The Winners spoils in Denmark 1968 with Trevor Twaites and Terry Hunter, but I got to kiss the girl !

Tootle GT Championship winners. Here we have Bernard Unett in the Astra 1150cc, David Purley AC Cobra over 2000cc, John Lepp Chevron BMW, 2000cc and Barrie Smith Chevron B8 1600cc. Photo and presentation at Brands Hatch 1968.

Just got this from my old pal Barry Sheppard….. Thanks to him.
Le Mans 1972 with the Kodak Lola Team

I was invited along with Mike Rawlings to generally assist and specifically handle pit signalling for Barrie Smith and Rene Ligonnet with their entry of a Lola T292. The car was of a new design and novel in that it had a long spacer between engine and gearbox for improved balance and the mainshaft from the gearbox was therefore extended to mate with the clutch and the whole somewhat experimental. Barrie had commissioned some aerodynamic enhancements which were added to the body in aluminium and carried out by Grand Prix Metalcraft. These included “fences” down either top corner running into fins which gave greater stability otherwise the car was more or less untried and undeveloped. Barrie supplied some new reflective sheet material in red and white so Mike and I made a board with a white face, Kodak in Red at the top and a set of numerals for display to the drivers.

Barrie, Mike and I left for France via Hoverloyd hovercraft from Pegwell Bay in Barrie’s Capri Mk 1 3 litre which had benefited from the fitment of a set of Bilstein dampers which made it handle very enjoyably. The base in France was the garage of Monsieur Jardin?…in Volnay a little way out from the circuit. Mike and I were billeted with grandpere Raymond “Bulldozer” Jardin? an extraordinary character of some 70 plus years old, built like a bulldozer and extremely fit. Our breakfast was cornflakes in calvados and he referred to Mike as “la (ou le Marie Therese?) bicyclette” as he was rather skinny in those days.

We assisted with preparation and one of my tasks was to find a suitable rubber drive band for the alternator as this was a unique set up and was throwing its belts in practice. I tried all the motor parts supplies and could not find one to suit the dimensions, in desperation I tried a washing machine company in Le Mans and found one of the correct length and, lo and behold, it did the 24 hours.

During practice the transmission and clutch proved troublesome and John MacDonald did his best to modify components but the race started with much pessimism as to the durability of the car. Pit signalling then was at the exit of Mulsanne bend probably three miles from the main pits and we were designated a box per team which consisted of a concrete open fronted box with a wind up telephone and the bank from which the signals were hung out some ten yards away. Bearing in mind the state of the car Mike and I booked a dinner table at the nearby golf club for 8.00pm on the basis that we would be lucky if the car managed four hours. Towards eight the car was circulating consistently at the four minute mark so I went to ask the latest that we could take the table and re booked for 9.30. The car continued its steady run and we had to miss supper altogether, there was no other food available and we were hungry. Over and above, the promised relief crew did not turn up until about midnight and told us they could only do two hours. Mike and I walked back to the main pits and found a hot dog or similar and had to walk straight back to relieve the French crew. The degree of excitement of the whole scene is difficult to describe but I will never forget the night scene, watching the stopwatch and at 3 minutes 50 looking to the left towards the corner and seeing the distinctive red and white lights on the rollover bar of the Lola and hanging out the board for the drivers information. The communication with the pit was by the wind up telephones which were totally unreliable and as ours broke down we had to arrange to share with another team and eventually take over one of a team that had retired. This meant that somebody in the main pit had to run backwards and forwards to the other garage to pass messages to us at Mulsanne.

Motor racing is dangerous as we all know and the morning was soured with the news that in the early morning mist Jo Bonnier had tangled with a slower car, flown over the barrier, hit trees and was killed. It was most uncomfortable to drive past the scene after the race and see the marks high up on the tree trunks.

Another outstanding memory is of the three Matras which screamed with their V12 engines. There were three cars in the team lapping at something over three minutes so for the twenty two hours that I was by the side of the track there was an earsplitting Matra passing every minute or so. Despite all the doubts about the car Barrie and Rene drove tremendously to bring it to the finish and win the two litre class.

The prizegiving was a grand affair where Barrie managed to collect several spare pilotes medals, one of which I still have. It was then back to the garage where monsieur Jardin? Had the champagne ready and grandpere did his party trick which was to handstand using the necks of two champagne bottles and then using one hand only which is an extraordinary trick at any age let alone over seventy.

I am sure that the race is still as exciting to be involved in but I cannot help thinking that it is now not as much fun.

Barry Sheppard, July 2008.

Jacques Barichella before the second Dakar. This was a publicity photo and you can be sure he did not look like this by the time he finished.The first race was in 1978 and organised by the old racer Thierry Sabine which whom I used to race in 1972.The event had 200+ drivers and bikers in the early days. Jacques did the rally twice and finished each time which is a real result.Bravo Jacques and his friend Tricard. This year, 1984 they had a Mercedes 280 GE.

This is the second shot , actually this pix got mixed up and this is the one with Mike Rawlings assisting !

These are really poor quality picture for which I apologise but we are running out of vinage pix and his one shows our T70 Mk3b with a “model” draped over it. Our extremely poor lighting set up is partially responsible for poor quality. My assistant on this occasion is none other than Mike Rawlings seen on the right of the picture. Fond memories even if the picture is poor, there is another to follow!

Just come in on the net another photo from Kyalami 1970 9 hour race. Our car prepared by John McDonnell in our Margate workshops included a full engine rebuild, ran like clock work during the nine hour race and netted us a class win. This was the only time we raced in South Africa as the formula was restricted to 2 litre cars that year after the 9 hour race.

Jackie Pretorius driving the Avalon Lola T70 Mk3b on the way to winning the class in the Rand 9 Hour race in 1970. My pal Rui Coutinho sent this over, thanks Rui. It is great to see these old photos coming via the net [40+ years after they were taken] without which they would have been lost forever.

This was my only trip to South Africa and at that time there was no T.V. in ZA. With no TV to watch people in those day used to socialise. During the three weeks we spent there we were looked after by the locals nearly every evening. There were parties and dinner to go to plus lots of racing gatherings where the public were invited to meet the drivers. I was just very sorry that with the T70 Lola we could only do this one event as the rest of the ZA series that year was for 2 litre cars.

1970 Danish GP. Mark Konig works on his Nomad while Barrie and Tony Gale look on. In the back ground is our much lamented friend Trevor Twaites with sun glasses and his wife Vicky with her back to the camera. We are nearing the end of the Danish series of photos which came to us thanks to Monten Alstrup.

This is nearly the last of this newly discovered series of Danish photos from the 1968/69/70 period and once again I thank Morten Alstrup for his help in sending these great photos. Here there is more preparation going on with Dollie and Tony Gale working on the winning Chevron B8 FVA in the Danish paddock.