Executive Memories!
NZ Motorsport
In the 1960s and 70s

Mike is the CEO of an Avionics company and motorsport just happens to be not just a passing interest but a passion!

April 2005 is a watershed month for Mike. After two years a dream has become a reality.

The completion of this COBRA. Running a 351 Cleveland and Willwood brakes.

You can only describe this car as gorgeous. Just imagine sinking into those leather seats.

Story by Mike Feisst. I started attending motor sport events at Pukekohe back in the early 1960’s probably around 1963.
In those days we seemed to have events every month and there was no shortage of events to attend. When Bay Park was in its hey day I attended some meetings here especially as they were such a go ahead crowd and managed to attract overseas drivers and cars that never raced elsewhere.

The Christmas / New Year meeting was always well attended and usually spectacular with some great racing.
Some of the first American V8 saloon cars and F5000 cars first appeared at these meetings and whetted the spectator’s appetite for these classes of cars.

This 16 miniute video was taken recently at Manfield of the F5000 field currently touring New Zealand.

The Anglia’s were modified with Cortina engines and the bodywork was flared to cover wider wheels needed to soak up the additional power. In later period some drivers ended up shoehorning V8 power plants into Anglia’s and these must have been hairy beasts on the track.
The leaders in this realm that I remember were Paul Fahey, Jack Nazer and David Simpson who seemed to have some great battles on the track.

There were certainly others whose names escape me at the moment and there were others around the country that carried out the same mods with equal success. As things started heating up the first of the Lotus Cortina’s arrived and these started to win races with their better combinations.
We used to think that these were the greatest cars around and it would take something special to come along and down them.
Many of our great drivers of the era started their careers in these cars and began their rise to becoming household names in later years.

In 1965 Ivan Segedin arrived on the scene in the Fleetwood Motors sponsored Ford Mustang. This was painted in a dark blue with white sign writing on it.
This was the first V8 engined car that I remember hearing and it was a revelation!

I can remember being at the first meeting where the car appeared and the noise and speed difference were amazing. It just disappeared off into the distance and the other raced for the minor places.
I don’t believe that the car won its early races as it suffered from fading brakes and other assorted ailments. This was obviously the way of the future and it wasn’t long before other V8 engined cars started to make their appearance.

Recently I went to the Te Puke Motor Museum and on display was the original Fleetwood Motors Mustang still in its original colours and still looking pristine.
The car had a ‘For Sale’ sign on it and I am not sure that it is still there.

The Mini 7 races seemed to have great entries and the colour schemes were varied and bright.
These cars provided great racing and there were always plenty of position changes in each lap and one could never say with certainty that would win each race.

I can remember being at Pukekohe the year that Bruce McLaren brought out an early Mini Cooper and raced it against the 3.8 Jaguars of Ray Archibald and David Silcock amongst others.

These races provided the crowd with a fantastic spectacle and brought them to their feet each time the cars appeared on track.
The sight of the Mini coming over the hill with the Jaguars breathing down its neck and seemingly going to trounce it at any time had the crowd screaming with enthusiasm.

Down the long back straight the Jaguars always had the legs to pass the Mini, but it was then tucked in on the back bumpers and looking for a way through at the hairpin.
By the time they came up over the hill again it was usually in front and causing mayhem in the stands.

Although the Minis dominated these races they were joined by the Hillman Imps of Roy Harrington and Jimmy Richards.
The Harrington Imp was painted bright yellow and the Richards one was painted in the sponsors colours of red and yellow this being Sidchrome.
The Imps were as fast as the Minis but usually suffered from mechanical problems and seldom ever won races much to the disappointment of the crowd who loved the under dog.

The allcomers races were dominated by the Mustangs and specials prevalent then. New Zealand motor sport teams produced some really spectacular cars in this era and they certainly had the desired effect for their drivers at times.

The Custaxi and Galaxy, the Victor Chev and the Cortina’s with V8 engines provided some great racing at the time.
These were joined by the Escort TC’s and later by the Fahey and Nazer FVA Escorts, which were giant killers at times.

The sight of the 4 Mustangs of Fahey, Dawson, Riley and Bryan plus the Camaro’s of Marwood and Coppins and the other V8 cars plus the Escorts really stirred up the crowd and usually provided some spectacular racing.

This was stirring stuff and we seldom went home disappointed after a days racing.
Today it doesn’t seem the same although we have 30 odd V8 supercars on the grid and close racing – must be an age thing.

At this time we had the privilege of seeing some of the top Australian saloon car drivers coming to NZ to race against the best in this country.
These entries included Alan Moffatt in the Coke and Brut 33 Mustangs, Pete Geoghegan in the Castrol Mustang and the Grace Bros Super Falcon,
and Frank Gardner in the Camaro.
The meetings where these drivers attended were well supported and provided some great racing.
The Australian didn’t always have it their own way and the NZer’s put in some stirring drives.

In those days New Zealand was able to attract the top international F1 drivers with the latest F1 cars powered by 2.5 litre engines.
It is amazing now to think that these teams would spent that sort of money to produce engines especially for the Tasman Series races in New Zealand and Australia.

We had Coventry Climax, BRM, Ford Cosworth and Ferrari engines all to the 2.5 litre size limit.
The cars were usually modified F1 cars and we had the opportunity to get up close to these and the teams were keen to do the job.
We were the first in the world to see some of the changes taking place in F1.

The Team Lotus cars first appeared in their Gold Leaf colour scheme here in NZ for the Tasman Series in 1967 or 68.
If you were prepared to pay extra one could get into the pits and it was never a problem to go and talk, one on one, with these top international drivers.
It was a laid back style then and I believe that the drivers thoroughly enjoyed the trip to the Southern Hemisphere.

I can remember standing beside

Clark-Lotus, Amon-Ferrari, Rodriguez-BRM.

Jim Clark and having a discussion about the F1 season and the Tasman Series and he was happy to spend some of his time talking to me about these subjects.
Fat chance of that happening these days.

When New Zealand adopted the F5000 formula we again had good fields of these cars and the drivers from Europe and America as well as the locals.
These were spectacular cars and the noise emanating from the grid would really get the hairs on the back of your neck standing up.
I understand that NZ now has one of the biggest populations of these cars still in existence and it is fantastic to see these once again being driven on the local tracks.
We can only applaud the people who have had the foresight to get this racing series back onto the classic calendar.

I have recently dug out my coloured slides taken during this period and have had these scanned on to cd’s.
There are about 400 of them and looking back over these again has brought back many great memories of this period. These images have been to several people to put on websites and to use in articles on classic motor sport form the period and hopefully will be seen in the future.
I have found photos of virtually all of the cars that Jimmy Richards raced here in New Zealand before moving across the Tasman.
There was the Anglia, Mk 1Escort, Carney Racing Escort TC, Sidchrome Imp and Mustang.



The website where these can be seen at the moment is www.MotorSportArchive.com and on the New Zealand pages.
There are now several race meetings each year in NZ for classic race cars of all classes and if you have an interest in this era then make the effort to attend and see these cars in action.

December 2004
All photographs copywrite of Mike Feisst.