Orange Times Issue 16

The Orange Times Bruce McLaren Trust Dec. Jan. Feb. 2017, Issue #16 The ‘Festival of Motor Racing’ at Hampton Downs celebrating Kenny Smith saw the little legend racing three cars over the weekend – his Formula 5000 Lola, the Swift DB-4 ‘Atlantic car’ that he regularly uses in Formula Libre racing, and a Formula Ford borrowed off Phil Foulkes. He did ok – he won all three ‘5000’ races, won all four Formula Libres and three of the four Formula Ford races…so eleven starts for ten wins and a second – and one of the FF wins came after he started from pit lane. That might be possible in some categories but is unheard of in the ‘hurly burly’ of the wheel to wheel racing in Formula Ford. But racing was only part of Kenny’s duties over the weekend – there were cars to demonstrate during lunchtime parades, book signings to do, and the Saturday night dinner in his honour. Three of his Australian buddies from the good old days made the trip – Kevin Bartlett, Warwick Brown and Bruce Allison, and all spoke with warmth and humour about the incomparable Kenny. Towards the end of the evening, the MC got two of Ken’s oldest friends up on the stage – both guys that Kenny says he could race with wheel to wheel without ever wondering if there would be any ‘funny business’. Graeme Lawrence wrote the ‘foreword’ in the Kenny book and describes their relationship as being more like that of brothers – both he and David Oxton added further hilarity combined with thoughtful reflection on just how much Kenny has continued to improve as a driver at a time when many people his age are weighing up which retirement village to move into. Tony Quinn also spoke on the night and suggested that Kenny should be employed by the New Zealand Government to go around rest homes and show people what they could be doing at 75. It’s a superb idea… Towards the end of the evening, Warwick Mortimer sidled up to me and said ‘In your book there is a section about cars Kenny would have loved to have raced - the first one is a Can-Am McLaren and I wonder if he’d like to drive mine tomorrow.’ I pointed out to Warwick that Kenny was standing but a metre or two from us and suggested he ask him – ‘I’d like you to.’ So that was the easiest question of the night – ‘Kenny, would you like to drive Mort’s McLaren tomorrow in the lunchtime display?’ Despite the car not quite fitting him properly, Kenny loved the experience – despite a few specks of rain near the end. So how was it out there? “I tell you, they’re men’s cars. A 5000 is a man’s car but these even more so. It took a while to get used to all that bodywork around me but I just loved it. It got a bit slippery near the end and there was no point being a hero – fantastic, makes you think how it would have been back in the day with two dozen of those things racing.” Michael Clark In this Issue… NZFMR Ken Smith Festival Report P1 NZFMR Photo Gallery P2 Vale P3 The McLaren Typewriter P4 Trust Register - Chris Amon part two P5/6/7 Formula SAE Update P7 General News, Events Calendar P8 Bruce McLaren Trust NZFMR 2017 -- Photo Gallery Thanks to Trust volunteers Heath Richards and Taylor Storr How to change a crankshaft?? Frank Karl works on his M10B Jan, McLaren Old Boy Edi Wys, Pat Kerr Photo’s thanks to: Kevin Porter and Mark Donaldson ‘Years Gone By’ Dec 16 - Feb 17 Feb 4th-5th 1967 – Chris Amon wins Daytona 24 Hours with Lorenzo Bandini in a Ferrari 330P4 st Feb 1 1987 – Denny Hulme wins Pukekohe 500 with Larry Perkins in a Holden Commodore Book Signing - Kenny, with Michael Clark while Max Rutherford chats with a young fan 2 Bruce McLaren Trust Whilst Bruce’s passion was “very Ferrari” he was also a Vale McLaren fan and I will never forget Bruce joining us on a Doug Lawrence, Bruce Wilson, Allan McCall Trust tour to the Melbourne GP and proudly getting off the The year has started off again on a sad note as we have plane wearing his Bruce McLaren Trust cap and attending learned of the passing of two wonderful old New Zealand his first GP for many many years. motorsport stalwarts, Bruce Wilson and Doug Lawrence. A nd then, in mid-February, the passing of McLaren Old I did have to laugh when, by day two at the Grand Prix, he Boy, Allan McCall. was carrying a Ferrari bag and, by day three, the full Ferrari regalia and just a small McLaren Pin on his Ferrari hat. It was a wonderful trip and Bruce always looked us up at many of the events at which the Trust was appearing. For the NZFMR Amon Festival we had the pleasure of getting him into one of the parade Ferrari’s for a few laps of the circuit. Getting him out again was the challenge! His cheerful presence will be missed by us all. Doug Lawrence, a centenarian, is of course father of Graeme and Brian Lawrence. Doug’s own motor racing history goes way back to the early days of Ohakea and those special days of motorsport shortly after WW2. We were delighted to see Doug in our marquee at Hampton Downs at the 2016 NZFMR when Graeme brought him to look at Peter Herbert’s recently restored McLaren M4 – a car that in the past had been owned and raced by Kevin & Jackie Graeme. Our collection of Bruce Watt photos from the 1950s has great photos of Doug racing and we will look to do a feature on Doug later in the year. Allan McCall, a McLaren Old Boy of amazing talent and a well-respected team member from Bruce McLaren Motor Racing days. Allan worked with the team in the late sixties and the photograph shown with Bruce and the boys at Indianapolis would probably be the last photo of them taken together as it is dated May 1970. Allan, like some others in the BMMR team, went on to design and build cars of his own and the “Tui” was born. In the early days of the Trust, Allan was very supportive in the initial stages of the M8AMick restora & Jodytion project. It was Allan who painstakingly dismantled the old original tub and drilled out the approximately 1,000 rivets – a major job - and Bruce Wilson was, as per the title of his recently these pieces formed the patterns for the rebuild of the monocoque chassis. Allan, aged 76, passed away on published book, The Master Mechanic. In Chris Amon’s th foreword in that book he says that he can’t emphasise February 19 after undergoing triple bypass surgery. enough how critical Bruce was to his motor racing career Jan McLaren and that, without him, he wouldn’t have progressed beyond his first little Cooper. Bruce worked with Chris Amon for many years and right through into the heady Ferrari days. 3 Bruce McLaren Trust THE TYPEWRITER However, the most intriguing talent that has recently been showcased is Pat's knowledge of and skill at Whilst you may not recognise the name, many of you will repairing typewriters. For many years the McLaren recognise the face of one of our stalwart New Zealand Service Station had in its office a trusty old American- members, Pat Stephens, from Paekakariki. For many years made Remington Standard typewriter. I say 'old' Pat has been a wonderful supporter at our events and because, judging from the serial number LK11 811, it every NZ Festival of Motor Racing has always seen Pat as was made some time between 1908 and 1926. the first on site in the mornings, opening up the Trust's Coincidentally, 1926 is the year the service station was marquee and getting it ready for our many supporters to built at 590 Remuera Road. Jan says she remembers, as enjoy. a child, learning to 'hunt and peck' on it. During the two weekends of the 2016 NZ Festival of Motor Racing, celebrating Porsche, Pat spent some time with us and overhauled the Remington which, until then, had not seen active service for decades. He made a As a young man Pat grew up in Durban, South Africa, wonderful job of it and it now, with a brand new black emigrating to New Zealand in 1963. He was bitten by the and red ribbon, courtesy of another member, Ken Valder, ca r bug early on and he and his friends travelled long it works perfectly. It will eventually go on display again, distances to follow motor racing at various South African for all to see, at the new Bruce McLaren Trust Heritage venues. Centre at Hampton Downs. Mark Donaldson It was this passion, and meeting the trustees at a Manfeild meeting in 1998, that saw him joining the Bruce McLaren Trust. He had already begun building a database on Bruce, but it was a chance encounter some ten years earlier, at a Wellington Street Race, that started an even larger one. Pat and a friend were watching a practise race on a Friday evening after the streets were closed off. A man standing beside him asked "What do you think of this?" Pat replied that he thought it was great, and likened it to Monte Carlo with its busy waterfront.

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