Elan racing in Australia in 60's

[rgh0]

The closed sport car race at 8:07 into this shows some great early Elan racing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg8sQM5 ... vZQbZjVKAs

cheers
Rohan

[gherlt]

Great !

[lance54]

Fabulous, thanks for sharing with us.

No movie camera in hand but my age15 memories of Allan Moffatt's Lotus Cortina victories at Waterford Hills near Detroit are just as vivid. Aussie legend Moffatt was fresh off his1965 Indy 500 crew assignment with Jim Clark.

[elans3]

Excellent stuff !

[Frogelan]

Very amusing!

Thank you Rohan

[vstibbard]

And the cars are still around, the Bob Beasley 26R S1 was the car that Peter Simm owned door years that ended up making its way back to UK with Chris Rea the first owner in UK .... the Neil Allan car is tucked away in Melbourne.

I wonder if he's got any of Bill gates (my 26R S2) racing at the Farm?

V

[AussieJohn]

My very first Elan briefly shown at 8.57 [dark blue with centre stripe] at the time raced by Jim Quinn.

[vstibbard]

What chassis number was the car? I owned an S1 26/0429 that was raced from new around NSW and ACT mainly.

Vaughan

[AussieJohn]

No idea of chassis number but I thought it was an S2 1966, it had S2 tail lights. It was a Canberra car and sold as a road car in circa 1968, I bought it off Terry O'Neal [ GS Motor Bodies] who was repairing it after a fire, that was 1969 and I sold it in 1970. It had unusual wheels made by Hunter and Delbridge from memory.

[vstibbard]

That's old my car Aussie John. The car was one of first 4 sold by Geoghegan's, has Borne shell but the number plate was lost as a result of the fire. Its first owner was Barry McCarthy in Canberra then John Evans (you?). I have records showing it raced at Hume Weir, the Farm etc, but don't have the original log books. I've also got photos of it at the drags, I found the fire damage and I've still got the wheels!!.

Are these photos of you? Please drop me your email as I'd love to get any more history added to what I have.

What I have did not know was that GS Motor bodies owned the car, they must have purchased it off Barry McCarthy the first owner. BTW the repair to the scuttle area in front of the driver was rather dodgy.. when we repaired the shell, after the accident, we found flat material that was not fibreglass sandwiched in the glass and the flared arches had were full of plasticine ( over 20kgs of it!) which was used to create the profile. When I bought the car I'd been been told it was the first Elan to have those the flares fitted. they were definitely not made from a mould and grafted on!!

I understand you sold it to your cousin Bill Armour?

V

[vstibbard]

finished ....

[AussieJohn]

I don't think it's the same car but there are many similarities, I have a photo of the original cams logbook, the person I sold it to in 1970 still had it about 7 years ago. I have a photo of the advert. when the car was sold to a bloke in Canberra, the car caught fire on the bridge in Canberra while his wife was driving and I think this is when it came into Terry O'Neal's hands via the insurance company. cheers, John Williams.

[vstibbard]

As you say its not, but I expect with both being developed in Canberra that the development would have followed similar paths. I look forward to having a chat.

[vstibbard]

Found this film on youtube recently, the race track was Ameroo in Sydney which has since been lost to hundreds of houses!!

https://youtu.be/BQYIykF5_kc

You will see the one of the Australian 26R's which frequently won at this track, this car was recently purchased and repatriated to UK by Tony Thompson. Also a few modified Elans, including the black Elan that get tangled up at the start is still owned by Jim Davidson and until recently was still campaigned by Jim in Historic events.

Cheers

Vaughan

[Dale Harvey]

Jim's car is for sale.
Dale.