Grp C/Grp A/V8SC 'Where are they now?' continued...

[racer69]

Originally Posted by anthony81901

With the Nissan having been nobbled by CAMS, Bob Forbes elected to enter the VN instead of the GTR for one of the 92 ATCC rounds. Rohan Onslow also raced it at an Amscar round at Amaroo that year.

Onslow also raced the car at the last round of the ATCC at Oran Park didn't he?


European VL Commodore - There was an original VL (Brock HDT homologated VL) run by the Serge Power team in Europe in 1988, driven by among others Michel Delcourt and Alex Guyaux, and from memory #24. Where did this car come from? I guess it may be the car gab73 was referring to.

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

I was pretty sure the Grice car was the same one both years, but it just seemed odd for it to be reported as only being the 1989 car. On the Schembri VL, I'm pretty sure it was the ex-Grice car, running in the same white and blue livery, sans FAI logos.

From memory wasn't the Schembri VL orange and white? The livery on the Rogers Valvoline Commodore from 1990 was the same as on the Grice/FAI car from '88 and '89, except the blue part of the car was replaced with orange, and as you say minus the FAI backing, with the car then going to Schembri.

Would it be safe to assume that one of the Roadways VL Walkinshaws from 1988 went Grice 88 - Grice 89 - Rogers 90 - Schembri at a later date?

NZ Group A - I'll have a look at some of the race reports i can find in old Auto Actions, from memory though the national championship Group A races usually consisted in the late-80s of Robbie Francevic's Wolf/Petch Sierra occasionally being hassled by the likes of Kayne Scott in a BMW M3 (the ex-CiBiEmme car that Petch bought when the WTCC circus came to our shores in 1987?)

In the end didn't they end up opening the floodgates to any Group A car that had been homologated at one time or another to get a grid, rather than what was homologated at the time? I recall it was good for a time though...

[gab73]

the no 28 everlast mustang driven in 85 by lawrie nelson and bill obrien is owned by neville butler in melbourne.

[William Dale Jr]

racer69, you know, it never occurred to me that I'd only seen black and white photos of the Schembri car... In that case, it would make sense it was the ex-Rogers car, but if Rogers' 1990 Bathurst car was the ex-Grice car, why didn't Garry use his own?

On the GIO VN, the car appeared at the Lakeside ATCC round in Gibbs' hands and at the Eastern Creek ATCC round and the last two AMSCAR rounds with Onslow at the wheel. At the last AMSCAR round, it ran a silver and red Chicago Pneumatics livery.

anthony81901, I think in the Australian Muscle Car article on Bathurst-winning HRT VL, Percy said that there were two cars in the shop that Tom had bought; a road car shell and the #20 car from Bathurst 1988 (which - although it doesn't state it in the article - had been repaired since its undignified exit from that race, having done some testing at Calder in early 1989 with Neil Crompton at the wheel). I'm sure I've seen it written somewhere else that Percy's ATCC car was definitely one of the Perkins-built cars from Bathurst the previous year; the fact that it ran centrelocks instead of the standard Perkins five-stud hubs probably isn't that significant because it looks like they're using the same wheels the #20 car used, hence the use of different hubs - longshot, but I'm working from pictures here!

On the subject of the #20 car, in The Great Race 8 it says that at Sandown, the works team had three cars; the brand new #10 for Perkins/Hulme, Perkins' ATCc car up-specced and running #11 in Allam/Hahne's hands and the TWR-built car. Curiously, it says that Tom was supposed to use the TWR-built car at Sandown, but it also states that it was the sister car to the Herbie Clips car that raced at Silverstone.

[rdmdog]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

At the last AMSCAR round, it ran a silver and red Chicago Pneumatics livery..

Correct

[mtpanorama]

Found an old group C car here
http://www.duttondirect.com/?event=v...TOKEN=61333270

[racer69]

Anyone know the origin (and what happened to) the Toyota Celica used in the 1987 AGP support race at Adelaide. It is the same shape Celica that carried Carlos Sainz to the 1990 World Rally Championship.

Suprised to see it in there considering Toyota's Group A efforts were focused on the Toyota Supra for outright results, while in rallying they concentrated on the 4WD Celica (though the Supra was used on events like the Safari, Acropolis and Ivory Coast)

[Sultan]

Whoa, I don't remember that one!! I'd love to find out more about that one too... Speaking of unique Gp A cars, I do know that the Volvo 360 that raced in '85 was (as of mid last year) in Brisbane, for sale....

[William Dale Jr]

That Celica was built up by Toyota Team NZ (Chris Amon was associated with the team, IIRC) and, apart from that AGP support race, did all of its racing in New Zealand. I think there may have been two cars built, both probably front-wheel-drive. I've never found any info or pictures on the web about the car, and I'd be interested to know more, too!

[pete60]

Don't remember that one at all! Any idea who drove it??

[Falcadore]

We're working on expanding VESRIX right at the second to include Group A. There are gaps in the records I have starting from about 1987 backwards basically. If anyone would like to assist in this project, even if its something small like helping to point me in the right direction (and don't point me to hell, the door blackened around the edges is always a dead giveway, please don't hold back.

Actually, Adelaide touring car races have been hard to find in general, even after spending a day in the archives at Southbank going through old Advertisers on the microfiche.

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by pete60

Don't remember that one at all! Any idea who drove it??

Not sure, but I think John Smith could have driven the car at the AGP race, but it was more likely Brett Riley, the Celica's regular driver.

Falc, I'd love to help, but my records are similar; not a great deal for 85-86, but I've got most things after that. I wouldn't have thought the Advertiser would have listed full results for the support races. Did they even have full results for the AGP itself? Perhaps a better bet would be to find contemporary copies of Racing Car News and (better yet) Auto Action to find the results. However, Auto Action didn't carry full results until about 1986-87 and RCN didn't always provide full results (especially for non-championship events). I've put together as much as I can from the resources I've got. You're welcome to have a look at them if you want, but I don't know how much help they'll be.

[Falcadore]

I went to look up the '87 AGP program for more information on the Celica touring car only to find the 12 page lift out with entry lists etc, had been well....lifted out. Damn 15 year olds with no respect for posterity.

My magazine collections start at 1989, so looking back earlir than that will require the help of someone older than my good self... there's just so much good information flying around here at the moment I just felt the need to try and tap into it to further the VESRIX project. Maybe seperate threads need to be run on a race by race basis. Fill up some threads... :P

[Sultan]

Love to help Falc!!! It's long overdue for a catchup, besides, I've got that disc I made up for you!

[William Dale Jr]

I've got the entry list that was published in RCN for the race, but it doesn't mention the Celica. Hence the confusion over who drove the car. The coverage of the race doesn't mention it once, but the car is seen; numbered 31. John Smith is listed in the program as driving a Corolla with that number, so I don't know. I have a feeling the car only came over after TTA ran out of cars after the Bathurst accident. Either that, or TTA were looking at how good the car was with an eye to building one up.

Falc, my 1988 results are pretty comprehensive (SUATCC, AMSCAR, Enduros overseas and local, only the AGP support race is lacking full results) and my 1987 results are getting there. I can send you those to start with if you want.

[Road Ranger Vk]

Does any one know what happend to the first mitre 10/ mark larkham ef falcon that was bulit in 95, the car had a lot of open wheeler design idars built in, I can also recall the car crunching the walls hard at phillip island and bathurst in 96, Just wondering if it is still alive / written off or did larko take it with him to sbr in 97

[Noonz1]

Hi Road Ranger,
That was the car crashewd by Danny Osborne at Adelaide in 1999 after contact with Lowndes - it was written off and scrapped.

[Falcadore]

Much like Danny himself was. While he tried to get back into racing, he was troubled by back pain for years afterwards.

[racer2_uk]

Hello everbody,

I have just found this site and this very interesting topic, I have the first Dick Johnson car that was eventually sold to Robb Gravett in the UK, it is chassis No. DJR 1. A friend of mine also has a Grp A sierra, it is the Rouse/Brock '89-'90 car in Mobil 1 colours, and another friend has the Rouse built Tim Harvey "Labatts" '89 car, an Eggenberger car and another Rouse car that was used by Alan Moffat at Bathurst.
Does somebody have some sort of upto date list of cars that still exist ?

Andy Lloyd

[rdmdog]

Good to hear from you Andy, as you might be able to tell, some of these cars are becoming sought after pieces of machinery "Down Under". Group A is now an historic category in Australia, however only cars that were raced in Group A are allowed to compete, ie no replicas.

I guess if anyone who regularly visits ten-tenths had a list of where these cars are now we would have heard from them.

Anyhow, welcome aboard.

[cavvy]

I believe there is a demo run for GrA cars at this years Clipsal 500 - restricted to cars that ran at Adelaide & are still in the same warpaint.
Anyone know of cars being run?

[Mark Webber]

do any M3's still float around ?

[Falcadore]

Mark Webber: pop over to the '02 ASTC thread where there is much talk about racin' M3s.

[Road Ranger Vk]

Hi All
A bit off the subject at hand here but I was wondering if any one has any engine bay pic's of Group C / A commodore touring car's (VB - Carby VL)

As Im running a car in club racing along simmilar lines as the early Vk touring cars, What Im trying to see in if they ran holden esq production style radators or alloy purpose built jobs, Ive been seening both at club meets also trying to see if they are using holden radators with extra header tanks.

Thanks
Nick

[anthony81901]

Rob Gravett purchased the 1st 2 Dick Johnson Racing Sierras at the end of 1988. Both had been built for the start of the 87 ATCC. One was built as a LHD car and driven by Gregg Hansford. It wasn't used in 88. The 2nd, like all other DJR Sierras, was built as RHD and raced by Johnson in 87, and John Bowe in 88. It was entered as the 3rd Sierra at Bathurst but after the first 2 died, Johnson and Bowe commandeered it to finish 2nd.

DJR built another 4 Sierras, one at the beginning of 88, and one for the enduros in 88, 89 and 90. The 89 built car which won Bathurst in 89 and finished 2nd in 90 and 92 is in the DJR museum in Queensland. One other was competing in Sports Sedans at some stage in the mid 90's in Western Australia.

[GTRMagic]

And no two of them has the same front guard profile