Comments by "Frank B" (@flamingfrancis) on "IWrocker" channel.

  1. Several elite WRC drivers have been regular F1 drivers and they also have long standing driving records in events such as Le Mans. Goes back a long way in the Bathurst race where Finnish Rauno Altonen won the 1966 Bathurst race in a Morris Cooper S that had won the Monaco Rally a year earlier. Australia has regularly hosted legs of the WRC with events in several States.
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  2. The overall promotion for this was sponsored by Vodaphone. At that time they also sponsored Craig Lowndes Supercar team. You can find the complete video where Lowndes takes the McLaren Merc for a few laps and then the two of them compare laps in Lowndes car. The F1 was in no where near racing trim, the uneveness of the track surface required special suspension mods to ride above the rough. That track roughness is part of the reason for it not complying to required Standards. Width of track and lack of run off areas are others. It was reported that the helicopter had moments trying to keep up with Button. We lost the great full length of Conrod Straight for the round of the 1987 World Touring Car championships held there. The original straight was too long for the specs so the Chase was introduced. Over the years several deaths, cars and bikes, had unfortunately occurred some of which were at the second hump of Conrod where vehicles became airborne. While this was the first documented run of an F1 car it is not the first time Formula One cars have run there. The Australian GP, one of the oldest in the World, was held at Bathurst four times between 1937 and 1958.
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  3. Without a doubt one of the more recent discoveries is the spray on artificial skin that came out of some amazing research in Western Australia. It has changed the face of treament of burns throughout the world. Absolute blessing to mankid.
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  4. The battle that change the face of war at the time...Le Hamel..Western Front..July 1918. Monash was a genius.
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  5. We cannot claim to be best at lamb production per capita when compared to New Zealand. They have best quality. The listing errs in that there is no mention of Health cover...Based on the original UK National Health Scheme the Aussie scheme is considered to be right up there amongst the best. We pay 2% of taxable earnings or choose private cover at a cost.
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  6. Don't get trapped like so many comments here in the belief that Sydney is a dump...it is unique with a Harbour (Aussie spelling) that can be accessed all over with magical ferry services to brilliant recreational facilities. Also excellent public transport to most places by low cost trains and buses. Good light rail close to CBD. Look into an Opal Card. If you like National Parks the second oldest one on the planet (after Yellowstone) is in Sydney' south..Royal National Park. Centennial Park on perimeter of CBD. Electric train ride to the Katoomba and the world famous Blue Mountains with the amazing Megalong and Grouse Valleys and the Kanangra Walls. Also take train to south coast day trip to Wollongong or Kiama for some of the best coastal scenery anywhere. People who say it's a dump simply don't have a clue.
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  7. Indeed, Phil was in fact wearing a helmet while playing in a Shield game. The ball hit in the unprotected nape of the neck. Soon after the incident Cricket authorities investigated along with medical staff and a new Standard was introduced for a design that gives proper protection including retro fitting of existing helmets.
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  8. The colours of the housing and roofing at the beach is something Aussies should be proud of. The Colorbond roofing and fencing steels is an all Australian product first manufactured back in the 1960's.
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  9. We are actually "The Commonwealth of Australia"....might change things a little.
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  10. I am not surprised at all that the original Paris > Dhaka rally was not followed much in the US. It goes back to the 70's and a time when US car makers didn't want citizens to know of the world outside. Australia has a long standing passion for this type of event with some popular Redex Rallies being staged through the Aussie Outback in the 1950's...look up "Gelegnite" Jack Murray.
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  11. Mention of the word "screaming" and associating it with the time registered here pales to insignificance when we take in the screaming 1:48.8 of Jensen Button into account back in 2011. Yes it was unofficial but the F1 McLaren sounded like a beehive on wheels as it maxed out on Conrod.
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  12. Er, kangaroos were fairly regular on their shopping list...not exactly the slowest native animal you will come across. They are also used to bring down birds in flight.
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  13. There is also a bigger connection to USA through this song than most people would realise. Composer / singer Peter Allen was one of a duo the Allen "Brothers", that had good cabaret success in the USA. Peter's fame eventually saw him marry Liza Minellli, Judy Garland's daughter. Bit of a sad story after that with Peter passing away in early 90's. His best work is often considered to be his composition "the Tenterfield Saddler" which is such a heartwarming song.
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  14.  @Shooter-The-Emu-With-A-Gun  The Loaded Dog was the work of Henry Lawson and Banjo was a war correspondent / journo in WW1.
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  15. I wouldn't think that one would get a very good cross representation of opinions by walking up and down the main street of Surfers Paradise or similar. Lots of tourists these days want to experience the areas away from the coastal cities. Get out there and see the beautiful country beyond. I found a vast difference on an extended trip of the US a long time ago. A big difference between the city folk and the country people.
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  16. And note his co-driver, the great Allan Moffat. I had forgotten they shared a vehicle
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  17.  @Craznar  Ian should be aware that Australians have access to not only Medicare but services such as you name plus Disability Support Pension, National Disability Support and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schemes. There arre others I've missed.
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  18. I hope you realsie that there are several classes of yachts that compete in that race. Yes, some of them are very welthy people from all over the world but in the main they are people who have worked hard to get the small class yachts some of which are relatively tiny. There are also a number of females that compete including one or two complete female crews. Some are manned by disbled sailors and some by promising juniors who also compete in one of the many sailing clubs.
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  19.  @daviddou1408  There were two versions that Banjo's words were set to in music. Christina Macpherson is credited with the music by the Australian Sound and Film Archives. Banjo wrote the poem (as commented here, it relates to the 1891 shearer's strike) while staying at a property in Wilton. It was owned by parents of Christina who was a musician.
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  20. There are very few restaurant owners seen driving beat up old Fords
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  21.  @myopinion69420  Privatisation of the hospital car parks suxxxx....and as we are finding out so does the privatisation of everything else.
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  22. Yes indeed, Australia does have "claim" in the Antarctic Territory. Everyone should have some knowledge of the early explorers of that continent. Sir Douglas Mawson, Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, all left their mark on the snow and the latter was the subject of one of the greatest acts of heroism and survival known to mankind. BTW Norfolk Island is administered by the State of Queensland now following recent transfer from NSW.
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  23. Read about the Great Artesian Basin and its' impact on our inland water courses.
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  24. It's so sad that Aussies probably know more about the gunfight at OK Corral than they do about their own, in this case the Seige at Glenrowan. The history of the Kelly family is well documented. with many references in the National Film and Sound Archives. Every famous Aussie historian has dedicated at least one chapter of their books to the Kelly gang
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  25. "Cool exaggerated designs"...that means they were rust buckets with concealed panels that trapped moisture...great for the manufacturers of anti rust products. Those inserts in the back window were the motoring version of venetian blinds that lots of today's grandmas spent half of their lives trying to keep clean in their lounge rooms at home.
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  26. I believe this was shot at the Lakeside track, north of Brisbane, Queensland. The Hot Laps company sells lap(s) which are often bought as birthday gifts. The company used to operate at several tracks and cars / drivers were from the second tier of Supercars. I understand the cost includes a change of underwear at the conclusion.
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  27.  @johnd8892  As I recall, the contention was not the speeds the vehicles would attain in the hands of professional drivers on the track but the fact that these vehicles would potentially end up in the hands of unskilled buffoons ten years later on.
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  28. The ANZUS Treaty has survive for over 70 yearrs.
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  29. Aussies used to have lots of very good main street cafes primarily operated by the Greek community before these shysters came along. Great and genuine home made burgers, fish and chips, milk shakes that today's mass produced crap can only emulate in their advertisements. When and if they ever treat customers with product like they advertise I might think about trying again.
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  30. ABCTV had a brilliant program called Peter Brock - Over the top just two nights ago...excellent progran that covered PB's feats from day one in his home made paddock basher. It can be viewed on IView. If you take in the commentary of the program you get an understanding of his ability and mindset.
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  31. There has been more of a trend to refer to our first Nation's peoples by using their tribal name in the first reference. For example they are referred to as say, a Gadigal Man, that is to say a man from the Gadigal tribe or mob as they prefer. In speaking of the Gadigal mob, whose lands are around the Sydney region, I'd really recommend listening to Aussie great band Midnight Oil who have a video of Gadigal Land on YT. Extremely popular band since the 70's with some legendary Aussie greats. Their standard Beds are Burning is one of our best and created great conscience amongst Australians. Fronted by recent Senator, Peter Garrett they have appeared all over the World and yaken up the cause with the American First Nations people.
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  32.  @DaveWhoa  Not so. Bunnings control this "attraction" rigidly within each store and give guidelines. The more organised the Clubs are the better they stand to do.
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  33.  @hicko3626  That is for retro fitting to some older helmets. New helmets are manufactured to a newly written global Standard that includes proper protection of the nape of the neck.
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  34. I have raised the pronunciation of Mount Kosciuszko previously and have made you awarre that there is a memorial statue of the great Polish explorer and everything else he was located between Soldier Field and the Aquarium in Chicago. The fact is we Aussies pronounce his name incorrectly and typically, have Anglicised it. It is actually pronounced KOZ-YOU-SKO but it's probably too late to change now. The naming came from his fellow contryman Pawel Strzelecki who named the Mountain for his famed countryman after exploring that region. Strzelecki also explored much of inland Australia and the famous Strzelecki Track is named after him. There is also a dedication to him in Newcastle.
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  35. Seeing that somebody remembers Errol Flynn I'll throw in a couple more names I don't see. Peter Finch actually won n Acadeny Award in 1976. We claim him but he was born a Pommie. And there's Chips Rafferty who made several movies but they were mostly in Oz.
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  36.  @saltyaussie7702  The Thales company is based in France and is partilly owned by the French Government. It has manufacturing plants in over 60 nations including Maryland USA and a global workforce of over 80,000. The Queensland service centre is at Eagle Farm, Brisbane where final preparation for service in Ukraine is done.
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  37. Are you referring to the famous PIKES Peak?
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  38. Tasmanian beer has a great taste due to the crystal clear waters down there and those beautiful hop farms. Their whisky is second to none winning world acclaim in recent years.
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  39. That was the MORRIS or AUSTIN Cooper S....Mini Cooper S's are what you get today.
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  40. We Aussies are certainly inconsistent in our pronunciations of places like my home town, the Gong. We have two other towns not that far away in Wollombi and Wolli Creek and they are definitely pronounced as they read.
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  41. In the same manner that boutique beer and wine have become so popular from small family businesses so too has chocolate. Many Aussie tourist towns now have small operational chocolatiers just as they are found in the traditional producers in Europe. One of Australia's best mass produced was the Old Gold range and Cherry Ripe and Freddos made in Melbourne by the MacRobertson company. They were "consumed" by Cadbury in the 60's
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  42. Steve died four days earlier...Sept 4, 2006...True Blue Aussies both.
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  43. The Western Australian Maritime Museum at Fremantle and the National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour both have some fine information re Dutch explorations. Documentaion from over 500 years (1620's) can be found. A replica of the Batavia was built in WA some time ago, that ship being one of a fleet that set out from Holland. The story of the Batavia is a remarkable but horrific one that provides a remarkable insight.
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  44.  @clintonsmith9178 An American player who was part of AJ Spalding's tour of Austrlaia in 1888 named Harry Simpson stayed in Australia and formed clubs in Victoria and South Australia in 1889 and a "Colonial" game was played that year. Harry moved to Sydney some time after and started the NSW BL in 1891
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  45. Oz Mirage jets were made under license from Dassault-Breguet aeronautics in France.
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  46. To state that cricket has more "intracacies, subtleties" and premusably strategies indicates to this person that you have no balance in your decisionmaking. You certainly need to learn about strategies and how every facet of what is happening influences what will happen.
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  47. Carriages that do not fit tunnels, light rails cracking part, intercity carrriges that did not fit platform hangover, now ferries that can't take the rough waves crossing between the Heads, Rivercats that did not fit under bridges.. Can't recall one overseas purchase where there hasn't been a stuff up. Oh, forgot five billion at submarines we will never have. Unbelievable incompetence.
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  48. Track orientated Police cars, in NSW anyway, started back in around 1968 when the Force had Morris Cooper S's as a chase vehicle. This came the year after the British Motor Corporation track / rally cars had a feast in global competition including a massacre at the 1966 Bathurst 500. Also won Monte Carlo Rally and World Rally titles.
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  49. Fair suck of the sav....it was we Australians who were terrible at calling out the masses of Italians and Greeks and Slavs that migrated after WW2. We called them wogs, dagoes and skips. Fast leearning Italians served it back with interest. John O'Grady's (as Nino Culotta) novel "They're a weird mob" is a classic example for reference.
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  50. Hear bloody hear. I'm sooooo tired of hearing people trying to sanitise the term so often. I've neverr seen anybody go to the toilet / crapper / shithouse and take a bath in the bowl.
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