Alfa GTV6 1985 Cheer Squad at Bathurst

[shane wescott]

Hi Guys

Just wondering if anyone is off to Bathurst this year. Couldnt get there last year due to work but this year we are on.

Happy to have a drink with any other Alfa fans and toast 1985 when the Alfa GTV6 of Colin Bond and Gregg Hansford ruled Group B, finished outright 8th and beat all the Commodores :-)

Should be a fun week :-) Thankfully the alcohol restrictions have been left at one slab per person per day, so at least we can have a drink.

Let me know if anyone is there and we can have a beer around the fire. I'll be the guy in the Alfa jacket.

Catch ya

Shane

[Repco Lad]

Hi Shane

I will be a newbie to the Mountain this year, and am pretty excited about it. It's one of those things that should be done at least once in your lifetime.

I will be working though, but should be able to get up the mountain at some stage.

Repco are sponsoring the 'Miss V8' contest this year, so I will be on hand to see that everything is in order. It's a tough gig, but you have to take one for the team every now and then

So I'll look out for the Alfa jacket and you can look out for me- I'll be the one with a Miss V8 on each arm!

PM me your details and I will see you there.

Regards

David

[shane wescott]

Will do David. It's also my first time there.

I'll give you a yell and we can compare "fluffer" stories :-)

[pep105]

Hi Shane,
Ill be there and would be more than happy to join you for a drink to toast Bondy's mighty GTV6
Its my first time so Im exited as well  

Can PM my details, Im sure you wont be to hard to find wearing an Alfa jacket
just like I will stand out coz I dont look like a shazza or dazza  



Cheers Pep

[Davidm1600]

Hey Pep have a blast mate, for I would love to have gone on a pilgrimage to Bathurst but suspect I probably never will.   My brother went there back in 80's when the GTV6 and the BMW 635CSI etc were all running.  He reckoned it was so awesome.

For me, those days were the glory days  , where as the two horse race between the V8s of Holden and Ford as per today doesn't cut it for me  .  As impressive in their own way as they may be I am biased and readily admit to it, but I for one wish that Bathurst would return to its roots as a production race for all sorts of makes and classes.  I would love to see the V8 Audis, BMW, AMG Mercs, all running and why not GTA Alfas, Fiat Abarths etc etc running.  Now that would be a serious race and one to really aspire to make the pilgrimage worth making.  Dave

[L4OMEO]

Have a great time guys, jealous as. Once again I probably won't get to see any of the race since my wife was born on that date an unspecified number of years earlier insists on celebrating the fact annually. Birthdays? Pah 

As with David the current two-horse race doesn't appeal to me anywhere near as much as the diverse, multi-car fields of the past (sadly true of DTM and other TC championships around the world as well), but with Bathurst I reckon the track, the spectacle, the whole event would be fantastic regardless.

David – I had an Alfa-mate in NZ called Peter Beck who drove a 635 CSi back in the hey days you referred to. He was running in the 1992 (I think?) race which was stopped due to the heavy rain with victory controversially being given to Jim 'Pack of a***holes' Richards in the GT-R. Peter wrote up an awesome account of his experience in the NZ AlfaNews magazine, and his recollection of the last few laps in the rain was truly memorable. On what turned out to be the penultimate lap he was firing down Conrod at over 260 km/h with visibility not much further than the end of the bonnet when he spotted a faint puff of smoke within the mist & rain. He had fractions of a second to decide whether to brake or keep the foot in & elected for the latter. He then burst out of the weather into clear air just before the turn-in point to the Chase, to find a car on each side of him spinning off the track. The race was called shortly after and I think he was glad of the opportunity to change his overalls.

Awesome stuff.

[Davidm1600]

Hey all, I do agree with what L4omeo says so please don't misunderstand me, as I agree the spectacle would be so impressive, the driving, the engine roar, the battle between drivers and so on, and so can totally appreciate how special it would be to go to see it.  I am sure those who do go will have a totally over the top experience, I am simply looking through the rose tinted glasses of yesterday and recall growing up as a kid into a teenager and my memories of not being able to get to the telly fast-enough to watch the Great Race; being glued to the box all day probably much to my parents disdain.

It is just that my bias against the local iron precludes me from doing that today.  Maybe I have just got old and am not so keen on motor racing or something

Anyway, what a fantastic story about your mate, Peter Beck.  I can only imagine (well try to) just how he felt in those split seconds.  I guess that is the difference between us club racers vrs professionals.  I could never do what any of them do in racing flat out across the Mountain, not in a million years.  So hats off to all who can.  His write up of his experience would have made for fascinating reading. 

[aggie57]

Peter Beck used to race a 105 in NZ didnt he?  The name certainly rings a bell.

Alister

[MD]

David, you and I must be taking the same herbal medication for bordedom relief cause those dickhead yanks have ruined the best motor racing in the world. The holden /ford wank is the same as American Ringside Wrestling. All show. We dont want to see motor sport theatre, we want to see real competition and real racing. All Classes. Holden and ford just can't stand to be beaten so they wont let anyone in the camp that will. That's sportmanship for ya.

I used to be glued to the set all day with the front door jammed with a chair, the phone off the hook and an opened jerry can so I could smell the fuel (err..well almost).

Now I would rather watch the weather forecast.

Bring back Bathurst  !!! (mummble, grizzle,chuck chunder, kick the cat,and piss on the neighbours cactus plants)

[MD]

Not during the racing. Driven around the track to get the feel of it but that's about it.

I am told by some old timers that one time they used to have motor cycle racing as part of the whole Bathurst racing event and I understand that at another point due to a shit fight between the racing committee and the Bathurst Council, racing was moved to Orange for a few years.

I am passionate about Bathurst. That's why I have got the shits. They have ruined it. The technology to present the racing is world class but I want to see ALL makes racing here in the mixed classes. If a slower obstacle is in your way, well, stiff. It changes the entire race strattegy and is visually more exciting.

I put it to you like this: If you got a Holden shell and a Ford shell and transposed the mechanicals so that a Holden was running Ford gear and vice versa,would anyone know the difference? What would the crowd react like if Mazda won outright? Or a Skoda for that matter.

[L4OMEO]

Ok, hands up everyone who would prefer a whole bunch of manufacturers represented in touring car racing .... so, that's everyone? Not exactly a revelation then. Even the diehards fans and the series organisers are in agreement with that. Personally, I have never liked the two-horse race (nor the cynical way it was conceived) but it's not an anti Holden or Ford thing - I don't like it in the DTM or in any of the other formula-based touring car series around the world either. I also miss the days where the cars bore some correlation to their road-going counterparts, long time ago that it was.

But, while the 'glory days' may be gone I still love touring car racing, and with Bathurst the simply incredible nature of the circuit, the world-class technical coverage, the passion and atmosphere, it's as good an event for this type of racing as you'll find anywhere. And if the limited selection of cars and classes on offer doesn't float your boat, there's always the 12-hour in February. I know where I'm going to be on Sunday, and it 'aint watching the weather forecast.

Actually, if that's what my wife wants to do on her birthday then that's exactly what I'll be doing 

Shane/David, hope you guys have a great time, maybe join you there next year.

BTW Alister - yes, Peter Beck did (probably still does) race in NZ. I've never seen him race his own car though so I'm not sure what he's run in the past - he's one of these guys that turns up at events where other people offer him drives, only to commit the cardinal sin of posting quicker times than the owner. Got a bit of talent and, judging by his Bathurst exploits, some big cajones 

[Paul Newby]

I won't be there this year, though I did pass through Bathurst last weekend and things were starting to get quite busy.

But I was there in 1985 and 1986 where the GTV6s ruled. I was a Uni student at Bathurst at the time and would skive off from lectures to attend practice during the week...

I wasn't an Alfa Romeo owner back then and my interests in Alfas were only lukewarm. But I do recall a number of things from those two years.

In 1985 I remember seeing Bond's GTV6 in the paddock - a in a large tent I think. It did make an impression as I bought a GTV6 poster with both the Bond and Jones car on it and it had pride of place on my bedroom wall at Uni for the time I was there. I think I still have it somewhere rolled up at home. Funnily enough I celebrated the Jaguar XJS win by buying a green Jaguar windcheater (fleeces weren't invented) and later that year at the Sydney Motor Show some kid thought I worked for Jaguar! (I was only 20 at the time...  )

In 1986 I can vividly remember a wet practice session where the only two drivers truly on it were Jim Richards in the BMW 635 CSi and Lucio Cesario in the blue Pye sponsored GTV6. I even saw him do a complete 360 spin at McPhillamy and not hit anything! A feat that Allan Moffat in the Brock Commodore couldn't manage later that day!

Great memories and whilst the BMWs exhausts may have been louder the GTV6s were definitely sweeter... 

[L4OMEO]

Great stories indeed Paul. You're right about the exhaust notes - the BMWs were all blare, the Alfas were a sweet howl 

[MattB]

I will be there on Sunday, flying in for the day, 2nd year and a GTV6 owner. We have a car running - hoprfully at the top end of the field. Let me know where you are going to be and PM me your number and i will give you a call.

Matt

[shane wescott]

Hi Guys

had an absolute blast. Struggled with the one slab per day limit :-), blew up Kerry's Rav4 50ks from bathurst :-(  RACV total care is the best, they gave me a new SV6 to drive back home :-)

Flew the flag for Alfa all weekend, even was on the track under the podium at the end holdin up the alfa hat but not sure if it made it to tv :-)

Spoke to the last guys with the last Alfa allowed to race on during the Bathurst weekend. Apparently they are changing the rules for touring car masters, must be group A and must be ovr 2 litres I think. :-(

No prob I'll wear the alfa gear next year anyway.

Guys if you have ever wanted to go - go. All the stories about burning cars and dickheads are long in the past. Tey are 4 years into a 5 year plan to clean it up, thee were heaps of families there and apparently over 182,000 people over 4 dyas and only 55 odd arrests, 30 for drink/drug driving. Didnt see one punch or hear a bad word, just a bunch of people having a great time and appreaciating car, the mountain, and Aussie culture.

The camping spot we have is right on top and has the most magnificent view, worht the trip just for that.

Now, what do I do about the Rav4 with a blown motor. I wonder if I can squeeze a V6 from a 164 in and make a Rav4 GTA :-)

Catch ya

Shane