Rex Flowers: A Story of his 1961 Gemini Mk3A-09 Cosworth-Ford FJ Part 14 of 15
[Continued from Part 13]
Results of the 1963 Lady Wigram Trophy Race over 71 laps= 241 km-
1st 47 Bruce McLaren Cooper T62 Climax 2.7 71 laps 1hr 36m 4.7s
2nd 2 Jack Brabham Brabham BT4 Climax 2.7 71 laps 1 hr 36m 35.0s
3rd 2 Tony Maggs Lola T4 Climax 2.7 70 laps
4th 5 Angus Hyslop Cooper T53 Climax 2.5 70 laps
5th 20 John Histed Lola T2 Ford 1.5 64 laps
6th 12 Ian Green Cooper T45 Climax 2.0 62 laps
7th 27 Ken Sager Lotus 20 Ford 1.5
8th 25 Rex Flowers GeminiMk3A Ford 1.5 57 laps slipping clutch
9th 19 Roly Levis Cooper T52 Ford 1.5
1 John Surtees Lola T4 Climax 2.7 DNF 33 laps gearbox
21 Frank Turpie Lotus 20 Ford 1.5 DNF 31 laps
32 Chris Amon Cooper T53 Climax 2.5 DNF 29 laps gearbox
3 Innes Ireland Ferguson P99 4WD 2.5 DNF overheating
18 David Young Cooper T65 Ford 1.5 DNF
17 Tony Shelly Lotus 18/21 Climax 2.5 DNF 13 laps gearbox
41 Jim Palmer Cooper T53 Climax 2.7 DNF 0 laps hit by Bulcraig
37 Lionel Bulcraig Aston Martin DBR4 3.0 DNF 0 laps hit rear of Palmer
Fastest lap – Jack Brabham Brabham BT4 Climax 2.7 – 1 min 18.4 seconds
Teretonga 26th January 1963. Rex entered the Gemini in the Sixth Teretonga International run on the Southland Car Club’s circuit near Invercargill on Saturday 26th January 1963. Graham Vercoe records in his book ‘The Golden Era’, at page 189 “The practice for Teretonga was held in very wet and windy conditions. As the race day ‘heats’ determined the grid positions, times in practice were purely academic. Brabham did a few exploratory laps and then went back to his hotel in Invercargill for the rest of the day. Ireland set the best time of 1 minute 8.1 secs (thanks to the four-wheel drive) with David Young on 1m 8.2 secs. Surtees recorded 1 m 8.2 s and Maggs was unable to better 1m 10.3s.
The first race for Rex in the Gemini on race day was in Event 1 held over 6 laps – this was also the first qualifier of two for the main race of the day, the Teretonga International Trophy. Rod Coppins had withdrawn the Tec Mec from the race, and Roly Levis and Lionel Bulcraig were added to the list of cars that started. Vercoe reported’ “Conditions were better on race day and in the first heat McLaren did a 1 m 4.3 s record lap to win from Maggs and Ireland.” Unfortunately, the Crown Wheel and pinion (CWP) broke in the Gemini so Rex did not finish the race. Rex was also out for the rest of the day.
Rex had entered Event 8 a Formula Libre handicap race named ‘The Racing Car Race’ held over 6 laps. However, because of the broken CWP in the Gemini, he did not start the race won by A.F. Raffray in his V8 Special from Arthur Moffat in his Lotus 15 Climax , and Ron Rutherford in the 250M Zephyr.
The third and final race for Rex that day was to have been the 6th Teretonga International held over 75 laps 6th Again, because of the broken CWP in the Gemini, he did not start the race.
The Race – Sporting Motorist 1963 reported’ “The weather was fine for the race but the wind still strong. Surtees was again fastest off the mark, led into the first sweeping bend at the end of the straight and was still in front when the first lap ended. Behind him were Maggs, Brabham, Ireland, McLaren and Amon. But on lap 2 John spun on the S-bend not far from the entrance to the straight and dropped to fifth, while Brabham was past Maggs into the lead. Two laps later McLaren was also past Maggs and Surtees went past Ireland. The report continued with McLaren first from Maggs and Ireland (all on 50 laps), from Brabham, Hyslop and Shelly) all on 49 laps. Palmer (7th), and Young (8th) on 48 laps were the only others to finish.
Waimate 50 2nd February 1963 – Rex entered the Gemini is the 1963 Waimate 50 held on 2nd February 1963 over 50 laps on a street circuit in the township of Waimate on the South Canterbury plains. Race 4 on the programme for the day was the Waimate 50 race and Rex had qualified well as the third of the seven 1500cc single seaters comprising half of the 14 cars in the race. Rex said he was ‘well up with leaders when I got a puncture’.
The start of the Waimate 50 2nd February 1963 – #17 Maurie Stanton leads in his Stanton Corvette V8 from #41 Jim Palmer in his Lotus 20B Ford. Behind Stanton, #36 Roly Levis Cooper T52 Ford 1.5 is just ahead of #25 Rex Flowers Gemini Mk3A on his right. On the extreme right of this photo is the wheel and nose of #1 David Young Cooper T65 Ford 1.5. Next up in the right hand side of the photo is #18 Tony Shelly Cooper T45 Climax 2.0, and to the left of him in this photo is #20 John Histed Lola T2 Ford 1.5. Behind Flowers on the edge of the track is #9 Bill Thomasen Cooper T51 Climax 2.0. At the rear is #57 Barry Cottle Lola Mk1 Climax 1.2 – photo ‘The Racing Years 1959-1966 -The History of the Waimate 50 ‘, page 21
Waimate 50 2nd February 1963 – Parker’s Corner, the first corner – 17 Maurie Stanton in his Stanton Corvette 4.9 litre leads from 41 Jim Palmer Lotus 20B Ford 1.5 and 36 Roly Levis Cooper T52 Ford 1.5. 1 David Young Cooper T65-Ford 1.5 goes wider with 25 Rex Flowers Gemini Mk3A Ford on the inside. Straddling the pedestrian crossing, 20 John Histed Lola T2 Ford 1.5 heads 44 Doug Lawrence Lola T1 Climax sports 1.5 and 9 Bill Thomasen Cooper T51 Climax 2.5. In the foreground is 7 Lionel Bulcraig Aston Martin DBR4 3.0 – Photo in 1981 booklet ‘The Racing Years 1959-1966 The History of the Waimate 50’ page 22
The race – Graham Vercoe’s book ‘The Golden Era’ at page 190 reports on the race: “The field of 14 cars at Waimate was quite a depleted one. Hyslop’s regular Cooper T53 had transmission problems and was a non-starter. Amon was in Australia and had his old Cooper T51 entered but he scratched. Shelly’s Lotus 18/21 was in Australia but he had his old Cooper T45 that Ian Green had been using in the 1963 international series. Palmer was again running his Lotus as the Bowmaker Cooper T53 awaited him in Australia.
Palmer did a 1m 8.2 s in practice to claim pole – so Palmer Lotuses were at each end of the grid [Frank Turpie was in the ex-Palmer 1962 Waimate 50 winning Lotus 20]. Stanton put in every bit of power from the Corvette V8 into those chains at the start and blasted into the lead that was over 2 seconds by the end of lap 1. Palmer stayed with him on corners but could only wave goodbye on the straight bits. Young made a good start to lead Levis, Flowers (5th), Thomasen, Histed, Lawrence and Bulcraig with the rest following. It took Shelly some time to blow the cobwebs out of his old Cooper T51.
Stanton had 3 seconds on Palmer at the end of two laps but spun coming out of Goldsmith through the left-hander into Queen. …….. Stanton extricated the Stanton backwards form the hay bales very rapidly and set off again in ninth place, tyres smoking in tortured frustration. He began to catch up again and was about to pass Levis when the brakes failed. He pitted to see if brother Charlie could cure the problem and went on his way, pitted again, and resumed slowly until lap 25 when he decided discretion was far more sensible than valour on this occasion.
Young repassed Levis on lap 4 and five laps later Palmer lapped tail ender Turpie [Lotus 20]. The latter lasted only three more laps before his suspension collapsed. Moffat [Lotus 15] pitted on lap 10 but soon returned to the fray at a more subdued rate with an uncharacteristic misfire in what must have been on of Coventry-Climax’s best individual motors.
Palmer still led Young, Thomasen, Levis and Shelly but the last was now coming to grips with his older car and was soon up to third, helped by Levis spinning at the hairpin and dropping to sixth. Bulcraig began pitting at regular intervals until the end of the race.
On lap 29 Shelly inherited second place when Young stopped with a broken universal. Levis had worked his way back to third as Thomasen slowed. Sager, too, had stopped but got going again after a lengthy pitstop. Then Histed disappeared with a gearbox failure and Cottle had his Climax motor catch fire [a broken fuel line] on the back part of the circuit. It was soon put under control but that was the end of the other Lola for the day.
Palmer went on to win comfortably from Shelly, breaking the race record that had stood since 1960 (a bit over 112kph average) and setting a new lap record, smashing Mansel’s old mark by 2.5 seconds. Moffat’s spluttering Lots 15 should have been the last finisher but Sager waited for Palmer to complete the 50 laps and pushed his car to finish. Bulcraig was still circulating after countless stops at his pits.” Rex’s letter to Bryan Thomas of 18/7/63 (below) records “I was well up with the leaders when I got a puncture.”
Results of the 1963 Waimate 50
1st 41 Jim Palmer Lotus 20B Ford 1.5 50 laps 59m 56.2 s
2nd 18 Tony Shelly Cooper T45 Climax 2.0 50 laps
3rd 36 Roly Levis Cooper T52 Ford 1.5 49 laps
4th 9 Bill Thomasen Cooper T51 Climax 2.0 48 laps
5th 44 Doug Lawrence Lola Mk1 Ford 1.5 sports 46 laps
6th 4 Arthur Moffat Lotus 15 Climax 2.0 sports
7th 27 Ken Sager Lotus 20 Ford 1.5 34 laps
8th Lionel Bulcraig Aston Martin DBR4 3.0
57 Barry Cottle Lola Mk1 Climax 1.2 DNF 39 laps engine fire
20 Joh Histed LolaMk2 Ford 1.5 DNF 34 laps gearbox
1 David Young Cooper T65 Ford 1.5 DNF 29 laps universal
17 Mauri Stanton Stanton Corvette V8 DNF 25 laps brakes
21 Frank Turpie Lotus 20 Ford 1.5 DNF 12 laps suspension
25 Rex Flowers Gemini Mk3A Ford 1.3 DNF puncture
[Continue with Part 15]
No Comments