Motormarques.com | Classic car revival

Photos and text by Bill Hunter

Phillip Island Historic Racing 10th March 2007.

Above: Rick Knoop (USA) 1979 3000cc Tyrrell F1 - with Bass Strait in the background.

 The photos and taped conversations on this page were taken at the Phillip Island Historic races one week before the Australian Grand Prix. The two circuits are 150 km apart, separated not only by distance but by more than half a century of race-car and race-track development, and by thousands of Boeing 747s full of dollars.

The whole weekend at the Island cost less than $100. At Albert Park, Gate 1 spectators paid upwards of $1900 for a grandstand seat.  At he Island, spectators could come and go, talk to drivers and mechanics, and have a clear view of the racing for an uninterrupted mile or more at any of the spectator points around the track . At the Grand Prix, a constant stream of packed trams brought spectators to be herded into Gates 1 or 2 behind  zoo-like mesh and concrete barriers to get a brief glimpse of  F1 banshees going by at 280 km/h.  

But for one glorious quarter of an hour at a 'Historic Demonstration' run at Albert Park, many of the cars and drivers shown in this story made their appearance on the world stage once more, racing flat-out as they did when they were the world's best, and still connected with Everyman's realities.

But - to return to the even older Grand Prix circuit at Phillp Island.

Above:1957 200 SI Maserati	Above: Rodo Ehrat	Above: David White's Cooper Bristol
Above: The Dees Offenhauser Special	Above: Frank Robinson	Above: Max Pearson in the 1969  Mildren Waggott AMF1

Car No 32 (above, top) is a 200 SI Maserati. Currently owned by Rodo Ehrat, who was born in Switzerland but has lived in Sydney for the last 27 years. Asked by MotorMarques What the Maserati was like to drive, Rodo grinned with pleasure and replied, "Oh, it's a beauty." It has a 275 brake horsepower V6 engine. Its chassis was built in 1955, the present body, looking a little rough just now, is the one that was built in 1956 when it was driven by Bira and Stirling Moss during 1956 -- 57.

Attracting great interest was car No 80 (top right) -- which was first seen in Australia in the 1958 Australian Grand Prix. The Cooper Bristol is now owned by David White of United Kingdom, where he and his car are well-known in historic competition. The car is the 1953 works car - the first of the Cooper Bristols. It ran in the British Grand Prix French, Italian and Swiss Grands Prix, with the late Ken Wharton as the works driver. Tony Brooks took possession of it and in turn sold it to Ray Gibbs in Australia before David bought it. David was out on the track again at the Grand Prix demonstration, after having spent the previous Tuesday at the Rob Roy Hillclimb. A brief study of the Cooper's Bristol engine undergoing final tuning can be seen in this video.

The Dees Offy's engine was made by Offenhauser Engineering Company of Los Angeles. The 1938 Offenhauser sprint car has a four cylinder 318 cu inch (5.3 litre) four cylinder, 400 brake horsepower engine. It was restored by Mark Dees of California in 1992. At Bonneville in 1996 it ran up to 270 kilometres per hour. It has been raced at Laguna Seca, Monterey, and other historical racing events in the US and Australia. Owner Frank Robinson was besieged by inquirers.

The late Alex Mildren, a Canberra Rootes Group Sales and Service agent, was a highly-respected  builder and racer of successful race cars during the 1960s and 1970s

Max Brunninghausen in his BMW Chevron was at his usual best. "I go back to 1962 at Bathurst. I stopped in 1969 because I had run out of money. I started again about nine years ago. These days there's always a lot of young driver knocking me off or trying to"

Three of the blue machines in the photo below are Largo Talbots at present in Australia, and the fourth, car No 7 (left rear) is the Maybach Special owned by Bob Harbprrow and driven by Paul Busby. The Largo Talbots are owned by Dean Butler (driven by Ken Williams), Peter Giddings, and Ron Townley. All with the 4500 cc engine. All were raced at a demonstration of Historic cars at the Australian Grand Prix meeting a week after this picture was taken.

Above: Max Brunninghausen	Above: 3 Lago Talbots and a Maybach	Above: The Dees Offenhauser Special
Above: Michael Winkler in the 1954 Porsche 550 Spyder	Above: 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C Zagato 1750	Above: The Maserat 200 SI

The Type 550 Spyder - Car No 55 - first appeared in 1953 with a space frame and a 4 cylinder , 4 camshaft engine. Hans Hermann won the 1500 cc category of the 3388 km 'Carrera Panamericana' (Mexico) in it in 1954.

Car No 70 (below)  is a Chrysler Valiant Charger - in its heyday one of the 'Big 3' of Australian Touring Car racers - Holden, and Ford being the other 2. This car is powered by a 4300cc motor.

Car 35 , is a Repco Brabham BT5. This was the Gardner, Brabham, Hulme car -- the first of the Brabham sports racing cars built in 1963. It was tested and raced by Frank Gardner, then it was lent to Ian Walker Racing Team (UK) and raced by Paul Hawkins in European events. It is a spaceframe design with Cosworth twin cam engine producing 165 brake horsepower at 8500 RPM. 

The Porsche, car No 30, is a Formua 1 car with an unusual cooling fan placed horizontally above its air-cooled boxer engine. Dan Gurney won the 1962 GP of France in 1962 in it.

Above: 1972 Valiant Charger	Above: Repco Brabham BT5	Above: Klaus Bischof ,1962 Porsche 804 F1
Above: 1955 Mac Healey Special - the former Alex Reid car is a well-nown performer on the East Coast	Above: Rod Jolley, 1958 Cooper Climax - Sir Jack Brabham's World Championship car.	Above: 1957 Ford Mercury Special

Car No 1 (above, centre) is the star of any Australian show. This is the Repco Brabham that was driven by Jack Brabham in 1966 when he won the world Formula One drivers and constructors championship, making it the only car in the world to have won a world championship bearing its driver's name. It has a 3 litre 620 series Repco Brabham engine designed by Phil Irving and built in Melbourne by Repco in 1966. It produces 320 horsepower at 7000 RPM.