Gardos
Towards
the end of 1971, Don O'Sullivan and his mechanic Jamie Gard ran a McLaren
M18 in occasional Australian Gold Star events. The pair skipped the Tasman
series and returned to Gold Star racing later in 1972 with the M18 now
upgraded
to M22 specification and with Howie Sangster taking over the driving from
O'Sullivan. The team then again skipped the Tasman series and did not
turn
out for the mid-1973 Gold Star races. By the time they returned, they had
acquired the ex-Redman/Hobbs M18/M22. The older ex-O'Sullivan McLaren
M18
now became redundant.
Gard built O'Sullivan a sports car using various left-over McLaren components and this was the first "Gardos". He then set about creating a Gardos F5000 car and it appears that this latest creation consumed much of the McLaren M18.
Gardos OR2
At the 1974 Adelaide Tasman race, only three months after the 1973 AGP, Autosport comments:
"Western Australian Don O'Sullivan had entered the all new McLaren M18-based Gardos OR2 for Howie Sangster to drive. O'Sullivan's mechanic Jaime Guard built the monocoque chassis and used the McLaren suspension bits. The Gardos is powered by a Repco Holden engine" (Autosport 7 Mar 1974 p12).
Despite using much M18 componentry, the Gardos had revised geometry compared to the McLaren and used rear radiators. The bulkheads came from the M18 so we can be very confident that the O'Sullivan M18 no longer exists.
The Gardos only raced once in 1974, at the Adelaide Tasman race in February where Sangster qualified tenth of 14, a highly respectable position as he was just 1.6 seconds slower than Max Stewart's 49.7s pole position time. In the race, Sangster finished, but well off the pace. The car did not appear in the Gold Star events that season, nor did it appear in the 1975 Tasman series.
The car then sat for some time dismantled in an Adelaide garage before being
sold
to David Craig of C & C Autos in Adelaide. After other parts were located
in Perth, it took two Elfin mechanics about a month to reasemble the car and
then Jamie Gard helped set up the car for testing. After skipping Oran Park,
the team arrived early to Adelaide for testing but got the car going surprisingly
well with Keith Poole at the wheel.
He was seventh at Adelaide, a remarkably competitive
outing, retired at Sandown Park and qualified at the back at Surfers (the race
was
washed
out). He also drove the car in the Australian Hill Climb Championship at
Collinggrove, finishing second overall to Paul England.
For the 1977 Australian Internationals, the car was leased to 27-year-old South Australian Chris Milton. Later in 1977, Milton acquired a Lola T330.
Craig then sold the Gardos to Barry Singleton.
At the 1979 Internationals, Singleton has the Gardos
at Surfers and then crashes it at Oran Park. He is then sixth at the 1979 AGP.
This car next appears in June 1980 (a DNS at Lakeside) and he was an early
retirement from the Nov 1980 AGP. He put in one last appearance in Sep 1981
at Sandown
Park - a finisher for once - last of course.
The car disappears after this but re-emerges in 2001 in the collection of Max Warwick. That year, it was sold to Chris Watson (Glenfield, NZ). By August 2002, the tub had been restored, body panels and engine were nearly finished and just the gearbox still to go. By September 2004, work was still continuing on the gearbox.
Sources
I am grateful to Jamie Gard, Don O'Sullivan, David Craig, Chris Watson, Wolfgang Klopfer, Duncan Fox, Aaron Lewis, Ray Bell and Kym Pedler for their help with the history of this car. Two articles were consulted by by Wolfgang Klopfer: Racing Car News June 1974 and the 1976 Surfers Paradise program.
All and any help would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can add anything.
These histories last updated on 18 February, 2006.