Steve Holmes wrote:Wow, the only survivor? How many GTV6s did Bondy race? I know he ran a two-car team in 1985 with Alan Jones driving the second car. Did either of these cars carry across to 1986?
There were three Alfa Romeo Australia GTV6s and Colin Bond raced all of them…
The first was the in-house built RHD GTV6 that started out in Network Alfa colours that Bond debuted in 1984, when Group A was allowed at Bathurst that year. This car was repainted “Ignis” yellow and used for the 85 ATCC, then raced by Allan Grice and Greg Hansford in white “Toy Shop” Colours before sold to Warwick Rooklyn and raced at Bathurst 86 in blue “Pye” colours with Lucio Cesario. Then it was sold to John Cotter and later Andrew Leithhead (both Alfa Club Presidents). Leithhead turned it into a sports sedan and he wrote it off at Amaroo Park circa 1992.
The LHD “Luigi Racing” was bought in for Alan Jones for the 85 ATCC. When he went to Europe it reverted to Bond who used it at Bathurst with Hansford to finish 8th outright. The car was written off at the Surfers Paradise enduro round later that year.
The remains of the Luigi car were transplanted into a new GTV6 shell sans chassis number and the original “Luigi” CAMS logbook was retained – essentially it assumed that car’s history. This is the car Melbourne Alfa specialist Hugh Harrison has owned for a long time.
As an aside the Ray Gulson “Dulux” Group C/A GTV6 survives in Melbourne in the hands of Scott Farquaharson.
And before anyone asks, Bond’s Group A 75 Turbo was turned into a sports sedan by another local Alfa club member Ian McDonald. It was raced on occasion by John Cotter but was written off by McDonald at Oran Park in the early 1990s.
Paul
