19-6-04 Sta nion orot The 1950s were a quest for speed for Charlie and Maurice Stanton. These were the years when a postwar challenge to use Kiwi ingenuity and courage led two mechanics from Christchurch to design a vehicle that surpassed all expecțations. ROCHELLE EVANS recalls a memorable motoring era. t is a crisp Canterbury moming in November 1958. Charlie checks the tyre pressure and chain drive one last time before helping his younger Stanton brother, Maurice, strap into his four-way aircraft harness. The wind is beginning to pick up, and the barbed wire fence along either side of the 4m-wide shingle Tram Road is beginning to look sharper than usual. Their rear-mounted Gipsy Major engine roars into life and the smell of high octane fuel fills the air. Charlie promises to himself this is the last run of the day. As it is, their homemade car rocks in the wind whenever it passes an exposed part of road. At 280kmh it wouldn't take much for the car to imitate its engine source, and leave the ground. "But there is a fan club waiting, and neither brother wants to have to go through the rigmarole of recordbreaking again next year. They have other cars to build, more ideas to try, and a business to run. They are driven on by the excitement of seeing if their "Stanton Special" will reach its predicted maximum speed. Maurice puts his foot down and the rev counter peaks at 3200rpm. On that day in November the Cropduster (as it became known because of the noise from its aero engine) broke the Australasian land speed record of 173.8mph (280 kmh) for the flying kulometre. Built for hill climbs, their Stanton Special soon made its name in sprints holding New Zealand records for the flying kilometre, standing kilometre, standing quarter mile and hill climbs. Three stil stand today. in recognition of their contribution to motor racing, two cul de sacs in a new subdivision off Clearbrook Street. have been named Maurice Stanton Place, and Charlie Stanton Place. The streets are found in Mairehau, the seei of street racing in the 1950s when the area was still mosty rural. The streets were officially named at a private function last week, and a plaque showing the records held by the brothers was unveiled. Maurice Stanton passed away in 1997. Charlie retired to Nelson 24 years Charlie Stanton Maurice Stanton ago, and was pleased to hear they would be given the rare recognition that was so hard to come by in a racing world which favoured factory-built cars. "We were too grassroots. Maurice and I were just a couple of mechanics in our suburban garage. We didn't have the money for new parts, so would make our own," says Charlie. Their Stanton Special was in every way a hybrid machine, built around its main feature, the aircraft engine, which was fitted backwards and upside down. In its entire career, no engine stoppage occurred. Maurice and Charlie conceived the idea for aircraft engine propulsion when the Government advertised war surplus Gipsy Major engines for tender in 1947. Charlie's experience as a driver mechanic in the World War 2, and Maurice's service as an air force rigger in the Solomon Islands in 1945, told them that the Gipsy Major engine would supply great power for its weight. Getting the Gipsy engines back from Dunedin was an accomplishment in itself. Heading off at 55kmh to save rationed fuel, they blew two spare tyres and were forced to abandon their Bentley at Oamaru in order to find and return with another tyre. They hitchhiked back to Christchurch and then arrived at Oamaru by night train at 2am. Bowling the replacement wheel down the dark streets, Charlie was accosted by a policeman on a bicycle, who took some convincing that the wheel had not been stolen. Hunt for tyres "Back in those days tyres were just absolutely unobtainable. You just couldn't get them after the war and every Saturday afternoon the Christchurch Star would have a column 'car parts for sale', Charlie recalls. "We would go up and wait for the paper to come up out of the would grao to see if tr sale. We would rush o somebody else nad go now short tyres were. office, which we ere was a 525/21 for ut to find that t there first, that's Three engines were bought, with the ntention of installing the first during esting, then the second for racing and peed records. The third engine was a pare on standby. The breaking point o ners a spe cla breed Super special: Maurice, left, and Charlie with the Sta anton Special the first Gipsy engine was never found, and the two spares remained untouched. Maurice and Charlie ran a mechanics shop at Sydenham and would tinker, sometimes until 3am, creating breakthroughs in mechanical engineering that are fundamentals today. Maurice was a meticulous worker, recording car designs, cost sheets and each record attempt. The two men painstakingly stripped and re-assembled an engine or transmission several times if they were not completely satisfied. For 18 months they worked to overcome the difficulties of connecting a car to such an unusual power source. They did their own designs, welding, metal work and fibreglass moulding. Charlie claims the only part they didn't create themselves was the sign writing. "We built cars from basic principles, and had a rather pragmatic approach. We wouldn't be ruled by what anyone else had done, but thought out our own ideas. It was Kiwi ingenuity I guess. The old No.8 wire The Stanton Special was completed in 1953, with a space frame chassis, independent suspension and the rear mounted 6124cc en Lead weights were the 136kg engine fr front when the car: speed. A two-speed to handle the high t speeds of 150kmh i in top gear. ngine with a chain drive. later added to prevent com swinging to the.: reached maximum i gearbox was designed torque, which reached in low gear, and 280kmh There was contro official appearance. I between the Stanton officials at the first N Prix at Ardmore, Auc car qualified 17th out of the final event bec look of British and A versy at the car's first Il feeling arose brothers and race ew Zealand Grand kland, in 1954. The : of 42, but was left out ause it didn't have the ustralian imports." In Beaded Wheels, Maurice writes: "In the end right triumphed over might, but it left a sour taste and typifies the antipathy of officials to non-factory racing cars which has had such an adverse effect on New Zealand motor racing." They were allowed to race, and entered from the back of the field, gaining up to seventh place before having to withdraw with worn brakes. The Speciai had been fitted with tiny Morris Minor front drum brakes, and slightly larger rear drums. "She was built to Charlie. To slow the Italian Ansaido was s front brakes, and FO drums were added to go, not to whoa," said vehicle, a vintage stripped for its 14 inch ›rd Zephyr 9 inch o the back. Steering was by chain and sprocket, much like that found on a go cart, but used to control a vehicle thought to be capable of 185mph. Charlie says it wasn't the quest for speed that drove them to break records, but rather the obligation to see if the machine would go as fast as they thought it would. "Once you built the car, it had to be raced." But Charlie had no objection to going fast. During his war service (in North Africa and two winters in Italy), Charlie won the nickname "Speed" "They reckoned that whenever I drove a truck my foot was always hard down, and I only released the throttle to go round corners. Fearless driver Despite Charlie's nickname, it was agreed that Maunce was the better dr "Maurice tured out to be better at racing, so we decided he would do all driving and I would be the team mana and designer of the cars. He was a lot braver than me, a very feariess driver. says Charlie. Practice run: Maurice in the driver's seat of the Special at the Mairehau track in 1957 The pair went on to build the Stanton Corvette, the world's first rear-engine car with a large capacity American motor. Driving it on the open road took skili, and the driver had to learn the art of overtaking. Vehicles would be tailed by the Corvette until it was certain other motorists had heard the motor and knew they were there, before going on to pass them. With 500 horsepower the Corvette could pass in a matter of seconds. Acceleration was 0 to 100mph in less than 10 seconds. Maurice always wore a crash helmet, and was the first in New Zealand to wear a four-way safety belt, taken from an aircraft. "When the rest of the country would put on their goggles and a hat on backwards, we were pretty safety conscious, so were ahead of our times there," says Charlie. He believes these s well as the introductic his brother's life. Whil Maunganui, their Stan off the road and flippe times. The front and r demolished, but Maur safety measures, as on of a roll bar, saved le at Mount ton Corvette came ed end over end three ear of the car was rice escaped unhurt. Another incident di hillclimb at Timaru saT hospital treatment for shoulder. He retumed parents would be none uring the Cielands w Maurice requiring a dislocated home hoping his e the wiser - despite a Christchurch Star "M. Stanton injured Alter a spectacular Waimate 00 road rac gave up driving the s news article headline when car overturns". sideways crash at the ce in 1967, Maurice Stanton Corvette. Warner Mauger, last 36 years, remen Stanton brothers' re believes they never they deserved for ti motoring world. "TI something that reac owner of the car for mbers watching the ecord attempts. He got the recognition heir contribution to t hey designed ched 173 miles (280k an hour in the 50s. They should have been knighted," he says. Charlie went to Guildford, England and joined the Brabham Racing Organisation in 1967, usually working up to 80 hours a week. He overhauled and rebnilt the engines with which vew zealander Denny Hutme won the Formula one world. * championship, Charlie was asked to stay on, with the offer of boarses, but he fotad the English winters too cold and returned home to New Zealand. Charlie looks back on his days of invention, and has noticed the change in the racing world. "It was different in the '50s and '60s. Some of the top cars in the country now are probably at least a half a million dollars each and we built our cars virtually through our weekly wages." The Stantons built their Special for $300 pounds, the Gipsy engine costing $20. "The days of the amateur are well past. You have to have the money to be a professional, the gear box alone is $120,000. It's all money now and the sportsma of it. We wouldn't be was possible then." These days life has little. At 84, Charlie pr soak up the Nelson su unship has gone out ble to do today what slowed down, a reters the time to in, and has moved on to a slower sport enjoyed for the last: Although Charlie Maurice continued t He built a Cobra cou vintage sports car ou which Maurice racer with the Banks Penit Club, including the a Hill climb. Flicking through t motoring magazine. not up to play with ti these days. But his e recalls the vears whe were so far ahead of rest of the motoring catch up. gliding, which he has 36 years. gave up motor racing. o race until he was 12. ipe special, and a BSA ut of a box of bits, a with some success nsular Vintage Car annual Ashley Forest he May edition of a Charlie admits he's it larest technology ves light up when he en he and his brother the play it took the world decades to