Unusual Race Cars

[gordini]

A "not so regular" racecar of the 60's. The later Studebaker lark, or the Police model as they were known.

[zahistorics]

A bit off topic, but anyway:

Adding Larks to this thread full of Renualts reminds me of a story.

A long time ago my cousin was a speed cop in Pretoria. At one stage he got a shiny new Chevy powered Lark as a patrol car.

One night he was cruising around Kerkplein and came across a very noisy R8 Gordini, which he pulled over. Hs said the guy had a 'lactogen blik' over the straight through pipe pretending to be the silencer.

After a bit of discussion it was decided that a dice to the Union Buildings would settle if the R8 guy got a fine or not, cousin thinking his V8 Lark would leave this little car for dust.

So they lined up at the lights. Green. They went. Cousin says he knew he was onto a loser when he was still crossing the second set of lights at full throttle and the R8 was already braking for the third set.

Those were the days.

[gordini]

John,
It was most prob one of the few Supercharged Gordini's that ran in those days. I still have the supercharger i had on my car. Arocket in those days, but today the cars are way to fast for it. Still a Gordini with a std 1260 motor was able to stay in front of a Superboss up to a high 4th gear

[Killarney Racer]

Gordini - have a look at this - same picture that you posted some time ago.

http://images.google.co.za/imgres?imgur ... n%26sa%3DN

[gordini]

Gordini - have a look at this - same picture that you posted some time ago.

Yes that's me and my car....still trying to find the origin and history of the car!!!

[Johann65]

As an ex-cop 1960-1964, I knew the Studs well. The Lark was known to us as the Lark Corporation and then the Champ with the most impossible floorshift! Reminded of a 1939 Ford sedan! I however saw a Champ leave an Austen Healy standing down Edwin Swales drive in Durban. The Champ did 90Mph in second gear with ease! Mean Machine with the sound to match!
The first Larks Mk1 were the better handling ones with its SWB and V8 motor. PS! All Lark and Chevy motors were made by McKinnon those days!

[j1autotech]

Hey gordini, is that pic at the top of the page Bathurst Australia ???

Looks like a XT Falcon racing in the back ground...

J1

[wayne87th]

Someone was asking about Terry Townsend not replying
I used to live around the corner from him when I lived in Edenvale
He was not the most friendliest of guys even then. My dad and I did get to visit with himin his garage a few times as he worked on his race cars (also had a FF). His daughters were certainly much friendlier...
Wayne Calder

[ClassicMan]

Hi Guys

Does anyone have a recollection of a Mk1 Escort from the '70s called the MAZCORT? The car came to Bulawayo from SA when I was a laaitie. It was a Mk1 shell with seriously widened box wheel arches and painted in Martini Racing Livery. The most intersting part of it all was that it had a MID-MOUNTED Rotary motor connected to a Hewland box. It was seriously fast, and was often in a dice with Ray Yeo's Perana (Original Gunston A2 - painted in Grovenor Ford colours) and Royce Love's Chevron B21.

The car is back with it's original owner in the Jhb area and he has ideas of restoring it but with a V8 and not the Rotary. I have always been curious as to this cars's history. Anyone know anything about this car?

[ZA Perana]

John,
It was most prob one of the few Supercharged Gordini's that ran in those days. I still have the supercharger i had on my car. Arocket in those days, but today the cars are way to fast for it. Still a Gordini with a std 1260 motor was able to stay in front of a Superboss up to a high 4th gear

Tell us more about the SuperBoss dice...sounds like an awesome story...