The magic of the 70s

[Monk BANzai]

the brown Avenger was my dad's..very nice car

the Brown Valiant nex to it belonged to a SDA Pastor...Peter Prime....clandestine and AVID motor racing fan...i used to bum rides with him to the race track when my dad cudnt bring me....which means...effectively..at some point...me and you wuda share a snow cone or a 7-up (they were free in the racers paddock) in that area as kids..


ok...TMI!!!

[MG Man]

lol even back then ah did feel yuh was ah cocky poseur flamsman

[Monk BANzai]

I can only drop this here becuz Gonsalves is in the pic..along with MR AUTOSPORT himself....



Story is that the engine in that Sunny costs $4,500 Quid ($45,000TTD) in the 80's to build...

Any background GOrdon?

(sorry if this is a bit off wallerfield and the 70's)

[wagonrunner]

which means...effectively..at some point...me and you wuda share a snow cone or a 7-up

which only further cements the fact, that anything you have Banzai already had.

[rspann]

Imagine that, I know the valiant, allyuh making me feel old. Glenda Prime taught me biology in St Georges so I remember the car well.

[wagonrunner]

was asked about pictures of an Alan Porter. Does anyone have?

[cornfused]

Wow thanks Mr. Gonzalves . Wonders if this is "Gonzee" . I remember those "formula" cars . Also have great memories of the ZMMA ( maybe the newest version ) and Doc battling it out. Also drivers like Drolly Francis ripping up those Dunlop Qualifiers .

[Specracing]

The vids of some of the races that took place with all the legends of Wallerfield in four parts courtesy of Narend Zorce!!
part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BUux709apA

part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQUKfq-u_Xw

part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNH1Lmc31xI

part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8e-98I8zJ0

[AutoSport]

I can only drop this here becuz Gonsalves is in the pic..along with MR AUTOSPORT himself....



Story is that the engine in that Sunny costs $4,500 Quid ($45,000TTD) in the 80's to build...

Any background GOrdon?

(sorry if this is a bit off wallerfield and the 70's)

Now seeing this and the question on the expensive engine. That is a fact. At that time, the 3-car Nissan team also had the son of a former CEO of N&M. Used to race single-seaters, like Gordon. And the engine was built by Geoff Richardson in England for his Nissan Sunny Rally Car. He eventually stopped Rallying and Gordon and myself ”inherited’ his Rally car. At the time the sunny engines were relatively new and there were not many performance parts, so this was a one off, by an internationally known engine builder thus the “price”.

On an excursion to Barbados with this car, we were out getting the feel of the Bajan terrain the night before an event, and came upon a huge pool of water. Gordon watched me and said he not coming out to check the depth of the pool. I said neither me. He stuck in 1st and launched, got through the water and the engine died. Engine refused to tumble afterwards.

Called Simon Gillmore who suggested we take out the plugs and try to tumble the engine. Sure enough engine turned over spitting out plumes of water. Simon said,… we have just experienced “dieseling”, that is, water in the combustion chamber, tried to compress, water does not compress, so all of the connecting rods were most likely bent. Towed the car to where we were housed.

Remember this is Friday night, Rally starts Saturday evening. At that time practically all of the Sunnys in Barbados came with 1300 engines, this was a 1500. No con rods available.

So at the time the team would go to Barbados, plus some directors from N&M. We cornered one who had a rented Sunny wagon… “Boss we have a problem, we want your engine”. He said no problem, but check with the manager of the rental department, yep all owned by N&M. Manager says, no problem, but when yuh finish, I want the engine back in the original car.

Oh did I mention that the rental was also automatic? We did have a good support mechanic, who pulled everything apart, did the swap and we collected the car and drove straight to the start without testing, car started to cut off, realized the gas lines were mixed. So we switched, and ran flawless. Informed the organizers of engine change, so also changed our competing class, and went on to win our Class in the event.

Then the undo part, to successfully swap back the rental engine. Sad to return to T&T with the fancy Geoff Richardson engine in parts in the trunk. Rebuilt, found out it just had a cam and Cosworth pistons!

Engine eventually sold to Nizam.

[Monk BANzai]

^^^ and allyuh didnt Dyno the engine for Fyahz before the event?.... rouse!!!!

[SR]

Hang a chain on the rearview mirror ....thats your dyno

[AutoSport]

^^^ and allyuh didnt Dyno the engine for Fyahz before the event?.... rouse!!!!

Dyno? Who is that?
Remember it was pliers and screw driver back then.
Never knew how much HP the engine was stated to produce. All the Dyno and the HP came together in the right foot of Gordon G.

Remember same car, ran a stage at Waller Field, pass all over the place and the man bend the front, the left side, the right side and then hit a pot hole and bend the left back cradle and only stop when the stage finish. Great Great rally days.

[nismoid]

omg omg omg omg
my dad's old car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


he bought it from eggy
by the time he was through with it, it had a Blydenstein Stage 4R racing head on the 2279cc block
I was about 4 when they used to be working on the car in the garage. Iever time it fired up I used to run under the table cuz it was so loud

the less said about this car when he sold it, the better
Even back then I can still remember when they came and took the car away

at one point it was black with castrol stripes over the top, front to back, off to one side, and a big Vauxhall Griffin logo on the racing number square

at least he bought the HSR with the money

Wow, I now looking thru these old threads and saw this,, MG a friend of mine has this car right now, I helped him build it to race back in the 90's actually its in Arima and has been parked up covered for the last 17 years, PM me if you wanna go check it out

[nutty4u2c]

I remember those days. Pure fun all the way.

[Tun3r]

my old man love those type of cars too

[Your_dream]

I hope we can see those days make a return sometime in the near future.

[tylerbennett]

Hey Gordon, Really something here is magical. Nice input guys.

[tylerbennett]

Becks' Terrapin 1.jpg


Becks' Terrapin 2.jpg



Boodram & Gonsalves (1).jpg

Beautiful pics seems too old.
Old is Gold.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Got this pic from Sean Bridglal

Chaguaramas Hangar motor racing 1973

[MG Man]

glory days indeed!!!!!

[MG Man]

This car is now in the UK, still competing

[MG Man]

more tasty goodness

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Frankie Boodram 1978

[ggonsalves]

Moodie leads, me second, Bob Howlings from UK third, etc.
The higher class (pictured) were limited to 1600cc twin-cam Ford-based engines. The cars were basically Formula B (Atlantic). Mine was a March 73B. There were a lot of different manufacturers.

Found this note with lap times from a day at Wallerfield with the Group 4 single-seaters circa 1982. The circuit at the time had the Da Costa Jones corner leading back onto the back straight.
The columns L to R are me, Peter Moodie, me again, Richard Knox.

March73B-Gonsalves-A-400x300.jpg (66.21 KiB) Viewed 9075 times

Gordon Gonsalves in his March 73B, probably at Trinidad's Wallerfield circuit in 1980 or 1981. Copyright Gordon Gonsalves 2021. Used with permission.
https://www.oldracingcars.com/march/73b ... -Gonsalves

[roadracer7]

Anyone with photos of The Jamaican Moody Brothers Rotary Powered Cherry Bomb?