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Mystery, too, surrounds the two Kiwi Stable cars of Moore and Thackwell. On the face of it, it seems that, although both supplied with FWB engines, they were eventually upgraded with FPFs and continued to race in Europe through 1958.
Thackwell took F2-18-57 home to NZ with him to race at the end of that year, and it was subsequently run by Lionel Bulcraig. The next owner, Duncan Mackenzie, was killed in his first race with the car in April 1961, after which it returned to Bulcraig who updated it with coil-sping suspension and ran in a few hillclimbs. He still owned the car in the late 1970s, then sold it to Ken Smith after which it passed to Brian Harker in Australia in 1981 and then to US ownership.
When the car returned to the UK for restoration it was given the number F2-14-57, based on the engine number. It was raced once or twice by Jan Heuten in the early 1990s before being sold at auction in 1997 to an earlier owner of the original F2-14-57.
When Thackwell’s car went to NZ at the end of 1958 parts for a complete T43 went with it. It was logical to presume this was the ex-Moore car, F2-17-57. It was built up by Syd Jensen with 1960cc engine and raced by David Evans from late 1960, then Neil Whittaker until early 1964. It then passed through various hands before being acquired by collector Bill Clark around 1970. He still had the car in 2002, identified now as F2-11-57, after which it returned to the UK and was raced by David Jeffries.
It is important to note that Clark’s reason for applying the number F2-11-57 to his car was his belief that the original Kiwi Stable car had been swapped for a complete FPF-engined T43, rather than merely acquiring its engine. The same could have happened with the other team car and F2-14-57.
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