Design your own, or import a pure bred? Tim Nevinson takes a look at the resurrection of a formula that was at the very heart of motor sport events from the ’60s to the ’80s
Words: Tim Nevinson Photos; Quinn Hamill
Rhubarb and Fonzelli might sound like something on the menu at a mother’s union convention, but is, in fact, a deep-rooted part of the traditions within a gentleman’s club. Well, I think they are gentlemen (and there is possibly the occasional lady involved too). However, these gentlemen do not languish in the smoking room reclining on sumptuous leather armchairs reading The Times. While they do sit reclined, and their chairs could be leather, they are far from sumptuous. And they do try their best to avoid smoking, but after some of their more boisterous meetings, smoke is one of the unavoidable consequences. This club is not exclusive. In fact, it aims to be the opposite – where a modest outlay is encouraged. Club members do, however, carry out their activities in a gentlemanly manner.
By definition, a ‘racing sportscar’ must be designed to carry a passenger. The passenger these designers used is very short and brave
Rhubarb, Fonzelli, Sid and a missing person were key elements to an annual performance. Not a board game by Waddington’s nor a pantomime, but it could reasonably be called amateur dramatics, being both of those things, as well as entertaining and sociable. It used to be known as SCANZ, and is now SCRNZ. Mention the Lycoming Special and race enthusiasts get all misty eyed. It is part of New Zealand motor racing folklore, and part of SCANZ and SCRNZ folklore too. The first championship for sports cars was won by Malcolm Gill in that fearsome aircraft-engined beast during 1960. Malcolm won the second one and a year later, and Jim Boyd used the Lycoming to win yet again in 1966.
Between times, saloon racing star Johnny Riley won the championship in a Lola Climax which would be worth a mint now, but not as much as the Ferrari 275LM and Lola T70s used to win the later championships in the mid ’60s.
Sid
Sid also became a famous player, not a driver, but a series of cars by that name produced by Jaimie Aislabie to beat all comers in the popular sports car series during the ’70s and ’80s. Fonzelli was Bruce Turnbull’s weapon of choice to win the series, while Rhubarb was the name given to a series of sports cars driven by Colin Smith. From the early ’70s, a two-litre limit was put on the cars and racing became dominated by fleet, lightweight specials built locally to a loose formula, the main component being a missing person. The missing person should be quite distinctive. By definition, a ‘racing sportscar’ must be designed to carry a passenger. The passenger these designers used is very short and brave; a contortionist with several missing limbs. He has, on occasion, been able to split himself in half and place himself either side of the driver.
This elusive character, (we shall call him Sid, just for the sake of confusion and then make him the club mascot) has yet to show himself at a sports car meeting to demonstrate how he manages to manoeuvre himself into the gaps left by the designers while his driver fights the car and competitors on the race track.
I have pretended to be Sid myself – in a McLaren Can Am car at Pukekohe. I did manage to contort myself alongside the driver in this huge monster on that occasion, but fast laps were impossible because my backside turned off the master switch on fast left-handers. Today, Sports car racers of New Zealand are considerably smaller than that McLaren, but passenger space is still not high on the designer’s agenda.
The Class System
The Sports Car Club of New Zealand is a staunch operation that concentrates on ‘home builds’ and small car manufacturing operations within New Zealand. The New Zealand Sports Racing Car (NZSRC) Series (formerly SCANZ) operates as a semi-autonomous group within SCCNZ. The Sports Racing Car Association of New Zealand Inc was formed in the ’70s and for many years administered sports car racing in New Zealand. When the cost of transporting cars across Cook Strait became prohibitive, the series was limited to the North Island only. In 2001 this Association became a sub-group within the Sports Car Club of New Zealand Inc (SCCNZ) and is now the recognised racing group within SCCNZ. The group organises and runs a series of races, known as New Zealand Sports Racing Car Series, on North Island circuits at a mixture of national and club level race meetings.
Our interest in these cars is the historical value of sports racing cars built in New Zealand
Members are spread fairly evenly throughout the North Island, with a few associates in the South Island. The aims of the group are to foster the construction and racing of sports cars with particular emphasis on sports-racing cars. Regulations are designed to be as free as possible, while still encouraging close racing, and are structured so that virtually any two-seat sportscar suitable and safe to race on a sealed circuit is eligible to enter one of the three classes constituting the New Zealand Sports Racing Car Series.
Back to Class
Class A is for front or rear-engined sports cars with engines limited to two litres, non-supercharged, includes motorcycle engines and interestingly limits the cars to one engine (some sneaky fella has obviously tried it on!) Class B is for cars that comply with Class A, but run on DOT- approved road tyres or that comply with the Clubman’s register regulations.
The Clubman’s register cars are the Frasers, RPS, Beatties and Lotus seven-type cars that regularly run as part of classic meetings in the North Island. Class B is essentially designed for cars that were built originally as road-going sports cars, but are now mostly used for circuit racing. Class C is for unlimited capacity sports cars or cars that do not comply with the first two categories, but are still within the spirit of the regulations. This group is intended to cater for kit cars, replicas and any other large-capacity sports cars, or cars that run turbocharged or supercharged engines, or engines of a capacity greater than 2000cc.
The Spirit
What the ‘spirit’ is I guess, is quite open to interpretation and, as these things often are, to abuse. The credo of the association is relatively cheap motor sport, and it’s my assumption that if somebody comes in and plunders the trophy table with the latest Audi R10, he will politely be shown the door. More likely, he will be introduced to those nice people doing the Super GT series, however, a Mazda MX5 that looks near standard regularly tags onto the back of the SCRNZ fields.
Apart from the spirit aspect there is also the lap speed differential to be considered – avoiding a dangerous aspect whenever incompatible cars are together on a track. If memory serves correctly, the MX-5, more often than not manages to stay on the same lap during a race. Probably the most important set of operating criteria are these: “Racing is strongly contested, however, the group fosters a spirit of friendly competition, a helpful and co-operative environment and enjoyable social atmosphere” and various trophies are presented for such qualities as Best Prepared Car, Most Improved Driver and so on.
Whilst we are unlikely to see Bernie Ecclestone arguing over TV rights to the series, you are guaranteed to get the best bang for your buck as a competitor. The cars are light and relatively cheap, so it is motor racing with exceptional value for money. There seems to be two main approaches at present. These are to use lightweight motorcycle engines in a home-built or proprietary chassis, or an engine between 1600 and 2000cc, once again in a home-built or proprietary chassis, although you are not limited to this. The essential difference between this and the Clubman’s series is that the cars can be designed simply as racing cars, rather than, as the Clubman’s are, required to be basically engineered as road cars. While they are allowed to use racing tyres, this can make them cheaper because a set lasts a long time (at least a season) since the cars are so light.
Fast but Frugal
Our interest in these cars is both the historical value of sports racing cars built in New Zealand, and to encourage our innovative countrymen to come up with new schemes with which to compete at a sensible and affordable level. The aim of this schedule is to promote competition in sports cars of the types designed, built and raced by such designer/drivers as Bruce McLaren and George Begg. There are several different approaches represented here, from front-engined to mid-engined (and one car that has been both), from self-designed to importing a fully built up sports racer, and a range of engines from motorcycle to turbo two litre.
Lap times accomplished by the cars are a testament to how fast you can go on a very limited budget. Being small, light and relatively under-stressed, things like tyre wear are minimal, as are brake and clutch components. The beauty of this class is that the cars are so different that each will excel on a different part of the circuit, but still return a similar lap time, and different circuits produce different winners and losers. While the grids look fairly healthy already, the club is certain that they have a great value race formula. They also think they have something which is a challenge to the brain and wit of the designer – something that Kiwis should excel at. So, they want to open their doors to new competitors and also any old cars that are out there.
There are many SCANZ chassis tucked up in barns around the country that could still be very competitive in this formula, and it would be a pleasure to see these cars back out and racing. They are part of our racing heritage and this formula is a fine conduit for them to reappear and still mix it with the Radicals.
Chevron
Tim Rush, aged 27 has a 1994 Chevron, No 162 in orange. The engine is a supercharged Toyota 4AGE which he has owned for two years. Tim has already won a number of events in what is a very simple conversion of a road car designed and manufactured in New Zealand by Evan Fray in Otahuhu.
Saker Sprint
Thomas Good (age 28) has a 2000cc turbo Subaru motor in a 750kg car manufactured by Bruce Turnbull of Bunnythorpe. Bruce was heavily involved in sportscar racing in New Zealand and has built up a world wide market for his Saker Sprint, including a one-make series in Holland. Thomas was leading the NZ Sports Car Series after four rounds.
JRM
John Mines races the blue JRM with the highly respected and powerful (185 bhp) 1300cc Suzuki Hyabusa engine mounted in a 380kg chassis by John Mines under a Walter Wing body.
Concept Sports
Paul Ingram and sports car stalwart Jamie Aislabie race the red and yellow ‘Concept Sports’, # 51. it’s similar to the 1990 Mk 29 Mallock U2, designed by the world renowned Mallock family in England for the front-engined British Clubman’s racing formula. It uses a 2-litre SGE Toyota engine and does Pukekohe in 62 secs, Manfeild in 71 secs and the old Taupo in 39 secs. They have achieved 6 NZ Championship wins.
Delta-Honda
Noel Woodford’s Delta Honda does 62.4 secs at Pukekohe. Robert Hulme’s design originally used the same chassis jig as Jamie’s car built 1990, and used to run a rotary Mazda engine in the front. Now it has a bog standard Honda Integra engine and gearbox mounted sideways behind the driver. It ran Vauxhall Viva uprights when new but is now fitted with Lotus Elise uprights and geometry.
Caterham Seven
Iain Slight assembled his 1998 Caterham Seven in Cape town, South Africa and raced in Cape Town from 1999 – 2002, winning the Western SA Province Sportscars in championship in 2001, as well as being runner up in 2002. It’s fitted with a 197kw Vauxhall 2.0Litre engine similar to that used in the Formula Vauxhall-Opel race cars which launched many a formula one career. Ian’s car which is for sale runs Manfeild in 73 sec, Pukekohe in 74 sec and Taupo in 40 sec.
Radical Clubsport
Craig Wylie landed his white Radical November 2005. It’s the third Radical built of many now competing worldwide. Originally raced by Phil Abbott, it’s one of the two founders of Radical Cars. It had an extensive rebuild in 2004, bringing it up to the latest specifications, a winning the UK Championship for Clubsports in the hands of the last owner. It runs a modified Kawasaki 1100 motor and gearbox putting out 185bhp. Craig thanks John Mines and Paul Rasmussen for preparation and ongoing support. He got the bug from racing a 1700cc Caterham, using it to win a the Whittaker’s Meeting in 2003. As Craig’s is the only ‘production’ car from the bunch we can supply accurate specifications and performance for it. It represents a car that can finish third or fourth in this category, and provides an accurate insight into the power to weight you need to build into your car when you enter – which I hope many budding designer racers out there will!
1997 Radical Clubsport
Engine: Kawasaki ZZR1100 (Modified head, carbs and cam timing which increases power to 185 bhp) (155bhp at the wheels)
Gearbox: Kawasaki 6 speed sequential –heavy duty clutch – chain drive
Diff: Quaife Limited Slip
Reverse: Electric motor
Chassis: Fabricated steel tube spaceframe, integral rollbar to FIA specs, front crushbox
Suspension: Fully adjustable, double A arm wishbones and coil over all round, Ni-link front
Brakes: Willwood 4-pot callipers all round, slotted and vented front discs. Cockpit adjustable front/rear bias
Body: Fibreglass, 2 piece removable, front splitter, rear diffuser and Gurney flap for downforce
Weight: 440 kgs
PERFORMANCE
0-100kph: 3.5 seconds (approx)
Top Speed: 240kph+ (depends on gearing)
Sports Car Champions of NZ
1960 Malcolm Gill (Lycoming Special), 1961 Malcolm Gill (Lycoming Special), 1962 Barry Cottle (Lola-Climax), 1963 Barry Cottle (Lola-Climax), 1964 Barry Porter (Lotus-Climax) and Johnny Riley (Lola-Ford), 1965 Barry Porter (Lotus-Climax), 1966 Jim Boyd (Lycoming Special), 1967 Andrew Buchanan (Ferrari 275LM), 1978 Andrew Buchanan (Elfin-Chevrolet), 1969 Grahame Harvey (Elfin-Chevrolet), 1970 Jim Boyd (Lola-Chevrolet T70), 1971 Grahame Harvey (Elfin-Chevrolet), 1972 Gary Pederson (Gemco-Oldsmobile), 1973 Jamie Aislaibie (Sid-Jaguar), 1974 Ian Bisman (Begg), 1975 Bob Hyslop (JRM), 1976 Colin Smith (Rhubarb 3), 1977 Charlie Bensemann (Rhubarb 3), 1978 Jamie Aislaibie (Bray), 1979 Jamie Aislaibie (Sid), 1980 Bob Homewood (Rhubarb 3), 1981 Bruce Turnbull (Fronzelli), 1982 Bruce Turnbull (Fronzelli), 1983 Lester Reader (LJR), 1984 Lester Reader (LJR), 1985 Jamie Aislaibie (Sid III), 1986 Jamie Aislaibie (Sid III)
Details
SCRNZ Contacts and Area Representatives
Northern and Technical:
Robert Hulme – Ph 09 8374 744 (hm)
Central North Island:
Jamie Aislabie – Ph 07 347 9378(hm)
Southern North Island:
John Mines – Ph 04 388 2695(hm)
Secretary:
Grant Johnstone – Ph 09 235 9368
Mailing Address: c/o Sports Car Club of NZ
PO Box 100917
NSMC
NORTH SHORE CITY
Website: www.sccnz.co.nz
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