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13 May 2013, 05:45 (Ref:3246546) | #52 | ||
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,417
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i really would love to see the AGP support race 2. Won by Longhurst in dreadful conditions
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BAZINGA! |
6 May 2016, 16:12 (Ref:3639227) | #53 | |
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 35
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I believe the reason that Perkins didn't race at the AGP in 1989 was purely Tom Walkinshaw. The pair really didn't get along, only working together for convenience sake. When HSV started there were really only 2 top Holden teams to choose from to run any factory outfit. Roadways and Perkins and Tom had no love for Roadways or Gricey after the 1986 ETCC and that left Perkins by default. Perkins was logical though as he had previous factory links via the HDT. Tom as HSV owner and effectively the HRT team owner (even though the HRT was contracted to Perkins Engineering) basically told Larry he couldn't race in Adelaide, that he wanted Percy and Crompton in the cars. It left an understandably angry Perkins out of a drive in his own team. It effectively saw the end of the road for the uneasy relationship between TWR and Perkins Engineering.
Tom Walkinshaw had this unwritten rule that senior TWR management (other than himself) could not take part in dangerous activities. One of those dangerous activities was being a race car driver. He made the odd exception such as Win Percy having the dual role of HRT team manager and lead driver in 1990-91, but for the most part he stuck to it. This rule almost cost John Harvey a drive at Bathurst in 1988. After Harves turned down a drive in the #40 HSV Team car (he had played #2 to Brock for 10 years and wasn't about to play #3. His co-driver was to be Percy from what I have read), Uncle Tom invoked his dangerous activities rule on Harves who at the time was (I think) HSV's marketing manager. It was only intense lobbying by Harves that saw Walkinshaw finally relent and allow him to drive the Bob Forbes Commodore with Kevin Bartlett. As it was I believe it turned out to be Harvey's last ever race as he retired from driving soon after. It was also Walkinshaw's final race as well I think. |
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26 May 2016, 03:00 (Ref:3644456) | #54 | ||
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Join Date: Jun 1999
Posts: 5,549
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bought the 1989 Bathurst yearbook on eBay last week. It arrived in today's mail. Woohoo!
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27 May 2016, 03:25 (Ref:3644741) | #55 | ||
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"Your biggest auto race may one day become a Camaro playground", Chris Economaki, Bathurst 1979 |
27 May 2016, 04:29 (Ref:3644750) | #56 | ||
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5 Jun 2016, 02:36 (Ref:3647287) | #57 | ||||
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Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,040
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Quote:
Percy and Crompton were signed as the factory drivers for 1989 and were originally supposed to do the full ATCC, they were even entered for Amaroo. Perkins Engineering's deal to run the HRT team at the end of 1989 probably included ensuring that Percy and Crompton were part of the driving line up, so when they only had 2 cars available for the AGP, those two drivers had to get priority. From what i've read the original intention at Bathurst 1988 was always to run the #40 car and Percy was going to be one of the drivers, but then Nissan Europe decided to send the #23 ETCC Nissan down to Bathurst and Percy was one of the contracted drivers along with Grice, so the #40 was effectively left as the spare. Then at the last minute Nissan Europe decided not to send the ETCC Nissan to Bathurst leaving Percy and Grice in the lurch. Percy tried to get the #40 car happening again, while Grice went about putting together a deal for the #2 Roadways/ICL Commodore (at times the likes of Ravaglia and Pirro were linked as co-drivers in this car) that was originally meant to be a spare for the #33 Rogers/Andretti entry. In the end Grice and Percy teamed up in the #2 Commodore with sponsorship from FAI, a deal helped put together through Grice's insurance broker. Quote:
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"The Great Race" 22 November 1960 - 21 July 1999 |
25 Nov 2017, 02:46 (Ref:3782798) | #58 | ||
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 35
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Quote:
John Andretti did go on to win the inaugural Gold Coast Indy race in 1991, a surprise winner if I am not mistaken. I'll admit that I wasn't aware the Grice/Percy car was originally intended to be the spare for Rogers, though I do know that the two cars were crewed by Les Small's Roadways outfit for the weekend. I was also unaware of the potential Ravaglia and Pirro link. The things you learn Holden's unsung hero that weekend really was the Brian Callaghan / Barry Graham car. You can bet Holden breathed a very big sigh of relief when their car, the first Commodore home in 6th spot, was one of the new VL SV models. Finishing in 7th and 8th were the VK Commodore's of Tony Hunter and Steve Harrington and Gerald Kay and Geoff Munday respectively. The speedway boys saved Holden from an extremely embarrassing failure of their new Group A challenger. At least Larry Perkins recognised the significance of their result and contacted his customer personally to acknowledge it, even if Holden didn't. Callaghan later said that after an engine failure in practice (the same failure which would take the #10 Perkins car out of the race), he had a feeling that some of the parts in the new fuel injected V8 weren't quite up to it so he replaced them. Perkins also said that he wished he had followed their lead and done the same thing because a number of the new Commodore's (especially the PE built ones) failed in the race with the same engine failures. |
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