Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / How SCCA's "Formula A" Changed Kiwi Motorsport Forever

Transcript

How SCCA's "Formula A" Changed Kiwi Motorsport Forever · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  Brake Fix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
• 0:04
  by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
• 0:07
  Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
• 0:11
  Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
• 0:16
  Formula A, the SCCA's gift to the world, by Trevor Lister.
• 0:20
  Trevor holds degrees from the University of Canterbury in
• 0:23
  mechanical engineering and physics.
• 0:25
  On graduation, he joined the New Zealand Ministry of Transport,
• 0:28
  setting and administrating automotive safety standards.
• 0:31
  This includes standards and protocols for the use of gaseous fuels, like
• 0:34
  CNG and LPG, in motor vehicles.
• 0:37
  He served as the New Zealand delegate to the International
• 0:39
  Association for Natural Gas Vehicles.
• 0:41
  This led to This led to consulting in Southeast Asia and South America.
• 0:45
  He has built and raced competition cars, as well as served as safety
• 0:49
  scrutineer for Motorsport New Zealand.
• 0:51
  And occasionally as clerk of the course for motorsport events, now retired
• 0:54
  from active racing, he serves as editor for the newsletters for the classic
• 0:58
  motor racing club in New Zealand.
• 0:59
  In the late 1960s, New Zealand motor racing found itself in a bind.
• 1:03
  A few years earlier, the Tasman Formula had been written to keep the
• 1:06
  local fleet of older two and a half liter X Formula One cars in play.
• 1:10
  But now the more modern Formula Two, and even a few of the national Formula 1600cc
• 1:15
  cars, were embarrassing the older ones.
• 1:17
  Visiting cars from Europe were either bigger engined or new designs for the
• 1:21
  upcoming three liter Formula One with capacity reduced engines, leaving
• 1:25
  Motorsport New Zealand with a dilemma.
• 1:27
  Whichever way you looked at it, it was going to be expensive.
• 1:29
  The SCCA appeared to have come to the same conclusion, with a 1967 amendment to their
• 1:35
  Formula A allowing stock block engines.
• 1:37
  The gate was open for others to do the same.
• 1:39
  At the last SCCA race of 1968, SC.
• 1:42
  CA teams were approached by the New Zealand delegation to demonstrate
• 1:46
  their cars in New Zealand.
• 1:47
  Four teams took up the challenge and the Kiwis liked the look of it.
• 1:51
  Within the year, formula A was a mainstream category with championships
• 1:54
  for it unfolding in Europe, South Africa, and the Tasman countries.
• 1:58
  This presentation looks at the nitty gritty of that first Kiwi
• 2:01
  formula, a race as seen through the eyes of the presenter in 1968.
• 2:05
  My name is Trevor Lister.
• 2:08
  I've been in and around Motorsport for a long time.
• 2:11
  In 1968, I was a lad of 19 at a brand new track in the then
• 2:15
  small town of Mount Maunganui.
• 2:17
  I had a job to do, setting up the dummy grid and getting the cars out
• 2:21
  to the start line in good order.
• 2:23
  This on the occasion of New Zealand's first contact with Formula A, when a group
• 2:28
  of four SCCA race teams travelled to our track in late 1968 to showcase their cars.
• 2:35
  This is my first hand account of that visit.
• 2:38
  With a bit of help from some photographs that have languished, thought lost,
• 2:42
  in a box, in a closet for 60 years before re emerging and giving me
• 2:46
  the impetus to prepare this paper.
• 2:49
  In 1967, the SCCA had amended the technical criteria for their single
• 2:54
  seat racing Formula cars, Formula A.
• 2:57
  It was now possible to use either a race engine with a maximum capacity
• 3:01
  of 3 litres or a 5 litre stock block.
• 3:04
  On the face of it, a small change, but one that changed New Zealand
• 3:07
  motorsport and then went on to change the world, one step at a time.
• 3:11
  New Zealand and Australia, historically, had invited Northern Hemisphere teams
• 3:15
  to come racing on the sunny South.
• 3:17
  During the winter, along with the opportunity to sell their obsolescent
• 3:21
  cars to their southern cousins.
• 3:23
  This racing was on an ad hoc Formula Libre basis.
• 3:26
  A situation addressed by the Tasman Formula in 1964, that adopted the
• 3:32
  recently departed late 50's 2.
• 3:34
  5 litre Formula One.
• 3:36
  A decision that kept the older local cars in play, but not for long.
• 3:41
  A scan three years on, and the 2.
• 3:43
  5s of the local fleet were being challenged by a new strain of 1600cc
• 3:48
  Formula 2 cars, along with even the best of our national Formula 1500cc
• 3:53
  cars challenging the bigger old ones.
• 3:55
  Change was in the air.
• 3:58
  Mount Maunganui was then, and still is, a dormitory village
• 4:01
  for the big city across the bay.
• 4:03
  Doubled as a holiday resort town in summer, and a mecca
• 4:07
  for surfers most of the year.
• 4:09
  The local car club set out to capture a part of that market.
• 4:12
  Firstly trying out an around the house race meeting in 1964, but finding that the
• 4:17
  local roads were not up to the job, and if a racetrack was to be built, it would have
• 4:21
  to be a new one on a stand alone basis.
• 4:24
  The place was found and purpose built.
• 4:26
  Track opened on December 1967.
• 4:29
  Got over one and a half miles of it, a long back straight.
• 4:32
  One leg with a sweeping return and a tight S bend.
• 4:35
  On the face of it, a power track, but in practice, not necessarily so.
• 4:40
  On the twisty bits, these small cars made up most of what
• 4:43
  they lost on the straights.
• 4:45
  Racing was always close and tight, and the spectators loved it.
• 4:49
  This provided the local car club, being both the track builder and the
• 4:52
  race organiser, with a fortuitous captive audience for just this
• 4:57
  time of the year, and a newly built track to accommodate them.
• 5:00
  By late 68 the track had progressed from hosting local events through
• 5:05
  to national championship races and was ready to go international.
• 5:09
  And that first big summer crowd was in for a real treat.
• 5:14
  Come they did, on the 28th of December 1968, 38, 000 of them to crowd out the
• 5:20
  track and the new breed of race car.
• 5:23
  There is an adage that says that spectator sports need appeal and
• 5:26
  attendance to survive, and the new track did that in spades.
• 5:31
  The club aimed high.
• 5:32
  An approach was made to the SCCA and a deal made.
• 5:36
  Four SCCA Formula A teams came to New Zealand in that December.
• 5:42
  A car club delegation had been present at the end of season SCCA
• 5:46
  race meeting at Laguna Seca in October 1968 and four teams had put their
• 5:51
  hands up to make the trip down under.
• 5:53
  Grable, Phillips, McMillan and Ramsey.
• 5:57
  The who and the how of this delegation is not stated.
• 6:00
  Seems to be a bit of a mystery.
• 6:01
  These old eyes note that the end of season SCCA Formula A race on scant one day after
• 6:09
  the washed out 12 October Can Am race.
• 6:11
  And there were plenty of Kiwis at Laguna Seca that weekend.
• 6:14
  So the club's delegation may have been enhanced.
• 6:18
  Denny Holman in particular having a close relationship with the club.
• 6:21
  However, it panned out getting these cars to New Zealand was
• 6:24
  a very tight schedule indeed.
• 6:26
  And essentially the visit itself was as much a demonstration as a race.
• 6:31
  And what a demonstration it was.
• 6:33
  A spectacle not to be missed, ask any of us that were there.
• 6:37
  The foundation cars for the existing Tasman series were essentially.
• 6:41
  Pre 61 two and a half litre X Formula One cars.
• 6:44
  And these had been standard fare for the past few years but were no longer
• 6:48
  competitive against the big engine, uh, X one and a half litre Formula
• 6:52
  One cars that were now turning up.
• 6:54
  The second generation Tasman cars were both effective and expensive.
• 6:59
  It was time for a change, but what to?
• 7:02
  Formula A provided the answer.
• 7:04
  Exciting and affordable cars you could make at home.
• 7:07
  And for the first year, the stock block Formula A cars and the 2.
• 7:10
  5 litre racing cars shared the same grits.
• 7:15
  The next year was even better.
• 7:16
  The stock block V8s had taken over with nigh on two thirds of the field being
• 7:20
  Formula A cars with a sprinkling of local builds and drivers from all over.
• 7:25
  By this time, Formula A was becoming worldwide and popping up everywhere.
• 7:30
  The first hybrid Tasman season fell to a big ex Formula 2 Ferrari, but that
• 7:36
  was the last time that this happened.
• 7:38
  From then on it was Formula A all the way.
• 7:41
  Five things had made that possible.
• 7:43
  Falling competitiveness of the existing domestic fleet, the unwillingness of
• 7:47
  the Tasman series organizers to release signed up drivers for non championship
• 7:51
  events, the willingness of the SCCA teams to demonstrate their cars, and the
• 7:56
  very existence of the new track itself.
• 7:58
  A generous prize pool did not hurt.
• 8:01
  Reflecting the multi usage nature of the venue, the car paddock doubled as a
• 8:06
  speedway for motorcycle and midget racing.
• 8:08
  Concerns were expressed that the Formula A cars would be so much
• 8:12
  quicker than the domestic cars that they would serve as a racing danger.
• 8:17
  A storm in a teapot, as the domestic fleet was quite capable of running
• 8:20
  with the new boys on the block.
• 8:22
  Greatwill is the best of the A's.
• 8:24
  Took a second or so off the lap record in practice, but the field behind was well
• 8:28
  mixed between domestics and the new boys.
• 8:31
  The whole of grid time split between the domestic Tasman Formula
• 8:34
  cars and the Formula A ones was in the order of two seconds.
• 8:38
  Grable went on to take the race honest.
• 8:40
  But second place went to a 1600cc Formula 2 car.
• 8:44
  The best years of Kiwi Motorsport were about to begin.
• 8:48
  The following year, Grebel and Phillips returned for another run at Bay Park.
• 8:51
  Grebel with his wedge bodied McLaren, and Phillips to drive a local car.
• 8:56
  Add in Campbell's Force Greenie, Simpsons Eagles, and a lot of Aussies
• 9:00
  warming up for the Tasman Series races, Formula A was here to stay.
• 9:05
  And, uh, where did they go?
• 9:06
  Three of the four 68 cars went home, but the ISARC stayed for a little while and it
• 9:11
  had been damaged in a late race incident.
• 9:13
  Repairs were made locally, and the car reappeared in late September 1969, in time
• 9:19
  for a couple of shakedown races before rejoining its buddies at the next big
• 9:24
  Bay Park meeting, again in late December.
• 9:27
  This time, Formula A cars from the United States, Australia, Europe and
• 9:31
  New Zealand, including the local builds, Made up more than half of the entry list.
• 9:36
  Formula A was here to stay for a while.
• 9:40
  A good while.
• 9:42
  But all good things have got to come to an end.
• 9:44
  And that end, around 76 or so in New Zealand, was when the cycle
• 9:48
  of obsolescence and challenge and replacement clicked over one more time.
• 9:52
  By happy coincidence, the challenger this time was another SCCA or shoot.
• 9:56
  This time the Formula B morphed into an international arrangement
• 10:00
  called Formula Atlantic.
• 10:02
  and down under Formula Pacific.
• 10:04
  The siblings had pushed the old boys out of the nest.
• 10:07
  The 5, 000 in the Pacifics could race together, but with a 6 percent
• 10:10
  handicap added into the, uh, Formula A's elapsed time at the end of a race.
• 10:16
  An undeserved indignity that the driver that won each and every race on the track
• 10:21
  that year was not in the end declared as the winner of the national championship.
• 10:26
  Formula A was marvellous.
• 10:29
  Us old fellows now stand around for the next Nostalgia series of racing.
• 10:35
  We still say well, so do the kids.
• 10:38
  Thank you, thank you SCCA.
• 10:41
  Thank you very, very much.
• 10:43
  This episode is brought to you in part by the International
• 10:45
  Motor Racing Research Center.
• 10:47
  Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history
• 10:50
  of motorsports, spanning continents, eras, and race series.
• 10:53
  The center's collection embodies the speed, drama, and camaraderie
• 10:57
  of amateur and professional motor racing throughout the world.
• 11:00
  The Center welcomes serious researchers and casual fans alike to share stories of
• 11:04
  race drivers, race series, and race cars captured on their shelves and walls and
• 11:09
  brought to life through a regular calendar of public lectures and special events.
• 11:13
  To learn more about the Center, visit www.
• 11:16
  racingarchives.
• 11:17
  org.
• 11:18
  This episode is also brought to you by the Society of Automotive Historians.
• 11:22
  They encourage research into any aspect of automotive history.
• 11:25
  The SAH actively supports the compilation and preservation of papers.
• 11:29
  Organizational records, print ephemera and images to safeguard as well as to broaden
• 11:34
  and deepen the understanding of motorized wheeled land transportation through
• 11:38
  the modern age and into the future.
• 11:40
  For more information about the SAH, visit www.
• 11:43
  autohistory.
• 11:44
  org.
• 11:50
  We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Brake Fix Podcast brought
• 11:54
  to you by Grand Touring Motorsports.
• 11:56
  If you'd like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure
• 11:59
  to follow us on all social media platforms at GrandTouringMotorsports.
• 12:03
  And if you'd like to learn more about the content of this episode,
• 12:06
  be sure to check out the follow on article at GTMotorsports.
• 12:10
  org.
• 12:11
  We remain a commercial free and no annual fees organization through
• 12:15
  our sponsors, but also through the generous support of our fans,
• 12:19
  families, and friends through Patreon.
• 12:22
  For as little as 2.
• 12:24
  50 a month, you can get access to more behind the scenes action, additional
• 12:28
  Pit Stop minisodes, and other VIP goodies, as well as keeping our team
• 12:33
  of creators Fed on their strict diet of fig Newtons, gummy bears, and monster.
• 12:38
  So consider signing up for Patreon today at www.
• 12:42
  patreon.
• 12:42
  com forward slash GT motorsports, and remember without you, none
• 12:47
  of this would be possible.