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| Baby Bertha - 1975 GP Support |
First request is from the USA, Nick Webster has requested a picture
of Baby Bertha.
The picture is from the 1975 British Grand Prix support race and is sometimes
talked about as the death knell for Vauxhall in Supersaloons, Autosport reported "Marshall's Monster Bore", which is a
shame as it was one of Dad's best races, he was just so much better on the day than anyone else.
This is probably my favourite pictures of Dad, the way the reflection of Baby
Bertha is shown is fantastic. Dad went out to prove a point on a wet track and he duly did so; averaging an astonishing
110.10mph and winning by 38 seconds with a superb display of race-craft and speed. There was no coming
into the pits, kicking the tyres and still winning for this one!!
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| Mike Smith using Dad as a brake. |
The second request is from Dave Childs, who is a big Vauxhall fan and carried
on following Dad after DTV, espcially his GM days.
This picture was taken during the 1986 season (made famous by the classic
video, Vintage G & T). It was the season of the Escort RS Turbo's and Colt Stariion's "faulty" boost light, stunt
car driver Bob Sands (who must have written off five differant Escorts that year, I'm glad he had forgiving sponsors!!) and
some fantastic racing.
1986 was a bit of a struggle for Dad, as in his class he was up against
the Escort RS Turbos and Mercedes 190 Cosworths and to be fair the old Opel Monza 3.0 GSE wasn't up to the task, but
more often than not Dad beat them (and the Colts from the class above) in the rain and gave them a damn good run for their
money in the dry. If you don't believe me watch Vintage G&T!
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| Cool dude |
Third request is from Roger Coulsey and is a picture of Dad next to the David Gerald TVR Tuscan that he competed in the
1989 Turcan Challenge. This was the first year of the TVR Tuscan Challenge and a very hard season ensued, with four
drivers in with a shout of winning the championship at the last round.
Dad's season was two wins, four seconds, one third, one fourth, one eighth, one DNS and one retirement.
Roger now owns this car and competes in it regularly and it is road registered!!
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| Old Nail - Oulton Park |
The fourth request is from the Vauxhall/GM twins Edmund and Mario Lindsay and strangely enough I didn't have the
actual picture they asked for (as seen on page 93 of Only Here for the Beer) which was of Dad in 1975 at Oulton Park with
Old Nail on the edge at Old Hall.
I dug around for a replacement and checked with the twins that this a suitable replacement, Old Nail sideways,
in late 1971 or early 1972.
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| Viva GT Brands Hatch - 19th January 1969 |
The fifth request comes from one of our South African friends, Lino, who is a huge Vauxhall enthusiast and historian
on all things car-related in South Africa.
This is a picture of Dad taken at Brands Hatch in a BRSCC Special Saloon Car race for cars over 1300cc. Dad finished
2nd in class and fourth overall in what was the Viva GTs second seaon of racing.
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