SupercarXtra Magazine Issue 129 Special Drivers Edition by Supercar Xtra Magazine

ertips..

our fing Breaking news at y Our valued Platinum Partners

C L A S S I C

Speedcafe.indd 1

Lloyds

C A R

A U C T I O N S

18/07/2023 9:39:56 AM

SPECIAL EDITION ISSUE #129 SUPERCARXTRA.COM.AU

6 THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS How a ‘Race of Champions’ grid would look. 14 THE KING OF THE HILL Shane van Gisbergen’s rise to the top. 18 THE FLYING KIWI Scott McLaughlin’s dominant run in 2019. 22 THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME The case for Jamie Whincup being the greatest. 28 LOWNDES’ GREATEST VICTORIES The greatest wins of Craig Lowndes’ career.

32 MR. HRT Mark Skaife’s rule with the Holden Racing Team. 36 GENTLEMAN JIM Jim Richards and his career peak with Nissan. 38 TRUE BLUE BATTLER Dick Johnson’s successes with Ford. 42 PREPARATION & PERSEVERANCE Larry Perkins’ endurance mastery. 48 BROCK’S BEST The wins, cars, numbers and more of Peter Brock.

52 BLUE BLOODED Allan Moffat in his own words. 56 MR. VERSATILITY Colin Bond looks back on his versatile career. 60 STORMIN’ NORMAN The first star of touring cars, Norm Beechey. 64 CHAMPIONS & RECORDS The honour roll, champions and records. .

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p03 Contents.indd 3

15/06/2023 9:34:51 AM

Publisher’s Note

WORKING TOGETHER TO A BETTER COMMON GOAL

Speedcafe and SupercarXtra join forces

elcome to SupercarXtra’s champion drivers’ edition. We hope you enjoy the features in the following pages, which are SupercarXtra’s stories on some of the best drivers ever to race in Supercars and the Australian Touring Car Championship. Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the “Powered by Speedcafe” logo on the front cover of this issue. From this edition, SupercarXtra has joined forces with Speedcafe. com to create a new joint venture. The new arrangement will allow readers to subscribe to their favourite quarterly magazine directly from the most widely read motorsport

website in the nation. The partnership will also mean that SupercarXtra will have access to a much larger pool of writers and photographers, meaning a better publication for its loyal readers. It’s good news as well for our valued advertisers and commercial partners, who will now enjoy a larger reach. There will also be a number of other new and exciting initiatives that will be unveiled in the near future. Rest assured that your favourite magazine will continue to be full of entertaining articles and awesome photography from the past and the present. We also plan to continue our extremely popular Bathurst book series. “I’m really quite excited

by this joint venture,” said SupercarXtra publisher, Allan Edwards. “This will give us the reach to grow the publication which in turn will avail us with the resources to take the magazine to the next level. “I’d really like to thank the owners of Speedcafe.com – who clearly believe that print publications are still an important part of the overall media landscape – for their belief in, and support of, the SupercarXtra product. “As we head towards our quarter of a century anniversary, our small but loyal SupercarXtra team can’t wait to start working with the crew at Speedcafe.com to make this publication even better than it has been over the past 23 years.”

/SupercarXtra @SupercarXtra @SupercarXtra

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 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 Matt Rice Mobile: 0404 672 196 EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES Phone: (03) 9372 9125 office@supercarxtra.com.au ACCOUNTS Bookkeeper: 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.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p04 Publishers note.indd 4

18/07/2023 9:48:19 AM

CHAMPIONS IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Peter Norton, Justin Deeley, James Baker

In total, 25 drivers have won the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars championship between 1960 and today. We put these drivers together on a grid to see how this dream ‘Race of Champions’ would look. With drivers with the most titles higher up the grid, we’ve also picked the most dominant championship-winning cars for the multi-time champions.

James Courtney

25 DAVID MCKAY

1960 • DAVID MCKAY • JAGUAR MARK 1 3.4

McKay won the first Australian Touring Car Championship in a Jaguar Mark 1 3.4 at Gnoo Blas near Orange, New South Wales, in 1960. The motoring journalist enjoyed a distinguished racing career, highlighted by the championship win.

24 BILL PITT

1961 • MRS DI ANDERSON • JAGUAR MARK 1 3.4

Pitt became the second championship winner in a Jaguar Mark 1 3.4 at Lowood, Queensland, in 1961. Pitt had an extensive career racing Jaguars, finishing second in 1960 by six seconds before victory in 1961.

23 ROBBIE FRANCEVIC

1986 • VOLVO DEALER TEAM • VOLVO 240T

Francevic became the oldest winner of the Australian Touring Car Championship at 44 years of age when he won the title in the Volvo 240T in 1986. The New Zealander overcame internal team squabbles to give Volvo its maiden championship win.

22 JAMES COURTNEY

2010 • DICK JOHNSON RACING • FORD FG FALCON

Courtney scored his first and so far only championship win following a sensational title race in 2010. In a Triple Eight-built Ford FG Falcon, Courtney overcame the ownership instability at Dick Johnson Racing to win the title in a dramatic finale in Sydney. 6

Robbie Francevic

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p06-12 Super Grid.indd 6

15/06/2023 9:36:47 AM

Mark Winterbottom

Rick Kelly

21 RICK KELLY

19 MARK WINTERBOTTOM

2006 • HSV DEALER TEAM • HOLDEN VZ COMMODORE

2015 • PRODRIVE RACING AUSTRALIA • FORD FG X FALCON

20 RUSSELL INGALL

18 GARTH TANDER

Kelly won the title following a controversial collision at the season finale at Phillip Island, but it was a consistent campaign for the HSV Dealer Team that put him in that winning position.

2005 • STONE BROTHERS RACING • FORD BA FALCON

After four runners-up finishes, Ingall won his only championship in 2005. ‘The Enforcer’ curtailed his aggressive driving style to collect points and win the championship through consistency.

Winterbottom claimed a long-awaited title for Prodrive Racing Australia with the new Ford FG X Falcon in 2015. With nine wins across the season, Winterbottom won the championship with a race to spare.

2007 • HSV DEALER TEAM • HOLDEN VE COMMODORE

Tander was a contender throughout his career, though it all came together for his only championship win in 2007, winning 15 races throughout the season.

Russell Ingall

Garth Tander Mark Winterbottom SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p06-12 Super Grid.indd 7

15/06/2023 9:38:14 AM

CHAMPIONS

Colin Bond

17 COLIN BOND

1975 • HOLDEN DEALER TEAM • HOLDEN LH TORANA SLR5000 L34

The versatile Bond scored his only championship win for the Holden Dealer Team in 1975 (pictured carrying the #1 in the championship-winning car in 1976), winning three rounds for a comfortable points margin.

16 BOB MORRIS

1979 • RON HODGSON MOTORS • HOLDEN LX TORANA SS 5000 A9X

Morris produced a win for the underdogs in 1979, defeating the factory-backed Peter Brock to the title in the championship decider at Adelaide International Raceway. With four round wins to Brock’s three, Morris was a worthy champion.

15 JOHN BOWE

1995 • DICK JOHNSON RACING • FORD EF FALCON

After playing second fiddle to teammate Dick Johnnson with the Sierras in the Group A years, Bowe emerged as Dick Johnson Racing’s lead driver into the V8 era and won his only title in 1995.

14 NORM BEECHEY

John Bowe

1970 • SHELL RACING TEAM • HOLDEN HT MONARO GTS350

Beechey became the first driver to win a championship for Ford and Holden in 1970. His championship win in the Holden HT Monaro GTS350 in 1970 marked the first title win for an Australian-made car, claiming three wins from seven rounds.

Bob Morris

Norm Beechey

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p06-12 Super Grid.indd 8

15/06/2023 9:38:33 AM

13 MARCOS AMBROSE

2004 • STONE BROTHERS RACING • FORD BA FALCON

Ambrose became a Ford hero when he ended the Holden Racing Team’s run of championships with a victory for Stone Brothers Racing in the new Ford BA Falcon in 2003. He defended the crown with an even more convincing result in 2004, winning 11 of 26 races.

12 GLENN SETON

1993 • GLENN SETON RACING • FORD EB FALCON

Seton won two championships for his own Ford team in 1993 and 1997. The 1993 season saw a dominant performance from the team, winning six of nine rounds with four of those for Seton.

11 SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN

Glenn Seton

10 SHANE VAN GISBERGEN

2019 • DJR TEAM PENSKE • FORD MUSTANG

McLaughlin just missed out on the championship win in 2017, making amends in 2018 to give the Ford Falcon its 17th and final championship win. He rewrote the record books on his way to his second title with the Ford Mustang in 2019, making it three in a row in 2020 before leaving for IndyCars.

Scott McLaughlin

2022 • TRIPLE EIGHT RACE ENGINEERING • HOLDEN ZB COMMODORE

Van Gisbergen confirmed his promise by winning the championship in his first season with Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016. He rose back to the top in 2021, backing that up with a crushing run in 2022 that set a new benchmark in terms of dominant seasons.

Shane van Gisbergen

Marcos Ambrose

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p06-12 Super Grid.indd 9

15/06/2023 9:38:52 AM

CHAMPIONS

Peter Brock

9 PETER BROCK

1978 • HOLDEN DEALER TEAM • HOLDEN LX TORANA A9X

Brock won his three championships for the Holden Dealer Team in 1974, 1978 and 1980. While he dominated the 1974 championship using the Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 and LH Torana SL/R 5000, he won three from eight rounds to win the 1978 title with the LX Torana A9X. Bob Jane

8 CRAIG LOWNDES

1996 • HOLDEN RACING TEAM • HOLDEN VR COMMODORE

Lowndes’ championship win in his rookie season remains one of the most impressive campaigns in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars, winning a then record 16 races from 30. The Holden Racing Team driver in the VR Commodore was unstoppable, ushering in a new era for the sport.

7 BOB JANE

1971 • BOB JANE RACING TEAM • CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL-1

Jane won two titles in Jaguars in single-race deciders in 1962 and 1963, though the car of his that really captured the public’s imagination was the Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 with which he won back-to-back titles in 1971 and 1972. The 1971 version of the Camaro featured a seven-litre 427 V8 engine, before rule changes the following year forced a reduction to a 5.7-litre 350 V8 engine.

Craig Lowndes

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p06-12 Super Grid.indd 10

15/06/2023 9:39:09 AM

Jim Richards

6 JIM RICHARDS

1985 • JPS TEAM BMW • BMW 635 CSI

Richards was the master of Group A, winning four championships across a seven-year period for both BMW and Nissan. His most dominant win came in the BMW 635 CSi in 1985, winning seven of 10 rounds, including six in a row.

5 ALLAN MOFFAT

1977 • ALLAN MOFFAT RACING • FORD XB FALCON GT/XC GS500

Moffat became Ford’s leading entry in the formative years of Group C, winning three titles for the Blue Oval between 1973 and 1977.

Ian Geoghegan

He dominated the 1977 season along with teammate Colin Bond in the XB Falcon GT and then the slightly updated XC GS500. Moffat won seven of 11 rounds for an equal record 72.73 per cent winning season, finishing comfortably ahead of Bond.

4 IAN GEOGHEGAN

1969 • TOTAL TEAM • FORD MUSTANG

Geoghegan won his first championship in a Ford Cortina in 1964, but he’s best remembered for his run of four consecutive titles with the Ford Mustang from 1966 to 1969. The Mustang evolved and improved across that period, with the win in 1969 the first under the multi-round format.

Allan Moffat

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p06-12 Super Grid.indd 11

18/07/2023 10:55:00 AM

Dick Johnson

3 DICK JOHNSON

2 MARK SKAIFE

1981 • DICK JOHNSON RACING • FORD XD FALCON

Johnson won five championships for Ford, three in Falcons and two in Sierras. The most dominant and memorable of the lot was 1981 in the XD Falcon, in which Johnson won eight races for an equal record 72.73 per cent winning season and overcame the challenge of Holden rival Peter Brock. Mark Skaife

2002 • HOLDEN RACING TEAM • HOLDEN VX COMMODORE

Skaife had already won two championships for Gibson Motorsport before the start of his dominant run with the Holden Racing Team, in which time he won three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002. The 2001 and 2002 seasons saw Skaife conquer all in his VX Commodore, winning 15 races in 2002 for a winning percentage of more than 50 per cent.

1 JAMIE WHINCUP

2008 • TRIPLE EIGHT RACE ENGINEERING • FORD BF FALCON

Whincup became the undisputed best in Supercars with his run of seven championships between 2008 and 2017. The first championship win in 2008 was a clinic, winning 15 races for an equal second most in championship history. Despite missing an entire round in New Zealand following a qualifying crash, Whincup still won his first title by a big margin. Jamie Whincup

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p06-12 Super Grid.indd 12

15/06/2023 9:39:44 AM

100 YEARS AND GOING STRONG Our Deflecting Beam Torque Wrench range

In the world of hand tools and machinery, torque is a critical aspect of ensuring that work is done safely and efficiently. This is why for more than 100 years, Warren and Brown have been leading the charge when it comes to adjusting and gauging torque, providing innovative and high-quality tools to professionals in a variety of industries.

TORQUE SETTING EQUIPMENT

HAND TOOLS & ACCESSORIES

SOLDERING EQUIPMENT

WORKSHOP GARAGE & SERVICE EQUIPMENT

WHEEL TORQUE SETTING EQUIPMENT

CYLINDER HEAD RECONDITIONING EQUIPMENT

wbtools.com.au @warrenandbrowntools

Warren and Brown.indd 1

10/07/2023 10:29:55 AM

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN

IMAGES Supercars, Peter Norton

THE KING OF THE HILL

Shane van Gisbergen rewrote the record books on his way to his third Supercars championship win in 2022. His achievements in Supercars and across other motorsport categories and disciplines in recent years showcase one of the most naturally-gifted drivers at the peak of his powers.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p14-17 SVG feature.indd 14

SUPERCAR XTRA

14 10/07/2023 2:10:40 PM

Van Gisbergen gave Holden and the Commodore their final Supercars championship and Bathurst wins in 2022.

hane van Gisbergen’s 2022 Supercars season alone is one for the record books: a third Supercars championship win, second Bathurst 1000 victory and the most race wins in a single season. But it’s his achievements in other categories and disciplines on top of his Supercars results that makes his run of form even more incredible. Outside of Supercars in 2022, van Gisbergen finished on the podium in the Bathurst 12 Hour; scored race wins in the GT World Challenge Australia; claimed fifth in class on debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans; took a podium in the Australian Rally Championship; and ninth place overall and third in class in his World Rally Championship debut in Rally New Zealand. The Auckland-born racer’s resume now includes success in Supercars, NASCAR, sportscars, rallying and open-wheelers. But it’s in Supercars where he is the clear leader of the pack, finishing in the top 10 in the championship standings in each season since 2010, across three teams and two manufacturers, with top-three finishes in the last five seasons, with two Bathurst 1000 wins and three championship wins from his seven seasons with Triple Eight Race Engineering. After impressing in his native New Zealand with a Formula Ford championship win and top-three finishes in the Formula First championship and Toyota Racing Series, an 18-year-old van Gisbergen headed across the Tasman to be thrown in the deep-end with his Supercars championship debut with Team Kiwi Racing at Oran Park Raceway midway through the 2007 season. He turned heads with the 15th fastest time amongst a 31-car field in the opening practice session. And after

a respectable 20th place from 29th on the grid in the opening race, wet weather for the second race allowed his natural talent to shine. Van Gisbergen charged through the field in the treacherous conditions, finishing in 13th place with the fifth fastest lap of the race. A 12th place on the bruising streets of the Gold Coast, one of seven top-15 finishes from his 17 races in 2007, confirmed his potential. A move to the former championship-winning team Stone Brothers Racing in 2008 saw him score his first podium finish in Supercars and become a regular in the front half of the field, though the team run by brothers Ross and Jim Stone was far from its peak. After a podium-less season in 2009, van Gisbergen’s breakout season was in 2010. He scored nine podiums for sixth in the championship, establishing himself as the team leader within the Ford outfit. His first race win came on home soil at the Hamilton street circuit in 2011, in a season in which he improved to fourth place in the championship. But what seemed like a perfect fit with fellow New Zealanders, the Stone brothers, disintegrated over the course of 2012. Van Gisbergen walked away from the team and looked set to take time out from Supercars, with the team on the brink of morphing into Erebus Motorsport for 2013. After a contentious split from the team and talk of retirement, van Gisbergen resurfaced at Tekno Autosports in 2013, moving into a Holden Commodore for the first time. A win in the season-opening Adelaide 500 set the tone for his three-year stint with Tekno Autosports. Running a customer Triple Eight Race Engineering car, van Gisbergen ended his first season with the team with another win in Sydney with fifth in the championship. SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p14-17 SVG feature.indd 15

27/07/2023 9:55:02 AM

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN

VAN GISBERGEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP TREND-LINE 1st 6

10th

2012

2013

1 4

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

12 15

20th

30th

40th 43

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2014

2015

2016

2017

 Team Kiwi Racing  Stone Brothers Racing  Tekno Autosports  Triple Eight Race Engineering The sight of the yellow and black VIP Petfoodsbacked VF Commodore running at the front of the field became a regular occurrence in 2014, with van Gisbergen climbing to second in the championship with five wins. However, heartbreak at Bathurst with late pitstop drama costing him and team owner Jonathon Webb victory marred an otherwise strong season. Van Gisbergen dropped to fourth in the championship in 2015, though collected another two wins on the Gold Coast and Sydney, confirming his reputation as a street-circuit master. The latter win in Sydney was in his final appearance for the team, with a move to Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016. Moving into the factory-backed Holden team pitted van Gisbergen into direct competition with multiple champions Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes. But it was no concern for van Gisbergen with eight wins across the 2016 campaign and a run of 10 consecutive podiums to end the season, including a long-awaited first top-three finish at Bathurst, giving him the championship title in his first time out with the team. He was unable to defend the title in 2017 with Whincup prevailing over Scott McLaughlin in a tense finale in Newcastle. Consistency was the key in Whincup’s victory, with van Gisbergen scoring one more race win than his teammate but behind in points. In 2018 and 2019, van Gisbergen and McLaughlin went head-to-head in an all-New Zealand fight for the championship. McLaughlin prevailed in both seasons, though van Gisbergen was the only driver who could push his countryman in the title race, racking up more wins as Holden’s leading driver. In the COVID-interrupted 2020 season, a retirement in the season opener in Adelaide put van 16

Van Gisbergen’s 2022 championship was never in doubt with a record-breaking run of race wins.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p14-17 SVG feature.indd 16

10/07/2023 2:11:16 PM

Gisbergen on the back foot. While McLaughlin raced to his third championship, van Gisbergen finally claimed victory in the Bathurst 1000 alongside Garth Tander. After more than a decade in Supercars, he joined the select few who could lay claim to a championship and Bathurst win. With McLaughlin heading to IndyCar in 2021, van Gisbergen stepped into his own as the dominator of Supercars. He started the 2021 season with six wins in a row, building a championship buffer that proved insurmountable for his second title. With 14 wins from 31 races, it was his most complete season yet. However, even better was in store for 2022. A crushing display in 2022 saw van Gisbergen break McLaughlin’s record for most wins in a season, surpassing the mark of 18 with four races still to go. Van Gisbergen won a race at each event except for Darwin. There was an emotional win on home soil at the final Supercars round at Pukekohe Park Raceway, after a three-year absence from racing in New Zealand. Also, a second Bathurst 1000 triumph, once again with Tander, for a near-perfect season. The natural talent that was evident in his debut in 2007 has been harnessed with experience and the support of the leading team in Supercars. At present, it’s hard to see how the van GisbergenTriple Eight combination can be stopped, though the move to the Gen3 rules and the Chevrolet Camaro presented a new challenge in 2023. At 34 years of age, it seems likely van Gisbergen will follow in the footsteps of McLaughlin and make

a full-time move into another category outside of Australia after a sensational win on debut in the NASCAR Cup Series on the streets of Chicago – the first rookie winner in the category in 60 years. After dominating Supercars in recent seasons, the NASCAR win put van Gisbergen in the international spotlight. With three championship wins and two Bathurst 1000 titles, van Gisbergen has done it all in Supercars. How he balances his other racing activities with his Supercars dominance will be fascinating to watch.

After 10 years racing a Holden Commodore Supercar, van Gisbergen moved into the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro in 2023.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN’S RACING RESUME 2005/06 2011 2013 2015 2016 2016 2016 2020 2021 2021 2022 2022 2022 2022 2023

New Zealand Formula Ford Championship winner Supercars Championship race winner New Zealand V8 SuperTourer race winner 24 Hours of Daytona class podium Bathurst 12 Hour winner Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup winner Supercars Championship title winner Bathurst 1000 winner Bathurst 6 Hour winner Supercars Championship title winner 24 Hours of Le Mans class top five World Rally Championship points finisher Bathurst 1000 winner Supercars Championship title winner NASCAR Cup Series race winner SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p14-17 SVG feature.indd 17

10/07/2023 2:11:33 PM

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN

THE FLYING KIWI IMAGES Supercars, DJR Team Penske, Peter Norton

After a heartbreaking championship loss in 2017, Scott McLaughlin bounced back with a run of three championship wins between 2018 and 2020. Of those titles, the 2019 was the most dominant. This is the story of that campaign.

t 26 years of age, Scott McLaughlin hit the peak of his powers in 2019. The New Zealander seemed destined for Supercars stardom, from making his debut in the Dunlop Super2 Series as a baby-faced 16-year-old in 2010 to winning races in his first full-time season in the Supercars main game in 2013 to finishing in the top 10 of the championship in each of his full-time seasons, having won races across two teams, four different cars and three manufacturers. The move to DJR Team Penske in 2017 and the partnership with engineer Ludo Lacroix elevated him to the next level, leading to the record-breaking run of 2019 that saw him win a second consecutive championship and the Bathurst 1000 for the first time. This is the story of his season, the key players and the factors in his success. 18

THE TEAM

McLaughlin’s second title marked the first consecutive championship defeat for Triple Eight Race Engineering since the start of its dominant run in 2008. The rise of DJR Team Penske is incredible when put in the context of the near demise of Dick Johnson Racing in the 2012-2013 off-season. While many point to the arrival of Team Penske as majority owners in 2014 as the salvation for Dick Johnson’s team, it was in fact the work of Ryan Story which saved the team and had it in a position where it was a worthwhile investment for the likes of Team Penske. DJR Team Penske had been on the rise ever since, despite scaling back to one car for its first season in 2015 and the initial setback of Marcos Ambrose stepping down after just two rounds. What followed was a concerted rebuild to inject new life into what had become of Dick Johnson Racing, with steady gains

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p18-21 McLaughlin feature.indd 18

15/06/2023 9:46:49 AM

races. After all these ups and downs we’ve had over the years and now to be running at the front is a real bonus. Unless you’ve had the lows, you don’t know what the highs are, do you?”

THE HIGHS

McLaughlin scored victory in the Bathurst 1000 in 2019.

through the second half of 2015 and in 2016, following the expansion back up to two cars. The game-changing recruitment of engineering and design guru Lacroix from Triple Eight Race Engineering and McLaughlin from Garry Rogers Motorsport into 2017 were the final ingredients needed to become an elite team. The return of Shell as title sponsor, to a team it had enjoyed so much success with over the decades, added not only commercial stability but helped allay fears the Team Penske takeover would diminish the Dick Johnson Racing legacy. The Lacroix-McLaughlin combination nearly won a title in its first attempt, losing the championship following a last-lap tangle in the final race of the season in Newcastle in 2017. But the heartbreak galvanised the team, just as it had done for Dick Johnson when he recovered from crashing out of the lead at Bathurst in 1980 with the championship-Bathurst double in 1981. The 2018 championship win marked not only confirmation of DJR Team Penske’s rise to the top but also a fitting farewell for the Falcon. It was the 17th and final championship win for the Falcon courtesy of the iconic #17 entry. Team Penske’s connections in North America paved the way for Ford to return to Supercars with the Mustang in 2019. With DJR Team Penske made the homologation team for the Mustang, it could tap into Lacroix’s design genius and the relationship with Ford Performance to build a rocket-ship. From near-collapse seven years ago to the powerhouse team in Supercars, DJR Team Penske was reaping the rewards of its rebuild. It was quite a journey for the man who started it all, Dick Johnson. “We’ve had times when it’s been difficult both mentally and financially, but you’ve just got to work through these things and the right people seem to turn up at the right time,” he said. “It’s great to be in a position where we’re winning

McLaughlin’s dream season began with an event sweep in Adelaide, the perfect debut for the Mustang. With six wins from six race starts, after not starting Race 5 (see ‘The Lows’), the record of most wins in a season appeared in sight. Winning six in a row across Barbagallo, Winton, Hidden Valley and Townsville not only cemented his championship lead but also put him on the brink of the record previously held by Craig Lowndes with 16 wins in 1996. McLaughlin broke the record at the Auckland SuperSprint in September, with four events still to spare. Fittingly, he claimed the record on home soil at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand, the circuit where he scored his first race win in his rookie season in 2013. “I wanted so badly to do this on New Zealand soil,” he reflected. “I’m a lucky guy driving a cool car and am just a proud New Zealander trying to do my thing.” The Bathurst win that followed was significant in itself: the first for McLaughlin and Alexandre Prémat; the first for the Mustang in the history of the event; and the first for Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske in 25 years. The championship win that followed at Sandown made him the first driver since Jamie Whincup in 2012 to achieve the Bathurst-championship double. Remarkably, McLaughlin won a race at each of the first 12 events of the season, with that run coming to an end on the Gold Coast in October. “We’re in a period of greatness, and I think we should stop and respect just how good this young bloke is,” said former Supercars team owner/driver turned commentator Mark Larkham. “He’s not just getting the driving bit right, he’s getting the car set-up right, the strategy stuff right, and he’s getting the starts right. “Well done, Scott McLaughlin, you’re a class act.”

THE RECORDS

McLaughlin features prominently in the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars record books. Prior to 2019, he already held the record for the youngest winner of a race (at 19 years of age in 2013), youngest polesitter (at 20 years of age in 2014) and most pole positions in a season (16 in 2017). In 2019, he achieved the following records and milestones: Most race wins in a season, breaking the record of 16 held by Lowndes in 1996. Taking Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske to the top of the list of most drivers’ championship wins with nine, one ahead of Triple Eight Race Engineering. First driver to win the championship in a Ford Mustang in 50 years, since Ian Geoghegan in 1969. SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p18-21 McLaughlin feature.indd 19

15/06/2023 9:47:10 AM

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN

First driver along with Prémat to win the Bathurst 500/1000 in a Ford Mustang. First driver to win the Darwin Triple Crown (winning both races and topping the Shootout). Second longest run of consecutive race wins with seven, one shy of Lowndes with eight in 1996. The 10th driver to win consecutive championships, along with Geoghegan, Bob Jane, Allan Moffat, Johnson, Jim Richards, Lowndes, Mark Skaife, Marcos Ambrose and Jamie Whincup. Moving into the top 10 of most race wins in the history of the championship. Moving into second place on most pole positions in championship history, behind Whincup. Though some of those records have been matched or beaten since, McLaughlin’s achievements will stand the test of time.

THE LOWS

After four wins from the opening four races of the 2019 season, McLaughlin’s winning run came to an end following a bizarre collision with Cameron Waters on the out-lap of Race 5 at the Melbourne 400. With the Mustangs suffering extensive damage, both McLaughlin and Waters were out of the race. The Mustang was repaired in time for Race 6, in which McLaughlin made amends and returned to the top step of the podium. The first official defeat came in Race 8 at the Tasmania SuperSprint with an understated fourth place, in

the same race that Shane van Gisbergen handed the Mustang its first loss. Following the run of nine podiums and seven wins across Phillip Island, Barbagallo, Winton, Hidden Valley and Townsville, an opening-lap clash with David Reynolds in Race 18 in Townsville left McLaughlin with a puncture and 11th place, sparking a war of words between the two drivers. Throughout McLaughlin’s record-breaking run there was angst from the competition regarding the speed of the Mustang, particularly following Supercars’ ongoing parity adjustments throughout the season. “Whatever you do, there’s always going to be someone kicking you down… it’s the tall poppy thing,” he said. “You’ve just got to push on as a team, work hard with what you’ve got. There’s always going to be negative somewhere. “That’s what builds the passion in the sport. That’s why it’s great that the Holden fans might boo me or boo our team, because that means we’ve got good support from the whole series. And one day, those Holden guys will come back, and it’ll be awesome. Whether you’re getting cheered or booed, it’s a good thing because the sport’s popular. “Obviously the team is copping a fair spray thinking we have an advantage or whatever. People don’t believe that we can be good as a squad.” But no one could deny the speed of McLaughlin, irrespective of any potential Mustang advantage. He well and truly outpaced his teammate Fabian Coulthard throughout the season, while also enjoying a

The highlight of the 2019 season, winning the Bathurst 1000 with Dick Johnson (left) and Roger Penske (right) in attendance.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p18-21 McLaughlin feature.indd 20

15/06/2023 9:47:34 AM

MCLAUGHLIN ’S CHAMPIONSHIP TRENDLINE

1st

2018

2019

2020

10th

20th

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

 Garry Rogers Motorsport  DJR Team Penske

MCLAUGHLIN’S UPWARDS TREND

YEAR

POSITION

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

10th 5th 8th 3rd 2nd 1st 1st 1st

TEAM

Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers Motorsport DJR Team Penske DJR Team Penske DJR Team Penske DJR Team Penske

CAR

Holden VF Commodore Volvo Polestar S60 Volvo Polestar S60 Volvo Polestar S60 Ford FG X Falcon Ford FG X Falcon Ford Mustang Ford Mustang McLaughlin scored 18 wins in 2019, a then record for most wins in a season.

significant gap over the Tickford Racing Mustangs, driven by four race-winning drivers. The angst reached fever pitch post-Bathurst, when McLaughlin and Prémat’s win was overshadowed by the team orders given to Coulthard and Tony D’Alberto to slow the pack under a late safety car. Despite the penalty of a $250,000 fine, the loss of 300 teams’ championship points and the relegation of Coulthard and D’Alberto to last place, some rivals insisted McLaughlin and Prémat should’ve been stripped of the win. Then, a technical infringement led to a $30,000 fine, the loss of the Bathurst pole position and a grid penalty at Sandown. “I believe we won it fair and square... it just sucks we have to deal with all this stuff,” he said. “I’m proud of what we’ve done as a team. There’s always conjecture, and basically I think the majority of the people are upset about our year. And they have been from the start when we started winning. “We push on as a team. I’m proud of what we’ve done. I’m proud of winning Bathurst and I’m proud of winning the championship. “Off-track it’s been political. We’re just going to have to push on and fight them off, because I think we’ve fought off a lot this year. And I think we’ve done a good job to stay together as a team.” The high of the Bathurst win was soon followed by the low of the huge qualifying crash at the Gold Coast 600, which ruled he and Prémat out of Race 27 and destroyed chassis DJRTP 06, the only Mustang to start the season that hadn’t been upgraded from a previousspec Falcon FG X, forcing DJR Team Penske into a newcar build for Sandown. For a season of such frequent highs, there were some hefty on and off track lows.

THE FUTURE

“I’M A LUCKY GUY DRIVING A COOL CAR AND AM JUST A PROUD NEW ZEALANDER TRYING TO DO MY THING.” – SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN

McLaughlin scored his third championship win in a row in 2020, winning 13 races in a COVID-interrupted season. McLaughlin had once again gotten the better of Triple Eight duo van Gisbergen and Whincup. With championship and Bathurst success, McLaughlin headed to the IndyCar Series with Team Penske in 2021. After claiming Rookie of the Year honours in the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series, McLaughlin scored his first race win in the category at the 2022 season opener. In many ways McLaughlin’s career path mirrors that of Ambrose. Both became Ford heroes with a run of championship success, defeating the then dominant Holden teams in the process. And after claiming consecutive titles, they both ventured to North America. Ambrose made a brief return to Supercars in the formative stages of the Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske union. It remains to be seen whether McLaughlin will return having established himself in North America. Even if he doesn’t, McLaughlin’s Supercars results put him amongst the all-time greats of Australian touring cars. SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p18-21 McLaughlin feature.indd 21

15/06/2023 9:47:53 AM

JAMIE WHINCUP

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p22-26 Whincup feature.indd 22

15/06/2023 9:54:46 AM

IMAGES Supercars, Justin Deeley, Paul Nathan

Jamie Whincup retired from full-time driving to take on the role of team principal at Triple Eight Race Engineering at the end of 2021. It marked the end of an era in Supercars, with Whincup the undisputed greatest driver in the current era of the category and, as we consider, arguably the greatest of all time.

hen 23-year-old Jamie Whincup joined Triple Eight Race Engineering for the 2006 Supercars season, no one could’ve predicted the success and domination that would follow. Whincup was hired by Triple Eight as number two and co-driver to Craig Lowndes. While Lowndes had already won three championships and came close to another in 2005, Whincup bounced back from a disappointing rookie season that had seen him fired by Garry Rogers Motorsport at the end of 2003, a solid endurance campaign with Perkins Engineering in 2004 and a career-changing season with Tasman Motorsport in 2005. In his first year with Triple Eight, Whincup won the season-opening event in Adelaide and teamed with Lowndes to claim victory at Bathurst. Whincup’s 10th in the championship standings wasn’t a true indication of his season, having missed two races as a result of accident damage in Tasmania. But by 2007, he gained the ascendancy within the team and began a championship-contending charge that would see him rewrite the record books. After sixteen seasons with Triple Eight, Whincup ended his full-time career with the following records:

- The most Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars drivers’ titles. - The equal most consecutive Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars drivers’ titles. - The most Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars race wins. - The most Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars pole positions. - The most Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars podiums. - The most Bathurst 1000 wins for a current fulltime driver. - The most Bathurst 1000 podiums for a current full-time driver. - The equal most consecutive Bathurst 500/1000 wins. Whincup took his first championship win in 2008 and backed it up in 2009. After a narrow defeat in 2010, he fought back with four in a row between 2011 and 2014. Then, just as it seemed a new generation had taken over at the top, he won a seventh title in 2017. He also scored five Sandown 500 wins, four Bathurst 1000 wins and two Enduro Cup wins. Between 2007 and 2021, he finished inside the top five in the championship in each season and only outside the top three on two occasions. SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p22-26 Whincup feature.indd 23

15/06/2023 9:55:09 AM

JAMIE WHINCUP

Whincup’s championshipwinning run started in 2008, the first of his seven titles with Triple Eight Race Engineering.

He has won races in each of his 16 seasons with Triple Eight and podiums in the last 17 seasons. While he did all his winning with Triple Eight, his championship run has spanned two manufacturers (Ford and Holden) and four models (BF Falcon, FG Falcon, VE Commodore and VF Commodore), from the Project Blueprint cars into Car of the Future and Gen2. Between 2008 and 2014, Whincup won over 30 percent of the races in each of those seasons and over 40 percent in 2008, 2009 and 2012. In his non-championship winning seasons between 2008 and 2017, he won 34.6 percent of the races in 2010, 22.2 percent in 2015 and 24.1 percent in 2016. What’s remarkable about Whincup’s run is how close he came to eight consecutive championships between 2007 and 2014, with only a 67-point swing across two seasons needed to add to his tally. In 2007, his first season as a championship contender, he missed the title by two points to the HSV Dealer Team’s Garth Tander. Whincup lost a third place following a disqualification at Eastern Creek midway through the season, with those lost points ultimately costing him the championship. The team had incorrectly used a previous-spec rear brake, which was in the spares box to use at a

post-event ride day. In 2010, the season in which Triple Eight switched from Ford Falcons to Holden Commodores, Whincup lost the title to Dick Johnson Racing’s James Courtney by 65 points. Whincup won nine races compared to Courtney’s five, but unreliability in the change of manufacturers proved the decisive factor with engine troubles at Queensland Raceway and Phillip Island. It meant his championship-winning run would only have ended in 2015, a season in which the new FG X Falcon outpaced the VF Commodore and a puncture at Sandown and a penalty at Bathurst took Whincup out of the title race. Just when it seemed his run of championships had come to an end, with new teammate Shane van Gisbergen winning the title in 2016, Whincup prevailed in a tight championship race in 2017. Despite only four wins over the course of the season, his lowest since 2006, consistency was again the key to his success with 15 podiums despite only two pole positions – one of 14 consecutive seasons with more than 12 podiums. His seventh title demonstrated his ability to compete against a new generation, particularly van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin; only adding to his greatest of all-time case.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p22-26 Whincup feature.indd 24

15/06/2023 9:55:37 AM

WHINCUP’S TRIPLE EIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TREND-LINE 1st

5th

10th

1 3

3 4

15th

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

 Ford BA Falcon  Ford BF Falcon  Ford FG Falcon  Holden VE Commodore  Holden VF Commodore  Holden ZB Commodore The main argument against Whincup is the fact he did all his winning with Triple Eight, having joined the team just as it had grown into a genuine contender. But while Lowndes came close to the titles in 2005 and 2006, it was Whincup who scored Triple Eight’s breakthrough championship win in 2008 and established it as the team to beat. The best drivers inevitably find themselves in the best teams and do the majority of their winning in the best cars. A look through the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars highlights this. Ian Geoghegan and Bob Jane became the dominant forces with the strength of their imported cars in the Improved Production era; Allan Moffat and Peter Brock’s fortunes were often dependant

on the level of manufacturer support their teams received in Group C; Jim Richards and Dick Johnson had car advantages for most of their titles in Group A; and Mark Skaife, Lowndes and Whincup headed the field in dominant runs for their teams. Rarely have multiple championship-winning drivers won their titles with different teams. Geoghegan, Johnson, Jane, Moffat, Brock, Lowndes, McLaughlin, van Gisbergen, Norm Beechey, Glenn Seton and Marcos Ambrose all won their titles with the same team, with Richards and Skaife the only drivers to have won titles with two teams. Therefore, the best gauge of a driver is against his teammate. And, within Triple Eight, Whincup has always had formidable competition with

A familiar sight in the 2010s: Whincup celebrating on the podium with the #1 on his car.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p22-26 Whincup feature.indd 25

15/06/2023 9:56:18 AM

JAMIE WHINCUP

Whincup’s win in Tasmania in 2021 made it 16 consecutive seasons that he won a race in Supercars.

Lowndes and van Gisbergen his only two teammates over the last 16 years; two of the most naturally talented drivers of the modern era and amongst the greats themselves. Whincup prevailed over Lowndes in each season between 2007 and 2014, only coming second best in their spell as teammates in 2015. While van Gisbergen had the edge over Whincup in recent seasons, with the latter approaching his retirement decision, Whincup still got the better of van Gisbergen in the 2017 championship. Whincup’s 2005 season is a telling non-Triple Eight gauge of his talent. After an endurance codriving stint with Perkins Engineering, Whincup joined Tasman Motorsport as teammate to the highly-touted Jason Richards. Despite Richards having competed in three more seasons than Whincup, including the season before with Tasman Motorsport, Whincup finished a place ahead of Richards in the championship standings. Whincup also finished ahead of Richards in 15 of the 28 single-driver races, despite Richards holding sway in qualifying, with the teammates joining forces for the endurance events at Sandown and Bathurst and finishing in third and second respectively. The round at the Shanghai International Circuit, Supercars’ only visit to China, proved indicative of

Whincup’s ability. At a new circuit for all drivers, Whincup outpaced the qualifying specialist Richards, while also setting a faster time than reigning champion Ambrose. Whincup claimed top 10 finishes across the three races in China, climbing to fourth place in the final race of the event. Whincup’s performances across the season led to Triple Eight signing him for 2006. While some will argue Whincup’s Bathurst 1000 record counts against him, without a win in the Great Race since 2012 and not on the podium since 2013 as a result of costly infringements and mistakes, he has been a regular contender at the Mount Panorama Circuit and is still amongst the most successful active drivers in the history of the event. Whincup has notched up record-breaking numbers in one of the most competitive eras of Australian touring cars, depriving a generation of drivers more success. He raised the level for what’s expected of a driver, with his hard work, dedication and application. McLaughlin, who followed his path to win consecutive championships, freely admits that Whincup made him a better driver. Whether Whincup’s records will ever be beaten remains to be seen. If they stand the test of time, then his case for the greatest of all time will be further solidified.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p22-26 Whincup feature.indd 26

15/06/2023 10:00:42 AM

ORDER NOW! THE LEGEND OF BATHURST The Story of Australia’s Iconic Motor Race

$85 +p&h

ORDER ONLINE WWW.SUPERCARXTRA.COM.AU Bathurst Book 22.indd 1

18/07/2023 9:47:47 AM

CRAIG LOWNDES IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Justin Deeley, James Baker, Peter Norton

LOWNDES’ GREATEST VICTORIES

In a career that's included 300-plus rounds, Craig Lowndes became the face of Supercars. From his sudden rise as a rookie champion in 1996 to his wildcard starts today, these are his most memorable wins from his total of 110 victories.

1996

EASTERN CREEK

Lowndes had already stunned the establishment with his starring debut at Mount Panorama in 1994. Then he took the championship by storm in 1996. In the first round of the season at the short Eastern Creek layout, Lowndes harried John Bowe in the first race before getting the jump and scoring his first win in the second race. He backed that up with his second win under lights in the final race for a sensational round victory. He would go on to sweep the year with the championship plus Sandown and Bathurst victories.

1998

SANDOWN

Following his domination of the 1996 season, Lowndes ventured to Europe to compete in Formula 3000. After a character-building season, he returned home and claimed victory in the 1997 Sandown 500 with Greg Murphy in preparation for a full-time return from 1998. He then picked up exactly where he left off, claiming two of three races at the seasonopening Sandown round in an emphatic return to the championship.

1998

ORAN PARK

Lowndes wrapped up his first championship in 1996 with a round to spare. In 1998 he headed into the final round of the season at Oran Park with an in-form Russell Ingall just six points behind. Both had debuted their new VT Commodores the round before at Hidden Valley, but Ingall won the round while Lowndes’ car suffered a series of mechanical failures. Lowndes, however, lifted for the finale, claiming pole position and racing away to sweep the round with comfortable victories in all three races.

1999

ADELAIDE

Perhaps the most convincing of all of Lowndes’ wins was at the first Adelaide 500 round on the punishing street circuit. Lowndes won the first 250km leg despite a stop-go penalty for contact with privateer Danny Osborne. He was sent to the back of the grid for the second leg, only to work his way through the field without the aid of a safety-car intervention. While the heat and demands of the circuit took its toll on his rivals, Lowndes kept his cool for an incredible come-from-behind win. 28

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p28-31 Lowndes Greatest.indd 28

15/06/2023 10:01:52 AM

2001

ADELAIDE

Lowndes shocked many when he departed HRT to cross the manufacturer divide in a striking silver and black Gibson Motorsport Ford AU Falcon. After finishing second in the opening round at Phillip Island, he headed to Adelaide and from eighth on the grid avoided the carnage around him for his first win in a Ford and 50th all-time race win. A collision with Mark Skaife in the second race would rob him of another round win in Adelaide.

2001

SANDOWN

Wet weather is a great equaliser in motorsport and that proved to be the case at the 2001 season finale at Sandown, where torrential rain allowed Lowndes to overcome the deficiencies of his AU Falcon. The race started under the safety car and Lowndes, from third on the grid, overcame the challenge of fellow AU runner and rookie sensation Marcos Ambrose to score what would be his second and final win for Gibson Motorsport.

2003

PHILLIP ISLAND

Lowndes’ spell with Ford Performance Racing was characterised by frustration as the new factory Ford outfit struggled with reliability. So while Stone Brothers Racing and Marcos Ambrose took the BA Falcon to the title, Lowndes battled away for minor placings. Nevertheless, at the second round at Phillip Island, he fought through from sixth on the grid on a wet day to be leading when the race was red-flagged due to torrential conditions.

2005

EASTERN CREEK

Lowndes’ move to Triple Eight in 2005 revived a career that appeared to have stalled. The Roland Dane-led team was on the up and Lowndes’ arrival brought the team into contention. At the fourth round of the season at Eastern Creek, Lowndes beat Marcos Ambrose with a quicker pitstop for the team’s break-through win. Defeating the era’s dominant team in a straight head-to-head was a decisive moment in the team’s rise.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p28-31 Lowndes Greatest.indd 29

10/07/2023 2:05:50 PM

CRAIG LOWNDES

2005

SANDOWN

The momentum of that breakthrough win carried into the endurance events. Lowndes teamed with versatile Frenchman Yvan Muller for the long-distance races, with the duo putting in a virtuoso performance at Sandown to confirm their reputations as wet-weather masters. From second on the grid, Lowndes pulled away from the field in the opening stint, while Muller dealt with the changeable middle-stint conditions with ease. While a strategy gamble handed Mark Skaife the lead, Lowndes hunted him down on an increasingly wet track and passed with four laps remaining. It would be the first of many Triple Eight endurance triumphs. And, fittingly, future teammate Jamie Whincup joined them on the podium.

2006

MOUNT PANORAMA

The death of Peter Brock a month before set the tone for a sombre 2006 Bathurst 1000. Lowndes – as Brock’s protégé – was thrust into the spotlight and even took part in a pre-race parade of Brock’s cars. Without a win at Mount Panorama since 1996, Lowndes and new co-driver Jamie Whincup fought back from an early strategic error that sent them to the back of the pack. The duo worked their way into the lead, with Lowndes holding off Rick Kelly in an edge-of-your-seat finish. Fittingly, Lowndes and Whincup held aloft the first Peter Brock Trophy, with Lowndes unable to hold back the tears.

2007

MOUNT PANORAMA

Lowndes’ ability in damp conditions and love of Mount Panorama stood out in the closing stages of the 2007 Bathurst 1000. As rain increased, many struggled in the conditions and high-calibre drivers such as Mark Winterbottom, Jason Bright, Russell Ingall and Mark Skaife all fell victim. Lowndes battled away with Steven Johnson on slick tyres on the slippery track to claim a second consecutive Bathurst 1000 win with Whincup.

2010

MOUNT PANORAMA

New co-driver rules that forced full-time drivers to remain in their own cars for the endurance events separated Triple Eight’s dream team of Lowndes and Jamie Whincup. It recruited Lowndes’ former teammate Mark Skaife as his co-driver for 2010 and the duo won first up at Phillip Island. At Mount Panorama, Lowndes was again in top form with a record-breaking lap in practice (2:06.8012). In the race, Skaife was troubled by a back complaint and Lowndes would be forced to triple stint from lap 82 to lap 161 and fight back to regain lost track position. He just avoided the limit on driving time to lead home a Triple Eight one-two formation finish in the team’s first season with Holden.

2013 30

ADELAIDE

The 2013 season saw the introduction of the Car of the Future regulations, bringing new manufacturers into the series. Meanwhile, Holden introduced the VF Commodore and Triple Eight debuted with new title sponsor Red Bull. Showing his versatility as he approached his 40th birthday, Lowndes won the first race of this new era on the streets of Adelaide to go equal at top of the all-time wins’ list with 90 victories.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p28-31 Lowndes Greatest.indd 30

15/06/2023 10:05:13 AM

2013

BARBAGALLO

Lowndes didn’t have to wait long to surpass Mark Skaife’s record of most race wins. Three events later at his favourite Barbagallo Raceway hunting ground, he moved up from fourth on the grid to second in the first half of the 60/60km SuperSprint race. Then he got the jump over Jamie Whincup at the start and raced away for the record-breaking 91st win. Fittingly, Skaife was in parc ferme to welcome home and congratulate his former teammate.

2015

HIDDEN VALLEY

As Lowndes edged closer to the 100 mark, the pressure mounted. A double on the Saturday at Symmons Plains left him sitting nervously on 99, but he squandered the chance to notch up the century on Sunday with a clumsy dive bomb on David Reynolds off the start. Three events later at Hidden Valley, the seas parted for him when front-row starters Rick Kelly and Fabian Coulthard collided into turn one and he vaulted from fifth on the grid into a lead he would hold for the rest of the race. A relieved Lowndes finally claimed the century in, incredibly, the 888th championship race in the #888 car a day before his 41st birthday.

2015

MOUNT PANORAMA

Lowndes put in a vintage performance to secure his sixth Bathurst 1000 win in 2015. He and co-driver Steven Richards missed the Shootout and started down in 15th, though the veterans fought back in mixed conditions and took the lead with 40 laps to go. The win helped keep Lowndes in championship contention, though he would eventually lose out to Mark Winterbottom at the season finale in Sydney.

2016

BARBAGALLO

Lowndes and engineer Ludo Lacroix played the strategy game and won at Barbgallo Raceway in 2016. They decided on an extra pitstop for new tyres at a circuit notorious for high tyre degradation, dropping to 22nd but carving through the field in the final stint of the race. Lowndes even had time to pull out a five-second lead, despite a last-lap downpour.

2018

SYMMONS PLAINS

After a winless run dating back to Barbagallo Raceway in 2016, Lowndes responded to criticism over his form with a dominant display at Symmons Plains. The 44-year-old scored his first pole since August 2015 and converted it into his first win since May 2016. The double podium across the event came just weeks before he announced his retirement from full-time driving in Supercars.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p28-31 Lowndes Greatest.indd 31

15/06/2023 10:05:39 AM

MARK SKAIFE

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p32-35 HRT Skaife.indd 32

15/06/2023 10:07:14 AM

IMAGES Justin Deeley

MARK SKAIFE

In a career that included championship and Bathurst wins with Nissan and Holden, it was with the Holden Racing Team in the early 2000s that Mark Skaife hit the peak of his career.

hile Mark Skaife doesn’t use the word ‘blessed’, he will happily describe himself as fortunate. It’s not hard to understand why when you consider a career spanning nearly three decades has been spent with the three teams which dominated that timespan: Gibson Motorsport, the Holden Racing Team (HRT) and, in his latter years as a co-driver, Triple Eight. It’s HRT, though, that Skaife is synonymous with. As more than ‘just’ a star driver, he was part of the inner workings of the team and finds it easy to explain just why it was so dominant for so long. “Motorsport is such a complex sport with so many variables,” he said. “If you don’t have the structure right, the complete house in order, it just won’t work. We were very fortunate we had all of that in place and that’s what made it so successful.” At the base of that success, says Skaife, is what he calls a tripartite structure – Holden, Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) and HRT – three very powerful brands that were almost inextricably linked throughout the glory days of the team. “They were powerful properties by themselves but this triangle, this tripartite structure, made HRT very strong as the official factory team for Holden,” he said. “The racing link helped sell HSV cars and the connectivity of the three brands, from a promotion, sponsorship and funding standpoint, made it the number-one team in the country. Nothing outside of having the right people in the right house in the right community makes the right outcome. That’s the Triple Eight of today, that was Gibson Motorsport in the early nineties and that was HRT in the 2000s. “You cannot understate the importance of the right people and we had John Crennan to thank for that. John did a fantastic job with HRT/HSV; he basically put a big fence around the whole business and didn’t let anybody in. “That was a very powerful statement to the

motorsport industry and it was a very powerful statement back to Holden that anyone who was trying to milk more money out of the factory relationship was unable to do that. Based on that, he found good drivers and very clever and committed team personnel.” The names that, like Skaife, were synonymous with HRT are still highly respected: Jeff Grech, Rob Starr, Richard Hollway, Matt Crawford and Rick Wyatt, among many others. “They are guys who know their stuff, know the importance of attention to detail,” said Skaife. “When you have the right resources, from a funding standpoint, you are able to do things the right way. Not that John Crennan ever wasted money – in fact, he was very frugal. The economics of the business were very important to him so he did a very good job on keeping a tight rein on where money was spent. “Jeff [Grech] was also very good at determining the right thing to spend money on, in terms of stuff that made cars go very fast. It wasn’t lots of frills. It was all about having the right people with the right equipment and the right drivers to deliver the right result.” There were plenty of ‘right results’ along the way, but Skaife’s entry into the team had the potential to be a bit shaky. Joining the team in late 1997 to pair with Peter Brock for the enduros, he recalls some early trepidation on both sides, but it was not the ‘Brock factor’. “Pete was rapt that I was coming to drive with him,” he said. “He and John [Crennan] had agreed that Brock would retire at the end of that year, and they both wanted to finish 1997 off as well as possible, which meant Pete was 100 per cent endorsing me to drive with him at Sandown and Bathurst. “What was weird was that I had just finished a very long association with Gibson where I had a lot more to do with the business. A lot of the HRT team were guys who used to work for me and that part was quite difficult at the start because either they had left or I had asked them to leave. So you could say there were some concerns about me coming in.

Skaife was more than just a driver during his spell at HRT, forced into the role of team owner in his latter years at the team.

SKAIFEY! Scan to watch highlights of Mark Skaife’s V8 Supercars racing career, which includes his glory days with the Holden Racing Team.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p32-35 HRT Skaife.indd 33

15/06/2023 10:07:38 AM

MARK SKAIFE

ABOVE: Craig Lowndes and Skaife formed a formidable combination at HRT at the turn of the century. BELOW: Skaife in deep conversation with HRT team founder and owner Tom Walkinshaw.

“John was very strong, supporting me and making sure the atmosphere was as good as it could be. Then, fortunately, some things just work out in life. We put it on pole at Sandown and again at Bathurst, which sort of fixed everything in terms of how people felt about me coming in.” From there, aside from not winning Bathurst that year [they were leading when the engine stopped], Skaife said there were so many positives, including the level of support he received from Holden, HSV, Crennan and, yes, from Tom Walkinshaw during the TWR era, which he describes as amazing. And there were some memorable race results… “From last to first at Clipsal in 2000 and being able to win Bathurst and the championship on the same day and with Jim [Richards, 2002] are just two of so many races and events that are great memories,” he said. “The competition with Craig [Lowndes] was fan-

tastic and really intense. The ability of the team to keep on delivering two good cars for whoever I was working with, whether it be Craig or Jason Bright or Todd Kelly or Garth Tander. That level of performance from everyone meant that we had to have a very strong foundation, and we did.” From his days with Fred Gibson, Skaife has always loved the business side of the sport, as well as the competition, so he relished the opportunities John Crennan gave him, such as getting involved in HSV with engineering and test driving for the road-car business. “As time went by, I also formed a really strong bond with the engineering group at the race team,” he said. “That part of racing has always been something I’ve loved and worked very hard on, in terms of developing the car and continuing to want for the car to improve. My desire to be competitive meant I also had a strong desire to improve the car and work really well with those guys to do that, and being at HRT gave me an opportunity to do all of that at the highest level.” As to the lows, from a racing standpoint, there were also some moments: not being able to deliver a 10th win for Brock in 1997, so too was the 1998 race with Lowndes when they were leading the field until slowed by a puncture. Being black-flagged late in the 2003 race when the door came open was another, but one event is head and shoulders above the rest. “Race day at Bathurst in 2006 was probably the worst day of my racing life,” he said. “To go into the race as the shortest priced favourites of all time, to be on pole position and be out of the race within one kilometre was just extraordinary, especially given we had won the race the previous year. “It was a great example of how cruel the sport can be. When you have a situation where you win one

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p32-35 HRT Skaife.indd 34

10/07/2023 2:06:38 PM

S K AI F E ’ S H O LD E N R ACING TEA M TR END L INE

1st 5th

1 3

 CHAMPI ONS HI P  BATHURST 1 1

1 1

3 3

1 3 5

10th 12

15th

14 16

LEFT: Skaife’s HRT championship-Bathurst trend line shows the early period of dominance followed by the struggles of the latter years. BELOW: Skaife would claim three consecutive championships and three Bathurst wins for the factory Holden team.

20th

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

year and you go back odds-on favourite to win the next one and you’re out within that first kilometre… “We were using exactly the same type of clutch as the year before but it fails on the start line. What a mongrel game! There couldn’t be a better example of how motorsport unfolds. It was a shit of a day!” Asked if there is anything he wishes he could rewrite or do differently and that dreadful day in 2006 doesn’t get a mention – but the answer comes without pause, hot on the tail of the question. “In terms of ownership, the way Holden Motorsport was configured and the actual business structure that was promulgated out of me buying it,” he said. “In hindsight, it was a flawed structure that didn’t really allow the factory team to stay as factory team. It probably placed too much focus on the wrong areas

2003

2004

2005

DNF

2006

2007

2008

of the business and took some of the cohesive, really unified team spirit out of the place. Ultimately, that would be the biggest mistake in terms of the period I had with HRT.” Skaife knows well that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and so he has taken some positives from a negative experience. “There were aspects of that last part of my time there, trying to drive the car, operate the team, find the sponsors, negotiate with partners, the whole thing, that were some of the worst years of my life, but I’ve learned so much from that phase,” he said. “They are lifelong learnings. If I ever had my own team, or went into some other sort of business, they’re things you draw from. They make you understand what makes a place tick.”

“THE RACING LINK HELPED SELL HSV CARS AND THE CONNECTIVITY OF THE THREE BRANDS, FROM A PROMOTION, SPONSORSHIP AND FUNDING STANDPOINT, MADE IT THE NUMBER-ONE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY.”

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p32-35 HRT Skaife.indd 35

10/07/2023 2:12:48 PM

JIM RICHARDS

GENTLEMAN JIM IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Justin Deeley

The original Kiwi flyer won championships and Bathursts with Holden, BMW, Volvo and Nissan. But it was with the latter that Jim Richards hit the peak of his career with a championship and Bathurst double.

fter three Bathurst wins in a row as co-driver to Peter Brock at the Holden Dealer Team, it remained to be seen what Jim Richards could achieve on his own. What followed was one of the greatest careers in Australian motorsport, winning championships, races and more in a variety of cars and categories. Two championships followed with BMW in 1985 and 1987, though Bathurst success eluded the JPS Team BMW operation. With a move to Nissan, Richards returned to the top step at Mount Panorama. Between 1990 and 1992, the Fred Gibson-led Nissan team won three championships and two Bathurst 1000s, including two consecutive championship and Bathurst doubles in 1991 and 1992, the latter two alongside Mark Skaife. 36

“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,” said Richards on Bathurst in 1991 in the all-conquering Skyline R32 GT-R. “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 who could actually beat us.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p36-37 Richards.indd 36

15/06/2023 10:11:00 AM

“It wasn’t an easy car to drive because it was quite heavy. The four-wheel drive put a bit of feedback through the steering wheel and so you really had to hang onto 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.” The combination of Gibson, Richards, Skaife and the R32 GT-R was the ultimate dream team, so dominant it forced the end of the Group A rules. Richards was the perfect team leader, having already had championship and Bathurst success and with the skills on and off the track to get the most of the car and team. “We would all wait until the boys had finished working on the car and we’d all have a beer or a glass of wine at night,” he said. “Then we’d go home and sleep and get up in the morning. A lot of the other teams were just staying in motels and eating out and then going on the town. We didn’t do that, we stuck together for no other reason than it was just a great way of doing it. Fred put it all together and he was a brilliant team manager and team owner and we all got on fantastically well. “We never had a bad word between any of us, between Mark, Fred, any of the boys. We all knew that we had a job to do and we did it as good as we can. And we had a lot of fun too. “I’m not that sort to be emotional and that. We did what I thought we would do and that was a big responsibility. We had lots of beers, laughed, joked and carried on and went out for dinner just like we normally

JIM RICHARDS’ HONOUR ROLL

1978 Bathurst 1000 1979 Bathurst 1000 1980 Bathurst 1000 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship 1985 Sandown 500 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship 1989 Sandown 500 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship 1991 Australian Touring Car Championship 1991 Bathurst 1000 1992 Bathurst 1000 1998 Bathurst 1000 2002 Bathurst 1000

would. It was very important for Nissan because we ran the year before [1990 at Bathurst] in the GT-R and broke a diff carrier and didn’t finish.” Even after the end of the Nissan era, Richards kept winning in a variety of cars. He won the Super Touring Bathurst 1000 with Volvo in 1998, reunited with Skaife to claim another Bathurst win with Holden in 2002, and took countless victories in sportscars, rally, AUSCAR and more. He paved the way for the flying Kiwis that followed, such as Greg Murphy, Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen, with a career of such incredible successes. SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p36-37 Richards.indd 37

15/06/2023 10:11:32 AM

DICK JOHNSON

IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Justin Deeley

TRUE BLUE BATTLER

Dick Johnson’s career as a driver and owner is one of dizzying heights and agonising lows, with his tally of five Australian Touring Car Championship titles and three Bathurst 1000s the result of dedication, hard work and perseverance. 38

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p38-40 Johnson.indd 38

31/07/2023 10:05:17 AM

hen Dick Johnson hit a rock while leading in the early stages of the 1980 Bathurst 1000, it could well have been the end of the road for the Queenslander. The privateer had put it all on the line when he created his own Dick Johnson Racing entry following the demise of his former team, Bryan Byrt Racing. With his Ford XD Falcon damaged beyond repair after hitting the football-sized rock, it was the reaction of the public that got Johnson back on track. The public donation, matched by Ford, allowed Johnson to buy a new XD Falcon and make amends with victory at Bathurst the following year. “There’s a lot from 1980 that attributes to the win in 1981,” reflected Johnson. “We went to Bathurst in 1980 with a car that we built from a second-hand ex-police car and we had one race prior to that, which was at Amaroo. “Amaroo was a pretty good thing for us; we were leading most of the race until right near the end the back tyre wore out and I had a spin and ended up coming second. “We went to Bathurst and we were fairly confident the car was going to go well there because it had been a long time since a Ford had been up front, let alone leading the race. “Anyway we went there and pole position was worth 10 grand and second was worth nothing. “We missed pole position by about a tenth of a second or something to Kevin Bartlett. “Unlike today when you can run the cars flat out all day, you had to be a little conservative with these things because they weren’t as technologically advanced as what the cars are today. “We ran around there at a fairly hot sort of pace and pretty much broke the field up. We were then looking really comfortable, just cruising around, when I came around through The Cutting and saw the white flag out saying there’s a slow moving vehicle there. “That was in the days when they had tilt tray trucks picking up all the broken down and crashed cars. And I just rounded the corner and at the crest you can’t see much, but what I saw was the truck, and once I really got over the top of the hill I saw there was a rock in between the truck and the bank. “I really had nowhere to go, so I tried going up the bank and ended up hitting the rock. It was the best thing that happened. At the time, it was the worst thing, but it turned out to be the best thing. “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. “Seven’s switchboard was absolutely jam-packed with people ringing in to donate money to get us back 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 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, I’ll tell ya.” With a brand-new car, Johnson won the first of five Australian Touring Car Championships heading into his Bathurst redemption. “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,” he recalled. “It was a race around Lakeside and we were wheelto-wheel for the entire duration of the event. “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 (John French) Frenchy and myself, and the car was really strong leading the race quite easily. And it just so happened that we did everything right 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 highs and lows continued. Further championships with the Falcon followed in 1982 and 1984, SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p38-40 Johnson.indd 39

31/07/2023 10:05:18 AM

DICK JOHNSON

DICK JOHNSON HONOUR ROLL

1981 Australian Touring Car Championship 1981 Bathurst 1000 1982 Australian Touring Car Championship 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship 1989 Australian Touring Car Championship 1989 Bathurst 1000 1994 Sandown 500 1994 Bathurst 1000 1995 Sandown 500 40

though there was more heartbreak at Bathurst, most notably with his Shootout crash into the trees in 1983. The switch to the Group A regulations left Johnson with an uncompetitive Mustang, until the Sierra came onboard and Johnson became the dominant force in the late 1980s with championship wins in 1988 and 1989 and a crushing victory at Bathurst alongside John Bowe. “We led every single lap of the race, which was something that is pretty much unheard of these days,” said Johnson. “That was a real awesome motor car. We made all the right decisions at the right time and made the right calls as far as strategy goes and put the right tyres on etcetera, etcetera, and it just worked out very well for us. “Bowie and I just trucked around there and it was just a pleasure to drive. We’d been battling the car during practice earlier in the week and it was a bit of a dog to drive. “It wouldn’t respond to what we were trying to achieve and it was very nervous. And then we made one change to the rear of the car with the shock absorbers, and all of a sudden this car, without a doubt, was the nicest thing to drive and you could do anything with it. “When you get in a car that’s like that it’s just so easy to drive because you can drive it at 110 percent and it wouldn’t really matter because it’s not going to bite you. It was very predictable and it just did everything right.” Johnson and Bowe won again at Bathurst in 1994. With the change from Group A to the home-grown V8 formula, Johnson returned to the Falcon for the latter years of his career. “I think it would have had to have been one of the best cars I have driven around there,” said Johnson of the 1994 Bathurst-winning Falcon. “We were almost 30 metres from putting a lap on Brad Jones and Craig Lowndes before they had a safety car and caught back up. And bugger me dead, with about 12 laps to go Lowndes passes John Bowe and I got on the radio to John and I said, ‘You are kidding me, you’re not going to let some snotty-nosed kid beat you, for crying out loud!’ “That sort of hyped Bowie up a bit more and he put his head down and really dug deep and got back. Brad Jones was in the car when I was doing my stints and I didn’t have any trouble with Brad. “He was driving his backside off to try to nail me, but he couldn’t get near me and Bowie got in for the last stint against Craig and it was a bit of a nail-biter. And our car was really, really strong and it went to the end of the race and it was fantastic; it was a really good win.” From his first championship season in 1970 to his last in 1999, Johnson was always competitive. In his final season in 1999, at age 54, Johnson finished inside the top 10 in the championship and took fourth place in the Bathurst 1000. The true blue battler was a fighter to the end.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p38-40 Johnson.indd 40

15/06/2023 10:13:54 AM

A brandAnew brand service new to service buy or tosell buyyour or sell bikes, yourcars, bikes, cars, A brand new service to buy or sell your bikes, cars, car parts, carmemorabilia, parts, memorabilia, racing apparel, racing apparel, simulators, simulators, cartransporters parts, memorabilia, racing apparel, simulators, tools, tools, transporters and trailers. and trailers. tools, transporters and trailers.

LIST YOUR LISTITEM YOUR NOW ITEM NOW

LIST YOURFAST ITEM NOW IT’S IT’S FAST & FREE & FREE IT’S FAST & FREE

Visit Visit speedsales.com.au speedsales.com.au today today to buy to or buy sell oryour sell your Visit speedsales.com.au racecar. racecar. today to buy or sell your racecar. POWERED BY POWERED BY Speedsales.indd 1

17/07/2023 9:36:41 AM

LARRY PERKINS

IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Justin Deeley, Glenis Lindley

PREPARATION & PERSEVERANCE Larry Perkins won Bathurst three times as a co-driver alongside Peter Brock. But as a team owner he cemented his status as a Mount Panorama master with another three wins. 42

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p42-46 Perkins.indd 42

15/06/2023 10:14:44 AM

n 2013, for the first time since 1979, Larry Perkins wasn’t at the Bathurst 1000 as either a driver or team owner. Son Jack Perkins was on the grid with Garry Rogers Motorsport, but no Larry? It was a startling thought. There are others such as the late Peter Brock who have won more often at Bathurst, but surely not even Peter Perfect was a more popular winner than Perkins? Or more different; Brock the handsome, urbane, media star, Perkins craggy, bespectacled and with his drooping moustache. For a short and sharp five-year run, Perkins was not only a popular winner but a frequent one too. It was October 1993 that Perkins and the late great Gregg Hansford triumphed after a fantastic duel with Jim Richards and Mark Skaife to win the Bathurst 1000. Two years later Perkins and an expatriate openwheel racer by the name of Russell Ingall scored perhaps the greatest Bathurst win of them all, coming from last and a lap down. In 1997, Perkins and Ingall did it again, this time winning a race of attrition as the other top fancies wilted. As he stood on the podium soaking up the adulation that day, Perkins did so as a six-times Bathurst winner, having already claimed three victories in 1982-83-84 with Brock’s Holden Dealer Team. Those wins count, of course, and should not be underestimated because Perkins’ engineering, organisational and driving skills were pivotal. But we all know it’s those three Bathurst triumphs at the wheel

of his own Perkins Engineering-built Holden Commodores that Larry treasures most. He did it on his own terms and he did it best in Australia’s greatest race. “Starting my own business and winning Bathurst my own way was certainly a highlight,” he reflected. “I suppose the one thing underlining all my career was doing it myself.” Perkins never won Bathurst again – although he and Ingall finished second in 1998 and Ingall and Steven Richards second in 2002 – and by 2003 LP had called it quits after a Saturday practice crash and a struggle for Sunday pace that signalled that at 53 his time as a top-line racing driver was over. By 2008 he had withdrawn from the day-to-day running of a team in V8 Supercars by entering his business – including two Racing Entitlement Contracts (RECs) – into an engineering arrangement with Kelly Racing. By the end of 2012, with the Kellys about to turn their Holden privateer team into Nissan Motorsport and the Car of the Future arriving, Perkins sold them his RECs and bowed out of formal involvement in motorsport. Perkins raced here and overseas for 43 years, 26 of them under the banner of Perkins Engineering. From 1985 to 2012, Perkins Engineering built 49 V8 Supercars, 198 race engines, won those three Bathursts, three Sandown/Queensland 500s, took over 20 race wins and three pole positions. Through all that there’s no doubt that five-year period of Bathurst success was Larry and his team at SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p42-46 Perkins.indd 43

10/07/2023 2:07:13 PM

LARRY PERKINS

PERKINS THE F1 DRIVER Often overshadowed by his Bathurst achievements is the fact that Larry Perkins, before venturing into touring cars, was an accomplished openwheel racer who made it to Formula 1. After winning the Australian Formula Ford and F2 championships, Perkins ventured to Europe and won the European F3 championship in 1975. From 1974 to 1977, he grafted away in Formula 1, making 15 appearances for Amon, Ensign, Brabham, BRM and Surtees before deciding on a move back to Australia. Of the Australians who have competed in Formula 1, Perkins is only behind Sir Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo, Tim Schenken and David Brabham for most starts. Perkins also competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 1984 and 1988, the first time in a Team Australia Porsche 956 alongside Peter Brock. 44

Perkins with one of his fiercest rivals from the 1990s, Mark Skaife.

their finest at the track he loved most. It enabled him to show off not only his driving skills but the engineering brains that did as much to make him a legend of Australian touring car racing. In 1993 he won the race on the pace and fuel economy he managed to eke from the locally-built Holden five-litre V8, while his Holden rivals had swapped to the Chevrolet engine. In 1995 it was his own braking system designed inhouse and developed expressly for Bathurst so time wasn’t lost in the pits changing pads that helped him claw back that huge gap. Not all of his punts paid off of course. His 1996 decision to revert to a VP Commodore because the VR had been the subject of a late aerodynamic cut in this early parity-driven part of the V8 era, resulted in only a sixth-place finish. Nevertheless, it was a great example of the independent thinking that had always brought him to the fore at Bathurst. You could also add a forensic knowledge of the rulebook and pathological dislike of bureaucrats to the list of obvious Perkins traits. “I’m an engineer who drives,” he said. “The driving is easy, the engineering is much harder.” No doubt from Larry’s perspective he speaks the truth, for the driving did always come naturally to him from the early days on the family farm at Cowangie in Victoria’s dry and dusty Mallee, when dad Eddie (a Redex Around Australia Trial winner) dropped him in

the seat of a tractor and walked away. Then it was fighting with his three brothers to get behind the steering wheel of the legendary Ford Model A with Porsche wheels (a favourite LP story) and fixing it in between times, delivering an important grounding in practical mechanical understanding. Larry’s driving skills took him to Europe and all the way to Formula 1, but they were never better on show than at Mount Panorama. He qualified on provisional pole and took out the top 10 in 1993, then raced to victory in his final stint on slick tyres in wet-dry conditions. Rain-master Richards, in the Winfield Commodore, spun trying to keep up. Perkins also took provisional pole in 1995 and set the fastest race lap in 1997. That 1995 provisional pole was particularly instructive of Perkins’ competitive character and talent. Circulating in the Friday afternoon session having set fastest time on brand-new Dunlop tyres, he was radioed the news that Glenn Seton had just gone faster in the Peter Jackson Ford Falcon EF, setting a 2:11.87. So Larry went at it again. The result was a 2:11.57 and provisional pole on used tyres. “I’m a racer – I drive a racing car,” he said when quizzed at the time about why he went for it once more when already safely settled in the vital top 10. “I’m motivated by competition.” He was certainly never motivated by the glory or the trappings of motor racing. The Moorabbin Airport

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p42-46 Perkins.indd 44

10/07/2023 2:07:50 PM

workshop where Perkins Engineering was based throughout its halcyon days was a utilitarian place, housing the machinery necessary to do the work and a tin roof to keep the rain off. At Bathurst, Perkins was not one to care about the decorations that were starting to colour the pit boxes and garages of the leading teams. “We didn’t have palm trees in our workshop but we had bloody good brakes,” he said famously after the 1995 win. “This is superb. No-one can argue about this win in any way, we won it fair and square. “You don’t normally win Bathurst by giving the opposition a lap start.” The drama of 1995 was amazing. Luck, driving talent and engineering skill and preparation all played a role. The drama was set in play when Perkins – who ended up qualifying third – hit his left-front wheel on the exhaust pipe of pole qualifier Craig Lowndes’ factory Holden Racing Team Commodore and suffered a puncture, forcing him into the pits on lap two. “He’s a menace,” Perkins had raged later about Lowndes post-race. “This is the thing about the tag of ‘old drivers’, at least we know how to respect each other. You can’t go swapping from side to side at the start as if it’s a bloody sprint. He caught me by surprise, we were travelling close about a foot apart, and he’s bloody whanged it into me and broke me bloody wheel. He must realise it could have easily broken his wheel and that’s the stupidity of it.” Perkins dropped a lap down to the Skaife/Richards Winfield Commodore, which moved past initial leader Wayne Gardner’s Coke Commodore to dominate the first third of the race. A broken tail-shaft ended Skaife’s run – when he and Richo appeared to have a firm grasp on the race, displaying a better combination of fuel economy and performance than their rivals – and put the Castrol Commodore back on the lead lap as both Perkins and Ingall put in sizzling stints. “The advantage of having a first-lap screw-up you think really clear because you have no pressure on,” Perkins said. “There was only one thing to do – press on, just press on. I had to keep calling up the pits because I didn’t see a car for 30 laps, I needed to know how quickly the leaders were lapping and all that stuff. We ran conservatively for a while because I knew we weren’t going to change brake pads and I thought, ‘Let’s not screw them’. “Then when Russell did his excellent first stint I thought, ‘This is alright’, so I went as hard as I could in my second stint when Skaifey dropped out.” They weren’t the only rivals to fall by the wayside. Disastrously, the Lowndes/Greg Murphy and Brock/ Tomas Mezera HRT cars went out early with identical engine failures. Following the demise of the Winfield car, Seton and John Bowe battled for the lead until Seton hit

the Shell-FAI Falcon in the rear climbing up to the top of the mountain on lap 93. Bowe slewed right into the concrete wall, sustaining extensive front-end damage to the car. Although it was brought back to the pits and repaired, the Falcon was retired on lap 143 because of a bent flange drive sustained in the crash. The Gardner car then moved into the lead but codriver Neil Crompton ran off and flat-spotted a tyre, dropping them from the lead to fifth, giving Seton and co-driver David Parsons a solid lead. When a privateer Commodore – driven by David ‘Trucky’ Parsons – crashed heavily on Mountain Straight, the pace car was called out so the car could be removed, allowing the top five to close up and Perkins to erase the final deficit to the leaders. He was fourth when racing got underway again on lap 138, and immediately passed Seton’s teammate Alan Jones, and then got by Brad Jones in the second Coke Commodore a lap later.

“IT’S THOSE THREE BATHURST TRIUMPHS AT THE WHEEL OF HIS OWN PERKINS ENGINEERING-BUILT HOLDEN COMMODORES THAT LARRY TREASURES MOST. HE DID IT ON HIS OWN TERMS AND HE DID IT BEST IN AUSTRALIA’S GREATEST RACE.” The Perkins name lives on in racing with his son Jack (centre) a regular in Supercars.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p42-46 Perkins.indd 45

15/06/2023 10:15:58 AM

FIGHTBACK

Scan to watch Perkins’ comefrom-behind win at Bathurst 1995.

Perkins scored his sixth and final Bathurst win in 1997.

VITALSTATS Active years: 1979-2003 Bathurst starts:

Bathurst wins: 6 1982, 1983, 1984, 1993, 1995, 1997 Bathurst podiums: 12 Bathurst poles:

Bathurst Shootouts: 18 Teams: Cadbury Schweppes (1979), Peter Janson (19801981), Holden Dealer Team (1982-1984), Dick Johnson Racing (1985), Perkins Engineering (19861987), Holden Special Vehicles Racing (1988), Holden Racing Team (1989), Perkins Engineering (1990), Advantage Racing (1991), Perkins Engineering (19922003). 46

“I was boring it up it,” Perkins said. Crucially, the brakes had stood up to the punishment. But the car also had pace, clocking 289km/h down Conrod as the chase continued. In those days of open tyre warfare, Dunlop also had a sticky compound for him in the last stint. But Perkins could not close the gap to Seton to less than 4.5 secs, and had virtually conceded victory when with just 11 laps to go the Falcon’s engine developed a low end misfire, which rapidly became terminal engine failure. “I thought, ‘How good’s this?’. It’s nice to win no matter how you win the damn thing,” Perkins said. “Obviously, Glenn had a problem, I’ve got a bit of

sympathy for him, but not very much.” Merciless perhaps, but completely in character. As Perkins proved upon his own farewell from Mount Panorama in 2003. Despite his crash, which meant lead driver Steven Richards missed the Shootout, the duo still managed fourth in the race in a VY Commodore rebuilt overnight from the suspension mounts forward. “We had a really excellent chance of winning today but we needed two strong drivers,” Perkins said that evening as the sun fell on the day and his driving career. “I just didn’t feel comfortable in the car. I was not game to throw it around on its limit, it felt nervous to me and I wanted to give it back to Richo straight. But the times were too slow and you can’t have that luxury anymore of one good guy and one not-good guy.” Typically, though, Perkins fought all the way, twice building up a freight train behind him that produced some of the most exciting racing of the day as the likes of Ingall, Skaife, Marcos Ambrose and Todd Kelly tried to find a way around him. “We had a tremendously strong car, the best engine out there and it must have been frustrating for the queue behind me,” Perkins said. “I thought, ‘I’ve paid my dues if you’re good enough you can pass me’.” They did, but in typical Perkins style he gave no quarter and offered his best. And that is surely his Bathurst epitath.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p42-46 Perkins.indd 46

15/06/2023 10:16:22 AM

ORDER NOW! 2018, 2019, 2020 & 2021 BATHURST 1000 THE LEGEND OF AUSTRALIA’S ICONIC MOTOR RACE

The Legend of

The Story of Australia’s Iconic Motor Race

Proudly supported by

ORDER ONLINE WWW.SUPERCARXTRA.COM.AU Bathurst Book 18-21.indd 1

18/07/2023 9:46:22 AM

BROCK’S PETER BROCK

IMAGES Holden Motorsport, Peter Norton

Peter Brock is arguably the most famous Australian touring car racer - a Holden hero who conquered Mount Panorama a record nine times and enjoyed championship success in a long and storied career. These are his best wins, cars, co-drivers and more from his racing life.

NON-ATCC/BATHURST 500/1000 PERFORMANCES

BATHURST WINS

BATHURST NEAR MISSES

#5 1987

#5 1989

It may have come under controversial circumstances following the disqualification of the Eggenberger Sierras, but let’s not forget Brock’s driving in the wet against the best touring-car drivers in the world.

Pole in the turbocharged Ford Sierra RS500, though troubles with the right-rear wheel in the race robbed him of a potential Great Race win for the Blue Oval.

Brock drove an older model Torana to a podium finish in the touring-car race around the challenging Macau street circuit.

#4 1997

#4 1977 SPA 24 HOURS

#4 1975

Co-driver Mark Skaife landed pole and took an early lead, though an engine failure deprived Brock of the win following his final full-time season.

Driving for the Vauxhall dealer team, Brock and co-driver Gerry Marshall drove through the field from 28th on the grid to finish in second place in a Vauxhall Firenza Magnum.

Brock’s only Bathurst victory away from the Holden Dealer Team, winning by a two-lap margin over a number of fellow Torana runners.

#3 1984 The Holden Dealer Team steamrolled the opposition with a one-two formation finish in the iconic Holden VK Commodore.

#2 1972 The win that highlighted Brock’s potential, coming from fifth on the grid to overcome Allan Moffat with a starring solo drive at a very wet Mount Panorama.

#1 1979 Pole position, led every lap, fastest lap on the final lap of the race, won by six laps. The most dominant performance in Mount Panorama history. 48

#3 1985 Brock dragged his Group A-spec VK Commodore into second place in the closing stages before a timing chain failure late on.

#2 1973 The Holden Dealer Team stretched its fuel economy too far and co-driver Doug Chivas had to push an out-of-fuel Torana into the pits. Three minutes were lost in the process.

#1 1974 Brock looked on course for a comfortable win after scoring pole position and holding a six-lap lead before a holed piston ended his charge.

#5 1971 GUIA RACE OF MACAU

#3 1986 EUROPEAN TOURING CARS Up against the best international touringcar drivers of the era, Brock scored a pair of fifth places at Donington Park and Hockenheim in the European championship.

#2 2003 BATHURST 24 HOUR Teamed with Greg Murphy, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly, Brock won his unofficial 10th Bathurst endurance race in the Holden Monaro 427C.

#1 1979 ROUND AUSTRALIA TRIAL Brock and co-drivers Matt Philip and Noel Richards won the 20,000km rally, giving the Commodore its first major motorsport win.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p48-51 Brock Top 5.indd 48

15/06/2023 10:21:03 AM

HOLDENS

1978 and his crushing win at Mount Panorama in 1979.

It may have struggled in the championship sprint races, but Brock wrestled the VL in the wet around Mount Panorama to victory in 1987.

The Group C-spec VK may have had a short lifespan but the iconic dayglo-liveried ‘big banger’ became an instant cult classic with dominant wins at Sandown and Bathurst.

#5 HOLDEN VL COMMODORE SS

#4 HOLDEN VH COMMODORE SS Brock took the VH SS to consecutive Bathurst wins in 1982 and 1983, cementing the Commodore’s dominance at Mount Panorama.

#3 HOLDEN LJ TORANA GTR XU-1 An important car in Brock’s career, in which he scored his first Bathurst and championship wins in 1972 and 1974 respectively.

#2 HOLDEN LX TORANA SS A9X The most successful Torana for Brock given his championship success in

#1 HOLDEN VK COMMODORE

NON-HOLDENS #5 VOLVO 850

Brock spent a season racing the Volvo 850 in the 1996 Super Touring championship, scoring two podiums and sixth in the championship.

#4 PORSCHE 956B

Brock competed in the famed Le Mans 24 Hour three times in his career, most notably in 1984 alongside Larry Perkins in the Porsche 956B, qualifying in 15th

and running as high as fifth before an accident stopped their charge.

#3 FORD SIERRA RS500 The Sierra RS500 was the car to have in the late eighties and Brock made the switch to Ford for 1989 and 1990, winning two races across both seasons and claiming pole at Bathurst in 1989.

#2 ‘BROCK 01’ Brock’s homemade creation was born out of a stripped down Austin 7, in which the teenager would drive around the family’s Hurstbridge property.

#1 AUSTIN A30 Brock’s first circuit racer was a 1959 A30 powered by a six-cylinder engine, in which he won a number of events and continued to race even after his debut for the Holden Dealer Team.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p48-51 Brock Top 5.indd 49

15/06/2023 10:21:25 AM

PETER BROCK

TEAMMATES

#5 JIM RICHARDS

They achieved their best results as co-drivers not teammates but they did work together in the 1988 season in a pair of BMW M3s, recording top-six finishes in the standings.

#4 GREG MURPHY

RIVALS

#5 KEVIN BARTLETT

Bartlett and his Chevrolet Camaro Z28 proved a nemesis to Brock across the championship and Bathurst from 1980 to 1982, scoring a runners-up finish to Brock in the 1980 title battle.

#4 ALLAN GRICE Grice’s privateer Holden entry often proved a nuisance to Brock and the Holden Dealer Team at Mount Panorama, particularly in 1986 when Grice prevailed for the win.

#3 BOB MORRIS A privateer Holden rival who pushed Brock all the way in the 1978 and 1979 championship battles, winning in the latter.

#2 DICK JOHNSON

Johnson took over where Allan Moffat left off, carrying the Ford fight against Brock and Holden into the 1980s with their battle for the 1981 title the best of the lot.

After his season mentoring Craig Lowndes, Brock welcomed young New Zealander Greg Murphy into the Holden Racing Team for the former’s final championship season in 1997. Murphy scored three round wins to Brock’s one.

#3 TOMAS MEZERA

Mezera played an important role as driver/ manager in the Holden Racing Team’s early years, including a stint as Brock’s teammate for two seasons.

#2 CRAIG LOWNDES

#1 ALLAN MOFFAT

The son of former HDT mechanic Frank Lowndes came under the tutelage of Brock in a championship, Sandown and Bathurst-winning season in 1996.

Moffat and Brock’s battles at Bathurst did more for the Ford and Holden rivalry than any other drivers. They won eight of the Bathurst 500/1000s held in the 1970s, fittingly four each.

Teammates for a decade from 1978 to 1987, Harvey played the role of dutiful number two, with Brock winning Bathurst in Harvey’s car in 1983.

#1 JOHN HARVEY

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p48-51 Brock Top 5.indd 50

15/06/2023 10:21:52 AM

PETER BROCK

BY THE NUMBERS NINE Record for Bathurst 500/1000 wins

32 Bathurst 500/1000 starts 12 Bathurst 500/1000 podiums 24 Equal record for Bathurst 500/1000 finishes THREE Equal record for Bathurst 1000 wins in succession SIX Record for Bathurst 500/1000 pole positions THREE equal record for consecutive Bathurst 500/1000 poles 17 Bathurst 1000 shootout appearances

CO-DRIVERS #5 PHIL BROCK

The brothers teamed up under the Team Brock/Bill Patterson Racing banner and scored a third in 1976 and fourth in 1977.

#4 DOUG CHIVAS Chivas may be renowned for having to push the out-of-fuel Torana in 1973, but they nevertheless recovered to second place.

#3 BRIAN SAMPSON Brock and Sampson should have won at

Mount Panorama in 1974, though they made amends the following year with victory in the Gown-Hindhaugh entry.

#2 LARRY PERKINS

Perkins took over where Jim Richards left off, not only scoring a hat-trick of Bathurst wins from 1982 to 1984 but playing an important role in developing the Holden Dealer Team’s Commodores.

#1 JIM RICHARDS

The original dream team, a combination that became the first to score a hat-trick of Bathurst wins from 1978 to 1980.

TWO Equal record of wins from pole position at Bathurst 500/1000 SIX LAPS Record for biggest winning margin at Bathurst 500/1000 SIX Record for most fastest laps in the Bathurst 500/1000 THREE Australian Touring Car Championship titles FIVE Australian Touring Car Championship runners-up finishes 212 ATCC/V8 Supercars round starts 37 ATCC/V8 Supercars round wins 48 ATCC/V8 Supercars race wins 57 ATCC/V8 Supercars pole positions 100 ATCC/V8 Supercars podiums 13 Record for successive ATCC pole positions, 1979-1980 52 YEARS OF AGE Record for oldest polesitter in the ATCC/VASC 22 ATCC wins from pole position NINE Sandown 250/400/500 wins SEVEN Record for Sandown wins in succession, 1975-1981 NINE Record for most pole positions at Sandown THREE Record for most wins from pole position at Sandown 11 Record for most podiums at Sandown #05 Famed racing number, promoting Victoria’s blood-alcohol limit 1980 Awarded Member of the Order of Australia for service to the sport of motor racing 2001 Inducted into Supercars Hall of Fame SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p48-51 Brock Top 5.indd 51

15/06/2023 10:22:15 AM

ALLAN MOFFAT

IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Tickford

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p52-54 Moffat feature.indd 52

BLUE BLOODED 31/07/2023 10:06:05 AM

orn in Saskatchewan, Canada, Allan Moffat arrived in Australia as a 17-year-old student and would emerge as one of the first stars of the growing Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and Bathurst 500-mile endurance event.

On his first visit to Bathurst.

After choosing Australia over America, having raced in both countries, Moffat worked his way from running a privateer Lotus Cortina in the ATCC to a factory Ford seat. He made his Bathurst debut in 1969 in a Ford Falcon XW GTHO that he and co-driver Alan Hamilton took to fourth place. “The Ford team leaders took me up on the Friday to show me the circuit. They stopped at Skyline and in those days there was no concrete barrier along the left, so it was an interesting view,” he said. “I made the comment, ‘Nice view… look, you can see the pits from here.’ They were chatting amongst themselves and I told them, ‘Well, we better get going, we don’t have all day to get to the circuit.’ The instant response was, ‘You are on the circuit!’ And I can tell you, that was the only time I looked left at Skyline in my whole career!”

On his time with Ford.

Allan Moffat became a Bathurst legend with back-to-back solo wins in 1970 and 1971 and backed it up by leading home Ford’s iconic one-two formation finish in 1977. This is his story in his own words.

Moffat became Ford’s leading light in the ATCC and at Bathurst, winning three championships (1973, 1976 and 1977) and four wins at the Great Race (1970, 1971, 1973 and 1977), the first two on his own during the race’s 500-mile era. “The first year I went to Bathurst as a Ford driver was in 1969, when the GTHOs were born and Ford took three cars to Bathurst. I was the lead driver in the third car,” he said. “That year was my introduction to the race and I quickly realised that I wanted to spend most my career committed to doing well at Bathurst. “In 1970 the race organisers changed the regulations making it non-mandatory to have a co-driver, which allowed me to drive solo. My first win on the mountain. I was in the car for six hours and 45 minutes, so I can assure you it was a special feeling. And the only thing that could top that experience was to win it again in 1971 with the GTHO Phase III. “Being one to look forward, I don’t dwell on the history of the cars too much. Though I regret not holding on to them! The purchase price in 1969 was $4500. There was one sold not that long go for $1,350,000.”

On his one-two formation finish at Bathurt.

Moffat steamrolled the opposition in 1977, firstly to his third championship then to his fourth and final Bathurst win, a crushing one-two formation finish alongside co-driver Jacky Ickx and with teammate Colin Bond just behind. “Would you believe me if I told you I only drove about 12 laps towards the end there with the brake pedal on the floor?” he said. SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p52-54 Moffat feature.indd 53

31/07/2023 10:06:05 AM

ALLAN MOFFAT

‘Gentleman, I just want to bring it to your attention the tremendous race we’ve just had. Allan’s pulled it off; we’ve got something for him.’ Then Brian hands me an envelope. “As he’s handed me the envelope, as I’ve seen it coming across, I’ve already decided, ‘Whatever you do, don’t open that envelope.’ That’s how fast it happened and I took it and put it in my pocket. Well, I got down into that carpark, ripped it open and – you’ve got to bear in mind that we were working in hundreds of thousands of dollars to achieve what we did with the two cars – how much would you expect to be in it? Would you expect a bit of a pat on the back? It was $1000. I just thought, ‘If this is what we’re up against...’”

On his stint with Mazda.

“(It happened) when I went across the top of the hill, across McPhillamy. The moment I went down through the Dipper the pedal went down to the floor. I thought, ‘Shit! I’ve got to turn left at the end of this corner!’ I was ready to throw it into first gear, I can assure you of that! “I was conscious of the one-two aspect even before I had no brakes, we were so far ahead of everyone else. I was already slowing down and trying to close the gap. At one stage I had a full lap ahead of him (Bond). I wanted him up with me so we could get the one-two finish. “So he was second in command. He was there and as long as I was in front and keeping going, I wasn’t getting on the phone going, ‘By the way, mate, I haven’t got any brakes so, you know, you better come up and catch me.’ It was really only with about four laps to go that he got up to me. “We get up to that last little bridge. I’m already in first gear because I didn’t need to bother with the brake pedal; I didn’t have one! And Colin’s come down here like this, and I’m here and he’s there, and we’re trying to go around the bend. “I remember saying to myself, ‘I’m sending you a telepathic message, back off, we’re going around the corner together!’ and, well, he did back off and we came around the corner like that. “By the time we got to the last straight we were already like that [places one hand slightly in front of the other] and Colin never went to pass and that’s how we finished. And to this day the photographs show the number one of my car and the number two of his, the best bloody form finish of all time! “Colin was never anything other than pleasant about it. I was in charge of the team and he was very gracious about it. He’d got more money that year than he’d ever seen in his life! “The race finished on the Sunday and on the Wednesday I was having lunch with Ford’s head man, Sir Brian Ingliss, and his top brass. We’re all eating and all of sudden there’s a glass being tapped, 54

After Ford pulled its support, Moffat made the move to campaign a rotary-engined Mazda RX-7 in 1981, going on to win his fourth championship in 1983 and registering three podium finishes at Bathurst. “Within days of learning there was no more Ford support, I received a call from Mazda Australia asking if I was interested in racing an RX-7 with a rotary engine,” he said. “Other drivers treated the car with contempt but that changed when we started winning. To win the championship in 1983 was extremely personally important, just as a Bathurst win was, and something I strove hard for. The Mazda dealers were extremely happy and told me I saved them thousands in advertising dollars that they would have otherwise had to spend on promoting the RX-7.”

On his rival, co-driver and friend Peter Brock.

In 1986 Moffat joined former rival Brock in the Holden Dealer Team’s new Holden Commodore VK Group A SS. The duo won the Wellington 500 on debut as a pairing, tackling Europe in the FIA Touring Car Championship and the Spa 24 Hours. At Bathurst Moffat crashed heavily at the top of the Mountain, forcing the entry out of the Hardies Heroes Top 10 Shootout, but recovered to take fifth in the race following oil cooler issues. “He might have been my nemesis to others but to me he was a very valiant and, in many ways, a courteous competitor,” he said. “He never had the slightest bad thing to say about me and vice versa.In 20 years we had just a couple of minor scraps that were easily wiped off with a quick polish. “In 1986 he asked me to join his team, but I would only take up the offer if he wasn’t dropping John Harvey in the process of taking me on. He promised me, Al – he was the only one to call me Al – John would run the second car and I would drive with Peter. We went to the Wellington 500 in February 1986 and promptly won the race. I got out of the car at the end of the race and said, ‘Too bad we waited 20 years to get this act together!’”

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p52-54 Moffat feature.indd 54

15/06/2023 10:26:04 AM

Adelaide Grand Prix. 1985-1995

I en ::::, a: Ix ii:

�

� C

� w C <( ....... C

� � a. X ii:

<( a: (!j w C

� w C <(

Celebrating Adelaide's glorious grand prix years and its lasting legacy. AdelaideG Prix.com 0 /AdelaideGP 0 @Adelaide GP 0 @AdelaideGPrix

Adelaide GP.indd 1

10/07/2023 10:37:51 AM

COLIN BOND

MR VERSATILITY IMAGES Autopics.com.au

Colin Bond was the ‘Mr Versatility’ of Australian motorsport, winning major touring car and rally titles in a career that spanned four decades. We sat done with Bond to reflect on an incredible career, from hillclimbs and rallying into touring cars.

n transitioning from hillclimbs and rallying into touring cars. “My hillclimb car was basically a proper race car, which we hill-climbed and raced as well, plus the rally side of things. But it wasn’t until 1969 that we had a competitive car and went to Bathurst and won it, of course. “I think that in Australia, you realise that if you try to make a professional living out of it, you virtually had to do it in a touring car. In the beginning, Formula 5000 and all that sort of stuff were probably the dominant categories, but it was in the early 1970s that touring cars really kicked on. “There were people who were making a living out of it but not many because you virtually had to get involved with a manufacturer to cement the fact that you could possibly do it. “We were fortunate in 1969 when Harry Firth took over the Holden Dealer Team and we ran Bathurst full length for the first time and won that, while Peter Brock and Dessie West came third. After that Harry picked up myself and Peter and I was with them the next seven years.” On signing with the Holden Dealer Team. “We rallied against Harry for many years, even though we were in the little Colt and he was in his Cortina, so he knew of me and I think Mike Kable mentioned to Harry at one stage that we also did a bit of racing and he asked me if I would go and do Sandown with Spencer Martin.

1969 BATHURST WIN

Scan to watch Colin Bond discuss his victory at Bathurst alongside Tony Roberts in the Holden Dealer Team’s HT Monaro GTS350 in 1969.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p56-58 Colin Bond.indd 56

15/06/2023 10:26:50 AM

“But I had a commitment to go to New Guinea to do a rally up there on the same weekend, so I didn’t do that. “I then did a bit of testing for them at Amaroo and was quicker than all the other guys there in the Monaro. It was a standard Monaro and the other guys had their cars there, ready for Bathurst, and when we went to Bathurst, there was Tony Roberts and myself who were both rally drivers. “After practice, I think we were in seventh spot because the Falcons all had race tyres on and we were just running on Michelins in those days, but as the race turned out, they all had problems with their race tyres and we came first and Peter was third. That sort of kicked us on. “After Bathurst, I don’t think much was said, just the next race you’re going to go to is Lakeside. “In those days, Peter being in Melbourne and I living in Sydney, we finished up doing a lot of races in Sydney, at Oran Park and Amaroo Park, and Peter started doing the ones Melbourne, which were Calders and so on and across to Adelaide. I’d go up and do some of the ones in Queensland as well. “I don’t even think we were actually being paid a retainer. We were living on prize money in those days and when you went and worked on the car, you were being paid $20 a day or something like that.

But we had no expenses, so we sort of went on and it slowly got better over time.”

On winning Bathurst in 1969. “It was very important because up until then, even though we’d been racing for years, you sort of spent your own money and you went and did your own thing like all the hillclimbs and rallies. Then you’ve got a factory drive and you win it, and that makes it very easy after that because it’s just sort of cements you in to the team and away you go.”

On racing a variety of machinery in different disciplines. “I’d never found it difficult and I’m not the only person in the world who does that. Jimmy Richards is quite capable and so was Peter Brock in a lot of ways, George Fury and a few others. I just sort of think that you assess it when you get in it and you did your best – and often it’s not too bad. “I enjoy rallying, we did it for a long time, but with rallying, because you were on the dirt, if you really, really try hard, you went faster. And to me, when you’re on a circuit, sometimes you try harder and go slower. “Racing was all about being a bit more precise; you had to just do everything nicely, brake, turn in, get

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p56-58 Colin Bond.indd 57

57 57

10/07/2023 2:08:23 PM

COLIN BOND

On the one-two formation finish at Bathurst in 1977. “I should’ve easily won it. The only mixed emotions is that Alan Hamilton was my co-driver, so we missed out on winning Bathurst, which is what I think he deserved. “There were some orders. Carol came out with a sign to form finish one-two and it was pretty obvious what it was and what happened. Allan was paying the bills, so you do it. I could’ve gone ahead and overtaken because he didn’t have any brakes. He’d worn the front brakes out completely, when Jacky Ickx wore most of the pads off and then when Moff got in, he wore off the rest of the pads, then the backing plates and then the pistons. So we were catching him 10 seconds a lap and had to slow down and just brake for him on the last lap. “Moffat did a few things after that which weren’t quite pleasant but, still, that’s all water under the bridge now.” On racing the Alfa Romeo GTV6 in Group A. “It was very reliable and not a bad car. We had Alan Jones driving one of the cars as well, before Alan was on his way back to Formula 1, and it was great just to have him on site to see how fast you could make one of these cars go. But when you went to places like Bathurst, you were never going to catch the turbo Volvos and all the rest of the cars that were on it in those days. A bit like the XU-1 Toranas, you needed the V8 to stay with the Fords.”

COLIN BOND

VITALSTATS ACTIVE YEARS

1969-1994 ROUNDS

128 RACE/ROUND WINS

10 PODIUMS

30 POLE POSITIONS

14 CHAMPIONSHIP WINS

1975 BATHURST WINS

1969 TEAMS

Holden Dealer Team, Allan Moffat Racing, Masterton Homes Racing, Nine Network Racing Team, Roadways Racing, Network Alfa, Caltex CXT Racing Team, Gibson Motorsport

the power on, don’t use up all the tyres and things and all the rest that’s required. “In rallying, you take it and you grab hold of the thing by the throat, sliding this way and that way. And to me, it’s just a bit more satisfying; the fact that if you actually try harder, you’re going faster.” On Harry Firth and the Holden Dealer Team. “Everything was done Harry’s way. I think he was quite brilliant in his early days, but as it got towards the end, with the time I was with them, I think technology was starting to take over, as with everything. “We’d go out and test at Calder and he’d come in and change springs and shocks and things and you’d just go by feel, whereas later on, it was definitely more on the technical side of things where you’d be engineered. “When I went across to Allan Moffat’s team in 1977 and we had Carol Smith, everything was a little bit more organised. For example, if we went to do a test day, he had it planned out before you actually went: what we were going to test and how we were going to do it. But apart from all that, I think that they were good days; we won three rally championships and manufacturers’ championships and in touring cars, so it wasn’t bad.” On moving to Allan Moffat Racing. “Allan offered us more money and a better deal. And the thing was that he said he was getting Carol Smith as the team manager so, as it turned out, we had a fantastic year. “We were first and second in the championship, first and second at Bathurst. Holden had a bad year, so they came out with the A9X and it was a better mousetrap than what we had, so it became a little bit more difficult.”

On the Ford Sierra RS500. “Turbocharging was fairly new to us all in those days. Dick Johnson’s team were a bit more advanced than what we were as far as what they could do with the cars. “I found them to be bit of a hand grenade in the end, because there were some better blocks around which were not available to most of us. And if you kept them under 500 horsepower, they seemed to live, but once you got over 500 horsepower, it was a matter of how far it’d go before they would bloody blow up. “We had some good wins with them, but everyone had Sierras at one stage – and then it started to become a little bit harder. At the end of the day, the team with the most money wins. That’s a shame but that’s the way it is.” On being driving standards observer for V8 Supercars. “I used to say it’s exactly the same as being a referee at a football match. You don’t make the rules; you only apply the rules and the same with a football match. If you ping one team, the other team thinks it’s terrific and vice versa. “There were only Fords and Holdens when we were doing it and if you pinged a Holden, the Ford guys thought it was terrific and the Holden guys thought it was a bad decision, but you have to realise that we did have a lot of information. We not only had all the data from the cars, we had cameras in the cars and all that sort of stuff, which people really wouldn’t see. “I did it for a decade, so the rules kept changing. But I think my biggest problem was that when we were racing, we never had those sorts of rules; we never had to because the cars were all different, we all had different tyres, we all had different ratios.”

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p56-58 Colin Bond.indd 58

10/07/2023 2:08:36 PM

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

Autopics.indd 1

18/07/2023 9:47:16 AM

NORM BEECHEY

IMAGES Autopics.com.au

STORMIN’ NORMAN

Stormin’ Norm Beechey holds a special place in the record books: first championship winner in a V8-powered car, first championship winner with the Ford Mustang, the first Holden championship winner and the first driver to win titles for both Ford and Holden.

e was the first superstar of Australian touring cars. Stormin’ Norm Beechey’s crowd-pleasing sideways style in a variety of machinery in a brief but spectacular career won a lot of fans in the formative years of the Australian Touring Car Championship. Not that the modest and reclusive champion will acknowledge his legendary status. “People say that, but I never considered myself to be a flamboyant driver,” said Beechey in a rare interview. “It was just that the types of cars I was racing were prone to sliding if you were on the limit and I never considered it as showmanship. “I probably wasn’t as technical a driver as, say, Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan, who was by far the superior driver, and I didn’t mind unsettling a car.

60 60

“I’d say I have a rougher technique of driving than some of the neater drivers. “When you were on the limit in the cars I drove, you were sideways with wheels in the air – that’s just how they behaved with my physical style of driving. I’ll admit that my technique was relatively rough.” Two championships for two different manufacturers, one in an imported muscle car and the other in a homegrown car, proved his style may have been rough but it was also effective. Beechey was an integral part of the Neptune Racing Team, one of the first professional racing outfits that ran various cars through its different guises. In 1964, for example, Neptune Racing Team fielded Beechey in a Holden EH Special S4, Peter Manton in a Morris Cooper S and Jim McKeown in a Ford Cortina Lotus MkI in the championship.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p60-62 Beechey.indd 60

15/06/2023 10:30:31 AM

Beechey claimed the first championship win for Holden in 1970.

Beechey lost that single-race decider to Geoghegan’s Cortina following a tight tussle in the final championship for the production-based sedan Appendix J rulebook. The introduction of Improved Production paved the way for American muscle cars such as the Ford Mustang. And Neptune Racing Team fielded one of the imported cars for Beechey in the single-race championship decider at Sandown in 1965, winning in what’s considered one of the first major circuitracing wins for the ‘pony car’ anywhere in the world and the first for V8 power in the series. Beechey wasn’t one to rest on his laurels. He raced all types of cars in many different disciplines, which only increased his appeal with crowds. From the Mustang he switched to a Chevrolet Chevy II Nova and Camaro SS for subsequent championship campaigns. Though he would challenge with record-breaking fastest laps, poor reliability and the dominance of the Mustang hampered his results. Meanwhile, Geoghegan would go on to dominate with the Mustang, scoring four consecutive titles from 1966 to 1969, the latter the first multi-round championship. “Ian Geoghegan was, in my opinion, the most outstanding driver of my era,” said Beechey of his rivals. “We had some very close races and I never received so much as a scratch on my cars from him. “Bob Jane was my next biggest rival. He was a lot tougher competitor than ‘Big Pete’. Allan Moffat was also a very tough competitor. He was desperately competitive in his era. “Bob and Moffat both had such good [US-built] cars that they were hard to beat in our home-grown machines.”

Beechey moved to home-grown machinery with a Holden HK Monaro GTS327 for 1969. It was with the HT Monaro GTS350 that he would claim his second championship and first for Holden in 1970, defeating the Mustang brigade and the new Porsche 911 of McKeown. “The HK Monaro 327 was a shit of a car… narrowgutted and you couldn’t get any decent tyres under it anywhere,” said Beechey. “We thought we could win the championship with the HT 350 because CAMS opened the regulations up to allow us to compete with the Trans-Am Mustangs. “A very small group put together the Monaro. We all got stuck into it over Christmas and made a racer out of it in two months, I’d say. “We knew we had a fair chance of doing something with it. It was competitive right from the outset.” The Neptune Racing Team had been rebranded as the Shell Racing Team with sponsorship from the oil brand during the formative years of sponsorship in motorsport. Far from being a full-time professional like those that were emerging at the time, Beechey was still running various dealerships and his own Speed Shop operation. Although on top of his game, racing still had to play second fiddle to business.

“WHEN YOU WERE ON THE LIMIT IN THE CARS I DROVE, YOU WERE SIDEWAYS WITH WHEELS IN THE AIR – THAT’S JUST HOW THEY BEHAVED WITH MY STYLE.” SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p60-62 Beechey.indd 61

15/06/2023 10:30:42 AM

NORM BEECHEY

1970 TITLE WIN

 B E E C H E Y ’S C H AM PIONS H IP T R END LINE 1

1st

Scan to watch Norm Beechey take out the 1970 Australian Touring Car Championship in his Holden HT Monaro GTS350 at Lakeside Raceway.

1 2 3

5th

10th 13

15th 20th 25th

DNF

1963

1964

1965

Holden 48-215

Holden EH Special S4

Ford Mustang

DNF

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevy II Nova Chevy II Nova Camaro SS

Holden HK Monaro

Holden HT Monaro

1966

Note: Championships were decided by a single race until 1969, when the multi-round format began.

“We beat some pretty tough opposition [in 1970],” said Beechey. “We actually gave motor racing the first priority that year and our business suffered. “I was busy… I had a Chrysler dealership and I was selling new Valiants. But I was also a fully-blown Dodge dealer, so we were selling big Dodge trucks. “I had the three Speed Shops. We had 100 people working for us. We were bloody busy. But in 1970 we gave the racing priority and we just couldn’t do it again the following year. We did that and we won it. “Then I probably had the necessity of concentrating on my business that I’d neglected for the year. “In 1970 I took time off from my business but I still couldn’t devote as much time to racing as the newly-emerging professional driver like Moffat. “I remember arriving at Lakeside to do some practising on the Thursday (a day earlier than normal). “We drove out to the track and I see Moffat cruising around, and I asked the guy who had the key to the gate, ‘When did Moffat arrive?’

“He said, ‘Oh, on Tuesday’. So he’d been up there practising Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We just didn’t have the time to do that.” Beechey was also racing Chrysler factorysupported Series Production Valiant Pacers and Chargers in Shell colours and had briefly signed with Ford, though he walked away from motorsport at the end of 1972. “My kind of race car (Improved Production) was being pushed into racing with sports sedans,” said Beechey. “The big emphasis had changed to Series Production because that’s the way the manufacturers, the promoters and CAMS had decided to go. “I could see that the time had arrived when more and more drivers were doing it professionally and I didn’t want to spend all my time racing. “After all, I only ever considered myself a weekend amateur. I had several businesses to run and I never considered being a fulltime driver. “I was extremely happy with my decision to retire. Putting all my efforts into business was very rewarding.

“I just decided that it was all over and there was nothing to be gained by talking about it. It seemed natural to me. “I stopped doing it and I didn’t want to be involved any more. “When I was taking Shell’s signing fees, I had the best deal in Australian motor racing, financially. But I felt like a prize bull with a hole through my nose and a rope on it because if Shell wanted me to do something or General Motors wanted me to go and do something, I had to do all that. “So when I got rid of all that, I could do what I wanted to do myself. I could spend the time making money. “I was good at that and getting rid of the motor racing gave me so much more time to concentrate on my businesses.” His premature retirement and reclusiveness only adds to the mystique of Stormin’ Norm Beechey.

“I ONLY EVER CONSIDERED MYSELF A WEEKEND AMATEUR. I HAD SEVERAL BUSINESSES TO RUN AND I NEVER CONSIDERED BEING A FULL-TIME DRIVER.”

Beechey (#4) gets a touch from Allan Moffat at the head of the pack at Calder Park in 1969.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p60-62 Beechey.indd 62

15/06/2023 10:31:06 AM

MIKE HARBAR PRINTS All these prints and more are available from SupercarXtra.com.au or call 03 9372 9125 A4 $40 A3 $60 A2 $100 A1 $250 PANORAMA OF LEGENDS $55 Small (13cm x 42cm) $110 Medium (30cm x 96cm) $220 Large (42cm x 134cm) $330 Extra Large (60cm x 191cm)

Prices do not include delivery costs. Standard Australia Post rates apply.

Mike Habar Prints.indd 1

10/07/2023 10:56:49 AM

RECORDS

AUSTRALIAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP/ supercars champions

Year

Driver

1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988

David McKay Bill Pitt Bob Jane Bob Jane Ian Geoghegan Norm Beechey Ian Geoghegan Ian Geoghegan Ian Geoghegan Ian Geoghegan Norm Beechey Bob Jane Bob Jane Allan Moffat Peter Brock Colin Bond Allan Moffat Allan Moffat Peter Brock Bob Morris Peter Brock Dick Johnson Dick Johnson Allan Moffat Dick Johnson Jim Richards Robbie Francevic Jim Richards Dick Johnson

Team / Entrant David McKay Mrs DI Anderson Bob Jane Racing Bob Jane Racing Total Team Neptune Racing Team Total Team Total Team Total Team Total Team Shell Racing Team Bob Jane Racing Bob Jane Racing Allan Moffat Racing Holden Dealer Team Holden Dealer Team Allan Moffat Racing Allan Moffat Racing Holden Dealer Team Ron Hodgson Motors Holden Dealer Team Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing Allan Moffat Racing Dick Johnson Racing JPS Team BMW Volvo Dealer Team JPS Team BMW Dick Johnson Racing

Car Jaguar Mark 1 3.4 Jaguar Mark 1 3.4 Jaguar Mark 2 3.8 Jaguar Mark 2 4.1 Ford Cortina Mark I GT Ford Mustang Ford Mustang Ford Mustang Ford Mustang Ford Mustang Holden HT Monaro GTS350 Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III Holden LJ Torana XU-1/ SL/R 5000 Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 Ford XB Falcon GT Ford XB Falcon GT/XC GS Holden LX Torana SS A9X Holden LX Torana SS A9X Holden VB Commodore Ford XD Falcon Ford XD Falcon Mazda RX-7 Ford XE Falcon BMW 635 CSi Volvo 240T BMW M3 Ford Sierra RS500

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p64-65 Championship List.indd 64

17/07/2023 9:33:50 AM

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Dick Johnson Jim Richards Jim Richards Mark Skaife Glenn Seton Mark Skaife John Bowe Craig Lowndes Glenn Seton Craig Lowndes Craig Lowndes Mark Skaife Mark Skaife Mark Skaife Marcos Ambrose Marcos Ambrose Russell Ingall Rick Kelly Garth Tander Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup James Courtney Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Mark Winterbottom Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Scott McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Shane van Gisbergen Shane van Gisbergen

Dick Johnson Racing Gibson Motorsport Gibson Motorsport Gibson Motorsport Glenn Seton Racing Gibson Motorsport Dick Johnson Racing Holden Racing Team Glenn Seton Racing Holden Racing Team Holden Racing Team Holden Racing Team Holden Racing Team Holden Racing Team Stone Brothers Racing Stone Brothers Racing Stone Brothers Racing HSV Dealer Team HSV Dealer Team Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering Dick Johnson Racing Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering Prodrive Racing Australia Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering DJR Team Penske DJR Team Penske DJR Team Penske Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering

Ford Sierra RS500 Nissan Skyline HR31/BNR32 GT-R Nissan Skyline BNR32 GT-R Nissan Skyline BNR32 GT-R Ford EB Falcon Holden VP Commodore Ford EF Falcon Holden VR Commodore Ford EL Falcon Holden VS/VT Commodore Holden VT/VS Commodore Holden VT Commodore Holden VX Commodore Holden VX Commodore Ford BA Falcon Ford BA Falcon Ford BA Falcon Holden VZ Commodore Holden VE Commodore Ford BF Falcon Ford FG Falcon Ford FG Falcon Holden VE Commodore Holden VE Commodore Holden VF Commodore Holden VF Commodore Ford FG X Falcon Holden VF Commodore Holden VF Commodore Ford FG X Falcon Ford Mustang GT Ford Mustang GT Holden Commodore ZB Holden Commodore ZB SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p64-65 Championship List.indd 65

17/07/2023 9:34:04 AM

RECORDS

MOST AUSTRALIAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP/ SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIPS Driver

Championships

Season(s)

Championship Winner

Jamie Whincup

2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017

21st

Ian Geoghegan

1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969

4th

Dick Johnson

1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1989

10th

Mark Skaife

1992, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002

13th

Bob Jane

1962, 1963, 1971, 1972

3rd

Allan Moffat

1973, 1976, 1977, 1983

6th

Jim Richards

1985, 1987, 1990, 1991

11th

Peter Brock

1974, 1978, 1980

7th

Craig Lowndes

1996, 1998, 1999

16th

Shane van Gisbergen

2016, 2021, 2022

24th

Scott McLaughlin

2018, 2019, 2020

25th

Norm Beechey

1965, 1970

5th

Glenn Seton

1993, 1997

14th

Marcos Ambrose

2003, 2004

17th

David McKay

1960

1st

Bill Pitt

1961

2nd

Colin Bond

1975

8th

Bob Morris

1979

9th

Robbie Francevic

1986

12th

John Bowe

1995

15th

Russell Ingall

2005

18th

Rick Kelly

2006

19th

Garth Tander

2007

20th

James Courtney

2010

22nd

Mark Winterbottom

2015

23rd

SUPERCAR XTRA

SCX129 p66 Championship Records.indd 66

17/07/2023 9:32:08 AM

Go Internet.indd 1

10/07/2023 11:16:51 AM

$279 $220+P&H

SupercarXtra Magazine Issue 129 Special Drivers Edition

Articles inside

STORMIN’ NORMAN

MR VERSATILITY

BLUE BLOODED

BROCK’S

PREPARATION & PERSEVERANCE

TRUE BLUE BATTLER

GENTLEMAN JIM

MARK SKAIFE

LOWNDES’ GREATEST VICTORIES

MCLAUGHLIN’S UPWARDS TREND

THE FLYING KIWI

THE KING OF THE HILL

Publisher’s Note WORKING TOGETHER TO A BETTER COMMON GOAL

STORMIN’ NORMAN

MR VERSATILITY

BLUE BLOODED

BROCK’S

PREPARATION & PERSEVERANCE

TRUE BLUE BATTLER

GENTLEMAN JIM

MARK SKAIFE

LOWNDES’ GREATEST VICTORIES

MCLAUGHLIN’S UPWARDS TREND

THE FLYING KIWI

THE KING OF THE HILL

COMPLETE SUSPENSION SOLUTION

Publisher’s Note WORKING TOGETHER TO A BETTER COMMON GOAL

STORMIN’ NORMAN

MR VERSATILITY

BLUE BLOODED

BROCK’S

PREPARATION & PERSEVERANCE

TRUE BLUE BATTLER

GENTLEMAN JIM

MARK SKAIFE

LOWNDES’ GREATEST VICTORIES

MCLAUGHLIN’S UPWARDS TREND

THE FLYING KIWI

THE KING OF THE HILL

COMPLETE SUSPENSION SOLUTION

Publisher’s Note WORKING TOGETHER TO A BETTER COMMON GOAL