i think i finally dialled it. see the attach comparison.

the changes are:

i'm using p9article.cls, modified:

changed:

\ProvidesClass{article} -> \ProvidesClass{p9article}

removed "date" from the maketitle definition

the rest is in the .tex file:

\documentclass[11pt]{p9article}
\textheight 230mm
\textwidth 150mm
\topmargin +5mm
\oddsidemargin 0mm
\evensidemargin 0mm
\setlength\parindent{0pt}  % no indentation on any paragraph start
\setlength\parskip{0.25\baselineskip}           % paragraphs are close
\renewcommand\baselinestretch{0.8}           % lines are closer
together in auth.ps
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}    % should be similar font to auth.ps

% the following two commands bring \section and \subsection closer to the text
% you may have to add a line for \subsubsection if you have such
\makeatletter
\renewcommand\section{\@startsection {section}{1}{\z@} {3pt} {1pt}
{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
\renewcommand\subsection{\@startsection {subsection}{1}{\z@} {3pt}
{1pt} {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
\makeatother

% the title text needs to match auth.ps, so these changes are required
\begin{document}
\title{\Large\textbf{Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow}}
\author{\large
    \begin{tabular}{c}
    \textsl{Andrey Mirtchovski}\\
    \textsl{Unidentified Location}\\
    \texttt{andrey@nothere.bg}\\
    \end{tabular}
}

% no page numbers in title
\maketitle\thispagestyle{empty}
% in fact, no page numbers anywhere
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{abstract}
\setlength\parindent{0pt}
\setlength\parskip{0.25\baselineskip}
The mating habits of insects are quite different from those of large mammals.
\end{abstract}
\section{Introduction}
....