...this is a real nice 'replica' of the Bob Jane Torana,built by a very passionate owner/driver, signed by Bob at Eastern Creek,Muscle Car Masters, a couple of years back, well detailed,brings back a lot of great memories to me
This was a fantastic period of my life/career, I got to work for Bob Jane Racing with Pat Purcell/Team Manager,who gave me the opportunity to be creative,room to excel,( I think my title was, 'OJ' (odd job!!) sure we had the odd 'dust off', but when you work under pressure of a 'GET IT FINISHED' time table, 7days a week, on the average of 16hour days and there is no talk of 'Second Place',there is always going to be a 'little' heat in the kitchen!!
Working in a small team creates a interesting work ethic,given a task it has to be completed, personally checked, checked again just to be sure,then ask for it to be checked off by your team leader,ticked off the list, then move on to the next task,don't look for praise of job well done,that comes when you cross the line First!!!!!!
It was a real pleasure to work with 'Big' Pete, he and I got on very well, read; we had the ability to laughed, a lot !!!
For Example,take Sandown 500/1977/78,the pits were,turn left at the end of the Main Straight,"Peter's Ice Cream Cnr' on to a small straight,the pits were on the left hand side as the cars ran down to the Next lefthander,keep this picture in mind......well we,the Bob Jane Racing Team/Torana was on 'Pole'.......so we, the Team ,wait with baited breath around the cnr on this small straight,can't see the start line from this position,but we can hear the 'announcer',the building up of Rev's,then all 'Hell' lets loose,a total 'cresendo' of noise...and we will be first..have to be...we were on 'Pole' remember?...
WHAM!!!! around the cnr come a 'Blast' of colour and Cars and Noise and Smoke and Dust and....NO TORANA!!....No you think!!! its been hit on the Start Finishline..but suddenly around the cnr comes our favourite car...vrooooom past the pit...round the lefthander and gone......we all look at each other with both relief and WTF!!!!.....
The announcer is 'pumped-up' that 'Pete' Geoghegan is passing this car and that car in a desperate bid to get back to the front of the field..so we wait...I'm at the fence with the 'Pit Board' so 'Pete' can locate our position when he blasts past.....we wait...the Announcer is trumpeting the good news that Pete is doing so well...we wait, suddenly the whole show is on top of us 'flashing' by....I'm standing out there as duty states,swollowing 'dust and fumes' (Loving it ofcourse!)..10 cars go by..then suddenly the Torana arrives....believe me when I say arrives......totally sideways and on the grass, 'Pete' withbags of opposite lock,shit and small stone showering every were,suddenly the Torana gets a guts full of energy and spears straight across the track towards the pit wall....well the scene from were I stood was total 'CHAOS', team personal and pit boards going in all directions.............Only 'Pete' could turn this event in to a happy ending,but at this point I'm still not sure!!......'Pete' gathers the 'little' Torana up and 'Fly's past my position with a 'Wave of the Hand'...gone again and still the announcer is in full song!!!
But alass,not to be our day...I see the Torana come on to 'Pit' road and stop.....so I run ,giving Pat the 'heads-up' as I race off (Bloody 'Fit' in those days..The Beer!?) up to retrieve our car......pushing back down pit lane I commended 'Pete' on his driving skill's,but advised him that, if we were to work as a team, what was with the 'Hand' signal as he past the pits after all the sideway commotion.....In 'Pete's words...Quote; "W.w.w.well If f f ya ya ya you do an an Act like th th that ya ya gotta Curtsey" !!!!............to this day I'm still impressed that he had time to spot me standing (Ridged!!) at that position on the pit wall!!.....You had to love this man!!..................regards thunder427/MJ
NB; we had a problem with the Fuel pick-up in the 'Drop tank'...it seemed that it kept floating to the top!!!