Grp C/Grp A/V8SC 'Where are they now?' continued...

[David Towe]

https://www.v8sleuth.com.au/ford-mus...iTjPjmPpSWw3Rg

[one five five]

What was the history of the #62 JPS 635 from Bathurst 1984?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by one five five

What was the history of the #62 JPS 635 from Bathurst 1984?

I believe this is the one
http://www.heritagetouringcars.com.a...s-jps-bmw-635/

[David Towe]

My old car

[one five five]

Originally Posted by E.B

I believe this is the one
http://www.heritagetouringcars.com.a...s-jps-bmw-635/

Thank you!

It doesn't mention in the article, more alludes to it, but was the car built by Frank Gardner and the JPS team, or was it an imported Group A car from Europe?

[one five five]

As an aside, would anyone have any photos of Chris Smerdon's VL Commodore from 1992?

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by one five five

Thank you!

It doesn't mention in the article, more alludes to it, but was the car built by Frank Gardner and the JPS team, or was it an imported Group A car from Europe?

Built in house by JPS.

[one five five]

Was the Paul Jones who raced the ex-TTA Sprinter in early 1987 (at the Oran Park Silver Anniversary meeting) the same Paul Jones who raced the ex-Moffat Monza, Freedom Fences Falcon etc…?

[GTRMagic]

Auction Here

Mr Schembri’s sellout auction was even advertised on #9 a number of times this morning, seeking to unlock some value

[Tourer]

Wow - there's some cool stuff in amongst that lot!

[GreenMachine]

Pete's 'Stang looks a bargain at this point

[High_OCTANE_HSV]

Hey all, been lurking for a little while but thought I might post something.

Been trying to track down where all the early PMM cars are located. So far I have:

Astro - destroyed at Adeliade 2008, whereabouts unknown.
Bam Bam - Robert Smith still owns this car in Smiths Trucks colours.
Colin - last I knew Steve Briffa was racing this but has since sold it, don't know who owns it now.
Daisy - last I knew Andrew Fisher raced it in the development series in 2008. Don't know where it is now.
Earnhardt - last raced by Scott Loadsman circa 2011 or 2012. No idea where it is now.
Frank - on display at TKR headquaters in Auckland
Gidget - haven't seen or heard anything since it was auctioned off Grays after being seized by police from Derek Hocking at Eastern Creek circa 2012.

If anyone has any info to help me fill in the blanks I'd really appreciate it. I don't think someone like Noonan would do a book on Morris' cars so I have to do it the old school way.

Cheers

[Shiney]

You might need to give year and model rather than nicknames. A few pictures won't hurt either, as they tend to shake up old memories. What was the story with the one seized by the police?

[GTRMagic]

Hercules For Sale

[Shiney]

Seems pretty steep for a well used 16 year old supercar. I also wonder just how big the Kumho V8 Touring Car series is getting. We hear absolutely nothing about it over here in the west.

[High_OCTANE_HSV]

Originally Posted by Shiney

You might need to give year and model rather than nicknames. A few pictures won't hurt either, as they tend to shake up old memories. What was the story with the one seized by the police?

Alright sorry about that.

Astro: The first Big Kev VX built by Morris in 2001. Was debuted at Oran Park by Matt Neal and used for the rest of the year. Was Morris' car for half of 2002. Later used by TKR in 2004 when GRM deal fell through, was the PMM ride car in 2005 before being used by TKR again in 2006 once Frank was written off. It was the car Ashley Cooper died in at Adelaide in 2008.

Bam Bam: Debuted at Canberra in 2002 and was used for remainder of the year. COnverted to VY in 2003 and was the car that Dumbrell collided with at Albert Park. Was later sold to Robert Smith when Colin was debuted and has remained with Smith since.

Colin: Debuted near enduro season in 2003. Was replaced before Hidden Valley 2004 after sustaining big damage at Pukekohe in 2004. Was used by Steve Owen in 2006 as the Autobarn car. Later sold to Steve Briffa and raced in the Kumho 5 Litre Touring Car series.

Daisy: Debuted at Hidden Valley 2004 and was used to finish the season. Pretty sure this car was used as the second Sirrommet car in 2006 with Ellery and Coulthard.

Earnhardt: Used by Morris in 2005 and 2006. Used at a test session in late 2007 with Dale Earnhardt Jr driving at Willowbank. Later owned by Scott Loadsman and Steve Owen drove to 2008 development series win.

Frank: Destroyed by Radisich at Bathurst in 2006. Still with TKR.

Gidget: So to answer your question, Gidget was built in late 2005 and was sold to Dean Savage in early 2006. Was then painted white and never completed as Dean continued racing his old car (PE 034). Was sold to Scott Loadsman for a planned two car assault on the Development Series. Steve Own had used Earnhardt to win the 2008 series and was going to step into Gidget for 2009 with Earnhardt Jr driving Earnhardt. This never eventuated and was sold instead to Derek Hocking. Now, Derek is known for being quite a problem, and circa 2011 Derek was escorted from Eastern Creek by Police for some dodgy business practices relating to his mechanic workshop (or something along those lines). Anyway, his assests that were present (GRM VX 04 - by now known as GRM 004 as a VY, Gidget - still an unfinished white shell, his Chevy truck and transporter) were all seized by Police and put up for auction on Grays Online. Gidget was bought by someone (assuming Steve Hedley) as this person then sold the car on My105. After that the trail goes cold. This all happened around 2011 or 2012, and all I've seen since is an ad on facebook by someone called Matt trying to sell the car, and apparently it's sold.

Hopefully that sparks a few memories.

[S griffin]

Great stories. I seem to remember Matt Neal not doing much with the Astro. And yes I do remember quite a few of the accidents with those cars, including sadly Cooper. Didn't know about Dale Earnhardt Jr having a test though. But either way great look back. Certainly was an exciting era for V8 Supercars.

[High_OCTANE_HSV]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Great stories. I seem to remember Matt Neal not doing much with the Astro. And yes I do remember quite a few of the accidents with those cars, including sadly Cooper. Didn't know about Dale Earnhardt Jr having a test though. But either way great look back. Certainly was an exciting era for V8 Supercars.

There's onboard vision of him taking the car for a spin around Willowbank. Marcos Ambrose was linked to trying to get Dale here to race believe it or not, the two of them at Morris' Performance Driving Centre circa 2008. It would've been cool to see him racing here.

It was a fascinating time in the sport, with how big it was at the time and with the internet still growing it meant there was still a lot of hearsay at that time, it was awesome. I also love how every car was different and unique in their design and construction, it gave every car a personality of their own and meant they were all unique. It may be the rose tinted glasses but I'm so glad to have grown up and been around that era.

[Just Do It!]

Didn't Matt Neal heavily shunt a new PMM build? I seem to remember him having two shunts about 12 months apart.

[High_OCTANE_HSV]

Originally Posted by Just Do It!

Didn't Matt Neal heavily shunt a new PMM build? I seem to remember him having two shunts about 12 months apart.

Matt shunted Astro on the cars debut outing at Oran Park in 2001. He was dropped in favour of Ashley Stitchbury for Bathurst and Morris/Stitchbury used the old VT (HRT 037) as the damage to Astro was too great to repair in time. I don't believe Matt raced the enduros that year either with any other team. So pretty unfortunate that the very first race weekend for Astro ended with a concrete sampling. It was pretty hard too, she slid sideways into the final corner at a decent speed and whacked it parrallel, similar to Seton's turn 8 hit at Adelaide 2002.

For 2002 Morris teamed with Wayne Wakefield for the enduros and they were using Bam Bam as the lead car at that time, Wakefield using Astro in the 2002 Konica series Bathurst race as it was a non championship race and wanted extra miles for the Bathurst 1000.

[S griffin]

That doesn't surprise me, Matt tended to struggle with higher performance car. So no wonder he was dropped, couldn't afford any more damage and no one else wanted to pick him up. But at least he gave it a go, but it seemed he had found his limits the hard way! Those cars were really hard to get a handle on, even the best of them had trouble with them from time to time

Of course Morris was one of the best of that era and did a lot with the cars he had.

[High_OCTANE_HSV]

Originally Posted by S griffin

That doesn't surprise me, Matt tended to struggle with higher performance car. So no wonder he was dropped, couldn't afford any more damage and no one else wanted to pick him up. But at least he gave it a go, but it seemed he had found his limits the hard way! Those cars were really hard to get a handle on, even the best of them had trouble with them from time to time

Of course Morris was one of the best of that era and did a lot with the cars he had.

Yeah I have to commend those super touring drivers who came over to give it a go, it's such a different car compared to what they were used to. Something else to keep in mind was the rise of the Konica series so a lot of drivers started to pick up development series drivers as their enduro co-driver. Guys like Youlden, Luff, A. Jones, Gurr, Porter, Macrow, Holdsworth, Wakefield all came through in and around that time and would be more familiar with those cars.

I peronsally feel like sometimes Morris gets thrown under the bus a bit. Yeah he had a year in V8s in 94 but we was mostly a super touring guy getting to grips with the cars, and some of the incidents he was involved in were just bad like (like the Gran Prix in 2003), but yeah a lot of the time he certainly didn't help himself (thinking Willowbank 2005). I think guys like Dumbrell should have known a lot better and with the amount of crashes that guy was involved in at that time, I don't think it's entirely fair to always point the finger at Morris.

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by High_OCTANE_HSV

Matt shunted Astro on the cars debut outing at Oran Park in 2001. He was dropped in favour of Ashley Stitchbury for Bathurst and Morris/Stitchbury used the old VT (HRT 037) as the damage to Astro was too great to repair in time. I don't believe Matt raced the enduros that year either with any other team. So pretty unfortunate that the very first race weekend for Astro ended with a concrete sampling. It was pretty hard too, she slid sideways into the final corner at a decent speed and whacked it parrallel, similar to Seton's turn 8 hit at Adelaide 2002.

For 2002 Morris teamed with Wayne Wakefield for the enduros and they were using Bam Bam as the lead car at that time, Wakefield using Astro in the 2002 Konica series Bathurst race as it was a non championship race and wanted extra miles for the Bathurst 1000.

Today, it is 21 years since we lost Ashley Stichbury

[High_OCTANE_HSV]

Originally Posted by Just Do It!

Today, it is 21 years since we lost Ashley Stichbury

That's insane, such a loss. Time is going too fast man, it's been almost 17 years since we lost Brocky too

[S griffin]

Ashley went just like that. Does not seem right

And yes I remember the day we lost the great pioneer that was Brocky