Amaroo Park touring cars and Alfa Romeo Series 1984

[Mick A]

Skip to 1:58:00 for the Alfa Romeo Series! Then go back to the start and watch the Touring Cars!
Great racing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl8ZU-KqKIA

[DHDamo]

Awesome vid.  Tony Longhurst drifting the Sud like a boss before it was even a thing!

[Brad M]

Thanks Chode, that was cool!

[colcol]

Joe Bennica's Sud seemed to be a series 2 Sud with the small tail lights, all the others were driving series 3 Suds, Joe Bennica didn't have much sponsorship on his car, Allan Grice's Sud was prepared by Rod Makepeace at Alfa City, with sponsorship from Ignis fridges and Ruggolo Body works, Tony Longhurst Sud had Ignis sponsorship with a bit of help from his dad, who owned dreamworld at the time.
To all you kids out there, it was a time when dinosaurs walked the earth and Alfa Romeo was involved in Motor Racing, i was watching a doco on the 1980 Formula 1 championship and Alfa Romeo were in it with their own team with a V-12 atmospheric engine and drivers Italian, Bruno [the panda] Giacomelli and Frenchman Patrick Depaier, Sponsorship was from Marlboro in Italy and seen talking to the drivers was Alfa Romeo legend, Dr. Carlo Chiti, this was 1980, before the Fiat takeover in 1986.
Throughout the Sud race, they were talking about the first prize for the winner was a new Alfa Romeo 33, valued at $16,000, the winner of the series Allan Grice won the 33 and promptly sold it the next day to finance his next racing car, he later went on to win Bathurst in 1986 in a Chickadee Commodore and in 1990 in a HRT, VL Commodore, Grice first drove at Bathurst in a Fiat in the late 60's.
Dick Johnston, then a fresh faced Queenslander, was driving a John French prepared Alfasud, John French was Dick Johnstons co driver in various Falcons for years.
I think i can see in the background my brothers old twin carb Sud misfiring its way around the track being driven by western district farmer Robert Murch.
The commentater and Australian pie eating champion is Mike Raymond, one of the worst motor sport commentators of all time, so much better now with Neil Crompton, Mark Skaife and Mark Larkham, Colin.

[Evan Bottcher]

Great video thanks Mick!  There's a section in that video of Dick Johnson interviewing everyone about their plans for the upcoming 1985 switch to Group A.  No-one would tell him anything of course, all hush hush, very amusing.

The Suds looked great, not a lot of mods presumably and radial tyres on steel rims.  The finish was quite controversial huh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z-lL1j1v7Y

[Mick A]

That's great! What a sore loser!

It's racing!

[Frank Musco]

Very funny,all that sideways action. Love the old touring cars. thanks.

[colcol]

The group A Touring car series, 85-92 was the best Touring cars, standard cars, hotted up, with steel bodies standard engine blocks and minimal downforce, and many makes competing with 4, 6, 8, and 12 cylinders with atmo and turbo, with weights and tyre widths keeping them all reasonably even, Colin.

[mad dog 75]

so what went wrong?

[Spiderman JP]

so what went wrong?

Yobbo's.......Pushrod fools.....

[mad dog 75]

with weights and tyre widths keeping them all reasonably even, Colin.

Jesus Christ that's stretching it don't you think!!!

Yobbo's.......Pushrod fools..... the joke is on you spiderman, you obviously have never been to Bathurst.



 

[mad dog 75]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIphvgve4NI

almost as good as it gets for the brilliant little GTV6,

Bondy blew the Amaroo track record to the shit house in a standard GTV6 but that was in group E production.   What ever happened to group E?  oh that's right Cams f#%ked it up as well, but they didn't stop there.... lets ban turbos, lets ban rear wheel drive, lets ban V8's, lets ban hot pies at the football, lets change the rules every second week. CAMS you are a bunch of F#%king dickheads.       

[colcol]

When Group A started in the early 80's, it was so different manufacturers with different configerations could compete evenly with each other and that worked.....until the Ford Sierra came along with a 500 hp motor by Cosworth and blew them into the weeds, then Nissan read the rule book and produced the ultimate racecar, with 1,000 hp and 4 wheel drive and won everything.
Then the local racers in their 2 wheel drive, 2 valve per cylinder pushrod dinasaurs started moaning to Mike Raymond, that it wasn't fair, so Mike Raymond, had the rules fiddled, so that the Nissan's had less boost, down from 1,000 hp in Qualy to 600 hp in a race, finally Raymond changed the rules, as he put it, 'banning turbo's, like in Formula 1', then it went to Ford versus General Motors, with 2 wheel drive 2 valve pushrod motors, but Raymond said they had modern technoligy, with wait for it Fuel injection and a Six Speed Gearbox!, [that was made by Holinger Engineering].
This formula was a huge success, because the knuckle draggers would be able to see their favourite cars win races and not be blown into the weeds, by Japcrap.
It was a hugh success, not because of the cars, but the television station changed from Footycentral channel 7 to channel 10, which, [unlike 7], put it on live.
If you had a Touring Car Entrants Licence at the start, it was worth about $1.50, nowdays they change hands for about a million dollars each, Colin.

[Sportscar Nut]

What a drive by Joe - great footage Col! Grice had just returned from Europe and apparently brought back in his suitcase the rear 'nudge' with him!

What racing - to see car's on radials so sideways and then pulled back into line is dinosaur stuff but so entertaining. Longhurst seems to be able to get the rear of his car out further than all others - suspect he had fitted Cortina 6C rear springs (as a few cheaters did in that series).

Col, was Steve's car the only TiQV running?

Paul

[colcol]

Paul, i don't know if Steves ex Sud was the only twin carb running there, i suspect there were other as well, the Alfa Dealers were quite keen to promote the Sud as it was Alfa Romeo's most succesfull model selling about 950,000?? cars over 12 years production, Colin.