SupercarXtra Magazine Issue 123

BAT H U RS T 1000 SPE CI A L E DI T ION SUPERCAR XTRA ISSUE 123

ISSUE 123

SUPERCARXTRA.COM.AU

The return of Russell Ingall, Greg Murphy & Richie Stanaway; the RISE OF TRIPLE EIGHT’S TEENAGE SENSATION Broc Feeney ISSUE 123 AUS $10.95 ISSN 1442-9926

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PLUS COLUMNS WINTERBOTTOM & LOWNDES

1991 NISSAN’S SKYLINE R32 GT–R GODZILLA 

2011 FLASHBACK! THE SEASON THAT WAS

1981 DICK’S REDEMPTION WITH THE XD FALCON

2001 HOLDEN’S GOLDEN CHILD VX COMMODORE

1971 FORD’S GT–HO PHASE III DOMINATOR 11/11/2021 11:35:00 AM

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ISSUE 123 SUPERCARXTRA.COM.AU 8 ANALYSIS: THE MOVERS & SHAKERS How the 2022 Supercars grid is taking shape with the delay of Gen3 until 2023.

10 ANALYSIS: THE BIGGEST SHOES TO FILL Broc Feeney’s promotion into the main game as Jamie Whincup’s replacement at Triple Eight Race Engineering.

12 ANALYSIS: THE LONG-AWAITED STEP UP Thomas Randle on getting his big break in the main game with the expanding Tickford Racing.

14 ANALYSIS: THE END OF THE ROAD FOR THE KELLYS Todd and Rick Kelly’s farewell to Supercars team ownership.

16 WINTERBOTTOM COLUMN Mark Winterbottom on the challenges of 2021 and his prospects for Bathurst.

19 LOWNDES COLUMN Craig Lowndes on Jamie Whincup’s full-time farewell at Bathurst.

24 FEATURE: THE OLD GUARD Greg Murphy and Russell Ingall on their return to the driver’s seat in wildcard entries at Bathurst.

30 FEATURE: THE WILDCARD COMBOS A look back on some of the most intriguing wildcard entries in the history of the Great Race.

36 FEATURE: THE SEASON THAT WAS Reflecting on 2011, which saw Jamie Whincup win the title and Garth Tander and Nick Percat claim Bathurst.

42 FEATURE: THE GOLDEN CHILD What made Mark Skaife and the Holden Racing Team’s Holden VX Commodore so special.

48 FEATURE: WHEN GODZILLA CRUSHED THE MOUNTAIN Profile of the all-conquering Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R. 54 FEATURE: REDEMPTION Dick Johnson’s championship and Bathurst 1000 double in 1981.

58 FEATURE: THE PHASE III DOMINATOR Allan Moffat’s record-breaking Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III. 66 FROM THE ARCHIVES The first international Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars round from 2001.

SUPERCAR XTRA

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THE GREAT RACE GRAND FINALE

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or the second season in a row and for just the fourth time in Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars history, the Bathurst 1000 rounds out the championship season in 2021.

After another disrupted season, the 2021 championship ends where it started back in February at the legendary Mount Panorama Circuit for the 61st running of Bathurst’s Great Race.

Alongside the championship regulars will be two wildcard entries featuring a fascinating mix of youth and experience.

Triple Eight Race Engineering fields two-time Bathurst winner Russell Ingall alongside rising star Broc Feeney, while Erebus Motorsport enters four-time winner Greg Murphy alongside fellow returnee Richie Stanaway.

We profile these wildcard entries and the return of Ingall and Murphy in the cover story of this edition, with the addition of these Supercars legends and their talented co-drivers adding an extra dimension to Bathurst in 2021.

With the addition of two high-profile entries into the field for Bathurst, we also take a look at some of the most intriguing wildcard entries in the history of the Great Race, from an all-woman entry at the Armstrong 500 in 1962 to some of the international stars to have graced Mount Panorama in recent years.

Elsewhere, we look back on the decade-on anniversaries of the Great Race with features on key topics from 2011, 2001, 1991, 1981 and 1971.

We start with a look back

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on the 2011 season, which saw Jamie Whincup win his third championship and Garth Tander and rookie Nick Percat prevail at Bathurst.

In 2001, Mark Skaife was in the midst of a dominant run with the Holden Racing Team in the Holden VX Commodore that became known as ‘The Golden Child’, as he reflects on this edition.

Ten years earlier, Skaife and Jim Richards took Nissan’s first win at Bathurst in the allconquering Skyline R32 GT-R. The duo remember what made ‘Godzilla’ such a dominant force in the feature.

The 1981 season saw Dick Johnson fight back from the heartbreak of his 1980 tangle with a rock at Bathurst to score a championship and Bathurst double. As we examine, it marked the arrival of a new Ford hero and set the tone for the remarkable highs and lows Dick Johnson Racing would experience over the decades.

From 1971 is the story of the Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III, which Allan Moffat drove to a crushing win at Bathurst. We look at what made the Phase III such an iconic car that went from breaking records on the race track to the auction house.

The ‘Analysis’ section

examines the latest news surrounding Supercars, including how the grid is shaping up for 2022, the delay to the introduction of Gen3 until 2023, Feeney and Thomas Randle’s promotions into the main game and the farewell of Todd and Rick Kelly.

Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes share their thoughts in their columns, ahead of the biggest race of the year.

We also remember the championship’s first international round, which was held at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand 20 years ago in 2001, in our ‘From the Archives’ section.

The print edition of this issue includes a pullout poster featuring Skaife’s ‘Golden Child’ and Johnson’s XD Falcon.

Whether you’re reading this as part of the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000 program or in the standalone issue #123, we hope you enjoy the Great Race!

Visit us at SupercarXtra. com.au for the latest news and to shop at our online store, or keep in touch with us on our social media channels on Twitter and Instagram (both @SupercarXtra) and on Facebook (facebook.com/ SupercarXtra).

Enjoy!

– Adrian

INCORPORATING V8X MAGAZINE PUBLISHER Allan Edwards Raamen Pty Ltd trading as V8X PO Box 225, Keilor, VIC 3036 publisher@supercarxtra.com.au EDITOR Adrian Musolino editor@supercarxtra.com.au SUB EDITORS Krystal Boots, Amanda Cobb DESIGNER Thao Trinh CONTRIBUTING JOURNALISTS John Bannon, Andrew Clarke, Craig Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom PHOTOGRAPHERS Peter Norton, Autopics.com.au, Glenis Lindley, James Baker, Ben Auld, Justin Deeley, Mark Horsburgh, P1 Images, Paul Nathan, Scott Wensley, Danny Bourke, Matthew Norton, Jack Martin ADVERTISING Trent Dyball Phone: (03) 9006 7666 Mobile: 0414 872 168 EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES Phone: (03) 9372 9125 Fax: (03) 8080 6473 office@supercarxtra.com.au ACCOUNTS Mark Frauenfelder accounts@supercarxtra.com.au MERCHANDISE & SUBSCRIPTIONS Phone: (03) 9372 9125 office@supercarxtra.com.au Published by Raamen Pty Ltd trading as V8X. Material in Supercar Xtra is protected by copyright laws and may not be reproduced in full or in part in any format.

Supercar Xtra will consider unsolicited articles and pictures; however, no responsibility will be taken for their return. While all efforts are taken to verify information in Supercar Xtra is factual, no responsibility will be taken for any material which is later found to be false or misleading. The opinions of the contributors are not always those of the publishers.

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2022 MOVERS & SHAKERS

Supercars race winners Nick Percat, Jack Le Brocq and André Heimgartner are amongst the group of drivers changing teams in 2022, following an unexpected flurry of activity in the silly season.

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he pause in racing in 2021 allowed the silly season to play out quite quickly, in the process reshaping the Repco Supercars Championship grid in 2022.

The early movers were Triple Eight Race Engineering and Tickford Racing, who secured the services of Broc Feeney (see page 10) and Thomas Randle (see page 12) respectively. Feeney replaces the retiring Jamie Whincup, while Randle slots into Tickford’s expanding four-car line-up.

André Heimgartner moved next, leaving Kelly Grove Racing for Brad Jones Racing.

With Kelly Grove Racing morphing into Grove Racing with the departure of the Kelly family (see page 14), Heimgartner opted for a switch.

It’s a return to the team he raced for as an endurance co-driver in 2017, after a late call-up to replace the injured Ashley Walsh. His strong showing at Bathurst and the Gold Coast included a podium and put him back in contention for a full-time drive.

Heimgartner slots into a team that farewells Nick Percat and Todd Hazelwood. Percat is set to move to Walkinshaw Andretti United alongside Chaz Mostert, in place of Bryce Fullwood.

It’s a reunion of sorts for

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Percat, who scored a Bathurst win in his Great Race debut for the team when it was known as the Holden Racing Team in 2011 and raced within its stable between 2010 and 2014.

Hazelwood is also returning to familiar territory, moving back to Matt Stone Racing. He won the Dunlop Super2 Series for the team in 2017 and stepped up with them into the main game from 2018, spending two seasons there before a move to Brad Jones Racing.

It’s all-change at Matt Stone

Racing with 2021 drivers Jake Kostecki and Zane Goddard on the move. Kostecki is heading to Tickford Racing, replacing Jack Le Brocq and teaming with Randle, Cameron Waters and James Courtney. Le Brocq is moving the other way, slotting into Matt Stone Racing alongside Hazelwood, with Fullwood heading to Brad Jones Racing.

Supercars will also have a new owner in 2022 with its sale by Archer Capital to Racing Australia Consolidated

Enterprises Ltd (RACE).

RACE is a consortium led by entrepreneur Barclay Nettlefold, together with the Australian Racing Group (ARG) and advisory firm Henslow.

“Supercars, with the support of Archer, has done an amazing job navigating the past two years,” says Nettlefold.

“The RACE board and I look forward to combining our collective resources, heralding an exciting new era in the growth of a sport that all Australians love.”

From top left to bottom right: Nick Percat, André Heimgartner, Jack Le Brocq, Todd Hazelwood, Jake Kostecki and Bryce Fullwood are all on the move in 2022.

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2023 GEARING UP FOR GEN3

The Gen3 Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaros will go racing in 2023, following confirmation of the delay in introducing the new regulations until the conclusion of the 2022 season.

S

upercars has delayed the introduction of the Gen3 program until 2023, meaning the current Ford Mustangs and ZB Commodores will race on in 2022.

With the ongoing challenges with international supply chains and domestic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Supercars opted to push back the introduction of the new cars.

The Gen3 cars were initially set for introduction at the start of 2022, though that was pushed back with a mid-season changeover planned. However, Supercars, along with

key stakeholders including naming-rights sponsor Repco, Ford, General Motors and its broadcast partners, decided for the delay until 2023.

The introduction of Gen3 will mark the end of the road for Holden and the Commodore, following the retirement of the iconic Australian manufacturer, with the Chevrolet Camaro taking on the Ford Mustang on behalf of General Motors from 2023.

The two key changes for the Gen3 cars are with the body shape and engine, with the manufacturers’ respective homologation teams being Triple Eight Race Engineering for the Camaro and Dick

Johnson Racing for the Mustang.

Gen3 engines will come from a single supplier per manufacturer, as opposed to multiple suppliers as is currently the case. Engines will go into a pool before being distributed to respective teams.

Mostech Race Engines will build the Gen3 Ford engine, while KRE Race Engines is responsible for the General Motors powerplants.

There’s a move away from the 30-year engine capacity limit of five litres for the V8s, with the General Motors engine at 5.7 litres and Ford’s at 5.4 litres.

Ford’s Gen3 engine will Renders of the Gen3 Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, highlighting the lower profile of the coupes in contrast to the current Gen2 cars.

have four camshafts with four valves per cylinder, while General Motors’ engine is a single camshaft with two valves per cylinder with the capacity difference coming into play to help achieve parity.

The lower profile of the cars and reduction in aerodynamics will be the standout feature of Gen3, with the Supercars looking more like their roadgoing versions.

This means there will be more carryover of parts and resemblance to the Camaros and Mustangs that are on the road, with a targeted downforce reduction of roughly 60 percent also helping the quality of racing.

“They’ll be very different to what we’ve currently got,” says Supercars head of motorsport, Adrian Burgess “You’ll be able to look at the rear wings and know where they’ve come from. They’re not going to look out of proportion and exaggerated compared to the rest of the car… you want to look at the front bar, rear wing, side skirts and see the road car DNA in it.

“It’ll be unmistakable when you see the cars in the flesh where they’ve come from, and that’s a fantastic thing.”

The Gen3 cars will appear at Repco Supercars Championship events throughout 2022, in addition to an extensive testing program.

SUPERCAR XTRA

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THE BIGGEST

SHOES TO FILL

Broc Feeney will step into Triple Eight Race Engineering in place of the retiring Jamie Whincup in 2022, with Supercars’ leading team taking a huge leap of faith on the teenage rookie.

I

n three short years, Broc Feeney has progressed from the third-tier of Supercars into one of the leading entries in the premier class with his step up with Triple Eight Race Engineering on a multi-year deal.

Feeney will replace the retiring Jamie Whincup for the powerhouse team in 2022, one of the quickest progressions for a driver in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars.

Not only will Feeney be amongst the youngest-ever drivers to compete full-time in 10

the category at 19 years of age, he will do so in an entry and in place of a driver that has won a record-breaking seven championships.

“It’s an amazing opportunity for me to be replacing ‘The GOAT’ Jamie Whincup… it’s so surreal for me at the moment, but I think it will start to kick in at the start of next year,” said Feeney.

“It’s such a good place for me to be, considering I’m a rookie coming into the Supercars series. To have the drivers that I’m surrounded by and the knowledge they have is a great opportunity.

“When Roland (Dane, Triple Eight managing director) told me the news, I was in shock.

“He explained everything to me and basically asked how it sounded – I said it sounded bloody awesome!

“I got out of that meeting and rang my parents straight away. It was such a big relief as we’ve all put in so much effort the last few years, and it’s a day I’ll never forget.”

Feeney shot to prominence with his championship win against a competitive field in the Super3 Series in 2019, in his first season racing V8s.

He stepped up to the Dunlop Super2 Series with Tickford Racing in 2020, while also making his main-game debut on his 18th birthday at the 2020 Bathurst 1000 as co-driver to James Courtney at Tickford Racing, finishing in 10th place.

A switch to Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Super2 team in 2021 paved the way for a wildcard opportunity alongside veteran Russell Ingall at Bathurst, while also putting him in a prime position to step up into the main game following Whincup’s retirement announcement.

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“To be aligned with this amazing team in my Super2 season and to be promoted into the main series is a dream come true,” added Feeney.

“For the short eight months I’ve been with the team, I’ve learnt so much, and I cannot wait to learn more in the next few years.

“The Super2 season has been a very important year for me. I knew at the start of the year that there was an opportunity to replace Jamie, and it all depended on how my results went this year… and this now feels like a big reward.

“To be honest, I always wanted to get to Supercars, but to be behind the wheel of a Red Bull Ampol Racing machine is pretty exciting.”

Feeney has also claimed a class win at the Bathurst 12 Hour in addition to outings in the Aussie Racing Car Championship, the Toyota 86 Racing Series, the Australian

GT Championship and various Hyundai Excel categories and events.

He’s the latest Paul Morris protégé to make it into Supercars, alongside Anton De Pasquale and Brodie Kostecki.

Feeney also follows in the footsteps of new teammate Shane van Gisbergen, Rick Kelly and Scott McLaughlin in making their full-time maingame promotion as teenagers.

Whincup ends his full-time driving career at the end of the current season and will take up the managing director and team principal roles at Triple Eight Race Engineering, which opted for Feeney over a more experienced driver.

“It’s obviously big news for Triple Eight that we’ll be bringing on a new recruit, which is certainly exciting,” said Whincup.

“It’s a feel-good factor as well for myself and the shareholders to give a young

kid an opportunity in one of the best seats in the category and to go out there and prove themselves.

“I’m excited, and certainly everyone within the team is excited, and our fan base should be excited as well.

“I’m looking forward to giving Broc the keys to whatever number he decides to run next year.

“I think some people will look at this decision and think we would have gone in an ‘established driver’ direction, but we’re not a team that takes things conservatively.

“We take risks at Triple Eight, we’re on the front foot and we have a crack and lead with our gut feel, and it seemed right to give Broc the opportunity.

“Of course, there’s an element of skill, but more importantly than that, certainly for me, is you need someone with good morals and a good attitude who knows the

definition of hard work.

“Broc ticks all of those boxes, but now it’s up to us to make sure we give him a fantastic car and build a fantastic team around him.”

Feeney will be the eighth full-time Triple Eight Race Engineering driver since the team debuted in 2003 and the first rookie.

Parallels will inevitably be drawn with Whincup, who joined Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2006 and won on debut with the team in Adelaide, won Bathurst as co-driver to Craig Lowndes and finished 10th in the championship.

“It is hard to have expectations at the moment going into next season, but I just want to have a consistent year and learn as much as I can,” said Feeney.

“Everyone says the rookie year is the toughest, but I’m looking forward to having a good and consistent year.”

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THE LONG-AWAITED STEP UP

After a Dunlop Super2 Series championship win and multiple main-game starts, Thomas Randle will finally race in the Repco Supercars Championship on a fulltime basis with Tickford Racing in 2022.

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riple Eight Race Engineering recruit Broc Feeney won’t be the only highlyrated rookie on the Repco Supercars Championship grid in 2022. Thomas Randle also steps up, with Tickford Racing expanding to four entries next season.

Tickford Racing acquired a license from Supercars to expand back up to four entries in 2022, after being forced to downsize to three in 2021 with the sale of Phil Munday’s 23 Red Racing entry to Brad Jones Racing following the Blanchard Racing Team’s solo move.

Randle joins the main game after an incredible journey over the last two years, having been diagnosed with testicular cancer and undergoing treatment throughout the course of 2020.

“It’s been a tough ride, not just on-track but off-track as well; I mean it was only six months ago I was finishing my treatment, so saying six months later that I’m a fulltime driver in 2022 is pretty amazing,” said Randle.

In contrast to teenager Feeney’s meteoric rise, Randle has been waiting in the wings for his big break in Supercars and will turn 26 years of age in 2022.

After winning the Australian Formula Ford championship in 2014 and finishing runnerup in the Australian Formula 4 championship in 2015,

12

he ventured to Europe to compete in British Formula 3, Formula V8 3.5 and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.

The Victorian returned to Australia in 2018 and joined Tickford Racing in the Dunlop Super2 Series for two seasons, before a move to MW Motorsport resulted in a championship victory in the second-tier category in 2020.

Randle made his maingame debut in a Tickford Racing wildcard entry at The Bend Motorsport Park in 2019, going on to finish on the podium alongside Lee Holdsworth at that season’s Sandown 500.

After an endurance codriver stint with Brad Jones Racing in 2020, Randle returned to Tickford Racing for further wildcard entries and another Bathurst start in 2021 ahead of his full-time promotion in 2022.

He also returned to his open-wheeler roots by winning races in the S5000 championship.

“I always said I wanted to get there on merit, and I guess there’s no better way to do that than on a race weekend when I get to drive a Supercar!” said Randle.

“The hardest step is always this one, and to be representing some amazing brands in Tickford and Ford, the team’s supporters and members, I’ll do my best to make them proud.”

Randle is the latest Tickford Racing protégé to step up with

the team, following in the footsteps of Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters.

“From the day we signed Thomas to our Super2 team for 2018 the goal has always been to get him into our main game program, so to have him stepping up with us in 2022 is extremely rewarding,” said Tickford Racing CEO and team principal Tim Edwards.

“It’s absolutely a testament to Thomas’ ability and work ethic, but also to the development program we have within the team.

“Thomas has obviously been very impressive and has been an excellent ambassador for the team and our partners, and we cannot wait to hit the track with him full-time next year.”

SUPERCAR XTRA

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ADVERTORIAL

GATES BELTING UP FOR ANOTHER SEASON WITH KELLY GROVE RACING

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ates has confirmed that plans are afoot to continue to support Kelly Grove Racing (KGR) in 2022, even after long-time Gates athlete André Heimgartner has announced he’ll be heading off to Brad Jones Racing after a successful four-year stint at KGR. Gates has been a long-time supporter of Victor Bray and Jay Upton, two of the most iconic names in Australian drag racing, and, more recently, developed a mutually beneficial relationship with Heimgartner.

“Our relationship with André started about seven years ago when he was driving in the Porsche Cup Series,” said Priscilla Robb, marketing manager of Gates in Australia and New Zealand. “Gates took this too-good-to-refuse

sponsorship opportunity to one of our fluid power distributors, and we both jumped on-board and have been riding shot-gun as his career has developed.

“Because our product range is heavily automotive, we were interested at being associated within motorsport at the top level. We’ve been supporting André through a variety of categories, and while we’re sad that once the curtain comes down on the 2021 season, we’ll be parting ways, we’re already in negotiations the team at Grove Racing to ensure we are still aligned with what many consider the world’s premier touringcar category for 2022 and beyond.”

2022 looks to be a watershed season for the hardworking team at Braeside as the Kelly brothers

A HDT MONARO WITH DES WEST, BUT THE

things ahead with owner Stephen Grove openly willing to invest resources in to get the squad to where it needs to be,” said Priscilla.

“We enjoy the challenge of testing our products in extreme environments, and our involvement in many motorsport disciplines certainly pushes the limits of their performance.”

ON DISPLAY

1972

OWS YOUR “NO ONE KN N S.” KE SHANNO PA S S I O N L I

IN THE EARLY 1970S PETER BROCk WAS LITTLE MORE THAN YOUNG HOPEFUL. HE HAD ALREADY EXPERIENCED A THIRD PLACE AT BATHURST IN 1969 CO-DRIVING

step away from Supercars after more than two decades in the sport as both drivers and team owners.

With emerging teenager Matt Payne joining their junior development program and the charismatic David Reynolds, Gates is excited about continuing their relationship with the team.

“We’re expecting big

W

WET RACE OF 1972 WAS TO BE THE FIRST OF BROCk’S NINE

VICTORIES IN THE GREAT RACE. FOLLOWING IS A POSSIBLE TRACk COMMENTARY FROM

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THE “HOLYWOOD FINISH”

CHAPTER 9

OVER

300

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THE END OF THE ROAD FOR THE KELLYS

After 13 years of team ownership, brothers Todd and Rick Kelly have sold their remaining stake in Kelly Grove Racing, ending more than two decades of direct involvement in Supercars.

T

he Kelly family ends its time as Supercars team owners with the rare honour of winning races across three manufacturers – Holden, Nissan and Ford.

Brothers Rick and Todd Kelly have sold their 50 percent stake in Kelly Grove Racing to the Grove Group, handing over full ownership of the Victorian-based team to father-and-son duo Stephen and Brenton Grove from 2022.

“We have been very fortunate to have been part of the premier category in the country for such a long period,” said Todd.

“Being part of such an intense business is something that I will genuinely miss.

But now is the time to hand over the reins to Stephen and Brenton Grove.”

Kelly Racing was founded in 2009 with a four-car line-up

formed out of the HSV Dealer Team and Perkins Engineering, running Holdens with the Kellys driving two of the entries following a Bathurst 1000 win with the Holden Racing Team for Todd in 2005 and two Bathurst victories and championship success with Kmart Racing/HSV Dealer Team for Rick between 2003 and 2006.

Kelly Racing switched to Nissan with a factory-backed deal from 2013, turning the Altima into a race-winning package despite the challenge of developing the aerodynamic and engine package from the first year of the Car of the Future regulations.

The team moved onto Ford Mustangs in 2020 following the end of the team’s partnership with Nissan, with the Groves joining forces with the Kellys in 2021 and scoring their first win with the Mustang.

Kelly Racing will retain

ownership of the team’s CNC machine shop, the engine department and all production departments as well as the current Mustangs, with Todd set to remain with the team in a behind-the-scenes technical role.

“Over the years, we have done an incredible amount of engineering and manufacturing work initially with the Holden’s and then the design and production of the Nissan Altima and Nissan VK50 quadcam Supercar engine and then again with the conversion to Mustang,” reflected Todd.

“We have always had pride in doing everything in-house ourselves and doing the best possible job of designing and producing our equipment.

“Although we have achieved quite a lot through sheer hard work, the biggest challenge we have had over the years has been the resources to take it to the big teams. I’m genuinely excited

to watch the team grow with the firepower and resources of the Groves behind it.”

While Todd remained in a hands-on role with the team, Rick stepped away from Supercars following his retirement from full-time driving at the end of 2020.

“I’m very grateful for my time in Supercars, both as a driver and team owner,” said Rick.

“Through this time, I had the chance to be a part of many great things both on the track and off and have learnt so much, which I believe will position me well in attacking future projects in other industries.”

Kelly Grove Racing has recruited David Cauchi as team principal for 2022.

Cauchi will join the Ford team following a long stint with Triple Eight Race Engineering as engineer to Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen.

Todd and Rick Kelly end their direct ownership in Supercars with the sale of their remaining stake in Kelly Grove Racing.

14

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EXPERT INSIGHT

BEYOND THE WHEEL Column by Mark Winterbottom

THE HIGH STAKES FINALE

A

fter last year, we hoped this Supercars season would be a return to some sort of normality. Unfortunately, we were forced into another long spell without racing. But now we are back racing again, with a hectic end to the season that concludes with the biggest event of the year.

The preparation for Bathurst has again been impacted by the changes to the schedule, so we enter the event with very limited testing, a run of consecutive events at Sydney Motorsport Park and no lead-in endurance event. While Team 18 has been busy in the workshop practicing pitstops and preparing for Bathurst, nothing compares to the real thing in

“I’M A FAN OF HAVING THE BIGGEST EVENT AT THE END OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP. WHETHER THE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE IS ALIVE OR NOT, WE GO THERE TO GIVE IT ALL WE’VE GOT WITH THE BIGGEST EVENT PRIZE AT STAKE.”

16

the heat of the moment.

However, we are all in the same boat and have the experience from last season, with an endurance event to end the season after a run of sprint rounds, so teams should be better prepared knowing what to expect.

Personally, I’m a fan of having the biggest event at the end of the championship.

Whether the championship battle is alive or not, we go there to give it all we’ve got with the biggest event prize at stake. And with so many categories on track over the course of the week, it promises to be one of the best Bathursts we’ve seen with a real end of season celebratory vibe.

It’ll be great to race together with Michael Caruso for the first time. We’ve raced against each other for years, and were even teammates going way back as we were both under the guidance of Jim Morton.

You get to know drivers as rivals and think you have the full picture of them as people, but it isn’t until you work with them as co-drivers that you get a better sense for who they really are.

Michael is so passionate about his driving and the sport, so much so that I’ve never seen that level of passion from another driver. Every time he’s been at an event, he has his head in the car talking about the set-up, aerodynamics, tyres and the like.

He will constantly say what we should be trying and even gives his thoughts on pit strategies and how we should

approach the race, giving another racer’s view from all his years of experience.

That experience is crucial for a Bathurst without a lead-in event. With so little recent racing for most co-drivers ahead of Bathurst, experience and confidence will be a big factor once again. How the teams and drivers deal with that pressure will be vital, so experience counts for a lot.

Last season we came away from Bathurst with two top 10 finishes in the race to secure two top 10 finishes in the championship standings. This season we are better placed with the second-season experience of running two cars and stability in terms of personnel, with only Michael new to the team this season.

We started this season with fourth and fifth places across the two 250-kilometre races at Bathurst, so clearly the goal is to make it onto the podium.

It’s going to be tough, though, as there are so many strong combinations within such a competitive field. But we are well placed with a strong team and a car that on its day can compete at the front of the field.

Anything can happen at Bathurst. And we are certainly mindful that weather could play a big factor at the start of summer. But that’s the beauty of Bathurst; you never know if you will be celebrating or commiserating on the Sunday night. We’ve put in the hard yards in preparation. Now we just have to deliver.

– Frosty

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EXPERT INSIGHT

RIGHT ON TRACK

Column by Craig Lowndes

THE END OF AN ERA

H

eading to Bathurst will be a relief for all involved in Supercars after another interrupted season.

For me, it’s a long-awaited chance to get back in the driver’s seat and race, at the biggest and best event.

Despite the challenges, I’ve been able to be heavily involved with Triple Eight Race Engineering throughout the year, from being in the workshop to participating in test days. But nothing compares to the intensity of a race meeting, especially at Bathurst.

Once again there will be a lot of pressure on co-drivers with no lead-in endurance event, going into Bathurst stone cold in a Supercar without the crucial experience from a recent race. In saying that, I’ve been fortunate to still have as much competitive seat time as possible this year, really enjoying being part of Wall Racing, behind the wheel of a Porsche in the Paynter Dixon Carerra Cup Series.

Bathurst is going to be such a significant event for all involved in the team as it is Jamie Whincup’s final race as a full-time driver. He’s a private person, but there’s no doubt that there will be some emotions come through throughout the event.

I know what that feeling is like having gone through that experience in Newcastle in 2018. And I’ll be doing my best to make sure I do everything I can to get a great result for Jamie.

I’ve got to make sure we are in a strong position throughout the day and hand the car over to him for the final stint near the front, where he can do what he does best. Fifteen years after we first won Bathurst together, it would be a great way to end his fulltime career.

Having made the decision on his future, he will go to Bathurst with the mindset of enjoying the experience while also leaving nothing on the table. Knowing how methodical he is with his preparation, it remains to be seen if he decides to combine his role as team manager with co-driving duties moving forward, which could make this event even more significant.

There’s no doubt this is one

of the strongest line-ups the team has entered at Bathurst, with Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander defending their Bathurst title and Russell Ingall and Broc Feeney joining us in a wildcard entry.

Broc has an amazing opportunity to lead that entry ahead of his promotion as Jamie’s replacement in 2022. It’s a massive step up from Super2, in one of the leading entries in the main game. But there’s no doubt he’s talented and determined enough to make it work. I was given a similar opportunity with the Holden Racing Team at Bathurst in 1994 and in the championship in 1996, and racing for such strong teams is a great foundation for a young driver.

It’ll also be interesting to

work with Russell over the course of Bathurst. While we’ve raced against each other for years, we’ve never been alongside one another in the same team. Like with Garth and I, the championship continues to evolve after we stop racing full-time, but the hunger and determination to compete remains the same, especially at Bathurst.

After the pressure cooker of consecutive events at Sydney Motorsport Park, it will be another intense Bathurst with championship considerations also in play.

I’ll be there to support Jamie and hopefully deliver us a fourth Bathurst win together and more championship success for Triple Eight.

– Craig

“I’LL BE DOING MY BEST TO MAKE SURE I DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO GET A GREAT RESULT FOR JAMIE. I’VE GOT TO MAKE SURE WE ARE IN A STRONG POSITION THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND HAND THE CAR OVER TO HIM FOR THE FINAL STINT NEAR THE FRONT, WHERE HE CAN DO WHAT HE DOES BEST.”

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HOLDEN IN MEMORIAM IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Holden Motorsport, Justin Deeley, Peter Norton

THE FIRST BATHURST WIN

Ford gained the ascendancy in the early years of the Bathurst 500, with Harry Firth leading the Blue Oval’s factory-backed team. Holden answered the challenge from 1968, with the privately entered HK Monaro GTS327 of Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland prevailing over its more fancied opponents.

Holden’s first Bathurst win was part of a podium sweep for the Monaro.

ARRIVAL OF THE HOLDEN DEALER TEAM

Holden committed to Australian touring cars with the creation of the Holden Dealer Team. But with Generals Motors not allowing its manufacturers to race in an official capacity, Holden garnered the support of its dealer network to overcome that limitation. Harry Firth moved from Ford to spearhead the new Holden team, which won the 1969 Bathurst 500 with Colin Bond and Tony Roberts in a HT Monaro GTS350.

From saddlery manufacturing in Adelaide in 1856, Holden grew into an Australian automotive giant. The news of its demise wasn’t unexpected, given its dwindling sales in recent years, but it was still felt acutely not only within Supercars but across Australia. This is the story of Holden’s journey in Australian touring cars, from the formative years to the present.

THE FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP WIN Ford ruled the Australian Touring Car Championship when it switched from Appendix J to Improved Production, with the Mustang winning five consecutive titles. That run came to an end in 1970 with Norm Beechey winning the championship in the HT Monaro GTS350, Holden’s response to not only the Mustang but also Ford’s success with the locally-derived Falcon.

The Monaro became a cult classic for Holden, with the two-door coupe the fitting winner of Holden’s first championship and first Bathurst.

IN THE BEGINNING 

The Australian Touring Car Championship was born at Gnoo Blas in New South Wales in 1960. The race, the first to be run under Appendix J regulations, featured 44 cars, 23 of which were Holdens, the majority the 48-215 (FX). It set the tone for the future of the championship, with Holden not only a constant presence but often having the most cars on the grid. Six decades on, Holden still contributed more than half of the cars on the grid with 16 of 24 entries in 2020.

THE ARRIVAL OF PETER BROCK 

Holden entrants switched from the Monaro to the Torana in the 1970s, coinciding with the rise of the Holden Dealer Team and the arrival of Peter Brock. Brock scored a podium in his Bathurst debut in 1969 and three years later won the event singlehandedly in a dominant display in wet conditions in 1972. By the time he added a championship win in 1974, Brock had emerged as Holden’s number one.

THE FIRST BATHURST

The Armstrong 500 moved from Phillip Island to Bathurst in 1963, marking the beginning of what became Australia’s ‘Great Race’. Holden was present on the grid in an unofficial capacity with six EH S4s and an older model FB. The EH S4 of Ralph Sach and Fred Morgan finished in second place, one lap behind the winning Ford Cortina Mk.I GT of Bob Jane and Harry Firth.

8

STORIES FROM THE RACING HOLDENS

AS TOLD BY V8X / SUPERCAR XTRA MAGAZINE

ICONIC COMMODORES

IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Glenis Lindley, inetpics.com

9

Holden’s all-new family sedan got its motorsport career off to a flying start when Peter Brock led home an emphatic one-two-three finish in the car-busting 20,000km 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial.

Success continued the following year when it debuted in the ‘new look’ Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) in 1980. Gone were the A9X Toranas and XC Falcon hardtops, replaced by a new breed of VB Commodore and XD Falcon fourdoor V8 family sedans with sharp European styling.

Gone, too, were the fire-breathing V8s of the 1970s muscle car era, replaced by detuned ‘anti-pollution’ versions in response to fuel economy and exhaust-emission concerns in a world gripped by its second oil crisis.

With power cut from 400bhp in the A9X Torana to around 310bhp in the Commodore, it was a startling change, but it was one Brock and the Marlboro-Holden Dealer Team (HDT) embraced as they dominated the 1980 ATCC.

VB

From the VB to the VF, these are the Australian-made Commodores and their histories in the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars and Bathurst 1000.

HONOUR ROLL • 1980 ATCC champion (Peter Brock)

BIRTH OF A LEGEND

VH COMMODORE: Peter Brock behind the wheel of the VH Commodore at Sandown in 1982.

Watch the birth and development of the first Holden Commodore VB, narrated by Australian golfing legend Greg Norman.

VC COMMODORE:

Privateers Gary Cooke and Warwick Brown in the VC Commodore.

HDT cosmetically updated to the new VC model in the mid-1980 before winning the 1980 Sandown-Bathurst double.

Brock was lobbying the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) hard for acceptance that year of more powerful big-valve L34-type cylinder heads being used in his new HDT Special Vehicles road cars, but the governing body disagreed due to insufficient numbers being produced for homologation.

So in 1981 Brock had his work cut out against Dick

VC

12

STORIES FROM THE RACING HOLDENS

Johnson’s larger capacity 5.8-litre Falcon.

The ATCC came down to a winner-takes-all grand finale at Lakeside in Queensland where Brock narrowly lost to Johnson in one of the series’ most thrilling races.

Brock countered with another Sandown win and was looking fast and threatening in the opening laps of the 1981 Bathurst 1000 until a broken axle put him out of contention.

HONOUR ROLL • 1980 Bathurst 1000 (Peter Brock/Jim Richards) AS TOLD BY V8X / SUPERCAR XTRA MAGAZINE

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27/10/2021 11:37:44 AM

FEATURE

WORDS Andrew Clarke IMAGES Triple Eight Race Engineering, Erebus Motorsport, Justin Deeley

Supercars legends Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy return to the driver’s seat in wildcard entries at the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000, alongside a rising star and another returnee, adding an extra layer of intrigue to this year’s Great Race.

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I

t started as a publicity stunt, then it gained momentum.

Triple Eight Race Engineering was putting a car in the Repco Bathurst 1000 for Russell Ingall and Broc Feeney.

Then Erebus Motorsport came along and entered Greg Murphy and Richie Stanaway.

Ingall, at 57 years of age, and Murphy, who is 49, have Bathurst wins among their many credentials and are two of the greats of recent times in terms of their racing, profiles and personalities.

While they are Bathurst veterans, their addition to the field will be a breath of fresh air to the Great Race in 2021.

Then there are their co-drivers, teenager Feeney on the brink of a full-time graduation with Triple Eight to replace the seventime champion Jamie Whincup, and Stanaway, who walked away

from motorsport at the end of 2019 after two troubled seasons that didn’t live up to his potential.

Murphy has conquered the Mountain four times but is perhaps best known for the ‘Lap of the Gods’ Shootout lap in 2003 that brought all of pitlane out of their garages to recognise the feat.

Ingall is the no-holds barred enforcer; one of the hardest racers the sport has seen, who won the Supercars championship once and claimed victory at Bathurst twice.

Murphy has been a Holden man for his entire career (apart from his Bathurst debut in a Toyota Carina in 1994), while Ingall has driven Holdens, Fords and Nissans at Bathurst. But they have both been out of the seat for a few years; Murphy last raced there in 2014 and Ingall in 2016.

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26/10/2021 10:24:13 AM

FEATURE

Knowing both of them the way we do, we know they aren’t just going there to tootle around and have a bit of fun. That is not in their DNA. They will be as serious as this COVID-interrupted world allows.

Former rival and co-worker in television land to both, Mark Skaife, expects they will get up to speed and race hard because that is what they do.

“Both of them are very accomplished, very good operators,” he says.

“I’m also cognizant that Jim Richards outqualified me in 2003 when he was 56 – we’d won the race the year before, I was the champion of the series and he beat me in qualifying in his own car, which I wasn’t that wrapped about!

“You don’t just wake up one morning and you can’t drive cars. People are just so obsessed with this age thing.

“In our game, if you go and drive the car as well as the car can be driven, meaning you drive it right to its grip threshold, then that’s as fast as that car can go. It doesn’t matter if you are 20 or 50.

“There’s lots of examples in the history of motorsport where age defies the critics. Have a look at the age that Peter Brock was in his original retirement when he was leading Bathurst and broke the lap record – he was 53!

“I’VE JUST GOT TO PREPARE AS BEST I CAN OUTSIDE THE CAR AND THAT ALONE WILL BE GREAT FOR THE MENTAL ASPECT OF THE CHALLENGE OF BEING THERE.” – GREG MURPHY

“I think if these guys get enough time in the car and they apply themselves as they’ve always done, which is professionally, they will be really good.

“That young bloke, Broc Feeney, is going to learn a lot throughout that weekend. You don’t get to do what Russell’s done and have the record that he’s got without having professional standards and going about it meticulously and having a hardcore racer’s perspective.

“Broc will be surprised by Russell’s level of preparation and his willingness to go above and beyond to do a really good job; they’ll surprise people.”

Murphy was comfortable in retirement back in New Zealand. He had a new radio show among his many other ventures. The last thing on his mind was coming out of retirement for another Bathurst.

“The whole thing was a shock,” he reflects.

“It came about because it was decided that Russell’s appearance could lead to a bit of ambush marketing with a wildcard for Bathurst; kudos to them for pulling off that one.

“It got Peter Adderton’s attention because that is normally the sort of thing he does and he didn’t like people stealing his tricks. So, he thought, ‘If I can’t beat them, I better join them.’ And he threw out the old idea of a wildcard with the comeback kid and the old bloke. That’s how it all happened, and it was initially a definite ‘no’ from me and a ‘no’ from Richie as well.

“After a bit of bribery, a bit of guilt-tripping, and various other means of propaganda and stuff, we both relented.”

Murphy says the first thing he had to work on was his fitness, and he got back on the bike and hit the gym just as he had been doing a decade ago. Funnily enough, he was enjoying himself. But he knew he needed to get in a car, preferably a Supercar, and Murphy will race in the Bathurst 1000 for the first time since 2014, continuing his streak of racing Holden Commodores that dates back to 1995.

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that was taking its time with COVID lockdowns and the like preventing that.

It is a challenge that motivated him. He is expecting some parts of the driving will be better and easier than before, while other parts will be harder. He is under no illusions.

“You don’t forget how to drive, but it’s just the tiny one-percenters and stuff and the very small pieces of the puzzle that you need,” he says.

“When you’re doing it full-time, it sort of becomes quite subliminal and they just happen naturally.

Whereas, I think after being away from it and not thinking about it and being in that zone for seven years, I don’t think it’s all going to come flowing to the absolute top performance level.

“There’s no way someone like me, after being away for as long as I have, is going to compete on a level of Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen and Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert and all those guys running right at the front end.

“To be honest, I’m not as good a driver as Shane van Gisbergen and I never was. But the others are taking up the challenge to him and I think they’re probably being pulled along and being forced to find another level. It’s really impressive watching at the moment what Cam’s doing and what Jamie’s doing… I think it’s awesome to watch.

“Having not driven a Supercar in 2021, let alone 2020, 2019 and 2018, I don’t expect to be on the pace with them arriving at Bathurst. That’s okay and that’s fine; I’ve just got to prepare as best I can outside the car and that alone will be great for the mental aspect of the challenge of being there.”

He said there was no goal at the moment other than finishing the race, but that might change when he first gets in the car and the fierce determination that was a feature of his career fires up and comes into play. Stanaway, he feels, will be the same. But keep in mind, he says, that this is not realistically an outright tilt at win number five.

“I’ve never gone there with this kind of thinking before, so that will be strange, but you can’t go there and just take it as a lark,” he says.

“You don’t want to be someone who’s just a moving chicane. You want to try and be competitive, but there’s a good chance I’m not going to be up the pointy end of the timesheets.

“That’s not a problem for me, to be honest. I want to be competent. I want to make very few mistakes or at least just have very minor ones, and enjoy the process of being back in the event and not feel that there’s pressure behind me.

“I think Russ probably talks it up a bit, which is great because he’s that sort of character, but he’s there for the fans and he wants to wind up a few people and bring along his personality, which is fantastic. I’m probably going to bring mine as well in some way, shape or form.

“I think the two of us will probably have a few laughs and there should be a bit of fun and there’ll be a bit of that competitive spirit between us.

“We’re supposed to be garaged together and sharing a boom, so I’m hoping that’ll be part of the entertainment of the whole deal.”

Ingall finished in second place in the 2002 Bathurst 1000, five days before Broc Feeney was born.

RUSSELL INGALL & GREG MURPHY’S RECORDS IN THE BATHURST 1000 Debut Starts Wins Podiums Poles Shootouts

Ingall 1990 25 2 4 0 8

Murphy 1994 22 4 8 2 10

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FEATURE

“HOPEFULLY IN DECEMBER, THE STARS ALIGN JUST THAT LITTLE BIT FURTHER AND WE CAN GET UP AND GET A RESULT.” – RUSSELL INGALL

Murphy and Ingall were teammates at Paul Morris Motorsport in 2010, though they didn’t team up in the same entry at Bathurst.

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Pride says Murphy won’t just sit there and accept what he is given; he and Stanaway will be working away on the car set-up just as he did back in the day.

He doesn’t expect the weekend to be a walk in the park. Logic tells him that the speed difference between a 2014 and a 2021 car is not engine related; it is grip and aero, and that may make it easier or harder – he’s just not sure yet.

He does expect that the ride over the top of Mount Panorama will be more entertaining as a driver than it was because of that, though.

“I’ve come to a point where I’m looking forward to it, as the last time I drove around there I was in the Sandman with the V6 in it, and that was nice and familiar. It was slow in comparison because I couldn’t go too fast, but it was good,” he says.

“This place is special; it’s the Mecca of our motorsport universe. Any time you get to drive around Bathurst is an honour. So I’m doing it again when I never thought I would, and it’s quite a bizarre feeling and a strange space because I was happy.

I wasn’t the one suggesting it, so it has all come around as a bit of a pinch-me kind of thing.”

Ingall’s story was a little different given it was more a planned thing with his former sponsor; he was committed early on and then just hit the track, first at the Norwell driving centre owned by Paul Morris and then in the real car at Queensland Raceway. Reality settled in the day the covers came off the car at the formal launch.

“Hopefully in December, the stars align just that little bit further and we can get up and get a result,” he says.

“Testing has been awesome, and we’ve probably done more testing than any other team in the lead up to Bathurst. So we are making headway with that and I’m getting more comfortable with the car every time I jump into it.”

With the race being moved to December, he says it will be hotter than normal, which will place a strain on his fitness, but, like Murphy, all his experience tells him to take the challenge seriously.

“I like long-distance racing. I’ve never really suffered at all in my whole career… age won’t be a factor in that; it is just a matter of being smart,” he says.

“Whether it’s going to be my last or not, who knows, but that’s probably why I’m putting so much effort into it. If this is my last Bathurst, I want to have a decent crack at it.

“I don’t want to go there just for the sake of making up the numbers, or shaking hands and kissing babies, which I’ll no doubt be doing throughout the week. I’m sure the wildcard garage will be very popular with the punters, but it’s to have a good go at it.

“Broc’s shown the speed too, he’s shown his ability. I don’t want to let the team down; I want to make sure I do my bit.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll qualify the thing in the top 10, and that puts the pressure back on me, because if I’m starting the race, that means we’ll be at the pointy end of the grid, and I want to keep it that way throughout the whole race.

“I think we’ll be very competitive and we just might do something a little bit tricky with strategy, but overall we’re there to have a swing.”

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2020 BATHURST 1000 THE LEGEND OF AUSTRALIA’S ICONIC MOTOR RACE

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FEATURE IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Justin Deeley, Peter Norton

THE WILDCARD COMBOS

The high-profile additions to the grid in the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000 add to the long history of wildcard entries at the event. From the event’s formative years at Phillip Island to its growth at Bathurst, drivers from varied categories, countries and disciplines have entered the Great Race. These are some of the most notable and intriguing combinations who weren’t regulars in the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars.

ANNE BENNETT, DIANE LEIGHTON & PAM MURISON – 1962

MOTO KITANO & KUNIMITSU TAKAHASHI – 1966

The third and final Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island, before the race moved to Bathurst in 1963, saw the first women to enter the event, driving together in a Simca Aronde. The trio finished in third place in Class C, for cars with a purchase price of between £901 and £1050. They paved the way for the more than 30 women and 15 all-women combinations in the history of the event.

This was the first non-Antipodean and non-European combination at Bathurst, and the first of many Japanese drivers to race in the event over the coming decades. The duo drove a Datsun 1300 to 22nd place, with the presence of Japanese manufacturers such as Datsun/Nissan, Mazda and Toyota increasing as the event grew.

PADDY HOPKIRK & TIMO MÄKINEN – 1965

The Formula 1 legends came out of retirement to team up in a privateer Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 in 1976. Though a start-line stall that resulted in significant damage curtailed their race, which eventually ended with engine failure, it remains the most high-profile combination in the history of the Great Race.

Brabham returned to Bathurst a year later to partner with son Geoff Brabham in a Ford XC Falcon GS500.

The rally stars were the first internationals to venture to Australia to compete in the Bathurst endurance event in 1965.

The Northern Irishman and Finn showed their class behind the wheel of a Morris Cooper S with sixth place in one of the three BMC Australia entries.

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JACK BRABHAM & STIRLING MOSS – 1976 

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JOHNNY RUTHERFORD & JANET GUTHRIE – 1977

KIYOSHI MISAKI & MARK THATCHER – 1979

This all-American all-star combination drove the second Ron Hodgson Holden LX Torana SS A9X in 1977. Guthrie had become the first woman to qualify for an Indianapolis 500 earlier in the year. She was joined at Bathurst by Rutherford, who by that stage had won the Indianapolis 500 on two occasions.

Just a few months after Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, her son Mark Thatcher entered Bathurst alongside Kiyoshi Misaki in a Peter Williamson-prepared Toyota Corolla Levin in 1979. The entry failed to finish the race, with Thatcher going on to make worldwide headlines when he went missing for six days during the 1982 Paris to Dakar Rally.

GERRY MARSHALL & BASIL VAN ROOYEN – 1977 Bill Patterson Racing also fielded two internationals in its second entry in 1977, with Marshall and van Rooyen in a Holden LX Torana SL/R 5000 A9X. Marshall was a long-time entrant in British touring cars, while van Rooyen made two starts in Formula 1 in his native South Africa. Like the other all-international combination at Bathurst that year, they failed to finish the race.

DEREK BELL & DIETER QUESTER – 1978 The Ron Hodgson team continued to field internationals with an all-new combination in 1978, pairing Le Mans 24 Hours winner Bell with Formula 1 starter Quester in a Holden LX Torana SS A9X. Bell impressively qualified in fifth place, though the entry retired after five laps following an accident. It was one of five consecutive Bathurst starts for Bell, which culminated with a third place alongside Allan Moffat in 1981.

DICK BARBOUR & SAM POSEY – 1980 American duo Barbour and Posey were regulars in sportscar competitions, combining to drive a Ron Dickson-prepared Chevrolet Camaro Z28 at Bathurst in 1980, in one of three Camaros entered into the race. Barbour and Posey appeared in multiple Le Mans 24 Hours entries, though the duo failed to finish at Bathurst.

DENNY HULME & LEOPOLD VON BAYERN – 1984 Formula 1 world champion Hulme made his first Bathurst appearance in 1982 and returned two years later in a BMW 635 CSi alongside von Bayern, a member of the Bavarian royal house who raced in various touring-car and sportscar categories. They finished in 15th place and second in class.

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JOHNNY CECOTTO & ROBERTO RAVAGLIA – 1985 International drivers filled five of the six spots on the podium in the first Group A Bathurst in 1985, with Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto and Italian Roberto Ravaglia in a BMW 635 CSi in second place.

Cecotto won races in grand prix motorcycle racing before moving into Formula 1, sportscars and touring cars, while Ravaglia went on to win world, European, German and Italian touring-car titles.

GARY BRABHAM & JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II – 1987 The Bathurst 1000 was a round of the shortlived World Touring Car Championship in 1987, attracting a large number of international entries alongside the locals. One of the most intriguing entries was the BMW M3 of Brabham and Fangio, sons of multiple Formula 1 world champions Jack Brabham and Juan Manuel Fangio, going on to finish in 16th place.

PIERRE DIEUDONNÉ & STEVE SOPER – 1987 The internationals looked to have defeated the locals at Bathurst in 1987 with Dieudonné and Soper taking the chequered flag ahead of Eggenberger Motorsport teammates Klaus Ludwig and Klaus Niedzwiedz. But the Ford RS500 Sierras were disqualified for illegally modified front-wheel guards, handing the win to the Holden Dealer Team entry led by Peter Brock. Dieudonné and Soper were two of the leading touring-car racers from Europe at the time, winning multiple races across various categories.

FRANK BIELA & KLAUS NIEDZWIEDZ – 1989 The all-German combination of Biela and Niedzwiedz were best of the rest behind the all-conquering entry of Dick Johnson and John Bowe in 1989, finishing in second place in an Allan Moffat Racing Ford RS500 Sierra. Niedzwiedz lost his second place following disqualification in 1987, with his Bathurst podium added to an impressive resume that includes wins in the DTM. Biela went on to win the British Touring Car Championship and DTM titles and five victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

NEAL BATES & RICK BATES – 1991 The twin brothers best known for their rallying exploits were also regulars at Bathurst, teaming up in the Great Race on three occasions – in a Toyota Corolla FX-GT in 1991 and 1992 and in a Ford AU Falcon in 2003, with a best of 24th overall and third in class in 1992.

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YVAN MULLER & JASON PLATO – 2000 The then British Touring Car Championship teammates switched their Vauxhall Vectras for a Holden VT Commodore with the Holden Racing Team at Bathurst in 2000. The Super Touring regulars acquitted themselves well in very wet conditions, finishing in 10th place – their best-ever finishes at Bathurst.

JAN MAGNUSSEN & NICOLAS MINASSIAN – 2003 This all-European combination joined forces in a Team Dynamik Holden VY Commodore, finishing just outside the top 10 in 11th place. Magnussen raced in Formula 1 over the course of three seasons before becoming a regular contender in sportscars, while Minassian was also a successful sportscar racer after transitioning from open-wheelers.

MARCUS MARSHALL & ALEX TAGLIANI – 2005  The Champ Car teammates raced for Craig Gore’s Team Australia-backed outfit in 2005, making the jump into a Ford BA Falcon for Gore’s WPS Racing team and finishing in 13th place. Marshall became a regular in the championship following his open-wheel stint, while Tagliani continued in IndyCar racing with a win in Champ Car and pole position at the Indianapolis 500.

MATT HALLIDAY & ALAIN MENU - 2005 Larkham Motor Sport mixed youth and experience in 2005, fielding Halliday and Menu in a Ford BA Falcon at Bathurst. Halliday was a rising star at the time who went on to race in A1 GP and Champ Car before regular appearances at Bathurst, while Menu won the British Touring Car Championship two times. They finished in 12th place.

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FEATURE

FABRIZIO GIOVANARDI & MARC HYNES – 2008 When a team could combine their regular drivers into the one entry, the other entry was often an experimental mix of young or experienced drivers. Triple Eight Race Engineering often took advantage of its overseas connections to field international drivers of a high pedigree. This included Giovanardi and Hynes in 2008, driving a Ford BF Falcon alongside the winning entry of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup. Giovanardi had just won his second consecutive British Touring Car Championship title, while Hynes won a British Formula 3 title and went on to represent Lewis Hamilton. The duo finished in 15th place.

MATT NEAL & BORIS SAID – 2008 Paul Morris Motorsport partnered two drivers from very different backgrounds in 2008. While Neal won multiple British Touring Car Championship titles, Said spent most of his career racing sportscars and in NASCAR in North America. Neal and Said drove a Holden VE Commodore, though spun off in the late stages of the race.

ALLAN SIMONSEN & JAMES THOMPSON – 2009 The 2009 Bathurst 1000 saw the reintroduction of wildcard entries into the event for the first time since 2004, with three single-car teams entering from the second-tier Super2 Series.

Triple Eight Race Engineering once again opted for an allinternational line-up in its second entry, featuring sportscar ace Simonsen and British Touring Car Championship title winner Thompson, though the entry failed to finish.

GRANT DENYER & CAMERON WATERS – 2011 Waters became the youngest-ever starter at Bathurst in 2011 at 34

17 years of age. The teenager won the ‘Shannons Supercar Showdown’ television series to earn his spot on the grid, alongside Denyer in a Kelly Racing Holden VE Commodore. The entry may have failed to finish, but Waters made a positive impression and is now a front-runner in Supercars.

MATTIAS EKSTRÖM & ANDY PRIAULX – 2013 Triple Eight Race Engineering fielded a heavyweight wildcard entry at Bathurst in 2013, complete with backing from Xbox.

Ekström, a two-time DTM champion, and Priaulx, a three-time World Touring Car Championship winner, drove the Holden VF Commodore to 10th place after leading 17 laps; the best performance and finish of a wildcard entry in recent times.

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO & RENEE GRACIE – 2015 The combination of De Silvestro and Gracie made two consecutive starts at Bathurst, with Prodrive Racing Australia in a Ford FG X Falcon in 2015 and with Nissan Motorsport in a Nissan Altima in 2016 with a best of 14th place in the latter. It was the introduction into Supercars for De Silvestro, the former IndyCar podium finisher, who went on to compete in three full-time seasons with Nissan Motorsport/Kelly Racing.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE & ALEXANDER ROSSI – 2019  The IndyCar race winners combined in a Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden ZB Commodore in 2019. Hinchcliffe had raced for Garry Rogers Motorsport at the Gold Coast 600 in 2012, while it was a Supercars debut for Indianapolis 500 winner Rossi.

Hinchcliffe and Rossi were Andretti Autosport teammates in IndyCar in 2020 and 2021, with team owner Michael Andretti a part-owner of Walkinshaw Andretti United. The North American duo finished in 18th place after a late-race spin.

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2011

THE SEASON THAT WAS

IMAGES Justin Deeley, Peter Norton, Supercars

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F

or the second consecutive year the driver who had won the title in a Ford would be defending it in a Holden. No one could blame 2010 champion James Courtney for disembarking the Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) ship for 2011. DJR appeared to be sinking under the weight of financial dramas and difficulties between Dick Johnson and Charlie Schwerkolt, and it was a small wonder the team actually made it to season’s end, let alone bagging the championship.

A lucrative offer from the Holden Racing Team (HRT) would have looked fairly irresistible to Courtney and long-time manager Alan Gow. The deal was done. Courtney had had an offer from Schwerkolt to join him in a Ford Performance Racing-run Falcon, with backing from Pepsi, but HRT’s offer proved too tempting. Courtney would be the replacement for Will Davison as HRT pushed on into 2011 in the wake of the death of owner Tom Walkinshaw a few weeks before Christmas. It shaped up as a pivotal year for the HRT. The flagship Red Lion squad clearly was not the Holden team that had done the bulk of the winning in 2010. If this trend continued, Holden’s motorsport flagbearer was in danger of losing its lustre and becoming just another Commodore team.

The late Walkinshaw’s 23-year-old son, Ryan, arrived in Australia to assure everyone he was determined to restore his late father’s team to its former glory. This was not going to be an easy task, with Triple Eight Race Engineering having scarcely missed a beat in its switch from Ford to Holden. The dayglo red-and-chrome-coloured TeamVodafone Commodores went into 2011 as hot favourites.

The defending champ beat TeamVodafone when they rolled out for the season opener in faraway Abu

The 2011 Supercars season saw Jamie Whincup return to the top after narrowly missing out on the title the previous year; significant changes for foundation teams; a rookie winner at Bathurst; and one of the most spectacular crashes in the history of the category.

With this chapter extract from Supercars: The Holden VS Ford Era 1993-2020 (Gelding Street Press, $39.99), edited by Luke West and available now where all good books are sold, we reflect back on the season.

Dhabi. Well, not in the first race of the year; that was won convincingly by Jamie Whincup.

Courtney had been a non-scorer in the first race after receiving a tap from Jason Bargwanna that deranged car #1’s steering. But the following day he came through to make it a fairytale HRT debut with victory after a most exciting race slugging it out with Jason Bright in the Team BOC Commodore. A fantastic win, but it was the only victory Courtney would record all season.

As for HRT teammate Garth Tander, his 2011 campaign hadn’t exactly gotten underway in perfect fashion, having left the Middle East at a lowly 21st in the points.

Garth would fare better once the Australian races began a few weeks later, starting with Adelaide, and there would be a significant late-season trophy for his mantelpiece.

For the second year in a row the series had started off-shore, but this wasn’t the point of conjecture it had been in 2010 because the championship had been granted international status by world governing body the FIA. This was a huge vote of confidence in the Aussie category and was unprecedented. The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), which had begun half a century earlier with a single race around ordinary public roads in Orange in rural NSW, was now an international championship.

There were some caveats. Europe was off-limits due to the proliferation of strong touring car series there, but Asia and America were fair game for expansion. That was all in the future, but in the meantime the focus was on the actual racing in Australia.

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2011

The moment Steve Owen made contact with Karl Reindler off the start at Barbagallo Raceway, resulting in a spectacular fireball.

pleasing was the fact he had to overcome the two TeamVodafone cars to get it done, with Whincup ending up second and Craig Lowndes third. Bright was fourth, serving notice that this might be Brad Jones Racing’s time in the sun in V8 Supercars. If so, it was going to be a year of mixed feelings for the Albury team. Jason Richards had been sidelined late in 2010 by a rare form of abdominal cancer, and the battle against the illness meant he wouldn’t be a part of the squad in 2011. Standing in was Jason Bargwanna.

Sunday saw Whincup prevail from Rick Kelly in the Jack Daniel’s Commodore and Mark Winterbottom. From the fantastic carnival that is the Adelaide event to New Zealand’s version of the Clipsal 500, the ITM400 at Hamilton served up that combination of factors that usually spells trouble: rain and a tight, walled street circuit.

The rain turned Saturday’s race into something of a shambles as drivers struggled not only to pull up on the slick surface in time to make it to the pits, but also to stop their cars on the concrete surface in pitlane. The lollypop men at the front of the cars in pitlane were earning their wages in Hamilton because several got skittled by their own cars as drivers arrived in their pitboxes with everything

2011 CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 38

Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes Mark Winterbottom Shane van Gisbergen Garth Tander Rick Kelly Will Davison Lee Holdsworth Tim Slade James Courtney

Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Performance Racing Stone Brothers Racing Holden Racing Team Kelly Racing Ford Performance Racing Garry Rogers Motorsport Stone Brothers Racing Holden Racing Team

Holden VE Commodore Holden VE Commodore Ford FG Falcon Ford FG Falcon Holden VE Commodore Holden VE Commodore Ford FG Falcon Holden VE Commodore Ford FG Falcon Holden VE Commodore

locked up. Garth Tander’s chief mechanic, Justin Burns, suffered a broken hand but the others, luckily, escaped injury.

Out of the chaos emerged Rick Kelly with a win that was all the sweeter for the presence of brother Todd in third, the Jack Daniel’s Commodores sandwiching Craig Lowndes.

Sunday was more or less dry and it offered up something for the locals to celebrate as Shane van Gisbergen did what he’d threatened to do more than once towards the end of 2010, which was to finally win a V8 Supercar race. He fought Lee Holdsworth for the win, with Tander third, having vaulted from 19th on the grid. Points leader Whincup scored no points on Sunday, bowing out in a multicar crash that also accounted for Michael Caruso and Winterbottom.

Barbagallo Raceway, dumped from the calendar in 2010, was back in favour with V8 Supercars Australia after an injection of cash from the WA government and a promise to install pit garages. For its return, the Perth track would host three races rather than two, and it proved a happy hunting ground for Whincup. Victories in the first and last races put his championship quest firmly back on track, with Lowndes also there.

And what of race two at Barbagallo? That was both a triumph and a disaster for Brad Jones Racing (BJR). Local Karl Reindler stalled on the grid and got collected by Steve Owen (Paul Morris Motorsport).

Reindler’s Fair Dinkum Sheds Commodore erupted in flames. It was a shocking thing to see, reminiscent of fiery catastrophes of decades past. Reindler was lucky to escape with not much more than burns to his hands.

What was a disastrous start for BJR ended in triumph, however, with Jason Bright storming home on fresher tyres and easily overhauling Whincup to deliver BJR its first success in V8 Supercars in a points-paying race at least. The icing on the cake was third for Bargwanna.

Normal service was resumed at Winton, where Whincup was relatively untroubled in Saturday’s race, taking the win from Holdsworth and DJR’s

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Steven Johnson. Former teammate Courtney’s title defence was in tatters with another lacklustre run: eighth on Saturday and 25th Sunday. Courtney languished in the standings behind his replacement at DJR, rookie James Moffat.

Sunday saw Jason Bright’s purple patch continue, his late-race switch to soft tyres proving to be a strategy masterstroke of victorious proportions.

Second place for Whincup saw him extend his series lead. Darwin’s Hidden Valley track has very little in common with the Hamilton street circuit, but the result in the Northern Territory mirrored that of the New Zealand event: Rick Kelly won on Saturday and van Gisbergen won on Sunday.

Garth Tander bounced back to form in Townsville, winning on Saturday from Whincup, Will Davison and Lowndes. On Sunday the TeamVodafone Commodores, in their special one-off military camouflage livery, provided a one-two salute to the many defence force personnel present.

When the circus headed south to Ipswich, Lowndes was dominant on both Saturday and Sunday. Best of the rest across the weekend was Stone Brothers Racing’s Tim Slade.

The title fight arrived at the two-driver, endurance race portion of the championship, beginning with Phillip Island. The championship battle was effectively now just a contest between teammates Whincup and Lowndes, who were joined for the L&H 500 and the SuperCheap Auto Bathurst 1000

by Andrew Thompson and Mark Skaife respectively.

Triple Eight enlisting Skaife was a no-brainer, but they had a problem as far as Whincup’s co-driver was concerned because Whincup’s very effective partner from 2010, Steve Owen, was now a fulltimer with another team. Roland Dane signed up the otherwise unemployed Thompson, who was reasonably experienced at the highest level. And to make sure he was ready, Dane ran him in the Fujitsu Series in a Commodore that was technically identical to the Whincup car.

2011 BATHURST 1000 TOP 10 1 Garth Tander/Nick Percat

Holden Racing Team

Holden VE Commodore

2 Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife

Triple Eight

Holden VE Commodore

3 Greg Murphy/Allan Simonsen Kelly Racing

Holden VE Commodore

4 M. Winterbottom/S. Richards Ford Performance Racing

Ford FG Falcon

5 Jason Bright/Andrew Jones

Brad Jones Racing

Holden VE Commodore

6 S. van Gisbergen/J. McIntyre

Stone Brothers Racing

Ford FG Falcon

7 J. Courtney/C. McConville

Holden Racing Team

Holden VE Commodore

8 Russell Ingall/Jack Perkins

Paul Morris Motorsport

Holden VE Commodore

9 Tony D’Alberto/Dale Wood

Tony D’Alberto Racing

Ford FG Falcon

10 M. Caruso/M. Marshall

Garry Rogers Motorsport

Holden VE Commodore

Holden Racing Team was doing much the same thing with Nick Percat. The reigning Formula Ford champ had been a long-term Walkinshaw prospect, and pay day had arrived at Phillip Island. Tander had been coaching his young co-driver for more than a year, but this was going to be a big ask for someone with so little touring car experience. The height factor (Percat is a mere 2cm shorter than Garth) meant it was ergonomic sense to pair them up, which left a more rounded, capable and shorter combo in the sister car in which Courtney would be joined by Cam McConville.

Phillip Island would ultimately turn out to be a race between the two TeamVodafone Commodores, with the Whincup/Thompson combo having the advantage on track but losing out in the pits when minor damage to the driver’s door on car #88 momentarily saw it jam, the delay enough to see #888 take the lead and the win. Whincup’s second place hardly put a dent (pun intended) in his points lead, which stood at 92 points over Lowndes.

Bathurst, though, did indeed open the door (see above re: pun) for Lowndes when Whincup and

The Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and rookie Nick Percat claimed the Peter Brock Trophy with victory in the Bathurst 1000.

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2011

Jamie Whincup secured his third championship win at Sydney Olympic Park.

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Thompson could only manage 21st on a day when his teammate bagged second. Alternator problems plagued car #88 intermittently.

The main story of Bathurst 2011 was debutant Percat, who won the biggest race on the calendar – the biggest racing prize he’ll likely ever win – in his role as co-driver to Tander. It wasn’t a blemish-free performance by any means as he survived tagging the wall during his second stint.

The racing gods that haunt Mount Panorama, usually so eager to teach errant newcomers harsh lessons, were smiling on the young South Australian that day, the #2 HRT Commodore emerging without damage from the incident.

Percat’s brush with the wall likely took the edge off the car’s performance and left Tander vulnerable to Lowndes during the sprint to the flag after the final safety car period, but the HRT team leader drew on all his experience to hold off car #888 by 0.3 seconds to claim his third Bathurst victory. Percat, meantime, became the first rookie to win the Great Race since Jacky Ickx in 1977.

It was smart strategy and good fortune that had car #2 at the head of the field after frequent safety car periods. The longest of these was for David Besnard’s massive, fiery rear-ender at Griffin’s Bend due to brake failure in the #17 DJR Falcon he shared with Steven Johnson.

Lowndes and Skaife’s second place gave Lowndes a 100-point lead over Whincup heading into the Gold Coast 600. Things swung back dramatically in Whincup’s favour when it was car #888’s turn to experience mechanical gremlins,

Lowndes and his international co-driver, Andy Priaulx, retiring from the Saturday race. No such problems for Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais, who won that affair and backed it up with second place to Winterbottom/Richards Lyons on Sunday.

It was the start of one of Whincup’s trademark winning streaks that saw him record four victories (and a second placing) from six starts over the Gold Coast, Symmons Plains and Sandown weekends. Thirteenth on Saturday at Sandown (in a race won by Rick Kelly) was his only finish lower than second during this period, whereas Lowndes made only one podium appearance across the same six races.

Heading to Sydney Olympic Park for the two remaining 250km races, Whincup held a 188point lead over his older rival. Simply finishing ahead of Lowndes in Race 27 would be enough for Whincup to clinch his third title. But in the finest traditions of V8 Supercar street races, it didn’t pan out that way. Lowndes won the Saturday race, while Whincup could only manage 20th after tagging the wall.

It meant Whincup needed to finish 12th or higher on Sunday if Lowndes won. Sounds simple, but a showery Sunday and a drying track for the race start complicated matters further. Lowndes kept the pressure on by running up front behind leader (and eventual winner) Winterbottom for much of the race, but Whincup kept his nerve behind them, letting several aggressive foe pass him in a risk-aversion exercise that netted him eighth place and a trio of championships.

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2001

THE GOLDEN CHILD

WORDS Andrew Clarke IMAGES Autopics.com, Justin Deeley

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C

The 2001 Supercars season marked the debut of one of the most successful cars in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars and Bathurst 500/1000: the Holden Racing Team’s VX Commodore driven by Mark Skaife to championship and Bathurst doubles in 2001 and 2002. Along with Skaife and his Holden Racing Team colleagues, we reflect back on what made ‘The Golden Child’ so special.

raig Kelly was a full-back in the AFL when the biggest and scariest forwards in history played. It took a unique person to survive and thrive. He was a niggling and snarky player and had a way with words; as quick with his tongue as he was with his fist.

He was also a mate of Mark Skaife’s and would eventually become the CEO of the Holden Racing Team (HRT). Soon after his official role commenced, he was blown away by Skaife’s protective tendencies over HRT chassis #045.

The car had a dream run; it barely got a scratch and it dominated the sport. It is the only car in history that has won Bathurst twice (the other being the Holden Dealer Team’s VH Commodore SS from 1982 and 1983) and the championship in two years.

It was the way Skaife protected and loved that car that led Kelly to call it ‘The Golden Child’, which is exactly what it was to Skaife.

The car debuted at the Queensland 500 in 2001 – the wet race won by Paul Radisich in a sandtrap – and was Skaife’s primary car for the rest of that season and the next before being turned into a Project Blueprint car and winning the Adelaide 500 for a second time in 2003. It won 20 times as a VX Commodore and then a VY, including 11 of the first 14 races in 2002.

When the car eventually retired, it was perhaps, and still remains, the most successful car in Australian touring-car history.

“It is certainly a car I fell in love with,” says Skaife with remarkable affection.

“It’s always difficult when you love something but you’ve got to treat it harshly. It’s a little bit like a cruelto-be-kind scenario with a child. It’s a love affair that comes from success; it was just extraordinary in that period of a golden era for the Holden Racing Team.

“I did not want at any point for it to be converted into a ‘Blueprint car’, but as it turned out it was really the only way that we were going to get all our cars ready and done in the period of time that we had. It was an interesting period for us, and the key to ‘The Golden Child’ terminology was Craig.

“It didn’t have that name prior to Craig starting as the CEO at the Holden Racing Team, and when he knew how passionate I was about the car and how much I protected it from going to stupid places on displays or to having anything done with it that might affect the specification or its longevity, that’s when he coined the phrase. Don’t touch ‘The Golden Child’ he’d say all the time.”

Skaife, like the entire HRT crew, knew something special had been unlocked even at the car’s first test session.

“Every time you roll a new car out you try to make it better than the last one, but we rolled it out for its first run at Phillip Island and I went faster than I’ve ever gone on a first day of testing. It had the fundamentals of a great race car straight away,” reflects Skaife.

“The torsional rigidity of the chassis, for instance, the attention to detail of the build and the weight distribution… We changed some ergonomic things with SUPERCAR XTRA

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2001

The Holden VX Commodore goes down in history as one of the greatest in Australian touring cars, winning backto-back championships and Bathurst 1000s in 2001 and 2002.

it too. We were already sitting a long way back, but we tried to lay or reduce the angle of the steering column and make it slightly more open-wheeler in how it was functioning, and not by a little bit either.

“We tried to reduce the angularity of the steering column down to the steering rack, and we did. We altered it for that car, which was something that I wanted to do pretty much from the time that I arrived at HRT. “We weren’t totally successful because we actually brought it back a little bit from what we originally designed, but Dennis Watson and George Smith at Dencar were working closely with Richard Hollway on making the ergonomics slightly better and reducing some of those angles of steering joints and apex joints in steering columns, which was not easy.

“There’s a lot of constraints around touring cars and the way that you have to configure the seat position and all the steering inputs, etcetera, to make it work.

2001 CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 44

Mark Skaife Russell Ingall Jason Bright Greg Murphy Steven Johnson Todd Kelly Paul Radisich Marcos Ambrose Steven Ellery Garth Tander

Holden Racing Team Perkins Engineering Holden Racing Team Kmart Racing Team Dick Johnson Racing Kmart Racing Team Dick Johnson Racing Stone Brothers Racing Steven Ellery Racing Garry Rogers Motorsport

Holden VX Commodore Holden VX Commodore Holden VX Commodore Holden VX Commodore Ford AU Falcon Holden VX Commodore Ford AU Falcon Ford AU Falcon Ford AU Falcon Holden VX Commodore

It wasn’t like we were starting from zero base; our cars were pretty good before we built chassis #045.

We just continued to evolve it to make it better. It was probably the ultimate expression of a pre-Blueprint era car.”

HRT was at the peak of its powers at this time. It was on a championship roll; Skaife was dominating, and Jason Bright was a great wingman who brought more to the team than his results showed. John Crennan and Tom Walkinshaw led the way, just before the latter’s business world melted down.

Like the great teams of today, it was also well staffed with engineers and mechanics as good, if not better, than any in pitlane. Rob Starr was the calming voice in Skaife’s ear, while Hollway was in his first Supercars gig in charge of the race engineering and the tech beneath the skin. Both say it was not just a golden child but also a golden era.

“HRT was the first Supercar team that I worked with, but at the time I don’t think I appreciated enough how well we were going and how hard it is to get there,” says Hollway.

“In that era that car was evolution, not revolution.

We used to build the cars in pairs, and each pair was always a little bit lighter, a little bit stiffer and full of development stuff from the previous pair.

“It was just continuous evolution, really, but if you look back there’s not a massive difference between it and the cars before it… the next car was a big change.

It still had a big Ronnie Harrop influence. He’d long since departed in terms of engineering a car, but his philosophy was built into it; it was well-engineered and simple.

“I remember when Mark first drove it, he liked it straight away. He said it had more turn, and that meant we could run softer rear springs in it, and that helped the drive traction. It was great right out of the

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box. But you’re talking half a tenth or a tenth here and there; it was a progression rather than a massive jump.

“I guess all those things add up. All those one-percenters made it a little bit more consistent and easier to turn. It was a bit lighter with a lower centre of gravity and a bit easier on the tyres... but certainly not a massive jump in terms of car speed.”

He said it later became the first of the team’s Project Blueprint cars with what the team called Kahuna Conversion, which essentially meant cutting the front off and putting the new front end in. Unfortunately for the team, it also scored the new Holden Motorsportspec engine rather than the Chev it had previously run, and that dulled the car’s performance while they got on top of the new engine.

Starr has similar recollections, saying it was just a perfect storm of all the team’s innovations over the years coming together in one great package. It was also well driven by Skaife, who was at the peak of his powers, and his feedback and connection with the engineers helped sharpen what was the best tool in pitlane into a dominant one.

“Obviously with every model back in those days,

“IT IS CERTAINLY A CAR I FELL IN LOVE WITH. IT’S A LOVE AFFAIR THAT COMES FROM SUCCESS; IT WAS JUST EXTRAORDINARY IN THAT PERIOD OF A GOLDEN ERA FOR THE HOLDEN RACING TEAM.” – MARK SKAIFE ON ‘THE GOLDEN CHILD’ SUPERCAR XTRA

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2001

2001 BATHURST 100 TOP 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Mark Skaife/Tony Longhurst Holden Racing Team Brad Jones/John Cleland Brad Jones Racing Greg Murphy/Todd Kelly Kmart Racing Team C. McLean/G. Ritter Dick Johnson Racing Jim Richards/Dean Canto Glenn Seton Racing G. Tander/J. Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport S. Ellery/G. Brabham Steven Ellery Racing Larry Perkins/Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Glenn Seton/Steven Richards Glenn Seton Racing C. McConville/R. Bates Lansvale Racing Team

Skaife and Tony Longhurst took victory at Bathurst in 2001, in the middle of the Holden Racing Team’s dominant two-year spell with the Holden VX Commodore.

46

Holden VX Commodore Ford AU Falcon Holden VX Commodore Ford AU Falcon Ford AU Falcon Holden VX Commodore Ford AU Falcon Holden VX Commodore Ford AU Falcon Holden VX Commodore

you always made some things a little bit nicer and a little bit better as far as the build side of things,” says Starr.

“Skaife was obviously in pretty good form at that time as well, so when you got the car in a pretty reliable window from round to round, you didn’t need to play around with it too much.

“Mark’s feedback was always so good that it was easy to get a pretty reasonable car most times.

Back in those days, you needed to dial it in pretty quickly with short practice sessions leading into short races. If you started up front it was always a bit easier, and we were always up the front.”

There was lots of parity talk at the time, but that

was missing the fact that HRT and this car, in particular, was dominating the other Commodores as well as the Ford Falcons.

The car evolved during its two years of racing life, but more just baby steps with better made and designed parts going in. That all led to the start of 2002, where Skaife won 10 races in the first five rounds (13 races) of the season with round wins in each of those, before winning Bathurst.

The title was sealed on the Gold Coast with another two rounds remaining. It would have been done at Bathurst had the two drivers not had to split their points. It won the Adelaide 500 and two other races in Project Blueprint-mode before fading away with a cameo later in 2004 after Jason Plato wrecked the #05 car at Bathurst.

“It was a good time with such great memories,” Starr concludes. “The whole HRT was so strong back then, and that car was certainly a good part of the history. Back-to-back Bathurst wins, back-to-back championships, back-to-back Adelaide wins; it was a pretty worthy rocket, that’s for sure.”

Skaife owned the car for a while after it was retired and he had sold HRT, but he eventually ceded to one of the many requests from someone to buy the car. By that stage, it had been painstakingly restored to its 2003 Adelaide 500-winning trim, from the paint scheme to using the actual set-up sheets from the time to have it like it raced. He made sure the owner of the car respected its history and status as ‘The Golden Child’… and that he had visitation rights.

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1991 WORDS John Bannon IMAGES Autopics.com.au

WHEN GODZILLA

48

CRUSHED THE MOUNTAIN

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The Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R arrived in Australia from Japan in 1990 with the nickname of ‘Godzilla’. By the time Gibson Motorsport literally turned the car upside down over the next 12 months, they’d created perhaps the greatest touring car in the world. We caught up with Mark Skaife and Jim Richards 30 years on from their comprehensive 1991 Bathurst 1000 win, where they qualified 1.2 seconds ahead of their nearest rival and won the race by a lap at record pace, in a dominant period for Nissan.

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1991

F

ive-time Australian Touring Car Championship winner Mark Skaife openly admits that the Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R “polarised people”, but for Nissan fans that supported Fred Gibson and George Fury with the Bluebird in the early 1980s through to the arrival of the Skyline RS DR30 in the mid-80s and finally the R32 GT-R, it was the hero car they’d been waiting for.

“It’s easy to be disparaging of what was the most advanced touring car in the world of the day,” says Skaife. “But it really changed the face of Australian racing where we actually saw a regulation change; the car was effectively banned! The series changed at the end of 1992, and basically we went to what we’ve got today.”

Skaife took the first of his six Bathurst 1000 wins in 1991 in the GT-R and says he remembers it like it was yesterday.

“It was a pretty powerful time in a young racing driver’s life when you win your first Bathurst, especially winning it with Jim Richards and Fred Gibson’s team,” reflects Skaife.

“So many of the people were almost like family members. It was essentially a complete Japanese-spec car when it arrived in 1990. And by the time we got to the end of the year in 1991, it had become an Australian-ised Nissan GT-R, which was not only faster but certainly more reliable and durable.”

Four-time Australian Touring Car Championship winner Jim Richards says after his 1990 and 1991 championship successes, they knew the GT-Rs would be fast for the 1991 Bathurst 1000.

“The main thing I remember was that we knew if the car didn’t have a mechanical failure at all, then we could probably win it,” says Richards.

“Basically, it was a trouble-free run for us; everything went really well and it was a great moment for Nissan… reliability wasn’t a problem because we weren’t running a lot of boost.

“The car had four-wheel drive, so although the Sierras could keep up for four or five laps, we could pull away after their tyres got a bit worn because we had four wheels doing the driving and they had two wheels doing the driving.

“So we were never really worried about them, to be honest. We knew if we drove it fast that there was no car out there in the race that could actually beat us.”

Gibson Motorsport initially used parts from the Nissan team in Japan to construct the 2.6-litre twin-turbo six cylinder engine, capable of up to 700 horsepower.

“We realised as we got those parts they weren’t what we really wanted,” reflects Richards.

“So we made things stronger and better. In the first run out Mark drove the car and we found that the diff wasn’t strong enough, the carrier, so we were allowed to put a different carrier in.

“We fixed that problem, strengthened up the axles and all that. Fred and the boys made it into a better car than what the Japanese had at the time.”

Without overstating it, Skaife says there was hardly 50

The Skylines lead the field at the start of the 1991 Bathurst 1000.

1991 CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Jim Richards Mark Skaife Tony Longhurst Alan Jones Glenn Seton Peter Brock John Bowe Win Percy Dick Johnson Colin Bond

Gibson Motorsport Gibson Motorsport LoGaMo Racing LoGaMo Racing Glenn Seton Racing Mobil 1 Racing Dick Johnson Racing Holden Racing Team Dick Johnson Racing Caltex CXT Racing Team

Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R BMW M3 Evolution BMW M3 Evolution Ford Sierra RS500 Holden VN Commodore SS Ford Sierra RS500 Holden VN Commodore SS Ford Sierra RS500 Ford Sierra RS500

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Nissan scored its first Bathurst win in 1991, confirming the Skyline’s domination.

1991 BATHURST TOP 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Jim Richards/Mark Skaife Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R Win Percy/Allan Grice Holden Racing Team Holden VN Commodore SS M. Gibbs/R. Onslow GIO Racing Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R D. Hulme/P. Fitzgerald LoGaMo Racing BMW M3 Evolution K. Waldock/B. Peters Playscape Racing Ford Sierra RS500 Alf Grant/Tim Grant Alf Grant Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R P. Brock/A. Miedecke Mobil 1 Racing Holden VN Commodore SS T. Finnigan/G. Leeds Terry Finnigan Holden VN Commodore SS G. Seton/G. Hansford Glenn Seton Racing Ford Sierra RS500 Bryan Sala/Graham Lusty Bryan Sala Ford Sierra RS500

a component on the car that was the same as the car which arrived in Australia in 1990, including the engine specification.

“We were using electromotive as effectively the MoTeC of the day,” he says.

“When the Japanese management systems and data acquisition arrived, it arrived as a Japanese spec NISMO car. So once we started to Australian-ise it, the engines were done in-house, we used our own turbo chargers, we basically made most of the ancillary components for the car.

“We were the first team in that era to have our own machine shop and the capability of making so much of the stuff in-house.

“We cast our own uprights, we made our own wishbones, we made our own wheels. The brake diameters for instance, the rotar size, we increased the callipers that they used. We changed the actual four-wheel drive system. We tuned the gearbox; we made our gearbox a six-speed Holinger.

“The actual crown wheel and pinion, they actually had a differential to begin with, which we turned into a spool. So we didn’t have a traditional differential or the system that they were using.

“If I start thinking from the back to the front of the car, that’s pretty much it. Every other item, brake ducting, radiator ducting, intercooler, interlock shrouding, all of the plumbing was different.”

Skaife says the greatest engineering challenge during the GT-R project was the engine program because of the cost base and some of the difficulties experienced.

“We had three people in the engine room full-time and a fourth person at one stage because we were building the turbos and the engines ourselves,” he says.

“In terms of transferring everything over to the electromotive engine management ECU, we were the first ones. It was the first of any proper data acquisition system in Australia where we used PI research. The PI dash became the data acquisition system. In those days, they were called a System 4, which was roughly a $50,000 data acquisition system.

“The turbo chargers were $38,000 each, so we just decided we’re not doing that anymore. So we effectively bought the componentry and made stuff to suit.

Even with the balancing equipment you needed to be able to build the turbos, we bought those plant and equipment pieces to be able to complete the turbo charger in-house.

“So much of that was a development program that no one really would have known of. It was so broad and so far reaching in the technical stakes.

“It wasn’t just about being technical; we wanted to improve the vehicle mass, we wanted to build things which we thought would improve the car and extensively improve the reliability. By the time we got to 1991, we could drive it hard.”

Skaife says the car ended up being so good, they weren’t allowed to run the car in the home of Nissan, Japan.

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1991

“WE KNEW IF WE DROVE IT FAST THAT THERE WAS NO CAR OUT THERE IN THE RACE THAT COULD ACTUALLY BEAT US.” – JIM RICHARDS “They were at that time the best Nissan GT-Rs in the world,” he explains. “In fact, we were still supported

by Nissan Japan and we were often in contact about going to do some races up there and were very quickly discouraged not to bring our cars there!”

Despite the Nissan GT-R’s dominance, Richards says that didn’t necessarily make the car easy to drive, with a racing weight of 1500kg.

“It wasn’t an easy car to drive because it was quite heavy,” says Richards.

“The four-wheel drive put a bit of feedback through the steering wheel, and so you really had to hang on to it. But you basically knew that if you drove it well, you were going to win the race or come first or second. It would not wheel spin out of the corner. If it was wet, it wouldn’t either, so you couldn’t ask for anything else.”

Team boss Gibson was the man behind the team and its success, who Skaife describes as “the Roland Dane” of the day, in reference to the current Triple Eight Race Engineering boss.

“I think the overarching thing is that Fred ran the most professional racing team of the day, and the comparison with Roland is a very good one,” he says.

“What Fred did is he attracted so many of the best technical and engineering people. When you’ve got a good team that is well funded, well run, it’s got a nice cohesive, harmonious team dynamic, people wanted to be there.

“The sorts of people that we were able to utilise, 52

there was a lot of manufacturing capability in Australia and around the world…we probably had 40 odd people in those days.”

The dominant Bathurst win in 1991, with a 1.2 second gap in the qualifying Shootout ahead of the GT-R of privateer entrants Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow, and a one-lap margin in the race, heralded the arrival of the GT-R as the dominant force.

“We did what I thought we would do, and that was a big responsibility,” says Richards. “By crickey, we had lots of beers, laughed, joked and carried on and went out for dinner just like we normally would. It was very important for Nissan because we ran the year before in the GT-R and broke a diff carrier and didn’t finish.”

Skaife adds: “We had a thousand beers at Bathurst, and I don’t think we pulled up too much until a fair bit later that week. It was an unbelievable feeling, something that every young racing driver in this part of the world wants to do.

“It was a life changing day. It couldn’t have been better. I did it with Richo and Fred, my mum and dad were there, the relationship with Nissan was so strong. It was essentially like a big family. Jimmy taught me a lot of things, but he also taught me how to drink beer. So we did enjoy that a lot.”

And the fact that the car did “polarise” people means we’re still talking about it 30 years on.

“There was a strong level of patronage from people who liked it,” recalls Skaife.

“Now because it wasn’t a Ford or a Holden, there was always this sort of level of maybe Australian bias and Australian heritage, etc, which you have to understand is probably the case. But having said all that, the willingness in those days from the Nissan dealers to be behind it, the sort of reception that we got from a positive perspective, not blokes trying to chuck cans at us on the podium, was excellent.”

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P.O.Box 3186, The Pines, VIC, AUS 3109

p53 Autopics.indd 53

21/10/2021 12:58:03 PM

1981

REDEMPTION

WORDS Adrian Musolino IMAGES Autopics.com.au

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After the heartbreak of crashing out of the lead following a tangle with a rock at Bathurst in 1980, Dick Johnson and his eponymous team fought back to win the championship and Great Race double in 1981. Forty years on, we reflect on one of the greatest comebacks in Australian touring-car history.

hen the dejected Dick Johnson appeared on Channel Seven’s coverage of the 1980 Bathurst 1000 after crashing out from the lead of the race due to a rock on track, the Queenslander questioned whether he would be back at Mount Panorama having “had a gutful of the whole bloody operation.”

The then 35-year-old had already made a name for himself in Australian touring-car circles before he shot to fame as a result of his misfortune at Bathurst in 1980. Johnson made semi-regular championship and Bathurst appearances in the 1970s, initially in privateer Holden Toranas and then with Ford outfit Bryan Byrt Racing.

Following Byrt’s death and the demise of the team, Johnson had two choices: giving up on racing and focusing on his day job running a Shell service station, or setting up his own racing outfit. Johnson bought the car and equipment off Bryan Byrt Racing and formed what became known as Dick Johnson Racing (DJR).

“There’s a chance if we can do this right we can win a few races, so we stuck everything we had into the race car and it went from there,” said Johnson.

It would prove to be worth the risk when he qualified on the front row and led the early stages of the biggest race of the year at Bathurst in 1980.

The unfancied Johnson and co-driver John French were controlling proceedings at Bathurst in an impressive run for the new outfit when Johnson encountered a football-sized rock heading up Mount Panorama on lap 17.

“I just couldn’t believe my bloody eyes with these galoots up there that just throw boulders; that was enormous,” he said post-race.

“This was our big shot; we had sunk every bob into this. With our car the way it was, it was more than capable of winning the race – and doing it easily!” But rather than being a crushing blow, the incident led to an outpouring of support.

As Johnson later admitted, winning Bathurst that year would not have given him the amount of exposure that he received following the crash. “At the time, it was the worst thing, but it turned out to be the best thing,” he said.

More than $70,000 was donated by the public and Ford Australia to get him back on track for the following season, with Edsel Ford matching the public donations. Johnson built a new Falcon XD and won his first championship race at the 1981 season opener at Symmons Plains. He went on to win the championship over Peter Brock following a thrilling finale on home soil at Lakeside.

“We’d put an awful lot on the line to get to there and it seemed like it was going to be the end, but because of one of the callers to Channel Seven (who launched a fundraising appeal), what happened saved us,” reflected Johnson.

“Seven’s switchboard was absolutely jam-packed with people ringing in to donate money to get us back SUPERCAR XTRA

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1981

1981 CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Dick Johnson Peter Brock Colin Bond Steve Masterton Murray Carter Peter Janson Alan Browne Peter Williamson Graeme Bailey Steve Harrington

Dick Johnson Racing Holden Dealer Team Masterton Homes Masterton Homes Murray Carter Cadbury-Schweppes Re-Car Racing Toyota Dealer Team Chickadee Chicken Roadways Racing

Ford XD Falcon Holden VC Commodore Ford Capri Mk. II Ford Capri Mk. II Ford XD Falcon Holden VC Commodore Holden VC Commodore Toyota Celica Toyota Celica Holden VC Commodore

on track, and one of the callers was Edsel B Ford II (Ford Motor Company heir and then assistant managing director of Ford Australia).

“Edsel said that for every dollar donated he would match it one-for-one – and he did. He may have thought it was only going to be four or five grand, but 78 grand later, he’d given us a pretty good budget to do the full season the following year, which I needed really bad. In a sense, that put an awful lot of pressure on me.

“I’m not one to let people down, so it made me, not try harder, but it made it more important for me to get out there and make sure I did the best job for all the people who supported us.

“That was a lot of money in 1980. But we never really did it easy because there was only the two of us.

It was (Dick’s brother) Roy and I. We were building

56

the car together, and I was building the engines and gearboxes.

“Roy and I used to drive the truck everywhere and we’d live in the truck. We didn’t have the budget to stay in motels. There were some interesting times.

“It was an absolute blinder of a championship because it was one that came down to the last race between Brock and myself and there was only one point in it. It was a race around Lakeside, and we were wheel-to-wheel for the entire duration of the event.”

Brock would later describe the win as a “turning point” in Johnson’s life, giving him the self-belief and confidence as the Blue Oval’s new leader. Following on from that championship success, Johnson returned to Bathurst to make amends for the heartbreak that had occurred 364 days before.

Johnson again qualified in second place and overcame the challenge of Brock and Kevin Bartlett, leading on lap 121 when a multi-car pile-up ended the race early. Despite engine concerns and the uncertainty around the race stoppage, Johnson and co-driver French were awarded the win, completing the remarkable comeback.

“You wouldn’t believe the feeling of relief after we won, firstly the championship and then Bathurst; it was a fitting climax to an incredible 12-month journey,” said Johnson.

“There’s a lot from 1980 that attributes to the win in 1981. Fortunately, I won, which meant it was the first championship, and then to go to Bathurst that year was really something special.

“We had a really good, strong car; we had a good combination in Frenchy and myself; and the car was really strong leading the race quite easily.

“It just so happened that we did everything right

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“YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE THE FEELING OF RELIEF AFTER WE WON, FIRSTLY THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND THEN BATHURST; IT WAS A FITTING CLIMAX TO AN INCREDIBLE 12-MONTH JOURNEY.” – DICK JOHNSON

during the day, and I think it was about lap 121 where there was a big shunt on top of the Mountain, and it was between Bob Morris and Christine Gibson, and that sort of blocked the track a fair bit because a lot of cars came around unaware of what was in front of them and completely blocked the track.

“So they red flagged the race and because the race had done more than 75 percent, they declared us the winners.

“They went back a lap and actually Bob Morris, who was second at the time, ended up coming second even though his car had crashed, so that’s obviously what the rules were all about.

“It was a hell of a relief for me because all those people had really stuck their faith behind us back in 1980, and to come back the following year and not only win the championship but win the race (Bathurst), which was pretty cruel to us the year before, was special.

“The same as 1980, I had no doubt our car was more than capable of winning the event even though a lot of people said, ‘Oh, but in ’81 it was leaking oil.’

“It was only when the engine was turned off because it was on a suction pipe that the oil was leaking. When the engine was running it wasn’t leaking oil at all. And that engine went in another car for

Surfers Paradise, and it would have well and truly done Bathurst (had the race not been called) without any problems at all.”

The lows and highs of 1980 and 1981 set the tone for Johnson and his team over the next 40 years.

Further championship wins followed in 1982 and 1984, the latter in the final year of the Group C regulations. But amongst those title successes was further heartbreak at Bathurst, including the infamous crash into the trees in the Shootout in 1983.

After being forced to park his Falcon and following an uncompetitive stint with the Mustang in the early years of Group A, the switch to Sierras resulted in championship wins in 1988 and 1989 and another Bathurst win in 1989.

The switch back to the Falcon into the V8 era led to a third Bathurst in 1994, with Johnson racing for a final time in the Bathurst 1000 in 1999.

The rollercoaster ride continued for him postdriving with the team bouncing back from repeated financial crises and the coming and goings of partners, celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020 with the drivers’ and teams’ championships.

With 10 drivers’ titles and four Bathurst 1000 wins, the team owes its success to the remarkable events of 1980 and 1981.

Dick Johnson Racing overcame the heartbreak of 1980 to win at Bathurst in 1981.

1981 BATHURST 1000 TOP 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Dick Johnson/John French Bob Morris/John Fitzpatrick Allan Moffat/Derek Bell Garry Rogers/Clive Benson-Browne Alan Browne/Tony Edmondson Joe Moore/Christine Gibson Allan Grice/David Hobbs Colin Bond/Don Smith Garry Willmington/Mike Griffin John English/John Donnelly

Dick Johnson Racing Ford XD Falcon Bob Morris Motor Sport Ford XD Falcon Allan Moffat Racing Mazda RX-7 Soundwave Discos Holden VC Commodore Re-Car Racing Holden VC Commodore King George Tavern Ford XD Falcon JPS Team BMW BMW 635 CSi Masterton Homes Ford Capri Mk.II Garry Willmington Ford XD Falcon Valley Meat Hall Ford XD Falcon SUPERCAR XTRA

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1971

THE PHASE PHASE III III THE DOMINATOR DOMINATOR

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WORDS Adrian Musolino IMAGES Autopics.com.au

It’s 50 years since one of the most iconic and highly sought-after Australianbuilt cars dominated at Bathurst. Allan Moffat’s Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III crushed the opposition at the Mount Panorama Circuit in 1971, making a legend of the car and driver.

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1971

1971 CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 1.

2.

3.

4.

5. =6. =6. =8 =8. =10. =10. =10.

Bob Jane Allan Moffat Ian Geoghegan Jim McKeown Norm Beechey Graham Ritter John French John Rushford Brian Foley Trevor Meehan Colin Bond Bill Fanning

Bob Jane Racing Team Allan Moffat Racing Total Team Shell Racing Shell Racing B.S. Stillwell and Co. Allan Moffat Racing/Total Team Rushford Engineering Brian Foley M. Brewster Holden Dealer Team Bill Fanning

1971 BATHURST 500 TOP 10 1.

2.

3.

4.

5 6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Allan Moffat Phil Barnes/Bob Skelton David McKay Colin Bond John French John Goss/Barry Sharp L. Geoghegan/P. Brown Peter Brock Brian Foley/Don Holland Bob Beasley

F

Ford Motor Co. of Australia Byrt Ford Pty Ltd Finnie Ford Pty Ltd Holden Dealer Team Ford Motor Co. of Australia McLeod Ford Pty Ltd Geoghegan’s Sporty Cars Holden Dealer Team Max Wright Motors Reg Papps & Sons

ifty years ago, the Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III was breaking records on the race track. Today, it’s breaking records off the track.

In February 2021, a fully restored 1971 Phase III set an auction record for an Australian-built road car when it sold for $1.15 million.

The Phase III is one of the most iconic Australian cars of all-time, a road car built primarily for success on the race track that made Allan Moffat a household name and put Ford at the forefront of the Australian automotive market.

Ford gambled on going its own way with an Australian designed and built Falcon heading into the 1970s, to not only counter the threat of Holden’s Monaro but also to differentiate from the American-built Mustang.

The brainchild of Al Turner, with the backing of Bill Bourke, there were only 300 Phase IIIs made.

Success at Bathurst was the focal point for Ford as the battle between the Blue Oval and rivals Chrysler 60

Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 Ford Boss 302 Mustang Ford Mustang Porsche 911S Holden HT Monaro GTS350 Ford Escort Mark I Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III Ford Escort Mark I Alfa Romeo GTAm Morris Cooper S Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 Ford Escort Mark I

Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III Chrysler VH Valiant Charger E38 Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger E38

and Holden intensified.

The Phase III may have looked just like the Falcon GT version it was based on, but it featured an upgraded engine, improved four-speed top-loader gearbox, a nine-inch differential, a larger fuel tank and race-ready brakes.

With an engine output in excess of 350 bhp, producing more than 7000 rpm, it was generally considered to be the fastest four-door production car in the world.

There were 13 GT-HOs in the field for the 1971 Bathurst 500, including the factory-backed entries of Moffat and John French and privateer entries for the likes of David McKay, John Goss, Kevin Bartlett, Murray Carter and Bob Morris.

The challengers were the recently developed Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 and Holden’s nimble XU-1 Torana, with works teams from Toyota, Datsun, Mazda, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors highlighting the growing status of the race.

Moffat stamped his authority on the event with

Top: Sixty entries competed in the 1971 Bathurst 500, including 13 Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase IIIs. Right: Allan Moffat dominated at Bathurst in 1971, setting a recordbreaking pace.

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a crushing time in the opening practice session that was more than 13 seconds under the lap record from 1969, with that level of performance continuing throughout the race meeting.

The Phase III filled the top seven places on the grid with Moffat three seconds clear of the rest on pole position and the first non-Ford, the Charger of Leo Geoghegan, almost seven seconds off the time set by the polesitter. The Holden Dealer Team Toranas of Peter Brock and Colin Bond were a distant 11th and 15th respectively.

Moffat raced away from the start. His only threat was a stray beer carton that lodged itself on his GTHO’s radiator grille, as a result of windy conditions on race day. The Ford team signalled to Moffat to pit so they could remove the debris, but Moffat drove on with a close eye on the car’s heating.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the other Falcons.

Bill Brown survived one of the most spectacular crashes in Bathurst history when a tyre blew on his Phase III at McPhillamy Park.

The Falcon rolled several times along the guard rail, which cut into the Falcon with the roll bar saving Brown’s life. He suffered bruising, cuts and a concussion, but it could’ve been so much worse.

Moffat took the chequered flag to claim his second consecutive Bathurst win, with a new racetime record and the first average speed in excess of 130km/h. Phase IIIs completed the podium with Phil Barnes/Bob Skelton in second and McKay in third. Bond was best of the rest in fourth with the Chrysler challenge never materialising with the top Charger in seventh place.

The biggest concern for the Phase III at Bathurst was whether its brakes would survive the race distance. But new pads developed by Bill Collins were so good that the leading Phase IIIs went the distance without a change of pads, for the first time for the winner of the event.

The stunning performance of the Phase III is best illustrated when comparing the times set by Moffat in the XW Falcon GT-HO Phase II in 1970. The pole time from 1971 was almost 10 seconds quicker than 1970, while Moffat’s race time was lowered by 33 minutes. He called the Phase III “one of the best cars in the world,” comparable to GT cars of the time.

Moffat drove the Phase III to Australian Touring Car Championship title success in 1973, the first championship run to the locally-derived Group C regulations. By Bathurst that year it was replaced by the XA Falcon, featuring a significantly different body shape.

Plans for a Phase IV version for the XA model were abandoned following the “supercar scare” of 1972, with fears the Phase IV and Holden’s V8-engined LJ Torana would be too dangerous on Australian roads, only adding to the mystique of the Phase III. Fifty years on, the Phase III remains a cult classic.

It kicked off the Group C era as a legendary Bathurst special and is now a million-dollar classic.

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FEBRUARY 2022

FROM THE ARCHIVES

THE FIRST OVERSEAS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND

History was made 20 years ago with the first Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars round held outside of Australia at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand, with the local heroes putting on a show.

T

he Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC)/ Supercars has ventured outside of Australia on 28 occasions across five countries – New Zealand, Bahrain, China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America. Those international endeavours started 20 years ago with the first championship event held in New Zealand in 2001.

It wasn’t the first time Australian touring cars had raced in New Zealand. Australian entrants were regulars in the Pukekohe 500 and Wellington 500 events between 1984 and 1996. The final event at Wellington in 1996 was coupled with an ATCC non-championship event at Pukekohe, but it would be five years before New Zealand’s inclusion into the championship.

The historic round, named

the Boost Mobile V8 International, occurred on November 9 to 11; the penultimate round of the 2001 season following on from the Bathurst 1000, where Mark Skaife all but sealed the title with victory in the Great Race.

The 30-car field for Pukekohe included seven New Zealand-born drivers – John Faulkner, Angus Fogg, Greg Murphy, Paul Radisich, Jason Richards, Steven Richards and Simon Wills, with Fogg and Jason Richards in the two Team Kiwi Racing entries.

Murphy set the tone for the weekend with pole position as the only driver to lap in the 56-second bracket in both the qualifying and Shootout sessions. Skaife was right behind in another Holden VX Commodore, while rookie Marcos Ambrose continued to impress with third in his Ford AU Falcon.

The first championship race

in what’s known as “the land of the long white cloud” was stopped short due to rain, with Murphy winning with a nine-second margin over Ambrose and Skaife securing his fourth title in third place.

Another starring performance came from Jason Richards, who finished in fourth in the Team Kiwi Racing entry to add to the celebrations for the locals.

Skaife pressed Murphy in the second race but couldn’t overcome the Kiwi, with Ambrose yet again in the top three.

Murphy completed the clean sweep in the third race with another comfortable margin, this time with Jason Bright overcoming teammate Skaife in the battle for second place.

It was the start of a dominant run for Murphy at Pukekohe. He backed up his 2001 success with further round wins in 2002 and 2003,

winning three of the six races.

After missing out on a win in 2004, he fought back with another clean sweep in 2005 to confirm his status as the ‘King of Pukekohe’ and a local legend.

“To have a round at home and have that success was very special,” Murphy told Supercars.com.

“As far as the Pukekohe wins go, they for me rate right up there as the best things that ever happened in my Supercar career. It fell into place; I’d much prefer it was there than somewhere that didn’t have the same kind of affinity or same kind of meaning and feeling.

“I’m very fortunate to have that kind of thing happen, and I really relished the opportunity to be there and race, being a Kiwi in one of the, if not the, best touring car series in the world in an Australian domestic championship.”

Team Kiwi Racing’s Angus Fogg gets sideways in front of his home crowd at Pukekohe Park Raceway in 2001.

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SUPERCAR XTRA ISSUE 123

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