mx5cartalk.com

I was just watching episode 8 of Shannons Legends of Motorsport, recorded in November last year (as far as I can tell). In the last few minutes George talks a little about how much he likes going fast through corners - and that he still does so, in his MX5, at Winton Raceway (& elsewhere).

The episode can be seen at http://www.shannons.com.au/club/video/george-fury-episode-8-series-2-shannons-legends-of-motorsport/ if you're interested.

I wonder if anyone here has shared a track with him?

Yes, have been on track a few times with George.
He is a member of the Vic MX5 club. and has been to a a handful of meetings in his almost stock standard NB8B.
He is a joy to watch, being oh-so smooth behind the wheel.. He doesnt push it like he used to (have to) , but you can still tell by the way the car flows how well he can drive.

His nephew also competes in our sprint series, and his driving abilities reflect the bloodline connection.

rascal wrote:Yes, have been on track a few times with George.

Cheers, rascal, thanks for that. While not too surprised that an ex-racecar driver would find the MX5 to be a rewarding drive, I thought it interesting that he would mention it as part of his interview.

That was a very interesting Shannons episode. I had forgotten what a star George was.
I guess you would say the MX5 was "powerless" after what he has dríven.
He was just one of those gifted down to earth people who could drive anything and wasn't a whinger.

I know where one of his favourite other cars lives, and it would be a surprise to everyone as to what it is.

It is a pretty famous car in rally circles and was built by the Nissan factory race team as a toy for George to run in the old Group G class which had some pretty special cars, like a heap of Dazdas, 13B chook cooker powered 1600's, BDA and Cossie powered Eskies, 2.4l grunter Datsuns from 2 litre engines and so on.

Group G was a pretty special era in Australian rallying where privateers could do well against the factory teams with a bit of smart thinking and a lot of bravery.

And if you jump on the Gibson motorport website you can book a ride with George in the old Turbo Bluebird at one of their track days, now Fred has set up his business to look after all the old Datsuns he and Howard Marsden built over the years for both Nissan Motorsport and Gibson Motorsport.

And I always remember one year at Bathurst there was a satirical magazine called "In The Pits" from memory that did a comparison between a VL Walky Group A and George's Talmalmo Special Vehicles School Bus, as he did the local school run when he wasn't tearing around the forests or race tracks. The school bus won the comparo hands down by the way.

MattR wrote:I know where one of his favourite other cars lives, and it would be a surprise to everyone as to what it is.

Not quite everyone

And yep, Group G was a bit of a "golden age" of rallying. I remember heading off to the Dunlop 2GO rally on the central coast in the early 80's and the sides of the roads in the best spectator spots were absolutely packed with spectators.

Interesting that his NB8B is mostly bog stock.

Pretty good car out of the box.

1600Dave wrote:

MattR wrote:I know where one of his favourite other cars lives, and it would be a surprise to everyone as to what it is.

Not quite everyone

And yep, Group G was a bit of a "golden age" of rallying. I remember heading off to the Dunlop 2GO rally on the central coast in the early 80's and the sides of the roads in the best spectator spots were absolutely packed with spectators.

But there are only a few truly civilised amongst us Dave

Thanks for that - for some reason I thought George had passed on. Glad to see he's not only still alive, but living well! That turbo Bluebird was a monster.