Phil Ward Group A Mercedes Benz 190E

[AdrianG]

Anyone have any pics and info on these cars?

As well as the 190 EVO II that was converted to a super tourer.

Also anyone know if he still has these cars?

Thanks.

[GTRMagic]

Two AMG 2.3L Cosworths were brought to Australia by Bob Jane to run in the 1986 James Hardie 1000. These cars ran in the colours of Martin's Filter for Denny Hulme/Franz Klammer and Andrew Miedecke/Jorg Van Ommen

Lynden Reithmuller purchased the pair after the race, and they ran in Group A spec at different rounds of the ATCC series in Sephco livery...

Phil Ward converted one of the two cars to 2 litre spec, indeed Jamie Miller and Peter McKay drove one in Technophone colours at Bathurst one year.

An ex-DTM car was apparently sourced to run in the SuperTouring championship after that time... it too raced sporadically, although in Nokia colours, not Technophone...

These were sold to the US some time ago... after the ST series fell over...

[GTRMagic]

http://www.aussieracingcars.com.au/news/pw_200308a.html

Tells some, but not where the cars were sold to

[cavvy]

The Bob Jane cars were ex Dr Marko ??
These cars went to the US & were for re-sale as a pair about the time the Alan Hamilton 911 (T or R or T-R) was offered - maybe Dan or Chris Bowden looked at the Mercs too.
Was there really a 3rd car?

[GTRMagic]

I cant ever recall seeing all 3 cars in the same place at the same time... the profile on Mr Ward's site suggests there was.

And Dr Marko was the boss of AMG at the time... AMG built the cars, Dr Marko ran the team here at Bathurst... was Craig Lowndes even born then

[marcus]

I remember seeing Phil Ward Roll one at the top of the mountain one year and then trying to dig it out of the gravel , was rather funny

I dont have any info on what happened to them after that though.

Mr ward ran one in super touring with Nokia sponsorship though , Im assuming that was the same one

[bossRacing]

That was about 1988, i was sitting right where he rolled it. from memory it ended up on its side in the sandtrap.
longhurst went on to win the race in the B&H sirrea

[one five five]

Ward used to have one of them sitting out the front of his Go-Kart centre.

It's a pity he was unable to upgrade the cars to the 2.5ltr German DTM specifications in 1991 and 1992, as the cars in that trim were every bit as good as the BMW M3s.

As far as i know the ex-DTM car was converted back into DTM specs before being sold, after Ward pulled out of Super Touring mid-way through 1995.

[Gaz170]

When I used to see him (as a customer where I worked then, mid to late 1990's), he commented once that he had both the Mercs advertised for sale in the US.
I never knew of a third car, but perhaps it had already been sold then.

[TSR]

After watching a piece on Phil Ward on the home of motorsport, he did have a Merc up on a stand at his workshop were he does the Aussie Races,( Well I am pretty sure that it was a Merc in the air )

[GTRMagic]

The 2 cars in the USA were the ex-AMG ones... perhaps Mr Ward kept the DTM version for himself?

[KA]

According to the 1996 North American Touring Car Championship yearbook, two Merc 190s were imported from Australia by a team named Ecurie Atlanta Racing- from what GTRMagic has posted, these must have been the ex-Ward AMG cars

Ecurie Atlanta ran one car at the opening round of the series, (driven by British historic racer Martin Stretton) but didn't appear in the series again. Anyone know anything more?

[GTRMagic]

The results from that meeting are Here

[Harves]

If someone can tell me how to upload photo's on this new site, I have plenty of shots of both of these cars as I work as the Motorsport Manager for Technophone, I also have some incar footage that would make you cry with laughter.

[mac]

I'm pretty sure Phil still has the ex-DTM Merc (with Nokia sponsorship) at his Sydney workshop.

[marcus]

did a Little search and found this link.

http://www.ecn.net.au/~amib/st/merc2.htm

[alfasud]

all I could find were these links:

http://www.jmmotorsport.com/reportmercedes94.htm
http://www.aussieracingcars.com.au/news/pw_200308a.html

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Harves

If someone can tell me how to upload photo's on this new site, I have plenty of shots of both of these cars as I work as the Motorsport Manager for Technophone, I also have some incar footage that would make you cry with laughter.

I thought Technophone (or at least the local reseller) went belly up many years ago... curiously not long after they sponsored the Mercedes Benzes....

[kmchow]

Originally Posted by KA

According to the 1996 North American Touring Car Championship yearbook, two Merc 190s were imported from Australia by a team named Ecurie Atlanta Racing- from what GTRMagic has posted, these must have been the ex-Ward AMG cars

Ecurie Atlanta ran one car at the opening round of the series, (driven by British historic racer Martin Stretton) but didn't appear in the series again. Anyone know anything more?

I (almost) have every 1996 race on tape, except that first round. However, from what I recall, that car was heavily damaged from the first race. Like 99% of the NATCC teams, they just didn't have enough sponsorship to continue racing. They were just one of the many NATCC teams who had race ready cars, but no money to race them.

[Harves]

Nope, it was just a way of branding mobilephones, essentially the money (and there was PLENTY) all came from Telstra.

[AdrianG]

Thanks for the info guys, some pics would be great if you could post them Harves.

I am more interested in the cars from when they ran as group A rather than Super touring, inparticular I know the 2 cars were originally 2.3-16, did they ever get a motor change and anything else that came with it to become the 2.5-16?

He's got one sitting on a hoist in his workshop in the Nokia colours. Couldn't tell you which car this one is, it's got quite a list of trick bits including a carbon tailshaft, and electrically adjustable front end.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by AdrianG

Thanks for the info guys, some pics would be great if you could post them Harves.

I am more interested in the cars from when they ran as group A rather than Super touring, inparticular I know the 2 cars were originally 2.3-16, did they ever get a motor change and anything else that came with it to become the 2.5-16?

As far as i know the two Group A Merc's he owned were never upgraded to 2.5ltrs, they became 2ltr cars in 1994. The ex-DTM car he got halfway through 1994 was 2.5ltrs originally, but obviously was only of 2ltr capacity when it competed.

Was the 2.5ltr car that Ward got during 1994 a Class 1 car (DTM after 1993) or one of the 2.5ltr Mercs from the time when Mercedes ran them in DTM Group A (1990-1992)?

And were both the original Group A cars converted to 2ltr specs, or just the one? Ward ran the one car during 1994 until he received the ex-DTM car, when he hopped into that the original car was handled by Peter McKay.

[Harves]

opps that didn't work.

[mac]

Yeah, McKay piloted the primary Merc at Bathurst with Jamie Miller in '94, while Phil played with a V8 with a certain Mr Ellery.