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Old 8 Jan 2009, 11:22 (Ref:2367543)   #8
brendonwood1
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Australia
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brendonwood1 should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
New Zealand is a good place to look for some of the more unusual Group A cars.

The first couple of years of Group A racing in New Zealand (1984-86) was the time period when I first became really interested in motor-racing, at the ripe old age of 10.
So, please forgive me if my recollection of some of these cars isn't as strong as it could be. I was young and impressionable. I live in Australia these days, but still fondly remember those early years of Group A racing in my native New Zealand.
Also, unfortunately I can't provide any pictures. I have only a few of the 1985 Nissan Mobil series in a couple of books I have here. The rest would be in period magazines - but they are in storage in NZ and I have no access to them.

The Ford Falcon XE (and even an older XD) have already been mention in this thead: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...46#post2366946

However, the first season of Group A racing in New Zealand in 1984 saw a few other interesting one-offs.
The Motorsport Association of New Zealand (MANZ) allowed a few cars that were never officially recognised elsewhere to compete that first year in order to increase field sizes.

There were two Holden Commodore VH V8s in the 1984 Benson & Hedges endurance series. These were Group 1 production cars that had raced in the previous season and were upgraded a bit. The ran on slicks and would have had engine and suspension upgrades. However, they were probably quite stock. Others from New Zealand may have more information.
The quickest of the two cars was the gold coloured Denny Hulme/Ray Smith car that was sponsored by the Auckland Coin & Bullion Exchange. This was the car that won the 1983 Pukekohe 6-hour race in Group 1 trim and it provided the strongest challenge to the two BMW 634CSi racers driven in the 1984 series by Neville Crichton/Wayne Wilkinson and Kent Baigent/Neal Lowe.
The second car was a black VH driven by Bruce Fowler and Kirk Stoneman. This may have been the ex-Crichton/Wilkinson car from the 1983 B&H series. This car finished third in the 1984 Pukekohe 6-hour behind the two BMWs.
I think at least one of the cars also contested the 1984/85 New Zealand Touring Car Championship, but neither raced in the Nissan-Sport series at Wellington and Pukekohe in early 1985.
As far as I know, these were the only two VH Commodores to race in something close to Group A trim. The VH was more familiar to Australian race-goers in Group C trim and had raced in NZ for a couple of seasons in NZ Group 1 production trim.

Another very interesting car was the Nissan 300ZX Turbo. Leo Leonard and Garry Sprague ran the car in the first round of the 1984 Benson & Hedges series at Manfield and if I remember correctly, it finished 3rd. The car ran into eligibility problems however (I'm pretty sure that 300ZX was never officially homologated in either turbo or non-turbo form by the FIA) and didn't race in the next two races. Leonard switched to the older Falcon XD for the rest of the season. I think the 300ZX Turbo reappeared at the Wigram round of the 1984/85 NZ Touring Car Championship in Sprague's hands.
Maybe someone from NZ who has period magazines (such as NZ Motoring News which I have never been able to acquire) has some pictures of both the Commodore VHs and the 300ZX?

Other threads have mentioned the Nissan Bluebird Turbo Coupe run by Graham Goode in the BTCC. However, a Nissan Bluebird Turbo 4-door saloon appeared on a number of occasions in the first couple of Group A seasons in New Zealand. I believe the car was owned by Don Halliday and I think he shared it with Reg Cook in the 1985 Wellington street race.
In 1986 he shared it in the Nissan Mobil 500 at Wellington with Garry Croft and they won Division 2 (1601-2500cc) and finished 14th outright (results here: http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...ellington.html)
I am sure this car continued to race on and off for several more seasons.

In late 1986, Toyota Team New Zealand prepared two FWD Toyota Celica GT ST160s, which ran against the BMW 325is in the 1601-2500cc Division 2. I don't think they had much success. Drivers included Dave Barrow, Mark Jennings and others. If there had been a 1601-200cc class the Celica may have been more successful. The cars were raced for a couple of seasons.
As far as I know, the non-turbo FWD Celica didn't race anywhere else (unless some raced in Japan?).

Another car that raced in the first few years was the Fiat Ritmo Abarth 130TC. Garry Pederson and Dave McMillan ran one in the 1984/85 season and another appeared in the hands of Bob Barry and Chris Heyer in the 1986 Nissan Mobil 500.
I can't find any evidence of these Fiats competing in European Touring Car Racing. Can anyone confirm this?

In Australia, we had the Nissan Gazelle (same as the Japanese Silvia), which was driven at various times by Mark Skaife and John Giddings.

Also, in Australia was the Audi 5+5 driven by Chris Heyer.

I have come across other numerous other more unusual Group A cars from the various Autosport and other motorsport articles and websites I've read over the yeas.
I remember a few Opel Monzas appearing in the first few years of Group A in Europe. Surely with proper development and in the right hands these could have been a success in the early years of Group A.
Also, how about the Audi GT Coupes (run by RAS?) in 1982/83 in Division 2? Seem to remember that there were some Opel Mantas, Mazda RX-7s, a Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo and the MG Metro Turbos mentioned earlier. And there seems to have been a fair few Skodas that kept turning up at the Brno race.

Last edited by brendonwood1; 8 Jan 2009 at 11:31.
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