Lotus Cortina

GEAR Club Nov 2020

Story by John Barram, Photos by Ross Johnson.

I took my Cheetah to the GEAR day at Lakeside in late November to give it a run and test a few things.
For those who don’t know the Golden Era Auto Racing club is about driving your older car at the speed you want in the safety of the racetrack. No racing allowed.

I was struck by the number of Lotus cars there on the day so got Alan Conway to take some shots and bought a few action shots from Ross Johnson Photography.

One of the older cars there was Tony Galletly’s Lotus Six, looking wonderful on the track. In the same group was the green 1962 Lotus Seven which Josh George has recently bought from Alan Telfer. The car is logbooked for Historic Racing and Josh was having his first drive with Alan giving him a hand.

Bill Blackmore was having his first outing on the track since joining GEAR with his Elan +2. Driving his red Elan S4 was Lindsay Norris, in the car which Vyvyan Black owned a few years ago.

There are a few newer cars allowed to run at GEAR as they started when the eligibility was more open and this Exige is one of those.

The Lotus Cortina is a well known Group N race car which has been raced by Craig Lind and has recently changed hands.

The green Caterham looked in mint condition but I failed to identify the owner.

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A Catch Up with Group N

Story and photos by Garry Saunderson.

Allan Saunderson at Round 7 of the QHTCA Qld Cup, Qld Raceway 14-16 September 2018.

Only 7 entries for this race meeting so the committee invited some extra cars along to fill the field up to 15.

In Race 1 we had an oil leak and the clutch started slipping. It was a reconditioned clutch and pressure plate. I squirted two cans of brake clean-up through the throw out lever hole and cleaned the oil out. It worked like a beauty. No more clutch slip.

Gary Herron turned up in his Lotus Cortina. He has not raced with us since 2012. Very quick car doing 1.29 on the long track. Half way through the first race Saturday he lost 4th gear and had to circulate around in 3rd. He thought he was finished for the weekend but my son Allan had to go to a wedding on Saturday arvo so Gary had a run in our blue Cortina in Race 2. He had a real good duel with Jim Waugh in the red BMW. I reckon I have just about convinced him to come back racing with Group N.

In Race 3 Sunday morning Allan came together with the black BMW of John Tupicoff. Check out the pics. Both cars were repaired and kept racing.

In Race 4 on Sunday the car was running out of fuel on the back straight. We found that the rubber fuel pipe was kinked where it goes onto the Webers. Hopefully we have fixed it.

Jim Goulden in his Silver 105E Anglia was circulating around the track all weekend just behind Jim Waugh in the red BMW. I looked at Jim’s Anglia about 12 months ago and we worked out I used to own the car about 15 years ago. Like a silly boy I sold it but it has ended up in a good home. Jim has a log-booked Mk1 Cortina with a Lotus motor fitted and I think I have just about convinced him to come and have a run with Group N as well.

Mike Sullivan (the caterer) supplied lunch once again. Excellent job Mike, thanks. Also thanks to Peter Pit Crew and Major Graham for pit crewing.

Smallest field of racers for this year and we had the most prangs (4 in total). We still managed to have 11 cars in the last race on Sunday.

QRDC Round 5 QUEENSLAND RACEWAY IPSWICH

Historic Touring Cars – Group N – Race 1 – National Circuit, Event R2, 8 Laps

Pos	Driver	Vehicle	Capacity	Time (8 Laps)
1	Grahame Wrobel	Ford Mustang	4974	11:41.1325
2	Mark Switzer	Ford Mustang	5017	11:59.2006
3	Norm Singleton	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	1800	12:00.2192
4	Nick Linton	Holden Torana	2000	12:07.9026
5	Stephen Scales	Chevrolet Camaro	6000	12:07.9975
6	Brian Russell	FJ Holden	3300	12:21.1121
7	Steve Jones	Torana XU1	3300	12:22.1941
8	Allan Saunderson	Ford Cortina	1500	12:24.3084
9	Andrew Hinz	Datsun 1600	1600	12:27.8974
10	John Tupicoff	BMW 2002	2000	12:28.6677
11	Gary Herr	Lotus Cortina	1600	13:00.5936
12	Jim Waugh	BMW 2002	2000	11:43.1835
13	Jim Goulden	Ford Anglia	2000	11:44.4093
DNF	David Streat	Holden Torana GTR XU1	3300	n/a
DNF	Bruce Dummett	Holden Torana GTR XU1	3300	n/a

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Jim Clark’s Cortina

Story and pictures by Greg Bray.

Last year Chris and I did our bi-annual trip back to the UK to see the family. As always it happened to be in the month of September (funny that) so I could go just up the road to the Goodwood Revival with my brother.

Luckily for us, on the Sunday I spotted Bob Dance the famous Lotus mechanic. Bob, now in his 80’s was in the pits working on Jim Clark’s Lotus 25 as he has done since the 1960’s. Bob was giving the car the once over in preparation for the period F1 race in the afternoon.

The Lotus 25 won easily against all the opposition of it’s era, as it did in the 1963 F1 season giving Clark his 1st World Championship.

The point of my story is whilst we were staying with our Welsh Lotus friend Andy, he did what he usually does and drove me through many muddy Welsh lanes to visit one of his many Lotus friends. This time not too far away from Cardiff we turned up at William’s property. William owns four Mk1 Lotus Cortina’s.

The pride and joy of his collection is Jim Clark’s very own early road Cortina. Oh, to be an enthusiast with pots of money. He has the detailed proof, and apparently the car cost him as much as a very good house.

The very interesting part of this car for me being an Elan enthusiast was that Bob Dance had worked on the car in it’s early days. He made a frame to hold the Elan diff, and fitted the whole Elan diff, drive-shafts, struts, discs and put them all in the back of this Cortina. Which would have made the handling of the car so much better with the Elan’s independent lightweight suspension. But with Clark’s excellent driving skills, he did very nicely with standard set-up on the track in his race Cortinas.

Also would you believe in this garage one of the other Cortinas had a “Best in Show” certificate, and the car had been restored by none other than our Derek Dean.

Lakeside Cortys

Allan Saunderson at Round 1 Black Trucks/Isuzu Ute Qld Cup Lakeside 14-15/3/15

A top weekend of racing at Lakeside. We had 20 cars on the grid which included six cars in Alan’s class.

He qualified 11th, Race One he was 11th outright and 1st in class, Race Two he came 12th outright and 2nd in class, Race Three he came 11th outright and 2nd in class, Race Four he came 10th outright and 2nd in class. This gave him second place overall in class for the weekend.

I had a guy by the name of Steve Johns come up to me on Sunday morning and asked who owned the white Cortina Number 45. I promptly told him I did and my son Allan drives it. He then said where is the other white one and I pointed to Craig Thompson’s Lotus Cortina.

“Bloody hell they were having a real good go,” he said.

“Give me your email address and I will send you some good pics.”

Have a look at pic above. How close can you race 2 Cortinas without coming together? Allan is in car 45.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO WATCH 45 SECONDS OF RACE 4 ON SUNDAY ARVO. Allan is in the second white Cortina

My mate, Mike Sullivan (catering officer) turned up with lunch on Sunday. King prawns, pork belly, roast and salad. Well done mate. Excellent tucker.

Peter Pit Crew was working on everybody else’s cars as we never had to put a spanner on ours all weekend.

That is it for now. We race at the Gatton Sprints next weekend.

Saundo

Lakeside Cortinaring

Off to Lakeside early Saturday morning. Unload all the junk and get the car ready for qualifying.

Seventeen cars in our race (Under 2 litre Nc cars and Na-Nb cars). Allan qualified 11th.

• Race 1 he was 9th outright and 4th in class
• Race 2 he was 10th outright and 4th in class
• Race 3 he was 11th outright and 3rd in class
• Race 4 he was 9th outright and 3rd in class

For the weekend’s racing he came 3rd in NA-Nb under 3 litre class. Allan received his trophy from Round 4 for being 2nd in class.

He was doing high 65 second and low 65 second laps. We were about 1 second a lap slower than usual. Our limited slip diff was letting go on some of the corners. Trevor Norris and I used a tension wrench and found it was letting go at 45lbs and it should be about 65lbs. I pulled it out and took it to Errol Stratford in Warwick on Friday and he showed me how to re-shim the clutch pack in the centre and it is now ready to go back into the car. The clutch was shuddering and it is out away being fixed by Jim Berry at Race Clutches.

He had some good close racing with Trevor Norris in his red Datsun 1600 (car number 4) and Bob Stewart in a black Mk1 Cortina (car number 2). Best part was they never ran into each other. Good driving from all of them.

All the normal pit crew were there helping out – Peter Stevanovic, Graham Palmer and Mike Sullivan. Well done lads. A very big thank you.

Bruce Dummett in the red Torana had a flat tyre on the last lap and drove to the finish line on the grass verge. Jim Waught’s BMW lost a wheel. A few of the cars went bush over the weekend.

We have three race Cortinas in the shed and at the moment they are all in bits. The shed looks like a cyclone has turned it upside down. Motors out, gearboxes out, diffs out and gear all over the place.

Saundo

Black Trucks Isuzu Ute Cup – Round 5

Off to Morgan Park Warwick for Round 5 of the Black Trucks/Isuzu Ute Qld Cup.

The meeting was run by the Historic Racing Car Club of Qld. This Round has no points going towards the Qld Cup. We arrive Friday after lunch and set up and get the car checked. All OK. I go to start the car about 1600 in the arvo and the battery is dead. Lucky I brought a spare one with us. Not off to a good start for the weekend.

Because of the large numbers they had Na, Nb and under 2 litre Nc cars racing in a separate race to the bigger cars. 2 x 6 lap races and a combined all cars in Group N for the last race on Sunday.

Allan qualified 11th out of 25 cars in the lower group.

Race 1 he spun off the track on the last lap while dicing with Lucky Phil in the EH Holden and still came in at 12th.

Race 2 had fuel surge problems and came in after 2 laps.

Race 3 all Group N in one race he came 18th. Still having fuel problems.

We found out that the fuel surge problem was man-made. Some clown did not put enough fuel in the tank. Yes it was me again. I need a good arse kicking.

On Sunday they had a 5 lap Mini only race. From memory there were 14 cars.

Freezing cold on Saturday morning – minus 5. Sunday morning minus 6. I had to tow Greg Bray’s Lotus Formula Ford both days with my XR6 Falcon.

That’s it for now until the next race meeting on the 26/7/14 at Lakeside.

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Round 4 Qld Cup – June 2014

My mate Graham and I arrived at the track about 1100 on Friday in the rain. I jumped into the car and started it and we could hear a loud rattling noise. Not shaping up to be a good weekend.

Graham found that the alternator bracket was broken so we removed it and went back to my place and welded it up. Back to the track and fitted it and we are now ready to race.

We had 31 cars entered for the race meeting and ended up with 28 on the grid for the first race.

Group N were first out Saturday morning for qualifying and were brought in after one lap because the fog was too thick to race in. The racing was delayed about 30 minutes. Allan qualified 15th.

Race 1 he came 12th outright and second in class.
Race 2 he came 14th outright and second in class.
Race 3 he came 13th outright and third in class.
Race 4 he came 13th outright and second in class.

At the BBQ Saturday arvo Allan got three trophies for 2nd in class for Round 2, 1st in class for Round 3 and 4th outright in the 20 lap reverse grid endurance race in Round 3.
He had some very close racing with Claude Cicotelli in his Red EH Holden (car 82), Bob Stewart in the white Mk1 Cortina (car 26) and David Streat in the green XU1 (car 21).

Click on these YouTube video links of the weekend with the boys and gals in action:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwXXXFCD3H0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgyjPIG29LI

We got a tap in the back guard from a Datsun 1600. Nothing too serious. I have almost got it fixed.

Nadine Eggington was racing her Valiant Charger at her first Group N race meeting and came together with John Tupicoffs Jag in Race 3 on Sunday. Both are OK.

That’s it for now until the next race meeting which is on the 12th July at Morgan Park, Warwick.
See ya

Saundo

Black Trucks/Isuzu Ute Qld Cup – Round 3

Another weekend of racing has come and gone at Queensland Raceway. Plenty of rain Friday, gone on Saturday but plenty of wind instead. Tents were flying everywhere.

Twenty cars entered for the weekend and eighteen turned up for qualifying on Saturday morning. Only two Nb cars turned up – Allan and Bob Stewart. Check Nat soft for results. Allan qualified 12 out of 18, Race 1 – 10th, Race 2 – 13th, Race 3 – 11th, Race 4 the 20 lap endurance reverse grid 4th. The second round in the endurance series will be in October at Qld Raceway.

Allan is second outright with 215 points in the eight round series after two rounds. It will be interesting to see where he is after the allocation of points for this round.

I didn’t take the tools or the jack out of the Falcon all weekend. The car never missed a beat. Allan picked up his trophy for second in class from the first round at Lakeside in March.

First race on the first lap on the second corner my mate Trevor Norris (Datsun 1600) and another mate Peter Wynn (Mk1 Escort) came together in a bad way after Peter hit some water on the side of the track. Both came out of it without a scratch but their cars were a bit bashed. Allan and Bruce Dummett in the red XU1 also hit the water. Some of the pics of the prang came from my mate John Kingcott’s camera. Some very close racing between Allan and Jim Waugh in his red BMW 2002. It took four laps to get around Jim.

That is it for now, till the next race meeting on the 20th of June 2 Days of Thunder at Qld Raceway.

Morgan Park Autumn Historics

Round 2 Black Trucks/Isuzu Ute Qld Cup Morgan Park Autumn Historics

We had coffee with the boys Friday morning before leaving for Warwick. Lunch at Errol Stratford’s place and then out to the track to get our shed and timer for the car. Weighed the car with 30 litres of fuel in the tank and no driver (883kg) then with the driver (969kg). Bloody heavy old bus. Have to put the car on a diet and see what we can get it down to. My mate Stiffy Martin in Tassie has his two door race Cortina down to 825kg with no driver.

Saturday morning Allan qualified 4 in a field of 10 cars just before lunch. There were only 2 Cortinas in Group N. Bob Stewart and our car.

Race 1 was for Na-Nb and Under 2 litre Nc cars at about 1300 Saturday arvo. He came 3rd outright and 3rd in class. Car is going like a rocket.
Race 2 combined field of all 21 Group N Cars. Allan came 13th outright and 2nd in class.
Race 3 he was 12th outright and 1st in class.
Race 4 he was 11th outright and 3rd in class. Best lap time for the weekend was 1 minute 35.23 seconds. The best time last year was 1.35.03.

Not sure if he will be 2nd or 3rd in class for the overall weekend’s racing. We will find out in the next week or so. He was 2nd in class for Round 1 at Lakeside 3 weeks ago behind Richard Anderson’s EH Holden.

Sunday morning I was just checking everything about 30 minutes before Race 2 and noticed that we had broken the hose clamp strap that holds the alternator together. Off with the old one and on with a new item. No time to fiddle with it so on with some large cable ties. Worked like a beauty for the 3 races that day. Think I will leave it like that. Check out the pic.

We had 15mm of rain in about twenty minutes before Race 3. After the downpour there was a sports car race and then Group N went out on a greasy track. Cars sliding everywhere. Allan likes racing on a wet track. He was only 2 seconds off his best time in the wet and passed a few of the V8s.

He had some good close racing with Claude Ciccotelli (red EH Holden) Richard Anderson (grey EH Holden) Bruce Forsyth (white 2 litre BMW) and Ken Nelson (Mini Cooper S.)

Allan snapped a good pic Saturday arvo of my mate Graham Palmer and I resting our eyes after a hard day pit crewing.

Our new Eligibility Officer, John Kingcott, went around measuring the camber on the front wheels of all the Group N cars. We had 3.5 degrees on the right front and 2.9 on the left. The maximum is now 5 degrees.

We had a phone call from Danny Smith as we left the track at 1600 on Sunday to go home. He was up from Newcastle (about a 1600km round trip) with his Mk1 Cortina with a Jap motor in it racing in regularity. The brake pads were buggered and we gave him a set of second hand EBC green pads from our white 4 door which we had just removed 2 weeks ago. He had P14 calipers and he had to grind the P16 pads into shape. We took him to Errol Stratford’s place and let him use his gear to do the job. Hope he got home ok.

That’s it for now until the next race meeting at Qld Raceway for Round 3 in 4 weeks’ time.

Saundo

Sponsors Day

By Garry Saunderson

Took our 1964 GT out to the sponsors day at Qld Raceway on Saturday to run in the new engine.

The cars were not allowed on the track unless there was a passenger. Allan did 4 X 5 lap runs. No problem with the motor. It is now ready to go racing. He had a blue late model Lotus roar past him on one of the laps. Boy they are quick.

In the group photo from left to right: Graham Palmer (pit crew), Claude Cicotelli (EH Holden driver}, Peter Stevanovick (pit crew manager), Allan.

Dave Waddington (Cortina) and Brett Curran (Camaro) were also there doing laps. Adrian Moore turned up and bolted on an in-car camera. When I get the footage I’ll upload it to YouTube. Till the next race meeting at the Gatton Sprints in February.

Baskerville Weekend

Jumped on the plane in Brisbane Qld on Wednesday 2/10/13 and the temperature is 30C then jump off the plane two and a half hours later and it is 8C in Launceston. On with the overalls and jumper for the next week till I get home on the following Wednesday where it is 36C back in Ipswich Qld.

I stayed at Stiffy Martin’s (Cortina 101) place in Launceston for the week. On Friday morning we drove down to Baskerville Race Track near Hobart for the weekend. They had just about set a new record number of entries for the weekend of about 125 cars and 25 motorbikes.

Friday night Eddy Wilson invited some of the lads over for a BBQ in Hobart. His new red Lotus and white GT Cortina were on display. What a top job he has done on both of them.

The weekend was dedicated to two local racers that had recently passed away Chris (Kit) Ellis and Max Bowen. Chris raced a Mini (green yellow 91) and there was a Mini only race on Sunday. Before the race all the Minis attending did a parade lap then they had a pipe band lead them down the track.

We parked up with Steve Rayner (gold Mk1 Escort 27) and Andrew Schmidt (blue Datsun 1600 16) at the track. Schmidty had the Datsun flag flying so we just had to crack out the Ford one which just happened to be twice the size.

All the usual boys were there: Mal Ward (Red Anglia 4), Martin Bulk (White Anglia 17), Eddy Wilson (White Anglia 100,) Max Freeland (Lotus Cortina 114), Ellis French (Green FJ Holden 14), Richard Gamble (Yellow Mk1 Escort), Russell Clark (white and red Cortina 65), Adrian Wilson (blue Mk1 Escort 76).

The wind was blowing a gale on Saturday and it lifted one of the tents, blowing it onto the track. The race was red flagged till it was removed.

There were about 29 Group N historic cars racing and amongst them was an orange Mk1 Escort 1300 number 19 driven by Lachlan Thomas. I checked it out and it does have the 1300cc motor in it. He was running mid field and giving the Holden XU1s a hard time. It goes like a rocket. He has sent me some in car footage which he put on YouTube of one of the races which I have attached: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OspUtUJVcGU

My mate Stiffy didn’t have a real good weekend as he got hit in the rear end by a HR Holden in the 3rd race on Sunday. We were lucky that he had brought his mate Paul Waddingham down for the racing as he was the guy who did the panel and paint on the car, so he has picked up a bit of extra work.

There were a couple of bingles over the weekend. Andrew Sluce (green Mini 17) hit the wall and so did Daryl Wilcox (blue Monaro34). There could have been more but I didn’t see them.

Click here for some Escort racing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OspUtUJVcGU

That’s it for now. Till the next race meeting,

Saundo

Hot water and hot air

At the last race meeting at Lakeside in July the extractors cracked and almost fell to bits and the water pump burnt a seal and let heaps of water leak out.

I have been doing some modifications on the extractors and the alternator bracket. I found a broken bolt in the block where the front alternator bracket bolts on so I got Craig Taylor from Precision Engines to drill out the bolt and put a Helicoil in the block.

While he was at it I got him to do the same at the top of the block so I could fit a modified Escort alternator bracket. I then removed the top alternator bracket that goes onto the water pump and bolted it to the modified alternator bracket.

I fitted a Mk2 Escort water pump with the bigger bearing and seal. I also removed the 4 inch harmonic balancer off the crank and fitted a 3 inch diameter one.This should slow the water pump down by 25% and we may not burn any more seals. I had Scotty from Scotts Rods cut the extractors and put slip joints in as per the pictures attached.

Out to the track by 0900. Peter Pit Crew helps Allan on with the Hans device. Allan does 4 laps then comes in and I notice water dripping from the front of the car. I ask him what the temp is and it is about 180 degrees. He turns the engine off and we lift the bonnet to find the bottom radiator hose about to blow off.

Some CLOWN forgot to tighten the clamp. Yep, that was me. Only excuse I have is old age. This could have had drastic results. A burnt engine and about $6,000 down the drain. Put a litre of water in, check all the nuts and bolts then out for another 4 laps. Everything is OK. The car is now ready for the Ipswich Classic on the 19/10/13 at Qld Raceway.

2 Cobras came together coming onto the straight. The cars were only doing practice so would hate to see what would happen if they were racing.

Till the next race meeting,
Saundo.