The Roaring Season

John McKechnie wrote:Rod- you are correct pix#6 and 7 are Statesman , they had their own style rear quarters, Premier had usual sedan

Right John, was really trying to work out the position on track, out of Railway onto back straight had fence like that, but think similar fence from loop upto Railway, but can not remember the concrete strip on loop during club circuit.

So the majority of these are from 1980/81? or 81/82? I am guessing the latter as there is, what appears to be, a Yellow first generation Ford Laser in the background of #17.The Telstar would be 83/84? I have a vague memory that October 83 was the Telstars competition debut, this would be Dave McMillan given the number in #12, if I am right, then I think Dick Johnson also drove one, I have a very vague memory that his car was #43

Nope completely wrong, #12 is 83 but drivers are Phil Myhre and Dave Slater.

hilstwist wrote:I am pretty sure that its Tim Bailey who was the owner of Continental car services, driving the red Golf. I really liked to watch the racing at that old part of the circuit. The Statesman has just exited the loop.

Tim Bailey and Paul Curin?

Half right , Dick & Gary.. shared a ford telstar & won their class ...... the ford was prepared by Ray Stone.....

On second thoughts I think I remember taking them coming on to main straight? I was surprised to get in that possie as it was restricted and i now remember expecting someone to come and tell me to piss off!Can anyone identify any of the blue Commodores and the Auckland Gold Bullion car {gold}

Steve Holmes wrote:[ATTACH]23209[/ATTACH]

Thanks to Shayne Windleburn for confirming this is from the 1981 race. This sounds right to me as General Motors New Zealand built their special batch of 30 SS Commodores specifically for this series in 1982. Shayne has also confirmed the leading Commodore in this photo is George Bunce, with (probably) David Oxton chasing in the GM Dealer Team car.

Brilliant shot here of the Statesman getting all crossed-up.

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This photo is from 1982. Its easily recognisable as suddenly the field is swamped with the new GM-NZ SS Commodore's, which were specifically designed for this series. Only 30 cars were built (29 painted white with red and blue stripes, plus 1 black one with gold stripes). Robin Curtis was largely responsible for the very existence of these cars, as he was heading up GM-NZ's competition department at the time, and he had Peter Brock and Phil Brock help in both development and parts. At the time, these were the fastest Holden Commodore's you could buy, regardless of which side of the Tasman you were on, because they weren't fitted with the anti-smog equipment of th Aussie cars.

The SS Commodore's completely dominated the series, headed usually by the two GM Dealer Team cars of Peter Brock/David Oxton, and Peter Janson/Denny Hulme. Thats the Janson/Hulme car just ducking into the dog-leg.

In this first season most of the Commodore's retained their factory colours, though many were repainted the following season. Some continued on racing, others ended up back on the road. Car dealers at the time did their best to hide any racing history, as that immediately detracted from their value. These days, of course, the opposite is true!

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Not sure if this is the same year as the picture posted above, but a Mazda 626 and Ford Telstar, which are pretty much the same thing, swing into the dog-leg.

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Steve Holmes wrote:This photo is from 1982. Its easily recognisable as suddenly the field is swamped with the new GM-NZ SS Commodore's, which were specifically designed for this series. Only 30 cars were built (29 painted white with red and blue stripes, plus 1 black one with gold stripes). Robin Curtis was largely responsible for the very existence of these cars, as he was heading up GM-NZ's competition department at the time, and he had Peter Brock and Phil Brock help in both development and parts. At the time, these were the fastest Holden Commodore's you could buy, regardless of which side of the Tasman you were on, because they weren't fitted with the anti-smog equipment of th Aussie cars.

The SS Commodore's completely dominated the series, headed usually by the two GM Dealer Team cars of Peter Brock/David Oxton, and Peter Janson/Denny Hulme. Thats the Janson/Hulme car just ducking into the dog-leg.

In this first season most of the Commodore's retained their factory colours, though many were repainted the following season. Some continued on racing, others ended up back on the road. Car dealers at the time did their best to hide any racing history, as that immediately detracted from their value. These days, of course, the opposite is true!

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The car in 5th is the Lorimer/Lawrence Escort

Steve Holmes wrote:Not sure if this is the same year as the picture posted above, but a Mazda 626 and Ford Telstar, which are pretty much the same thing, swing into the dog-leg.

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Would be probably 83 Steve because of the Telstar, It may be the Myhre/Slater car previously shown looking at the colours. Will have a look at the relevant Motoring News issues.

Thanks heaps for this Sean. I do have a couple of photos taken from the same spot in the 1983 race, so wasn't sure where the 626/Telstar image fitted in.

Steve Holmes wrote:This photo is from 1982. Its easily recognisable as suddenly the field is swamped with the new GM-NZ SS Commodore's, which were specifically designed for this series. Only 30 cars were built (29 painted white with red and blue stripes, plus 1 black one with gold stripes). Robin Curtis was largely responsible for the very existence of these cars, as he was heading up GM-NZ's competition department at the time, and he had Peter Brock and Phil Brock help in both development and parts. At the time, these were the fastest Holden Commodore's you could buy, regardless of which side of the Tasman you were on, because they weren't fitted with the anti-smog equipment of th Aussie cars.

The SS Commodore's completely dominated the series, headed usually by the two GM Dealer Team cars of Peter Brock/David Oxton, and Peter Janson/Denny Hulme. Thats the Janson/Hulme car just ducking into the dog-leg.

In this first season most of the Commodore's retained their factory colours, though many were repainted the following season. Some continued on racing, others ended up back on the road. Car dealers at the time did their best to hide any racing history, as that immediately detracted from their value. These days, of course, the opposite is true!

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Brock Oxton, Wilkinson Chrichton, Rod McCallum Wayne Jones, Janson Hulme, Morton Lowe would probably be the 5 Commodoreas and Bruce and Wayne Anderon in the Fairmont. The fastest Fairmont was Gary Sprague and Leo Leonard, but they refused to take part in the one lap dash for qualifying so started 10th.
Interestingly it was a fastest 14 in that one lap 'Hardies Heroes' style dash.
From the other pic, it would definitely be 83 as this race held 14/11/82 still had Cortinas, plus, now I will stand to be corrected here, but the 626 wasn't introduced, like the Telstar till early 83. Essentially the same cars of course.

Steve Holmes wrote:Not sure if this is the same year as the picture posted above, but a Mazda 626 and Ford Telstar, which are pretty much the same thing, swing into the dog-leg.

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The only 2 626 teams I can find from 83 are Graeme Bowkett/Bill Leckie and Ken King/Alwyn Marshall. I would add that I do not have the Pukekohe issue of Motoring News, rather the Manfield one.

Great work Sean, many thanks.

Now, more from the 1983 series (1983/84 NZ racing season). Although the series is still being dominated by the SS Commodores, now most teams have painted them up in their sponsors colours, rather than just applying sponsors decals to the standard SS colour scheme as had been the case the previous year.

This is the Neville Crichton/Wayne Wilkinson car.

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Here is the Ray Smith/Denny Hulme AC&B Commodore which won the 1983 series.

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Now, I assume this is Trevor McLean?

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Mike Price, current owner of the Janson/Hulme GM Dealer Team SS Commodore from the 1982 series has confirmed that this is the Midgley brothers car leading here. The Midgley's bought the car following the 1982 season. I need to ask Mike what the situation was with the Midgley's. They're Mormons, and therefore couldn't attend the racing on either Saturday or Sunday. It could be that they missed Saturday qualifying at each event. But they were very competitive in this car.

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