Rex Flowers: A Story of his 1961 Gemini Mk3A-09 Cosworth-Ford FJ Part 15 of 15
[Continued from Part 14]
Levin WCC sprint 23 February 1963 – Rex took the Gemini to Levin for a Wellington Car Club ‘Sprint’ meeting held on the Levin circuit on 23rd February 1963; he recorded the second to fastest time of the day. (2nd FTD)
Levin Championship Meeting, 23 March 1963 Rex entered the Gemini in the Levin races held on Saturday 23rd March 1963. However, he had negotiated to buy the red Lotus 20B Cosworth-Ford 1475cc racing car, driven with success throughout the 1962/63 season by Jim Palmer. Instead of driving the Gemini, Motorman magazine of May-June 1963 records that Rex drove the Lotus 20B “borrowed from Jim Palmer”:
Rex [or Jim Palmer?] won Race 6 over 8 laps, “From start to finish” in his first race in the Lotus 20B winning ahead of Bill Thomasen’s Cooper T45 Climax 2.0, Tony Shelly’s Lotus 18/21 Climax and Roly Levis’ Cooper T52 Ford 1.5.
In Race 13, the main race for the Levin Championship, Motorman reports, “After leading for more than half of the ten lap feature race, Flowers was passed by Shelly and on the last lap spun dramatically on the hairpin” Shelly won from Levis and Thomasen.
In Race 16 over 8 laps, and Motorman reports “The final event of the day for the racing cars proved exciting with Levis taking the lead at the start before Shelly took the lead on lap 3. Flowers spun the Lotus and retired from the race.” Shelly won from Levis and Graeme Lawrence in his father’s Lola Mk1 sports.
A Summary Rex’s races in his Gemini for the 1962/63 season
Rex said he had two engines for the 1962/63 season – one of 1340cc and one of 1475cc, and although listed in the various programmes as having an 1100c engine, he in fact raced with one or other of the bigger engines.
Rex started the season with a ‘sprint’ and a ‘Hillclimb’, getting FTD in both.
He then competed in three ‘national’ events – at Levin (24 Nov 62), Ohakea (15 Dec 62) and Mt Maunganui (29 Dec 62) – in a total of eight races, he finished them all except one.
- At Levin he qualified 6th of 14 cars in Race 5 but failed to finish; in Race 13 he qualified 6th of 8 cars and finished 6th; and in Race 18 he qualified 6th of 12 cars and finished 6th.
- At Ohakea he finished 13th in Race 7,won by Hyslop, Shelly and Amon who were all in big 2.5 litre cars; and he was 5th in Race 12, the ‘big race’ where, earlier in the year, he retired with broken suspension.
- At Mt Maunganui, where detailed results are unknown he finished 9th in two races (or possibly 5th in the ‘big race’ of those two).
Rex then entered the international series comprising race meetings at four different locations in the North and South Islands over four consecutive weekends:- at Pukekohe (5 Jan 63), Levin (12 Jan 63), Wigram (19 Jan 63), and Teretonga (26 Jan 63).
Although Rex in his Gemini Mk3A with Ford engines of 1.3 or 1.5 litres was well outclassed amongst the international drivers with their big 2.7 and 2.5 litre Coventry-Climax-engined cars, he achieved good results against strong competition in the 1.5 litre ‘NZ Formula’ category – apart from Teretonga.
- At Pukekohe he was 9th in the New Zealand driver’s race. He qualified 14th of 17 cars for the NZ Grand Prix and was classified in 5th place, (and second 1.5 litre car) although he did push the Gemini to the finish line with an overheated and seized engine.
- At Levin he qualified in 4th position of seven cars in the first ‘heat’ for the main race, and finished an excellent 3rd, with a slipping clutch. In the main race he was 9th on the grid of 14 cars and he finished 8th (4th5 litre car) – having had to stop at the pits to remove the right-hand fuel tank that was dragging on the circuit and leaking fuel.
- At Wigram, he withdrew from a secondary Formula Libre race as he had already qualified for the main race. For the main race, he qualified 11th of 18 cars (3rd5 litre car of 7). In the ‘big race’ he was 8th (and 3rd 1.5 car) but again had a slipping clutch.
- At Teretonga, the crown wheel and pinion broke in the Gemini’s Renault Dauphine gearbox, so he did not finish the first Heat and withdrew from racing in the next two events of the day.
But, Rex’s results of the international series sound a little better than the facts will show – the Gemini engine had seized at Pukekohe; the fuel tank issue at Levin meant he did only one-half of the race distance; he had a slipping clutch at Wigram and completed only 57 of the 71 laps (80%); and, the crown wheel and pinion (CWP) broke and put the Gemini out of the main race at Teretonga.
However, Rex in his Gemini had competed in the same races as the ’internationals’ in Jack Brabham (at that time World F1 Champion in 1959 & 1961), Graham Hill (F1 Champion 1962), John Surtees (to be F1 Champion in 1964), Bruce McLaren, Tony Maggs and Innes Ireland; and very few others, worldwide, had competed at this level in only their second season racing a single seater!
Rex completed the season with a race at Waimate (he retired with a puncture), a ‘sprint’ at Levin (2nd to fastest time of the day), and an autumn race meeting at Levin [was this all or part in the ex Jim Palmer Lotus 20B Ford 1.5??]
Selling the Gemini
Rex purchased the ex-Jim Palmer Lotus 20B Ford and set about the process to sell the Gemini.
Motorman magazine May/June 1963 at page 20 reported “Rex Flowers has his FJ Gemini up for sale. He has newly imported mods from England which haven’t been tried as yet and 1550 pounds will buy the complete outfit”.
On the basis on an enquiry, or perhaps after the Gemini had been sold to him, Rex sent a letter dated 18/7/63 to Bryan Thomas of Flelding. The letter is included as follows:-
Rex had a successful 1963/64 season with the Lotus 20B Ford 1.5 before he had a dreadful 1964/65 season with the ex-Surtees ‘63/Amon ’64 Lola T4 Climax 2.5. Rex said when his father died he gave up motor racing and, together with his older brother Brian, they assumed responsibility for and developed the Flowers Transport company.
What happened to the Gemini?
Bryan Thomas raced the Gemini with a 1340cc engine, as purchased from Rex, in the 1963/64 season before he in turn moved up to a Lotus 27 Cosworth-Ford.
The Gemini was sold by Bryan Thomas in 1964 to NZ Hill climb champion, Roy Lyme of Rotorua, but it is not known if Roy raced the car. Roy entered the Gemini in the January 1966 meeting at Levin he did not start in the event.
The Gemini was purchased by Ian Weir of Taylor and Weir, Rotorua on 25th March 1966, most probably as a ‘project’ car without an engine or gearbox. However, the next owner, Tony Baker, said Ian Weir did nothing on the car.
Tony Baker of Rotorua purchased the Gemini in early 1967 and he registered the change of ownership 1st June 1967. Tony said the car did not have a motor or gearbox when he got it so he fitted a Ford 120E Cortina pre-crossflow 1500cc engine and a Hewland gearbox to the car. Tony using it briefly – a Hillclimb on 25 June 1967, at Pukekohe on 3rd September 1967 (when “it expired in practice”), in two hill climbs in early 1968, and in the Easter 1968 Baypark meeting.
Richard McNair of Rotorua then purchased the Gemini in 1968 and he raced it in the North and South Islands, including racing the Gemini as an early Formula ‘C’ (that became Formula Ford). In 1971 Richard sold the Gemini, without a motor or gearbox, to Don Merrie
The Certificate of Ownership papers shows that the car went to Denny Dunbar at Peter Sundberg Motors in Greenlane, Auckland on 17th October 1974, and then to Peter Burgess of New Plymouth on 24th December 1974. Beyond that point, little is known of the car. A later owner, Ken Williams, said Ken Smith owned the Gemini at some stage and he sold it to Bruce Sutcliffe who ‘saved it from becoming reinforcing in a home concreting project’.
Kevin Moore of Auckland purchased the remains of the car in 1981 with a view to rebuilding it for ‘Historic’ racing. He had well renowned ex-McLaren F1 engineer, Peter Bruin, tend to the chassis and skilled fibreglass expert Ferris de Joux construct moulds and new bodywork for the car. When Kevin moved to Australia in 1985, the project was taken over by Ken Williams of Auckland. With the help of many, including Ken Woodburn of KW Historics, Auckland, Ken Williams completed the rebuilding project and first raced the restored Gemini with a Ford 120E 1500cc engine and Hewland Mk4 gearbox at the Shell Classic meeting at Ardmore on 29th January 1989. Thereafter Ken raced the Gemini with considerable success until he sold it to Jim Barclay on 21st June 1996.
Having raced the car in the North and South Islands in 2002 Jim returned the Gemini to Formula Junior ‘specs’ by fitting a Ford 105E 1100cc engine. He later he fitted the ‘correct spec’ Renault Dauphine gearbox to the car. From the time he took ownership in 1996 until the current time (2019), some 58 years after Rex purchased the Gemini in 1961, the car has been seen racing in Jim’s hands on nearly all New Zealand race tracks, and overseas at Barbagallo (Perth) and Eastern Creek (Sydney) in Australia.
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