46 replies to this topic

[unclefestal34s]

Hi Everyone,

I had the pleasure of attending the 2012 Muscle Car Masters & it was such a great weekend with so many quality cars that were at the event from Australia & from New Zealand as well, I can say that the most enjoyable time was having the utmost pleasure of spending the Sunday with an ex Group C racing car driver from the 70's by the name of Graham Smelt & his lovely wife Vivienne that has been with him since the old glory days of early motor racing & they are still together after 44 years & still going strong & having a laugh together.

I have chosen to post this post as there has been so much going on about the Black GMPA A9X Hatchback that was driven for a couple years by Graham Smelt & wether it was a genuine car & so much more has been said that I do not care too go into apart from it is a genuine car, the car looked so good in its race glory colours with the bright yellow bumper bars as well the grill & all the reproduction signage etc.

I really enjoyed hearing Graham Smelt talk about the car & the fun of racing back in the glory days of the ATCC series & the people that they were rubbing shoulders with while racing & the wins as well as the placings that they had & I say they as his lovely wife Vivienne was there mostly with him thru out his time competing racing there Black GMPA A9X Hatchback, I really liked also hearing about the fun that they were having with the little & nimble Torana GTR XU1's as well Vivienne was telling me while Graham was sitting in the car waiting for his relived glory laps that it just got so competitive & rather expensive when the Holden Commodores came into class & they made life decisions & moved onto concentrating on there family & business future together & still going strong which is so great to hear & see.

I will part with saying that there has been so much said about the Black GMPA A9X Hatchback that was driven by Graham Smelt on this forum & there is so many people that had so much to say & my opinion is that if you have no idea on what you are commenting on as you are so ill informed then it is best that you say nothing keep your mouth closed as you are only making yourself look like an idiot, I was so pleased to see the owner of the car Chris see Graham drive his ex race car as well Chris even drive his (GENUINE GMPA HATCHBACK) around the track & really give it some stick as he does like too drive the car whenever he can & I use Chris as my inspiration as in get them out of the garage & drive them as they are meant to be driven not left to sit & gather dust.

Enjoy your car Chris as I love it mate as well as Graham & Vivienne what a pleasure meeting such lovely people & thanks for the driving tips Graham & I hope that you will be back in a couple of years as it would be a pleasure to see you again.

Kind Regards.

Mark. AKA Mr Hatchback.

Nice read mark,

But Chris was the one who approached his search the wrong way for this beautiful machine he has owned for 25 years,..when you ask questions and don't hear what you want to hear then start a process of elimnation to see what car you might have,.. that's when you start to raise a few eyebrows and that's exactly what chris did and i told him so to his face as i've known chris for a long time...

and yes i was around when chris bought this car as a rolling bodyshell where it sat at apple tyres in croydon nsw for a little while and i happen to live around the corner from..

i personally always suspected the car was a circuit car but to what capacity..but to come out and say as what was said it raced at bathurst in 77 or 78 without any proof is a massive statement..

i'm pretty sure no one on this forum wants to bag this car as it presents beautifully and like a lot of people in the no you always want to put them in the system where they belong with the rightful title....

and so we now no graham smelt owned this car which is fantastic news as a lot light can be shed on this car now..
as for people being ill informed about this car chris the owner is the only one to blame as he only recently found the missing link and was on the phone to me at 100mph telling me how was going to stick up everyone's arse and they would see..

''i told chris why bother you've got the car and that's all that matters the proof is always the pudding chris''

you can easily see how a shit fight starts on public forums and this one was a perfect example when fishing for information and making statements then being cagey cause you don't have the info yet..

there's a lot people on this forum who would like to help when approached correctly and i personally don't aways see eye to eye with or always agree with either but it certainly doesn't make them shit people....

but when you can't answer simple questions about your own car what do you expect...
its a bloody public forum and things get out hand if you don't announce facts and try and peddle bullshit..

i'm more than happy for you chris as you've found the missing pieces to the puzzle that made your hair grey and had you sounding like you were eating lemons all day..

great car with a happy ending and a place in history somewhere...

[xu2308]

Cool its all sourted out, cant beat the look of a Black Hatch, and one with Race History

[enderwigginau]

All that is left is to get the C of D.

[enderwigginau]

you only need that if you are going to race the car it does,nt alter what it is----------------good ending but

Yeah, it's the best outcome.....I don't know anyone who would go to this much effort and not get that little bit of paper from CAMS.
Anything other than that just says some numbers match a logbook.

[piquet]

Before you go down the C of D route with CAMS too far contact one of the eligibility officers from the Group C Association or the historic touring car association in your state. They should help out and are a good source of the "how to" in the process of a C of D.
There is also the fee that CAMS will charge you for the issuing of the Certificate.

Good luck with the process. The idea is not to so much prove that he car raced but to give it a point in time in its racing history that it can/ will be presented for racing purposes.

For example the Stilwell BDA Escort raced over a number of years in a number of different presentations. The different presentations cannot be mixed and matched buta point in time mst be nominated and the car built to represent that point in time only.

A better carto look at would at the BMW M3s. They may be all genuine cars that raced in the period but many have slightly different specs with regard to inlet manifolds, electronics, brake packages and some other items to each other.
Some are 2.3 litre and others 2.4 and some othe little quirky things like that.

Probably not quite so apparent with a Torana but I believe that the car would have to have things like the correct carburation that the car ran in the period. EFI couldnt be fitted in place of a big 4 barrel Holley nor could twin webers be fitted instead of the Holley .

So really the journey has started and I think you have just filled the tank for an interesting and challenging trip!!!!
Cheers
Peter

[sagman]

Very nicely put Peter , it is exactly that a Certificate of Description of the way the car is presented to cams to be specific to the era chosen for racing purposes.

As well as 'interesting and challenging ' i think a certain amount of 'frustration ' will also be part of the process.

Good luck with it

Laz

[bluea9x]

Here's one for you Chris, good news on the car but could of been with a lot less headaches.  IMG_2636.JPG   308.62K   21 downloads

[xu2308]

Was that when the Hatch was raced by G.Smelt i guess

[bluea9x]

Was that when the Hatch was raced by G.Smelt i guess

No this was last weekend at MCM

[unclefestal34s]

Hi Red didnt see your face at the masters. What happen

i didn't go to the masters either...perhaps i might be over it..

so what's your point...."chris"

this why you got hammered last time and asked for the thread to be removed and closed like you told me over the phone...for being a smartarse and approaching

things the wrong way..

sounds like your still pissed with red cause he didn't tell you what you wanted to hear when he first saw your car...build a bridge and get over it ''chris''

like your mate mark said at the start of this post enjoy the car for what it is and for what you got...

a black beauty hatch it is...

Luv from the L34 that can destroy your ego on the racetrack at anytime....( 11.1 @ 122.5 mph )...(tongue in cheek and nearly choking)

[a9x868]

King Loz ,Thanks for posting that great photo shot of the Smelt A9X. Graham Smelt was the man who first owned & raced this car.It was him driving the car at MCM on fathers day. It has been 32years since he last drove the car.
Will post photos soon as, i can work it out how to do it .Cheers Chris

chris great to see that the speculation has maybe finally been quashed.
car looks fantastic in that livery by the way
cheers
davemc

[arrimar]

Tried Ecurie Investments?