One of my all-time favourite Aussie tin-top racers. Bob Janes amazing HQ Holden Monaro. The car was actually built not for Sports Sedan racing, but to compete in the ATCC under Improved Production rules. It ran a fuel injected small block Chevy, and 15" x 10" Minilites. Work began on the car in late 1971, and it made its ATCC debut in the penultimate round of the 1972 ATCC at Surfers Paradise, driven by John Harvey, where it finished 2nd behind team boss Bob Jane. Harvey drove it again in the final at Oran Park,
where it ran 2nd for a while until it struck brake problems.
Tino Leo
When CAMS dropped Improved Production and introduced Sports Sedans for 1973, the Monaro was raced in this, mostly unchanged from its Improved Production guise. Throughout the 70s it was changed to keep pace with the competition, but Jane rarely ventured away from Calder Park. He did run the full Sports Sedan championship in 1977, finishing 2nd to Frank Gardners Chev Corvair. Peter Brock drove the car in a one-off appearance at Calder in 1978.
The car was then sold to Phil Ward, who raced it from 1979 to 1981, before it was sold to Tino Leo, who owned the car until 2004, when Des Wall bought it and spent a lot of time and money having it restored back to its original 1972 Improved production guise.