Gardner Camaro

[Steve Holmes]

Hi folks, I know my mate Bruce has alredy asked about this car. But can anyone tell me what class it raced in? Was it Group 2? And if so, what mods were they allowed in that class? My understanding was that they were fairly restricted on mods, but this car has some fairly wide wheels, and wildly flared arches. Any help appreciated. Thanks

[Frank de Jong]

It ran in Group 2; the rules of this group (1970-1975) were fairly liberal; no limit on wheel width as long as they fitted inside the bodywork. The wheel arches were allowed to grow 5 centimeters on each side.
The only trouble with the Camaro in Europe was a 5-litre maximum which was in force sometimes; but later Camaro's were allowed to run 7-litre engines.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Frank. New Zealand used to run to Group 2 up until, I believe, 1968. But the rules at that time were fairly strict. Obviously they were loosened up somewhat. I read somewhere the car also ran a 5.7? Gardner replaced this car with a later shape Camaro, which ran a 427ci big block. This engine came from Bob Janes championship winning Camaro in Australia from 1971, but I don't know if the big block ever went into this earlier car. Anyone know?

[Frank de Jong]

I think his Mark 1 car never had the 427 engine; he raced in Britain with 5.7 and in Germany with a 5.0 in 1972.
Group 2/63 (valid till 1969) was indeed very restricted - Europe went to group 5 in 1968, Britain even earlier. Group 5 was more liberal than group 2/70; supercharging was allowed for instance. But many group 5 cars of 1969 could be easily converted to group 2/70.
BTW, other mk 1 Camaro's did run the 427 engine in Europe, like Grauls begian car.

[Teretonga]

Group 2 was a fairly restricted modified production class with Lotus Cortinas/Cooper S's etc. NZ also had allcomers sedans. when they dropped the allcomers Group 2 was also dropped for what was then called Group 5 by the FIA requiring alot of homologated parts etc. Thats when Alan Mann introduced the Gardner FVA Escort (67-68-69).
Later US v8's ruled. In NZ Gp5 ran until the early mid seventies when it became loosened up due to the success of Sothern Clubs OSCAR regulations. The photo looks like the Gardner SCA Camaro which would put it around 1970. It also looks alot like the jenner camaro which ran in NZ during the 70's.

[Jeremy Jackson]

Gardner ran that shape Camaro in the UK in 1971 only. He had the ex-TransAm Boss Mustang in 1970, and the newer shape Camaro in 72-73.

Where was that photo taken? Presume it was after the SCA/Gardner period?

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks for your help everyone. Jeremy, the pic was taken by Terry Marshall at Baypark New Zealand in Dec 1972, where Gardner raced the car. He then ran it the following week at Pukekohe which was the first week of 73. Then the car was taken to Australia but problems in practice meant it didn't race there. Gardner then sold the car, and its been in Australia ever since.

I'm writing a story for an Australian mag on those two NZ meetings, and have stacks of info on all the heavy hitters except that car. Which is why I began this thread. Thanks to everyone here, its coming together though. But stuff like race results, championship results etc, and details on the car would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Camaroz]

Hi All,

When doing some research (reading) of some old Racing Car News (Aust) I came across a snippet article in the May 1976 Issue under 'London Line' -

Q "Frank Gardners old SCA Freight Camaro returns to UK racing this month in the hands of twice "Tarmac Award" winner, Stuart Graham, backed by Brut 33"

Frank's original 67 Camaro was racing in Australia in 76 so this reference must be to the 2nd Gen car!

I remember some references to Graham's Brut 33 car in some other threads. Anyone got any further info?

[Steve Holmes]

Camaroz, the Brut 33 Camaro appears in the list of results for the TT at Silverstone in 1976. Engine is listed as 5,700cc. Here it is on franks website:

http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...lverstone.html

AND HERES ANOTHER LINK. tHIS ONE HAS A PIC. tHE CAR IS SECOND GEN cAMARO:

http://www.brdc.co.uk/brdcarchive.cfm/flag/3/picid/240

[Steve Holmes]

Sorry, didn't mean to yell. Damn pc!

[Camaroz]

Steve,

That shot in 75 sure looks like the 2nd Gen SCA Car.

[Steve Holmes]

Yes they do look pretty similar:

http://www.dukevideo.com/products/5053.htm

Does the Stuart Graham link provide any further clues to the cars current whereabouts?

[Frank de Jong]

As far as I know (and there are other threads) the SCA car and Graham's car are different. Stuart built his car in 1975 - just for the TT race, which used Trophee de l'avenir rules, far stricter than group 2. He might have converted the car to group 2/76 (which would involve changing the bodywork but little else) but I guess he used a british group 1 Camaro for the 1976 race.
His 1975TT car was sold to Rob Slotemaker early in 1977 - it still had Brut livery on the Amsterdam RAI exhibition but was later resprayed in Martinair colours. The Slotemaker car had the wing extensions like the 1975 TT car (identical to the SCA car) - so I doubt that he replaced them for the 1976TT and reverted the car to 1975 specs before selling it.
Graham had more Camaros - he sold quite a few to the Netherlands in 1977.

[ErleMinhinnick]

I seem to remember that Stuart Graham prepared Chevy engines including that of Frank Gradner's before taking the plunge into racing himself. From what I can see and infer, the photo at the top of this thread is the SCA Camaro raced by Frank Gardner for all but one late race in 1971 for the Group 2 British Saloon Car Championship. It then therefore presumably went to NZ had its SCA & Castrol stickers removed and Frank raced it there but then I may be wrong!