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Post by charleselan on Apr 21, 2020 14:06:29 GMT
Last evening while surfing through YouTube on my TV I came across this brilliant film about the 1974 Australian Touring Car Championship. It was made for the Holden Dealer Team so has a base towards them of course, but it is superb and so typically 1970's which is all the better for that.
Some iconic cars like the Holden Torana L34 and drivers like Peter Brock; Colin Bond and Alan Moffat. Quite early in his career for Brock who later became an absolute legend. I actually saw him a few times in the 1980's when he brought the HDT Commode over to contest the European Touring Car Championship, a wonderful driver. Sadly to loose his life in an accident after his mainstream career ended.
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Post by chrisb on Apr 21, 2020 18:53:24 GMT
Bathhurst has to remain 'up there' doesn't it? it is one tremendous circuit, now, not that I am biased against the Aussies, as if, but I did enjoy it more when the XKS's were womping everyone.
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Post by charleselan on Apr 22, 2020 12:54:48 GMT
Following on from the above posting I viewed last night an even better film about the Holden Dealer team from 1969 to 1987 on YT. It is absolutely superb, made a few years ago when Peter Brock was still with us. Lots of remarkable footage and greta insight from the various team members over that period. Australian Touring cars were never better than those times, and they sounded incredible with those snarling V8's.
If you have an hour and half to spare sit down and watch this great film, lots of Mount Panorama as well, Brockie was a bit of a god there.
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Post by mikael on Apr 23, 2020 7:57:52 GMT
The first movie strengthen the saying that the 70's were the golden years of motor racing. There's a unique atmosphere associated with the cars of that era.
I wondered why Holden Motors never expanded globally like, say, the Japanese manufacturers, but reading about the company in Wikipedia I found that they "teamed up" with General Motors already in the 1920's. Thus their efforts remained limited to Australia and New Zealand.
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Post by charleselan on Apr 23, 2020 11:35:57 GMT
Your first paragraph just about sums this up wonderfully Mikael. It was a great decade in motor sport and so charismatic. We still had a very mechanical feeling about the sport back then, if that is the right expression, none of all this high tech that predominates today.
In the second film above there is a very interesting part which highlights the change taking place within the sport from the late '60's up to the late '70's. The original team principle of the Holden race team was very much a hands on mechanical type of chap who produced some brilliantly engineered cars and also educated his drivers in what they needed to do. He could see what was coming and in the end left the team to be replaced by an equally capable guy who was very much into the presentation of the cars, a sort of Ron Dennis character in that respect.
Holden are a great marque that came under the GM ownership as you mention Mikael. This was similar to other great names in other countries and continents who were taken over by GM. In the Uk there was Vauxhall (now owned by Peugeot) and in Europe Opel.
I did read earlier this year that the Holden name is soon to disappear a sales have been declining in Australia and New Zealand, I believe that GM will now be represented there by the Chevrolet name which is very sad and will not go down with the big following that Holden have in the Antipodes.
It was also noticeable that the Holden and Ford cars back then were very much unique to Australia and not just rebranded American cars. Although I do understand that the Holden Torana that features in both films was in fact based on a European Opel Kadett shell with a big engine shoehorned into it. That would have been some car in Europe; an Opel Kadett with a 5 litre V8 engine.
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Post by René on Apr 24, 2020 17:55:49 GMT
Wonderful stuff JC! Finally had the time to watch it and it's great. And as Mikael said, that 70s atmosphere is just wonderful. Cool cars, great racing!  |
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Post by charleselan on Apr 25, 2020 10:44:20 GMT
Wonderful stuff JC! Finally had the time to watch it and it's great. And as Mikael said, that 70s atmosphere is just wonderful. Cool cars, great racing! They are wonderful films René, and really good quality all things considered. Those times were pretty special, just so much variety in the cars and so much depth in what type of racing was available. Last night I watched yet another film from the Australian Touring Car Championship, this time a half hour highlight from the 1978 Sandown Park round. A great circuit that has a wonderful history in Australian car racing and like quite a few tracks was built on the perimeter roads of the horse racing track. Another thing that makes racing from these earlier times is the uncertainty of the outcome even when a car was dominant, there was always the possibility of a mechanical failure or problem. In the Sandown Park race there were engine failures; gearbox issues and the perennial tyre failures. Interestingly Jack Brabham made a reappearance then well into his 50's and was going well in a Kubota sponsored Holden Torana that is up until he had overheating issues. I may have mentioned previously that i have a number of 1/43rd scale kits of cars from the Australian Series sent by a great old chap back in the 1980's, amongst them is a part built Marlboro Dealer Team Holden Torana A9X which I must get out and finish. Anyway here is the 1978 Sandown Park race, hope you enjoy it. |
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Post by Carl on Dec 14, 2022 17:34:38 GMT
An Australian V8 Supercar highlight film to alleviate excitement withdrawal: |
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Post by René on Dec 14, 2022 18:20:38 GMT
Track limits, track limits! He pushed me off!! That's not fair! Leaving the track and gaining and advantage!" 
Very cool! And Scott McLaughlin... that's a familiar name.
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