Here is our third post featuring images from the Tasman Series by photographer Brian McInerney.

This time we take a look in and around the Pits and Paddock. As you can see, things have changed!

These photos are special, because this is the first time they have been published in any medium for 40 years.

Brian is a professional photographer and in the 1960s he was the young assistant photographer at Channel Seven in Sydney. For each of the Tasman Series races in 1967, 1968 & 1969 he acquired a press photographer’s pass and had complete access to the drivers and the track.

As a result he has a truly remarkable collection of images of the Tasman Series stars, including Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Derek Bell and the local heroes.

Its only three weeks until the Tasman Revival at Eastern Creek, so make sure you grab your tickets.

Images: Brian McInerney, Fine Image Gallery ©

Via: MotorsportRetro.com

Few Australian made racing cars have the credentials of the SR4.

Its racing history speaks for itself; 19 starts, 19 pole positions, 15 wins, 8 lap records and only one defeat (second due to throttle spring problem requiring a stop). A car that was faster than the Formula One cars of the era, driven by one of Australia’s best ever drivers.

Built in Sydney by Henry Nehrybecki for Frank Matich to take to the 1968 CanAm series, it raced only in Australia, unlike its equally famous sister car, SR3. It totally dominated the class and lead to coining of the phrase “doing a Matich” (i.e. to take pole, to win, take the fastest lap and also the lap record).

The frame is made from tubular steel and weighs only 81 pounds (35 kg), extremely light considering the power of the engine, which was 550 BHP as raced. The gearbox is a Hewland LG500 with 4 forward gears and reverse. The gearbox is the only major item not made in Australia since the uprights, wheels, brakes and even the steering rack were locally produced. The body is made from fiberglass though the original intention was for this to be aluminium.

The engine was a 760 series 5 litre Repco Brabham quad cam racing engine developing around 550 BHP. (Shorter block 3 litre 860 series engines were used for Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme’s Repco Brabhams in 1968).

The SR4 was retired from racing at the end 1969 since there was little else to be achieved for it in Australia. Also a year had slipped by making a later foray into CanAm series futile. In any case Frank Matich had his eyes on the emerging F5000 series.

The car was cosmetically restored by Don Halpin while still owned by Repco during the eighties and was for many years displayed at the Birdwood and then the Launceston auto museums. It was never possible to undertake a full and running restoration since the engine in it was very much incomplete. Acquisition of a complete and running engine from Les Wright some years ago made the full restoration feasible and this was carried out by Jim Hardman. The engine in the car is actually an ex Jack Brabham Indy engine of 4.2 litres, though of the same external appearance as the 5 litre version originally fitted. Naturally this has been set up to operate on petrol as opposed to methanol as per Indy. A 5 litre engine is now in preparation.

Nigel Tait, managed the restoration and movements of the SR4 over the last years of Repco’s ownership and subsequently during ACL’s ownership, and purchased it from ACL in July 2005.

In 2006 a full chassis restoration was undertaken since it was 38 years since it was constructed. It is a testament to Henry Nehrybecki’s workmanship that it was found to be in excellent condition with only minor repairs needed and only one tube required replacement to upgrade the seat belt mountings to modern standards. Jim Hardman undertook most of this work including making new aluminium skins and undertray and reassembly.

The car has been taken to a number of circuits for display and demonstration and has been driven by John Bowe and Brian Sampson and as well as by Nigel Tait and Jim Hardman at various events. Due to its historical importance and the scarcity of critical engine components for the quad cam engine (which may well be the only one still running) there are no plans for the car to revert to all out racing.

Here are some more wonderful images from the Tasman Series from 1967 – 1969 by photographer Brian McInerney.

They are an absolute treat, because this is the first time they have been published in any medium for 40 years.

Brian is a professional photographer and in the 1960s he was the young assistant photographer at Channel Seven in Sydney. For each of the Tasman Series races in 1967, 1968 & 1969 he acquired a press photographer’s pass and had complete access to the drivers and the track.

As a result he has a truly remarkable collection of images of the Tasman Series stars, including Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Derek Bell and the local heroes.

Brian is set to releases a series of Tasman Series framed prints, so watch this space.

Images: Brian McInerney, Fine Image Gallery ©

Round Five: WARWICK FARM

Sydney Grand Prix

Date: 14th February 1965

45 Laps of 3.621kms (162.945kms)

The 1965 International 100 at the Farm was a notable triumph for the flying Scotsman Jim Clark, who not only established lap and race records, but overcame the loss of third gear very early in the race.

Clark had been in devastating form leading up to the International, with three consecutive wins in the Tasman series, but at the unofficial practice session on the Friday, the leading drivers had sounded a warning that Clark wouldn’t have things all his own way. First, Graham Hill, had scorched round in 1:35, well inside the 1:37.4 record, and he was closely followed by Frank Matich, 1:35.6. Bib Stillwell got down to 1:34.8 and McLaren returned 1:35.8, Clark replied with a 1:34.7 lap. This spurred Graham Hill to a 1:34.2 lap in the next session and Matich to 1:34.3. Matich cut his time to 1:32.8, Hill returned an even 1:33, and Clark and Brabham 1:33.5.

At the end of the day, it was apparent that several cars were suffering from overheating due to leaking sealing rings, and there was some concern that compressions were too high for the 100-octane fuel.

At the first official practice session on Saturday, Hill changed to 5.50 tyres on the front and went out to equal Matich’s best time of 1:34.2. Jack Brabham was officially credited with a 1:34.6 lap, which his pit crew had clocked at 1:34.2. Clark was lapping at about 1:35, and there was no joy for the McLaren team of Bruce McLaren and Phil Hill, whose oversized 15-inch Firestone tyres were inhibiting the Coopers’ performances.

It appeared that the three Repco-Brabhams would start off the front line, but in the final practice session Clark whipped round in 1:34.5, relegating Jack Brabham to the second row of the grid.

The qualifying order was: Frank Matich (Repco-Brabham-Climax), Graham Hill (Repco-Brabham Climax), Jim Clark (Lotus-Climax 2.5), Jack Brabham (Repco-Brabham Climax 2.5), Bruce McLaren (Cooper Climax 2.5), Frank Gardner (Repco-Brabham Climax 2.5), Bib Stillwell (Repco-Brabham Climax 2.5), Lex Davison (Repco-Brabham Climax 2.5), Jim Palmer (Repco-Brabham Climax 2.5), Phil Hill (Cooper Climax 2.5), Greg Cusack (Repco-Brabham Ford 1.5), Roly Levis (Repco-Brabham Ford 1.5), Kerry Grant (Repco-Brabham Climax 2.5), Rocky Tresise (Cooper Climax 2.5), Leo Geoghegan (Lotus 32-Ford 1.5), Greg McLelland (Repco-Brabham Ford 1.5), David Walker (Repco-Brabham Ford 1.5), Glyn Scott (Lotus 27-Ford 1.5), Collerson (Repco-Brabham Ford 1.5).

Race day on Sunday was hot and clear. The start was delayed while spectators were cleared from the Creek hairpin. First off the mark was Matich, from Clark and Hill, but at Creek, Hill outbraked the other two to take a slight lead. Behind him the field was closely packed.

At the end of lap two, Clark raised three fingers to indicate he’d lost third gear. He was two seconds behind Hill at this stage and having to rely on the torque of the Climax engine to supply enough power to enable him to use fourth gear from the hairpin to the straight.

The over-sized tyres on McLaren’s Cooper were already proving a handicap and he’d lost his fourth spot, passed first by Brabham, then Stillwell. In fact, both the McLaren Coopers were early retirements – Phil Hill’s with a broken rear axle shaft on lap eight, and Bruce McLaren’s a lap later with piston failure.

Davison had been first out of the race with a broken steering wheel spoke, and another early retirement was Kerry Grant, with a broken valve spring. Clark had a stroke of luck when his air-intake picked up a sheet of loose paper, which fortunately didn’t blow inside but remained just draped over the edge.

After 15 laps Hill led Clark, but spun on Polo Corner, losing half a minute. Later, he ruined any chances of catching up when he completely misjudged Leger.

Gardner came into the pits on lap 20 for a plug change, losing three laps. At this point, Hill held a 2.6second margin over Clark, with Brabham four seconds back in third place. Three laps later and Clark had narrowed the margin to less than two seconds, with Brabham now six seconds away. But Hill opened the gap again with a 1:34.4 lap, with Brabham dropping off further, 10 seconds behind Clark.

Then Clark attacked. Lap by lap he closed the gap, until Hill led by only one second on lap 33. Behind them, only 10 other cars remained in the race, spread over four laps.

On lap 36 Clark made his move at the Hairpin, and at the pits he had opened up a 1.4 second break on Hill. He continued to pull away, despite several sub-35 laps by Hill. Brabham headed the remainder, 27 seconds back, followed by Matich, Stillwell and Palmer. In the 1500 class, Roly Levis was chasing Leo Geoghegan. The New Zealander took Geoghegan at Paddock Bend and drew away to an eight-second lead, which he maintained to the line.

Into the last lap, Clark had an unbeatable six-second lead over Hill, and the placings seemed a formality. But at Polo, Hill spun and stalled. So, Clark went on to take the flag, 62 seconds ahead of Brabham. There were five seconds to Matich and a 30second gap to Stillwell. Eleven seconds later Hill arrived, having been helped by officials to get the engine restarted. Jim Palmer was next. Roly Levis led home the 1500s from Geoghegan and Cusack.
Jim Clark covered the 100 miles in one hour 11 minutes 6.8 seconds at an average speed of 85.4 mph. He set a new lap record of 1:33.7. It was to be the first of three years in which he dominated international racing at the Farm.

Via: Tasman-Series.com

Images: Tasman-Series.com

Check out these images of the original race program covers from 1965.

The second year of the Tasman Championship consisted of four races in New Zealand and three in Australia. Points could only be gained from three of the New Zealand races which had to include the New Zealand Grand Prix. All three Australian rounds counted for championship points.

The 1965 Tasman Series was won by Jim Clark

The 1965 Tasman Series featured the following events.

1. Pukekohe – NZ

2. Levin – NZ

3. Wigram – NZ

4. Teretonga – NZ

5. Warwick Farm – AUS

6. Sandown – AUS

7. Longford – AUS

Images: TasmanSeries.com

Frank Gardner was a regular Tasman competitor throughout both the 2.5 litre and Formula 5000 Tasman Championships. He drove various cars for the Alec Mildren team in the ’60s and had the best overall Tasman record for “local” drivers. Mainly competed in Europe where he was regarded as one of the best test drivers and carried out these duties for the Lola factory.

He was best known as a Touring car racing and Sports car racing driver, but he also participated in nine World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 July 1964. He scored no championship points. Gardner also participated in numerous non-Championship Formula One races, including a third placing at the 1965 Mediterranean Grand Prix, fourth in the 1965 Race of Champions and third in the 1971 International Gold Cup.

In 1966 Gardner finished second in the 1000 km Spa round of the World Sportscar Championship. In 1967 he also finished second in the European Formula Two Championship and second in the British Autocar Formula 2 Championship. In 1970 he was third in the British Formula 5000 Championship and in 1971 was Champion.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Gardner had podium finishes in the Australian Grand Prix – second in 1966 and 1972 and a third in 1967. He finished third in the 1967 and 1972 Tasman Series. He won the British Touring Car Championship title on three occasions in 1967 (Ford Falcon Sprint), 1968 (Ford Escort) and 1973 (Chevrolet Camaro), and was runner-up in the BTCC in 1970. In 1975 he finished second at Bathurst in the Hardie-Ferodo 1000.

When the race team was shifted in 1998 Gardner became involved in driver training. Gardner passed away in August 2009.

Via: Wikipedia and 2008 Tasman programme.

Images: Autosport Forums

Here are some wonderful images from the Tasman Series from 1967 – 1969 by photographer Brian McInerney.

They are an absolute treat, because this is the first time they have been published in any medium for 40 years.

Brian is a professional photographer and in the 1960s he was the young assistant photographer at Channel Seven in Sydney. For each of the Tasman Series races in 1967, 1968 & 1969 he acquired a press photographer’s pass and had complete access to the drivers and the track.

As a result he has a truly remarkable collection of images of the Tasman Series stars, including Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jochnen Rindt and the local heroes.

Brian is set to releases a series of Tasman Series framed prints, so watch this space.

Images: Brian McInerney, Fine Image Gallery ©

Here is another ripper set of photos from the brilliant John Stanley.

Included are some excellent shots of Jochen Rindt, Pedro Rodrigues, Graham Hill, Jim Clark and Piers Courage.

Visit Johns site at John-Stanley.com

Always a very quick driver who often outqualified the overseas competitors in the ’60s , especially at Warwick Farm. He also competed in Formula 5000s, first in a McLaren and then in a Matich, a car he built and designed himself. A winner of the Australian Drivers Gold Star and twice winner of the Australian Grand Prix.

Here is a story about Matich by Ray Bell

“Anyone who followed racing in the sixties and early seventies knew the name of the best driver in Australia. Frank Matich. Undisputed, even though at times he was restricted to sports cars. Everyone knew that if he had an open wheeler he’d better everyone else.

It wasn’t always so, of course. Matich started out in an MG TC that was also his road car. He spent many a race day and other days at Mount Druitt’s airstrip circuit with wife to be Joan in this car, but just as they eventually got married, so the MG was replaced by an Austin Healey 100/4.

His racing successes in this weren’t notable, but he was able to use it as a springboard to get into a D-type Jaguar owned by Leaton Motors. This took him to fourth place in the Australian Tourist Trophy at Bathurst in 1958 and gradually closer to the pointy end of the field.

Leatons were a big help to Matich. In 1960 they bought a Lotus 15 for him and he was on his way to the top. Despite the frailty of this car, which matched a 2.5-litre Coventry Climax engine with an Austin A35 differential. It introduced Frank to the lightweight specialty cars that were becoming the winners in that era and led the way to the Lotus 19.

In this car he leapt to prominence. While he didn’t always win with the 19, he only ever lost to the Cooper Monaco of Bib Stillwell when it came to a straight fight. Despite this, he never won the Australian title in the car.

But he won backing for advancement that led to the top of the tree in Australian racing. Two backers were to take over from Leaton Motors – Total Oil’s Australian branch and Laurie O’Neill, a wealthy businessman who became a major patron over many years.

In addition to this, the fledgling Elfin Sports Cars put cars into his hands as ‘works’ entries in no fewer than three classes, enhancing his experience and adding greatly to his CV in 1962.

The Lotus 19 was written off by mechanic Bruce Richardson while Frank was testing one of the Elfins, Bruce being assigned the job of bedding in the Lotus’ brakes at the Warwick Farm short circuit. A new car was built, the 19B, and alongside it there was a new Brabham 2.5 for Gold Star and International series participation. Total owned the Brabham, Laurie O’Neill funded the Lotus, while Total had representation on all five cars in the stable.

Racing was bursting out everywhere at the time. 1960 had seen Warwick Farm open, then came Catalina Park and the rough and ready first edition of Oran Park. All in or around Sydney, they were Matich’s playground, Mt Druitt having died in 1957 and Bathurst being restricted to two meetings a year – and just one from 1963.

Similarly, new circuits were coming on stream in other states. Lakeside in Brisbane, Sandown Park in Melbourne, then Calder, while Longford was being improved all the time in Tasmania.

One Catalina Park meeting saw Frank dominate proceedings, winning the Formula Junior championship in an Elfin 1100, taking his class win in an Elfin Clubman, then the 1500cc openwheeler had its wins and the 19 still more. The outright lap record at this circuit was his for most of its life.

But it was Warwick Farm which saw his greatest efforts come to fruition. I first saw him in the 19 and the 1500 Elfin there in October, 1962. He won easily in the Lotus and then filled third place in the Elfin after a battle with Chris Amon in a 2.5 Cooper. Clearly it was time for his graduation to the Brabham, but that was still a year away.

At the Warwick Farm International meeting he stunned many by qualifying the Elfin 1500 (this was powered by a pushrod Ford engine) fifth on the grid alongside David McKay’s Brabham 2.5 and ahead of Chris Amon in the McKay’s 2.5 Cooper, Graham Hill in the 2.5 Ferguson, Lex Davison’s 2.7 Cooper many others. There were three 1.5 cars in the field, thirteen 2.5 and over.

When the Brabham arrived it was to stun even more. Despite a run of mechanical outs, the car grabbed early leads in races, in both New Zealand and Australia in the inaugural Tasman Cup series, beat many international drivers in practice sessions and showed Frank was a front line driver in any company.

While Tasman placings were an object of the exercise, Total were keen to wrest the Australian Drivers’ Championship away from BP. Bib Stillwell was the leading contender and a BP driver, Frank was to take the battle to him. Unfortunately, the reliability he and his men had found in the Lotus couldn’t be transferred to the Brabham.

1965 saw more of the same – Tasman flashes of brilliance and disappointment. All along, however, the Lotus was performing well. It had taken the Tourist Trophy at Longford in 1964 and thus put the Matich name on the serious Australian Championship winners for the first time.

But the 19B was to meet its end prematurely in June, 1965. Practising for a minor race at Lakeside, the throttle stuck open and Frank rode it into the fence behind the paddock area. Fire broke out and he was burned. Total then abandoned him, selling off the Brabham.

But Laurie O’Neill was still behind Frank and funded the building of the prototype Elfin 400 with an Oldsmobile 4.5-litre engine. Australia thus got its first ‘big’ sports car in the sixties style and spectators flocked to see it perform. Even if it was only tearing away into the distance with no opposition.

Lap records fell by the dozen – for the short time this car ran. It was sold to Niel Allen within a year and Frank got cracking on building his own car with construction done by Bob Britton of Rennmax fame. The Matich SR3 came first with the same Oldsmobile power, a later car had a Repco 4.4 V8. Lap records continued falling to Matich, Allen provided competition, then came the quad-cam Repco 5-litre powered Matich SR4, which continued the domination.

The ‘Gold Star’ series had languished without Matich since 1964. Lesser drivers, if one could call Kevin Bartlett and Leo Geoghegan drivers in any way ‘lesser,’ were battling that out in the 2.5 cars that were in vogue as the sixties closed. But 1969 saw a new type of car on the horizon of the seventies.

The coming of F5000 – five litre V8-powered racing cars – seemed made to suit Matich. His connections with McLaren rapidly led to a car coming to Australia for him to drive, followed by another when the M10B came on stream. In this Frank was to win the Australian Grand Prix at his beloved Warwick Farm in 1970. By the same time the following year he’d built the Matich A50, construction this time entrusted largely to John Joyce at Bowin Designs, and it won him his second AGP, again at the Farm.

Competition intensified too, but still the Matich/Matich combination were difficult to match. Though Niel Allen beat him for the NZGP win of 1971, when the A50 finished it was most often in front. The Gold Star finally fell to Frank in 1972, but the Tasman Cup was to elude him.

He also took cars to America, running in Can-Am and F5000 races there, winning one round of the L&M Series in the McLaren M10.

Early in 1973 he took the A50 to New Zealand and put it on pole position for the NZ GP. A clipped kerb early in the race damaged the suspension and the Matich was retired. Levin brought a second place, Wigram fourth, Teretonga brought a retirement. Back in Australia he took a win at Surfers Paradise but in the rain at Warwick Farm he only managed second – despite a stirring drive and rounding up Graham McRae round the outside of Paddock Bend. Sandown brought two spins after leading from the start and Adelaide saw another failure after taking pole position.

This series had seen a number of driving errors for Frank. But then he had been facing challenges from drivers two racing generations on from himself. Bartlett was there, and McRae, while young chargers like Warwick Brown and John Walker were mixing it with Max Stewarts and Bob Muirs. Niel Allen had already retired from the sport.

Was it time for Frank to hang up his helmet?

With the Goodyear Racing Tyre agency, he was doing enormous mileages testing tyres for the Akron company. His lap times were among the very best, but there were chinks appearing in his racing. But this didn’t dissuade him.

In fact, he went to America again with an A51 for the L&M series. But he was not a force in a series that saw Brian Redman leap to prominence. Back in Australia for the Gold Star he took pole at Surfers Paradise and was leading by half a lap when the battery collapsed. An illness in the family kept him from the second round at Adelaide, then kept him from returning to Phillip Island for the first time since he’d set the outright sports car record there in 1960.

Joan was in hospital and Frank put her first, but was still developing the car and the A52 and A53 were still to come. Despite announcing that he’d be contesting the Tasman Cup of 1974, the A53 was present only for the final three rounds, a third at Surfers being the best result.
That was the end of the Matich story, however. Joan’s health was no doubt a major contributor to his retirement, along with Repco’s withdrawal from racing and other pressures. Suddenly the Matich saga ended.”

Ray Bell Via: Tasman-Series.com

Images: AussieRoadRacing, AutosportForums, MyFormula5000

Round Five: LAKESIDE                 34th Australian Grand Prix

Date: 2nd February 1969

67 Laps of 2.4kms (160.8kms)

This year there was only one week between the last race in New Zealand and the Australian Grand Prix at Lakeside, Queensland. Unlike previous years when cars were freighted to Australia by sea, they now had to be sent by air, for the South African Grand Prix had forced the Australian three Tasman races forward one week to give to give two clear weeks between the last Tasman and the SAGP.

Only Ferrari and Piers Courage managed to get themselves sorted out in time, while Lotus had all sorts of problems with customs and freight. It was apparent that Ford Australia weren’t behind the Lotus effort this year, for they had to do most of their own organising right from administration down to transport for drivers and mechanics. Ferrari, on the other hand, had the services of David McKay’s Scuderia Veloce to help them over the tricky spots and this deal also included workshop space and transporters. No wonder the Ferraris were better prepared for Lakeside than Lotus.

The new rear springs were waiting for the two Ferraris in Brisbane, and with these fitted the cars were out on Friday getting in some track time and showing that this was going to be a hard one for Lotus to even make a clean breast of. While Amon and Bell were enjoying their new-found freedom on a clear track, the Lotus team had only just received their cars and found both badly in need of attention. Rindt’s engine was misfiring, and Hill’s blew up shortly after starting up in the garage. Even with getting their engine back from Courage, it still left them with one very sick car, Rindt’s.

At official practice on Saturday, it was Amon taking pole with Courage second fastest. Gardner had fitted a bi-wing set-up like Courage’s in unofficial practice but didn’t have the time to evaluate it and had to remove the front one and save it for testing the following week in Sydney. Hill broke his wing in practice but still managed fourth fastest time, while Rindt was only able to push his Lotus 49B Cosworth V7 (sic) to fifth fastest time, creditable under the extreme circumstances.

While the flagman was making up his mind about when to drop the flag, Amon and Courage on the front row were having a “freak out”, seeing who could out-hesitate the other, Amon won the toss with a good start while Courage was caught on the wrong pedal and he went into the first bend in third place behind Hill with Derek Bell getting a tow from the Brabham-Ford.

It was Amon’s race from the start. He didn’t even give the mirrors a glance as he streaked off into the afternoon sun while Hill, Courage and Bell lined up for battle behind, followed by Gardner, Rindt and Kevin Bartlett (making his first appearance in the Mildren-Alfa V8 which carried him to the Australian championship last year). Next local out was Niel Allen keeping the 1.6 and 1.5 squads at bay.

Positions remained somewhat static for the next few laps, until Courage closed on Hill and tried to pass on the outside as they ranged under brakes for BMC bend. But Courage didn’t quite make it and there wasn’t enough room left for both cars. Hill didn’t give way, being on line for the corner. The two cars touched and Courage suddenly ran out of track and retired the car on the dirt of the outside of the track with slightly bent front suspension. Hill lost four seconds getting over the incident, which gave Bell his opportunity and he went through into second position to make it a Ferrari 1-2 for the first time in the series.

Kevin Bartlett retired on the following lap with no water and blown head gaskets giving away his position to Niel Allen in the M4A McLaren FVA. This was Allen’s first drive on the Lakeside circuit since his crash there eight months previously. Allen overdid it under brakes, the front set locked, and he lost four places in getting things in hand. He picked up one of the lost places immediately and set out on a long hard haul back through the field.

Jochen Rindt made the next move when he displaced Leo Geoghegan on the 13th lap for fifth spot, but Geoghegan was hanging on grimly and didn’t let the Austrian get away from him. But Rindt pulled out every horse he could find in the ailing Cosworth V8 and slipped by Frank Gardner on lap 19, making the order Amon, Bell, Rindt, Gardner, Geoghegan, Stewart, Allen, Scott and Guthrie.

Rindt held on to this position, trailed by Gardner, who was becoming concerned over oil pressure. His fears were confirmed when the Alfa Romeo engine blew an internal oil line and he was forced out of the race on lap 12. Gardner’s demise brought everyone up a place but Jochen Rindt’s forceful run ended when the Cosworth Ford V8 engine lost power and he quickly shut off and headed for the pits.

Chris Amon was busy lapping all but his team mate, Derek Bell, while Leo Geoghegan was sitting in a wonderful position behind Graham Hill in fourth spot. Col Green was in and out of the pits with gearbox and engine problems while Costanzo had retired after a spin over the back of the circuit.

The rear wing on Hill’s Lotus 49 had looked shaky for a few laps and finally it broke and folded over his rear wheel. He tried to keep the car as steady as possible so not to be black flagged by officials, and finally pitted to have the offending piece of iron cut from the car. Geoghegan, meanwhile, seeing Hill’s problem, had speeded up and went by as Hill was having the operation finished to his wing. He came back into the fray bent on getting his third spot back from Geoghegan, but the Lotus was suffering from oversteer with the now, light rear end and he steadily lost ground.

Niel Allen, working hard to make up for time lost in two spins, managed to catch Max Stewart in the surviving Mildren Alfa 1.6 car and, now in fifth spot, went on to win the ANF2 category. Englishman, Malcolm Guthrie, having sat behind Glyn Scott on the Queenslander’s home circuit, finally made a last-minute burst and finished ahead of the Bowin. Scott was still waiting for a set of rods to come from Cosworth for his 1.6 FVA engine, and he was running on a set borrowed from Niel Allen.

Amon’s win put him into an almost uncatchable lead. Only Piers Courage, with a bit of luck and by winning the final two races, could take the championship from the New Zealander. Rindt and Hill, equal on 15 points, were now relegated to fighting out second spot.

The Tasman points after 5 rounds were :- Amon 35, Courage 22, Rindt and Hill 15, Bell 13, Geoghegan 9, Gardner 7, Lawrence 3, Allen and Levis 2, Stewart and McRae 1 each.

Via: sergent.com.au