[cnichol]

hello stan, alan p told me about the reunion so we thought we might come, might even bring my wife, is she safe with phil green around ?

 

[stanleykirk]

Chris,

Fantastic to hear from you, we would be delighted to see you, Saturday 20 June at 3 pm at the new Track at the Crampton Tower Museum, Broadstairs.

I saw Phil recently for the first time in 3 decades. Now age 90 and just the same as he always was

I hope that Alan can make it too.

Also hoping that Dave Harvey and Steve Walker will be there.

Are you in touch with any other former slot racers?

Stan Kirk.

 

[RickJ]

Hi Stan, here is another bad penny from the past showing up! I was recently trying to introduce my youngest son to the joys of slot car racing as I experienced them back in the sixties and somehow found myself here. Fantastic to see the early Timaru pictures and see your name up there! I left for Canada on June the 30th 1967 as I recall, so would have missed out on the July 1967 photo by just a few days. Great to see all the old faces again, especially Mike Short, as I remember him with great appreciation for providing me with a lift to the club and back from Ramsgate. He was a very exciting driver in his Ford Anglia - especially on the after the pub nights!

I remember racing at Timaru right up to leaving England and I think I was leading the F1 championship at the time and doing well in the other open wheeled class we had (a kind of Formula Libre class) also. Of course that may just be a case of a convenient memory at work! I still have some of my cars and other bits from back then.

Would be great to hear from you and catch up on all your news some time when you have a moment.

Best Regards from Canada,
Rick Jones

 

[stanleykirk]

Richard,

Fantastic to hear from you and welcome to Slotforum. I have also sent you a Slotforum Private Message which I hope you can work out how to pick up.

Also fantastic that you have kept some of your 60's slot kit. Slotforum is definitely the place to share that type of stuff, once you've worked out how to post photgraphs here.

Did you continue with slot racing once you got to Canada?

Stan Kirk.

 

[RickJ]

I tried to continue slot racing when I got here but sadly there was nothing like the marvelous UK club scene to be found anywhere. I eventually located a commercial track in the next city from where we lived and went over there a few times but it was purely operated for the bucks and there was none of the camaraderie of Timaru. It wasn't the same so I moved on to chasing girls and fast cars instead.

It took a while for the girls to succumb to the charms of this particular puny little Brit so in the meantime I worked my way through multiple Mini's and MG's up to an E type convertible by which time my luck had improved considerably. The E type eventually made way for various other purely racing vehicles that I thrashed around Mosport for a couple of years including a Lotus Europa and Formula V and Ford single seaters but unfortunately I quickly learnt that racing big cars is a lot more expensive than the little electric ones! I raced karts for several years but these days in the interests of ecology I have downsized again. My passion now is vintage motorcycle racing.

I just accessed your message so will send more to you there over the weekend.

IT is Friday evening. Wouldn't it be great to be on my way to Timaru again!

Rick

 

[distantkiwi]

I thought I was going to be reading a post about a Slot Club in New Zealand. I guess that is where his dad is from.

Timaru

 

[Mike S]

Great to hear via Stan from Richard Jones. He mentioned my driving - well one club night I gave him a lift home, got a puncture and surprised Richard with the speed with which I changed the wheel !! I was back in Sandwich for another drink - halcion days !! Mike S

 

[stanleykirk]

Rick,

I was telling my wife about your message yesterday when it occurred to me that Timaru club night used to be on a Friday, very handy whilst still a schoolboy! It became Tuesdays for a very long time and then became Thursday only a couple of years ago, as you can tell from the Results thread also here.

I had also forgotten about the 'Formula Libre' category, I remember it was an opportunity to fit an Indy body and put a bigger motor like a 16D (instead of a 13UO) into a formula one chassis as the 1.5 ltr F1s were so small. Fortunately the real F1s then increased dramatically in size with the 3 ltr formula from 66 onwards. I had an early bright yellow Dyna Rewind 16D which really whistled, that was a monster to drive, steady through the corners and blast down the straights, on hard rubber tyres!

There's a very strong retro scene going on in the UK now catering for '60's style' chassis (always inline) and hard plastic bodies and hard rubber, not sponge tyres I find them challenging to drive (but still fun), and slow, compared to current and more recent cars which just shows how much things have moved on.

Stan.

 

[RickJ]

Mike, delighted to hear from you and let me say again - a big Thank You for all those rides! I had forgotten the incident with the flat tire until now you mention it. As I recall it was not just the speed with which you solved the problem that was so impressive - but also how fast we were going when you realized there was one! I loved those rides and as an impressionable kid felt like Dennis Jenkinson sitting next to Stirling Moss in the Mille Miglia.

I also remember going off to represent Timaru at other area tracks, undoubtedly with Mike as part of the 4 man club team, for away matches. The results we obtained weren't so great - especially from my own personal perspective - but then came the festivities after the racing. Because at sixteen (and looking about 12) I was excluded from the beer round, I nevertheless was always generously furnished with a large glass of apple juice instead. I recognise that juice now - it is goes by the name of Bulmers Strongbow! I recall the impact the stuff had on the brain of a then 110 lbs dripping wet runty little teenager! Even now as I enjoy the first sip of an occassional glass of cider, I am always momentarily transported back in time to those away races.

Stan, do you remember Terry at Timaru? I believe he had a gammy foot? He didn't show up so regularly towards the end of my time there but when he did he always brought something innovative and very fast along with him. Speaking of the problems with the skinny little formula 1 bodies back then and the way they restricted the motor size, I remember Terry neatly solving the problem by trimming the body exactly around the contours of the motor so that effectively its outer surface became the sides of a very quick car. Ex slot car racer Ross Brawn would have loved it! As I recall Terry always made sure his tyres were completely even and round, which must have made the car very stable and predictable handling. All I ever did was just fit the rubber onto the wheels and off to the track! I recall that Monogram F1 cars and their tyres were highly prized back then and I suspect it was the precision casting of the tyres that had a lot to do with their effectiveness.

The memories just keep rolling in!

Rick

 

[stanleykirk]

Rick,

It was Terry Coleman, who had polio as a child, hence the 'gammy foot'. That was not an unusual problem amongst children in post war Britain. In our year at Chatham House you may remember another with the same problem, name of Chetwynd I think. It still surprises me today how close to the war I was born, although that seemed so long ago at the time that it was another world. Terry subesequently took up model aircraft flying and still lives nearby, he came to have a look at the new track when we moved in last year. I also spoke quite a bit to Mike Billing last year (I had seen him a few times in the intervening years as we ended up in the same industry) but he lives some distance away and wasn't able to make our 50th celebration.

I also remember doing rather a lot of cycling at the time, from your house in Ramsgate back to Birchington, often late at night on very dark and unlit country roads - amazing how fast you can peddle when well incentivised! Then there was the Ramsgate Models shop, just down the road from the school. A quick trip out at lunchtime to get the latest Model Cars magazine was always one of the highlights of the month!

I also remember suspecting that I wasn't very popular with your Mum as I always seemed to be round your place! What has all of this got to do with slot racing, I hear someowne shout! Good question!

How did we find out about Timaru? I think that was your fault.

Stan.

 

[stanleykirk]

Rick,

It was Terry Coleman, who had polio as a child, hence the 'gammy foot'. That was not an unusual problem amongst children in post war Britain. In our year at Chatham House you may remember another with the same problem, name of Chetwynd I think. It still surprises me today how close to the war I was born, although that seemed so long ago at the time that it was another world. Terry subesequently took up model aircraft flying and still lives nearby, he came to have a look at the new track when we moved in last year. I also spoke quite a bit to Mike Billing last year (I had seen him a few times in the intervening years as we ended up in the same industry) but he lives some distance away and wasn't able to make our 50th celebration.

I also remember doing rather a lot of cycling at the time, from your house in Ramsgate back to Birchington, often late at night on very dark and unlit country roads - amazing how fast you can peddle when well incentivised! Then there was the Ramsgate Models shop, just down the road from the school. A quick trip out at lunchtime to get the latest Model Cars magazine was always one of the highlights of the month!

I also remember suspecting that I wasn't very popular with your Mum as I always seemed to be round your place! What has all of this got to do with slot racing, I hear someowne shout! Good question!

How did we find out about Timaru? I think that was your fault.

Stan.