Article: 1985 Bathurst 1000 - Group A Comes To Australia

[Steve Holmes]

By 1984, the Confederation for Australian Motor Sports (CAMS) had had a guts-full of trying to control the monster they’d created in their localised Group C touring car category. Group C had been introduced in 1973, as the best solution to the highly publicised ‘Supercar Scare’ of the year before. In 1972, Evan Green had written an article for the Sun Herald in which he’d interviewed New South Wales Transport Minister Milton Morris on his views relating to the increasingly potent products being produced by Ford, General-Motors Australia, and Chrysler in the pursuit of victory at the annual Bathurst endurance race. Under Series Production regulations, very few modifications could be made to the standard car before it went racing. Therefore, the most obvious way around this barrier for the manufacturers was to essentially build a race car that buyers could purchase straight off the showroom floor.

The article and associated bad publicity left the manufacturers reeling, and immediately cancelled plans for their upcoming efforts. In order to remove the requirement to build road going Bathurst specials, CAMS introduced Group C, which allowed far greater freedoms to be made to the road going vehicle for racing purposes, and although a homologation special would still be required by manufacturers if they were serious about Bathurst success, these specials were far less potent in standard road guise than their predecessors, and could be quietly slipped out the back door to genuine buyers, without any fanfare.

Group C effectively became a two-horse race, between Ford and Holden. Each manufacturer released a new homologation special for the first couple of years, but Fords interest began to wane, and they disbanded their factory team following a successful 1973 season which included winning both the Australian Touring Car Championship and Bathurst. Although they’d continue involvement at a distance, through releasing various new homologation specials, it was now left to former Ford factory driver Allan Moffat to almost take on the numerous Holden teams almost single-handedly.

In 1977, Moffat ran a two-car team of Falcon hardtops for himself and former Holden factory driver Colin Bond, funded by both Ford and the combined efforts of several Ford dealerships around Australia. Moffat and Bond finished first and second in the ATCC, then claimed an emphatic victory at Bathurst, where their two cars finished first and second, and ran side by side for the last half of the last lap, in one of the most famous scenes ever witnessed at the mountain.

However, somewhat naively, Ford chose to rest on their laurels for 1978, and rather than expand on what they’d achieved the previous season to counter the obvious attack that was to come from Holden, they retained their efforts to 1977 levels, and were soundly beaten upon all season long. At that, they decided to step away from touring car racing in 1979, leaving the Holden factory squad to effectively compete against privateer Holden teams, which was a completely pointless exercise from a marketing perspective. So Holden followed Fords lead, and withdrew from touring car racing at the end of 1979.

So now CAMS had a dilemma. Both Ford and Holden had withdrawn from touring car racing, and the cars that were all competing in 1979 were outdated models, with Holden releasing the new Commodore in 1978, Ford the new Falcon in 1979. CAMS needed cars, and they needed teams racing the latest models. And so they tweaked the Group C rules for the 1980 season, to allow in several new makes and models, and made it possible for cars to become eligible without manufacturer involvement. And so, by 1984, they were bouncing around a political hot potato as they attempted to create an even playing field between several vehicles that had little in common, and which included Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon, Mazda RX7, Jaguar XJS, Chevrolet Camaro, Nissan Bluebird, BMW 635CSi. Furthermore, they had representatives from each brand lobbying to get accepted various demon tweaks to make their package more competitive. And as such, they decided to step back from the role of rule makers, and adopted the international set of Group A regulations instead.

[Steve Holmes]

Group A was based on a set of regulations set down by the FIA in 1982, and used for that years European Touring Car Championship. They were adopted for the British Touring Car Championship in 1983, followed by Germany and New Zealand a year later. Australia and Japan introduced them in 1985. Group A rules required 25,000 units be built in a single year, from which a minimum 2,500 of the competing model must be produced (unless Australian made, then the number was just 1,000). Additionally, a homologation special could then be released, of which only 500 cars were required.

Ideally, Group A was to be a platform from which multiple brands competed evenly. Indeed, when introduced to Australia for 1985, several brands took part throughout the year, including the local Holden Commodore, plus the BMW 635CSi, BMW 323i and 325i, Ford Mustang, Rover Vitesse, Volvo 240T, Jaguar XJS, Mitsubishi Starion, Toyota Supra, Mazda RX7, Alfa Romeo GTV6, Toyota Corolla, etc.

New Zealand had adopted Group A in late 1984, and held an international endurance event for Group A cars in January 1985 on a temporary street circuit in Wellington. This race allowed several Australian teams to get a taster for what lay ahead for them, and while the BMW 635CSi, Rover Vitesse, and even the new Holden Commodore all looked like potential victors at various times throughout the race, it was the turbo-charged Volvo 240T of Robbie Francevic and Michel Delcourt who were awarded the win.

The 1985 ATCC consisted of 10 rounds, and while Peter Brock showed some early promise in the Commodore by winning Round 2 at Sandown, and Francevic’s ex-Eggenberger Volvo whistled its way to victory at Symmons Plains and Oran Park, it was Jim Richards in the BMW who dominated the championship, winning the other seven races, and amassing 218 points. Second in the championship was Dick Johnson on 175 points, who finished in the top three on eight occasions, but didn’t win a single race, in his Ford Mustang. While the Mustang was a good handling car, Ford US had no interest in taking it touring car racing, and it suffered for lack of horsepower.

And so, heading for Bathurst in October, Jim Richards and the stunning black and gold JPS BMW, partnered by young hot-shot Tony Longhurst, looked the combination to beat. Another 635 expected to do well would be the Schnitzer machine from Europe, driven by Roberto Ravaglia and motorbike racer Johnny Cecotto. Schnitzer had won the Spa 24 Hour race earlier in the year, having run a full campaign in the ETCC.

Something of an unknown, although expected to be a major force, was the three car Jaguar team entered by Tom Walkinshaw Racing. The six drivers consisted of Walkinshaw/Win Percy (car #8), Jeff Allam/Ron Dickson (car #9), Armin Hahne/John Goss (car #10). The inclusion in the team of Goss surprised many, as he was by now only a part-time campaigner, and considered by some critics to be past his prime. But Walkinshaw had joined Goss for Bathurst the previous year in Goss’ locally built Group C XJS, and although the event proved a disaster when the big cat with the big Scott at the wheel never left the line, and was slammed into by Peter Williamsons Toyota Supra, he surely saw something in the Aussie that convinced him to include Goss in his line-up. Certainly, it had been nearly ten years since Goss had won at Bathurst, but even still, his local knowledge would be of great use to the team.

What also surprised some was Walkinshaws decision to bring with him a team of Jaguars. Indeed, TWR had won the ETCC drivers championship in 1984 with a team of the big cats, but Jaguar then promptly withdrew from touring car racing to focus on Group C sports car racing, while Walkinshaw switched to running a Rover Vitesse factory team, and won 6 of the 14 ETCC rounds in 1985. So the choice to switch back to the Jaguar, which hadn’t been raced since 1984, was curious, but Walkinshaw obviously felt the howling V12 machines would have an edge on the long Bathurst straights.

[Steve Holmes]

From early 1985, the Holden Commodore was forced to run a minimum weight of a porky 1,400kg, but with the release of the partially approved Group A evolution model, featuring a very slight engine destroke from 5044cc to 4,987cc, the Commodore teams could now race to a much more competitive 1,325kg. So the Commodore could also be a factor. There would be a large contingent of local Holden Commodores, led by the two-car Mobil Holden Dealer Team, headed by Peter Brock. Brock would share the leading #05 car with Kiwi David Oxton, while the second car would be driven by John Harvey/David Parsons. Another Commodore expected to do well was the Roadways built machine of Warren Cullen, who would be partnered by Allan Grice, with Les Small in charge of preparation. Grice hadn’t done a lot of racing in 1985, but was still expected to be a threat. Also a contender was the New Zealand entered Commodore of Ray Smith, which he shared with 1967 World Formula 1 Champion, Denny Hulme. In all, 21 Commodores were entered.

Dick Johnson entered two Mustangs, these being the cars he’d taken stock of in late 1984, as built by the German Zakspeed company. Johnson was teamed with Larry Perkins, who was no longer with the Holden Dealer Team. Both Johnson and Perkins would qualify a Mustang each, but would share one car in the race.

The Mark Petch owned Volvo 240T was considered something of a joke by many Aussies when it first appeared in early 1985. But with the big Kiwi, Robbie Francevic, at the wheel, the laughter soon stopped when he stormed to a brace of victories against the best touring cars in the land. The Volvo 240T model had raced in both Europe, Great Britain, and Australia under a cloud of controversy, after Volvo built the required 500 homologation specials with rear spoiler, larger turbo, intercooler and water injection, to qualify for Group A, then promptly converted 477 of them back to standard 240 spec once approved. This, the FIA were none too pleased about, and the squabbles raged on throughout much of the year. At the mountain, Francevic would be partnered by young single seater driver John Bowe, who was making his Bathurst debut.

Five Mitsubishi Starions were entered in Class B for Bathurst, headed by the 2-car Mitsubishi Ralliart cars of Kevin Bartlett/Peter McKay, and Brad Jones/Peter Fitzgerald. There was a lone Toyota Supra for Peter Williamson who was teamed with Tomas Mezera, although Toyota were much better represented in Class A with several Corolla’s competing for class honours.

Colin Bond was expected to be another of the top-guns in Class B with his Alfa GTV6, partnered with former motorcycle ace Gregg Hansford. Other vehicles of interest were the Tim Slako/Geoff Leeds Rover Vitesse, and the Garry Willmington/Peter Janson Jaguar XJS, along with several more 635CSi BMW’s, for Neville Crichton/George Fury (which was run as the second JPS car even though Kiwi Neville Crichton owned the car). 635’s were also entered for Kent Baigent/Neil Lowe, Jim Keogh/Garry Rogers, Charlie O’Brien/John English, and Simon Emerling/Trevor Hine.

In all, 55 cars were entered for the great race in 1985, including the second Johnson Mustang, and a spare Commodore for Cullen/Grice, neither of which would start.

Throughout practice, the Jag’s stretched their legs and comfortably held the top positions throughout each session. Walkinshaw himself was fastest through most of the sessions, while, in the third car, Goss was following orders and happy to play the role of number-two to Hahne.

Group A was still new to Australia, but the locals proved they were fast learners. Both Grice and Johnson were the fastest of the non-Jags, along with Francevic in the Volvo which ran like a bullet on the straights. Walkinshaw was impressed by what he saw in Goss, and his willingness to be a team player, and promoted him to lead driver come official qualifying on Friday. And within four laps, the Aussie banged in an outstanding 2:19.77, to top the times, just pipping the boss by 1/100^th. The pits and media were in a frenzy! Many thought Goss was past his best, yet, here he was, soundly beating the fastest European touring car drivers in a car he’d not even driven two day earlier! Third fastest in qualifying was the Allam/Dickson TWR machine.

[Steve Holmes]

Fastest of the local teams was Richards/Longhurst, more than a second slower than the third Jag. But the black JPS BMW would be kinder on its fuel load, as would the Schnitzer car, and both would run more laps between stops. Fifth fastest were Grice/Cullen, followed by Johnson, Perkins, Francevic/Bowe, Brock/Oxton, and Harvey/Parsons. Plenty were having drama’s, including the #17 Johnson Mustang, which split the oil cooler in one of the sessions. But, rather than replace it, the team took the decision to instead weld it up. Also, Grice had destroyed the second Roadways entered car on Thursday after whacking a rock.

The one-lap Hardies Heroes would decide the grid positions for the ten fastest cars from qualifying, as it had done every year at Bathurst since 1978. Just to confuse matters, 1985 would feature 11 cars in Hardies Heroes. The 11th fastest Ravaglia/Cecotto BMW would be drafted in, and while the Perkins Mustang would get to run its lap, would then be withdrawn so Perkins could take his place alongside Johnson.

Come Hardies Heroes, and, as expected, it was an all-TWR Jaguar front row, but the Goss/Hahne machine wasn’t among them. Pushing hard to stay on top, Goss fluffed a gear, and could do no better than 6^th fastest. Behind the two big gleaming Jag’s on the front row was an impressive Johnson, who’d flung the little under-powered Mustang around to be just over 0.6sec behind the second XJS. Next to Johnson was Grice, who took to the one-lap banzai run with his usual gusto. On the inside of row three was the Volvo, while 7^th and 8^th fastest were Richards and Perkins. Ravaglia, Parsons, and Brock rounded out the top 11, though with the Perkins machine being immediately withdrawn, everyone behind him moved up one spot.

Come Sunday morning, and as the Honourable Gerald Lascelles gave the announcement for the ‘most famous words in motorsport’, the streams of balloons were set loose, the pit crews and media scurried off the track, and the engine notes rose. At the drop of the flag, legendary tv commentator Mike Raymond was typically up for the occasion: “They’re racing, and Walkinshaw gets a blind of it, so too does Johnson and Johnson will split them and so does Grice! Taking on the Jaguars it was Walkinshaw who made a blind of it, Allam missed the start completely. They head to the first turn, where Walkinshaw, from Dick Johnson, they all go through and now make their way up Mountain Straight”.

As the big field streamed through Hell Corner and up Mountain Straight for the first time, Walkinshaw had Johnson right on his hammer, while Francevic and Grice went through side-by-side, with Allam back in 5th. But by the time they’d reached the top of Mountain Straight, Allam had already powered up to second, followed by Francevic. Johnson went from second to fifth, in the space of a few hundred meters, the little Mustang was well short of legs against its rivals.

Across the top of the mountain, and for traditional Bathurst race fans, the sight of a pair of Jaguars, leading a Volvo, in the opening lap of their great race that had been dominated by Australian machinery for twenty years, would take some getting used to. Of course, they cheered, but were they cheering the European machines, or the local battlers? The top five cars had already pulled out a gap, while Goss in sixth and Brock in seventh were themselves well ahead of the following group. Richards was next, then Hulme. Down Conrod Straight, the Jag’s stretched their legs, and were well ahead as the field crossed the stripe for the first time. Meanwhile, Grice had out-braked Francevic off the end of the straight, and lay third as he set out to start lap two.

In all the excitement off the line, what few people had realised was that Grice had clunked the front right corner of the Allam XJS as he went by, and had broken the Jag’s headlight. The shards of glass were quickly sucked into the engine bay, and into the big V12s intakes, where they ravaged the internals. Allam was in the pits after 3 laps, and there he stayed. Then, a short time later, Grice stopped, heading up Mountain Straight, when a screw from the distributor rotor had worked loose, and jammed in the distributor drive

[Steve Holmes]

Goss, now, was quickly moving forward. When sat on the grid, he’d noticed the engine temperature was rising, so shut it off until just before the start. He paced himself comfortably for the first couple of laps, until the cylinder head temperature returned to where it should be, then set off after the leaders. With Allam out and Grice stopped, he moved into second, and while Francevic was keen to take up the fight, soon settled into his pre-planned race pace.

The thirsty Jaguar’s would require four pitstops to make race distance, the Volvo and the V8s needed three, while the BMW’s could go all the way on two. As Walkinshaw made his first stop, so Goss, who’d sat a respectable 2sec off the boss throughout the first stint, moved through to lead the race for the first time since the 1970s, but took his turn to pit one lap later.

Francevic had held third, ahead of a battling Johnson, Richards, and Brock, who were trading places between them, but then the Mustang began spewing smoke, a result of the oil-cooler having split again. If only the team had replaced it, rather than simply welded it! Brock, in behind, started flapping his right arm out the window at Johnson as his windscreen became coked in a layer of oil, courtesy of the green Mustang.

So now Johnson was pitted, while Francevic began falling back into the clutches of Brock and Richards. Richards had been pacing himself, the BMW unable to contend with the V8s or the Volvo on the straights, but could produce faster outright laps. With Johnson gone, Richards caught Francevic, but couldn’t get past. He’d be all over the boxy silver Volvo through the corners, but as soon as they got to the straight bits, Francevic would disappear up the road again. After a concerted effort to get by, his temperatures began to rise with all the heat generated by the turbo Volvo, so he dropped back behind the chasing Brock, waited until the temps returned to normal, then put in a few hard laps to clear both cars.

When the Jag’s took their first stops, Richards swept by to take the lead. Although the black BMW couldn’t quite compete on outright lap speed, the fact Richards/Longhurst would only need to stop half as many times as the Jaguar’s made them a genuine threat, some calculating they could be in front by as much as a lap at the finish, all going well. But this wasn’t to be. When a Commodore lost its motor on the pit straight and dumped all its oil on the track, so Richards slithered through it moments later, sliding off the end of the straight and into the sand trap on Hell Corner. Moments later he was joined by the second JPS machine, and both cars lost three laps in the bunkers while track marshalls swarmed about desperately trying to dig them out.

So, with the Jag’s having pitted, and now back on the charge, and Richards making sand castles at Hell Corner, Francevic moved to the front for a few laps, before pitting to hand over to Bowe. Brock also pitted. Bowe’s first Bathurst was short-lived. A diode in the alternator failed, which meant the alternator would need changing. In the rush to replace the alternator, the radiator got punctured. While removing it, someone noticed its replacement didn’t have an anti-freeze plug, so the damaged one had to be repaired. The race was effectively over for the Volvo team.

[Steve Holmes]

Up front, the Jaguar’s circulated at speed, pulling away from Brock/Oxton, and Ravaglia/Cecotto, and it appeared nobody was able to challenge them. Ultimately, this now became TWR’ s race to lose, and only failure of both big cats could stop them from a runaway victory. And at that, the gremlins began to nibble just after Goss took over the reigns for his second stint. The fibreglass seat had somehow broken at the base, and Goss began to struggle with little lower back support. His only option was to reduce his cornering speed until his next stop. There, the team attempted a make-shift fix to tie the seat together, but this failed to work. The drivers were forced to use the steering wheel to hold them up, while bracing their right elbow on the door, and hooking their left foot under the clutch. This proved incredibly uncomfortable, and the #10 machine began falling away from the lead car.

And then, the leading TWR machine with Percy at the helm, began trailing light whisps of smoke, which grew gradually thicker, and Percy pitted early for the scheduled final stop, for the problem to be rectified, and for Walkinshaw to do the final stint. A broken oil line was found to be the culprit, it was crimped, bandaged, the oil topped up, and Walkinshaw was sent on his way, still in the lead.

Now, with a sniff of a chance, Brock, having taken over from Oxton for the final time, got his head down as the Jaguar’s began to stutter. The Commodore’s Achilles-heel with the new 4.9 motor was its single timing chain, which it was forced to run under Group A rules. The second HDT car had already been retired on lap 96 with this problem. Holden sought to have its new Group A car homolgated well before Bathurst, with upgrades including front and rear spoilers, larger grill opening, and double timing chain, but their bid was partially rejected, with only the smaller motor and lighter weight being accepted, and they were forced to run in this lesser configuration until 1986.

However, as Brock gunned it, his problem was not with the timing chain, rather, the windscreen! A rock from another car had flicked up and put a crack in the screen while Oxton was at the wheel. At first, it didn’t spread, but as Brock went after the Jag’s, so the crack grew, and the windscreen began coming apart. Frustratingly for Brock, the crack was right in his line of sight. Eventually, with the windscreen slowly disintegrating in front of him, Brock shot into the pits to have it removed. Bang! The screen was quickly kicked out, and Brock took off again, having lost little time.

Up ahead, as Goss continued to struggle with his broken seat, which was getting worse, and Walkinshaw was in trouble once again. Oil began spewing from the car, and he darted back into the pits to have it repaired once more. The earlier quick-fix had failed, and this time the oil cooler had to be replaced, losing the #8 car three laps as it sat silent, and Walkinshaw’s chance of a win began to vanish.

Now Goss took the lead, with Brock, sans-windscreen, giving chase, while Ravaglia was third. The expected threat from the Schnitzer car never really materialised, as the car struggled with a motor down on power, thanks to a fault in the computer management system. All Ravaglia could do was drive his BMW like he’d stolen it, and hope those ahead of him struck trouble. And Brock did, briefly. The Clerk of Course noted that as the windscreen of the Commodore had been removed, so too the rear window should also come out, in case it blew out at speed on the track. And so, once again, Brock darted in, a crew member leapt in through a back door, kicked the screen out, leapt back out, slammed the door, and Brock was off and away once more! But while this was happening, Ravaglia buzzed through into second.

Soon, the MHDT Commodore powered back past the BMW, and set off after Goss. The Jag was 30sec up the road, but Brock was charging, and closing the gap. A few hours earlier, as the big green TWR machines comfortably powered away from the competition at will, and the local teams were dropping like flies, it appeared the fans were in for a fairly tedious afternoon. But now the race had come alive. Here was John Goss, 30sec in front, driving what should have been the fastest car, but which had a broken seat, making driving excruciatingly difficult. And now, giving chase and closing the gap, was Peter Brock, on a charge for what could be his ninth Bathurst victory, and the most unlikely of all his wins at the mountain to date.

[Steve Holmes]

Goss knew Brock was coming, so really dug deep, and pushed aside the discomfort he was being subjected to. Brock was still charging, but now the gap was beginning to level out as Goss lifted his pace. With 6 laps to go, it looked like Goss could do it, but at the same time, it wasn’t known if his seat would hold up, or completely collapse beneath him. Then, with three laps remaining, bellowing down Conrod Straight, the timing chain snapped on Brocks motor, and he coasted into the pits, to retire. He’d come to Bathurst in 1985 as an underdog, a role he wasn’t used to playing, but he’d almost pulled it off, despite the challenges thrown at him, and the fans loved him for it.

Now Ravaglia moved back into second, and Goss looked to have the race under control, as the pressure was relieved. The BMW was struggling for pace, and so the TWR driver could control how he ran the final laps. Walkinshaw moved into fourth after his lengthy stop, then inherited third when Brocks Commodore expired. In fact, now it was Ravaglia who was in trouble. As he set out on his final lap, the BMW began running out of fuel. He switched to the reserve, eased off over the final lap, and actually ran out of juice altogether coming towards the chequered flag, and coasted over the line.

But Goss had won! This was an unexpected victory from what was supposed to be the third of the team Jaguar’s, expected to back the two lead cars for the duration. Goss himself was really now a part-time driver, a far cry from a decade earlier where he was contesting the full ATCC, and Formula 5000. As he came down Conrod Straight for the final time, and swept out on to the pit straight, so Walkinshaw caught him and the two Jaguar’s crossed the line together. They were three laps apart, and were separated by the Schnitzer BMW on the score-board, but that didn’t matter.

Richards/Longhurst finished fourth, three laps behind Goss, followed by Baigent/Lowe, Keogh/Rogers, Johnson/Perkins, Bond/Hansford (first in Class B), Bartlett/McKay, and privateers Barry Jones and Tony Mulvihill, who rounded out the top ten in their Commodore, which, incidentally, was the first Holden home.

From what, by quarter distance, was looking set to become a Jaguar procession, turned out to be an exciting, enthralling, and unpredictable contest, and one packed with drama right to the end. This was a race in which there could have been so many different outcomes; had Richards/Longhurst not slipped on the oil and lost three laps. In the end, they were three laps behind the winners; had Johnson replaced his oil cooler, rather than welding it; had the Volvo not broken what was a 20cent part, that led to a spate of unrelated dramas. But Bathurst has always been a race packed full of tails of what might have been.

In the end, Goss/Hahne took a deserved win, and a one well earned. For Goss, this was his first win in 9 years at Bathurst, and he was understandably delighted, making sure to praise Walkinshaw, and share the victory with him. This was also the first Bathurst win for a British car since 1966, when Rauno Aaltonen/Bob Holden led a frantic slip-streaming Mini Cooper extravaganza that was completely dominated by the little flying bricks.

But Group A touring car racing also emerged as the winner, and had gained some much needed respect following the ditching by CAMS of its Group C rules, which were heartily loved and embraced by the local fan base. Of course, Group A would eventually collapse through the very loophole which appeared blindingly obvious from the outset, that one manufacturer would want to win more than all the others, and would out-spend them in order to do so, effectively turning the category into a one-make class. But in 1985, and 1986 for that matter, Group A was the darling of world touring car racing.

My thanks to David Blanch at Autopics for supplying the stunning photos for this article. Please visit and support David at: www.autopics.com.au

[Frosty5]

The picture of the Volvo shows Randell Edgell under the bonnet checking the alternator. The guy on the jack was ex F1 spanner man for Williams (Wayne Eckersley) one tough Aussie I can tell you, no beg your pardons with that guy and me standing behind the pit wall under the drivers names. We had air jacks but for some reason they were not used. The pits in those days were more akin to sheep pens and there was no 40kph limit in pit lane. The lane marked for entry and exit to and from the pits was classed as part of the race track and one had to be wide awake when cars were travelling down the pit road. The race could have been very interesting but for the sake of a $2 diode and the subsequent damage to the radiator. It was a great car and Robbie pedalled it well along with John Bowe. It was affectionately known as the "Flying Brick" or in Dick Johnsons words the "Swedish Taxi". He just didn't like it, probably because it blew him away at Symmons Plains during the '85 ATCC.

[Steve Holmes]

The picture of the Volvo shows Randell Edgell under the bonnet checking the alternator. The guy on the jack was ex F1 spanner man for Williams (Wayne Eckersley) one tough Aussie I can tell you, no beg your pardons with that guy and me standing behind the pit wall under the drivers names. We had air jacks but for some reason they were not used. The pits in those days were more akin to sheep pens and there was no 40kph limit in pit lane. The lane marked for entry and exit to and from the pits was classed as part of the race track and one had to be wide awake when cars were travelling down the pit road. The race could have been very interesting but for the sake of a $2 diode and the subsequent damage to the radiator. It was a great car and Robbie pedalled it well along with John Bowe. It was affectionately known as the "Flying Brick" or in Dick Johnsons words the "Swedish Taxi". He just didn't like it, probably because it blew him away at Symmons Plains during the '85 ATCC.

Really great insight there. This must have been a race to be filed under 'the one that got away' for you guys? You needed one less fuel stop than the Jag's who struck trouble towards the end, but your pace was really competitive.

The Volvo 240T Group A racer was a car that tended to polarize opinion. I always loved them. So were an unlikely race car, but incredibly fast. The Eggenberger 240T's trounced everyone in 1985 in the ETCC.

[kiwi285]

Another extremely well written article Steve with some good insights. I always thought that the Volvo was a most unlikely looking race car but man could it motor and did it leave some teams with egg on their faces.

I believe that this car still exists in Australian - is this right ?

[neale]

fantastic article!!!

There is a volvo racing in Group A in Australia, not sure of the background of this car, but there is a pretty good replica of the car shown in the pics floating around aswell.

Here is a pic of the car

[rogered]

Another extremely well written article Steve with some good insights. I always thought that the Volvo was a most unlikely looking race car but man could it motor and did it leave some teams with egg on their faces.

I believe that this car still exists in Australian - is this right ?

thought it was back in europe, the original petch one any way, which ,i guess begs the question as to where the second aussie car is

[rogered]

http://people.physics.anu.edu.au/~am...GpA_racing.htm
just found this on the interweb,

[Oldfart]

This LH drive car contributed to Volvo winning the '1986 Australian Touring Car Championship' (ATCC) the most popular category of Australian motorsport, a brilliant result against the V8 Fords & Holdens.
Late 1986 - Volvo pulls out of racing worldwide due in part to world GpA rule changes (eg turbo factor raised from 1.4 to 1.7) and disputes with the FIA. The 3 Australian cars (the LH plus 2 RH drives) were ordered back to Sweden by Volvo HQ, departing in a giant Antonov Russian transport plane.
1987 - Söderqvist Racing Services, (SRS) purchased the ex-Petch LH car and the AVDT built RH drive car. Apparently one of the cars was for 'Volvo Finland', where later Leif Wiik won the 1987 Finnish Touring Car Championship. Anders Lindberg rebuilt the ex-Petch LH car and drove for Steffansson Automotive (SAM) in the Swedish championship in 1989. SAM (Sweden) sold car to a collector in Austria 1992. Sold again to PK in Germany, 2003. The car is in top good condition and lives on, being used in historic racing in Germany.

[Greg Ghost]

Just as an aside Grahame Baker and Charlie Obrian race one at Silverstone owned by Earle Mcrae from Southplant Hire I think it was an ex factory car

[Steve Holmes]

This LH drive car contributed to Volvo winning the '1986 Australian Touring Car Championship' (ATCC) the most popular category of Australian motorsport, a brilliant result against the V8 Fords & Holdens.
Late 1986 - Volvo pulls out of racing worldwide due in part to world GpA rule changes (eg turbo factor raised from 1.4 to 1.7) and disputes with the FIA. The 3 Australian cars (the LH plus 2 RH drives) were ordered back to Sweden by Volvo HQ, departing in a giant Antonov Russian transport plane.
1987 - Söderqvist Racing Services, (SRS) purchased the ex-Petch LH car and the AVDT built RH drive car. Apparently one of the cars was for 'Volvo Finland', where later Leif Wiik won the 1987 Finnish Touring Car Championship. Anders Lindberg rebuilt the ex-Petch LH car and drove for Steffansson Automotive (SAM) in the Swedish championship in 1989. SAM (Sweden) sold car to a collector in Austria 1992. Sold again to PK in Germany, 2003. The car is in top good condition and lives on, being used in historic racing in Germany.

Thanks Rhys, thats some great info.

[Steve Holmes]

fantastic article!!!

There is a volvo racing in Group A in Australia, not sure of the background of this car, but there is a pretty good replica of the car shown in the pics floating around aswell.

Here is a pic of the car

Thats cool. Is it an actual Group A car? Most of the Volvo's that raced were built in Europe, and most were lhd, including the Petch machine, although there were a few rhd cars.

[Steve Holmes]

By the way, I should clarify, the two cars Dick Johnson purchased from Zakspeed in late 1984, were not built by Zakspeed specifically for Johnson. They were existing race cars by my understanding. However, I don't know if they were cars Zakspeed had been racing themselves, or cars Zakspeed had built for a customer in Europe. There were a lot of championships taking place throughout Europe for Group A cars, and several Mustangs were racing in these, so its possible Zakspeed were running the cars themselves somewhere.

One book I have says the cars were originally built in 1981 and 1982. But Group A wasn't introduced until 1982, so perhaps the first date is incorrect?

Can anyone shed any light on this?

[Frosty5]

Thats cool. Is it an actual Group A car? Most of the Volvo's that raced were built in Europe, and most were lhd, including the Petch machine, although there were a few rhd cars.

It sure is a Group A car. This car was actually engineered in Belgium. The chap that built it was a frenchman named Guy (cant remember his surname) spoke very little English but was a wizard in the technical department on this car. Michelle Delcourt raced this actual car in the ETCC and partnered Robbie Francevic in the NIssan Mobil races in 1985. Petch airfreighted it out prior to the race however, it was offloaded in Frankfurt and a lot of talking and desk thumping saw it on another aircarft bound for NZ. It was then air freighted down to Wellington in a chartered Bristol Freighter and the team worked on it overnight. Robbie and Michelle did thier practice laps in a widetrack Nissan Bluebird before racing the next day. Started at the back of the grid and blitzed to field to 7th place at the end of lap one. It was just a flyer and people had eyes as big as dinner plates watching this box tear through the field. Won Wellington by a lap and 100 meters. John Morton and Frank Sytner still maintain they won it but the lap charts tell a different story. A marvellous and exciting time in NZ Motorsport.

[Steve Holmes]

But the car pictured above in post #11 is right hand drive, whereas the Petch car driven by Francevic was left hand drive. Was it converted at some stage?