Tasman Revival - Sydney Motorsport Park - 25 November 2012
The Tasman Revival is an event held every two years to celebrate the halcyon days of the International Tasman series which ran in the sixties and seventies. The Tasman Series was run in both Australia and New Zealand for initially 2-1/2 litre open wheeler racing cars and later Formula 5000. This meeting is a major promotion by the Historic Sports and Racing Car Association of NSW (HSRCA). These are some of the photos I snapped as I walked around the pits. Click on the image for a larger version.
Lister Jaguar Monzanapolis
The Lister Jaguar was built in 1958 for Ecurie Ecosse and entered for Jack Fairman to run in the "Race of Two Worlds", a race in which the cream of Europe took on America in an Indianapolis style race around the banked circuit at Monza. History tells us the event was not a success for the Lister Jaguar Monzanapolis which finished 11th and last. The car is currently owned by Rod Jolley (UK) who has the car running better than it was in 1958 being fitted with the correct 3.8 litre Jaguar D-type engine.
Ferrari 156/85
Ferrari Tipo 156/85 chassis 079 was one of five Ferrari team cars used in the 1985 F1 season. Mercurial young Italian, the late Michele Alboreto, had made excellent use of it, finishing 2nd in the Brazilian and Portuguese Grands Prix and taking a 4th at the Austrian and a 6th in the San Marino Grands Prix later in the season, with the 079 car competing in nine of that year’s 16 F1 Championship races. Alboreto was the first Italian to race for Ferrari for many years and was supported through his early career with the Scuderia by a wealthy patron, Count Gugge Zanon, who was so well regarded by Ferrari for his support of Alboreto and the Team that Enzo Ferrari agreed to gift him Alboreto’s car at the end of the 1985 season.
Count Zanon kept 079 in his private collection for the next 10 years, during which time it was always maintained by the Ferrari factory and was driven occasionally by Alboreto. But he found with his advancing years he wasn’t able to enjoy driving the Ferrari as much as he liked and a deal was done to sell the car to Guildo Belgiorno-Nettis, owner of the Transfield company. Parts are generally available – the only difficulty has been finding some of them quickly. So Guido came up with the perfect solution: he recently purchased a second 1985 Ferrari Tipo 156/85 team car, a vehicle mainly raced by Alboreto’s team mate Stefan Johansson (which can just be seen in the background in the above photo).
Larry Perkins driving for Scuderia Veloce finished 2nd (to Keke Rosberg) in the 1978 Peter Stuyvesant series in New Zealand. John Smith (NSW) then competed successfully in both Formula Pacific and AF2 winning the Australian AF2 championship in 1981. The current owner now competes in Historic Group Q.
Mildren Chev Formula 5000
The Mildren Chev was built in the UK in the late 1960's and started life as a "Franklen" (a collaboration between Frank Gardiner and Len Bailey). The Franklen never raced in the UK and it was bought by Alex Mildren who engaged Kevin Bartlett to compete in F5000. The newly acquired car, now re-named as a Mildren Chev was entered into the 1970 Australian Grand Prix where it qualified 5th but retired mid-race. The car then appeared in the Tasman Series in NZ with a 4th place at Teretonga Park and then a 3rd at Warwick Farm. Unfortunately the car was crashed during practice at Surfers Paradise and was not seen again for several years. Mildren then sold the car to Jack Wortmeyer in 1972 who re-named it as the "Wortmeyer SCV" and it appeared in two Tasman races in 73/74 driven by Erol Richardson. The car then languished disassembled for forty years until it was finally restored.
Cooper Climax T70 (#47)
Historically, this is a very important car as this car is widely considered as the very first McLaren. The inception of "Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd" commenced when Bruce designed, built, financed and drove this car to win the 1964 Tasman Championship, including the NZ GP and the Lady Wigram Trophy. In 1965, F1 Champion Phil Hill drove this car in the Tasman Championship. He achieved 3rd in the Australian GP and later proclaimed this as one of his finest open wheeler drives. The car is powered by a Coventry Climax 2.5 litre FPF 4-cylinder engine.
McRae GM1-004 (#27) 1972
This McRae GM1 was built for the 1972 F5000 season. Currently owned by Chris Lambden (NZ).
Brabham BT24-1
This was the Repco-Brabham Formula one car driven by Jack Brabham in the 1967 GP season. In that year, Brabham won his 2nd Constructors' Championship, Denny Hulme was World Champion and Jack was runner up by a narrow margin. The BT24-1 was the most successful Brabham F1 car built, scoring a total of 41 world championship points in 1967. In 1968 the car was campaigned successfully in the South African National Championships by Basil Van Rooyen. It was largely unused thereafter. It was on display in the Donington Collection for about ten years before being purchased and brought to Australia.
Cooper Climax T53 (#41) Chassis #F1.2.61
The history of this car starts in 1961 when it purchased new from Coopers by the Yeoman Credit Racing Team and driven by Roy Salvadori in most of the F1 Grand Prix events counting the the World Championship, and other major non-championship events in the UK and Europe. At the end of the European season, Yeoman Credit shipped their 3 Coopers to NZ and Australia for the 1962 Tasman Series. Lex Davison bought F1.2.61 and raced it under the Yeoman Credit banner during the Tasman Series.
Lola T332 F5000
This 1974 Lola (#24) was originally campaigned in the USA during 1974 and 1975 with moderate success and was one of the entrants in the inaugural Long Beach GP in 1975. Paul Zazryn, the current owner bought the Lola in the US in 2010 and rebuilt it from the ground up.
The "Viceroy" 1976 Lola T332 (#30) is owned by Ian Clements from NZ.
This 1973 Lola T332 (#14) is owned by Russell Greer from NZ.
Lola T140 F5000
Car no. 42 is the 1968 Lola T140 belonging to Alan Dunkley, again from NZ.
Begg FM5
Car no. 21 is the 1973 Begg FM5 driven by Lindsay O'Donnell. George Begg, a New Zealander, built 18 racing cars between 1963 to 1974 and only two FM5's were built. The above car is chassis FM5/2, the other FM5 is on permanent display in a museum in NZ.