Significant Jason Richards Dodo car restored

The Tasman Motorsport Commodore VZ that the late Jason Richards and Jamie Whincup drove to a pair of podium finishes in the Sandown and Bathurst V8 Supercar endurance races in 2005 has been painstakingly returned to its original livery in the lead-up to the 10th anniversary of the popular Kiwi’s passing.

Today, December 15, marks the 10th anniversary of Richards’ passing.

The New Zealand-born and bred racer was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in late 2010 and passed away in 2011.

The Dodo car finished third in that year’s Sandown 500 – marking the first V8 Supercar podium finish for either driver – and then finished runner-up at Bathurst as Richards chased Mark Skaife’s HRT Commodore to the finish line.

The very same car was also the same chassis that Richards was driving when barrel rolled down the road in a frightening accident at Queensland Raceway earlier in the year.

Tim Pattinson from TP Restorations & Replicas has undertaken the work and turned the clock back for the car and its owner, Marty Miller.

Pattinson used original files from the team’s original signwriter, along with sourcing series and event logos from Supercars, to restore the chassis back to how it raced at Mount Panorama back in 2005.

It was a project first mooted back in May and the car arrived in Melbourne during lockdown in late August and was completed in time for Challenge Bathurst.

“It has been a great privilege and honour to recreate this car for the owner,” says Pattinson.

“Marty allowed me to have his car and do whatever was required to get it back to how it was when the Tasman boys achieved great things at Bathurst back in 2005.

“It has also been an honour to do the best job possible for Charlotte (Richards, Jason’s wife) and Jamie (Whincup).”

In addition to being the car that Richards and Whincup drove to podium finishes in 2005, the chassis is the same one the former drove to his only V8 Supercar race win at Winton in 2006.

The Kiwi raced this chassis for the majority of 2006 before it was turned over to teammate Andrew Jones for the final rounds of that year’s championship.

It was later raced by Dale Wood for Greg Murphy Racing in the Fujitsu Series in 2007 and 2008 and was acquired by its current owner in 2015.

The car now sits on display at the National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama.

The 13-event 2022 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle next year. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

The 13-round draft calendar was released during the Repco Bathurst 1000 weekend.