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Then, just five laps later, with Beechey piling on the pressure in fourth spot, and eager to move forward, McKeown, in third, clipped Weldon’s stricken Holden, and turned hard into the bank, heavily damaging the suspension, and was also out.

By lap 25, Jane was circulating out front, and seemingly in control. Muir was chasing hard, 100 or so meters behind, and keeping up the pressure, while Beechey found himself back in fourth once again, as Geoghegan moved up one spot in the little Cortina GT.

But on lap 31, Jane began to slow, as the Jaguar struck clutch problems. Muir quickly caught up, then went by to take the lead once more. Geoghegan went past a lap later, then Beechey the lap after that. Jane’s shot at winning three consecutive ATCC titles was slipping away as his clutch slowly failed, and his rivals disappeared up the road in front of him. Further back, behind the lone Firth Cortina, Foley had got ahead of Manton in their own private class battle, ahead of Scott, Seton, and Clarke.

So now Muir was in control, and for the first time in ATCC history, it appeared an Australian car may win the title. This likelihood strengthened when Beechey moved back ahead of Geoghegan for second, and the red and blue S4’s swept around the pretty little Lakeside layout as they counted down the laps.

But on lap 37, Muir’s title hopes also evaporated. Heading into the race, Muir made the decision to fit his Holden with the soft and grippy T5 Goodyear Bluestreak tyres, confident they’d last the full 50 laps. Beechey, on the other hand, went for the harder T4 option. But Muir’s left rear was taking a beating around the challenging Lakeside track, and suddenly he felt it go soft. He darted into the pits for a replacement, but this was not the work of a moment. The rules required that any replacement tyre fitted must be the spare. Crewman Barry Jackson threw fellow crewman Ken Ibbottson what he thought were the keys to open the trunk lid, but they turned out to be the keys for his motel room! The team scrambled for what seemed an eternity, and two laps went by before Muir returned to the track. His race was run.