ALLAN GRICE - Oil Can Harry!

superstock · 2 Apr 2016, 19:59 (Ref:3629624)

with holden crowing about 500 wins and really only 5 or 6 drivers mentioned as usual

lets not forget the part gricey played

sure he raced other brands but he was a professional driver.

no rich daddy to pay for his toys...

...miss ya gricey . need a few more like him now...

davea79 · 2 Apr 2016, 21:03 (Ref:3629639)

He was very good in Europe too!

Kingair · 2 Apr 2016, 21:41 (Ref:3629651)

Funny you should mention Gricey, somebody was proudly wearing an Allan Grice team jacket at Symmons Plains yesterday.

TSR · 3 Apr 2016, 00:06 (Ref:3629679)

Quote:

Originally Posted by superstock

with holden crowing about 500 wins and really only 5 or 6 drivers mentioned as usual

lets not forget the part gricey played

sure he raced other brands but he was a professional driver.

no rich daddy to pay for his toys...

...miss ya gricey . need a few more like him now...

Well said

gtcapri · 3 Apr 2016, 05:25 (Ref:3629746)

A good underrated driver who lost his best chance to win a championship because of a thermostat in the glovebox!!

db120176 · 3 Apr 2016, 08:17 (Ref:3629774)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtcapri

A good underrated driver who lost his best chance to win a championship because of a thermostat in the glovebox!!

Huh?

Kingair · 3 Apr 2016, 09:20 (Ref:3629785)

That's a silly place to put a thermostat!

mite5255 · 3 Apr 2016, 09:41 (Ref:3629791)

Not when your a mechanic changing teams, and you tell your new team ( HDT ) where the thermostat is, anyway that's my understanding how it all worked

Scrut · 3 Apr 2016, 09:58 (Ref:3629799)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mite5255

Not when your a mechanic changing teams, and you tell your new team ( HDT ) where the thermostat is, anyway that's my understanding how it all worked

As I understand from a few of my older Scrutineering colleges this is 100% correct.

Don't forget his years driving the Nascar at the Thunderdome. Put the wind up a few Yank's.

Mixer · 4 Apr 2016, 05:35 (Ref:3630087)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mite5255

Not when your a mechanic changing teams, and you tell your new team ( HDT ) where the thermostat is, anyway that's my understanding how it all worked

Is this like the windscreen wiper speed adjustment in the GTR?

mite5255 · 4 Apr 2016, 09:07 (Ref:3630139)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mixer

Is this like the windscreen wiper speed adjustment in the GTR?

Wasn't that on the Blue Bird

Mixer · 4 Apr 2016, 09:19 (Ref:3630142)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mite5255

Wasn't that on the Blue Bird

The context I heard of it was to do with restoration (by Gibson Motorsport) of the Group A Skylines, and that they have been presented for racing "as raced" including the boost controller...

As have other cars with fiddles intact.

mite5255 · 4 Apr 2016, 09:37 (Ref:3630150)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mixer

The context I heard of it was to do with restoration (by Gibson Motorsport) of the Group A Skylines, and that they have been presented for racing "as raced" including the boost controller...

As have other cars with fiddles intact.

There's a bit on the Nissan's On answer 36 on this thread
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111304

Mixer · 4 Apr 2016, 09:58 (Ref:3630158)

Yeah so it seems:

The Bluebird had a boost controller hidden behind a large oil pressure warning light lens
The Gazelle had a boost controller linked to the ignition
All the Skylines had adjustable boost, possibly on windscreen wiper knob, and it is likely the GT-R had launch control.

**Woolley** · 4 Apr 2016, 12:32 (Ref:3630207)

Quote:

Originally Posted by davea79

He was very good in Europe too!

I remember him running in the Silverstone 500k race. He was having one of those days where he was running in a reasonable position, but there was little chance of him catching those in front or being caught by those behind. So he started playing.

Lap after lap he came through Woodcote in a long sideways drift, full power and full opposite lock applied. Fabulous.

mite5255 · 5 Apr 2016, 04:12 (Ref:3630420)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrut

As I understand from a few of my older Scrutineering colleges this is 100% correct.

Don't forget his years driving the Nascar at the Thunderdome. Put the wind up a few Yank's.

From Wikipedia "In 1975, Allan Grice put up his strongest challenge for the Australian Touring Car Championship. Grice would have won the championship had he not been disqualified from rounds five, seven and eight. In round five, at Surfers Paradise, Grice won the race but was disqualified following a protest lodged by Holden Dealer Team manager Harry Firth. Firth correctly contended that the thermostat from the Holden V8 engine in Grice's Craven Mild Torana L34 was in fact in the car's glovebox and not where it should have been. This led to speculation that Firth had managed to convince one of Grice's mechanics to put the item in the glovebox in a bid to sabotage his season[citation needed], which at that point saw Grice leading the points table. Firth's lead driver Colin Bond went on to win the 1975 ATCC. Grice continued the season after appealing the disqualification, but once the appeal was upheld he lost all points from the remaining rounds."

fredd1 · 5 Apr 2016, 04:55 (Ref:3630430)

He WAS the man.....
Great times.

chavez · 5 Apr 2016, 09:21 (Ref:3630471)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mixer

The Gazelle had a boost controller linked to the ignition

Wow! They even managed to sneak through a turbo past the scrutineers. Impressive.

Henry · 5 Apr 2016, 09:54 (Ref:3630475)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woolley

I remember him running in the Silverstone 500k race. He was having one of those days where he was running in a reasonable position, but there was little chance of him catching those in front or being caught by those behind. So he started playing.

Lap after lap he came through Woodcote in a long sideways drift, full power and full opposite lock applied. Fabulous.

Gricey was always a bit of a favourite. He had a reputation for being HARD - the episode of Shannon's Legends of Motorsport dedicated to him featured a number of his peers saying that hanging on outside Gricey when he'd put himself up the inside was a sure way to be fed some armco. He had a reputation for being fiery: the split with Frank Gardner which cost Grice his sponsor and his works drive was acrimonious, with the ill-will lasting through to the present day. He had a reputation for brain fade: while it wasn't completely all his fault, he did manage to fence a relatively extraordinary (in an era where written-off touring cars weren't all that common an occurrence) quantity of cars. His 1980 ATCC season IIRC finished off the Craven Mild team's last three LX Torana shells in short order.

By 1982 though, he'd emerged as the one Holden driver capable of taking the fight to Brock in near-equal equipment. Alan Browne threw him a lifeline that year, and he responded with pole at Bathurst, with an astounding move around the outside of Brock on approach to The Cutting to take the lead, and a hard-fought and well-deserved second place in a car experiencing brake issues for most of the day.

He waited what seemed an absolute age for his first Bathurst victory, but 1986 was a well-deserved and popular win. His foray into the ETCC was revelatory: here he found a field of people driving to the credo he had established for himself... drive as hard as you can, and if the car broke, reinforce it and continue to drive as hard as you could. It was a tenet that found no favour in Australia, at least through the mid/late 70's and into the early 80's, but it put Grice right into the fight in Europe.

It helped that Brock was there, with the team that everybody quickly identified as being the Works squad. The thought of blowing Brock into the weeds highly motivated Oil Can Harry, and that he did blow Brock 16 feet in the air in Europe certainly got Gricey noticed.

What a lot of the publicity obscured, was that Gricey was quite a thoughtful driver, with a deft feel for the car (even if he denied a mechanical understanding). Despite his antipathy to Frank Gardner, he developed or held a number of similar principles about how to extract speed from a car, and in the early 80's at least, held a reputation for being one of a handful of very good steerers and car sorters in the tin-top category.

I was surprised at his positioning within the HRT, and I doubt I was alone, but he rewarded Win Percy's faith with TWR's first Bathurst win in 1990, and represented them well in subsequent years too.

A great driver, a lucid and eloquent commentator (remember his analysis of the 1981 McPhillamy carnage on RaceCam?), a fierce and fearless competitor, a great Australian. A multi-dimensional character. A legend.

Umai Naa · 5 Apr 2016, 10:24 (Ref:3630480)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mixer

Yeah so it seems:

The Bluebird had a boost controller hidden behind a large oil pressure warning light lens
The Gazelle had a boost controller linked to the ignition
All the Skylines had adjustable boost, possibly on windscreen wiper knob, and it is likely the GT-R had launch control.

The Gazelle wasn't turbocharged.

The 4WD system in the GTR was electronically-controlled, as per the road car. One major difference though, was that the team had rigged the front torque bias up to a time delay. In footage, you can see the car initally launch in RWD, before storming away in 4WD. Was said to be kinder on the driveline this way.

ForumNick · 5 Apr 2016, 10:26 (Ref:3630481)

The first time I became aware of 'The Cessnock Pastrycook' was in the very early '70s when he re-appeared out of 'Honda' corner @ Amaroo...

On His Roof !!!

anthony81901 · 5 Apr 2016, 23:41 (Ref:3630613)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Henry

I was surprised at his positioning within the HRT, and I doubt I was alone, but he rewarded Win Percy's faith with TWR's first Bathurst win in 1990, and represented them well in subsequent years too.

Win Percy has said that Tom Walkinshaw as aghast when he hired Grice, but obviously the result vindicated his selection, particularly when with Percy injured, Grice did the bulk of the qualifying and double stinted at the end.

Mixer · 6 Apr 2016, 00:47 (Ref:3630617)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

The Gazelle wasn't turbocharged.

I'm quoting from Fred Gibson in the scanned articles linked in the other thread.

I'm wondering if the article was meant to refer to the EXA Turbo as it refers to Christine Gibson driving it...

old fart · 6 Apr 2016, 01:09 (Ref:3630620)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForumNick

The first time I became aware of 'The Cessnock Pastrycook' was in the very early '70s when he re-appeared out of 'Honda' corner @ Amaroo...

On His Roof !!!

I remember it well - I was the Sector Marshall at Honda when it took place.
Some interesting words were expressed forcefully as we helped him out of the car!!
Allan was a very capable open wheel pilot and iirc he raced a MGTC/D in his very early days.

mite5255 · 6 Apr 2016, 05:16 (Ref:3630639)

Where does the Oil Can Harry come from

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