Wildest rally entry was a hit!
By David Ellery
Steen Pedersen was the quiet extrovert of the National Trust Centenary of Canberra Rally.
The lanky Dane, who bears a startling resemblance to Bruce Spence’s ``Gyro Captain’’ from Mad Max II when he dons his flying helmet, leather trench coat and gloves, covered well over 600km on October 18 and 19 to take part in the once in a century event.
This, in the eyes of some, would qualify as an exercise in masochism given his mount for the occasion was a 1927 Salmson racing car.
To make sure he doesn’t get lost the vehicle is fitted with its own navigator, a goggle-wearing dummy who is a permanent fixture in the passenger seat.
Salmson, a French concern, had started life as a manufacturer of aircraft engines during WWI. The first cars were built in 1921 and by 1927, when Mr Pedersen’s car was produced, its products were being talked of in the same breath as Bugatti.
His machine is the 1920s equivalent of a McLaren F1, a racer for sale to the general public.
It was, by the standards of the day, a genuine supercar and can reach speeds of well in excess of 140km/h. It would have cost Ferrari-like prices in its day.
Mr Pedersen, who acquired the remains of the car from off a Queensland farm in 1973 and rebuilt it from the ground up using original spare parts, has had it up to this speed at the Eastern Creek vintage car races.
``This was very dangerous,’’ he said. ``The whole front end was shaking.’’
He is in awe of the early racing drivers who used to drive machines such as this in excess of 160km/h on the dirt roads of the day.
``One Salmson did 113 mph (about 180km/h) at Brooklands,’’ he said.
The car’s performance is remarkable given it is powered by a 1.1 litre engine. This is the type of capacity now most commonly associated with motorbikes and Morris Minors.
The DOHC twin carburettor engine was very sophisticated for 1927 and is coupled to a light weight body made of fabric and stretched over a wooden frame.
Mr Pedersen, coincidentally a motorbike mechanic with his own workshop at Bomaderry near Nowra, rebuilt the car in order to race it. His enthusiastic approach to this pursuit has resulted in a couple of subsequent rebuilds as a result of rolling it twice.
``I’ve also had two wheels of the ground on the odd occasion,’’ he said.
Driving the car is a labor of love, even though it is less than comfortable, has no weather protection of any kind and has no doors or windscreen.
``I just love driving it,’’ he said. ``It is a real thrill. It would have been one step removed from a Grand Prix car in the day.’’
The car was one of the major drawcards of during Saturday’s drive from Jervis Bay to Canberra via Nerriga. Tarago and Bungendore. An estimated 200 cars left HMAS Albatross just after 9am and were joined by more entrants along the way.
More than 300 vehicles are believed to have taken part but exact numbers won’t be known until the end of the event.
Some of the vintage and veteran contenders set a cracking pace with many 1920s and 1930s vehicles cruising comfortably at 70 to 80km/h.
The oldest vehicle present, the 1912 Overland featured elsewhere on this site, was clocked at 65km/h between Bungendore and Queenbeyan.
While it wasn’t a race, Mr Pedersen’s GS8 model could have given a lot of much younger machinery a good run for the money if there had been a speed prize up for grabs.
Speaking in Bungendore, he said: ``I could have got here faster but I got stuck behind a Ferrari.’’
(A shorter version of this article was originally published in The Canberra Times).
Steen Pedersen was the quiet extrovert of the National Trust Centenary of Canberra Rally.
The lanky Dane, who bears a startling resemblance to Bruce Spence’s ``Gyro Captain’’ from Mad Max II when he dons his flying helmet, leather trench coat and gloves, covered well over 600km on October 18 and 19 to take part in the once in a century event.
This, in the eyes of some, would qualify as an exercise in masochism given his mount for the occasion was a 1927 Salmson racing car.
To make sure he doesn’t get lost the vehicle is fitted with its own navigator, a goggle-wearing dummy who is a permanent fixture in the passenger seat.
Salmson, a French concern, had started life as a manufacturer of aircraft engines during WWI. The first cars were built in 1921 and by 1927, when Mr Pedersen’s car was produced, its products were being talked of in the same breath as Bugatti.
His machine is the 1920s equivalent of a McLaren F1, a racer for sale to the general public.
It was, by the standards of the day, a genuine supercar and can reach speeds of well in excess of 140km/h. It would have cost Ferrari-like prices in its day.
Mr Pedersen, who acquired the remains of the car from off a Queensland farm in 1973 and rebuilt it from the ground up using original spare parts, has had it up to this speed at the Eastern Creek vintage car races.
``This was very dangerous,’’ he said. ``The whole front end was shaking.’’
He is in awe of the early racing drivers who used to drive machines such as this in excess of 160km/h on the dirt roads of the day.
``One Salmson did 113 mph (about 180km/h) at Brooklands,’’ he said.
The car’s performance is remarkable given it is powered by a 1.1 litre engine. This is the type of capacity now most commonly associated with motorbikes and Morris Minors.
The DOHC twin carburettor engine was very sophisticated for 1927 and is coupled to a light weight body made of fabric and stretched over a wooden frame.
Mr Pedersen, coincidentally a motorbike mechanic with his own workshop at Bomaderry near Nowra, rebuilt the car in order to race it. His enthusiastic approach to this pursuit has resulted in a couple of subsequent rebuilds as a result of rolling it twice.
``I’ve also had two wheels of the ground on the odd occasion,’’ he said.
Driving the car is a labor of love, even though it is less than comfortable, has no weather protection of any kind and has no doors or windscreen.
``I just love driving it,’’ he said. ``It is a real thrill. It would have been one step removed from a Grand Prix car in the day.’’
The car was one of the major drawcards of during Saturday’s drive from Jervis Bay to Canberra via Nerriga. Tarago and Bungendore. An estimated 200 cars left HMAS Albatross just after 9am and were joined by more entrants along the way.
More than 300 vehicles are believed to have taken part but exact numbers won’t be known until the end of the event.
Some of the vintage and veteran contenders set a cracking pace with many 1920s and 1930s vehicles cruising comfortably at 70 to 80km/h.
The oldest vehicle present, the 1912 Overland featured elsewhere on this site, was clocked at 65km/h between Bungendore and Queenbeyan.
While it wasn’t a race, Mr Pedersen’s GS8 model could have given a lot of much younger machinery a good run for the money if there had been a speed prize up for grabs.
Speaking in Bungendore, he said: ``I could have got here faster but I got stuck behind a Ferrari.’’
(A shorter version of this article was originally published in The Canberra Times).
The cars that ate Canberra
By David Ellery
About 400 cars with a combined value in well in excess of $8 million converged on Old Parliament House on Sunday (October 20) to mark the conclusion of the National Trust of Canberra Centenary Rally.
More than two years in the making and with entrants from right across the continent, the event commenced from Canberra’s port, Jervis Bay, before winding its way up over the mountains and into the ACT through Nowra, Nerriga, Tarago and Bungendore on Saturday.
A cavalcade of vehicles cruised down Northbourne Avenue and across Kings Avenue Bridge on Sunday morning before coming to a halt opposite Old Parliament House, the former Wheels venue before that iconic event was moved on by the powers that be.
The rally was just one of the highlights of a weekend that celebrated Canberra’s enduring love affair with the motor car.
Another outstanding success was Saturday night’s ``Spin Saturday Evening’’ at the TAMS depot in Fyshwick.
While PetrolSexuals, a band formed especially for the occasion by former Hunters and Collectors lead singer Mark Seymour was the headline attraction, they were up against stiff competition.
SpinWear, a display of automotive inspired fashion created by three separate designers, alternated between the elegant, the glamorous and the downright risque.
The Petrosexuals, appropriately given their name, took the stage after a breathtaking (in more ways than one) performance of topless tumbling by two talented female trapeze artists.
Mr Seymour was on top of his game and, with guest vocalist Beccy Cole who travelled down from Tamworth just for the occasion, had the crowd laughing and clapping and stomping their feet in no time. Canberra group, The Brass Knuckle band, also assisted.
Earlier in the day the same venue had hosted demonstration roller derby matches, the Car Bar and movies in a bus.
The Museum of the Long Weekend, a tribute to Australia’s caravanning heritage, packed in the visitors at Grevillea Park on Lake Burley Griffin over the weekend.
More than 40 vans, once again from right across the country, came together to show and tell the story of the annual exodus from south to north and from the inland to the coast.
Caravans and campervans were also well represented at the Centenary Rally `show and shine’ which was visited by thousands of car lovers and the curious between 10am and 3pm.
Rally director, Chris Wain, a long time car nut whose garage holds a Lotus and a Maserati, and the executive director of The National Trust ACT, came up with the idea two years during early discussions with the then chief minister, John Stanhope, about possible centenary activities.
Because Canberra is the only major Australian capital to be founded after the invention of the motor car it has a road network that is second to none. This has, in turn, contributed to a love affair with the car which has given the city one of the highest rates of classic car club membership in the country.
``John was keen for a heritage themed event that would link Canberra with its traditional port, Jervis Bay,’’ Mr Wain said. ``I had previous experience organising motorcycle rallies and the Bay to Birdwood. I also had a strong team behind me.’’
Mr Wain said the event had come together well and that even though entries had only reached 300 cars on Saturday morning the late entries just kept flooding in.
``We had about 410 special rally plates made and I don’t think we have any left,’’ he said.
Nick Nowak, who drove the oldest vehicle in the event - a 1912 Overland - said he’d had a great time. ``We got up very early on Saturday and drove out to Bungendore,’’ he said. ``Nothing went wrong and I’ve enjoyed it very much.’’
Mr Nowak said he was delighted the show and shine was being held at Old Parliament House, the recent home of Wheels which has now been relocated to the Canberra Racecourse.
``This is where it (Wheels) needs to be,’’ he said. ``It is the obvious venue for an event like this.’’
(This report originally appeared in The Canberra Times)
J
Fast facts:
US Army Jeep
WWII reconnaisance and command vehicle
Manufacturers Willys and Ford Motor Companies
80 inch (2.032m) wheelbase.
131 inch (3.327m) overall length.
62 inch (1.575m) width.
Weight: 1040kg (2293 pounds)
Engine 2.2 litre (134 cid) OHV four cylinder.
Transmission: Three forward gears, one reverse. Operator selectable 2wd and 4wd. Hi and low range.
Maximum speed in high range 108km/h (65mph)
Main competitor: Volkswagen Kubelwagen (rear wheel drive, rear engined, good off road capability due to position of engine over the driven wheels, air cooling an advantage in extreme environments).
This Ford built WWII jeep, one of several that took part in the ACTCentenary Rally, is one of the nicest examples of the marque that Ihave ever come across. This is saying something given how obsessive some jeep owners can be about their machines.
The owner of this example is Mick O'Donnell and either he or a previous owner has spared no effort to create a machine that appears to be ``better than new'' in that the examples that came off the line in the early 1940s are unlikely to have been as well finished as this example.
My experience with two original examples in the late 1970s and the early 1980s indicate that the production emphasis was on simple and durable mechanicals and making sure everything worked rather showroom presentation.
The paint was flat to the point of almost matt and even a Spartan would have said the minimalist interior was too much of a good thing.
In addition to its war winning role (and, like the Spitfire, the Lancaster, the DC-3 and the Pratt and Whitney aero engine Jeeps definitely fall into that category) the Jeep is significant in that it popularised the four-wheel drive vehicle and is the grand daddy of every SUV you see soaking up road space today.
Britain's post-war Land Rover is little more than an updated version of the American design which made use of aluminium because that material was easier to get hold of than steel in post-war England.
I'm not entirely sure the Rover four-cylinder used in the Solihull product was superior to the jeep's simple but robust four. The L-R engine, while more modern, did not stand up as well in service and did not deliver the extra power you would expect from a decade of engine development.
Ironically, given the way the Jeep remains a modern icon, the closest relatively modern vehicles to the original concept were the little 4WDs (known as Jimnys in their home market) made by Suzuki in the 1970s and 1980s.
The three cylinder engine version (543cc) offered similar performance to a WWII Jeep and dimensions were remarkably similar. Both were manufactured on 203cm wheelbases and, in both cars, the overall length was about 320cm. The 1989 Jimny was lighter (740kg) and narrower (139.5cm).
The 1989 Jeep Wrangler was, by comparison, a massive vehicle. The wheelbase had grown to 237 cm, overall length was 388cm and weight exploded to 1320kg. The 2.5 litre could haul all this up to 130km/h on a very long stretch of road.
Fast facts:
US Army Jeep
WWII reconnaisance and command vehicle
Manufacturers Willys and Ford Motor Companies
80 inch (2.032m) wheelbase.
131 inch (3.327m) overall length.
62 inch (1.575m) width.
Weight: 1040kg (2293 pounds)
Engine 2.2 litre (134 cid) OHV four cylinder.
Transmission: Three forward gears, one reverse. Operator selectable 2wd and 4wd. Hi and low range.
Maximum speed in high range 108km/h (65mph)
Main competitor: Volkswagen Kubelwagen (rear wheel drive, rear engined, good off road capability due to position of engine over the driven wheels, air cooling an advantage in extreme environments).
This Ford built WWII jeep, one of several that took part in the ACTCentenary Rally, is one of the nicest examples of the marque that Ihave ever come across. This is saying something given how obsessive some jeep owners can be about their machines.
The owner of this example is Mick O'Donnell and either he or a previous owner has spared no effort to create a machine that appears to be ``better than new'' in that the examples that came off the line in the early 1940s are unlikely to have been as well finished as this example.
My experience with two original examples in the late 1970s and the early 1980s indicate that the production emphasis was on simple and durable mechanicals and making sure everything worked rather showroom presentation.
The paint was flat to the point of almost matt and even a Spartan would have said the minimalist interior was too much of a good thing.
In addition to its war winning role (and, like the Spitfire, the Lancaster, the DC-3 and the Pratt and Whitney aero engine Jeeps definitely fall into that category) the Jeep is significant in that it popularised the four-wheel drive vehicle and is the grand daddy of every SUV you see soaking up road space today.
Britain's post-war Land Rover is little more than an updated version of the American design which made use of aluminium because that material was easier to get hold of than steel in post-war England.
I'm not entirely sure the Rover four-cylinder used in the Solihull product was superior to the jeep's simple but robust four. The L-R engine, while more modern, did not stand up as well in service and did not deliver the extra power you would expect from a decade of engine development.
Ironically, given the way the Jeep remains a modern icon, the closest relatively modern vehicles to the original concept were the little 4WDs (known as Jimnys in their home market) made by Suzuki in the 1970s and 1980s.
The three cylinder engine version (543cc) offered similar performance to a WWII Jeep and dimensions were remarkably similar. Both were manufactured on 203cm wheelbases and, in both cars, the overall length was about 320cm. The 1989 Jimny was lighter (740kg) and narrower (139.5cm).
The 1989 Jeep Wrangler was, by comparison, a massive vehicle. The wheelbase had grown to 237 cm, overall length was 388cm and weight exploded to 1320kg. The 2.5 litre could haul all this up to 130km/h on a very long stretch of road.
Baby BMW; the marvellous Isetta
A good idea at the time...
During the late 1950s BMW was running into trouble. It's mainstay products were sophisticated, expensive and not competing terribly well against Mercedes.
The firm decided to attract more cash flow by branching out into the burgeoning micro car market that produced some weird and wonderful creations right across Europe and the UK.
Rather than develop its own design, the company went shopping for the best existing vehicle it could find. This turned out to be the Isetta 300, a quaintly futuristic bubble car that still turns heads more than a half a century later.
While I'm not sure if the front opening door is a good idea in the event of an accident it certainly serves as a point of difference.
The firm decided to attract more cash flow by branching out into the burgeoning micro car market that produced some weird and wonderful creations right across Europe and the UK.
Rather than develop its own design, the company went shopping for the best existing vehicle it could find. This turned out to be the Isetta 300, a quaintly futuristic bubble car that still turns heads more than a half a century later.
While I'm not sure if the front opening door is a good idea in the event of an accident it certainly serves as a point of difference.