
The minutes for last month were in
the latest magazine. Taken as read.
Minutes Accepted.
Treasurers Report:
Nothing unusual to report.
Inward Correspondence:
Email from UHCC confirming Grass
Motorkhana date of Sunday 28
March
Email from Wellington Motorsport
Association asking us to consider
joining them.
Email from a South African '1' club
re our magazine.
Usual number of membership
renewals, and a few enquiries.
Periodicals:
NZ Petrolhead - Vol 7, No.2,
February 16 2004 (Members are
welcome to take the two issues at
the end of the night).
Mini Madness - Mini's of Wellington
Owners Group, March 2004
American Iron - Early American Car
Club, February 2004.
April 2004
'/
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.........•••.
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SCCNZ Events Calendar Edition 27.
Outward Correspondence:
Patrick's usual replies to new
membership enquires.
Previous Events:
These are advertised events open
to all members. Any other events
attended by members can be raised
in General Business at President's
discretion.
"",<, /,- ,>'"
,;
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Saturday 1 May - Manfeild
Corporate Day. George to be invited
to arrange B-B-Q again? More
details on page 44 of March
magazine.
Committee Report:
AGM is next month, Tuesday 13
April. Think of people to nominate
for positions.
Subscriptions - committee decided
to leave things as they were.
Tuesday 10 February, Skite Night.
Thanks to all members who brought
their vehicles along. Quite a few
visitors, including some from Capital
Rodders again. Special thanks to
George and his various helpers with
the B-B-Q that did happen this year.
Letter from member Roger O'Brien
re handicapped person vehicle was
discussed, letter and info passed to
Roy for further investigation. Roy
commented that initial investigations
indicated that it could cost up to
$100,000 to build a suitable vehicle.
Saturday 14 February-ourHardseal
Motorkhana run by Club Captain,
Brian Worboys. Ex GM car park,
Dantes Rd, Upper Hutt. A good turn
out and Brian was helped by Wendy
and other club members. There
were about 19 entries.
Financials in magazine - Jon
commented that although our
financials are already in the public
domain, as noted by the secretary,
in future we will only include copies
of our financial statements as a
loose leaf addition to members
magazines only.
Sunday 15 February - British Car
Day at Trentham Memorial Park.
Rained out, postponed until next
year.
Sunday 7 March - MG Charity
Classic 2004 at Manfeild
Autocourse. Darryl Cooley gave a
report - a good day, excellent racing.
Spare Parts:
Ross - Another amazing magazine.
Keep sending in those articles.
Special thanks to the Bruce
McLaren Trust for the current article
in the magazine.
Mystery Vehicle:
Coming Events:
Justin Wright - Allard J2
Sunday 14 March - Paraparaumu
Airport, timed sprints.
(I had brain fade here and forgot this
person's name, but I did write 'up
north' to remind me who they were
but now find I can't remember who
it was) - they guessed Allard J4
Saturday 13 March - Fast Cars at
River Bank Carpark, Lower Hutt.
Saturday 10 April (or should that be
Sunday 11 April - it's normally a
Sunday, check), Alexandra Road, Mt
Victoria, Wellington Car Club's
annual hill climb. Worth a look, at
least two of our members that the
secretary knows will be racing.
Easter, Saturday/Sunday - 10/11
April - 2 Hot 2 Handle, postponed?
Jim Doherty - AC approx 1948
John Hill- Blue engine block, Allard
J2, Ford side valve V8 (much
laughter & mirth at this point).
Technical Committee
Report:
Grant - the latest LVVTA newsletter
3
is out, royalties have been
distributed, report on the total
number of certification plates issued
- 700/month, Sam Lyles last SL was
noted as being the 50,OOOth
certification - well done Sam.
The next LWTA Annual General
Council meeting will be held in July
- Grant recommended going with
the status quo since the current
incumbents seem to be looking after
us.
The certifiers are likely to be asked
to attend a training course. Mike
Macready has been accepted as our
3rd certifier. Thanks to Ken McAdam
and Andy Osborne for still helping
our club. This is only a brief
summary of what Grant said.
notification of the coming AGCM in
April. (Richard was going to go but
recent developments at his work
means he can no longer attend)
He asked if there were any
members willing to help out with the
Waiarapa Rally on 19 June.
General Business:
Roy H - any further thoughts on
running a 'car handling' day? Roy
now has enough info to be able to
help members. Looking for a venue
and results of upcoming tech
committee meeting.
Wendy dropped a quiet remark that
she had enjoyed her recent trip to
the Adelaide F1 over the weekend
- many rude remarks here, mostly
jealous.
Technical Questions:
Someone, missed who, asked wide tyres, rules?
Answer - tyres (rims I believe) are
not allowed outside the guards,
there is a limit to difference between
front & rear tyre size, cannot
increase track width by 25mm over
stock without certification. Not
allowed more than 80% difference
between track, front & rear. Naturally
homebuilts and kit cars are
thankfully as per how you or
designer designed the original on
many aspects. Ask a certifier for full
details effecting your project or
check out the LWTA web site www.lvvta.org.nz
Buy, Sell or Swap:
Your chance to speak up at the
meeting to buy, sell or swap items.
These are recorded in a separate
article elsewhere in the magazine.
Remember, email, type or neat hand
written details, or use provided
forms to the secretary before, during
or after the meeting to have them
included in the next magazine. You
can also send details directly to the
editor. The secretary does not record
details at the meeting - we don't
have time, he's too slow.
MotorSport NZ:
Richard told us that he had received
4
Shop Steward:
Brian still has a few polo shirts and
plenty of rivets, three sizes too - or
he will have when he will let the
secretary unload them from his boot
into Brian's.
Guest Vehicles:
Club Vehicle - Roy Hoare's recently
restored Almac TG.
Guest and probable new (and he did
join) members vehicle - Brendan
King, Porsche 911 RS replica.
We started with Roy's car since it
was parked at the front. He was
introduced as only our President can
- "tell us about the banana". It's a
bright yellow Almac TG.
This particular car started life in
Auckland and had been damaged
in an accident. Despite his wife,
Eleanor, telling him that he was not
allowed to build another car, Roy
decided to buy it as a vehicle to
travel to work in each day. He told
Eleanor he was not building another
car, only restoring it. Roy decided
that if he was going to 'restore it', he
should also bring it up to the latest
standards. As a testament to how
well the Almac had been designed
originally it only required side
intrusion beams and proper door
locks - burst proof, not cupboard
latches.
Once again he was ably assisted by
his trusty brother-in-law, Darryl. The
only significant rust they found was
in one of the outside chassis tubes.
This particular example has a Toyota
Celica engine and gearbox, with the
more recent Gemini suspension
front and rear.
At the conclusion of Roy's talk he
was presented with his 'Grill Badge'
as is normal practice for club cars.
Dave Bray was also invited up to
receive his badge for bringing his
Jaguar last month.
Guest Speaker:
It was then time for Brendan King to
tell us about his tidy Porsche 911 RS
replica. This particular car started
out as a 1972 911 S. Since there
were only 3500 of the original RS's
made to be accepted for
homologation for racing and they
weighed only 1OOOkg, they cost silly
money. John Waring, a well known
identity in car circles in Christchurch,
built five to very close specifications
as the originals. Brendan has had
this car for two years and it was
previously a Bridgestone Cup car
fitted with racing suspension, a 2.7
litre, 220hp (factory ones were only
215hp). This particular car has been
clocked at 152mph in the USA.
There is power assisted nothing, it's
a raw drivers car. Brendan does not
enjoy driving it in the wet, it can be a
handful. In Brendan's own words "it
is fun to drive and originally he
thought they were only for
hairdressers and wankers".
Brendan then fielded the usual
number of enquiring questions.
Raffle:
Number:
Cooley
69 Won by: Matthew
Kevin Richards ofThe Shock Shop,
Porirua had donated a couple of
coffee mugs as an extra prize - won
by #18, George McDonald.
Glen Murray is still owed his prize
from previous month?
Spare Parts
President'sneyort
It's that time of the year when I look
what's happening over the year. This
year saw the 15th anniversary of the
club celebrated with a special midwinter dinner in Wainuiomata. So
from small beginings of a few like
minded people the club has gone
from strength to strength. Last year
saw us push well past the two
hundred mark, the more cynical
amongst us thought that this was
just a peak caused by the car show
and that numbers would fall
dramatically when renewals came
due. To our surprise numbers have
held and is now sitting at 226.
Over the year the Manfeild track
days,
garage
tours
and
motorkhanas have continued to be
popular. So many thanks to Brian
Worboys and Wendy Harding for all
their hard work organizing those
events .. For me one of the highlights
of the year was the tour around
Pilkingtons glass manufacturing
plant. The plant was in wind down
mode with closure just a few weeks
away. Nonetheless the technology
used to create such a humdrum item
as a windscreen was very
impressive. I think that I could watch
the cutting machines for hours.
The more motor sport minded also
had plenty of fun too, participating
in the inter-marque series, the Targa
and the Whittakers. The Targa
seemed to provide the most interest
with members competing, working
as pit crew and a large number
doing their stint as marshals in the
final stages. It seemed like every
one had a tale to tell. No doubt that
the crashes will get more
spectacular and the near misses
nearer as the years go by.
No sooner was all that over and
done with and we were all touring
round the Wairarapa in search of
Christmas lunch and making
desperate plans to get all those little
jobs finished in time for skite night.
For me skite night is one of the best
evenings of the year and this year
did not disappoint. Innovation has
always been one of the club's
April 2004
strengths so apart from the bevy of
normal vehicles we also got to see
John Bell's 3x2 three wheeler with
handlebar steering and Bruce
Graham's Atom looka like, a radical
approach combining a tubular steel
exo skeleton (instead of a
conventional body) and a Subaru
power plant. Don Flowers and Dave
Bray were also in attendance with
their newly completed projects. Both
looking suitably pleased with them
selves and rightly so!
Another highlight of the year was the
transformation of the magazine in
November. After some teething
troubles everything seems to be
settling down nicely and I think that
we and our sponsors Dynapack can
be justifiably proud of the result. As
editor in chief Ross Bridson has
certainly had his hands full over the
year. Yet despite all the aggravation
Ross still found time to contribute
some excellent technical articles.
His articles covering many items,
including bonnets, louvers and
speedo recalibration have been
fascinating.
The year was not all good things and
we were saddened to hear of the
death of Doug Bunting. Doug was
the sort of chap who exemplified the
club spirit and could turn his hands
to most things he put his mind to.
His beautifully crafted 1927
Mercedes SS replica will remain a
tribute to his skills.
On a lighter note the LTSA provoked
much debate and entertainment with
their new regulations for noise
control and anti-social boy racer type
behaviour. At one point I thought that
the flood of Emails would never stop.
Now that the dust has settled it
seems that the intention of the regs
has been successful and that
despite our fears the boys in blue
have applied them in the manner
intended.
This year also saw Alan Price bow
out from his duties as one of our club
certifiers after many years of
undaunting service. I would like to
say a special thank you to Alan for
all his past work .It has been greatly
appreciated. Alan's certifying
position is now being filled by Mike
Macready who now has the long
road ahead to reach his scratch built
certification qualification. I know that
our other two certifiers will do their
utmost to assist him.
The certifiers have also had a busy
year with at least four new projects
reaching completion and numerous
other scrutes being fitted in. Well
done gents. We need to get some
photos taken and sent to your
families just in case they forget what
you look like.
This being my last President's report
I would also like to sing the praises
of another individual in the club. One
who gets little recognition and a fair
bit of abuse one way and another. I
am referring to our secretary, Dave
Clout. For those of you who come
every month to the meetings you are
probably unaware of the huge
amount of effort Dave puts in not
only in preparation for the meetings
but also in the day to day trivia that
is the Constructors Car Club. So I
would like to publicly acknowledge
all his hard work and say "great job
Dave, thanks for all your efforts". If
he doesn't give me too much lip on
club night I might even award him a
chocolate fish. This is of course the
highest award the President is
allowed to bestow.
Finally (yes I am going on a bit this
month), I would just like to say how
much I have enjoyed the last three
years as President. I started off with
trepidation but have now come away
with a sense of wonder at the
enthusiasm, inventiveness and
comradeship that the club seems to
induce. I will miss the Dave and Jon
double act every month but it's time
to sit down and shut up and give all
you good people out there a new
face to look at.
Jon.
5
Letters··.ReceivecC
WANTED Dead or alive
Dear Sir
Have you seen this car anywhere? Wanted dead or
alive by it's original creators. Last seen somewhere
near Ekatahuna awaiting a heart transplant with Herald
running gear. At birth she had a humble Ford Prefect
as a mother and a sturdy tubular frame.
but your kit cars as well. I think the only thing we have
is more sunny days!
Regards
Rob Hewitt, South Africa
Seven Car Club of Natal
[email protected]
Any information would be greatly appreciated in the
search to find this lost member of the family.
CHEAP Project wanted
Please contact:
My name is Mark, my friend and I are doing a welding
course at Weltec and we are quite interested in building
a kit car but we cant afford to buy the kits so we are
thinking of just building the chassis ourselves and going
from there. We asked our tutor about a plan to build
the chassis and he pointed us towards your car club
but as it was on last tuesday night, and as I understand
is only once a month we decided to email you instead.
Errol Bateman, Wellington
(04) 477 0880 a/h 0272468948,
gavin. [email protected]
Dear Sir
Is it possible if you could provide us this information or
tell us where we would be able to get it from?
Best Regards,
Mark and Simon. Wellington
[email protected]
DE JOUX GT praise and desire
Dear Sir
I am in the US and came across yourweb site and saw
Paul Needham's de Joux GT. Is there any possibility
that you might know where I could find at least the body
for one of these kits. This is by far the classiest kit I
have ever seen.
Thanks,
Myles Saffian, USA
[email protected]
South African greetings
Dear Sir
Greetings from South Africa and congratulations on a
terrific site. One of your members, Dave Beazer, put
me on to your site and I have just spent the past couple
of hours enjoying it - and still not finished!
Of course I am envious of the range of cars that you
guys have available. We have a limited number of kit
car manufacturers and the prices are fairly high.
So you guys are not only better at rugby (and cricket),
6
Well Mark there is a project that seems specifically
geared for you and it is one that several people in our
club are attempting and that is the Locost which is a
book written by Ron Champion and is a Lotus 7 like
car that the book states can be built for as little as 350
pounds. This book is still in print and can be ordered
from most booksellers.
JWF Milano
Dear Sir
I happened to stumble on your site and notice a member
has a JWF Milano bodied car, "Graham Brown" if he is
interested, I also have a couple of Milanos here in
Australia. One of which is driven regularly. I also have
2x spare bodies that are for sale, so maybe someone
in the club may be interested. If Graham is interested
in contact, my email is below.
Regards
Mark Hinton, Australia
[email protected]
I have forwarded your e-mail to Graham Brown who
will no doubt reply to it. It is always good to hear from
people across the ditch and for your information on the
Milano. See story on the JWF Milano elsewhere in this
magazine.
Spare Parts
:Jar Safe
For Sale
Ibex sports car. Lotus 6/7 copy built in '60's by Harry Irons & Barry Wilkes with
some competition history. Restoration 3/4 completed with most parts to finish.
Powered by 1500cc pre-crossflow Ford motor, diff & gearbox. Requires a general
tidy up from being in storage for several years, followed by wiring, trimming and
painting. Offered at the princely sum of $5000.
Contact Errol Bateman on (04) 477 0880 a/h or (04) 382 2649 for more details.
gavin. [email protected]
For Sale
Napier Ruxton GT, (Mandermobile), Only 8000km on recond.
Chev 350 V8 auto. Independent suspension front and rear
Discs all round. Power Steering etc
Offers over $10,000 to:
John Mander (Owner/builder), Ph (04) 973 9951 (View under
'other' on www.constructorscarclub.org.nz)
SAKER CARS
Saker Sprint
Saker SVI
BV TURNBULL ENGINEERING
P.O. Box 9, Bunnvthorpe, Manawatu, New Zealand
Phone/Fax: 06 329 2923
web site: http://www.sakercars.com
e-mail: [email protected]
April 2004
7
:Jvlem6ersProjects~.3·X.2 . ·Jolin·'E~(t;
A recent garage tour was an opportunity for several club members to
have a look at John Bells latest creation. As always John does not
fail to impress with his unique interpretation offunction versus beauty.
Body style comes from a car that appeared in Popular Mechanics
during the early 70's called the Trimuter. The Trimuter was an
economical car that could be built using plans purchased from Quincy
Lynn. Check out their website http://www.rqriley.com/plans.html
The main difference in the style of this car is that, as John does not
like fibreglass, the car has been made from plywood.
Powered at the rear wheels by a Honda motorbike engine the car is
almost finished. At a later date John will give a more technical report
on this car. Those who managed to get to the skite club night in
February would have seen this innovative car on display.
Another unique car from
John Bell
An enthausiastic group
Under the bonnet sits the steering 'thingy'
Before the 3 x 2 was Trivia
Rear view 3 x 2
SABRE
COBRA REPLICA
-SEVEN
www.almac.co.nz
p.o. Box 40483, Upper HuH, Ph/Fax 04 528-8680
8
Spare Parts
3VlemEersProjects -£amEorgliiniCountac!i
Reyuca . . . . . . .
When this project was started in 1990, it was
envisaged as a two year project. What an
optimist. The fiberglass body shell was
imported from Auto Body Specialists in
Christchurch, Dorset, England in December
1989. The car was then registered in New
Zealand so as to avoid having to comply with
the "high stop light" legislation coming into
effect Jan 1990, as this would be difficult to
comply with. Registration was then put on hold
after it expired.
Chassis built as an exact copy of the
Countach. Only donor parts are steering rack,
steering column and front uprights. Rear
uprights fabricated. Any part not made by
Lamborghini, I obtained from their source, i.e.
instruments Stewart Warner, and door latches
were from a Mercedes Benz etc. All interior
panels, wheel arches, under tray etc are made
from aluminum sheet. Doorframes are box
section steel with double width roll cage tube
from hinge to latch as anti-intrusion.
The only genuine part in the car is the
windscreen, imported with the body shell.
Brake system is Tilton twin cylinder and
boosters with balance adjustment.
Transmission is ZF transaxle with triple AP
clutch (as used in Jag XJ220).
Wheels and tyres same as Countach.
Suspension same as Countach but fully
adjustable Koni shocks, twin on each rear
corner, single on front.
Rear view is achieved by a camera at rear
and digital monitor on dash.
Full security and immobilization system built
in during wiring.
Actual building time was 4 years as the project
had to be shelved after the first year due to
other commitments. Passed certification on
first attempt as the certifier had inspected and
advised during construction.
This project is not for someone working at
home as there is so much fabrication and
machining to do. I had the use of a full motor
sport preparation workshop and I am a
mechanical and electronic engineer.
I did not do the fiberglass preparation, painting
or upholstery, as these are specialized jobs.
April 2004
9
New Members
The Constructors Car Club warmly welcomes
the following new members:
Jack Mclntyre:- Gore (ph (03) 208-6352)
Jack has always dreamed of owning a Cobra type
car, especially one with a roof for the times when
he drove it to Wellington. Currently he is working
on the wooden buck for the glass moulds which
will double for alloy formers once the moulds are
completed.
Brendon King:~ Porsche 2.7 RS Carrera Replica
Raumati (ph (04) 905-6565)
E-Mail: [email protected]
Brendon was invited to be our guest speaker at
our last meeting and also decided to join the club.
His Porsche RS replica is a modified Porsche 911.
Amongst his other cars sits ~ a Lotus 7 which I
Steven Chappell:- Heron XR1 Auckland (ph (09) am sure has a story attached.
534-1988)
And a warm welcome back to ..
E-Mail: [email protected]
Richard Buchanan:- Ford NB4 replica
After selling a part built to Roger Price Steve bought Palmerston North (ph (06) 354-0033)
a Heron XR1 race car from accomplished car
builder, and the creator of Heron Cars, Ross baker E-Mail: [email protected]
of Rotorua. He has since rebuilt it and is currently Richard rejoins the club after a couple of years
sorting out any teething problems.
absence. His car was built using a modern drive
Peter Fulton-Bevers:- Sunbeam Talbot/Daimler train and replicates a fairly unique Ford of the
1930s
Upper Hutt (ph 528-6227)
E-Mail: [email protected]
Alan Leach:- Formula 33 Auckland (ph (021) 2933657)
Peter purchased a 1951 Sunbeam Talbot. And is
finishing the process of converting it to a take a
Daimler V8 with a triumph 2.5 OlD gearbox. The
only modern parts he is using is Ford XR8 front
discs. His aim is to do the sort of conversion that
may have been done in the 1960, like a period
special..
Alan originally joined us when he came to our
Lower Hutt car show. However he never got
around to renewing his membership until he came
to the Almac stand at the Hamilton Motorshow
and managed to procure another membership
form.
Last Month's quiz car
The first post-war Allard to feature
substantial coachwork appeared in
1947, the drophead coupe, Allard
M 1. All of the other Allard models
had simple, cut-away door, open
roadster bodies, the M1 consisted
of full length doors and a proper
folding hood. The M1 also had four
seats and more elaborate trim
10
This Month's quiz car
Manufacturer's name and model and any other
specifications please
Spare Parts
:M.organP[us sXey[ica
The Morgan Plus a Replica that has
featured at various times in this
magazine during its construction phase
is now complete and on the road,
having passed all the required
scrutineering, certification and
compliance checks. This car is the
product of seven and half years of hard
graft by owner/builder Ross Bridson. It
is in fact a true scratch build with nearly
all non-proprietry or non donor parts
having been built or fabricated or
otherwise constructed by the builder.
On his own admission the only major
tasks not undertaken were the
paintwork and the upholstery, although
even for the paint a considerable
amount of time and effort were put into
preparatory pre-finishing before the
painter got the car to finish. Of course
some welding tasks, chroming and
other highly specialized services were
used but as much as possible was
undertaken at home. This has meant
that many different techniques were
adopted and new skill acquired during
the course of the build. These have
been the subject of a number of
magazine articles in the past.
The car itself took form by virtue of
some plans acquired for a Formula 27.
This was a wide bodied seven replica
designed to take a Rover va engine.
This fact, the general proportions ofthe
car (which were similar to a Morgan)
and its excellent performance /
handling reported in British kit car
magazines at the time were sufficient
to prompt the design being pressed
into service as the embryo of an idea
for a Morgan Plus a replica. However,
in order to morph the seven space
frame into the flowing proportions of
the Plus a (including doors)
considerable tweaking of the chassis
design had to be carried out. In the end
only the front suspension (upper rocker
arm with inboard coil-overs) and.
steering geometry remain the same.
Every other chassis member has
undergone at least some modification
to transform the car it into the shape
pictured here. Who says a seven can't
'grow up' iii???
April 2004
Rolling chassis
Engine before
Fibreglasss guard
11
In addition to the Formula 27 plans the
only other aids to construction initially
were some line drawings of a Plus 8
from a magazine on which were shown
some critical dimensions, a series of
photos taken of a Plus 8 at a British
Car Show at Pukekohe, and a plan
view photograph of a Plus 8 again from
a magazine. Later in the construction
phase a model of a Plus 4 (similar to
Plus 8 in shape) was obtained and
some detail dimensions off a real Plus
8 were taken. A few other magazine
photos of details of the Morgan were
obtained from magazines courtesy of
Ross Church.
A number of donor vehicles gave up
valuable parts to contribute to the
make-up of the car. Included amongst
the mighty and fallen have been Rover,
Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon,
Valiant, Cortina, Herald, Allegro, Maxi,
1100, Mini, Toyota, Triumph 2500,
Hilman Avener. A minutes silence
please ................. Now they live and
breath again albeit in a different form
The body work is a combination of
fiberglass moulded components and
aluminium panels. Fibreglass was
used to accomplish compound curved
panels, whereas aluminium was used
for the Simpler ones. Gauges, steering
wheel, fuel filler caps, light fittings etc
are as authentically Morgan as
possible, although sourced (as many
Morgan parts are inCidentally) from
after market outlets in Britain.
Suspension
Grill
The engine / 5 speed gearbox are ex
Rover SD1 as are the genuine Morgan
Plus 8's. Breathing through standard
SU carbs (re-jetted to take K&N filters)
the engine is more or less standard
save a stronger bottom end, fast road
cam, lighter flywheel and being
dynamically balanced. One day it might
be given a birthday present of a Holley
or Weber carb and ported inlets, but
there is sufficient power on tap for now
apparently. Brakes are bog standard
and could be politely regarded as
adequate. That may the first area that
an upgrade would show substantial
benefit.
Oh, by the way - the car is presented
in British Racing Green. What other
colour is there for a British Classic car.
12
Engine installation
Spare Parts
1~:
a
Wing moulds
Guards on
View of headers
Louvres
Interior and dash
April 2004
13
: 'j
Its!finislie:Cf .•.. ~ ..JJeali'KitJlifil!l
Well, the shiny bits are on, the
plates are fitted, there's wind in my
hair and a grin on my face. "It's
finished ............. Yeah, Right !!"
Well that's what the slogan would
say, and it's not too far from the
mark. For all intents and purposes
the car is finished now, but as
someone has said "Welcome to the
stage of 'post production
development' ". Or to put it simpler,
"it's on the road ... now let's keep it
there", which means at the very
least washing it, polishing it, and
changing the liquid bits. However
in reality it means tightening the
bolts that come undone (or were
never tight to begin with), fixing the
bits that don't work, chasing the
noises it was never designed to
make and ironing out the niggles
and deficiencies that could only
surface and do surface once the car
is on the road and being driven.
So is the reality of my Morgan Plus
8 Replica. Post Production
Development actually began back
in December when I discovered (or
was rather told) after the final drive
test that my brakes could best be
described as an "'effective retarding
mechanism". In other words they
didn't bxxxxx work. Doh !!!! There
went my first Christmas deadline
and that after working like a
veritable pack of Beavers to get the
car together and ready in time. So
began a prolonged and frustrating
process of identifying potential and
real problems and fixing them. As
Sod's Law would have it there were
several problems, some of which
were masking others - and
although they are now more or less
sorted there is still some work to
do to get them to function as
effectively as I (as the driver) would
like.
So for the sake of the uninitiated
and generally unwashed, and also
for those who have a morbid
fascination in such things the
problems I discovered were these:
14
Car plus admirers
•
Brake lines needed bleeding,
and bleeding and bleeding .....
bleeding brake lines!!
•
Pedal travel was fowled by the
accelerator pivot shaft
•
Pedal travel was insufficient
•
•
Calliper pistons were stuck in
their bores - not majorly but
enough to force the disc to be
distorted on brake pressure
Rear drum brakes were
adjusted up too tight
•
The brake bias balance bar
would not allow single circuit
application in the event of one
circuit failing (See the fix
below).
•
Rear brake circuit master
cylinder bore was too small
causing excessive lever travel
and excessive rear braking
effort.
•
Original disc brake pads were
cheap and nasty and new
performance pads took a while
to bed in
•
Incorrect master cylinder
operating rod adjustment
meant that the bypass valve in
the master cylinder wasn't
functioning properly and on two
occasions the front brakes have
progressively locked on
Just one or two minor problems as
you can see. Most have been readily
surmounted, but have created their
own set of headaches in the
process. For those who are
intending using a brake bias balance
bar for a road car there are some
considerations you might want to
note. In order for the balance bar to
work properly the central bar must
be free to pivot about its central ball
joint. This is because the front and
rear master cylinders will travel
different distances and at different
rates depending on brake actuation.
In addition, in order to be able to
change the front / rear brake bias
the central ball joint must be free to
be adjusted from side to side, which
will further compound the
differences in movement of the two
master cylinder push rods. See
figure 1.
Spare Parts
Rear master
cylinder
Balance Bar
I
~
'-nr-r-
.. [
\\
U
u
Beginning of Travel
Start of Braking
Front master
cylinder and
Diston
Ball pivot
ioint
Brake lever
End of Travel
Full braking
Figure 1 Differential master cylinder piston travel with a balance bar.
course it can be configured to jam
appropriately on the loss of one
circuit. One suggestion that is
offered is that a suitable packing
washer be placed between the push
rod clevice and the balance bar
sleeve. I found this not to work, partly
because of the way the clevice was
designed and also because
adequate clearance is essential in
order for the balance bar to work at
all. See Figure 2
Now as you can the correct
operation of the balance bar relies
on the balancing of forces between
the two master cylinders. If
perchance one of those forces
disappears for some reason - i.e.
one of the brake circuits fails through
loss of fluid or whatever then the
balance bar ceases to function
properly. The remaining 'good' side
of the balance bar will only exert
brake pressure when or if the 'dud'
push rod jams or the piston comes
up against the end of the cylinder.
In most situations there would not
be enough pedal travel to make this
occur.
What did work however was to
make to cut a piece of steel to form
a disk about 10 mm thick, threaded
to suit the balance bar and with a
diameter about 3-4 mm less than the
interior of the balance bar sleeve.
This was wound on the balance bar,
hard up against the central ball jOint
pivot. It's diameter was such that in
Clevice
Jams
Here
So in a road car that has a legal
requirement for a failsafe dual circuit
system there is an inherent difficulty
in using a balance bar - unless of
I
I
I
Wash~r
So where to from here? Enjoy
driving - fix the things that need
fixing, finish making a hard top and
side screens for winter, and attend
to the list of things around the house
that have taken a back seat while
time and spare cash were being
poured into the car. And there are
other projects taking form just
begging for some workshop time.
Onward and upward. Next month "The True Cost of Scratch Building
a Car"
nI
'\
[
I
I
normal operation of the balance bar
there was clearance between it and
the sleeve in all positions of the bar.
However, it was large enough to
restrict over travel of the bar should
one circuit fail. See Figure 3.
Point of
Contact
U
'- '--I
u
Wrong
"'
Defective
Brake Circuit
Right
Figure 2 Making the balance bar work correctly on a single circuit failure.
April 2004
15
91
The .1vlorganP{us8
Ross Bridson
accompanying the vehicle through the manufacture
and assembly process. Customer waiting lists for
delivery of a vehicle have been as long as 5 years.
2004 marks the last year of production of this
wonderful motor car.
Specifications - (Original 1968 model)
"If old fashioned looks combined with a modern V8
engine is a recipe for immortality, then the Plus 8 is a
prime candidate. With its body lines firmly rooted in the
1930's, the 8 was effectively a re-engined version of
Morgan's long running Plus 4 model, the introduction of
which revitalized the concept. Although introduced in
1968, demand shows no sign of abating"
Length
12ft 2in
Width
4ft 9in
Height
4ft 4in
Wheelbase
8ft2in
Track
4ft front
4ft 2in rear
Unladen Weight
18761b(851kg
Engine:
V8, overhead valve,
89x71 mm, 3526cc
Compression ratio, 10.5:1.
Max power, 184bhp at
5200rpm
Max torque, 2661b/ft at
3000rpm
Transmission
Four Speed manual
Drive
Rear
SuspenSion (front):
Independent, sliding pillar
Suspension (rear)
Live axle, half elliptic springs
Top speed:
120mph
0-60mph
6.8sec
"50 Years of Classic cars" by Jonathan Wood
The earlier Plus 4 model had struggled to reach the
magic 100 mph mark and so the prospect of a V8 under
the handsome louvred bonnet gave the new Plus 8
previously unheralded performance potential. In fact with
the 3.5 litre V8 from the Rover 3500 and later SD1
saloons (which was of Buick origins) the Plus 8 could
comfortably exceed 120 mph. The car otherwise
appeared little changed. This was in fact deceptive
because the handcrafted, wood framed body was slightly
wider that its predecessor's and the wheelbase 2 inches
longer. This trend of a wider body was a trend to undergo
several iterations as progressively larger wheels and
wider tyres were given to the car. Archaically the Moss
gearbox continues to be located separately from the
engine (until the Rover all synchromesh 5 speed box
came available) and both the design of the similarly
antiquated Z-section chassis and the unusual sliding
pillar suspension were retained. The only outward
manifestation of its different mechanicals and
performance potential was the fitment of handsome,
cast magnesium, wheels. Subsequently the engine
capacity was increased to 3.9 litres, and then 4.2 litres
with the introduction of the fuel injected·versions of the
RoverV8
The Plus 8 has remained in constant but limited
production since its inception. In true Morgan style each
car was hand built the name of the prospective owner
April 2004
17
THELjR - ATYPICALNEWZEALANDISPECIAL' Parf1
1957
+
1995
INTRODUCTION:
The LJR is a sports-racing car originally designed & built by Lester Reader in 1956/1957. The car started life as
a 1929 Austin Seven. During its long life Lester drove it and developed it through many evolutions and finally
retired it from the SCANZ Sports 2 litre racing series when he hung up his driving boots as a result of ill health in
mid 1995.
A few of the successes the car achieved during its 39 year stint included:
Class wins and class records at nearly all southern north island hillclimbs
FTD and outright record at Judgeford hillclimb (twice)
FTD and outright record at Takapu Road bent sprint
FTD and open sports record atAdmiral Road gold star hillclimb - Wairarapa
SCANZ 2 litre Sports Championship winner in 1983 & 1984
SCANZ 2 litre Sports Championship 2nd , 3rd , 4th & 5th numerous times
Late in 1956 my 1929 Austin 7 'Chummy', affectionately
known as 'Loopy Lou', let me down on the way to
university when the diff decided it had had enough of
carting three large 17 year-olds up there every day! This
gave me the opportunity to do what I'd always wanted
to do - build a racing car. I already belonged to the Hutt
Valley Motoring Club & was part of a group who wanted
to build and race 750" formula cars complying with British
750 rules.
Loopy Lou with its proud owner in 1955
I set up a shelter at the back of our ancestral home in Brooklyn, borrowed some welding gear and armed with a
copy of the British 750 Motor Club's 'Special Builder's Guide', set about the job. Loopy Lou was stripped completely
on the road & the body taken to the tip. The rest was carted up our path in bits to the back garden, much to the
horror of my mother and grandmother.
Between about November 1956 and mid 1957, I beavered away at the project with occasional help from friends.
I spent a lot of time when I should have been working, doing all the machining and more specialised welding jobs
as 'perks' at the Civil Aviation mechanical workshops where I was supposed to be training to become a radio
technician. The boss was later heard to describe the car as the 'Civil Aviation Special'!
18
Spare Parts
.
When completed in 1957, the 'Special,' as it was called then, comprised:
•
1929 Austin 7 chassis, box sectioned with a space frame bronze welded round it.
•
Austin 7 - two main bearing engine c/w twin down-draft Zenith carburettors and a 4 into 1 exhaust.
•
Austin 7 - four speed gearbox with a remote mounted gear lever.
•
Lowered Austin 7 live axle suspension front and rear with hydraulic dampers.
•
Austin 7 cable operated brakes modified to couple the front and rear brakes. (As standard they were pedal
operated on the rear and handbrake operated on the front!)
•
2 seat sports body in aluminium, pop riveted to the frame.
•
Cycle guards front and rear.
The first event I competed at was a beach race meeting at (I
think) Waikanae Beach. The body wasn't complete at that time
and the scrutineer made me tie a cat's cradle of rope across the
driver's open doorway to stop me falling out. How times have
changed! The little car survived the day and gave me a real
taste for competition.
Moonshine Hillclimb 1957
In September 1957 when the LJR was fairly complete, I
competed in the Moonshine Road hillclimb, winning the 750 class
against a whole 3 other 750's on a rough and bumpy gravel
surface. I also competed in a number of other events over that
summer including hill climbs, gymkhanas (called motorkhanas
today) and trials.
Between 1957 & 1960, the Special underwent steady
development including:
• Wishbone front suspension (not very successful
because of big camber changes when the spring flexed)
• Alloy head (of my own construction and of which I
sold quite a few)
Front Suspension 1959
And, after a visit to the U/K at the tax-payer's expense:
Close ratio gear kit
Hydraulic brake kit (using Morris Minor 1000 components)
Racing camshaft
Home made alloy head
In those days I took great pleasure in regularly beating MG's & occasionally
even Healey's & TR2's whose drivers tended to look down on a lowly
Austin 7. A boost to the ego!
In 1961 in search of more power, I grafted an 1172cc Ford 10 engine &
Austin "Big 7" rear axle into the car & we were cooking with gas! It was
very light & went like a scalded cat. At one Wrights Hill hillclimb I kept
getting mis-timed. We finally found the car was doing a wheel stand off
the line & jumping the front wheels right over the hockey stick!
April 2004
Wrights Hill - Ford 10
Engine
19
In 1963 I fitted a De Dion rear suspension of my own design and
construction, an Austin "Big 7" based swing - axle front suspension,
a Repco Cam and 1.25" SU Carbs. That year I managed to set a
new outright record at Judgeford hillclimb & broke it again in 1964.
The hill was very narrow with a gravel surface but had several
relatively straight sections, which were very fast.
JudgeJord 1963 - De Dion Rear Suspension
In late 1965 I decided it was time to get rid of some of the flex
from the old chassis so designed & built a new space-frame
chassis & into this I fitted a Ford 997cc 105E engine which
were all the rage at that time along with the original front &
rear suspension & Austin 7 close ratio gearbox. Murray
Charles worked the head for me.
The results were a number of high placings, mainly in
hillclimbs, over the next year or three
New Chassis 1966 - Port Road Sprint
In 1966, much to the surprise of some of the 'gun' competitors, I
managed to take FTD at a sprint on a new venue at Takapu Road,
near Tawa. This was a winding sealed road, slightly up and down
and very tricky. Unfortunately we were unable to get this venue
again.
Levin 1967 - Let it all Hang Out!
In 1967, the old Austin gearbox cried quits & I fitted a Close Ratio
Ford 1500 'Bullet' gearbox. Also, a wishbone independent rear
suspension using McRae alloy uprights, Triumph Herald diff unit
c/w inboard drum brakes & wider wheels with Dunlop SP radial
tyres.
To get round a problem with carburettor flooding caused by engine vibration at high revs, I mounted the 1.5" SU
carburettors on the chassis with sections of rubber hose in the manifolds. Power was measured at 58 bhp at
8500 rpm on rolling road dyno, which probably meant about 90 bhp at the wheels. There was very little torque
and with the very high first gear, I used 9000 rpm to take off, wheels pinning it away. I was told after a Palmer
head hillclimb that a spectator, who was watching the tacho as I took off, nearly had kittens when he saw the
revs!
At about that stage I married Shirley and also began competing more
seriously in national race meetings, mainly at Levin. My long time cobber
Roy Johnstone bought a half share in the car to provide finance to enable
me to keep on competing. Not many people have a friend like that!
In a 1968 Levin National meeting, the clutch disintegrated at over 8000
rpm when I was changing down for Cabbage Tree corner, causing the
body to look like a colander and the car to spin mightily. The gearbox
became totally disconnected from the engine when the bell housing
disintegrated and the gear lever ended up in my lap - a very near thing!
After that little episode we fitted a diaphragm clutch in the interests of
safety. At the same time we upgraded the engine to a 1340cc three
main bearing Ford unit which gave appreciably more power and more
importantly, more torque than the 997 cc unit.
Clutch Blow-up - Levin 1968
Continued in Part 2
20
Spare Parts
1
CCCTeclinica{ Committee Meeting
Tuesday 23 Jvlarc!i 2004
Present: Grant Major, Tim
Hutchinson, Brian Worboys, Mike
Mcready, Dave Clout, Ken McAdam,
Rob West, Glen Collins, Roy Hoare
of the club committee as needed.
Safety Equipment was discussed,
for scrutineerings and Technical
Committee activities. It is agreed
Apologies: Anthony Moult, Mike that it would be prudent for the
Boven, Phil Derby, John Cumings, scrutineers to have access to fire
Roger O'Brien,
extinguishers, and perhaps to have
received first aid training. First Aid
Previous minutes: The minutes of kits might have been carried, butwe
the previous meeting were not also expect to find this need met by
available for review
the host of the scrutineering, or by
the
garage premises we are using.
Roy Hoare proposed more regular
It
was
noted that committee had
meetings and a greater input into the
discussed
and approved the
club and club meetings - to retain
proposed
purchase of fire
and foster the technical nature of the
extinguishers
etc.
club and the level of technical
support and discussion available. Grant Major noted that there had
This was generally accepted and the been a suggestion or expectation
means for implementing this was that the Technical Committee would
discussed at some length.
run another technical night, as was
Rob West proposed that the done last year, where there is a
Technical Committee review and particular focus on some technical
revisit known technical detail on a aspect. (Last year was a mock
regular basis for the benefit of new scrutineering check). This will to
club members or those that are now some degree be addressed through
faced with situations we have met further input at normal club nights.
before. This was generally accepted Ken McAdam suggested that the
as a useful action. Suggested topics process of brake stripping and
include: Welding practices, lights measurement (for wear) that was
and lighting, fire protection and previously being done by TSDs on
prevention, first aid, and the Low new scratch built vehicles was
Volume Vehicle certification process unnecessary and no longer being
and costs.
undertaken by the TSDs. This was
seen
as being a good change, but
Club storage for assets, tools and
G
Major
asked for reference to the
samples used by the Technical
legal
basis
ofthis change to process.
Committee was briefly discussed.
Ken
McAdam
is to search for this
Any requirements will be requested
April 2004
reference.
action: K McAdam
There was discussion of the
(re-)appointment of Technical
Committee members through the
upcoming AGM. All those present
were happy to be re-appointed. It
was commented that Andy Osborne
may care to become involved with
or on the committee.
The issue of safety was returned to,
and some discussion arrived at the
resolution that the First Aid kit
maintained by D Clout should have
a basic FirstAid manual added to it.
action: 0 Clout
The meeting completed a review
and audit of internal systems as
prescribed by the Quality
Management System procedures. It
noted that some of the documented
procedures deserve review to reflect
the current operating practice,
although these are generally minor
and insignificant changes.
action: G Major
A recent simplification of the seatbelt
rule has altered the 'H-point'
template, and this is to be revised
accordingly. The template carries
information on the prescribed
location of seat-belt mounts, and this
information would be useful to
builders fitting seatbelt, and should
be publicised accordingly.
action G Major
The meeting concluded at 9:45pm
21
fW.rMifano
Hi New Zealand
I happened to stumble on your Web
Site and the Milano of Graham
Brown caught my eye as I thought it
was the same type of car that I have
rebuilt. I asked via an e-mail for more
information about it and I suddenly
find myself writing an article for your
Spare Parts magazine.
My car, it has now been completed
for nearly two years and apart from
running in most sprint meetings here
in Queensland, it also has run in
several hillclimb and circuit
meetings. It won its class last year
at the four round circuit meeting at
Warrick, Qld., competing mainly
against Cobras.
I found the body like Graham Brown
in an old shed and immediately fell
in love with the shape, being that
they were a 5/7 scale replica of the
1954 Ferrari 750 Monza, you
couldn't not like it . The bodies were
manufactured in Sydney by "JWF
Fiberglass Industries" starting
around 1959, they were based on
Austin 7 chassis and running gear,
although a number of requests were
for the bodies to fit other chassis's
such as Singer, MG, Zephyr, etc so
about 10 different combinations of
wheel base and track were made.
My car is one of the first short
84"wheelbase bodies. JWF made
approximately 300 car shells, being
the MILANO, MILANO GT (which I
have one of as well, soon to
be built as a race car), ITALlA,
MODENA and the great GT2's of
which only 4 were made at the end
of there manufacture in 1970.
My car lay for a couple of years and
I just couldn't bring myself to restore
it with the Austin 7 running gear, not
that there was much left when I
purchased the car. So finally starting
the project I built a new chassis of
my own deSign, with independent
rear end with inboard discs, front
disc, 350 chev engine. Externally the
22
From all angles the GT is a very nice car
The Milano GT is currently in the early stages of a rebuild
Originally based on an Austin 7 the new space frame chassis
and Chev 350 has made it a little more competitive
Spare Parts
.....f
car still looks period but it has a
few modern conveniences,
although nothing post about
1972 in parts. It's been a great
little car and a lot of fun, and
different enough to be
interesting.
I wouldn't like to say that I am
dead keen on the Milano but I
do have another two of these
plus a couple of spare bodies.
My current project is a Milano, A
GT, which is a hard top. The two
spare bodies are for sale if
anybody is interested
It took two years to rebuild
this car for the road
From this angle the car bears
a strong resembalance to
Graham Browns Milano
This picture was taken at the Queensland Int Raceway at the
last National Historic meeting
JWF- Racing at Noosa
Newspaper adds printed
originally in 1961
I don't want to bore you too much
so I won't go on about it anymore,
but if any members are interested I
have a lot of paperwork of adds
and articles about the cars when
they were available.
All the best from the other side of
the ditch
SABRE
OBRA REPLICA
SEVEN
Visit our website
www.almac.co.nz
Ni_=ol.ilUS St, P.O. Box 40483, Upper Hutt, Ph/Fax 04 528-8680
April 2004
23
303 Willis Street, Wellington Ph (04) 801 5140 - Fax (04) 801 6665
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.maclennanperformance.com
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Full range of accessories
Spoilers, bodykits, seats, etc
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Suspension, exhausts
Brakes, brake upgrades
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YOKOHAMA - FALKEN - TOYO - BRIDGESTONE - UNIROYAL
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Spare Parts
J
STEERING &SUSPENSION SPECIALIST
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Suspension repairs and rebuilds
Steering joints, bushes
Shock absorbers
Wheel alignment
Brake Disc and Drum machining
All work unconditionally guaranteed
22 years of knowledge and experience
Discounts for CCC members
Superior
INDUSTRIES LTD
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April 2004
INDUSTRIES LTD
PO Box 38-432 Wellington Mail Centre
37-39 Eastern Hutt Rd, Wingate,Lower Hutt
Phone 04 939 2100
Fax 04 939 2110
Email: [email protected];:
25
Visit our website
www.usedtyres.co.nz
Valley Ia££er, Special"", aad
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it
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www.bruce-mclaren.com
(juanfians andpromoters of ~w Zeafand's !JV{otorsport Jiistorg and Jieritage
membership
095228224
[email protected]
PO Box 109050 Newmarket
Auckland
New M8 Merchandise range
Office & display rooms open
590 Remuera Road, Remuera, Auckland
Mon to Frid 10am - 4 pm
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Used
SUSPENSION PARTS
26
1
Tel: 568 5989
62 Waione Street, Petone
Spare Parts
for all mechanical engineering
172 Eastern Hutt Road
Ph 9392276
(opposite Taita Station)
Brake & chassis specialists
Drive shaft balancing
Custom-made radiators & repairs
Exhausts
Custom part manufacturers
Steering systems
Alloy & steel welding
Engine & gearbox conversions
all other engineering work
POWDER COATING SERVICES LTD
Coating Specialists
Automotive componentry Chassis - Suspension - Wheels
Old & New - Sandblasting Chemical Stripping Service
51 Port Road Seaview Lower Hutt Ph/Fax (04) 9392222
e-mail: [email protected] (DaveBeazer)
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162 Gracefleld Road, Lower Hutt
Phone 04 568 5924
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April 2004
27
Va we reaflj;.uVare to be 'Different"?
Dave Bray
The very nature of this Club
encourages us to "Dare to be
Different", yet when it comes down
to it, how different are we really in
our tastes in motor vehicles?
The appearance and detail of our
cars may occasionally vary from the
commercial norm, but almost
without exception we find ourselves
caught up in the orthodoxy of the
internal combustion engine whether that engine be two-stroke
or four; whether it be powered by
petrol, diesel, LPG or whatever; all
of which are non-renewable
resources which we will inevitably
run out of sooner or later.
Methane power?
It seems to me that the only fuel
suitable for the internal combustion
engine which we have, in a form
which is renewable in less than the
odd million years that oil products
apparently take, is methane.
Methane in its 'renewable' and everavailable (but not yet taxable) form
is predominantly a by-product of the
consumption of grass, and I haven't
yet figured out just how that can be
collected while the cows that provide
the production factories for this
process are still wandering about the
farm!
The barbecue ad. on TV somehow
doesn't seem too practicable.
Electricity?
One alternative source of motive
power which has been used on-andoff over the last hundred years is
electricity. It doesn't yet seem to
have progressed to the stage of
being commercially viable for
vehicles not connected to a power
supply - like trains and trams and
so on - though the technology is
rumoured to be making good
progress in that direction.
While seemingly non-polluting in
28
use, there remains, to me, the
problem that most of the electric
power itself is still produced by
means which
require the
consumption of coal or oil products,
and even when that is not the case,
manufacture of the generation
machinery is a high consumer of
such resources.
that the best alternative motivation
for road vehicles lies there.
I understand that each wind turbine
requires about 500 tonnes of steelreinforced concrete in its base pad
and a couple of hundred tons of
other bits of metal to keep it up in
the air. All very resource-costly to
manufacture so the savings are a
wee bit illusory really.
When did you last hear of a steam
ship or a steam train with a multispeed gearbox?
In commercial terms, the best all
round method of propulsion
available to most of us right now
therefore remains the "Otto cyc/e"
engine; this relies for its function on
a controlled form of explosion of its
fuel inside the combustion chamber
- hence 'internal combustion' - and
needs a high number and frequency
of these explosions to develop
anything in the way of a useful
amount of power.
Several thousand revolutions-perminute is the norm as we all know
from our day-to-day driving, and to
stay within a useful rev range we
have to utilise a gear box of one sort
or another.
So where lies the future - with
steam?
If we accept that there must be a
finite time over which we can
continue to burn oil to provide
propulSion, then we must look to a
better alternative, and there is one
way in which we may be able to
better utilise our scarce oil
resources, and do away with
gearboxes at the same time.
Since travelling to school daily on the
Great Western Railway I have held
a fascination for the enormous
power of steam, and I still believe
Steam is produced via the "Rankine
cycle"- that is from a heat source
outside the cylinder (hence 'external
combustion'), developing a power
band of sufficient width as to make
a gear box quite superfluous.
Watch one of the steam trains at
Paekakariki pull away from a
standstill, and wonder at the power
being produced to overcome the
inertia, then wonder again at the
mainline trains that can still exceed
the old-fashioned 'ton' with a couple
of hundred old-fashioned other tons
of rolling stock behind it.
Why don't we see steam
cars these days?
The common factor between
internal combustion and external
combustion power forms is
obviously the 'combustion'.
Heat is the obvious requirement
here, whether produced by setting
fire to coal, wood, oil, gas, dynamite
(it's been tried!) or whatever. Once
consumed, most are non-renewable
in a reasonable term - oil takes
millions of years and you couldn't
even grow trees fast enough to
operate even the trucks to get the
timber to the sawmills.
Steam powered road vehicles have
been tried for several centuries - well
before "Otto" came up with his
engine way back when - and their
downfall was primarily in the area of
difficulties the fuels then available,
all of which took too much time to
get up a sufficient head of steam to
be able to propel the vehicle.
Not simply too much time per se (it
was about the same time as
harnessing a horse to a carriage) but
Spare Parts
r
Above: 1924 Brooks
Steam-powered VW motor (one/or the
Club Captain?)
Below: Keen Steamliner
too much time by comparison with
that required to start the new-fangled
internal combustion engines.
Admittedly there were a few
problems with the availability of fuel
and water, and the small matter of
stoking the boilers, but those were
quickly overcome - by the use of
condensers to recover the water and
by oil-firing, a method which
unfortunately doesn't get us
anywhere in the long-term context.
Future firing?
There remains at least one
possibility as regards firing the
boilers however, and that is nuclear
power.
Somehow that may sound
sacrilegious in this country where we
don't seem to be able to recognise
the difference between nuclear
propulsion and nuclear weaponrybut it, or a derivation of it, will come,
if only because we will eventually
exhaust (!) the other alternatives.
Properly controlled, the technology
of heat (power) production by the
use of nuclear fuels is not sufficiently
dangerous to get all steamed up (!)
about as our politicians appear to do.
One example that I can cite for that
- and there are many others - is the
power station at Hinkley Point in
Somerset, in the West of England.
To my knowledge this has been
operating now since the 1950s (it
was well in existence when I lived in
the area in '56, and had extra
April 2004
reactors added in '76) driving steam
turbine generators. Certainly there
was opposition at the time of its
establishment, but it has been so
trouble free in the years since then
that most folk have forgotten its very
existence.
There are a number of web sites
devoted to it, including:
www.smerset.zynet.co.uk/attract!
hink_fam.html which is pretty
general
http://
www.powerstationeffects.co.uk/
codgraph.html
which shows how the cod population
has expanded over the years in the
nearby waters of the Bristol
Channel, and there are even reports
of an accidental release of 'one
gigabecquerel of Caesium 137
equivalent although the permitted
level is 1500 of whatever it or they
might be.
Currently
plans
are
for
decommissioning in about 2020,
which is not a bad life span for
1950's technology.
The crunch is that it's safe enough
if handled properly - and the same
is to be said for electricity, petrol or
'51 Chevrolet Steamer
"1951 Chev Sedan Delux
converted over a 20 year
period by Athol Jonas in
Auckland New Zealand
The system is based on
Doble Model F layout.
Monotube boiler, quartz
rod control, twin cylinder
compound BLSP 60hp
design (F style engine).
Home built with some
Stanley, White and Doble
parts. Nick name is
(Black Betty). "
anything else - even the bow-andarrow, which was a fearsome device
in its day.
I'm all for developing this resource,
not running away from it for some
weird emotional reason.
Back to the Car
Imagine this - a miniaturized form
of a nuclear reactor as a heat source
powering an instantaneous flash
boiler and providing massive
amounts of steam power, which
lends itself well to the Wankel rotary
or turbine type of engine
It's gotta be possible - one day, and
then we can employ water as the
motivation and return to the days of
the Stanley Steamer and some of
those other famous names of yore,
like:
White, Doble, Locomobile,
Brooks, Prescott, Geneva and
Bryan
There are the skilled enthusiasts out
there playing around with steam
power still; as recently as twenty or
thirty years ago, manufacturers such
as:
29
Williams, SES, Pritchard,
Brobeck, Lear, Steam Power
Systems and Dutcher
were still making cars, and enjoying
such events as the "Hot Fog Car
Tour" of the Stanley Steamers
(www.stanleysteamers.com or
www.stanleyautomobile.com )
Now I know we have a 'steamers' in
the Club in train nut Andrew Weeks
and in Ken Rogers with his model
boats, and we have heard of some
of the problems Ken faces with the
certification issues involved.
But when did the people who getthis
magazine let a small thing like
regulations inhibit their thinking, Qr
even their actions?
I guess that we should rest on the
nuclear fuel idea until commercial
interests have tamed and
miniaturized it somewhat, but in the
meantime there must be someone
who can produce a steam-powered
'Club' car.
Me? Well no; I've been reliably
informed that such a device is NOT
my next project!
!NlayVaY.1Vlacfnes$ at'.1Vlanfei[cf
Wendy Harding
passengers allowed. No passing on
corners, no excessive speed on
straights,. helmets and overalls·· not
mandatory.
Come one,comeaILtotheclub'spicnic day on
Saturday 1 May
This day is always very low-key andisa good
opportunity to do some fine-tuning onyour car if
needed.lfyouhaven~t beer! to Manfeild before,
theteis plenty of spectator seating, sheltered
areas to workoncpfs(andtheBBQ), big grassy
areasJorkids torun around, and toilets.
We:willyarythe sessions throughOlIt the day so
you can come and go. Passengers are allowed
in thelllore controlled sessions if friends and
familywanHo go with you:
The cost forthe wholedayJor club me.lllbers with
club carsisonly$20.per .driver. Ifyou bring.a
non-clubcarifs $30~ Lunch is included ($5 for
non-drivers).lfyouwantto make a weekend of
it there are several motels very close to the track.
PleaselefWendy know if you're coming (to
organise catering) and also if you can help with
the marshalling. No experience is needed to be
a marshal anditgives you quite a different view
of the track.
(All times are approximate but you must attend
the briefing session to be fully aware ofthe safety
requirements.)
30
9 t010 am
Scrutineering of all vehicles.
lOam
Drivers briefing detailing speed,
passing and general behaviour.
10.15am
Tutorial covering car control,
braking and cornering.
10.45am ish
1st group will be controlled to
approximately road speed,
12 noon to'1pmLunch ·~Motorbikes will be allowed
oulduringlunch if.we hiwe sufficient
marshals. CCCmembersand
friends only. No passing on corners,
full protective clothing/helmets
required,
Short tutorial session;
1.30 to 2;30pm More advanced drivers and speed,
passengers onlY in> approved
vehicles, helmets required, passing
on corners permitted with safety
paramount.
2;30 t03.30pm Advanced drivers at higher speeds,
helmets and overalls required.
Passengers only in approved
vehicles, passing permitted.
3.30 to 4 pm
Siowerdrivers,notexceeding road
speed, passengers for tutorial
permitted, no passing on corners,
helmets not mandatory.
4 to 4.30 pm
Advanced drivers, helmets and
overalls, passengers only in
approved cars, passing permitted.
All aspects of safety will be under the direct
supervision of a Licensed Clerk of Course. The track
will be manned by flag points. The flag marshals
will be briefed and in contact with the Clerk of
Course by radio at all times. There will be two
intervention vehicles and a St John's Ambulance
and crew. No more than 25 vehicles will be permitted
on the track at anyone time.
Spare Parts
Porscfie Wor(cC'RoadSfiow
A Thursday morning. Early. We pull
into Manfeild as a veil of mist hangs
over the track. Out of the mist
comes a sight to put a smile on any
sportscar enthusiast's face, a grid
of new Porsche's from 911 's to
Cayenne's and Boxsters.
Between the intermediate and back
straights a large marquee has been
set up where we find a good hot
breakfast and are told what to
expect for the rest of the day. I have
been lucky enough to be invited to
the Porsche World Roadshow. It is
a car sales showroom with a
difference. Their goal is to sell their
bloodstock, not using just pretty
brochures (of which there are a lot),
a video (a very good one featuring
the Cayenne) and big name
presenters (Shane Drake and Dean
Fulford, who was looking after my
group to name two), but to send us
out in all of their current offerings
on both the track and the road, not
just as passengers, but to drive the
cars ourselves. Well worth an early
start!
First up, we are introduced to the
pro drivers, who are there to help
us enjoy our day with their
expensive cars, and then split up
into groups often. By now it is 9am,
and only ten minutes later I am
pushing a 360hp 911 Carerra 2
manual around the track as fast as
I dare (we had all signed a form
saying pretty much "you break it;
you bought it") with Dean Fulford,
the leader of our group beside me.
After a few laps I pull over and jump
straight into a 911 Turbo. All I can
say is WOW! These cars are
amazingly easy to drive. To quote
Jeremy Clarkson "They've cracked
it... it is the most sorted road car
chassis ever." They are fitted with
ABS and ESP traction control and
really won't let you get too much
wrong, but 250km/ph at shortly after
9am in the morning is a way of
starting the day I am not used to,
but I could get very used to it. Forget
all the horror stories about old 911 's
and their propensity to swap ends
April 2004
with the smallest provocation, these
super car lions have been turned into
pussycats.
You hit the loud pedal hard (heh heh
heh 450hp!!!) and away she goes in
every gear. Coming down the front
straight at warp speed, you wait until
the 200m board then go hard on the
brake pedal, which brings in theABS,
lift off the brake before turning in with
a feathered accelerator, and away
you go again. What does 450hp in a
911 feel like?
Awesome, but not as raw as I
expected, or hoped it to be. After
punting my 7 around tracks in
various states of engine and tune, I
guess I am used to speed and seat
ofthe pants motoring, and to be quite
honest, being scared.
The 911 Turbo has very little of that
feel. It goes very, very fast and
brakes even faster, but it is almost
all too easy. I'd had a large dose of
brave pills before heading out in the
Turbo and it was fun pushing it hard
to faster than my 7 ever has been
or is likely to go. I'd have one. In a
second! (Must remember to start
buying Lotto tickets).
From there we are taken to the
extension part of the track we are
find out just how good the Porsche
traction control is by completing a
moose test in a 911 Carerra 4 with
380hp. This is a high-speed
avoidance manoeuvre. Quite simply
the difference between ESP on and
ESP off is that with it off you will have
something close to a spin attempting
to avoid a large mammal at over
80km/ph. With it on, the car will do
everything it can to keep you
pointing in the right direction by
individually braking wheels to avoid
traction or control being lost. You can
really feel it working. I now know that
if a moose steps into my path, and I
am lucky enough to be driving one
31
of these cars, I can safely dodge
around it and back onto my side of
the road at 80km/ph; with a big smile
on my face.
From here we move to another
section of the extension, were we
found a yellow Boxster S with the
speedster kit fitted. The people from
Porsche have a close to 1km slalom
loop set up for us to destroy their
tyres on. Very kind of them really.
Dean Fulford took each of us on a
familiarisation lap, to show us how
it is done. We then each had a
practise and two timed runs, to add
a little competitiveness to the day.
The Boxster was a real surprise. It
is not only the most affordable of the
range, but could almost be the most
fun. It's mid-engine layout makes it
more forgiving that even the tamed
911, and you really can push it a long
way before it bites. It was easy to
find understeer, but all that was
needed to move past that is a
considered application of the right
foot to bring on easily controllable
oversteer. My only dislike of this car
came from the Tiptronic gearbox.
The 911's with the semi-auto had
changes were always crisp and
immediate, to the point that I was
made to reconsider my requirement
that a sportscar have to be a
manual. The 911's Tiptronic was
simply better than I was at changing
gears. The Boxster's gearbox was
32
just what I had come to expect from
semi-autos in Mitsubishi's and Ford
Falcon's, that is to say, not very
good. Everything else was just right
in the baby Porsche, and with
360HP under the right boot it really
feels like a Porsche.
After and excellent lunch we were
let out on the road. We were warned
that any speeding tickets were to be
our own responsibility, but that
seemed to be the last thing on
anyone's mind. After all, we were
being encouraged to enjoy some of
the best sportscars money can buy.
If the Boxster was a surprise to me,
the Cayenne was a shock. The
Cayenne has had an incredibly poor
sales record in the US especially.
This was not immediately surprising,
as the 5-litre V8 Turbo beast that I
was sitting in cost a cool $265,000
before you add options. That is
almost twice what my home cost!
The message on the day was "This
really is a Porsche" and they are
right. It really is simply a sportscar
that has been captured by a mad
scientist and fed way to many
hormones. The Cayenne looks like
a 911 that was turned into a monster
truck and had a couple of extra
doors added, which may not fit
everyone's likes in terms of design,
but in performance it surely does the
business. Again the magic figure is
450, and I am happy to say that I
introduced myself to each and every
one of the horses living under the
bonnet. 620Nm of torques picks the
2.5 ton monster up and propels it
from a standing start to 100km/h in
5.1 second (verified several times
by the writer :». We set off in a
convoy of seven Cayenne's, with a
Porsche rep in front and another as
tail end Charlie for an hour's tour of
the countryside. It must have been
a very strange sight to anyone that
saw us. There was the value of the
gross national product of a small
nation tearing down the road, each
one's
occupants
grinning
maniacally. The self levelling,
adjustable suspension is good, the
handling is good, the level of comfort
is excellent, but there is always
something sitting in the back of your
mind telling you that you are driving
something that is about the size of
an aircraft carrier, and you are really
enjoying it. It was a new sensation
for me. The only complaint I heard
about the cars from a fellow driver,
was that it was slower to 130 than
his M class Merc. When it was
pOinted out that that was MPH, he
seemed happier.
We then swapped to a waiting
queue of 911 'so For our selection
were 2WD, 4WD, coupe, targa or
cabriolet in combinations of each.
My first choice was the 2WD
Cabriolet. The sun was shining, and
being a wind in my hair, bugs in my
teeth type, I thought what could be
better. It was everything I hoped for.
It was great fun to drive, with the
benefit of nothing overhead to
dampen the sound of the flat six in
the back. Half an hour later we all
stopped to swap cars and I was
piloting a Carerra 4 Coupe.
Then it was back to the marquee for
a presentation of prizes and
certificates, then out to the track
again for hot laps with the pros. As
the head instructor put is, we had
been scaring them all day with our
driving; now it was their turn. My first
ride was in the 911 Turbo, which was
fast, then onto the beast itself, the
GT3, which was amazing, but the
highlight was the Cayenne Turbo.
Sliding around the track with five
Spare Parts
~
giggling passengers changed the
way I think of this 4WD. It really is a
Porsche. Maybe they should make
this a standard part of the client
demo; they would sell a lot more.
During the five weeks the Porsche
World Roadshow has been in New
Sunday 28 March, the Grass
Motorkhana. You forgot to colTle?
Wellsprry but you missed out on
another great low key fun filled
eventldon't recaUdne" wherewe
have .Iaughed so much. Larrived
a bitlate to find BriCiO had moved
the event to asite adjacent to that
origi~ally bookE,l~•. ltturnsoufthat
the cricket season.had not
finishe.cial1d therewereUttle kids
playing cricket alloverthepark
including our booked picnic area.
Theywere supposed to finish late
in the morning butthey ran over
their projected finish time as well,
Notsure ofthel1umbersentered,
about 12 or so,.butwe did· have
fun, including John Bell who
turned up in his Trivia, all togged
up against the morning Cllill. Most
of us get slower as we get older
but I'm sure John has never
thrashed Trivia so hard before~
he had a great time, massive
wheel·spineverytime off the line
and amused us all doing it. It was
great to hear the quiet burble of
John Wilson's 'Ferrari' straight 6
through twin exhausts. I love
straight 6's through twin pipes,
takes me back to the days of my
oldMk II LZephyr. And the smile
on Wendy's face every time she
came back in from a run, the sort
of smile you can only get from a
rush of·adrenaline. The sort of
smile that says 'have I been
naughty'. The great thing about
these events is you can dowhat
you would get the book thrown at
you if you did it out on the road.
The hoons of the day turned out
to be the front wheel drive Jappa's
- these little cars ripped the grass
up worse than my heavy
j
April 2004
Zealand, three weeks based at
Ruapuna, and two weeks at
Manfeild, these cars have been
soundly thrashed every day with the
only casualties being the tyres and
fuel. There cannot be too many
other cars that perform like these
l
that can do the same.
A link to some pictures from the day
from the day can be found at
www.kellyassociates.co.nz/
links.html. I'll have some video
online shortly.
Commodore. The weather started www.constructorscarclub.org.nz
outverywarm but turnedoUttobe
a mild nip in the air attimes.Ther~ During this coming year
Vii"
were the usual spins andwro~g needmorearticlE;!sfor our
turns but hey we were haviflgfun .. magazine .. N<?te<J.;s51 id UI)
on the damp .grasswhicr.m.ade fTlagazine:.ltisx()ur~ian(t!Tlirie,
things veryinteresti~g.()nemE:!mbe( sow~ly.not putpen tp.'pap~r'9r
who shallremain··•. nameless fifl~~rs .• tothe.keyboard,>.and
managed to knockdo\iVn otdrive·· . subrnitarlarticleortwO. Th~b~st
over almostevery C()ne in·one~Vertt; C1rti9'E:!s ctret~o~e·(>nyourown .
As the .grass dried .outtherewas>aexperiences during. the build
hint of dust, .whichevE,lntuaIlY.I11E,lctnt process-helps uS alt.lear~from··
we had to shift the coursebac~toyourexperienceS,mjstakesretc
the site we had booked originally. Oh and entertains us alLAnotherone
yeah, have ybu ever seen a little we used to ask of members was
Jappa take off sounding like a BRM to tell us about your first car. I still
V16 Mk II?No, welliguessyou had have fond memories of my 1961
to be there to see NikJames with VW Beetre; one of the proper
his stereo turned up loud, blasting ones, rear wheeldrive,arse
out parts of the sound track from hanging out. .. frightening myself
'Intathe Red', Damn;lwishl could silly on the open road, front
remember who I lent my cOPY0rl sledging at low speeds in the wet;
tape to, haven't seen it for ages: having fun on gravel, Yep, those
Must try and get the original CD. I were the days,
was pleasantly surprised to hear it
raining later-that night as now in a I've set myself a target for next
couple of days you shouldn't be able month, April that is, The Leitch is
to see that we had even been there going to be back on the. road in
racing around on thegrass- makes time to go to Manfeild on May 1
it easy to get the site again next time. for ourcorporateday.Youread it
here first. Now lets hope I can find
I hada quick look at the LWTAweb the time to do it.
site that Grant had mentioned at our
I've enjoyed my last five years as
last club night during his technical
secretary but I can't have aU the
report. If you are looking for all the
fun and feel I should let someone
relevant rules this isthe place to go.
else have a turn before you all get
When I get time (Le. not trying to
really sick of me.
write up the minutes of last months
meeting during my lunch hour) I Short and sweet from me this
intend to have a good look.. It's really month and hopefully this time
satisfying to see our club badge and next month we will have a new
name on their web site being secretary. Keep on building or
acknowledged as one of the restoring ..
founding members. And the sites
name -www.lwta.org.nzoryoucan .. Cheers, The Ankle Biter.
access it through our own web site -
We:
9
33
[email protected]
CCC ClubSport
Last month's Club Sport section couldn't quite make the magazine, mainly because I was too late!!
A special
McLaren Family
Wedding
Club members
Amanda McLaren
&
Steve Donnell
2(1h March 2004
Hopefully everyone enjoyed the McLaren articles last month, compliments have come from afar, but apart from
the obvious skills of our editor, and publisher, special mention should also be made of our club member Matthew
Cooley, who produces the excellent cover layouts that we have seen recently with our Spare Parts magazines.
Was great to see Amanda & Steve enjoying a lovely Wellington summer's day for their special day recently.
Along with Steve's family the photo above shows Amanda's mum Patty, and those wonderful people from the
McLaren Trust, Jan (McLaren) & John Storr, who attended our last car show and displayed the M 12 Can-am car.
Michelle and I enjoyed a great day and catching up with the latest McLaren happening's.
Well some of my news is a bit old hat by now so bare with me. So what's been happening apart from this never
ending summer of rain and wind. Manfeild certainly took a battering. Even Pukekohe had its problems with the
Northern Sports CC meeting at Pukekohe 28th /29 th February cancelled due to just a little more rain that flooded
the track. No racing for the F2 lads which was a shame.
Obvious why Manfeild has Jet Sprinting, certainly they did well to get the track up and running again quickly.
Couple of weeks after flooding
34
John Mines on his winning way yet again at
MG Charity March meeting
Spare Parts
Ewart Anderson, club member - Winner & TV One Sunday Helix Motorsport Star, Ruapuna
]>t February Speed Festival meeting and March MG Charity meeting 'JIh March
shown here with his potent Mini Cooper
Ewart has proved something for us all -
Mother in Laws can be convinced!
Sit her down in front of your TV, put on a video clip and then say - " see Mum, I'm not a loser after all."
The full Anderson family apparently suffered the same fate later, and so they should have too.
Club members Ewart Anderson and John Mines had a great time down south at the Speed Festival early in
February, competing in two of the four meetings at Ruapuna (Christchurch) and Levels (Timaru). John was
competing amongst the single seaters but still managed to bring his elderly JRM home for some fine podium
places. As for Ewart, starting off in 36 th place (practice times n/c) for the 1st race he finished 10th . Then if you were
watching Sunday Shell Sport on TV1 a few weeks ago you would have seen Ewart's second race where in the
pouring rain he passed a 8roadspeed Escort on the second lap and went then went on to win his first ever motor
race. Great stuff and shown above (top LH) nipping up the inside of one of many fine overseas cars competing,
the above being an immaculate 50's Porsche 356C - I believe from Colorado, USA.
The Speed festival includes 4 meetings that also includes Teretonga and a Street race, a huge overseas entry
and if you ask anyone who has been down there, they strongly recommend the series as something special
(weather aside). Perhaps a club run next year?
Ewart also won well at recent MG Charity meeting (top RH) at Manfeild to prove it wasn't a fluke, good stuff.
Above are more CCC Club winners or top place getters racing at Manfeild and Taupo meetings
earlier this year. Marvin Turton shown on left competing in his trusty Mini Clubman,
and Anthony Moult in the faithfull and quick Gulf 7.
Perhaps with the success of these Mini.drivers from the club recently, we may see them progress into the sports
car arena in the future.
Of interest I visited Auckland recently with friends and spotted amongst other cars, a couple of complete South
African built RM7 seven type sports cars broken down into component parts. Interesting as these cars were
brand new from storage in Singapore, about 1989 vintage I believe.
April 2004
35
Unused
RM7 Kit in
parts in
Auckland
So if you are looking for an unused and complete car including engine/upholstery/wiring etc in Kit form, the price
is pretty reasonable. The RM7 is a copy of a Westfield/Caterham type Lotus Seven. Ring myself or Anthony Moult if
you want any info. There were three for sale originally, only one left at time of writing this.
On the local scene, talking to Gavin Bateman of Bateman Racecars recently, he tells me that he is off to Florida, USA
soon to help oversee a production facility to start building Saker's for the USA market.
Gavin who runs a business from Grenada in Wellington, manufacturers race wheels, components, and builds road
and race cars. He has developed a business relationship with Palmerston North based Saker Cars, that has now
transcended into the American market. Bruce Turnbull, of Saker Cars (Turnbull Engineering), has already developed
a market in Holland where I believe at least 10 cars are nearing completion made under licence.
This has seen a one make series about to commence where they hope to have up to twenty cars on the track within
the next couple of years. If the objectives of the Florida dream comes to fruition, there will be two International Saker
race series in the world. Quite an achievement indeed.
Left: 460HP Lexus V8 powered Saker
one of two so far built by Gavin Bateman
Racecars in Wellington, this car now
resides at its home in Miami, USA.
It is also gratifying to see the relationships develop within the local
race car manufacturers and others in the engine management
and tuning industry, a win situation for all as the NZ Kit and Race
Car industry continues to develop international recognition.
One such person is a very talented and likeable chap, "Andre
Simons" who currently holds the Australasian % mile record for 4
cylinder 4WD cars, amazing 9.6 seconds, with a 800plus BHP
Mitusbishi Lancer Evo 2. Andre who is a friend of club member
Phil Bradshaw, has degree in technology and has developed a
race tuning/development business in Lower Hutt called Speedtech
Motorsport. Not only is he looking to take on the world record with
his Mitusbishi Evo soon, he is also involved with the mapping of
the WRX engines for the Saker Race cars with the impending
American market, apparently current customer demand is for 460
reliable BHP from the WRX engines. A challenge Andre I am sure
will conquer.
Below: Speedtech Motorsport
510KW 850 HP 2 litre Evo now with space
frame, one piece carbon fibre front
weighing 6kg, running on Methanol,
looking for world record for 4 cy14WD,
who said Kiwi's can't fly.
Project has been sitting idle since early last
year, but looking for 1000 odd HP and
joining 8 second club soon all going well.
A highly respected engine management computer company MD
reportedly recently that in their view, Andre Simon is one of only
two people in NZ who fully understands the engine management
process and the art of performance tuning of engines. High praise
indeed.
36
Spare Parts
-----i....
8 -SECOND CLUB
Times below recorded 2003.
NAME
MAIN SPONSOR
VEHICLE
BEST ET
Glen Suckling
Reece McGregor
Croyden Wholesalers Racing
Heat Treatments Racing
Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R
Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R
8.55 @ 260kph (166mph)
8.63 @ 255kph (162mph)
9-SECOND CLUB
Times below recorded 2003
NAME
MAIN SPONSOR
VEHICLE
BEST ET
Andre Simon
Tony Bateson
Speedtech Motorsport
RX7 Heaven
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III
Mazda RX-7 Series VI
9.59 @ 239kph (149mph)
9.66 @ 203kph (126mph)
Club members were to the fore again at Taupo recently with Kevin Hunt scoring several seconds just behind the
Colin Grant Beattie, and Anthony Moult also did very well with a couple of 4ths in good fields of three Beatties, 4
Redline Sprints, several Frasers, several Sylia Strikers, usual Lotus and replica 7's, and a Lotus Eleven making
up great fields for the clubman type cars.
Kevin Hunt's beautiful
Redline Sprint
at speed at Taccoc Taupo
meeting Feb 22nd
We haven't heard from our very clever Phil Bradshaw for a while in Spare Parts, but a recent visit from Anthony
and myself found that he hasn't been shirking of late.
Living on a lifestyle block North West of Auckland, things have been a little hectic for a would be country boy.
As you can see looking at his back yard shown above, he has been a busy lad, modifying/wiring Lexus VB's is his
favourite pastime lately, his talents often on call to help on many projects that has had the benefit of a Lexus
transplant.
April 2004
37
He has promised me that there will be articles to come very soon. One to look forward to will be on his Woodie
project shown here above RH. With a space frame 'ladder type chassis, wishbone suspension and yes ... a
Lexus va, this Woodie will go stop and handle, sound good and make those blondes look again.Watch this
space.
Apparently the Fraser Seven owners club recently braved the so called summer weather for their own Taupo
meeting in February, great weekend by all accounts but they struck the torrential weather getting home, especially
those heading to Wellington. 6 Yz hours was a marathon trip, but a medal must go to Roger Bramley who braved
the trip in his open top Fraser, I guess a snorkel might not have gone amiss on that trip home but I hear that all
made it home safely which is great.
Kim Bulwerwith his 1aRG powered collectable n02 Fraser, blew his motor at the track, so an updated transplant
is on the agenda I'm told. As for speeding tickets, speak to Terry Buffery, ouch ?? a story for the magazine at a
latter date no doubt.
Well that is more than enough this month, looks like there will be a meeting of the Kit car manufacturer's clan at
the National Motor Show in Hamilton, weekend March 20/2151. John McGregor (McGregor 7) from Christchurch
was to make the long haul, assume Fraser cars, Almac cars, Redline etc would have also attended along with
numerous club members making the trip. The club hopes everyone had a successful show and sales.
Motorsport summer calendar winding down, good luck to Dynapack for their last main race meeting of the
season, until next month go hard, go well.
MotorSport
Nevv Zealand
®
Letter to the 'Edltor
Hi Sir
WOW! Just got copy of your magazine. It is great! Thanks! Dave When I have digested it, will
pass on to other club members.
You see, not only do you beat us at rugby and cricket, your magazine and kit car industry is tops
as well! One of our guys commented though "Bet they can't drive their Sevens (top down) all
year round" Kidding aside, we do have fantastic weather to enjoy open top Seven motoring. And
we also have plenty of tar back roads in pretty good condition to actually appreciate the handling
of these little cars. A short run we like to do under 100km round trip. Longer runs we do about
250-300km round trip (this on Sunday morning, includes stop for breakfast and back home
before lunch)
Myoid car is now owned by Dave Arnold (see on our Site) that I bought as a rolling chassis in
very poor state. It is a Louis O'Brien chassis (original dimensions so it is just perfectly tight for
my 1.a1 m) and has all Nissan running gear. I modified the 1400 motor Slightly and could that
little motor go! No Kent 1600 with Webers etc could stay with me. It also handles like a dream total weight 520kg. I am building a new car now, with a chassis made by one of our members
based on a mixture of Westfield and Caterham designs. He has done some 40+ and handle
motors up to Rover vas. Mine will be having a turbo rotary 13B Mazda with Mtech management
etc. Progress is a bit slow at the moment but will pick up soon.
Anyway, enough of my rambling! Thanks once again for the magazine.
Regards
Rob Hewitt
The SEVEN CAR CLUB OF NATAL
South Africa
38
Spare Parts
L
you;TJon'tXnow9{ow.·LUckyVou.Jtre.
Once upon a time, possible when
dinosaurs roamed the earth, it was everymans right to drive has car whenever and
wherever he liked, pretty much at any
speed he liked and to do it drunk if he
happened to be drunk at the time. Other
road-users be dammed! Not only was
this a right, it was expected.
literally dozens of companies making road legal track cars. Examples:
Car
Caterham R500
Radical SR3
Westfield XTR2
MK Engineering
Aerial Atom
Cost NZ$
$100,000
$100,000
$70,000
$35,000
$80,000
Engine
Rover K series
Susuki Hayabusa
SusukiHayabusa
Honda Fireblade
Rover K series
HP
230
252@9500
172
111 -190
N.B. prices vary a lot according to actual specs.
A lot has changed. No matter from which
direction you are coming from, it is clear
that it is in everyone's best interests that
we accept that the road network is a
public facility that must serve the needs
of a wide range of rightful users. The
roads will continue to get more
congested and we will all get along best
if we are all reading from the same song
sheet. There is a greater general
appreciation now of what contributes to
keeping the roads safe, as is evident in
today's lower road tolls. Basically, it pays
just to fit in with things and enjoy motoring
as best you can within the constrains that
prevail. This makes very good sense. It
feels good to be a responsible citizen,
but it can also feel a bit boring. What
future can there be for the "alternative
drive style"? After all, how many shades
of gray are there?
The saviour is possibly the "Track Day".
This seems to be some sort of emerging
global phenomenon. In so many
countries there are now regularly
organized track-days where punters can
drive their cars as fast as they like, but
do not need to expose themselves to the
risks of actual racing. Not only does this
provide some justification for owning a
car that can go faster than 100 kph, but
also, the track is a very safe environment
compared to the road. It is particularly
safe for the general public, because they
aren't even there.
In the UK the track-day interest has given
birth to a new type of car - the road-legal
track car. These machines boast
extremely high power-weight ratios, and
despite the lights and number plates, are
actually 99% track and 1% road. In actual
fact, they tend to do most of their road
work on a trailer. In the UK there are
April 2004
The Radical SR4 which can go 0 to 100 kph in
three seconds
Having bought your track car, where can you use it as it was intended?
A search of the web finds track days advertised all over England,
Europe and USA. Here is a small sample.
Track
Snetterton
Brands Hatch
Donington
Nurburgring
Laguna Seca
Track Day Cost, $NZ
$500
$550
$600
$700
$600
Compare this with our beloved Manfeild. Public days, $10 for 10 laps.
CCC track day, all you can eat for $20 in your club car.
Well it seems to me, if you like to play with fast cars, then you might
as well do it with a car that is built without compromise just for this
purpose, at a track where this behavior is encouraged. I note that as
Constructors Car Club members, we are ideally placed to do this as
we can build good cars for this purpose at a fraction of the shop price
and in NZ, we can get onto excellent tracks at a much lower cost than
the rest of the world has to pay. It even makes sense to build a trackonly car and spend the registration cost on building a trailer instead.
Anyway, the first step is to see how much fun a track day can be and,
fancy that, we have one coming up in just a couple of weeks. Sunday,
1st May, Manfeild.
Come and experience that curious feeling of driving your car in excess
of the legal limit... and no guilt! You did well my son!
39
~
ConstructorsCarClub Motorkhana: 28 March 2004 : Results
Overall
PI
Driver
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Bill Peacock
Brian Worboys
Michael Peacock
Oliver James
Johathan Clifford
John Cumming
David Harding-Shaw
Mat Cooley
Dave Clout
Wendy Harding
Bill Pinkham
Dave Frost
Nick James
Brian Hanaray
John Bell
John Wilson
Sean Rigby
Total
car
Seconds
S-S/alom
Victory
Napoleon
Test10
Best Place
Best Place
Best Place
Best Place
28.97
28.63
29.62
30.12
31.25
29.15
31.16
32.03
35.82
34.47
31.75
33.00
35.25
31.63
40.90
39.53
29.57
42.71
44.13
42.00
44.79
47.37
47.40
49.82
46.87
39.18
46.97
53.63
52.88
55.56
51.00
56.05
49.16
48.35
WRXSTI
126.46 25.88
Road Rat
131.86 25.35
WRXSTI
132.68 30.13
135.82 27.66
Starlet
Pulsar
138.68 27.19
Fraser
139.36 29.37
Harding 7
140.05 28.00
Corona
143.94 32.13
Comode
144.97 31.90
Harding 7
145.33 27.93
AlmacTG
147.35 29.03
AlmacCobra 150.57 30.06
Starlet
151.06 28.16
Integra
152.63 30.12
Tri-Via
174.04 34.12
Fefrari
1,119.34 30.66
Integra
2,077.90 999.99
2
1
12
4
3
9
6
15
14
5
8
10
7
11
16
13
17
28.90
33.75
30.93
33.25
32.87
33.44
31.07
32.91
38.07
35.96
32.94
34.63
32.09
39.88
42.97
999.99
999.99
1
10
2
8
5
9
3
6
13
12
7
11
4
14
15
16
16
2
1
5
6
8
3
7
11
15
13
10
12
14
9
17
16
4
3
4
2
5
8
9
12
6
1
7
15
14
16
13
17
11
10
Full details of each run can be obtained from http://www.geocities.com/roadratccc/ccc/ccc.html
Left: 3.. 2... 1... GO - for
John Bell and the
Trivia
Right:
Bill Pinkham heads for
the next cone
Left: Club cars line
up for the next event
Right: Wendy and
Anna clearly
enjoying themselves
Left: John
Cumming under
starter's orders
Right: John Bell
puts his right
hand down a bit
40
Spare Parts
,
,
J{ami[tonNationa[ Motor'Sliow
19""'- ,21 'Marcli.2004.
The idea was to leave prom pity
between 9:30 and 10am on the
Wednesday morning. I still did not
know if I was taking my Sabre. Alex
had said that it might help with his
Almac cars display. I did not mind
either way but I was happy to drive it
up if it helped Alex out. At quarter
past nine the phone rang, it was Alex.
of the toey security guard. Once it
was locked up it was off to club
members Geoff and Jill McMillan'S
house to bunk down.
Thursday was an early start and
straight to Mystery Creek to finish
assembling the interior of the S2.
The interior is a very close mock-up
of what the final production car will
"I have managed to arrange you a look like but there is still some R&D
work to do which became evident
spot at the show." Said Alex.
from the amount of muttering that
"Not a problem, I have washed the was going on from my older
car especially." I said.
associate with a name of Scottish
extraction. It was bit of a grind but
"That's good then because you are
by 7pm the car was pronounced fit,
the sole representative of the
albeit reluctantly, for the show which
Constructors Car Club."
would start tomorrow.
"But I have no promotional materials
Thursday was the start of the show
or anything."
and once again we were up bright
and early although Alex thought it
"Well, you have got half an hour."
was still the middle of the night.
"Thanks Alex."
When we got to Mystery Creek we
discovered that our final neighbours
"Don't mention it."
had arrived in the form of two Loti
and
Pagani Zonda. With the Pagani
Next thing that happens I am
having
a value of $1.2 million dollars
scrambling around the house trying
and
the
Loti or is it Lotus' each being
to find sufficient material to take with
me. Arriving at the Almac factory by worth $80,000 we decided that the
10am I discovered that the new Sabre was out with the appropriate
company. Unfortunately there was
no room for my Sabre so that was
parked outside.
Doing a little exploring before the
show opened I stumbled across the
official launch of the Chrysler
Crossfire in New Zealand. Having
only seconds before attended the
slightly smaller (no fanfare, no
dignitaries and if you remembered
you brought your own cheese and
biscuits) official launch of the new
Almac Sabre I thought I was onto a
good thing. Feeling a little obvious
in my club sweatshirt and lack of a
suit I joined in as part of the official
entourage and enjoyed the show.
Built on the same platform as the
Mercedes SLK the Crossfire the car
looks asAmerican as the Mercedes
looks German. I wasn't taken with it
and enjoyed the cheese and biscuits
more. I may revise my opinion once
it is on the road so the jury remains
outonit.
Just behind the Crossfire was the
surprise addition, on the Classic
Driver magazine stand, the fabulous
SL of Sam Lyle. This is the third SL
that Sam has built and this one he
Series 2 (S2) racing Sabre was not
yet ready to go as last minute
changes were still being made.
However eventually the Sabre was
on the trailer and we were on our way
by 11: 30. Alex was in the van with
the car trailer and I trawled along
behind him in my Sabre. The trip was
uneventful other than the fact that I
have never been passed by so many
trucks in my life as the van had a
thing about going up a hill with
anything that resembled speed.
Arriving in Hamilton we headed
straight to Mystery Creek where the
show was being held. We were not
appreciated as the facility was set
to lock up at 8pm and we arrived at
five minutes to eight. Still the S2
came off the trailer a lot easier than
it went on much to the appreciation
April 2004
Alex McDonald with two potential customers
41
intends to keep although he has had
to detune the twin turbo Nissan
300ZX motor after burning out the
clutch. Sam told me that he is
currently building car number four
with a firm order for another two
once that one is finished. Classic
Driver have recently done an article
on the SL and sponsored Sam to put
his car on their stand.
Another car I liked but baulked when
I saw the price of it was the Arial
Atom. They had three Atoms on their
stand which were being sold for
$90,800 each, excluding registration
and on road costs. This seems a bit
steep to pay for a car with no doors
and only a draught for a wall.
However it was nicely detailed with
modern colours. They are imported
fully built up from the UK and I
suspect that they will only sell to a
very limited Auckland market unless
the price comes way down.
On the kit car scene besides the
Almac stand I managed to catch up
with John McGregor again, of
McGregor cars, and met Kevin Hunt
of Redline Performance Cars. John
had a blue and very nicely presented
Seven and whenever I walked by he
always seemed to be busy. Kevin
had also been busy with his two little
sports cars and said that in the last
three years 18 have gone through
the door. He is planning to bring his
own one down to the Whittaker's
Classic Car Race at Manfeild along
with twelve others of his marque.
John had come a long way from
Christchurch for this show and was
quietly confident that it would be
worth the effort.
In the main pavilion there was an
incredible range of exhibitors from
brake pad retailers to engine
conditioners, from a very sad looking
VW special, which had seen better
days several decades ago, to the
high tech carbon fibred Zonder. At
one of the stands I was tempted to
buy several little die cast cars, so I
did. One of them was a car I had
been searching for many years. It
was a Lincoln Futura a Ford
concept car of the late 1950's. Most
will know it as the Batmobile after it
was purchased from Ford for a
42
ArieIAtom.. 98 thousand plus on road costs
Classic lines of the SL
dollar by George Barris. Then itwas
turned into the Batmobile which was
featured in TV Batman programme
of the late 60's. I had never seen a
die cast model of it and definitely not
in 1/64th scale which is the size I
collect. Needless to say it did not
stay on the shelf long.
On the Almac stand it never ceased
to amaze me the type of questions
I was asked. A young lad from the
reversed cap fraternity came along
and conversed, after which I decided
to be more careful about how I
answered people's questions.
"Does the car come with fourwheel
steering?"
"Only if you loosen the wheel nuts."
I said with a grin on my face waiting
for the penny to drop.
"Really" he said.
"Yes, but the car does not always
go where you want it."
"How do you fix that?"
"You tighten the wheel nuts."
"Is it a bit of a design fault?"
Spare Parts
k .
I was getting a bit worried now.
"Yes, we have decided to take the
four wheel steering model off the
market."
At this point he decided to wander
off to the next stall. Still worried I
made a final comment.
"You should check your wheel nuts
regularly to make sure they are
tight."
"Thanks." He said.
Another conversation. Same
fraternity. Except this time he was
with friends and a girlfriend.
"What is a Jaguar dif. doing on the
Sabre? It is old technology."
-Zonda-Rear ofZonda Pagani with the Sabre parked directly in
front of it where it should be
"What sort of diff. do you suggest?
"It has to be a a Nissan Skyline
which has new technology built into
it I have built several of them."
I was interested so I asked, "What
does the Skyline dif do that the
Jaguar dif doesn't?"
"Why it has new technology, doesn't
it?"
What more could I say? It was
obvious. I refrained from saying
more and the young man went away
secure in his ego.
Under the McGregor's bonnet
Another possible sale. But in
the end Alex decided she was a
bit of a poser
April 2004
The beautifully presentated GT40 replica ofNick Jenkins was
on display and manned by Nick all weekend
43
Another high was meeting all
lots of members from the
northern territories who
dropped into our stand to say
hello. There were several I had
not met before so it was a real
treat. It was also great catching
up with old contacts too. Again
the suggestion of a northern
chapter was discussed so I
shall watch and wait with
interest.
Overall it was a great weekend
and I think I may have sold
three Sabres, a Clubsprint and
a Saker. Not sure quite how I
managed that but it earned me
a kick in the ankle. This was my
first big motorshow ever and I
intend to go to another one in
the future if I am able. On
Sunday nightwe packed up the
stand far quicker than we set it
up. John Bennoch arrived to
pick up his Sabre. As it was the
first time he had seen it
assembled he was quite
chuffed and looking forward to
getting it back to Auckland
where the detailed Lexus
was waiting.
NatShow-Pavillion
va
To avoid the embarrassment of
being overtaken by more trucks
on the way home my Sabre was
loaded onto the now empty car
trailer to take home.
Redline-Club member Kevin Hunt with his RPC sportscar
Outside there were mainly
club displays
44
Tiberon-Hyundai Tiberon with its
glass roof up
Spare Parts
L..
·Wew····SdEJre.refeasec(at.irationa{:Motorshow
Although still under development the
new Series Two Sabre was unveiled
to the public for the first time with
very little fanfare, at the Hamilton
Motorshow. Alex forgot to bring his
cassette tape recorder; he forgot to
tell the press too. Still, I was there
and compiled this report.
The example shown is destined to
be raced by John Bennoch in this
years Dunlop Targa race. Although
resembling the original, what is now
being called the Series One, there
is very little that has not been altered
or modified. Only nine of the Series
One (S1) cars were made and it is
hoped that this more upmarket S2
will be more successful. The reason
for the lack of success is unclear but
Alex suspects that it was bad timing
as it came into production just as the
flood of Japanese imports had
peaked in the mid nineties. It's main
competition the MX5 had dropped
dramatically in price and could then
be purchased for less than it would
cost to build the S 1 Sabre. The only
alternative was to move the Sabre
up into a market where a hand built
car would be more competitive.
The chassis has been completely
redesigned and set up to take the
more robust Jaguar running gear.
The S1 had been designed to use
the Ford Cortina as a single donor
car, which kept the costs of the car
down and gave it reasonable
performance. On the S2 the only
Cortina bit remaining is the
windscreen. In the interests of
making the more upmarket car the
concept of a single donor car is long
gone although a Jaguar XJS will
provide the front and rear running
gear as well as the steering shaft
and gauges and other odds and
sods. Power steering comes from
the Seirra. A Toyota Corolla provides
the heater, side glass and window
mechanicals. Designed to be
powered by a Lexus va or a Holden
V6, power is transmitted through a
Supra gearbox to the Jaguar
independent rear end.
April 2004
S2-Built to be raced in the next Dunlop Targa.
S2-Mockup of what the eventual interior will look like
The rear has not only been restyled
with round taillights but the boot is
absolutely cavernous when
compared with the S1. Interior has
been extensively upgraded and
looks very modern although the
interior on display is still at concept
stage and will probably be changed
slightly before the car reaches final
production. Up front it has been
extensively remodelled as well. A
bonnet bulge has been added to
make fitment of the va easier and
the flat chisel nose of the S1 has
been replaced by a far curvier
bumper with cues from the E-type
Jaguar of yesteryear.
The car is available in either kit going
through various stages to a turnkey
example that can be driven from the
factory. Although most will opt to
purchase the chassis first and get it
rolling with fuel lines, brakes,
suspension and engine fitted before
buying the body.
Initial reaction to the car was very
positive with a couple of car
magazines expressing an interest in
doing a test drive of the car once
the demonstrator is finished.
45
4!'""""'
THE 1172nd PSALM
The Ford is my Special I shall not want - another,
It maketh me to lie down in wet places.
It despaireth my soul.
It leadeth me into deep waters.
It leadeth me into the paths of ridicule for it's name's sake.
It prepareth a breakdown for me in the presence of mine enemies.
Yea, though I run through the valleys, I am towed up the hills.
I fear much evil when it is with me.
It's rods and it's tappets discomfit me.
It anointeth my face with oil.
It's sump runneth over me.
Surely to goodness the damn thing won't follow me all the days of my life,
Or I shall dwell in the house of the insane forever.
P. Sed.
HVMC Bulletin 1959
76 pages devoted to classic cars, grassroots Kiwi motor sport,
constructor's cars, hillclimbs, classic races and rallies, touring,
performance modifications and equipment.
SUBSCRIPTION OFFER FOR
"SPARE PARTS" READERS
Issue 13
now On Sale
In HIl Good Bookstores
SAVE over 20% off the cover price.
$38 for 6 issues, postage included.
Contact us on the numbers be/ow.
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S7.95
New Zealands finest Performance and Classic Car Magazine
Tarmac Magazine, R.D. 4, Paeroa 2951
Tel: 01 862 6494 Fax: 01 862 6493 Email: [email protected]
46
Spare Parts
{;,
J...
Day 32 Monday 12 August somewhere in France.
It is after nine pm on a warm summer
evening as we return to the car,
crossing the grassed town square to
walk between the four storey stonefaced building on the narrow
cobblestone street. Leaving the
aged centre of town we travel
through the increasingly young
suburbs before returning to the
featureless six-lane highway joining
the light traffic as we head north.
The next task will be to find
accommodation for the evening,
although
Jean-Pierre
has
commented that he would like to
make more distance today, to
minimise the travel tomorrow. We
travel with little conversation in the
dark for around an hour before
approaching xxx. The motorway is
coming to a major interchange here,
with the northern road we are on
intersecting with the road that runs
from the north-west in the direction
of Paris through to the east, heading
for Mulhouse and Switzerland.
Our exit is several kilometres short
of this major junction and the quiet
rural road stretches away through
the pasture to a small village some
kilometre or two distant. There is a
motel to the left of the road, behind
a hedge and a few trees, a three storey square box sitting alone
amongst the surrounding fields, a
dozen or more cars in the carpark.
J-P stops and goes to check it out,
returning some five minutes later
and saying "Its no good". When
asked why he tells Francois and I
that it is an automated motel - you
put your credit card in the machine
and it assigns you a room (giving you
a code for entry I guess) - but the
motel is full and the machine has
turned us away. We drive up the
road to the nearby village to find that
it is as small as we thought and
asleep at this time of night, with no
other accommodation, so we return
April 2004
to the motorway to move on.
J-P decides that we will travel on to
Colmar, a little out of our way to the
north-west, as we will head to
Mulhouse and the east tomorrow,
but somewhere larger that holds
more
promise
of
having
accommodation. It is some 40
kilometres.
It is around 11 pm by the time we
arrive and this is another typical old
European city, the streets
increasingly narrow at the centre of
town, although here the building are
not so tall. We find a three-storey
hotel with tiled roof and alpine type
architecture where the front door is
open and the lights are on
throughout the lead-light ground
floor windows, illuminating the
window-boxes and shutters. This
place has room and we are soon
tucked up in bed, J-P and Francois
in the newer concrete wing out the
rear, and myself in the older front
building - in a large wooden framed
bed, free-standing wooden
wardrobe, and a modern TV that
plays many channels but there was,
as always, nothing worth watching.
Day 33 Tuesday 13 August
We meet in the lobby at eight and
after a brief breakfast we are on our
way again. Mulhouse arrives
quickly around mid morning, and we
head for the centre of this large
industrial town. I am given the job
of navigating while J-P drives. It is
a bright sunny day and this only
serves to leave a good impression
of the town, which seems to be lowrise only and with plenty of greenery
including tree-lined streets around
the open-feeling centre of the city.
The signage is good and points us
towards the national motor museum
and to the carpark for it. A short
walk from the carpark on to the main
road and over a low stone bridge
on a main road brings us to the front
door. The building is a low industrial
warehouse type structure, although
from early in the century with stone
or brick walls. The foyer however is
very modern, bright and clean with
large polished floors, glass and
aluminium. Beside the ticket
counter is the obligatory shop, and
beyond we will no doubt find the
museum.
The Schlump/ museum website
homepage, with the georgeous
Bugatli Type 55
Here I will perpetuate hearsay,
without support of research or
certain fact.
The Schlumpf
collection is named after the
Schlumpf brothers who owned a
industrial businesses including
textile mills in Mulhouse. One of the
brothers took a fancy to cars and
after being dissuaded from racing
started collecting them and hid
them away in disused factory space.
This passion continued through the
50's, 60's and into the 70's by which
time there was a team of restoration
staff sworn to secrecy working on
the collection in the old factory. As
the industry declined and then
became beset by strikes the claim
that there was no money in the
company was challenged by
workers who broke into the old
factory, only to discover where all the
profits had gone. It ruined the
brothers and the collection was sold
at that time but was soon after saved
by a consortium that included the
French government. Now, with
protection against the collection
being broken up, the site is run as
the National Automobile Museum.
The collection boasts that there is
not one American car amongst the
display of 100s of vehicles. The
47
.,..........
display is laid out in rows of twenty
or more cars, a central walkway
between two rows, and each pair of
rows separated from the rest of the
display by photographic backdrops
behind the cars. The roof is low, and
supported by rows of narrow cast
iron columns, the factory saw-tooth
roofline delivery ample natural light.
To the ends of the rows there are
smaller rooms with displays of a
theme or another handful of
vehicles. In one there is a working
display of the industrial automation
of robotic vehicle assembly. The
robot arm starts just a few inches
away from the floor-to-ceiling
window that protects the display, and
the arm whizzes away to the car
body behind, pretending to spot weld
a seam, before turning and
apparently out-of-controllashing out
at the window - only to stop and
come to rest in the proscribed cradle
position that it had started from.
There is another room with video
playing from a rally car race.
Another has automotive advertising
art from the 20s, 30s and 40s. There
are interactive displays too, each
with a large clock indicating what
time they will next be available to be
played on. There is a veteran car
with a pile of dress-up clothes beside
where you can don a full-length coat,
hat, scarf, gloves and goggles, then
step aboard and have your
photograph taken. There is a crankstart vintage car where you can try
the strength of your arm in starting
it. And there is a 70s rally car on a
pivoting frame, where you jump
inside and click home the 4-point
harness before being spun upside
down to get a feeling of what it is
like to roll your rally car. The photo
opportunity is, of course, while you
are upside down.
Alfa Romeo airflow styling
all ages. And there are classics.
The Alfa catches my eye and
deserves a photo. It has the
pleasant sweeping lines that Sam
Lyle has based his SL Special on.
The form is well-balanced and
evocative of power and speed audacious but not overstated.
And in the middle of another aisle
from the mid-30's and 40's I find
I'oeuf (the egg) and its big brother
'the Whale'. The associated
signage tells us that these cars
were built by the same man, an
artist. The Whale was (for its time)
a big rounded box in comparison
with the cluttered styling of the
contemporary production vehicles.
It retains the styling cues of the
40's, but does so in a simplified and
elongated form, with a shiny silver
painljob.
Whereas The Egg is a reaction to
the decadence and waste of the
Whale. Th Egg is a little rounded
body fashion from aluminium and
polished to a mirror shine, with the
rounded form of a bubble - you might
say itwas an early bubble-car. It has
a huge perspex front window and big
oval perspex panels that close at the
sides as doors. All this on tiny little 8inch wheels with pram tyres on them!
The little bump on the back hides a
puny motor. Apparently the little
vehicle saw regular use throughout
the 40's and well into the 50's.
And I have deliberately avoided the
Bugattis, saving them till last. They
are in the first bay, close to the
entrance, and they are accorded
special treatment. The other rows are
brightly lit, and the cars sit on a base
of pebbles other than the Formula 1
row which is hard-surface throughout.
The Bugattis are in the low light of
But most of all there are cars. Lots
of them. The far end has Formula 1
cars, lined up as if on the grid, but
ranging in age from the 50s and 60s
through to the current day, and the
photo backdrop is the pits and
stands full of spectators. Formula 1
footage plays at the end of the row.
The are vintage cars, of many and
48
L 'oeuf (the egg) and The Whale behind
Spare Parts
L.
From Geneva to Pontalier then Colmar yesterday, Mulhouse today, Zurich tomorrow
darkened hall, with black walls and
carpeted floor. The vehicles are
picked out by spot-lights that make
them shine and glint in the subdued
lighting.
Yes, ultimately they are just another
vintage car, but there is something
about the coachwork. There is just
that artistic twist, that difficult to
quantify zing where they just got it
right. It is the difference between a
32 Ford and a 32 Ford hot rod that
has been channelled and chopped.
The form is essentially the same,
but the detail makes the difference.
The change in balance between the
glass area and the bodywork, orthe
ride height and stance of the vehicle.
I particularly liked the roadsters,
which are low and smooth, yet still
very much a 30s car.
And then how could anyone not love
the prize showpieces, the two
Bugatti Royales, a limousine and a
coupe de'ville.
There were
supposedly only six of these
vehicles made, and here are two of
them.
radiator grille, all chrome and
stacked parallel lines. And they were
big tall cars, ready to dominate the
other traffic.
They are impressive as they
epitomise the era, yet at the same
time they are a charicature of
everything that made the era
special. They don't just have all the
key features or details that denote
the era, they have gently
exaggerated those features so that
they are unmisable. What else can
you call a motor that is over 12 litres,
sitting in a chassis that is 7 metres
(over 20 feet!) long, on wheels that
about 1 metre in diameter. They are
large, large, very large, solid centred
wheels. The flat-top roof, and the
flat sides that curve under as they
descend to the running-board. The
running-boards themselves. The
graceful descending curve of the
front guards and the elegant slim
weight of those guards. The upright
And the chopped looking low half
windshield of the open driver'S
compartment in front of the sedanlike rear two-seater compartment of
the town car.
I want one!
There are apparently around 400
cars on display here, and while I
rushed down the aisles of 1900's,
1O's and 20's vehicle I slowed down
after that, and spent a very happy 3
hours or so just looking.
For the (slow to load) French
website see http://www.cultureespaces.com/schlumpf/index.html
or for a quick rundown in English see
http://www.europeancarweb.com/
museums/0205ec schlumpfl
FRASER CARS
www.fraser.co.nz
MEMBER COMPONENT CAR MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF NZ (INC)
08004 CERTZ Telephone (09) 482-0071
April 2004
Fax: (09) 482-0516 Auckland 10, New Zealand
49
~
Moreyliotosi1Fgm> SkiteINitel oye6ruary· 2004
Above: An impressive lineup. From left to
right Scott Aristocat, Hoare Almac TG;
Hoare Heron, Price Dart, Mcrae Widget,
Cooley Saker, Frost Cobra
Right: The Ariel Atom replica
of Bruce Graham
Left: As always there was a
good crowd at Skile Night
50
Spare Parts
Ii.
Interior ofDave Bray's Classic 120 is
accurately detailed
Classic 120 upholstery was done by the
Surgery
Above: Nicely finished rear end and
engine bay of the David Nixon ~ recently
completed Moke
Left: Another couple ofAlmac TGs
Below: Barry Dawe~ Saker which isfor
sale
April 2004
51
Dave Frosts Almac 427SC
Inside and outside
52
From front to back. A Genuine Lotus 7 of Barry
dawe sits in front of a genuine Lotus 6 which is
front of a Gulf 7 and a Jaguar XK120 replica
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