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1974 Elfin-Repco Holden MS7
Sports
Racing Prototype
Red & White
Competition 2-Seater
Hewland DG300 five speed
5 litre Repco V8 with Lucas fuel injection
Chassis No. MS7/1
OWNERS NOTE -Many have asked me whether the MS7 is hard to drive and without any stories I must answer "no" as in fact when I first bought it in 2005 from Aaron Lewis I simply blew up the tyres, half filled the fuel tank and jumped into it at a major Eastern Creek historic race meeting and beat all comers including a Lola T70, Ford GT40, the Graduate V8 similar car driven by Aaron Lewis and many others. Yes 1st outright at my first meeting and I was only driving it carefully such is the downforce the body shape creates which gives total confidence as I was not an accomplished sports car driver by any means.
I also have a road test that Aaron did with John Bowe for a major car magazine which simply emphasizes the same conclusions and he loved it and I have a library of the cars accomplishments and history.
BUILT for the singular purpose of winning the Australian Sports Car Championship, the one-off, aluminium monocoque Elfin MS7 did just that, with South Australian designer/builder Garrie Cooper taking the crown at Phillip Island on November 30, 1975. In essence the MS7 was derived from the open-wheeler MS6 Formula 5000 car, with full-width bodywork clearly influenced by the Porsche 917/10 Can-Am car capable of generating massive downforce. With a dry weight of 730 kgs and serious grunt from the 5 litre Repco V8 using Lucas fuel injection, the Elfin proved more than a match for its opposition and dominated from the time of its debut in 1974, setting numerous lap records and scoring several outright victories in the period 1974-1975.
The MS7 passed to privateer Stuart Kostera in West Australia in 1975 and continued racing in sports car events until 1983 (winning the 1976 Australian Tourist Trophy amongst other races), then Alan Newton in Victoria owned the car until 1997. It has more or less raced continuously ever since, competing in Group Q Historic Sports Cars with Aaron Lewis of New South Wales from 1997 and held many class lap records in his capable hands. The current owner purchased the Elfin in May 2005 and raced the following year before instigating a full rebuild over the winter of 2006/7, with a new 525 bhp engine and improved cosmetics. In 2007, the car continued to perform well at Phillip Island, the Australian Grand Prix meet, Oran Park, Eastern Creek, Winton and Wakefield, with a few wins, podiums and lap records.
Looking fabulous in the iconic period ‘Ansett’ livery, a colour scheme the car has worn all its life, the MS7 is one of Australia’s most successful and significant sports racing cars from the era and the last V8-engined car built by Elfin Sports Cars. Naturally enough, the MS7 has been thoroughly researched and documented by the current owner and comes with a detailed history file, plus the all important CAMS logbook and Certificate of Description - the Australian equivalent to FIA Papers.
RACE HISTORY ... apart from winning the Australian Sports Car Championship in 1975 with owner/builder the late Garrie Cooper of Elfin Sportscars the MS7 has won so many races since with it's four owners they are too many to list here but there has also been one very recent exception which was not a "win" but nevertheless an important part of the cars history and this is referred to below:
2013 AGP (Australian F1 Grand Prix) Albert Park (Melbourne) in conjunction with the VHRR of Victoria turned on a two weekend format for WORLD invited sportscars of a similar specification to Can Am cars and Group A & C Le Mans sports cars from the late 1960's through to the late 1980's both at the Phillip Island Historic Festival and the AGP the weekend after
This field included almost 20 overseas drivers/cars from UK/USA/Germany/NZ mixed with our best "locals" all in all sorts of cars including many Lola's, Matra Simca's, Le Mans spec Porsche 962/956/935, McLaren's, March, Sting, McKee and a few other not so well known period cars ... a large portion of all were running "big block" Chev based motors some as big as 8.8 litres producing nearly 900 bhp ... and of course the Porsches were all twin turbo charged with at least 600 bhp+ on tap depending on boost ... a very healthy field and results can be checked out on http://racing.natsoft.com.au/results/ after you click on circuit racing and the event link on Sunday 17th March 2013.
Elfin MS7 only with it's 5 litre F5000 spec motor gridded 9th after a troublesome qualifying and after some busy dicing worked it's way up to 6th outright in a STAR field of over these 30 international world sportscars ... driven by Rob Tweedie was an absolutely excellent result and indicative as to how competitive this car really is and it is expected the race which was televised and seen by hundreds of thousands of spectators will eventually be found on YouTube.
This result surely places this car amongst the worlds best sports cars of the era and a credit to Australian craftsmanship and ingenuity and a credit to the Elfin factory who built somewhere in the region of 240 cars in the era all completely different ... the MS7 being unique the only one of it's kind.
Issued with CAMS log book and Certificate of Description (equivalent to FIA papers) . eligible to race worldwide.
2015 March . PHILLIP ISLAND CLASSIC Three day race meeting with qualifying on Friday morning FIVE races all started with rolling starts.
The competition included 2x mid 1980's LeMans spec turbo Porsche 962's, a similar age LeMans spec C2 Argo with a 4 litre Cosworth DFY, Elfin ME5 V8, Elfin 360 Repco V8 . the ex Gerry Marshall (UK) Vauxhall Firenza V8 and a host of Lola, Tiga and other Sports 2000 based cars plus a nice WA entered rear engined Bolwell C6 etc.
ELFIN MS7 results included one x 1st outright, two 2nds and two 3rds only being beaten by the two Porsche 962's and first in class in all 5 x races.
See results NatSoft 2013 AGP International Sportscars race 2 on Sunday
CONTACT: Robert Tweedie (
Sydney)
MOB: 0408 162 762
INTERNATIONAL TEL: + 61 408 162 762
FAX: +61 2
9879 5224.
Email: ibcholdings@bigpond.com
Web: www.ibcholdings.com.au/cars
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