George Begg

1930-2007

 George Begg - Kiwi race car builder

Many thanks to Peter Bramwell for most of this tribute.

George Begg, who lost his battle with cancer at his home in Hervey Bay on Australia's Fraser Coast, was the iconic New Zealand No. 8 wire motor racing engineer. He was 76. If he hadn't already existed it would have been damnably difficult to create him. George, on the other hand, seemed to have had no such problems. He wanted to build a racing car, so he did. Then he built another 17. Where was the problem? George was hands-on the way Burt Munro ("The World's Fastest Indian") was hands-on and it was no surprise that they both came from the same Southland neck of the woods in New Zealand.

The early Beggs looked as though they'd been hewn from raw metal but they did the job. Sophistication wasn't a word high in the Begg spelling order. That would evolve. First make it work, then make it win.

George had raced motorcycles on the Isle of Man and that takes a special kind of courage and skill just to stay on the bike and keep the bike on the road, never mind stay on the road and be quick. TT legend Bob McIntyre once said "You go up the mountain on your machine and you come down on your nerves..." Since 1907 it has been a tortuous 37.7-mile mountain race course over narrow public roads round the Isle of Man. George could cope. George always coped.

He appreciated that there was a knack in building racing cars and that fellow-Kiwi Bruce McLaren seemed quite good at it, so George invited himself to join the team at the end of the Heathrow runways in England and learned the tricks of the race-car building trade at the sharp end for a summer in 1968.

I don't wish to suggest that George Begg was any sort of genius, it was just that he hadn't understood when it was explained to him that it was impossible to build racing cars that would win in just about every form that he built them. Small single-seaters, big single-seaters, sports-racers... They were all cars with BEGG on the badge on the nose. The way Bruce had put McLAREN on the nose of his racing cars. Which brings to mind the tale of George meeting Coast-to-Coast mastermind organiser Robin Judkins who raced one of George's early Begg Formula Fords from time to time. George was retired and living on the Gold Coast by now but he appeared on a spectator bank at a Timaru race, realised one of his cars was running, er, last and asked me who it was. I explained that it was Juddy and offered to introduce him. They chatted for a while and then George asked if Juddy had any duct tape. Juddy asked why, and George said he wanted to put it over his name on the nose. Mercifully Begg and Judkins operated on the same outer edge of normal behavioural understanding and it was all taken as offered.

Which is not to mention the books George wrote. You haven't asked me, but I'll tell you that writing anything from scratch if you've never sat down to write before, is nigh on impossible. George just did it. Nobody had explained to him that he couldn't. Or if they had, he hadn't listened, probably thinking about something else, like the book he was about to write.

George Begg was a story-teller, a teller of tales and a man who has been many places where motor racing enthusiasts would love to have followed him. It was nearly as good as being there, sharing his company and listening to him, and that's the mark of a true writer. That may seem simple, but believe me, it's bloody difficult until you get into that fluid swing with words. George succeeded despite himself. I closed my foreword for his first book When the Engine Roars saying that I wished I could write like George and he could spell like me. I'll stick with that. He would also write the first book on "The World's Fastest Indian" Burt Munro, and a book on Bruce McLaren and his team, after working a season with his fellow-countryman in 1968.

Begg started building his racing cars in Drummond, a tiny country village inland from Invercargill, where he had been producing agricultural and farming equipment.

"Drummond was the best place in the world to build racing cars because you didn't have smart-alecs and 'experts' coming by and telling us how Lotus or Ferrari would have done it better. I was like Ken Tyrrell, tucked away in his wood yard in Surrey." There were the tales of clandestine test runs when a new racing car was completed. "We'd check down the road to make sure all the farm gates were shut and then we'd fire up the car. My best time down that country road was around 170mph." He said the telegraph poles were like a picket fence at that pace.

Graham McRae, the Kiwi who built his own cars and won races and titles round the world, made a rare public appearance to honour George at a Begg Tribute event at Teretonga a few weeks before his death, a measure of his appreciation for the man who had helped him early in his career. George said McRae had showed him that dogged persistence and ignoring the gauges could win races...

David Oxton and Jim Murdoch were among the Begg drivers present at the Teretonga demonstrations and George remembered his proud moment at Silverstone when Oxton, now 60, raced the 5-litre FM5. "I remember looking up at the board above the pits and thinking 'That's me, that's my name, that's my number...that's my car!'" Oxton won three New Zealand Gold Stars in Beggs.

By coincidence, Alastair Caldwell, another long-time McLaren mechanic, phoned me from Auckland during the Tribute weekend to send his regards to George. "A lot of people nicked stuff from the McLaren chuck-out bin... but George turned it into an art form!" George had rescued the chassis of the very first M1B space-frame sports car chassis from a corner of the McLaren Colnbrook workshops and also the body from a 1967 M8 CanAm car to form the basis of the 'McBegg' sports-racer in 1968.

George had met and married Freda when they met on the Isle of Man and George paid tribute to his wife for letting him race his Manx Norton on 'The Island' when he was 59... the unspoken inference being that perhaps he should have known better but Freda was happy to let him do it.

George could do just about anything he put his mind to, a man who came to mind when the conversation turned to Number 8 wire Kiwi entrepreneurs. He wrote his autobiography When the Engine Roars then updated it a few years later with chapters added on restorations of famous racing cars in New Zealand. Then came the book on Burt Munro followed by a book on Bruce McLaren, written with the wry eye of an engineer who had followed the McLaren career as a racing driver and car-builder and served a season in the McLaren workshops at Colnbrook absorbing the special atmosphere of working with rather than for the laid-back Kiwi.

The first Begg was powered by a 650cc BSA and built for local racer Barry Keen who bought the car back in 1979.

Hamish Blake, age 9, was George's hugely proud grandson, at George's side throughout the celebrations wearing a flat cap copying Grandad and looking for all the world like Jackie Coogan. They rode together Kennedy-style on the back seat of a turquoise '57 Chevvy convertible on the Saturday parade. On Sunday George was up there with Graham McRae.

George was asked all weekend which was his favourite of the 18 Beggs he had built. He sidestepped the question by comparing his cars to his children. There were no favourites. He continued the family comparison: "After I made one, I thought I'd make another. It's like a family; if you have one kid you can have another, it's no bother. They are a bit like kids, you make one good one and you think 'I'll have another just like it.'"

Michael Clark, author of the new Begg book, also tried to draw George on the most significant of the racing cars he had built. 'I wasn't at all surprised by his answer and in fact guessed correctly when asked by George - "Now you've done all the research, which one do you think?" The car in question is the FM4 (the 1970 F5000 raced by Geoff Mardon and David Oxton). It didn't race in Europe like the first FM5, and it wasn't gorgeous to look at like the 018, but it did do everything George asked of it in terms of restoring credibility after the horrors of the FM2. The FM4 had a longer wheelbase, and was both slimmer and lighter. In his first book When the Engine Roars, George writes 'It had a sort of kindness about it, and it was always prepared to do its best... the FM4 was a tryer... if cars had a character, the FM4 had more than most.'

The Tribute event at Teretonga was very much a time-warp weekend celebrating one of the true achievers in New Zealand motor racing. Very much a man in the McLaren mould. He couldn't say can't...

Begg family tree

1963/64: Begg 650 - 650cc BSA
1965: Begg 1600 - 1600cc Hillman Minx
1966: Begg Sports - 4.6-litre Chev V8
1967: Begg Daimler - 2.5-litre Daimler V8
1967: Begg 1500 - 1500cc Ford single-cam
1967/8: Begg Twin-cam - 1600cc Lotus twin-cam
1968/9: Begg monocoque - 1600cc Ford twin-cam
1968: McBegg sports car - 5.9-litre Chev V8
1969: Begg FM2 - 5-litre Chev V8
1969: Begg FM2 - 5-litre Chev V8 second version
1970: Begg FM3 - 1600cc Ford Cortina
1970: Begg FM4 - 5-litre Chev V8
1972: Begg FM5 - 5-litre Chev V8
1973: Begg FM5 - 5-litre Chev V8
1973: Begg JM1 - 1600cc Ford Cortina (Jim Murdoch)
1974: Begg 018 - 5-litre Chev V8

George Begg's interest in motorsport started with two wheels, not four.
Like so many young New Zealanders in the late 1940s George turned to a motorcycle for cheap transport to take him to and from his job as a trainee fitter and turner.
From a farming community in Southland, one of the most southerly parts of New Zealand's South Island, George realised his ambitions would take him into engineering, not farming, and he moved to the southern city of Dunedin. His older brother sold him a 1929 BSA Sloper motorcycle, no marvel as a sports machine but it enthralled the young rider.
Sheer enthusiasm for motorcycling meant absorbing every detail about bikes, and bike racing, in particular the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races.
The urge to go racing resulted in the purchase of a 1938 Royal Enfield Silver Bullet 500cc single, with which George competed in club races. The Bullet, steadily modified further for racing, was joined by a BSA Golden Flash 650 twin.
After completing his apprenticeship in 1952, George felt that fortunes were to made elsewhere and, in company with close friend Doug Johnson, headed north.
New racing challenges
The first step into serious racing was a 500cc Triumph GP twin, then a Velocette KTT was bought for the pair to share, to be joined by a Norton Manx 500cc, but Johnson was soon to sell out his share and return home after a family bereavement.
For George the time had come to chase a particular dream; to compete at the Isle of Man.
He sold up and in 1955 set sail for Britain in company with friend Bob Cook.
En route from Southampton to Liverpool (to embark for the Isle of Man) he called in at the AJS works to collect his new 7R 350cc racer. These racers were extremely competitive as delivered from the factory, and provided hundreds of riders with fast, good-handling, reliable racing motorcycles.
Taking part in the 1955 Manx Grand Prix races for amateur riders was exciting, terrifying, and enormously rewarding and a mid-field result in both the Junior (350) and Senior (500) GPs gave George two finisher's medallions.


After the Manx races the pair returned to England and competed in club events, against some very famous names, including Duke and Surtees. While the racing lacked the social enjoyment of New Zealand, the team-mates enjoyed some modest success.
Working in a variety of engineering jobs to support themselves, George and Bob competed in the GP again in 1956, George again receiving a finisher's medallion, while Bob Cook won a silver winner's replica for his 25th place. Bob was to die in a racing accident at the Aintree circuit near Liverpool within a few months of the GP, a shattering blow.
His heart no longer in it, George competed in the Ulster Grand Prix of 1956 knowing he was finishing with racing. The 7R and the rest of his equipment was sold and he prepared to return to New Zealand early in the new year. One thing had changed, however. On the Isle of Man he had met, and married, Freda.
Returning to a cold New Zealand winter in 1957, with little capital and a need to find work, George joined an engineering firm repairing earth-moving equipment. A few months of this convinced him that the future lay in starting his own business, risks and all.
With some saved money, and a loan from his father, George set up an engineering business in Drummond, a tiny community in central Southland.
With no immediate business, it was a brave move but as the work started to trickle in the young engineer began to look for ways to generate more business.
Starting with a simpler, stronger design for a device to help farmers handle sheep, in order to treat foot rot problems, George found a ready market in local farming districts.
Front-end loaders and ditch digging equipment followed as George looked for more opportunities to expand G.N.Begg Engineer. George and Freda had started a family and the future was looking bright. But in the back of his mind was an unresolved awareness that he needed an extension for his engineering skill and his creative energies.
The solution was found in a copy of Racing and Sports Car Chassis Design written by Mike Costin (of later Cosworth fame) and David Phipps. Here was a challenge. Could he build a racing car?
The result of 18 months work, sometimes running smoothly sometimes not, was the Begg 650, powered by a BSA A10 650cc motor.
In typical New Zealand engineering style, the Begg 650 used whatever parts were most appropriate, but some very unlikely components became part of a racer, including steering and brakes from very pedestrian Morris cars.
By September, 1964, the Begg 650 was ready to run. Through social contacts, George had met Barry Keen, a young driver from Otautau, who was ready and willing to take the wheel.
The car looked sophisticated compared to most other home-builts and soon proved very effective at hillclimbs and small race meetings. George himself even tried his hand at the wheel, taking the up-to-1000cc class at a standing quarter mile sprint in 1965. The car was a winner but if racing car building was going to be a major part of George's life then it would demand more involvement. But what to build next?
While the 650 had been built in the Drummond workshop, the plan to build another car called for more room. The end of the workshop was extended and the new building was promptly dubbed "George’s Toyshop".
The new car was a simple spaceframe , strengthened with curved steel panels welded between the side tubes. A popular choice with specials builders in New Zealand, a Humber 80 engine was selected. This 1600cc overhead valve design matched up to the not-too-strong DKW gearbox.
Dr David Bruton, the intended driver, got the job in exchange for assembling the engine. The car was first run, unimpressively, at Teretonga in November, 1965; teething troubles would take time to eliminate.
With more work completed, the car was entered for a support race at the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting in January 1966, a round of the Tasman Cup. A third in class, after a spin in the wet conditions gave the team a boost, George considering this the moment when his feet were firmly on the bottom rung of the ladder of success.
The following weekend at Teretonga saw the Beggs entered as a team. Both the 650 and 1600 were raced together in a staggered start. Both won their classes. This success made Dave Bruton a possibility for the South Island Special Championship, which he took out with a third at Waimate and a class win at Ruapuna. For the Begg team, this was a moment for great celebration.
Both cars were to be sold later in 1966, the 650 still surviving though the 1600 went on to hold the New Zealand Hillclimb Championship.
Consolidating business
The formation of a new company in partnership with Auckland business man Spencer Allen (and another engineering works in Auckland) gave George a firmer foundation from which to pursue his motor racing.
A sports car seemed the most attractive project to try next. Plans were drawn up for a spaceframed Can-Am style sports racer drawing inspiration from Bruce McLaren’s successful cars, powered by a 2.5-litre Daimler V8. Problems with the engine builder resulted in a 4.7-litre Chevrolet V8 being fitted. The rest of the car was a specials builder’s delight - MGA, Hillman Super Minx, and Austin Gypsy 4WD parts were used, though a Hewland HD5 gearbox had been bought from England.
The finished Begg Sports, complete with near vertical exhaust stacks, was tried out along a straight, sealed section of road in front of G.N. Begg Engineer, as were nearly all of the 18 cars that were built...
Early results were good. The car was competitive despite some technical limitations (mostly in carburation) and a series of placings saw Barry Keen take third in the 1966 New Zealand Sports Car Championship.
George regards the Begg Sports as one of his best cars. It enjoyed more success in other hands and still survives.
Plans for a Begg Sports Mark II, powered by a 5.3-litre Chevrolet V8, never got off the drawing board, as a slump in wool prices caused a downturn in the agricultural machinery business.
By using bits and pieces acquired on his travels, George reasoned that he could build up a single seater for the South Island Specials class. To a basic spaceframe were added Jaguar disc brakes, and a Brabham BT-7 bodyshell. The Begg Special was finished in six weeks and the Chevrolet V8-powered special proved a winner, again in Barry Keen’s hands.
The car’s eventual Daimler V8 engine was developed using Triumph motorcycle engine tuning techniques, Edward Turner having designed both engines using common hemispherical cylinder head and cam profiles. The car was reasonably successful, and did well in Lindsay Tosh’s hands after George sold it to him.
What was significant about the Begg-Chevrolet/Daimler was its value as a test bed for Formula cars powered by V8 motors, to be refined when George moved into Formula 5000.
The Toyshop was producing more than one car at a time by now. During 1967 George built two more spaceframe chassis, one for himself and another for Keith McFadzien. Sixteen months later, George was to watch with horror as the car crashed at Teretonga, killing McFadzien. The cause had been a tyre deflation.
George’s own car, chassis six, was fitted with a Ford 1498cc motor. The car won first time out with Barry Keen and a week later George was to see four of his cars finish 1, 2, 3 and 5 in a New Zealand-built specials race.
But George hankered after something else. As a race car builder he had done remarkably well from his Drummond base; better, he reasons than if he had been based amongst other builders in Auckland. He harboured a wish to build cars in Europe, so arranged to meet to meet with Bruce McLaren when he came to New Zealand for the 1968 Tasman Cup series.
McLaren had heard about George Begg and his cars, and agreed to take George into the car building team in England for six months. With Freda’s strong support, the dream was becoming reality.
George joined McLaren’s early in 1968, Freda taking the family back to her home on the Isle of Man for the six-month stay.
Bruce McLaren had built up his car-building business to the point where he had a stranglehold on the North American Can-Am sports car championship, was competitive in Formula One and was producing very competent cars for other championship formulae.
Bruce himself was only 30 when George joined him but was widely regarded as a good driver and an even better car maker.
George’s initial nervousness about the contribution he could make to the team was pushed aside when the first person he worked with at the factory was a former motorcycle racer of his acquaintance from 1955. The ice was broken but the pressure of the new circumstances was draining on his health. When news came of his family settling in well on the Isle of Man he found it easier to devote himself to the challenge.
George worked extensively on the M6 Can-Am cars, joining the team (which included New Zealand’s 1967 F1 World Champion Denis Hulme) in testing and development. Bruce McLaren impressed him greatly, as an engineer and as a leader.
Moving into development of the awesome M8, George spent most of his time at McLaren’s working on the sports car program. Circumstances, however, took him to 1968 German Grand Prix as a mechanic for the Formula One team, even managing a lap of the original long circuit in the team’s station wagon!
McLaren’s death in a testing crash in 1970 was a shattering blow. George was to suffer a double blow with the sudden death of his business partner Spencer Allen only five days after Bruce’s funeral. Back into the Toyshop
It was too late to build a national championship car for the 1969 season so a stopgap car was built using experience gained from his time in England. The car was built as a spaceframe with panels rivetted to the frame tubes for rigidity.
The car used a 1600cc Vegantune Twincam as a stressed member and the finished product was very light and very neat.
The Begg Twin Cam (chassis seven) was first raced at the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting in January, 1969. The car was tricky to drive and despite Barry Keens’s best efforts the car was not a winner in its original form. The car was sold and a new project hatched - another big-engined sports car.
While with McLaren’s George had acquired a spaceframe of McLaren M1, the body of an M6, an engine from an M6, and gearbox and suspension parts from the M6-M8 project. Piecing these components together was probably more difficult than starting from scratch but the car, powered by a ferocious 5.9-litre Chevrolet, was finally ready. An inauspicious practice session at the Teretonga meeting meant the car would start from the back of the grid but after few exploratory laps Barry Keen gave the car its head, easily leading until the timing chain broke with two laps to go. The car was undoubtedly the best in its class in New Zealand.
At Timaru the next weekend the car was matched against the Begg Sports (now owned by Brent Hawes and fitted with a bigger engine) and an Elfin. The McBegg, as the car was nicknamed, for its McLaren-Begg origins, was not delivering full power but still took second place.
Hawes was to die in the Begg Sports some months later, the second driver to met his death in a Begg, though neither crash was due to the car’s failure.
Another parting of the ways occurred when Barry Keen decided that he was neglecting his farm and gave racing away. George rates him one of New Zealand’s most talented drivers who could have gone a long way in the sport. George recruited Geoff Mardon to take his place.
The McBegg, chassis eight, even broke the New Zealand land speed record at a top speed of 286kph.
The winning formula
The arrival of Formula 5000 marked a new phase for Begg Engineering. This category of single seater racing was being pursued in both Europe and the USA, and most builders were using 5-litre Chevrolet engines, though the rules allowed for more sophisticated engines of 2.8-litres. All engines had to be derived from production cars and the Chev seemed the most durable, and was certainly powerful.
George has bought back the Begg-Daimler from Lindsay Tosh and fitted a Chevrolet engine. This prototype, driven by Laurence Brownlie, was initially unreliable and a crash saw Brownlie call it quits. While car was raced, it was not by the Begg team, the McBegg also not racing again, being cannibalised for parts for the first F5000 car.
Formula 5000 was going to be expensive and the hobby basis upon which George was building cars had to give way to a more commercially based arrangement for Begg Engineering Ltd. One of the first decisions was to employ a good engineer to help develop the cars planned for the new formula. The right man was Fred McLean.
McLean had done time in British motor racing and race engineering, designing and building Titan cars. He became Begg Engineering’s first full-time employee solely working on racing cars.
The first car was the FM2 (FM1 was to have been a Formula Two car but was never built). Two were built (chassis nine and ten), both angular, wedge-shaped cars fitted with Chevrolet V8s, derived from the Chevrolet Camaro Z28. Graham McRae drove the first car, his McLaren not having arrived from England. First time out the car managed fifth, McRae gaining two thirds in quick succession.
Mardon then took over the car, while chassis ten was driven by Pierre Phillips from the USA in the international series at the start of 1970. Several frustrating non-finishes were followed by a second and a third for Mardon, while McRae used the car to win at Timaru to clinch his Gold Star national championship, his McLaren being in Australia. Mardon used the other car for a win, a second and a sixth to take third in the Gold Star. McRae’s win was Begg’s first Gold Star victory.
FM2/9 was sold to Neil Doyle who raced it successfully, and FM2/10 was also sold off in 1971.
Over the winter of 1970 three Formula Ford chassis were built (chassis 11, 12 and 13) under the designation FM3, though the cars were bare chassis with suspension, destined for customers.
FM2/10 was overhauled and improved to the extent of a strong win first time out at Pukekohe. Geoff Mardon was maturing as a driver and the team was finding reliability through better engineering.
Work was begun on a new car for Geoff, something lighter and longer in the wheelbase. The FM4 that resulted was one of the best of the series.
Gold Star success
While the FM4 (chassis 14) was essentially an uprated FM2 it used McLaren wheels and uprights, a Stanton-built Chevrolet and Hewland gearbox and showed the benefits of the new design strategy.
After early failures while the team sorted the car out, Mardon won at Pukekohe and Ruapuna in March 1971. George even put the car though the standing quarter mile at a club sprint, the car managing a quick 11.9 sec.
For the 1971-72 season, David Oxton was contracted to drive the FM4. Three wins and two seconds saw him take his first Gold Star driver’s championship, and the Begg Engineering team’s first national championship.
The car was sold to Ken Wright and was further modified. Success in Gold Star events during 1972-73 resulted in driver Garry Pedersen taking second in the championship.
It was evident that the Begg/McLean team was clicking. The exchange of ideas and engineering solutions was beneficial to both men, and at the end of the 1971-72 season a deal was struck with Graham McRae to buy a quantity of parts, many of which would find their way into the new FM5 (chassis 15 and 16).
The FM5 continued the winning pattern set by the FM4. It was built from a combination of hand-made parts, top quality racing parts sourced from overseas, and modified road car parts, such as Triumph Herald steering parts, and even a Fiat Bambina starter motor for the Morand-modified Chevrolet.
The car was built around the fuel cells giving it the bulging midriff that contrasted with the angular look of its predecessors. The bulkheads were fabricated from alloy and polystyrene foam "sandwiches" and the entire monocoque weighed in at only 32 kilograms.
An offer from Graham McRae to take over the Leda race car works McRae ran for a wealthy backer tempted George to consider another move to Britain but a visit to the company revealed that managing the company was not likely to be a successful venture for him.
Watching F5000 racing in Britain, though, planted the seed of an idea, which didn’t go away as George prepared for the 1972-73 New Zealand season.
Arriving back in New Zealand George was met by Garry Pedersen who needed a car to replace his crashed ex-McRae McLaren. The timing was perfect, and FM4 changed hands.
Fred McLean had finished off the FM5 over the winter and it looked beautiful in its yellow paint. More importantly, it looked as good or better than anything George had seen overseas.
The car worked well from the outset, winning first up at Pukekohe. While the early stages of the Gold Star series looked as though David Oxton would bolt away, some mechanical problems led to the series coming down to a match between the FM5 and Garry Pedersen in the well-sorted and well-driven FM4. Oxton’s three-point Gold Star series win was the result of excellent driving but Pedersen’s second was a credit to him, and to the FM4’s inherent quality.
The Tasman Series was planned to include the Australian races for the Begg team. Arrangements were made with Australian Kevin Bartlett to swap facilities and transportation in each country. While the series promised much, the first race saw Oxton taken off in practice by another car and the FM5 being badly damaged. A hasty repair session got the car on the grid but in his determination to work his way through the field, Oxton clipped a marker, bending a wishbone.
A fifth at Levin a week later was good for the team and the car had finished only a second or so behind Bartlett's Lola T300. Another fifth at the lady Wigram Trophy race in Christchurch and an eight in a rain-soaked Teretonga round concluded the New Zealand section.
But plans for the Australian races were to be dashed though poor arrangements made by others on the team's behalf, and an impossible schedule to make the first start convinced George to call the project off. As it was, he was already planning something much more challenging.
In early 1973 George Begg embarked on his most ambitious racing project to date. After seeing the McRae set-up in England he had decided to contest as many rounds as possible of the European F5000 Championship, most of which were held in England.
David Oxton would drive, Joe Wright would be head mechanic and George himself would be "team manager, mechanic and general dog’s body."
Preparations were made for the team to live in England for the season, though it meant the end of the partnership with Fred McLean who chose to move to Christchurch and open a garage. Fred helped prepare the cars for the English circuits.
The package taken abroad consisted of FM5/01, two spare engines, a spare gearbox, four spare front wheels, four spare rear wheels and 13 cases of other parts and tools. In a curious reversal of the problem New Zealanders had racing English-made cars, the Begg team couldn’t nip around the corner to obtain parts from the makers.
The first race at Mallory Park resulted in a damaged engine in practice, after Oxton had qualified the car 12th out of 30. With no time to change the engine the car was withdrawn. The potential, however, was evident.
At Silverstone a week later, with a rebuilt Morand Chevrolet V8 fitted, the car was qualified in 24th place out of 30, in a combined F1/F5000 entry. An F5000 race on the Saturday saw Oxton 12th on the grid and despite less-than-ideal tyres, forced his way into a fine 5th.
In the main event, a snow shower re-inforced the tyre problem and Oxton spun out of 15th a few laps from the end, and only one lap down on the leader. A George Begg said "In terms of results it meant nothing. In terms of human endeavour, it meant the world."
The weather continued to be poor and Snetterton was also cold and wet. Oxton was as high as 4th on the grid but a mechanical problem (traced to a fuel delivery fault caused by the contrasting weather conditions between New Zealand and Britain) saw him drift back to seventh.
Heavy rain at Brands Hatch meant a start from the rear of the grid though times in private practice matched the front runners’. Driving with caution in heavy spray, Oxton hit a bump on the track surface launching the car off the track. Though the FM5 was extensively damaged, Oxton was uninjured.
A huge rebuild followed and FM5 received its back paint scheme (as it now appears in the Southward Motor Museum). Previously all Begg cars had been yellow.
Another wet practice at Oulton Park resulted in Oxton starting from ninth and finishing ninth. While the following meeting at Mallory Park threatened to be another wet weekend, clearing weather gave Oxton a chance to show FM5’s abilities and he started from the second row. Oxton drove the car into third before a slow puncture forced him to back off, eventually crossing the line for a superb 5th.
A European detour to Misano in Italy held plenty of promise as the car was qualified third but the local council decided the track was unsafe to run F5000 so the race was abandoned. A 3000 kilometre trip but apparently a lot of fun.
The Dublin Grand Prix for F5000 cars resulted in a 6th overall placing over two heats. It was the last race for in Britain for George, as the car had to be shipped back to New Zealand after the next meeting at Silverstone, and George had promised the family a tour of Europe before they returned home.
At Silverstone the Begg was 4th fastest but torrential rain just before the race flooded the circuit and the meeting had to be abandoned.
FM5 was sold to David Oxton. George calculated that of the 35 international F5000 races in 1973, the car had finished in the top six in five of them, not counting the NZ Gold Star which Oxton had won. The season had delivered plenty.
With business expansion taking much of his time, and Oxton using FM5 to good effect to win the 1973 Gold Star series comfortably, Begg took a break.
Through Oxton, however, he met Jim Murdoch who wanted to return to New Zealand after a season in Formula Atlantic to race Formula Ford. The car, the JM1, was built in the Toyshop from George’s designs and took Murdoch to second in the national championship for Formula Ford.
But the urge to build one more Gold Star contender was running strong and Begg settled on one last project, named 018 as it was to be the 18th chassis built.
The car was to put an end to nasty suggestions that the Begg/McLean partnership had been based on Begg’s money and McLean’s talent. While never denying the contribution of many people to the success of the team, Begg felt entitled to recognition as the team’s director and creative centre.
Murdoch and Begg decided on a two-year campaign. George had already concluded that the car must be simple and would draw on good experience gained in Britain.
The car would have sidepod radiators, a longer wheelbase, and weight closer to the centreline. The monocoque would be made from sandwiched polystyrene and aluminium sheets and driver protection would be extensive.
An existing motor was uprated with Bartz components from the USA, and McLaren suspension uprights were fitted. Inboard rear brakes meant wheels could be 13 or 15-inches. The chisel-shaped body resembled a McLaren M23 but that in turn reflected the general trend in body design.
The car’s chassis tub turned out to weigh only 4.5kg more than the FM5 but was as much as four times stronger. The first outing was to be round one of the 1974 Gold Star at Ruapuna in September.
Even the colour was a departure. After changing FM5 to black, George was all for 018 being painted the familiar Begg yellow. Murdoch persuaded him to paint it dark blue. But with yellow highlights.
The finished car was lighter than its British-built Lola rivals but was proving a problem child. Persistent fuel feed problems were compounded by the tow car being unavailable to get them to Ruapuna.
Determined to make round two at Levin, the car was sorted out a little further and proved surprisingly good in its first track sessions. Murdoch was not well and the competition was fierce: Graeme Lawrence in a new Lola T332, Neil Doyle in a Surtees, Frank Bray in the now ex-Oxton FM5 and Graham Baker in FM5/02.
018 was a sensation. Its design was ground breaking for New Zealand builders and it was clearly a match for the European designs. Its early running, however, was less exciting. Minor problems hampered the car’s speed but Murdoch made 4th on the grid on the tight Levin layout.
The first run of 018 resulted in a second placing. The team was delighted, and followed this with a third at Pukekohe a week later, though some of the niggling faults were still there. Fuel feed when the tanks were nearly empty was a major problem.
At the new Manfield circuit near Palmerston North, the car was dogged by faults and eventually overheated itself out of the race.
Back at Pukekohe, but with Lawrence in the opposition, 018 triumphed. Murdoch managed to get past Graham Baker’s FM5, and George Begg had the pleasure of seeing 018, an FM5 and an FM4 take the first three places.
The tally so far (and despite the teething troubles) was a second, a third and a first with a brand new car and a less-experienced driver. The New Zealand motoring press was quick to acknowledge the success of the team, and Begg’s contribution to New Zealand motor racing.
Fuel injection was fitted to the Bartz Chevrolet. At The Levels, Timaru, the car performed well and despite an off-track excursion, came back to finish fourth. Th last race, at Tauranga, saw Murdoch chase Lawrence with great determination but lapped traffic spoiled a final assault and he finished second. Second equal with Neil Doyle for the series (behind Lawrence) was a good outcome for the season, but the Tasman Series was about to start.
Underdogs in the Gold Star series, the Begg team was even lower rated as a chance in the 1975 Tasman Cup.
The first race at Levin revealed poor rear suspension but without replacement parts Murdoch had to do the best he could. Still battling ill-health, and a poor-handling car, Murdoch gamely pressed on for 6th.
At Pukekohe the next week the car was modified to try to cure the handling problem, with some success as the sixth grid position proved. On a wet track, Murdoch took advantage of Begg’s decision to start on rain tyres to force his way into 2nd by the end of the first lap, behind Australian Warwick Brown. With fancied runners falling by the wayside, and despite a spin, Murdoch maintained a strong pace to bring the car home to second place in the New Zealand Grand Prix. The team was ecstatic. Murdoch was awarded the Bruce McLaren Memorial Trophy as first New Zealander home, presented by Bruce McLaren’s father, Les. The McLaren connection was a warm reminder for George.
In a sharp reminder of the ups and downs of motor racing, Murdoch fared less well at Wigram, qualifying 8th and struggled to finish only one place better. At Teretonga a mid-field start was followed by a tentative run in slippery conditions, eventually becoming tangled up in a Kenny Smith spin.
Incentives to continue the series in Australia persuaded George to meet the team’s costs to take 018 to Sydney. Qualifying mid-grid was an appropriate start to the campaign as the engine was tired. Unfortunately it failed on the morning of the race so the car was withdrawn.
The car showed new problems at Adelaide, caused by the changes in temperature. What had worked fine in New Zealand’s cooler climate was not working so well in the Australian summer. Some hasty improvisation, and a rebuilt engine, earned the team a 7th, and some handy prize money.
At Melbourne’s Sandown Park, the engine again gave trouble and an elderly spare was fitted. Having to start off the back of the grid due to lack of practice, Murdoch eventually ran off the circuit, damaging the car.
The Australian series was not successful but was by all accounts a happy exposure to life in Australia. So much so that George and Freda later chose to retire there.
1975 proved a difficult year for business, and with complications in the family’s move from Drummond to Christchurch, motor racing took a back seat. Jim Murdoch took on many of the responsibilities of getting the car ready but the pressure affected his health through the season.
The financial pressure on the machinery company, caused by an economic downturn affecting the whole country, and sales tax issues, also saw the end of George’s plans to produce some chassis for sale. While their production would have improved the quality of F5000 competition in New Zealand, the cost would have become prohibitive.
The 018’s engine was rebuilt in time for the first race at Teretonga in October 1975 but a test run found that the engine was far from well, a bearing having failed. The day before the race the standby engine was fitted. In trying to match the pace of Ken Smith’s Lola T332 it was evident that the second motor was not going to give 018 much of a chance. Stripping the engine revealed serious trouble and the team was out of the race.
The following weekend, at Ruapuna, the team was able to run the car with the first engine rebuilt. While the car was qualified on the front row of the grid, a mid-race crash due to rain-induced poor visibility eliminated the car from that heat, and the second. Two meetings down for no points.
At Timaru the story was no better. Persistent leaks from the rear main bearing seal coated the brakes with oil. Three rounds and no points. The engine was found to have been incorrectly overhauled, and was rectified in time for the Pukekohe races.
Murdoch was in poor health but pressure of business forced George to hand over the running of the team to Jim for the round. The result however was a tonic. Two thirds in the two heats.
Jim Murdoch was chosen to partner Graeme Lawrence and Ken Smith in a trans-Tasman "test" team, against three Australian drivers.
George again missed the first round, at Levin, due to business pressures but some friends rallied to look after the car, letting Jim concentrate on his driving. After moving up to second the car spun inexplicably as it came onto the main straight, a problem traced to a broken mounting in the chassis. At Manfield the car seemed to have lost its handling edge and managed only two fifths.
The Australians won the series but at the Bay Park Gold Star race shortly after, the combined talents of the volunteers, who included mechanics who had worked with the best in Europe, was reaping rewards.
The car ran second behind Lawrence until a driveshaft twisted, and following a deliberately lacklustre showing in the last round at Pukekohe (unpopularly staged as a support race for the Grand Prix), the team finished a distant third in the Gold Star points. The depleted state of the team (engines, health, luck and more) weighed on George’s mind to the point of considering pulling out altogether. A fifth at the NZ Grand Prix did little to lift spirits.
A crash at the next round of the Peter Stuyvesant Series at Manfield eliminated the car from the starting grid though Murdoch was unhurt, thanks to 018’s strength.
The car was rebuilt in time for Wigram, Murdoch having been ordered to rest in the meantime. Despite being in poor shape Murdoch rallied for the Lady Wigram Trophy and, assisted a little by others’ misfortunes, took a second place in the depleted field. But for the team that had rebuilt the car, it was a victory.
The next round was the last for builder and driver, and it was staged where the whole story had begun with the Begg 650; Teretonga. A flat tyre put Murdoch a lap behind but the car, looking as good as its proud owner could make it, took the chequered flag in fifth place. The points were good enough for third in the series, a fitting reward for the team.
It was over. And, it had to be acknowledged, it was a relief after the strain of the last season.
George reflects that the end of the 1976 season was a time to take stock. He says he was associated with some very fine drivers and mechanics and he looked back on a series of cars of which he was very proud.
Escalating costs forced hard decisions for many teams, Begg and Allen included. Motor racing in New Zealand was becoming more complicated and after George’s departure only one team tried to follow the New Zealand-built route.
Perhaps an editorial from New Zealand's Motor Action in late 1974 said it best:
"We salute you George Begg. Your latest Formula A car, the eighteenth you’ve built, is a real credit to you and all those associated with it. Anyone who look closely at it will quickly swallow any former sarcastic comments about your cars being built like trucks and rather heavy.
"This latest car is a real work of art, a credit to any racing car manufacturer and one we’re sure any English racing factory would be proud to have produced...We believe that with this latest car, you can hold your head high with any racing car constructor anywhere. We’re proud of you and your contribution to New Zealand motorsport...And if you can build such a car in New Zealand, George, why can’t someone else?"
These days George and Freda Begg live in retirement in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. Typically George Begg throws himself into community projects, mostly focused on young people, with the same zeal as his racing.
George has returned to his first love, the racing motorcycles he started on, now become classics. To watch him cast his experienced eye over a Manx Norton or an AJS 7R engine casting is to see the engineer still turning his judgement into maximum revolutions per minute, maximum track speed, maximum reliability.
In 1985 a return was made to the Isle of Man TT circuit to compete in the race for Classic Motorcycles, part of the Manx Grand Prix. Engine failure forced George out after a lap.
In 1987 he returned to England and Europe for more classic racing including the Dutch TT Classic race. The next year he was back at the isle of Man for the Manx Classic and after four laps, nearly 280km of racing, he finished 35th out of more than 100 starters. At 58 years of age he was in his element still and the Norton Manx 500 had taken his racing passion full circle.
George, however, was true to his word about cars and 018 was the last chassis. Many have disappeared as old racing cars do, while others have been transformed into entirely different machines. Some survive in original condition and will remain a permanent reminder of a man’s determination to be judged on his deeds, not his words.

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