NOSTALGIA (8)
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VERN HAMILTON RACING
Welcome to the pagedevoted to Vern Hamilton's racing career and the cars in which he competed.
Here you will find pictures, and dates, for all Vern's racing cars and some interesting on and off track memories.
Pictured are "Young Vern" (right), "slightly older" Vern at his reunion with the restored 600B and 622 at the Elfin Tribute Meeting at Eastern Creek, Sept 2004 (below) and Vern in the Elfin 623 waiting for his turn to run at the 2008 Speed on Tweed. (below right)
At the time the photo below was taken, the 600B was owned by Brian Pymble and the 622 by Malcolm Miller of Adelaide. The 600B has since been sold to Laurie Bennett of Victoria.
HERE ARE LINKS TO THE SECTIONS BELOW:
(Click each link)​
OTHER PAGES IN THE NOSTALGIA SECTION ARE DEVOTED TO PHOTOS OF:
(Click each link)
PRE CIRCUIT RACING:
While waiting to achieve his goal of getting into circuit racing, Vern honed his skills in motor gymkhanas, sprints, hillclimbing and karting......[Next]
Hillclimbing at Toowoomba in the Lancer
Sprinting in the Lancer
Gymkhanas in the Cortina
Karting (here at Burleigh Drive-In theatre)
CORTINA [1965]:
This was Vern's first "race" car but was also his road car. This did not prove to be a good idea, so the "racing" car with windscreen protector, handmade numbers and full road registration quickly went back to being a road car again and also a tow car for a "real" racing car ... [Next]
The Cortina -- Series Production Touring Car raced briefly in 1965, shown here at Lowood
MINI COOPER [1965 - 1966]:
The Mini Cooper, his first "real" racing car, was previously owned by Ken Peters. It was a fun car but soon was to make way for an even more "real" racing car ... [Next]
​The Mini Cooper -- Improved Production Touring Car raced 1965 - 66 , shown here at Lowood
STREAMLINER CENTAUR [1966]:
This car, a sports racing car, was designed, built and previously raced by Brisbane engineer Tim Harlock. It was the first of two Centaurs Vern owned and raced .... [Next]
The Centaur -- Sports racing car raced 1966, shown here at Lakeside.
CENTAUR CLUBMAN [1967 - 1969]:
Another Centaur, but this time in Clubman form, was also raced by Vern. For a short time he even raced it as an open wheeler. It ranks highly amongst his favourites as he had great success in it against much more expensive and powerful cars and also as, in it, he won the prestigious Scribe Award for the most promising driver in Queensland. This excellent photograph was taken by Queensland's prominent motor sport photographer, Brier Thomas.... [Next]
Another Centaur -- a Clubman raced 1967 - 1969 shown here at Mt Cotton Hillclimb.
ELFIN 600B [1970 - 1972]:
The Elfin 600B was a big step forward. The rolling chassis was purchased new from the factory in Adelaide and was fitted with a Ford Twin Cam motor which was purchased from Glyn Scott. In this car, Vern came second in the Australian Formula 2 championship in 1972...... [Next]
Elfin 600B -- Australian Formula 2 raced 1970-1972 shown here at Surfers Paradise International Motor Circuit
ELFIN 622 [1973]:
This car, the beautiful and elegant 622, was purchased new from the Elfin factory in May 1973 but was sold before the end of the year to make way for a Sports Sedan which was felt to be a safer racing option for the father of a brand new baby girl..... [Next]
Elfin 622 - Australian Formula 2 raced briefly in 1973, shown here at Lakeside.
ESCORT [1973 - 1975]:
The Ford twin cam motor from the Elfin made this a competitive sports sedan. The car had previously been owned by Tony Motson and for some time his number and name remained on the car. However, the lure of open wheeler racing was still there so ..... [Next]
Ford Escort -- Sports Sedan raced 1973 - 75 shown here at Lakeside.
KADITCHA F2 [1976]:
It was time for another F2 car. This Kaditcha was the first customer car to be built by Barry Lock who had previously built and raced one himself. It was a sophisticated car and in it Vern won the Queensland Racing Car Championship in 1976....... [Next]
Kaditcha - Australian Formula 2 raced 1976, shown here at Surfers Paradise International Raceway.
ISUZU SPORTS SEDAN:
There was a break in racing after the sale of the Kaditcha and the birth of a second daughter but the desire to race still burned and the pace car just did not have enough pace so another sports sedan was acquired. It raced very successfully in the Under 2 litre class...... [Next]
Isuzu PF50 - Sports Sedan raced 1986 - 1994, shown here at Lakeside
BULANT SPORTS 1300 [1994 - 2001]:
It was a return to more "open" racing with the purchase of the Bulant Mk7, a Sports 1300 car which was initially very competitive but slowly began to be overhauled as the big spenders came into the class...... [Next]
Bulant Mk 7 - Sports 1300 raced 1994 - 2001, shown here at Queensland Raceway.
JMW HILLCLIMB SPECIAL [2002 - 2003]:
At this point, the Bulant was replaced not by one car, but by two. One a hillclimb special, previously owned, built and driven by John Wynne which has since been sold to Peter Stone in Melbourne where he and his son are enjoying competing in it in sprints and hillclimbs ....... [Next]
JMW Hillclimb special in action at Mt Cotton.
JMW SPORTS 1300 [2002 - 2003]:
The other, also a John Wynne production, was a new, undeveloped and unraced Sports 1300 which was completed and hillclimbed before being sold to Chris Jensen of Brisbane who has since replaced the Datsun motor with a motorcycle engine....... [Next]
JMW Sports 1300 at Mt Cotton hillclimb
ELFIN 623 [2008]:
After the sale of the two JMWs, the hunt was on for something to replace them. It was decided that the Elfin 622 which had had such a short life with us should be repurchased but Malcolm Miller didn't want to part with it. However, Malcolm introduced us to Des Larner (also in Adelaide) who had his 623 (identical to the 622 but with a F3 1300cc Holbay Ford engine) available for sale so the purchase of it became almost inevitable. A very brief sortie back into circuit racing came to a sticky end but, after a rebuild of both car and driver, the two were back on track just one year later. The two have since competed regularly in single car events at Mt Cotton hillclimb (outright winner of the Tighe Cams series in 2006) and Speed on Tweed and had social runs at many GEAR events at Qld Raceway. The photo shows Vern and the 623 in action at Speed on Tweed in September 2008.
Vern and the 623 in action at Speed on Tweed in September 2008
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