Oran Park "100"

Oran Park, 25 Feb 1979

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Elfin MR8-C [8761] (Larry Perkins): New for Garrie Cooper to drive for Ansett Team Elfin at the Sandown Park Cup in February 1976, for Vern Schuppan at the Australian Grand Prix, which he won, and then for Cooper in the remainder of the 1976 Australian Gold Star races. For Cooper again in the 1977 Australian Internationals and Australian Gold Star. Retained again for Cooper to drive in the 1978 Australian Internationals and in that season's Australian Grand Prix, but he had a major accident at this race. Larry Perkins took over the repaired car for the 1979 Internationals. It was then sold to Chris Middleton for the 1980 Gold Star, after which Didier Pironi guest-drove the car at the 1980 Australian GP. Middleton retained the car for 1981 and 1982, and John Smith drove it once in the 1982 ARCO Graphite Series. Bob Minogue then acquired the car in 1984, but its history is then unknown until Peter Brennan (Melbourne, Victoria) sold it in 1998 to Graham Mein (Ballina, Queensland). Mein raced it at VHRR Historic Sandown in 1999 and 2000. In 2008, it went from Mein to Ken James (Gold Coast, Queensland), who raced it in the Tasman Revival series in 2008/09 and 2009/10. It then went to Bend Motorsport Park Managing Director Sam Shahin (Tailem Bend, South Australia) in 2018.
2. Brabham BT43 [1] (Colin Bond): Brabham BT43/1 race history.
3. Lola T400 [HU15] (John Wright): See full history: Lola T400 HU15.
4. Lola T332 ['071-084'] (Colin Trengove): See full history: Lola T330 HU7.
5. Ralt RT1/76 [39] (Bob Johns): New to Bruce Allison (Brisbane, Australia), and raced in the New Zealand International Formula Pacific series in January 1977. Not seen for the rest of 1977 and through 1978, but sold to Bob Johns in Australia in 1979. Then unseen again until borrowed by Graeme Lawrence for two races at Lakeside in July 1981. Johns raced the car up to 1992, then retained it a further ten years until he sold it to Peter Landan (Sydney, Australia) in 2002. It was restored between 2002 and 2003, and then raced up to 2009.
6. Lola T400B [HU1] (Kevin Bartlett): See full history: Lola T400 HU1.
7. Lola T332 [HU36] (Chas Talbot): See full history: Lola T332 HU36.
8. Lola T332 [HU28] (Terry Hook): Graeme Lawrence (NZ) for Tasman 1974, New Zealand Gold Star 1974; Tasman 1975; Tasman 1976; Gold Star Oct/Nov 1976; Australian Internationals 1977 - Terry Hook (Aus) Australian Internationals 1978, Australian Internationals 1979; heavily crashed at a club event at Lakeside 21 Jun 1981. Rebuilt by March 1982 by Chas Talbot on a new tub. Sold to Bob Minogue and Pete Brennan in the mid-1980s who sold the rear end to Peter Bick to complete his ex-Davison HU34. The ex-Hook car was then built up with other parts and sold to Manuel Jimenez who in turn passed it to Murray Richards (Murrumbeena, Australia). To David Sharp (New Zealand) 1993. To Murray Sinclair (Hong Kong, and Christchurch, New Zealand) 2001, and raced in the F5000 Tasman Revival from 2003 to 2007. To Russell Greer (Blenheim, New Zealand) 2007, who continued to race it in the Revival series. More information about Lola T332 HU28
9. Lola T430 [HU1] (Alfredo Costanzo): VDS for Teddy Pilette US 1976 (6 races; best result 3rd at R3 Mosport Park 20 Jun); used as spare car to Brown's HU2 in Australian Internationals 1977 - Alan Hamilton (Australia): used as spare car; maybe Jon Davison's car Australian Gold Star 1977 (R1 Surfers Paradise 28 Aug 1977 only). Built up after Hamilton's crash at the 1978 Australian GP and raced by Alfredo Costanzo: Australian Gold Star 1978; Australian Internationals 1979 (won at Sandown Park and Adelaide); Australian Gold Star 1979 (won at Sandown 9 Sep); Australian Gold Star 1980 (won at Sandown 14 Sep and Winton 26 Oct); Australian GP 1980 (4th) - Bob Minogue: Australian Gold Star 1981, Arco Graphic 1981/82. Minogue still holds several lap records in Australia, including the Sandown International circuit record for F5000, set on 2 Mar 1986 and the Historic F5000 record at Winton on 30 May 1993. Subsequently sold to Gavin Bain, then to Graham Cameron, who raced it at Historic Sandown in 2000. To David Abbott (Christchurch, NZ) by 2002, and raced in the F5000 Tasman Revival regularly from 2003 to 2008, when Abbott moved over to his newly rebuilt HU2. Then raced by Ken Smith in the series from 2008 to 2010.
10. Lola T332 [HU34] (Jon Davison): See full history: Lola T332 HU34.
11. McRae GM3 [001] (Graham McRae): New for Graham McRae to drive in the SCCA Pro Formula 5000 race at Riverside in October 1976. Then converted to Can-Am form for the 1977 Can-Am series. After being converted back to F5000 form, it was raced in the Australian Internationals in February 1978, and then in the Australian GP in September 1978, which it won. Graham McRae also raced it in the 1979 Australian Internationals and in two more Australian races later in 1979. In 1980, it was rebuilt as the Can-Am McRae GM9, and raced in one 1980 Can-Am race and in most races of the 1981 Can-Am series. Graham McRae also shared it with Dan Furey in the Lumbermens 500, an IMSA North American Sports Car championship event at Mid-Ohio in August 1981. McRae then sold the car to British expat Andrew Ratcliffe, who drove it in A Sports Racing and occasional Can-Am races in 1983 and 1984. Nothing more was seen of the car but according to later owner Terry Rush it "languished in storage in the USA and Mexico before being bought by Roger Williams and imported back to New Zealand". In January 2009, the car was purchased by Terry Rush for his Rush Collection.
12. McRae GM1 [015] (David "Salt" Walther): Longer wheelbase car built for Graham McRae and raced in the 1973 British season. To Ian Ward Racing early 1974 and modified as "Ward KS1" but not raced in this form. It was then sold to Chris Featherstone and raced by him once at the end of 1974, then through the 1975 and 1976 seasons. After a single race at the start of 1977, the car was raced by Keith Holland in four races later in the year, and then by Featherstone in the Australian Rothmans series in February 1978. To Gary Dumbrell (Australia) 1978, then to Bob Tomlinson 1978, and then to Salt Walther 1979 for the 1979 Rothmans series, but it may be that Lee Seaton of Thomson Motor Auctions owned it though this period. Sold to Ray Gibbs (Australia) September 1979 and kept by him until sold to Stuart Lush (Auckland, New Zealand) 2000, and raced at Historic Sandown that year and in 2001. Lush raced it in the Tasman Cup Revival series from 2003 to 2015, during which time it was also raced by Chris Hyde in the 2009/10 season and by Greg Thornton in the 2012/13 season. Lush also raced the car in England during the Kiwis' visits to the UK in 2005 and 2008, and at Road America in 2014. Lush sold it to its former driver Garry Dumbrell in 2016, and after Dumbrell died in October 2021, it was sold to Peter Brennan (Melbourne, Australia) in December 2021. More information about McRae GM1-015
13. Lola T332 ['HU22-3'] (Johnnie Walker): Effectively a new Lola T332 built for Kevin Bartlett to replace the T330 crashed at Pukekohe in January 1974. Raced by Bartlett in the Australian Gold Star from August 1974 onwards. To Bruce Allison for 1975 and raced in Australian Gold Star 1975, and New Zealand and Australian Internationals 1976, but crashed and heavily damaged at Oran Park 1 Feb. Rebuilt again on another T332 tub and raced by Allison later in 1976. Sold by Allison to Martin Sampson of Magnum Wheels, and raced for him by Kevin Bartlett in the 1977 Australian Internationals 1977, by Alan Jones at Surfers after he wrecked his T332C HU61, then by Johnnie Walker in September 1977, and in Australia in 1978 and 1979. Sampson retired the car after 1979, and it was displayed at the Birdwood Museum until sold to Bob Minogue in 1987. Raced for Minoque by Barry Ward in 1987, then sold to Paul Cromarty (Aus), then Adrian Whapham (NZ) in 1994 or 1995. To Stan Redmond (Christchurch, NZ) by 2001 and raced in F5000 Tasman Revival series. To Peter Sundberg (Auckland, New Zealand) 2009. To David Banks (Auckland, New Zealand) and raced by him in the 2017/18 Tasman Revival series. More information about Lola T332 'the Kevin Bartlett car'
14. Elfin MR8B-C [8783-2] (Vern Schuppan): New for Vern Schuppan to drive for Ansett Team Elfin in the 1978 Australian Internationals. Also for Schuppan at the Australian GP in September 1978 but he crashed heavily and the car was rebuilt on a new monocoque. James Hunt guest drove this car to take pole position and win at Winton in November. Then raced by Schuppan in the 1979 Australian Internationals. John Bowe took over the Ansett Team Elfin later that season, and raced the car at the 1979 Australian GP and in the 1980 Australian Gold Star, where he won two rounds. Then sold to Reg Orr and driven for him by Stuart Kostera in 1981, and by Bruce Allison in 1982. It was owned by Mike Trengove in 1984, but its history is then unknown until it was sold by Paul Trevethan to Bryan Thompson (Victoria) in 1994. Then to Mike Glynn (Victoria) in 1997.
15. Ralt RT1/77 [91] (John Smith): New to Larry Perkins (Victoria, Australia) for the 1978 New Zealand Formula Pacific series. Then to John Smith (NEW, Australia) and raced in the 1979 New Zealand series. Smith used the car in some Rothmans International and Gold Star races later in 1979, still with its BDA engine, before converting it to single cam ANF2 specification for the Australian ANF2 series. Again raced by Smith in New Zealand in January 1980, then in ANF1 and ANF2 events in Australia. Retained for a third season in 1981, and used in the New Zealand series and in the National Panasonic Formula Pacific series in Australia. Smith then bought a new Ralt RT4/81, but the RT1 was retained as a spare car, and loaned to Brett Fisher for the 1982 Australian GP. Raced by Terry Ryan in ANF2 in 1984.
16. Chevron B37 [37-76-01] (Ivan Tighe): To VDS Racing and entered for Peter Gethin in the 1976 US F5000 series (also raced once by Teddy Pilette) and in the Rothmans series in Australia in early 1977. To Bruce Allison (Brisbane, Australia) and raced by him in the 1977 UK Group 8 Championship and in the Rothmans series again in Australia in early 1978. Then to Ivan Tighe (Brisbane) and raced in national Australian F5000 and in the International series in 1979. Raced by Tighe up to the end of F5000 in Australia in 1982 and retained by him until 2001. Then sold via Race Car Warehouse (Brighton, England) in early 2002 to Simon Hadfield (Shepshed, Leicestershire) and completely restored. Raced with great success by Hadfield in historic racing both in the UK and in Australia from 2004 to 2008. It has since been raced by guest drivers, including Tony Trimmer at Oulton Park in 2009, Marcus Pye at Oulton Park in 2010 and Ben Anderson at the 2012 Silverstone Classic. Sold in October 2014 to Neil Glover (Ansty, West Sussex).
17. Lola T330 [HU8] (Rob Butcher): To Haas/Hall and developed by Jim Hall with revised bodywork, radiators and rear wing for Brian Redman in the 1973 US series. Then to Rogers Racing for Larry Harley in the 1974 US series. To Ken Smith (New Zealand) for the 1974/75 season, the New Zealand and Australian Internationals 1976. To Chris Milton (South Australia) and raced in Australia from Sep 1977 to Sep 1978. To John Blanden 1978, and driven for him by Rob Butcher from 1979 to 1982. To Bib Stillwell 1988 for Australian historic racing. To Noel Robson (Melbourne, Australia) 1993, and raced in Australian historic racing for many years. More information about Lola T330 HU8

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.

Rothmans series results have been collated and checked by Glenn Moulds from the widest possible range of sources: Racing Car News, Australian Auto Action, Car & Driver Australia, Chequered Flag, Motor Sport Reporter and Australian Competition Yearbook. Elfin material has been checked against "Australia's Elfin Sports and Racing Cars".

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.

Individual sources for this event

Practice times, race time, and laps completed provided by Wolfgang Klopfer from Australian Motor Racing Yearbook.

Qualifying times provided by Wolfgang Klopfer from Motoring News.