Rare Brock prints to aid Brabham’s charity
Rare original photographs giving an insider’s glimpse into the early life of the late Peter Brock will be auctioned at this year’s Shannons ‘Christmas Party with the Clubs’ in Melbourne on 27 November, with proceeds aiding two charities nominated by the event’s guest of honour, Sir Jack Brabham.
The four framed and signed black and white photographs by Brock’s former brother-in-law – photographer Terry Russell – are all #1 of their respective limited series of 250 prints.
Other numbered copies of each are retailing at $199.95 framed, but the first edition prints are expected to raise considerably more at the Shannons Christmas Party, which this year will be attended by a record 500 members of 20 different car clubs.
Publishers Allen & Unwin are also donating 10 copies of the new Peter Brock book, Peter Brock: Road to Glory – written by journalist Colin Fulton and largely illustrated by Russell’s unique photographs – to the auction, which will aid Kidney Health Australia and the Dialysis Escape Line.
Road to Glory will retail at $49.99 when it goes on sale on 21 October, and is expected to go into a second print to meet Christmas demand.
Terry Russell’s photographs are the highlight of the book. He became a close friend of Brock’s after his sister Heather met the Holden hero in mid-1964 and became his first wife in August 1967. He accompanied Brock to race meetings and worked on the famous Brock Austin A30 in a chicken shed behind Brock’s parents home in outer-Melbourne Wattle Glen.
The photographs give a rare insight into the emerging driving talent, from his drive at Winton in a borrowed HR Holden that caught the eye of later Holden Dealer Team manager and talent scout Harry Firth in March 1968, to the loon’s grin he showed Russell’s camera each lap at Winton in one of Firth’s LC Toranas on his way to victory in March 1971.
Each 594mm x 420mm photograph in the set being auctioned at the Shannons Christmas Party is printed on 310gsm Premium Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk archival paper, using archival-grade inks.
Other items already confirmed for the auction include a special 2011 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix prize for two donated by Shannons that includes corporate tickets to the V8 Supercars suite above the pits, rides around the circuit on the Sunday, a helicopter flight over the lake, pit lane access, and limousine transfer to and from the track.
Sir Jack Brabham will be the highest profile guest to attend the dinner since its inception in 2005. He follows in the wheel tracks of other motor racing luminaries such as Firth, Jim Richards, Steven Richards and Larry Perkins.
Now 84, Sir Jack will talk about some of the memorable moments in his stellar motor racing career , during which he won three World Championships, and will no doubt pass judgement on today’s class of Formula 1 drivers.
To reserve a table at the 2010 Shannons Christmas Party with the clubs, contact Richard Sanders, Victorian Business Development Manager on 0417 490 949/(03) 8588 0877
