Peter Brock Trophy

[CAB77]

One of the most prestigious trophies in slot car racing. Started in 1974 and was first won by Kim Axton. I'm hoping he and others that were racing back then can shed some light on to this story. He is the most recent chapter on the Peter Brock Trophy. http://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/thumbs-up-after-adrian-wings-it-for-884-laps-witho/1910661/

 

Embarrassing photos but a good plug for slot car racing at my track.

 

Cheers

[Rhythm Willie]

Good publicity Adrian and again congrats on the win.

 

Good to see that a number of different racers are winning the big events in recent years.

 

Also good to see a number of Open Group 7 races won with a single motors (Lindsay, yourself) and $65 steel chassis and the popularity of the reasonably inexpensive Grp 27 Lite, etc classes.

[jphanna]

There may be a few 'Peter Brock Trophy' races in the past. in 1992, POWERSLOT raceway held their own version of the 'BROCK trophy' in 1992. The track was based near Geelong from memory. congratulations on your win and story in the local paper.

[axman]

Congratulations Adrian (CAB77) on your Peter Brock Trophy win. Its been a long time since I saw this highly regarded trophy. As you say it has a long history. Years ago when I had the Quickslot track with Brian Ashmore one of our racers, and mates, David Hassall came to us with the Idea of getting Peter Brock to donate a trophy. Yeah, right. Well it happened, David as the editor for Auto Action new Brocky well. (So well in fact that David has written a couple of autobiography books on Brocky)

The first Peter Brock race was race was at the old Quickslot but later when we built Australia's first blue King track going the Brock race became highly prestigious event.

In 1974 the very first race Phil Brock came to the track with a "borrowed" Peter Jansons double decker bus. ( we all went to Macca's in it at lunchtime) Peter Brock came later and presented the trophy and we presented him with a replica slotcar of his Torana - I think built by Colin McDonald and Dean Harrington. Would'nt you know it.. he drove it round the track he'd never seen before and did'nt even fall of! I have a picture of that day and a race report (but still have problems posting pictures) I'm not sure how many Brock events there has been but I know a few on this forum also have there name on it. Would be good to hear from previous winners...

Axman

Edited June 23, 2013 by axman

[jphanna]

hi, I have a trophy here dated 1992. POWERSLOT RACEWAY - BROCK TROPHY 1992 - FLEXIKAR - 1st. as I stated, near geelong? john

[axman]

The trophy donated by Peter Brock is what I'm discussing. The Trophy is actually one that he had won himself and passed on to David Hassall as a perpetual trophy for slot car racing. At a Brock race Individual trophy's were given to podium finishers in each class on the day and the winner of the open class had his name inscribed on the perpetual trophy. the trophy was usually held by the winner until the next Peter Brock race.

Over the years this format may have changed... The. Names and dates on the perpetual Trophy show the timeline. I remember Peter from Mobile Raceway ringing me a few years ago as he had just found the trophy after it missing for a few years. He restored and re plated it... Again, some info would be good.

[Tim Tyler]

The trophy is still with us, and still in fine order. It is completely up-to-date with all winners names on it and is still held by the winner until the next race.

[axman]

Thanks Tim. Its pretty impressive that the Trophy has been around for nearly 40 years. Makes you wonder if some of the other big event trophy's are still out there that go back even further into Australian Slot car history. The Geoghegan Trophy and The Matich Trophy's are a couple of that come to mind for sprint races. Another one is The Total 24 Hour Enduro Trophy - sponsored by Total petrol. Huge, ugly thing the Quickslot guys finally managed to win 3 times getting it out of the clutches of the powerful Moonee Raceway team headed by John Gatens. I know we used to treck over to South Australia for a big Trophy race near the bus station. That Trophy never left South Australia... they were good then and they still are now..!

[kalbfellp]

Maybe some one still has the Brabham Trophy, probably the first national trophy for slot racing.

[bov]

Hope someone can help put a time line on this - in the early '80's a bunch of us from NSW including Wayne Bramble, Charlie Rickards, Greg Erskine, Neil Bolton & Toby Lee etc went down in a convoy (or was it back from?) to Thomastown (?) for the Brock Trophy. I still remember Charlie was in a Volvo, Neil in a 4cyl Commodore while Wayne and I we were in rented Commodore SLE which Avis wanted us to gently run in as it was brand new (yeah, right...)

 

I ended up 'pit-crewing' for Toby in the final (which I'm pretty sure 'we' (LOL) won. I do recall being hunckered down inside the bank for all the brackets of the final Polishing the resistors for his controllers (he had two Parma turbos he was alternating each bracket) and preparing braids for replacement at each lane change. So each bracket he had fresh braids and a pristine resistor - at the time i thought this was over the top, but results proved otherwise. Toby was a great guy to be with - I still have one of his chassis from the day, and the craftmanship is remarkable....

 

I'm possibly wrong - but wasn't the Matich Trohy race held at G&D & Parramatta? That's probably where Banno & I first met.... (still miss him just about every day...)

Edited June 24, 2013 by bov

[Rhythm Willie]

Kim,

 

That track/race in Adelaide was Shelton Raceways in Franklin Street run by Eddie Lorenzen.

 

I remember my father selling Rick Bishop the car that won that big race in about 1971. He used a 25 gauge arm in Mura type set up.

 

You came second with a car with "wings" and that was the first time we had ever seen "side dams/wings" , I came third with a car similar to Rick's, but my triple 31 turn hand wound arm slowed in the race and I ran an identical angle winder spring steel chassis and Lancer Ti22 body as Rick.

 

Phil, the Brabham Trophy lost popularity as Can/am sportcar races became much more prestigious/popular in the early 70's, my guess is that John Gatens, Don Elmore or someone from that era won the last one, but it would be great to track down the trophy.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Rhythm Willie

[axman]

Yes.. I remember that race. Rick Bishop (like John Gatens) was virtually unbeatable on their home tracks. On race day both had no humour, no chit chat, and were totally focused. I learnt a lot about strategy that weekend... trouble is I'm a blabermouth so race strategy is not my forte. The Shelton track had this "bitch Donut" that you drove downhill.. and it had a nasty 1 foot straight right in the middle of it to upset the car and driver. Interstaters hated it, I remember after a couple of trips to Shelton finally nailing the dreaded donut. That, combined with my new found aerodynamics had Rick worried. I was clearly faster so he had to do something.

Marshalling was almost impossible on the donut. The only way to retrieve a car was send the track marshall crawling out on a plank fixed just above the track. This caused a huge track blockout of crashed cars because Marshall bum was all you could see.

Well... back to Ricks strategy... he had a particularly attractive wife... so, in the main race guess who marshalled the donut. What made it worse it she wore tight hot pants so all you could see was this cute bum, and cars crashing everywhere. Especially when rick was on the inside lanes, out of the way of traffic and totally used to seing his wifes backside. I never had a pretty enough girlfriend to pull that one!

Edited June 29, 2013 by axman

[Garry J]

Kim, I'm guessing Leanne doesn't read any of this. You're in trouble if she does.

[stoo23]

As far as 'Lost Trophys' goes,... and the "Brabham" Trophy specifically,..there was some talk of this over on the MR forum some time ago now and it would appear that John Gatens has the Brabham Trophy, as he Was actually the Last Winner.

 

Charles Rickards had the "Geohegan" Trophy, which is Now back on the Calendar as a regular race at HSC.

 

The "Matich" trophy is apparently in the hands of a Yet to be found Sydney driver.

 

Anyone have Any idea of Who might have been the "LAST" Matich Winner ???

 

Cheers

[Rhythm Willie]

Kim,

 

I think it was his girlfriend at the time (might have eventually married), but she also used to race. We all pondered how someone that looked like a "grid girl" came to be Rick's girlfriend (although he always had nice sportscars, MGs Alfas etc. and used to compete in Gymkanas)

 

It was even more difficult to concentrate when someone in those tight hotpants and top, long blonde hair,high heels, red makeup and perfume was driving next to you.

 

Can't remember anyone ever having words with her if she knocked your car off, or marshalled badly etc. We were all gentlemen.

[axman]

Thanks Rhythm, Whew... glad you confirmed it... In my declining years I was beginning to think the girl in the hot pants was one of my more crazy dreams...

 

Thanks Stoo, good to hear from you, Thanks for the info. As you say if we figure out the last time and what track the Matich was run we might have a chance.

[Garry J]

The Matich was a G&D race and the trophy never left the track (AFAIK). Ron Griffin might know where it is, he helped dismantle the raceway when it closed.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Garry J

[axman]

Bit of Brock trophy history... Got an Email today from David Hassall who instigated the the Brock Trophy, Davids story reads like this...

 

"I went to Brocky's flat in Kew to get a suitable Trophy and he dug this one out from under his bed. It was from a Catalina rallycross meeting and I think it was actually for the fastest time of the day rather than an outright win. We were both impressed at such a trophy for a relatively minor achievment. We just pulled off the plaque and put a new one on, which is the one that's there to this day. I dont know about you Kim but having my name on that Trophy is very special to me and I trust that the slot car folk today take good care of it."

 

Thanks David, and for those of you that dont know David Hassall also published an Australian slot Car magazine called Trackspeed which he still has all the copies. A pretty good almanac of slotcar racing in the seventies could be compiled If we could also get copies of Dave Smiths Slotcar Magazine Mini Wheels... must be some still out there, I have a few.

Regards,

Kim

Edited June 28, 2013 by axman

[Rhythm Willie]

I have a few of Dave Smith's Miniwheels mags.

 

I can't seem to find the few pages of the first Miniwheels I had from 1969 that mainly covered NSW racing at the time (then covered interstate racing after), but it had a comprehensive report on the 1969 Jack Brabham Trophy Race that I attended which was run on the G&D 6 lane Hillclimb track in Paramatta.

 

From my faded memory, the main results were Ian Bannister (NSW), Dave Rittie {NSW), Peter Chatfield (SA), me (SA), John Gatens (Vic) and John Couch? (Vic).

 

Dave Smith was a great promoter of the hobby in those days. The Slotz Revival Race in 1977 in Sydney is still probably the biggest race I have ever attended.

 

Dennis

[CAB77]

I can assure you that this trophy is still regararded as the trophy to win and to have a my name on it now is a great honour which I haven't taken lightly. I wil compile the list of past winners and post it on here tomorrow. Hopefully we can fill In the years at which track they were run on.

[Mr Ford]

Hope someone can help put a time line on this - in the early '80's a bunch of us from NSW including Wayne Bramble, Charlie Rickards, Greg Erskine, Neil Bolton & Toby Lee etc went down in a convoy (or was it back from?) to Thomastown (?) for the Brock Trophy. I still remember Charlie was in a Volvo, Neil in a 4cyl Commodore while Wayne and I we were in rented Commodore SLE which Avis wanted us to gently run in as it was brand new (yeah, right...)

 

I ended up 'pit-crewing' for Toby in the final (which I'm pretty sure 'we' (LOL) won. I do recall being hunckered down inside the bank for all the brackets of the final Polishing the resistors for his controllers (he had two Parma turbos he was alternating each bracket) and preparing braids for replacement at each lane change. So each bracket he had fresh braids and a pristine resistor - at the time i thought this was over the top, but results proved otherwise. Toby was a great guy to be with - I still have one of his chassis from the day, and the craftmanship is remarkable....

 

I'm possibly wrong - but wasn't the Matich Trohy race held at G&D & Parramatta? That's probably where Banno & I first met.... (still miss him just about every day...)

 

Yes both the Matich and Geoghegan were held at G&D . Can't remember now which was held over the easter Weekend but I have very fond memories of Daphne , Karen and Gaylene feeding us hot cross buns in the early cold mornings . Golden days

Edited July 25, 2013 by Mr Ford

[Garry J]

The Matich was held at Easter and clashed with the Nationals in later years. This led to the race losing it's prestige and being won by people who were usually eliminated in Z consi.

 

The Geoghegan has been a travelling trophy for most of its life, moving around various raceways.

 

Adrian, are you still compiling the list of winners for the Brock?

Edited July 25, 2013 by Garry J

[CAB77]

Sorry Gents for the delay. Between work and racing I have been a little busy but here is the list.

 

1974 Kim Axton VIC

1975 Herb Nagel NSW

1976 Rick Bishop S.A.

1977 David Hassall VIC

1978 Gary Griffey S.A.

1979 Graeme Roberts VIC

1980 D Harrington VIC

1981 Toby Lee NSW

1982 Wayne Bramble NSW

1983 Wayne Bramble NSW

1984

1985 B. Wilson

1986 Gary Johnson

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991 Paul Orr VIC

1992 Peter Dight VIC

1993 Peter Dight VIC

1994 Charles Rickards NSW

1995 George Bouziotis S.A.

1996 George Bouziotis S.A.

1997 Lee Evans VIC

1998 Tony Pye NSW

1999 Garry Fry VIC

2000 Garry Fry VIC

2001 Garry Fry VIC

2002 David Fitzgerald NSW

2003 Tim Tyler VIC

2004 Tim Tyler Vic

2005 Ivan Wearne NSW

2006 Charlie Rickards NSW

2007 Wayne Bramble NSW

2008 Tim Tyler

2009 Ivan Wearne NSW

2010 Wayne Bramble NSW

2011 Paul "Beuf" Pederson USA

2012 Mick Belot QLD-VIC

2013 Adrian Bycroft QLD

[pmdaniels]

 

Reading through this has been great seeing all the names has brought back many memories. I raced at the end of the seventies mainly at G&D. I came 2nd to Dave Smith at a national at G&D beating Kym ,Brian ,Charlie Frost and Rickards. I remember a race series at G&D where we had to qualify over a series of races and at the end Wayne Bramble beat me by 1lap ! I also remember building a Gp12 car for Neil Bolton with which he won. I also won the first Gp20 national 3race series(Adelaide Melbourne Sydney) Not bragging here just remembering. All this was late seventies.

[axman]

Reading through this has been great seeing all the names has brought back many memories. I raced at the end of the seventies mainly at G&D. I came 2nd to Dave Smith at a national at G&D beating Kym ,Brian ,Charlie Frost and Rickards.

 

Yep, I rember that race at G&D... badly. We all put in a huge effort, got to G&D and were ripping around the track. Trouble was, by the time we got to the final the Batteries were so stuffed you could hold your trigger flat out everywhere. Local knowledge won that race... Dave Smith must have know the batteries were suss and ran a special mild arm that drew less power. Dont think the Melbourne boys ever went back to G&D after that race.

 

Still like to know where that Trophy lives now.. Be great to race for it again.

Edited January 8, 2014 by axman