Before the Tasman Cup was introduced in 1964, most of us were using Climax engines, 2-liter, 2.2-liter or 2.5-liter, but there were a couple of odd cars. I was also racing little Elfins but, for my Lotus 19B, I had taken my Climax engine out to 2.6-liter with pistons made by ForgeTru and conrods by Freddy Carillo, both in the U.S. I bought a Brabham for the 1964 Tasman as, while the Climax engine had been out of production for a while, I thought I would be able to put together a strong engine.
The two weaknesses of the Climax engines were the conrod bolts and pistons. You had to be very careful not to overtension the bolts or reuse them. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted a better conrod and how I found this wonderful product from Carillo. I wanted reliability and better performance.
Part of the deal in acquiring the Brabham and being part of the Repco Brabham team was that I would also get one of the first Hewland DG300 gearboxes to test and provide feedback. In the meantime, Jack’s car would be built later to incorporate those improvements which would be passed on to me as well. I was quite happy to give my good spare engines to Repco plus a couple of sets of ForgeTru pistons and Carillo rods for testing. The only problem was that I never got them back! When the Tasman started, I was told that they had not made their pistons and it was now Christmas and the factory had shut down, there were strikes and this and that. It was a load of nonsense actually, as Jack, Denny and Stillwell had my engine and bits. I was left with a load of rubbish and I had to put two engines together out of bits for my Brabham which I used in New Zealand, and then Australia.
The poo really hit the fan then, but there wasn’t any souring between us, as the problem was with the managing director of Total Oil, my sponsor and the boss of Repco. So that left me with virtually nothing in the way of motors and the only thing that Repco found was a green block that hadn’t cured properly. It would expand and twist when it got hot, but it’s what I used at the last race at Longford.
I went to New Zealand in 1964 and was leading the race until I broke a piston and then withdrew from the rest as I didn’t have enough engines. I was waiting for Repco to start work after Christmas for my pistons—little did I know at that time.
I got my own back later at Longford. Moss had introduced me to Mike Summerville of Dunlop and I got to be very close to him, so that my tires came direct from Dunlop UK. Dunlop had an embargo on Green Spot tires for Longford due to the high speeds and everyone used the S-type instead, except Jack. The following year my wife painted the green spot with red nail polish. Jack was very conscious that my tires had not come through the normal Dunlop source and, on the first day of practice, he was fussing about where I got them from. I said that I didn’t know as they just sent them. Well, he went berserk having a big argument with them. It was one of my little paybacks.
Certainly, the Tasman brought some excitement! But everybody was excited about the even playing field because of Brabham producing cars for it. In the years before, anyone could bring any old thing they had. The brilliant concept of the Tasman hinged around using either the same or virtually similar cars that were being used in Formula One. If Australia and New Zealand could become the market of last year’s cars, and the development to start up next year’s cars, what a great opportunity as it fits everybody’s bill, doesn’t it? It exposed the local top people to the opportunity to get a relatively top car that had just been running. On the other hand, it gave the internationals the opportunity to get in and do off-season development, testing and practice, and go back with a car that’s well sorted. It was a perfect solution.
There was quite a bit of socializing between races, particularly for the internationals. Usually, in my world, it was all centered around the car, learning how to drive it better and working on it. Of course, if I had any spare time I would socialize when there wasn’t anything to do with the cars. On the other hand, the European guys, it really did something good for them and gave them the opportunity to relax together. That period, if you look at the relationship between the top drivers of the world, it was fantastic. They got on and these people respected each other while racing very hard and well together. It’s never been like that to that extent since, as far as I see it. I think the opportunity of the Tasman brought them together. Even though they were a good group anyway. Blokes like Graham Hill, a fantastic bloke. Clark. These were the salt-of-the-earth sort of stuff and you just don’t see that today.
I’ve participated in the Can-Am and L&M series, and all of them had a bit of similarity, but nothing really matched the Tasman. It just had a purity about it and the racing was very serious and very intense. New Zealand was a bit awkward because to get anything done at Christmas was very difficult. I mean the post office shut for three weeks in Auckland and I remember I had spark plugs sent to me by post but I couldn’t get them. You would go there, and you just wouldn’t believe how it shut down.
When you took your car into New Zealand, it was registered, and you came under public risk and it was insured. I used to get a little number plate and that was the law. All the racecars had to be insured, and the only way to do that was to register them for the road. So they were registered under some special category, and you could drive them on the road and we did.
While I learned from the overseas visitors, the real person to learn things from was Brabham. He was a classic. Jack would arrive and his car wasn’t handling right and to watch that guy go about step, by step, by step—a little bit of tape there and a little bit of this here, and the bloody thing would start to go. You saw this perseverance and using the feedback that was absolutely brilliant. It taught me a lot, a hell of a lot.
There was one time in New Zealand after I had raced my Brabham a couple of times in Australia and Jack’s car had just arrived. I remember Jack just adding a little piece of masking tape over the cowling to the carburetors to blank a bit off. Oh shit, that gave me hell—what’s he doing that for? I think our mechanics learned a lot too as they would mix with the others, everybody would lend each other things, borrow things, talk and have beers together.
The pits were open with shared common garages. I distinctly recall people coming over to me to ask things. Graham Hill for example came over to me to ask what my setup was. So I would tell him, and I am sure if I were to ask him, I am sure he would tell me.
They were great times and we were fortunate to have that. Later on there was quite an anticipation with the circus coming to town, but we were working and by this time we found that the golden rule was testing and getting things right. The way to better lap times was due to Warwick Farm and having that short circuit to do the testing. You could do something and measure it. You could do it again and measure it again. You would go nibbling away and you would get there. This fitted the era. This fitted the Tasman.
I just loved the Tasman Series! I’m just sorry that it didn’t go on all year. It was fantastic and it all happened very naturally and how can I put it? You were just one of the boys, we were all very equal. By that I mean that you weren’t discriminated against. It was a uniquely good thing.
