PENRITE SECURES SPECIAL PIECE OF SUPERCARS HISTORY

The company has taken ownership of chassis number #SBR25-EM-03-12

Penrite Oil Australia acquired a very special piece of Supercars history in late 2022, taking delivery of one of the Erebus Motorsport MercedesBenz E63 AMG Supercars at Victoria’s Winton Raceway.

The Australian company purchased chassis number #SBR25-EM-03-12, as raced by Erebus Motorsport in the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Australian Supercars Championships, alongside Ford, Holden and Nissan team entries.

Fitted with the AMG custom designed and manufactured 5.0 litre version of the M156 6.2 Litre V8, this engine was maintained and developed specifically for Erebus Motorsport by AMG and its racing engineering partner HWA when it first competed. It was the first Supercar engine to feature a flat plane crankshaft and was claimed to develop 485kW of power and 616Nm of torque, characterised by its unique deep exhaust growl.

“We are delighted to be the new custodians of such an iconic piece of Australian motorsport history. This car is also very special to Penrite as it represents our first major team sponsorship involvement in the Supercars Championship,” Penrite Oil Australia Chief Executive Officer, Toby Dymond, said.

“There were only four of these cars made in the world and we are very proud and pleased to have secured this one, in full racing specification.”

Ben was joined by his father and former Supercar star driver Jason, with both answering questions about their outstanding Burson Auto Parts sponsored racing machines.

The Burson Racing duo also gave Bapcor team members a close up look at their racing cars, along with abundant photo opportunities standing beside or sitting inside them.

Several high-performance cars were displayed, showing the variety of special vehicles driven by the Bapcor team, highlighted by a customtuned Subaru Tarmac Rally Car along with Hybrid and Electric Vehicles, joined by European performance prestige and iconic local Holden and Ford models.

A busy mobile barista was on hand to ensure plentiful supplies of life-giving espresso and a full selection of tea blends during the morning.

“Despite the unseasonally cold weather, our first Cars and Coffee event was enjoyed by all,” Bapcor Trade’s Fiona Gotas said.

“It was good to see so many of our team showcasing their pride and joys, displaying their cars proudly at the front of our relatively new Melbourne head office in Mount Waverley, where all Bapcor business division teams are now located.”

For more from Bapcor, visit www.bapcor.com.au

The Erebus Motorsport E63 AMG Supercar was sponsored by Penrite Oil Australia at the 2015 Bathurst 1000, marking Penrite’s first major sponsorship involvement in the Australian Supercars Championship. This car represented a major step forward in Penrite’s highly successful motorsport marketing program which has grown considerably ever since.

The car was delivered to Penrite Oil Australia in full racing specification, featuring its original Penrite 90th Anniversary retro livery as last raced by Will Davison at Sydney Olympic Park in his final race for the team back in 2015. That was also the final Supercar race for the MercedesBenz marque, with Erebus Motorsport making the change to Holden from the 2016 season onwards. The Supercar with the three-pointed star set some fast paced laps of Victoria’s Winton Raceway in the hands of Erebus Motorsport Supercar driver Brodie Kostecki, ahead of its handover to its very proud new owners on Tuesday December 13.

According to Penrite Brand and Marketing Manager, Jarrod Harding, even though this historic Supercar won’t race again, it certainly won’t disappear from Australian race fans’ view. “While it isn’t our intention for this Supercar to be returned to regular full track duties or to be used for ride days, we look forward to using it for special demonstrations and for some very special Penrite promotional activities in the future,” Jarrod said. “So you will definitely see the car hit the track somewhere in the future – and we have also secured a spare set of panels which gives us the option to rebrand it as the 2015 Bathurst 1000 car, which was the first complete Penrite Oil Australia Supercar livery.”

In the interim, the Penrite Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Supercar will be proudly displayed at Penrite Oil Australia’s Head office in Dandenong (VIC) with the family-owned company planning to ultimately relocate this historic Penrite Supercar to their Lane 88 private car museum. For more information, visit www.penriteoil.com.au