Aircooled oddities Down Under
Puma GTE
Australian muscle cars were expected to dominate the inaugural Wilby Park Retrospeed sprint event, but the throb of Germanic aircooled flat-engines prevailed instead – including an extremely rare Puma.
‘Most Pumas were made in Brazil, but my 1970 car is one of just 357 manufactured under licence in South Africa,’ said owner Derek Mclaughlin. ‘It’s running a 2.0-litre engine, so until I swap that for an original-style 1.6 it’ll only be eligible for hillclimbs and sprints.’
Malmark-elfin Formula Vee
Mclaughlin had brought another of his Vw-powered projects to pit against the Wilby Park track. ‘Elfin in South Australia designed this car, but it was manufactured by Malmark in Melbourne, hence its double-barrelled name,’ he said. ‘It was built in 1971, contested its first race in 1972, and was a successful front-running car in Australian Formula Vee before it fell into disrepair.
‘I’ve bought it to get my two sons into historic racing for an affordable price,’ Mclaughlin explained.