Bathurst Trivia

[Racin Jason]

I love Fords but I also have a soft spot for the old rotaries[bw] and this is making me a bit uncomfortable! Just the thought of such a nice little car on it's roof is enough to make me [pk].

 

[Beejay]

OK try this. Not so much trivia as wierd in hindsight:

In 1983 Brock won under unusual circumstances, driving the HDT second string car. What happened prior to </u> the first twenty laps to the leading cars from the major teams?

 

[Henry]

For starters, #05 put a leg out of bed in the first handful of laps...

The JPS Bimmer got a gutful of dirty fuel... amidst allegations of sabotage in what would've been arguably its most competitive year.

Kermit Mk 2 went slowly backwards with alternator problems which ultimately led to a cooked gearbox... but it wasn't competitive anyway...

Moffat had qualified outside the top ten after they struggled to get the injected 13B to work properly, but ran strongly all day, dicing hard with Bob Morris is the Rusty French Commodore...

Fury's Bluebird had suspension dramas IIRC... or a gearbox (reference material's packed in the garage) and stopped early...

...and didn't Gricey suffer with brake dramas?

 

[Bartman09]

I thought unusual circumstances wpould have meant he actually won in his own car for a change.

 

[Bartman09]

Was the gearbox on the Fury Bluebird Henry. Right again

 

[Henry]

quote:Originally posted by bartman09

I thought unusual circumstances wpould have meant he actually won in his own car for a change.

No, only two of the nine were in a car other than the one in which he started... Brock winning against sustained close competition was a bit rarer... although it did happen...

 

[Henry]

quote:Originally posted by bartman09
Have thought of a new topic we could maybe try called "Stump Henry" (the man's a walking encylopedia).
Would love to see whether it can be done.

doesn't take much to stump me... sit me in a round room and tell me to sit in the corner... send me off to the store for a long weight... but I DO know how to get hold of a tin of striped paint...

 

[Beejay]

quote:Originally posted by Henry

For starters, #05 put a leg out of bed in the first handful of laps...

The JPS Bimmer got a gutful of dirty fuel... amidst allegations of sabotage in what would've been arguably its most competitive year.

Kermit Mk 2 went slowly backwards with alternator problems which ultimately led to a cooked gearbox... but it wasn't competitive anyway...

Moffat had qualified outside the top ten after they struggled to get the injected 13B to work properly, but ran strongly all day, dicing hard with Bob Morris is the Rusty French Commodore...

Fury's Bluebird had suspension dramas IIRC... or a gearbox (reference material's packed in the garage) and stopped early...

...and didn't Gricey suffer with brake dramas?

Yes that's the whole story! You might have imagined it in the '70s, but at the end of the first hour with a top-class field, the lead trio was Grice/Bond, Morris/French, Cullen/Harrop. The fuss over the 13B Mazda was a con-job.

 

[Henry]

quote:Originally posted by Beejay
Yes that's the whole story! You might have imagined it in the '70s, but at the end of the first hour with a top-class field, the lead trio was Grice/Bond, Morris/French, Cullen/Harrop. The fuss over the 13B Mazda was a con-job.

Moffat was sandbagging?!? Wily old fox!

 

[Bartman09]

quote:Originally posted by Henry

quote:Originally posted by bartman09
Have thought of a new topic we could maybe try called "Stump Henry" (the man's a walking encylopedia).
Would love to see whether it can be done.

doesn't take much to stump me... sit me in a round room and tell me to sit in the corner... send me off to the store for a long weight... but I DO know how to get hold of a tin of striped paint...

Still a bloody good effort mate, you know a hell af a lot more than a lot of us put together though. I thought i maybe knew a little but not in your league.

 

[Bartman09]

quote:Originally posted by Henry

quote:Originally posted by bartman09

I thought unusual circumstances wpould have meant he actually won in his own car for a change.

No, only two of the nine were in a car other than the one in which he started... Brock winning against sustained close competition was a bit rarer... although it did happen...

Yeah i know mate but thought i would have a little stir. He always seemed to have that little bit better equipment (reliable) than the competition, bit like Skaife in the early 2000's, then again he was up against the AU's.

 

[Henry]

absolutely. Guys like Grice, Johnson, Morris were all very good steerers, but when much of the results come down to the best mouse trap, Holden's favourite son had many of his big victories won before they came under starter's orders.

 

[Beejay]

Yes. Larrykin's honest modern-day assessment was that HDT should have won every race they entered. He said they had the best car, the best budget, the best people.

 

[Henry]

quote:Originally posted by Beejay

Yes. Larrykin's honest modern-day assessment was that HDT should have won every race they entered. He said they had the best car, the best budget, the best people.

Yeah, HDT were certainly a benchmark: the roll call there reads like a motorsport who's who: Bruce Nowacki, Mort Brown, Part Burns, Larry Perkins, Jeff Grech were all there at the height of it all: Tony de Genero, Mick Webb, Neal Lowe all passed through... plus the sort of pull they had at Fishermans Bend: even in 1986, when the Polariser and the rest of the rot was well-entrenched, if not publically so, Holden's sent people into the factory in the dark of night on Bathurst Friday, to "procure" and airfreight the bits needed to have 05 straight and ready for starter's orders on Sunday... apparently they weren't too far off being ready for Hardie's Heroes, but were content to miss it in order to make sure the car was right (and it was all done without the TAFE squad IIRC)

Makes the accomplishments of Dick, Dyno, Roy, and guys like Strop Noble and Father that much more remarkable, that they took three titles and a Bathurst win during the early 80's...

 

[Bigcol]

I've often though how Brocks record would look if the others were on the same footing and we had the level of professionalism we have today.

I reckon you could halve his Bathurst tallies for starters

 

[Racin Jason]

Absolutely correct Col. But Brock was also a political master aswell and he manipulated himself into the best mousetrap. For his time he was quite remarkable in and out of the car, but I still believe a few of those other guys had him covered for natural ability behind the wheel.

 

[Hardies Hero]

time for a question;

In 1986 why did Allan Grice only arrive at Mt Panorama on the Thursday of race week? remembering that back then practice used to start at 10am on the wednesday.

 

[Nascar12]

Was he racing in Europe earlier that week????

 

[Hardies Hero]

yep, very close, but he planned to be there for the start of race week, something held him up.

what was it?

 

[Nascar12]

Body cavity search by Customs???