Articles by David Fitzsimons

Buckle up for a close encounter with Hollywood's four-wheel stars.

Hundreds of the fastest cars from Australia's racing history will blast back into action next weekend at the Tasman Revival meeting at Eastern Creek. About 400 racing, sports and touring cars from the 1960s and 70s, valued at more than $2million, will turn back time, with 11 different categories of cars contesting more than 60 races over three days. Organisers say they have also attracted more than 40 cars from overseas including entries from the US, the UK, Japan and New Zealand. While the focus is on the grand prix cars of the 1960s reliving the international Tasman series that was contested in Australia and New Zealand at famous long-gone tracks such as Warwick Farm in Sydney and Longford in Tasmania, Formula 5000 open wheelers from the 1970s will also be racing. Unlike today the Formula One stars of the 1960s including Sir Jack Brabham, Jim Clark and Graham Hill regularly contested the Tasman series in their off-season. Sir Jack and Lady Margaret Brabham will attend the event - which is effectively an open wheel version of the successful Muscle Car Masters retro touring car event also run at Eastern Creek. The organisers says one of  Sir Jack's most famous cars, a Brabham BT24 that he drove to second place in the 1967 F1 world championship, will be racing at Eastern Creek.  It is now owned and raced by Sydney enthusiast Brian Wilson. Champion racer John Bowe, who won Australia's highest open wheel honour the Gold Star, before becoming a household name after winning the Bathurst 1000 in touring cars, will return to the open cockpit next weekend. Bowe will drive a Brabham BT 23B.  He has a strange tie to the Brabham lineage. As a child the Tasmanian regularly went to Longford to watch the Tasman series and recalled how he got lost in the crowd one year. "A very nice old lady comforted me and returned me to my parents. The kind lady turned out to be Jack Brabham's mother.''  Half a century later he will drive one of the cars her son built.  For more information go to tasmanrevival.com

So hot, in fact that many went racing, including one version claiming victory in the Australian Grand Prix, at Bathurst of all places. But that was a long time ago, 1947 in fact. The first batch of about 40 MGTCs were sold in NSW in 1946 after arriving from England as part of a massive export drive. Of the 10,000 MGTCs built in the post-WWII years more than half went overseas, mainly to the US, but up to 1000 came to Australia. One of the last to come here is now owned by Sydney enthusiast Ken Connolly who believes his car may have had a famous past owner in radio legend John Laws. "John had two red TCs apparently," he says. Connolly was told of the car's history by a previous owner. He said he used to see Laws' TC parked outside the north Sydney radio station he worked years ago and believes it is the same car. He says the car was restored for Laws more than 20 years ago. "I bought my first MGTC when I was 19. I dismantled and rebuilt it to the standard they were done then" he says. Restoration standards now are more wide-reaching with the best jobs taking the car back to original showroom condition. The TC was a sales success and has continued to be attractive to mainly-older fans. Connolly says the TC was effectively an upgraded version of the pre-war TB model whose production was cut short by the needs of the war. "In 1945 when they started production of the TC it was the same as the TB. The cockpit was made four inches wider." With the TB having first been made in 1939 it is easy to see why the later TC looks older than its days. Barry Lake, in his book on MG in Australia, MG Downunder, says "the TC was in fact a car well behind the trends of the time. It was a design that had been quite basic - as the original T-type - in the mid-1930s, yet the TC was still selling strongly 15 years later. The TC was an affordable fun car." With its great power to weight ratio, the 1250cc engine was adaptable to be bored out to up to 1350, which made the car competitive on the track and spritely on the road. It has a four-speed manual gearbox and a top speed, according to contemporary reports, of 70mph (112km/h). Connolly says his version is in fine order and can still run at the open highway speeds of modern cars. "This particular car is in very good mechanical condition. My car has got a higher than normal compression ratio." But its steel drum brakes and rigid handling were not designed for modern motoring. Connolly says he has owned five over the years and has "two and a half" now. The pre-war cars are mainly owned by very old gentlemen today. My interest relates to the fact it was my second car ever. My first was a Morris Minor convertible." The MG car club in Sydney is celebrating 60 years this year.

If you've dreamed of buying an old classic, doing it up and driving it around BMW has invented the car for you. While old cars have plenty of style and a great feel about them they are encumbered with brakes, safety gear, comfort and engines from another period and most of it is not good.BMW though did the next best thing and reinvented an old classic, the Mini. And they did it well. The new Mini has much of the feel of the old car with its round headlights, large dials and retro styling but importantly is bigger, safer, more powerful and more comfortable than the old one could ever be.The Mini has been the stand out success of the retro motor movement leaving the re-made VW Beetle in its wake and proving more versatile than the little re-born Fiat 500. But then Mini invented the Clubman.While it has been around for a while I revisited it again last week in readiness for the arrival of the next generation Mini, the AWD Countryman which is due here early next year. The Clubman offers much more space, including useable rear seats, than the standard Minis and the Convertible droptop. But the Clubman is a bit of a mix and match job with both seriously good and somewhat ordinary features.People don't buy Minis for value. At $45,550 there are plenty of larger, more practical and sportier cars you can buy and have change in your pocket. But very few of them can offer the fun and the big wide grin on the driver's face from being the centre of attention that comes from driving a Mini. The range does start $9000 cheaper with the Cooper but the Cooper S offers much more power and fun.The 1.6-litre in-line four cylinder engine is a cracker. With 128kW of power and 240Nm of torque it is well suited to city traffic with its spritely acceleration and lively manners. The manual gearbox is a delight with its slick shifting but the reverse gear is a little awkward to get used to. The manual is also more fuel efficient than the auto by a not insignifcant 2L/100km. It reaches 100km/h from a standing start in 7.6 seconds.There's no getting away from it, while the standard Mini is accepted as a great looking machine people are far more divided over the longer Clubman. The real problem is the silly third door. The fact that is placed on the driver's side and therefore opens onto the traffic side means it is going to be a risk to open at times which limits its use. Though when open it does make accessing the rear much easier.The cute rear doors, copying the styling of the original little Mini wagon are easy to open. One pops open with the press of the key fob button while the other opens by a more conventional handle. The doors open wide to provide easy loading access. There's not a great deal of space (260-litres) but if you fold the rear seats down there's plenty of room (930-litres) for the shopping, a pram or more likely for Mini owners, a folded down bike or two.One thing you do get for your nearly-$50,000 is a car packed with safety features. There's everything from six airbags to stability control, brake assist driving and electronic brakeforce distribution. The car also has one of the best hillstart assistance packages I've tested to ensure it doesn't roll backwards when starting on a slope. Handbrake starts are virtually unecessary.Looks are everything with this car, whether its behind the wheel in the retro cockpit or its outside where the stand-out Mini front wins praise. With the Clubman though the back, while quite square, splits opinion. The driver's seat is adjusted manually, which while suiting the retro-feel, is a bit cheap in a nearly-$50,000 car.On the road the Mini is a handy device, you whip through the gears with ease though getting into reverse is a bit clunky. It accelerates from a standing start smoothly and is a happy highway cruiser. Rear vision through the two club doors is a big improvement over the normal Mini and the Convertible.The test car came with a sunroof that opens slightly but it tends to make the road noise louder so it will probably be of limited use.

It is widely accepted that all 1980 limited-edition Brock HDT Commodores only came in white, red or black.  But Jim's is green, two-tone green in fact, which he says is authentic and has a fascinating history.And he should know as he took delivery of it originally from Peter Brock's team, sold it and then bought it back again.  Peter Brock went into the special vehicle business in 1979 after Holden pulled out of motorsport and left him to run his own team. Brock signed up Holden dealers around the country for whom he would create a limited edition performance version of the VC Commodore.In turn the dealer support helped fund his racing operations.  Middleton says: "The first 500 cars were red, white or black. But there were also two prototypes, a blue one and a green one."The prototypes, a blue manual and a green auto, were the earlier VB model.  "My car is number one. They didn't have a builder's plate on the engine. They were numbered on the steering wheel. Mine is numbered 001 on the steering wheel."It had started life as a light green 4.2-litre VB SL Commodore built in May 1979. Middleton says it was originally driven by a Holden company executive before Brock's team acquired it and modified it as a prototype."The car came to Brock from General Motors. It was John Harvey's (Brock's track teammate) drive-vehicle at the time."  The 5-litre V8 HDT Commodores received larger valves, had modified distributors and carburettors, suspension work, a body kit that included a rear spoiler and front air dam plus special Irmscher wheels from Germany and special paintwork among other changes.In this configuration they achieved a 0-100km/h time of 8.4seconds with the engines puitting out 160kW and 450Nm of torque.  They sold for $20,000 ($200 less for a manual) and were quickly snapped up by eager punters. Middleton says the cars now fetch about $70,000-$80,000 and says his rare protototype could be worth up to $150,000.Middleton worked for Holden dealer Les Vagg at Pennant Hills in Sydney, one of the HDT dealers.  He says that in 1982 Brock and Harvey came to the dealer on their way to a race at Amaroo Park where they arranged for the dealer to sell the green prototype as they no longer needed it. By then Brock's team was making the next of their limited editions, the VH Commodore."I sold it that weekend to a mate of mine's dad. I bought it back off him in August 1993."  Middleton says the car had done over 100,000 kilometres by then and needed work."It's been the world's slowest restoration program," he says of a job that he only completed this year.  "I wasn't in a great hurry. I knew I had the first car.  It had minor damage from car parks. It really needed pulling apart and putting back together."Middleton then installed new panels, new door shells, new guards and a new bonnet and the engine and transmission were refreshed.  He took it to this year's Muscle Car Masters event at Eastern Creek where Harvey spotted it and drove it in a parade."He instantly recognised it," says Middleton.  This weekend about 70 HDT owners from around the country will be in Albury to celebrate the cars' 30th anniversary at a gathering to be known as Brocks on the Border.Middleton says about half of the original 500 road cars still exist.  A further 12 were built as racecars for a one-off race at Calder as a support event to the 1980 Australian Grand Prix. Some of them also still exist.Middleton says he will probably sell the car that has hardly been driven of late.  "It's lucky to have done 300 to 400km in 17 years."

Richards' Nissan GT-R had just crashed heavily on the circuit after aquaplaning into the barriers after an incredible deluge washed over the track.  He had been leading at the team and while the fans expected the race to continue with his car out of the race, the officials thought otherwise and ended the race as of one lap earlier declaring Richards and teammate Mark Skaife the victors.All perfectly acceptable under the rules but the crowd at the victory dais, particularly Ford fans who realised that their folk hero Dick Johnson would be leading if the race was re-started, booed the victorious Nissan team.To which Richards wrote himself into Bathurst folklore with his famous utterance to the fans: "You're a pack of arseholes."  It's fair to say that not a lot of people at the track or watching the telecast from the drier surrounds of their lounge room wanted the then all-conquering Nissans to beat the Fords and Commodores of the day.But then-teenager Bobby Atanasovski and a few others were greatly impressed by what they saw from the Nissan GT-R supercar of the day."I've been a fan of them since I was very young," Atanasovski says.He says he was only about 13 or 14 when he watched the famous 1992 race on TV, and the Nissan win the year before, and was seriously impressed by the car's performance.  He's owned a few Nissans since but three years ago he came across a special version.  "This one was the dream one," he says.  "I found it at a dealership here. They had no idea what they had."The car dealer in Sydney thought it was a clean example of an early GT-R R32 but in actual fact it is one of only 228 special edition models built in Japan in 1989 to go production endurance racing.While it had the regular in-line six-cylinder 2.6-litre twin turbo engine the car had been specially tweaked, tuned and enhanced to extract more power, reliability and strength to handle the rigours of racing.  Atanasovski says he has no idea whether his model actually did any racing as there are none of the normal tell-tale signs, such as rollcage mountings, on the vehicle."I don't have too much history of the car from Japan. Getting information out of the Nissan factory in Japan on it is like they are giving up their first born."His model is not the same as the cars raced here, they were developed from standard GT-Rs into race cars by Fred Gibson's motorsport team here in Australia.  Instead this model is the high-performance version of the first of the new breed of  GT-Rs, the R32.Atanasovski says that on the dyno the car has produced 280kW of power at the wheels but otherwise has had to rely on performance figures on the standard version of the car. Even then, they show a car capable of going from 0-100km/h in the mid-four seconds mark.He says he doesn't drive the car a lot as he wants to preserve it.  "It's just for special events. I'm struggling to put a thousands kays on it a year."However, one special event it will come out for is this Sunday's 21st birthday celebrations.  Atanasovski says about 100 cars will take part in a cruise up the Blue Mountains from Penrith via the Bells Line of Road to the Edge Cinema in Katoomba to watch a screening of the highlights of the 1992 Great Race.About 200 people have booked tickets but more are available.  Part of the proceeds of the ticket sales will go to the Westmead Children's Hospital.Tickets cost $15. For more information go to www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums and head to the events section within the NSW section.

... but that's exactly what confronted self-confessed car-restoration nut David Rundle while out running one night. Rundle's curiosity got the better of him so he pushed the overgrowth of shrubs away to find the badge of a 1928 Stutz. "I crawled into the azaleas and the spotted the word Stutz on the badge on the wheel. When I found it, it was rusted, rotted and seized. It was rooted actually... it was in the bushes, covered in azaleas," he says. "It was just a mess. It was an awful mess." Most people would look at the remains, tut-tut at the waste and loss, and then walk away, Not so David Rundle. Not only did he pay $4500 for it he sold a vintage Buick to help fund the restoration. It took a massive 31 years, including 23 where the big beast languished untouched on his property, for the complete work to be done. "It was almost beyond me," he says of the massive restoration job. Now it's in such fine condition it's a key entry at the Concours d'Elegance show at St Patricks Seminary, Manly on October 10. David and wife Diane have been restoring classic cars for many years. "It's one of those things. I'm addicted to doing up cars," he says. The list of machinery to have been preserved by them includes a Franklin they found buried under a collapsed garage in Phoenix in the US, a Buick Riviera Coupe they drove across America and used to escape Hurricane Katrina five years ago and their latest project, a little Austin 7 Meteor racing car. He says they enjoy showing their cars at various events in Australia and the US. "The cars are invitation to the party. The people we've met and the places we've been through showing our cars, it's just been amazing. I've spent most of my time on my cars." The Stutz was built in Indianapolis in 1928 and was dutifully tested at the famous speedway near the factory as were all of the Stutz models in its day. Rundle says the car was made as a right-hand-drive and brought to Australia to be shown at the 1928 Melbourne motor show. He says it was bought by an Elizabeth Finley who lived in Turramurra and owned the car up until the 1960s when it was sold to another woman, Juliet Barker who lived at Palm Beach. It went through a few more hands before ending up covered by tarpaulins and bushes in the front yard of an Eastwood home. Rundle says the owner, Bill Reid, had wanted to restore it but was too old to undertake the task. However he did put the tarps on it and spray it with fish oil, to try and preserve it until someone could do the job. "The old man probably saved it," says Rundle. But the purchase was dependent on one key promise to the owner. "I had to promise to him I would not turn it into a Stutz Speedster, a two seater." Rundle says this has happened to many of the big Stutzs. New owners have fancied the sportier open boat-tail style to the big lumbering shape of the tourer. With that in mind he stuck to the previous owner's wishes. He found parts all over the place and had some re-made from old castings. An 87-year-old retired engineer in Victoria who had worked on streamliner buses many years ago was able to recreate a carburettor out of an old casting. Now the big eight cylinder overhead cam engine is back to life and full of life. "Every fortnight I will go touring in it, car club tours and that." The big machine is a handful but Rundle says it handles well and has "less tippability" than many other machines of its age. For more information on the Concours d'Elegance show, visit www.101010.com.au.

Holden has unveiled a new Commodore running on fuel that is up to 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol. Caltex is opening its first E85 pumps around the country with up to 100 to be available by next year.The good news is that apart from ethanol being cleaner and greener than petrol, the fuel company vows the new fuel will be "priced significantly below unleaded petrol."Unlike diesel or hybrid cars, you don't have to pay a premium for the E85 compatibility. And unlike LPG, which is also cheaper than petrol, you won't need to lose most of your boot space for a tank. However you will need to buy a car whose engine is equipped to run E85. Apart from the upcoming Commodores and some Saabs, Dodge's Journey people mover and its sister Chrysler Sebring Cabrio share an E85 compatible engine.VALUEPriced about the same as many of its competitors, the flexible-fuel Journey could become a thrifty option for families once you have somewhere to fill up.With the Journey range priced from $36,990 to $46,990, we tested the mid-range $41,990 2.7-litre petrol V6 R/T. That's the same price as the glamour-leader among people movers, Honda’s Odyssey, significantly cheaper than the class-leading Toyota Tarago but a few thousand dollars dearer than the base Kia Carnival at $35,990.While the Journey is seen as a seven-seater, it’s really a 5+2 as there's not much leg room in the third row for anyone other than small children, and in this mode there's also very little boot space. The seats are easy to manoeuvre by a lever, making it flexible for a variety of uses and for family access.Integrated child booster seats come standard with the extra row, eliminating a need to carry child seats. There are plenty of cupholders, side and front row central storage compartments, a cooler in the glovebox, but it misses front row armrests.The sound system is good without being great; the reversing camera is handy in a car of this size while features such as satellite navigation and TV screens in the back of the front row headrests are available as options.When you can buy E85 you will need to buy more to go the same distance than a petrol car would travel, as ethanol has less energy. The saving is in its cheaper pump price.TECHNOLOGYThe 2.7-litre engine puts out 136kW/256Nm, slightly better than the Odyssey and the huge Hyundai iMax, but well below the V6 Tarago and V6 Grand Carnival. It has a workhorse six-speed auto gearbox. In full petrol use it averages a claimed 10.3l/100km, though in city traffic that leaps to 15L. Without an E85 pump to be found we couldn't test that figure.DESIGNThere are people movers that look like vans, some that look like mini-buses, others that resemble wagons and none that look like sports cars. The Journey is unique because it can easily be taken for an SUV. Its high stance, squarish shape and the Dodge grille give it more macho looks than its competitors.Drivers buy people movers out of necessity rather than desire. For those who don't have large families, coach sports teams or run a chauffeur service, it’s easy to look down at many bland people movers. But not the American Journey, its tougher looks give it a meaner presence on the road.SAFETYThere's plenty of the basic essential safety gear on board with Electronic Stability Control, brake assist, front and side airbags among the standard equipment. The SUV-like high seating position is also a bonus to see ahead in traffic. It's a pity the features don't extend to an automatic opening rear hatch on this model as it is heavy to lift and high to reach when you need to close it.DRIVINGThe Dodge is a keen worker. I first tested it under light load as the sole occupant and it showed spritely acceleration and a smooth and comfortable drive, even on notorious bumps and potholes.It also got loaded up with boxes and gear to help move house. Although it felt more sluggish as would be expected it showed some guts when laden. In fact the drive was better with some weight on board. It made the car more stable on the road.One concern is how noisy it us under acceleration from a standing start, with the engine roaring as it searches for the next gear.VERDICT: The Journey is a versatile, competent people mover with good looks and comfortable ride. I just wish it had armrests. Its E85 fuel-compatibility may prove to be a sleeper for boosting sales.DODGE JOURNEY R/TPrice: $41,990Engine: 2.7L/V6 136kW/256NmTransmission: 6-speed autoEconomy: 10.3L/100km (official), 14.9L/100km (tested)

... Jaguars dominated. Next month when the current title's next V8 Supercars round is held in country Victoria it will be Commodores and Falcons only on the grid. A red 1953 FX Holden, that actually competed in the first ATCC race in 1960, has been uncovered. It is largely untouched after having been in storage behind a bakery and then in a garage since 1963. It is believed to be the only car from the original field to have survived in its original condition. Now owned by automotive engineer Allan Garfoot the FX was raced by Des West in the first race at Orange. Garfoot says that back in 1960 the car finished 11th outright and eighth in class after West stopped mid-race to help a fellow driver escape his crashed car. "He then got back in the race and set the fastest lap time from that point on." The car was sold to fellow racer Kingsley Hibbard in 1961 and raced for two more years - still in the paintscheme West used in 1960 - before being put away. It was finally taken out of storage and cleaned up by Garfoot to appear at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the first race at Orange earlier this year but makes its return to the track at Eastern Creek's Father's Day Muscle Car Masters next weekend (September 5) - nearly 50 years since it last ran. Garfoot says the car has been mechanically re-conditioned but he was been advised by experts to keep it in its current condition - a rare unmodernised example. "It's such a time capsule from that era of racing. There's very few cars from that era around that are untouched. Original cars are virtually nil on the ground." It still has its original drum brakes and asbestos (God forbid) and brass brake lining material. "It's in excellent condition for its age. It's got bench seats,  the column change manual and the original harness that Des' wife made from an old parachute harness." He says he won't be repainting the car despite its rather rusty appearance. "It's only surface rust where the paint's come off. There's no rust in the actual body." Garfoot says the car will probably become an exhibit in the Bathurst motor racing museum. Before that it will blast around Eastern Creek reliving past glories.

Barely 1400 of these cars were made and Geoff McGee's rare 1974 example is one of a few in the world that have been converted to right-hand drive. Zagato is a Turin car body-building company that has created their own interpretations of a range of mainly Italian cars over the years. The Zagato look is striking, it lengthens and bulks up the donor car - in this case the classic 105 series Alfa Romeo. Aluminium body work is a company trait though McGee says his car has been limited to an aluminium bonnet. McGee says he was originally taken by the look of the unusual Z-car. "The style of them struck me. I started searching for them for two years." In those days before the web that meant scouring car magazines and hunting down contacts. McGee says he eventually tracked down the right car in Oregon in the US. It had been imported from Italy in 1985 but by 1994 the owner was looking to sell. "I think because of the smog laws he didn't drive it much." In fact he had done only about 9000km in its nine years stateside. After getting a friend to check it McGee took the plunge and the car arrived in Australia in 1996. "It was in much the same condition as it is now," he says. "It is a very original car except for the carpet. It is not a Zagato carpet, it is an Alfa Romeo carpet." McGee, a fitter-machinist, then undertook the left to right hand drive conversion himself. He found that Alfa had created pre-cut notch marks in the firewall to assist a conversion. The car's unusual features include a perspex shield across the front of the grille to help protect it from stones etc. It is a distinct sporty two-seater coupe with a tiny luggage space and unique electric-controlled hatch opening system. He says it's a tight fit, a car made for the driver to wear rather than just sit in. The 1.6-litre 4-cylinder twin overhead cam engine still beats strong and is coupled to a very smooth five-speed manual gearbox. Aided by some good Alfa brakes the car is competent in modern traffic although being on club plates McGee says it doesn't get out very often. McGee has a number of classic cars but has an as-yet unobtained beauty to buy. He says his dream Alfa is a 1953 Superleggera 1900SS. "It's a beautiful car, an absolutely drop dead gorgeous car." 1974 Alfa Romeo 1600 Junior Zagato Years built: 1972-1975 Number made: 1402 Price when new: about $10,000 Value now: up to $50,000