This weekend, Clyde will watch a replica of the same car, which he and his son Adam have built, race at OSCA’s 50th-anniversary event at Ruapuna.
The OSCA 50th-celebration is part of the Skope Classic meeting this weekend where the Collins’ car will be driven by Adam.
The decision to create a replica of the championship-winning Cortina has been a special experience for Clyde and Adam - who has been through a turbulent time.
Adam’s daughter Maddie was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a kidney disease, in 2008, and has since received two different kidneys. In 2012, a kidney donated from Adam was rejected by her body. Maddie’s current kidney was donated in January last year.
Clyde, who turns 79 tomorrow, says the project has been instrumental in giving his son something else to focus on during that challenging time.
“Adam was in a pretty bad spot with the situation going on over a period of eight years and I thought it would be good for him to be involved in this project to help him through the situation, and it’s done that,” said Clyde.
“He has got the passion and it helped him get out of a very grey spot a couple of years back.”
The car racing this weekend is almost identical to the original Cortina, which ran a five-litre Chevrolet engine taken from and old formula 5000 belonging to Australian racer Warwick Brown.
However, the class was scrapped by Motorsport New Zealand, leaving many drivers who had invested in cars without a class to compete in.
“There were a lot of open saloon cars which were left redundant . . . so I, Ron McPhail, Trevor Crowe and a few others got together and set up OSCA to allow those redundant cars to race,” said Clyde.
“It was a lot of enthusiasts with a passion for racing. It allowed you to build your own car and compete in it on a reasonable budget.”
Now 50 years on, the class is still going strong albeit with a different look.
This weekend’s annual Skope Classic meeting at Ruapuna will see the best of the class from the 1970s and 1980s celebrated.
“The whole structure of the class has changed because the new drivers coming into it are heavily into Japanese smaller engines with turbochargers. They’ve got them going really well . . . but what made the class so popular back in the day is that they were all V8s. Everyone wanted to come and see V8s,” said Clyde.
“It’s good to see that the class is coming back again with a new breed of driver and a new breed of car, but with the same level of passion.”
The OSCA celebration will also see the return of one of the classes most dominant cars – the first of two Trevor Crowe-built V8-powered Toyota Starlets which won the national title in 1981, 82, 84 and the 1985 Ashley Forest Rallysprint.
The Starlet will be raced by current owner Richard Quinn. However, a reunion with its original owner could be on the cards.
“He’s [Quinn] always trying to twist my arm and get me back behind the wheel of it, we’ll see what happens. I’m sure I could be convinced,” said Crowe.
Among the North Island contingent coming south is the Ian Algie Alfetta, which will be driven by former NZ V8 champion Angus Fogg.
The Skope Classic meeting will also feature formula 5000, historic touring cars, classic and historic sports cars, classic saloons, muscle cars, vintage racing cars and single seaters.
