Most of us have heard of Bruce McLaren. But the RA4 Vanguard also hails from New Zealand – and deserves to be better known
Words James Page Photography Gun Hill Studios
ff ollowing the end of World War Two, a new generation of enterprising young engineers came onto the motorsport scene. Many of them had either trained or worked in the aviation industry, and the post-war shortage of materials added improvisation to their skill sets. The Cooper Car Company, for example, was enjoying considerable success in the new, low-cost 500cc formula, and John Cooper recalled buying all the Morrison air-raid shelters he could, in order to use the steel in the construction of his rear-engined racing cars. He also sourced parts from a nearby firm that sold secondhand aircraft equipment, such as fuel pumps.
Thousands of miles away in New Zealand, two engineers shared not only Cooper’s talent for recycling but also his eye for aircraft parts. They would even follow him in bucking the prevailing trend by building a rear-engined racer – although their inspiration came not from little 500cc racers but from the pre-war Auto Union Grand Prix cars. Hec Green and Jack Brewer had been aircraft mechanics during the war and became partners in a Christchurch engineering business. They were both keen racers and got hold of a copy of a report that had been written by Cameron Earl for the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee. Published in 1947 by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, it detailed the design of the all-conquering Mercedes and Auto Union ‘Silver Arrows’ of the 1930s.
Green and Brewer were particularly struck by the rear-engined layout of the Auto Unions, and set about building their own car along the same lines. With limited budget and materials, lateral thinking and ingenuity were required. Their aircraft experience came in useful and war-surplus sales provided rich pickings. Aluminium propellers, for example, were a good source of metal, but the aviation influence was most obvious in the suspension design. The front suspension featured parallel trailing links, but the springing medium was an adjustable system of rubber ‘bungee’ cords, as used in aircraft landing gear. There was a low-pivot swing-axle set-up at the rear, where hydraulic oleo struts from a Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk replaced the usual coils or leaf springs.
At the heart of their design was a 2088cc four-cylinder engine from a Standard Vanguard, from which they managed to extract 200bhp. Among the many modifications were a camshaft
