Hi David, thank you for the welcome and encouraging me to join the forum.
One point that i feel needs clarifying relates to the picture on post 23 here, and your response. The leading car is in fact Lex Davison in the Cooper Mk 4 , chassis number 104150, and the following car is Ern Tadgell in his Porsche Special. This was taken at the very first meeting on the Phillip Island circuit, as opposed to the previously used road circuit. The date was december 15, 1956, it was the very first race and had a race for F3 500ccc cars, held concurrently over 3 laps and won by Murray Rainey in his Cooper. The other cars ran over 8 laps, with Lex first and Tadgell second. Third was Ron Edgerton then Otto Stone. Rainey carried on and finished fifth.
Lex won two Australian Hillclimb championships in this car, along with much other success. It went through many owners over the years and i obtained it in the early 1990s in an engineless and tired shape. With help from Terry Prince an engine was built up and i have had many enjoyable race meetings with the car. Next planned event to compete in is at Mallala SA in April.
Garry Simkin