Ray Bell
5 Dec 2001, 11:48
This is the story of a car that is very famous in Australian motor racing. It started life as a plaything for well-to-do cinema proprietor Gus MacIntyre, but soon passed to driver Frank Kleinig when MacIntyre, who also funded the MacIntyre Hudson built for the trans-Africa race of 1936 (which was never held), fell ill and was advised by his doctor to dispose of his racing machines.
It had an MG chassis, from an overweight sedan MacIntyre had acquired, and a Miller 2-litre engine. It screamed around Penrith's one-mile speedway and was unbeatable on that venue.
But with the coming of Bathurst's Mount Panorama circuit in 1938, and the simultaneous opening of Albury's Wirlinga-Thurgoona circuit and the emergence of Lobethal in South Australia, it was clear that more grunt was required.
Kleinig fitted a Hudson straight eight to begin a lifelong development programme on the car. 4.1 litres hurled it along very effectively, a special gearset being made for a Mathis gearbox, brakes being upgraded, different carburetion being tried and that sort of thing. Kleinig was to become a real thorn in the side to Alf Barrett with his 2.3-litre Alfa Romeo Monza, even though Barrett is often regarded as the best driver Australia has ever seen, and was quicker than Jack Saywell in the 2.9-litre Alfa P3 with Dubonnet suspension.
Kleinig was in his element in hillclimbs, the short bursts of enormous energy required suiting both him and the car. But he ran in all kinds of events. Here he is at Lobethal in 1939, at Kayannie Corner:
http://members.atlasf1.com/raybell/pics/lobkleinig.jpg
And another angle at Lobethal, at speed up the main street of the town that gave the 8.65-mile circuit its name:
http://members.atlasf1.com/raybell/pics/lobklngmnst.jpg
A colour pic taken from a frame of movie shot at Bathurst in an early post-war meeting is yet another angle:
http://members.atlasf1.com/raybell/pics/kleinig.jpg
As mentioned, Kleinig was not one to leave the car alone, and with the coming of the Lago, and a Formula 1 Ferrari, it was time to get serious about changes... a Maserati body, central seating, an offset differential housing, independent front suspension from a Peugeot 203 and the car looked like this:
http://www.austarmetro.com.au/~raybell/kleinigfinal.JPG
It was a failure in this guise for one reason only... the battery made especially for the very lightweight car had an internal short on the way to the starting grid of its only race, the 1954 Australian Grand Prix at Southport on the Gold Coast.
But today the Maserati body has been reunited with the rest of the Maserati, so the owner of that car, having bought the car to get the body, has rebuit the Kleinig Special to something like its 1950 form.
Here it is... almost ready to go:
http://www.austarmetro.com.au/~raybell/kleinig2001.JPG
When Tom Roberts starts turning out at Historic meetings with it, I for one will be very happy to have a good close look...
It had an MG chassis, from an overweight sedan MacIntyre had acquired, and a Miller 2-litre engine. It screamed around Penrith's one-mile speedway and was unbeatable on that venue.
But with the coming of Bathurst's Mount Panorama circuit in 1938, and the simultaneous opening of Albury's Wirlinga-Thurgoona circuit and the emergence of Lobethal in South Australia, it was clear that more grunt was required.
Kleinig fitted a Hudson straight eight to begin a lifelong development programme on the car. 4.1 litres hurled it along very effectively, a special gearset being made for a Mathis gearbox, brakes being upgraded, different carburetion being tried and that sort of thing. Kleinig was to become a real thorn in the side to Alf Barrett with his 2.3-litre Alfa Romeo Monza, even though Barrett is often regarded as the best driver Australia has ever seen, and was quicker than Jack Saywell in the 2.9-litre Alfa P3 with Dubonnet suspension.
Kleinig was in his element in hillclimbs, the short bursts of enormous energy required suiting both him and the car. But he ran in all kinds of events. Here he is at Lobethal in 1939, at Kayannie Corner:
http://members.atlasf1.com/raybell/pics/lobkleinig.jpg
And another angle at Lobethal, at speed up the main street of the town that gave the 8.65-mile circuit its name:
http://members.atlasf1.com/raybell/pics/lobklngmnst.jpg
A colour pic taken from a frame of movie shot at Bathurst in an early post-war meeting is yet another angle:
http://members.atlasf1.com/raybell/pics/kleinig.jpg
As mentioned, Kleinig was not one to leave the car alone, and with the coming of the Lago, and a Formula 1 Ferrari, it was time to get serious about changes... a Maserati body, central seating, an offset differential housing, independent front suspension from a Peugeot 203 and the car looked like this:
http://www.austarmetro.com.au/~raybell/kleinigfinal.JPG
It was a failure in this guise for one reason only... the battery made especially for the very lightweight car had an internal short on the way to the starting grid of its only race, the 1954 Australian Grand Prix at Southport on the Gold Coast.
But today the Maserati body has been reunited with the rest of the Maserati, so the owner of that car, having bought the car to get the body, has rebuit the Kleinig Special to something like its 1950 form.
Here it is... almost ready to go:
http://www.austarmetro.com.au/~raybell/kleinig2001.JPG
When Tom Roberts starts turning out at Historic meetings with it, I for one will be very happy to have a good close look...
