Big saloons supreme in south

Press, 30 September 1983, Page 28

Big saloons supreme in south

By JOHN FRIDD Canterbury big-saloon motor-racing fans can feel privileged, for the demise of the national sports sedan

series means that only this

province will see real “bigbanger” racing this season. The nine-round Arbuckles O.S.C.A. supercar series will kick off at Ruapuna on

Sunday and also take in rounds at Levels (Timaru)

and Wigram. The 1983-84 championship looks set to be the best yet, with at least two exciting new cars and bigger and better fields. Sunday’s Ruapuna meeting will see the debut of Don Grindley’s potent new Mazda RX7, which is

powered by a fuel-injected, turbocharged rotary motor.

Grindley is determined to prove that a rotary-engined car can beat the V -

powered machines, and the RX7 may be just the machine to prove this. The car took shape in the workshops of Trevor Crowe, mainly under the hands of Fred Hughes, and the radical new motor was developed in Auckland by rotary whizz Bill Shiells. At a modest 101 b boost the motor will produce 375 b.h.p. increase to 400 b.h.p., impressivejor such a light car. Another new car taking shape in Christchurch is the Commodore V 8 that Clyde Collins is building for Avon Hyde. The car was commissioned last season by Southlander Pat Monaghan and David Brown, of Invercargill, is continuing work on it for Collins while the motors are built in Christchurch. The new Commodore, which will have the choice of 5.7 litre or 6 litre V 8 racing motors, will look like a wide-wheeled Commodore SS, according to Hyde, who feels that the car will handle the tracks better than the ageing Capri he drove last season. That Capri has been sold to another Christchurch driver, John Fisher, who gained racing experience in a Porsche 911 S in Country Gentlemen’s racing and in an Escort in sprints. Fisher has been working on the Capri’s suspension and aerodynamics to make it hold the track better. The talented Trevor

Crowe, who won the prestigious sports sedan series last season, will be back in his cheeky Starlet Olds VB, now sponsored by Zagato Clothing. Crowe has done very little to the car over the winter but will still start as favourite for the Arbuckles O.S.C.A. supercar title. “She’s fast enough — it’s now up to the others to catch me,” said Crowe this week. Rod McElrea, of Ashburton, will not defend his O.S.C.A. title, preferring to take a break from racing. However, McElrea will probably race at some meetings later in the season in his Cortina VB. John Osborne is looking forward to a successful season in his Superparts Capri VB. “I’ve got a few scores to settle this season,” he said recently. lan Munt will be back in his trusty Exhaust Systems Capri VB, which is further refined and has a more powerful 6 litre, fuel-in-jected motor. Lawrie Bruce will be worth watching this season. Bruce has sold the heavy Camaro that he stuck with for the last two or three seasons and will put his good 6 litre motor into the Victor bodyshell he bought from Gary Jenkins. The Victor is a staggering 400 kg lighter than the Camaro, so

Bruce should be right on the pace this season. Steve Vigurs has put in a lot of work on his Southside Motorcycles Cortina V 8 and gets faster every season, and Kelvin Cameron will again race his unusual Datsun 1808 VB. Cameron has rebuilt the car’s suspension and improved its aerodynamics.

lan Shrimpton, one of the Ruapuna promoters, has installed a three-speed Turbohydro automatic gearbox in his Centrepoint Spares Capri V 8 and feels that the car will be more reliable this season.

Rob Kennard is expected to be another starter in Sunday’s races in his Mustang VB. Inky Tulloch, of Mataura, is not intending to contest the Arbuckles O.S.C.A. championship, but will drive his NEC Capri at the Levels meeting on October 22 and possibly at Wigram.

Because of the size of their cars’ motors both Crowe and Grindley will race in the four litre supercar class, and only meet the “big-bangers” in the O.S.C.A. final. Other drivers in the two-litre and four-litre supercar classes will include Don Elvy (ex-Hessey Datsun 1200 coupe), Gary Love (Datsun 120 Y coupe), Mike Johnson (Escort BDD turbo), Butch Johnson (ex-Murdoch Avenger 1600), Austin Cole (Corolla), Arthur Inns (Escort V 6), lan Wilkins (Mazda RX323) and Alan Farr (Escort RS2000).

Sunday’s meeting will also feature a series of drag-races between some top drag-racing saloons and O.S.C.A. saloons and there will also be club saloon races, in which about 25 saloons, ranging from Graham Clark’s Capri V 8 to Bryan Miller’s Marina 1750, will do battle.