Australian Gold Star Race

Sandown Park, 13 Sep 1970

All cars are 2.5-litre Tasman unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Jane (John Harvey): Built by Bob Jane's team using a frame supplied by Bob Britton to the Brabham BT23 pattern. The car was a replacement for the team's Brabham BT23E, and had a lower nose and higher cockpit than its predecessor, and triangular sidepods. It first raced at Lakeside's Gold Star round on 7 Jun 1970, driven by John Harvey, and Harvey later won a Gold Star race at Sandown Park in September. It was unused during 1971 and then sold to Fred Wheelhouse (St Albans, Victoria), rebuilt to ANF2 specification and registered with CAMS as a "Brabham BT23D". Sold to Rod Housego 1974 and moved to Western Australia, then sold in 1975 to Dominic Mannello (Perth), who fitted Brabham BT36 bodywork and a 1600cc Fiat twin cam engine for the 1978 ANF2. Retained by Mannello until sold to West Australian Racing Museum owner Neil McCrudden in 2001. Used in historic racing between 2007 and 2015 by Lance Carwardine as the "Brabham Jane".
2. Lotus 59 [59-FB-14] (Leo Geoghegan): New to Australia Lotus importer Leo Geoghegan, replacing his very successful but ageing Lotus 39-Repco. The Lotus was fitted with a 2-litre Waggott TC4V engine and used in Australian National Formula 1 and Tasman events in 1970 and 1971.  He won two Australian Gold Star race in this car, at Warwick Farm in September 1970 and at Mallala a few weeks later.  After spending 1972 on the sidelines, the Lotus was sold to Bob and Gary Johns for 1973, fitted with a Ford twin cam engine, and used in Australian Formula 2 from 1973 to 1975. By 1985, it had been acquired by John Holmes (Toowoomba, Queensland), and was restored to its original Waggott configuration.
3. Brabham BT16 [F2-8-65] (Col Green): John Coombs entered this Brabham BT16 for Graham Hill in 1965, fitted with a BRM P71 engine. Hill continued to race it in the early part of 1966 after which it was then refitted with a 2.5-litre Climax FPF and taken to Australia by Frank Gardner to be used in Tasman racing. Gardner won first time out at a Gold Star race at Warwick Farm in December 1966 and then raced it in the 1967 Tasman series as part of Alec Mildren's team. After the series it was acquired by Niel Allen who planned to race it himself but instead entered it for Fred Gibson in 1967 and again in early 1968 before it was sold to Col Green in mid-1968. Retained by Green for three seasons and then sold in mid-1971 to Neil Rear (Perth, Western Australia), who raced it at Waneroo Park in 1972. In 1973, it was fitted with a Cosworth 1600 engine and at the end of that season, Rear sold it to Colin Hall, who planned to fit a Lotus twin cam, but continued to drive his Macon instead. Rear raced the car again in early 1974, before clouting the barrier in a race at Wanneroo in April 1974. The Brabham passed through various owners until acquired by photographer Julian Cowan. Sold via Bonhams to Rob McMillan (Sydney, NSW, Australia) and rebuilt on a replica chassis for historic racing, the original chassis being cut up and scrapped.
4. McLaren M4A [M4A/2] (Len Goodwin): Entered by John Coombes for Piers Courage in F2 in 1967. Crashed at Brands Hatch in August 1967 and believed to have been rebuilt on a new tub before its next race at Albi four weeks later, but Autosport makes no mention of a rebuild nor of it being a new car. Raced by Piers Courage in the 1968 Tasman series. Sold to Niel Allen and raced in Australian events in 1968 until Allen crashed heavily at Lakeside in July, reportedly requiring another new tub to be fabricated. Raced again by Allen in 1969, then to Pat Burke for drivers Len Goodwin 1970-71 and Warwick Brown 1971. Sold by Burke and Peter Malloy to Erol Richardson but bought back by Pat Burke around 1982. Restored by Molloy for Burke and retained until sold to John Hugenholtz. To David Coplowe (England) by 1994. Raced in the HSCC Historic Formula Racing Car Championship in 1995. Raced by Coplowe until 2010, and sold to Gareth Williams (Oxfordshire) in 2012.

Sources

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' original results.

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.