Osborne’s latest winner

Press, 25 October 1985, Page 25

Osborne’s latest winner

By

JOHN HAWKINS

There is a saying among the motor racing fraternity, that if a car looks right it usually is right. If there is truth in that saying, then John Osborne’s latest O.S.C.A. contender is going to be a winner. After seven months of continuous toil by the Osborne team the impressive new Versatile Garagessponsored Mazda RX7 V 8 was completed this week in time for its competition debut at Levels Raceway, near Timaru, over the week-end.

The car represents a departure from usual 05. CA. car construction thinking, being built to what Osborne describes as internal spaceframe construction. A lot of time was spent planning the

car and there are no obvious compromises in its design, while at the same time the car conforms to the rigid O.S.C.A. construction specifications. Although the car will first turn a wheel in anger at this week-end’s meeting, and teething troubles are to be expected with a new racing car, Osborne hopes the car will prove competitive from its first outing. The vehicle is very low and wide, being only 116 cm high at its tallest point, and the big V 8 engine is set well back in the engine bay to put the largest weight mass as near to the centre of the car as possible —- a desirable feature in race car construction. With its wide flared guards the car is reminiscent of American lAISA.

class machinery, and its appearance could set new standards in 05.C.A. car preparation.

The Mazda’s construction was bom out of necessity after the total destruction by fire of Osborne’s original Capri Chev in a testing incident two seasons ago. After the fire, a number of motor racing enthusiasts clubbed together and presented Osborne with a donation to hasten his return to the circuits. Although Osborne used another Capri Chev as a stop-gap measure last season while the new car was built, he readily acknowledges that it was the efforts of these enthusiasts that provided the impetus behind the construction of this purposeful new .challenger. J