Holdens racing in the UK

cavvy · 20 Dec 2004, 22:59 (Ref:1184481)

Are there any Holdens racing in the UK? The recent appointment of Tom Walkinshaw to Holden Motor Sport seems to have raised interest in the car or cars TWR had in the UK & the GrA cars raced in Europe by Alan Grice & Peter Brock?
Seen a Holden punting about lately ?

Tony_Simpson · 21 Dec 2004, 00:02 (Ref:1184531)

There are two (as far as I know) in the Uk racing.

Ric Wood has raced a Commadore in the Formula Saloons series, and that is a mid 90's car, with a couple of tweaks he has done to the car, like a 4 speed NASCAR box. Have a look at www.ricwood.com

One car came over in 2004 and that is a Monaro racing in the British GT series, try www.emotional-engineering.co.uk for the car details.

I think one or two older mid 80's cars came over to race in the Thundersaloon series, but that is before my time

Hope that helps.

William Dale Jr · 21 Dec 2004, 02:14 (Ref:1184568)

The Ric Wood car was an ex-Gibson unit, wasn't it? One of the former Wynns racecars that had that pyramid-shaped thing on the underside.

One of the Thundersports cars that went over was the ex-Bathurst-winning Marlboro HDT VK Commodore. That was raced by John Cleland, and it recently returned to Australia and restored to its original form. Does anyone have any photos of John running the car in the UK?

Henry · 21 Dec 2004, 06:44 (Ref:1184647)

I thought it was the #25 car, and that the Bathrust winner resided in the museum at Mt Panorama, more or less from the end of the 1984 season

zefarelly · 21 Dec 2004, 09:51 (Ref:1184783)

I've been thinking about looking for an old one when I go to Sydney in January to run in the historics, but I think it'll be about as competitive as a fridge on castor wheels !

**GTRMagic** · 21 Dec 2004, 10:30 (Ref:1184826)

Depends what car you wanted to look at zefarelly... last weekend in a 500km endurance race, a V8Supercar of similar vintage to a Commodore you may be interested in, ran as quickly as a 2003-spec Porsche Carrera Cup car....

... perhaps with some investigation in terms of speed, a VS Commodore Supercar may be as quick as a CC car in the circuits you run on in the UK...

**Woolley** · 21 Dec 2004, 23:34 (Ref:1185480)

Alan Grice brought one over in the mid-80s, and IIRC he left it here. Does it still exist?

Chucky · 21 Dec 2004, 23:54 (Ref:1185490)

That was the Chickadee Commodore right? I think it's in Finland or something now.

**Woolley** · 22 Dec 2004, 00:56 (Ref:1185519)

Beige coloured thing, I think. I do remember him coming out of Woodcote sideways every lap for 500 kms. And when he had no chance of a good finish, he drove even more sideways.

cavvy · 22 Dec 2004, 01:06 (Ref:1185524)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woolley

And when he had no chance of a good finish, he drove even more sideways.

Irrelevant but, Woolley did you know Gricey was an MP in Queensland State Parliament for about 5 years (?) after his sojourn in Europe: no need to go straight in that profession.

Amaroo Park · 22 Dec 2004, 01:41 (Ref:1185539)

John Cleland had the car that finished 2nd at Bathurst in 1984 over there for a while. It has only recently returned to Australia. Other than that the histories of these cars is very scetchy

William Dale Jr · 22 Dec 2004, 08:47 (Ref:1185671)

The Grice car was run by Alan Docking Racing and was raced in the 1987 and 1988 BTCC by Mike O'Brien. The car remained in VK form for 1987 before being updated to HDT VL trim, then Walkinshaw VL trim during 1988. A couple of other people had runs in the car whilst it was in Docking's hands, including the late Roland Ratzenberger.

That car was the car built for Gricey's 1986 ETCC adventure and the sister car that year's Bathurst winner.

So it lives in Finland now, does it?

Amaroo Park · 22 Dec 2004, 08:51 (Ref:1185672)

It should be pointed out that Roadways built 2 cars for Graeme Bailey as well as the car for Grice for Europe

Al Weyman · 22 Dec 2004, 21:32 (Ref:1186261)

Peter Barnes raced an ex-Brock car that he bought of Ric Wood iin with us in the Falken ModProds, it was the older model from the 80's. I think the car went to Europe in the end. It did not have the Chevy V8 but the Holden engine.

R59 · 1 Jan 2005, 18:55 (Ref:1191164)

Firstly, so that's where Tom Walkinshaw is hiding.

I hope that he doesn't drag Holden Motor Sport down like he has most other things he's touched in the past. Not that Tom's ever been accused of cheating in the past (much).

As for Holdens racing in the UK, I think the answer is "not enough".

There are quite a few Commodores over here on the road, and there will be more when the new Vauxhall/Opel "Omega" is released, which is to be a re-badged Commodore.

Once that happens, hopefully, there will be more racing.

I looked into importing a V8 Supercar just over a year ago, and was close to buying a Ford Falcon in the end.

IIRC there was one kicking around back in the days of Thundersaloons, but that's another story...

Rob.

**FIRE** · 1 Jan 2005, 19:04 (Ref:1191170)

Quote:

Originally Posted by racing59

Firstly, so that's where Tom Walkinshaw is hiding.

Far away from the European courts.

**GTRMagic** · 1 Jan 2005, 20:33 (Ref:1191223)

Mike Newton has a pair of ex-DJR EL Ford Falcon Supercars in his workshops somewhere.... one was entered for teh Nurburgring 24h last year, but it never faced the starter

**GTRMagic** · 1 Jan 2005, 20:37 (Ref:1191228)

Quote:

Originally Posted by racing59

So that's where Tom Walkinshaw is hiding.

You can have him back any time you like.... HSV is a Walkinshaw creation, and he is creating significant upheaval over here at the minute after it seems with HSV taking over the sponsorship and engineering of a racing team, while another team in the series has the contractual rights to be the "Official Factory Team"

It has the potential to damage the Holden racing effort down here for 2005 & beyond... as ego plays ego...

R59 · 1 Jan 2005, 21:37 (Ref:1191262)

No thanks, you can keep him!

Can't you ship him out to Kalgoorlie? Kevin B Wilson could write a song about him!

I've read about the problems with HSV and the factory team business.

It smacks of a time, long ago, when Rover SD1's rules the BTCC, and one of his "works" cars wasn't on pole at Brands, it was one of the Martin Thomas Racing cars, and at night, TW was ranting and raving outside of MT's motorhome telling him how his driver should let the TWR car past as it was the "works" team.

I believe the answer was along the lines of foxtrot oscar! (well, no, not believe, it WAS!)

Rob.

cavvy · 3 Jan 2005, 03:03 (Ref:1192004)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

You can have him back any time you like.... HSV is a Walkinshaw creation, and he is creating significant upheaval over here at the minute after it seems with HSV taking over the sponsorship and engineering of a racing team, while another team in the series has the contractual rights to be the "Official Factory Team"

It has the potential to damage the Holden racing effort down here for 2005 & beyond... as ego plays ego...

Not everyone downunder shares GTRMagic views - I for one think Holden know what they are doing .... Tom has baggage but also has points on the board.

PS I understand he has not moved to Aus

cybersdorf · 3 Jan 2005, 07:49 (Ref:1192058)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Mike Newton has a pair of ex-DJR EL Ford Falcon Supercars in his workshops somewhere.... one was entered for teh Nurburgring 24h last year, but it never faced the starter

They wrecked it in practice, and as the engine was damaged beyond repair, they had already used up their spare engine, and a replacement could not be found in time, that was it.

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