Racers. - VARAC

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Page 6 Brack bought Gord Brown’s Mini (above) and promptly went ice racing…bottom right is the “Hot Wheels Mini”. we passed by. Cops would just stare unblinking, daring me to go over the speed limit, which was actually much harder than it seemed in this well thrashed mini brick. And it was noisy, too. Th e tools in the back would crash from side to side in the corners and my girlfriend would always get a headache. Come to think of it, aft er I married her, she always seemed to have a headache, too. It didn’t last. Brack’s Racing Minis Bill Brack told me he originally started ice racing in Minis in a company car up near Huntsville. “Th en I bought my fi rst Mini from Gord Brown, a factory 850 Mini which Gord had raced the season before. I knew the Mini 850 well, having assisted with prepping the car and helping Gord at the races the previous two years.” Bill promptly took it ice racing, of all things. (When I asked him “Why ice racing?” he just looked at me and said “Because it was winter time.” …D’oh!) It was a 1959 Morris Mini 850 and Bill’s fi rst ice race was in Orillia, Ontario in the winter of 1961/62. In the spring he took the Mini to Waterford Hills and broke the track record for sedans in his fi rst road race. Around this time Bill teamed up with Doug Kindree from Burlington. Doug became Bill’s mechanic for the Mini until 1968. Bill raced the green Morris 850 known as “Miss Mini” until the end of the 1963 racing season, when he and Doug built a really quick 1275 Cooper “S”. According to Brack “Th e 1300cc improved production 850 was light, with Perspex windows and alloy panels in the fl oor, rear bulkhead, etc. Th e engine was bought from Jan Speed Engineering in England. Th e Mini weighed about 900 lbs. and developed approximately 130 hp. In most of the 1966 and 1967 races the Mini either won or fi nished in the top three. I usually qualifi ed on the fi rst row, racing against Mustangs and Camaros, etc, driven by Craig Fisher or Maurice Carter. Th en in 1968 we changed to FIA rules, ending an exciting era of racing in both sports cars and sedans in Canada. In 1967 I won the Touring Car Championship and a trip to Italy sponsored by Alitalia Airlines. I also raced the Mini at Nassau Speed Weekend. 1968 was my last year in a Mini when I drove the “Hotwheels” Cooper S. “ One of the curious advantages of being a Lotus dealer was that at one point the British government was so desperate for foreign currency that the government essentially covered the cost
Colin Chapman until the dealer actually sold the car. Brack quickly realized that this meant that he could race a Lotus 47 for a year and sell it at the end of the season. Bill went from the Lotus 47, a twin cam powered version of the Europa to a Lotus 41 Formula B with which he took the championship in 1967 and in 1968. From there it was on to Formula 5000 in a hybrid Lotus and a few one off rent a drives in Formula One with Lotus and BRM. Th e Lotus connection and some cash obtained a drive for Brack in the 1968 GP at St-Jovite. Th ree cars were brought by the team for Graham Hill, Jackie Oliver and a spare. $6,000 put Brack into the extra car. As it was the standby car and Hill was in the hunt for the world championship Bill was allowed only fi ve laps of practice and fi ve laps for qualifying. Unfortunately the car had a weakness in the rear drive shaft and Hill’s car had a suspected problem so overnight the drive shaft s were switched from Brack’s car to Hill’s. Starting in 17th position Brack had moved up to 13th when the inevitable happened, the drive shaft broke and his race was over. Hill’s car fi nished fourth and he ultimately won the 1968 world championship. William the Conqueror Bill told me he used to visit Chapman in England at the Lotus head offi ce, intriguingly located in a large old mansion with a huge staircase where one could imagine movie style swordfi ghts. Th e estate itself was known to be in existence during the time of Edward the Confessor (1004-1066) and was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror. Anyway, back to our story….Bill would present Chapman with a briefcase full of Lotus warranty claims. Chapman would just smile and turn his pockets inside out. “No money, Bill old chap, no money at all”. It was a harbinger of things to come. Chapman later hooked up with the ill-fated John Delorean and millions of pounds in fi nancing somehow went astray. Chapman died of a heart attack before the scandal broke. BRM and Phil Lamont at 1969 GP In 1969 Brack was again looking for a Canadian Grand Prix drive. Phil Lamont was track manager of Mosport in those days and also handled Sports Cars Unlimited and Brack’s other dealership’s advertising in Canada Track & Traffi c. “I contacted Tim Parnell of BRM and asked about spare car rental,” said Lamont. “I recommended Bill, and the fact he had driven a factory Lotus 49 in ‘68 certainly helped. Of course as Mosport manager, it also helped our PR if we could feature a Canadian driver in the GP, so my eff orts were for both Bill and the track.” Page 7
Page 1 and 2: Vol: XXXVIII NO. 2 MAY 2010 On-Line
Page 3 and 4: We Are VARAC VARAC, the Vintage Aut
Page 5: Bill Brack-the short version Th e s
Page 9 and 10: Brack’s Minis were the fans favou
Page 11 and 12: Bar Stool Nationals Photos courtesy
Page 13 and 14: 20,000 drunken spectators….. Dear
Page 15 and 16: Photo courtesy of the Ron Kielbiski
Page 17 and 18: Mosport/Mossport-it was a sterling
Page 19 and 20: NOTE - VARAC and/or Vintage Racer a
Page 21 and 22: MARKETPLACE John Dodd’s British S
Page 23 and 24: Page 23

Racers. - VARAC

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?