Matheson Brothers Racing

Matbro Racing , The History

Doug , Ian , Allan and Daryl Matheson

Matbro Racing when , Doug , Ian , Alan and later , Doug’s Son Daryl , Became Hooked On Speedway Racing .

          It All Began , When Doug Became Involved With The Silver water Skid Kid’s ,      

A Bunch Of Kids Built A Miniature Speedway On The Mud Flats At Silver water and Raced Cut-Down Bicycles  .
Soon Later Doug’s Wife’s Uncle , Built A 1951 Austin Sheerline Stock rod Which Was Raced At Westmead Speedway By Jim Santos.

Doug’s First Drive , Was At Westmead Speedway In A 1953 Customline Owened By Ray Sullivan .
When Liverpool Speedway Opened In Sydney’s West , Super Modified Became Popular and so Doug , Ian , Alan and a Few Mates , Started Work On A Super Modified.
The Car Had A Flat Top Dodge Motor And Gearbox , With A Holden Rear End . The Car Was Finished And Waiting On A Body , When Ian Bought A Rolling FC Holden , The Modified Was Dropped And Work Started On the Soon To Be,

Both Ian’s FC Holden And  Doug’s Falcon Were Fitted With A Chrysler Tortion Bar To The Right Front , Allowing Weight To Be Jacked To The Left Rear.
Ian’s FC Bored , Balanced and Having 3x1 ¼ Su Carbies + Extractors and also A Burt Jones Cam .
The FC Was Later Fitted With A Repco Cross flow Head , and Often Finnishing Infront Of Some Of The V8’S On A Slick Track .

When The FC Was Completed , Ian And Doug Took Turns in The Driving .

          It Was Shortly After This , That Doug’s Farther-in-law , Gave Him A  XL Falcon ,
Which Was Quickly Bared Out And Began It’s First Race In ( “C” ) Division At
Sydney’s   Liverpool Speedway  And Kembla Grange Speedway In Wollongong .
( The  Cost Of The  XL Falcon Was $ 65:00 )

    
The Car Was Competitive With The Supped Up  ( “ B “ ) Grade Cars And Had Several Placings In Standard Trim .

Doug Then Converted The Head To Accept Tripple  SU ’s Were Only Run For Only A Couple Of Meetings . Then Doug’s Brother-in-law :  ( Mick Wherritt ) , Discovered An Early Model Falcon Head Witch Had Been Professionally Modified , And Had Twin Haitachi  2 Barrel Carbies  -  They Were Fitted And On The First Knight , Finished Dead Last .
Something Had To Be Done . Doug’s Youngest Brother Alan Had Just Bought 
3 x 45 mm DCOE And Webber Carbies – A Set Of Patterns Were Made , Castings Taken And Machined And The 144 Motor Was Taken Out And A 170 Motor Fitted With A Burt Jones Cam And The Webbers .The Combination Was A Success , Leading Races , But Never Winning Due To Gearbox Failures .

The Number 97 XL Falcon Was Totally Destroyed , When It Was Shunted Into The Fence And Rolling Several Times . It Was To Be It’s Last Race .

Alan Matheson Then Purchased A  HD Production Sadan For $ 60:00 , Less Motor And Gearbox . A Motor Was Purchased From Kevin Pollie’s Super Modified And Fitted With 3 x Weebers , Burt Jones Cam And A Set Of Headers . Doug Then Went Racing Once Again .

   The Car Was Quick , Finishing In The Placings On A Number Of Occasions , But With Massive Under Steer , It Frequently Bounced Off The Walls At The End Of The Straight . The HD Number 97 Holden Only , Only Raced 6 Meetings , When Alan Matheson , Who Was So Impressed With The HD Holden Tank , Decided To Build Doug , An LC  GTR  Torana . A Body Was Found And Work Began On The Torana . The Torana Was Completed 1 Week Before , It Was Announced That , Liverpool Speedway , Was To Turn To A Pathment Surface .
Cars Would Now Have To Remove Most External Bar Work . Doing This Whould Have Destroyed All The Paint Job And Signage On The Car , So It Was Decided To Park The Car For Several Moths In Its Workshop .
Then One Day , Months Later It Was Discovered  , That Tralee Speedway In Canberra Would allowe  Our Car And Manny Moore Like Ours ,
( Built With External Bar Work ) , To Compete With Pathed Build Cars With Ou The External Bar Work . So Doug Was Again Back Racing , Witch Felt Good For Our Team As Long Hours Were Spent On The Building Of This New Torana .

The Torana Was Then Towed To The Canberra Speedway Where It Competed In It’s First Race . It Proved To Be A Total Disaster , With It’s 16 “ inch Wide Slicks On The Rear And 12 “ Inch Wide Slicks On The Front , Made The Car Impossible To Steer . The Car Was So Slow  , That Even The Toe Truck Passed It .
Less Than ½ Way Through The 50 Lapper , The Early Grey Gear Box Died . The Car Was Toed Back Home To It’s Work Shop In Sydney’s Inner West , Where It Was Then Fitted With Smaller Tyres As Advised By Alan Heasman , And A Late Model Gear Box Was Also Fitted . The Torana Was Raced At The Sydney Showground ( In A Special Meeting For .AS.C.F Built Cars .
 ( Moore Park ) , Liverpool Speedway ( as Well as on The Pathment At Liverpool ) With A High Degree Of Success )  , Kimble Grange Speedway ( Wollongong ) , Hedden Greta Speedway ( Newcastle ) , And Also Parramatta Speedway In Sydney’s Inner West .

 At The Same Time , Doug And The Team Built Another XL Falcon
( Mac 3 )  Specified For Liverpool . It Had A 170 motor With A Turbo , And Only Raced Till The End Of That Season , Where It Was Completely Gutted , Offset Suspension , Motor  Was Also Included To The Left , Shifting Weight To The Inside And Allowing 3 x DCO Webbers To Be Fitted .

Due To The Rules Of Production Sadans , Anything Could Be Done To The Motor 
But , The Car Must Use The Original  Block , So The Matheson Brothers Set About Building A ( BIG ) Motor .

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The Engine :  A  170 cu Early Falcon , 4 Bearing With A 221 cu 7 Bearing Crank , 3 Journals Blocked Off And 2 Conrod Journals Were Crossed Drilled To Provide Lubrication .
The Burt Jones Camshaft Had Flats Ground 180 Degrease Apart To Allow The Conrods To Pass Through , A 221 Distributor Was Modified To Fit The Early Block , Along With 221 Timing Chain And Gears .
Rods Were 221 , With 188 Flat Top Pistons , Which Came 100 Thou Above The Deck .
A Spacer Plate With 2 Head Gaskets , Lifted The Head Up . The Finished Up At
228 ci  ,  90 ci Bigger Than The Holdens .

The Suspension

Left Front        :  -  Standard “ A “ Arms  With A 1” ( inch ) Roll Bar
Right Front      :  -  XA Falcon “ A “ Arms  ( Longer )
 Rear End         :  - Morris  “ J “ Van , Offset 3” ( Inch )

Wheels And Tyres

Right Front       :  -  Low Profile Slicks At  14” ( Inches )  Wide
Right Rear        :  -  Low Profile Slicks At  16” ( Inches )  Wide
Lert Front         :  -  Groved Slicks        At  10”  ( Inches )  Wide
Left Rear          :  -  Low Profile Slicks At  12”  ( Inches )  Wide

The Total Offset In The End Was A Staggering  6” ( Inches ) , And The Ride Height Was A Mere  4”  ( Inches ) .

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The Number 97 Pathment XL Falcon Was Only Raced 4 Meetings Which Cost At The Time , A Staggering  $1300 . 00  To Run . For The Early 70’s , That Was A Huge Outlay For 4 Meetings .
It Was Then Decided That The Car Would Be Garaged , Until The Opening Of The Parramatta Speedway In Sydney’s Inner West , Where The Car Was Sold After A Few  Race Meetings .

When The Parramatta Speedway Complex Was Under  Construction , Sid Hopping A Well Known ( Super Modified , Sprintcar Driver and Owner Of The Parramatta  Speedway Project )  Approached Doug To Assist Him With Compulsory Noise Level Testing , A Requirment By The E.P.A  Before The New Track Could Be Opened For Biasness .

As We Noise Tested With Our LC Tornana Around Sydney’s Newest Build It Was The Discovered That The Clay Was A Very Different Surface Than Racing On Dirt ,  Not Only To Drive But Also To Set The Car Up For . For Our Team It Became A Bit Of A Head Start Before The Speedway Opened . This Head Start Enabled The Team To Set The Car Witch Allowed The Car To Have A Win On Opening Knight .

However , When The V8’s And The Laws Brothers With There Flying EH Holden Arrived , It Was Clear That Moore Horse Power Had To Be Found , And Fast .
So The Team Decided To Fit A Turbo To The Torana , But After Months Of Development The Project Was Axed , In Favor Of The Moore Reliable Webbers .
The Torana Was Destroyed In The Back Straight At Sydney’s Parramatta Speedway In An Incident With Carl Jefferys .
Doug And The Team Then Commenced  Work On A Trans Am Corvette , Similar To Brian Callaghan And George Elliott . Progress Was Slow And Doug Was Getting A Little Toee . So The Motor From The Torana Was Transplanted Into A Hasterly Built Manaro .

      The Manaro Was Raced Only 4 Meetings , Where A Dispute Over Bar Work With Scruteneer  Caused Doug To Cease Racing The Car .    
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The Corvette Was Now Completed In The Off Season And Ready For Racing Only For The Team To Learn That , Sadans Would Not Be Included In The Program The Coming Year . The Car Was Then Taken To Parramatta Speedway For A Test Session Where The Triple Plate Clutch That Had Been Fitted  Expired . A – Rags Converterless  2 Speed Powerglide Auto Box Was Fitted . We Encountered Many Problems With The Gearbox At First But Over come These Over Several Meetings .
The Car Became A Retested Member Of The Kimble Grange Speedway Club In
Wollongong , Where It Raced Until The Track Closed .

With No Where To Race The Car , It Was Once Again With Most Of The Teams Other Cars , It Was Decided Garage Yet Another Car .

Chassis

-         1 ¼  Blue Pipe
-         Double “A” Arm Front Suspention
-         Coil Overs All Over
-         Fiberglass Body
-         Rags Auto Transmition
-         350 Chevy Motor
-         Fueled By Methanol
-         750 Double Pumper Holley Carb
-         Tyres     12” ( Inch ) Wide Front
-         Tyres     14” ( Inch ) Wide Rear

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After Sitting In The Garage For 6 Months , A New Division Was Formed At The Parramatta Speedway In Sydney’s Inner West . It Was Then That Doug Approached The Officials Of The Newly Formed Modified Club , To See If The Corvette Could Be Modified To Meet The Specifications Required To Allow The Car To Race . It Was Reviewed , and With A Body Change And Engine Change To Meet There Spec .

So A Quick Steel Body Was Fabricated In The Matbro Racing Head Quarters , The Engine Was Rejuced From A 350 Chev To A 307 Chev To Meet With The Club’s Requirements And Also A Smaller Carb Had To Be Fitted To Run On Petrol .

The Car Was A Back Marker Straight away , And Never Finished Worse Than 6th .
The Car Came In  At A Total Weight Of  2600 lb ( Pound )  Much Heaver Than Any Of The Cars That We Competed Against .

So With The Aid Of New Technology And Now Computers , It Was Now Time To Build A Purpose Built Modified Sportsman With Careful  Designing And
Planning , The New Car Was Gently Built With Every Detail Taken Into
 Consideration .  From The Latest Technology In The US , Doug’s Brother Ian Matheson Did All The Engineering  , Design And Chassis Dynamics ,
( Including Spring And Roll Bar Designs ) .
Almost Everything Was Made In- house :
From :  ( Chassis “A” Arms , Body , Coil Overs And The Highley Modified Rear End )

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The Chassis

1 ½ “ ( Inch ) Cold Drawn Seamless , 2.4 mm Wall .
6 Coil over  Suspension   56 Degrease Offset
                                         54 Degrease Rear Bias
( One On Each Corner )  ,  ( Two For Traction And Breaking )
1  ¼   Roll Bar
Double “A” Suspension
2” ( Inch ) Roll Centre Front
10” (Inch) Roll Centre Rear

Tyres

Fronts :                         27” ( Inch ) Diameter  x  10” ( Inch ) Wide  McCreary
Right Rear :                  28” ( Inch ) Diameter  x  12” ( Inch ) Wide  Hoosier
Left Rear :                    27” ( Inch ) Diameter  x  10” ( Inch ) Wide  Hoosier

Motor

307 Chevy  + .040 Pistons
Double Hump Fullie Heads With 302 Ford Rockers Flat Tappet Waggott Cam
650 Double Pumper Holley Carb
Mallery Duel Point Distributor

Rear End

Morris “J” Van Modified To 4 Bearing Floater – Offset 6” ( Inches ) With Housing Allowed To Revolve 6” ( Inch ) From Centre Line In Bushes On The Trailing Arms .
A Torque Arm Mounted Rigidly To The Diff And Having ( 2 ) Coil Overs  Mounted In The Cab , ( For Traction And Breaking ) .

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Transition

R.A.G.S. Converterless 2 Speed Powerglide

The Car Won Races At Parramatta Speedway And Also At The Newcastle Motor Drome , But Due To The Development Problems And Crashes , It Was A Disappointing Season Until The Last Couple Of Meetings , Where The Car Started To Show It’s True Potential .

In Doug’s Last Outing In The Car , It Finished Second In The Heat Race And Won The Feature Race ( Or Main ) From Position 9 And Was Leading The Race By Turn 3 On The First Lap . He Also Broke The 12 Lap Track Record By A Staggering  19:06 Seconds .

At This Stage Doug Decided To Retire From Speedway As He Had Achieved What The Team Had Set Out To Do After An Illustrious  Career .
The Car Then Was Sold To Stewart Shield Who On His First Knight In The Car , Took A Race Win On The First Knight Of The New Season .

Sadly , After  Several Meetings Later The Car Was Destroyed In A Nasty Rollover On The Aproach To Turn 3 At Parramatta Speedway . Stewart Shield Escaped With A Few Burses , But Remarkably  ( A.O.K ) Due To The Hi-Tec Design Of The Cars Safety Features.

    
Doug Has Now Constructed A 1/3 Rd Scale Replica Of The Modified Sportsman And A Working Engine Is Currently On The Drawing Board .

YA CAN TAKE THU BOY OUTA  SPEEDWAY , BUT YA CARN’T TAKE THU SPEEDWAY OUTA THU BOY.

Phil Geelan,Barry Bundy,Tanya, Doug Matheson,Tony Hopping
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Allen Matheson

Alan Had His First Race In Doug’s XL Falcon  ( Mac 1 ) At Sydney’s Liverpool Speedway Where He Took To It Like A Duck To Water , Literally . At A Race Meeting At Parramatta Speedway In His HD Holden Fender Bender , He Rolled The Car At The End Of The Main Straight And Ended Upside Down Sliding Into The Notorious
( DUCK CREEK ) Where He Almost Drowned Before The Rescue Team Could Arrive.

Daryl Matheson  ( Son Of Doug )

Daryl Had Two XT Falcon Fender Benders , One Of Witch ( Car 14 ) Raced On A Regular Basis At Liverpool And Parramatta Speedways. Car 22 Was A Back Up Car Only And Was Soon Sold . The New Owner Of Car 22 Raced At Goulban Speedway In The Fender Bender State Title Where It Finished 3rd . Daryl On The Other Hand Had A Hand Full Of Second Placeings And A String Of Thirds , But Never A Win .

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Bill Sales

Bill Was Also Part Of The M.B.R. ( Matbro Racing ) Crew. The Photo Below , Shows That He Too Loved His Speedway Racing And To This Day Still Follows The Sport In A Big Way .

Photo Here

Herb Wittaker

Herb Too Was A Part Of The M.B.R ( Matbro Racing ) Crew . Herb Played A Large Part In The Running Of The ( N.S.W. Production Sadans Club ) Based At Sydney’s Liverpool Speedway. He Also Loved To Go Sideways On Actions .

Mick Wherritt

Mick Raced The Car Most Of The Time , But On The Odd Acasion , Doug Would Have A Drive Of The Car As Well .

Photo Here

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Mick Wherritt

Mick Also Built An EJ Holden That He Raced At Sydney’s Liverpool Speedway .

Once Again Doug Drove This Car From Time To Time .

M.B.R.
Matheson Brothers Racing

Would Like To Thank The Following People For There Continued Support Through out Our Racing Career   

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