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* * * * * Porsche dominate Aeromil Pacific Classic AdelaideCould the all-conquering Porsche 911 eventually be defeated by a Goggomobil Darts?
I don’t need to tell you that the Aeromil Pacific Classic Adelaide rally is something different. For a start it takes place on the other side of the world and yet it attracts a number of drivers from Europe and the United States every year. Why do they go? Well, for a start, it is probably the only classic rally in the world where there is a class for almost anything from the guys who run in competition classes with their full-house historic rally cars to the Touring classes where competitors can cover the same closed-road special stages as the racers but without the need of crash helmets, roll cages and all the other paraphernalia. So it’s all embracing and five days of great action. The 2007 event took place in November last and attracted a big entry but Australia is finding the same problem with their events that organisers in Europe face; the Porsche 911 phalanx! I could be reactionary and say that the vastly ageing model – admittedly updated every so often – has become the weapon of choice for international historic rallying. Why? It generally has a bullet-proof engine, handles well and can come in various horsepower guises. It was no surprise then when seven of the lead ten cars in the true competition section were Porsches. Mind you, not all of them were 911’s for the best performance of the event came from the grizzled Australian racing and rally veteran Jim Richards. A past winner of the Bathurst races and the Targa Tasmania, hauled out his 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup car, that he had rebuilt himself for rallying, took third place overall. To put this in perspective, he was giving away around 100 bhp over outright winner Kevin Weeks’ 1975 Porsche 911 RSR and five-time Classic Adelaide winner Rex Broadbent’s 1974 Porsche 911 RS. The three of them dominated the event until the last day when the leader, Kevin Weeks, suddenly found himself jammed in gear. He made it to the lunch stop at McLaren's Vale where his mechanics managed to free the box and he scraped home to win by 12.1 seconds. However, Tim Possingham, a local South Australian, worked wonders with his 1989 Nissan Silvia to take fourth place ahead of Hamish Gibson’s big Holden VC HDT Commodore. But the Aeromil Pacific Classic Adelaide rally is not just a bean feast for the outright competition people it is a great event for those who just want to take part. There were fewer British drivers taking part this year and those that did ran either in the Regularity section or the Thoroughbred Touring. Thoroughbred Touring, is a wide embracing class, populated by some very competitive people even though they were running the stages untimed. The most spectacular, as usual, was former Australian grand prix veteran Vern Schuppan who led the Thoroughbred Touring people in the latest Mercedes Benz SL55 AMG loaned by the enthusiastic local Mercedes Benz dealers, B.E.A. Motors. Sir Paul Vestey – who has competed in all eleven Classic Adelaide’s with his trusty buddy Doug Nye – brought one of the most interesting cars in his stable, the 250GT California Spyder racer that was originally commissioned by the youthful Count Volpi of Scuderia Serenissima. It was one of two California’s prepared for racing by the Ferrari factory and was blessed with a full house Ferrari Testa Rossa 3 litre engine. To house the deep throats of the Weber carburettors the car has a distinctive vent on the bonnet with a Plexiglas hood, a la Dino Ferrari GP cars. To keep Vern Schuppan company B.E.A. had also supplied former Australian motor cycle champion Mick Doohan with a Mercedes C 320 CDI diesel that was quite eye opener.
Two other British competitors decided to make the Australian trip something of an adventure. Phil Haslam had an immaculate Jaguar XK120 roadster and David Roberts a 1959 Jaguar XK150 Cabrio. Both ran in the Regularity class and were astonished at the reception they received. However, when they announced that immediately after the event they were going to drive from Adelaide to Perth by way of the desolate Nullabor Desert, some of the locals gave a wry smile and one seasoned veteran remarked “… I hope they take a lot of water with them.”. ****
For Europeans visiting the event the wide variety of Australian built cars is impressive and at the moment big prices are being paid for some of the more iconic Australian saloons such as Holden Commodores, GTS Monaro's and particularly Ford Falcon GTHO’s. A well prepared Holden or Ford is a match for some of the smaller and nimbler machines. Then there are the others, in particular the rare Giocattolo Group B car. This is a compact mid-engined saloon designed by Paul Halstead and former McLaren mechanic Barry Lock, on an Alfa Romeo Sprint chassis but powered by a Holden V8. Around fifteen were built and Adam Kaplan had his one mixing it with the Porsches, at one time taking second place, It all came to a spectacular end when he crashed at high speed on one of the special stages reducing the car to rubble. Luckily Adam and his brother David were not seriously injured. Not so Jim Wallace, however, driving the same BMW M3 EVO that Will Hoy used to win the 1989 Willhire race at Snetterton. He hit one of the many formidable gum trees that line the stages and he was taken to hospital with back injuries. ***
There is an impressive little contingent of pre-war cars that run on the event including two fascinating re-creations. One was Ray Jones’ 1929 Chrysler 75 Le Mans who won the category. The oldest car in the event was another replica, Wes Wilkinson’s Frontenac Indianapolis Special powered by a Frontenac modified Chrysler engine. However, for me one of the most interesting cars was not even competing. Major sponsors, car insurance company Shannon’s, demonstrated one of the Australian-Built Goggomobil Darts. To those of us old enough to remember, the Goggomobil was one of the German microcars that appeared in the mid 1950’s, alongside the Heinkel and the BMW Isetta. What made the Goggo different was that it had four wheels from the start and the gearbox was mounted sideways so you changed gear from west to east rather than north to south. Probably the best known Goggomobil driver was racing driver Jim Clark who competed in driving test events in the 1950’s with one. However, when the Mini came along the whole micro-car market collapsed. Enter now Buckle Motors in Sydney, Australia, who had made their name producing glass fibre bodies. They came to an arrangement with Goggomobil for chassis and mechanical components to be imported into Australia, fitted with a Buckle-built glass fibre sports car body to become an entry-level sports car. Around five thousand of these were planned - despite the fact that the bigger 392cc two cylinder two-stroke engine model would scarcely hit 60 mph - but eventually around 700 Darts were built. Shannon’s been proud to admit that they actually own three of them and demonstrate them at events like Classic Adelaide. Perhaps they should enter them for next years Aeromil Classic Adelaide; the Porsches need a new challenger! If you want something different to brighten up next November, go out to Adelaide and let the mad Australian motor sporting world pass you by. ( See www.classicadelaide.com.au ) **** Retromobile 2008
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Born in Edinburgh, Graham Gauld has been a motoring
writer for over fifty years. He was Editor of the Scottish weekly
motoring magazine, Motor World and later Editor of Historic Racing
and Historic Motor Racing magazines.
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The beautiful Farman cabriolet, a rare French marque better known for building aeroplanes. |
Bruce McCaw’s Ferrari P3 prototype, probably the most exciting car at the Show |
They talk about Paris in the Springtime but for me Paris in February is just as much fun because it is the time for Retromobile that event which takes over part of the huge Paris Expo at Porte de Versailles.
So what is Retromobile? Hard to say, its aimed at those of us interested in cars of the past rather than cars of the present, it manages to merge the interests of some of the big motor manufacturers to show off their own collections of past models, with the upcoming cars some of the leading auction houses have for sale, an entire section given over to every 1/43rd scale model ever buit – or so it seemed.
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Bruce McCaw, right, with expatriate Scot Murray Smith who not only races his cars but organises historic events in the USA. |
Some modern car designers could learn a lot by studying the style and elegance of this Saoutchik bodied post-War Talbot. |
Then there are the motor cycles, the automotive accessories, every known motoring specialist motoring booksellers and even the Aerotrain. This latter was a rather bulky and ugly looking high speed train built in France, of course. Most of all, however, it is the Speakers Corner for car collectors, historic motoring journalists and the like because everyone seems to turn up for the opening day.
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This 1925 Hudson-Miller was used by Riganti in Argentina after the War and typical of the kind of car you can find at Retromobile. |
Another unique car at Retromobile this 2 litre Alfa Romeo Junior “Periscopio” by Zagato. It was a one-off and its coachwork is similar to the prototype Fiat X1/9 which also had a “Periscope” on the roof. |
This year was no exception and an enthusiast finds himself in motoring heaven. For me, however, it was searching out some of the more interesting cars. As they were featuring the 2CV Citroen the French manufacturer had a huge stand. I have always loved the 2CV Citroen but have never been attracted to twenty or thirty different adaptations of it leaves me decidedly cool if not cold. Each year one stand becomes the unofficial meeting place for the cognocenti and this year it was Hall and Hall’s stand where Rick Hall and his partner John Harding played host. It was certainly the place to meet up with the American contingent which attends each year. Indeed Bruce McCaw, one of America’s greatest collectors of interesting racing cars used the stand as his headquarters if only to keep an eye on his stunning Ferrari 330P that featured there. There are always interesting people on opening day and one of them brought back memories of rallying in the 1960s. This was Annie Soisbault who fluttered many a young heart as she competed ferociously in factory Triumphs on International events. She was as quick as any men and quicker than most which is why she had factory drives. She also drove a Lola in F2 and, later, after marrying the Marquis de Montaigu, she competed with their Ferrari GTO in a number of events. Tall and a former French tennis champion,she arrived at Retromobile to sign copies of a new series of books on Triumph motor sport history. Robert Brooks was mine host on the Bonhams stand and had a large selection of cars on show that provided a £7.3 million record the following day.. They included some interesting Bugattis and an elegant Farman: but let the photos speak for themselves and mark February in Paris in your diary for next year. (see www.retromobile.fr)
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The writer’s favourite: The Ferrari 121LM spyder, one of Sergio Scaglietti’s bodies for a sports racing Ferrari. Finished third on the 1955 Mille Miglia driven by Umberto Maglioli. |
Book Review
Racing Team Holland
by Rob Wiedenhoff & Ed Heuvink
Published by Stichting Racing Team Holland.
ISBN No. 978-90-811894-1-5
Language: English.
In many ways it is surprising that Holland has not produced more International racing drivers because it was not for the want of trying.Before the war there was midget car racing and various sports car races but it was in the post-war era that the Dutch began to produce drivers more familiar to us.
Racing Team Holland was launched in 1964 but the two main people behind the team were two Dutchmen who had lived in America and met in 1958 to talk about the lack of Dutch drivers in racing. At the time Erik Siebren Hazelhoff Roelfzema was working for NBC and Ben Van Marken was an agent for the Hunter Douglas company, makers of Luxaflex blinds! Now, in 1964, they gathered together a group of friends to form the team. One of their number was one of Holland's leading racing and rally drivers, Ben Pon, whose father held a large Volkswagen and Porsche dealership. Pon had just sold his Porsche Carrera Abarth and had invested in a Porsche 904GTS. The consortium had raced enough money to buy a second Porsche 904GTS and so both were painted in Dutch international racing colours of orange and Racing Team Holland was on its way.
This book is a fascinating read. Firstly because, with Zandvoort on their doorstep, you might have imagined more Dutch drivers would have been attracted to racing, and secondly that there was an enthusiastic spectator following for racing.
RTH was to change all that. The original drivers for the team were Ben Pon, Rob Slotemaker and Henk van Zalinge but almost from the beginning there was tremendous rivalry between Pon and Slotemaker which led to Slotemaker walking out of the team. At the time Holland's best known international driver was probably Carel Godin de Beaufort who ran his own Porsche Formula 1 car and the signs were he was going to link up with Racing Team Holland but he was tragically killed in practice for the 1964 German Grand Prix.
Racing Team Holland were also very much involved in the Formula 3 projects with Alexis and Brabham chassis utilising the DAF automatic transmission system. However, amongst the drivers who were given a chance by the team and were to become internationally famous were Gijs van Lennep, Jan Lammers,Toine Hezemans, Huub Rothengatter and Arie Luyendijk.
In the 1980's the team was involved in Formula 2 and Formula Ford where Cor Euser was their most successful FF driver.Indeed it was Cor Euser who drove in the last original Racing Team Holland event, the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in 1981 where he drove a Royale RP29. At the end of that year the Board of Racing Team Holland found that it was too expensive for a small private team such as theirs to continue and the team withdrew but was never totally closed.
One of the original board members of RTH was John Hugenholtz the manager of Zandvoort circuit and the Internationally known circuit designer. In 1987 his son, also John Hugenholtz - but normally racing as Hans Hugenholtz - and his friend Anthony Mak van Waay got permission to reform Racing Team Holland, set it up as a foundation and immediately raced their Alfa Romeo Giulia GTZs. When Hugenholtz retired from racing a year later he continued to run as Racing Team Holland in historic events like the Tour Auto and Coppa d'Italia with a variety of cars. Indeed he was to win the Tour Auto not only with his Ford GT40 but also with his racing Lotus Elan. In 1999 the team returned to International racing at Le Mans when John Hugenholtz shared a Chrysler Viper and the following year he did a complete season in the FFSA GT Championship with the Chrysler Viper with Alain Filhol.
This book, then, is an important one for anyone interested in European racing teams. Indeed, as a Scot, I can see parallels with Ecurie Ecosse where there were also two distinct periods of activity. Rob Wiedenhoff and Ed Heuvink have done a good job and have not been afraid to explain the usual niggles between the team members and in particular the Ben Pon versus Rob Slotemaker rivalry.
You can order a copy of the book at : racingteamholland@gmail.com
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Valescure Concours - Here in the south of France there are a number of motoring events. .... read more
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