I can give a bit of history if you like. RAEMUS was built by Puckapunyal Workshop Company in the late 70's to compete in off road racing. Pucka Wksp Coy is/was an Army unit and the idea behind the car and race team was to be a training aid for Army apprentices. As can be seen RAEMUS is a SWB Series IIa. It was taken from normal service by the Army due to accident damage. It had a Holden 186S six-cylinder and pretty much everything else remained Landrover. She went through a second build sometime in the early 80's. She was brunswick (1980's army staff car) green then and did a lot of racing in that time. She then sat around unused for 3-4 years.
In late 87, early 88 my Dad and best mate built her into the blue-yellow-red stage you have now. She had wider wheels back then and a few other differences, but not much has changed. They raced her in 1988 and 1989 mostly in Victoria and were reasonably succesful in the 4x4 classes. At the 1989 Finke Desert Race she went end for end half a dozen times only 7km from the start.
After that, RAEMUS only did 1 or 2 more races, before Dad decided/got permission to turn another wrecked Army Landrover into a new race car. This one was a LWB Series III with Ford 302 Windsor and C4 known as Son of RAEMUS. That car continued until 1995. After Son of RAEMUS was built, RAEMUS was donated to an Army museum. The big car no longer exists at all.
In 1988 I was an 11 year old kid helping his Dad build a race car and RAEMUS was the coolest thing in my life and started my life long love of off road racing. I have hundreds of photo's in my garage from those years. I'll see if I can scan a few and post them up.
OK, it's been a couple of weeks but I've finally found some of the old photos. No better place to start than the first race I attended (I'm the kid in the green tracksuit with the crew on the start line).
RAEMUS was pulled out of 3-4 year hibernation for the 1987 Buggy Association of Victoria 100 held outside of Seymour Vic in Oct 87.
Grid spots were drawn from a hat, and RAEMUS ended up on pole. Things went downhill from there fast! After 2 or 3 laps (15km course) something in the rear end broke - from memory shock mounts - which required a very lengthy pitstop. This is what a lot of these photos show.
After 5 laps RAEMUS was retired from the race when two wheels came loose and fell off. A valuable lesson was learned: loctite at least 2 wheel nuts!
After the disappointment of the first race, it was decided that RAEMUS could do with a freshen up. Between Nov 87 and Jul 88, Dad and his best mate - and as much help an 11 year old kid can be - working after hours and weekends stripped RAEMUS down to the chassis rails and started again.
The rear suspension was redesigned, with multiple shocks on each wheel. The officials at the BAV 100 picked up that RAEMUS din't comply with a few current rules around roll cages, seats and harness mounts, so these were all updated. The driveline and running gear was overhauled, all the usual stuff. I remember a new engine was built from 179HP block as the original was bored to far. I think this happened late in the piece and there was bit of a mad rush to have it done.
RAEMUS debut was to be the 1988 Bridgestone International at Kempsey NSW. In those days, this was the pinnacle event in Australia and the biggest off road race in the southern hemisphere.
RAEMUS was unveiled about a week beforehand at a function attended by the sponsors gathered from the local area, the local newspaper and all the family and friends. She looked immaculate and hopes were high.
Unfortunately not long after the start the gearstick snapped. Whilst repairing that it was noticed that newly redesigned rear suspension was a failure and had ripped the upper mounts from the rails, so it was decided to retire.
From there it was back to BAV 100 at Seymour in October. Here was probably the highpoint of RAEMUS career with victory in Class 8 for Modified 4x4. From there it was onto the final round of the Victorian Off Road Championship at Avalon in November. After a fantastic wheel to wheel battle with the similar Army Reserve car (more on this later), RAEMUS came second in Class 8 with the ARes guys taking the win.
Missing the first half of the season probably cost us the Victorian Off Road Championship for Class 8 in 1988, so it was a pretty good year.
As I said 1988 was pretty successful year. In these pics you can see some of the tin ware we won.
In the earlier post I mentioned the Army Reserve car. As can be imagined there was a fair bit of friendly rivalry between the 2 Army teams. The ARes car can be seen here, in its camo livery wearing #840. As well as being an apprentice training aid like RAEMUS, it was also used as recruiting tool for the reserves. I even think a few blokes signed up after having seen it race!
It was built and run by 105 Field Workshops, an Army Reserve unit in Melbourne. It was LWB Series III and ran a Rover 3500cc V8 and from memory it was an auto. Once it was sorted, it was a very quick car for the time. I don't remember too much else about it. As a kid I always preferred 'our' car! I don't actually remember what happened to it after 1989.
In these photos you can also see a buggy in the blue-yellow-red colours (#229). In early 1989 Dad's mate decided RAEMUS wasn't fast enough, so he bought his own buggy. It only ran once in the RAEME livery, before he picked up some real sponsors.
After the success of 1988, no one expected what 1989 had in store.
First race was on Australia Day at the Peron Sand Dunes outside Portland Vic for the opening round of the Victorian Off Road Championship. Unfortunately big heavy 4x4 are not suited to racing in the sand (compared to the smaller, lighter buggies) and RAEMUS was out at around the half way mark with a blown head gasket.
After this race, Dad's mate who had been driving RAEMUS up until then decided he wanted his own buggy. The next few months were focussed on rebuilding the RAEMUS's engine and building the new buggy.
The next race on our calendar was the Finke Desert Race. 1989 was only the second year cars were allowed to compete at Finke and a major Army 'attack' was planned. All 3 cars - RAEMUS, the ARes car and the buggy - were entered. Six odd trucks of equipment and supplies with 20-30 soldiers all left in early June for a 2 week trip to Alice Springs.
Again hopes were high, but there were about to come 'crashing' down, quite literally!
I didn't go to Finke in 89, as it was an 'official' Army adventure training exercise and I was just a 12 year old school kid. But I do remember when Dad rang up to let me know the results.
RAEMUS - with a new driver and navigator - went end for end half a dozen times, less than 10km from the start. Dad said she was a write off, and I remember being pretty upset by it!
The ARes car also went over at one stage, but from memory they made it to the finish.
The buggy was doing quite well and at one stage was second outright. In those days, the return leg from Finke to Alice Springs for the cars was completed in the early morning (a 3am start). To combat a fogging visor, Dad's mate opened it a fraction, however the side effect was that the extreme cold actually froze the liquid in his eyes and blinded him. They crashed into a tree, but still made it home by sticking it in 2nd and the navigator leaning across and steering. A good result went begging, and luckily his eyesight returned later that day once they had 'defrosted'.
After the accident at Finke RAEMUS only did two more races, the BAV 100 at Seymour in Oct and back to Avalon in Nov 89. I haven't found any photos from these races and I can't actually remember what happened at them, aside from they were both retirements for RAEMUS.
In late 1989 Dad got permission to turn a wrecked Army Series III LWB FFR (Fitted For Radio) into another race car. This one was powered by a Ford 302W V8 with a C4 auto. After the Finke accident, I don't think Dad wanted to see someone else wreck his 'babies' and decided to step up from running the team to driving the new car. The new car - Son of RAEMUS - debuted at the 1990 Finke Desert Race and made up for the previous year by finishing in the top 5 for Class 8 Modified 4x4.
After that the new car was plagued by overheating issues for the rest of 1990 including the Old Man Emu 300 at Puckapunyal in November where because no one else wanted to buy a CAMS licence for one race (in those days all CAMS licences expired on 31 Dec regardless) I had my first race as a 13 year old as Dad's navigator in the new car.
The attached pics show Son of RAEMUS in early 1992.
I have found a stack of photos from RAEMUS early days, which I can also scan and post, but I don't know anything of them as it was before our time with her. I also have a stack more photos of Son of RAEMUS that I am yet to find.
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