Rex Flowers: A Story of his 1961 Gemini Mk3A-09 Cosworth-Ford FJ Part 5 of 15
[Continued from Part 4]
The next race at Levin for Rex was Event 15 for ‘Formula Libre Racing and Sports Cars’ which was the main race of the day for the Vic Hudson Trophy. At this time, the list of cars that started the race is not known, but it did include those as shown below:
Having earlier won Race 4, which also served as Heat 1 of two of the Vic Hudson Trophy qualifiers, Jack Brabham was on Pole for the main race in his Cooper T55, followed by Stirling Moss (Lotus 21), John Surtees (Cooper T53) and Bruce McLaren (Cooper T53). Just as had happened at Ardmore for the NZIGP the previous weekend, there was heavy rain over the Levin track for the main race. The aforementioned Levin book recorded ‘Weather conditions were deteriorating and officials, after cancelling one race, brought the main event forward. When the cars came out to form up the grid, there were streams of water all around the circuit and it was particularly wet at the Hairpin. From the drop of the flag Brabham shot into the lead and by lap two had a clear 100 yard lead over second place getter Stirling Moss. What was really incredible was the speed Brabham was maintaining. He was lapping at around 57 seconds, only 1.8 seconds outside the record set by Bonnier [Yeoman Credit Cooper T51 Climax 2.5 in January 1961]. McLaren was the first to go, sliding off at the Hairpin but managed to regain the track, losing a couple of places. Next, Tony Shelly had a big slide down the grass verge on the main straight. Officials got him back on the track but fled for their safety as other cars came round again.
On his seventh lap, Angus Hyslop, who was lying in a handy fourth place ahead of McLaren and Salvadori, really set the crowd alight as he spun for over 300 years on the in-field just off the main straight. He sent photographers and marshals scattering in all directions as he had little or no control over the car once it got onto the grass. It was only seconds after this that the Steward of the Meeting declared the conditions were too dangerous to continue and the chequered flag was hung out to Jack Brabham who was declared the winner after only eight of the scheduled 28 laps had been completed and the rest of the meeting that day was cancelled.’
Results of Race 15, (that became Race 14), the ‘Vic Hudson Trophy Race’, shortened from 28 to 8 laps, were as follows. (David McKinney recorded Rex finishing in 8th position).
1st 4 Jack Brabham Cooper T55 Climax 2.7 7 minutes 52 seconds
2nd 7 Stirling Moss Lotus 21 Climax 2.5 7 minutes 59.5 seconds
3rd 1 John Surtees Cooper T53 Climax 2.7 8 minutes 19 seconds
4th 47 Bruce McLaren Cooper T53 Climax 2.7 8 minutes 28.6 seconds
5th 2 Roy Salvadori Cooper T53 Climax 2.5 8 minutes 48 seconds
6th 43 Ross Greenville Lotus 18 FJ 998cc
7th 23 Bob Eade Maserati 250F 2508 2493cc
8th 25 Rex Flowers Gemini Mk3A-09 FJ 996cc
Rex’s final race for the day, Race 19 ‘Formula Libre Scratch’ race over 8 laps was cancelled due to dangerous track conditions.
Lady Wigram Trophy Race meeting, RNZAF Station Wigram, Christchurch – Saturday 20th January 1962 – The next event for Rex in his Gemini was held only one week after the very wet meeting at Levin and this was the Lady Wigram Trophy race meeting held on the airfield at RNZAF Station Wigram, Christchurch on Saturday 20th January 1962. Although Rex entered the ‘big race’, being the Lady Wigram Trophy race, he again would need to qualify. But on a new track and in hot conditions, Rex was not fast enough to make to grid for the Trophy Race. Instead, he raced in the MRC Championship race.
The ‘Motor Racing Club (MRC) Championship’ was a scratch race for ‘open cars not entered or not qualifying for the Lady Wigram Trophy race’. Originally scheduled to be run over 20 laps, the race was reduced to 15 laps. Because he had not qualified the Gemini for the Lady Wigram Trophy Race, Rex was a late entry to MRC Championship race, and as there was already an entrant in the MRC race carrying car number 25, Rex had to add an extra numeral ‘1’ to his normal race number 25 to become car #125. Photos below show that for the first time an extra ‘number 25’ in white numerals had been added to the Gemini in the right hand side of the rear engine cover.
It is not known where Rex qualified on the start grid but he finished 5th in the MRC Championship race that was won by #17 Maurie Stanton in his fearsome chain-driven Stanton-Corvette. #41 Arthur Moffat in his ex-Jim Palmer Lotus 15 Climax 1960cc sports racing car was second, and Barry Cottle in his Lola Mk1 Climax 1220cc sports racer was third.
The Lady Wigram Trophy race – Although his entry is shown in the official programme, Rex did not qualify the Gemini as one of the 18 cars that started in the 1962 Lady Wigram Trophy race. The race was run over 71 laps for a race distance of 241km in dry and very hot conditions. Stirling Moss won the race in his Rob Walker Lotus 21 Climax 2.5 with a race time of 1 hour 36 minutes and 38.7 seconds. Jack Brabham was second in his ‘works’ Cooper T55 Climax 2.7 and John Surtees in the Bowmaker-Yeoman Cooper T53 Climax 2.7 was third. McLaren was fourth, Salvadori fifth, Hyslop sixth, Glass seventh and Mansel eighth. Moss and Surtees shared fastest lap at 1 minute 20.1 seconds.
Teretonga International, Invercargill – Saturday 27th January 1962. Rex entered his Gemini in the Fifth International Teretonga meeting held on the Teretonga circuit near Invercargill on Saturday 27th January 1962.
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