LUNCH WITH …
GRAEME PICKS UP SPEED: MCLAREN, FERRARI, MCLAREN AGAIN; A FEW TIN TOPS; RACING IN AUSTRALASIA, ASIA, AND NORTH AMERICA
PART TWO OF MICHAEL CLARK’S TALK TO GRAEME LAWRENCE
There was never a works Mclaren M4A in the papaya orange of the F1 and Can-am cars, but Graeme decided that would be the perfect colour for his. That didn’t last long. “Dad told me one day that he’d arranged sponsorship from Air New Zealand. It was the start of a long and successful relationship, but it nearly didn’t happen because I wanted the car to stay orange.”
Graeme’s nemesis from the National Formula days, Roly Levis, had also imported an F2 car.
“Roly was a great driver and a fantastic mechanic but, after the first few races, it was obvious that his Brabham was a better car than our Mclaren, just as [the Brabhams] were in Europe.”
In the first three rounds of the Gold Star, Graeme was runner-up each time to the wily veteran. The 1969 New Zealand Grand Prix marked a turn in fortune; Graeme was the first resident home and winner of a Tasman point for sixth.
A week later, he was fifth at Levin, and again first local driver, but the breakthrough win came on the first day of February, with an emphatic win over the Brabham driver in the Timaru Trophy.
The Mclaren was then scooted over to Australia for the final two Tasman Championship rounds, and it was there that a life-changing chance meeting took place.
“We were wandering around Sydney after the final Tasman round in 1969, and came across Chris [Amon]. I asked him what Ferrari was likely to do with the cars, and couldn’t believe it when he said that they’d probably strip them and crush the rest. I asked if there was any chance Ferrari might sell or lease one, and Chris, to his credit, said that if we were serious then he would make enquiries.”
Owning a Ferrari
“About a month later, Chris called to say ‘They haven’t said no’. Soon after, we sold our F2 Mclaren for NZ$6800, complete with spare FVA. Then came another call from Chris saying they wanted our address and phone number. I told Chris that I was so keen to make this happen that I would happily phone them. I still had no idea how I would pay for the car in the event they said yes ...
“Then there was nothing for another three months until I got a telegram to say I’d be hearing from Enzo Ferrari himself and asking if I still wanted to buy. The answer of course was yes, but there was still no price. One day, Dad asked: ‘Where are we going to get the money from?’ I told him not to worry until we found out the price. US$17,800! We begged, borrowed, and scraped together everything we could, including $900 from my auntie, but we were still about US$6000 short.
“Up to this point, only our family knew what was going on. The annual discussions with Shell rolled around, and we let them in on our secret. Not surprisingly, they didn’t believe me, but I showed them the letter and was immediately summoned to Wellington. They had worked out how much prize money I could win over the next two years in New Zealand — the Tasman Championship never entered into the equation — and put a deal to me that if I didn’t win what they’d worked out, then I’d have to pay back the difference. Well, I couldn’t sign fast enough — plus, by now I’d been approached by a French Ferrari collector who wanted first right of refusal after two years, so Shell knew we had a buyer. We’d also had a relationship with Air New Zealand, and, of course, they wanted the car in their corporate colours. I told them, ‘A Ferrari has to be red’, and in the end they relented. I’m sure they got more exposure because it was red.”
The flag drops
The car reignited Graeme’s career after the despair of the 1968 F2 campaign in Europe.
“I needed to re-establish myself within myself, and I was honoured that Chris Amon was prepared to go to the efforts he went to and that he thought I could do the car justice. I went into the red to buy it but it paid off — and it stayed red, too.”
I can still recall the day I first slid into the car.
“Dad did up the belts, and I just sat there quietly and thought, This is your time of
The deal was that some wealthy businessmen and councillors in Edmonton wanted to promote the city and decided to run a car in the Can-am and call it ‘the Spirit of Edmonton’, and they needed a driver
reckoning, young Shag.”
Before the Mclaren was sold, the opportunity presented itself to take it up to South-east Asia for the Singapore and Selangor Grands Prix in April. Although the locals were mostly in older machinery, it wasn’t totally plain sailing for Graeme because, to win each race, “I still had to beat Roly and that is never easy!”
The debut for the Lawrence/ferrari combination occurred at Bay Park, and Graeme, revelling in the 2.4-litre V6powered thoroughbred, won.
“You had to be extremely precise with it, and that seemed to suit me.”
Small versus big
With the first Tasman Championship fast approaching for the Formula A/5000s, the question was whether a one-year-old 2.4-litre car could hack it against the new big stockblock V8s. Graeme recalls his dad was “dead against the 5000s”. It really was a case of David taking on Goliath. I suggest that if there was a favourite, then it was probably Frank Matich.
“I think so,” Graeme agreed. “He had a Mclaren, a great reputation for preparation and developing a car, a good budget, and some good guys — plus, he knew the tracks.”
The leading Kiwi 5000 driver was Graham Mcrae, also in a Mclaren, but he would be racing on the three Australian tracks for the first time. Graeme, his recall on the 1970 Tasman crystal clear, also remembers American Ron Grable.
“We’d seen [him] and knew he was good, and of course Derek Bell had driven the sister car to my Ferrari the previous year, so already knew all the tracks.”
A good start
Things started about as well as they could — a win from pole and fastest lap is the ultimate result. In achieving this, Graeme became the first resident Australasian to win a Tasman Cup round.
“Honestly, it was a dream start. Sure, we knew that Levin would suit the Ferrari better than any other circuit but we’d banked nine points straightaway.”
Matich’s Mclaren won the Grand Prix at Pukekohe and again a week later at Wigram, while Mcrae got his debut Tasman victory at Teretonga. All the while, the Ferrari driver was accumulating, meaning that after the four New Zealand rounds, the Australian had 22 points and Lawrence had 16.
“I was still optimistic — hey, I was born like that — but we knew it would be tough having to go over to Australia to come from behind and beat a local for the championship.”
Mcrae shot himself into championship contention with victory at Surfers Paradise, but the Hamiltonian was third and ahead of Matich, who now had 25 points to Lawrence’s 20.
Next up was the tricky and technical Warwick Farm, Matich’s home track.
“We knew he was virtually unbeatable there, but in qualifying we beat him for pole by 0.1 of a second!
“Come race day, and the heavens opened — although it had stopped raining by the time the race started. Frank got the better start, but, for me, the most important thing was to finish.
I had to avoid getting involved with another car or Dnfing, but also I couldn’t just give away places. The track was still very slippery. Matich had tangled with KB [Kevin Bartlett] and dropped back, but was soon behind me, and when he went past I pretty much figured that the title was slipping away.”
However, Matich went out at two-thirds distance with a broken upright.
“I was third by that stage, behind the two Mildrens. They were too far ahead to chase down and I had about 20 seconds over fourth place, so it was simply a matter of being tidy and keeping my nose clean.”
The reliable old Ferrari kept Graeme in third, so they went to the final round with the Aussie on 25 points and the Kiwi on 24.
A great finish
“The final was at Sandown, just outside of Melbourne. I think, mathematically, that five drivers could have won the championship, but Frank made his intentions pretty clear by going fastest in qualifying. We were fourth quickest, but over a second a lap slower. Once again, I had to keep it ‘on the island’ and avoid any errors. Plus, we had a new challenge because Niel Allen was equal fastest.
“In the race, Frank seemed to be content just staying in front of me — unusually for him, he was prepared to sacrifice running at the front so long as I was behind him. Then, about a quarter of the way into the race, he was in the pits — not for long, and we found out later it was to check the engine. Now, we had the upper hand and came home second.
The Ferrari had won its second Tasman Championship in a row — and do you know who the first person to phone and congratulate us was? Bruce [Mclaren].”
To North America
Graeme had finished second to Graham Mcrae in the New Zealand Gold Star, but being crowned Tasman Champion was a significant achievement
“What it did was help me to bury that F2 season [1968]. I’ve never been able to totally erase it but at least we now had credibility.”
The chance of getting back onto the international stage wasn’t long in coming. In early May, Graeme and the Ferrari were racing in the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji when he got a call from North America.
“After Dave ‘Swifty’ Mcmillan had helped me on the F2 Mclaren in Europe, he stayed on for the rest of that year and then ended up working for Fred Opert in the States. The deal was that some wealthy businessmen and councillors in Edmonton wanted to promote the city and decided to run a car in the Can-am and call it ‘the Spirit of Edmonton’, and they needed a driver.
“Swifty told them, ‘I can get you the current Tasman Champion’ and somehow they tracked me down in Japan so, at about 4.20am, the phone goes ... the familiar line ‘You get yourself here, we’ll pay all the expenses’. So, a couple of days later, I arrive in Canada to see my new car and meet the people behind it.”
Tragic news
“It didn’t take too long to adjust,” is Graeme’s modest answer to me pondering how one goes from a jewel-like Ferrari Dino to a big-block Chev V8-powered Mclaren Can-am car.
Before the first race, there was a sad reminder of just how cruel the sport was at that time. “I was driving along the road in Edmonton when I heard that Bruce had been killed. I just pulled over to the side of the road and bawled my eyes out,” Graeme recalls.
Even after the passing of nearly 50 years since that fateful day, one can still sense what Bruce meant to Graeme.
Referring to the trio of Hulme, Amon, and Mclaren, he recounts, “They were all neat guys; Denny was always friendly and helpful, Chris was just the loveliest guy — although behind the wheel he was as hard as hell — but Bruce was one of those very special people, and you’re lucky if you meet more than a couple like him in a lifetime.”
Back home
The Can-am programme resulted in three points-scoring results.
“They had pretty large fields in 1970; we were generally mid-grid, but the businessmen had decided to do something else. It was a great
“I was driving along the road in Edmonton when I heard that Bruce had been killed. I just pulled over to the side of the road and bawled my eyes out,” Graeme recalls
experience. I did all 10 rounds and had some very good races and a couple of crashes, but nothing serious.”
Winning the Tasman Championship against the 5000s in 1970 was one thing, but, after a further year of development, would their improved reliability and even greater power be too much for the now two-year-old Ferrari?
“We were certainly conscious of that. The Ferrari wasn’t producing any more power, but the 5000s certainly were.”
Once again, if there was a chance at beating them, then the tight little Levin track would be the place to do it.
“We had to bed in an engine in qualifying,” Graeme explains, “so that meant starting from the back — the exact opposite position from the year before.”
Contemporary race reports describe the Ferrari driver as “man of the race” as he climbed up to third just after half distance before a spin ended a fine drive. In 1971, being first non-f5000 home in the Grand Prix meant sixth place.
The writing was on the wall for the Ferrari. After years of bad luck at Wigram, Graeme finished third. It was the last time a Ferrari driver stood on the podium for a Tasman race.
“Winning the Gold Star was nice as a consolation prize. I guess I’m the last guy who’ll ever win that in a Ferrari.”
A nasty crash
The Ferrari went off to the collector, and the proceeds were put into a brand-new Lola T300 – a Formula Two–based 5000. It was certainly not as sturdy looking as the Mclarens that had dominated in 1971.
“Dad was super worried about how fragile it was at the front.”
The combination proved quick straightaway, with a win and a new lap record at Bay Park.
“I believe I was just getting to a new level with the T300.”
Prior to its arrival, Graeme had kept himself busy with a F2 Brabham. The races in Singapore that he’d won following the government’s invitation to race there had provided him with a following, and the Brabham was just the sort of car to go back there with. It proved to be a long and very successful arrangement.
The opening round of the 1972 Tasman Championship was at Pukekohe, and new cars from Mcrae and Matich had certainly moved the goalposts. The yellow T300 had qualified well, but an early spin had put Graeme down the order. “I worked myself up to eighth, right behind John Mccormack’s Elfin; for 20 bloody laps I tried to get past. I was quicker, and if I’d managed to get around him, we’d have just driven away.”
They came up to lap Bryan Faloon, a highly
The Brabham was just the sort of car to go back there (Singapore) with. It proved to be a long and very successful arrangement
talented but perennially under-funded driver from Levin.
“There were only about six laps to go, and coming up the back straight I was slipstreaming Mccormack while Bryan, seeing him, pulled to the left at the kink to let him through. At the same split second, I pulled out of the slipstream to pass Mccormack and ran into the back of him.”
Faloon’s car looked relatively intact, but the Lola was now junk. Sadly, Faloon’s head injuries proved fatal. The years have not dimmed Graeme’s emotion when discussing this.
“We were actually good friends with Bryan. He was a hell of a good bloke, and a hell of a good racing driver. Who knows what he might have achieved with a decent car?”
Graeme was not unscathed. He spent eight months in hospital and a total of 11 months in plaster.
“Yes, of course, I considered giving up, but I reckoned I had unfinished business. If I’m honest, I actually ended up having some of my best races after I came back.”
Back again
Graeme returned in an F2 Surtees until he determined whether he was up to the rigours of a 5000 again.
“Then we got the (Lola) T332 — what a magic car. It was unbelievable, and in the wet it took on another dimension. The sheer thrill and excitement of controlling that much power on a damp track was out of this world, like trying to waltz with a drunken octopus on a high wire.”
In 1975, Graeme was one of three drivers who went into the final race of that year’s Tasman Championship on equal points. He’d come a long way in the three years since the days when it looked as if he might never walk again. Once his ‘blood brother’ Ken Smith got a Lola as well, their long-established bond and friendship went to a new level. They showed that quality was more important than quantity as the F5000 fields dwindled. For 1977, Formula Pacific had been determined as the new category for New Zealand, and Graeme ran his Lola in Australia for a time before selling it there.
The chequered flag
“I kept racing for Rothmans in Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines until 1983, and we had some good success. By then I was 42/43, and I started looking at team management, so for 11 years we ran cars in the summer series here and in Australia.”
Because open-wheelers have been such a massive part of Graeme’s life, when I ask about Bathurst, it requires momentary redirection.
“I’d met Murray Carter — a sort of Bathurst battler. His sponsors phoned me up completely out of the blue. We had a test day at Oran Park — totally for my benefit. I did two Bathursts in a Triumph Dolomite, two in a Falcon coupe, and two in a Falcon four-door.”
Such is Graeme’s modesty that he doesn’t even mention that he and the veteran Carter were third in 1978, and first Ford.
“Yeah that’s right; I enjoyed that — it was great.”
So sums up Graeme Lawrence’s positive attitude to his life. Motor racing has dominated it, but he prides himself in having a close relationship with his four sons and his three brothers. Indeed, the support of his brothers and his parents is frequently mentioned.
“Mum said to me once, ‘I’m super happy for your dad. He couldn’t do the racing but he can do it through you.’”
Nothing came easy for Graeme, but, as he stated a few times over lunch: “Sure it was tough finding the money, but each time an opportunity presented itself, I asked myself the same question: How badly do you want this, and what are you prepared to sacrifice to make it happen?”
So sums up Graeme Lawrence’s positive attitude to his life. Motor racing has dominated it, but he prides himself in having a close relationship with his four sons and his three brothers. Indeed, the support of his brothers and his parents is frequently mentioned.