Rex Flowers: A Story of his 1961 Gemini Mk3A-09 Cosworth-Ford FJ Part 4 of 15
[Continued from Part 3]
Rear of grid, (left side of photo) – the tip of the nose of the dark green Bill Gardiner Tojeiro Jaguar
Row 5 (rear row) – the first red car #22 is Bob Smith in his modified Ferrari Tipo 555 Super Squalo; the partly obscured blue car beyond #22 is #31 Brian Prescott Maserati 250F 2501/2523; the next red car is #25 Rex Flowers Gemini Mk3A; the white car on the far side is #33 Simon Taylor Jaguar ‘D’ Type
Row 4 – #14 Chris Amon Maserati 250F 2504/09; the darker red car to Amon’s left is #24 Jim Boyd HWM Alta; on the far side is a red car with a white fin #52 Bill Thomasen Cooper T51 Climax
Row 3 – The black car on the right is #16 Rod Coppins Tec Mec V8 sports; next to Coppins is a red car #17 John Mansel Cooper T51 Maserati; the dark green car with crew in white overalls is #36 Peter Elford Cooper T20 Bristol; on the far side next to Elford is a driver with a white helmet just visible # 28 Barry Cottle Lola Mk1 Climax
Row 2 – beyond Coppins’ helmet is a black car with a yellow stripe # 23 Bob Eade Maserati 250F 2508; on left of Eade on the far side and barely visible is a low green car #43 Ross Greenville Lotus 18 FJ Ford
Front Row –the red car beyond the front of Coppins with a driver wearing a white helmet is #19 Pat Hoare Ferrari 256 Dino V12
Race 3 Bardahl Ardmore Championship for NZ Drivers only – First lap at College Corner – #5 Angus Hyslop Cooper T53 Climax leading #17 John Mansel Cooper T51 Maserati; on the right edge of the photo is Tony Shelly Cooper T45 Climax; inside of Shelly and behind Mansel is #16 Rod Coppins Tec Mec sports car; in the photo to the right of Coppins is #15 Forest Cardon Lycoming Special; to left the rear of Coppins is #31 Brian Prescott Maserati 250F 2501/2523; behind Cardon is #14 Chris Amon Maserati 250F 2504/09, behind Amon is Bill Gardiner Tojeiro Jaguar; between and behind Prescott and Amon is #23 Bob Eade Maserati 250F 2508; to the right of Eade is #46 Roly Levis Cooper T52 Ford; to left of Eade is #25 Rex Flowers Gemini Mk3A FJ Ford; behind Flowers is #28 Barry Cottle Lola Mk1 Climax sports; to left of Flowers is #33 Simon Taylor Jaguar ‘D’ Type; at rear on the left is #45 Ian Green Cooper T39 Bobtail Climax – photo ‘unknown’ in Jim Barclay Collection
Results of Race 3 run on a dry track:
1 5 Angus Hyslop Cooper T53 Climax 2500cc 15 laps 21min 21.1 sec
2 19 Pat Hoare Ferrari 256 Dino V12 2953cc 15 laps 21min 26.7 sec
3 17 Johnny Mansel Cooper T51 Maserati 2800cc 15 laps 21 min 32.7 sec
4 18 Tony Shelly Cooper T45 Climax 1960cc 15 laps 22min 6.8 sec
5 52 Bill Thomasen Cooper T51 Climax 1960cc 15 laps 22 min 24.1 sec
6 14 Chris Amon Maserati 250F 2504/09 2493cc 15 laps 22min 29.7 sec
7 43 Ross Greenville Lotus 18 Ford 998cc
8 15 Forest Cardon Lycoming Special 5239cc
9 Unknown
10 23 Bob Eade Maserati 250F 2508 2493cc
11 16 Rod Coppins Tec Mec 4600cc
14 25 Rex Flowers Gemini M3A FJ 996cc
Ardmore Event 7 – Ultimate Ekco Race Car Feature – a 12 lap handicap race. There were 59 cars listed in the Official Programme for the Ultimate Ekco Race Car Feature; some of these entrants were dual-entered in the NZIGP, so did not start in the Ultimate Ekco race, and some cars were also entered in two other Sports Car races on the day so did race in the Ultimate Ekco race. Rex qualified 6th fastest of the 27 cars (some sources said 24 cars?) in the handicap race, so he was well down the grid behind the first and slowest cars to start. In the race, it is clear that the handicapper was not able to work his magic in order to have nearly all the cars arrive at the finish line together and, apart from #28 Barry Cottle in his Lola Mk1 Climax sports racing car who finished 2nd in the race having started with a big handicap, the faster cars could not catch the slower cars before the end of the race. Rex said in 2019 he remembers he had his own problems with a slipping clutch in the Gemini such that he finished well down the field in 23rd place. The results of the race were as follows:
1st 45 Ian Green Cooper T39 Bobtail Climax 1min 12 sec handicap 20 min 44 sec
2nd 28 Barry Cottle Lola Mk1 Climax 2min 53 sec handicap 19min 16.2 sec
3rd 76 J Scurrah Lotus Consul 50 secs sec handicap 21min 27.85 sec
4th 71 P McLoughlin Austin Healey 40 secs sec handicap 22min 1.2 sec
5th 58 Arthur Van Thiel Austin Healey 10 secs sec handicap 22min 34.4 sec
6th 80 R Butler Porsche 1min 12 sec handicap 21 min 32.5 sec
The fastest time for the race was by #16 Rod Coppins in his Tec Mec V8 sports racing car, who was last to start with a 3min 20 sec handicap, and he recorded a race time of 19 minutes 01 seconds.
Ardmore Event 9 – The 9th New Zealand International Grand Prix – 75 laps/150 miles – Although he is shown in the official programme as an entry, Rex was not fast enough to qualify the Gemini for the NZIGP. Light rain started as the 21 cars in the GP formed up on the Dummy Grid and soon after the start of the race a torrential downpour hit the circuit. Rain continued throughout the race and Stirling Moss in his Rob Walker-owned Lotus 21 Climax 2.5 was in a class of his own, leading by some distance. As the race progressed, and with the prevailing conditions as bad as they were, the race officials shorted the race to 50 laps, down from the scheduled 75 laps. Given the very bad driving conditions, Rex must have been somewhat relieved that he was not driving in the race! With a race time of 1 hour 23 minutes and 14.8 seconds, Stirling Moss won from John Surtees in a Bowmaker-Yeoman sponsored Cooper T53 Climax, with Bruce McLaren third in the Tommy Atkins-sponsored Cooper T53 Climax.
Vic Hudson Memorial Meeting, Levin – Saturday 13th January 1962 – One week after the NZIGP meeting was held at Ardmore, Rex drove his Gemini Mk3A in the ‘Vic Hudson Memorial Meeting’ held at Levin on Saturday 13th January 1962.
A race report contained in the book ‘The Twenty Year History of the Levin Motor Racing Circuit 1956-1976’, at page 129, noted ‘The day dawned wet and dismal and continued that way, only getting worse as the morning moved on.’ After having completed Official Practice that was held on the Friday, the first event for Rex was in Race 8 for ‘Formula Libre Racing and Sports Cars’ and held over 8 laps. This race was also Heat 2 to establish the fastest cars to be qualifiers for the main race of the day, the Vic Hudson Trophy Race. Entrants in Event 8 were:
Results of Event 8 at Levin were:
1st 11 Chris Amon Maserati 250F 2504/2509 9 minutes 14 seconds
2nd 43 Ross Greenville Lotus 18 Ford FJ 9 minutes 14.1 seconds
3rd 23 Bob Eade Maserati 250F 2508 9 minutes 51.2 seconds
4th 41 Jim Palmer Lotus 20 Ford 10 minutes 3.2 seconds
7th 25 Rex Flowers Gemini Mk3A Ford FJ
[Continue with Part 5]
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