Indy 500 1965 - Jim Clark's Lotus 38

Back in July I posted a small article about a model of the Ferrari P4 prototype sports-racing car and mentioned two others, one being this model - the Lotus 38 crafted by the (now defunct) Carousel 1 company.

Although rear-engined cars had been raced at Indianapolis prior to 1965 - Jack Brabham starting the trend in 1961 in a Formula 1 Cooper - it wasn't until Lotus and Ford mounted a major effort in 1963 that success finally eventuated two years later with renowned Grand Prix driver Jim Clark taking first place in 1965 in the Lotus type 38, seen in model form below. (All images enlarge to full size if clicked).

Generally considered to be one of the most beautifully-proportioned designs ever to race at Indianapolis, the Carousel 1 die-cast model, in 1/8 scale, replicates those lines perfectly and is looked upon as the Holy Grail of the Lotus 38 in model format.

It is superbly crafted and detailed - with even the individual buckles on the racing harness being accurately presented - and is finished in the exact green and yellow livery, complete with all sponsor's decals, as the real car.

Carousel 1 created quite a few models of the cars raced at Indianapolis and they have become highly sought-after since the demise of the business some years ago.
If you are looking for one, they regularly come up on Ebay, which is where I found mine.

Matilda's Last Christmas at Pre-School

My grand-daughter Matilda - who turned 5 in October - had her end-of-year Christmas pageant yesterday with the traditional nativity play, after which she received her "graduation" certificate.
Next year she starts kindergarten and a new chapter in her life's story opens up.

Matilda asked me last week if I would go to watch her in the play so of course I said yes and as well as videoing the performance for posterity - she played the inn-keeper and her lines consisted of "No, no" when Joseph asked for a room - I also took a few photos............

After the play was over there was a bit of a party, with appropriate food, balloons and face-painting.

Reflecting on the past 5 years?

Our peace has been breached!

Well, Mr. Obama has finally set foot in Canberra after two previously-cancelled trips and the usual semi-load of American hyper-crap has been dumped on us.

In a similar fashion to the Bush visit in 2003, we have a permanent - noisy - fighter aircraft circling the ACT for the next 24 hours, just to guard against sneak attacks on the American embassy.
Why can't they simply have an aircraft sitting on the ramp at Fairbairn, fuelled up and ready to go at a moment's notice?

There are 300+ security personnel here!
THREE HUNDRED!!!

At selected intersections throughout the capital sit black, unmarked and unregistered vans.
Why?

Perhaps the most insidious thing is that mobile phone reception around Parliament House/American Embassy has been disrupted.

Like many other Canberrans who don't give a toss about this visit, I will be glad to hear Airforce One depart tomorrow afternoon.

Matilda's Fifth Birthday

My grand-daughter, Matilda, recently celebrated her 5th. birthday and asked for a 10-pin bowling afternoon to be part of her family party.

So we headed off to the Tuggeranong Bowl for a couple of games, during which Matilda would only let Drew (her 27-year old uncle) help her with the targeting and rolling device.

Here's a lovely shot taken by Matilda's mum (my daughter, Lauren - Drew's sister) on her iPhone.
A bit blurry but it captures a nice moment between the two.
(Click on the image for a full-size version)

Canberra to Bonny Hills in 13 episodes

In late July I ventured north for the annual reunion with sister and brother at Bonny Hills.
The following video clips document sections of the trip, from 7:30 AM to about 3:30 PM.
Fortunately the weather was perfect for the whole 700+ kilometres.

MGM, Warner Bros, Paramount and J.Arthur Rank - Eat Your Heart Out!

Over the past couple of years I have travelled frequently into the Snowy Mountains as part of my job - I usually visit Cooma, Jindabyne and Guthega one day per month and then, a week or fortnight later, do an overnighter that takes in Cabramurra, Khancoban, Talbingo and Blowering Dam (near Tumut).

During these drives I occasionally mount the little Canon camcorder inside the windscreen and record some of the region, as seen from the driver's perspective.

In addition to my regular jaunts through the Snowy region I do an annual drive up to Bonny Hills (near Port Macquarie) for a get-together with my siblings. That region - bounded by the Hastings, Camden Haven and Manning rivers - was our stamping ground for 50 years, from early childhood through to senior-citizenship.
So I also do a similar thing - record with the camcorder.

All of those that I have made publicly accessible I have uploaded to You Tube so I thought it about time that I provided links from this blog.

They are in chronological order - most recent first.
Remember that you can view the clip in much larger format by clicking on the YouTube logo, bottom right corner of the screen.

Here are a few from the Snowy Mountains runs...........

P-Plates and V8s - two July milestones.

I've mentioned in a previous post that I had acquired a Holden Monaro CV8Z but at the time didn't have a recent photo of the car and proud new owner, so here is one that was taken just yesterday.
(Click on image for larger view).

But there is another milestone that was reached in July by which I am quite tickled, and that was passing my motorcycle P-plate test.
Here's a shot of me leaning over my Vespa GT200 which is sporting the new plate, which has to be displayed for 6 months, after which it can be removed. In a year's time, all being well, the Provisional restriction will automatically be removed from my licence.

Australian National University (ANU), Canberra.

I had the pleasure of wandering through the campus last Saturday (20th. August) taking some photos as part of my job.

It was a cool, late-winter's morning but the sun broke through the cloud cover most of the time, illuminating the blossom trees and the buildings.

Here's a four-minute slide show of a selection of those pix, set to music, that you might enjoy.
I have tried to provide a counterpoint to the more modern architectural styles of recently-constructed buildings (towards the end of the clip) by starting with some of the original cottages, now offices and schools in their own right.

I hope that you find it enjoyable.
The soundtrack, by-the-way, is "Don't Let Me be Lonely Tonight", by Percy Faith.

Click on the YouTube script in the bottom right-hand corner to view on YouTube and in a larger size.

Is it real or is it........Minichamps, GMP or Carousel 1?

(All photos enlarge when clicked)
For many, many years I've harboured a desire to have really good large-scale models of my favourite racing cars and at the top of the list has always been the Ferrari 330 P4 of 1967, the Tipo 61 "Birdcage" Maserati of 1961 and the Lotus 38 which took Jim Clark to victory in the 1965 Indy 500.
So over the past year I've acquired  each of the cars mentioned above in the form of 1/18th. scale die-cast creations from GMP (the Ferrari), Minicraft (the Maserati) and Carousel 1 (the Lotus).
My photos do not do these models justice - the details are exquisite and have to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. These are display-quality items, jewels of the model-maker's art.

FERRARI P4 SPIDER (open-top)
 (The #6 car raced by Jackie Stewart & Chris Amon at the BOAC 1000kms, Brands Hatch, 1967)

The P4 Ferrari has arguably the most beautiful lines of any sports-prototype racing car ever created. And this model captures those curves perfectly. I fell in love with this car back when I first saw a photograph in the mid 1960s and have held that feeling ever since.

There were four original cars made by Ferrari and I believe that they all exist today. Collectors would pay well into the millions of dollars to own one of these cars.

The model details extend to individual spark-plugs and wires, the seatbelt buckles, foot pedals, mesh over the intake grilles, bungee cords (which actually stretch!) holding the spare wheel in place.

The doors open and close, the steering wheel turns the front wheels and the suspension compresses.

This model is still in production and can be purchased on the internet from several highly reputable retailers in Australia, USA and the UK, to name but three countries.




Next up ...... LOTUS 38
(The #82 car as raced at the Indianapolis 500 by Jim Clark in 1965)

Well, here's proof. Australia is governed by the minorities.

"Carbon Tax Sunday" is now a definite.
On Sunday 10th. July - in two days - Julia Gillard PM will announce that her tax - which she once made a commitment to not introduce (in her pre-election load-of-crap) - will be introduced.

She now has the power to do this because our country is effectively governed by a handful of politicians - several Independents and a couple of Greenies.
They hold the balance of power and in the wheeling-and-dealing that appears to go on 24 hours a day, 7 days per week up at the Big House, these turkeys have it in their power to control what will or will not pass through the house as legislation.

All I can say is that I never dreamed that the future of this country would fall into the hands of a couple of tree-huggers, a would-be cowboy from Queensland and a few wanna-be's.

What a sad day for Australia - and  on the same day that news comes from Europe that the Emissions Trading Scheme in operation there appears to be nothing more than a way for banks to increase their profits and does bugger-all for the environment.

I give up!