Improved Production Touring Cars were the fan favourites, preceding Ford and Holden homologation specials and establishing the foundation of modern-day Supercars. The HT Monaro GTS 350 debuted at Beecheys home track at Calder. It was 1970 that saw Beechey launch the car that would be defining not only in his own career but lives in the annals of one of the greatest Touring Cars the country has ever seen. But it wasnt. We had a workshop in Brunswick across the road from Norm Beecheys Speed Shop, and so I found myself down there a bit. A DNS at Bathurst in round 2, after clouting the fence at Forest Elbow, may well have cost him the 1969 Championship but the new Monaro finished strongly with wins at Surfers Paradise and Symmons Plains. Image: Supplied. He starred in the 60s with his cavalcade of cars, changed almost annually. We'd worn the brakes out and everything had got so hot that the master cylinders were leaking because the washers got red hot!". It was based on a Chev Duntov grind that had a bit ground off the nose. Inboard disc brakes were used on all four wheels. Australian Muscle Cars. Insurance issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 AFSL 230859. Arguably, this was the real beginning of the GM Ford battle, however it was an era where the drivers were undisputedly the heroes. The rest of the car was essentially standard, with the usual lightening and Perspex windows. Back in the day, Detroit released the next years' models in the fall of the preceding year. This tribute to Norm is something Kim and I are proud of, and hopefully it brings back a lot of classic memories of those ATCC glory days for the fans, as it does for us. We didnt know those things in those days. Beechey went on to win the title that year - in doing so giving Holden their first series win and making the Monaro the first Australian car to win the ATCC. I was going to do the model in Neptune colours , but , the red looks good too . "It had the first Borg-Warner four-speed, aluminium-cased gearbox with very thin gears and it wasn't strong enough. John, Lex should have learnt from his 1963 Sandown accident that fixing Galaxie's add somewhat to his racing expenses. If you know of things missing or have corrections, please log in and submit them. Also Id moved the valves around mainly the inlet valve more towards the centre of the chamber. But how did the then part-time racer and used car dealer come to import such a monster? Theres also a spare set of brake pads and brake hoses, both still in boxes. But an oil leak from gearbox found its way into the clutch forcing Beechey to back off. Must be 4 doors? Shannons Pty Limited ABN 91 099 692 636 acts as an agent and authorised representative No 239594. I used a 149 head because it had a closed chamber and so had higher compression. I think the Supercars Retro Round is a great throwback to the early days of touring car racing in Australia, he said. In a treat for [], Andre Heimgartner has taken first blood in the 2023 Supercars Gen3 timesheets, topping the first official preseason test session at SMP. Years later, at work, a guy named Bruce ?? "They had good engines, they were a monocoque construction and they were fairly light. Brad Jones Racing will pay tribute to two-time Australian Touring Car champion Norm Beechey with all three of its Holdens at the Wilson Security Sandown 500. Back then you couldn't go to a shocker manufacturer and get a tougher shock absorber, so we used two shockers per wheel; the brackets are still there. Racing Geoghegan was always tough but very fair. "It's Norman Beechey," he says. Hear, hear Norm. The 409 won 70 percent of its starts including the Victorian Touring Car Championship at Sandown, the NSW Championship at Catalina Park but "missed the first round of the Australian Touring Car Championship at Longford, where it would have bolted it in, if we'd had it going," Beechey rues. He lost his licence, 110 in a 60 zone and the car disappeared. The Nova was an instant success and the battle lines between Norm and Ian Pete Geoghegan were drawn in early 1966 and continued right through until Beecheys retirement in 1972. Vinnie Bentley. This was the last car he raced before retirement. I reckon we spent a week just getting him comfortable in the car. We bolted them on and they pushed the valves open so that was fine. As soon as you got it slowed to a reasonable speed you would throw it sideways to wash off more speed then stand on the throttle as soon as she got lined up. Welcome back, and thank you for being an Australian MUSCLE CAR Magazine Premium member.Sign in with your details below: 50 Years of the Australian Touring Car Championship, 50 Years of The Great Race - Bathurst Picture Book. Han r mest knd fr framgngar i ATCC under 1960 och det tidiga 1970-talet. English Articles. I suspect as a road car far nicer all round than the 427s. Beechey competed in a wide variety of cars from as far back as the as the Albert Park meeting that was held in conjunction with the Olympic Games in 1956. He excelled and entertained in an era of interesting drivers in exciting cars. "You had to rush down to the corner, hop onto the brakes firmly and then start rowing it down through the gears. Norman Beechey A factory Imp was imported by Norm Beechey, a top Australian Touring car driver in the sixties. $6.60. LGH ED Reception - Phone: (03) 6777 6405 Fax: (03) 6777 5201 MCH ED* - Phone: (03) 6478 5120 Fax: (03) 6441 5923 NWRH ED* - Phone: (03) 6493 6351 Fax: (03) 6464 1926 RHH ED Reception - Phone: (03) 6166 6100 Fax: (03) 6173 0489 I treated that track with a lot of respect. We learnt a trick from the stock car guys in America and converted an old shocker into a pump. It didnt take very long because the HK 327 was phased out at the end of 1969 and we started the 70 season with the new car, so we built it over the Christmas New Year period.. Beechey is selling his rare 1974 Iso Rivolta Lele at the upcoming Shannons 2022 Autumn Timed Online Auction that will run from May 17-24. northern cricket league professionals; breaux bridge jail inmates; virtualbox ubuntu failed to start snap daemon; len and brenda credlin View or bid on all 2022 Shannons Autumn Timed Online Auction lots V8 legend Norm Beechey was the first superstar of Australian motor racing, thrilling crowds in the 1960s and very early '70s with his exuberant driving in a series of exotic machines. I'm after info any images and history of the Galaxie from 1964 , I'm building a slot car model of the car . IMAGES: As credited. At the front were the standard 90/10 shocks. Norm only seems to have raced it a couple of times , was it a success ? Norm and his wife Marg were friends of our parents, as were many competitors from the '70s so it makes the tribute a very personal one for us." Beechey said it will be a real thrill to see the colours he made famous back on track again. *The author would like to thank Stephen Stockdale for his assistance in the preparation of this feature. PETER A. CLAYTON _ a a a i T a s, A ein ME y, ^ x yo "4 in, 4 A N y ' k A i, d N | L | F | N | | x | E. | | Eh E N x n" ^N = * dis w = -= - AR pee Ba o I T. E Darryl Hinton July 20, 2021 From the October 1966 edition of Modern Motor. By July 1969 Harrop was second in the 12sec six-cylinder Holden ranks, behind NSWs Brian Keegan. I saw Stormin Norm race the Len Lukey owned red Galaxie at Sandown, many years ago. The palace of Sans-Souci was looted and later abandoned. Consistency saw Bob Jane finish third behind McKeowns Shell Porsche and the expected onslaught from Alan Moffats Trans Am Mustang failed to materialise with only one win in a bruising Round 1 at Calder Park. "You see, in 1962 Bob and me and the rest of us hardly knew what a sway bar was, let alone what a diff ratio was you just raced what you had. Please scroll down to see information about Norm Beechey Social media profiles. Warwick Farm. "I drove it to Adelaide in 2001 to have a run at the Clipsal 500 and Allan Moffat was driving one of the best GTHOs in the country, one of David Bowden's, and he couldn't pass me. It all started from there. Beechey vann ett supportrace till det inofficiella Australiens Grand Prix p sin nuvarande bana Albert Park 1956, i en Ford V8. I had an external oiling pipe from the oil pump down to the front and rear mains, because I reasoned that Id lose oil pressure through the lifters, and if ever you did a bearing it would be at number-one big end. Then there was the diff, way undersized for the power and torque of the 409. More than I realised though some were very similar as Edsel or truck engines. $ 1000000 It would be a 406 which Ford used for racing approx. But ofcourse everyone else has similar tyres! The Leles chassis was the same Bizzarrini design used by Iso since its IR 300 coupe of 1962, with unequal-length double-wishbones front suspension with coil springs, while the rear suspension consisted of a de Dion layout with a Salisbury axle unit. Neptune and Shells Brand Manager, Rod Troon managed the Tridents Racing Team (which would become the Shell Racing Team in 1968). RON HARROP has appeared in the Legends section of the mag before (SM, Mar 00). It was so smooth that you could sit a glass of wine on the rocker cover when it was on the dyno and it would just sit there.. A local bloke with a 63 Galaxie coupe has fitted his 390 4bbl engine with the tripower 427 set up. Its a 100% racing car and we have achieved it all here in Australia in one season, with a budget only a fraction the size the Yanks had to play with. Not only was the character himself one of the most popular drivers of the era, he went further by putting cars on the grid between 1965 and 1970 that were unique and won him even more fans. Half a century ago last Sunday (November 15), Beechey was officially crowned Australian touring car champion following the final round of the 70 series at Symmons Plains, outside Launceston in Tasmania. The 1933-born Racecar driver expert is arguably the worlds most influential Norm Beechey is expert, with a wide-ranging social media outreach. It was the start of a golden muscle car era in Australian touring car racing. To some, he was the closest thing Holden had to a star racing driver, before Peter Brock. The Howler is justifiably among the most famous race cars in Australian quarter-mile history. Wilson Security Sandown 500 | Tickets | EventInfo. Come forward 30 years and with modern tyres and they are just so much faster. It was in pretty shabby condition then but these days, restored and race worthy, Beechey enters it on the odd road rally and drives it on the streets and it's still a weapon, making 535hp (399kW), around 100 more than it did in 1962. And those cars are light at around 1700 kilos,, my 71 400 C6 a/c car is 1.990 tonnes. All eight boys would serve in World War One. Beechey contested in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1963 to 1972, in which consisted of 31 ATCC rounds and 26 races. An era of interesting drivers in exciting cars Round is a great throwback to the early days of Touring racing... 1969 Harrop was second in the 60s with his cavalcade of cars, changed almost annually and..., in which consisted of 31 ATCC rounds and 26 races Touring cars were the favourites. Issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 AFSL 230859 48 005 297 807 AFSL 230859, and had. 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