old vid from Tailem Bend SA

[montyv8]

some dodgy footage of Riverbend Raceway, 1979..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrEj2YXafI0

[FreddyDUZ747]

As if that wouldnt get Ranns blood pumping.

Got to love the concrete 60ft,lol

[blackxrsix]

awesome find mate,my mates uncle still has his old fiat topilino with it customline v8,he wanted me to restore it for him.I talked him in to leaving it as is.bring back the 1/4 :eclipsee_

[AndrewR_AUII]

Originally Posted by gilmore

As if that wouldnt get Ranns blood pumping.

Got to love the concrete 60ft,lol

Actually, I think we know what gets his blood pumping..... :

Hopefully, it will be back....the drags I mean

[ozfast]

WOW,my old boy tubbed and painted "SHOTGUN" back then,thanks for the link he will be stoked :

[ozfast]

the topilino didnt come from bridgewater by any chance?

[COUPE 72]

Originally Posted by montyv8

some dodgy footage of Riverbend Raceway, 1979..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrEj2YXafI0

Hey Phil thats the same fotage that i had on my dvd but diff music, sorry i didnt bring it around earlier but ive had my hands full. Still got the photos fromm last year try to get um toya this week.

[blackxrsix]

The fiat my mates uncles got is called the outlaw it was driven by brian(hutchi) then rod burton.He lived at st agnes.Sh-t i miss not having a drag strip.Bring on the motoplex. :eclipsee_

[ozfast]

Originally Posted by blackxrsix

The fiat my mates uncles got is called the outlaw it was driven by brian(hutchi) then rod burton.He lived at st agnes.Sh-t i miss not having a drag strip.Bring on the motoplex. :eclipsee_

when my old man did SHOTGUN for the flarehty's he was asked to keep a look out for a topilino for someone associated with them,my grandparents had a block of land at bridgewater and low and behold there was one just up the road! the old boy helped broker a deal and it was then purchased,will follow up some more,any pics of the fiat in old school drag trim?

[46302ute]

does shotgun live?

[jcxr]

I think Shotgun was in a big rollover and was totaled.

[ozfast]

wow,did not know that,in a previous topic on here somewhere ,it was said that "shotgun was used as a sand drag car! now in perth so they said! would be great to know

[Coupusmaximus]

I never saw Kevin and Greg Flaherty run their XB, but loved watching their XE at run at Calder and Heathcote, they also had a crack at a Clevo powered Sprint Car, not sure how successful it was, but they were and are true Blue Oval Legends.

[jf100]

G'day i think the sand drag car your talking about was Claus's pro stock car, well the chassis anyway, wasn't run with a body, a guy by the name of pepe used to use it at the hells angels, pondi show each year, don't really know where it ended up. Don't really know what happened to the original shotgun coupe, the xd/xe ?(not really sure) was sold to a guy at wingfield years ago, think he only ran it a couple of times at most. Maybe that car was the coupe rebodied, theres a drag racers reunion in a couple of weeks some one there will know. ps it was greg son of kevin that was killed with claus in the road accident.

[COUPE 72]

Did a bit of research on drag racing coupes and found some history on the Kev and Greg Flaherty ( shotgun) and the pro power car of Ray Ward.
In the artical on Shotgun XB pro-stock car there is no metion of the car being destroyed, it did however, say that the car won the 79 Nationals at Heathcote, the 79 grand finals and the Nationals in April of1980 at Adelaide.
The car was retired in Dec 1982 when they started constrution of a new shotgun named pro-stocker out of an XE shell. There was no mention of where the car is now.
In the case of the Pro Power car, it was an XA originally partly built by John Semple and then bourght and raced by Colin Tustian who then passed the driving duties to Mal Baker.
The car was then purchased by Ray Ward who crashed and wrote the car off at River Bend raceway at Tailem Bend in june of 1979. (that may be the car we are thinkin about) The car lost a whelsh plug out the side of the block putting liquid under one of the rear tyres, the car instantly turned in its own length and went over the armco fence and ended up on its roof. Ward had another car built by "Mr Blue Chassis" in Melbourne which was an XB coupe which was later updated ton an XC. Again nothing was said about the fate of the coupe as Ray Ward split with partner John Bentick and built his own new XE pro-stocker.


All research from David Cooks stories in issues 13 & 19 of Australian Muscle Car Magazine. AMC also has a great storey on "MrEd" of the Vodipevic bros. tryin to find it . Great read.

[mussie351]

Pretty sure one of the palmer boys in perth bought the old shotgun coupe ... peter allwood of perfectune has the XE , or had as rumour has it it was for sale.

[COUPE 72]

Is the coupe still running?

[mussie351]

Originally Posted by COUPE 72

Is the coupe still running?

Sorry don't know, and not sure if he still has it ...

[mussie351]

Yeah coupe72 reckon your on the money, that was black one ray ward and John Bentinck bought and was driven by Mal Baker when it flipped at tailem bend in 79.




Here's an old clip, but memorable one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paWhle-GOsc&feature=fvw

[dave351cid]

Originally Posted by mussie351

Yeah coupe72 reckon your on the money, that was black one ray ward and John Bentinck bought and was driven by Mal Baker when it flipped at tailem bend in 79.
]

do you know if that is the same Mal Baker who owned "Bakers Precision Engineering" at Blacktown in western Sydney with his brother Kim Baker ?

if it is they built the motor in my XB. i mostly knew Kim but delt with both of them. great guys and certainly know their way around a clevo. they helped me out a lot.

last i heard they had moved to Molong in the NSW central west.

[XT302]

I love looking at the carpark shots and the tow cars, AWESOME

[jcxr]

Originally Posted by dave351cid

do you know if that is the same Mal Baker who owned "Bakers Precision Engineering" at Blacktown in western Sydney with his brother Kim Baker ?

if it is they built the motor in my XB. i mostly knew Kim but delt with both of them. great guys and certainly know their way around a clevo. they helped me out a lot.

last i heard they had moved to Molong in the NSW central west.

Yep, same blokes.They also ran a very quick xw ute way back.

[xbrules]

found some more up to date footage of the track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QEj27NISFY

[COUPE 72]

Ive got a ton of photos of Tailem Bend test track but not sure how to put them up, was gunna get montyv8 to show me how but havent had time to drop in and ask him, plus my scanner is on the fritz.The pile of photos must be at least 2 inches high.

[Qwik6]

My father was Greg Flaherty. I had never seen footage of the XB race before.
Cheers for the link.

[COUPE 72]

Originally Posted by Qwik6

My father was Greg Flaherty. I had never seen footage of the XB race before.
Cheers for the link.

Got any good pics of the car running you could post? :

[Qwik6]

Originally Posted by COUPE 72

Got any good pics of the car running you could post? :

Nah sorry. He died when i was 6 months old. Only got what was in magazines.
Heres one tho.