Oldie but a Newbie

[brian s]

Hi All, My name is Brian Strange and now live in Sydney. I lived in Canberra for 16 years and rallied their in the mid to late 70's in a 1600. I was involved with the Honda Car club and was a delegate to the then SDMSA and was also a scrutineer in rallies and the old Bungendore hill climb. I have been involved with circuit racing for about 20 years both as a driver and mechanic/team manager but have never really got the dust out of my veins. I am currently looking around for a preject to go back to the dirt and look forward to interacting with the forum

[Swill]

There's a lot of old rally blokes at Classic Rally Cars If you rallied in the 70s you might know some of them. They've been known to put down the Zimmer frame and pick up a key board

Cheers

Swill

[brian s]

Thanks Swill I'll look it up . I'm sure somewhere in the batcave(workshop) I have a few copies of SPOKES from the late 70's which was the BMSC newsletter of the day and I still have somewhere some copies of old route instructions for what was the known as the gold cup rally series once I dig them up I'll let everyone know someone might be interested

[mick bramble]

Welcome Brian.

I remember the car on your avatar, correct me if I am wrong but I think the event was the 1987 Amaroo Rallysprint.
There are lots of good rally people on this site with lots of useful info to share, as well as some **** stirrers who keep us all entertained.

Regards Michael
Motorsport Memories Australia
torquenpower.com Australian Rally Archive on DVD

[brian s]

Hi Michael,
Well spotted your correct about the year and the event but long after I had sold the car, and was at the time driving a sports sedan, great event though

[sparko]

That car looks very, very familiar Brian... In fact every nut and bolt in it.

And that was one of my favourite events. That shot looks like the bottom of pit straight running reverse direction. I think it was that year my father-in-law sat in the silly seat for the first run and we went full oppy lock, full song thru Honda on cold rally rubber. Yee-haa He never got back in the car.

After my "retirement" in about 1990 the car sat in the garage for many years waiting for brother Sid to write his off. Eventually he came to the party and still he punts my old baby round the forest.

John

[brian s]

Hi John,
Don't know the drivers name I was trying to get some idea myself as I saw the car at Amaroo park and it has the exact same colour scheme as my old car which I painted in 1978 although I had a black bonnet. The interior had changed but the cage was identical to my old one. The event was a rally sprint at Amaroo park in either 1987 or 88 which used to start under the control tower go up the hill into Honda then turn right back to the control tower then backwards around Comalco then a hairpin left around the lake then onto the mottocross track,up the hillclimb and one lap of the dirt track.
I used the photo to see if anyone recognised the car, if its the same one I would love to know some of its history after I sold it. I sold the car, original number plate was ACT YHT-162 to a guy from up Newcastle way

[sparko]

The one in the photo is definitely my car Brian which I built from scratch. The colour scheme came out of my head, but yes there were some others around in the red/white/blue datsun livery. As I said it is still in use by my brother. It's good to see the photo - are you able to send me a copy? I'm not aware of an earlier car ie, yours, in that colour scheme, but someone on these forums should know...

cheers
John

[brian s]

Oh well another dead end just glad someone else had good taste in colour schemes the similarities are amazing. The photo belongs to a mate of mine , he has a collection from the event but I can email it to you just let me know were. I'll check to see if he has any others

[mick bramble]

Originally Posted by sparko

The one in the photo is definitely my car Brian which I built from scratch. The colour scheme came out of my head, but yes there were some others around in the red/white/blue datsun livery. As I said it is still in use by my brother. It's good to see the photo - are you able to send me a copy? I'm not aware of an earlier car ie, yours, in that colour scheme, but someone on these forums should know...

cheers
John

John
I have this full event on video every run even the top ten shoot out.

Regards Michael
Motorsport Memories Australia
Under Maintenance

[sparko]

Back in the good ol' days NSSCC made good use of Amaroo with regular dirt short circuits, the odd hill climb, supersprints and the 12-hour relay race. The manager out there at the time spoke with Roger Way (12-hour director) and me about running an event using the all the circuits and the interconnecting access roads and once we put it all together the Motor Sprint was born, later called the Rallysprint. It must have run for 5 or more years in the latter half of the 80s. One year, possibly when Brett Middleton was organising it, they arranged for Ken Sutcliffe from Nine's WWOS to come out. Well they put Belly into Stallard's Starion, strapped this bloody big camera to the bonnet using 300 rolls of race tape, Sutcliffe into the silly seat and Belly took off, never having driven the thing before. All the way round on the video Belly's saying Where do we go Kenny? Which way Kenny? and of course Kenny is just speechless except for the odd "TR at XR" not knowing what it meant. Made for great television what a laugh I've got a tape of it somewhere and its on utube.

Anyway long story short I'd love a copy of your video Mick You say you've even got the top ten shootout - that will be the year we came 11th I'll pm you

cheers
John

[mick bramble]

Originally Posted by sparko

One year, possibly when Brett Middleton was organising it, they arranged for Ken Sutcliffe from Nine's WWOS to come out. Well they put Belly into Stallard's Starion, strapped this bloody big camera to the bonnet using 300 rolls of race tape, Sutcliffe into the silly seat and Belly took off, never having driven the thing before. All the way round on the video Belly's saying Where do we go Kenny? Which way Kenny? and of course Kenny is just speechless except for the odd "TR at XR" not knowing what it meant. Made for great television what a laugh I've got a tape of it somewhere and its on utube.

Anyway long story short I'd love a copy of your video Mick You say you've even got the top ten shootout - that will be the year we came 11th I'll pm you

cheers
John

John

This video covers it.

YouTube- 1990 Amaroo Rallysprint

YouTube- 1990 Amaroo Rallysprint

Regards Michael
Motorsport Memories Australia
torquenpower.com Australian Rally Archive on DVD