Lakeside Libre Race

Lakeside, 16 Jul 1961

Notes on the cars:

1. Cooper Mk IV 'T51' [F2-7-60] (Stan Jones): Delivered to Stan Jones (Australia) according to the Cooper Register.
2. Cooper Mk IV 'T51' ['CTA/59/F1'] (Arnold Glass): Tommy Atkins team built a new Cooper for the 1959 season to be fitted with a Maserati 250S engine. The car was purpose-built by Harry Pearce at the Atkins' team workshops so does not appear in Cooper records. It is given the number 'CTA/59/F1' here to aid identification. Both the Formula 1 Register and John Blanden identify this car as F2-15-58, a F2 T45 used by the Atkins team in 1958, but Doug Nye makes it quite clear the 1959 car was newly built. After a disappointing 1959 season it was sold to Sid Greene of Gilby Engineering for 1960 and raced by son Keith but was uncompetitive and was sold to Arnold Glass for Australian libre racing in August. It was then sold to Dennis Geary in Sep 1961 but he damaged the engine and, still unrepaired, went to John Hough for 1962. He was killed when thrown from the car at Lowood in Sep 1962, only his second race in the car. The damaged car remained with the Hough family thereafter and was still on the family farm in 2016 awaiting restoration.
3. Cooper Mk IV 'T51' [F2-15-59] (Bill Patterson): Delivered to B Patterson less engine according to the Cooper Register. First raced by Bill Patterson at Port Wakefield in October 1960 where it was fitted with a 2-litre Climax engine. Raced by Patterson until crashed at Lakeside in 1961, after which Patterson raced an "ex-works" Cooper T51 that he had acquired earlier in the season. F2-15-59 was repaired and kept as a spare car being raced by Doug Whiteford on occasions. In 1962, the car was sold to Englishman John Brindley who raced it at Calder in April or May 1962. Brindley raced the car in minor events during 1962 until suffering a massive accident in a minor race at Sandown Park on 16 Sep 1962. The Autosportsman report on the race said "The car must be very nearly a complete write-off". The wreck sat in the yard behind Car World (Bulleen, Melbourne, Australia) the business in which Brindley was partners with Phil Trueman, for a couple of years. It was then passed on to Bill Patterson, and remained with him, still damaged, until it was acquired by Murray Richards from Patterson in 1988. Richards started to restore the car but this was incomplete when he died in early 2000. The car was still with Richards' sons in 2010.
4. Cooper Mk IV 'T51' [F2-16-59] (Noel Hall): Delivered to R Hall less engine according to the Cooper Register.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

These results have been compiled by David McKinney from a wide rangle of sources, including his own magazine articles and books. The 1959-1963 results are complete but for the 1957 and 1958 seasons, the only cars currently shown in the results are the F1, Intercontinental and F2 cars that feature elsewhere on this site plus the major Australian specials.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.