11 replies to this topic

[HandyNZL]

For those of ya interested, we took the lil Cooper F3 to the NZ Festival of Motorsport Celebrating Bruce McLaren (next year it will be celebrating Chris Amon so lotsa Ferrari's). We had a good weekend - minor electrical glitch on Friday saw us not able to make the start for the qualifying race, so we went off the back of the grid for the first race on Saturday (39th)...had a good race up to 20th at the end of the 8-lap race. Race two started 19th, finished 14th. Race 3 started 19th, finished 18th (had a spin - sheesh, blind old men and corners....). Race 4 started 18th, finished 18th (thanks to a dodgey Brit).

Lotsa photo's here: www.groundsky.co.nz

Dad gets two starring turns here under the "WHEN THINGS GO WRONG SECTION": (he's number 165 - little light green Cooper T76) {look out for the roller in the Saloon and GT class...guy rolled/bounced over the tyre barriers on turn 1 - lucky not to roll onto the earthworks equipment or the diesel tank!!) http://www.groundsky...&EventCode=1002

The big V8's of the F5000's and the CanAm cars were just superb. The old girls looked impeccable (as usual) and the racing was hard and fast.

Racing again this weekend at Pukekohe, and then again the next weekend at Taupo (where A1GP used to race). Pix and stuff to come for those

Oh, and if you were wondering what Sato has been driving....he's been driving this 8.8-litre V8 beast...

[attachment=2463:DSCF6670.JPG]
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Edited by HandyNZL, 28 January 2010 - 05:25 AM.

[aussief1]

Good stuff Craig

[Autumnpuma]

Damned fine stuff. This one thread reeks more of motorsports than half the ones on this forum. You're living the dream!

[mikathegreat2]

Autumnpuma, on 28 January 2010 - 08:10 AM, said:

Damned fine stuff. This one thread reeks more of motorsports than half the ones on this forum. You're living the dream!

+1  

[HandyNZL]

James Hunt's M26:

[attachment=2467:m26.JPG]
[attachment=2468:m26 1.JPG]

BRM F1 (owned by a family friend - he also has three F5000's - 2x McRaes, and 1x Talon):

[attachment=2469:brm.JPG]

Inside the F5000 and overseas drivers tent:

[attachment=2470:the tent 1.JPG]
[attachment=2471:the tent 2.JPG]

Riccardo Patrese's Formula 3 car:

[attachment=2472:patrese.JPG]

Some of the Formula Junior field on the dummy grid for the qualifying race:

[attachment=2473:jnr grid.JPG]

Some of the F5000 field:

[attachment=2474:f5000 car.JPG]
[attachment=2475:f5000 champ leader.JPG]
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[attachment=2477:F5000 race 2.JPG]

McLaren M1A (white) and M8 (tangelo) CANAM cars:

[attachment=2478:m1 and m8.JPG]
[attachment=2479:m8.JPG]

[Rainmaster]

Excellent snaps, cheers.

[HandyNZL]

Well, Pukekohe was fun in all sorts of different ways... just after our second race, the heavens opened and 75mm of rain fell in one hour pretty much centered over the race track. Racing was cancelled for the afternoon, pop up tents un-popped and fell down, saloon cars were in water up to their axles in their pits, the CanAm's and F5000's were bailing out their pits, and the historic Formula Fords got a real drenching being the least covered of any of the fields. We faired pretty well, just hunkering down, covering the car, and amusing at the mayhem around. My little pup-tent that was set up for my daughter to play in faired 100% unscathed, in yet another thunderstorm of it's 10-year life.

As for the racing, Puke is Dad's bogey track, as this is where he went off on the first weekend of having the car and smashed it up good. He's quite tense here, but at least he improved his best ever time by 2.5sec's over the weekend, and that was set on a greasy track on the Sunday afternoon. The 4 Pom's at the front of the pack blitzed the circuit in 1:09's, which made everyone else in the field begin to question the actual size of their engines...supposed to be a maximum of 1100cc - the best of the rest were some 10-12'secs slower. To put it in perspective, the Juniors should max out around 115-120Hp....a F5000 V8 produces somewhere in the vicinity of 500 or more, and in their day, were faster than Formula One cars....yet these four Formula Juniors could have placed in the early 20's out of 30+ F5000 cars. The consensus was that the front four F-Juniors were running 1300cc as a minimum!!

Karma must have caught up with one of them though, when one of them had an engine fire on the grid at the start of race three, then in race four, one of his wheels came off going down the back straight!! But being nice kiwi's we helped fix his burnt engine, and even sent out a tow truck to pick him up when he lost his wheel.

No pic's of the racing from me this weekend (due to looking after my little one in the pits), but will post the links to the official photographers website again.

Here's my lil girl - the future of NZ motorsport (she's only 2 1/4 years old but knows how to put on the five-point harness!!)
[attachment=2497:DSCF6971.JPG]
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And the team poses at the end of the weekend:
[attachment=2499:DSCF6975.JPG]

Edited by HandyNZL, 01 February 2010 - 04:31 AM.

[Persevere]

Excellent thread and effort by you to present us with as much as you have.  This is nearly enough to chase away the winter blues for those of us in the northern hemisphere.  As you already know Bruce McLaren has always figured highly in my love of the racing.  He combined talent, innovation and business acumen at such an early age, as well as being a much loved man by those within the sport. My weakness will always be for his thundering CanAm cars.

I will have to return to more carefully view all the photos and follow the link you have provided.  By the way, the Cooper is a gem although it pales slightly when compared with the smile of your darling daughter.  Thank you again for providing us with this; that is, something of real value.

[Persevere]

I made the time to go back and read through both of your posts again and also followed the link for the photo display. As is often the case with vintage events, there is a good deal of camaraderie in evidence even amongst people who are otherwise strangers. A shared love of something like motor sports does wonders for the intermingling of individuals who might otherwise just barely acknowledge each other.

Although I don't dwell on such things when I started reading your initial post I was, in fact, struck by an odd coincidence. About a week ago I was searching for a book (a history of Lotus) and came across two publications I had almost forgotten I had. One is a biography of Bruce McLaren by Eoin Young, originally out in 1971 but this was a 1995 reprint. The other is a Japanese publication - no I don't speak or read the language; I'm just eccentric that way - on Cooper, Lola and Elva cars. It has lots of hard to find b & w photos and am I glad I bought it. Anyway, I start reading your post and there you are talking about the man himself and your Cooper F3. Like I said, curious.

Again, thank you for your time and efforts.

[HandyNZL]

I'd take a stab and say that the book you're talking about is Bruce McLaren: The Man and his Racing Team - I have an original copy, albeit nicked off my Dad. The dust cover is long gone, and it smells 39 years old, which makes me wonder if I'll smell like that in 3 and a half years!

Another good read from Eoin is Trio at the Top which is on Bruce, Denny Hulme, and Chris Amon.

One book more McLaren-centric is To Finish First by Phil Kerr. A great read from McLarens beginnings to Ron Dennis buying the team with Marlboro and Project 4. Covers F1, F2, Can Am and Indy.

Here's some merged footage of the Hampton Downs round off you tube. Pop's pop's through at 40-secs.

[Persevere]

HandyNZL, on 03 February 2010 - 03:13 AM, said:

I'd take a stab and say that the book you're talking about is Bruce McLaren: The Man and his Racing Team: Yes, that's it. - I have an original copy, albeit nicked off my Dad. The dust cover is long gone, and it smells 39 years old, which makes me wonder if I'll smell like that in 3 and a half years! I can assure you that the smell you refer to won't become ever present until you're at least 65.

Another good read from Eoin is Trio at the Top which is on Bruce, Denny Hulme, and Chris Amon.

One book more McLaren-centric is To Finish First by Phil Kerr. A great read from McLarens beginnings to Ron Dennis buying the team with Marlboro and Project 4. Covers F1, F2, Can Am and Indy.

Here's some merged footage of the Hampton Downs round off you tube. Pop's pop's through at 40-secs.

Thanks for the two additional recommendations. Didn't Hulme race trucks at some point long after retiring from the more formal rigors of F1 & CanAm? I have a somewhat vague memory of seeing him in a race broadcast from Australia or NZ years ago. And Chris Amon I, of course, remember from the same period as McLaren and Hulme. Fond memories.

[HandyNZL]

Yes, Denny raced trucks. I attended a few of those races at the Pukekohe track. I think he raced a Scania from memory, though most of the crowd at the time were cheering for this little Bedford that had been supercharged. It was this little green bubble truck, hopelessly outpowered and hopelessly anything else against the Scania's, Volvo's and Merc's which were all modern and this Bedford was from the late '60's.