Tasman Cup F5000 racing – Kenneth (Ken) James Smith OBE (Auckland)

Tasman Cup in 1975 – Ken’s 1975 Tasman Cup series of eight-rounds over 8 weeks showed great consistency from him while at the same time he was learning about racing the new Lola amongst more experienced F5000 drivers. His consistency in the eight Tasman races saw him finish in seven races, losing out in only one race due to a faulty fuel metering unit.

Starting at Levin on 5th January 1975, Ken qualified an excellent 4^th and took his #11 Lola to 5^th place, having had to visit the pits on lap 4 with a puncture.  At Pukekohe on 12 January for the NZIGP he qualified 5^th and finished 5^th. Round 3 at Wigram on 19 January saw him with a persistent engine misfire so he qualified only 7^th and having been plagued by the misfire during the race and with another puncture, 9th pace was the best he could do, being 4 laps down on the winner Graham McRae (McRae GM2)  who completed 44 laps. Round 4 at Teretonga on 26^th January saw Ken qualify 3^rd but with two visits to the pits during the race for two more punctures he finished 8^th on 54 of the 62 laps.

Across the Tasman Sea he went to Australia for Round 5 at Oran Park 100, NSW, on 2 February 1975 where Ken qualified 10^th and finished 6^th, two laps down in the 61 lap race won by Warwick Brown from Graeme Lawrence, John Walker, Chris Amon and John McCormack. Round 6 was at Surfers Paradise, Queensland, on 9 February where Ken qualified 4^th and finished an excellent 2^nd to John Walker in his Lola T332 after 50 laps. Round 7 at Adelaide a week later saw Ken qualify 7^th but with fuel metering problems he recorded his first DNF of the series when he retired on lap 42 of the scheduled 67 laps. The final race of the 1975 Tasman Cup was held at Sandown, Vic, on 23 February where Ken qualified 10^th and finished 7^th, one lap down, after 52 laps. With 11 points overall in the series, Ken finished 9^th equal in the 1975 Tasman Cup that was won by Graham Brown with 31 points from Graeme Lawrence on 30 points, both in Lola T332s.

1975/76 NZ Gold Star – the eight-round Post Office savings Bank (POSB) sponsored 1975/76 NZ Gold Star championship began at Teretonga on 12 October 1975. With only four cars in the race, Ken lead a very tight and keen race-long battle against Graeme Lawrence in his T332 – with Ken the victor.  One week later saw Round 2 at Ruapuna, where Ken was 1^st in both 16 Lap Heats and thus took the overall round points on aggregate.  Round 3 at Levels, Timaru, was held on 26 October and Ken took 1^st place from Baron Robertson in his Elfin MR5 F5000 and Graeme Lawrence.  Round 4 was at Pukekohe on 16 November and in Heat 1 Graeme Lawrence beat Ken for the first time in the new season, with Jim Murdoch in Begg 018 in 3^rd place. Heat 2 saw Ken take the win from Graeme Lawrence and Jim Murdoch.  With one win and a second place each, Ken shared round points with Graeme Lawrence. 

On to Levin for Round 5 on 6 December 1975 where Ken qualified 3^rd and finished 1^st after 20 laps and ahead of Australian Bruce Allison’s T332 (Bruce was not eligible for Gold Star points) and Graeme Lawrence.  On 7 December at Levin, the Sharp Calculators International Test – Round 1 was held and although qualifying 3^rd, Ken recorded his first ‘DNF’ of the season when he collided with a spinning Jim Murdoch on lap 6 of 10.   Round 6 of the Gold Star was at Manfeild on 14 December and in Heat 1 over 12 laps, Ken was 3^rd behind Allison and fellow Australian, Max Stewart (Lola T400). As neither of these Australians were eligible for Gold Star points, Ken took them instead. Heat 2, also over 12 laps, saw Ken in 1^st place ahead of Allison, Lawrence and Stewart.  In the Sharp Calculators Test, Round 2, Ken was hit by Stewart on lap 2 of 10, causing Ken to hit a bank with some force and thus retire from the race. Round 7 was at Baypark on 28 December and over 25 laps, Graeme Lawrence took the flag ahead of Ken with Baron Robertson 3^rd. The final race, Round 8, was at Pukekohe on 3 January 1976 and Ken took the win from Jim Murdoch and Baron Robertson.

With a convincing display Ken took 1^st place in the NZ Gold Star 1975/76 on 67.5 points. In 11 races over the 8 Rounds he took:- 7 x 1^st places, 2 x 2^nd places, 1 x 3rd (1st on points), 1 x 3^rd (2^nd on points).  Graeme Lawrence was 2^nd on 39.5 points, Baron Robertson 3^rd on 30 points, and Jim Murdoch was 4^th.

1976 NZ Peter Stuyvesant international series – As there was no longer a Tasman Cup, Ken began the four-round ‘1976 NZ Peter Stuyvesant’ series at Pukekohe on 4 January 1976. Having qualified 2^nd to Graeme Lawrence, Ken drove  a very fine 50 lap race to win the NZ Grand Prix;  he was (and still is) delighted ! Round 2 at a wet Manfeild a week later brought huge frustration – he again qualified 2nd to Graeme Lawrence but because he had no rain tyres, he finished in a lowly 9^th place on 45 of the 50 laps.  Round 3 at Wigram returned the smiles as having qualified 2^nd, this time to Max Stewart, Ken took the win after 44 laps and thus returned the double – fine wins in both the NZIGP Pukekohe and the Lady Wigram in the same year.  The final round of the series was at Teretonga on 25 January and this saw yet another 2nd place in qualifying, once again to Graeme Lawrence. After 62 laps Ken finished 2^nd some 38 seconds behind the flying winner in Graeme Lawrence. With 24 points, Ken finished as the clear winner in the 1976 Peter Stuyvesant series ahead of Bruce Allison on 16 points, Jim Murdoch on 10, Kevin Bartlett, Graeme Lawrence and Brian Redman (Chevron-BMW) all on 9 points.

1976 Rothmans International Series, Australia. One week after racing at Teretonga, Ken was racing his Lola T332 in the 4-round ‘Rothmans International’ series in Australia. Round 1 was on 1 February 1976 at Oran Park, NSW, where Ken qualified 7^th and finished the 60 lap race in 3^rd place behind Vern Schuppan (Lola T332) and Kevin Bartlett (T400).  Round 2 was at Adelaide one week later and it was a Ken Smith benefit – 1^st in qualifying and 1^st in the 68 lap race ahead of Schuppan, John Leffler T400, Milton (McLaren M22) and Bartlett.  Round 3 was at Sandown, Victoria, where Ken qualified 4^th and finished 4^th on 46 of the 47 laps behind Canadian John Cannon (March 73A), Vern Schuppan, and John Goss (Matich A53).  The final round was to have been at Surfers Paradise, Qld, and after qualifying 9^th on a wet track, the race was postponed and later cancelled due to heavy rain flooding the circuit.  Ken completed the now 3-round Rothmans Championship in 2^nd place on 16 points behind Vern Schuppan on 21 points, with John Cannon 3^rd on 9 points.

1976 NZ Gold Star – in a very limited seven car field of mixed F5000, F2 and Formula Pacific race cars, the 3-round 5 race ‘NZ Gold Star’ series began at Manfeild on 31 October 1976. Ken qualified 1^st for Heat 1 over 8 laps and took the flag first from Graeme Lawrence in his T332 – and Ken repeated the formula with another first place for Heat two.  At Ruapuna for Round 2 on 21 November, Ken again won both 15 lap Heats from Graeme Lawrence.  The final event, and seemingly the final race to include F5000 cars, was at Timaru on 28 November where Ken once again took 1^st place, this time in a 30 lap race. Having finished 1^st in all 5 races, Ken was annoyed to be classified by Motorsport NZ as runner-up in the NZ 1976 Gold Star, a series apparently heavily weighted to Formula Pacific cars.

With no opportunity to race the Lola T332 in New Zealand in 1977, now that Formula Pacific was the nominated formula, Ken took his Lola T332 to Australia and raced at Calder, Vic, before selling the car to Chris Milton who in turn raced the car from September 1977 onwards in the Australian series. After a series of subsequent owners Ken’s Lola T332 has been owned since 1993 by Noel and Andrew Robson of Melbourne, Vic, and is seen from time to time in F5000 revival races in Australia.

A summary of Ken’s races with his Lola T332 –

1975 Tasman Cup – 9^th place.  In eight rounds -5^th, 5^th, 9^th, 8^th, 6^th, 2^nd DNF, 7^th.

1975/76 NZ Gold Star –1^st place over 8 rounds/11 races – 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 1, 2, 1 (plus 2 x DNF in non-Gold Star races).

1976 NZ Peter Stuyvesant Intl series – 1^st place – 4 races – 1,9,1,2

1976 Australian Rothmans Intl series – 2^nd place – 3 races – 3, 1, 4

1976 NZ Gold Star – 5 wins but 2^nd place on weighted points –5 races – 1,1,1,1,1

A well prepared and thus reliable F5000 car driven with skill and consistency were hallmarks of Ken Smith in his Lola T332 – in 33 F5000 races over 2.5 seasons in New Zealand and Australia, Ken had only 3 ‘DNF’, one of which was due to a faulty engine fuel metering unit and two were because of accidents (hitting a spinning car and being hit by another spinning car).

Ken Smith – just some of his many achievements in a lifetime of motorsport

• Awarded MBE in 1987 in Queens Birthday Honours List for ‘services to motorsport’
• Inducted to Motorsport NZ ‘Wall of Fame’ in 1995
• Had a triple heart bypass in 1987 – and raced 3 months later
• NZ Gold Star Champion in 1975/76, 1983/84, 1984/85, 1986/87, 1989/90.
• Three-time winner of NZIGP – 1976 (Lola T332 F5000), 1989/90 Swift DB4 (Formula Pacific), 2004 Tatuus-Toyota (Toyota Race Series)
• First place 1976 NZ Peter Stuyvesant International F5000 series
• Second place 1976 Australian Rothmans International F5000 series
• Three-time winner of the F5000 Tasman Revival series 2008/9, 2009/10, 2010/11 – all in David Abbott’s Lola T430
• Three-time winner of Penang GP, Malaysia
• Two-time winner of Selangor GP, Malaysia
• Winner of Malaysian GP 1979 (March-Ford)

Ken’s best race – Ken rates the 1976 NZ International Grand Prix at Pukekohe as his best. He is very proud to have his name on the NZ Grand Prix trophy together with other winners including Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren.

Ken’s best car – Ken rates the Lola T332 HU8 F5000 as his best car.

Ken’s ‘new’ Lola T332 – In recent years Ken tried to buy back his Lola T330/332 HU8 from Noel and Andrew Robson so he could race it again. Having had no success he instead purchased the ex-Danny Ongais Lola T332 Chassis HU54 from USA and after he got it back to New Zealand he undertook a most extensive rebuild of the car, including repainting it to match the La Valaise colour scheme he used in the 1970s. However, he was soon to suffer the misfortune of damaging the car quite severely in a start line accident at Manfeild in late 2011.  With the car since repaired Ken has gained much enjoyment in racing the immaculate red La Valaise Travel liveried Lola T332 in F5000 Revival events in New Zealand and Australia.