so who's the best of all time?

[v8loverman]

jim richards? peter brock? tony longhurst?

who do you think, let me know...

[Pro Racer]

hard to say depending on how far you go back but for me it's Brock and Richo, then Johnson and Perkins, there are plenty of others that can be listed if you keep going back, there are so many greats and all were great for different reasons so the list could go on a far way.

[n.kuiper]

brock richards skaife

[WebberForWDC]

Dick Johnson I'd say, but that the top guys from touring car racing have always been superstars with supreme talent regardless of vehicle is quite incredible.

[cavvy]

Lex Davison (grandfather of Will & Alex), 7 litre Galaxie punter.
Bob Jane in the 7 litre Camaro.
Norm Beechey in the 409 Impala, later the 5 litre Mustang then the 350 Monaro.

Why do the current day persist with small V8s ?

[deeks6]

Top 10 in no particular order:

Geoghegan, Moffat, Lowndes, Skaife, Brock, Johnson, Richards, Jane, Murphy (mainly for Bathurst) and Ambrose.

If you take everything in to consideration - Qualifying, Setup & Engineering Know How, Race Craft & Overtaking, Outright Speed, Consistency, Sportsmanship and Longevity - I'd call it a dead heat between Dick Johnson and (gulp) Mark Skaife.

For pure ability to make anything go fast, hard to go past Big Pete and Little Pete ... however if I was a team owner, I'd be more than happy to put any one of those in my car.

[fomoco]

Originally Posted by cavvy

Lex Davison (grandfather of Will & Alex), 7 litre Galaxie punter.
Bob Jane in the 7 litre Camaro.
Norm Beechey in the 409 Impala, later the 5 litre Mustang then the 350 Monaro.

Why do the current day persist with small V8s ?

I'm with you on this one cavvy, whilst todays stars have the $$$ behind them, yester year, drivers drove just as well , quite literally by the seat of their pants. Cortina around the Mount on standard tyres , definetly big set of go - nads

I don't knock todays drivers,I just rate them all superstars in thier own era of motorsport.

[db120176]

Norm Beechey is the name that kept coming up from older friends and families when it came to the best they'd seen. Jim Richards would be the best from what I've seen

Longhurst? Never!

[mmciau]

Originally Posted by deeks6

Top 10 in no particular order:

Geoghegan, Moffat, Lowndes, Skaife, Brock, Johnson, Richards, Jane, Murphy (mainly for Bathurst) and Ambrose.

If you take everything in to consideration - Qualifying, Setup & Engineering Know How, Race Craft & Overtaking, Outright Speed, Consistency, Sportsmanship and Longevity - I'd call it a dead heat between Dick Johnson and (gulp) Mark Skaife.

For pure ability to make anything go fast, hard to go past Big Pete and Little Pete ... however if I was a team owner, I'd be more than happy to put any one of those in my car.

Agree with your call - maybe add Spencer Martin?


Mike

[STEVO]

Originally Posted by v8loverman

jim richards? peter brock? tony longhurst?

who do you think, let me know...

Where on earth did you get Tony Longhurst from?

Don't get me wrong, I was a Tony fan at one stage... but a great? Even as a thread suggestion starter? Bizarre!

[Wrighty05]

Brock, Richards, Pete Geoghegan, Moffat, Lowndes, Skaife.

That's my 6 and you can take them in any order.

[porsche91722]

Skaife, Richards, Brock, Geoghegan, Beechey, Moffat, Jane, Johnson, Lowndes. To hard to pick one.
Longhurst, WTF, Ya gotta be kiddin !!

[dsg]

Bond was pretty good in his day. So was Uncle Tom but I think it is best to not go there.

[billybanana]

It's so very hard to compare different eras in any sport but from the old videos I have of Norm Beechey - well he was something else. In the modern era - ability wise it's a toss up between Lowndes and Ambrose but for the runs on the board Skaife for me.

[deeks6]

Originally Posted by mmciau

Agree with your call - maybe add Spencer Martin?


Mike

Spence did'nt drive tourers much (apart from the Cortina briefly) but for ability, I doubt whether there has been a better Aussie than this bloke ... retired way too soon.

BTW, anybody who went to the Tasman revival and saw him punting the Brabham Alfa around would be in no doubt of that statement. Brilliant. One guy on my list rates him the best ever.

My personal favourite is Bryan Thomson - but thats heavily biased. Mind you, he was a very good steerer and (believe it or not) is about to make another comeback at 73 or whatever he is (in a Sports Sedan).

[TSR]

Jane,Geoghegan,Moffat,Brock,Richards,Johnson,Lowdnes,Ambrose,Seton,Skaife,Perkins.

There is my eleven

[agosling]

My number one will always be Moffat. I am a life long Holden supported, but Moff was just something special both as a driver and as a person.

Jim Richards would be my number 2.

Brock is number 3, great driver but with a somewhat flawed personality.

After that it is a big gap, and I don't think any driver in the last 15 years has done enough to be considered.

[Senna05]

Well, once again, are we looking at personalities here or ability?

Brock may have had an affinity with one track and had some good equipment, but who can deny he was even great with shoddy bits of gear?

He took the VN to it's first win in a drive that was awesome to watch!

The VK was a slug in it's first guise, but he ran down some quicker cars....

The XU1.......72 and 73, wow!

ANYWAY....sorry

Despite only being in my 20's, I have been watching since 1987 and watched alot of archived stuff -

My top 5 would come down to, and actually in any order -

Pete Geoghan, Brock, Richards, Skaife, Lowndes

That is merely the opinion of a wide eyed fan, feel free to disagree and I encourage discussion.

Still - Longhurst??? Come on....

[deeks6]

Tony Longhurst was the best Super Touring BMW driver ... and had a lovely left hook for those who would challenge that title ... ROFL

[WebberForWDC]

Originally Posted by cavvy

Lex Davison (grandfather of Will & Alex), 7 litre Galaxie punter.
Bob Jane in the 7 litre Camaro.
Norm Beechey in the 409 Impala, later the 5 litre Mustang then the 350 Monaro.

Why do the current day persist with small V8s ?

Well it could be a thrilling fight between the European developed BMW diesels and the Seat diesels....

They gotta keep somethings the same as the original Group 3A... and the layout of the VP and EB... otherwise it generates a lot of cost and issues, without changing the racing much?

[WebberForWDC]

Originally Posted by PORSCHE917[22]

Skaife, Richards, Brock, Geoghegan, Beechey, Moffat, Jane, Johnson, Lowndes. To hard to pick one.
Longhurst, WTF, Ya gotta be kiddin !!

But two times Bathurst glory is only one less than Lowndes!

[racer69]

Originally Posted by dsg

So was Uncle Tom but I think it is best to not go there.

Uncle Tom's Australian starts can be counted on one hand.....although the thread title doesn't specify a place in the world for whom are eligible, nor even a category......

So it's hard to top Jim Clark

[Senna05]

Seeing as it doesn't specify, can we throw in Schumacher, Fangio, Senna and Prost?

[racer69]

Moss too (he even drove a tourer here once)

[cavvy]

Originally Posted by WebberForWDC

But two times Bathurst glory is only one less than Lowndes!

Begs the question about Bathurst - compare the current era of the same car/same team with Bob Jane winning at Bathurst in a road registered Cortina for the Ford factory whilst punting an improved prod Jag Mk2 for his own race team (& running a sports car & open wheeler) - bit hard to compare that with Lowndes & Winky winning at Bathurst &/or Garth picking up the drivers title in 07.