Historic Bathurst pole winner to make Mountain comeback
1982 Bathurst pole winner being recommissioned
VH Commodore last turned a wheel in anger 40 years ago
Pole position first at an average speed of 100 miles per hour
The car that shattered a Mount Panorama milestone is set to return to the racing at this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
The Holden Commodore VH that Allan Grice drove to pole position for the 1982 edition of the race is currently being recommissioned, having last turned a wheel in anger 40 years ago.
Grice’s pole position – his first in the Bathurst enduro – marked the first time a touring car had lapped Mount Panorama at an average speed of better than 100 miles per hour (161km/h) on the pre-Chase version of the circuit.
He did so in an underdog effort, driving for the privateer Re-Car Racing squad against the might of Peter Brock and the Holden Dealer Team.
The pair each looked poised to be the first to achieve the feat during practice, but it was Grice who went under the magic mark with a 2:17.8s lap in Friday qualifying that earnt him a place in history.
It also earnt him the $5000 cash prize for the first driver to do a 100mph lap, an incentive put up by Re-Car managing director Alan Browne, who was also Grice’s team boss and co-driver!
Grice led the early stages until a brake problem caused him to spin at Murray’s Corner, the first inkling of a persistent issue that plagued he and Browne for the rest of the race.
While Brock and Larry Perkins went on to win the race, Grice and Browne nursed the car to a popular second-place finish.
The Bathurst race was one of its last with Re-Car, which shut down at the end of the season.
It was then sold to Roadways Racing early in 1983, which fielded the car in STP colours during that season.
The car then made a handful of race appearances in 1984, culminating in its use as the Roadways team’s second entry at Bathurst.
Grice gave the car its final start in a non-championship event at Baskerville in Tasmania at the end of that year.
Incredibly, the car remained virtually as it rolled off the track for the next four decades.
It actually remained in Tasmania for many years at Roadways’ headquarters, then spent time at Re-Car’s premises in Melbourne before being sold to a private collector.
Most recently, it has been a long-term exhibit at the National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama, until being purchased by Heritage Revival Racing’s Ed Singleton (pictured above).
“Liberated from the Bathurst Museum last year and then extensively refurbished/preserved, it’s still wearing the stone chips from the 1984 Great Race,” Singleton posted to social media in recent days.
The car will return to action in the Heritage Revival support category at this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 10-13. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
