1987 Bathurst

[marcus]

Hi Folks.

I just a quick question or two about the 87 Bathurst race.

Firstly what was the exact date of the race ?

and secondly we all know what happened there with the Sierra's and Brocky was awarded the win , but the other two drivers of the Commodore were Peter McLoed and David Parsons , my question is which david parsons was it ?

Skippy or Truckie ??? im guessing it's probably Skippy the tassie guy who later raced with Glenn Seton ?


and to make things flow does anyone know what happened or what either of the Parsons boys are up to these days ?

CHEERS
Marcus

[GTRMagic]

Sunday 4th October 1987 was the date... and it was Skippy Parsons, the Tasmanian farmer

[RaceTime]

Skippy is back on the farm in Tasmania - how do I know? The wife is part of the Parsons family from that area (her mother is of the same Parsons family that David comes from).

[Big Trev]

I think the other Parsons is back running the truck company from Castlemaine in Vict, but I have a faint memory that Parson Transport has been sold out to one of the large ones. Can't remember - Bugger

[GTRMagic]

I recall something similar Big Trev, there are certainly a number of trucks around with the distinctive Parsons lightning bolt kinda design....

[rocket]

what happened, it ended up as a brock suckfest cos they couldnt hack having an OS mob win "our" race, hence they found a reason to DQ the texaco serrias on a technicality, ie rolled front guards & a fuel irregularity, its weird that it took 2/3rds of the season to pick these things out, things that they has suposidly been running for the whole season prior, bad sportsmanship behaviour on the AUS officials maybe

[Mattracer]

Originally posted by rocket
what happened, it ended up as a brock suckfest cos they couldnt hack having an OS mob win "our" race, hence they found a reason to DQ the texaco serrias on a technicality, ie rolled front guards & a fuel irregularity, its weird that it took 2/3rds of the season to pick these things out, things that they has suposidly been running for the whole season prior, bad sportsmanship behaviour on the AUS officials maybe

It is amazing that anyone could begrudge Peter Brock that victory.

[Rebound]

If I remember right the Texaco cars went into the race under a cloud of protest, I think there was something about the track width and I do know that DJR had something to do with the protest, so if this is the case why attack Brock? He was the first legal car home, besides its not a Kiwi race and a few of them have won.

[RaceTime]

They had already been protested at previous events - all that was done is that it was carried through.

And rocket - at least get your facts straight - it wasn't Australia officials that disqualified them - they were international stewards.

Sheesh - 17 years on and some people still can't get over it!

And I just checked woith the wife - as far as we know, Skippy is on his far outside of Devonport...

[Hazza]

Originally posted by rocket
what happened, it ended up as a brock suckfest cos they couldnt hack having an OS mob win "our" race, hence they found a reason to DQ the texaco serrias on a technicality, ie rolled front guards & a fuel irregularity, its weird that it took 2/3rds of the season to pick these things out, things that they has suposidly been running for the whole season prior, bad sportsmanship behaviour on the AUS officials maybe

Like RaceTime said, dude... do you have any idea how many races they didn't disqualify the Sierras , if not them then 7 of the M3's at Monza (Awarding Moffy the win) - and the Sierras didn't even *Start* that race.

Man...the memories...

[V8 Superdave]

I remember that weekend well... got married the day before (fixed that though a few years later)

If i remember correctly, Tom Walkinshaw protested ALL sierras in the race, then withdrew the protest from the Oz sierras after the event, so that in effect only the Euro sierras (the Texaco ones mainly, which just happened to be the only cars to finish ahead of Brock, i think) were protested, the protest being upheld, thereby handing the race to Brock.

I stand to be corrected should my memory prove to be less than reliable though...lol

[Wrighty05]

Originally posted by V8 Superdave
)

If i remember correctly, Tom Walkinshaw protested ALL sierras in the race, then withdrew the protest from the Oz sierras after the event, so that in effect only the Euro sierras (the Texaco ones mainly, which just happened to be the only cars to finish ahead of Brock, i think) were protested, the protest being upheld, thereby handing the race to Brock.

I stand to be corrected should my memory prove to be less than reliable though...lol

I think you're gettting 1987 confused with 1988. In 1987 The Nissan team, the JPS BMW team, The Grice Commodore team, and the Perkins Commodore team all protested the Texaco Sierras.

In 1988 Tom Walkinshaw, who was with the HSV outlet at the time, protested all local sierras, but before the race was to start withdrew his protest from the sierra that would win the race.

Oh and rocket, the cars were illegal pure and simple and the next car in line happened to be the Brock car.

[GTRMagic]

The 1987 thing was a bit excitable... with Cromley on the telecast telling the world that the Texaco cars "...blew the hygrometer off the clock..." when testing a fuel sample when in reality the technology to make a proper fuel assessment is still a laborious process taking many days to confirm the chemical footprint of the fuel in a gas chromatograph system.

[jetsetter]

The 1987 race was certainly a memorable event & whether rocket likes to admit it or not those Sierra's shouldn't have even taken part in the race.

[GTRMagic]

Not in that specification, no they shouldnt have. By the same token, when forced to modify the cars at Fuji, they still did ok and won.

The European BMWs at Bathurst that year were also suspect, when you consider the TAFE boys saw one up close and personal and asked if they should be reset to legal specs, or how it was when delivered to them....

[jiminee]

I have read the Great Race book for 1987 a number of times, it is one of my favourite races. The images of Glenn Seton and Brocky sliding around the Mountain on slicks are unforgetable.
Wasnt one of the main problems a bit of a culture clash between the Australian way of doing things (very much by the rule book) and the European way of doing things (they tended to be a lot more liberal in their interpretation of the rules!)
There were all sorts of problems that weekend weren't there? From the Texaco Sierras, to the DJR Sierras, who were the ones actually done for using dodgy fuel in the end, to something as stupid as the gold on black numbers on the JPS cars.
Can anybody confirm/deny if the European BMW teams, who struggled all weekend, really did send their gun drivers out in their co-drivers helmets to get the cars qualified, as was rumoured at the time?
While the Australians may not of liked the Europeans taking away 'our' race (remember the "We want Brock chants?") I certainly got the feeling the Europeans did not respect the Australians very much either.

[Dingo]

IIRC most of the cars in the 1987 WTCC were iffy...wasn't there a gentleman's agreement between Ford and BMW that "we won't protest you if you don't protest us"? All it would have taken was a third manufacturer, say Alfa or Maserati, to protest both teams, and the WTCC would have fallen over after a couple of rounds...

Not that some would have minded, the way they kill off the best touring car championships when they become too popular (except the V8 Supercars, because we're not in Europe).

[Dingo]

Originally posted by jiminee
Can anybody confirm/deny if the European BMW teams, who struggled all weekend, really did send their gun drivers out in their co-drivers helmets to get the cars qualified, as was rumoured at the time?

Can't confirm the Europeans did it, but several Aussie teams are alleged to have partaken in this exercise, even a current V8 team owner & champion is alleged to have done this

[GTRMagic]

In the days of cross entering, the drivers were in and out of the slower of the BMWs more than you would think normal... if you have a slow driver, more circuit time would normally be a remedy in the bag of tricks, but instead, a BMW Motorsport staffer took the car out for a hit to determine if the car was junk, or merely the driving team

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by Dingo
Can't confirm the Europeans did it, but several Aussie teams are alleged to have partaken in this exercise, even a current V8 team owner & champion is alleged to have done this

I guess the current V8 team owner and recent but not current champion does look like Adelaide Nissan dealer Grant Jarrett.... oops

[Dingo]

Originally posted by GTRMagic
I guess the current V8 team owner and recent but not current champion does look like Adelaide Nissan dealer Grant Jarrett.... oops

Would you buy a used car from that man?

But it was a sterling effort from Jarrett to jump into the Gazelle and take 8 seconds or so off his best time in two flying laps or so...

[jiminee]

I also remember the numbers changing on the Euro BMWs 2 or 3 times a day depending on how good a condition it was in and how many times it had been pranged.
They did a good job at throwing them at the walls that weekend didnt they!
Does anybody remember the name of the driver in the second Mobil Commodore (by that stage not MHDT) who managed to drive between a gap in the walls at high speed, going up the mountain I think it was! Those cars might have been blessed that weekend! Maybe that Polariser thing did work!

[GTRMagic]

Maybe he sat in his Nissan Bluebird turbo sports sedan that may indeed have come from the team he drove for at Bathurst that year, and channeled the energy, took the karma from the good guys who used to drive that car like G.Fury and was a man possessed... scything his way around Bathurst in an anaemic 2 litre Gazelle like a man possessed.

Or he swapped race suits....

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by jiminee
Does anybody remember the name of the driver in the second Mobil Commodore (by that stage not MHDT) who managed to drive between a gap in the walls at high speed, going up the mountain I think it was! Those cars might have been blessed that weekend! Maybe that Polariser thing did work!

1987 Bathurst co-winner and now Rick Damelian Citroen dealer principal Peter McLeod

[Dingo]

Peter McLeod put #10 through the hole in the wall at the Cutting.