Center photo taken in 1967 and the driver is the previous owner, Ian Adams, then of Sydney. He was a real sideways driver and very quick. The circuit was Amaroo Park, north-west of Sydney.

December 2001

Monday 3rd of December was a black day for myself, Brian Pymble and our co-tenants, Brent and Andrew. I heard on the radio that a severe storm was coming, and judging by the static crackling through the radio, I believed them. So, I shut down my computer and went downstairs to pull the plug just in case we got an electrical spike.

Then the storm hit - very suddenly. The wind was shrieking now and I heard a noise behind me coming from inside the workshop. What I saw was a 12 metre, 350mm RSJ beam that spanned the workshop and held up the roof being lifted up 5 metres of its pier like a giant wing. With nothing to hold the rear
wall in place the wind pushed the wall in and it crashed down on top of the three racing cars and the off-road Pajero chassis. The air was filled with flying bits of fibreglass and alloy roofing and a maelstrom of paper, all swirling around like a giant snow dome.

The scene of devastation was terrible. The rear of my Lotus Seven was crushed down to half its height and the entire cockpit was filled with bricks, damaging the transmission tunnel and the dashboard. Lots of work will need to be done to get it going again.

August 2000

I have a Series 2 Seven, a 1963 Super Seven that has been raced all its life. It has had an illustrious career and has won many significant races in the 'Sixties. I run it in historic racing here in Australia and I get so much enjoyment out of it on every outing. Unfortunately, I can't run it on the road as it gets very crabby in traffic.

The car was restored in 1990 to its 1967 form, as per the photo, being driven there by Ian Adams at a circuit in Sydney called Oran Park. It is powered by a 1498cc Ford Cosworth wet sump engine, fitted with an alloy downdraft cylinder head. It has and Anglia gearbox with close ratio cogs, a BMC Morris Minor rear end (fitted in 1965 to take advantage of the wide range of ratios - 3.7:1, 3.9, 4.1, 4.5, 4.8 and 5.1). It has Brabham magnesium wheels, 7"x13" fronts and 8"x13" rears. It develops around 150 bhp at the flywheel.