Photos: 1985 Wellington Street Race Photos

[Steve Holmes]

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I was sifting through a couple of folders on my computer recently when I stumbled upon a pile of images sent to me by Martin Smith and Steve Twist for a magazine article I’d written a couple of years ago on the 1985 Wellington Street Race. The images are so fantastic, I wanted to share them here.

The Wellington Street Race was the right event that happened at the right time. New Zealand needed this. With spectator interest continuing a downward spiral from the heady days of the Tasman Series two decades earlier, local motor racing desperately needed a shot in the arm, a high profile international event that was so clearly something special, something glamorous, that would reinvigorate the enthusiasm that had largely drained away following years of simply going through the motions.

The Wellington Street Race was the brainchild of Kerry Powell and Ian Gamble, two ambitious Auckland businessmen working for the Strathmore Group, which had fingers in various investment pies, including race horses and sports marketing.

Powell and Gamble, two self-professed petrolheads, had come up with the idea of holding an international motorsport event on the streets of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. They’d put plenty of work into the venture, including a detailed map of the race track, but an endless stream of red-tape killed the project, and they began to look further afield instead.

They decided to focus on New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington, which had several advantages over Auckland, in that it had a very definitive central hub, and hosted less international sporting events than Auckland, therefore providing less competition for the potential spectators dollar. With the Wellington council proving more enthusiastic about the concept, planning began in earnest in 1983, and in July 1984, an announcement was made that New Zealand’s capital city would host an international motor racing event in January 1985. It would be sponsored by Nissan, and a new magazine called Cue.

On early planning, the actual type of category chosen to headline the Wellington Street Race had not yet been decided upon. But its January 1985 date would prove crucial to its success. Had this event happened twelve months earlier, its possible it may not have enjoyed the level of support that it did. But as it happened, the international Group A touring car formula was on a rapid rise. Group A was strong in the UK and in Europe, and as well as there being several domestic touring car championships held under Group A rules, so too the European Touring Car Championship was run under Group A.

Additionally, after years of battling, the Confederation for Australian Motorsport (CAMS) finally gave up on its local and unique Group C touring car regulations, in favour of Group A, which would come into affect from the 1985 season. And New Zealand had also adopted Group A from its 1984/85 touring car championship season, bringing it into line with Australia for the first time.

And so the timing of the first Wellington Street Race was perfect, as not only would it allow Australian teams a chance to test their new machinery against international competition before their own championship sprung into action in February, 1985, but international teams and drivers could be imported by the event organisers, and local teams could buy existing race cars, in order to compete.

While New Zealand had already adopted Group A from late 1984, the number of actual local full-blooded Group A cars was minimal. The BMW 635CSi’s of Neville Crichton and Kent Baigent were the only offerings, against a mixed bag of former Benson & Hedges/ANZ endurance racing Ford Falcon’s and Holden Commodore’s, which had been upgraded, for the most part, to Group A spec. From the time of their arrival, the beautiful BMW’s held the clear upper-hand over the local competition.

The Wellington Street Race would be a 500km endurance event, and the first of two such endurance races held over consecutive weekends, with the second race taking place at Pukekohe. Although the street event was clearly the jewel in the crown, teams would contest both events, and an overall winner would be awarded, as well as winners for each race.

On announcement of the race in mid-1984, so too quickly followed an impressive list of potential super-star drivers, including Jochen Mass, Gerhard Berger, Mario and Michael Andretti, Andy Rouse, Frank Sytner, Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Denny Hulme, Larry Perkins, Jim Richards, John Goss, Allan Moffat, George Fury, Kevin Bartlett, and even ‘Dukes Of Hazzard’ tv series star, John Schneider! As time marched on, so many of the big names dropped off, one by one, but ultimately the entry list was still impressive, and certainly the most exciting car and driver line-up seen on New Zealand soil for many years.

The field of cars comprised a TWR Rover Vitesse for Tom Walkinshaw and Sydney businessman Ron Dickson. A trio of BMW 635CSi’s were entered, including the Crichton and Baigent cars (with regulars Wayne Wilkinson and Neil Lowe as co-drivers), plus an entry from the UK, driven by Frank Sytner and local driver John Morton. Morton had been racing a Ford Falcon XE in the New Zealand touring car series with Robbie Francevic.

Peter Brock and Larry Perkins were entered in the first Group A Commodore to emerge from the Holden Dealer Team. Dick Johnson had entered one of his recently acquired Zakspeed built Mustang’s, while a second Mustang was entered for Laurie Nelson and Peter Jones. A further three Commodore’s were entered for Lew McKinnon/John Power, Chris and Robert Belbin, and Trevor McLean/Ron Harrop. Although three Group A Falcon’s had been competing on the local New Zealand scene throughout the 1984/85 season, only one of these, the Pinepac car of brothers Bruce and Wayne Anderson, had entered the Wellington event. Bill McFarlane/Wayne Murdoch were entered in a V6 Capri, while an unknown quantity was a Volvo 240T, to be driven by Pierre Dieudonne/Mark Petch.

The field was then bolstered by several smaller class cars, competing for honours in either the 0-1600cc, or 1601-2500cc classes.

[Steve Holmes]

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By the time the event actually arrived, the big 2501 & Over class had been depleted further. Both the Mustang’s were withdrawn. Media reports at the time suggest homologation issues as the reason for their withdrawal, even though Mustang’s had been competing in Group A in Europe since 1982, and three cars, including both of those entered in the Wellington event, had entered the 1984 Bathurst 1000 a few months earlier in the Group A class. With Johnson out, Bruce Anderson made a phone call inviting the Queenslander to drive alongside him in the big Falcon, which was accepted. Furthermore, the Petch owned Volvo would see a complete driver reshuffle come the actual event, with Belgian Michel Delcourt and Robbie Francevic stepping in. Delcourt had been campaigning a GTM Engineering 240T throughout the 1984 ETCC.

The track itself provided its share of problems. As this was a temporary street circuit, and no high speed testing of the course could take place until the barriers and containers had been put in place, and the roads closed to the public, nobody really had any idea how long it would take to complete a lap at race speed. It was estimated something around the 1min 17sec range would be achievable, but in fact, the track would prove significantly slower, with the fastest cars lapping around the 1.32sec range. Therefore, with live tv, and this being a time-crucial event, the race was shortened from 500km to 375km.

Additionally, Cue magazine folded just prior to the race, leaving Nissan as the main sponsor. Therefore, the race would be called the Nissan Sport 500. Mobil oil would come in as joint sponsor from the 1986 race.

Dick Johnson proved clearly the fastest driver in the field in the big Anderson brothers Falcon, which surprised many, while the Volvo suffered shipping delays, and didn’t actually arrive at the track until the Saturday morning, missing out on qualifying, so would start off the back. The Walkinshaw Rover suffered a practice shunt when hit in the side by the Belbin Commodore. Its engine and gearbox were ripped from their mountings, the left front door heavily damaged, and the drivers seat broken. The team rebuilt the car for the race, but hadn’t detected the gearbox casing had been cracked.

Johnson recorded a 1.32:37 to take pole. He was followed by Baigent/Lowe, Sytner/Morton, Crichton/Wilkinson, Brock/Perkins, Walkinshaw/Dickson, and the rest.

The race itself was an absolute ripper. Johnson just killed them from the off, and scorched away in the early laps, building a comfortable margin, despite nursing the Falcon’s brakes and delicate rear-end. The Crichton/Wilkinson BMW was his closest rival in the early laps, while next were a gaggle of cars fighting over third position including the two other 635’s, the Brock/Perkins Commdore, the Rover, and, after just eight laps, the Volvo, which had started at the rear.

Johnson was out after nine laps, with rear-end failure, and the rest of the race saw a series of dramas in which cars would rise to the head of the field, only to topple back down the order again for various reasons. The Rover retired when all the oil came out of the gearbox and the gears got stripped. On lap 130, and with 20 laps to run, the Sytner/Morton BMW (with Morton driving) was holding a comfortable 45sec lead over the Volvo (driven by Francevic), which had pitted several times to have loose bodywork, and the hood in particular, taped down after bumping into several other cars throughout the race.

When Morton spun, the gap was cut to just 8sec, and with 10 laps remaining, Francevic moved into the lead. However, the hood on the Volvo began to lift once more, and so Francevic eased his pace to reduce the lift. This allowed Morton to close back up again, and was just three car lengths behind at the end.

It had been such a dramatic, exciting race, but the drama was not yet over. The Volvo was awarded the win, Francevic and Delcourt sprayed the champagne, but Sytner and Morton were adamant they were the winners, and that the Volvo was merely unlapping itself after losing so much time in the pits. The results stood, but the arguments continue to this day.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these photos from Martin and Steve from this event. It really did live up to all the hype, and is greatly missed today. It was a superb event, and a monumental achievement.

[Steve Holmes]

Heading into the race, the TWR Rover was expected to be a leading contender, and probably the fastest car outright. In fact, the Wellington race was a miserable one for Walkinshaw. The beautiful raspy V8 racer with its little 3.5 litre motor was much happier on high speed European race tracks than the tight little Wellington layout. But the weekend started out badly after a practice shunt, and never recovered.

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Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

This is what the Rover looked like after its coming together with the Belbin Commodore. The panel work was only part of the problem, and in fact the Rover raced with a sizable dent still in the door. But it was the gearbox that destroyed Walkinshaw's weekend. A crack in the casing sustained in the accident wasn't detected as the team raced to repair the car. After working his way through to second in the early laps, oil began spewing from the gearbox, and although the team topped up the oil during the first pit stop, the car was back in for good a few laps later, with the gears stripped.

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Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

This is moments after the start, as the field sweeps into the tight hairpin for the first time. Johnson is already well in command.

Note the flaggies perched on the concrete wall that separates the two straights here!

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Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

Great shot here of Dick Johnson in the Anderson Falcon. Johnson qualified the big Ford in 1.32:37, yet from the standing start, he completed the opening lap in 1.32:04. From there he punched in an amazing 1.31:1 on his second lap, and first flying lap, and after two tours, was already 4.5sec ahead of the second placed car!

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Martin Smith photo

[ERC]

It had been such a dramatic, exciting race, but the drama was not yet over. The Volvo was awarded the win, Francevic and Delcourt sprayed the champagne, but Sytner and Morton were adamant they were the winners, and that the Volvo was merely unlapping itself after losing so much time in the pits. The results stood, but the arguments continue to this day.

No disrespect to Mark Petch, but I watched every minute of that race, glued to the TV screen and am one of those who believe the Sytner/Morton car won. (Nothing to do with Frank Sytner being from Nottingham either!)

I can't remember the Volvo unlapping itself and it certainly spent a total of more than 90 seconds particularly given pit entry and exit time losses, sorting out the bonnet pins.

It was still the best TV motor race I have ever watched.

[Steve Holmes]

Here comes part of the chasing pack. While Johnson was out on his own, those chasing formed a fantastic battle. This is the beautiful Sytner/Morton BMW, which eventually finished second. Did this car stay on in New Zealand following this race? Can anyone fill in its history?

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Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

The positions from 3rd through 7th were being swapped constantly. Here Brock heads Baigent/Lowe, and Walkinshaw/Dickson.

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Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

Here, 'black beauty' the JPS BMW s Crichton/Wilkinson leads the Baigent/Lowe machine, with Sytner/Morton coming under pressure from the Rover. Note the Volvo has now moved up behind the Rover, from the back of the grid.

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Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

Note that Brock is putting the squeeze on Delcourt, who'd stormed through the field in the Volvo.

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Martin Smith photo

[ERC]

23516

September 15th 2007. No idea if this is the original or not.

[Steve Holmes]

Here is the Volvo just prior to the race, looking immaculate before the front got bashed in from punting several slower cars out of the way. Does anyone know the history of this car prior to its arrival in NZ? The GTM Engineering cars that Delcourt raced in Europe look identical, right down to the white tape on the headlights and italic race number backing, so I assume its one of these cars: http://touringcarracing.net/Pages/p%201984%20Silverstone.html

And where is it now?

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Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

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September 15th 2007. No idea if this is the original or not.

Oh wow, thanks Ray, that looks amazing!

[Steve Holmes]

You'd be hard pressed to call the Volvo racy, or pretty. But it always looked very businesslike, and the rear spoiler and those cool solid-mesh inserts on the front wheels really looked neat. The little 4 cylinder turbo machine shouldn't have performed on the stop-go Wellington street layout, which was as different as you could get from its natural environment on the high speed European race tracks, but somehow it did. Surprisingly, a week later on the fast and sweeping Pukekohe track, it wasn't as competitive!

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Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

Brock and Perkins discuss tactics prior to the race. The Wellington Street Race was the debut racing event for the new HDT Group A Commodore. It suffered various teething troubles, including overheating and a bent pushrod, but battled home to finish 4th. The car did lead for a brief time, which gave the team plenty of encouragement. However, the overheating issues returned for Pukekohe, and on returning to Australia, they couldn't be rectified in testing, so HDT actually withdrew from the opening ATCC round, until they could find a cure.

Interestingly, the Group A car ran an identical cooling system to that used the previous year on their Group C Commodores. The only difference was that the Group C car ran a much deeper front spoiler, which was pushing more cool air into the engine bay.

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Martin Smith photo

[Snoozin]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6851233381_826a23c73d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/snoozinrichy/6851233381/)
NZFMR Saturday 21_093 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/snoozinrichy/6851233381/) by SnoozinRichy (http://www.flickr.com/people/snoozinrichy/), on Flickr

Sytner/Morton car from the BMW Festival, 2012.

What an awesome thread! One of my very earliest racetrack memories is being at the Wellington Street race as a very small child, it must have been 1986 or 87.

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, another fantastic photo of that beautiful BMW. I've always loved the colour scheme on this car, even though it was only like this for these two races. What happened to this car after the two 1985 Wellington/Puke races? Did John Morton own the car?

[Powder]

No disrespect to Mark Petch, but I watched every minute of that race, glued to the TV screen and am one of those who believe the Sytner/Morton car won. (Nothing to do with Frank Sytner being from Nottingham either!)

I can't remember the Volvo unlapping itself and it certainly spent a total of more than 90 seconds particularly given pit entry and exit time losses, sorting out the bonnet pins.

It was still the best TV motor race I have ever watched.

This is what Lew MacKinnon wrote on the 10-Tenths Forum a couple of years ago:

I mentioned earlier about the Wellington Street Race result in 1985 and that John Morton and Frank Sytner felt that they were robbed of 1st place when the win was awarded to the Mark Petch owned Volvo 240 (Michel Delcourt / Robbie Francevic ) with Morton / Sytner ‘s BMW credited with 2nd. Subsequent events indicate that Morton and Sytner may have been right.

This was the first ever event of this nature for Wellington. The track was along arterial streets of Wellington City and back via the wharves, so the circuit could only be completed on the Friday night, with practice scheduled for Saturday and racing on Sunday. But the circuit failed to pass the inspection – all to do with (the lack of) run off areas / positioning of armco / positioning of shipping containers as barriers etc. In the end, the race was run as a NZ National Invitation race rather than an FIA sanctioned race – and this posed major challenges for drivers holding FIA racing licences. Australian drivers were OK but for the likes of Walkinshaw, Percy, Delcourt, it meant a series of late night calls from NZ to Europe for approvals to be given that they could race at all!

Officials for the event came (largely) from the Manawatu Car Club (Manfeild Circuit, some 3hrs north of Wellington) and marshals were largely volunteers from local Car Clubs. Electronic tags in cars didn’t happen until the 1986 races, so lap scoring was via a person assigned to each car, sitting in a trackside grandstand and turning over a small, numbered , flip chart each time ‘their’ car passed. TVNZ assigned a person to watch these scorers / these charts, to keep an eye on leaders / update the commentators. There were no official lap scorer(s).

On the Saturday night (practice was over), the Mark Petch owned Volvo 240T (Francevic / Delcourt) was flown from Auckland to Wellington in a Bristol Freighter and (as it hadn’t practised) it had to start from the rear of the grid. But within a few laps, it was already working steadily through the field.

Anyone watching the TV at the time would have noted that, toward the final stages of the race, the commentators had no idea who was leading. Or who was second. Or sixth. But the Volvo had become the darling of the event – carving its way through the field but having to make several stops because of a flapping bonnet (broken bonnet clip). But the lap scorers couldn’t keep up with the pit stops and several cars were ‘credited’ with incorrect completed laps. But it had become decision time for the TV team.

Fast forward to the following year, and the TVNZ Director / Producer for Sport (Iain Eggleton) spoke of the 1985 event to members of the Hutt Valley Car Club near Wellington. He said that, with 90 minutes left of the race, he had no idea who was leading the race and no-one could tell him. So with the race building to a climax and no-one able to tell whether the BMW or the Volvo was leading, HE made the decision and told the commentators to call the Volvo as leading and for the BMW to be second. And that’s how the TV says it finished. The irony is that Eggleton could just as easily have said the BMW was in front and the Volvo in second.

At the end of the race, Morton and Sytner produced full lap charts done by their team - complete with lap times / cumulative times / pit stops and showed that they had completed an extra lap compared to the laps credited to the ‘winning’ Volvo. But the officials decided that the results were to stand.

It is clear that Morton and Sytner were stiffed by poor lap scoring, but the ‘win’ by the Volvo quickly evolved into folk lore – it was a story too good to change after the fact. I’ve also replayed the entire TV coverage but agree that it doesn’t provide sufficient proof one way or the other.

But because of the lap scoring fiasco in 1985, electronic tags were used in each car from 1986.

[Frosty5]

No disrespect to Mark Petch, but I watched every minute of that race, glued to the TV screen and am one of those who believe the Sytner/Morton car won. (Nothing to do with Frank Sytner being from Nottingham either!)

I can't remember the Volvo unlapping itself and it certainly spent a total of more than 90 seconds particularly given pit entry and exit time losses, sorting out the bonnet pins.

It was still the best TV motor race I have ever watched.

Ray, I have watched 2 videos, one which I recorded in total and one supplied by SKF and as a part of the team I was surprised at the win. I figured we were still behind at the fall of the flag however, history records it as a win for the team. But I still have my doubts.
Cheers Dave

[Powder]

Wow, another fantastic photo of that beautiful BMW. I've always loved the colour scheme on this car, even though it was only like this for these two races. What happened to this car after the two 1985 Wellington/Puke races? Did John Morton own the car?

I think this is the 635 that Ken Smith owned for a while and was also driven by Greg Taylor (possibly the same Dr Greg Taylor who has raced at the Nurburgring 24hr race with a bunch of other kiwis in recent years?).

[crunch]

This is moments after the start, as the field sweeps into the tight hairpin for the first time. Johnson is already well in command.

Note the flaggies perched on the concrete wall that separates the two straights here!

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Martin Smith photo


Woohoo! Jeez...I was a skinny bugger back then. Possibly the most exciting flag point I ever worked on. I'm the skinny dude in the grey sweatpants. If we needed to go to the toilet during the race; we had to sprint across the track! Life was so easy back then....:rolleyes:

[Powder]

Woohoo! Jeez...I was a skinny bugger back then. Possibly the most exciting flag point I ever worked on. I'm the skinny dude in the grey sweatpants. If we needed to go to the toilet during the race; we had to sprint across the track! Life was so easy back then....:rolleyes:

Toilet across the track!!! .... Luxury...:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

[stirlingmac]

I would agree with you about Ken Smith having this car. it was also raced by Croz and Lew McKinnon, Graeme Lorimer,Warren McKellar and Richard Gillies and must have been one of the higher mileaged Grp A cars in New Zealand.. I remember being told by Lew it was quite special with a very low chassis number 001.. Greg pedalled a bunch of cars including a quick 1200 coupe and a lease deal of a Tranz Am Ford that he shared with Dick Johnson. My memory is hazy but it sounds plausible he did have a drive of the Beemer as well..

[touringcarfan]

All I know is that the Volvo was an ex works ETCC car. After Wellington the car was shipped to Oz for the 85 ATCC where Francevic finished 5th. For 86 the car was run by the Volvo Dealer Team and this was the year Robbie won the ATCC.

Anthony

[crunch]

I would agree with you about Ken Smith having this car. it was also raced by Croz and Lew McKinnon, Graeme Lorimer,Warren McKellar and Richard Gillies and must have been one of the higher mileaged Grp A cars in New Zealand.. I remember being told by Lew it was quite special with a very low chassis number 001.. Greg pedalled a bunch of cars including a quick 1200 coupe and a lease deal of a Tranz Am Ford that he shared with Dick Johnson. My memory is hazy but it sounds plausible he did have a drive of the Beemer as well..

We are not starting to confuse these 635's with either of the STATE COAL sponsored ones that were there one year? One of those cars is now owned by Geoff Langham the CEO of Taupo Racetrack

[crunch]

I think this is the 635 that Ken Smith owned for a while and was also driven by Greg Taylor (possibly the same Dr Greg Taylor who has raced at the Nurburgring 24hr race with a bunch of other kiwis in recent years?).

Not the same Greg Taylor. The "earlier one" was predominately a rally driver, but also drove one of the DJR Sierras at Bathurst one year as well as a stint in Group A .In fact he had a Group A Lancia Intergrale rally car at about the same time as a Group A BMW. The Taylor brothers had a roadmarking business in Wanganui and dabbled in everything motorsports

[conrod]

23516

September 15th 2007. No idea if this is the original or not.

Yes the original car, owned by a chap in Nelson who pilots a large fishing trawler, and drags it out at the occasional historic event. Drives it very well too:) He purchased it many years ago from Ken Smith. It is a "proper" Gp.A car built by Sytner from a BMW Motorsport Gp.A kit.




I would agree with you about Ken Smith having this car. it was also raced by Croz and Lew McKinnon, Graeme Lorimer,Warren McKellar and Richard Gillies and must have been one of the higher mileaged Grp A cars in New Zealand.. I remember being told by Lew it was quite special with a very low chassis number 001.. Greg pedalled a bunch of cars including a quick 1200 coupe and a lease deal of a Tranz Am Ford that he shared with Dick Johnson. My memory is hazy but it sounds plausible he did have a drive of the Beemer as well..

The very early (001?) chassis numbered car is still owned by some friends of mine, they purchased it for not much in 1989,when it was well past its "use by" date, and is still as last raced. Was an Eggenberger car, and converted at some point to RHD. Basic colour is yellow, ran with a few liveries and sponsors in its day, and still retains alloy roll cage.

[Shoreboy57]

Note the flaggies perched on the concrete wall that separates the two straights here!

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Martin Smith photo[/QUOTE]

Great memories Steve. I was on the next flagpoint along from Crunch, at the entrance to the right hander that took the cars from the wharf on to Custhomhouse Quay (look above the Falcon in the photo). You can see that this corner, like many parts of the track used containers rather than concrete barriers to line the track, in this case on the exit. And in the photo you can spot one of the many spectators who thought standing on a container would make a great viewing spot. We spent the weekend chasing them off. Fortunately no one it hard as I recall

[ERC]

Thanks for the reports on the race and the interesting TV aspect. I feel much better for that!

As the Sytner/Morton team kept accurate lap charts (which was the norm, even for F1 teams years ago with a triple analogue stopwatch board - stopped, running, ready) it is almost impossible to get it wrong, just as long as the scorer presses the lever each time the car goes past. They are used to watching just their own car and it is/was very rare to miss it.

As I remember it, at Manfeild, each timer wrote the lap time on a pad so I am not sure if the above mentioned 'flip pad' system was in addition to the time keeper's or was combined? Maybe someone will know?

If combined, it was far from fool proof and even lap times could be very dubious, as in handicap racing particularly, if they failed to spot a car until it was past the finish line, that lap would be a second or two longer than normal, meaning that the next lap would then be a second or two quicker, leading to some weird 'fastest laps'! The same applied to timekeepers at other circuits of course.

As always, the timekeeper was a judge of fact, but the stewards could have accepted the Morton/Sytner pit crew's summary and compared it to the Petch charts, (I assume they were doing the same?) as it is extremely difficult to fake - especially given the time scale - as the cumulative time and the individual lap times could have been tied to the TV coverage, particularly the pit stops, which was of course filmed and broadcast live.

[Steve Holmes]

This is what Lew MacKinnon wrote on the 10-Tenths Forum a couple of years ago:

I mentioned earlier about the Wellington Street Race result in 1985 and that John Morton and Frank Sytner felt that they were robbed of 1st place when the win was awarded to the Mark Petch owned Volvo 240 (Michel Delcourt / Robbie Francevic ) with Morton / Sytner ‘s BMW credited with 2nd. Subsequent events indicate that Morton and Sytner may have been right.

This was the first ever event of this nature for Wellington. The track was along arterial streets of Wellington City and back via the wharves, so the circuit could only be completed on the Friday night, with practice scheduled for Saturday and racing on Sunday. But the circuit failed to pass the inspection – all to do with (the lack of) run off areas / positioning of armco / positioning of shipping containers as barriers etc. In the end, the race was run as a NZ National Invitation race rather than an FIA sanctioned race – and this posed major challenges for drivers holding FIA racing licences. Australian drivers were OK but for the likes of Walkinshaw, Percy, Delcourt, it meant a series of late night calls from NZ to Europe for approvals to be given that they could race at all!

Officials for the event came (largely) from the Manawatu Car Club (Manfeild Circuit, some 3hrs north of Wellington) and marshals were largely volunteers from local Car Clubs. Electronic tags in cars didn’t happen until the 1986 races, so lap scoring was via a person assigned to each car, sitting in a trackside grandstand and turning over a small, numbered , flip chart each time ‘their’ car passed. TVNZ assigned a person to watch these scorers / these charts, to keep an eye on leaders / update the commentators. There were no official lap scorer(s).

On the Saturday night (practice was over), the Mark Petch owned Volvo 240T (Francevic / Delcourt) was flown from Auckland to Wellington in a Bristol Freighter and (as it hadn’t practised) it had to start from the rear of the grid. But within a few laps, it was already working steadily through the field.

Anyone watching the TV at the time would have noted that, toward the final stages of the race, the commentators had no idea who was leading. Or who was second. Or sixth. But the Volvo had become the darling of the event – carving its way through the field but having to make several stops because of a flapping bonnet (broken bonnet clip). But the lap scorers couldn’t keep up with the pit stops and several cars were ‘credited’ with incorrect completed laps. But it had become decision time for the TV team.

Fast forward to the following year, and the TVNZ Director / Producer for Sport (Iain Eggleton) spoke of the 1985 event to members of the Hutt Valley Car Club near Wellington. He said that, with 90 minutes left of the race, he had no idea who was leading the race and no-one could tell him. So with the race building to a climax and no-one able to tell whether the BMW or the Volvo was leading, HE made the decision and told the commentators to call the Volvo as leading and for the BMW to be second. And that’s how the TV says it finished. The irony is that Eggleton could just as easily have said the BMW was in front and the Volvo in second.

At the end of the race, Morton and Sytner produced full lap charts done by their team - complete with lap times / cumulative times / pit stops and showed that they had completed an extra lap compared to the laps credited to the ‘winning’ Volvo. But the officials decided that the results were to stand.

It is clear that Morton and Sytner were stiffed by poor lap scoring, but the ‘win’ by the Volvo quickly evolved into folk lore – it was a story too good to change after the fact. I’ve also replayed the entire TV coverage but agree that it doesn’t provide sufficient proof one way or the other.

But because of the lap scoring fiasco in 1985, electronic tags were used in each car from 1986.


Wow, brilliant!

[Carlo]

Our team was in the pits adjacent to the Volvo, we had three people doing our lap scoring/timekeeping duties and we had the Volvo in the lead.
We need to remember that most cars had numerous pit stops because of clipping kerbs, damaging tyres and items falling off them whilst our Bluebird turbo just keep on circulating out of trouble until we lost a brake pad with about 35 minutes to go. Even though our car was probably the slowest on the track it was running 3rd when the pad dropped primarily because it kept out of trouble and played the percentage game of achieving a result by spending less time in the pits and more time on the track. That last half hour saw us over run by 5 cars that were considerably faster than ours.

[Steve Holmes]

Had it not been for a small mistake by Kent Baigent just after the halfway mark, its quite likely this car would have won the race. Neil Lowe made an early pit stop on lap 20 due to a fluctuating oil pressure light, but the team did a quick check, and came to the conclusion it was a signal fault, not an oil pressure issue. The stop dropped the car one lap down, but it made up ground when the others made their first stops. Eventually, Lowe/Baigent worked their way into the lead, which they then lost when they picked up a puncture. But the car was quick, and with others also having issues, this pair eventually moved back in front.

Just after the halfway mark, with Baigent at the wheel, the oil light came on again, distracting Baigent for a moment, and he missed his braking point, got on the marbles, and slid into a concrete kerb. This punctured another tyre, but also damaged the suspension, which lost the team several laps. At the time the car was leading, and the Sytner/Morton car was running second, but both these drivers struggled as their stints went on, because the Metro magazine BMW didn't have power steering, and the Baigent/Lowe car was consistently faster.

23523

Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

Another shot of the Baigent/Lowe BMW. I may well be wrong about this, but I seem to recall this was a Schnitzer car out of Europe? Sadly its career ended in a nasty barrel-roll along the back fence of Manfield a year later.

Its amazing the number of potential hazards the Wellington track had in this first year. As Carlo said above, most of the top runners were making multiple unscheduled pit stops due to being caught out by the track.

23524

Steve Twist photo

[Steve Holmes]

Woohoo! Jeez...I was a skinny bugger back then. Possibly the most exciting flag point I ever worked on. I'm the skinny dude in the grey sweatpants. If we needed to go to the toilet during the race; we had to sprint across the track! Life was so easy back then....:rolleyes:

Ha ha ha, thats brilliant crunch, I love it!

[Steve Holmes]

Here are a couple of pics of the two GTM Engineering Volvos from Frank de Jongs excellent touring car history website. Both Michel Delcourt and Pierre Dieudonne drove these cars throughout the 1984 ETCC. Dieudonne was originally entered in the Petch car at Wellington. You can see the similarities with the Petch car, right down to the white number backings and the tape on the headlights.

23526

23525

[Steve Holmes]

Its hard to find a better looking colour scheme than the black and gold of JPS in the '80s. This is the Crichton/Wilkinson car prior to the race. Wilkinson did the opening stint, and ran second to Johnson in the early laps before a quick spin, then a delay with a puncture. Another spin while lapping a slower car put the BMW into one of the shipping containers lining the track, which created further delays while the bodywork was whacked back into shape. This dropped the team three laps down, one of which they made back up to finish 3rd.

One week later at Pukekohe, this car won, which I believe gave Crichton/Wilkinson the series title for both events.

I believe this was one of the former Group C cars run in Australia by Frank Gardner? I assume its still in Group A guise? Where is it now?

23527

23528

Steve Twist photos

[Steve Holmes]

Brilliant shot here of JPS crew members man-handling the front guard away from the tyre following the mid-race spin and subsequent clash with a container. Note how close the punters were able to get to the action in the background!

23529

Martin Smith photo

[TonyG]

Pukekohe the week after the Wellington race.
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq204/TGPhotography/Scanned%20Images/img057-1.jpg (http://s448.photobucket.com/user/TGPhotography/media/Scanned%20Images/img057-1.jpg.html)

[conrod]

Another shot of the Baigent/Lowe BMW. I may well be wrong about this, but I seem to recall this was a Schnitzer car out of Europe?

correct, it was a Schnitzer car:) Particularly nasty accident, in many ways.

[TonyG]

These were shot at Pukekohe on my way home from work when they were testing. The Chrichton car has Benson & Hedges on it so afer all these years I would have to assume they were around Benson and Hedges event time pre Xmas so before the Nissan Mobil.
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq204/TGPhotography/Scanned%20Images/KentBaigent.jpg (http://s448.photobucket.com/user/TGPhotography/media/Scanned%20Images/KentBaigent.jpg.html)

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq204/TGPhotography/Scanned%20Images/NevilleChrichton.jpg (http://s448.photobucket.com/user/TGPhotography/media/Scanned%20Images/NevilleChrichton.jpg.html)

[Steve Holmes]

Hey Tony, these are fantastic images! Both the Baigent and Crichton BMW's ran the 1984/85 NZ endurance series, prior to the street race. The Crichton car ran in stark black with little or no signage on it, but still looked amazing. I think the Wellington event might have been the first time it appeared in JPS colours?

[Steve Holmes]

correct, it was a Schnitzer car:) Particularly nasty accident, in many ways.

Thanks Conrad

[Steve Holmes]

Pit stop time for the Sytner/Morton BMW. Of all the leading contenders, this was really the only car that wasn't delayed by some sort of drama, be in mechanical or through being bitten by the track. The biggest issue the pair had was that this car wasn't fitted with power steering, which made each driving stint incredibly tiring. Morton spun towards the end of the race, which allowed the Volvo to close right up. I wonder if this spin was as a result of Morton becoming exhausted through the lack of power steering?

23550

[jimdigris]

Great shot here of Dick Johnson in the Anderson Falcon. Johnson qualified the big Ford in 1.32:37, yet from the standing start, he completed the opening lap in 1.32:04. From there he punched in an amazing 1.31:1 on his second lap, and first flying lap, and after two tours, was already 4.5sec ahead of the second placed car!

23511

Martin Smith photo

This is a stunning race time. To put it into perspective, in the 87 WTTC event Ludwig got pole on 1.29.42, on very sticky qualifiers in an RS500, and the fastest cars lap times in the race were in the mid 32s. Does anyone know if the track was different for the WTTC race?

[Steve Holmes]

Hi Jim, yeah the track changed on a regular basis so unfortunately lap times can't really be compared. This first year there was a tight left-hand hairpin bend off the end of the back straight which I don't think was used again.

[Steve Holmes]

Neat bit of tv coverage here showing the first 5mins or so of the race.


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

[jimdigris]

I'm stunned this track every passed international safety rules

[Shoreboy57]

I'm stunned this track every passed international safety rules

I think some fast talking had to happen. Robbie Lester involved I believe (Manfeild provided a lot of event staff)

[seaqnmac27]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXb1znBECGI

[seaqnmac27]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBrX-WSfOMk

[Carlo]

I think some fast talking had to happen. Robbie Lester involved I believe (Manfeild provided a lot of event staff)

It meet the requirements of the time, things have sure changed in the 29 or so years since then.
The organisers were borrowing torque wrenchs and crew members to check all the Armco bolts after the track inspectors found that the contractors had left some loose. That was just one of the many hold ups we endured before the meeting got under way but then it was all part of the fun of the occasion and everyone just mucked in to make the event happen.

[Jeff]

This is a better thread to put my Nissan / Cue series pics...
Pukekohe 1985

235512355223553

[jimdigris]

There sure are some variations in same car engine capacities in that entry list! Did the person entering the car state the capacity instead of what it was supposed to be under group a regs?

[crunch]

It meet the requirements of the time, things have sure changed in the 29 or so years since then.
The organisers were borrowing torque wrenchs and crew members to check all the Armco bolts after the track inspectors found that the contractors had left some loose. That was just one of the many hold ups we endured before the meeting got under way but then it was all part of the fun of the occasion and everyone just mucked in to make the event happen.

Shoreboy is right. It didn't meet the requirements of the time. We were told late afternoon that the race would not run, however Robbie Lester did a tremendous job and found the required loop hole. I just love loopholes!!

[crunch]

Thanks for the reports on the race and the interesting TV aspect. I feel much better for that!

As the Sytner/Morton team kept accurate lap charts (which was the norm, even for F1 teams years ago with a triple analogue stopwatch board - stopped, running, ready) it is almost impossible to get it wrong, just as long as the scorer presses the lever each time the car goes past. They are used to watching just their own car and it is/was very rare to miss it.

As I remember it, at Manfeild, each timer wrote the lap time on a pad so I am not sure if the above mentioned 'flip pad' system was in addition to the time keeper's or was combined? Maybe someone will know?

If combined, it was far from fool proof and even lap times could be very dubious, as in handicap racing particularly, if they failed to spot a car until it was past the finish line, that lap would be a second or two longer than normal, meaning that the next lap would then be a second or two quicker, leading to some weird 'fastest laps'! The same applied to timekeepers at other circuits of course.

As always, the timekeeper was a judge of fact, but the stewards could have accepted the Morton/Sytner pit crew's summary and compared it to the Petch charts, (I assume they were doing the same?) as it is extremely difficult to fake - especially given the time scale - as the cumulative time and the individual lap times could have been tied to the TV coverage, particularly the pit stops, which was of course filmed and broadcast live.

Hi Ray
Manfield Organisation did their usual timing system that had be proven over the previous 20 years at the Castrol 6 hour motorcycle race, and which you allude to. If you look at the photo of the hairpin I was marshalling on, and you can see Shoreboy's flag point in the background. Just to the left of Shoreboys container was another that had a timing stand erected on it that looked down the front straight to the start finish line where the 40 odd timekeepers sat. Personally; I think the BMW won, and some of that has come from information from some of those timekeepers....

[Frosty5]

Hi Ray
Manfield Organisation did their usual timing system that had be proven over the previous 20 years at the Castrol 6 hour motorcycle race, and which you allude to. If you look at the photo of the hairpin I was marshalling on, and you can see Shoreboy's flag point in the background. Just to the left of Shoreboys container was another that had a timing stand erected on it that looked down the front straight to the start finish line where the 40 odd timekeepers sat. Personally; I think the BMW won, and some of that has come from information from some of those timekeepers....

I think the evidence is overwhelming in favour of Morton/Sytner and that comes from various quarters. It made me sit down watch and re-watch videos several times and I conclude that the BMW won. The party after however, was a ripper!!!!LOL Refer post #20

[Powder]

Shoreboy is right. It didn't meet the requirements of the time. We were told late afternoon that the race would not run, however Robbie Lester did a tremendous job and found the required loop hole. I just love loopholes!!

It would take me hours to find where I read it, but I think the international race permit was revoked and the event was run as a 'domestic' race which didn't have to meet the same standards (perhaps by giving all the overseas drivers temporary NZ race licences?).

[crunch]

It would take me hours to find where I read it, but I think the international race permit was revoked and the event was run as a 'domestic' race which didn't have to meet the same standards (perhaps by giving all the overseas drivers temporary NZ race licences?).


Yep. Cant do that nowdays as an individual can only hold a competition licence from one country

[ERC]

I love the 'stories' around racing and find them fascinating and it seems that this race has more than most - and is indicative of the times.

History will show that the red tape is so much tighter now and that many so called loopholes will have been closed but with fewer colourful stories behind the later events. Although there may be hiccups now and again, they are relatively few as organisers and MSNZ know what they are doing.

Reading Maurice O'Reilly's brilliant book "A Series of Small Explosions" for example, is a classic example that a lot of the colour has now been drained out of life and I am not at all sure that it has been worth it - and the current preoccupation with one make racing hasn't helped at all.

It was still a fantastic race with a great variety of cars and one I'll always remember, even though it was from the couch. The classic racing was quite memorable too as I recall, with Roger Townsend's Escort three wheeling around the place (if that was 1985!).

[Carlo]

Shoreboy is right. It didn't meet the requirements of the time. We were told late afternoon that the race would not run, however Robbie Lester did a tremendous job and found the required loop hole. I just love loopholes!!

Just one of the many "Requirements of the time"

[Steve Holmes]

Here is how the Volvo looked prior to the race start. You can see even the windscreen banner is a rush job, as the names are off-centre. But overall a pretty impressive effort to be there at all. When was Francevic drafted in to replace Petch?

23565

Steve Twist photo

[Steve Holmes]

This is the Volvo during the race, and after 'prodding' several other cars out of the way. The lifting bonnet caused most of the problems, and Francevic actually slowed down with a few laps to run after having gotten by Morton, just to reduce the lift.

Not sure how true it was, but I heard a story that while Delcourt was at the wheel, officials noted the lifting bonnet and were planning on black flagging him, but Francevic then stepped in and persuaded them to do otherwise?

23566

Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

Did the Volvo have an alloy rollcage, or was it just painted silver?

[Steve Holmes]

Neat shot here of Johnson in the Falcon. Although he was comfortably pulling away from the field in the early laps, Johnson said he was nursing the car, due to its fragile rear and and weak brakes. Yet this cool shot shows the inside rear wheel clearly off the ground as he swings into the hairpin.

23567

Martin Smith photo

[Carlo]

Neat shot here of Johnson in the Falcon. Although he was comfortably pulling away from the field in the early laps, Johnson said he was nursing the car, due to its fragile rear and and weak brakes. Yet this cool shot shows the inside rear wheel clearly off the ground as he swings into the hairpin.

23567

Martin Smith photo

Spool rear axles, the easiest way to get them through hairpin turns was to lift a rear wheel. Commodores were set up the same way

[Frosty5]

Here is how the Volvo looked prior to the race start. You can see even the windscreen banner is a rush job, as the names are off-centre. But overall a pretty impressive effort to be there at all. When was Francevic drafted in to replace Petch?

23565

Steve Twist photo

Petch renewed his licence at Baypark 1986 IIRC driving a Fiat road car with 3 stripes on the back. He then piloted the Volvo at Baypark only to come 2nd to I think Graeme Cameron in a BMW or a Commodore, but don't quote me on the last part. He was knackered with a very sore arm/shoulder. Fitness paid a big part in sending this car around any circuit. IIRC the cage was alloy as per specs at the time.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Dave, great description.

[Steve Holmes]

This is the Volvo doing some cooking in the pits. I assume this is quite early in the race, there aren't any dents in the front yet.

23735

Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

This is a great shot!

23737

Martin Smith photo

[Steve Holmes]

Brilliant Steve Twist shot here of the Crichton/Wilkinson BMW hurtling through turn 1. This shot really shows well the potential hazards this track possessed.

23738

[Steve Holmes]

This is cool. Just moments after the start, and the field streams through turn 1, chasing Dick Johnson in the Falcon. Boy, those flaggies standing on the concrete wall sure look exposed!

23740

[crunch]

This is cool. Just moments after the start, and the field streams through turn 1, chasing Dick Johnson in the Falcon. Boy, those flaggies standing on the concrete wall sure look exposed!

23740

We loved it!! I nearly peed in my grey sweatpants....

[Steve Holmes]

We loved it!! I nearly peed in my grey sweatpants....

In that case, grey is not a good colour to wear Crunch, the pee would definitely be visible.

[Steve Holmes]

I assume this photo of Dick Johnson chatting with Bruce Anderson was shot during practice. That said, after the big Ford was struck down with a rear end failure while leading, I think the team might have patched it up so Bruce could run some laps.

23779

[crunch]

I assume this photo of Dick Johnson chatting with Bruce Anderson was shot during practice. That said, after the big Ford was struck down with a rear end failure while leading, I think the team might have patched it up so Bruce could run some laps.

23779


I hope it was practice...look at those race overalls of Bruces. Looks like a polo shirt to me?

[conrod]

I hope it was practice...look at those race overalls of Bruces. Looks like a polo shirt to me?

Its okay if it was practice, word is that fires during practice are nowhere near as hot as the ones during a race:) Amazes me how many people still race without gloves.

Conrad

[Carlo]

I hope it was practice...look at those race overalls of Bruces. Looks like a polo shirt to me?

It looks to me as if he is wearing Flamecrusher overalls (see RH shoulder flash) but as he is waiting around he has unzipped them to cool off and is wearing a polo shirt under them. By the looks of his fingers he is wearing gloves

[crunch]

It looks to me as if he is wearing Flamecrusher overalls (see RH shoulder flash) but as he is waiting around he has unzipped them to cool off and is wearing a polo shirt under them. By the looks of his fingers he is wearing gloves


Polo Shirt UNDER overalls???? Must have been an 80's thing. I assume you still do that Carl?

[crunch]

It looks to me as if he is wearing Flamecrusher overalls (see RH shoulder flash) but as he is waiting around he has unzipped them to cool off and is wearing a polo shirt under them. By the looks of his fingers he is wearing gloves

Possibly might have been a bit easier to cool off, if there was no polo shirt under the overalls? Mind you; Polo shirts were the in thing in early F1 days

[Rod Grimwood]

Don't reckon it is a polo shirt. Looks like Flamecrusher overalls undone to cool off and he has no fireproof underwear on. Reckon he just has overalls on as it was pretty warm, but not as warm as it could have got if something went wrong.
Single layer suits back then as well for the NZ boys.
Note all other 'professional' drivers have multi layer suits.

Personally, back then and now never went with out full Nomex underwear/socks and then suit over that with boots. Even Nomex head wear. (not good looking so no one missed out)

[John McKechnie]

And gloves?

[Carlo]

Polo Shirt UNDER overalls???? Must have been an 80's thing. I assume you still do that Carl?
At the most a cotton tee shirt before Nomex underwear became available Crunch. Never wore anything that could melt. Probably one of the first rally guys to wear crutch straps too.

A bit like Frank Gardner now, in that I would sooner be recognised as the oldest driver rather than as the fastest driver.

[Steve Holmes]

The Holden Dealer Team guys work through a pit stop.

23850

[Steve Holmes]

The Rover heads into the right hand turn 3. The track had so many obstacles, check out the concrete bollard next to the building. I assume this was a permanent fixture of the Wellington waterfront, to protect the buildings from all the heavy machinery that moved around in this area, rather than something installed just for the race?

23851

[Steve Holmes]

The Volvo hassles the Rover through turn 1.

23852

[Steve Holmes]

This is the Garry Pederson/Dave McMillen Fiat Abarth. I wonder where this car is now?

23853

[spinner32]

Steve, Brian Hessey in Christchurch owned the car for some time. When he went to sell it, no one wanted it, so it was put back on the road. It would be a very fast road car, as it was very quick once it was sorted.

[Steve Holmes]

Oh wow, that is cool! Thanks for the info. Yeah it would have been a very fast road car. I wonder if it survived?

[Shoreboy57]

The Rover heads into the right hand turn 3. The track had so many obstacles, check out the concrete bollard next to the building. I assume this was a permanent fixture of the Wellington waterfront, to protect the buildings from all the heavy machinery that moved around in this area, rather than something installed just for the race?

23851

Correct - just paint added

[hilstwist]

I think this shot of Walkinshaw in the Rover was taken during practice notice the big ding on the side. He was t boned in the " hairpin" at the end of the Aotea staight. It was probably repaired for the race? I seem to recall the handling was off as a result.I also remember the magnificent sound that car made!! In fact wasn"t the noise one of the reasons the event didn"t continue ?Another memory I have from that shot is that i clambered on top of a container i think, to take them and losing my footing,nearly falling down onto the track!! Also on the other side of the track was the drink and you could have easily fallen in the harbour standing on the concrete ledge! it was great while it lasted and I loved being there.Allways a great atmosphere for driver and spectator.

[Mark Petch]

23506

I was sifting through a couple of folders on my computer recently when I stumbled upon a pile of images sent to me by Martin Smith and Steve Twist for a magazine article I’d written a couple of years ago on the 1985 Wellington Street Race. The images are so fantastic, I wanted to share them here.

The Wellington Street Race was the right event that happened at the right time. New Zealand needed this. With spectator interest continuing a downward spiral from the heady days of the Tasman Series two decades earlier, local motor racing desperately needed a shot in the arm, a high profile international event that was so clearly something special, something glamorous, that would reinvigorate the enthusiasm that had largely drained away following years of simply going through the motions.

The Wellington Street Race was the brainchild of Kerry Powell and Ian Gamble, two ambitious Auckland businessmen working for the Strathmore Group, which had fingers in various investment pies, including race horses and sports marketing.

Powell and Gamble, two self-professed petrolheads, had come up with the idea of holding an international motorsport event on the streets of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. They’d put plenty of work into the venture, including a detailed map of the race track, but an endless stream of red-tape killed the project, and they began to look further afield instead.

They decided to focus on New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington, which had several advantages over Auckland, in that it had a very definitive central hub, and hosted less international sporting events than Auckland, therefore providing less competition for the potential spectators dollar. With the Wellington council proving more enthusiastic about the concept, planning began in earnest in 1983, and in July 1984, an announcement was made that New Zealand’s capital city would host an international motor racing event in January 1985. It would be sponsored by Nissan, and a new magazine called Cue.

On early planning, the actual type of category chosen to headline the Wellington Street Race had not yet been decided upon. But its January 1985 date would prove crucial to its success. Had this event happened twelve months earlier, its possible it may not have enjoyed the level of support that it did. But as it happened, the international Group A touring car formula was on a rapid rise. Group A was strong in the UK and in Europe, and as well as there being several domestic touring car championships held under Group A rules, so too the European Touring Car Championship was run under Group A.

Additionally, after years of battling, the Confederation for Australian Motorsport (CAMS) finally gave up on its local and unique Group C touring car regulations, in favour of Group A, which would come into affect from the 1985 season. And New Zealand had also adopted Group A from its 1984/85 touring car championship season, bringing it into line with Australia for the first time.

And so the timing of the first Wellington Street Race was perfect, as not only would it allow Australian teams a chance to test their new machinery against international competition before their own championship sprung into action in February, 1985, but international teams and drivers could be imported by the event organisers, and local teams could buy existing race cars, in order to compete.

While New Zealand had already adopted Group A from late 1984, the number of actual local full-blooded Group A cars was minimal. The BMW 635CSi’s of Neville Crichton and Kent Baigent were the only offerings, against a mixed bag of former Benson & Hedges/ANZ endurance racing Ford Falcon’s and Holden Commodore’s, which had been upgraded, for the most part, to Group A spec. From the time of their arrival, the beautiful BMW’s held the clear upper-hand over the local competition.

The Wellington Street Race would be a 500km endurance event, and the first of two such endurance races held over consecutive weekends, with the second race taking place at Pukekohe. Although the street event was clearly the jewel in the crown, teams would contest both events, and an overall winner would be awarded, as well as winners for each race.

On announcement of the race in mid-1984, so too quickly followed an impressive list of potential super-star drivers, including Jochen Mass, Gerhard Berger, Mario and Michael Andretti, Andy Rouse, Frank Sytner, Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Denny Hulme, Larry Perkins, Jim Richards, John Goss, Allan Moffat, George Fury, Kevin Bartlett, and even ‘Dukes Of Hazzard’ tv series star, John Schneider! As time marched on, so many of the big names dropped off, one by one, but ultimately the entry list was still impressive, and certainly the most exciting car and driver line-up seen on New Zealand soil for many years.

The field of cars comprised a TWR Rover Vitesse for Tom Walkinshaw and Sydney businessman Ron Dickson. A trio of BMW 635CSi’s were entered, including the Crichton and Baigent cars (with regulars Wayne Wilkinson and Neil Lowe as co-drivers), plus an entry from the UK, driven by Frank Sytner and local driver John Morton. Morton had been racing a Ford Falcon XE in the New Zealand touring car series with Robbie Francevic.

Peter Brock and Larry Perkins were entered in the first Group A Commodore to emerge from the Holden Dealer Team. Dick Johnson had entered one of his recently acquired Zakspeed built Mustang’s, while a second Mustang was entered for Laurie Nelson and Peter Jones. A further three Commodore’s were entered for Lew McKinnon/John Power, Chris and Robert Belbin, and Trevor McLean/Ron Harrop. Although three Group A Falcon’s had been competing on the local New Zealand scene throughout the 1984/85 season, only one of these, the Pinepac car of brothers Bruce and Wayne Anderson, had entered the Wellington event. Bill McFarlane/Wayne Murdoch were entered in a V6 Capri, while an unknown quantity was a Volvo 240T, to be driven by Pierre Dieudonne/Mark Petch.

The field was then bolstered by several smaller class cars, competing for honours in either the 0-1600cc, or 1601-2500cc classes.

Hi Steve,

Just to correct one important fact in your overview of the first race. I knew that to win the race we had to leave Michele in the car and for once Robbie agreed with me Michele was a lot faster than Robbie, so we figured we would also save at least 20 seconds by having Michele Delcourt stayed in the car which was a very quick splash and dash. It also has to be said that John Morton was painfully slow towards the end of that race, I think he was badly heat effected but what ever, we won fair and square.

We had the wrong diff ratio for Pukekohe and when we finally hit the lead we had the right front tyre delaminate just as Michele was flying past the pits and had to limp all the way around the circuit back to the pits.

We demolished all the Australians competitors in our first race in Australia at Tasmania, and the rest is history, so it was no fluke that we won the first ever Wellington Street race.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Carlo]

Hi Steve,

Just to correct one important fact in your overview of the first race. I knew that to win the race we had to leave Michele in the car and for once Robbie agreed with me Michele was a lot faster than Robbie, so we figured we would also save at least 20 seconds by having Michele Delcourt stayed in the car which was a very quick splash and dash. It also has to be said that John Morton was painfully slow towards the end of that race, I think he was badly heat effected but what ever, we won fair and square.

We had the wrong diff ratio for Pukekohe and when we finally hit the lead we had the right front tyre delaminate just as Michele was flying past the pits and had to limp all the way around the circuit back to the pits.

We demolished all the Australians competitors in our first race in Australia at Tasmania, and the rest is history, so it was no fluke that we won the first ever Wellington Street race.

Cheers,

Mark.

Mark, have you ever worked out how much time you would have lost in the pits if I had not come to your aid with a 20 litre container of water when you needed some and then a handful of welding wire to tie the bonnet shut in the later stages of the race?

Great times with everyone sharing resources and skills to make an event happen, sure could use a bit of that attitude around some sectors of NZ Motorsport now

[faminz]

few more pics from the Nissan 500

278262782727828278292783027831

[Malcolm McLeod]

The Holden Dealer Team guys work through a pit stop.

23850

Interesting to note that the fuel churns already had Mobil on them, the sponsor change had only been announced the previous week, and in fact the sponsorship didn't officially start until the 1st of February...between the Wellington and Pukekohe rounds!

[Steve Holmes]

Hi Steve,

Just to correct one important fact in your overview of the first race. I knew that to win the race we had to leave Michele in the car and for once Robbie agreed with me Michele was a lot faster than Robbie, so we figured we would also save at least 20 seconds by having Michele Delcourt stayed in the car which was a very quick splash and dash. It also has to be said that John Morton was painfully slow towards the end of that race, I think he was badly heat effected but what ever, we won fair and square.

We had the wrong diff ratio for Pukekohe and when we finally hit the lead we had the right front tyre delaminate just as Michele was flying past the pits and had to limp all the way around the circuit back to the pits.

We demolished all the Australians competitors in our first race in Australia at Tasmania, and the rest is history, so it was no fluke that we won the first ever Wellington Street race.

Cheers,

Mark.

Thanks Mark, that is great info!

[Steve Holmes]

Some great info here by Mark Petch regarding the Volvo 240T, after I'd asked him on Facebook the history of this car prior to his ownership:

My car was indeed the ex Pierre Dieudonne car, one of the two GTM Factory works team car's that Volvo AB owned,as well as a spare factory Shell the GTM were building into a third car. When Volvo pulled the plug on GTM in favour of running with Eggenburger in 1985 Delcourt's car and the new unfinished chassis and 3 engines went to Rudi Eggenburger, who had just won the 1984 ETCC for BMW, but was not happy with BMW for a number of reason's. mainly because BMW could not see the threat of the Turbo era.

I purchased the car to drive myself, and it was not until Pierre suddenly demanded that he wanted to be paid to come out to NZ that I changed tack's and instead bought Michel out. With all the drama of Pan-Am 'losing the car' at Frankfurt airport for over 2 week's, when it finally arriving on the Saturday in Auckland, and having to then fly it down to Wellington in a Bristol Freighter, I decided that to attempt to race after that marathon effort, would be fool hardy, and so had Robbie on standby, who had also managed to do some laps in the Anderson's Pine Pack car on Saturday morning.

When I met Michele for the first time and saw what a huge man he was, I was jolly clad I didnt have to try to drive were he had the seat and steering wheel positioned, fortunately it was near perfect for Robbie, so that was it really. There was no purpose in me replacing a succesful driving combination at Puke the week after, nor when I decided to take the car to Australia, because as Robbie was already a New Zealand Saloon Car Champion, it was a hell of a a lot easier to get sponsorship for him than myself.

I bought John Bowe into the team for the Enduro's because we needed somebody as fast as Robbie, which I was not, and John was an excellent choice because straight away he was as quick as Robbie, which lead to some bruised ego's which was not easy to manage.

[jimdigris]

Nice to see a reply from the person who knows for sure the history of the car. One can guess whose delicate ego was bruised :D

On a different topic, look how small the falcons discs are! Obviously this car is not built to full group A specs, very hard too tell but it appears to be running standard discs and calipers!

[Mark Petch]

ERC,

That is exactly what the Stewards did, and as you say it was virtually impossible to fake the teams own hand written lap scoring, so all these years later people are still debating this issue, which given the fact's is somewhat disappointing.

Cheer's,

Mark.

[Mark Petch]

Cario,

If I knew your real name Cario, I might well need to thank you, and happy to do so.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Mark Petch]

Steve,

I made that decision on the Friday before the race as it was impossible to be in two places at once, as I had to be in Auckland to clear the car and supervise getting into the Bristol freighter, etc.

[Mark Petch]

Steve, 100% bolted together Aluminum tube roll-cage.

[Mark Petch]

Steve, as I have said before it was Delcourt that double stinted and took the checkered flag.

[Mark Petch]

All I know is that the Volvo was an ex works ETCC car. After Wellington the car was shipped to Oz for the 85 ATCC where Francevic finished 5th. For 86 the car was run by the Volvo Dealer Team and this was the year Robbie won the ATCC.

Anthony

Touringcarfan,

I think you unintentionally do me a disservice in your brief comments, the deal with the Volvo dealer team was not done until after my team won the both Amaroo and Symon's Plains, I also oversaw the team AVDT right up to the second to last race at Oran park. The AVDT, inherited a well honed winning package through my teams efforts, despite this fact, John Sheppard managed to F.... it up and the whole AVDT team folded, less than one season old.

[Jac Mac]

Hmmm, real name might be Carlo, no 'i', otherwise known as a Southern Man..:)
Cario,

If I knew your real name Cario, I might well need to thank you, and happy to do so.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Frosty5]

Steve, as I have said before it was Delcourt that double stinted and took the checkered flag.

Must have been a different race that you were watching!! Robbie certainly took the chequered flag at Wellington

[Mark Petch]

Must have been a different race that you were watching!! Robbie certainly took the chequered flag at Wellington

Not sure who you really are Frosty, maybe Dave Graham? but I would like to make a bet with you, but I wont because it would be equivalent to "taking candy from a kid" as you are 100% wrong wrong wrong!

And I might add a bit flippant with comment about me watching another race!

In fact it was Robbie who slammed the door shut on Michele, just before he gunned it out of the pits.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Frosty5]

Not sure who you really are Frosty, maybe Dave Graham? but I would like to make a bet with you, but I wont because it would be equivalent to "taking candy from a kid" as you are 100% wrong wrong wrong!

And I might add a bit flippant with comment about me watching another race!

In fact it was Robbie who slammed the door shut on Michele, just before he gunned it out of the pits.

Cheers,

Mark.

Check out this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXb1znBECGI

[Mark Petch]

Check out this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXb1znBECGI

I caaan hardllly speeak, myy moouthh is sooo fuull offf huuummble pppie!!

Seriously i have not watched the race video for more years than I care to remember, so no wonder Robbie was so keen to have Michele double stint in the middle so that he could bring the car home.

Profuse and very sincere apologies Frosty, I was wrong. Funny how ones memory plays trick's on you which why eye witness are so notoriously unreliable.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Frosty5]

I caaan hardllly speeak, myy moouthh is sooo fuull offf huuummble pppie!!

Seriously i have not watched the race video for more years than I care to remember, so no wonder Robbie was so keen to have Michele double stint in the middle so that he could bring the car home.

Profuse and very sincere apologies Frosty, I was wrong. Funny how ones memory plays trick's on you which why eye witness are so notoriously unreliable.

Cheers,

Mark.

Why, thank you Mark. Apologies accepted. Age is a funny thing really, I guess we all have lapses from time to time. I recall Robbie had a blistered right palm as car was LHD. But you did get one thing correct, my name!!! Great days then. And the guy who got hit with the delaminated tire at Puke asked you if he could take it home as a memento. He certainly had a good shiner and was incredibly lucky that it wasn't worse.

Cheers
Hamburger Dave

[Mark Petch]

Why, thank you Mark. Apologies accepted. Age is a funny thing really, I guess we all have lapses from time to time. I recall Robbie had a blistered right palm as car was LHD. But you did get one thing correct, my name!!! Great days then. And the guy who got hit with the delaminated tire at Puke asked you if he could take it home as a memento. He certainly had a good shiner and was incredibly lucky that it wasn't worse.

Cheers
Hamburger Dave

Ha Ha LOL. Hi Dave, you always liked the big juicy home made Hamburgers the girls used to make, which is why Randle nick named you "Hamburger Dave" way back in the Volvo day's

Bobi wants me to share that Utube clip so I am just about to do that.

If you are down at the last Central Muscle cars meeting at Taupo on the 2nd May, Jacko and I are going down to support Peter and Andrew Knight's new Chevy Monza that we built for them so we might catch up with you as reckon I owe you a few beers! It will be touch and go to get it finished but its in the paint shop today so should be finish painted by Wednesday and a big big weekend of work should see it all finished by early next week, then the long haul up the Island.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Frosty5]

Ha Ha LOL. Hi Dave, you always liked the big juicy home made Hamburgers the girls used to make, which is why Randle nick named you "Hamburger Dave" way back in the Volvo day's

Bobi wants me to share that Utube clip so I am just about to do that.

If you are down at the last Central Muscle cars meeting at Taupo on the 2nd May, Jacko and I are going down to support Peter and Andrew Knight's new Chevy Monza that we built for them so we might catch up with you as reckon I owe you a few beers! It will be touch and go to get it finished but its in the paint shop today so should be finish painted by Wednesday and a big big weekend of work should see it all finished by early next week, then the long haul up the Island.

Cheers,

Mark.

Not sure if I will be able to get down there as I will be at HD (May 1) for a test day driving a MB 190E Cosworth built as close to DTM specs as time and $$$ allowed. Hoping to get it all sorted for the endurance series, time will tell.

Cheers

Dave

[Roger Dowding]

Have just been sent a few photos from one of the Nissan Mobil 500 races - not sure which year.
Will ask the photographer [ Ian Tilley ] and post on here - all taken at the same corner, mainly.
Ian has the programme so hopefully can get images from there too !!


More to come : Will bring the thread forward !!

Cheers

Roger

[Roger Dowding]

The Ian Tilley photos ;
Have yet to confirm the year,but remember the Jaguars at Bathurst in 1985 - in fact have a 1;43 scale model of the Goss Hahne Car from Bathurst in my collection; The only non- Australian car in my Bathurst Collection - even the Cortina was a locally built version of the Cortina GT Mark One.

The photos of the crash BMW 3 series versus a Ford / Lazer - Laser !!

The Harvey Lowe Commodore squeezes through
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70465

An Alfa showing a bit of nose damage gets past
70466

Another BMW drives past
70467

The Jaguar driving past BMW is left and being pushed.
70468

The Lamont BMW in the pit area;
70469

[Milan Fistonic]

Those photos are from the 1987 event.

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[Roger Dowding]

Thank you Milan,
I have not been back to Ian Tilley yet. will note the photos for the future !!
Cheers
Roger