Matich A51, A52, A53
A modified version of the A50, the A51, was taken to the US series in 1973
but the moment had passed and the A51 was not competitive. A52 and A53 variants
would follow over the next year but, after a strong but ultimately fruitless
campaign in the 1974 Tasman series, Matich retired. No further cars were built
but the surviving A51 and A53 remained in Australian right through to 1982.
This research was originally conducted by Aaron Lewis but has been extensively reworked in May and June 2003 with the assistance of Bryan Miller in Australia and Milan Fistonic in New Zealand. Thanks also to Wolfgang Klopfer for spotting omissions and to Terry Walker for the picture.
All and any further help would be gratefully received. Please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can add anything.
Matich A51
The A51 was designed for the 1973 US season but did not work well. The December 1974 edition of Racing Cars News carried an article about Matich's retirement and said this about the A51.
'No one in Australia saw the A51 run, although Matich regards the car as probably the best suited to an average local circuit. "It was the ultimate in development of our car as a front radiator car. It was the lightest car we built and it didn't behave on the bumpy American tracks as well as I would have liked. Our suspension didn't have sufficient movement, especially with heavy fuel loads." (We've seen it [the A51] recently, of course, in the hands of the brilliant Lella Lombardi.)'
John Goss later bought the A51 to join his A53 and raced it extensively.
| Car | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Matich A51 005 |
 New model A51 built for 1973
US season. M Earley for Frank Matich: US
1973 (debut R1 Riverside 29 Apr 1973 and did first five races, best
finish fifth at Michigan). Also run in practice at R5 Watkins Glen by
Vern Schuppan. Advertised by Frank Matich
Racing in Racing Car News November 1973. Reported to have
been bought by Paul Feltham for the 1974 Tasman
but deal fell through.
To
Kevin Loy and raced
by Lella Lombardi at
Sandown Park November 1974 and Australian GP November 1974; raced by
Loy at Oran Park 2 Feb  1975. To Ian Douglass
for Surfers Paradise next weekend. May have returned to Matich. Then
to John Goss by August 1975 "for spares";
painted blue and converted to later A53 spec. i.e. rear radiators. Goss
Australian Internationals Feb 1976. Won Australian GP (Sandown Park
12 Sep 1976) in Goss' hands; Goss Rothmans Feb 1977 (driven by Henri
Pescarolo at one race at Calder 20 Mar 1977);
Goss Rothmans Feb 1978 -
Jim Richards Australian Internationals 1979
-
Greg Doidge October 1979: Winton 28 Oct
1979, Australian Gold Star 1980. Sandown Park 13 Sep 1981, Winton 25
Oct 1981, on entry list for last F5000 race, Oran Park 21 Mar 1982 -
'D Richardson' Sep 1982 - John Hermann
(Sydney) December 1983. Last raced in 1988. Retained 2003. |
John Hermann (Australia) 2003 |
Matich A52
After the abortive US adventure, Matich built a revised car on the second, unused, A51 monocoque for the 1973 Australian Gold Star season. This car had side radiators, the latest trend, a shorter wheelbase, shorter nose and updated suspension. After just a single race, Matich decided to pull out and put all his cars up for sale. The A52 was later wrecked in testing.
| Car | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Matich A52 006 |
New model A52 built for 1973 Australian season with . Frank Matich's car at Surfers Paradise 2 Sep 1973. Later crashed in testing by Bobby Muir and written off. Tub could have been repaired but Frank Matich decided to throw it away. | Destroyed |
Matich A53
After the A52 was wrecked, Frank Matich built up the seventh Matich monocoque to a revised A53 specification for the 1974 Tasman series. He skipped the New Zealand races and Bob Muir raced the A53 at the first Australian race, retiring at Oran Park. Frank then raced it at the remaining three races but managed just a third and a fourth. After the series, Matich announced his retirement.
The next F5000 racing was at the beginning of August, when the Gold Star series restarted, and John Goss's backers bought him his choice of Matich, the ready-to-race A53 being preferred to the ex-US A51. Goss later converted ths car to Ford power but it was not a success and later returned to a Repco-Holden engine when in Mel McEwin's hands.
| Car | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Matich A53 007 |
Frank Matich Racing for Bobby Muir at Oran Park Tasman round. Then for Frank Matich at Surfers Paradise, Sandown Park and Adelaide Tasman rounds 1974. Frank Matich retired after the Tasman series. To John Goss and first raced at Oran Park Australian Gold Star race 4 Aug 1974. Used by Goss in the Australian races of the 1975 Tasman series, winning at Sandown Park. Later converted to Boss Ford engine. Appeared at Oran Park 26 Feb 1978 with Ford engine but Goss raced 005 instead. The Ford project was not successful. Sold to Mel McEwin and converted back to Repco-Holden: Australian Internationals 1979 (one DNS only, crash), Australian Gold Star 1979, Australian Gold Star 1980, Australian GP Nov 1980. On entry list for last F5000 race, Oran Park 21 Mar 1982. Currently owned by Darcy Russell with many spares. | Darcy Russell (Aus) 2001 |
Sources include Autosport 14 Feb 1974 p8 (Oran Park Tasman report) and 7 Mar 1974 p12 (Adelaide Tasman report). Added details taken from "The official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix" (R&T Publishing 1986) include pp402-403 (Matich 005 & 007 story), p383 (1974 GP report), p411,415 (1977 GP report). "The Formula 1 Register Fact Book: Formula 5000 1972-1981" (Paul Sheldon, 1994) has been used for most post-1977 race results.
These histories last updated on 28 February, 2006 .