The first Monaro
Discussion
Ancient history, but I thought some of you may be interested in the first Monaro.
I did this for a bloke I met, who owns a 327 Monaro, & thought it might fit here.
In 68 I drove the then new Holden Monaro 327 "Bathurst" model in the Bathurst 500 miles as it was then. I even ended up second.
The Monaro was one of the early cars to have duel braking systems, one for front & one for rear. However they made one big mistake. Not only did they divorce the systems, they also divorced the master cylinder reservoirs. The reservoir was partitioned down the centre, leaving 2 very small sections.
We had the low ratio diff of the 3 Holden Dealers Team cars, keeping the revs down, & were designated the tortoise. We used only 3Rd & 4Th, not going back to 2Nd even at Hell & Murrays corners. Surprisingly this cost less than a second a lap, with the low down torque of the 327 Chev engine.
At lap 30 something my tail pipe separated from the muffler, letting the front of it hang down under the car. I was black flagged. Knowing it would take some time to put the tailpipe back on, the crew organized themselves to do my brake pad change, scheduled for lap 90 at the same time, on lap 36. After what felt like about 2 hours stationary, which was only 4 ½ minutes I was away again, fantastic work by the crew. I was a lap down, not so important in those days with no safety cars to stuff up the racing, & I got back on the lead lap when the other cars stopped for fuel, just 2 ½ minutes down.
The early stop meant we could not make it with 2 refuelling stops. On lap 82 we refuelled & the co-driver jumped in for 11 laps to get to the second planned fuel window, when I took over again.
As my pad change had been done about 56 laps early. The capacity of the reservoir for the front was only enough to follow up the pads to about 2/3Rd wear. With 13 laps to go, I was about to discover this fact rather graphically.
Approaching Skyline with no fluid left for the front brakes, I applied the pedal as usual, & the car leapt sideways. This was an instant change of direction, not just a bit of a slide. With no front brakes at all the backs locked solid instantly when I touched them.
I went over Skyline with the car sideways, with every bit of opposite lock it had applied. As the car slowed, this overcorrection suddenly bit, & the thing flicked back sideways the other way. By sheer good luck, this was just where the next corner went left, I got around that, & after a couple of fishtails, arrived at the Dipper slow enough to get round it.
Later some spectators told me about the course commentator raving about my brilliant save, which proves how much bulls
t is called by said announcers, my sweet little Monaro had saved itself, & me.
I tried the brakes, very gingerly again at Forrest Elbow, scaring whatever was left to be scared out of me, when it locked solid, & I near lost it again. Just the slightest touch going down Conrod convinced me not to even think about it again.
I did 13 laps of Bathurst with no brakes. I was going back to third at top speed, & to second at just under 100 MPH. After nursing the thing through 108 laps of Bathurst, it was going to finish reasonably quickly, or blow up, I no longer cared very much.
Amazingly, given the treatment it did the next 13 laps, & did them only 3 seconds slower than my previous gentle driving lap speeds. The brakes were pretty diabolical even when working at their best. The thing even got second.
After scrutineering they bleed the brakes & a Holden mechanic drove it with the other team cars back to the Lang Lang testing grounds in Melbourne, about 700 miles without trouble. Amazingly when stripped the thing showed no sign of the thrashing I had given it. Tough things those 60s Chevy V8s
Hasbeen
I did this for a bloke I met, who owns a 327 Monaro, & thought it might fit here.
In 68 I drove the then new Holden Monaro 327 "Bathurst" model in the Bathurst 500 miles as it was then. I even ended up second.
The Monaro was one of the early cars to have duel braking systems, one for front & one for rear. However they made one big mistake. Not only did they divorce the systems, they also divorced the master cylinder reservoirs. The reservoir was partitioned down the centre, leaving 2 very small sections.
We had the low ratio diff of the 3 Holden Dealers Team cars, keeping the revs down, & were designated the tortoise. We used only 3Rd & 4Th, not going back to 2Nd even at Hell & Murrays corners. Surprisingly this cost less than a second a lap, with the low down torque of the 327 Chev engine.
At lap 30 something my tail pipe separated from the muffler, letting the front of it hang down under the car. I was black flagged. Knowing it would take some time to put the tailpipe back on, the crew organized themselves to do my brake pad change, scheduled for lap 90 at the same time, on lap 36. After what felt like about 2 hours stationary, which was only 4 ½ minutes I was away again, fantastic work by the crew. I was a lap down, not so important in those days with no safety cars to stuff up the racing, & I got back on the lead lap when the other cars stopped for fuel, just 2 ½ minutes down.
The early stop meant we could not make it with 2 refuelling stops. On lap 82 we refuelled & the co-driver jumped in for 11 laps to get to the second planned fuel window, when I took over again.
As my pad change had been done about 56 laps early. The capacity of the reservoir for the front was only enough to follow up the pads to about 2/3Rd wear. With 13 laps to go, I was about to discover this fact rather graphically.
Approaching Skyline with no fluid left for the front brakes, I applied the pedal as usual, & the car leapt sideways. This was an instant change of direction, not just a bit of a slide. With no front brakes at all the backs locked solid instantly when I touched them.
I went over Skyline with the car sideways, with every bit of opposite lock it had applied. As the car slowed, this overcorrection suddenly bit, & the thing flicked back sideways the other way. By sheer good luck, this was just where the next corner went left, I got around that, & after a couple of fishtails, arrived at the Dipper slow enough to get round it.
Later some spectators told me about the course commentator raving about my brilliant save, which proves how much bulls
t is called by said announcers, my sweet little Monaro had saved itself, & me. I tried the brakes, very gingerly again at Forrest Elbow, scaring whatever was left to be scared out of me, when it locked solid, & I near lost it again. Just the slightest touch going down Conrod convinced me not to even think about it again.
I did 13 laps of Bathurst with no brakes. I was going back to third at top speed, & to second at just under 100 MPH. After nursing the thing through 108 laps of Bathurst, it was going to finish reasonably quickly, or blow up, I no longer cared very much.
Amazingly, given the treatment it did the next 13 laps, & did them only 3 seconds slower than my previous gentle driving lap speeds. The brakes were pretty diabolical even when working at their best. The thing even got second.
After scrutineering they bleed the brakes & a Holden mechanic drove it with the other team cars back to the Lang Lang testing grounds in Melbourne, about 700 miles without trouble. Amazingly when stripped the thing showed no sign of the thrashing I had given it. Tough things those 60s Chevy V8s
Hasbeen
Edited by Hasbeen on Thursday 8th June 01:33
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