2021-07-01 Australian Muscle Car

McPhillamy, sending the Alfa onto its roof. This Later years Above: Leffler in his debut
handed Beaumont and Leffler in their left-hand off-road race in Mildura for
drive Autodelta (factory built) GTV the class Leffler was he 1979 BP Desert Rally. With
win, nishing an outstanding sixth outright on diagnosed with ong time mate and off-road
150 laps in a race of high attrition. an enlarged heart co-driver Paul Knott (left).
muscle in the
1976 late 1970s and He opened the boot of an
this curtailed his scort. Lying loose was a
On paper the new Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTAM professional racing ub-machine gun! John said
with its Spica fuel injection 2 Litre engines career. The 1978 was banging and crashing
looked the goods. Leffler was entered in an Bathurst 1000, the back when he was
Autodelta Australia-backed Alfetta with current where he nished ing around corners. I said
Formula Ford champion Richard Carter. second, was his it loaded? He said ‘I think
However, the cars were slow and nobody knew last frontline race ?’ (Leffo was an armourer
how to tune the complex fuel injection. The but, ever the ater years.) We just stood
older 2000 GTV model Alfa was faster, and competitor, Leffo re, looked at each other and
so it proved in the race with the leading GTV marched on to a ghed.”
laps ahead of the two Alfetta GTAMs, yet a lap different beat. Former Kiwi racer and
behind the class winning Escort RS2000. For hanic Brian Gelding was a
the record Leffler/Carter were 17th on 148 laps. His former d mate of Leffo, having rst
mechanic Paul him at Bay Park in 1968.
1978 Knott had bought n he moved to Australia in
an off-road racing Toyota Landcruiser FJ40
Leffler took a gap year before returning for with a Chev V8 engine shoehorned in. “I said 1970 their paths would cross
his nal tilt at the Mountain as co-driver to Leffo, do you want to drive it? It helped me regularly at race meetings, but there were
to Allan Grice in the Frank Gardner prepared secure sponsorship from Sunraysia (wheels) other commonalities as he explains.
Craven Mild Torana A9X. With an all-or-nothing and Recaro (seats). We entered the 1979 BP
reputation Grice drove a strong race, ably Desert Rally at Hattah, Victoria. He was fast “John’s wife Sandy bred Rottweilers and
supported by Leffler despite surviving a lurid n the prologue, but on the second lap (each we bought one from them,” he told AMC. “We
half spin at the top of Mountain Straight and ap was 100km) he crashed. It went end for lived nearby and I would ll up my car at the
end ve times destroying the Landcruiser and local BP that John still owned. A few years on
nished second, only a lap behind Peter Brock/ knocking Leffler around.” and my business (Gelding was a dismantler of
Jim Richards HDT A9X. It would be Leffo’s last English Fords – Escorts, Cortina and Capris)
frontline race. In the late 1970s and early ‘80s fuel moved in right next door to his. John was a
economy runs were high-pro le events, certi ed armourer for the Australasian Film and
drawing in plenty of celebrities including the TV Association and would often be away on
odd racing driver. Kevin Bartlett signed up and lm sets with his guns and other weapons.
with good mate Leffo and traipsed the country
n Subarus and Golf Diesels, devising the odd “He never spoke about his heart condition
prank to break the monotony. However, KB but his cardiologist was the pioneering Dr
recalls another time with Leffo that illustrates Victor Chang (who would be shot dead in a
how precarious life can be, even for a couple of bungled kidnapping in 1991.) Chang was in
hardcore racers. awe with what John had done in a race car.
They became quite close. His heart problem
“Leffo and I were in the Philippines doing was a lot worse than he ever let on.”
some work at a driving school. We were on
a new housing estate. There were kerbs and Leffler operated St George Steering Service
gutters but no buildings and these Filipinos in Punchbowl for many years, working on all
bought out their rally cars. We were giving sorts of cars including the odd race car. When
them a few advanced driving tips, as you in Sydney, KB would often visit and have a
do – how to slide, etc. Leffo came up to me cuppa with Leffo. They were both Driving
and said; ‘mate come and have a look at this!’ Standard Observers at HSRCA historic race
meetings in New South Wales up until six or
seven years ago.

51

Remembering Leffo Leffler’s racing career up until he retired. “I had Left: Leffler holds court at a Bowin Formula Ford driver
a crash at the Southern Paci c Touring Car tuition day (Leffler is standing on the chequered flag
The one thing that you could say about Leffo Championship at Oran Park in a Mini and spent strip, in front of his Formula 5000 Bowin P8) at Oran
was that he was universally loved. Of all the three months in hospital. I knew I wasn’t a great Park in 1975.
people that AMC spoke to, not one uttered a driver but thought I was a good manager so I Left: Fast forward to 2008 and Leffo (flanked by
bad word about him. approached Leffo for a team management role Spencer Martin and Warren Weldon) is still helping
in ‘74 with the F2 Bowin P8 before it was built. drivers, in the role of one of the instructors at the FOC
“We were always good friends right from the Leffo got results yet was never well funded. He sports car meeting at Bathurst.
early days through to when he became a driving thoroughly deserved his Gold Star win.”
standard observer,” says fellow Mini race Don “When he was racing the Bowin (F5000) it
Holland. “He was one of the good guys.” “Leffo was a great guy. He didn’t hold back,” was a laugh a minute,” chuckles Kevin Bartlett.
recalls fellow Formula Ford champion Paul “I had a few dices with him, he was a good
“I worked for him as a mechanic for a year Bernasconi. “He did a lot of stuff that helped me respectful driver. We didn’t come to blows at all.
with Paul Knott at the BP St George,” remembers and we got on well. He was an absolute mean When you drive those things you had to give
Lynn Brown. “We were good mates and competitor, the way it should be. But after the consideration to other guys in those days. He
socialised a fair bit, having a beer and a laugh.” race he was ne.” was a bloody good man (in a dice). Another
passion that Leffo and I shared was a love of
“Johnny meant a lot to me and my family as motorcycles. The old saying of unsung heroes is
a friend and mentor,” says Christine Gibson pretty true with Leffo. He was such a background
“He gave me the encouragement and guy. We had a lot of good times together. I’ll miss
enthusiasm to drive a race car and him a lot. He was one of the good guys.”
loaned me his Mini for my entry into
the sport at Oran Park with their ladies “He was a great man,” remembers Paul Knott
races. He will be missed.” who knew for over 55 years. “He taught me
everything I needed to know to get me through
“I was working at Peter Wherrett’s for the rest of my life. I had to leave Sydney for
Driving School with an instructor, Russell personal reasons in 1973 and I went to work for
Norden, who introduced me to Leffo,”
recalls Richard Cousins, who managed Ray Thackwell in Perth to look after his Porsche
1 RSR. Leffo ew over in December ‘73 and
Postscript aid I want you to build the F2 car. So I came
ck. He was probably one of the best blokes I
If truth be told, I never got to meet et in my whole life.”
John Leffler. But it wasn’t for want of The last word should go to Brian Gelding,
trying. John’s good friend Brian Gelding ho was close to the Leffler family right until
and others had been trying to get AMC he end. “Leffo was a man’s man,” he told me.
an interview with the legendary driver John Leffler was a Gold Star winner and a
for the last year but unfortuantely Leffo gold star guy.”
was too ill for that to ever happen. Our
paths did cross eetingly when he was
a driving instructor for the Festival of
Sports Cars (FOSC) race meetings
back in the ‘noughties.’ As a competitor
back then (2008) I remember being
in the ‘conga line’ of race cars being
guided around the Mount Panorama
circuit by the instructors, including Leffo
in an AMG Mercedes. Just like the
other FOSC driving instructors present,
Leffo was on hand to help the tentative
or overawed driver get to grips with the
most challenging circuit in Australia.
Always with a beaming smile on his
face… Paul Newby

52

Great New Release

This special edition of plus P&H
Australian MUSCLE CAR
AMC SPECIAL – IMMORTALS V3 magazine features some
AU $10.50 NZ $11.99 (incl GST) egendary Australian Sports
Sedan racing muscle from
the 1970s and early ‘80s –
ncluding Colin Bond’s wildly
modified Holden Dealer
Team Torana LH SL/R 5000,
Bryan Thomson’s brutal
Chev V8-powered Torana
XU-1, the John McCormack
Holden V8-powered Valiant
Charger and V12 Jaguar
XJS, and Bob Jane’s wild,
winged Torana XU-1 with
Formula 1-style Repco
Brabham V8 power.

$10.50Available now from only

01 HBQOMBONAJROAGNTSE3’5S0Story:MarkOastlerPics:MarkBean,ChevronLibrary,Autopics.com.au&WallRacing ATHE LION KINGSihs‘nMtsKtlospuioaallgptevtsitodonthMuntbhaieoheetvtnurcaarBgeostrnaertireiBaehlstrtnvodtulscosobh-reuegeotbohSioopufaodHnstwnfanfcCeseal--JseetfJjthtsovaihtnodlaohdhaCnlBolhasoeyuvrsy-eanoeeaeleftnoefheednsperhnareniadcn-s1rdmuaereettoad’ec-sorrrsis9Sl’omobcrtarornrsee1pehma7tgthodnueHevlPed9ssopiec2aIraemeuatctrpda6Qmesirh-ii,ssnhyonarlnewetr9tetae‘iaeb,’eoatkpnmhglnsstGoemmhtrwdie’tlBntr.egtsmuhgaheoe1iasaTifAdnomoav.oraen9iveetsuneStitslirhetrnetnond7ttl.rahcterphhieagdtgesrd0c3cbuffasooPeoarata’ose5$lrnepPyAruceerssmnspmut01sldmaegrusttteupaso0Moselaorrhidsm5,igfaadfr,s0dtgiuodrtoG0udtegrjeiro,auaanot’sret0na0hsor7edeomcndrecrcoc0alwag0tMaitotowededlasyaifs0raususonngvolhn,ioadynint.rpnaneehtMpsoaetrnnsecgTinhbrdda.ellkmcaeaaooaTeiledtcegaessayythsrtrurhiatehal,t-ftolerneiseoburmurteabienwtedi,gianriotnpnhuc’ndmuisN’i1nebgrsgtgheatdeorhot9kdeiohCerholancClfo6ttsytrtesoashreyihmu8taantdpedeaprvte,oesn, JetCpshiac(nMnBwriearhaconmidarznlace1htnJesyucepgC9vreawvoaTirsRlni7eenieonfn3a,hnif4gnlaergeeb5seegmT.mt’cahdasiyr0ilDghcoyitutnantuemsowonVeesdsccgurrnmacse8ctk.eooacatlhptAl’r,dnimsseecernMgniisostaeneauiRvpocngtnomsaeeiaelaeanr’tnossnrtrehltr.phslagyiydliaeVtpnicairyigsttvporWorhtda‘hoteetd7oiraeorsmVtvf-ai5wriwtbspsCein8ty.uvpeuuehaedshe-asxeeterpci;edelcfgptrk)ouahvo,sael,hlaewwloexfptJVtgoeaietcaerrty8ceflaeonayrenseoehddvdroamfethmodem’ntscosrraoredeapdCprgfpetrldlratheehipJlooadmmrnelkaolnabetbecrihuittlBddgveiehnsveeeoaetcanhlrbysllenygesiminsead btdAhaubecroki‘vnmgegr:ootbJuhainelned1e’.9cl7eo4arpdMosraJaritlmebosMruoictSKeSesooSwfentrhi’seesP1ao9tr7sC0cashleidne9rt1.h1eNote
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McCelica 76 77

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TCtwNSthoharieyle:edpSwteervmfeisaNZoirtrcdmeaotyValeco1Pl6ehar9otdyons7C-hdobbo0at’:usyGpsrialnrwAtt Pwia.liRtellaradsToSnsneo3sdAMt1a.uoy0s,f0tfiarta’Ctslioianl’osgne 3dtc3iinmeo5.0vCmFe-elioolptiltrtosrhaermwpeensiourynFerlgoaitnwhrt1dhatwheseDaevEFpsewrsVncooshbVertahlax8drobgiwutlnyhegtaadonhsnowaittChibBwehoeMastdwsheWoeroamrbntaitanehcesaa,eikgntweehtohrntefoAgynseitgneatienhr-ee
FdCapmSgwRtbefDnsafhoaoeoauheaBtdieaeGbcradrrieplTlrscevtstgabrtoeunoicac,ChtrhnormMona,rxaoctwhsnFeenthcocitetihahoaynoscaolVhlpeikbdiiCeticcrCcnpTGceee8olp1mmkeaaofosehmJdo-9rrroeamnzpybaoiuoatr6ikewdote,etnoeovmrlhpirhe9nafdDrknamtgwianoeSapw,odmeatfnee5s1eostaipu,thMclnrdsvr90oerreaiAadolski’oegee7s0ldvchpdnaenerlndhaea0a0Cefwtaaysisptelnntldsn-rltedCrohpaishoyhoeo,taeenSrrenLeshtereewotntnrwmseehhteisaecsr,nbpda-oAdaepsehrartdghouLgisalngeagrrrrirncse,opne.soheiabe,nekmnostnHiicdmiclhrnwcT-prwwigeeocsboeioeaeeattosi-teroahwuuoitttsrsGrantohtclbmseooiripilmTsilt-gnatritutoidrTufvtulsehropgoiteygaraewoeneprncangehpdrnfnnyadhgaosdoeeametisoidoslihiorellnawuwlnto.sillyttinfoyorr’opasfdsn.Esiyiwebpwwotrtn’H1rifshtslnrTunuNiarn–fh.9svuetioortsgrsylnoeeht7aycpTat.imyhln4whronuScotooFoetoeewesyhapsatn5rsiroaseoase0st--rsaa0ttss0 nsSaheuetpdopeha2epro‘yfrvPem6aieiwnani0lllR.l1epago0hsaPt9nisSroouanbke7ttn2ni,dndeskr2Fo6shbddeabonaBh0Euaeletoirerein0Mtpdnuepmtnog,ishrsnWhgofwbae.fbciaopetafIilByhfttedt’eewnhaMwbssvacybarsieuetnatWaesiesrccoswceyTvhatn’GtshoeanaeusaaeunselrssestvinertrtseroeisiymclinBtiyeoflimotfkicgoMaesnukfnsrphncssCniW,oittoe-esoi2bawabvurwu8orbufebnset0foinulceftt0sulothbanhtreCosoauuSmsgeh ofniteoqmtaobl‘ahoCdDbfnrtuanyrhAepnilgofia1nonoddeoeo-tWi9sdwooccscenBnuyortw7-kontohhtesndhruvaca4s-sreotaeisseibatnhgpen–lsrnetahoromedenLotattagthlaiuvloadll.uaprfitl,eore’aatelsnrcspmfwdpdc3wcttno,’atehaditoua.eatuthoosc5aiaeshlpridirelyrntt-nttse-ef,hsaFolluvniimi3fyybategcnbofa1esrs.ieiendperu4bltitlbGvgDycaerac,eticoectnnoharetFhrrateoarojhapeiuaetaeVmnhffpuhmeeteslmcguehcuapsedereVtilCraomicigoaezro28ffutdimiaeohrstoertni.opsypnrctlestaoTaton.roiiewwblweuteltnThutltofhhooeoecmlegearhoi1geawaierrnes3nsif0aettsfbhebhgomt.gto0tabr4ihiedobwiuleonmniGcoe-cetatertlnatCyehranicotmAdlt.ciehst-irhrntoomesIsaeA.ned,nigrasf,vtnmse-gmryswanjCeVig.tugivltshbnenoae6asestheledrkaheptnatC.ideh,lrnwifiak,tgsiepthfroi r
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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of Bob
GTR XU 1 Wi h i
’ LC

OR PHONE 1300 361 146 TOLL FREE OR +612 9901 6111

54

Retro

Vision
Image: Chevron Archive

Allan Moffat winds on the lock on his Trans Am Boss
Mustang as he battles with two of his greatest
foes (and most bitter rivals, as Moffat was not on good
terms with either Bob Jane or Norm Beechey). Here
Beechey leads at Calder, the Monaro GTS 350 driver
having stormed through the field from a lowly grid
position. However, a clash with a lapped car would
force Beechey to stop, and with Jane having to make
a stop for tyres in his Mustang, and Ian Geoghegan’s
version losing a wheel, Moffat was left to score a
fairly easy win in Calder’s opening round of the 1970
Australian Touring Car Championship.

55

NAEUWGURSETLE2A0S21ES

CLASSIC AUSTRALIAN MOTORSPORT:
SERIES ONE COLLECTION

This DVD box set showcases Australian motorsport action at its very best from the 1990s
and 2000s – from V8 Supercars to 2.0-litre Super Tourers, production cars, sports car
racing and more, including some rarities from Ford racing legend Allan Moffat.
SEVEN’S MAGIC MOMENTS OF MOTORSPORT:

BATHURST 1994 TOOHEYS 1000

The 1994 Tooheys Bathurst 1000 was the 32nd running of the annual October classic
and was a classic fight between Holden and Ford, ultimately resolved in the favour of the
Shell-FAI Falcon EB of Dick Johnson and John Bowe.
SUPERCARS BATHURST SHOOT OUTS THE
COMPLETE SESSIONS 2011 TO 2015
On this DVD we look at the complete Top Ten sessions as they went to air from 2011 to
2015, relive the excitement of the Supercars as they take on the mountain in a no holds
barred race against the clock for pole position.
SEVEN’S MAGIC MOMENTS OF MOTORSPORT:

GROUP C GOLD VOL 2

HE 1980s was an incredible decade for Australian touring car racing. Included on
is disc is the 1982 CRC Chemicals 300 endurance race from Amaroo Park. On
is release we’ve also included the opening round of the 1984 AMSCAR Series,
lso held at Amaroo Park.

www.cmsmotorsport.com.au

MuscleMan

Sharp performance

He was Sharp by name and sharp in his performances on the
track – even though his most of cars would be best described
as blunt instruments. He may not have been a champion
racing driver but Barry Sharp was a colourful presence on the
motorsport scene in the 1960s and early ‘70s with a bewildering
array of weird and wild home-built V8-powered Sports Sedans.

Story: Steve Normoyle Images: Chevron Image Library, Autopics.com.au, David Cook Research assistance: Brian Goulding
57

A t Barry Sharp’s funeral in 2008, one Barry Sharp started circuit racing in late
of his friends, drag racing identity Bob 1964 in a 1948 model Wolseley 6/80. It
Honeybrook, summed up the man in would be the only one of his many circuit
this way: “There were three ways to do racing cars that either wasn’t a V8 or hadn’t
things: the right way, the wrong way and had a larger-engine (V8) heart transplant. The
Barry Sharp’s way.” Wolseley soon gave way to another stately old
English sedan, a 1955 model Austin A90 – into
Barry Sharp certainly did things his way. which Sharp shoehorned the Y-Block V8 Ford
If Sharp didn’t invent Sports Sedan racing, Customline engine from his Studebaker-based
he was a crucial early pioneer of that category ‘Strip Teaser’ dragster.
with the series of low-cost, low-tech (but high-
horsepower) race cars he built and raced in With 10-inch wheels, fat tyres and ared
the mid-to-late-‘60s. Nothing too sophisticated, guards to suit (and converted to left-hand drive –
mind you, but usually with enough Ford or a trademark Barry Sharp modi cation), the 312
Chev V8 grunt to get the job done. cid (5.1-litre) V8 Austin was a brutal-looking beast
Sharp was born in 1942 and grew up in of a machine. It should be noted that an English
Earlwood in Sydney’s inner west. He trained sedan/American V8 muscle hybrid vehicle such
as an auto electrician but when it came to as this was something different in Australian
cars he was a jack of all trades. When Sharp, touring car racing in the mid-‘60s. Certainly it
aged 17, met his rst wife, Dianne (now Dianne
Mawer) in 1960, he was an auto electrician by caused a stir amongst officialdom – at its
day and working on cars at his parents’ home debut at the Oran Park night meeting in
by night and on weekends. Sharp’s after- March, 1967, the scrutineers wanted to
hours activities later developed into a ban it.

It is said that one of the scrutineers
was an Austin enthusiast, and he was

business of its own,
eventually the Barry
Sharp Performance
Centre – but before
that came a spell
with Jack Brabham
and the retired F1
World Champion’s
Ford dealership’s
performance road
car and racing
division.

Barry Sharp
also has the distinction of co-driving what
remains today the most unlikely, and almost
certainly the biggest and heaviest, car ever
to start the Great Race, a hulking ’63 model
Dodge Phoenix with 318 V8 power and
automatic transmission, which he shared with
Lindsay Derriman in 1967 (and which two
weeks later served as the bridal car at Sharp’s
wedding – with Derriman doing the honours as

chauffeur, of course…).
Outside of circuit racing Sharp had a

eparate (and at rst secretive) career in
rag racing – driving a series of home-
made quarter-mile monsters that were
rguably even more outlandish than his
ad racing cars. Later on he took to water,
oing power boat racing. In typical Barry
harp style, he dived in at the deep end,
so to speak, in the large capacity class –
with a series of Ford V8 and Jaguar V12
boats, including, at one stage, a vessel
powered by not one but TWO fuel-
injected Ford 351 Cleveland V8s…

58

Left: Barry Sharp started racing in an old Wolseley before at Lakemba. It used to be a mushroom factory – “The next morning we went back there, and
progressing to a Ford Zephyr (right) and Austin A90 Bruce Carey’s father used to grow mushrooms in inside the burnt Austin was Barry’s helmet,
(below), both with Ford V8 power. Austin Healey 3000 the sheds. Anyway, they had the Austin in there which had been sitting on the seat. I went to
gets the Barry Sharp treament with a V8 heart transplant. doing a modi cation to it because the scrutineers pick it up, but when I touched it my hand just
had knocked it back. They’d just nished what went straight through it. It just fell apart like
so offended by what Sharp had done to the they were doing, and then a spark must have powder; it was just ash.”
lovely old A90 that he refused to clear it for come out of the radiator on the oor which was
competition… The Austin remained impounded upward facing, and then got into some petrol or Sharp was able to salvage some parts out
in the scrutineering bay for some four hours something ammable. The whole place went up of the Austin’s charred remains (there was no
while the scrutineer raised point after point, in ames. insurance) and these would go into his next car.
only for the rule book to prove him wrong every So out of the ashes would rise not a Phoenix
time. The Oran Park promoter Allan Horsley “I had been sitting there knitting at the time… (although, as it happened, around this time
was there watching this saga unfold, patiently I had to run around to get Bruce Carey’s mother Sharp actually did in fact race a Phoenix, a
asking the scrutineers whether or not Sharp to ring the re brigade, and she says, ‘what have Dodge Phoenix, in the Bathurst 500 and lesser
would be allowed to race. Horsley was new the silly buggers done now?’ The eries arrived Series Production races) but a Zephyr.
in the job, but already had seen what some and I told them there was oxy acetylene in there,
other promoters hadn’t yet noticed – the rapidly and they panicked, and anyway the whole thing The Mk2 Ford Zephyr was tted with the
growing spectator appeal of these new highly burned down. Austin’s front suspension, engine and its Riley
modi ed ‘Sports Sedans.’ Within a year Horsley four-speed gearbox. To save weight, Sharp
would be paying appearance money for a
little-known young driver from Victoria who also
raced an Austin-based Sports Sedan with a
bigger-engine transplant much like Sharp’s A90.
That driver was Peter Brock.

Like so many of Barry Sharp’s cars, the A90’s
competition life would be short and sweet. It only
raced a handful of times before it was burned to
the ground in a workshop re.

Dianne Mawer was there on the night of the
re and remembers it well:

“Barry was renting one of the sheds at [fellow
Sports Sedan racer] Bruce Carey’s father’s place

It is said that one of the scrutineers was an Austin enthusiast,
and he was so offended by what Sharp had done to the lovely old

A90 that he refused to clear it for competition…

59

ormed the front guards and bonnet in supercharger, and the radiator being relocated to
fibreglass as a one-piece lift-off unit. the boot. The radiator was fed cool air by scoops
Clearly a lot of midnight oil was burned fitted to the Zephyr’s rear quarter windows, like
putting the Zephyr together (without also giant ears.
burning the workshop down again!), as
The Zephyr would soon be sold (to Ian
Sharp was racing it barely a month Munt, who was still racing it at least six years
after the fire. later) to make way for a new machine Sharp
put together in partnership with speed shop
Soon it was further modified, owner and driver of the legendary ‘Moon Eyes’
with the Customline V8 fitted with a speedway Super Modified, Bill Warner. As
detailed in AMC #37, Warner was an Aussie
Top, above left: Holden FE with Chev V8 muscle car pioneer, developing and offering a
power, and left-hand drive... After Sharp and V8 performance XM Falcon coupe package in
Bill Warner went their separate ways with 1965 – two years before Ford delivered the first
the Holden, Sharp went off and built up an XR model Falcon GT.
old Falcon V8 Sports Sedan.
Below: Sharp’s Falcon heads Lynn Brown’s Through his speed shop business, Warner
Mini and a young Peter Brock at Oran Park in
August, 1969.

supplied the parts and Sharp BRAKE UPGRADES
performed the labour in building FOR AUSSIE
an FE Holden Sports Sedan with & AMERICAN
283 (4.7-litre) Chev V8 power. As MUSCLE CARS
was the common performance – and even Volvos!
mod for pre-EH Holdens back
in the day, the FE had a HD Whether it’s two, four or six-piston kits,
Holden front crossmember so from 290mm rotor size right up to 343mm,
that disc brakes could be fitted. on almost any vehicle you can think of,
It was also converted to left- Hoppers Stoppers has the brake upgrade
hand drive. package to
suit you.
It might be assumed that
Sharp’s seeming obsession 10cAko0iltml%sopauAlrrieaDnRt
with left-hand-drive was all
about the handling balance Email: [email protected]
for his home circuit, the anti- 9 Nevada Court, Hoppers Crossing, Victoria 3029
clockwise Oran Park (Allan Moffat ran LHD Mazda RX7s at Bathurst for
the same reason). Not that cornering was the old Holden’s strong suit – in GIVE US A CALL! (03) 9748 6950
reality, and as the pics show, it was an evil-handling pig of a thing.
WWW.HOPPERS.COM.AU
In reality, converting his race cars to left-hand drive had nothing to do with
performance, according to fellow Sports Sedan driver and close mate, Alan
Broome. It was, says Broome, all about promoting Sharp’s business.

“People say ‘why were his race cars left-hand drive?’” Broome says. “It was
because of his conversion business – Barry Sharp Conversions –converting
imported left-hand drive cars. He did it to help advertise the business; that’s
all it was.”

The deal between Sharp and Warner wasn’t long lasting, but before they
went their separate ways (with Warner taking over the car) Sharp drove the
Holden-Chev to victory in two special Holden-versus-Falcon challenge races
at Oran Park, in December 1968 and then in April the following year.

After that Sharp wasn’t out of racing long, returning quickly with a Falcon
XL with 289 Ford V8 power. Like the Zephyr, the body was stiffened by
welding the rear doors shut (giving the car the appearance of a coupe), and
the front bodywork was moulded into one fiberglass section.

Elsewhere the Falcon was fairly rudimentary and, as the pics show, it
shared the FE Holden’s lack of handling poise.

“There was nothing particularly refined about the way Barry built his cars,”
says Broome, who first met Sharp when he was running the Falcon. “Barry’s
approach to building cars was: a big hammer, a big set of spanners and an
oxy torch.”

It may not have been the most sophisticated car in the field but with good
power from the 289 and a bullet proof Top Loader gearbox, it wasn’t easily
beaten. And its creator knew how to get the best out of it. At Oran Park the

Falcon was well matched against the top Minis to commit to the Jaguar by Oran Park’s Allan Above: Sharp’s Falcon fights it way around Oran Park.
(which were the top Sports Sedans) but came up Horsley, and also Castrol rep Toby Bent. They Below: Sharp prepares the fibreglass front clip for his
short against the Holden-powered Austin of the saw it as a spectator drawcard. Jaguar-Ford V8 - a trademark Barry Sharp modification.
visiting young charger from Victoria, Peter Brock. As Jaguar was a bit of a posh marque, the driver’s name
The engine and gearbox were set back in the was painted on the side as ‘Mr Barry Sharp’.
With other new and better Sports Sedans chassis a little, according to Alan Broome, who
starting to appear, soon it was time for another helped build the car. One big advantage with the indicating that the Jaguar was driven by ‘Mr
Sharp upgrade. The 289 Mustang engine and Jag was that it came with four-wheel disc brakes Barry Sharp.’
Top Loader box were retained as the Falcon – a then-rarity in Sports Sedan racing. The Jag’s
made way for a Mk2 Jaguar. As a measure of rear brakes were retained but Mustang discs “Barry always had a fascination with Jaguars,”
how popular the new Sports Sedan class was at were tted up front. It wasn’t given the trademark Alan Broome says, adding that he believes
the time, Sharp had been strongly encouraged left-hand drive conversion treatment, but it did (and is probably correct) that it was the rst
have the Sharp-style berglass front bodywork. Ford-engined Jaguar race car in the world (an
Explosive ladies race interesting historical footnote given that decades
It was cheekily entered at race meetings as a later Ford would own Jaguar, and took it racing in
The ‘Ladies Race’ was a quaint but ‘Jaguar 4.8’ (the standard six-cylinder Jag was Formula 1).
popular feature at some tracks in the known as a 3.8), and in keeping with this rather
late ‘60s. Such events at Oran Park usually more distinguished form of transportation from The Jag was a better package than any of
involved regular female competitors (such Sharp’s previous cars, and it showed in the
as Christine Cole and Gloria Taylor) in the usual results. It was a match for any Sports Sedan
a eld cobbled together with wives and rry Sharp either side of the NSW/Victorian border, and at
girlfriends of male drivers, often driving their e, the front Hume Weir late in 1970 Sharp drove it to victory
partner’s cars. Barry Sharp volunteered his in the Australian Sports Sedan Trophy. This was
XP Falcon V8 for the ‘Ladies Race’ at the oors were the unofficial national title for Sports Sedans at
November Oran Park night meeting in ‘69, dorned in a time when CAMS was trying to avoid giving
to be driven by Kerry Henson (a friend of g letters
Barry’s then-wife, Dianne).

It didn’t go well. Henson, who Dianne says
was an excellent driver, evidently dailled up
too many revs from the 289 V8, so that when
the starter’s national ag fell and she dropped
the clutch, the Falcon remained stationary on
the grid while the clutch exploded, blowing the
transmission and bellhousing to smithereens
in the process... So catastrophic was the
mechanical failure that some nearby onlookers
watching the start had to duck to avoid being
hit by the shrapnel ying out of the Falcon!

“The clutch had had some kind of
modi cation,” Dianne Mawer remembers.
“It had been machined on both sides or
something, and she must have given it too
many revs and it blew up. It blew a hole
in the car, it put a hole in the bitumen on
starting grid, and it hit her in the shin as well.
The grid marshal came up and said to her
‘look what you’ve done to the grid!’ And she
said, ‘look what I’ve done to the grid? What
about my shin!’”

62

Bathurst Sharp in the McLeod Ford GT-HO Phase III model) Phoenix was earmarked to serve as the
was not to be a match made in heaven. Alan bridesmaids’ car at their wedding, two weeks
Barry Sharp started the Great Race just Broome was there that weekend with Sharp, after Bathurst – with the race car backing up as
the one time. This is somewhat surprising and remembers it as ‘not the happiest of the bridal car…
given Sharp clearly was a capable steerer, environments.’
and on top of that a handy mechanic – “I timed the whole race using the old-style
meaning he was in possession of the two “Let’s just say it was a mismatch of board with three stop watches, hoping all the
main prerequisites for a Bathurst co-driver in personalities between the two drivers. Max time that they weren’t going to wipe the car
the ‘60s and ‘70s. McLeod ended up having to act a bit like a out because we needed it in two weeks for the
referee that weekend. I can’t remember the wedding!
He was denied a start in 1971 by his then precise details but Gossy’s attitude basically
employer, Jack Brabham, who, according to was: it’s my car and I’m going to drive it. Barry’s “I remember David McKay saying that the
Sharp, declined to enter their Falcon GT on name wasn’t even on the car when we turned Dodge was going to be the biggest and the
the grounds of costs. This was a shame as it up – I had to put it on myself!” slowest car in the race. Well, it wasn’t the
meant we never got to see how a well prepared slowest car in the race, and it did finish.”
and driven ‘conventional’ XY model GT would According to Broome, Goss did the bulk of
have fared against the mighty GT-HO Phase IIIs the driving during Saturday practice, and while The Dodge qualified 29th in the 60-car field
in a 500-mile contest on the Mountain. Sharp Sharp did set a qualifying time he played no (two rows behind McKay’s Audi Super 90) and
himself reckoned the GT would have given a fair role on race day, with Goss electing to do the circulated solidly enough all day to finish 19th, a
account of itself, as he explained in AMC #24: race solo. handy fourth in class E.
“I had a good team of guys working for me then
who knew the car backwards and everything Five years earlier Sharp had made his Below: Two weeks after sharing the Dodge Phoenix to
was pretty bloody good. I figured that, with the solitary Great Race start with Lindsay Derriman fourth in class in the ‘67 Bathurst 500 with Barry Sharp,
reliability of the engine compared to the others, in the Dodge Phoenix. As Sharp’s first wife Lindsay Derriman chauffered Sharp and Dianne in the
it would have run around at Bathurst all day Dianne Mawer explains, the car was one of two Dodge at their wedding... The brunette lady on Dianne’s
without a problem but we never got the Phoenixes supplied by sponsor John Barnard left is Kerry Henson, the driver who blew the gearbox
chance.” Autos. The other (later in Sharp’s Falcon Sports Sedan to smithereens on the
startline at Oran Park (see breakout opposite).
But Sharp did get a chance at
Bathurst that year – almost. Even
though Jack Brabham Ford in
Greenacre in Sydney’s west was only
some 10km away from McLeod Ford
in Rockdale, evidently Brabham had
no problem with Sharp doing Bathurst
with a rival Ford dealer. However, the
combination of John Goss and Barry

avoid giving the category official res, which he believed made for better before the start. It was a 100-lap second round
recognition. The powers-that- andling (less sidewall ex), as he of the Australian Manufacturers Championship
be might have thumbed their xplained to Mark Oastler in AMC #124: at Warwick Farm. .Sharp wanted to run the
nose at this burgeoning form of (smaller) 17-gallon fuel tank, but as he explained
wildly modi ed sedan racing, “It only had about 295bhp, but the to journalist Ray Bell in 2002, team chief Austen
but the readers of Racing Car HOs only had about 350bhp anyway. Tauranac (brother of Brabham’s F1 partner, Ron)
News magazine recognised and lus the GT had more torque because insisted they t the bigger tank.
appreciated the category – and f the cam pro le and the smaller carby
voted Sharp third most popular 600cfm vs 780cfm). It was an Autolite Sharp worried that the bigger fuel load would
Sports Sedan driver of 1970, our-barrel and we had it set up so it lead to massive surge once the tank was partly
behind the young Peter Brock worked a bit like fuel injection. It just emptied, and that this would destroy the rear
and Wayne Rogerson. kept pouring in the fuel and it had so tyres in the never-ending right-left-right turnings
of the Warwick Farm circuit.
But soon the Jag would be much whack on full
offloaded (to Bruce Taylor) as hrottle out of the turns it “I wanted to stop an extra time and change the
Sharp joined forces with none asn’t funny! tyres and adjust the rear brakes,” Sharp told Bell,
other than Jack Brabham. As “so we would have had a better chance despite
detailed in our Jack Brabham “We beat a lot of not being able to run the same as the HOs.”
Ford feature in AMC #124, the GT-HOs in that car,
retired F1 champ enlisted Sharp to ecause it had so much The race was lost when he had to stop for
help run the performance division of Brabham’s ottom-end torque tyres just before the nish (above). The rear tyres
Ford dealership at Lakemba. nd even though the had been torn to shreds by pushing them so
tandard gearbox ratios far with all that fuel. Even so, it was the second
The only reason the Jag had to go was that ere all over the place, Falcon home, the GT splitting the Allan Moffat
it wasn’t a Ford. In its place came an XY Falcon just happened to suit and Bruce McPhee GT-HOs.
GT Series Production car – but not a GT-HO verything.”
Phase III, as Brabham gured that the HO was Four weeks later the car would meet its end,
the big seller, and therefore that’s what they There was one race written off in a heavy practice crash at Amaroo
should race. harp felt they should Park. Alan Broome remembers the herculean
ave won – but which in effort that was put in to build up a new car
The GT did surprisingly well. According to s view was lost even overnight to make the race the next day:
Sharp, as a race package it actually lacked
little compared to the Phase III. The GT’s taller
diff ratio allowed Sharp to run lower pro le

64

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“It took a bit of fancy footwork from Jack Africa, but which had been badly damaged after
at afternoon. Barry and I sat down with Jack it was, to quote Racing Car News, ‘mysteriously
nd said, ‘we need a car.’ So he gave us one dropped from its sling’ while being unloaded
f the lot, and we got the whole of the Sports at the Sydney wharf. There are rumours, never
edan Association committee to come over substantiated, that there’d been some kind of
nd help us build the car overnight. We dispute between Brabham and the whar es, and
tarted at about 6 o’clock that night and had this may have been a contributing factor in the
Mustang’s unfortunate shipping accident…
ready to go by 6am.
“We were on the grid the next morning The lightweight ‘Trans-Am’ Falcon was a force
in Sports Sedan racing – until it also suffered
– although someone left a diff centre in the a transportation accident; it was written off in
boot, so it did its rst race with a diff centre a road crash one day while being towed home
ying around inside the boot and doing a fair from the track (above, left). That misfortune
bit of damage!” helped Brabham arrive at the decision to wind
up the performance division of the dealership.
In addition to the Series Production car Sharp left and re-established his own business,
(cars?)“ came an XY Falcon Lightweight this time as the grandly named Barry Sharp
Sports Sedan. Sharp built this car up at the Performance Centre.
Jack Brabham Ford workshop using the
mechanicals from an ex-Frank Gardner Trans- Sharp never got to race the ex-Gardner
Am Boss Mustang (similar to Moffat’s) which Trans-Am Mustang but soon there’d be another
ack Brabham had purchased from South ex-Trans-Am Mustang under his care, the former
Bob Jane car. Initially Sharp was contracted by
car owner Ron Marsden to prepare the Mustang
for Bob Stevens to drive. According to Stevens,
though, Sharp undermined him and persuaded
Marsden to give Sharp the drive.

66

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“I don’t know the full story but yes, Barry did grass-cut him,” says Alan
Broome. “I got a call from Barry one day to say he’s got a drive in this
Mustang, and can I come and help me with it?”

Sharp raced the Mustang through most of 1973. Probably his best result
was fourth place in the final round of the rich (and hotly contested) Oran Park
Tony Lee Series (in fifth place was Colin Bond in the HDT Torana XU-1 V8
‘Beast’), but the reality was that the car simply wasn’t an outright contender.

Broome thinks the Mustang was probably ‘the wrong car at the wrong
time.’ In any case the writing was on the wall: with the Sports Sedan scene
now becoming the domain of high-tech, mid-engined, Formula 5000-inspired
Sports Sedans like Bryan Thomson’s VW-Chev and John McCormack’s
Charger, there was little chance of a five-year-old Trans-Am Mustang (let
alone any of Sharp’s earlier home-built cars) remaining competitive on the
national stage without a huge spend. In effect, the Sports Sedans class
which Sharp had helped conceive had moved on without him.

Sharp’s racing career ended with the Mustang, although for a time he
did have an association with Garry Willmington, helping him sort out his
cars. Sharp wasn’t done with racing, though: eventually he switched to boat
racing – but that is a whole other chapter in the V8-powered competition life
of Barry Sharp.

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Story and Images: David Cook
68

F or all keen young Sydney car enthusiasts
with a taste for the fast and the
unconventional in the early 1960s, the
place to hang out was at 696 Parramatta
Road, Lewisham, the city’s first drive-in
hamburger restaurant. Its proper name was
Lee Gordon’s Big Boy Beefburgers, but to all
its temporary inhabitants it was simply ‘Beefies’
(in the same way as that decades-later drive-

in hamburger restaurant by the name
of McDonalds are universally
known here as ‘Maccas’). At
Beefies you could get to
see the latest in hot street
machinery, sit and talk
cars and modifications
with all the cognoscenti
and grab a glimpse of the
latest import magazines
such as American Hot Rod
or Rod and Custom straight
from the newsstands.
It was a heady mix
for young and eager
performance auto fans,
what close friend and later
crewmember for an up and
comer named Barry Sharp,
Ron Krause, who also chose
to hang out there, referred
to wistfully as ‘hoons.’ From
there groups would head out

across suburbia to the street racing
hot spots, at the brickworks at
Homebush, or down to Heathcote
on the southern edge of suburbia.

Among those groups on many
a night was that Beefies regular
Barry Sharp, who was to turn into
a talented motor racer in all forms
of racing, from speedway to boats
and the drags.

Top: Barry Sharp fronted with this 1926
model T-bodied car in March 1969, did
a surprisingly good job for its only public
appearance but then disappeared from sight
straight after.

69

Sharp already had a background in racing When he was told by some of the hot rod crowd Top left: Barry Sharp’s Jag-powered Fiat at its first race
mostly British-based sedans on the circuit that they were going to be running a real drag meeting in July 1965, when he ran under his mate’s
venues around the city but he hankered for race meeting at the old Castlereagh airstrip in name (Barry McNamara) to avoid jeopardising his
something with a little more grunt and he enjoyed 1965, between Penrith and Richmond, he took a CAMS licence.
hanging out with the hot rodders. Some see him trip out to check it out, made the decision to build Left: Amongst Barry Sharp’s earlier experiences on
as a strong link between those two worlds in a car and in two weeks he threw together a small a drag strip was the driving job in John Fleming’s
those days, and at one stage a few years later Fiat Topolino with a Jag six-cylinder engine. Customline at the first National Championships, at the
would join the ranks of the Shifters Hot Rod Club. Riverside track in Melbourne, in October 1965.
The car debuted in July 1965, with Sharp Above inset: Barry Sharp handled the driving on the
‘Strip Teaser’ while co-owner John Fleming ran the
racing at the Castlereagh track.
Below: The ‘Strip Teaser’ takes on Bob Dunn’s Fiat
altered at Castlereagh. The advent of faster cars,
such as Dunn’s, doomed the old Studebaker’s chances
of success.

competing under the name of Gary McNamara
to avoid creating drama with CAMS. In those
days CAMS would suspend your privileges if you
were a CAMS licence holder and you competed
at a non-CAMS sanctioned venue or event.
McNamara was Sharp’s best friend at the time
and another habitué of Beefies and a sometimes
wheeler of an Austin Healey who was happy to
loan his name to the cause. Sharp would later
revert to using his own name, despite CAMS

70

not changing the regulation, as they had simply track manager John Fleming. the performances were hardly in the range of its
given up on enforcing it simply because the But Fleming’s obligations compatriots in the USA.
number of people in breach of it was signi cant, with running the racing at
especially in speedway events. Castlereagh prevented him Power came from the twin four-barrel
from putting in much time, equipped 312 cube Ford Y-block engine (as in
Sharp kept his hand in by driving the and with Sharp already an a Ford Thunderbird) that had come out of John
Customline of Castlereagh track manager John experienced car rebuilder and Fleming’s Customline after it had been written
Fleming down to Melbourne for the rst National engine swapper he suggested a off (that car had originally been speedway
drag titles, in October 1965. Fleming ew down partnership. star Bill Warner’s street car, when the engine
for the meeting but ended up driving Bill Caralis’ had been a stock 272 cuber.) It was backed
Plymouth at the event, and he handed the racing The Studebaker, like the by a Jag gearbox and a diff from a large BMC
chores on the Cusso to Sharp, despite the Fiat before it, was obtained for vehicle, probably a Wolseley. These were often
paperwork saying it was Fleming at the wheel. the price of $25, probably from Bar favoured in early drag racing cars, as they were
Spares, a nearby wrecking yard to which Sharp cheap, essentially unbreakable and came with
Sharp continued to run the Fiat until March, was somewhat addicted. He had a long-term particularly low ratios which suited their use in
1966, competing at seven race events, with arrangement with proprietor John Barnard, and drag racing.
elapsed times in the 15-second zone and whenever he needed something he would head
speeds in the mid-80mph area, and at one time on down to his mate’s and see what he could “We debated what to call the car. We were
taking his then-wife Diane for a ride down the nd. Sharp’s race cars were never lightweight originally going to call it ‘Coming and Going,’”
quarter mile in the car, with her crouched down terrors, and tended to err – if anything - on the according to crew member Krause, “because of
behind the rollcage and hanging on tight. “I felt side of sturdy over-build, but they made up with its look, but settled instead on ‘Strip Teaser.’”
quite safe, and I trusted Barry’s driving,” Diane Sharp’s driving skill for the extra weight they
now recalls. “It was a bit like taking a ride in a carried. That name suggestion actually came from
train crash.” mate and Castlereagh track starter, Mel Roberts.
“Barry knew his limitations as far as money
In early 1966 news was released of the went,” says Krause. “Everything was done on a That Cusso engine certainly got some use
oncoming Dragfest tour of six American shoestring.”
dragsters, touted as the biggest thing to hit the
drag racing scene in this country, a prediction The entire Studebaker, when nished, owed
that would live to be true but would take a the team $70!
number of years to weave its spell. It was
planned to incorporate ve big time events, and Like almost all of Sharp’s racing vehicles
to make the most of it Sharp debuted a brand- (except his rst Wolseley) it was left-hand drive,
new car – a 1948 Studebaker with Ford V8 but the outstanding feature of the Studebaker
power. The Fiat-Jag was sold off to fellow Sydney was that it had the diff moved forward about
racer Ken Mason. 250-300mm, which improved traction at the
back wheels. The altered wheelbase earned the
The Studebaker was the idea of Sydney car the loosely applied title of “funny car”, but

71

under Sharp’s control. It was later fitted to the Peter Smith. Its biggest moment had come at Left: Barry Sharp was called on to fulfill a match
Austin A90 which he built for the circuits and the September meeting when it was called in race booking with is Y-block V8 Zephyr Sports Sedan
is credited by some as kick-starting the Sports to contest a best of five match race with the ’64 against the Cobra-powered Zephyr of Victorian Ken
Sedan concept in road racing. The engine Plymouth Ramcharger of Lionel Larson, where it Spence in 1967.
and Jag gearbox were then fitted, along with a won four of the rounds, with a best of a 13.64, the Below: Under the glare of cine lighting Barry Sharp’s
supercharger, into a Mk II Zephyr which saw fastest elapsed time we could find for it. AA/A takes on the blown small block Chev-powered
road racing use from 1967 to 1969. Holden ute of Bruce Phillips at Castlereagh, 1969.
The road racing Zephyr was called on by old Below inset: This is the body, or maybe a fibreglass
The ‘Strip Teaser’ had a good workout mate John Fleming in July 1967 to run a match version, of the 1926 model T Ford which Barry Sharp
during that Dragfest tour, running at the first race series at the Castlereagh strip against would later add to his 1969 AA/A. This is its earlier life
event – at Calder in April 1966, then up to Victorian star Ken Spence, who had a fast 289 on the speedway at Westmead in 1965.
Surfers Paradise for Keith Williams’ new venue’s Cobra-powered Mk II Zephyr.
opening event, then back to Sydney for the a popular and, shall we say, f un-loving building
week after. There was supposed to be a second The next sighting of the now venerable at 74 Fore Street, Canterbury, which was directly
race in Melbourne, but after the disaster which Customline engine was in what was described across the road from the racecourse. Sharp’s
the opening contest had become the second in magazine reports of the time as an connection with that venue is likely related to how
was cancelled and everyone got to hang around ‘experimental’ 1926 model T coupe AA/Altered the model T body finished across the road.
for a second event in Sydney in early May. The in March 1969, this time with the GM Detroit
interstate trips were a case of leaving home on Diesel supercharger up on top of the block. The coupe had undertaken some shakedown
Friday evening, driving through the night, racing The car’s body had quite a pedigree, having passes a couple of weeks prior to its one public
on Saturday and/or Sunday and driving home come into the country on a Supermodified that appearance but the old Customline motor had
through the night to be back at work on had been famously imported by speedway dropped a valve, which is universally seen as
Monday morning. star Bill Warner. It had been replaced by the end of the road for any motor. Sharp had
Warner with a fibreglass replica because it a booking for a three-round match race with
Like so many of Sharp’s race cars, the had proven too heavy. Somehow Sharp had Roger Hoare’s Holden-powered altered so he
‘Strip Teaser’ didn’t hang around long. After managed to get his hands on it and fitted it rushed out and for the price of a princely $10
the November, ‘66, Castlereagh meeting he up to a chassis and running gear of his own bought a replacement Customline motor and
announced that the car had been sold. It dropped construction, including a coil-sprung rear end bolted on the blower and good external bits.
from sight until in 1969 when it reappeared in and a standard Ford Prefect front end, but for This earned the car the instant title in the pits of
the hands of fellow Sydney racer some reason that is now lost to time he only ‘The Ten Dollar Hand Grenade’ but the well-
worn engine stuck around until the end of the
n the car the once at Sydney’s Castlereagh night and earned itself a Competition bracket
rip and it was not seen again. win and a class win even though it lost the
That model T body turned up in a horse match race two to one. The low 11-second times
hed at Sydney’s Canterbury Racecourse in of the practice runs were not to be repeated, but
he late 1970s and has finished in the hands of in the car’s final run of the night it pulled out a
peedway collector Bob Blacklaw and now sits 12.79-second pass at 105mph.
on the reconstructed super modified. Curiously,
nd possibly related, Sharp circuit raced That was the last that anyone saw of that car.
under the name ‘Team Partyhouse,’ titled for In 1970 Sharp had begun work on a drag
racing Falcon that was to be equipped with a
blown Hemi engine, and uniquely when the
ex-Bill Warner body was found in the horse stall
at Canterbury racecourse there were two Hemi
short motors sitting inside it. Were these the last
of Barry Sharp’s quarter mile dreams?
Krause holds his time with Sharp in high
regard, as he does his old mate: “Barry had a
feeling for a car. He had mechanical empathy;
he wasn’t brutal on a vehicle, and could get the
most out of them. He was a very good driver in
whatever he chose to compete with.”

72

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76

77

Slot car

addiction
with Brett Jurmann

CPrototyping the Mustangasting around for a new slot car to build The first step was to line the wing tab up with and looked small in the wheel arches, which
usually brings to mind a set of criteria that the trailing edge of the Mustang boot, trace its points to a slight difference in scale between the
I work with. Can I get the decals? Are the position and out came the Dremel to carefully two. I elected to try and match the GT4 wheel
right wheels available? Can I find a donor carve a locating slot. After a tidy up with a file, size, by using the Commodore wheels as inserts
body? If not, can I find something suitable the slot had sufficient interference fit that it would into Sloting Plus’ largest aluminium race wheels.
to modify? Is it a project within my skill-set? Will it hold the wing in place without glue. It was at this This worked to a limited extent and I was able to
interest you, the readers? point that the differences between aero package re-use the original Mustang tyres.
details of the two cars start to become more
The build for this issue had some of those noticeable. The Mustang has different shaped The best way to remove the rest of the wheel
questions answered when I saw an article by wing elements and front ducting, but I concluded arch gap was to lower the body. Normally this
Dominic Grimes, the president of the Australian that any additions I might make for better is easily accomplished by filing down the body
Scalextric Racing and Collecting Club. Dom accuracy would fall off in the first crash, so I left it posts, but the Mustang chassis has a lip at the
pointed out that when Scalextric designed as it was. rear and the sides which locks the body in place.
the most recent Supercars Commodore, the These had to be trimmed along with the front
rear wing was attached by a neat tab that A look underneath showed that the front tray and rear light mounting posts and various interior
should allow it to slot solidly into the boot of was not going to be so simple as it was moulded support posts. It took quite a bit of trial and error,
the (at the time) new GT4 Mustang body. That into the body. I guess it was a decision made fitting and grinding to find all of the catch points
definitely sparked my interest and soon I had early in the life of the Scalextric GT4 Mustang before the body would drop satisfactorily.
a Commodore and a Mustang coming in the mail. that if other versions were to be made, there
would be other changes requiring a completely With the basic elements done it was time to
When the cars arrived, there was a bit of new shell. So after consulting some Mustang look at more of the details where the GT4 is
anticipation as I dismantled them to line things images, I chose a line under the front bar to different to a Supercar. I had already decided that
up. Sure enough the Commodore wing popped make a cut and out came the Dremel again. the roof could not be modified without weakening
out of its slot to reveal a nicely curved securing Knowing then how much clearance remained, I the structure significantly, not to mention the
tab, and the nose profile of the Mustang did the same to the Commodore. The salvaged problems with refitting the glass. As it turns
appeared similar enough to transplant the front air dam was measured and was found to be out, the bonnet also has a different shape and
Supercars front tray. Of course, the current almost the exact same width and a neat match venting. I elected to just fill the GT4 vents and
homologated Supercars Mustang shape is a with the Mustang wheel arches. It was glued in ignore the bonnet bulge difference. The GT4 rear
bit of a basket-case, but I counted on paint place, with reinforcing strips inside the body. valance is also much more like the road car, so I
and sponsors decals of the DJR Shell livery cut and shut the piece trimmed off the Scalextric
disguising some of the differences. Then came a trial fit of the Commodore’s chassis and glued it to the body.
Supercars control wheels. They are significantly
smaller in diameter to the Mustang GT4 versions Moving to the interior, the GT4 is left hand
drive as opposed to our ‘normal’ Aussie layout

78

Supercar and the Scalextric cockpit tray is shallow to
allow for the inline motor that has to fit underneath.
A side swap was in order, with some cut and shut
for the driver’s position and steering wheel. The DJR
cockpit has a lot of white paint, but the Scalextric
black interior disguises the lack of depth in the
cockpit, so I decided to leave it black.

The paint job was a little more involved than
usual, but I worked out that the join in the red and
white could be laid over with the yellow stripes of the
Patto’s decal set. The last item to finish it off was to
remove the original GT4 windscreen decals. I was
a bit apprehensive about this, as decals can leave
a horrible mess when you try to remove them from
clear plastic. I attempted it first with soapy hot water
and eventually succeeded by masking off with tape
and rubbing with a cotton bud soaked in methylated
spirits. Job done.

Of course, all of this ‘what-if’ exercise may count
for nothing! Supercars have ‘leaked’ a render of the
DJR Mustang in reduced downforce mode as part
of the proposed Gen 3 chassis changes. Many of
the features are much more like the GT4 Mustang
including the centre-mount rear wing and production
roof profile. Perhaps
these similarities
with encourage
Scalextric to re-
introduce Supercars
into next year’s
model range.

79





It’s Formula 5000 but not as we knew it – this is S5000, a new-age,
new look at the old idea of stock-block V8 ‘big banger’ openwheeler
racing. The creators of this home-grown formula have managed
to capture the brutal essence of the old low-downforce, high-
horsepower Formula 5000 cars in a modern package which, bang
for buck, might just be the best openwheeler category in the world.

Story: Steve Normoyle Images: Graeme Neander, S5000 Media, Paul Cross

80

I t has been a long and winding road for the modern take on Formula 5000. What has Above: The Ford Mustang V8-powered S5000 class
new S5000 openwheeler category. The been achieved by Chris Lambden, the man is an unapologetic attempt at creating a 1970s-style
journey has taken all of six years, involving who came up with idea in the rst place, Mike Formula 5000 category updated for the 21st century.
two different prototype cars and three Borland, the man who developed the original
different speci cation V8 engines. There’s prototype, and Garry Rogers Motorsport, the that it has no direct link to the international
even been three different potential names for race team which brought it to fruition as a fully openwheeler racing scene is a negative (having
the category! said that, our most recent attempt at bringing a
nished ready-to-race machine, is a masterclass global openwheeler formula to Australia, Formula
It’s surely been the longest gestation period of Australian motor racing engineering know- 4, was an unmitigated disaster).
for any motorsport formula in Australia. However, how. The carbon bre chassis and the base
from what we’ve seen from the four rounds that engine might be European and American One thing the Formula 4 asco did show
made up this year’s inaugural S5000 Australian respectively, but pretty much everything else was that aligning one’s openwheeler racing to
Drivers’ Championship, it’s been worth the wait. has been developed down under, and most of the international scene sometimes isn’t all it’s
In S5000 we have a V8-powered ‘big banger’ it especially for S5000. It’s been done in a way cracked up to be…
openwheeler category that reprises all that was that makes the cars remarkably reliable and
good about 1970s Formula 5000 without also affordable to run – especially given the high level But if comparisons are to be drawn with other
bringing back the bad – the appalling unreliability, of performance they offer. Just as importantly, categories in the wider world of openwheeler
the high running costs, and the chassis they’ve also been designed in a way that racing, S5000 stacks up. As a sight-and-sound
construction so imsy that there is even a phrase allows them to actually race one another, free experience, as an openwheeler formula in which
to describe the permanent leg injuries suffered of the kind of aerodynamic dependency that the cars can actually race one another, as a
by so many F5000 crash veterans (including makes overtaking so difficult in so many other comparatively low-cost formula, and with the
Kevin Bartlett and Warwick Brown) – the openwheeler categories. daunting challenge it presents to the drivers,
infamous 1970s motor racing medical condition what else is there that comes even remotely
known as ‘Lola Limp.’ S5000 stands alone as a de nitively home- close to matching S5000? We don’t think it’s
grown Australian formula (but hopefully also an exaggeration to say that, bang-per-buck,
But what we have in S5000 is not just a to include New Zealand). To some, the fact the Australian S5000 category is the best
openwheeler formula in the world.

81

New Millenium Formula 5000s anufacturer) was, of course, right.”
or 2014, so The Ford engine would drive through a six-
Chris Lambden (above) was a motorsport he tooling
journalist but he was also a driver. He speed sequential Holinger transaxle. Holinger
made four Great Race starts in the late ‘80s/ potentially and Borland did the conversion, mating the
early ‘90s before hanging up his helmet to uild cars was engine and transmission (with a purpose-built
concentrate on Motorsport News magazine, vailable at the bellhousing and drop-gear assembly on the front
which he and fellow journo David Hassall ht price. of the gearbox to keep the engine as low as
founded in 1992. “We bought possible) to the back of the Swift chassis, and
developing the front and rear suspension. By
Fast forward a couple of decades, the now- very last early 2016 the prototype for Lambden’s proposed
retired Lambden found his way back into racing, they made new ‘Formula Thunder 5000’ category was being
in an early ‘70s 5.0-litre Chev-powered McRae hich hadn’t put through its paces in testing. The early results
Formula 5000 car. For Lambden, racing a historic n sold), and were promising: the car was quick, appeared
F5000 car was a ‘bucket-list thing,’ and it was all the tooling, so we had the equipment to build to be reliable and was a challenge to drive. The
during this time that he got an idea: wouldn’t it be them,” Lambden says. basic package looked about right.
cool if there was a modern version of F5000 in Mike Borland of Borland Racing
this part of the world? Developments was charged with the task of But then out of left field came a snag. The
converting the Swift from its former 3.0-litre management of Supercars had seen what
As with most good ideas, this one soon V8 Honda/Toyota configuration to Ford Lambden was doing and decided to get in
solidified into a plan. Things got serious ‘Coyote’ 5.0-litre V8 power. Borland was the on the act, commissioning their own 5.0-litre
when Lambden spotted what looked like the perfect man for the job. A quiet achiever on V8 openwheeler, to be known as Super5000,
perfect basis for a born-again down-under the Australian openwheeler scene, Borland’s using second-hand Supercars (Ford or
F5000: a 2009-designed Japanese Formula home-grown Spectrum Formula Fords have Holden) engines and transaxles. Lambden
Nippon chassis made by American racing been competitive against the best European- was nonplussed (to say the least…) at this
car manufacturer, Swift. Formula Nippon made Formula Fords since the mid-‘90s, unexpected ‘copy-cat’ exercise. The emergence
had upgraded to a new chassis design (and with an alumni of drivers that includes Chaz of a rival project, backed by the Supercars
Mostert, Mark Winterbottom, Lee Holdsworth, juggernaut, threatened to derail FT5000 before it
Scott Pye, Jack le Brocq and Matt Campbell. even turned a wheel.
For the 5.0-litre V8 powerplant, Lambden opted
for the Ford ‘Coyote’ V8 (the same basic engine as But behind the scenes things were happening.
the new-generation Mustang), after discussions Enter John Bowe. The financial muscle behind
with Roger Higgins of Innov8 Race Engines. the Super5000 project, Brian Boyd of Payce
“I was thinking a Chevy-based engine Constructions, also happened to be one of the
originally,” says Lambden, “but Roger said, ‘no, sponsors of Bowe’s Touring Car Masters Torana
this is the way to go. It’s a bit heavier because it’s LX SL/R 5000. The former Formula 5000 star
a quad cam, but it’s a modern engine, and if it’s worried that a civil war between competing
done right it should be just about bullet-proof.’ He big banger openwheeler concepts would end
without a winner, so he stepped in and, via Boyd’s

82

Right: Original Formula Thunder 5000 Swift chassis
(right - and bottom, flanked by retired legends Spencer
Martin, Colin Bond, Kevin Bartlett, John McCormack
and Fred Gibson). Inset below: John Bowe, helped by
Mike Borland, samples the S5000 prototype.
Centre right: The Supercars ‘copycat’ 5.0-litre V8 car.

motorsport best mate (John
McMellan, CEO of Wilson Security
at the time) arranged a meeting
between Lambden and Boyd.
From that, a genuine merger was
achieved, with Boyd backing the
now joint project; the only thing
left to determine was whether the
final product would use Lambden’s
Swift-based chassis or the
Super5000 car – the Ford Coyote/
Holinger was a lay-down in terms
of the rear end…

That question was answered
in the bizarre circumstances of
what amounted to a couple of public on-track
shootouts between the two prototypes,
the first at the 2017 Gold Coast Supercars
round. While Lambden’s Swift thundered its
way around the streets of Surfers Paradise
in a spectacular display, the Super5000 car
spluttered to a smoky, ignominious halt. A
fortnight later, at Pukekohe in New Zealand, its
rear suspension broke after a lap and a half…

Super5000 wasn’t heard from again after
that.

But just as Lambden and his Swift ‘FT5000’
cleared one hurdle, up popped a new one in the
form of CAMS (now Motorsport Australia), the
controlling body of Australian motorsport.

Above: Garry and Barry Rogers show off the finished
S5000 prototype, which made its public debut at
Eastern Creek in late 2018 (right).
Left: Bare Ligier-Onroak tubs ready to be assembled at
GRM as S5000 machines.

Swift action needed be run in the US by a fellow New Zealander,
Max Crawford, whose company, Crawford
In 2017, all anyone was talking about in Composites, had been acquired by Onroak-
openwheeler racing was the controversial Ligier, but that notwithstanding, the Onroak-
Halo head protection device – which would Ligier tub proved perfect. Even though it was
be mandated for Formula 1 for the following designed primarily for F3 it was large enough,
year. Against this backdrop, and expectations was rated to almost 600 horsepower and, most
that the Halo would soon lter down the lower importantly, was a contemporary design that
rungs of the sport, CAMS was reluctant to met all the FIA’s safety requirements, including
approve the Halo-less Swift FT5000 for racing. the Halo.

“We were ready to go with the Swift,” Lambden “One really good thing was that the chassis
says, “but then CAMS had reservations about would be available off the shelf. We would have
the design. To comply with their demands, we had to have had the Swift made somewhere
were going to need to get into crash testing and ourselves, and the more we had looked into it,
all sorts of stuff. It was starting to get too difficult it was looking more like we couldn’t do that in
and way, way too expensive.” Australia.

Just when there seemed no way forward, “In a funny old way, it all worked out for the
Australia’s FIA representative Garry Connelly best in the end.”
reported that there was a new chassis in the US
that might serve Lambden’s purposes. The main issue with using the F3 chassis
was how to attach the Ford V8 to the rear of
Lambden ew to the States to take a look at a tub where normally a four-cylinder in-line
the car, a Formula 3 chassis made by Onroak- Honda engine is tted. Between Mike Borland
Ligier. It probably helped that the French/ in Melbourne and Onroak-Ligier designer Ken
American Onroak-Ligier concern happened to Anderson in North Carolina, an aluminium
adaptor plate was devised. This wasn’t a

“One really good thing was that the chassis would be available
off the shelf. We would have had to have had the Swift made
somewhere ourselves, and the more we looked into it, it
was looking more like we couldn’t do that in Australia.”

84

straightforward exercise. The problem “The [suspension] pickup points on the new one November, 2018, and it ran in public for the first
with carbon fibre construction is that the couldn’t be changed, so the roll centres aren’t time at the Supercars finale at Newcastle a few
finished product that comes out of the exactly where you’d want them. days later. A test day at Winton followed, and
autoclave is exactly that – it’s finished, then the ‘Version 2’ prototype was handed over to
and cannot be modified in any way without ”But one area where the current car is better is Garry Rogers Motorsport. The GRM team joined
invalidating the FIA’s homologation. Even the brakes. One thing we identified with the Swift Borland at Winton for the test day – and took the
the smallest pinhole is enough to do so – so was that the brakes were going to be marginal – car home with them afterwards. That was the end
the seemingly practical option of drilling new they were already marginal in Formula Nippon. of Borland’s involvement and the start of GRM’s
mounting points for the V8 was in fact never So we went to 15-inch front wheels (instead investment in S5000.
an option… of 13s) to enable us to run bigger rotors. The
Swift brake package was also astronomically “I’d already spoken to them about not wanting
The adaptor plate thus uses the original expensive, so once it was clear we weren’t using to do it [the production version],” Borland says.
‘narrow’ mount points for the Honda engine, the Swift, we thought, ‘let’s go to a different brake “It was too big a job for us – we would have
but because it’s significantly wider (to suit the package that’s better and cheaper.’” had to move premises, and Garry [Rogers]
bigger, heavier V8), it’s also bonded to the tub was interested in doing it – and he had enough
using space-age quality adhesive. So it’s literally Tim Macrow demonstrated the car at the resources to build 15 cars, whereas I didn’t.”
glued on… and it works beautifully. official S5000 launch day at Eastern Creek in

It was getting towards the end of 2018 when
the Onroak-Ligier deal was done. Time was
running out for the proposed 2019 start date
for the formula. Borland had just nine weeks to
adapt the FT5000 rear end and concept to the
Ligier chassis.

Borland has some reservations about the
Onroak-Ligier S5000 (as it was now renamed);
in his view, the Swift was the slightly better
package.

“The Swift was designed as one,” he says.

85

Project S5000 of engineering. Above: A star studded field including retired F1 stars
“We put so much Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella was
The hurdles which Lambden had been into it to get to assembled for the first race of the 2020 Australian
forced to overcome (the copycat that first race at Drivers’ Championship at Albert Park - only for it to be
Super5000 and the safety-conscious CAMS) Sandown – it was cancelled on race eve due to the pandemic.
inadvertently turned into positives. With quite emotional
regards to the former, Lambden notes that o watch the cars practised and qualified on the Thursday. But
without the commitment of Brian Boyd in o out for the first
evolving the second ime.” that was it. The next day dawned with the shock
prototype, S5000
would simply not have That debut race cancellation of the race meeting due to the
happened. weekend – which
included ex-Ferrari coronavirus.
The other crucially F1 star Rubens Barrichello among the 13 drivers
important player was – and a second event at The Bend – went off The AGP would be to be the first (but not
Garry Rogers. without a hitch. The overworked GR
able to draw breath for the first time the last) big event in the world to fall victim to
“Garry Rogers stepped a leisurely five months to prepare for
forward,” Lambden race of 2020. Covid19 during 2020. As for S5000, the entire
says. “He was at the That was at the Australian F1 Grand Prix
Newcastle Supercars meeting at Albert Park. It was set to be a big season was lost to the pandemic. It would be
round in 2018 where we moment for the new formula, as the S5000s
demonstrated the car the week would be strutting their stuff in front of a big some 16 months between that second race
after it was launched. He got audience during the grand prix weekend – and
really enthusiastic about the with Barichello joined by fellow ex-F1 driver outi B 9 and this year’s
cars and told us ‘we’ve got the Giancarlo Fisichella in the field. The 15 cars
facilities and the staff to build ope at Plains.
these cars.’ It worked out well;
he was getting out of Supercars “ v vid for us is that
to go into TCR which meant he
had extra capacity to do things. It was the perfect we’re still a few cars short – a few people
solution.”
who had planned to be involved who literally
But the task that lay ahead of GRM was
daunting. They didn’t have much time. Not only couldn’t afford to get stuck interstate by border
did they have to productionise a prototype racing
car – which meant figuring out the best and restrictions,” Lambden says.
most economical way to make or source all the
componentry – they also had to build enough Hopefully that will change into the future –
cars for the first race, scheduled for Sandown in
September, 2019. starting with the proposed three-race ‘S5000

“The thing that’s great about Garry is that he Triple Crown’ end-of-year series at Albert Park,
has the belief in us that we can get things done,”
says Stefan Millard, GRM’s team manager and Bathurst and Gold Coast meetings.
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The Rogers AF01/V8 original Swift prototype is the Holinger six-speed Holinger also makes the front and rear
transaxle. As a complete assembly it’s designed suspension uprights (from billet aluminium) as
What GRM has achieved with the especially for S5000 by Holinger in Melbourne. per GRM’s design. They’re interchangeable side
production version of the car – now Although the gearbox itself is a proven Holinger to side as a cost-saving measure and for ease
officially known as the Rogers AF01/V8 – export transmission, an all-new front section of maintenance. They’re also a control item,
is, Lambden proclaims, a ‘masterclass of contains a drop-gear assembly – to keep the cutting out one area of costly development (as
Australian engineering’. Almost everything engine as low as possible. The Holinger S5000 discovered by Supercars). The wishbones are
on the cars except for the bare tub, nose transaxle is a thing of some engineering beauty, made in house at GRM; Holinger makes the front
and side-intrusion elements, and the base with the oil tank and coolant catch tank built into axle spindles.
Ford engine, was either designed or made in the cast aluminium bellhousing as one piece.
Australia – or both. The sequential paddle shift is pneumatically The three-piece aluminium control wheels –
operated (which presented some problems with 9.5x15-inch diameter fronts and 14x15-inch rears
“Mike Borland did an excellent job in the development of the engine – see separate – are manufactured especially for the category by
terms of giving us a platform which we could section) and, interestingly, the transaxle unit is Max Wheels in Sydney. The Max in Max Wheels
productionise,” Stefan Millard says. “He gave us sealed – which means no gear ratio changes. is former Sprint Car and V8 Supercar driver Max
an indication of where he thought we needed The half shafts are GKN units from Germany, Dumesny – who, as the local Hoosier tyre agent,
to be.” supplied by Holinger. also supplies the rubber that’s fitted to those
wheels. Naturally, it’s a control compound tyre.
One thing that’s hardly changed since the

“What we’re finding in the first season is that there’s enough
for the competitors to play with to tune the cars to suit their
individual driving styles without having to do 10 test days and

have a team full of people to run the thing.”

88

The front and rear wings and rear floors are
made by LC Race Composites in Mordialloc.
The front wing design has evolved during the
development process but the rear wing remains
as per the original Swift design.

The engine cover had to be redesigned
because the V8 engine installation means the
S5000 has a longer wheelbase (identical to
an IndyCar) than the original spec F3 car. The
steering wheel is GRM designed and made
(it’s 3D printed); GRM also reconfigured the
electricals, using locally made Motec ECU data
logger, dash display, video camera, power control
unit. The wiring loom is designed by GRM but
supplied by Proloom Motorsport in Melbourne.

The shock absorbers are JRI units, as per
American F3. They’re two way adjustable (high
and low speed rebound only), and the internals
are sealed (so it’s not possible to spend weeks
on a shock dyno seeking a setup advantage).

“What we’re finding in the first season is that
there’s enough for the competitors to play with to
tune the cars to suit their individual driving styles

gy
team full of people to run the thing,” Millard says.

The general philosophy, he says, was to err
on the side of control components initially, as it’s
easier to open things up later rather than try to
rein things in after teams have already spent time
and money on developing different areas.

“So any area where we thought people could
do that sort of development, it’s either locked out
or sealed, or specified in the rules exactly what
you can and can’t do. Having said that, there’s
enough in the shock adjustment, there’s enough
in the aero adjustment, to be able to tune the car
for each different track and conditions.”

These 5.2-litre V8-powered cars are not
lightweights in any respect – and that also goes

Above: Steering wheel is made in house at GRM.
Transaxle is made in Melbourne by Holinger especially
for S5000; detail pics (left) showing the aluminium
brackets which attached the 5.2-litre Ford V8 engine to
the back of the chassis.

for their actual weight. At 840kg, which is nearly Above, below: The chassis and engine are imported
150kg heavier than a current F1 car, they’re on but everything else on the car is either made here or
the portly side for an openwheeler. sourced especially for S5000.

But this needs to be seen in perspective. the cars are holding up well when it comes to
With almost unlimited budgets, F1 teams have component longevity.
the luxury of being able to reduce weight by
the use of expensive lightweight materials all “Obviously I wasn’t involved in the original
through the car. In motorsport, with weight Formula 5000s but, from what I hear, they
reduction comes expense. required a lot of maintenance and were quite
fragile. But with these things, we’re looking to
“Weight wasn’t our primary concern when get thousands of kilometres out of components.
we were working out the specs,” Millard says. At the moment, our highest-kays car has done
“Longevity and low maintenance were our more than the prototype – about 3000-4000km
priorities. Garry [Rogers] was adamant that it on the one engine/gearbox.”
had to be affordable, and not be something that
will scare people off. The original plan was to allow two sets of
tyres per car per meeting, but teams seem to
“We didn’t want people to have to be replacing be managing OK on the one set. The clutches
components prematurely; we wanted it to be a (Tilton carbon-fibre) are lasting. The control
relatively low maintenance car, so everything is a brake pads (PFC 11) for the AP steel rotors and
bit beefier than it could have been. four-piston calipers have a useable longevity of
roughly a meeting and a half.
“And you want to be able to race the cars as
well, so you don’t want things to be damaged It’s been a decent first season so far for
too easily. Because everything’s slightly over S5000. There have been no major issues to
engineered, the cars are very strong.” speak of; the cars have generally performed
above expectation in the areas of reliability and
Also, Millard points out, it’s physically quite a maintenance. Millard is cautiously optimistic.
large car.
“I feel nervous every time the cars go out onto
“The engine’s big, and everything that bolts the track; we’ve invested so much time in them.
onto it is big. It’s got a water radiator on each But the series is starting to grow legs now. We’ve
side, plus an engine oil heat-exchanger. The got 17 cars built so far, so hopefully we’ll have all
engine/transmission package requires a lot of them on the grid later in the year.”
of cooling, a lot of water, a lot of oil. All of that
adds up. “With these things, we’re looking to get

“If it was an F3 car, it’d be 100kg lighter thousands of kilometres out of components.
straight up just with the smaller engine. And then
all the auxiliary parts are lighter as well because At the moment, our highest-kays car has
of the less power.”
done more than the prototype – about 3000-
In the five-race meeting run so far (not
including the aborted Albert Park), Millard says 4000km on the one engine/gearbox.”

The engine

Roger Higgins of Innov8 Race Engines has
been part of the S5000 journey from the
beginning. It was Higgins who steered the
project in the direction of the 5.0-litre ‘Coyote’
(Mustang) engine rather than Lambden’s initial
preference for Chev power – although the final
engine spec is very different from that which
powered the original Swift FT5000 car.

The S5000 engine is a 5.2-litre variant of the
Coyote (the 5.2XS). It comes as a crate engine
from Ford Performance and is the same base
powerplant that’s used in the GT4 race version
of the Mustang. Essentially, it’s a 90-degree
crankshaft version of the Shelby GT350 engine.

“It’s Ford’s premium production crate engine,”
Higgins says. “They’re hand built in batches of
14 at a time. It’s part of the same Coyote family
of engines, but everything’s different from the
road (Mustang) version. It’s got a motorsport
block, slightly more stroke on the crank, slightly

bi ger bore, and the bores
e plated instead of iron.
s got different cylinder
eads, lighter intake valves,
fferent valve springs and
ams, Manley rods and

Mahle pistons.”
Running 12:1

ompression on 98
octane fuel, the engine in
S5000 trim develops 560
horsepower (420kW) and
480ft/lb of torquew .

“The thing will run a lot

Above: Drawings show the attach points for the How fast is fast enough? lot faster – another 80 horsepower from the
elaborate array of engine mount brackets. The engine engine, stickier tyres and more aero. We
is attached to the chassis via a specially made sump S5000 has been criticised in some took about 50 percent out of what was the
and also at the top of the cam covers. quarters for not being fast as some downforce on the F3 package. So the car is
were expecting. Indeed, at the Phillip Island slower than a F3 car around corners – but it’s
more power fairly easily, but we’ve detuned it to and Eastern Creek rounds this year, the a fair bit quicker in a straight line. Maximising
560 horsepower. The chassis was homologated S5000s did not beat the existing lap records that difference – between corner speed and
at a maximum of 560 horsepower, so we can’t for F3 cars or the old Formula Holden. But, terminal speed – is what should make for
really go any higher. It’s got variable cams, with Chris Lambden says, to criticise the category good racing.
70-degree intake and 50 exhaust, and we use thus is to miss the point:
all that in the tune. So it’s a very linear power “With the development of the new Gen3 “There are tracks where the old F3 cars
delivery.” Supercar, I saw a quote the other day from are every bit as quick. But it’s not about lap
Supercars that said, ‘absolute lap speed is not time. It’s about the quality of the racing, the
At the moment the cars run a control twin the answer.’ That’s it, exactly. We set out to build entertainment, and the challenge to the drivers.
exhaust system, four into one on each side. something fast enough to be a challenge to They’re not on rails, they’re an old fashioned,
It was developed by Innov8, but Higgins says drive, but also economically achievable within low-downforce car where you’ve got to deal with
they didn’t go to great lengths to maximise the the Australian motorsport economy. mechanical grip.
exhaust system because the objective was to “Formula 5000 was great, but it died
reach a set power/torque target. On a personal because costs spiralled out of control. In the “If we had wanted to, they could be five or
note, Higgins hopes the category modern world you have to keep costs under six seconds a lap faster around Phillip Island,
will at some point switch to an control, otherwise you’re just wasting your time. easily. But the racing would be boring, and the
eight-into-one system. “We could easily make them go a whole cars would wear stuff out faster and become
more expensive to run.”
“I’d like to see that only The engine
because I think that’ll sound conversion is 93
much better than they do now. As somewhat over-
they are, they rev to 8000, but it engineered –
doesn’t sound like 8000.” Higgins says they
machined a total
The S5000s use Innov8’s of four tonnes of
own design intake system, 6061 high-grade
but the basic engine package aluminium to
is otherwise more or less make the engine
unchanged – apart from the parts they needed!
changes required for installation – because time
in the chassis. rames and the
limited budget
“The main changes we meant there was no chance of conducting
make are the dry sump, the pre-race durability tests. When the cars
cam covers and the eight throttle-body intake. In first raced at Sandown in 2019, the engines
the car, the engine is a semi-stressed member, literally were unproven.
which is something it was never designed for. It’s “Even now,” Higgins says, “every mile the cars
something we have to watch; the head gasket do is a test mile for us.”
area, for example – they’re very thin between But it has been a case of so far, so good.
the cylinders in terms of material. But we There has only been one engine failure to date –
overdesigned the sump and the cam covers to but that was ‘antagonised by a mechanic leaving
help carry the load, and we did this based on the a rag where it shouldn’t have been left…’
fact that we weren’t going to be able to do any “As far as maintenance goes, at the moment
testing before the first race for the cars.” we’re looking at timing chains at 5000km, and
then see how far the rest of it will go. We’d like to
Higgins also had to make some changes get to 10,000. We don’t know yet.”
to the camshaft drives, due to the forces
put through them by the pneumatic gearbox
paddle-shift.

Mini

with Bruce Moxo

A MC’s favourite kit-maker and scratch- other stars included Grice in a Commodore and for a couple of bucks each (plus decals
builder Geoff Wood sent us pictures and Dick Johnson in a Falcon. Garry got a from Pattos or KatCode3 among others), you
and some details of his latest project. minute penalty for a jump start (then stalled!), could build the whole RX7 eld from 1981-
Geoff is a mad Allan Moffat fan – so when Allan stepped in at halfway victory 84. A very quick look at Patto’s Place (www.
indeed, his fandom has crossed over was impossible. However, he stormed pattosplace.com) showed the McLeod,
into friendship with the Great Man. through to fth and claimed the fastest lap.” Carter, Moffat and Kavich cars, just for
starters. KatCode3 ( nd them on Facebook)
“A new year nally brought me the So, if you wanted to do the same thing, have the Terry Shiel and Phil Alexander cars,
opportunity to build my long-held ambition of or something similar, what RX7s are out as mentioned in previous editions.
Allan’s complete set of all RX7 variants he there? Well, Geoff restricted himself to
raced from 1980 to 1985,” says Geoff. 1:43 scale. A smart choice when displaying If you’re more into doing it yourself, Fujimi
the cars like this; 1:18 would take up far did a 1:24 kit, as raced at Daytona in 1979.
“For over 10 years l had been too much space, and 1:64 wouldn’t show This is the right shape for a Group C car and
accumulating the 1:43 donor models Geoff’s amazing skills. I did this kit myself many years ago – I was a
required for the build and here is the result. bit shocked to see it being offered for $150+
Three Bizarre, two Kyosho, two Biante and First of all, Biante has made RX7s in on Ebay – I might have spent a tenth of that!
one Hi-Story model make up the set. They 1:43 and 1:18 in the Group C shape – ared There’s a very similar Gunze Sangyo kit –
sit, in chronological order, on a custom- guards, rear wing and all. But you have to looks like a reissue/rebrand of the Fujimi and
made turntable (yep its ‘rotates’!) with a remember that the earlier RX7s didn’t have the price was about the same on Ebay.
handmade full-scale rotor as the centre as big a spoiler, or in the very early days,
piece, adorned with an image of each car. any spoiler at all. So that’s one thing to keep Aoshima did the same car too, in the
A custom-made acrylic case completes in mind. same scale, only with additional lights,
the display. and it’s on Ebay for a little less at the time
There are any number of ‘standard of writing.
“This year marks the 40th anniversary of body’ RX7s out there – including a TWR
Allan’s debut in his Peter Stuyvesant giant car from the 1980 British Touring Car By the way, on Ebay pricing – a recent
killer, but as you can see the story began a Championship – it has a roll cage but not experience showed me that contacting your
year earlier with Allan competing both here ares or spoilers. There’s at Atlas brand favourite retailer can be a good idea – a
and in the US as he assessed the potential of one that’s pretty affordable. Remembering model that was advertised on the auction
the Peripheral Port RX7, while CAMS did their that the RX7 was very successful in site for $150 was half that in a bricks and
best to keep it out! production car racing, there’s a few mortar shop (actually tilt-slab, but you get
versions you could do other than the Gary the idea).
The odd one out is the Garry Waldon Waldon car – Phil Alexander, the Stephen
Gradan Gears Group E machine. In 1984 Brook Perrier car, quite a few others. Tamiya did a road-going version in the
Oran Park held the Camden Cup, a one-off same scale which would be perfect for the
50 lapper pro/am race for Group E production And, of course, there’s the Hot Wheels production version, or the basis for a Group
cars. Moffat paired up with Waldon, while RX7. It has pretty much the right body kit C car if you fancy your skills.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Allan’s debut in his Peter
Stuyvesant giant killer, but as you can see the story began a year earlier
with Allan competing both here and in the US as he assessed the potential

of the Peripheral Port RX7, while CAMS did their best to keep it out!

95

Happy as Larry
Holden VR Commodore 1995 the slow lap into the pits) put them a lap down. of the driver. The superb engine detail shows
Bathurst Winner – 25th That Perkins and Ingall fought back to win all the pulleys, fuel rails, rockers, fittings, and
Anniversary in Silver Livery is one of the great stories in Bathurst 1000 accurately decorated parts. The highly detailed
history. The silver livery celebrates that it’s boot features the twin fuel pipes, petrol pot,
No one was as happy as Larry Perkins at been (just over) 25 years since this feat. The oil catch can, fuel pumps and the complicated
the end of the 1995 Bathurst 1000 – apart interior features the dash with digital display, plumbing. The chassis features an etched
from his race-winning co-driver Russell Ingall, bias levers, gearstick and Momo race steering metal Limited Edition production number. Just
of course… This model’s an absolute must wheel. There’s also a comprehensive roll cage over 1000 of these models will be made. Check
for Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall fans. With and Larry’s signature switch panel to the left them out at www.classiccarlectables.com.au
Larry getting tangled up on lap one with some
upstart flash-in-the-pan called Lowndes, the
Castrol car got a flat tyre and needed to pit.
The stop (and

96

Ford XT Falcon GT 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
in Jet Black
The diecast model expo is almost 10 years old! The concept
Another fantastic
early Falcon. This of bringing collectors and makers of models together was
model looks fantastic.
It’s brave for a model brought to life on the Gold Coast back in August 2011. The
maker to build a
black car; the surface last expo was at Parramatta in 2018 and we anticipated the
before painting must
be perfectly smooth next in 2021. As we all know too well, this Covid pandemic
and the paint itself
flawless – everything has put a wrecking ball
shows up on black. The
comprehensive front end through many events and 2021 Model Announcement
engraved headlights and driving ights, as well as a finely-finished
front grille and bumper. The interior features authentic XT GT dash detail, lives of people. Holden Torana A9X
steering wheel, full instrumentation and soft rubber seats with seat belts
and buckles. The engine bay has an outstanding level of detail, including an So to plan a full blown 1978 Bathurst Forbes / Bartlett
etched metal air filter, finely-moulded hoses, leads and tubing. The chassis
also includes working rear leaf spring suspension and a rotating driveshaft. event in 2021 was near
There will be just 780 of these models available from your favourite shop. Get
more information at www.classiccarlectables.com.au impossible. But we really

wanted to celebrate

our 10 year anniversary. We

are going to look back over

the years of Expo events

and we have some very

cool models to celebrate

our milestone.

We will be making
announcements as soon
as we can so keep an
eye on our newsletters,
facebook page and our all
new website.

/diecastmodelexpo

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in the day

Images: Projects Pictorial, Chevron Archive
98