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

[anthony81901]

From memory each of them had the tow hook located in a different position.

[Falcadore]

Doesn't matter, the steam catapault still works no matter where the tow hook is. Cue Top Gun music and Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards walk towards the Sierra from stage right each holding a helmet...

[Mark Webber]

thanx Falcadore I'll pop over for a look

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by 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?

Both of my JPS cars are going to be there (M3 & 635) along with, GIO Commodore, Winfield GTR, Peter Jackson Skyline, Telecom Mobiles VL Commodore and many more. It will be a bigger gathering than we can get to turn up for a race meeting these days. There are a few V8 Supercars as well eg Ford Credit Falcon etc.

There will also be a street parade on Monday 28th Feb of a few cars and my 635 was invited, but unfortunately can't be there as we're running it at Wakefield the day before in the first round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge.

Mr, Webber, there are only 3 Group A M3s in the country AFAIK, mine, a mate has an ex Longhurst B&H car (now only used for club supersprints) and there is a Mobil Brock car in restoration in Perth.

[Steve Holmes]

Of the Group A Mustangs which raced in NZ, there were two Pinepac cars, the DJR car, and a locally built car, raced by Bruce Flemming. The first Pinepac car was the ex Don Smith car which Bo Seton co-drove at Bathurst in 1984. The Pinepac team took it to NZ and ran it in local Group A, then built a second car which was quite a bit better.

At least one, possibly both cars raced at Bathurst in 1985, and actually recorded higher top speeds down Conrod than the DJR car. From memory both Pinepac cars suffered a bit from reliability. Though both cars ran very well at the 1987 Wellington street race. Or was it 1988?

The second of these two cars was sold to a guy called Rex Findlay, who rebuilt it as a sports sedan. It was fitted with a 351, painted red, and had large fibreglass wheelarch flares fitted. But it didn't achieve much in this form. This car appeared on Trade Me a few weeks ago, the starting bid was NZ$38,000 which I thought was pretty good. I think the car is in Timaru, and I'd heard the other Pinepac car was there too, but owned by a different person.

The DJR car which Robbie Ker purchased at the end of the '86 season was to be driven at the Welly street race in Jan '87, but DJ was involved in a pre race accident and the car was a non starter. Ker was quite a superstitious guy, and said he thought green was a bad luck colour for a race car. So he painted it white. It was sponsored by the Police for the second 1987 Welly street race, held later in the year as part of the World Touring Car championship. I think Ker wanted to race it with the police lights on top, but wasn't allowed to, so just did a few demo runs before the race.

This car was later converted into a sports sedan also. Ker fitted flared wheel arches, bigger wheels, better heads, and it actually ran pretty well like this. Curiously, he repainted it green, and changed the race number to # 13! Ker was a pretty good driver. I believe this car sat around the Manfeild race track for several years and was used for driver training. It was later rescued and rebuilt, repainted a darker green (I think) and run in muscle car type events. Then the engine was pulled out and put in a jet boat. There are a couple of people looking to buy the chassis.

Johnson actually came to NZ in 1986 for the street race in one of his Mustangs, repainted in JPS black, which was a deal done by his co-driver Neville Crichton. Looked nice in this colour too. I'm not sure if this was his first or second car. I'm not sure either if Kers was the first or second car, but I suspect it was the second.

[Steve Holmes]

By the way, our Central Muscle Cars class went to Christchurch last weekend to race at the Skope classic meeting at Ruapuna. Included with the muscle cars were a couple of classic sports sedans, plus several old Group A cars.

These included a TWR Bastos Rover, which is completely original right down to the hand written signwriting! Plus there were two JPS BMW 325i's. One white BMW 325i (not sure of this cars history). There was a Diet Coke M3, and Schnitzer M3 Evo (if that's what its called, it had the 2.5 engine). There was also an ex Peter Brock Mobil M3, and a JPS 635csi.

Not sure why there are so many BMW's, but they're really nice to see. There actually used to be several ex Group A Sierras down in the SI too. An ex DJR car, ex Brock car, and ex Kevin Waldock car. Not sure where they got to.

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

These included a TWR Bastos Rover, which is completely original right down to the hand written signwriting! Plus there were two JPS BMW 325i's. One white BMW 325i (not sure of this cars history). There was a Diet Coke M3, and Schnitzer M3 Evo (if that's what its called, it had the 2.5 engine). There was also an ex Peter Brock Mobil M3, and a JPS 635csi.

Steve, the BMWs are in chronological order. The 323 was my old car. It was built by JPS but without cigarette money therefore BMW motorsport colours only. It has a 2.3 litre 6 cyl motor. Longhust drove it in the Amscar Series in 85 and a couple of ATCC races. In 86 Brian Bolwell bought it and rolled it at the end of Conrod Straight in Kitten Car Polishes sponsorship. It's now owned by Pater Thorby in chch. Then JPS built two 325s these are now owned by the Clyde brothers in chch have 2.5 litre 6 cyl motors. The 635 AFAIK is one of the 2 that went into the sandtrap at Hell Corner in 86. The Mobil Brock M3 is one of the last 2 that JPS built. The cars were sold to Brock at the end of 87 when the JPS deal fell over. These cars were never raced in JPS colours although there is some confusion over the other Brock M3 that is now in Perth. It may have been raced at Bathurst in 87 in JPS colours. All the JPS M3s were 2.3 litre 4 cyl motors.

The Warsteiner M3 is ex DTM 2.5 litre 4 cyl version but I'm sorry I don't know who drove it. Back in the early 90s there were swarms of them in the series.
The Diet Coke M3 2.5 litres 4 cyl is the ex Paul Morris car from Bathurst 93. There were 4 M3s in the race that year.

I have a picture of all these cars on a transporter and it's a dream trailer for a BMW nut like me.

NZ also has several other BMWs including the ex Morris supertourer that was one of the Morris/Longhurst punch up cars. Anthony Robson campaigned it in the ASTC for a few years.

Sorry I can't help with any others.

[racer69]

What happened to the Wolf/Petch Whittakers Peanut Slab Sierra/s?

[William Dale Jr]

For that matter, how many Sierras did Mark Petch have? There was at least one Wolf car, an ex-DJR car and wasn't the sports sedan an ex-Group A car?

[Steve Holmes]

Not too sure about a DJR Sierra for Petch. He ran two cars, but I don't know if he owned them but he probably did. There was a dark brown ex Wolf car which was sponsored by Wittakers peanut slabs. That was a very fast car. Led Bathurst, and led the Welly street race going away until Gianfranco Brancatelli collided heavily with Chris Lambdens Commodore and the Sierra was made a little narrower. Brancatelli made some wild remarks about amateur drivers which didn't go down too well. Francevic did most of the driving in this car.

The second Petch run car was a plain white one sponsored by Husqvarna, and driven by Garry Croft (from memory). I'm not sure of its history, but it was pretty quick. It was left hand drive, so I assume it came out of Europe. This car was later converted into a sports sedan which Francevic raced. Was quite ugly, painted green and yellow. Then Greg Lancaster raced it under Sanyo colours.

I think Petch was running the Ford Merker for Kayne Scott at this time. This was a space frame Trans-Am car from the USA running a turbo 2.5 engine. The Lancaster car was in the same team I think, although I thought Lancaster owned both cars.

[Falcadore]

The O'Brien and Ceveri Sports Sedan Sierras? What of them?

[Steve Holmes]

The Ceveri car was an ex Oxo car wasn't it? Who was Miedecke's team mate during 1997? Don Smith? It had been barrel rolled from memory. All the gp A bits taken out, and Ceveri used the body as the basis for a sports sedan.

[cornermsport]

The O'brien sport sedan was an ex Colin Bond Caltex car. Ran as a group A turbo car, then eventually went to a V6 Chev power eventually. I assume they probably still have it somewhere???

[Camaroz]

Ceveri still has the Sierra SS. It was the OXO car with all the bits from the Monohan/Rogers/Lusty/Doherty/Grant Hatchback SS in it.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

The Ceveri car was an ex Oxo car wasn't it? Who was Miedecke's team mate during 1997? Don Smith? It had been barrel rolled from memory. All the gp A bits taken out, and Ceveri used the body as the basis for a sports sedan.

Yes, that would the car that Don Smith rolled in the sandtrap at turn 1 at Sandown during practice? for the 1987 Castrol 500.

Which Bond/Caltex car would the O'Brien Sierra have been?

Also, the original Bond Sierra from the start of 1988 was an OXO car from 1987 was it not?

[pete60]

[QUOTE=David Towe]The Mobil Brock M3 is one of the last 2 that JPS built. The cars were sold to Brock at the end of 87 when the JPS deal fell over. These cars were never raced in JPS colours although there is some confusion over the other Brock M3 that is now in Perth. It may have been raced at Bathurst in 87 in JPS colours.


I thought that Brock got 3 JPS BMWs in 1988. He and Richards ran 2 in the ATCC but Neil Crompton ran one in the AMSCAR(?) series at Amaroo.

The Doulman/Cotter M3 Motorsport got 2 of them at the end of 1988...don't know what became of the third one. I assume M3 Motorsport no longer own the cars and it is one of these that is NZ now?

The other earlier JPS M3s were owned by John Sax at one stage and may have done a Bathurst or 2 in the late eighties...

[Falcadore]

pete: I think this was thrashed out at length in the ASTC thread late last year and got to a satisfactory conclusion. Have you tried the search engine?

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

Not too sure about a DJR Sierra for Petch.

Neither am I, but Kayne Scott and Greg Taylor ran the #19 DJR car at Bathurst in 1991, and that car (sold - at least - to a NZ owner, whether it was Petch or not I'm not completely sure) went to NZ and was run by Mark Petch Motorsport for Dick Johnson and Paul Radisich in the Nissan-Mobil series.

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by racer69

Also, the original Bond Sierra from the start of 1988 was an OXO car from 1987 was it not?

Yes, that was the OXO team's #34 car. John Giddings bought the car from Don Smith during 1987 and drove the car for the rest of that year, sharing the car with Bruce Stewart for the enduros. Bond then did a deal with Giddings (can't remember the exact terms of the deal) where Bond would drive the car until his own car was finished. Bond used this car throughout the 1988 ATCC (taking the car to third overall in the championship) and in the AMSCAR series that year (not sure if his car was finished in time for the last round). Giddings then raced the car, again with Bruce Stewart, in the 1988 enduros. Not sure where this car went, but I think the 'For Sale' ad did a bit of time in Auto Action. This wasn't Ken Mathews 1989-90 car, which was the 1988 Longhurst Bathurst-winning car.

[David Towe]

[QUOTE=pete60]

Originally Posted by David Towe

I thought that Brock got 3 JPS BMWs in 1988. He and Richards ran 2 in the ATCC but Neil Crompton ran one in the AMSCAR(?) series at Amaroo.

The Doulman/Cotter M3 Motorsport got 2 of them at the end of 1988...don't know what became of the third one. I assume M3 Motorsport no longer own the cars and it is one of these that is NZ now?

The other earlier JPS M3s were owned by John Sax at one stage and may have done a Bathurst or 2 in the late eighties...

You're right pete, Cromley got the half finished car from JPS, I don't know where it is now. The brock cars then went to Cotter and Doulman, then to Faber Castell as Supertourers then one to NZ and the other now in the hands of Nick Rahimtullah in Perth.
My M3 went from JPS to John Sax and was ploughed into the wall at Forest's Elbow in 89 by Craig Turner (Sax Racing Team car No. 54 I think) it still has the patch on the right front floor from where the wheel was pushed up into it. Then a couple of owners in NZ then back to OZ in 95 or so fully restored.

[Steve Holmes]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Neither am I, but Kayne Scott and Greg Taylor ran the #19 DJR car at Bathurst in 1991, and that car (sold - at least - to a NZ owner, whether it was Petch or not I'm not completely sure) went to NZ and was run by Mark Petch Motorsport for Dick Johnson and Paul Radisich in the Nissan-Mobil series.

WD jr, your knowledge of the Sierras is very impressive. I didn't know that fact about Petch running the DJR car in NZ. Around 1996/97 there was an ex DJR Sierra which competed in Super GT in the South Island, done up in Shell Helix graphics. I wonder if this was the same car? Was like a time warp. Another guy in the same race had an ex Brock Sierra, and another had the ex Waldock car, all in their original liveries.

Where did the Andrew Bagnall Budget Travell car come from? It was a good looking car, white and dark blue. It ran the same type wheels as on the Francevic Wolf car. Andrew Miedecke also ran similar wheels from 1988. The Bagnall car was rhd. I think he did a bit of racing in Asia with it?

[Steve Holmes]

[QUOTE=David Towe]

Originally Posted by pete60

You're right pete, Cromley got the half finished car from JPS, I don't know where it is now. The brock cars then went to Cotter and Doulman, then to Faber Castell as Supertourers then one to NZ and the other now in the hands of Nick Rahimtullah in Perth.
My M3 went from JPS to John Sax and was ploughed into the wall at Forest's Elbow in 89 by Craig Turner (Sax Racing Team car No. 54 I think) it still has the patch on the right front floor from where the wheel was pushed up into it. Then a couple of owners in NZ then back to OZ in 95 or so fully restored.

David, yours must be one of the very early JPS M3s? That's a really lovely car you have there. I remember when it appeared at the Wellington Street Race in late 1987. Sax ran it in an orange/black/yellow livery. It was a great addition to the NZ Group A scene. The Trevor Crowe car arrived at the same time. This was ex JPS too wasn't it?

I have a photo of your car at Manfeild painted plain white. Sax still had it then, but must have been soon to part with it. I can email it through to you if you like.

Its odd that of all the ex Group A BMWs competing in NZ historics, none of them were locally based when Gp A was current. Except possibly the JPS 635 which was at Ruapuna last weekend. If that was the Crichton car? Or was it the Richards car? And the three Gp A M3s seem to have gone. David, do you know what became of the Trevor Crowe car, and the CiBiEmme (spelling???) cars?

[Falcadore]

Not an early car, the Brock M3's were the last two M3s built by JPS, and never saw action in black & gold warpaint. They were the fifth & sixth M3s built by Gardner & co.

[Steve Holmes]

Falcadore, are you talking about David Towe's car? It arrived in NZ around mid to late 1987. Was here in time for the Welly street race, which was November (ish) 1987, so I thought it must have been one of the earlier JPS cars.

By the way, how do you get those Avatar images to appear on your posts?

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

Where did the Andrew Bagnall Budget Travell car come from? It was a good looking car, white and dark blue. It ran the same type wheels as on the Francevic Wolf car. Andrew Miedecke also ran similar wheels from 1988. The Bagnall car was rhd. I think he did a bit of racing in Asia with it?

The Bagnall Sierra was built up in kit form by Andrew Miedecke's team.

The brand new shell used was originally meant to go to Colin Bond after his deal with Don Smith to purchase his first Sierra, but the shell wound up with Bagnall at Miedecke's team (who presumebly still had something to do with Smith via the 1987 OXO team)