A discussion was starting to open up in my build thread so I thought I'd give it a life of its own here. May only be of interest to some Kiwis and may die a natural death but this will start the ball rolling.
Yeah, Colin Smith built a series of Rhubarbs, about four or five I think. My fading memory recollects that they were alloy monos. The first one had a one piece body that lifted on and off. This had the Bedford/Vauxhall power plant. Maybe the one Dennis Marwood had. Not sure about the others.
Unfortunately I don't have many pictures. In those days my main focus was on getting results rather than recording everything for posterity. That is why the majority of photos of my old Noble Ford 1600 that I posted here, http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-build-logs/16138-kiwi-scratchbuilt-12.html#post272937 , were from newspaper cuttings etc that people had kept over the years and a few photos that friends/rellies had taken at the track.
Odlins sponsorship was carried by Tom Donovan, a larger than life party animal. A really great guy, most remembered for his turbo Ford 1430 Twin Cam powered Austin Healey Sprite. Not much Sprite left in it though! He may have run one of the Rhubarbs after that with this engine, I'm not sure. The SCANZ championship was a 2 litre class. The turbo multiplier was 1.4 in those days hence the slightly under 1430 engine.
SCANZ was essentially a class for Kiwis who wanted to build their own. It was introduced when MANZ killed off the big banger sports cars in favour of F5000. The rationale at the time being the country was too small to do justice to two non-saloon V8 racing classes.
Rules were simple and easily policed. 2 litres, 2 valves, 2 seats, minimum cockpit dimensions, and had to comply with the scrutineering safety schedule. That's it, no other restrictions!
The first season was pretty competitive and the majority of top runners sold their cars for good money at the end of the season. For one reason or another the cars/drivers the following year did not seem to have the pace, in fact many of the lap records that I set stood for another two or three years. I think most of these eventually fell to the new Rhubarb cars.
Bruce Turnbull who now produces world class Saker cars was also a competitor in this class which probably proves it's worth.
Hopefully someone has some pics and more info for Leonmac, as I was right away from the scene for the next half dozen years, setting up a business, getting married, having kids.... before getting back into it in a Formula Ford in the early eighties. But I digress.....
Hey!! those were the days. That was a time when you could really get great sports car racing with the old SCANZ class. I remember a car called a "Rubarb" now my memory is pretty dodgy but I think it was the Odlins Timber sponsered car and was running a turbo Lotus Twin Cam 1500 and also there was a car that I think was run at one point by Dennis Marwood that was powered by a 2litre slant Vauxhall SOHC, it had a very nice body on it that rose over the roll bar and ran out into the rear spoiler unfortunaly I don't have any pictures only the mental ones that never fade.
If you have more of that old sports car stuff feel free to post it or just send it to me so I can get some more Ideas.
Keep it coming mate. Leonmac
Yeah, Colin Smith built a series of Rhubarbs, about four or five I think. My fading memory recollects that they were alloy monos. The first one had a one piece body that lifted on and off. This had the Bedford/Vauxhall power plant. Maybe the one Dennis Marwood had. Not sure about the others.
Unfortunately I don't have many pictures. In those days my main focus was on getting results rather than recording everything for posterity. That is why the majority of photos of my old Noble Ford 1600 that I posted here, http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-build-logs/16138-kiwi-scratchbuilt-12.html#post272937 , were from newspaper cuttings etc that people had kept over the years and a few photos that friends/rellies had taken at the track.
Odlins sponsorship was carried by Tom Donovan, a larger than life party animal. A really great guy, most remembered for his turbo Ford 1430 Twin Cam powered Austin Healey Sprite. Not much Sprite left in it though! He may have run one of the Rhubarbs after that with this engine, I'm not sure. The SCANZ championship was a 2 litre class. The turbo multiplier was 1.4 in those days hence the slightly under 1430 engine.
SCANZ was essentially a class for Kiwis who wanted to build their own. It was introduced when MANZ killed off the big banger sports cars in favour of F5000. The rationale at the time being the country was too small to do justice to two non-saloon V8 racing classes.
Rules were simple and easily policed. 2 litres, 2 valves, 2 seats, minimum cockpit dimensions, and had to comply with the scrutineering safety schedule. That's it, no other restrictions!
The first season was pretty competitive and the majority of top runners sold their cars for good money at the end of the season. For one reason or another the cars/drivers the following year did not seem to have the pace, in fact many of the lap records that I set stood for another two or three years. I think most of these eventually fell to the new Rhubarb cars.
Bruce Turnbull who now produces world class Saker cars was also a competitor in this class which probably proves it's worth.
Hopefully someone has some pics and more info for Leonmac, as I was right away from the scene for the next half dozen years, setting up a business, getting married, having kids.... before getting back into it in a Formula Ford in the early eighties. But I digress.....